Latest / Karl and Crew / Knowing Peace Through God’s Names with Grace Fox & Stewards of God’s Grace with Dr. John Mabus

Transcript

Knowing Peace Through God’s Names with Grace Fox & Stewards of God’s Grace with Dr. John Mabus · 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.
• 0:06
  S2: Come as you are an experienced guide, overcome what seems
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  S2: impossible and live as you never imagined.
• 0:14
  S1: Start your morning with a laugh.
• 0:16
  S2: Cold spaghetti's. Great. Okay.
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  S3: Okay, I disagree. I guess not. No, I guess certainly
• 0:22
  S3: it is not. No. Okay. Well, man, I'm going back.
• 0:26
  S2: To my bachelor days. I guess I thought cold spaghetti
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  S2: was universally loved.
• 0:31
  S4: I've never been known for, like, high levels of coordination.
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  S4: That's just. It feels like.
• 0:37
  S2: I've never been known for high levels of coordination.
• 0:42
  S1: Delivering the truth daily.
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  S4: If it were possible to have every worldly gain available
• 0:48
  S4: and you're forfeiting your soul. There's no amount of gain
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  S4: that would make it worth it.
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  S5: Our own way never ever works. Because it's apart from
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  S5: the life source, which is God.
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  S6: For me, growing up, love was always conditional and can
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  S6: be taken from you. Christ's love can't. And he went
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  S6: to the cross with my mind and my heart that night.
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  S1: Now from the call of Hope Studios, this is Carl
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  S1: and Crew.
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  S2: I'm one of the greatest gifts God ever gave me
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  S2: was empathy. And you know how you get empathy difficulty? Yeah.
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  S2: There's no way to avoid it. Allie. Yeah. I stinkin
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  S2: wish there was. I don't I do not think one
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  S2: person pops out of the womb going, hey, I'm empathy.
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  S2: Welcome to the party. It's good to have me here. Um,
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  S2: empathy is one of those things that's born out of betrayal.
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  S2: It's born out of heartache. It's born out of loss.
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  S2: It's born out of pain. And it's really born of
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  S2: the spirit. Because, uh, you can go through betrayal, heartache, loss,
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  S2: and pain and become a proverbial victim and actually get
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  S2: more focused on yourself.
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  S5: That's very.
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  S3: True.
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  S2: Which is really crazy, isn't it?
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  S5: Doesn't always lead to good stuff. Unless it's. Unless it's
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  S5: by the spirit.
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  S2: Yeah. And if I'm being fully honest here, which we
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  S2: try to be around here. Right, Ali? We don't try
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  S2: to lie routinely.
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  S3: Right?
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  S2: Yeah. I've had I've gone to things before. When I
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  S2: look at myself going pitiful me. And so two things exist.
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  S2: When you're getting empathy, you can ask the question, why God?
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  S2: And that's okay. But when you begin to go through this,
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  S2: as my bride loves to say this all the time,
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  S2: you know, I'll say something to her and she'll say,
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  S2: we live in a broken and fallen world. Bob. That's
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  S2: just what we live in. And I say, you're right, babe.
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  S2: But as you walk through this humanity that sometimes is
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  S2: anything but humane. And you look in the mirror and
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  S2: you see I'm part of this. And then you see
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  S2: the blood of Jesus that cleanses us from all sin.
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  S2: And you see a father who loves you and wants
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  S2: to put his arms around you. And a Holy Spirit
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  S2: that wants to encourage you and guide you and to
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  S2: be your counselor. Wow. Now all of a sudden, you've
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  S2: got your stuff sorted out and all and it can
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  S2: turn to empathy for others. I, I don't know a
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  S2: shortcut though, Ali. Um, I don't know how you get
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  S2: empathy without pain, betrayal, loss. And then ultimately looking to
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  S2: God and going, God help me with this. And then
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  S2: he does. And then you can care for others. My
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  S2: bride thinks that the greatest gift God ever gave me
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  S2: was a deep, heavy duty betrayal that happened nearly two
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  S2: decades ago now. And it was one of those sucker
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  S2: punches that. And by the way, you guys ever had
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  S2: not win knocked out of you. You know what I'm saying?
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  S5: Like literally.
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  S3: Yeah.
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  S2: Where you hit the ground so hard that you can't
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  S2: get grasp an air, a breath. Yeah. That is how
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  S2: it felt for me. It felt like air. And. But
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  S2: in time, God turned that into, wow, this world needs love.
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  S2: It needs care. It needs compassion. And it's a great thing.
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  S2: Coming off of an interview like Grace Fox, there's something
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  S2: rich about a person that's gone through seasons where it's like,
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  S2: where are you, God? Why is this world so broken?
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  S2: Why am I going through so much pain? Or something
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  S2: rich about those people, isn't there, Howie?
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  S4: Yeah. And you know, you think about sympathy versus empathy, right?
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  S2: Okay. Explain that.
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  S4: So sympathy is kind of the general feeling bad for
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  S4: a situation. Empathy is the ability to put yourself in
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  S4: that situation. So I would say that sympathy kind of
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  S4: stands a little bit at arm's length. Yeah man that's
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  S4: a tough thing that you're going through. Empathy is sort
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  S4: of the arm around and it's like, man, I've been there.
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  S4: I'm walking with you through this.
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  S2: Boy, when you just say that that's so good. What
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  S2: I get is a perspective of this, um, a guy
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  S2: on a street that's getting his teeth kicked in and
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  S2: you got a bunch of people watching, feeling bad, but
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  S2: then you got two guys or gals that jump in
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  S2: and go, come on, we're getting you out of here, friend.
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  S2: And boy, that's a those few steps change everything, don't they?
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  S4: Yeah, they really do. And but you're right. It only
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  S4: comes from going through maybe not the exact same thing,
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  S4: because I don't think you have to go through the
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  S4: exact same thing as someone else to feel a sense
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  S4: of empathy.
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  S2: You know what, Ali? That's a profound statement. I don't
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  S2: think you do. I've often heard it said, well, this
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  S2: person can't relate to me because they haven't gone through this.
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  S2: I have found that people don't have to. Some of
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  S2: the greatest encouragement I ever received when I was a
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  S2: cocaine addict was from people that had never had a
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  S2: $100 bill in their nose, if you know what I mean.
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  S4: Yeah. Now I will throw a little asterisk. I get
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  S4: on that there. I think full understanding requires having gone
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  S4: through something similar. Like I think you mean pain.
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  S2: Oh, oh, full understanding of the situation.
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  S4: So I think most people who have, you know, let's
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  S4: say lost someone close to them. There's a level of
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  S4: understanding that only can come from, I think, people who've
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  S4: also experienced really hard loss.
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  S2: But I think you're right.
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  S4: I don't think it has to mirror it. Exactly. And
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  S4: I think sometimes that's a misconception. And we can almost
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  S4: hold cling to our pain and say that nobody could
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  S4: possibly understand because nobody's gone through this exact same thing.
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  S4: And I think.
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  S3: That that can how.
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  S2: You hold.
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  S3: On to.
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  S4: It. Yeah. And I think that that can be self-defeating
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  S4: and isolating if, if you resist attempts to empathize because
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  S4: you assume that nobody could possibly understand.
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  S3: Yeah.
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  S2: Yeah, this is a great discussion. This is real life, guys,
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  S2: isn't it?
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  S4: This is real.
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  S2: This is real life. And what what I got a
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  S2: kick out of with Grace Fox is. Here's a woman
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  S2: that went through. And if you didn't hear it, you
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  S2: got to get the show cast guys. But here's a
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  S2: woman who will tell you how in a minute. Here's
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  S2: a woman that went through some stuff that's almost hard
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  S2: to get your mind around, right? Almost hard to get
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  S2: your mind around. In fact, there are a couple of
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  S2: things in that story I can't get my mind around.
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  S2: Can't imagine what you do in that situation. She probably
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  S2: didn't either in the moment. In fact, she said that.
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  S2: But God, and it just shows the richness of people
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  S2: who go, what are we going to do here? God,
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  S2: I don't know how to get through this. And then
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  S2: they in turn, because become people with great empathy and
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  S2: the flywheel goes on. Isn't that cool, Ali?
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  S4: Yeah. So we'd love to hear from you this morning
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  S4: who met you with godly empathy. You were going through
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  S4: something tough and someone came alongside you. Wasn't just sympathy.
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  S4: I'm sorry for what you're going through. It was an
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  S4: arm around. It was godly empathy. Tell us that story.
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  S4: Who met you in a moment of pain or tragedy?
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  S4: With godly empathy? 805 557898, 800 555, 7898.
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  S1: Breaking chains and running free. You're listening to cast and crew.
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  S2: Here's the kicker. Here's the kicker. Sometimes he uses you.
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  S2: That's the point. Watch what God can do. And sometimes
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  S2: he uses you. You know, we don't do this as
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  S2: an exercise of, oh, that's a cool story. All these
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  S2: things that we do on This morning show Or whatever
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  S2: time of day you hear it is to help you
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  S2: take your next step with Jesus. Now, it could be
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  S2: in light of what we've just been touching on here.
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  S2: It could be that you need to step out to
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  S2: find someone because you need someone to put your arm
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  S2: around you. It could be that you need to cry
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  S2: out to the Holy Spirit and say, you see your comforter.
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  S2: I need some of that right now. It could be
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  S2: that you need to be that arm of empathy. Wouldn't
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  S2: that be cool, ally?
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  S4: Yeah. I mean, it's this is the beauty of, of
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  S4: the body of Christ is that it does go both ways.
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  S4: We are both recipients of empathy. And by God's grace,
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  S4: we can be givers of it.
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  S3: Mhm. Yeah.
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  S2: So here's the question we got for you. Who met
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  S2: you with godly empathy during a difficult time in your life?
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  S2: I want you to think about this. Now, here's what's
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  S2: great about this. When you think about this, you start
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  S2: to scratch the surface. So we were just playing this song.
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  S2: Great song. And Allie's asking me some questions. I'm going
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  S2: to ask her to ask those questions again. And then
• 9:47
  S2: I'm going to tell you what happened here. That's really
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  S2: cool because it'll prove a point. But here's the question
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  S2: that we have for you. You can call us right
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  S2: now who met you with godly empathy during a difficult
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  S2: time in your life. Think about that. This might surprise you.
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  S2: It did me who met you with godly empathy during
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  S2: a difficult time in your life. Just call in. We
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  S2: want 30s on air. That's it. Just what? Who did
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  S2: it and how did it happen? 805, five five, 78, 98, 805, five, five, 78, 98.
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  S4: You know, I had asked you like, has your wife
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  S4: done this for you? You know, at different times in
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  S4: life when you've felt like you've been kind of kicked
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  S4: in the teeth a little bit?
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  S2: Yeah. So it's, that's a really good question because my,
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  S2: my bride is usually my go to, right? But there's
• 10:38
  S2: sometimes when you hit things as a couple that both
• 10:41
  S2: of you are wincing in, right? So it can be anything.
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  S2: It can be a financial piece of bad news. It
• 10:48
  S2: can be lost for business. It can be loss of
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  S2: a kid. It can be whatever it is that both
• 10:52
  S2: of you get blasted and it's like, we can't help
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  S2: each other. We're barely treading water ourselves. And we were
• 10:58
  S2: in a situation like that. So Ali was asking me, well,
• 11:01
  S2: who in the world helped you? You know what's really funny?
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  S2: I owe a phone call today to someone that I
• 11:08
  S2: haven't talked with him forever.
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  S4: That asking this question brought to mind a name.
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  S3: Yeah. Mhm.
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  S2: And his name's Chris. And I'm just going to tell
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  S2: you this. Sometimes when you really need empathy, the least
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  S2: likely people will show up at your door. And I mean,
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  S2: the least likely. Chris was a guy among a ton
• 11:29
  S2: of guys where I was serving, and we had just
• 11:35
  S2: tons of guys, man. We had a men's movement one
• 11:37
  S2: one weekend that we had, oh goodness sakes, 8900 guys
• 11:41
  S2: at this event. I mean, we had a movement of
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  S2: God going on, and it was powerhouse. Chris was just
• 11:48
  S2: one of those guys. But when the chips were down,
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  S2: this dude came over with a bunch of cardboard boxes
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  S2: and packing tape because we had to move. And he said,
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  S2: I'm here to help and I'm here to pray.
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  S4: Wow.
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  S2: And boy, did he. And it was just the encouragement.
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  S2: There was something about filling cardboard boxes that changed everything.
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  S2: And he did it for me. And he's a good dude. There.
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  S2: There's something about someone that steps into that moment of pain.
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  S2: And just an empathy manifests itself in a lot of ways.
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  S2: Sometimes it's got packing tape and a cardboard box under
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  S2: his arm. Sometimes it's just got listening ears. Sometimes it's
• 12:40
  S2: got let me go get you a Chipotle. And we're
• 12:43
  S2: going to sit down and we're going to cry together
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  S2: and it's okay.
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  S4: Yeah.
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  S2: Isn't that cool?
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  S4: Yeah. It's that entering in with you that says like, I'm, I,
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  S4: I'm understanding, I'm here, I'm with you as opposed to
• 12:58
  S4: just a more passive. I feel sorry for you, which
• 13:02
  S4: there's a place for that. I mean, there's sometimes sympathy.
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  S4: It's not sympathy. It's not a bad thing, but empathy
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  S4: is something different. So who met you with godly empathy
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  S4: during a difficult time in your life?
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  S2: 805 557898 Kevin Cedar Lake, Indiana. What do you say, man?
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  S7: Yeah. Um, years ago I was working at a call
• 13:25
  S7: center and, um, everybody knew me as very outgoing, happy
• 13:29
  S7: go lucky guy. And I don't remember what I was
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  S7: going through at the time, but it was real heavy
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  S7: and I wasn't my normal self for about a week.
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  S7: Didn't talk to anybody. A lady noticed and as she walked.
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  S7: As she walked by my desk where I was sitting
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  S7: on the phone, she just stopped lightly, grabbed my arm
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  S7: and just tapped it and patted it. Kind of say
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  S7: whatever you're going through, it's going to be okay.
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  S3: Yeah.
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  S7: And I don't I don't remember the lady's name, but
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  S7: I never forgot that moment.
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  S3: Wow.
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  S7: It meant the world to me right then.
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  S3: Kevin, that is so cool.
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  S2: Bro. Boom! Brother. Boom boom. Those those little things are
• 14:10
  S2: just huge.
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  S4: Yeah.
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  S3: And it doesn't.
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  S2: Take much to walk across the room.
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  S4: Does that feeling of being seen.
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  S3: Yeah.
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  S4: That's huge. Just just to grab the arm that no
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  S4: words even spoken.
• 14:24
  S2: It's just powerhouse. Ricky. First time caller somewhere in Alabama.
• 14:29
  S2: What do you say, man?
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  S8: I say that. Um, well, God met me through a
• 14:35
  S8: person named Papa John. I was homeless, addicted to crystal
• 14:39
  S8: meth and started attending some Na meetings. God had pushed
• 14:44
  S8: positioned him there and he asked me. He said, when
• 14:47
  S8: are you going to quit running from what God called
• 14:49
  S8: you to do? I've been clean for 26 years. I've
• 14:53
  S8: been preaching for 21. And when people say, God's good, that's.
• 14:58
  S8: Wait a minute, he's better than that. He met me
• 15:01
  S8: and my daughter. He met me in my darkest time
• 15:04
  S8: and he loved me.
• 15:06
  S2: But he used this dude in your life big time,
• 15:09
  S2: didn't he, Ricky?
• 15:11
  S8: Yes. And and still friends to this day. He's in
• 15:14
  S8: Atlanta now, but we still communicate. And, uh, him and
• 15:18
  S8: his wife both started coming to the church that I joined.
• 15:20
  S8: And his wife rededicated her life to the Lord. He baptized,
• 15:24
  S8: and he said she's passed away, but he said it
• 15:26
  S8: was the best years of her life. And she was
• 15:30
  S8: there was a colored couple. And she asked, why is
• 15:33
  S8: this white man want me to come to his white
• 15:35
  S8: church and she was talking to God. And God said,
• 15:39
  S8: he's not asking you to come to white church. That's God.
• 15:42
  S8: That's me asking you to come back to me and
• 15:44
  S8: come back to church. So she fell in love with
• 15:46
  S8: the church. And her husband to this day would tell
• 15:50
  S8: you best years of her life. So God used it all.
• 15:54
  S3: Yeah.
• 15:54
  S2: Ricky, keep preaching the word, man. Ricky from Alabama. First
• 15:59
  S2: time caller. Boom, brother. Okay, taking your calls. We're going
• 16:02
  S2: to get a bunch more in here. As many as
• 16:04
  S2: we can. We got phone lines lighting up this morning.
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  S4: Ali, who met you with godly empathy during a difficult
• 16:09
  S4: time in your life, 805, five, five, 78, 98, 805, five, five, 78, 98.
• 16:18
  S1: Take your next step with Jesus. Today you're listening to
• 16:22
  S1: Carl and crew.
• 16:24
  S2: Taking your calls this morning, who met you with godly
• 16:27
  S2: empathy during a difficult time in your life. 800 555, 78,
• 16:32
  S2: 98 let's go to the phones.
• 16:33
  S4: Ali, we've got an anonymous caller from Iowa. Go ahead. Anonymous,
• 16:37
  S4: tell us who met you with godly empathy during a
• 16:39
  S4: difficult time.
• 16:42
  S9: Hi. My friend Nancy met me in a difficult time
• 16:47
  S9: and she offered her friendship long distance. She encouraged me
• 16:54
  S9: to call her for a time. She would call me
• 16:59
  S9: daily on my morning commute. She prayed with me. She
• 17:04
  S9: told me she prayed for me daily. She gently encouraged
• 17:09
  S9: me to seek out Christian counseling. She would text me
• 17:15
  S9: psalms to read for that day. She sent me cards occasionally.
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  S9: Nancy was Jesus with skin on.
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  S3: Wow.
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  S2: That's so cool. Anonymous. That is so cool. And God
• 17:29
  S2: bless you. Nancy's out there. that is all. Some breaks
• 17:35
  S2: up the. And that's one of those redeeming time moments
• 17:38
  S2: where Nancy probably had things on her day planner. Little
• 17:42
  S2: to do's, little things. But you step out because God
• 17:44
  S2: calls you out of that moment into redeeming time and
• 17:47
  S2: another direction. Beautiful. Let's go back to the phone lines here. Allie,
• 17:50
  S2: who do we have?
• 17:51
  S4: Yeah, we have Tammy calling in from Clermont, Florida. Tammy,
• 17:55
  S4: who met you with godly empathy during that tough time.
• 17:59
  S10: Hey. Good morning. God bless you. Um, her name is Michelle.
• 18:04
  S10: I lost my excuse me, 18 year old son unexpectedly
• 18:08
  S10: in 2023. And I got, um, yeah, it was, um,
• 18:13
  S10: I got down, like, I honestly didn't even want to live.
• 18:16
  S10: Couldn't pull myself out of it for anything. And I
• 18:19
  S10: got a text message from Michelle one morning and she said, Tammy,
• 18:24
  S10: your life is never going to be the same, but
• 18:26
  S10: you still have your daughter and you still have work
• 18:29
  S10: to do. Joshua ran his race and you can either
• 18:34
  S10: just give up or you can move on and go
• 18:37
  S10: and finish your race. Make Joshua proud. Until you see
• 18:42
  S10: him again. And it shook me and it woke me
• 18:45
  S10: up and it brought me back to life. Um. Hurt
• 18:49
  S10: every day. But have a purpose. And live and look
• 18:52
  S10: forward to the eternal hope to see my son. It
• 18:56
  S10: was because Michelle was lovingly and yet firmly telling me
• 19:01
  S10: what I needed to hear at that moment.
• 19:04
  S3: Yeah.
• 19:04
  S2: Yeah. And what she led with wasn't it'll all be
• 19:09
  S2: okay or God will make this right. Or, um, you're
• 19:13
  S2: going to look at this differently down the road. She said,
• 19:15
  S2: your life will never be the same again. And she
• 19:18
  S2: was right. And yet she said there's still more. What
• 19:22
  S2: an empathetic, powerful, powerful call to live. Wow. Lori in Florida.
• 19:32
  S2: What do you say? Lori.
• 19:35
  S11: Good morning guys. I don't have a specific person, but
• 19:39
  S11: rather I had a whole classroom Sunday school class of elders, um,
• 19:47
  S11: a couple's class that as I was starting my journey
• 19:51
  S11: and in Christianity as a single mom of a five
• 19:55
  S11: year old, um, they stepped up and they adopted us
• 19:59
  S11: as kind of family and had us come to their
• 20:02
  S11: classroom once a month for Sunday school class. But not
• 20:05
  S11: only that, they stepped up as grandparents for my child
• 20:11
  S11: and this continued for years.
• 20:14
  S3: Wow.
• 20:14
  S11: And they prayed for us. Um, it was just amazing
• 20:19
  S11: to know that there was other, um, peers, you know, and, and,
• 20:25
  S11: and elder people in the church that really cared about
• 20:29
  S11: myself and my daughter.
• 20:30
  S2: That is so beautiful. Boom. Sister. Yeah. What stories here
• 20:35
  S2: this morning, Ali.
• 20:36
  S4: Beautiful.
• 20:36
  S3: Yeah.
• 20:37
  S4: Beautiful. I mean, the power of godly empathy.
• 20:40
  S2: Guys, don't don't miss an opportunity today to extend more
• 20:46
  S2: than sympathy, but empathy. One word, one touch on the arm.
• 20:52
  S2: One phone call. It might lead to more, but it
• 20:55
  S2: could change a life forever. It could change a life forever.
• 20:59
  S1: Your spiritual pit stop to keep you going in the race.
• 21:03
  S1: You're listening to Carl and crew.
• 21:06
  S2: Carl and crew, and we're talking empathy today. Who met
• 21:09
  S2: you with godly empathy during a difficult time in your life?
• 21:13
  S2: It's a powerful gift. What do you say?
• 21:15
  S4: Yeah, we'd love to hear from you. (800) 555-7898 (800) 555-7898. Well,
• 21:24
  S4: I think back to the birth of my second child.
• 21:27
  S4: My son was born three years after my daughter. So
• 21:30
  S4: I had a three year old and a newborn. And
• 21:33
  S4: anyone who has had children knows that those can be
• 21:36
  S4: difficult days. And I got hit with post-partum depression. So
• 21:41
  S4: I was in a really difficult season of life. And
• 21:45
  S4: to make it even more complicated, my husband's job at
• 21:48
  S4: the time required him to. He came, although he came
• 21:51
  S4: home for for a brief 5 or 6 days after
• 21:55
  S4: the birth of our son, he had to quickly leave again.
• 21:58
  S4: So from. I had a five day old, a six
• 22:01
  S4: day old and a three year old, and I was
• 22:03
  S4: all alone and I. At the time I couldn't verbalize
• 22:07
  S4: what I was going through. I didn't, I didn't say
• 22:09
  S4: at the time, I have postpartum depression. I didn't have
• 22:12
  S4: words for that. I just knew that things were pretty
• 22:14
  S4: dark in my mind. I stopped being able to sleep
• 22:18
  S4: very well. I just, I felt like I was drowning
• 22:22
  S4: and kind of like just keeping one hand above the water,
• 22:26
  S4: but it felt very much like each day was sort
• 22:28
  S4: of a battle to just make it. And so there
• 22:32
  S4: was a moms group that I was a part of
• 22:34
  S4: at the time at my church, just a sweet group
• 22:37
  S4: of moms, all who had so most of them had
• 22:40
  S4: children around my kids age who had, you know, maybe
• 22:43
  S4: under five. There was a couple of moms who had
• 22:45
  S4: older kids, but they set up a meal train for me.
• 22:48
  S4: And if you've ever been on the receiving end of
• 22:50
  S4: a meal train, it is so much more than just
• 22:53
  S4: a meal. I mean, the meals are helpful. I would
• 22:55
  S4: have these delicious soup, this delicious food, sometimes casseroles, sometimes
• 22:59
  S4: Puerto Rican rice and beans. And, and someone would bring
• 23:02
  S4: it to my door. And it was super humbling to
• 23:04
  S4: have somebody deliver that to me. But I remember just
• 23:08
  S4: how much care and love I felt when someone would
• 23:13
  S4: bring in food, but they'd stop in and kind of
• 23:16
  S4: see how I was doing. And again, I didn't have
• 23:19
  S4: words for all that I was feeling, so I didn't like,
• 23:22
  S4: Open up and bare my soul as much as maybe
• 23:25
  S4: I could have or should have. But just the, the
• 23:29
  S4: the care that I felt from the other moms in
• 23:31
  S4: our church and the love and the hey, we're here
• 23:34
  S4: with with you. Let us know if you need anything.
• 23:36
  S4: Here's a meal. How can we help? I just I
• 23:39
  S4: really felt the love of God through those moms. And
• 23:42
  S4: this was, you know, my sons now 13 years old.
• 23:44
  S4: But I will I will never forget.
• 23:46
  S3: That.
• 23:47
  S4: Season of life where those other moms came alongside with
• 23:50
  S4: godly empathy and a plate of food.
• 23:54
  S2: That is so beautiful. Ellie. Guys, you got a story
• 23:58
  S2: like that? And it could be very different, but it's
• 24:02
  S2: that real empathy really changed your life. God working through
• 24:08
  S2: the hands, heart, feet, voice of someone else. 805. Five. 57898.
• 24:14
  S2: Give us a call. 805 557898. Eric in Florida. What
• 24:20
  S2: do you say, Eric?
• 24:22
  S12: Good morning, you guys. Hey, I have a wonderful friend,
• 24:28
  S12: a world class singer named Karen. And at a time
• 24:32
  S12: when I was caregiver for my father in law and
• 24:35
  S12: my wife at the same time, my wife was wheelchair bound.
• 24:40
  S12: We would go here. My friend Karen, sing in a
• 24:43
  S12: world everyone will know the group. I won't name them,
• 24:46
  S12: but they're world famous acapella group. And I lost both
• 24:51
  S12: my father in law and my wife within six months.
• 24:55
  S12: And the very next time that I went to hear
• 24:58
  S12: this group sing, I told my friend Karen, who promptly
• 25:03
  S12: invited me to stay for several sets so she could
• 25:07
  S12: lift my heart up and be the singing voice I
• 25:10
  S12: did not have at the time.
• 25:13
  S2: Yeah, it's a powerful thing. Eric Mann, thank you so
• 25:15
  S2: much for calling in, bro. It's amazing how empathy comes
• 25:18
  S2: at us from different angles.
• 25:20
  S4: Sometimes from people that we don't even expect.
• 25:24
  S2: Phone calls are coming in here. If God Spirit's prompting you,
• 25:29
  S2: let's hear your story. 800 555, 78, 98.
• 25:33
  S1: Your shot of hope to get you through the day.
• 25:36
  S6: You are so, so loved. God does not want you
• 25:40
  S6: to stay in your past. And I want you to
• 25:42
  S6: know and believe that today.
• 25:43
  S1: You're listening to Carl and crew.
• 25:45
  S2: Who met you with godly empathy during a difficult time
• 25:50
  S2: in your life. Stories that just warm the heart and
• 25:54
  S2: actually inspire us to go do the very thing that
• 25:57
  S2: we're hearing here.
• 25:58
  S4: Very much so. Let's go back to the phones. Uh,
• 26:01
  S4: Adrian calling in this morning from Greenwood, Indiana, who met
• 26:04
  S4: you with godly empathy.
• 26:07
  S13: I was caring for my father, who had dementia and
• 26:10
  S13: lived in a city about two hours away. I had
• 26:13
  S13: paid caregivers with him and many were good, but there
• 26:17
  S13: were 3 or 4 of them who stepped up and
• 26:20
  S13: did so much more above and beyond what they were
• 26:23
  S13: being paid to do. They truly loved on my father,
• 26:27
  S13: like he was their own father. Two of them even
• 26:30
  S13: made a pact that although their working conditions and their
• 26:33
  S13: pay was not good, they would not leave the agency
• 26:36
  S13: they worked for until my father passed.
• 26:38
  S3: Oh my.
• 26:39
  S2: Goodness.
• 26:40
  S3: Wow.
• 26:41
  S2: Adrian, that is so powerful. And to to to have
• 26:45
  S2: those kind of folks come alongside you and love your
• 26:47
  S2: daddy that way. Oh my goodness. Bill first time caller,
• 26:53
  S2: Lake Wales, Florida. What's your story? Hello, Bill.
• 26:59
  S14: Hello. Good morning.
• 27:00
  S2: Yeah. You're on with Carl and crew. What's your story,
• 27:02
  S2: my man?
• 27:05
  S14: So early in the Iraq war, my oldest son, who
• 27:09
  S14: was 19, James, uh, was going to be deployed. And
• 27:14
  S14: on the Sunday morning, my wife arbitrarily opened the Bible, said,
• 27:21
  S14: I wonder if the Lord has anything to say about him.
• 27:24
  S14: She arbitrarily opened it and it was Isaiah 53. She
• 27:29
  S14: read it and then closed it and arbitrarily opened it.
• 27:32
  S14: And it was Psalm 99 and she read that. She said,
• 27:35
  S14: it sounds like the Lord is looking over Jimmy. So
• 27:41
  S14: the next day the Marines came to our door and
• 27:43
  S14: said he was dead. And the day after we were
• 27:46
  S14: at the funeral home, and when we were at the
• 27:48
  S14: funeral home, when we got home, there was a message
• 27:52
  S14: on our answering machine. It was from a friend of mine, Mr. Kamphausen,
• 27:56
  S14: who was also a Christian in my office, and he
• 28:01
  S14: left the message and said, I just got notification that
• 28:04
  S14: Jimmy was killed. The Lord has given me two scriptures
• 28:08
  S14: and it was the exact same two scriptures.
• 28:10
  S3: Wow. Oh my.
• 28:11
  S2: Word.
• 28:12
  S9: Wow.
• 28:12
  S3: Bro.
• 28:14
  S2: Bill, I am so sorry for your loss and I
• 28:17
  S2: am so encouraged with the story of God's intervention as well.
• 28:20
  S2: That's just that's just almost more than you can handle.
• 28:25
  S2: That's the providence and goodness of God. Ellie.
• 28:28
  S3: My goodness, my goodness.
• 28:30
  S2: That's why we call you the boom crew. Let's pause
• 28:33
  S2: there for a moment. That's huge guys. All right. Let's
• 28:38
  S2: get a couple more in here.
• 28:40
  S15: Yeah. Let's go to.
• 28:41
  S4: Kim from Indiana. Kim. Go ahead with your story. Who
• 28:44
  S4: met you with godly empathy during a tough time in
• 28:46
  S4: your life?
• 28:48
  S9: Hello?
• 28:48
  S4: Yes, Kim, you're on with Carl and crew. Go ahead.
• 28:51
  S4: Tell us your story.
• 28:52
  S9: Thank you.
• 28:53
  S11: Well, God has is so good. He gave me one.
• 28:56
  S11: A pastor that has a shepherding heart that has walked
• 28:59
  S11: with me through a real season of grieving. And then
• 29:03
  S11: three friends that I call my foxhole friends. The ones
• 29:06
  S11: that brought empathy, not just sympathy. Um, I walked through
• 29:11
  S11: a season of taking care of my husband, who was
• 29:14
  S11: diagnosed with ALS, and he passed away. And five weeks later,
• 29:19
  S11: I lost my son to suicide. And they have walked
• 29:22
  S11: with me through this terribly hard season. And God is
• 29:27
  S11: so good to give me these Christian friends. And God
• 29:30
  S11: is good about the suicide too, because he gave me
• 29:31
  S11: immediately the verse that he's close to the brokenhearted and
• 29:35
  S11: saves those crushed in spirit. So I'd just like to
• 29:38
  S11: say to anyone else out there who has experienced a
• 29:42
  S11: suicide in the family, God is close to those that
• 29:45
  S11: are brokenhearted, and he saves those crushed in spirit because
• 29:48
  S11: that's that's what I've stood on. What my son's death.
• 29:51
  S11: He was crushed in spirit. I don't have to ask
• 29:53
  S11: why and the what ifs.
• 29:55
  S3: Yeah.
• 29:56
  S2: God bless your heart, kiddo. Yeah. Thank you. Kim. Thank
• 30:01
  S2: you for calling in today. Thank you for that. Boy,
• 30:06
  S2: these are tough.
• 30:09
  S3: But.
• 30:09
  S2: Powerful. You get people that step into your life in
• 30:13
  S2: a moment, you got a scripture passage that you find
• 30:16
  S2: and then it's repeated by someone. I mean, the list
• 30:18
  S2: goes on and on here. Ali.
• 30:20
  S4: It's beautiful. I mean it. I repeat this often because
• 30:26
  S4: somebody shared it on our show one time. He said,
• 30:29
  S4: you don't want to go through something hard in life,
• 30:31
  S4: disconnected from the church when the church is. It's so
• 30:34
  S4: much more than just showing up on a Sunday kind
• 30:37
  S4: of checking a box. I mean, not only is it
• 30:39
  S4: the place where we can gather with other believers, but
• 30:43
  S4: when we lock arms with people week after week. Yeah,
• 30:47
  S4: those are the people who show up when you get
• 30:50
  S4: hit with the worst.
• 30:51
  S3: Yeah.
• 30:52
  S2: That was Scott Ziegler who said, yeah.
• 30:54
  S3: Yeah.
• 30:55
  S4: And it's so profound.
• 30:57
  S2: Yeah, it's really good. Just got a minute here. Diane
• 31:00
  S2: from Hartville, Ohio. What's your story?
• 31:03
  S11: Oh.
• 31:04
  S16: The Lord's understanding. Who can fathom? So I'm on my
• 31:08
  S16: I'm Years ago, young mom got several kids washing my
• 31:13
  S16: kitchen floor and realizing it's a week before Christmas. I
• 31:18
  S16: don't have the means to make any Christmas cookies. And
• 31:22
  S16: I just felt so horrible. The doorbell rang and it
• 31:27
  S16: was a friend of mine who was going through cancer and, um,
• 31:32
  S16: she had this huge tin of cookies. I mean, probably
• 31:36
  S16: ten dozen cookies. And to me, it was just like, here's,
• 31:41
  S16: here's somebody who is in her pain. She was still
• 31:46
  S16: reaching out to serve and to bless other people. She
• 31:50
  S16: had no idea. I was at that moment, you know,
• 31:54
  S16: the Lord had prepared cookies two days ahead of time
• 31:58
  S16: and to be brought when I was on my knees like, okay, Lord,
• 32:02
  S16: I can't. This is just awful. Um, I just, you know,
• 32:07
  S16: the Lord just taught me a lot through it to, uh,
• 32:10
  S16: just to serve even even when I think I'm not
• 32:14
  S16: doing well. Um, there's still the Lord can use you.
• 32:18
  S3: Yeah.
• 32:19
  S2: That's so good. That's inspiring too, Diane. I mean, yeah,
• 32:23
  S2: here's a person battling cancer bringing buy a tin of cookies. Mhm.
• 32:28
  S2: She cooked two days before. Didn't know when it was
• 32:31
  S2: going to be deposited, but knew somebody needed it.
• 32:33
  S4: You know, I think about the verse that how we
• 32:35
  S4: when we receive comfort from the Lord. I'm paraphrasing. We
• 32:39
  S4: can turn and comfort others. Yeah. You know, sometimes it's
• 32:43
  S4: the people who are in it to who are most attuned,
• 32:47
  S4: most perceptive.
• 32:48
  S3: Yeah.
• 32:49
  S4: When you're hurting, you notice other people who are hurting.
• 32:52
  S2: Yeah. Maybe that's maybe that's the word for this morning
• 32:56
  S2: in your pain. Just know that someone else has it, too.
• 33:00
  S2: Let's keep our eyes open. Stay alert to what God
• 33:03
  S2: may be doing. He might use you today. Sympathy is
• 33:07
  S2: one thing. Empathy is everything. And if you can open
• 33:10
  S2: your heart to someone today, someone needs it. Someone needs
• 33:13
  S2: a touch on the arm. They need a phone call.
• 33:15
  S2: They need someone not slapping a verse on them, just
• 33:18
  S2: telling them, I love you and I'm here with you.
• 33:21
  S1: Your shot of hope to help you through the day.
• 33:24
  S1: This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
• 33:28
  S2: Well, if we want to get an overview and fly by,
• 33:31
  S2: we got to get some guns in here. If we're
• 33:33
  S2: looking for St Peter here.
• 33:34
  S4: Ali doctor John Davis is joining us this morning, associate
• 33:38
  S4: professor of applied theology and church ministries here at Moody.
• 33:42
  S4: He served as a Navy chaplain for the past 14 years,
• 33:45
  S4: sharing the gospel and caring for people in the context
• 33:48
  S4: of military life.
• 33:49
  S3: Wow.
• 33:49
  S2: You got to give us a story about that. What's
• 33:51
  S2: that all about?
• 33:53
  S17: That's a great I love the military. Still in the
• 33:55
  S17: Navy as a reservist serving our our Marines and sailors.
• 33:59
  S17: And actually we're talking about first, Peter, this was the
• 34:01
  S17: last sermon series I did in my last deployment with
• 34:04
  S17: Marines and sailors was on first. Peter. We were stuck
• 34:07
  S17: on a ship in the middle of Covid in the
• 34:09
  S17: Red sea, and we thought, well, how do we think
• 34:12
  S17: through faithfully about living for the gospel, even when you're
• 34:14
  S17: stuck in a hard place? And so.
• 34:16
  S3: Wow.
• 34:17
  S17: We were preaching through first Peter, and it was really
• 34:19
  S17: a wonderful thing to see how God used his word
• 34:21
  S17: during that time.
• 34:22
  S3: Oh, what's.
• 34:23
  S2: The receptivity of sailors on a ship when they're stuck
• 34:26
  S2: at sea?
• 34:27
  S17: Well, during that time we couldn't go to port or anything,
• 34:30
  S17: so we, uh, we just.
• 34:31
  S2: Had a captive audience.
• 34:32
  S17: Captive audience. And when many churches were closing, we had
• 34:34
  S17: more chapel services and more folks coming to chapel. So
• 34:37
  S17: it was, it was really a neat, a neat opportunity.
• 34:40
  S4: Wow. What's been the most rewarding thing for you these
• 34:43
  S4: past 14 years in this role?
• 34:44
  S17: Yeah, you know, I, I think simple things like breaking
• 34:48
  S17: God's Word open with individuals and in unique places, whether
• 34:52
  S17: that's on a ship in the middle of Iraq or Afghanistan,
• 34:55
  S17: in a small village with some Marines and sailors, just
• 34:58
  S17: letting them see how God's Word can meet them in
• 35:01
  S17: those really unique and hard places.
• 35:04
  S2: Tell us about Afghanistan. Did you get any word of
• 35:06
  S2: the underground church there? Did you have any hint of
• 35:09
  S2: that at all what God might be doing there? I
• 35:11
  S2: know you were in a totally different context, but anything.
• 35:14
  S17: Right? Yeah. I mean, we we did hear of things
• 35:16
  S17: of how God was moving. And, um, you know, that
• 35:18
  S17: gave us for believers that we're working even in the military,
• 35:22
  S17: a sense of purpose for why we were there to
• 35:24
  S17: create space for people to be able to be faithful
• 35:27
  S17: to the gospel in their own lives.
• 35:29
  S2: You know, that chokes me up. That's a powerful thing, John.
• 35:33
  S2: That's really powerful. Where'd you get your doctorate from?
• 35:36
  S17: Gordon-conwell.
• 35:37
  S2: Oh, man. You got it from the preacher's school.
• 35:39
  S17: That's right.
• 35:40
  S2: Was had was heading Robinson president there when you were there?
• 35:43
  S17: He was one of my professors when I was a
• 35:45
  S17: MDiv student there. So yeah. Yeah. Loved, loved having him
• 35:49
  S17: teach us how to preach.
• 35:50
  S2: He was a dear friend of mine. Yeah. And what
• 35:52
  S2: a preacher. Okay. All right, let's jump into it, shall we?
• 35:56
  S2: Come on. You're getting in the deep weeds here of
• 35:58
  S2: First Peter four seven through 11. It begins with the
• 36:02
  S2: end of all things is at hand. Ali reads this
• 36:05
  S2: little portion of scripture.
• 36:07
  S4: This is first Peter four seven through 11. It says,
• 36:10
  S4: the end of all things is at hand. Therefore, be
• 36:12
  S4: self-controlled and sober minded for the sake of your prayers.
• 36:16
  S4: Above all, keep loving one another earnestly. Since love covers
• 36:20
  S4: a multitude of sins, show hospitality to one another without grumbling.
• 36:24
  S4: As each has received a gift. Use it to serve
• 36:27
  S4: one another as good stewards of God's varied grace. Whoever
• 36:30
  S4: speaks as one who speaks oracles of God, whoever serves
• 36:34
  S4: as one who serves by the strength that God supplies
• 36:37
  S4: in order that in everything God may be glorified through
• 36:40
  S4: Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
• 36:45
  S3: Oh, what a passage!
• 36:46
  S2: How rich. Now, doc, here's the deal. The dispersed who
• 36:50
  S2: Peter was writing to could not have imagined that 2000
• 36:54
  S2: years later, we'd be breaking this down here today.
• 36:57
  S3: Absolutely.
• 36:58
  S2: So what was going on? Let's be honest, exegetes hear
• 37:02
  S2: of God's word. What's going on in the. In Peter's
• 37:05
  S2: mind and in the listener's mind?
• 37:07
  S17: Yeah. You know, it's a real significant theme throughout this
• 37:10
  S17: whole book. Is this word suffering? You know, Christians who
• 37:13
  S17: are trying to be faithful in their daily lives for
• 37:16
  S17: Jesus when the society around them, even the leaders politically
• 37:20
  S17: around them, may be threatening them physically or verbally imprisoning
• 37:25
  S17: them potentially. And so how do they look to Jesus
• 37:28
  S17: as an example to navigate that really challenging suffering? How
• 37:32
  S17: do they entrust their lives to a God who can
• 37:34
  S17: sustain them through that?
• 37:36
  S2: You know, it's intriguing. Rome had burned to the ground
• 37:39
  S2: yet when this was written, but it was about to.
• 37:42
  S2: And Nero would take that, I believe, as an opportunity.
• 37:45
  S2: He didn't even suspect the Christians burned Rome to the ground.
• 37:48
  S2: But he took that as an opportunity to take persecution
• 37:51
  S2: from one level to the next, and it became horrific.
• 37:55
  S2: This was a amazing letter then written, considering the timeliness
• 37:59
  S2: of all those events.
• 38:00
  S17: Yeah, absolutely. It's when they're questioning what's next and who
• 38:03
  S17: do they trust when all of these threats are around them,
• 38:06
  S17: this letter meets them right in the midst of that.
• 38:08
  S4: The idea that a self-control and sober mindedness for the
• 38:13
  S4: sake of your prayers, what's the link between the two?
• 38:17
  S4: Like how how are prayers affected by our self-control?
• 38:21
  S17: Yeah, I love these. You know, when he says the
• 38:24
  S17: end of all things is near at hand, it's like
• 38:26
  S17: things are serious. We need to be ready. And when
• 38:30
  S17: you are ready for things, especially as you prepare yourself
• 38:33
  S17: for Jesus return, where are your thoughts during those times?
• 38:36
  S17: And these two words are really powerful. Self-Controlled and sober minded.
• 38:41
  S17: They both have an idea of our thoughts. Sometimes we
• 38:44
  S17: have to think about are our thoughts in safe and
• 38:47
  S17: sound places? That's that first word self-controlled. So am I
• 38:51
  S17: thinking about what I'm letting shape my thoughts? And then
• 38:55
  S17: the next word, they're sober minded, is really more like
• 38:58
  S17: this idea of being free from outside distractions. And so
• 39:02
  S17: my prayers in hard times are shaped a lot by
• 39:07
  S17: what I'm thinking about and what I'm not allowing to
• 39:09
  S17: shape my thoughts. And so Peter says, for the sake
• 39:12
  S17: of your prayers, keep your minds free from distractions and
• 39:16
  S17: deceptions that could draw you away from the Lord. And
• 39:19
  S17: keep your minds on things that are are of saving worth,
• 39:22
  S17: that are safe and sound. The actual word there is,
• 39:24
  S17: is a better as a way of translating that word.
• 39:27
  S2: Do you think the persecuted church had a challenge with hospitality?
• 39:31
  S2: Because he goes on, you know what I'm saying? You
• 39:34
  S2: would you would think it would kind of be an
• 39:36
  S2: open door policy. But he goes on to talk about,
• 39:38
  S2: you know, be loving one another and be sure to
• 39:40
  S2: be hospitable. And I guess hospitality doesn't come naturally in
• 39:45
  S2: any environment, right?
• 39:47
  S17: You know, when you are feel like you're under threat. Well,
• 39:49
  S17: this is probably true for us in any area of life.
• 39:51
  S17: But when we're under threat, we feel vulnerable. We often
• 39:54
  S17: hunker down versus open up. And so when Peter says
• 39:57
  S17: something like this beautiful word for hospitality, like family love
• 40:01
  S17: towards outsiders, that's kind of what that word really means.
• 40:04
  S17: And it's this idea of being willing to open up
• 40:06
  S17: as God has opened up to us, even when we
• 40:09
  S17: may feel threatened, when we feel exposed and vulnerable. And
• 40:13
  S17: so Peter says, if you're going to be ready for
• 40:15
  S17: the time is at hand, open up your lives with
• 40:17
  S17: the gospel, and even towards those who are outsiders and
• 40:20
  S17: different than you.
• 40:21
  S4: And then it touches on the gifts. These would be
• 40:24
  S4: the spiritual gifts that each believer would have received and
• 40:28
  S4: how to use them. Speak to that.
• 40:30
  S17: Yeah, I love this. It comes right at it's interesting.
• 40:33
  S17: It comes right after that little phrase about hospitality. Do
• 40:35
  S17: this hospitality without grumbling. And then he says, as each
• 40:39
  S17: has received a gift. Really, as each of you has
• 40:41
  S17: received God's grace to you. And this gift of grace
• 40:45
  S17: has a purpose and it has a stewardship. I love
• 40:48
  S17: that word he says. You are called to be stewards
• 40:51
  S17: of God's gracious gift to you and some really particular ways.
• 40:56
  S17: Ways in which we speak to one another out of
• 40:59
  S17: God's Word. Ways that we serve each other, even in
• 41:03
  S17: ways that we don't feel like we've got the strength
• 41:05
  S17: or competency to do it. We serve one another. As
• 41:08
  S17: with I love that phrase by the strength that God supplies.
• 41:11
  S2: You know, it's interesting. This is almost it sounds very Pauline.
• 41:15
  S2: It sounds, doesn't it? It's he doesn't say that we
• 41:18
  S2: all may grow together, but it does say that we
• 41:20
  S2: may all grow together in essence. How are we going
• 41:24
  S2: to get this challenge fixed? I estimate I'm a pastor
• 41:29
  S2: of two campuses here in Chicagoland, and I would estimate
• 41:34
  S2: we're doing better than most, which is a very dangerous phrase.
• 41:38
  S2: Better than most can be really dangerous. I would say
• 41:42
  S2: we've got probably 40% of our people have identified spiritual gifts,
• 41:48
  S2: but the majority, I don't know that could say if
• 41:52
  S2: I walked up to him. What spiritual gift has God
• 41:54
  S2: given you? Was that way more common? I mean, there's
• 41:58
  S2: an assumption here by Peter that they almost know the gift, right?
• 42:01
  S3: Mhm.
• 42:02
  S17: Yeah. I mean, there's it seems to be that the
• 42:04
  S17: way he talks about it is that there's some of
• 42:06
  S17: you that are going to speak, and then some of
• 42:09
  S17: you are going to serve. But the word he gives
• 42:11
  S17: before that is you're going to you're all going to serve.
• 42:13
  S17: So it's like, you know, you serve the body of
• 42:15
  S17: Christ in these particular ways that God's gifted you. But,
• 42:19
  S17: you know, I think one of the things that sometimes
• 42:20
  S17: we may struggle with is this question of why. Why
• 42:23
  S17: do people why do we talk to them about spiritual gifts?
• 42:26
  S17: What's the point? And I love in this passage, it
• 42:29
  S17: does sound like something Paul would say, but he says,
• 42:32
  S17: in order that in everything God may be glorified through
• 42:35
  S17: Jesus Christ. The purpose of our spiritual gifts is not
• 42:39
  S17: just so we feel a sense of personal fulfillment, but
• 42:42
  S17: it actually is because as as Peter says throughout this letter,
• 42:45
  S17: so that people would see your acts and glorify the father.
• 42:49
  S17: So this big question of why. Why do we talk
• 42:52
  S17: about spiritual gifts? Because of something about our lives or
• 42:54
  S17: about us? Something bigger than just our own story there
• 42:56
  S17: about God's big story?
• 42:58
  S2: You know, Ali, how rich is this time right now?
• 43:02
  S4: This is this is wonderful.
• 43:04
  S2: And you've got such a pastoral vibe, doc. It is
• 43:08
  S2: so cool to listen to you talk. What do you say?
• 43:13
  S2: Let's go full pastoral to the people, vast majority of
• 43:16
  S2: which love the Lord. They love the Lord. They know
• 43:21
  S2: that God's unmerited favor and unparalleled power has been displayed
• 43:25
  S2: in their life. But many. And I think it's because
• 43:29
  S2: we've created a spectator Christianity rather than a participation. Christianity
• 43:34
  S2: started about 300 A.D., right?
• 43:36
  S3: Right.
• 43:37
  S2: Um, but what do we do now to the person
• 43:40
  S2: that feels like, shoot, I would really love to know
• 43:42
  S2: my gift and use it in a way that glorifies
• 43:45
  S2: God doesn't because you're right. The big aim oftentimes with
• 43:48
  S2: gifts is self-fulfillment, but God glorifying use of gifts. How
• 43:53
  S2: does someone go find their gifts?
• 43:55
  S17: Yeah. You know, I think this context, right, that we've
• 43:58
  S17: see right before, this is a helpful reminder very tangibly.
• 44:02
  S17: And one, let me just say this. It says in these, like,
• 44:05
  S17: for instance, he just talks about hospitality. When God invites
• 44:09
  S17: you to open up your lives towards other people around
• 44:11
  S17: you that are different, the way in which you interact
• 44:15
  S17: with them, and the way the Lord strengthens you to
• 44:17
  S17: interact with them, will often expose or show you the
• 44:20
  S17: giftings that the Lord has given to you. Whether that's
• 44:23
  S17: God particularly gifts you with a word of encouragement to
• 44:25
  S17: that neighbor who is really down this week. And, you know,
• 44:29
  S17: you don't really even think much of it. You're just
• 44:30
  S17: praying for them. And the Lord seems to prompt you
• 44:32
  S17: to say something across the fence to them. You know,
• 44:35
  S17: that's a wonderful example. If you're not overly thinking about it,
• 44:38
  S17: you're just walking with the spirit. You're trying to be
• 44:40
  S17: faithful in prayer. This idea of loving one another, earnestly stretching, stretching,
• 44:45
  S17: love where I'm saying, okay, who are the people in
• 44:48
  S17: my life? The Lord's called me to love and forgive
• 44:51
  S17: this week. And you know what I, I wrote them
• 44:53
  S17: a note and I said, you know, I'm praying for you.
• 44:56
  S17: I'd love to sit down and talk with you this week. Um,
• 44:58
  S17: these basic things that we do in our relationships often
• 45:01
  S17: are the places where our spiritual gifts start to get
• 45:05
  S17: lived out. Sometimes we make the spiritual gifts so mystified
• 45:08
  S17: that we think, well, it's got to be up front
• 45:11
  S17: at church or it's got to be in a particular program.
• 45:15
  S17: But usually it's the interpersonal relationships that we begin to
• 45:18
  S17: see those spiritual gifts lived out. And then as the
• 45:20
  S17: church has a need, we begin. Oh yeah, I've seen
• 45:22
  S17: that in my life. There's a great place for that
• 45:24
  S17: to work itself out. And that means also us as
• 45:27
  S17: pastoral leaders. Often the places we're going to see these
• 45:30
  S17: giftings are less in our formal structures as in our
• 45:33
  S17: interpersonal relationships, because we're meeting with people and loving with them.
• 45:36
  S17: We say, oh wow, you have such a word of
• 45:38
  S17: encouragement to that person. You act and serve behind the scenes.
• 45:41
  S17: I never seen that before. That is is a gift
• 45:43
  S17: from the Lord.
• 45:44
  S3: Beautiful. Wow.
• 45:46
  S2: This is really something. You know what? Boom crew. I'm
• 45:48
  S2: sitting here listening to this great man of God. I'm
• 45:52
  S2: sure he's got stuff that he's working on with you
• 45:55
  S2: and the Lord right all the time. But Doctor John
• 45:58
  S2: Mabus is one of the profs here. And I want
• 46:01
  S2: you to send your kids here to sit under this guy.
• 46:05
  S2: I want you to come as an adult to come
• 46:08
  S2: sit under guys like this. This is the kind of
• 46:10
  S2: quality profs we've got around here. This is quite something,
• 46:14
  S2: isn't it? This morning.
• 46:15
  S4: It really is. So where we're going to point you
• 46:17
  S4: to is more about Moody Bible Institute. If you want
• 46:20
  S4: to learn more about an institute that offers teaching from
• 46:23
  S4: guys like Doctor John Davis.
• 46:25
  S3: Come on.
• 46:25
  S4: Just text Moody to 805 557898. Text Moody to 805 557898.
• 46:34
  S1: Standing on the rock each and every day you're listening
• 46:39
  S1: to Carl and crew.
• 46:40
  S2: So what's in a name, anyway? I mean, come on.
• 46:44
  S2: It was just recently I did a bit of a
• 46:47
  S2: deep dive. Do you know what your name means, Allie?
• 46:50
  S4: Uh, helper of mankind.
• 46:53
  S2: Yeah, that's really weird, because I searched mine. Do a
• 46:56
  S2: search on Karl with a K. I got a hunch
• 46:59
  S2: mine is similar. Really? That is so weird. Check that out,
• 47:03
  S2: would you, Karl with a K. Scandinavian.
• 47:05
  S5: It means, uh, free man.
• 47:07
  S2: Free man. That's right. Free man. Yeah. That's right. It
• 47:11
  S2: means free man. How cool is that?
• 47:13
  S5: Yeah, I like that.
• 47:14
  S2: Well, forecasting. Before I was called out of darkness and
• 47:18
  S2: into light. Uh, names are amazing. And we're going to
• 47:21
  S2: jump into that right now. We've got Grace Fox with us,
• 47:23
  S2: and we're going to jump into the names of God.
• 47:25
  S2: But boy, God's writing stories on our heart constantly, isn't he? Grace?
• 47:30
  S2: How about you, sister? What's what's God done in you?
• 47:34
  S18: Well, I think he's written some life changing stories. The
• 47:37
  S18: first one that really flipped me on my head was
• 47:39
  S18: when I was in my early 20s. I was a
• 47:42
  S18: young mom. My husband and I were living in Nepal
• 47:45
  S18: where my husband was was volunteering with a with a
• 47:49
  S18: faith based organization. And we had two children born there.
• 47:52
  S18: The first one was fine. Second one was born with
• 47:55
  S18: a condition called hydrocephalus. That's too much water on the brain.
• 47:59
  S18: And the doctors took one look at her and said,
• 48:02
  S18: you need to get back to North America on the
• 48:04
  S18: first available flight. And all kinds of complications set in,
• 48:07
  S18: even with the airline, when they found out that I'd
• 48:09
  S18: had a C-section, they said, she's not boarding our plane
• 48:12
  S18: because she's a medical high risk and they didn't want
• 48:15
  S18: a baby under two weeks old on the plane either,
• 48:17
  S18: but my husband was able to get her on. He
• 48:20
  S18: just wrapped her in a blanket, took one bottle of
• 48:22
  S18: expressed breast milk and a diaper bag, and left with
• 48:24
  S18: her when she was three days old and I was.
• 48:27
  S18: I was left behind and I remember just laying there
• 48:30
  S18: and going, God, what is it you want me to
• 48:32
  S18: learn through this? Because two years of significant culture shock,
• 48:36
  S18: I'd come through to the place of wanting to spend
• 48:37
  S18: the rest of my life there and and then bang,
• 48:41
  S18: going home again with a child that would end up
• 48:44
  S18: in the NICU ward of an American hospital. We had
• 48:47
  S18: no health care insurance at the time. We had no
• 48:49
  S18: house to go back to, no car, no job. We
• 48:51
  S18: had nothing. And I, I, um, boy, I just remember
• 48:56
  S18: crying out to God and, and he spoke to me
• 48:59
  S18: through the lyrics of the hymn, Great Is Thy Faithfulness.
• 49:02
  S18: And it was at that point that just everything flipped
• 49:06
  S18: for me in my life at that point, because I
• 49:07
  S18: realized that I had better base my understanding of who
• 49:13
  S18: God is on truth, or I was going to be
• 49:16
  S18: a hopeless wreck in the middle of a significant trauma
• 49:20
  S18: happening in my life. At that time, he was either
• 49:23
  S18: I had to believe that he was faithful and live
• 49:24
  S18: that out, or doubt that faithfulness, in which case it
• 49:29
  S18: was not going to go well for me emotionally, mentally, spiritually. Anyway.
• 49:33
  S4: Grace Fox with us this morning. She's a career missionary
• 49:36
  S4: more than 30 years in the mission field. Award winning author,
• 49:39
  S4: popular Bible teacher. She's written extensively. The book that we're
• 49:43
  S4: featuring today, Names of God, Knowing peace. You know, with
• 49:47
  S4: your background, you were on the mission field. It may
• 49:50
  S4: surprise some that you didn't. We think about missionaries as
• 49:53
  S4: having a dialed in faith. That's pretty unshakable. And yet
• 49:57
  S4: you were saying there were some things that you had
• 50:00
  S4: to kind of relearn or unlearn about your understanding of
• 50:04
  S4: God to, to really navigate such a difficult season. Talk
• 50:08
  S4: a little bit more about that.
• 50:10
  S18: Well, I went through, as I mentioned, that significant culture shock.
• 50:14
  S18: So there I was. I never camped, and now I
• 50:17
  S18: was in a village 12 hours out of Kathmandu, living
• 50:20
  S18: with no electricity, no running water, no indoor plumbing. And, um,
• 50:25
  S18: that's where I brought my first child home from the hospital.
• 50:29
  S18: I remember when he was three weeks old. A great
• 50:32
  S18: big snake, and I mean six feet long slithered into
• 50:35
  S18: my house when I was standing by my little cook stove.
• 50:39
  S18: I just about lost it because I was I was tired,
• 50:42
  S18: I was, you know, the new mom awake during the
• 50:45
  S18: night and that I just had no reserve. And when
• 50:48
  S18: this thing slithered past my feet, I just hate snakes.
• 50:52
  S18: I just remember saying I'm done. Like, I don't feel
• 50:55
  S18: very spiritual right now, but I'm out of here and
• 50:59
  S18: and oh, oh, I just I remember just sitting there
• 51:03
  S18: when my husband came home from work that night and
• 51:05
  S18: crying and saying, I can't do this anymore. But I
• 51:09
  S18: know that if I, if I throw in the towel
• 51:11
  S18: and go back to North America, then I'm just basically saying,
• 51:15
  S18: I don't care what you want us to do, God,
• 51:16
  S18: because I knew he wanted us there, but not. I
• 51:19
  S18: just wasn't up for that snake business. But that night,
• 51:23
  S18: for the only time in the two two full years
• 51:26
  S18: we lived in that little house, my husband reached over,
• 51:29
  S18: turned on the shortwave radio, and over the airwaves came
• 51:33
  S18: a song with a male quartet singing in English. Great
• 51:37
  S18: is thy faithfulness. It was the same song that he
• 51:40
  S18: gave me later, 20 months later, when our second child
• 51:43
  S18: was born and I had to say goodbye to her,
• 51:45
  S18: not knowing whether I'd see her alive again or not.
• 51:47
  S18: It was that night in the in the village that
• 51:51
  S18: was a beginning of a change in me too, because
• 51:54
  S18: I realized that was like my Hagar moment, my Elroy
• 51:56
  S18: God who sees me moment because I had no address,
• 51:59
  S18: no phone number. I had nothing. But God knew I
• 52:04
  S18: was there and reached me through the words of one
• 52:07
  S18: of my favorite hymns in my own language.
• 52:10
  S7: Yeah, how about that?
• 52:11
  S18: I'm amazing.
• 52:13
  S2: Oh, Grace Fox is our guest right now. Let's go
• 52:15
  S2: after Elroy, the God who sees. And Hagar is where
• 52:20
  S2: we find that. It's an amazing story because you talk
• 52:24
  S2: about the chips being down and I mean, booted people
• 52:28
  S2: angry at her. That should have been around her. It
• 52:30
  S2: was a mess. I know she popped off at the
• 52:32
  S2: mouth a couple of times as well. But the fact is,
• 52:36
  S2: God met her there. That's just one name of God
• 52:38
  S2: of many. That's important for a lot of people listening
• 52:42
  S2: right now, because I think we wonder, God, do you
• 52:44
  S2: see what's going on here? Speak to that grace.
• 52:47
  S18: Yeah. When I did the research into that name, I
• 52:50
  S18: discovered something that I think I glossed over and how
• 52:54
  S18: easy that is to do when we read the Bible.
• 52:57
  S18: You know, we just gloss over stuff. But the thing
• 52:58
  S18: that I missed was that God, God, he called her
• 53:02
  S18: by name. So he acknowledged her there. But then he,
• 53:06
  S18: he said, where have you come from and where are
• 53:08
  S18: you going? He was open to her story. He wanted
• 53:11
  S18: her story and. But then he sent her back. And
• 53:15
  S18: I think sometimes in our lives we just. We don't
• 53:21
  S18: want to be in those hard places. They hurt. We
• 53:23
  S18: want to get out of them as fast as we can.
• 53:26
  S18: But sometimes he asks us to stay and. And that's
• 53:30
  S18: when it's so important to know that he's not abandoned
• 53:33
  S18: us in the middle of that hard place. He knows
• 53:36
  S18: we're there. He sees us there. But for some reason,
• 53:40
  S18: our time is not finished in that hard place. But
• 53:43
  S18: he's still there and sees us.
• 53:46
  S4: We have Grace Fox with us this morning, author of
• 53:48
  S4: the book Names of God Knowing peace. You know, peace
• 53:52
  S4: seems so elusive in our modern world with so many distractions.
• 53:57
  S4: And so the ability to have a constant news feed
• 54:00
  S4: that's never churning out good news. It can feel like
• 54:04
  S4: peace is absent. What do you say? How can knowing
• 54:08
  S4: the names of God help us to know peace?
• 54:11
  S18: Yeah, boy, I hear what you're saying about those those
• 54:13
  S18: scrolls and the feeds and how it can just really
• 54:16
  S18: wreck our peace. But that whole concept of peace is
• 54:19
  S18: inner rest amid outer unrest. And when we know who
• 54:23
  S18: God is by name, we can pray in those names.
• 54:27
  S18: That's what really helps me. So, for instance, El Shaddai
• 54:31
  S18: means God Almighty, which means God is enough. So on
• 54:36
  S18: those days when we feel like I can't do this anymore,
• 54:40
  S18: we can call out to God in his name, El Shaddai. God,
• 54:44
  S18: I need you, El Shaddai. Be be sufficient for me today.
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  S18: I need wisdom, I need patience with my kids. I
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  S18: need perseverance to get through this cancer treatment that I'm
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  S18: going through or that a loved one is going through.
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  S18: I need hope for all of that be enough for
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  S18: me today. I just love the fact that we can
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  S18: pray in those names, or Yahweh or the Lord is
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  S18: my light. Sometimes we're in circumstances that just feel like
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  S18: they're so dark we can't even see our hand in
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  S18: front of our face, like being in a cave. But
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  S18: we can ask God to shed his light into that
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  S18: darkness and light it up with his presence and his power.
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  S2: You know, I heard someone preaching recently, I think it
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  S2: was Colin Smith and he was talking about the grandeur
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  S2: of God and how that that bringing to awareness some
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  S2: of these names that you're mentioning really irrigate our soul
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  S2: to the point where the circumstances around us really can't
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  S2: encroach on that place where we meet God. How does
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  S2: that work practically for you? I mean, let's get really
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  S2: practical because it's one thing, okay, we can go El Shaddai,
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  S2: ABBA Father, El Roy, Yahweh, Ori, uh, Nissi, all these
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  S2: things that you've done a phenomenal job unpacking in your book,
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  S2: but how do we get there practically, grace.
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  S18: Yeah. Uh, for myself, I just make a point of
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  S18: spending a few minutes in his presence every day. And
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  S18: I know that seasons of life are different for different people.
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  S18: There are the busy moms out there with babies. They're
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  S18: awake during the night and then getting kids off to
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  S18: school in the morning. And then there's people who are
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  S18: caregiving and people who are working outside the home full time.
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  S18: But God is aware. He sees us in whatever situation
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  S18: we are and he's aware of of our time as well.
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  S18: And so it's not like getting legalistic about you got
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  S18: to spend 45 minutes in the word or you're just
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  S18: not going to be set for the day. But it's
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  S18: I have a few minutes, Lord, just meet me here
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  S18: in this place. And so it's, it's meeting him, just
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  S18: making that time for him, just, even if it's a
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  S18: few minutes to be in the word, to hear what
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  S18: he has to say and to expect him to speak
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  S18: to us, because the word says that the sheep recognize
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  S18: his voice and it says he speaks. So we can
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  S18: expect that he will speak to us. And it's just
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  S18: being in the word and recognizing that he identifies who
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  S18: he is through these names. And so ask him, take
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  S18: his faith journey, take his faith journey with him and say,
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  S18: show me who you are through your names. Help me
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  S18: understand your character.
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  S2: Grace Fox, our guest right now. And I. You got
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  S2: inspirational teacher written all over you, Grace. There's no doubt
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  S2: about that. But as you were studying and prepping and
• 57:39
  S2: really digging into this book, what surprised you most? Every
• 57:43
  S2: author has that moment where they're like, man, I'm writing
• 57:46
  S2: on it, but I didn't know this until now.
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  S18: Oh, I think for me in this one, it would
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  S18: be El Shaddai, God Almighty, because I came to understand
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  S18: how it means he is sufficient, he is sufficient. But
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  S18: there was something else that I discovered that theologians discuss
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  S18: in this, and that the very Hebrew names for this Shaddai,
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  S18: all of that, when you put it all together, they
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  S18: can't agree on the exact word, but they all have
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  S18: the inference of like a mountain or get a load
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  S18: of this, even a mother's breast. I never would have
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  S18: expected that. But when you think of a mother nursing
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  S18: her baby, that mother is supplying that baby with everything
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  S18: that baby needs to grow.
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  S7: Wow.
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  S18: So that that mother's milk is sufficient for that child
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  S18: to grow and flourish. And also, when a mother is
• 58:43
  S18: nursing that child, she's holding that baby close to her breast,
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  S18: which is a safe place to be, which is that
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  S18: comforting place which calms that child. And so when we
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  S18: translate that into our Christian walk, I think of God
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  S18: holding us as his children close to his heart. Everything
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  S18: we need is found in him. But being close to
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  S18: him also calms us and brings us peace.
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  S4: The book is called Names of God Knowing Peace. Our guest,
• 59:14
  S4: Grace Fox. Just text Fox to (800) 555-7898. Text Fox to
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  S4: 805 557898.