Latest / Karl and Crew / Transformation and Renewal Q&A with Greg Dempster

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Transformation and Renewal Q&A with Greg Dempster · Karl and Crew

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S1: killer content. Oh, Ali, where are we at here, sister?
2:09
S3: Well, we have another guest expert who's going to be
2:13
S3: popping in right now.
2:14
S1: Yeah, we got him with us. Greg Dempster, uh, Christ's
2:18
S1: life Ministries. All about renewal, my man. Let's begin at
2:23
S1: the beginning. What in the world is your goal with
2:26
S1: this ministry that God has called you to?
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S6: First of all, great to be with you this morning
2:31
S6: and with your audience. We're we're all about renewal in
2:34
S6: Christ's life, helps pastoral leaders experience genuine transformation, and then
2:40
S6: equips them to bring transformation to the organizations that they lead.
2:44
S6: We're all about finding full life like wholeness in Christ.
2:50
S1: Now, what's really cool is we've had Greg on here
2:53
S1: and the reason we've got him in in Ask the
2:56
S1: Experts Week is that these renewal principles, we've in the
3:01
S1: past handed them off to you and walked you through
3:04
S1: a couple of different journals. We're going to be giving
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S1: you a link to Greg's site throughout this hour, but
3:10
S1: we've got a full hour of questions for Greg. Let's
3:13
S1: talk about renewal. For every person. Greg, what's your heart
3:17
S1: behind that?
3:18
S6: It would be really difficult to form biblical ideas about
3:22
S6: renewal without starting in Romans 12, especially verse two where
3:27
S6: Paul says this. We've got to experience metamorphosis through the
3:32
S6: renewal of noose. That's the Greek word for mind there.
3:35
S6: He uses that word specifically to help us understand that
3:39
S6: renewal happens in how we perceive and how we interpret life.
3:44
S6: It's all about this, these default interpretations that we have
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S6: in life. How were those formed? That's really the question
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S6: that that springs from Romans 12. Well, how was my
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S6: mind formed? And the mind is formed through experiences, how
4:00
S6: we interpret those experiences and then our response to those experiences.
4:05
S6: And what ends up happening is we form these governing
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S6: ideas that drive our lives. We can believe all the
4:11
S6: right things about Jesus, really have saving faith in Jesus,
4:16
S6: and yet still experience a chasm between what we believe
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S6: to be true about God and what we're experiencing daily.
4:22
S3: Greg Dempster, our guest right now, founder and director of
4:25
S3: Christ Life Ministries. Their mission is to help remove that
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S3: chasm that often exists between what people believe to be
4:31
S3: true about God and what they're experiencing daily. To help
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S3: our listeners, Greg, what are the type of questions that
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S3: you get asked most in your line of work? I
4:41
S3: think that will help, um, get the wheels turning as
4:44
S3: to what should I ask this guy?
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S6: I think most of the questions are related to why
4:50
S6: the person is stuck. They might be leading a church
4:53
S6: of 20,000, they might be leading a church to 200
4:56
S6: or lead a missions organization overseas, but they feel stuck
5:01
S6: or stifled in their relationship with Jesus. Like in some ways,
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S6: they feel like they've stepped away from their first love.
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S6: It's not fresh and real like it was in the past,
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S6: that they're that they're in some ways feeling like they've
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S6: defaulted to using God as a means to their own end,
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S6: the end being that they need to perform to be okay,
5:22
S6: that they need approval to be okay, that they they
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S6: need something from God in order to perform at a
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S6: level that where they'll be valued. And so the questions
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S6: would be, how do I break that cycle? What is
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S6: transformation really look like? Could it be that transformation is
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S6: an integral part of of the way that God works
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S6: to set us all free, that it's a universal work
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S6: in us and and really that that would be the, the,
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S6: the main question is how might I leave what I'm
5:54
S6: experiencing right now and enter into a full experience of Jesus?
5:59
S1: I don't know that there's any disciple of Christ who
6:03
S1: hasn't asked that question at some point. Greg, what do
6:05
S1: you think?
6:06
S6: Well, I mean, here's the bottom line. I mean, the
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S6: Holy Spirit, John 1613. He's the spirit of truth. He
6:13
S6: leads us into truth about all things he's given to
6:15
S6: every blood bought follower of Jesus Christ for a reason
6:20
S6: that we need the Holy Spirit. Titus three five teaches
6:24
S6: us that we need ongoing renewal of the Holy Spirit
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S6: for us to fully engage the lives that God has
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S6: designed us to live. So yes, every Christ follower is
6:35
S6: going to be made aware of the fact that they
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S6: they need the renewal, the transformation of God and and really,
6:42
S6: God in His Word offers us the route to obtain it.
6:46
S3: We've got Greg Dempster as our guest expert right now.
6:49
S3: If you have questions, if you feel stuck or stifled,
6:52
S3: or having trouble breaking some cycle in your life. If
6:56
S3: you would like to ask a question. I know some
6:58
S3: of these might be more sensitive, so if text feels
7:01
S3: like more comfortable, we will not shout out numbers or
7:03
S3: use names. 800 555 7898 but do feel free to
7:08
S3: call as well. We will take your call in questions
7:11
S3: 800 555 7898 800 555 7898.
7:18
S1: Yeah, this is tremendous. Um, we're grateful to have Greg
7:23
S1: Dempster here. 800 555 7898. Let's get those calls in
7:29
S1: or texts 800 555 7898.
7:35
S7: You can take him out of Alaska, but you can't
7:38
S7: take Alaska out of him. Carl is in the crew.
7:42
S7: It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
7:45
S1: It's Carl and crew. Our whole week is ask the experts.
7:49
S1: And sometimes we got to break the logjam loose. There's
7:52
S1: a lot of questions around renewal, habit, looping, sin, shame. Repent, repeat.
7:59
S1: Speak to that one. Greg. Just a general sin. Shame. Repent.
8:05
S1: Repeat our guest right now, Greg Dempster. What do you say,
8:08
S1: my man?
8:09
S6: Let's just get real practical. Sometimes you've got to analyze
8:13
S6: what you've done in the past and just do the opposite.
8:19
S6: And sometimes we isolate because we don't want to be
8:22
S6: open and honest with the people who are in our
8:27
S6: sphere of influence. We feel like if they knew who
8:29
S6: we really are and what we do, they'd reject us.
8:34
S6: So we isolate. We try to fix it, fix ourselves
8:37
S6: so that we can fix the relationship that we have
8:40
S6: with Jesus. None of that works. We've got to draw
8:44
S6: people in people who have proven themselves to be trustworthy.
8:48
S6: We've got to crack it open sometimes with the leaders
8:50
S6: that I work with, them, just being able to share
8:54
S6: the depths of their brokenness with another person breaks the chain.
9:00
S6: And so for some of you who are in this
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S6: loop of of sinning and then and then getting back
9:05
S6: on your feet and repeating, maybe it's shame based. Don't isolate.
9:12
S6: Make sure that you've got somebody trustworthy in your life
9:14
S6: that's a praying person, a person that that cares about
9:17
S6: you and that that will journey with you. But number two,
9:22
S6: you need to look at your rhythms with Christ and
9:25
S6: and what you've done in the past, just trying to
9:27
S6: perform better so that you can be valued or gain
9:31
S6: God's value is never going to win, because you already
9:35
S6: have all the value that you'll ever receive from Jesus
9:39
S6: through the cross values. Finish it static. He'll never love
9:43
S6: you more than he loves you right now. So when
9:45
S6: we're in rhythms of trying to seek what we already have.
9:48
S6: It's a no win proposition.
9:50
S3: Greg Dempster, our guest right now. You know, lately there
9:53
S3: have been a lot of stories in the news about
9:56
S3: leaders falling in some sort of dramatic way. I'm not
10:01
S3: going to point to any specific stories, but if you
10:03
S3: pay attention, it seems like there's a lot of people
10:07
S3: who are doing a public ministry but privately crumbling. And
10:13
S3: every time you see another one of those stories, it's heartbreaking.
10:16
S3: But it also is kind of a cautionary tale. What
10:19
S3: can leaders do to guard themselves against these kind of
10:24
S3: public failings, but also just the everything leading up to that,
10:30
S3: if you get what I'm saying.
10:31
S6: Yeah. You know, for every public failing, there's a myriad
10:35
S6: of private failings. And and the reality is that just
10:41
S6: even if if we were all to just stop and
10:43
S6: take note of our personal lives right now. If we
10:49
S6: have a litany, even a small collection of personal failings
10:54
S6: that continue to bombard our lives. That's that's how the
11:00
S6: deck is set. That's the starting blocks for a major
11:04
S6: public failure. The problem that we run into is God
11:08
S6: is so merciful, so kind, so forbearing that he allows
11:14
S6: anointing and he allows power to still rest on ministries
11:18
S6: that are being led by people who are wandering far
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S6: from him. And so if you're a leader today, if
11:24
S6: you're looking at your private life and you're saying it's
11:26
S6: a mess, and yet you've allowed the success of your, your,
11:29
S6: your public ministry to overshadow, uh, those realities, just stop. Just.
11:35
S6: The time is now. This is your opportunity to to
11:38
S6: to do a turnabout, a to turn in the direction
11:44
S6: that you're heading so that you don't have a total
11:46
S6: catastrophe later on.
11:50
S1: I think the irony in that, Greg, is that there's
11:54
S1: a lot of people that feel the same thing that
11:56
S1: don't have a platform, and the rationalization can go something like,
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S1: I know I've got this area in my life that
12:05
S1: I keep getting my booty kicked in. It might not
12:08
S1: even be that shameful. It could be pretty common. Whatever
12:11
S1: that addiction, that issue is that hides in the shadows
12:16
S1: and the rationalization can go, I'm doing all right. I mean,
12:21
S1: I'm this isn't falling apart over here. Why is that
12:24
S1: misguided perspective?
12:28
S6: I'll never forget reading this quote for the first time.
12:30
S6: It was by Dallas Willard, and he said, you are
12:35
S6: an unceasing spiritual being with an eternal destiny in God's
12:40
S6: great universe. That's that's the That's the baseline identity for
12:45
S6: every transformed follower of Jesus Christ. That we're an unceasing
12:50
S6: spiritual being with an eternal destiny in God's great universe.
12:55
S6: That reality, that truth, lifts us beyond all of the
13:02
S6: the ungodly woken up compromised life that we find ourselves
13:08
S6: defaulting to. It lifts us higher that that it's not
13:12
S6: about your platform. It's about who God is and who
13:15
S6: he's made you to be. And and the fact that
13:17
S6: you have an eternal destiny in him. Uh, that that's
13:22
S6: being fulfilled now, but ultimately will culminate in seeing Jesus
13:26
S6: face to face. It's the reality of God's nearness and
13:30
S6: all that he is that calls us out of worldly, broken, uh,
13:35
S6: self-focused living and towards something that's greater.
13:39
S1: That's great. Greg Dempster is our guest right now we've
13:43
S1: got a whole week of Ask the experts 805 five, five, 78, 98.
13:49
S1: Get your questions in right now via text or call
13:52
S1: in right now. Don't delay. 800 555 7898 Greg. We're
13:59
S1: going to come back, and I want you to address
14:01
S1: this on the other side. Here's the question. I desire
14:03
S1: to have Christ more in my life, but my heart
14:06
S1: is hardened to surrendering to him to let that happen.
14:10
S1: What do I do? More with Greg Dempster in your calls.
14:14
S1: Straight ahead.
14:15
S7: She was trying to earn her way to God, but
14:18
S7: God showed her she didn't have to. Ali is in
14:21
S7: the crew. It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
14:25
S1: Greg Dempster, our guest. Christ's Life Ministries. By the way,
14:28
S1: some of you are saying, you know what? I had
14:30
S1: a link before when Greg was on. This was one
14:32
S1: of the most sought after links we've ever had. There's
14:35
S1: some great, great content. It's called journey one and journey two.
14:40
S1: Two little workbooks that Greg offers for no cost, and
14:44
S1: he has been compelled by the Spirit of God to
14:47
S1: offer this up. And he's got people that keep his
14:50
S1: engine going and his lights on there. But what a
14:52
S1: great blessing. And we're asking you to grab this link
14:56
S1: if you'd like. I think the key word is life. Yes,
14:59
S1: it is life to 800 555 7898. Life to 800
15:06
S1: 555 7898. Ask the experts time to get in questions
15:12
S1: via phone or text. Anything spiritual renewal wise for Greg
15:17
S1: Dempster 800 555 7898. Question we have teed up here, Greg.
15:22
S1: I desire to have Christ more in my life, but
15:25
S1: my heart is hardened to surrendering to him to let
15:28
S1: that happen. It sounds like they both want to and
15:31
S1: resistant to. What do you say, Greg?
15:33
S6: I think sometimes the equation our life story begins and
15:38
S6: ends with us. I remember Joe Aldridge back in the
15:41
S6: day at Multnomah Bible College saying, it's far more difficult
15:46
S6: to fall out of the will of God than you
15:47
S6: could ever imagine. We condemn ourselves and we beat ourselves
15:51
S6: up and and we basically paint ourselves into the corner
15:55
S6: of life. And God, his scripture teaches us that it's
16:00
S6: his kindness that leads us to turn around and make
16:03
S6: a 180. And so my encouragement to you would be,
16:09
S6: but realize all the provision in the help of God
16:11
S6: is just aimed at you. You just need to let
16:14
S6: it in. Let him let him do the work in
16:16
S6: you that he wants to do. Number two is there's
16:18
S6: good reasons why we self protect. God wants to prove
16:23
S6: himself to be way better at protecting you than you
16:25
S6: can protect yourself. And then number three would be this,
16:28
S6: that Matthew six teaches us that that where our treasure lies,
16:33
S6: our heart lies. Also, sometimes we don't realize it, but
16:36
S6: we treasure things in life so much that we attach
16:40
S6: our hearts to them, and in doing so, we detach
16:43
S6: our hearts from from God.
16:46
S3: Greg Dempster, our guest right now. Somebody had a question
16:50
S3: that she wanted to ask. Was there a defining moment
16:53
S3: or journey of events in your personal journey that shaped
16:57
S3: your calling into leadership?
17:01
S6: Boy, that's a great question. I would say being absolutely
17:06
S6: lost and at wit's end related to, uh, how to
17:12
S6: move forward in life. My dad was a pastor. My
17:15
S6: mom was a church organist. I was at church day
17:19
S6: in and day out and and really found rebellion growing
17:23
S6: in my heart. I wanted to know God, but I
17:26
S6: wanted to know, uh, the God of the Bible. And
17:29
S6: it's not that there was any issues with my parents church.
17:32
S6: The issues were with me. And when I encountered Jesus, uh,
17:36
S6: in a life transforming way on the beach in Capitola.
17:40
S6: High on drugs. God just absolutely broke through the fog
17:44
S6: of my drug, the drug that I was on and
17:48
S6: revealed himself and my life was never really the same
17:51
S6: and related to leadership. Really. God called me to be
17:56
S6: the servant of all that. That my job is to
18:00
S6: help others move towards fullness in Christ. And that begins
18:05
S6: with God allowing fullness to grow in me. And so leadership, uh,
18:10
S6: formed as in me, as God, uh, helped me move
18:16
S6: closer and closer to him. It it was it was
18:19
S6: a junior college education, moving into a Bible college education,
18:26
S6: which ultimately grew into a master's degree. And then it
18:30
S6: was really helping people that formed, uh, leadership in my
18:35
S6: own life. Yeah.
18:37
S1: It's powerful stuff, man. If you got a question for Greg,
18:40
S1: it is Ask the Experts week. And the amount of
18:43
S1: links pouring out of here indicates we're hitting some good ground.
18:48
S1: 855 578, 98. If you want to remain anonymous, you've
18:53
S1: got a spiritual question. You might find yourself stuck in something.
18:59
S1: You're wondering why is there not more? Give us a
19:02
S1: call right now or text in your question to 800
19:07
S1: 555 7898 800 555 7898. If you need to go
19:16
S1: and you want that link, just text the word life
19:18
S1: to that number. Life l I f e. And Greg's
19:22
S1: got lots of resources there, and he's made them available
19:25
S1: to you at no cost. Take a journey through those workbooks.
19:29
S1: Journey one, journey two. And God is going to give
19:33
S1: you some freedom Opening it up right now. 800 555 7898.
19:40
S1: Time for ask the experts. Greg Dempster is going to
19:42
S1: be with us here for another half hour.
19:45
S3: Taking your questions on cycle breaking, renewing your mind. The
19:50
S3: Christian Life 805, 55, 7898, 805, 55, 7898 texts or
19:58
S3: calls welcome.
20:00
S7: Romans eight brought her to Jesus while broadcasting traffic overnight.
20:05
S7: Super di is in the crew, it's curl and crew
20:08
S7: on Moody Radio.
20:10
S3: Well, this is Ask the Experts this week and our
20:12
S3: guest expert this hour, Greg Dempster, founder and director of
20:16
S3: Christ Life Ministries. Now he's taking your questions on all
20:19
S3: things transformation. Renewal. If you feel stuck, stifled in your
20:25
S3: walk with the Lord, want to break some cycles? Ask
20:28
S3: a question. We'll keep you anonymous. If need be, you
20:30
S3: can text or call 805 five, five, 78, 98, 805 five, five, 7898.
20:38
S3: We had an anonymous caller who asked, how do you
20:41
S3: pull yourself out of the desert? Don't have a lot
20:45
S3: of detail on this one, but I think we've all
20:47
S3: experienced that where it can feel like you're in a
20:49
S3: dry desert season with the Lord. How do you pull
20:52
S3: yourself out? Greg, what do you say?
20:54
S6: Yeah. First of all, biblically, the desert is where God
20:58
S6: meets his people. It's in our desperation. It's. It's not
21:03
S6: when the cup is full. It's when the cup feels empty.
21:08
S6: And really, in some ways, we've got to start. We've
21:11
S6: got to stop. And we have so many things that
21:14
S6: clog the arteries of our lives that we have non-stop
21:18
S6: stimulus going on. And for some of us, the best
21:23
S6: thing that we could do is just take a season.
21:25
S6: Maybe it's between now and Easter. What is that, 34
21:28
S6: days or whatever before Easter? And just look at the
21:33
S6: things that are peripherals. Things that aren't really important and
21:37
S6: yet things that we occupy our time with. Maybe there's
21:41
S6: some significant time that's being poured into those things. Maybe
21:46
S6: you should just stop them for a season. Take God
21:50
S6: at His Word where it says that if you seek
21:52
S6: me with your whole heart, you'll find me. And, and
21:57
S6: and move with another person or a small group of
22:00
S6: people into a season of of tithing. Time to be
22:06
S6: in the presence of Jesus. Jesus isn't about like if
22:09
S6: we we perform for him. He gives us what we need. No,
22:13
S6: all the provisioning that we need for life and godliness
22:16
S6: is offered graciously, free of charge from Jesus. But we
22:22
S6: tend to feed ourselves instead of feasting on Christ. We
22:26
S6: tend to provide for ourselves and self protect instead of
22:29
S6: allowing God to be God for us. So if you're
22:32
S6: in the desert, man, turn to the rock. Go. Go
22:35
S6: to Exodus. See that? That even with the Israelites wandering
22:40
S6: in the desert for 40 years, God provided everything that
22:43
S6: they needed. He was. He was water to them. He was.
22:47
S6: He allowed manna to fall from heaven. Maybe the way
22:50
S6: that you break a sense of desert in your life
22:53
S6: is turning to the provider, stopping some things that are
22:57
S6: interfering with you, being able to seek him with your
22:59
S6: whole heart. Humble your heart before him. Romans ten nine says,
23:03
S6: if you confess Jesus as your master and believe that
23:07
S6: he was raised from the dead, you'll be saved. That
23:09
S6: that's that's a route out. Don't do it by yourself.
23:12
S6: Don't stay in isolation. Uh, seek him with a group
23:15
S6: of people. And I'm telling you, his word will prove
23:19
S6: to be true to you. If you seek him with
23:21
S6: your whole heart, you will find him, and he'll bring
23:23
S6: you into a place where. Where he pours himself out
23:26
S6: on you.
23:27
S3: Greg Dempster, our guest expert. Great. Great question, great answer there.
23:32
S3: If you have a question on transformation, on renewal, maybe
23:36
S3: you feel stuck. Just give us a phone call or
23:39
S3: a text. 800 555 (789) 880-0555 7898 taking your questions for
23:48
S3: Greg Dempster, Christ's Life Ministries.
23:50
S7: Walking closer to Jesus every day you're listening to Carl
23:54
S7: and crew.
23:55
S1: It is Ask the Experts week and the content here
24:00
S1: is amazing. The freedom is at hand. It is. Prayer
24:04
S1: is laying hold of God's willingness. George Mueller I'm still
24:09
S1: echoing in my mind. And some of you have a
24:11
S1: heart cry that says, God, how am I going to
24:15
S1: get freed from? How am I going to stop this
24:17
S1: cycle of why do I find myself insecure in different spots,
24:23
S1: saying stuff I wish I wouldn't have said? I mean,
24:26
S1: it gets that Practical. Alli.
24:28
S3: It does. So we're inviting you to ask your questions
24:31
S3: of Greg Dempster, founder and director of Christ Life Ministries.
24:34
S3: Questions on transformation cycle breaking, renewal. 855 five 7898 855
24:42
S3: five 7898 Greg, we got a heartfelt text from a
24:47
S3: youth pastor by vocational unhappy at a secular job. Even
24:51
S3: though it pays well, church has no full time openings.
24:55
S3: They also added, um, they do not feel their spouse
24:59
S3: is an anchor of support. There's also, uh, they said
25:02
S3: joy is felt only during youth services where I teach
25:06
S3: the word.
25:10
S6: First of all, my heart goes out to you who
25:14
S6: you know, it's just we find ourselves in life regularly
25:18
S6: in difficult circumstances there. Jonathan Edwards calls these trials, these
25:23
S6: biblical trials the the. When I'm given the opportunity to
25:28
S6: choose between God's will for my life and my own. Uh,
25:32
S6: that's a trial. And again, my heart goes out to you, bro.
25:36
S6: That you're in a difficult situation. The thing I would
25:40
S6: keep in mind is, is that your calling is not
25:42
S6: dependent on your circumstances that you're calling. Ephesians 210 says
25:49
S6: that you're already God's workmanship. His best poem created in
25:54
S6: Christ Jesus to do good works which were prepared in
25:57
S6: advance for you to do. And you've got to understand,
26:02
S6: you just believe with me in this, that that God's
26:06
S6: desire for you, his calling for you, is something the
26:10
S6: Bible says is irrevocable. It's irresistible also. And he wants
26:16
S6: you to he's fully determined that you'd step into that,
26:20
S6: and there's nothing that can get in the way of
26:23
S6: you stepping forward into that calling. I would just humble
26:27
S6: myself before the Lord. You know, there's there's lots of
26:30
S6: opportunities to to just get into a rhythm, a cycle
26:33
S6: of just regularly seeking God's face, whether that be with
26:37
S6: your Apple Watch or your phone, or whether you're a
26:39
S6: Garmin user. You can, uh, you could use a program
26:43
S6: called keep me awake and have a haptic ring your
26:47
S6: wrist regularly, whether it be every 30 minutes or every
26:49
S6: 15 minutes, and just do nothing other as that, as
26:54
S6: that chime comes through, than to humble yourself before the
26:57
S6: Lord and say, my life is yours. Jesus. Yeah. And
27:00
S6: I desperately, desperately want to just be about your things
27:04
S6: done your way. And and you can woo my wife's
27:08
S6: heart back to you. You can open doors with this church.
27:12
S6: If that's the place that you want me to fulfill
27:14
S6: my my calling in this season. Or you can open
27:16
S6: up other doors. Either way, this is about you, Jesus,
27:20
S6: and not about the the opportunities that are closing or
27:24
S6: opening before me.
27:26
S1: Greg Dempster guessed right now ask the experts. We got
27:29
S1: time to get your questions in 800 555, 78, 98.
27:34
S1: Thanks for holding on. Everyone on the phone lines had
27:37
S1: anonymous come in here, Greg. And, uh, this person does
27:40
S1: not want to go on air, but they left this.
27:43
S1: How do you pull yourself out of the deserts? That
27:46
S1: combined with Kirk, first time caller from Twinsburg, Ohio. What's
27:50
S1: your question? Similar, right, my friend?
27:54
S8: Yes, sir. Yeah, it's pretty identical. Um, actually, I'm going
27:59
S8: through a period of where I describe as dryness and
28:02
S8: disconnected from the Lord, and periods are filled with doubt. Um,
28:09
S8: and just wondering, uh, your advice on, you know, reconnecting.
28:14
S8: How do you get back with that?
28:15
S1: Great. Kirk, thank you for that question.
28:17
S6: First of all, I just want to say I'm sorry, man.
28:20
S6: And and when we're when we're. you know, there have
28:24
S6: been authors in the past. It's. What is it? Saint
28:26
S6: John of the cross. It talks about the dark night
28:29
S6: of the soul. And and I just wanted the first
28:32
S6: thing that I want to say to you, Kirk, is
28:36
S6: Psalm 139. It says that there's nowhere we can flee
28:40
S6: from God's presence. If we rise to the heavens, he's there.
28:45
S6: If we descend into the depths, he's there. Even if
28:47
S6: I rise with the dawn and travel to the far
28:49
S6: side of the sea, he's there. And, Kirk, that's that's
28:52
S6: the first bit of advice I'd give you is that
28:55
S6: he's right here with you right now. And he. He's
29:00
S6: holding your life. He's giving you breath. He's he's giving
29:05
S6: you everything that you need, uh, to for life. And
29:09
S6: he not only is sustaining your life, I mean, that's
29:12
S6: Colossians one. John one says that he with a word
29:16
S6: spoke everything into existence. Colossians one says, with the sheer
29:19
S6: nature of his being, that he's maintaining everything that he's made.
29:22
S6: And that includes you and your life. Yeah. And it's
29:25
S6: not his desire for you, Kirk, to live disconnected and
29:30
S6: and broken and dismayed. It's his will for you to
29:33
S6: find him and. And for you to be settled. Uh,
29:37
S6: and and at rest and whole before him. And so
29:42
S6: the advice that I gave earlier would be the advice
29:44
S6: that I give to you, starting with Psalm 139. I
29:47
S6: would I would get into a rhythm, you know, in
29:49
S6: the early days, for me, I was a carpenter. I
29:53
S6: was so screwed up, far more screwed up than most
29:57
S6: of your listeners. Carl and I would get up in
30:00
S6: the morning, I'd put my boots on, and I would
30:03
S6: before I needed to be an hour away in Union
30:05
S6: City to frame. I'd. I'd walk around the block and
30:08
S6: I would just admit my inability and and I would
30:11
S6: talk to a God who promised that he was present.
30:14
S6: And slowly but surely, hour after hour, day after day,
30:17
S6: I began to feel the weight and that aridness of
30:21
S6: my soul leave and I began to experience new life.
30:27
S1: Greg, I love that, and I feel like sometimes. Uh,
30:32
S1: we really connect with God in the absolute quiet, in
30:39
S1: what feels like in the past, a vacuum. We can
30:42
S1: hear that still small voice speaking through if we'll give
30:45
S1: him room I it's we use this analogy about very
30:49
S1: high frequency radio that I commercial fish with. And then
30:52
S1: I heard John Piper the other day use it. He
30:55
S1: says most of us have an intercom connection with God
30:58
S1: where we speak and hope he's listening. He says, you
31:01
S1: really need a walkie talkie. And I thought, all right,
31:04
S1: that's good. Where you unky the mic and you listen.
31:07
S1: And so, Kirk, let's listen to the God who knit
31:11
S1: you together in your mother's womb. Good stuff. Taking your calls.
31:14
S1: Ask the expert, by the way, great content at Greg's site,
31:19
S1: and it doesn't cost you anything. Text the word life
31:22
S1: to 800 555 7898. Life to 800 555 7898. Download
31:32
S1: what the Spirit of God is leading you to grab.
31:34
S1: I'd grab journey one if you haven't gone through his journey.
31:36
S1: Material Boy talk about identifying things that have derailed you
31:41
S1: from your past. Beautiful stuff. Text life to 805 55 7898. Jerry,
31:48
S1: first time caller. Uh, Wesley Chapel, Florida. It looks like.
31:51
S1: What do you say, Jerry? What's your question for Greg?
31:55
S9: Good morning. Thank you so much for your ministry and for, uh,
31:59
S9: being helpful to many people. Uh, it's just a great
32:04
S9: thing to do that. Well, um, my wife and I
32:06
S9: in the ministry for close to 50 years, and so
32:10
S9: we moved from, uh, uh, South Florida to North Florida,
32:15
S9: Wesley Chapel. And, we're just starting a new journey of life.
32:20
S9: I mean, we've been moving, you know, missionaries move around
32:25
S9: like the military many times. And so when you move
32:30
S9: and I'm 66 now, yesterday was my birthday. And, um,
32:34
S9: kind of, uh, thank you so much. I'm trying to
32:38
S9: get a new journey of life. A new church, new friends,
32:42
S9: new neighborhood. Uh, some of uneasy to do, uh, to restart,
32:48
S9: to take off again and to get, uh, that, uh, um,
32:54
S9: blessing of the Lord to keep going strong. Uh, you know,
32:58
S9: there's not many. I got five more years. Ten more years. But, um,
33:03
S9: how do you handle how do you go about getting
33:06
S9: a new ministry, getting going back again when you moved? And, uh,
33:12
S9: there are some changes in the horizon.
33:15
S6: Jerry, that's a great question. We've we've moved a number
33:18
S6: of times, uh, from Northern California up to the Pacific Northwest,
33:22
S6: down to Arkansas, where Carl and I first began working
33:26
S6: together up to Alaska and now to to Michigan. And,
33:30
S6: and really, you know, I think that to to be
33:33
S6: reestablished somewhere, you've got to continue to you've got to
33:36
S6: establish yourself, uh, in, in the most important things first, in,
33:43
S6: in this rhythm of seeking God's face, you know, God
33:46
S6: never designed us to be, uh, just a quiet time.
33:49
S6: Only people. He's designed us to, uh, to be constant
33:52
S6: in unending. That's his desire. He's constant and unending with us.
33:57
S6: He he abides in us. He he put he put
33:59
S6: the first. He he moved towards us first. And he
34:03
S6: invites us then to move towards him and abide in him.
34:06
S6: So in establishing, getting established in a new area, number one,
34:11
S6: the fact that God's called you there is is an
34:14
S6: anchor for your soul that God will provide where he calls.
34:18
S6: Number two is that getting you and your wife established,
34:22
S6: or staying in these rhythms of pursuit and seeking God, interceding, uh,
34:29
S6: praying over what he's called you to be about? Maybe
34:32
S6: like Carl and me in the early days, maybe there's
34:35
S6: just such a sense of desperation that you're going into
34:38
S6: your new church building and you're just before anybody else
34:41
S6: is there. You're just praying over that space and asking
34:44
S6: God to do the miraculous. Uh, John 15 five. The
34:48
S6: very things that we can't do for ourselves, he he
34:52
S6: can do. And connecting yourself to to the God who
34:57
S6: wants to do more than you can bring to the
35:00
S6: table on your own would be a great way to start.
35:03
S6: And then there's an ease, right? There's a sense of
35:07
S6: of peace that comes. Related to all the other pieces,
35:11
S6: whether it be the relationships that need to be formed. Jerry,
35:14
S6: whether it be the the important relationship development that needs
35:18
S6: to happen with any staff that you'd be leading or
35:21
S6: your elder board or however your church is, is governed.
35:25
S6: Those things come as a second, in the same way
35:28
S6: that the Great Commandment calls us to love God with
35:31
S6: everything and then overflow in love towards others. Your relationship,
35:36
S6: establishing relationship, continuing in relationship with Jesus will overflow and
35:42
S6: and provide horsepower, provide vitality to those other crucial relationships
35:48
S6: that need to be in place.
35:51
S3: We have Greg Dempster, Christ Life Ministries as our special guest.
35:55
S3: Have time for maybe 1 or 2 more questions coming up.
35:58
S3: 800 555 7898 800 555 7898.
36:04
S7: He's a sports fanatic with a stat for anything you
36:07
S7: can think of. Young Thunder is in the crew. It's
36:11
S7: curling crew on Moody Radio.
36:14
S1: Ask the experts. It's been an incredible start to our
36:17
S1: week already. We're going to have this in the show cast,
36:20
S1: I promise you that. And we're going to have a
36:23
S1: lot of content all week long. Greg Dempster If you
36:27
S1: want to get access to some phenomenal content, text the
36:30
S1: word life to (800) 555-7898. No cost. Text word life to
36:36
S1: 800 555 7898. It'll answer the question, why do I
36:41
S1: do what I do? How can I break unhealthy patterns?
36:45
S1: Why is there a gap between what I believe about
36:47
S1: God and what I experience? You know, at the end
36:49
S1: of the day, Greg, quick comment on this one. It
36:53
S1: seems that we have, uh, perpetuated a model of life
36:58
S1: in Christ that is very, uh, to use your analogy,
37:02
S1: that I use a lot as well. Iceberg. It's what's
37:05
S1: sticking out of the water, and it's really that unseen
37:08
S1: stuff that matters most. Give us your best 30s on
37:11
S1: that one, my man.
37:13
S6: I mean, we either are living the independent life, the
37:16
S6: flesh based life and orientation towards the flesh or towards
37:20
S6: the spirit. And and really, God considers the heart right?
37:24
S6: He he's less impressed with whether our hairs come straight
37:28
S6: or what we're wearing or how we perform. He is
37:32
S6: more interested in in the heart, in the things that
37:35
S6: are eternal are surrendering to him. Uh, inability. Recognition of
37:41
S6: inability turning into a trust and the experience of his
37:45
S6: great sufficiency. And so leaving behind all of the the
37:49
S6: stuff that really, in the end, doesn't matter. And moving
37:52
S6: towards things that have eternal value and things that are,
37:56
S6: are God showing himself to be who he really is,
37:59
S6: is is really where life is to be found.
38:01
S3: Greg Dempster, our guest right now, got just about a
38:03
S3: minute left. Give us your best 30s. We are entering
38:07
S3: up in the spring. Share Supporting radio Christian radio. Why
38:12
S3: does it matter?
38:14
S6: Well, it matters because your life matters. And. And there's
38:19
S6: a lot out there that occupies our time. But there's
38:23
S6: very little out there that that feeds the the depth
38:28
S6: of who you are. There's a lot of also light
38:32
S6: radio out there as compared to radio. That really gets
38:36
S6: at the very heart of the matter and challenges us
38:39
S6: and draws us and moves us towards those decisions that
38:43
S6: ultimately affect the whole the rest of our lives. And
38:47
S6: so the idea that you could be investing in something
38:51
S6: that really is transforming lives is, is something that that
38:55
S6: will yield fruit. And that fruit isn't just in a
38:58
S6: life change. That fruit is is actually manifest in reward. Uh,
39:03
S6: your life is is rewarded.
39:06
S1: Thank you. Greg. We love you, man. Greg Dempster.