Latest / Karl and Crew / The Truth Behind the Ceasefire in Iran with Lana Silk & When Your Faith Feels Stuck with Dr. Winfred Neely

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The Truth Behind the Ceasefire in Iran with Lana Silk & When Your Faith Feels Stuck with Dr. Winfred Neely · Karl and Crew

0:00
S1: Broadcasting from Chicago, across North America and beyond. It's Carl
0:06
S1: and crew. Come as you are an experienced guide. Overcome
0:10
S1: what seems impossible and live as you never imagined. Start
0:15
S1: your morning with a laugh.
0:17
S2: Practical from the Bible. Tips and tricks to kill. Not
0:21
S2: tricks but tips and tricks.
0:25
S3: Tips and tricks to kill. Tips and tricks.
0:28
S1: Delivering the truth daily.
0:30
S4: All of my attempts to, you know, prop myself up
0:33
S4: with achievement in good works. Well, God wasn't impressed by that,
0:36
S4: even if other people were.
0:38
S2: The gospel changes everything.
0:41
S5: Freedom in Christ. Man, it's like that backpack of cement
0:44
S5: just falling to the ground.
0:46
S1: Now from the call of Hope Studios, this is Carl
0:50
S1: and crew. Hey, it's Carl and Crew here. Um, there
0:54
S1: are a lot of people in the world today That
0:59
S1: might dare to believe God for hope that would manifest
1:03
S1: itself in a way that's. Hey, all of a sudden
1:06
S1: we're freed now from religious persecution. Maybe it's a desire
1:11
S1: to be experiencing some hope rising in their life because, uh,
1:18
S1: kids that they love or spouses or friends that are
1:21
S1: taking a bold stand for Jesus are not always in
1:25
S1: harm's way. And that would be beautiful. But I think
1:28
S1: the kind of the litmus test for real hope is
1:31
S1: that it supersedes and exceeds circumstances, doesn't it, Ali?
1:36
S4: Absolutely. Because if it's just about circumstances, well, that can
1:39
S4: change in a heartbeat.
1:41
S1: Yeah. And I think the coolest thing about authentic faith
1:44
S1: that we learn as we talk to people from around
1:46
S1: the globe all the time, we learn this, is that
1:50
S1: they aren't even praying, oh, prosper me with some stuff
1:55
S1: or get me out of this situation. The. The constant
1:59
S1: refrain is pray for us while we're in it. And
2:03
S1: that stuns me. I've said this to our both of
2:07
S1: our church campuses. I think if you try to predict
2:10
S1: that I'm going to have that kind of faith when
2:11
S1: I'm in that kind of situation, you can't.
2:14
S4: Know.
2:14
S1: Right? But God will deposit that grace when we need
2:17
S1: it most. Boy, have we got a story like that
2:21
S1: coming up. Lana Silk, one of our favorites here. And
2:24
S1: here's what's important. Lana has a perspective. Having been born
2:28
S1: in Iran and having a ministry that ministers back into
2:32
S1: Iran and having connections with believers, followers of Jesus in Iran.
2:37
S1: She has a perspective that, frankly, you aren't going to
2:41
S1: hear anywhere else. And I don't even know what's coming
2:44
S1: up here, because a lot has developed in Iran in
2:46
S1: the last few weeks. So where do we stand in Iran?
2:50
S1: What is Lana hearing and how can we pray for
2:54
S1: them today? Hang on, Lana, Silk straight ahead.
2:56
S6: She was trying to earn her way to God, but
2:59
S6: God showed her she didn't have to. Ali is in
3:03
S6: the crew. It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
3:06
S1: Well, I guess you'd have to be kind of under
3:08
S1: a rock to not know what's going on in Iran
3:11
S1: at some level. But herein lies the problem, Ali, because
3:15
S1: you were in journalism professionally for years. Man, it's hard to.
3:20
S1: And I'm not knocking journalists. You can't hit every aspect
3:23
S1: of a geopolitical conflict like this in a 22nd soundbite.
3:27
S4: Right. And so the interesting thing, you said it would
3:29
S4: be impossible to not know what's going on. But at
3:32
S4: the same time, most people have an awareness that something's
3:36
S4: happening but are hard pressed to really explain the what
3:39
S4: and the why and what does it mean and how
3:41
S4: should I feel about this?
3:43
S1: Yeah. Lana Silk is with us right now. And before
3:46
S1: we just jump right in, Ali, let's, let's make sure
3:50
S1: everybody understands kind of where she's coming from and what
3:54
S1: her ministry is.
3:55
S4: Yeah. Alana Silk, our guest, president and chief executive officer
3:58
S4: with Transform Iran. She was born and raised in Iran
4:01
S4: before emigrating to the UK, where she completed her education.
4:05
S4: She has a passion for seeing the church grow and
4:09
S4: flourish in the nation of Iran.
4:11
S1: Lana, so good to have you with us today. Last
4:13
S1: time you were with us, I don't know, a week,
4:15
S1: two weeks ago. You were confident then that there would
4:20
S1: ultimately be a regime change and that some of this
4:23
S1: heavy handed, uh oh, it's more than heavy handed, this brutal, uh,
4:29
S1: the brutality of the regime for which a lot of
4:33
S1: the upper layers have been eliminated since we spoke, that
4:36
S1: you thought that this would be toppled. Where do we
4:39
S1: stand today with this cease fire and all? Do you
4:42
S1: still feel like it's coming?
4:44
S7: Karl, the cease fire has been.
4:47
S8: Very disheartening news the last couple of days. Yeah, This
4:52
S8: is not good. Not a good turn of events. I'm
4:55
S8: actually at a conference this week, and it's just been
4:59
S8: this constant backdrop at the back of my mind thinking, Lord, what?
5:03
S8: What are they doing? It's bad.
5:05
S1: Yeah. And I hear this from the UAE and from
5:09
S1: some of these other countries that are not radicalized. They
5:14
S1: basically let's let's have some peace in our countries. My
5:18
S1: understanding from some great geopolitical analysts is that they're really
5:24
S1: disappointed that we agreed to this cease fire. I'm not
5:27
S1: we're not taking sides here at all. I'm just going
5:29
S1: with the facts. Is that what you're understanding as well?
5:33
S8: Oh deeply disappointed. Yes. That was my immediate reaction. And
5:37
S8: the more I tried to wrestle with it and try
5:40
S8: to rationalize it in my head. Oh, maybe this could
5:42
S8: do this, maybe this, and there's no way around it.
5:45
S8: This is this is a bad next step. It's bad
5:49
S8: for the Iranians. It's bad for the Americans. It's bad
5:51
S8: for the Middle Easterners. The. There's no way that good's
5:54
S8: going to come out of this. The Iranian government is
5:57
S8: not one to play nice. They've never been committed to
6:01
S8: healthy negotiations. And right now, this is giving them a
6:05
S8: breather to regroup, to focus in. As soon as the
6:08
S8: ceasefires were announced, a top judicial minister in Iran announced
6:12
S8: that it was time to accelerate the execution of all
6:14
S8: of the inmates that they had.
6:15
S9: From the protests.
6:17
S8: It's I mean, it's serious. They are they've imported fighters
6:21
S8: from outside the country. We have people from Afghanistan, from Lebanon,
6:25
S8: from other regions coming into Iran, from Iraq. And our
6:30
S8: people have been reporting to us. They're riding around on motorcycles,
6:33
S8: shouting Allahu Akbar and inciting fear and just making sure
6:36
S8: the people of Iran know that this is not over.
6:39
S1: This is heartbreaking, actually.
6:40
S4: Ali Anna Silk, our guest right now from Iran. You know,
6:45
S4: when most people hear ceasefire, they think, how could that
6:49
S4: be a bad thing? How could the stopping of the fighting?
6:52
S4: Because I think we have a bent toward not wanting war.
6:56
S4: Understandably help give some context for why you touched on
7:00
S4: it a little bit. But why is the ceasefire not
7:03
S4: helpful for anyone?
7:05
S10: Well, I think the.
7:06
S8: Starting point really is to try to understand the actors
7:10
S8: in this war. We are not dealing with another party
7:14
S8: who have similar ideals and similar objectives to us. If
7:17
S8: we were fighting a country like Britain or France or Germany,
7:21
S8: then a ceasefire literally means we're going to stop fighting.
7:24
S8: We're going to lay down our arms and we're going
7:26
S8: to come up with a peaceful way to move forward
7:28
S8: with a country like Iran whose objectives are entirely in
7:32
S8: conflict with ours. They're not looking for that kind of peace.
7:35
S8: They do want peace. But in their version of peace,
7:37
S8: it's domination that they will suppress us and we will
7:40
S8: fall in line with the Shiite Sharia law, that they
7:44
S8: want to expand to the nations. And they've made no
7:47
S8: secret of that. So all we've done for them is
7:49
S8: give them an opportunity to regroup. Their ideals haven't changed.
7:53
S8: Their objectives haven't changed. There's no way that long term
7:56
S8: we're going to have peace with Iran.
7:58
S1: Lana Silk, right now, our guest. You know, I've had
8:00
S1: a question in my mind, and maybe you can answer this.
8:03
S1: I mean, the layers of leadership that have been taken out,
8:07
S1: you would think in some regimes, boy, that's enough. But
8:11
S1: we know that it runs deep in the Revolutionary Guard.
8:14
S1: Real deep. How can you possibly displace a government when
8:19
S1: it's kind of permeated all of that Revolutionary Guard through
8:23
S1: many layers? Was it pie in the sky to begin with?
8:27
S1: Is it close to toppling a regime? Where are we
8:30
S1: at from your vantage point? Lana.
8:32
S10: That's a fair question. It is.
8:34
S8: This is not a straightforward regime change. It's not like
8:37
S8: a mafia family at the center. You take out the
8:39
S8: family and suddenly you have a. You've lost all authority.
8:43
S8: For those you know, for that side, it is harder.
8:46
S8: I you know, I've heard some of the announcements about
8:49
S8: how we have successfully changed the regime in Iran. Definitely
8:53
S8: not the case. We have not changed regime in Iran
8:55
S8: at this point in time. We have weakened. This is
8:58
S8: the first time that I would say, yes, we've actually
9:01
S8: made a significant dent. They don't have a supreme leader
9:04
S8: who can unite all parties and move forward strategically. It's fragmented.
9:10
S8: You know, we have all kinds of different people in
9:12
S8: play now who have different motivations, and not all of
9:14
S8: them are religious or ideological. So it's just a case
9:18
S8: of taking out enough of the people who feel they
9:20
S8: have some kind of holy mission, and then you're left
9:23
S8: dealing with people who are motivated by greed or selfish ambition,
9:26
S8: and then those people are easier to turn. I have
9:29
S8: been wondering if with that ground force, we really are
9:32
S8: ever going to fully achieve it. But I don't know
9:35
S8: if this goes into the realms of your expertise, which
9:39
S8: I don't have.
9:39
S1: Yeah, yeah. But you do know people and you do
9:42
S1: know that government? I think a question I have here is, Lana,
9:46
S1: there's some people listening who do not understand the brutality
9:52
S1: of the current regime and even a few layers down.
9:55
S1: And those that are negotiating. I think it's important for
9:58
S1: people to understand just how brutal Iran leadership has been.
10:02
S1: Could you please give us some some high points here
10:06
S1: that people need to soberly understand?
10:09
S10: Oh, Karl.
10:10
S8: Where do I begin without traumatizing your listeners? Yeah. Um,
10:14
S8: this is a regime where really there is no line
10:18
S8: that they will not cross. Children, women, the elderly. No
10:22
S8: one is exempt. They arrested the nurses who had been
10:27
S8: helping the victims of the protests. They brutally raped them
10:33
S8: so badly that they created internal injuries all the way
10:36
S8: up their internal organs. And these women were in such
10:40
S8: terrible States.
10:41
S10: That.
10:41
S8: They had to have surgery, and we have accounts of
10:44
S8: women begging their surgeons to kill them on the operating
10:47
S8: table because they couldn't face to wake up to what
10:49
S8: had happened to them. It's it's evil. It's it's unthinkable.
10:53
S8: And I'm actually only telling you, I'm not even telling
10:57
S8: you the worst of it because I don't even know
10:58
S8: how to use words to describe just the wickedness, you know?
11:03
S8: It's intentional torture. They're trying to break people down so
11:09
S8: that they will never, ever dare again rise up and
11:12
S8: question their governments. They're instilling fear on purpose. They've increased
11:16
S8: all the checkpoints. They've recruited 11, 12 year old boys
11:20
S8: that they've forced into fighting. And these are the front
11:24
S8: lines of their checkpoints. You know, there's just mothers grieving
11:28
S8: their children being told you can't have the body of
11:30
S8: your child without selling your house, or you will burn
11:33
S8: this body. It's just it just goes one after the other.
11:37
S8: It's on purpose. Breaking down the nation to make sure
11:41
S8: that people understand the consequences aren't just death.
11:46
S4: Anna Silk, I know you're listening. You are shocked and
11:51
S4: horrified and maybe had no idea. I certainly had no idea.
11:56
S4: Coming up, let's talk about the church in Iran. Hope
12:00
S4: rising has been our theme this week, and it's hard
12:03
S4: to even think that hope could exist in such a context.
12:07
S4: But we know that we serve a God who is
12:09
S4: the same yesterday, today, and forever as we just talked about.
12:13
S4: Is there hope? Where can we find it? Coming up
12:16
S4: more with Lana Silk.
12:18
S6: You're listening to Curl and Crew on Moody Radio.
12:21
S4: Got Lana Silk with us this morning. Very sobering. Difficult
12:24
S4: topic as we discuss what's going on in Iran, things
12:27
S4: that haven't made the headlines. She's the president and chief
12:30
S4: executive officer with Transform Iran in the midst of such hardship, heartbreak, horror.
12:38
S4: How is the church in Iran?
12:41
S8: Oh, Ali, you know, we hold on to the hope
12:44
S8: of Jesus, just as you said. It's. These are hard
12:47
S8: days for sure. Everyone that I speak to that has
12:50
S8: family or colleagues or churches back in the country, it's
12:54
S8: always the same. I'm struggling to get hold of them.
12:56
S8: I just have to trust that they're still okay. We
13:00
S8: believe that God has a good plan for Iran. You know,
13:02
S8: as Christians, when we face situations that we don't understand,
13:07
S8: we have to hold on to what we do understand.
13:09
S8: And that's the nature of our God. You know, Jeremiah 29,
13:12
S8: I know the plans I have for you. They are
13:14
S8: plans to prosper you, not to harm you, to give
13:17
S8: you hope and a future. And this is what we
13:20
S8: know is true, and we speak it continuously over our
13:24
S8: own hearts. You know, when David tells himself, wake up,
13:27
S8: my soul. Praise God. We have to almost command ourselves
13:29
S8: to remember what is true, to speak it over our nation,
13:33
S8: to keep prophesying it over our nation and believing that
13:37
S8: God is in control, knowing. He's in control on his
13:40
S8: throne and praying according to that. We can't allow the
13:44
S8: current events to guide our peace and our hope and.
13:47
S8: That's that's the spiritual fight that we're in right now.
13:50
S1: Yeah. I mean, you would look at what's going on
13:52
S1: in Iran and the persecution primarily of Christ's followers, because
13:55
S1: if you dare to. And you shared with us, I mean,
13:58
S1: these people that dared to bring safe haven for people
14:01
S1: that had been out on the street simply standing in
14:03
S1: the streets saying, please give us freedom, give us economic hope.
14:08
S1: And if they were injured, then they came in and
14:10
S1: hunted them down. It seems like, why in the world
14:14
S1: would anyone surrender to Christ in such radical adversity? But
14:19
S1: you still hear stories, don't you, Alana?
14:21
S11: We do. It is incredible.
14:23
S8: Honestly, I shouldn't be surprised knowing what God is capable of.
14:27
S8: And yet, in current times I'm thinking, wow, people understand
14:32
S8: what it is to be spiritually dead and to need
14:35
S8: to live. And people are holding on and fighting for.
14:40
S8: For the life that really matters. And we do have.
14:43
S8: Those people are struggling to. Contact us, contact us hard.
14:46
S8: But we have put measures in place, including our. AI
14:49
S8: tool where they can just go ahead and have those
14:51
S8: conversations without having to make a phone call to. Outside
14:54
S8: the country and we're watching and seeing those who don't
14:57
S8: know Jesus come and have an interaction. Talk about how
15:01
S8: they have lost all hope, or perhaps even the awful
15:04
S8: things that have happened to them. And look for meaning
15:07
S8: and kairos. This tool is able to guide them with
15:09
S8: scripture and point them back to Jesus. It's it's wonderful
15:12
S8: to see what God is doing.
15:13
S1: Yeah. And it's good because here I'm, I'm been in
15:16
S1: first Peter the first two verses and, and it's God
15:19
S1: who calls. We don't choose God. So there's prevenient grace
15:23
S1: underway in Iran right now, raising people up to be
15:27
S1: God fearing. Giving them sober minded common sense. since looking
15:32
S1: at the regime going, this is evil on steroids. Take
15:36
S1: me to your leader, to the Christians that are their neighbors.
15:40
S1: It's so overwhelming to know that our brothers and sisters
15:43
S1: in Christ are standing strong there. Lana. Uh, we're going
15:47
S1: to point people to a prayer guide here in just
15:49
S1: a moment. I was curious about one thing. I saw
15:52
S1: a clip. And sometimes I get so frustrated with media
15:55
S1: because it was a clip of a woman in Tehran
15:59
S1: championing the current regime, saying she wants to sing over
16:04
S1: because the regimes, in her estimation, was good. What's your take?
16:10
S1: What do you think the average person on the streets
16:12
S1: of Tehran and other cities across Iran, huge country. By
16:16
S1: the way, what is their take out of ten people?
16:19
S1: How many people want this regime gone, Christian or not?
16:22
S8: Oh nine plus, there may well be one or, you know,
16:27
S8: very few minorities who are genuinely in support of the regime.
16:30
S8: I would be surprised if there are any that aren't
16:33
S8: personally connected with the regime. That would be pro-regime. But
16:36
S8: I've got to tell you, Karl, there are actors who
16:38
S8: are being put on these screens to profess allegiance and
16:43
S8: to lament the attack of America and Israel. And we
16:47
S8: know this because we can see the same people in
16:50
S8: different situations, different news clips. Suddenly this woman's lost a child.
16:55
S8: Suddenly this woman, you know, her house has been hit.
16:58
S8: You just think, oh, hang on, didn't we just see
16:59
S8: the same woman in an interview two weeks ago? They
17:02
S8: are using actors and they're using AI. We've also seen videos,
17:07
S8: particularly when they were marking the anniversary of the Islamic
17:11
S8: Republic in February. There were videos of, you know, marches
17:14
S8: and joyous celebrations of this glorious regime. And if you
17:18
S8: look closely, their legs suddenly disappear. Or I mean, it's.
17:22
S9: Just, yeah.
17:23
S8: It's all fake news.
17:25
S1: Oh my goodness, it's sobering. Ali.
17:28
S4: It is. And so what do you do? Well, we
17:31
S4: want to help you pray. There's a prayer guide on
17:34
S4: the Transform Iran website that you can look through and
17:37
S4: be focused in your prayer, because sometimes you the challenges
17:41
S4: can seem so great you don't even know where to start.
17:44
S4: Text transform to 800 555 7898. Just text that one word.
17:49
S4: Transform 800 555 7898.
17:54
S6: Want to hear that again? Just download the kernel and
17:57
S6: Cru podcast wherever you like to stream.
18:01
S1: You talk about hope, rising freedom in Christ. I mean,
18:04
S1: at the end of the day, the freedom that we
18:06
S1: find in Christ takes you from slavery to sin into
18:09
S1: this new hope, new life, new creation, new world. Blues
18:15
S1: are bluer. Greens are green, greener sounds more clear. I mean,
18:19
S1: it's it's an epic thing. It's a reality. Welcome aboard
18:22
S1: on this Freedom Friday. I hope you're doing well in
18:25
S1: this second hour of our program today. And man, we're
18:28
S1: just grateful. We're coming off of a tough interview with
18:32
S1: Lana Silk and ah, it's sobering and there's so much
18:36
S1: to pray about. And yet the amazing thing about the
18:40
S1: persecuted church around the globe is that they just pray
18:43
S1: for ask you to pray for more of Jesus in them. Ali.
18:46
S4: Yeah. You know, and you hear the kind of story
18:49
S4: that she shared some of the details and she said
18:53
S4: she's not even sharing the worst because it would be
18:57
S4: difficult to even use those words on radio. And you think, how,
19:02
S4: how in the world do people survive in that kind
19:04
S4: of context? How can you have faith in that kind
19:07
S4: of context?
19:09
S1: Yeah, it's it's so brutal. I mean, these guys running
19:13
S1: around on mopeds and motorcycles that they're bringing in now
19:16
S1: from other countries, you know, you don't, you don't get
19:18
S1: that detail. Uh, but they're yelling Allah Akbar. They're their
19:25
S1: threatening lives there. Some of what's going on over there,
19:30
S1: it's just got it's a it's a life of terror.
19:33
S1: If you dare to take a stand against the regime,
19:36
S1: any speech at all, and your life's going to be
19:39
S1: snuffed out and, and displayed for everyone to see. Uh,
19:45
S1: it's it's hard, man. I, I, I have a hard time.
19:49
S1: I have a hard time with that. And I'm usually
19:51
S1: pretty tough in my gut, but this is brutal. This
19:54
S1: is absolutely. Does this make me cry?
19:56
S2: Yeah. I think that was at least in my mind
19:59
S2: for me, the toughest interview that that I've heard here
20:02
S2: on the show, just the reality of it is, is
20:05
S2: so somber. It's so horrible.
20:07
S1: Yeah, it's, it's hard to get your head around. It's
20:14
S1: just hard to get your head around. It really is. Uh, Ali,
20:18
S1: would you pray for Iran and our brothers and sisters
20:20
S1: around the world in harm's way? Come on, let's go.
20:23
S4: Yeah. God, we come to you with heavy hearts. But
20:28
S4: knowing God that you see all you know all. You
20:31
S4: are a God of justice. You're a God of mercy.
20:36
S4: And God, you are grieved over what was described as
20:40
S4: well God. No one is grieved more than you, God,
20:43
S4: because these are image bearers, people created in the image
20:48
S4: of a holy God and Lord. That kind of wickedness.
20:52
S4: God is such an affront to your character. But God,
20:54
S4: we know that we need not worry or fret because God,
20:58
S4: you are on the throne. Yeah, and you are mighty. Yeah,
21:02
S4: over all of it. God, that there's there's no power
21:07
S4: more powerful than you. God. No regime more powerful. So God,
21:11
S4: even in our arrogance, when we think that we are
21:13
S4: in control, God, we bow our knee, Lord. And I
21:17
S4: just ask for the people who are in Iran and
21:21
S4: in other persecuted places around the world. God, that you
21:23
S4: would strengthen our brothers and sisters in Christ. That you
21:28
S4: would give them. God the ability to hold on to you. Lord,
21:32
S4: give them the strength to continue to seek you, Lord.
21:35
S4: And Lord, we pray that you would thwart the plan
21:38
S4: of the evil one. Lord, wherever evil is being planned
21:41
S4: this morning, God, would you frustrate the plan of the enemy? God? God,
21:46
S4: would you remove from power? God. Wicked leaders and we
21:49
S4: leave that for you to decide. God. We don't judge
21:52
S4: rightly all the time, but you do God. Lord, we
21:57
S4: are in your hand and we just ask for your
21:59
S4: mercy for our brothers and sisters. Give them mercy. Give
22:03
S4: them strength, God, give them comfort. Oh Lord Jesus, give
22:07
S4: them hope this morning. In Jesus name, Amen.
22:11
S1: Amen. You know, as you were praying, I. I was
22:14
S1: just thinking, this is how this is how open theism,
22:18
S1: which is a very narrow, sliver, doctrinal kind of position
22:23
S1: that says that God set in motion, uh, the, uh,
22:28
S1: the free will and, uh, the, the ability to choose
22:32
S1: evil and open theism kind of holds a position that
22:35
S1: God is ultimately not sovereign over these things. Yeah. This is,
22:39
S1: this is how open theism gets born because in our
22:43
S1: human mind, we don't understand how in the world can
22:47
S1: God allow this stuff to happen?
22:49
S2: Totally.
22:50
S4: Right.
22:50
S1: This is how it gets born.
22:51
S2: That thought process without faith in God makes sense because
22:56
S2: you look at it and it's it is so atrocious.
23:00
S1: Well, faith in God makes sense. But open theists would
23:05
S1: say they have faith in God, but they have no
23:07
S1: faith in man. And they, they, they would say that
23:11
S1: this is classic evidence that I mean, because how could
23:16
S1: a loving God allow this to happen. Yeah, that's how
23:19
S1: open theism is born. And frankly, after you hear Lana, it's.
23:27
S1: Is it any wonder people are open theists? No. Now, I,
23:33
S1: on the other hand. Believe that God is still sovereign
23:38
S1: over these things and that he puts in mechanisms like
23:41
S1: shock and all these cool things that we're learning about that,
23:46
S1: that help insulate us a bit. But does it keep
23:49
S1: us totally from the pain of affliction? No, no. And
23:55
S1: I don't know how this whole, this whole thing gets
23:57
S1: sorted out, but I know it does because you read
24:00
S1: the back of the book. I was cogitating with my
24:02
S1: wife last night about the New Jerusalem and how the
24:04
S1: earth will not be annihilated. It's going to be restored.
24:07
S1: In fact, the New Jerusalem will come down and we
24:09
S1: will dwell with him. And it's it's going to be
24:14
S1: an amazing day when we see revelation 21 uncorked, unveiled.
24:21
S1: Wiping away tears. Man. And it's going to be a
24:23
S1: new day. Mhm. And so we walk on, uh, you know,
24:30
S1: there's a couple of things on my heart. This morning
24:32
S1: I was talking with my right hand man. Our two
24:34
S1: campuses here in one city, Chicago, in Chicagoland. I'm a
24:38
S1: pastor of a church filled with people that just love
24:42
S1: the Lord. And you know what this young man told me?
24:46
S1: It's so good. He said, you know, he said, Carl,
24:50
S1: you're big on talking about not just hearing the Word
24:52
S1: of God and applying it. He says, that is so
24:55
S1: right on. We've got to champion this in our in
24:59
S1: a discipleship oriented church, for sure. But he said, one
25:02
S1: of the great dangers that I see coming from India
25:07
S1: with kind of fresh eyes looking into this culture here,
25:10
S1: is he said, and I don't want this to become me.
25:14
S1: But he says there seems to be a plateauing rather
25:18
S1: than an ongoing. Becoming who we are in Jesus. He
25:22
S1: says there seems to be a point at which people
25:25
S1: begin to plateau and. And cease to say to God,
25:30
S1: search me, know me, try me. And we settle in
25:34
S1: with a few issues that he's not making judgment calls
25:38
S1: on people's character, just trajectory spiritually. And there's some truth
25:42
S1: in that. And one of the great dangers is that
25:45
S1: we can read or hear and apply. And pretty quick,
25:50
S1: if we're not careful, we kind of cordon off certain
25:53
S1: areas of our life that we're like, okay, um, I'm
25:56
S1: going to learn and apply certain truths to certain areas
26:01
S1: of my life. But, but there's some that can tend
26:04
S1: to little corners of our heart that can plateau. And
26:09
S1: I appreciate his observation on that because my goodness, I'll
26:14
S1: be the first to confess. It is easy to plateau
26:17
S1: in the spiritual life.
26:18
S4: Oh, totally.
26:19
S1: Like this area is good enough, right, Ali?
26:22
S4: And I think particularly in a context where there's not
26:26
S4: a lot of opposition that to your face.
26:31
S1: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
26:32
S4: And I mean, and that's not to say that overall
26:37
S4: the culture isn't hostile to the Christian worldview. That's absolutely
26:41
S4: the case. But as far as individual personal cost, persecution,
26:48
S4: just in this culture, we just don't see a lot
26:51
S4: of that. And that's a God's mercy for a time.
26:56
S4: We don't know how long that will last. But I
26:58
S4: think that what happens even let's take it when you
27:01
S4: get hit with a personal crisis, nothing to do with persecution,
27:04
S4: just something knocks you down sideways. Some phone call that
27:08
S4: you weren't expected, some unexpected diagnosis or loss or something
27:12
S4: that totally turns your world upside down. And very quickly
27:16
S4: things become clarified as far as what really matters and
27:19
S4: what doesn't.
27:20
S2: Yeah.
27:21
S4: And I think that that's a taste of it.
27:23
S2: Yeah. I, you know, my, my daughter has this toy
27:27
S2: called kinetic sand. I didn't have it as a kid,
27:30
S2: but it's this sand. It's not really sand. It's you
27:33
S2: can play with it safe in the house, but I
27:35
S2: love playing with it. You form it and as you
27:37
S2: form it, it can get solid and it can do
27:38
S2: a lot of great things and look like a lot
27:40
S2: of different things. As soon as you stop forming it
27:43
S2: and you just let it sit there, it all starts
27:44
S2: to crumble apart in your hand. And I was thinking
27:48
S2: about that with the Christian life, and it's very much
27:51
S2: so the same that formation is so important to what
27:55
S2: we do. And, and a lot of our brothers and
27:58
S2: sisters in Christ around the world and persecuted countries don't
28:01
S2: have the option to stop being formed because of what
28:04
S2: they're facing externally. But here, like you said, Carl, it
28:08
S2: can be easy to say, oh, I'm done in this area.
28:11
S2: I'm going to stop growing over here. When we make
28:13
S2: those choices to get stagnant or to stop growing, then
28:16
S2: we can kind of lose it all together. We have
28:18
S2: to allow ourselves to keep being formed at all times.
28:21
S1: Yeah, yeah. It's that keep being formed. Yeah. And I
28:24
S1: don't think we cognizant we almost declared God. All right,
28:31
S1: I'm going to stop growing in this area.
28:34
S2: Totally, totally.
28:35
S1: You know, but we by virtue of the fact and
28:38
S1: it's true, Ali, with the absence of persecution, direct hits
28:41
S1: on our life, we probably tend to not examine things
28:46
S1: as much. You know, boom crew, if you have not
28:51
S1: if you did not hear Land of Silk, that interview
28:53
S1: with her, we're going to put that at the front
28:55
S1: end of our show cast today because it's it's sobering.
29:00
S1: And I think what's sobering is what she left unsaid,
29:05
S1: what was unsaid Because she couldn't bear to say it
29:09
S1: or it wouldn't be right to say it on air.
29:12
S1: But get the show cast today if you never have.
29:16
S1: Listen to Lana Silk. I think if you have this, I.
29:23
S1: I truly believe if the Spirit of God indwells you,
29:26
S1: it will jar you. I don't even think you have
29:30
S1: to have spirit of God to be jarred by it necessarily.
29:32
S1: We can, as you said. Ali, you can just be
29:34
S1: an image bearer of God. That's okay. But if the
29:39
S1: Spirit of God indwells you, I think it will cause
29:42
S1: you to say, wow, how? How shall I then live?
29:45
S1: I really believe that. So text the word show to
29:48
S1: our number 800 555 7898 800 555 7898. I'm going
29:59
S1: to shift gears coming up here. I was going a
30:01
S1: different direction, got some content and everything, but I'm going
30:04
S1: to shift gears here a little bit. I'm going to
30:05
S1: honor my buddy Ajit this morning. I'm going to ask
30:08
S1: a question. Have you do you have a time recently,
30:14
S1: recently where you had plateaued in a certain area spiritually
30:18
S1: and this could be any number of areas, right? I mean,
30:21
S1: this could be marriage. This can be, uh, seeking the Lord.
30:27
S1: It can be getting a little squishy with finances. It's
30:31
S1: like I've got 90% things oriented, but I'm kind of
30:35
S1: got 10% that I know that are, you know, this
30:38
S1: area of my life. It could be just straight up stewardship.
30:41
S1: I'm going to be bold as a pastor here. It
30:43
S1: could be that you're tipping God and you've come up
30:46
S1: with all kinds of reasons for it. It's like, ah,
30:48
S1: you know, I feel like I can spend it better
30:51
S1: over here or there. And I mean, it can be
30:54
S1: all kinds of different things, but is there an area
30:57
S1: of your life where you had plateaued and the Holy
31:00
S1: Spirit in mercy showed you something that needed to change.
31:05
S1: And this is this is going to be generally for
31:08
S1: people that have been in Christ for a while. Right. Ali?
31:10
S4: Absolutely. So if you want to call in this morning
31:12
S4: 800 555 7898. If you're willing to tell us there's
31:17
S4: an area in your life that you have had plateaued.
31:20
S4: We're looking for the breakthrough aspect of this, right, Carl?
31:23
S4: You're on the other side of it. Yeah. Okay, 800
31:26
S4: 555 7898.
31:29
S1: Yeah, 800 555 7898. You know, this is one of
31:35
S1: those vulnerable questions where you call in and go, yeah,
31:37
S1: this is real of me. If you need to stay anonymous,
31:40
S1: that's cool. Give us a call.
31:42
S6: He was sharing the gospel on the radio and then
31:45
S6: he got saved. Young thunders in the crew. It's Carl
31:49
S6: and crew on Moody Radio.
31:51
S1: It's Carl and crew helping you take your next step
31:54
S1: with Jesus. You know, plateauing is an interesting thing. And
31:59
S1: in true spiritual form, It's it's if you look at
32:04
S1: a plateau. So imagine walking through a open space and
32:09
S1: you see a rise and it's flat on top. So
32:12
S1: you climb and you send that. There's challenges to get
32:16
S1: up there, right? Sure. Which is the spiritual life. And
32:20
S1: then you get to the plateau and you kind of
32:22
S1: things kind of even out, you're kind of kind of
32:25
S1: hang there. But the spiritual life is the issue of
32:31
S1: becoming is that we never fully become, I mean, until
32:35
S1: we get this glorified body and our glorified mind and
32:38
S1: our glorified lives, we got opportunities for growth. The richest
32:43
S1: among us never say they've arrived or even consider that
32:46
S1: for a moment. So plateauing can be dangerous because in
32:50
S1: the spiritual life, in fact, when you think you've plateaued,
32:53
S1: you're actually set up for a bit of a descent.
32:57
S1: That's the problem. That can be a real rub. so
33:00
S1: we don't have any calls coming in. So let me
33:02
S1: set it up this way. I had a really discouraging
33:06
S1: day a few days ago. Like big time physically, spiritually,
33:10
S1: just emotionally. And I'm, I'm an Alaskan dude. So to
33:13
S1: say that is that's a reach, but that's reality. And
33:18
S1: I want to tell you what God did. I have
33:21
S1: these times with my bride where we sit down face
33:24
S1: to face and we just look at each other. No
33:27
S1: phones opened up, nothing on our laps, not eating, just
33:32
S1: looking at each other, just talking. And I poured out
33:37
S1: my heart to my bride. And I don't normally do that.
33:39
S1: I think more often I'm wanting to hear her because
33:43
S1: I'm I'm a big believer. Men are initiators. Women are responders.
33:46
S1: Initiate toward your women. Men. It's a good thing. Crack
33:51
S1: them open. Let them speak, hear their hearts. Beautiful thing
33:54
S1: gives them great freedom. But on this morning, a few
33:58
S1: mornings ago. I said, I need to talk to you.
34:02
S1: I just poured out my heart. She just sat there
34:04
S1: and listened. And I won't give you all the details
34:09
S1: about it because it's too private. But it was really
34:12
S1: cool at the end of that time. Man, it was
34:15
S1: well with my soul because I had a buddy, my
34:19
S1: bride of 38 years coming up on 39 who didn't
34:24
S1: try to fix anything, but she just listened, empathized, gave
34:28
S1: me some truth where I had maybe broad brushed something
34:31
S1: in my life that wasn't going well, gave me some perspective,
34:37
S1: and I got up from that time with her. And man,
34:40
S1: it changed the trajectory of my life in that day. Wow.
34:44
S1: It was so cool.
34:46
S4: So, I mean, there's a couple of things. It was
34:47
S4: her support her.
34:50
S1: That's the biggest thing.
34:51
S4: Her presence with you?
34:52
S1: Yeah. Just knowing that I got someone other than God
34:56
S1: with me on this thing.
34:58
S4: Was there anything specific that was said that and you
35:01
S4: don't have to share what it was, but was there
35:03
S4: a statement or a truth that was particularly encouraging, or
35:07
S4: was it really more what was just kind of her
35:10
S4: being with you and knowing that she was supportive? That
35:13
S4: was most helpful.
35:15
S1: Probably just being there with me. That was really good. But, um,
35:21
S1: she deposited a few words that, you know, when we're
35:24
S1: getting to a funk, we can broad brush in the
35:26
S1: whole world begins to look gray, right?
35:29
S2: Oh, sure.
35:29
S1: Yeah.
35:30
S2: So everything's horrible.
35:31
S1: Having someone that can point out some blue sky for you, uh,
35:35
S1: that's a blessing. And it's funny because you were talking
35:39
S1: about this as just a couple of days ago. Ali,
35:41
S1: you're like, ah, I can get into this point where
35:43
S1: it's like, oh, I'm not a good mom. I'm not
35:45
S1: a good, not good on radio.
35:47
S4: I'm a loser.
35:48
S1: I'm a loser all the way around. And, and I
35:51
S1: had one of those moments and those are rare for me,
35:53
S1: but I had one of those moments where it's like, ah, man,
35:56
S1: I suck at everything. Little King James there. So I mean,
36:01
S1: it was like, man, this is horrible. Uh, but here's
36:07
S1: what's cool about that, man. It was hope rising for
36:10
S1: me because we all need that. And you might say, well,
36:15
S1: isn't Jesus enough? Yeah. But Jesus in his providence and
36:19
S1: God in his goodness and the spirit in his all knowingness, uh,
36:24
S1: allowed us to rub shoulders with other people who can
36:28
S1: help us. And it's just good. It's good. And you
36:33
S1: know what that did for me? Because I was stuck
36:36
S1: in a couple areas. It, it took that lot of
36:39
S1: little plateau that I was on and it bumped me
36:43
S1: up in every area of my life, even to this morning.
36:47
S1: It's like, wow. In fact, I texted my bride. She
36:51
S1: had gone out for a long walk and I had
36:53
S1: a meeting, but I texted her. I said, man, that
36:55
S1: was really good for me, she says. Bob, that was
36:57
S1: good for me to put some heart emojis. It's good,
37:03
S1: it's good. It's good to not just sit there on
37:06
S1: a plateau, isn't it, guys?
37:07
S4: Oh yeah.
37:08
S2: It is. And I think that that just that story
37:10
S2: highlights the importance of community that God puts people in
37:15
S2: our lives to do this walk together. We're called parts
37:18
S2: of the body. If I'm the finger man, I got
37:21
S2: to be connected to the rest of it. Otherwise I'm
37:24
S2: just laying there. Yeah, you know it. We we need
37:27
S2: each other. God gives us each other. And I think
37:30
S2: that's a big way. He helps us get out of
37:32
S2: plateaus is other people.
37:33
S1: Yeah. And I mean, we're members of one another. And
37:36
S1: it's a bummer when everybody's suffering from paralysis. So a
37:40
S1: hands just sitting there. You know what? No, seriously. You're right.
37:45
S1: I mean, if we have willful paralysis in the body
37:48
S1: of Christ, ain't nobody getting helped here.
37:51
S4: What do you. What do you mean by willful paralysis?
37:54
S1: If we know that we are the body of Christ theologically,
37:58
S1: but functionally, we're not being the hands and feet of
38:02
S1: Jesus to help support one another. We're missing an opportunity.
38:08
S2: And it's a part of the body not operating.
38:10
S1: Yeah. I mean, when you have a foot that goes
38:13
S1: numb or willfully numb, don't just sit in there. You
38:17
S1: ever tried to step out of bed on a dead foot?
38:20
S2: The worst.
38:20
S4: Yeah. Like what's asleep a little bit.
38:23
S1: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, I've done that a time or
38:28
S1: two where you wake up from. It's usually a nap.
38:31
S1: It's not where you wake up from a nap when
38:33
S1: you've gone into full coma and you wake up and
38:36
S1: you sit down on the floor and it's like, whoa,
38:38
S1: can't walk. We need each other. Guys don't have any
38:43
S1: willful or passive paralysis. We need each other in a
38:47
S1: big way. Got a question? We might be able to
38:49
S1: get 1 or 2 of you in here. Just. Just
38:51
S1: a quick one. Ali, what do you got?
38:52
S4: Yeah, we're asking if you can remember a time recently
38:55
S4: where you plateaued in an area area spiritually, and the
38:59
S4: Holy Spirit showed you what needed to change. 855 five
39:03
S4: 7898 (800) 555-7898.
39:09
S6: This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
39:13
S1: Yeah. Just a quick question for you here. Boom crew
39:15
S1: are asking you, did you have time recently where you
39:18
S1: plateaued in any area spiritually? What an insight from a J.
39:22
S1: Christopher right. My right hand man.
39:24
S4: Observing that he sees that a lot coming from another context. Culturally,
39:30
S4: seeing here, it seems like people stop growing spiritually and
39:35
S4: just kind of settle in.
39:36
S1: You know, there becomes this growth pattern and then all
39:39
S1: of a sudden, without us knowing, without being continually placed
39:43
S1: on the potter's wheel, we can take ourselves off that
39:47
S1: wheel and be somewhat content with kind of where we're at.
39:50
S1: Could be dangerous. Greg in Indiana, man. What do you
39:53
S1: say you plateaued a little bit, my man. Hello, Greg.
39:59
S1: You're on with Carl and crew. You got us.
40:02
S12: I got you, Carl.
40:03
S1: Hey, man, tell us your story. We just got a
40:05
S1: minute here.
40:07
S12: No problem. Yeah, my wife and I are on vacation, and, uh, uh,
40:11
S12: two nights ago, I was compelled to get off my
40:15
S12: backside and go down and try out one of the
40:19
S12: yellow bikes for rent. And no sooner had I gone
40:23
S12: under an overpass along the bay than I heard a
40:27
S12: man coughing. And the Holy Spirit within me said, Greg
40:33
S12: noticed this and brother, I kept on rolling and uh.
40:39
S12: 10s later the Lord allowed the chain to come off
40:43
S12: the bike. I kid you not, and I had to stop.
40:48
S12: And I took four minutes and put that chain back
40:50
S12: on the bike. And I said, Lord, I'm going to
40:55
S12: intercede for that man. That must be what you want.
40:58
S12: And I kept on going. And the next morning, yesterday morning,
41:03
S12: I got up and I knew that as soon as
41:05
S12: I was in my reading where, uh, Eli told Samuel
41:12
S12: to speak. Lord, for your servant is listening. I don't
41:18
S12: know why at that moment, honestly, Karl, I stopped, but
41:21
S12: I stopped the audio, and immediately the Lord reminded me
41:26
S12: that in order to not plateau and quench His Spirit's move,
41:30
S12: he desires and demands that we walk in obedience, not
41:35
S12: because he can't do something without us. He doesn't need
41:37
S12: me or you to work a miracle in a man's life,
41:45
S12: physically or spiritually. He just demands our hearts and our obedience.
41:50
S12: And the precious thing about this is that I shared that,
41:55
S12: like you were sharing about your wife with my family
41:58
S12: and a Marco Polo and my 37 year old adult
42:01
S12: daughter came back and reminded me that God is pleased
42:07
S12: with us as his image bearers and desires relationship, not
42:11
S12: our deeds, as I have preached to her on a
42:13
S12: number of occasions. And it was a sweet time similar
42:18
S12: to what you were talking about, where my my daughter
42:21
S12: reminded me of what is true. And, um, it's just
42:26
S12: how we can plateau if we refuse to walk in
42:28
S12: obedience and sensitivity to the spirit, not just hearing, but obeying. And, um,
42:35
S12: that I just, it was a perfect illustrative scenario compared
42:40
S12: to what you were talking about this morning. We must
42:42
S12: walk in obedience, and then we walk from obedience to obedience,
42:47
S12: and we do not plateau that way.
42:50
S1: Yeah. It's beautiful. Greg, thank you for calling in, man,
42:54
S1: and Godspeed on your vacation. What a cool thing. Yeah,
42:57
S1: what a cool thing. He's listening this morning. Yeah, it's
43:01
S1: an amazing thing. So you hear that cough next time?
43:04
S1: And it's like, Lord, are you speaking? And and yet
43:08
S1: at the same time, it's it doesn't paint us with
43:12
S1: the broad brush that, oh, we're missing everything. We're led
43:16
S1: by the spirit in these things. If we stay on
43:18
S1: the potter's wheel of the Spirit's guidance. Katie, bar the door.
43:21
S1: Look out! It's going to be beautiful. Wow. I'm going
43:25
S1: to get Gary in here really quickly. Gary. First time
43:28
S1: caller from Indiana. We just got a second here, bro.
43:30
S1: Go ahead.
43:32
S12: Hey, uh, the.
43:34
S13: Lord has prompted me. I'd gotten away from prayer time and, uh,
43:39
S13: mainly just you. just for about the past 20 years,
43:42
S13: I've kind of become a little bit of a survivalist
43:47
S13: and you see the craziness. So you just kind of
43:50
S13: focus on being a man as you was talking with
43:53
S13: your wife, you being a man, you want to be
43:55
S13: the warrior, you want to be the protector, you want
43:58
S13: to be the supplier. And we find ourselves kind of
44:02
S13: falling in the trap that we we turn something off.
44:06
S1: Yep.
44:07
S13: But most recently, I'd gotten to a point that I desired.
44:11
S13: Seeing how crazy things are, I've been like, Lord, the
44:14
S13: only thing that's going to fix this is a revival.
44:18
S13: And then I picked up a little book called Why
44:22
S13: Revival Tarries from Leonard Ravenhill.
44:24
S14: Yeah, that's a phenomenal book, man.
44:28
S13: Oh my gosh, that book hit me. It literally says,
44:32
S13: it says half the people will fall to their knees
44:35
S13: and pray. The other half will close this book and
44:39
S13: almost take the notion that I am, you know, I'm
44:42
S13: this is terrible grim. I I'm in the presence of God.
44:46
S13: This is terrible and horrible. But it was just such
44:49
S13: a beautiful thing.
44:51
S1: Yeah.
44:51
S13: And my, my prayer time now is so much sweeter
44:56
S13: because he is, he's, he's I was never that far
45:01
S13: from the father. And I was never that far from
45:04
S13: the shepherd, but I didn't realize what I was giving
45:10
S13: up and finding that hunger again. It's just been so
45:14
S13: wonderfully sweet.
45:15
S1: Wow. Beautiful bro. Gary. First time caller. Boom, brother. Oh,
45:21
S1: these are real men calling in here.
45:22
S4: And I love the way Gary put that, that he
45:25
S4: realized what he was giving up because I think we
45:27
S4: can have a kind of this mentality of, oh, I've,
45:31
S4: I've been neglecting prayer. I'm not doing my good duty
45:35
S4: as a Christian. That's what we can think of is.
45:37
S1: That it can get spun.
45:38
S4: Yeah. I've not performed to the level that God would
45:41
S4: want me to, but no, I am missing out on
45:44
S4: what God has for me because I'm neglecting to commune
45:48
S4: with him.
45:49
S1: Totally. Ali. Great words guys. It's why we call you
45:53
S1: the Boom crew. Let's get a couple news. Hits you
45:55
S1: on Thunder.
45:58
S2: Vice president J.D. Vance has arrived in Pakistan ahead of
46:01
S2: the U. S Iran peace talks. The US team of
46:04
S2: negotiators will meet with Iranian negotiators on Saturday for the
46:07
S2: first high level meeting between the two nations since the
46:09
S2: Islamic Revolution of 1979. U.S. negotiators will include Vance, U.S.
46:15
S2: envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's son in law Jared Kushner,
46:18
S2: and Pakistan will be mediating the talks. The crew of
46:22
S2: the Artemis two lunar mission are on their way home.
46:25
S2: The Orion spacecraft carrying the four astronauts will splashdown in
46:28
S2: the Pacific Ocean tonight off the coast of California. The
46:31
S2: USS John P Murtha will recover the crew at about
46:33
S2: 5:07 p.m. Pacific Time near San Diego. NASA says the
46:37
S2: spacecraft will reach a top speed of nearly 24,000mph as
46:41
S2: it re-enters the Earth's atmosphere. It will be slowed down
46:44
S2: by parachutes shortly after hitting the water. Five bright airbags
46:48
S2: will deploy to keep the capsule upright while the astronauts
46:50
S2: are collected. The Orion spacecraft will then be hoisted onto
46:53
S2: a recovery ship. I'm Jonathan. That's your quick update.
46:57
S1: Yeah. Coming up here in a moment. The beat goes on.
46:59
S1: We're talking about hope rise. And we're going to get
47:01
S1: one of our favorites in here. You know I gotta
47:04
S1: tell you. Prof. Neely. What's great about this guy is
47:09
S1: that this is a man who I, I don't want
47:13
S1: to tell his story, but I mean, he's he's always
47:16
S1: at the ready to say, this is where I, without
47:20
S1: using these words is where you can plateau. This is
47:22
S1: where I plateaued. And this is what God wants to
47:25
S1: do right here. Yeah. You know, he's that forthright.
47:28
S4: Absolutely. He's a man of great faith, a man of wisdom.
47:32
S4: He has served so faithfully for so many years here
47:35
S4: at Moody. He's also pastored. We'll give him a formal
47:39
S4: introduction coming up, but.
47:41
S1: Yeah, we're going to pitch him some. I'm going to
47:43
S1: come with one out of the chute here. That's going
47:45
S1: to catch him off guard, but he can handle it.
47:47
S1: Good morning boom crew. Let's beware of any plateauing in
47:51
S1: our life and give it to God.
47:53
S6: This is Curl and crew on Moody Radio.
47:58
S1: It's Freedom Friday. Boom crew. And it's Carl and crew.
48:01
S1: And we're helping you take your next step with Jesus.
48:03
S1: We've been surprised by the spirit this morning. And, uh,
48:07
S1: I want to tee it up. Doctor Winfred Neely, retired
48:11
S1: vice president. Now, he's not retired. He's just he just
48:14
S1: rebooted in a whole nother sphere. This guy's never going
48:17
S1: to retire. Are you kidding me? No way. Right, Doc?
48:20
S1: You're not going to retire?
48:21
S15: No. No, sir, I'm not going to retire. I'm planning
48:25
S15: to walk with God and serve God until I breathe
48:28
S15: my very last breath. Boom. On the shores of glory.
48:31
S1: Okay, I got I got one for you. You're going
48:34
S1: to love. So my right hand man at our two campuses,
48:38
S1: his name's Ajit. He's a young man. Godly kid. I
48:41
S1: love him so much, man. He's like a spiritual son
48:44
S1: to me. I'm going to get choked up here. Um,
48:48
S1: he was sharing with me yesterday in all humility. We
48:52
S1: were talking about discipleship and he said, hey, Carl, I
48:55
S1: know that you're you're big on hearing and applying and
48:58
S1: I'm so with you. But he said a nuance to
49:01
S1: this is coming from India, where a lot of persecution
49:06
S1: for Christians there and it's rising. He said, I, I,
49:10
S1: I feel like there's something and the only way I
49:12
S1: can describe it is a spiritual plateauing with people that
49:15
S1: have been in Christ for a lot of years. And
49:18
S1: then that plateauing, we need to encourage people that there's
49:22
S1: more in this becoming process. Speak to that plateauing. That's
49:27
S1: a real risk, isn't it, pastor?
49:30
S15: It is a very big risk because it's a form
49:35
S15: we become. You know, you walk with God, you get breakthroughs,
49:39
S15: and you get to a certain place and you become
49:43
S15: a static. You cease to make progress in your in
49:50
S15: your you don't you don't make any further advances. And
49:54
S15: you're right, Carl, that this becoming this becoming more and more, uh,
49:59
S15: like Jesus is something that we never exhaust in this life.
50:05
S15: And if we get to and it's so it's easy
50:08
S15: to get there because of the significance of the victories
50:13
S15: and the breakthroughs that the Lord and his great mercy
50:16
S15: has granted to us. We can we can get to
50:19
S15: the point where we think this is enough. And in
50:24
S15: the process of that, we've actually found ourselves regressing.
50:29
S16: Yeah, you may not even be aware of it.
50:31
S1: On that plateau. There's these little divots. That's what's wild
50:34
S1: about that.
50:35
S15: Yeah yeah yeah yeah. You know, it's so, you know,
50:38
S15: I was just, I was I'm teaching a class now
50:41
S15: at Moody Bible Institute on, uh, central themes of contemporary
50:45
S15: church history. And one of the things that came up
50:47
S15: that we can learn from the history of the church,
50:50
S15: depending on what the particular emphasis was, some were emphasizing justification,
50:55
S15: which is really, really important. Others were emphasizing, no, we
50:58
S15: need to continue to grow. We need to continue to
51:01
S15: make progress. And we need both of those to those
51:04
S15: perspectives that we're justified by faith in Christ for all eternity.
51:08
S15: But we also called upon to continue to walk with God,
51:12
S15: to become more and more like Jesus as we as
51:18
S15: we walk with God. It's a never ending process of becoming.
51:21
S15: And that should always be our goal. If we get
51:23
S15: to the point where we are not doing that. We
51:27
S15: need to have somebody, you know, like your like your brother.
51:30
S15: You mentioned to remind us that we just don't want
51:34
S15: to be on these plateaus. We need to continue to
51:37
S15: make progress.
51:38
S4: Doctor Winfred Neely, our guests right now, retired vice president,
51:42
S4: academic dean of Moody Theological Seminary. He has pastored several
51:46
S4: churches in the Chicago area, also served as a missionary
51:48
S4: pastor to Senegal, West Africa for a number of years.
51:52
S4: When someone comes to you in your role as a
51:54
S4: pastor or just a spiritual mentor leader and says, you know,
51:58
S4: I just feel like I'm stuck a little bit, or
52:01
S4: I'm not growing or I don't have the, the zeal
52:03
S4: that I once did. What do you what do you
52:06
S4: counsel a person who, who is humble enough to acknowledge
52:09
S4: that there's some plateauing in their spiritual life? What do
52:12
S4: you tell them to do?
52:13
S15: Well, first of all, I remind them that they are
52:16
S15: not the first one. They're not the only one. And
52:20
S15: I think that's important because usually when we get to
52:23
S15: that place, Sometimes we have the strange notion that I'm
52:27
S15: the first person in the history of.
52:28
S16: The church to be at this place, and I'm all
52:30
S16: by myself and so forth and.
52:32
S15: So on. Well, no, you're not the first one. And
52:36
S15: I would also encourage them, be careful about trusting your
52:41
S15: feelings and your subjective experiences of God. That does not
52:47
S15: necessarily mean that you have plateaued. I think it was
52:50
S15: in The Screwtape Letters where C.S. Lewis points out that
52:55
S15: the Christian are arguing from the evil ones point of
52:58
S15: view that the Christian is most dangerous when he or
53:02
S15: she determines to walk with God independent of their feelings.
53:06
S15: And they feel nothing. They just take God at His Word.
53:09
S15: You just continue to trust. You continue to, uh, to
53:12
S15: walk with God. You continue to pray. You continue to
53:16
S15: seek him. And eventually, eventually, we will have those those
53:20
S15: wonderful spirit empowered moments again. But that's really that's important.
53:27
S15: But I think we got to be real careful about
53:29
S15: being too dependent upon our feelings and our subjective experiences,
53:35
S15: because we can actually get into trouble with that.
53:38
S16: Yeah, because that becomes.
53:39
S15: The criteria instead of scripture.
53:41
S16: Yeah.
53:41
S15: And this is what I would, I would try to
53:43
S15: encourage people to do.
53:45
S1: Yeah. Good words man. Okay. Coming up here in a moment.
53:48
S1: We're talking hope rising all week long. And, uh, Pastor Neely,
53:51
S1: Doctor Neely has brought in a central passage of scripture
53:56
S1: he wants to share with us. And I can't wait.
53:58
S1: So we'll get to that here in just a moment.
53:59
S1: Because sometimes you crack open the word and you go, oh, whoa.
54:04
S1: That's where my hope is found. Hang on.
54:09
S6: Start your day moving closer to Jesus. You're listening to
54:13
S6: Carl and crew.
54:14
S1: Well, if hope becomes circumstances, situations raises Benefits kids doing perfect. Boy,
54:24
S1: that hope's gonna fly fast.
54:26
S4: Oh, you're always going to be living on the edge
54:28
S4: of what's going to. What's going to knock me back?
54:30
S4: Because it doesn't. Life doesn't go perfectly.
54:33
S1: Yeah. Doctor Neely is our guest right now. And we're
54:36
S1: going to have a link to because some of what
54:38
S1: keeps us stuck is just good old fashioned garden variety worry.
54:41
S1: And he's got an epic book on this that if
54:44
S1: you haven't gotten yet, it's a short but powerful read.
54:47
S1: There's no wasted words. But first, Doctor Neely, hope is
54:51
S1: a person. Pour out your heart. Where is hope rising?
54:54
S1: Where is it found?
54:56
S15: Oh, hope. Hope is in the Lord Jesus Christ. His
55:00
S15: death on the cross and his literal body. Bodily glorious
55:05
S15: resurrection from among the dead, and his present session at
55:10
S15: God's right hand in glory. Our hope is in him
55:14
S15: and Him alone. I think of the old deal with him.
55:17
S15: My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood
55:20
S15: and righteousness. You know, those those those great hymns of
55:25
S15: the faith went all around. My soul gives way. He
55:28
S15: then is all my hope and stay on Christ, the
55:31
S15: solid rock I stand. And it is also our hope
55:36
S15: is one of the benefits of being made right with God.
55:40
S15: You know, in Romans five verse one it says. Now
55:44
S15: it says, therefore, having been justified by faith, God justifies us.
55:48
S15: When we trust Christ as our personal Lord and Savior,
55:52
S15: we cannot justify ourselves. But faith is the means by
55:57
S15: which this incredible justification is received from God. And out
56:03
S15: of that, there are three benefits. There are more, but
56:06
S15: there are three that are listed in Romans five one
56:10
S15: and two. The first one is peace with God. So
56:13
S15: that deals with our past. Hallelujah. Thank God we can
56:17
S15: move beyond the past. Khalid.ali by the grace of God.
56:20
S15: Thank God for that. And, uh, you know, I've said
56:24
S15: to people, by the way, uh, which is, uh, that
56:27
S15: the effectiveness of your life and the present is dependent
56:31
S15: upon to a considerable extent, how you handle your past
56:36
S15: and the way and the cross gives us a new
56:40
S15: slate with God. That's the first thing. And then we
56:43
S15: have access, uh, obtained access by faith into this grace
56:48
S15: in which we stand. So the grace of God is
56:51
S15: the sphere now in which we, uh, our standing is
56:55
S15: in Christ. And that is what our present. And then
56:58
S15: it says, and we exalt in the hope of the
57:02
S15: glory of God. And this deals with our future. And
57:06
S15: right now we we have hope, not wishful thinking or
57:11
S15: unfounded optimism, but but assurances about the good things to come.
57:17
S15: The time will come when we will rejoice in hope
57:20
S15: of the glory of God, because we will be like Jesus. Uh.
57:26
S15: We will experience the glory of God for all eternity.
57:31
S15: I remember, I still remember my wife's, my wife's husband. Preach.
57:34
S15: My wife's grandfather preaching the late Theodore Williams, used to preach.
57:38
S15: He says, when you get to heaven and you experience
57:41
S15: the glory of God, and he would say, well, what's
57:43
S15: above glory? More glory. Much above that, more glory. It's
57:47
S15: just going to be an incredible experience.
57:50
S17: What a preacher.
57:51
S15: Yeah. And so yeah, we have hope right now. This
57:54
S15: is what keeps us from going crazy.
57:56
S17: Yeah.
57:57
S4: That's very well put doctor Winfred Nealy.
58:00
S3: I love that this is what.
58:03
S1: There's truth to.
58:03
S3: That so much. This is what keeps us from going crazy.
58:07
S4: Truth. Speak to that a little bit more because I mean,
58:09
S4: that's where a lot of people live though. Feels like
58:12
S4: the world is going crazy. There's nothing new under the sun,
58:14
S4: by the way. But it feels like we're living in
58:16
S4: a crazy time where you don't know what's up and
58:19
S4: what's down.
58:20
S15: Yeah, we are living in a crazy time, you know,
58:23
S15: and see. And there's been more of a focus on
58:26
S15: mental health, uh, especially since, uh, since the pandemic. We
58:30
S15: got on the other side of the pandemic and we are, uh,
58:33
S15: became very aware of just how fragile our mental life
58:36
S15: can be. But the grace of God, uh, and hope
58:40
S15: in Christ is what helps us get through the day.
58:44
S15: It helps us get through the night. And it literally,
58:47
S15: as I said, keeps us from going crazy. I will
58:49
S15: never forget, I stood up in chapel at Moody Bible
58:52
S15: Institute a couple of years ago and said to the
58:55
S15: to an entire group of undergraduate students, about 1500 of them.
59:00
S15: I think it's only by the grace of God that
59:03
S15: you haven't lost your mind. And the whole place broke
59:06
S15: out in applause. Yeah.
59:09
S17: Because they know it in their spirit.
59:11
S15: You better believe it. You better believe it, man. And
59:14
S15: sometimes we find ourselves walking on the edge. We really,
59:18
S15: really do. And. And God meets us in these places.
59:23
S15: He meets us at the at, at these low moments
59:26
S15: in life. And to remind us of his resurrection power.
59:30
S15: I mean, he meets me there just this, this resurrection Sunday.
59:33
S15: He meets Mary, uh, at the at the at the tomb.
59:37
S15: She's weeping. She's devastated, probably the lowest moment in her
59:41
S15: life because she thinks Jesus is dead and gone and
59:44
S15: it's all over. And all he did, he just called
59:46
S15: her name Mary.
59:47
S17: Mary.
59:48
S15: That's just Mary. And see, that's something else. See, it's
59:51
S15: more than just saying Mary. There was something about his voice.
59:55
S15: And can you imagine how when she heard her name
59:59
S15: from from the master, how it just resonated deep within
1:00:03
S15: the corridors of our heart and mind and brought stability
1:00:07
S15: and hope? You know.
1:00:09
S17: That's it's.
1:00:10
S1: It's overwhelming. It's overwhelming. Um. Oh my goodness guys. You know,
1:00:16
S1: here's what you're hearing. You're hearing a guy that is
1:00:19
S1: in in Doctor Neely just oozing, um, dependence. That's what
1:00:25
S1: he's using.
1:00:26
S4: Yes.
1:00:26
S1: He's using dependence on God and there's a river that
1:00:32
S1: runs through it. And here's what's sweet in that river moment.
1:00:38
S1: He wrote some words for all who might be worried today.
1:00:42
S1: And boy, are they powerful.
1:00:44
S4: The book is called How to Overcome Worry Experiencing the
1:00:46
S4: peace of God in every situation. Just text worry to
1:00:50
S4: 800 555 7898. Our guest, doctor Winifred Neely. Just text
1:00:56
S4: worry to (800) 555-7898.
1:01:00
S3: Yeah.
1:01:01
S1: Great book. I mean great work. It's short, quick read,
1:01:05
S1: but it'll change you. Text worry to 805 five five 7898.