Latest / Karl and Crew / Praying in Spiritual Warfare with Dr. Bill Thrasher & What is True Salvation with Tim Mulgrew

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Praying in Spiritual Warfare with Dr. Bill Thrasher & What is True Salvation with Tim Mulgrew · Karl and Crew

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  S1: Broadcasting from Chicago, across North America and beyond. It's Carl
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  S1: and crew. Come as you are an experienced guide, overcome
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  S1: what seems impossible and live as you never imagined delivering
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  S1: the truth daily.
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  S2: If it were possible to have every worldly gain available
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  S2: and you're forfeiting your soul, there's no amount of gain
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  S2: that would make it worth it.
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  S3: Our own way never ever works. Because it's apart from
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  S3: the life source, which is God.
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  S4: For me, growing up, love was always conditional and can
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  S4: be taken from you. Christ's love can't. And he went
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  S4: to the cross with my mind and my heart that night.
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  S1: Now from the call of Hope Studios, this is Carl
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  S1: and crew.
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  S5: We got to get to the point where we grapple
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  S5: with and realize that the. One of the greatest. I
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  S5: would say skirmishes that were actually losing is in the
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  S5: area of communication of the gospel. And I really mean this.
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  S5: This is a big, big problem. You know, sometimes you
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  S5: could hear us talk about something and you go, man,
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  S5: you kind of been on that for a while. And,
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  S5: you know, you've heard people that get on their soapbox
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  S5: and that's their thing. But you got to ask a question.
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  S5: Is the soapbox they're on? Is it valid? Is it warranted?
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  S5: And so I've been on this massive now how many
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  S5: years now, Jonathan, have we been talking about the illusion
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  S5: of salvation and hallucination of salvation? How long has it
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  S5: been going on?
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  S3: Well, I started here in 2017 and we've been talking
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  S3: about it since 2017. So that's almost ten years now
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  S3: that that at least I can account for that.
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  S5: We've been after this in differing kind of levels of
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  S5: intensity in seasons where we back away. But if we're
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  S5: going to talk about spiritual war, know this the God
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  S5: of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelieving.
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  S5: That's what we find to keep them from seeing the
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  S5: light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who
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  S5: is the image of God. Okay. So we are in
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  S5: a spiritual war. I think all of us would understand that.
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  S5: My goodness, if anyone's trying to keep us from the
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  S5: arms of God, it would be Satan and his demonic forces, right?
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  S5: I mean, that's no guess work there. So. I have
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  S5: I have come to the point now in my life unapologetically,
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  S5: where I really believe the greatest crisis facing the church
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  S5: is not outside the walls of the church. It's not, uh,
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  S5: Certainly not in the West. I shouldn't I should say
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  S5: this in the West. It's not persecution. Uh, it is,
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  S5: it is not the loss of religious liberty. That's not
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  S5: even close to the greatest threat to the church. And
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  S5: I mean this and you might say, Carl, come on.
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  S5: Religious liberty. Now, the greatest threat to the Western Church,
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  S5: and we've exported this as well, is that we have
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  S5: given people false assurance. Many think they know Jesus and
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  S5: they don't. And I don't know, it's kind of funny.
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  S5: We were talking about this during share, but in the
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  S5: first day of share, I wrote a book called The
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  S5: Unstoppable Gospel From Powerless Belief to a true Faith That
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  S5: Changes Everything. And I'm in a about a week and
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  S5: a half, we're going to have a lot of fun
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  S5: here because there's going to be an unstoppable gospel conference
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  S5: that we are going to broadcast around even the nation.
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  S5: So no matter where you are, you're going to be
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  S5: able to take part. And one of the sessions I'm
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  S5: going to have, I'm very keyed up about this is
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  S5: a parenthetical thought. Seven Surprising Ways God Saves Those we love.
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  S5: Because some of you are heart sick. Some of you
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  S5: are well aware that people can be raised in church
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  S5: and lift a hand in the air and not be
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  S5: born again. Walk aisles, not be born again, be baptized,
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  S5: not be born again, can serve and not be born again.
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  S5: And we know this over and over again in Scripture.
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  S5: It's it's the great cautionary tale. And the encouraging thing
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  S5: is this. We don't have to be concerned about really
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  S5: putting people on tilt with regard to assurance of salvation
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  S5: if they are truly born again, because the Holy Spirit
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  S5: agrees with our spirit that we are children of God.
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  S5: And a little bump of the cup where everybody's. As
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  S5: Paul says, examine yourself to see if you're in the faith. That's.
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  S5: That's good. Jesus never tried to talk someone into something
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  S5: that they were wondering if they had it or not.
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  S5: Never did. So today, this topic of spiritual war is
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  S5: that the God of this age has blinded the minds
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  S5: of the unbelieving. And I think this is way more
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  S5: systemic and way more of a crisis than we've imagined.
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  S5: I had a friend who asked a I got a
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  S5: friend that's been kind of a ministry partner for about
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  S5: 20 years. He's in Northwest Arkansas, just a great brother
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  S5: man just loves the Lord deeply. And he's good friends
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  S5: with the lead pastor of a church that is very
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  S5: large In northwest Arkansas. It's got several campuses, and he
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  S5: just asked him one day that he was walking in
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  S5: into one of the services, and they were in the lobby.
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  S5: And this lead pastor wasn't preaching that day. One of
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  S5: the other teaching pastors was, and he just says, hey,
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  S5: what percentage of people that come here week in, week out?
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  S5: What percentage of those people that are in there right now,
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  S5: what percentage of those people really know the Lord personally?
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  S5: And his response was, I'd be thrilled if it was 40%. Now, again,
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  S5: I am not here. To freak anyone out, but I
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  S5: am here to elevate the reality that the God of
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  S5: this age has blinded the minds of the unbelieving.
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  S3: I mean that what you just shared right there is
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  S3: exactly why we don't get off the soapbox about this.
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  S5: Yeah. That's right isn't it Jonathan.
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  S3: Yeah. And I mean, this can be so jarring to hear.
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  S3: It can take a while to come to terms with it.
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  S3: I mean, we we've shared my testimony here multiple times
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  S3: that I was, I was one in that number of
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  S3: people who grew up in church and didn't have a
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  S3: relationship with Jesus. And I didn't really want to hear
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  S3: the message that I might not know Jesus. And so
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  S3: I fought it for a few years, and it took
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  S3: me years to be willing to accept the fact that
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  S3: I didn't have a relationship with Jesus and that I
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  S3: needed to surrender to him.
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  S5: And, and it was more than willingness, right? The Spirit
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  S5: of God had to cut through that fog.
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  S3: Oh, I mean, he broke me. Yeah. He, he cut
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  S3: through the fog so much to where I couldn't deny it.
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  S3: And it was no longer, uh, it no longer felt
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  S3: worth it to me to try and hide it. Uh,
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  S3: because that was the thing is, you try to. What
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  S3: are people gonna think? I don't know if I can
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  S3: really admit that. So I'm just gonna try to keep
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  S3: going with the status quo. That doesn't work. And God
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  S3: convinced me that that didn't work. He broke me down
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  S3: to where surrender was my only option, and I'm grateful
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  S3: for that. I'm grateful that the soap box was never
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  S3: gotten off of, because I might have convinced myself I
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  S3: was okay if we got off of it. Yeah, yeah.
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  S5: So it's a it's a really tough topic. Uh, but
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  S5: there is something happening. We're going to have a man
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  S5: in next week, a great man of God who's tackling
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  S5: this very thing. And JD Greer over the weekend. I
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  S5: don't know if you heard any of that message. My
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  S5: bride came to me and said, bub, you won't believe it.
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  S5: JD Greer is on the same thing and almost the
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  S5: same words that I've just said. Can you be raised
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  S5: in church? JD Greer, in a message, said, I was baptized,
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  S5: but I was lost. Yeah. JD Greer and he went
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  S5: on to say, we have so many people who go
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  S5: to church who are not in Christ Jesus our Lord. Yeah. Now,
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  S5: there's a lot of reasons behind that, and there's a
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  S5: lot of issues going on. But at the end of
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  S5: the day, there is a truth that can cut through
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  S5: all of it. And this isn't Freedom Friday. This is Thursday.
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  S5: But I'm going to give the gospel what you really
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  S5: need to know that the gospel is, and even what
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  S5: the gospel is not. That's coming up.
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  S1: It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio talking war.
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  S5: This week in second Corinthians chapter four, the apostle Paul
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  S5: is talking about the veiled gospel. And he says, and
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  S5: even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to
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  S5: those who are perishing. In their case, the God lowercase
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  S5: g of this world has blinded the minds of the
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  S5: unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the
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  S5: gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image
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  S5: of God. Okay. One of the greatest battlefronts we have
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  S5: is that the God of this age has blinded the
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  S5: minds of the unbelievers. Now the instant thought is, of course, man,
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  S5: these guys that are atheists and shaking a fist at
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  S5: God and they're living like Gehenna. And I mean, it's
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  S5: just no, this is where we need to be careful.
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  S5: Maybe the greatest deception are those who are religiously active
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  S5: but are spiritually dead. This is my contention in the
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  S5: unstoppable gospel that it's not only impossible to disciple lost people.
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  S5: Part of what we're up against in the Western church today,
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  S5: and we have exported this around the world, even to Burundi,
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  S5: is that we've created a style of invitation that doesn't
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  S5: lead people to the living Jesus. It anesthetizes them to
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  S5: the gospel, and they actually are more deceived than when
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  S5: they first came to an event, a meeting, a service.
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  S5: And it's incredibly dangerous. Can you be lost and be
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  S5: religiously active? Yes. Matthew seven, Matthew 25. We find religious
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  S5: activity in Matthew 25 when the trumpet sounds and the
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  S5: Lord returns, five of the bridesmaids are ready to go.
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  S5: Five are not. Five are filled with the Holy Spirit.
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  S5: Five have lamps that are empty. They're all dressed up.
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  S5: Only five are ready to go. That's a big deal
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  S5: because all ten were waiting, supposedly expectantly, for their Savior
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  S5: to come. Matthew seven I mean, we preached in Jesus name.
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  S5: We cast out demons in his name. We did mighty
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  S5: works in his name. And he's going to say, I
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  S5: never knew you. Now Romans eight, I believe, verse 13 says,
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  S5: and this is where we don't have to freak out
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  S5: about this. God's Spirit, Holy spirit will agree with our
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  S5: spirit that we are children of God. This is the
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  S5: role of the Holy Spirit, one of the many. So
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  S5: is it. Is it malpractice for us to come back
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  S5: here and really push hard on this? No, no. This
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  S5: is biblically responsible because we find in Corinthians, Paul saw
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  S5: some things going on in the church of Corinth. He says,
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  S5: examine yourself to see if you are even in the faith.
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  S5: And that's repeated over and over again in Scripture. So
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  S5: the question is, what are the Gospels that we sometimes give?
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  S5: And as I map out in my book, The Unstoppable Gospel,
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  S5: they would be called another gospel. The way we present
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  S5: Jesus is another gospel. And the Apostle Paul in Galatians
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  S5: one says, if anyone comes to you with another gospel,
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  S5: even an angel. Let them be accursed. So it's a
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  S5: big deal. And I think the God of this age
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  S5: has blinded the church from seeing it. And now a
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  S5: lot of people are talking about it. If you're just
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  S5: tuning in, JD Greer was on this here just this
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  S5: last week, tackling the very same thing that I've just hit.
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  S5: He himself was raised in church, baptized, but he was
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  S5: still lost. I was baptized and lost. Ali was in
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  S5: church but didn't know Jesus for many years. Young thunder,
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  S5: that's your story, right my man?
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  S3: Yep. Up until the age of 23.
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  S5: So it's a if there is a spiritual war that
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  S5: is really hurting the church, it is the fact that
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  S5: the greatest battlefield that we have is inside the church.
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  S5: Greatest threat is not persecution or religious freedom from the outside,
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  S5: not in the West. It is a lostness in a
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  S5: cultural Christianity that inhabits a lot of people inside the church.
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  S5: Before I give you the gospel, let me give you
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  S5: some other gospels that are no gospel at all. Let
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  S5: me give you just a few. Ask Jesus into your heart.
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  S5: Jesus never instructs this ever. And it's nowhere found in
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  S5: the New Testament. Many have essentially invited Jesus guys to
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  S5: cohabitate with other gods of the age except Jesus. A
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  S5: lot of people have accepted Jesus, but only those who
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  S5: receive him are called children of God. We accept a
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  S5: lot of things in life without surrendering to them and
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  S5: embracing them. And the same can happen with God. Make
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  S5: Jesus your personal Savior. Okay, aside from the reality that
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  S5: we cannot make salvation happen, Jesus can only be Savior
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  S5: where he is first Lord of every square inch of
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  S5: who we are and what we become. Walk the aisle
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  S5: and come forward. Can God save someone in that moment? Yeah.
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  S5: But many have stepped out in an emotional moment. That's
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  S5: from the second soil in the five soils illustration that
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  S5: Jesus gives. Many have stepped out in an emotional moment,
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  S5: but have yet to follow Jesus Christ. Pressure to move
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  S5: physically can lead us to a false eternal security. If
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  S5: not fully explain what they are walking and who they
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  S5: are following. What kind of a road and who is
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  S5: leading them. Okay, so what is the gospel? The gospel
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  S5: is the gospel of repentance. The God of this age
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  S5: has blinded people into thinking they possess something they don't possess.
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  S5: But when you're born again, the Holy Spirit will agree
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  S5: with your spirit that your children of God. How do
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  S5: you become a child of God? How do you become
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  S5: born again? First, it's not your decision. The Holy Spirit
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  S5: miraculously reaches into our heart and begins to say, you
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  S5: are a sinner who needs a Savior. The reason Jesus
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  S5: came was not to make you better. It was to
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  S5: save you from you completely. When Jesus sent his disciples out,
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  S5: he described it in Mark one thing it's the gospel
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  S5: of repentance. It's metanoia. It means to leave the broad path, turn,
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  S5: follow Jesus, leave every substitute God on that broad path. Turn.
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  S5: Change your mind. Change your heart. Change your direction. Everything
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  S5: about you changes. Repentance means saying no to my dreams,
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  S5: my aspirations. Where I found my security. Where I found
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  S5: my satisfaction. Everything that I was attempting to find life
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  S5: in is set down. I turn and follow Jesus. Meaning this.
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  S5: Every square inch of who you are is given to God.
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  S5: The God of this age has blinded the minds of
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  S5: the unbelieving. So I'm going to hit this quickly. There
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  S5: are four soils spoken of that represent the hearts of
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  S5: people by Jesus. Some are hard soil. I think we've
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  S5: unknowingly put that soil as the only category that does
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  S5: not know Jesus. They hear the word. It will not penetrate.
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  S5: The heart bounces onto the path. Satan comes along, snatches
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  S5: it up, lest it grow some kind of strength in there,
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  S5: and really goes down to the bottom of the heart.
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  S5: The second shallow soil receive it with joy. Amen. And
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  S5: they go up and boom! There can be an emotional
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  S5: moment or season. Here's the danger. With that, we look
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  S5: back at that and we say, oh, my son or
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  S5: daughter or myself had an emotional season here 20 years ago.
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  S5: Jesus said it is probable that people have emotional moments
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  S5: or seasons. It's like I'm all in with Jesus. But
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  S5: not be born again. A little bit of persecution. Hardship
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  S5: comes in the. The quality of their heart and whether
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  S5: it was changed is proven to not have been a
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  S5: full surrender to Jesus because they do not continue to
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  S5: follow him. The most dangerous one is the third soil type.
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  S5: The worries of this world, the deceitfulness of wealth and
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  S5: the desire for other things come in and choke it,
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  S5: making it unfruitful. And you might say, well, I, you know,
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  S5: I was born again. I, I, I prayed a prayer,
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  S5: I walked denial, I was even baptized. But friend, when
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  S5: the worries of this world, the deceitfulness of wealth and
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  S5: the desire for other things have never been rendered impotent
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  S5: at the foot of the cross. You're basically. In word
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  S5: or in thought, holding on to Jesus. But really, you've
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  S5: just got a whole bunch of other substitute gods really
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  S5: tucked into your heart that's still taking the high ground.
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  S5: I want to be so clear with this today. When
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  S5: you look into the mirror of your soul and say,
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  S5: I'm the problem, I'm a sinner. There is nothing good
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  S5: in me. I am separated from God. And Jesus laid
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  S5: down his life as I entrust myself to him fully.
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  S5: The word believe has been so diluted and even the
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  S5: demons believe. I'm talking about a belief that puts all
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  S5: that you are into Jesus. Only then can you be
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  S5: born again. This is why the rich young ruler walked
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  S5: away disappointed. He said, I do this, I do this,
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  S5: I do this, I do this, I do this. And
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  S5: he said, well, I'll tell you what. I got one
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  S5: more thing. Jesus said, if you take all that you've
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  S5: gained and you give it away and give it to
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  S5: the poor. And the man said nothing. He walked away
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  S5: disappointed because he was a man with wealth. And so translated,
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  S5: it just simply means that until we come to the
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  S5: point in time where all that we've gained in this
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  S5: world is laid at the foot of Jesus, is Jesus
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  S5: going to take your 401 k? I doubt it, but
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  S5: if he asked for it, would you give it to him?
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  S5: And if it's too much and you're too disappointed, how
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  S5: about the status or the position that you have? Or
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  S5: maybe even the pride of having been raised in church?
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  S5: Keeps you from breaking and surrendering to Jesus. How dangerous
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  S5: would that be? There's no prayer to pray. But as
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  S5: you look into the heart of your soul right now,
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  S5: and some of you got some bad information in the past,
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  S5: but as you look into the heart of your soul.
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  S5: I'm simply asking you right now, is today the day
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  S5: when you surrender all that you are to Jesus? Every
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  S5: bit of it. And you're holding nothing back. More than
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  S5: an emotional moment, it's a rending of my heart has
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  S5: never been fully surrendered to Jesus Christ. And you're probably
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  S5: in a place like Jesus described in the sermon on
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  S5: the Mount. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs
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  S5: is the kingdom of heaven. When you get to the
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  S5: point of spiritual bankruptcy and you know you have nothing,
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  S5: you are strategically positioned to save your soul. And if
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  S5: this is you today, you are come. You have come
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  S5: to the point where you say, I'm a sinner, I
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  S5: need a savior. I'm laying everything down. Dreams, aspirations. Jesus.
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  S5: I'm bringing nothing with me but a whole heart for you.
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  S5: And open, empty hands. I give you my life completely.
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  S5: You know what you'll do. Romans ten nine and ten
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  S5: you will confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord, meaning
• 22:50
  S5: he is the highest authority in your life and believe
• 22:54
  S5: in your heart that God raised him from the dead.
• 22:57
  S5: I'm going to go a little longer here, young Thunder.
• 23:00
  S3: Go for it.
• 23:04
  S5: This is war. The God of this age has blinded
• 23:08
  S5: the minds of the unbelieving. And some times the reason
• 23:12
  S5: that you've been blinded is that you got some bad information.
• 23:18
  S5: And you've wondered why is the abundant life elusive for me?
• 23:23
  S5: Why is it that my life does not embody the
• 23:26
  S5: fruit of the spirit? Why is there no hunger for
• 23:28
  S5: the Word of God? Yes, you can get down the
• 23:30
  S5: path even in authentic relationship with Jesus, and get a
• 23:33
  S5: time when you're not hungry for the word. But I'll
• 23:36
  S5: tell you this the Holy Spirit's working on you and
• 23:39
  S5: you're asking the question, why is this I need this.
• 23:42
  S5: But if there's been no surrender of everything, there's not
• 23:47
  S5: even an appetite for the Word of God like that.
• 23:51
  S5: My sheep hear my voice and they follow me. I'm
• 23:55
  S5: asking you to be a sheep in the hands of God.
• 24:01
  S5: He says, come to me, all who are weary and
• 24:03
  S5: heavy laden. I'll give you rest. It's war, man. And
• 24:11
  S5: I'm praying that Jesus is cutting through by the power
• 24:15
  S5: of the Holy Spirit with the message of the gospel today,
• 24:20
  S5: the gospel changes everything. But you got to give everything
• 24:24
  S5: you are to Jesus today, holding nothing back. If this
• 24:32
  S5: is you, but count the cost. But if this is you,
• 24:37
  S5: and the Holy Spirit is hitting you, and I mean
• 24:41
  S5: there is something happening that is so transformative. And with
• 24:47
  S5: a clear conscience and a clear mind, you are saying,
• 24:51
  S5: I know who I am. I'm a sinner who needs
• 24:53
  S5: a Savior. And today I repent and surrender all that
• 24:55
  S5: I am to Jesus. I want you to text the
• 24:57
  S5: word new right now, and we're going to help you
• 25:00
  S5: in your first steps with Jesus, no matter where you are.
• 25:03
  S5: North America and beyond. Text the word new. But don't
• 25:09
  S5: make this just another. I'm trying to get fire insurance.
• 25:13
  S5: This is about a full surrender of everything. Techs new
• 25:17
  S5: to 805 557898. One word new to 805 5578, 98.
• 25:28
  S5: We're going to help you in your first steps with Jesus.
• 25:32
  S5: We're going to get a Bible into your hands. Some
• 25:36
  S5: of you may have a Bible, but it's going to
• 25:38
  S5: mean something like never before to you. This will be
• 25:42
  S5: the Word of God. And man cannot live by bread alone,
• 25:45
  S5: but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.
• 25:50
  S5: If this is you, if this is to your day
• 25:52
  S5: of salvation, the God of this age has blinded your minds.
• 25:55
  S5: But today you've heard the gospel text new to 805 557898.
• 26:02
  S5: One word new to 805 557898. Follow every link that
• 26:07
  S5: we have for you. New to 800 Read 5557898. Welcome
• 26:16
  S5: to the family of God.
• 26:19
  S1: Your spiritual pit stop to keep you going in the race.
• 26:23
  S1: You're listening to Carl and crew.
• 26:25
  S5: So in second Corinthians four, verse four, we find that
• 26:29
  S5: the God of this age has blinded the minds of
• 26:32
  S5: the unbelieving. Now, he would commonly look at a text
• 26:35
  S5: like that and say, yeah, those guys bellied up to
• 26:37
  S5: the bar at happy hour. Those, those guys that are
• 26:40
  S5: staunchly atheist or agnostic or antagonistic toward Jesus, of course.
• 26:46
  S5: And their minds are blinded. But what if the biggest
• 26:51
  S5: blinding was inside the walls of the church? What if
• 26:55
  S5: the biggest mission field was sitting beside us every Sunday morning?
• 27:02
  S5: Tim Mulgrew believes that in a big way. Tim, I'm
• 27:05
  S5: not overstating it for your appetite, am I, my man?
• 27:09
  S6: No way. My my book. I start off with Matthew
• 27:13
  S6: seven where Jesus says, depart from me. I never knew
• 27:16
  S6: you and go to explain. He says that not to
• 27:19
  S6: the people that are bellying up to the bar who
• 27:21
  S6: don't believe. He's saying that to people who think they
• 27:25
  S6: are believers.
• 27:27
  S2: Tim. So let's unpack this a little bit, because this
• 27:29
  S2: is something we talk a lot about on this show,
• 27:32
  S2: and I'm really interested to hear your perspective on this.
• 27:36
  S2: Let's start with Matthew seven. Break that down a little bit.
• 27:38
  S2: And this is one of the most unsettling passages in Scripture.
• 27:43
  S2: Anybody who reads it and doesn't have at least a
• 27:46
  S2: thought of going, wait a second, am I going to
• 27:49
  S2: be one of those ones? Probably hasn't read it. I mean,
• 27:54
  S2: because it's unsettling.
• 27:55
  S6: It is. You know, our human nature doesn't like things
• 27:58
  S6: like that. So we're very quick to say, oh, well,
• 28:01
  S6: that passage doesn't apply to me. That applies to, you know,
• 28:05
  S6: other people who don't believe. But the passage is very clear,
• 28:09
  S6: because the audience that Jesus says it to says, but Lord,
• 28:14
  S6: didn't we prophesy in your name? Translate that to current time.
• 28:18
  S6: Didn't we go to church every Sunday? Didn't we tithe?
• 28:21
  S6: Didn't we feed the poor? Didn't we follow all the rules?
• 28:25
  S6: And Jesus, of course, says, I have no idea who
• 28:27
  S6: you are. We don't have a relationship. Why should I
• 28:30
  S6: let you in my house if we don't have a relationship?
• 28:33
  S6: And so we have to be ready and prepared to
• 28:37
  S6: always examine ourselves, always examine our Christianity. And if we
• 28:44
  S6: are truly Christians and believe that's true, we shouldn't be
• 28:48
  S6: afraid to examine it. Because I'll tell you what, I'd
• 28:51
  S6: much rather deal with that now than to hear those
• 28:55
  S6: words from Jesus when it's too late to do something
• 28:58
  S6: about it.
• 28:59
  S5: Yeah. Great word. Tim Mulgrew, our guest right now, author
• 29:02
  S5: of Christian A Contract with God Understanding the terms of
• 29:06
  S5: true salvation. It's a sobering thing, and I'm so glad
• 29:11
  S5: that you're writing on this. And there's a significant uptick
• 29:16
  S5: in the last six months of people championing this. But
• 29:21
  S5: I was sobered up just recently. I've got a dear
• 29:23
  S5: friend who is close friends with the lead pastor of
• 29:26
  S5: a church of many, many thousands, five campuses, many, many thousands.
• 29:30
  S5: I forget the exact number, but I want to say
• 29:33
  S5: it's well over 12,000 approaching maybe 18 or something. And
• 29:37
  S5: this lead pastor, good man of God, Bible preacher man
• 29:42
  S5: loves the Lord. So my friend asked him a question
• 29:45
  S5: standing in the lobby wasn't preaching that Sunday music's playing.
• 29:48
  S5: He says, hey, let me ask you a question of
• 29:50
  S5: this lead pastor. You know, my friend, he's been talking
• 29:53
  S5: a lot about this big mission field inside the church here.
• 29:58
  S5: He said if you were to do an honest estimate,
• 30:02
  S5: how many people are truly born again. What would you
• 30:06
  S5: say this pastor Tim looked at him and he said,
• 30:09
  S5: I would be happy if 40% of the people that
• 30:13
  S5: are here every weekend really knew Jesus personally.
• 30:17
  S6: Sadly, that's a pretty big number.
• 30:19
  S5: So you think that's a reach?
• 30:21
  S6: Absolutely. I think that we have simplified Christianity so much.
• 30:28
  S6: I attribute a lot of it to, you know, the
• 30:31
  S6: gospel tracks that we used to crank out by the
• 30:33
  S6: bazillions in the 70s and the 80s. Uh, that simplified
• 30:37
  S6: the message of salvation down and then ends, you know,
• 30:41
  S6: with the sinner's prayer says, all you got to do
• 30:43
  S6: is say this like you mean it, and all will
• 30:46
  S6: be well. And, you know, that would be great if
• 30:49
  S6: it were a seed. And people then went to church
• 30:52
  S6: and then they were discipled. But the church has become
• 30:55
  S6: all only about salvation, not about restoration and a relationship
• 31:01
  S6: with God, which is the true gospel message. So basically
• 31:04
  S6: what we have is a bunch of what I call
• 31:07
  S6: easy chair Christians, people who don't take up their cross
• 31:11
  S6: daily and follow because we don't like the sound of that.
• 31:15
  S6: These are people who truly believe that they've done the,
• 31:19
  S6: you know, the magic incantation, if you will, of saying
• 31:23
  S6: the sinner's prayer, which actually isn't even in Scripture. There
• 31:27
  S6: is no such thing as a sinner in Scripture. So
• 31:30
  S6: where did this come from? And yet we've all been
• 31:33
  S6: led to believe I was one of them. In my
• 31:35
  S6: own testimony I write about in my book, I talk
• 31:38
  S6: about being born again twice, once the church way and
• 31:41
  S6: once the biblical way. Uh, and many, many people, their
• 31:45
  S6: testimony is so weak about, you know, their experience with God. And,
• 31:52
  S6: you know, the most significant event to ever occur in
• 31:55
  S6: the world is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The most
• 32:00
  S6: significant event that should occur in your life is being
• 32:04
  S6: born again. And yet people's testimony about their own experience.
• 32:09
  S6: It's just not there. It's not there. And more and
• 32:12
  S6: more people, you know, I've been teaching Bible for many,
• 32:15
  S6: many years, and I've written quite a few books about this.
• 32:18
  S6: But you see people, they have a, an academic Sunday
• 32:23
  S6: school understanding of the Bible, but it ends there. They
• 32:27
  S6: don't have a relationship with the Bible. They don't have
• 32:30
  S6: a relationship with God. You can hear it in their
• 32:32
  S6: prayers or just these rote words that you know are
• 32:35
  S6: Bible words. We've learned to say the Bible words and
• 32:39
  S6: hope that somehow there's magic in that. That's simply not
• 32:43
  S6: what the Bible says is the definition of a Christian,
• 32:47
  S6: a child of God. The road is very narrow. Very
• 32:51
  S6: few find it even in the church.
• 32:54
  S2: So let's talk about this definition and then what you
• 32:57
  S2: describe as a contract. That language may be new to some.
• 33:02
  S2: We've heard about a covenant, but what you're talking about
• 33:04
  S2: a contract. So describe that a little bit more.
• 33:08
  S6: I use the term contract. And I do explain that
• 33:11
  S6: in the upfront what the intended meaning is. But I
• 33:15
  S6: want to use contemporary language because you have to understand,
• 33:18
  S6: you don't just sit around waiting for God to do
• 33:21
  S6: something in your life. God gave us free will, and
• 33:25
  S6: this contract of being a Christian requires us to exercise
• 33:29
  S6: our free will in the implementation, if you will, of
• 33:34
  S6: these four ingredients that Paul talks about in Romans, that
• 33:37
  S6: if you really want to have what you need to
• 33:40
  S6: have to have a relationship with God, these four things
• 33:45
  S6: must occur. They are what the Bible calls the wedding clothes.
• 33:49
  S6: I've just used the term ingredients and contract because it's
• 33:52
  S6: something that we can identify with a whole lot easier
• 33:55
  S6: in our modern culture. So the church all understands and
• 34:00
  S6: Christians all understand. Ingredient number one is salvation, right? Now,
• 34:05
  S6: the problem is, is that most people stop there. We
• 34:08
  S6: say all you need is salvation. You just need to
• 34:11
  S6: repeat the sinner's prayer and mean it. And so people,
• 34:14
  S6: they get saved, they get baptized, they join the church
• 34:18
  S6: and they do all the right things. They follow all
• 34:21
  S6: the rules. Which is interesting because we're taught over and
• 34:24
  S6: over again that works has nothing to do with salvation.
• 34:27
  S6: But of course, we're doing all of these things right.
• 34:31
  S6: So we're just not getting it. But you see in Genesis,
• 34:34
  S6: God talks about how he walked in the cool of
• 34:37
  S6: the morning with Adam and Eve. They had a relationship.
• 34:40
  S6: They hung out together. They named the animals. They. Can
• 34:43
  S6: you imagine talking with God every single day? And this
• 34:47
  S6: didn't just happen once or twice. This was a way
• 34:50
  S6: of life for a long period of time. Until sin
• 34:52
  S6: enters the world. Then God has to separate himself because
• 34:56
  S6: he can't be in the presence of sin. So the
• 34:59
  S6: gospel message really is about how God goes about fixing
• 35:03
  S6: this problem. He's not going to eliminate sin because that
• 35:07
  S6: would eliminate our free will. And our free will is
• 35:10
  S6: in fact, the greatest gift God gives us. So the
• 35:14
  S6: contract is really about how you exercise your free will.
• 35:19
  S6: God needs to be able to work in your life
• 35:23
  S6: to fulfill the additional ingredients. But basically that's what we
• 35:29
  S6: need in order to be able to be or have
• 35:32
  S6: God in our presence in order to have a relationship
• 35:35
  S6: with him. Yes, we have to have our sins covered
• 35:38
  S6: up and eliminated. So that's the next process. If you
• 35:43
  S6: stop at salvation and you don't talk about justification and
• 35:47
  S6: sanctification and move through the list, then you don't have
• 35:51
  S6: what you need to have a relationship with God, and
• 35:54
  S6: therefore you don't have what I call the golden ticket
• 35:57
  S6: to heaven, your prime, to hear. Depart from me. I
• 36:01
  S6: never knew you because you don't have the ability to
• 36:04
  S6: have a relationship with God. And I'm not talking about
• 36:08
  S6: knowing God, but that's what we do. So we're not
• 36:11
  S6: really taking what is necessary to have a close personal
• 36:16
  S6: relationship with God. And so why would we expect to
• 36:19
  S6: be invited into his house?
• 36:20
  S5: Yeah, yeah. It's a real deception in the church today.
• 36:24
  S5: Tim Mulgrew, our guest right now. And we're going to
• 36:26
  S5: give you a link to a resource here in a moment.
• 36:28
  S5: You know, I want you to comment on the parable
• 36:30
  S5: of the soils, because what I found here is that
• 36:32
  S5: a lot of us look at the hard response and
• 36:35
  S5: we say, that's the one guy that, yeah, here's the word,
• 36:38
  S5: doesn't have room for it in his heart. But then
• 36:41
  S5: we actually codify a form of Christianity that Jesus never
• 36:46
  S5: codifies himself. We look at the seed planted in shallow
• 36:49
  S5: soil and we say, oh, that's a person that started
• 36:52
  S5: up there really in Christ, but a little bit of persecution,
• 36:55
  S5: hardship comes. So they just got to get back on
• 36:57
  S5: track with Christ. Jesus says they were never in them.
• 36:59
  S5: It was an emotional experience, but they were never in them.
• 37:02
  S5: The scariest one to me is the third soil, the
• 37:04
  S5: worries of this world, the deceitfulness of wealth and the
• 37:06
  S5: desire for other things. And I think what we've done
• 37:09
  S5: in American Christianity is we have proposed a Christianity where
• 37:13
  S5: you can embrace Jesus with one hand, but keep the
• 37:16
  S5: worries of this world, the deceitfulness of wealth and those
• 37:19
  S5: fleshly desires kind of cradled in your other arm and
• 37:23
  S5: kind of la de da, here we go. But Jesus
• 37:26
  S5: was clear there's only one soil type that captures a
• 37:30
  S5: relationship with Jesus, and it will have a fruitful effect.
• 37:33
  S5: Not perfect. No one said that Tim isn't perfect. I'm not.
• 37:37
  S5: Allie isn't. We aren't. I think we've twisted scripture to
• 37:42
  S5: fit an anemic Christianity which isn't biblical Christianity. What do
• 37:47
  S5: you think, Tim?
• 37:49
  S6: What we're looking to do as humans. Our human nature
• 37:52
  S6: is to follow the path of least resistance, right? Yes.
• 37:56
  S6: And so what we tend to do is add Christianity
• 38:00
  S6: to our lives and subtract off the noticeable bad things.
• 38:05
  S6: And so we come out as the new, improved version
• 38:09
  S6: of ourselves. But Scripture tells us you must be born again.
• 38:15
  S6: It doesn't say, hey, I have a really good idea.
• 38:17
  S6: Why don't you try this born again thing and see
• 38:19
  S6: if it works for you? No, it says you must.
• 38:22
  S6: So what does it mean to be born again? You're
• 38:24
  S6: a new creature. The old you is dead and gone.
• 38:29
  S6: There is no new and improved. You are either made
• 38:32
  S6: up of all the ingredients that are what a Christian
• 38:36
  S6: is or you're not. And you're just covering yourself with
• 38:40
  S6: these ingredients. And so Jesus talks about the soils. Now,
• 38:45
  S6: in my own experience, I talk about because I was
• 38:47
  S6: one of those guys that, you know, the seed fell
• 38:50
  S6: on the rocky soil, I sprung up, I was all
• 38:53
  S6: things church, I went to church every time the doors
• 38:56
  S6: were open. But I'll tell you what, when things of
• 38:59
  S6: the world came up and things started to get difficult. Oh,
• 39:02
  S6: and by the way, people in the church mistreated me.
• 39:06
  S6: I fell away and I went and entered into a
• 39:10
  S6: life where I called myself a Christian. But I didn't
• 39:13
  S6: live like a Christian, uh, until God kicked me in
• 39:16
  S6: the head enough times. And that's when I was born again.
• 39:19
  S6: For real this time.
• 39:20
  S5: Yeah, the first time.
• 39:21
  S6: But you talk about the soil now. Jesus talks about
• 39:25
  S6: how we can see whether or not we truly are
• 39:29
  S6: a Christian. He talks about, you know, a good tree
• 39:33
  S6: bears good fruit. A bad tree bears bad fruit. We
• 39:36
  S6: love that statement. And the reason why is because we
• 39:39
  S6: look at the fruit, right? We say, oh yeah, look
• 39:41
  S6: at me. I've got all these good pieces of fruit hanging.
• 39:44
  S6: I do this good, I do that good, I do this. Well,
• 39:47
  S6: pretty much anybody, whether it's a Christian or not, can
• 39:50
  S6: pick out some good things they've done in life and
• 39:53
  S6: hang it on a tree and say, look, it's a
• 39:55
  S6: good fruit. But that's not what Jesus says. Jesus is
• 39:58
  S6: talking about the tree, not the fruit. The tree itself.
• 40:03
  S6: The one that is deep rooted. Yes, well fed, well watered,
• 40:08
  S6: taken care of. It will produce good fruit. So we
• 40:13
  S6: don't need to be looking at the fruit. We need
• 40:15
  S6: to be looking at the tree. And the tree comes
• 40:18
  S6: from that soil that you're talking about. There's one good
• 40:21
  S6: soil and three other bad ones. And there's one good
• 40:25
  S6: tree and that's the one that grows from that soil.
• 40:28
  S6: And what he's talking about is, is that Christianity isn't
• 40:32
  S6: just something you decide you want to do because it
• 40:35
  S6: fits what you think. Christianity is who you are and
• 40:40
  S6: what you are, not what you think or what you believe.
• 40:45
  S6: You either are. Every cell in your body a Christian. Which,
• 40:50
  S6: by the way, is the original definition of the word believe.
• 40:54
  S6: We've been led into this whole world of Disney belief where,
• 40:58
  S6: you know, if I just think hard enough and I
• 41:00
  S6: do enough good things, that all will be well and
• 41:03
  S6: we'll all live happily ever after. But believe was a
• 41:06
  S6: word that was very infrequently used by writers in those times,
• 41:10
  S6: because it was such an enormous concept that every cell
• 41:15
  S6: of your body was attached to this thing that you
• 41:19
  S6: believe in. And that, by the way, is also the
• 41:22
  S6: definition of baptism. It is detaching yourself from the atom
• 41:27
  S6: nature and attaching yourself with the Jesus nature. So it's
• 41:31
  S6: all very consistent with Scripture. But if we don't talk
• 41:34
  S6: about it, then it doesn't exist.
• 41:37
  S2: Well, there's a lot more that we could get into,
• 41:39
  S2: but for the sake of time, I want to just
• 41:41
  S2: point you to the resource. It's called Christian, A contract
• 41:44
  S2: with God. Understanding the Terms of true salvation. The author,
• 41:48
  S2: Tim Mulgrew. Just text Tim to 805 557898 T I'm
• 41:54
  S2: Tim to 805 557898.
• 41:59
  S1: Your shot of hope to help you through the day.
• 42:02
  S1: This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
• 42:05
  S5: This whole week we're tackling the reality of spiritual war.
• 42:09
  S5: You don't have to look any further than Ephesians six.
• 42:12
  S5: It seems to be one of the most expansive teachings
• 42:16
  S5: in the New Testament on spiritual warfare. We battle not
• 42:20
  S5: against flesh and blood, but against rulers, against the authorities,
• 42:26
  S5: against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the
• 42:31
  S5: spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Four different
• 42:35
  S5: Greek words to describe this war. It's immense, isn't it, guys?
• 42:39
  S3: It is immense. And that means that we should pay
• 42:42
  S3: attention to it. Because if it's talked about like this
• 42:46
  S3: in Scripture, then we need to be aware and prepared,
• 42:51
  S3: and Satan would want nothing more than for us to
• 42:55
  S3: kind of shrug it off and not be worried about
• 42:56
  S3: it at all.
• 42:57
  S5: Or.
• 42:57
  S4: Shrink back.
• 42:58
  S5: Yeah.
• 42:59
  S4: You know.
• 42:59
  S5: Yeah. And in fear, but we, we see a call
• 43:03
  S5: then to put on the full armor of God. But
• 43:05
  S5: here's the intriguing thing in verse 18, praying at all
• 43:08
  S5: times in the spirit with all prayer and supplication. That
• 43:14
  S5: is not a throw away. Praying for all the saints
• 43:19
  S5: at all times. Doctor Thrasher is with us right now.
• 43:24
  S5: My goodness, friend, we're in a war. But prayer is
• 43:27
  S5: central to this victory, isn't it?
• 43:30
  S7: It certainly is. The often quoted, at least for many,
• 43:33
  S7: are familiar with the Corrie ten boom that the devil
• 43:36
  S7: smiles when we make plans, laughs when we get too busy,
• 43:41
  S7: but trembles when we pray, especially when we pray together.
• 43:45
  S7: It is great warfare against prayer, and I think all
• 43:47
  S7: you have to say is, look, we've got problems that
• 43:50
  S7: man can't solve and that we're not crying out to
• 43:53
  S7: him to do something. And I think the most fundamental
• 43:57
  S7: attack of the devil is he tries to lie about
• 44:00
  S7: the character of God. Does he care? Is he available?
• 44:04
  S7: Is he powerful enough to do something? Is his way good?
• 44:08
  S7: I mean, is God's will really everything we would desire
• 44:12
  S7: if we knew all the facts? So the fact we're
• 44:14
  S7: not calling upon him shows that by our delusion, of course,
• 44:17
  S7: the belt of truth is the first thing he's going
• 44:19
  S7: to say. We're deceived. He works in the area of deceit.
• 44:22
  S5: Yes.
• 44:22
  S7: Well, you see great, great spiritual battle against the spirit
• 44:25
  S7: of prayer.
• 44:26
  S5: What is praying in the spirit? You must have studied
• 44:31
  S5: this out. And there's a lot of discussion around that.
• 44:33
  S5: But it's praying in capital S the spirit. So it's
• 44:37
  S5: praying in the power of the Holy Spirit. But how
• 44:39
  S5: do you understand that best?
• 44:41
  S7: God used that to awaken my own prayer life. Because
• 44:44
  S7: of what you hear about prayer, you generally is. It's
• 44:46
  S7: very important and you need to discipline yourself to do it.
• 44:49
  S7: And those are absolutely true. And unless you buy into those,
• 44:52
  S7: everything else is theoretical. But I need, just as I'm
• 44:56
  S7: to walk by the spirit, every area, every step I
• 44:59
  S7: take is dependent upon him. Also, prayer is not just
• 45:03
  S7: a human activity. I need the spirit to motivate my prayer,
• 45:07
  S7: to guide my prayer, and to empower my prayer. So
• 45:11
  S7: I'm not in this just by myself. And I think
• 45:13
  S7: that's why God has given us, even in this great
• 45:15
  S7: book of Ephesians. You know, I think one of the
• 45:18
  S7: most powerful warfare prayers is in that first chapter, 15
• 45:21
  S7: to 23, when he says, God, he would open our
• 45:24
  S7: eyes that the eyes of our heart would be enlightened,
• 45:27
  S7: that he would give you that spirit, that disposition of
• 45:29
  S7: wisdom and revelation, that we could know him. And of course,
• 45:33
  S7: he always starts with Thanksgiving. That's part of opening our
• 45:36
  S7: eyes and. And the Spirit of God is going to
• 45:38
  S7: lead you. That's part of the work of the Spirit
• 45:40
  S7: of God. He empowers you to what? To thank him.
• 45:42
  S7: And he'll say in Ephesians five when he talks about
• 45:44
  S7: the results of the spirit, I mean, the fact that
• 45:47
  S7: I have any breath in my body is the grace
• 45:49
  S7: of God. The fact that I'm not in hell is
• 45:51
  S7: the grace of God. That's a great place to start
• 45:53
  S7: in prayer.
• 45:54
  S5: Yeah.
• 45:55
  S7: Everything I have, other than judgment is due to the
• 45:58
  S7: grace of God. The prayer that he gives us there.
• 46:01
  S7: The devil throws fiery darts of despair at us when
• 46:05
  S7: we don't can't figure something out. And he says, I
• 46:07
  S7: pray that you would know the hope. That's not just.
• 46:10
  S7: That's a precious word, a hope. Abraham. It says he
• 46:13
  S7: in hope against hope. He believed there was no hope.
• 46:16
  S7: He had hope. Why? Because God strengthened his faith. And
• 46:21
  S7: I pray that people all over Chicago, all over this land,
• 46:24
  S7: all over this world, that we would depend upon him.
• 46:27
  S7: That's part of being strong in the Lord and the
• 46:29
  S7: strength of his might. Same Greek word that's used there
• 46:31
  S7: is used in Romans four that God strengthened Abraham to believe.
• 46:37
  S7: And I love that. Romans four, it says he strengthened
• 46:39
  S7: him to believe, giving glory to God. You know, that's
• 46:42
  S7: all I need to know. And I don't remember many dates,
• 46:44
  S7: but I remember this one. February 20th, 1984. I was
• 46:47
  S7: walking to the train just meditating on this verse, and
• 46:50
  S7: I said, God, that's all I need to know. If
• 46:52
  S7: growing strong in faith glorifies you, will God take me?
• 46:56
  S7: A man of fear, a man of weakness, and make
• 46:59
  S7: me into a man of faith so that we can
• 47:01
  S7: pray hope into people's lives is an incredible encouragement, and
• 47:05
  S7: I prayed that would happen today in our life, in
• 47:08
  S7: each of our lives.
• 47:09
  S5: For a lot of people listening dock, the power of
• 47:13
  S5: the spirit has been a lost God, mainly because I
• 47:16
  S5: think we've veered away from the power of the spirit
• 47:20
  S5: because there were definitely abuses of the spirit. There were
• 47:24
  S5: people that leveraged spiritual insights and Holy Spirit power for
• 47:30
  S5: their own ends. So we get all that. But there's
• 47:33
  S5: been a reclaiming of the power of the spirit in
• 47:36
  S5: the evangelical world, and I'm so encouraged by that. When
• 47:40
  S5: we when we understand from John 14, John 16, Romans eight,
• 47:45
  S5: and even here in Ephesians six, when we understand the
• 47:49
  S5: power of the spirit to guide and direct our prayers,
• 47:52
  S5: as you were just saying a moment ago, there's a
• 47:55
  S5: game changer there. I think people need to be clear
• 47:58
  S5: that the Spirit of God is going to remind us
• 48:01
  S5: of truth. The Holy Spirit's going to comfort us. The
• 48:03
  S5: Holy Spirit's going to direct us and guide us. It's
• 48:07
  S5: it's how the church move forward in the book of acts.
• 48:11
  S5: How do we reclaim that some need to come out
• 48:14
  S5: of this real cerebral kind of information exchange and begin
• 48:19
  S5: to listen to the voice of God with confidence? Right, Bill.
• 48:24
  S7: Amen. And I think, you know, in my own life,
• 48:26
  S7: it's something I think I have to continually rediscover. I mean,
• 48:30
  S7: I am here talking to you today. Humanly speaking, because
• 48:33
  S7: it goes back there in 1972, wandering into the room
• 48:37
  S7: of a fraternity brother. And I was a believer, a
• 48:40
  S7: very defeated believer. And he began sharing with me that
• 48:44
  S7: little blue booklet that crew uses. Maybe they still use.
• 48:46
  S7: Have you made the wonderful discovery of the spirit filled life?
• 48:49
  S7: I hung on every word I. I said, God, there's
• 48:52
  S7: a I. I didn't say anything verbally, but I said, Lord,
• 48:55
  S7: there's a resource I don't know anything about. I went
• 48:57
  S7: to the denominational church and we recited the Apostles Creed
• 48:59
  S7: every Sunday morning. I believed in the Holy Ghost. That's
• 49:02
  S7: the extent that I knew about it. But quite frankly,
• 49:04
  S7: I think there was an area that a person could
• 49:06
  S7: go in a good Bible believing church, and there was
• 49:08
  S7: not practical understanding and experience of the spirit filled life.
• 49:12
  S7: I think if a person, if the devil can't keep
• 49:15
  S7: a person getting saved, he blinds us from understanding this
• 49:18
  S7: truth because our lives are simply no threat to his
• 49:21
  S7: kingdom unaided by the Holy Spirit, no matter what gift
• 49:24
  S7: you have. But God can take feeble words just any
• 49:28
  S7: kind of ability yielded to the Spirit of God. Our
• 49:31
  S7: whole body can become weapons of righteousness, and so that's
• 49:35
  S7: the hope of the Spirit of God. He can take
• 49:38
  S7: feeble words and lodge them into people's hearts and change lives.
• 49:41
  S5: Uh, doctor Bill Thrasher is our guest right now. Uh,
• 49:44
  S5: the how does this work for you on a day
• 49:47
  S5: to day basis? Uh, you're going throughout your day. You
• 49:51
  S5: obviously listen to the spirit. Give us a scenario that
• 49:55
  S5: plays itself out so that people can see how accessible
• 49:59
  S5: the Holy Spirit longs to be in our life.
• 50:03
  S7: You know, I often tell the story of the idea
• 50:05
  S7: of the church that was trying to figure out who
• 50:07
  S7: are we going to get to speak? And when one
• 50:09
  S7: person said, well, let's get D.L. Moody, and a person
• 50:12
  S7: sort of said, well, D.L. Moody doesn't have a monopoly
• 50:14
  S7: of the Holy Spirit. No, but the Holy Spirit has
• 50:16
  S7: a monopoly on him. So we have all the spirit
• 50:20
  S7: we need. The words that describe to me the reality,
• 50:23
  S7: and I try to do it every morning, not ritualistically,
• 50:26
  S7: but are you open to the Spirit's control? Open fear
• 50:30
  S7: is usually the reason we not open fear. Are you
• 50:33
  S7: dependent upon the Spirit's control? The. Andrew Murray the three
• 50:37
  S7: stages of the Christian's life. He talks about the first stages.
• 50:40
  S7: I can do it and that leads to failure. Second
• 50:42
  S7: stage is I can't do it otherwise I'm not going
• 50:44
  S7: to let anybody set me up and make me make
• 50:46
  S7: any vow or make any resolution. But the third stage,
• 50:50
  S7: I can't do it, but I must do it, and
• 50:52
  S7: I'm going to trust God to do it.
• 50:53
  S5: Amen.
• 50:54
  S7: Openness to his control, that dependence upon his control. And thirdly,
• 50:59
  S7: the responsiveness to his control is the Spirit of God
• 51:02
  S7: prompting you to do something. Do. It is the prompting
• 51:05
  S7: of the Spirit of God prompting you not to do something.
• 51:07
  S7: Don't do it as part of. Also, responsiveness. Control is.
• 51:11
  S7: God points out sin in your life. Agree with him.
• 51:14
  S7: That little booklet that person shared with me 50 years
• 51:16
  S7: ago talked about spiritual breathing, confessing your sins, and an inhaling,
• 51:20
  S7: asking for a fresh filling of the spirit. The dear
• 51:23
  S7: mentor that in my life there in the early 80s,
• 51:26
  S7: Stephen offered. He says, I want you to be as
• 51:28
  S7: sensitive to sin in your life as a pupil of
• 51:30
  S7: your eye is to foreign matter. When something gets in
• 51:32
  S7: the pupil of your eye, you deal with it. You
• 51:34
  S7: don't say, in a couple of weeks I'll get somebody
• 51:36
  S7: to talk to somebody about it. So that openness, dependence
• 51:39
  S7: and responsiveness. If that doesn't aren't the best way that
• 51:43
  S7: you understand it. You have the right as God's child say, God,
• 51:46
  S7: you've commanded me to walk by the spirit. You commanded
• 51:49
  S7: me to be full of the spirit. Now, God, would
• 51:51
  S7: you explain it to me in ways I can understand
• 51:54
  S7: in my personality and my circumstances? And you'll get it.
• 51:57
  S7: If you refuse to live without it, you'll get it.
• 51:59
  S5: Amen. Doctor Bill Thrasher, everybody, we've got a link to
• 52:03
  S5: some resources that are epic around prayer. Doctor Bill Thrasher
• 52:08
  S5: has been used. So mightily of God. This is going
• 52:10
  S5: to get you to multiple resources books that you can grab.
• 52:15
  S5: I'm asking you to grab this right now if you
• 52:18
  S5: need to learn about the power of God in prayer. Text.
• 52:23
  S5: Pray to 805 5578981 word. Pray to 805 557898.
• 52:33
  S1: Standing on the rock each and every day, you're listening
• 52:37
  S1: to Carl and Crew.
• 52:39
  S5: It's the bottom of the hour. We missed our first
• 52:41
  S5: go around because we were busy with the gospel, but
• 52:43
  S5: we got it. Now. It's time on this Thursday morning.
• 52:48
  S1: Finding nuggets of truth in everyday life.
• 52:51
  S8: It's a metaphor. It's just a metaphor, dude.
• 52:53
  S9: That's a metaphor.
• 52:54
  S8: It's a metaphor.
• 52:55
  S10: I know it's a metaphor.
• 52:56
  S1: It's time for. Make it a metaphor with young thunder.
• 53:02
  S5: Okay, I got a story for you, my man. And
• 53:03
  S5: then you got to make it a metaphor. Okay? You
• 53:05
  S5: were out when I shared this, so this will be
• 53:07
  S5: new to you. I got dinged, and I didn't even
• 53:10
  S5: tend to get dinged, and I feel so blah. So
• 53:13
  S5: we pull up to a parking spot right in front
• 53:15
  S5: of the hospital, see our brand new grandson, Theodore Teddy.
• 53:20
  S5: and I couldn't believe it. Right across the light is
• 53:24
  S5: a spot. It's like one of those. You got to
• 53:26
  S5: be kidding me. In downtown Chicago, to get one of
• 53:29
  S5: the spots, it's like, woo hoo!
• 53:30
  S11: Geronimo!
• 53:32
  S5: So I duck in there and I go on my
• 53:35
  S5: app and I plug in about an hour. We didn't
• 53:38
  S5: want to overdo our stay. I mean, mama's just gone
• 53:41
  S5: through this thing and they got to do their thing
• 53:44
  S5: as a family and all that. But hey, we're grandparents,
• 53:47
  S5: so we're like, let's go up. And we had such
• 53:50
  S5: a great time. It was so great that I'm watching
• 53:53
  S5: the time and I'm watching it and watching it. And
• 53:57
  S5: then I didn't watch it and I'm like, oh no,
• 53:59
  S5: I gotta look down. I'm like, oh, it's just been
• 54:02
  S5: a few minutes since it expired. Let me plug in
• 54:04
  S5: some more time. So I plugged in some more time.
• 54:07
  S5: We wrap up our time there, go downstairs, go across
• 54:11
  S5: the street, putting a bag in. And I look on
• 54:14
  S5: the windshield are. I got dinged, so I paid like
• 54:21
  S5: ten bucks and then I paid another three bucks. And
• 54:28
  S5: so I paid ten. Got dinged for 70 in that pic.
• 54:32
  S5: And few minutes when I didn't have an active parking meter. Yeah.
• 54:37
  S5: And then I paid again after I got dinged unknowingly.
• 54:42
  S3: That's the worst, man. It's the worst.
• 54:44
  S5: Make it a metaphor.
• 54:46
  S3: Carl, you you did the right thing.
• 54:49
  S11: I did the right thing.
• 54:50
  S3: You knew what was coming. You knew what you had
• 54:53
  S3: to protect against. You were only late by eight minutes.
• 54:57
  S5: Maybe not even that.
• 54:58
  S3: Maybe not even that.
• 54:59
  S5: He might have found me at 60s.
• 55:01
  S3: Might have. The problem is, is that late is late,
• 55:07
  S3: and I'm going where we've actually been today. Because I
• 55:12
  S3: don't think there's any better place to go on this day.
• 55:15
  S3: Matthew 25, Jesus gives the parable of the ten virgins.
• 55:21
  S3: These women who had their lanterns out and were waiting
• 55:24
  S3: for the bridegroom to come, all ten were waiting, were
• 55:28
  S3: expectant for his return. But when he came near, when
• 55:32
  S3: it was time for him to show five of them
• 55:35
  S3: didn't have oil in their lamps, they weren't ready. They
• 55:38
  S3: were just slightly late because they looked. They said they
• 55:41
  S3: went to the others and they said, give us some
• 55:43
  S3: of your oil. So we're ready. And they said, we
• 55:45
  S3: don't have enough for you and us. You need to
• 55:47
  S3: go to the shops, go get some. They ran, they
• 55:50
  S3: got some. But by the time they got some, the
• 55:52
  S3: party had started and they knocked on the doors, but
• 55:55
  S3: the doors were closed and they said, you're late. I
• 55:58
  S3: don't know who you are. They weren't late by much,
• 56:02
  S3: but they were late. Late is late and that's a
• 56:07
  S3: hard reality. But it's a true reality when it comes
• 56:11
  S3: to salvation. When Jesus comes, it will be too late.
• 56:20
  S3: We don't know when he's coming, so we need to
• 56:23
  S3: be ready now and take that very seriously. As we've
• 56:27
  S3: been talking about what a real relationship with Jesus looks
• 56:31
  S3: like today. You got to know where you're at with
• 56:34
  S3: Jesus because late is late.
• 56:39
  S5: Boy, man, that is sobering, dude. You went there, didn't you? Yeah.
• 56:43
  S3: Couldn't think of a better place to go. I think
• 56:44
  S3: that was from the Lord and the Lord only.
• 56:48
  S5: Yeah. This is really interesting, guys. I was mentioning while
• 56:54
  S5: you were out. Uh, what was that a week ago? Um,
• 56:58
  S5: I got up one morning, and I feel like this
• 57:00
  S5: message of this hallucination of salvation. I felt like I
• 57:03
  S5: was in the spiritual war, and Satan was trying to
• 57:05
  S5: pull it out of me, like, take it away from me.
• 57:09
  S5: I had a dream along those lines. And then God's
• 57:13
  S5: done some things, like Tim Mulgrew, who just came on,
• 57:16
  S5: and JD Greer, who's been preaching on this great hallucination
• 57:19
  S5: of salvation, the five virgins who did not have their
• 57:24
  S5: lamps filled with oil in Matthew seven and JD Greer
• 57:28
  S5: laid it out, man. And there's a there's a growing
• 57:31
  S5: number of people that are seeing that our greatest mission
• 57:34
  S5: field is in church every weekend. In. Oh, how I
• 57:39
  S5: want you to know and distinguish powerless belief from true
• 57:45
  S5: faith that changes everything. So let me do one more
• 57:49
  S5: banner ad today. I don't even have a link yet,
• 57:51
  S5: but I need you to mark down on your calendar
• 57:54
  S5: November 14th if you can possibly be here. We're going
• 57:57
  S5: to we're going to have a registration page and sign ups.
• 58:00
  S5: If you're in the area of Chicagoland, we're going to
• 58:02
  S5: have some seats for live, but the vast majority of
• 58:06
  S5: you are going to be coming online and we are
• 58:08
  S5: going to have an incredible time. So the Unstoppable Gospel
• 58:13
  S5: has just released, and Jonathan is going to tell you
• 58:15
  S5: where to get it. Some of you got it because
• 58:17
  S5: you gave a share gift, which is awesome. When you
• 58:20
  S5: get it, read it and get ready for November 14th
• 58:22
  S5: because we're going to have a morning like you can't believe.
• 58:24
  S5: And I am so fired up about this. Here's why
• 58:28
  S5: there's so many of you who truly are born again
• 58:32
  S5: and your heart aches for wayward kids, husbands, wives, loved ones,
• 58:38
  S5: you name it. I mean, people at church, your heart
• 58:40
  S5: aches and you're like wondering how in the world are
• 58:42
  S5: we going to reach these people? Here's the truth. I'm
• 58:46
  S5: going to have one whole session committed to seven surprising ways.
• 58:51
  S5: God saves those you love. And I can hardly wait.
• 58:56
  S5: And one of these I was kicking around with Michael
• 58:58
  S5: Redlick just about a week ago, and he's like, whoa,
• 59:02
  S5: that is, you don't usually stump Michael, but I stumped
• 59:06
  S5: him on this one. And he said that that's a
• 59:08
  S5: fun observation, man. And that's got powerful relevance for parents
• 59:12
  S5: with wayward kids. So here's the deal. November 14th, we're
• 59:15
  S5: going to have a registration page. We'll probably have it
• 59:17
  S5: next week, but it's going to be the morning of
• 59:20
  S5: November 14th. All across the world, no matter where you are,
• 59:23
  S5: you can tune in and locally we'll have some seats
• 59:27
  S5: for live and in person. But here's the deal. I
• 59:30
  S5: want you to be ready for it and the way
• 59:33
  S5: to do it. Jonathan, you've got it. We've got a
• 59:36
  S5: link to Moody Pub, but you can get it on Amazon,
• 59:38
  S5: Barnes and Noble anywhere right now.
• 59:40
  S3: Yes, exactly. Wherever you go to buy books, you can
• 59:42
  S3: get it there. But we have a link for you
• 59:45
  S3: that you can access through this text that you can
• 59:47
  S3: send to us. Just text us the word unstoppable, unstoppable
• 59:51
  S3: to 800 555, 78, 98 again, unstoppable to 805 five, five, 78, 98.
• 59:59
  S3: There's a link to the book right there. We'd love
• 1:00:01
  S3: for you to be able to get this if you're
• 1:00:02
  S3: going to the conference. It's great preparation. And even if
• 1:00:06
  S3: you aren't able to make it, this book is still
• 1:00:08
  S3: an excellent resource for understanding what it means to have
• 1:00:11
  S3: true faith that changes everything.
• 1:00:13
  S5: Yeah, yeah, yeah, this is hard hitting. I will tell
• 1:00:17
  S5: you this. As a matter of fact, I, I'm, I'm
• 1:00:20
  S5: thinking right now, uh, in about a week and a half,
• 1:00:23
  S5: we're going to give out the intro free. Um, just
• 1:00:26
  S5: everyone kind of wet the whistle for what's more, but
• 1:00:31
  S5: I think if you've listened to us any time at all,
• 1:00:33
  S5: you know how much this is a passion of ours
• 1:00:37
  S5: here because the church is loaded with lost people who
• 1:00:39
  S5: think they're saved. Guys.
• 1:00:40
  S11: Yes.
• 1:00:42
  S5: Just loaded. Okay. Coming up here. Yeah. Just text the
• 1:00:46
  S5: word unstoppable. You get a link there to Moody Pub,
• 1:00:48
  S5: but you can get it on Amazon if you can.
• 1:00:50
  S5: If you're coming on the 14th, even if you aren't,
• 1:00:52
  S5: just get that pre-reading done. It's a short read, but
• 1:00:54
  S5: it it'll peel some paint in the first few chapters.
• 1:00:57
  S5: That'll really, it's going to hurt, but it's going to
• 1:01:00
  S5: hurt good. So unstoppable to 805, five, five, 78, 98.