Latest / Karl and Crew / Every Believer is a Disciple Maker with Dr. David Nelms & The Digital Mission Field with Yvonne Carlson

Transcript

Every Believer is a Disciple Maker with Dr. David Nelms & The Digital Mission Field with Yvonne Carlson · Karl and Crew

• 0:00
  S1: Chicago, across North America and beyond. It's Carl and crew.
• 0:05
  S1: Come as you are an experienced God, overcome what seems
• 0:10
  S1: impossible and live as you never imagined delivering the truth daily.
• 0:17
  S2: If it were possible to have every worldly gain available
• 0:21
  S2: and you're forfeiting your soul, there's no amount of gain
• 0:24
  S2: that would make it worth it.
• 0:26
  S3: Our own way never ever works. Because it's apart from
• 0:29
  S3: the life source, which is God.
• 0:32
  S4: For me, growing up, love was always conditional and can
• 0:36
  S4: be taken from you. Christ's love can't. And he went
• 0:40
  S4: to the cross with my mind and my heart that night.
• 0:45
  S1: Now from the call of Hope Studios, this is Carl
• 0:49
  S1: and Crew.
• 0:51
  S5: So Andrew invited Peter, and Philip invited Nathaniel. and Jesus
• 1:04
  S5: invited people to come and see miracles. Water to wine.
• 1:10
  S5: And then Jesus invited to people to see how much
• 1:17
  S5: he stood against mere religiosity and for life from God.
• 1:24
  S5: In the latter part of chapter two of John. And
• 1:28
  S5: then Jesus invited a man to come and see who
• 1:36
  S5: came in the dead of night. That this new birth
• 1:40
  S5: is all about being born again. And then Jesus invited
• 1:43
  S5: a woman at a well to see that what she's
• 1:49
  S5: battling with in that hole in her heart is more
• 1:51
  S5: commonplace than you might imagine. And she invited the whole
• 1:54
  S5: city to come and see the Savior that she met.
• 1:58
  S5: It's everywhere. It's everywhere.
• 2:03
  S2: The invitation.
• 2:04
  S5: Come and.
• 2:05
  S2: See. Come and see.
• 2:07
  S5: So we're going to have a question for you here
• 2:09
  S5: in a moment. But let's set this up. There's got
• 2:11
  S5: to be something to see, right? Yeah. You can't say
• 2:14
  S5: come and see.
• 2:15
  S3: When there's nothing there.
• 2:17
  S5: And so I want to go into this whole issue
• 2:19
  S5: of invitation, but I want to rehearse again something that
• 2:23
  S5: we did, I don't know, an hour, an hour and
• 2:25
  S5: a half ago, some when you're here half a day,
• 2:28
  S5: you forget where this thing happened, you know?
• 2:30
  S2: Right.
• 2:32
  S5: Half of a work day. We're here. Isn't that something?
• 2:35
  S3: Yes, absolutely.
• 2:36
  S5: That's really.
• 2:36
  S2: On air. Yeah. On air with you.
• 2:38
  S5: With you. Um, so here's the deal. What is it
• 2:43
  S5: that people need to see if you're going to invite
• 2:47
  S5: them to it? Let's be really specific. An event, a
• 2:51
  S5: weekend service, a conference, a men's gathering, a women's gathering.
• 2:56
  S5: What is it that they need to see if you're
• 3:01
  S5: inviting them there? Let's go. What do they need to see? Guys.
• 3:08
  S3: The first thing is love. They need to see love.
• 3:10
  S5: I think that is the. Entry level vibe. People need
• 3:18
  S5: to get right.
• 3:19
  S4: Yeah, yeah.
• 3:20
  S3: Because I don't care what you're going through in life.
• 3:22
  S3: I don't care if things feel like they're going great
• 3:24
  S3: and you're a hot shot running a business. I don't
• 3:27
  S3: care if things are horrible and you're alone. You need love.
• 3:34
  S5: Hot shot, running a business.
• 3:35
  S3: Yeah, I sound like sound more like Carl every day.
• 3:39
  S5: Hot.
• 3:40
  S3: Hot shot man. But it's true. It doesn't. It doesn't
• 3:42
  S3: matter who you are. It doesn't matter the success or
• 3:45
  S3: the failure in your life. Love is the most important
• 3:49
  S3: experience that humans crave.
• 3:54
  S5: That is so good. And that is so right. Love
• 3:57
  S5: is paramount, man.
• 3:58
  S3: Yes.
• 3:59
  S5: Okay. What else do they need to see?
• 4:01
  S4: You've got to have the Word of God, and you've
• 4:03
  S4: got to see that Word of God in action.
• 4:06
  S5: Yeah. The Word of God has got to be front
• 4:10
  S5: and center.
• 4:11
  S4: Forefront. Absolutely.
• 4:12
  S5: Why? Why does the Word of God need to be
• 4:14
  S5: front and center? Guys, why?
• 4:17
  S3: Because it doesn't return void and it cuts to the heart.
• 4:20
  S5: Boom.
• 4:21
  S4: And it's the gospel.
• 4:22
  S5: Divides bone and marrow. Yeah. Goes right in there. Hurts
• 4:29
  S5: so good, man.
• 4:29
  S2: Yeah.
• 4:30
  S3: Mhm.
• 4:30
  S2: I think people need to see a vision for what's possible.
• 4:34
  S2: Two part a vision for what they're missing and a
• 4:36
  S2: vision for what's possible.
• 4:38
  S5: Bingo. Bingo. Bingo. Bingo.
• 4:42
  S2: And then what's missing part is important because, you know,
• 4:44
  S2: people don't know that they're lost sometimes. People don't know
• 4:48
  S2: that they need a rescue. Like, okay, that's good that
• 4:51
  S2: Jesus died. But why? Like, what does that have to
• 4:53
  S2: do with me? Like, until you know that you're lost,
• 4:56
  S2: being found is not that appealing.
• 5:00
  S5: People don't know that. What seems impossible God can handle.
• 5:05
  S2: Yes, impossible situations, impossible brokenness.
• 5:10
  S3: And that's why our our creed here is come as
• 5:14
  S3: you are, experience God, overcome what seems impossible and live
• 5:18
  S3: as you never imagined.
• 5:19
  S5: People don't know and they need to see that there
• 5:24
  S5: is a God of the unimaginable.
• 5:27
  S3: Mhm.
• 5:28
  S5: Yeah. I'm going to spontaneously combust here momentarily.
• 5:35
  S2: Get the fire extinguisher.
• 5:36
  S5: No, I'm. I'm trying to restrain myself right now. Yeah,
• 5:40
  S5: this is powerhouse. So for a moment. What can't they see?
• 5:49
  S2: What do you mean, what?
• 5:50
  S5: What would we not want people to see.
• 5:52
  S3: Ah, I understand. Uh, you don't want them to see
• 5:57
  S3: when they walk into the doors of a church, a
• 6:00
  S3: bunch of people who look exactly the same as the
• 6:02
  S3: people who were outside of the church on the way there.
• 6:09
  S5: That's putting it bluntly.
• 6:10
  S3: I mean, if we want to show them change.
• 6:12
  S5: There ain't no difference, baby. What are we showing them?
• 6:14
  S3: If we if we want to show them and we
• 6:17
  S3: want them to see the unimaginable, then we have to
• 6:20
  S3: live out God doing the unimaginable in our own lives.
• 6:24
  S5: Yeah, yeah. What else can we can they not see?
• 6:29
  S5: We don't want them to see.
• 6:31
  S2: I don't think we don't want them to see false gospels.
• 6:35
  S2: And by that I mean versions of the gospel that
• 6:40
  S2: aren't biblical.
• 6:41
  S5: Yeah. I.E. Galatians one. Let him be accursed if he
• 6:44
  S5: brings another gospel, even if there are angels.
• 6:47
  S2: Right, that there are certain that there are certain things I.
• 6:50
  S2: There's a certain way I have to dress in order
• 6:53
  S2: to be a follower of Jesus. So there's a certain
• 6:56
  S2: way I have to vote in order to be a
• 6:59
  S2: follower of Jesus. So there's a certain thing we don't
• 7:01
  S2: want to set up things that aren't biblical and say
• 7:05
  S2: it's the gospel.
• 7:07
  S5: Yeah. Yeah. We don't want him to see. Apathy.
• 7:14
  S4: Apathy. Performance.
• 7:16
  S3: If we want him to see something, we want him
• 7:18
  S3: to be excited about it. Yeah. You know.
• 7:20
  S5: For sure.
• 7:20
  S3: I'm not, uh, I'm getting my house painted today, and
• 7:24
  S3: I was not thinking of asking you guys if you
• 7:27
  S3: wanted to come over and watch all of the guys
• 7:29
  S3: paint the walls. Oh, man. Because there's not all that
• 7:33
  S3: much to see. It's not that exciting. If we want
• 7:36
  S3: to show people something, then we want it to. And
• 7:40
  S3: the gospel is exciting. We have to embrace the excitement
• 7:43
  S3: and the reality of what it is.
• 7:46
  S5: Yeah. And there's skeptics like Nathaniel because Philip went to
• 7:51
  S5: his brother and he says, hey, man, remember what Moses
• 7:54
  S5: was talking about? And I know that there's been a
• 7:57
  S5: lot of knuckleheads, but you, Jesus is here. And Nathaniel said,
• 8:02
  S5: he comes from Nazareth. He's another kook. And you know, all, all, all.
• 8:07
  S5: Philip said to Nathaniel, come and see. Yeah, just come
• 8:12
  S5: and see. And next thing you know, Nathaniel signed up, baby.
• 8:18
  S3: Mhm.
• 8:18
  S5: And died for what he saw.
• 8:21
  S3: Yeah.
• 8:22
  S5: Whoo!
• 8:23
  S3: I love the conversation that that Jesus and Nathaniel have. Uh,
• 8:28
  S3: when Jesus, you know, calls out and recognizes him by
• 8:32
  S3: name immediately. And and Nathaniel's like, how do you know
• 8:34
  S3: who I am? And he goes, well, I saw you
• 8:36
  S3: while you were under the fig tree when Jesus wasn't
• 8:38
  S3: even anywhere nearby. Like the the immediate experience that Nathaniel
• 8:43
  S3: has is supernatural and powerful and unimaginable. Yeah. And that's
• 8:48
  S3: what we want to show people because that's what Jesus offers.
• 8:51
  S3: I was gonna say we're talking about we're talking about
• 8:53
  S3: the excitement. I feel like sometimes the, the perspective of
• 8:57
  S3: people is that we are trying to make something as
• 9:01
  S3: exciting as paint drying, like exciting, more exciting to people. Well,
• 9:06
  S3: I gotta, I gotta make paint drying more exciting and
• 9:09
  S3: get people because I gotta act like I really want
• 9:11
  S3: to show people. It's way more exciting than paint drying.
• 9:15
  S3: Like this is a beautiful, amazing experience that that when
• 9:20
  S3: we are in the pocket with God, when we're walking
• 9:23
  S3: with him, when we're letting him change our lives, it's
• 9:26
  S3: the most exciting thing on the planet, and we don't
• 9:28
  S3: have to worry about trying to make it more exciting.
• 9:31
  S5: Or more relevant.
• 9:32
  S3: Or more relevant. It just is.
• 9:36
  S5: So here's the question, and it's a simple one. Have
• 9:40
  S5: you seen the power of God through invitation? Maybe someone
• 9:45
  S5: told you, come and see Your life was changed forever.
• 9:49
  S5: I want you to call. And in fact, we want
• 9:54
  S5: people who were invited to come and see you, who
• 9:58
  S5: were invited to come and see. And you saw something.
• 10:03
  S5: You saw someone. His name is Jesus. Lived out in
• 10:07
  S5: the lives of people with love. No apathy. People different
• 10:12
  S5: from you, but people focused on one thing bigger than
• 10:17
  S5: anything else. And that was the life that is found
• 10:22
  S5: in Jesus Christ. Somebody told you, come and see. And
• 10:26
  S5: you came and you saw and you stayed. 805. Five. Five, 78, 98.
• 10:33
  S5: Come on, light em up, guys. 805. 5578, 98. Give
• 10:39
  S5: us a call with your story right now.
• 10:43
  S1: Breaking chains and running free. You're listening to Carl and crew.
• 10:47
  S5: It's Carl and crew, and we are teeing it up
• 10:50
  S5: for you. Boom. Crew. Got a question for you. Have
• 10:52
  S5: you seen the power of God through invitation? Somebody said
• 10:55
  S5: to you, come and see. And what you saw changed you. Ali,
• 10:59
  S5: let's go to the phone lines.
• 11:00
  S2: Got Michael. First time caller from Grand Rapids, Michigan. Michael,
• 11:03
  S2: tell us who invited you and what happened when you went.
• 11:08
  S6: Oh, this is awesome. You know, I'd like to try
• 11:09
  S6: to find this guy again because he made such an
• 11:11
  S6: impression on me. This guy's name was less of a notch.
• 11:15
  S6: He took me to a church when I was, you know,
• 11:17
  S6: I was young. I was before my teens. And, uh,
• 11:20
  S6: he said, you got to come and see this, you know,
• 11:22
  S6: and and I didn't really have God in my life
• 11:24
  S6: when I was a kid. You know, I was, I
• 11:26
  S6: was I was brought up in a Catholic school. So
• 11:27
  S6: I knew of Jesus, you know, and but he took
• 11:30
  S6: me to this church, man. And, and, and they said,
• 11:32
  S6: in this church, they said they, they want to know
• 11:34
  S6: if anybody had the spirit, you know, and and I
• 11:36
  S6: felt nothing like that in my entire life. I mean,
• 11:39
  S6: he got a hold of me and he brought me
• 11:41
  S6: up on that stage and I felt Jesus in me like, man,
• 11:45
  S6: I can't even explain it. I get so fired up.
• 11:47
  S6: I'm just like this guy on the radio. I get
• 11:49
  S6: so fired up, man, that I just heard you this morning.
• 11:52
  S6: And I went, whoa, listen to this guy. I get all, man.
• 11:55
  S6: I get all shaky and excited and.
• 11:58
  S5: Hey, guy's nuts. Hey, Michael. That's awesome bro. Boom. Brother.
• 12:02
  S5: Thanks for calling in. Yeah, come and see Rick and Worth, Illinois.
• 12:07
  S5: What do you say, Rick?
• 12:09
  S7: Well, you know, when I was a younger man, I
• 12:13
  S7: was a train wreck. Not a not a good train wreck.
• 12:16
  S7: The worst train wreck. And I was in the Navy
• 12:18
  S7: and my division chief invited me on a weekend retreat.
• 12:22
  S7: And we were in Palma, Spain, went to this little
• 12:25
  S7: church in this choir loft. And I found Jesus that day.
• 12:30
  S5: Wow, man.
• 12:31
  S7: And it absolutely transformed my life. It's been a, you know, 51,
• 12:37
  S7: 51 years. And I have I have said, come and
• 12:41
  S7: see countless times and watched him do that to other people. Yeah,
• 12:46
  S7: it's just an indescribable joy that this this guy who
• 12:51
  S7: I've never seen since I got out of the Navy,
• 12:53
  S7: never heard from again, said, hey, young man, come and see.
• 13:00
  S5: Yeah, bro, you nailed it. Boom, brother. Boom. This is
• 13:04
  S5: why we call you the boom crew. Oh my goodness.
• 13:07
  S5: Let's go back to the phone lines. Ali.
• 13:09
  S2: John, first time caller from Chicago. Have you seen the
• 13:12
  S2: power of God through invitation? Tell us about it.
• 13:16
  S7: Well, absolutely.
• 13:17
  S8: Um, so yesterday or two days ago was the 50th
• 13:21
  S8: anniversary of the day that I came to Christ.
• 13:23
  S5: Boom.
• 13:24
  S8: And I was in high school, and a friend of
• 13:27
  S8: mine was killed in a car accident. And her friends
• 13:30
  S8: invited me to a campus life meeting. And for the
• 13:33
  S8: first time, I heard the word in a way that
• 13:35
  S8: was relevant to me. It was outside of my religious upbringing,
• 13:39
  S8: and I said, I need to follow up on this.
• 13:42
  S8: I went to a camp that summer and it was
• 13:46
  S8: the 18th of August. In 1977, two days after Elvis died.
• 13:51
  S8: Then I gave my life to Christ, and two days
• 13:53
  S8: ago I. I called the guy who led me to
• 13:55
  S8: Christ 50 years ago and thanked him. And then a
• 13:58
  S8: very dear friend of mine came to Christ that same night,
• 14:01
  S8: and I called him and said, it's been good working
• 14:03
  S8: with you for 50 years. So. So there you go.
• 14:06
  S8: And we've been involved with Young Life because of that
• 14:08
  S8: for the last 50 years.
• 14:09
  S5: So boom. John.
• 14:11
  S2: John, what a timely question. You tuned in this morning
• 14:14
  S2: and you hear that this is our topic. You probably could.
• 14:17
  S9: Get the phone fast enough.
• 14:18
  S8: This is crazy. So but yeah, praise God for the
• 14:21
  S8: work you guys do. It's so exciting.
• 14:24
  S5: Wow. Thank you John. Oh goodness sakes Jennifer. First time caller,
• 14:28
  S5: West Palm, Florida. What do you say?
• 14:32
  S10: I say praise the Lord. And it's a good day.
• 14:35
  S5: Yeah. What's your story, sister?
• 14:38
  S10: My story is well over ten years ago, I was
• 14:41
  S10: attending a church and I knew I was feeling pulled
• 14:46
  S10: to call to something else, to somewhere else. And I
• 14:51
  S10: had looked online and there was a local women's group
• 14:54
  S10: at a nearby church. And I called and I asked
• 14:58
  S10: if I would be able to join in, even though
• 15:01
  S10: it was not my parish. And they said, we'd love
• 15:03
  S10: to have you. And I went, and I was so welcomed.
• 15:08
  S10: And even though someone didn't invite me, the Holy Spirit
• 15:13
  S10: really had put it on my heart. And I want
• 15:15
  S10: to share that even if someone's not asking you to
• 15:19
  S10: come to church with them or a Bible study, call
• 15:22
  S10: and go. And I can assure you, those people on
• 15:25
  S10: the other side are going to welcome you. And when
• 15:28
  S10: I walked in, I didn't know anyone. And there was
• 15:31
  S10: a woman putting food out and setting up and coffee,
• 15:34
  S10: and she said, oh, honey, you're new. Come sit with us.
• 15:37
  S10: And it.
• 15:38
  S9: Happens.
• 15:39
  S10: The elder of the church, their wives and one of
• 15:43
  S10: the women had her mother there with her as well.
• 15:47
  S10: And that was my biggest pivotal point of the lean
• 15:52
  S10: and rely on the Lord. And it has carried with
• 15:57
  S10: me into other churches and to and to be encouraging, um,
• 16:03
  S10: to my family, to others, to myself. And I just
• 16:07
  S10: want to share that. Um, yes, we have to be
• 16:10
  S10: different on the other side. That was what made me
• 16:13
  S10: call and stop doing what I was doing is when
• 16:16
  S10: you're in church, yes, we have to show that we're
• 16:20
  S10: different because we have Christ in us and he is
• 16:24
  S10: inviting us, and he's kind and he's loving and he's
• 16:27
  S10: forgiving and he's welcoming and he's not judging. And that
• 16:31
  S10: is how we're looking different on the other side of
• 16:34
  S10: those doors. And we're working for him every day. So
• 16:38
  S10: I just want to thank you so much. Thank you
• 16:40
  S10: for your station. Thank you for the encouragement, and I
• 16:42
  S10: pray for all the people that call in and for
• 16:44
  S10: you guys doing what you do.
• 16:46
  S5: Oh, Jennifer. Thank you, sister boom. Sister powerhouse man, what
• 16:51
  S5: we're getting here today, powerhouse.
• 16:53
  S2: And I love that there was a little detail. I
• 16:55
  S2: don't know if you caught it. She said she felt
• 16:56
  S2: like the Holy Spirit drew her there. When she got there,
• 16:59
  S2: someone said, hey, come sit with us. So there was
• 17:02
  S2: an invitation within the invitation. Once she got there, she
• 17:06
  S2: was made to feel welcomed by having someone to sit with.
• 17:09
  S5: What's on the other side, she said. Matters.
• 17:12
  S2: Yeah.
• 17:14
  S5: When you invite people to come and see, there's got
• 17:16
  S5: to be something for them to see. What a great
• 17:21
  S5: challenge for all of us today. Still taking your phone calls.
• 17:25
  S5: What's the question?
• 17:26
  S2: Have you seen the power of God through an invitation?
• 17:29
  S2: Who invited you? What happened when you got there? 805,
• 17:32
  S2: five five, 78, 98.
• 17:35
  S1: Whether it's in the pool or on the stage. She's
• 17:39
  S1: making a splash. Super di is in the crew. You're
• 17:43
  S1: listening to cast and crew?
• 17:45
  S5: Yeah, man. How have you seen the power of God
• 17:49
  S5: through invitation. Going back. Phone lines here. Sarah in Lombard, Illinois.
• 17:53
  S5: What's your story, Sarah?
• 17:55
  S11: Good morning y'all. Um, so this is very apropos today. Um,
• 17:59
  S11: I had a coworker that, uh, had been searching for
• 18:04
  S11: a while, but, um, just kind of searching everywhere else. And, uh,
• 18:09
  S11: I invited her to look at the Bible and she
• 18:11
  S11: kind of said, okay, thanks, and sort of ignored it
• 18:14
  S11: for a bit. And then a couple years later, she
• 18:17
  S11: came down with cancer and she called me up and
• 18:21
  S11: was like, hey, she actually texted me in the middle
• 18:23
  S11: of the night and was like, hey, you know, is
• 18:25
  S11: it hypocritical for me to come back to God now
• 18:28
  S11: just because I'm sick? And I told her, I was like,
• 18:31
  S11: you know, when your kids come home, Do you care
• 18:35
  S11: why they came? Or are you just glad they're there?
• 18:37
  S5: Oh, what a great response.
• 18:39
  S11: I'm going to do her funeral today. Oh, and.
• 18:42
  S9: I'm.
• 18:43
  S11: So, so, so glad that I know she's home with
• 18:46
  S11: Jesus now.
• 18:48
  S5: Oh my goodness. Sarah. Sarah, that is so touching. Sister,
• 18:53
  S5: I want to thank you from the bottom of our
• 18:55
  S5: heart for calling in today. Yeah. And what a great response.
• 19:00
  S9: Wow.
• 19:01
  S5: Your kids come home. You aren't concerned where they're coming from?
• 19:04
  S3: No.
• 19:05
  S2: Yeah.
• 19:06
  S5: My goodness. Heather. First time caller. Stewart, Florida. What's your story? Heather?
• 19:16
  S12: Uh, my coworker Brenda invited me to church. I was
• 19:19
  S12: deeply involved in New Age for years, and my mom
• 19:23
  S12: had been praying for me to come back to God
• 19:25
  S12: because I did grow up in church and my mom
• 19:28
  S12: came up to visit me. And just out of pleasing
• 19:31
  S12: my mother, I went to church with Brenda and I
• 19:34
  S12: encountered the amazing love of God. It was all black church.
• 19:38
  S12: I think we were the only three white people there,
• 19:41
  S12: and the the love of God just engulfed me and
• 19:45
  S12: changed my life since then.
• 19:47
  S5: Oh, Heather, that is so precious, sister. That is so precious.
• 19:53
  S5: Oh my goodness. I went because I got to please mom.
• 19:56
  S9: Right?
• 19:58
  S5: Gotta make mom happy.
• 19:59
  S4: Yeah, fine.
• 20:01
  S5: Oh my goodness. Guys, we have heard this has been
• 20:06
  S5: one of the most epic little spurts of stories here. Huh?
• 20:09
  S9: My goodness.
• 20:10
  S2: Yeah. And what a good reminder to be inviting people.
• 20:15
  S1: Get to know the team behind the scenes. Follow Carl
• 20:19
  S1: and crew on Facebook and Instagram.
• 20:21
  S5: Well, one of our favorites here is Doctor David Nelms.
• 20:25
  S5: And oh my goodness the Timothy Initiative. They're doing it guys.
• 20:28
  S5: I'm telling you they are making disciples around the globe.
• 20:32
  S5: And it is happening. You know, David, every time we
• 20:35
  S5: bring you in here, I'm I'm really wanting to get
• 20:39
  S5: underneath this, this churchianity and uproot that system where it's
• 20:47
  S5: like even small groups can be somewhat powerless because maybe
• 20:52
  S5: we're learning some new things, but we are lacking the
• 20:56
  S5: application of it to our lives. You're constantly learning. Have
• 21:01
  S5: you had any aha moments about a robust discipleship movement?
• 21:05
  S5: Anything lately?
• 21:07
  S7: Yeah, Carl, just when I think I've seen it all,
• 21:11
  S7: I realize I just hardly haven't seen anything yet. Just
• 21:16
  S7: one week ago, I was in West Africa. We rented
• 21:20
  S7: out the largest football or soccer stadium in Lomé, Togo,
• 21:25
  S7: the capital city, to bring together our. Paul's. The pastors
• 21:30
  S7: who train and the Timothy's the church planting students. We
• 21:34
  S7: brought them together from Togo and next door from Benin,
• 21:38
  S7: Togo and Benin is the birthplace of voodoo. Altars. Sacrifices everywhere. Well,
• 21:46
  S7: 21,000 of our Paul's and Timothy's from those two countries
• 21:52
  S7: gathered together to celebrate what we call achieve. Achieve is
• 21:57
  S7: an acronym for a church in every village, everywhere. And
• 22:00
  S7: about this time next year, late 2027, Togo will be
• 22:04
  S7: the first place on the face of the earth where
• 22:07
  S7: there will be a Bible teaching church within walking distance
• 22:12
  S7: of every single man and woman, boy and girl in
• 22:14
  S7: the whole country.
• 22:15
  S9: Wow.
• 22:16
  S7: And so we brought them together in anticipation to celebrate it.
• 22:21
  S7: I don't know that I've ever seen anything quite like
• 22:24
  S7: what I saw. We were there for two nights. The
• 22:27
  S7: first night the power went out in the whole stadium.
• 22:30
  S7: And so there's just thousands and thousands of people there. And,
• 22:34
  S7: you know, in the United States, if it's in the
• 22:36
  S7: middle of a church service type in an arena, what
• 22:40
  S7: do you do? These people just started singing and praising
• 22:45
  S7: God in their own native languages was probably 10 or
• 22:49
  S7: 12 different tribal groups there. And I want to tell
• 22:53
  S7: you something. I can't imagine a worship service in heaven
• 22:57
  S7: being more, more, more exciting than what I heard. Just
• 23:03
  S7: praising God, singing, dancing, uh, having no power didn't seem
• 23:09
  S7: to be the only one that bothered was us Americans. Okay.
• 23:13
  S7: And I have to admit, it did bother me, but
• 23:15
  S7: it sure didn't bother them. The next night there were
• 23:19
  S7: 21,000 of them there and just praising God for the
• 23:25
  S7: opportunity to go home and tell people about Jesus, make
• 23:31
  S7: disciples and start churches. And if I can add one
• 23:33
  S7: more thing to it, I know this is a long answer,
• 23:36
  S7: but we started there about 15 years ago. There were
• 23:40
  S7: 20 pastors who came together to say, let's. Let's go
• 23:44
  S7: after this church in every village, everywhere. 15 years later,
• 23:48
  S7: Carl and Ali, there are over 18,000 churches that have
• 23:54
  S7: been started. And we're anticipating another 4 to 5000 in
• 23:59
  S7: the next year.
• 24:00
  S9: Wow.
• 24:00
  S7: That's. That is what God is doing.
• 24:02
  S5: Oh my goodness.
• 24:04
  S2: Doctor David Nelms with us. He's the founder of the
• 24:06
  S2: Timothy Initiative. It's a global movement that makes and multiplies disciples,
• 24:10
  S2: churches and leaders. He mentioned their mission getting a church
• 24:13
  S2: in every village, everywhere. You know, it's interesting you mentioned
• 24:17
  S2: that those particular places is the birthplace of of voodoo,
• 24:20
  S2: whether it's voodoo or any other misguided, evil, dark world system.
• 24:26
  S2: We are hard wired to want to control, to want
• 24:30
  S2: to try to make sense of the world. When we
• 24:33
  S2: talk about the unstoppable gospel this this week, what are
• 24:37
  S2: you seeing the gospel do that nothing else can?
• 24:41
  S7: Yeah. You know, Ali, uh, my favorite book in the
• 24:44
  S7: Bible is the book of acts. The very last verse
• 24:48
  S7: tells us that that the gospel message Paul was locked
• 24:51
  S7: up in jail there in Rome, but the very last
• 24:55
  S7: word is unhindered. You can you know, you've heard it
• 24:58
  S7: said you can lock up preachers and Christ followers, but
• 25:02
  S7: you can't stop the gospel. It is unhindered. And again,
• 25:06
  S7: just the example I just gave is is one example.
• 25:10
  S7: But let me give you another. Uh, first day I
• 25:12
  S7: was in Togo last week, I went to what we
• 25:14
  S7: call a red village. A red village means there's no church,
• 25:17
  S7: there's no Christian there that we know of. It was
• 25:20
  S7: a voodoo village. And along with another pastor, we just
• 25:24
  S7: prayer walked it and the first house we came to,
• 25:28
  S7: we asked the lady. We had a translator there with us.
• 25:31
  S7: We asked her, can we pray for you? And she said, what?
• 25:34
  S7: We asked her, what do you need? She said she
• 25:36
  S7: was an older lady. She had two little grandkids there.
• 25:39
  S7: She said, I need food for my grandchildren. And so
• 25:42
  S7: we prayed for her and we prayed for her kids.
• 25:44
  S7: And then I asked her, I said, can I talk
• 25:46
  S7: to you about Jesus? I'd like to talk to you
• 25:48
  S7: about Jesus. And here's what she said. She said, no,
• 25:52
  S7: I don't want you to tell me. I want you
• 25:54
  S7: to tell all of my neighbors. So let me go
• 25:56
  S7: gather them together. And he.
• 25:57
  S9: Goes.
• 25:58
  S7: Who does that? Okay. So about five minutes later, there's
• 26:02
  S7: 15 of them sitting there. And the story they told
• 26:06
  S7: us was this about 35 years ago, a what we
• 26:09
  S7: would call a Timothy, a church planter, had come to
• 26:12
  S7: that village to try to start a church. And the
• 26:14
  S7: village all got together and they said, no, we're voodoo people.
• 26:18
  S7: We don't want you here. Leave. And so 35 years,
• 26:22
  S7: 35 years have gone by where now they're open. And
• 26:28
  S7: two days later, that pastor that I was with came
• 26:31
  S7: back there with some others, was able to lead a
• 26:34
  S7: lady to the Lord. We have a Timothy there. And
• 26:38
  S7: just in a couple of weeks, the first there's already
• 26:40
  S7: now believers in that village, but now there's going to
• 26:43
  S7: be a church there in just 2 or 3 weeks
• 26:45
  S7: from now. You can't stop the gospel. You can delay it,
• 26:49
  S7: but you can't stop it.
• 26:51
  S5: So along those lines, I have been piqued. Allie's been piqued,
• 26:56
  S5: our whole team, because we've been kind of after this
• 26:59
  S5: spiritual war angle in unique ways. We're not only do
• 27:04
  S5: we miss discipleship stateside here, I wonder if the underlying
• 27:09
  S5: thread here is that we're missing the reality of these
• 27:13
  S5: fallen angels, demonic spirits that are entrenched in different areas.
• 27:19
  S5: How does how do you deal with this? How have
• 27:21
  S5: you seen God get breakthrough?
• 27:24
  S7: Well, there are strongholds, there's no doubt about it. All
• 27:27
  S7: you got to do is read the book of Daniel.
• 27:29
  S7: And you see that very clearly. You know, it's it's
• 27:32
  S7: a spiritual war. And so the weapons are spiritual. It's
• 27:37
  S7: not strategy. It's not, uh, it's not books. It's, it's prayer.
• 27:42
  S7: It's the Holy Spirit. Uh, I'll give you another example.
• 27:45
  S7: One of our key leaders over there, his name is ESA.
• 27:49
  S7: ESA means Jesus. Well, ESA was born and raised as
• 27:54
  S7: a Muslim. I was joking with him. I said, so
• 27:57
  S7: you were a Muslim name? Jesus, huh? And he said,
• 28:00
  S7: he kind of laughed and said, yeah. And he wanted
• 28:03
  S7: nothing to do with Christianity. His parents weren't strong Muslims.
• 28:07
  S7: Everybody in his family never been a Christian in his family.
• 28:11
  S7: And he's in he's in college studying and he's laying
• 28:15
  S7: in his bed in his dorm room. And this sounds crazy.
• 28:18
  S7: First few times I heard it, I had my doubts,
• 28:21
  S7: I don't doubt anymore. And suddenly in his room, Carl
• 28:25
  S7: and Allie. There is a. There is a figure there,
• 28:29
  S7: and a white robe and a shining face, and you
• 28:33
  S7: know the rest of the story. And he. He reached
• 28:37
  S7: out and touched it and said, I am Jesus, and
• 28:40
  S7: I want you. And Issa converted to Christianity there on
• 28:45
  S7: the spot he is. Has become a devout follower of Jesus.
• 28:51
  S7: You could not be more devout. In fact, he was
• 28:53
  S7: the the leader of that, bringing that 21,000 people together
• 28:58
  S7: into that into that stadium. Now, that was a you know,
• 29:03
  S7: does Jesus appeared everybody. No, he doesn't, I understand that,
• 29:06
  S7: but he did there. And and by the way, I've
• 29:09
  S7: heard that testimony just I don't know how many dozens,
• 29:12
  S7: if not hundreds of times all over, uh, Muslim areas
• 29:16
  S7: across the world. And by the way, sometimes I think
• 29:19
  S7: Carl and Ali, I don't know if what I'm getting
• 29:22
  S7: ready to say is accurate, and it may not be
• 29:25
  S7: theologically solid. Jesus gave us the Great Commission. He told
• 29:30
  S7: us to take the gospel to everybody. Sometimes I can't
• 29:33
  S7: help but wonder if the Lord doesn't say, you know, what?
• 29:35
  S7: Are you people ever going to do what I told
• 29:37
  S7: you to do? Yeah, sometimes I think he just has
• 29:39
  S7: to jump in himself and and, uh, because we don't.
• 29:43
  S7: But whatever his reason is, um, uh, he came to
• 29:47
  S7: Christ as a result. It is a spiritual battle.
• 29:51
  S2: Doctor David Nelms with us, founder of the Timothy Initiative.
• 29:55
  S2: You know, when we think about the gospel so often,
• 29:58
  S2: we can think about just simply conversions. And we have
• 30:02
  S2: sometimes a great, great systems of getting people to outreaches
• 30:05
  S2: and getting people into church on a Sunday morning, which
• 30:08
  S2: is awesome. And many people get saved in churches across
• 30:11
  S2: the country, across the world. But this discipleship piece is
• 30:15
  S2: often the piece that is can be missing or lacking
• 30:18
  S2: where it's like someone gets saved and it's sort of
• 30:21
  S2: the the now what? Talk a little bit about the model.
• 30:24
  S2: You've referenced it just a little bit, but give us
• 30:26
  S2: a picture of what you believe discipleship can look like
• 30:30
  S2: in any context.
• 30:32
  S7: Yeah. The, the, you know, we, I talk a lot
• 30:34
  S7: about evangelism because evangelism is the first step. You cannot
• 30:38
  S7: be discipled. You cannot grow in Christ until you're first
• 30:42
  S7: born again. You have to be born into this family.
• 30:45
  S7: So it starts with evangelism. And I, I personally believe
• 30:48
  S7: that's a major issue here in the States. We don't
• 30:51
  S7: outside of the four walls of our churches, we don't
• 30:54
  S7: do a lot of evangelism. We kind of, uh, invite
• 30:58
  S7: people to church and, and hope the pastor will do
• 31:01
  S7: a good job presenting the gospel. But I don't believe
• 31:04
  S7: that was our Lord's intent when he when he gave
• 31:08
  S7: the Great Commission there in, in Matthew, Mark, Luke, John.
• 31:11
  S7: It's recorded in acts for that matter. He was not
• 31:15
  S7: talking to pastors. He was not talking to missionaries or
• 31:19
  S7: denominational leaders. He was talking to his followers. It was
• 31:22
  S7: to his followers that he gave the commission to make disciples.
• 31:27
  S7: I believe every single follower of Jesus Christ has received
• 31:31
  S7: the Great Commission. We are all supposed to be spreading
• 31:36
  S7: the gospel. And when people respond, I don't think our
• 31:40
  S7: Lord's intent was for us to bring them back to
• 31:42
  S7: the pastors, to disciple them. I think our Lord's intent
• 31:46
  S7: was for our pastors to equip the people to be
• 31:50
  S7: able to disciple those new believers. Yeah. And so that's
• 31:55
  S7: what we teach and that's what we believe. We we
• 31:58
  S7: follow a little, little saying which goes like this. Every believer,
• 32:03
  S7: a disciple, every disciple, a disciple maker, every disciple makers home,
• 32:11
  S7: a potential church in every church, a church planting training center.
• 32:18
  S7: And when you believe that, really believe it not just
• 32:22
  S7: in your head, but in your heart. And you communicate
• 32:25
  S7: that to the new believers, they they accept it. And
• 32:29
  S7: so what you end up with are not just church
• 32:32
  S7: members or church goers, but disciples who are making disciples.
• 32:38
  S5: Quick question on those lines. I think when people hear discipler,
• 32:42
  S5: they think leadership gift. Teaching gift. What's your take on
• 32:47
  S5: that one? Because there are different gifts in the body
• 32:51
  S5: of Christ that all have a different role in making disciples.
• 32:56
  S5: Have you wrestled with that?
• 32:58
  S7: Yeah, I have. And there is no doubt that some
• 33:02
  S7: are gifted in such ways, such as teaching, that that
• 33:06
  S7: lends itself more to, uh, direct disciple making. I will
• 33:11
  S7: not argue that point, But. But I think we are
• 33:15
  S7: all supposed to be involved as directly as possible in
• 33:19
  S7: making disciples one way or another. For example, uh, giving
• 33:23
  S7: is lifted as a spiritual gift. But that does not
• 33:26
  S7: mean that you don't give unless you're unless you have
• 33:29
  S7: that gift of giving. I think we are all to
• 33:32
  S7: be givers and to be generous in our giving. I
• 33:35
  S7: think there are some that are really gifted there. Okay.
• 33:38
  S7: But that doesn't exclude the others. Yeah. And I would
• 33:41
  S7: say the same thing. Uh, Carl, I, I used to
• 33:44
  S7: pastor in South Florida, I had a Jamaican lady in
• 33:47
  S7: the church. My goodness, that lady could pray. Uh, I
• 33:51
  S7: think we're all supposed to pray that gal, when she prayed,
• 33:54
  S7: I think all heaven stopped and listened. Okay. Uh, she
• 33:58
  S7: was really gifted there, but that doesn't mean that we
• 34:00
  S7: don't all pray. And I think we're all supposed to
• 34:03
  S7: be involved one way or another, as directly as possible
• 34:06
  S7: in making disciples. Some, I think, are going to be
• 34:10
  S7: a little bit more gifted, stronger than others.
• 34:13
  S2: Doctor David Nelms, founder of the Timothy Initiative. If you
• 34:16
  S2: want more, just text disciple to 805, five, five, 78
• 34:21
  S2: and 98. Just that one word disciple to 805 five, five, 78, 98.
• 34:27
  S1: It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
• 34:30
  S5: Guess the word for today is imagine. Imagine what God
• 34:34
  S5: would do if we could just say, come and see. Oh,
• 34:38
  S5: we got someone with a heart for this right now.
• 34:40
  S5: Yvonne Carlson is with us. Yvonne, you got a heart
• 34:43
  S5: for this, don't you, sister?
• 34:45
  S13: You know it.
• 34:46
  S5: How can we leverage digital in a way that we've
• 34:50
  S5: not even imagined? I mean, you're in the swift water
• 34:52
  S5: with this one.
• 34:53
  S13: So the internet is our mission field. So you think
• 34:56
  S13: about the largest unreached people group in the world. They
• 35:00
  S13: are all online.
• 35:01
  S2: Okay. So what are the numbers? We think of a
• 35:03
  S2: lot of the world without having access to the internet.
• 35:06
  S2: But you're saying that's not the case.
• 35:08
  S13: Every day the numbers are changing, even in developing nations.
• 35:11
  S13: They have cell phones. They have ways to connect and
• 35:15
  S13: learn about the gospel all digitally. We're like past the
• 35:18
  S13: information age. We are in the age of AI. So
• 35:22
  S13: when you think about this, think that people who once
• 35:25
  S13: could not have access to technology now do.
• 35:29
  S5: You know, Yvonne Carlson, 20 years of experience in Christian broadcasting,
• 35:33
  S5: and she was here at Moody. She's a fireball. She's
• 35:36
  S5: got a heart as big as a bucket for the
• 35:38
  S5: things of God. So, Yvonne, give us a vision for
• 35:42
  S5: explore God, I know you're with a great organization. You're
• 35:46
  S5: on their board. You work there. What's the mission? What
• 35:49
  S5: are you guys up to? And what's a story of
• 35:51
  S5: what God's doing?
• 35:53
  S13: We were founded by an innovator. You'll love this, Carl,
• 35:55
  S13: because I know you're an innovator. He worked for Steve Jobs,
• 36:00
  S13: and so he really saw the opportunity to use advertising
• 36:04
  S13: to share the gospel. Fast forward 22 years later, we've
• 36:09
  S13: reached over 3 billion people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
• 36:13
  S13: So the vision is great, evangelism is wonderful. But now
• 36:18
  S13: we really, really want to dial in to discipleship that
• 36:22
  S13: one on one life, on life change that you see
• 36:25
  S13: when you walk with someone.
• 36:27
  S2: Yvonne, why do you think so many people are turning
• 36:29
  S2: to AI for spiritual guidance? I mean, everything from what
• 36:33
  S2: is the meaning of life to I mean, the questions
• 36:36
  S2: are getting more complex and AI is going to give
• 36:39
  S2: you an answer pretty quickly.
• 36:42
  S13: I think people are searching, you know, you you guys
• 36:44
  S13: have talked about it. There's that God shaped hole in
• 36:47
  S13: each of us. And so it's easy to reach for AI, right? It's,
• 36:52
  S13: it's like, it's like going to Starbucks. I went to
• 36:54
  S13: Starbucks this morning. I got my drink. It's instant. And
• 36:58
  S13: so I think people are really just hungry. And this
• 37:02
  S13: is the easiest way for them to connect.
• 37:05
  S5: Give us a story. How have you seen God use this?
• 37:09
  S13: Okay, so I want to talk to you about Randhir.
• 37:12
  S13: He's in Mauritius. He is ready to take his life. Um,
• 37:17
  S13: you know, you think about somebody being in a really dark,
• 37:19
  S13: difficult place. And so he's like, okay, God, if you're real,
• 37:24
  S13: let me know it. He goes online, he sees and
• 37:26
  S13: explore God. And now note we're reaching people that haven't heard.
• 37:31
  S13: We're targeting those people. He sees the ad. He ends
• 37:34
  S13: up connecting with an online missionary. Not only does he
• 37:37
  S13: get saved and baptized, he's now an online missionary himself.
• 37:44
  S5: That's proof positive right there, Ali.
• 37:46
  S2: So online missionary, explain that a little bit because I
• 37:48
  S2: know you said the heart, your heart is for discipleship,
• 37:51
  S2: but we don't usually think of the internet as a
• 37:53
  S2: great discipleship tool because it's not person to person.
• 37:57
  S13: Well, technology enables the connection, but the people are making
• 38:00
  S13: the disciples, right? So just like a missionary would go
• 38:04
  S13: to a country and journey with an individual. We're doing
• 38:07
  S13: that digitally. One person journeying with another person to help
• 38:12
  S13: them understand what it means to be a Christ follower
• 38:15
  S13: and to help transform them and to see growth.
• 38:18
  S5: So you've learned a lot about technology, and I'm curious
• 38:22
  S5: about this big time. There are ads or come and
• 38:27
  S5: see kind of experiences that you can give people, and
• 38:30
  S5: in the first five seconds, they're going to turn it
• 38:32
  S5: off because it does nothing for them. What have you learned?
• 38:35
  S5: You've got to put out there in the first few
• 38:37
  S5: seconds that the Holy Spirit uses to grab the attention
• 38:41
  S5: of someone?
• 38:43
  S13: I think it's simple. You have to meet people where
• 38:45
  S13: they are. So we have language teams. We work in
• 38:49
  S13: 15 languages, and we think about how do we contextualize
• 38:52
  S13: the message to really connect with that seeker? It could
• 38:56
  S13: be loneliness, it could be fear. A lot of the
• 38:59
  S13: things you and I deal with as well. People need
• 39:02
  S13: to feel seen in their need.
• 39:04
  S9: Yeah.
• 39:05
  S2: You know, if you're driving on the highway, at least
• 39:08
  S2: in the Midwest, but maybe other places too. You often
• 39:10
  S2: see those billboards. They're bold. They have maybe a question,
• 39:14
  S2: a question. Do you know where you're going to spend eternity?
• 39:17
  S2: Or do you have questions about God and inviting. It's
• 39:20
  S2: not new to invite people in. How can we leverage
• 39:23
  S2: the digital landscape in a way that maybe we haven't
• 39:25
  S2: in other ways?
• 39:27
  S13: Let's take that billboard analogy. Imagine those ads reaching anywhere
• 39:31
  S13: on the face of the earth, including closed countries where
• 39:35
  S13: people can't even physically go to church, but they can
• 39:37
  S13: connect with an online missionary and find Jesus. And we're
• 39:41
  S13: even seeing online church.
• 39:43
  S5: So, Yvonne, this is a new wrinkle to this thing
• 39:46
  S5: because I think a lot of people assume that digital
• 39:50
  S5: is just what Ali said. It's kind of out there,
• 39:52
  S5: but there's no connection. You guys are committed to connecting
• 39:55
  S5: with people. How in the world do you do that?
• 39:58
  S5: You aren't hooking them up with an AI bot. So
• 40:01
  S5: are you in this mass training kind of path or
• 40:05
  S5: what do you do?
• 40:06
  S13: So we have a proprietary system called Path, and that
• 40:09
  S13: allows online missionaries and seekers to talk and remain anonymous
• 40:14
  S13: if they want. Like, we could be talking to each
• 40:16
  S13: other through this technology. And I just know that your
• 40:20
  S13: name is Carl and you know that I'm Yvonne and
• 40:22
  S13: that facilitates the connection. And the online missionary also has
• 40:26
  S13: a cadre of resources available to them. Oh, you want
• 40:30
  S13: to talk about the Trinity? Oh, here's a resource that
• 40:33
  S13: I can send you about the Trinity and explaining what
• 40:36
  S13: the Trinity is. So we're seeing basically discipleship on scale
• 40:41
  S13: through this tool.
• 40:43
  S2: How is the local church coming alongside this? Maybe that's
• 40:45
  S2: something that's currently happening, or maybe that's in the future.
• 40:48
  S2: How can the church support this effort?
• 40:51
  S13: I would say if your pastor and your missions pastor,
• 40:54
  S13: this is a great opportunity for your congregation or an
• 40:57
  S13: individual who has dreamed of being a missionary and may
• 41:00
  S13: never Um, actually leave their home. You can be a
• 41:04
  S13: missionary right now, today from your own home. So I
• 41:08
  S13: would say people need to go to explore god.com and
• 41:11
  S13: see the stories of transformation. I reindeer is one powerful
• 41:15
  S13: story amongst many.
• 41:17
  S5: Give us another one. How else is God using this?
• 41:20
  S13: We're seeing people and I have to be careful and
• 41:23
  S13: sensitive here in closed countries. Find Christ people coming out
• 41:28
  S13: of terrorist organizations who just happen to see an ad
• 41:32
  S13: and are radically transformed and now are sharing the gospel. Um,
• 41:36
  S13: in the Middle East. It's astounding. Um, if you've, I've
• 41:40
  S13: spent a lot of time there and to think that
• 41:42
  S13: places that were once closed to the gospel. We're seeing
• 41:45
  S13: it flourish. Yeah. Because of these online missionaries who are,
• 41:49
  S13: you know, they can reach more people in a day
• 41:51
  S13: than you could physically. Right. I mean, I could sit
• 41:53
  S13: and have coffee with you. I'd love that, Carl and Ali.
• 41:56
  S13: But imagine how many people you could reach in a day. Yeah. Online.
• 42:00
  S2: So, Yvonne, what excites you about this? Because I know
• 42:03
  S2: you are a tech. You are all about tech. But
• 42:06
  S2: even more than that, you're all about the gospel. So
• 42:08
  S2: as you see what's ahead, a lot of people look
• 42:11
  S2: feel fearful when they look at AI and how technology
• 42:15
  S2: is changing. Why does it excite you with AI?
• 42:19
  S13: Language is no longer a barrier. We have such great
• 42:23
  S13: translation tools and explore God. We're. We're increasing the number
• 42:27
  S13: of languages that we're serving. So that's no longer a barrier.
• 42:30
  S13: So you can literally speak to anyone, anytime, anywhere, because
• 42:34
  S13: language is no longer a barrier. So that really excites
• 42:38
  S13: me because that really opens up the opportunity to reach
• 42:42
  S13: and disciple more people.
• 42:45
  S5: Yeah. Yvonne Carlson is really a visionary and she loves innovation,
• 42:52
  S5: and she's in the swift water of a really cool resource.
• 42:55
  S5: You want to check this thing out, text the word
• 42:57
  S5: explore to 805 557898. One word explore to 800 555, 7898.
• 43:08
  S5: And here's why. Man, the gospel's unstoppable. And God's leveraging
• 43:13
  S5: everything in this world for his glory and good. So
• 43:17
  S5: check it out. Text Word Explorer to our number and
• 43:20
  S5: see if this is something you want to get involved
• 43:22
  S5: in right from your desktop.
• 43:25
  S1: Breaking chains and running free. You're listening to cast and crew.
• 43:30
  S5: So some of you may be wondering on Thursdays at
• 43:36
  S5: 630 and 830 central time when we do this little
• 43:41
  S5: thing called make it a metaphor. You might be wondering,
• 43:46
  S5: does Jonathan get a heads up on these stories? Does
• 43:49
  S5: he get a hint about where we're going with the story?
• 43:52
  S5: Or does someone who calls in with the story, does
• 43:55
  S5: he see on a screen kind of where they're going
• 43:58
  S5: with the story. And the answer is no way. No,
• 44:01
  S5: that would fly. So in the face of young Thunder
• 44:05
  S5: himself and all of us here, but especially young Thunder. Yeah. Yeah.
• 44:09
  S5: If if we call it make it a metaphor. And
• 44:11
  S5: he's got time to think about it really. Because the whole,
• 44:14
  S5: the whole idea behind it is we, we got it
• 44:19
  S5: on the fly. You got to deliver, man.
• 44:21
  S3: Woo. Yeah. Really makes you lean on God and it
• 44:23
  S3: really makes your stomach churn a little bit in these
• 44:26
  S3: leading moments up to the story.
• 44:28
  S5: Yeah. Homiletics class back at Multnomah Bible College. Man, my
• 44:33
  S5: homiletics prof had this thing called shoot from the hip
• 44:35
  S5: with a loaded gun and it was, all right, here's
• 44:38
  S5: the central passage. You get three minutes, then I got
• 44:42
  S5: three minutes. You get three minutes, step outside, think about
• 44:45
  S5: it and come back in. And you got to preach
• 44:48
  S5: a devotional on that, on that, on that central passage
• 44:52
  S5: of scripture. And guess who was the first one up
• 44:55
  S5: in homiletics class?
• 44:56
  S3: Was it you?
• 44:56
  S5: Yeah. I mean, I guess they pick out the loud
• 44:59
  S5: guys and go. You're up. Clawson. You're the first one up. Guys,
• 45:03
  S5: it was panic mode for me. And you know, I
• 45:06
  S5: did the best thing I could do. I got on
• 45:09
  S5: my knees outside. I remember exactly where I was. I
• 45:12
  S5: got on my knees. And young thunder, by the way.
• 45:15
  S5: So can I give the back story on how this
• 45:17
  S5: happens every time? Yes. Right. When we're leading up to
• 45:20
  S5: making a metaphor, that's what Young Thunder does. This kid
• 45:23
  S5: has got his head down and he's begging God, show
• 45:26
  S5: me from your word. What in the world I'm going
• 45:29
  S5: to give here. Isn't that true?
• 45:31
  S9: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
• 45:33
  S5: Sorry, young Thunder, I busted.
• 45:34
  S3: No. It's okay. It's good. Well, actually, I'm glad you
• 45:38
  S3: say it, because the last thing I would want anyone
• 45:40
  S3: to think is that I'm pulling from just my own
• 45:42
  S3: wisdom and ability to do this.
• 45:44
  S5: Because that would come up empty.
• 45:46
  S3: Yeah. Because I'm certainly not. It is.
• 45:48
  S5: All. God. Oh, man. It's so precious. I love it, man.
• 45:50
  S5: I can almost feel the yearning of his soul when
• 45:54
  S5: he bows his head. Please, God, please.
• 45:57
  S3: Give me.
• 45:57
  S5: Something. His eyes are closed, so tight it's like you know,
• 46:00
  S5: it's one of those cringe prayers. God help me now.
• 46:05
  S3: Yes, every Thursday.
• 46:07
  S5: With that as a setup, it's time.
• 46:10
  S1: Finding nuggets of truth in everyday life.
• 46:13
  S14: It's a metaphor. It's just a metaphor, dude.
• 46:15
  S15: That's a metaphor.
• 46:17
  S14: It's a metaphor. I know it's a metaphor.
• 46:19
  S1: It's time for making a metaphor with young thunder.
• 46:24
  S2: So we give him a story. He has to make
• 46:27
  S2: it a metaphor. It's back to school season.
• 46:31
  S3: Yes.
• 46:32
  S2: And this one for me. I'm not sure how to feel.
• 46:35
  S2: Young Thunder. So this back to school season today, my
• 46:39
  S2: daughter goes back to school for the start of her
• 46:42
  S2: senior year.
• 46:44
  S9: High school is the.
• 46:46
  S2: Start of her senior year. So this is a this
• 46:48
  S2: feels big. It feels.
• 46:49
  S5: It is big.
• 46:50
  S2: Feels monumental, and all of the feelings of, boy, this
• 46:55
  S2: is the last year where she's, you know, under our
• 46:59
  S2: roof as a kid, right?
• 47:02
  S9: Because she's.
• 47:02
  S4: 17.
• 47:03
  S2: Years old and she's looking at college. And so, you know,
• 47:06
  S2: the question for people ask, how are you feeling? And
• 47:09
  S2: the answer is, I don't really know how I feel.
• 47:12
  S2: You send them off, you feel like and every parent
• 47:15
  S2: has experienced this, who's gone through this journey. You send
• 47:18
  S2: them off, you hold them, and then you send them
• 47:20
  S2: to kindergarten and that feels big. And then with each milestone,
• 47:24
  S2: it feels like it gets bigger and bigger. And then
• 47:26
  S2: this one first day of your senior year of high school,
• 47:28
  S2: and it feels like a slow countdown to her leaving
• 47:32
  S2: the nest. And I'm excited because this is a new
• 47:36
  S2: season of life for her. But of course, I have
• 47:38
  S2: the feeling of, oh, did I do everything that I could?
• 47:43
  S2: Is she ready? AM I ready? AM I going to
• 47:46
  S2: cry when I drop her off in college? So, Jonathan,
• 47:49
  S2: make it a metaphor for all of the moms and
• 47:51
  S2: dads and grandmas who are feeling the emotions of back
• 47:54
  S2: to school season. It's monumental. We're sending them out into
• 47:58
  S2: the world and we've got questions and emotions. What do
• 48:01
  S2: you say? Make it a metaphor.
• 48:03
  S3: Yes you do. I remember when my parents dropped me
• 48:05
  S3: off for college, and you know, that whole day seemed
• 48:08
  S3: really fun until they left. And then I was sitting
• 48:13
  S3: in the dorm room by myself, and I was like,
• 48:15
  S3: I don't even know what to do. It's quiet. I'm
• 48:17
  S3: by myself. I'm in this new place. I kind of
• 48:19
  S3: want to go back home. This makes me a little nervous.
• 48:22
  S3: But you know what? Of course, there's nervousness with going
• 48:26
  S3: off and being sent off. Uh, and sending off as
• 48:30
  S3: the parent. Those things are hard, but growth is needed,
• 48:35
  S3: and it is good, and it's worth celebrating. The first
• 48:39
  S3: verse that came to my mind has a different connotation
• 48:41
  S3: than what you're talking about here. But I think the
• 48:42
  S3: importance is it still matches what we're talking about. Uh,
• 48:46
  S3: it came to my mind was first Corinthians three two
• 48:49
  S3: where Paul says, I fed you with milk, not solid food,
• 48:52
  S3: for you weren't ready for it. And even now you're
• 48:53
  S3: not ready. So he's talking to them about the need
• 48:56
  S3: to change from milk to solid food at some point,
• 49:00
  S3: but they weren't ready for it. Growth is important. You
• 49:04
  S3: don't want to keep your kids on that, on that
• 49:07
  S3: milk all the time. It's about getting them ready for it.
• 49:12
  S3: And Ali, of course, there are going to be things
• 49:14
  S3: where they, you know, where maybe they want to come
• 49:16
  S3: back home and maybe they don't feel ready all the time,
• 49:19
  S3: but you as a parent have prepared them, have have
• 49:22
  S3: done the best you can, and God takes care of everything.
• 49:26
  S3: In the midst of that. He, he covers every imperfection
• 49:30
  S3: in the middle and he gets them ready. Growth is
• 49:33
  S3: a good thing. Growth is scary spiritually just as much
• 49:37
  S3: as it is in those moments of life. I don't
• 49:39
  S3: want to do this because it requires me to change.
• 49:42
  S3: It requires things to be different and I'm really comfortable
• 49:45
  S3: being back home. I remember when I first moved off
• 49:47
  S3: to college, about a week or two later, I called
• 49:49
  S3: my parents and I was like, you know, I think
• 49:51
  S3: I'm gonna come back home for this a little bit.
• 49:53
  S3: And my mom said, no, you're not. You're not gonna.
• 49:56
  S9: No you're not.
• 49:57
  S3: She said, you.
• 49:58
  S5: Gotta make friends.
• 49:59
  S3: Yeah. She said, you cannot come home until November, which
• 50:02
  S3: was a few months down the road for Thanksgiving. She said,
• 50:04
  S3: you're not allowed to come back home until then because
• 50:07
  S3: you need to grow the same thing spiritually. I we
• 50:10
  S3: seek comfort. We seek to be kind of kind of
• 50:14
  S3: cradled and swaddled in these little baskets of comfort. Spiritually.
• 50:19
  S3: God wants us to grow. He wants us to be
• 50:21
  S3: moved into uncomfortable. And that is hard. It is not easy.
• 50:26
  S3: It feels very terrifying sometimes, but God's facilitating the whole
• 50:30
  S3: thing and moving from that spiritual milk to spiritual meat,
• 50:35
  S3: a heartier food. It's gonna take better care of us
• 50:37
  S3: in the long run and give us what we need,
• 50:39
  S3: so we gotta embrace it.
• 50:41
  S9: Excellent.
• 50:42
  S5: You put a qualifier on that. That was unnecessary. That's
• 50:45
  S5: one of the best metaphors you've had. That was great.
• 50:47
  S3: Oh. Thank you. I really appreciate that.
• 50:49
  S5: Praise God, it's really good.
• 50:51
  S2: That's I think that's reassuring for a lot of parents.
• 50:53
  S5: Yeah. So here's the principle. Burn the bottle. Burn the bottle.
• 50:58
  S5: Melt it down.
• 50:59
  S9: I think I prefer Jonathan's. Yeah.
• 51:02
  S5: Burn, man. I'm going hardcore.
• 51:04
  S9: Burn the bottle. That's really.
• 51:06
  S5: Melt the. Melt the bottle. No, that's a great one, Jonathan.
• 51:09
  S5: That's really.
• 51:10
  S3: Good. It's so important. The greatest thing that my mom
• 51:14
  S3: ever did for me after I left the house was
• 51:16
  S3: not let me come home.
• 51:17
  S9: Not let you.
• 51:18
  S3: Come right back. Because otherwise I. And I saw it
• 51:21
  S3: with other people who, who spent every weekend going home
• 51:24
  S3: if they lived nearby and they never got into community
• 51:28
  S3: and they never grew in the new phase of life
• 51:30
  S3: that they were supposed to be in. And they were
• 51:32
  S3: kind of isolated where they were when they were back
• 51:34
  S3: on campus. And so being told I couldn't come home
• 51:37
  S3: was the best thing for me.
• 51:38
  S5: In so many pranks and shenanigans you would have missed
• 51:41
  S5: out on. You would have gone back home.
• 51:43
  S9: That is very true story for another day.
• 51:46
  S3: I was gonna say I might have. That might have
• 51:47
  S3: been a benefit for me if I got out of
• 51:49
  S3: some of those pranks and shenanigans.
• 51:52
  S9: For.
• 51:52
  S5: A couple of them that are doozies. Man.
• 51:55
  S3: I should have missed. Yeah.
• 51:57
  S16: Oh, man.
• 51:59
  S5: Unstoppable gospel. We gotta grow, guys. We gotta, we gotta move.
• 52:03
  S5: Is it scary? Yeah it is, but moving from milk
• 52:07
  S5: to meat is a necessary thing. I don't know what
• 52:09
  S5: your stage of growth is that God's moving you into,
• 52:12
  S5: but let's go for it. Today we're talking unstoppable gospel.
• 52:17
  S5: And there is one. There's there's an aspect of reaching
• 52:24
  S5: the world that I think sometimes we underestimate the value of.
• 52:29
  S5: And it's everywhere in the early church. It's how the
• 52:33
  S5: disciples grew. It's how the gospel spread. It's how a
• 52:37
  S5: whole city was reached just when someone said, come and see.
• 52:44
  S5: And we're talking about that coming up.