Latest / Karl and Crew / A Biblical View of Productivity with Tim Challies & Leading Your Family with Humility with Dan Seaborn

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A Biblical View of Productivity with Tim Challies & Leading Your Family with Humility with Dan Seaborn · Karl and Crew

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  S1: Broadcasting from Chicago, across North America and beyond. It's Carl
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  S1: and crew. Come as you are an experienced guide, overcome
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  S1: what seems impossible and live as you never imagined delivering
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  S1: the truth daily.
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  S2: If it were possible to have every worldly gain available.
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  S2: And you're forfeiting your soul. There's no amount of gain
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  S2: that would make it worth it.
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  S3: Our own way never ever works. Because it's apart from
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  S3: the life source, which is God.
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  S4: For me, growing up, love was always conditional and can
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  S4: be taken from you. Christ's love can't. And he went
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  S4: to the cross with my mind and my heart that night.
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  S1: Now from the call of Hope Studios, this is Carl
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  S1: and Crew.
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  S5: Will you look at the book of acts and all
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  S5: you see is impact, impact, impact. And I'm talking lives change.
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  S5: People set free. those that surrendered to Jesus. Whoa! Walking
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  S5: away from inheritance, family, customs into a relationship with Jesus Christ.
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  S5: I mean, the cost was high, but the impact was undeniable.
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  S5: What a great week we're going to have. High impact
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  S5: ministries are one of the coolest things on the planet,
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  S5: and all they are is God's people, God's resources leveraged
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  S5: into the lives of people. So I want to start
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  S5: this hour with a fun question.
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  S3: Okay.
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  S5: You ready for it?
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  S3: Yeah, let's do it.
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  S5: What ministry has most impacted your life?
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  S3: Ooh.
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  S5: Now, this could be parachurch ministry, meaning coming alongside the church.
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  S5: It could be a subset of something in the church.
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  S5: It could be almost anything. But what ministry? What ministry
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  S5: has most impacted your life? Want you to think about
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  S5: that for a moment. We're going to be lining these
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  S5: up today and tomorrow. I'll tell you, we're going to
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  S5: be talking about it all week long, but let's get
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  S5: it out there. This is your opportunity for cheer, to
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  S5: cheer for what God has used to really transform your life.
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  S5: You think about high impact ministry, and there there has
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  S5: to be a point at which felt like this was
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  S5: transformative in me. This changed my trajectory. I want you
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  S5: to give us a call right now. We are going
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  S5: to light them up here for a few minutes. Boom. Crew.
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  S5: What ministry? Think about it. This is your personal testimony
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  S5: has most impacted your life. 800 555, 78, 98. We're
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  S5: coming out hot. It's Carl and Dude here this morning.
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  S3: That's right. Just me and you, man.
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  S5: 805 557898. Let's go. Come on, come on. Oh, did
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  S5: I see one here that I share in common? Did
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  S5: I see one here? Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Chuck Swindoll
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  S5: is teaching program about 20 years ago, on my way
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  S5: to work every morning, for sure. Chuck Swindoll was my
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  S5: he was my pastor, mentor, and friend. And even before
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  S5: I met him.
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  S3: I love that. I love that you got to meet him. Oh, yeah.
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  S3: That's really cool.
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  S5: Dynamite. Dynamite. Dynamite. Man of God. Still preaching. Not as regularly,
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  S5: but still preaching phone lines. Let's light them up. 805 5578, 98.
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  S5: What ministry has most impacted your life? Zim packed week guys.
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  S5: It's time for you to cheer. We're getting. We're coming into.
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  S5: I hate to say it. We're coming into a season
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  S5: when ministries are going to shift gears and it's called fall.
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  S5: The season is called fall, and I'm sorry about that.
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  S5: I can't smell pigskin in the air, but it's close.
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  S5: It's about two weeks out. You're going to be able
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  S5: to smell pigskin everywhere across North America and beyond.
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  S3: Pretty sure the first preseason game Hall of Fame game
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  S3: is this Thursday. Oh, boy. So there will be a
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  S3: little pigskin in the air.
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  S5: Here we go. 805. Five, five, 78, 98. What ministry
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  S5: has most impacted your life? Uh, this is an opportunity
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  S5: for us to hear from you and steal ideas for
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  S5: this fall ministry season that's coming our way. Here we go.
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  S1: He was running from God, but God's love brought him home.
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  S1: Carl is in the crew. It's Carl and crew on
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  S1: Moody Radio.
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  S5: Miracle power. We the kingdom. It's Carl and crew. We're
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  S5: talking today in this whole week about high impact. And
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  S5: we're asking you a simple little question. What are those
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  S5: high impact ministries that have really changed the trajectory of
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  S5: your life. Stephanie in Flossmoor, Illinois. What do you say, Steph?
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  S6: Hey, grief support is what has impacted me to impact
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  S6: other people, especially when someone comes through grief support and
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  S6: they were all broke down. And then we teach them,
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  S6: there's only one way to get through that hill for
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  S6: that healing is to go through. You can't get over it,
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  S6: but you can definitely get through.
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  S5: Yeah, by the power and grace of God. Right, sister?
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  S6: Yes, absolutely.
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  S5: Way to go. Love it. Thank you for weighing in
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  S5: on that one. Grief support. Powerful, powerful ministry for sure. Claudia. Cleveland, Ohio.
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  S5: What do you say, Claudia?
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  S7: Doctor Jeremiah was a big part of me surviving the
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  S7: death of my only son. He taught me to get
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  S7: into the word from the Bible. I studied three years
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  S7: of revelation with him through every TV program, radio program.
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  S7: And then I took a ride out to California, San Diego,
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  S7: and I sat in the second row and watched him preach.
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  S5: When he when he said that that powerful and impact
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  S5: on you long distance. You just got to see him,
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  S5: don't you, Claudia?
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  S7: Absolutely.
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  S5: Yeah. Way to go, sister. Doctor David. Jeremiah, a great
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  S5: man of God. I had the privilege of sitting next
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  S5: to him at a at a luncheon. Actually, my bride
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  S5: was the closest to him, and they chatted it up
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  S5: for a long time. He's a rich man of faith
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  S5: and a great communicator. And yeah, when he gets into revelation,
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  S5: Katie bar the door. My goodness, he's amazing. Yeah, he's
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  S5: an amazing guy. So we're asking that question and I
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  S5: want you to think about it. And we're seeing mops
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  S5: come in here. Mothers of preschoolers for sure. John MacArthur,
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  S5: God's pit crew don't know what that is exactly. Took
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  S5: a class at my church. Yep. Sometimes it's just these
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  S5: little one offs. Oh, by Robert Lewis called Authentic Manhood.
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  S5: And I will say it changed my life forever. Ooh,
• 6:52
  S5: by the way, let me put a banner ad up here.
• 6:55
  S5: Tomorrow I am guest hosting Chris Brooks, and I'm going
• 6:58
  S5: to have Robert Lewis on at Noon Central for a
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  S5: full hour with the CEO as well of Better Man Ministries.
• 7:08
  S5: And you're going to want to park it there, guys.
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  S5: In fact, I'm calling all men. Join me tomorrow at
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  S5: high noon central time for Chris Brooks equipped. I'm going
• 7:18
  S5: to be guest host in there. And we're going to
• 7:19
  S5: have an incredible time. Incredible time. Better man. Yeah. Robert
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  S5: Lewis used powerfully. Okay. Coming up here in a moment.
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  S5: We want to get an update on what's going on
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  S5: in Iran. 93.2 million people call Iran home. That means
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  S5: if you just do the math, there's 80 million people
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  S5: that are in one way, shape or form hoping against
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  S5: hope that the regime collapses, and that this iron fist
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  S5: of the mullahs would be released. What's going on in
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  S5: the meantime? And we're going to get updates on what's
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  S5: happening geopolitically coming up with Lana Silk.
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  S1: Take your next step with Jesus today. You're listening to
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  S1: Cast and Crew.
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  S5: We've been tracking the events of Iran. And with us
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  S5: right now is Lana Silk. We want to get updates
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  S5: on what's happening. And here's why. Boom crew 92.3 million
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  S5: people live in Iran. At least at least 80 million
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  S5: want to come out from under the fist of the
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  S5: regime that is there. It's abusive. It's it's a regime
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  S5: that stands staunchly against women's rights. It is destructive to
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  S5: families and individuals. Protesters have been executed in the streets,
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  S5: hunted down. to a horrific situation. It's so much more
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  S5: than nuclear grade dust or gas prices, for sure. And
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  S5: Lana Silk understands this. She's the president and CEO of
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  S5: Transform Iran, and she's with us right now. Lana. Oh
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  S5: my goodness. It's like you guys are pawns in a
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  S5: big old global chess game here, sister.
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  S8: It does feel that way sometimes, Karl. It seems every
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  S8: time you feel you have a handle on it, the
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  S8: rules of the game change.
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  S5: Yeah, I know that we were poised for unleashing some
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  S5: real fury on the regime, and now they're supposedly back
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  S5: at the table. What makes us think that the mullahs
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  S5: and the Revolutionary Guard are going to keep any kind
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  S5: of MOU going forward? Can we trust them?
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  S8: No, not at all. No. Negotiations are a useful time
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  S8: for the Iranian regime to have a break from the
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  S8: fighting and regroups. So definitely for them it's a tactical decision.
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  S8: If they need a pause, they go back to the
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  S8: negotiation table.
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  S5: Do you have any insights about what's going on geopolitically?
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  S5: What's happening? Anything that's not on the headlines that we
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  S5: need to know about?
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  S8: Well, it's actually been really interesting that just in the
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  S8: last couple of days, Iran has actually has been pretty
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  S8: vocal about how this conflict is going to go wider
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  S8: if things continue this way. And they've sent a message
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  S8: as well to their proxies to say, you know, nothing
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  S8: has changed. We've still got your back. The strategy hasn't changed.
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  S8: Keep going. You know, we are resisting. So I don't
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  S8: think Iran's position is changing. It's perhaps not such a
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  S8: big secret, but it's worth knowing clearly when we're talking
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  S8: about negotiating and peace deals. Iran is continuing in the
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  S8: same vein as it has done for years.
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  S5: So in the middle of all of this abuse and terror,
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  S5: and it's really terror that the people live under. There
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  S5: is a group and a growing group. One of the
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  S5: many say it's hard to get data points, good data points,
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  S5: but many say that Iran is the fastest growing church
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  S5: in the world. And the question is, how can this
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  S5: be when if you take a stand for Christ and
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  S5: anybody hears about it, they can report you and you'll
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  S5: be at least imprisoned if not executed. How can this
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  S5: be apart from the power of the Holy Spirit? Lana.
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  S8: Oh, absolutely. All credit goes to God. He is doing
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  S8: such an amazing thing in Iran. People are hungry, people
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  S8: are desperate, and we know that the Lord loves them.
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  S8: And in his love, he's reaching out to them and
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  S8: drawing them to himself. And we keep hearing stories of
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  S8: people who have found a way to connect with God,
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  S8: with with the Christian community with with a found a
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  S8: Bible and you know, are just exploring and growing and
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  S8: coming alive.
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  S5: Now give us a fresh story or two of what
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  S5: you're hearing.
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  S9: Well, a story I heard just a couple of days
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  S9: ago showed some of.
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  S8: The scale of what's happening. So this is a single
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  S8: apartment block in Iran. So, you know, you're talking over
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  S8: 100 homes stacked on top of each other and none
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  S8: no one was talking to each other about Jesus. And
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  S8: then suddenly little sparks began to fly. So a person
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  S8: that we know in the building who was a believer
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  S8: said that they were just in the elevator one day,
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  S8: and a woman that never met before stepped in and
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  S8: just suddenly hugged this person and asked them if they're
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  S8: a believer. So it must have been a spirit to
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  S8: spirit connection. And of course, the response was, yes, I am,
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  S8: and oh, so am I. This person starts crying, you know,
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  S8: had just had come to faith a year ago and
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  S8: had never had the courage to tell anyone, and it
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  S8: was just sort of brewing inside with this faith and
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  S8: was desperate for Christian connection. And then a couple days later,
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  S8: the same believer was with another believer in a public park,
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  S8: just having a sort of secret Christian meeting together. And
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  S8: a man approaches them and says, Will you pray with me?
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  S8: I gave my life to the Lord, and I'm sorry.
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  S8: I kind of got connected to believers about a year ago,
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  S8: but I haven't had the courage to take it any further.
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  S8: But I think I'm ready. So they right there in
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  S8: the park led him to the Lord. And then they're
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  S8: leaving the park and on the way back. So all
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  S8: of this is connected to them building. These are residents
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  S8: and building. They're leaving the park and they have a
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  S8: sense that they need to turn around and go back again.
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  S8: And when they do, they come across a family with
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  S8: a young child and the same story again. Are you Christians?
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  S8: Can we hear more about this? And they end up
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  S8: giving their lives to the Lord. So all these sort of.
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  S8: And from this one apartment block, we believe about 70
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  S8: homes have shown testimonies like this showing that they're following Jesus.
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  S5: Now this is Book of acts stuff. Lana.
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  S8: Oh, yes. Yes it is. Yes!
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  S5: Oh my goodness. Okay, let's get really practical. You've got
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  S5: Transform Iran, by the way. You were were you raised
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  S5: in Tehran? Where, where where were you raised? Yes. Okay.
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  S5: In Tehran.
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  S8: Tehran, yes.
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  S5: And there's 16, 17 million people just in that city alone. How, how?
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  S5: With all the lockdown and the attempts to surveil any communication,
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  S5: how do you get support to these people? I'm curious
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  S5: about these people that are coming to Jesus. Do they
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  S5: have access to a Bible? What? How? What's going on?
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  S8: Yeah, we have a pretty good network inside the country.
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  S8: So it really is a case of, you know, Fred
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  S8: talks to Jack, talks to Amy and the sort of
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  S8: it's all very person to person. Careful. Sometimes the conversation
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  S8: will happen and then they'll delete the conversation, Delete the contact.
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  S8: Off their phones. There's making sure there's no sort of
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  S8: breadcrumb trail there. Leading the government through the network. Um,
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  S8: we sent aid into our sort of hubs into the country,
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  S8: and they distribute aid. And while they do that, they'll
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  S8: distribute Bibles and minister to people. We hear stories of
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  S8: new people who need help. We have to be very
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  S8: careful with those, because sometimes it's just a government attempt
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  S8: to figure out our network. But once we're confident that
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  S8: they're genuine cases, then we can send help to people
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  S8: as well.
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  S5: So the Bible is translated into Farsi, is that correct?
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  S8: Yes. And a very small handful of other languages. In Iran.
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  S8: There are more than 39 languages in Iran, but very few,
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  S8: less than five of them have a Bible in their
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  S8: own language. So there's a lot of work still to do.
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  S5: What happens if you get caught with a Bible?
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  S8: Really, it depends on the mood and discretion of the
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  S8: people who've arrested you and the judicial system around that.
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  S8: They could very easily execute you. They would do that
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  S8: within the law. The law says it's illegal to have
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  S8: something like that in possession, but often it's more acts
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  S8: of harassment, intimidation. They'll beat people, they'll torture people, they'll
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  S8: put them in solitary confinement, they'll threaten their families. You know,
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  S8: they just want it to stop. But they want to
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  S8: instil a sense of fear in people that it's not
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  S8: worth it. The after the consequences are too severe.
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  S5: Have you heard of any of the Republican Guard who
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  S5: are God fearing men who are almost supernaturally lenient with
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  S5: people because they have a hunch that these people are
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  S5: walking in the truth? Is there anything like that going
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  S5: or is the Republican Guard all staunchly behind the mullahs there?
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  S8: And by and large it is. But there are little
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  S8: pockets of stories. I mean, certainly a very kind of
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  S8: major case of lenience would expose a person like that.
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  S8: So I think in more cases than not, those people
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  S8: find a way to try to leave. I heard stories
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  S8: of people earlier this year who refused immoral orders and
• 16:45
  S8: had to resign over those. So there have been cases
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  S8: like that and others where they've given warning to people.
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  S8: You know, we've had people in our network where someone
• 16:54
  S8: has let them know you are being tracked, you know,
• 16:56
  S8: you're next, find a different place to meet or you
• 16:59
  S8: need to disappear for a while. That kind of thing
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  S8: happens as well.
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  S5: How large a group can meet together? Is this 1
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  S5: or 2? Or can you get 20 in a home?
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  S5: I guess if you get 20 in a home, man,
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  S5: that's attracting some. Yeah. Attention.
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  S8: Ill advised 20. Yes, definitely. When people come through our
• 17:15
  S8: discipleship program, we ask them to keep it very small.
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  S8: I mean, even when you get to sort of 12
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  S8: to 15, you're it's already a little bit suspicious. It
• 17:24
  S8: depends how often and how regular. Like if it's every
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  S8: Tuesday at 3:00. That's suspicious. So part of it is
• 17:30
  S8: shake it up, you know, meet somewhere, meet in the park,
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  S8: meet in a cafe, meeting a different person. Just make
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  S8: it different. Iranians are social people. Families are important. Families
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  S8: are large. So as long as it looks like a
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  S8: family gathering, then you're fine.
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  S5: What is the favorite book of the new converts? Those
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  S5: that are truly following Jesus. Is there a book that
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  S5: they lean into? Do you hear a word back about
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  S5: a book of the Bible?
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  S10: Oh, that's an interesting question.
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  S8: Um, I don't know that for sure. I would be guessing,
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  S8: but I think acts would be right up there because
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  S8: they are living such similar experiences. I was preaching to our, um,
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  S8: digital church network yesterday and I was leaning heavily into Hebrews.
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  S8: You know, there's so many passages in the scriptures that
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  S8: really detail our suffering. And my message was all around,
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  S8: how do we navigate suffering? You know, how do we
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  S8: figure out what God is teaching us through times where
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  S8: it really just is unjust. And if you go through
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  S8: some of the things that are listed, I was in Hebrews,
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  S8: it was very specific, you know, confiscation of property, imprisonment, harassment, social, um, pressures.
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  S8: I think, oh my goodness, there might as well be
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  S8: talking about what's happening in Iran today. So people do
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  S8: really identify with the fact that the, the New Testament
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  S8: church had very similar lived experiences. And yet look what
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  S8: God did through them.
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  S5: Lana, the long arm of this kind of a regime
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  S5: can reach across the world. Are you on alert constantly, Lana.
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  S5: They know your name. They know your name. Lana.
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  S8: That's true. And I am mindful to be really working
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  S8: closely with the Holy Spirit and listening. I've had some
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  S8: advice from those who've gone before me about things like
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  S8: even like where you would sit in a public space,
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  S8: what kind of seat you would take on an airplane.
• 19:23
  S8: Like just be mindful. Be careful. But I absolutely don't
• 19:27
  S8: live in fear. I'm so excited for fulfilling my calling
• 19:31
  S8: and my part in all of this. Um, I do
• 19:34
  S8: believe that the government is so busy dealing with bigger
• 19:38
  S8: fish right now that I'm not a direct threat, but
• 19:41
  S8: I intend to be at some point. I'm going to
• 19:45
  S8: rattle some cages.
• 19:48
  S5: I intend to be. Oh, Lana, you are a blessing, sister.
• 19:53
  S5: And I want you, boom crew, to just know that
• 19:56
  S5: this is. We're talking about impact this whole week. You
• 19:58
  S5: want to talk about an impactful ministry. You want to
• 20:02
  S5: talk about return on investment. Just check it out. And
• 20:08
  S5: if you are prompted by God to throw a few
• 20:11
  S5: dollars their way, go to I'm going to give you
• 20:13
  S5: a key word. I want you to go to the
• 20:15
  S5: website Transform Iran. But here's the key word that'll get
• 20:19
  S5: you a link. Transform transform to 805, 55, 78, 98.
• 20:25
  S5: One word transform to 805 five, five, 78, 98. It
• 20:33
  S5: is awesome to hear of what God is doing around
• 20:37
  S5: the globe, in our brothers and sisters who are at
• 20:42
  S5: risk of losing their life at any moment, but are
• 20:45
  S5: standing strong and even witnessing of Jesus.
• 20:49
  S1: Your spiritual pit stop to keep you going in the race.
• 20:53
  S1: You're listening to Carl and Crew.
• 20:56
  S5: Welcome to A Week of Impact. That's our hope. That's
• 21:00
  S5: our desire. And I think when we imagine impact, we think, yeah,
• 21:04
  S5: I got to go out and make it happen. The
• 21:06
  S5: amazing thing is that the secret sauce is we can't,
• 21:10
  S5: but God can through us. Dan Seaborn is our guest
• 21:13
  S5: right now. I love this man. What a good man
• 21:16
  S5: of God. He founded winning at home. But it's not just,
• 21:21
  S5: you know, it's not just the home, is it? Dan,
• 21:24
  S5: a home in Fuego, on fire for God, and even
• 21:28
  S5: a battle unit of a husband and wife. Really walking
• 21:32
  S5: it out with Jesus. Man, we can flat impact the culture,
• 21:35
  S5: can't we, Dan?
• 21:36
  S11: Big time. And our culture is just so shallow. I
• 21:39
  S11: spent some time this last week just trying to evaluate, um,
• 21:43
  S11: where we are as a culture. What happened? Farming was
• 21:46
  S11: an 80 year old lady walked into my office just unexpected.
• 21:49
  S11: And I said to her, if you could say to
• 21:51
  S11: the 20 year old somethings in this world, uh, a
• 21:54
  S11: little nugget of wisdom, what would she say? And she
• 21:56
  S11: just said, oh my goodness, culture is so shallow. What
• 22:00
  S11: people think is so shallow. And I believe that we
• 22:04
  S11: don't even see walking around in that all time has
• 22:07
  S11: actually shallowed all of us. And you have to take
• 22:10
  S11: a moment and go, hang on a second. What do
• 22:12
  S11: I want to leave as a living legacy? It's kind
• 22:15
  S11: of funny, Carl. For me, I've been thinking, preach, die,
• 22:19
  S11: be forgotten, and people go. That sounds so morbid. I'm like, no, no.
• 22:23
  S11: If I do this thing, well, call ministry and preach
• 22:26
  S11: the gospel of Jesus Christ. And then I pass away
• 22:29
  S11: and my name is forgotten, but the name of Jesus
• 22:31
  S11: is remembered. Yeah. Then I went deeper, I went deeper.
• 22:35
  S11: If the end of my life I go, oh, how
• 22:37
  S11: do I make sure Carl and crew remember Dan Seaborn? Right.
• 22:40
  S11: Know what happened to me? Where did I get caught
• 22:42
  S11: up in myself? So just a big deal to me
• 22:45
  S11: to make sure we understand we're living in a shallow
• 22:47
  S11: culture and we need to go deeper.
• 22:49
  S5: So the promises of Jesus, Dan, are pretty profound. 30, 60,
• 22:53
  S5: 100 fold. I want to give you abundant life. The thief,
• 22:57
  S5: not Satan, actually false teachers or what's mentioned in John
• 23:00
  S5: ten that they want to steal, kill and destroy. I
• 23:02
  S5: came in to have life, life abundant. So it would
• 23:05
  S5: appear if we look at the promises of Jesus in
• 23:08
  S5: the call in our life, even. I mean, you go
• 23:10
  S5: to Ephesians 320 and 21, God wants to do immeasurably
• 23:13
  S5: more than we could ask or even imagine. There's this
• 23:17
  S5: huge carrot out there. I think God delights in setting
• 23:21
  S5: before us that our life can matter, right? That it
• 23:24
  S5: can count. What keeps people from taking hold of those promises?
• 23:31
  S11: Wow, Carl, I can't believe what you just quoted there.
• 23:35
  S11: We did not preset up our discussion here, and you
• 23:38
  S11: quoted Ephesians three, and I've got to go to just
• 23:41
  S11: an amazing thought that was in my head right before
• 23:44
  S11: you said that. In Ephesians three, verse one, Paul says, I,
• 23:48
  S11: a prisoner of Christ Jesus. So to answer your question
• 23:52
  S11: is perspective. Everybody looking at Paul as he starts that
• 23:56
  S11: particular chapter, everybody look and goes, he's in prison. Uh,
• 23:59
  S11: he's not free. He is bound up. Everybody goes, we
• 24:03
  S11: got him. He's in jail. And Paul says, I not
• 24:06
  S11: a prisoner of people. Yeah. I a prisoner of Jesus Christ.
• 24:10
  S11: And he writes the very verses that you just quoted.
• 24:14
  S11: And he didn't know those were coming out of that
• 24:17
  S11: jail cell. Like he didn't know when he wrote that letter,
• 24:20
  S11: it would come out of the jail cell. Me and you.
• 24:22
  S11: Right now, we have no idea who's going to snip
• 24:25
  S11: on a snippet and listen to something. And it's going
• 24:28
  S11: to change their maybe family's life and where they're going
• 24:31
  S11: for eternity sake. So the answer to your question for
• 24:34
  S11: me is perspective. When we trust really in the Lord,
• 24:37
  S11: when we trust in the Lord, we're saying to him,
• 24:41
  S11: If I'm in jail someday for just believing in the
• 24:44
  S11: gospel of Jesus, then I see that as part of
• 24:47
  S11: God's plan for me, the problem is the stuff you
• 24:49
  S11: just quoted earlier. Everybody hears blessings, money rolling out the wazoo,
• 24:55
  S11: everything coming in my direction, everything's in my favor. And
• 25:00
  S11: that's not what it means. And so as believers, we
• 25:03
  S11: have to look and go. Really leaving a legacy means
• 25:06
  S11: I went deeper with Jesus, and I understand that sometimes
• 25:10
  S11: I'm going to be in scenarios that I don't like,
• 25:12
  S11: and if I really trust in the Lord, I'm going
• 25:15
  S11: to see this as a life blessing.
• 25:18
  S5: So you work with marriages and families, and one of
• 25:22
  S5: the themes that we hit around here, I was reading
• 25:25
  S5: Andrew Murray's book on humility titled humility. And there's not
• 25:29
  S5: a throwaway word in that book, by the way. I mean,
• 25:32
  S5: it is just solid. One of the things that he
• 25:35
  S5: says in there that's so powerful and I want to
• 25:37
  S5: get your take on this. He says humility is the
• 25:40
  S5: one virtue that gives birth to every other virtue and humility.
• 25:46
  S5: We've gone through this before here, Dan. Let's cover some
• 25:48
  S5: quick ground. It's not thinking little of us. It's thinking
• 25:51
  S5: much of God and then us getting aligned underneath God.
• 25:56
  S5: How much does humility play in dynamic, high impact marriage
• 26:01
  S5: and family? And how do we do that?
• 26:05
  S11: Basically, for those of us who say we're followers of Christ,
• 26:08
  S11: you're summing up what our life should be, and the
• 26:10
  S11: way we do it is every everyday choices. Not easy.
• 26:14
  S11: None of this stuff is easy. If it was easy,
• 26:15
  S11: we'd all be doing it. But to really live in humility,
• 26:19
  S11: take surrender, not storage. Like their situations with Jane. Where
• 26:23
  S11: I die to something and I tell her, okay, babe,
• 26:26
  S11: I'm going to die to that. I'm just going to
• 26:28
  S11: let that go. I don't really die to it. I
• 26:30
  S11: put it in storage to bring out later in case
• 26:33
  S11: I need it. There's a difference between surrender and storage,
• 26:36
  S11: and most of us use a storage. Jesus said surrender it.
• 26:40
  S11: So this idea of surrender is really tied to humility.
• 26:44
  S11: And there's a reason Scripture says, if you'll be humble,
• 26:48
  S11: God will exalt you. Now you don't get to decide
• 26:50
  S11: what exalting looks like, but it's in the middle of
• 26:53
  S11: surrendering that God does that. You know, tonight I'm speaking
• 26:56
  S11: to a bunch of 20 somethings about marriage, and I'm
• 27:00
  S11: trying to figure out how to basically tell them, this
• 27:02
  S11: is not what you think it is, right? Because after
• 27:05
  S11: you're married, you realize it's a process of surrender, a
• 27:08
  S11: process of dying to self. If I'm going to experience
• 27:12
  S11: the levels and the depths that God has for me.
• 27:15
  S11: And Carl, you know, we both have we're blessed. Been
• 27:18
  S11: married many, many years. Yes. It's not been easy. No.
• 27:20
  S11: But through it, God has shown me if you'll be
• 27:23
  S11: humble there. And as the man in the relationship, Christ
• 27:27
  S11: calls me to go first. I mean, God does not
• 27:29
  S11: call my wife to surrender first in our marriage relationship.
• 27:33
  S11: And I don't like that. I tell Jane all the time. Oh,
• 27:35
  S11: sometimes I so wish I was a woman and I
• 27:37
  S11: don't mean that in a negative way. I'm just saying
• 27:40
  S11: I am called to die first. And sometimes I don't
• 27:43
  S11: want to. And I'll say to her, babe, I gotta
• 27:46
  S11: surrender here first because Christ did it first for me.
• 27:49
  S11: And I'm supposed to be that example. And when you
• 27:51
  S11: do that and do it humbly and do it right,
• 27:54
  S11: and don't do it with storage, and don't do it
• 27:56
  S11: for exaltation for yourself, just do it because it's right
• 28:01
  S11: and it's biblical. So for me, it's everyday choices and
• 28:04
  S11: that's not easy.
• 28:06
  S5: Dan Seaborn. My guest right now, Dan, you just nailed
• 28:09
  S5: something that we talk about around here. At least I share.
• 28:12
  S5: And that is men are initiators, women or responders. And
• 28:15
  S5: so when I've met with couples and things are going sideways,
• 28:18
  S5: I'll pull the man aside and say, are you initiating
• 28:22
  S5: or not initiating toward your wife in a way that
• 28:25
  S5: could be the cause of a lot of this stress
• 28:28
  S5: in your marriage? And I go back to the seven
• 28:31
  S5: year mark in our marriage. It was tough. I'm gonna
• 28:33
  S5: be candid with you, Dan. My bride came to me
• 28:36
  S5: and said, my feelings of love for you are gone.
• 28:39
  S5: And it was a weird Saturday morning. I mean, everything
• 28:42
  S5: looked good on the outside. We're in a thriving ministry,
• 28:45
  S5: and I'm the answer man. And I had no answers
• 28:48
  S5: and I was in a battle I wanted to when
• 28:50
  S5: I heard those words, I was in this battle in
• 28:53
  S5: my head, I literally had demons saying, she does this,
• 28:57
  S5: she does that, she does going through the whole list.
• 28:59
  S5: She would owned all that. But I heard the Holy
• 29:01
  S5: Spirit say to me, Carl, I want you to take
• 29:05
  S5: a long look at yourself. And on that day I
• 29:07
  S5: began a journey not perfected even at 39 years of marriage,
• 29:12
  S5: but growing big time of loving my wife as Christ
• 29:16
  S5: loved the church. All right, you've teed it up. I
• 29:18
  S5: want to speak to the men now directly. Men are initiators.
• 29:22
  S5: Women are responders. It's not a 50/50 proposition. It might
• 29:25
  S5: not seem fair, but it's what you got dealt. Dudes,
• 29:28
  S5: what do you say to the men right now.
• 29:30
  S11: On the fact that you haven't done it? Well, be
• 29:35
  S11: willing to say that to your wife. Not looking for
• 29:37
  S11: some response, some expectation back from her. Just do it
• 29:42
  S11: because most guys are scared to do it. They see
• 29:47
  S11: their wives as more holy. They already feel like they're
• 29:50
  S11: not good enough. And just the act of humility of
• 29:53
  S11: saying to your wife, hey babe, I just need to
• 29:55
  S11: own some stuff. I haven't done this well, and I'm not,
• 29:57
  S11: I'm not looking for anything from you. I just need
• 30:00
  S11: to make some better choices around this house. And, you know,
• 30:04
  S11: it's just get in there and do it kind of work.
• 30:07
  S11: It is just that I'd love to give you some. Oh,
• 30:10
  S11: do it this way. Do it that way, I can't.
• 30:12
  S11: For me, it's sometimes doing it and then plopping down
• 30:15
  S11: on the sofa and saying to myself, this stinks. But
• 30:18
  S11: I know in the long run I'm honoring the Lord
• 30:22
  S11: Jesus Christ, and he is going to give me the
• 30:25
  S11: strength and the willpower to do what I'm doing, and
• 30:28
  S11: I'm going to rely on him, and I'm going to
• 30:30
  S11: trust him to be true to what his word says.
• 30:32
  S11: So for me, you guys who are struggling with maybe
• 30:36
  S11: taking that step. I struggle with it too. I don't
• 30:40
  S11: look forward to dying to self. I don't look forward
• 30:43
  S11: to going, hey babe, I didn't handle that right. And
• 30:46
  S11: I just need to confess that everything inside me wants
• 30:48
  S11: to go put me in a court of law and
• 30:50
  S11: I'll win this case. Yeah, that's not important. It's not
• 30:53
  S11: important to the Lord Jesus. I don't care if you
• 30:55
  S11: win your case or not. I want to know, can
• 30:57
  S11: you be humble? And in a culture that says everything's
• 31:00
  S11: about me and everything's about what you want. It's really
• 31:04
  S11: hard to die to self. So guys, that's what you
• 31:07
  S11: need to do.
• 31:08
  S5: You know, it's been said that a man's greatest challenge
• 31:11
  S5: is rejecting passivity and passivity. It's from the curse, by
• 31:15
  S5: the way, in the garden. It's a result of that.
• 31:18
  S5: How does a man bust through? Let's say he's been passive.
• 31:23
  S5: He's been he's actually been the follower in many respects,
• 31:27
  S5: but a reluctant one in in that spiritual relationship, I
• 31:31
  S5: and my heart's just boiling right now for the thousands
• 31:34
  S5: of men across America and beyond that are listening. How
• 31:38
  S5: do they break free from that passivity? Because they're like, man,
• 31:43
  S5: I don't even have training wheels for this new journey.
• 31:45
  S11: Yeah, by the power of the Holy Spirit, me and
• 31:48
  S11: you both know that in our own lives, I couldn't
• 31:50
  S11: do this without the power of the Holy Spirit. So
• 31:52
  S11: for all you guys listening, ask him. He says, if
• 31:56
  S11: any of you lacks wisdom, ask me and I'll give
• 31:58
  S11: you like he doesn't just give it to the people
• 31:59
  S11: who have this degree or that or in ministry. He said,
• 32:02
  S11: just ask me and I'll give it to you. So
• 32:04
  S11: there is a sustaining power that we have access to
• 32:08
  S11: that you might not even know about called the Holy Spirit.
• 32:11
  S11: And when you ask him to guide you, I believe
• 32:13
  S11: he will anoint that. I believe he will bless that
• 32:15
  S11: and give you ideas and thoughts. This is what happened
• 32:17
  S11: to me, Carl. So when I pray and ask him
• 32:19
  S11: for his wisdom and guidance, he puts thoughts in my
• 32:22
  S11: head that I. I say this to myself, well, that's
• 32:25
  S11: not my thought. Wow, Holy Spirit, I'm going to trust
• 32:28
  S11: that you got something going on there I didn't know about.
• 32:30
  S11: It's a hard thought, but the Lord will provide that.
• 32:33
  S11: And you know, me and Carl can't always give you
• 32:36
  S11: the right thoughts and the right answers. But I promise you,
• 32:40
  S11: Holy Spirit's way bigger than anything you can imagine. And
• 32:43
  S11: he promises he will give us that guidance. And I'm
• 32:46
  S11: going to tell you, trust him and ask him and
• 32:48
  S11: then obey. Like Carl, if I could say the next thing,
• 32:51
  S11: it's like, obey, obey. The spirit lays on your heart,
• 32:54
  S11: even if it's uncomfortable. Obey it because it's probably what
• 32:57
  S11: God's asking of you.
• 32:59
  S5: There's some men right now that they're boiling with hope. Uh,
• 33:02
  S5: one final thing, because we're talking about impact. Paint a
• 33:05
  S5: picture of what can be if that man walks through
• 33:08
  S5: that threshold of rejecting passivity and obeys what the Spirit
• 33:12
  S5: of God saying to him.
• 33:14
  S11: You're going to establish some new pathways. And then I
• 33:16
  S11: love the line that I use a lot. Just repetition
• 33:19
  S11: creates reputation right now. Your family, your wife, knows you
• 33:23
  S11: a certain way. It's going to take a while for
• 33:25
  S11: you to break through that. You just need to know
• 33:27
  S11: that you might go and go, man, I've been doing
• 33:30
  S11: it right and changing some things for two months and
• 33:32
  S11: no one's noticed. Um, don't need them to notice. I
• 33:35
  S11: remember when I needed Jane to notice I was changing
• 33:38
  S11: and I would say something to her a little frustrated. Babe,
• 33:40
  S11: I can't believe you aren't noticing. I'm really trying to change.
• 33:42
  S11: And it would frustrate her that I would need to
• 33:45
  S11: ask for that. And the Lord has just shown me.
• 33:47
  S11: Why don't you just do it and know that I
• 33:50
  S11: see it and that be enough for you? And that's
• 33:52
  S11: what's happened for me now, maybe five, six years into
• 33:56
  S11: a particular thing, I changed. I don't need Jane's affirmation
• 33:59
  S11: about it. I've got the Lord's affirmation, and I can
• 34:03
  S11: see the resulting peace down inside here that I have
• 34:06
  S11: by doing it the right way. So just do it,
• 34:09
  S11: for God's sake, and know that your reputation, which all
• 34:12
  S11: the men listening. You want a good reputation honoring the Lord,
• 34:15
  S11: loving your family, etc. you go do this stuff and
• 34:18
  S11: you repeat that every day, and that repetition will lead
• 34:21
  S11: to a better reputation, and that ultimately will give you
• 34:24
  S11: a great peace down inside.
• 34:26
  S5: So beautiful. Dan, I want to brag on you for
• 34:28
  S5: a moment. You have got a group of just a
• 34:32
  S5: phenomenal group of people around you, coaches, counselors, uh, that
• 34:36
  S5: are at the ready. And I'm going to give a
• 34:38
  S5: link here in a moment because I'm telling you, you.
• 34:41
  S5: You want grace based counsel. You want grace based coaching,
• 34:45
  S5: which points you to the power of God because you
• 34:48
  S5: can't bootstrap diddly squat in your life. You can't do it.
• 34:54
  S5: And Dan's got a group of people and I mean
• 34:56
  S5: a significant group of people around him. Dan, you must
• 35:01
  S5: be seeing fruit out of this coaching and counseling, aren't you?
• 35:04
  S11: Absolutely. And you know, I'm a preacher of the gospel
• 35:07
  S11: and I say all the time that, hey, I can
• 35:09
  S11: motivate you, encourage you to follow Christ. But these people,
• 35:13
  S11: they're clinically trained. They know how your brain works. They've
• 35:15
  S11: been trained in how to work through patterns in your life.
• 35:19
  S11: You need to break. And through the power of the
• 35:21
  S11: Holy Spirit, I believe he uses them just to give
• 35:23
  S11: some great practical tools. Every now and then I will
• 35:27
  S11: be struggling with something in life. Carl and I see
• 35:29
  S11: a counselor walking by. I'm like, hey, come in my
• 35:31
  S11: office a minute and just running a thought by something.
• 35:34
  S11: I'm struggling with them. And then they give me just
• 35:37
  S11: thoughts and ideas that are so simple to apply in
• 35:40
  S11: everyday life. And that's what we need. Most of us are,
• 35:43
  S11: are just looking for a practical, daily insight that we
• 35:45
  S11: can live out. And our counselors are really good at
• 35:48
  S11: strategically guiding. And they also believe that it's the Holy
• 35:52
  S11: Spirit that guides them. That's one of the we're not
• 35:54
  S11: just a counseling service here. We're biblically based counseling ministry.
• 35:58
  S11: And to me, that's such a critical difference. Anybody can
• 36:01
  S11: give you mental advice, but to say it's tied to
• 36:04
  S11: God's Word is just huge. And to see the result
• 36:07
  S11: of that, to see marriage is saved. People saved kids
• 36:10
  S11: and teens. That's our biggest group of people we minister
• 36:12
  S11: to right now to see kids find healing for anxiety.
• 36:16
  S11: It's just beautiful. So yeah. Wow. I love what the
• 36:18
  S11: Lord's doing. I'm thankful the Lord lets us be a
• 36:20
  S11: partner and thankful for our partnership with you. Thanks for
• 36:23
  S11: believing in what we do. I love hanging out and
• 36:25
  S11: talking to you as well.
• 36:26
  S5: This has been tremendous. Again, Dan, I'm going to give
• 36:29
  S5: you a key word here. Boom crew, and I'm going
• 36:30
  S5: to give you a moment. Grab that phone. I want
• 36:33
  S5: you to text the word winning one word winning to
• 36:36
  S5: 805 five, five, 78, 98. This is going to take
• 36:40
  S5: you to the website for winning at home. Text winning
• 36:43
  S5: to 805 557898. Look around. You'll find coaches. You'll find counselors.
• 36:51
  S5: You'll find ample resources to get a breakthrough and ultimately
• 36:56
  S5: impact in your life today.
• 36:58
  S1: Your shot of hope to get you through the day.
• 37:01
  S4: You are so, so loved. God does not want you
• 37:04
  S4: to stay in your past, and I want you to
• 37:06
  S4: know and believe that today.
• 37:08
  S1: You're listening to Carl and crew.
• 37:10
  S5: Five years ago, we were talking about the one thing,
• 37:13
  S5: trying to pin it down with the one thing that
• 37:15
  S5: stands in the way of everything that God has for us.
• 37:19
  S5: And as people were pouring out their hearts, we had
• 37:22
  S5: remember that day thousands of responses.
• 37:25
  S3: It was a big day.
• 37:26
  S5: Top of the list was, I'm not redeeming time. Well,
• 37:30
  S5: I feel like a sluggard. The amazing thing about time, redemption,
• 37:33
  S5: or the lack thereof, is that Satan takes that club
• 37:36
  S5: and just beats us to death. Tim Challies is with
• 37:41
  S5: us right now. Tim, you've never been beat up because
• 37:44
  S5: you haven't redeemed time, right? You've been totally immune to
• 37:46
  S5: that spiritual war.
• 37:48
  S12: I don't think anyone else has ever beat me up
• 37:50
  S12: on that, but I certainly beat myself up on that
• 37:52
  S12: plenty of times.
• 37:53
  S5: Yeah, it's a spiritual battle. It really is. And we're
• 37:57
  S5: called to redeem time. One of my favorite passages is Moses.
• 38:01
  S5: My goodness. The one song that he wrote is teach
• 38:04
  S5: us to number our days, that we may gain a
• 38:07
  S5: heart of wisdom. What I love about that, Tim, the
• 38:09
  S5: hope that it gives to people, is that a lot
• 38:11
  S5: of people might think, I'm not a wise person. The
• 38:14
  S5: promise there in that prayer is when we redeem time,
• 38:18
  S5: we grow in wisdom. How are those two things linked?
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  S12: Well, we use our time rightly and we're expressing wisdom
• 38:25
  S12: in our use of time. But also, as we continually
• 38:28
  S12: go to God's Word, we're gaining the knowledge we need
• 38:30
  S12: in order to to understand what God means by that command.
• 38:34
  S12: And I think that's where we often get it wrong.
• 38:35
  S12: We compare ourselves to the wrong standard. We hold ourselves
• 38:39
  S12: to the wrong standard.
• 38:40
  S5: There's a lot of things to be gained in this
• 38:42
  S5: life hacker world that we live in. Tim, you know
• 38:45
  S5: that there's a lot of great writing on time redemption
• 38:48
  S5: principles that I happen to contend that all truth is
• 38:52
  S5: God's truth, so people don't even have to be redeemed
• 38:54
  S5: to stumble upon great truth. But what is this fascination
• 38:59
  S5: with time redemption right now? It's not just in the church.
• 39:03
  S5: It's all over the world. It's losing a little steam
• 39:06
  S5: right now. It was really peaked about a decade ago.
• 39:08
  S5: But what do you chalk that up to?
• 39:10
  S12: I think it's just a deep desire. Each one of
• 39:12
  S12: us has to live a life of meaning, a life
• 39:14
  S12: of significance. And I think the culture around us was
• 39:18
  S12: telling us that we need to create our own meaning.
• 39:20
  S12: We need to create our own significance. And that's where
• 39:23
  S12: a lot of the books were directing us. Hopefully as Christians,
• 39:26
  S12: we're looking outside of ourselves to understand what does it
• 39:30
  S12: mean before God to live a life of meaning and
• 39:32
  S12: a life of significance? What is his standard, not ours?
• 39:35
  S12: His desire for me, not my own.
• 39:37
  S5: Let's deal with a real issue here. I'm a time
• 39:40
  S5: redemption wild man. I've been a life hacker on this
• 39:43
  S5: for a lot of years, but I will tell you
• 39:46
  S5: that one of the ways that I get most beat
• 39:49
  S5: up is when I give Satan the bludgeon of Unseized
• 39:54
  S5: time that, as Gordon MacDonald said many years ago, flows
• 39:57
  S5: to our weaknesses. It is a battle, Tim, and it's
• 40:02
  S5: for all of us today, isn't it?
• 40:04
  S12: It is. Yeah. And I do a lot of reading
• 40:06
  S12: in the late 1800s. And one of the things I
• 40:09
  S12: enjoy reading about that time period is to have people
• 40:12
  S12: in those days complaining about how fast paced life had become,
• 40:16
  S12: and how they were struggling so much to make use
• 40:18
  S12: of it. I mean, there were things called trains and
• 40:20
  S12: there were telegraphs, and they were saying, this world is
• 40:22
  S12: moving so quickly. How can we slow it down and
• 40:25
  S12: redeem the time? So this is a universal problem. Every
• 40:28
  S12: generation deals with it. They couldn't have imagined the speed,
• 40:31
  S12: the pace that we have to deal with today. But
• 40:33
  S12: the problem is universal. Always has been something Christians have
• 40:36
  S12: struggled with.
• 40:37
  S5: How do we become productive without worshiping productivity?
• 40:42
  S12: Well, we've just got to elevate our understanding of productivity
• 40:45
  S12: and our desires for it. And that means no longer
• 40:48
  S12: holding up myself as the standard or my own desires
• 40:51
  S12: as the standard, but simply asking, what does God want
• 40:54
  S12: for me? How does God in His Word direct me
• 40:57
  S12: to the best ways of using my time and then
• 41:00
  S12: living for something greater than myself? How can I live
• 41:02
  S12: this life not for my own glory, not for my
• 41:05
  S12: own satisfaction? How can I live for the glory of
• 41:07
  S12: God and the good of the people around me? That's
• 41:09
  S12: a life of true significance.
• 41:11
  S5: We love stories here with Carl and crew. Give us
• 41:13
  S5: your story of time. Redemption. It didn't start off perfectly,
• 41:16
  S5: did it?
• 41:17
  S12: No. I was struggling a lot with time management, and
• 41:21
  S12: what I was doing was going to the bookstore and
• 41:24
  S12: finding those books you mentioned earlier. There's some good, good
• 41:27
  S12: material in those books, but they kept directing me to
• 41:30
  S12: essentially find my own path through this world, find what
• 41:33
  S12: would make me feel significant. And it was only when
• 41:36
  S12: I went to Scripture and tried to ask, okay, what
• 41:38
  S12: does God want from me? And I dug a theological
• 41:41
  S12: basis for productivity. That's where I saw the big change.
• 41:46
  S12: And so we like to try to apply quick fixes.
• 41:48
  S12: Give me a few techniques, give me a few pointers,
• 41:50
  S12: make this easy, make this quick and I can get
• 41:52
  S12: back to work. Sometimes we just need to slow down
• 41:55
  S12: and study these matters and really lay a firm foundation.
• 41:59
  S5: Tim is with me right now, and when we get back,
• 42:01
  S5: we're going to talk more practically about productivity. He's got
• 42:07
  S5: a book out called Do More Better, and it is
• 42:10
  S5: a huge seller, but we're going to give you some
• 42:12
  S5: sneak peeks from that very work straight ahead.
• 42:16
  S1: Standing on the rock each and every day, you're listening
• 42:20
  S1: to Carl and Crew.
• 42:21
  S5: Tim Challies, my guest right now, pastor, speaker, blogger, author,
• 42:26
  S5: and he hails from Toronto, Canada. It's good to have
• 42:30
  S5: you with us on Carl and Crew. Let's go right
• 42:32
  S5: into the meat of what you discovered theologically about practical productivity.
• 42:38
  S5: What did you learn? Did you have an aha moment
• 42:40
  S5: as you were studying.
• 42:42
  S12: I did, and I think the aha moment was just
• 42:45
  S12: realizing that to be truly productive, I need to live
• 42:48
  S12: for something bigger than myself. And I know we've already
• 42:51
  S12: said that, but I think that really is the core
• 42:52
  S12: of it, that culturally, we're constantly being told that satisfaction
• 42:57
  S12: comes from within. That satisfaction comes from defining my goals,
• 43:01
  S12: working toward my own sense of accomplishment. But if I
• 43:05
  S12: can elevate my gaze and say, what would it mean
• 43:07
  S12: before the Lord for me to live a life of significance,
• 43:10
  S12: be productive before him, then I can start living for
• 43:12
  S12: something so much greater than than myself. And I might
• 43:15
  S12: find that God's got very different plans and very different
• 43:18
  S12: intentions than I do.
• 43:20
  S5: Yeah. What does that look like? I'm a big one
• 43:24
  S5: for if we're going to say no to something, we've
• 43:26
  S5: got to say some yes to the greater good. And
• 43:29
  S5: it's always God's vision for our life, not our own.
• 43:32
  S5: How do we ascertain what the greater good is that
• 43:38
  S5: we're pursuing.
• 43:39
  S12: Well, there's something to be said for saying no to
• 43:42
  S12: a lot of things. And you can say no to
• 43:44
  S12: a lot of very good opportunities when you know what
• 43:47
  S12: it is that God has specifically called you to. You
• 43:50
  S12: think about the life of Jesus, how many more miracles
• 43:53
  S12: he could have done if he didn't spend so much
• 43:55
  S12: time praying, or if he wasn't constantly walking away from
• 43:58
  S12: the crowds because he was on mission, he knew what
• 44:00
  S12: the father had called him to. We sometimes feel we
• 44:03
  S12: need to do every possible good thing that's presented to us,
• 44:06
  S12: but we're only human. We're finite. We can't do them all.
• 44:10
  S12: But if we know what God has called us to,
• 44:12
  S12: then we can confidently say that might be a great opportunity.
• 44:15
  S12: But it's not my opportunity.
• 44:17
  S5: You know that time that Jesus spent in the early
• 44:20
  S5: morning hours, and we see it over and over again
• 44:22
  S5: in the Gospels. My contention, Tim, this is a little
• 44:25
  S5: bit of a side trail here, but it's an important one.
• 44:28
  S5: My contention is we've given the church a list of
• 44:32
  S5: very external kind of disciplines, which are good Bible reading.
• 44:36
  S5: My goodness, I'm not shooting that one out of the water.
• 44:39
  S5: Small group. Really good. Using your gifts in the church.
• 44:42
  S5: All great. But I wonder how much of time, redemption
• 44:47
  S5: into the glorification of God is going to be most
• 44:50
  S5: accessed through the disciplines of introspection, communion, fellowship with God,
• 44:57
  S5: those things that are unseen disciplines. What's your thought on that, Tim?
• 45:01
  S12: Those things feel like they don't accomplish anything, right? We
• 45:05
  S12: want to have things we can tick off a list
• 45:07
  S12: and devotions or spending time with the Lord. Or meditation
• 45:10
  S12: shouldn't just be a to do item. It should transcend that.
• 45:13
  S12: This is where we grow in our relationship with the Lord, right?
• 45:16
  S12: And that's what these things are the relationship build exercises,
• 45:19
  S12: relationship building exercises we carry out with the Lord so
• 45:22
  S12: we can grow in our friendship and our relationship with
• 45:24
  S12: the God of all the universe. They're not to do items,
• 45:27
  S12: they're not tasks, but they are what carry us into
• 45:31
  S12: those tasks. They are what elevate us. They are what
• 45:33
  S12: allow us to really understand what God has for us
• 45:36
  S12: and how we can best serve him.
• 45:38
  S5: Tim is my guest right now. Okay, Tim, so let's
• 45:41
  S5: make an assumption. Let's say someone's had alone time with God.
• 45:45
  S5: They've heard his voice. They've looked at Psalm 139. They
• 45:49
  S5: know that they were fearfully and wonderfully made, and they've
• 45:51
  S5: got a unique design on their life. And then Ephesians three,
• 45:55
  S5: when he ascended, he took captives captive, and he gave
• 45:57
  S5: gifts to men. And the Holy Spirit's distributed gifts. Let's
• 46:00
  S5: just say we've got a pretty clear understanding of how
• 46:04
  S5: God wants to use us, how he uniquely has called
• 46:07
  S5: us into whatever that bigger yes is. Is there ever
• 46:11
  S5: a time when it's good to have out a piece
• 46:14
  S5: of paper and pen and mark in the half hours
• 46:16
  S5: in a day? What do you say, Tim?
• 46:18
  S12: Absolutely. I think those disciplines, they're not biblical ones. They're
• 46:21
  S12: not mandated for us, but they can be an application
• 46:25
  S12: of wisdom. Just say, here's how I'm going to structure
• 46:28
  S12: or organize my day. And eventually all of us have
• 46:31
  S12: to lay out the time that God has given us
• 46:33
  S12: and to the best of our abilities, with with humility. Understanding.
• 46:36
  S12: God may have other plans for us, but just plot
• 46:39
  S12: tasks into time. Here's the time laid out and here's
• 46:42
  S12: what I intend to do with it. If we aim
• 46:44
  S12: at nothing, we'll hit it every time, right? But we
• 46:46
  S12: want to aim for things. We want to have goals.
• 46:48
  S12: We want to try to reach those. We develop those
• 46:50
  S12: goals prayerfully. We consider how God would have us live.
• 46:53
  S12: We surrender our days to him and say, you may
• 46:56
  S12: radically interrupt this day. And that's that's fine. You can
• 46:59
  S12: do that. Here's how I see this day going, and
• 47:01
  S12: here's how I intend to live it until you redirect me.
• 47:04
  S5: It's interesting. This is a finer point of productivity, but
• 47:08
  S5: I've found, and there's brain science to back it up,
• 47:11
  S5: that when you get into something that you know, God's
• 47:14
  S5: called you to and it gets interrupted by a call
• 47:16
  S5: or somebody stepping in the amount of time, I believe
• 47:20
  S5: the data points on this are like 25 minutes to
• 47:23
  S5: re-engage at the depth of work you were doing. Is
• 47:27
  S5: that true?
• 47:28
  S12: That's what I've heard. Yeah, that we like to talk
• 47:31
  S12: about multitasking, but I think it's better referred to as
• 47:34
  S12: task switching or something. You're just going from one thing
• 47:37
  S12: to another, and every time you switch out and switch back,
• 47:40
  S12: there is a loss there along the way. And so
• 47:43
  S12: there's something to be said for really trying to block
• 47:45
  S12: out our time and doing that deep work, just committing
• 47:48
  S12: ourselves to one task at a time. And yet at
• 47:51
  S12: the same time, holding loosely to our own plans, knowing
• 47:54
  S12: that God may redirect them. I read an old pastor
• 47:57
  S12: who would say that he always assumed that if somebody
• 48:00
  S12: came into his life, that person was on a mission
• 48:02
  S12: from God, and either he had something to give to
• 48:05
  S12: that person, or that person had something to give to him. Now,
• 48:07
  S12: he might not give him an hour of his time,
• 48:09
  S12: but he would just say, God has brought along this interruption,
• 48:12
  S12: so I'll embrace it and then I'll go back to
• 48:14
  S12: my work. I think there's something to be said for that.
• 48:17
  S5: Tim, you're a calculated guy. You're very calculated in what
• 48:21
  S5: you say. That must be in what you do as well, right? Tim.
• 48:25
  S12: Certainly try to acknowledging that the world we live in
• 48:28
  S12: is a world of many interruptions and the devices we
• 48:32
  S12: surround ourselves with at all times. They excel at interruption.
• 48:35
  S12: And so I think we're all trying to do our
• 48:38
  S12: best within this time, this technological context we live in.
• 48:42
  S5: To the person who feels like, and I hear it
• 48:45
  S5: all the time here, Tim, and that's not an overstatement.
• 48:48
  S5: I hear it all the time. And as a pastor
• 48:50
  S5: of a couple of campuses here in Chicagoland, I hear
• 48:53
  S5: it from people constantly and people who you would think,
• 48:56
  S5: oh man, they got their act together, getting beat up
• 48:59
  S5: with time wasting, whether it be those hours of unseized
• 49:04
  S5: time in the evening or or in the middle of
• 49:06
  S5: the day, or getting distracted with things that are not
• 49:09
  S5: God distractions, how we'll do more, better help people. How
• 49:14
  S5: will your book help people?
• 49:16
  S12: I'd like to think it will help them understand what
• 49:18
  S12: it means to be truly productive in a biblical perspective.
• 49:21
  S12: So stewarding your gifts, your talents, your time, your energy,
• 49:25
  S12: your enthusiasm for the good of others, and the glory
• 49:28
  S12: of God. And hopefully it will help you think spiritually
• 49:32
  S12: about these things, because time wasting isn't first a productivity issue.
• 49:36
  S12: It's a spiritual issue, right? It's something we need to
• 49:38
  S12: solve with the Lord's help. We need to repent of sin.
• 49:41
  S12: We need to put on righteousness. That's the path to
• 49:44
  S12: better using our time, not just putting a program or
• 49:46
  S12: a structure in place.
• 49:47
  S5: Yeah, I love it. You know, our whole focus this
• 49:51
  S5: week is impact, and I've found this to be true.
• 49:55
  S5: I have found that when I have a well-ordered life
• 49:59
  S5: and ordered around the the hidden disciplines first, candidly, and
• 50:04
  S5: I'm really walking in the spirit and I'm listening to
• 50:07
  S5: the Lord, my goodness, my impact goes up dramatically. Do
• 50:11
  S5: you agree, Tim, for yourself?
• 50:13
  S12: Certainly. I think we just need to understand what it
• 50:15
  S12: means to have an impact. And I like the concentric
• 50:18
  S12: circle model of the main impact the Lord expects us
• 50:21
  S12: to have is impact on the people closest to us
• 50:24
  S12: family members, wife, children, neighbors, church world around. And so
• 50:29
  S12: there's a lot of people who are so just longing
• 50:32
  S12: to have an impact on the wider world so they
• 50:34
  S12: can make a name for themselves while neglecting what's closest.
• 50:37
  S12: God measures these things and sees these things very differently
• 50:40
  S12: than we do. So if the only impact you ever
• 50:43
  S12: have is an impact on the people who are closest
• 50:45
  S12: to you, you may be radically excelling in the eyes
• 50:48
  S12: of the Lord far more than the person who changes
• 50:50
  S12: the world, because you're most faithful in the area, that's
• 50:53
  S12: most important.
• 50:54
  S5: Yeah, Jesus was tempted with security and satisfaction and status
• 50:58
  S5: by Satan himself. And those things don't work, do they, Tim?
• 51:02
  S12: Never do, never do.
• 51:04
  S5: Tim is my guest and we've got a link for you.
• 51:06
  S5: Text better to 800 555 7898. Text better to 805 557898.
• 51:16
  S5: His book Do More, Better A Practical Guide to Productivity.
• 51:20
  S5: And I'm going to add a word, A Biblically Practical
• 51:24
  S5: Guide to Productivity.