Latest / Karl and Crew / Biblical Help for Spiritual Depression with Nate Pickowicz & Learning Childlike Dependence on God with Paul Miller
Transcript
- 0:00S1: Broadcasting from Chicago, across North America and beyond. It's Carl
- 0:06S1: and crew. Come as you are an experienced guide, overcome
- 0:10S1: what seems impossible and live as you never imagined delivering
- 0:16S1: the truth daily.
- 0:17S2: If it were possible to have every worldly gain available.
- 0:21S2: And you're forfeiting your soul. There's no amount of gain
- 0:25S2: that would make it worth it.
- 0:26S3: Our own way never ever works. Because it's apart from
- 0:29S3: the life source, which is God.
- 0:32S4: For me, growing up, love was always conditional and can
- 0:36S4: be taken from you. Christ's love can't. And he went
- 0:39S4: to the cross with my mind and my heart that night.
- 0:44S1: Now from the call of Hope Studios, this is Carl
- 0:48S1: and Crew.
- 0:49S2: I'm starting to now be a little nervous when I
- 0:51S2: see branches that look a little flimsy. Yeah, I find
- 0:56S2: myself kind of like just checking some out on my walk.
- 0:59S2: That branch looks stable. Because I feel like there's so many.
- 1:04S2: At least where I'm living, there's just a lot of downed, like,
- 1:08S2: really large limbs.
- 1:09S3: Yeah.
- 1:10S2: Yes. That just are coming down.
- 1:12S3: This is kind of the first year I haven't had
- 1:14S3: much of that around my house. But you're right. When
- 1:16S3: you see those big branches on the ground, you're a
- 1:19S3: little more prone to just start looking up as you're going, like, okay,
- 1:22S3: I need to make sure that I'm not walking under
- 1:24S3: something that's going to collapse on me. Right now.
- 1:25S2: They're just hanging out there, and then all of a
- 1:27S2: sudden you get those big storms. There's there's the house
- 1:30S2: across the street from me, had a big chunk of
- 1:33S2: their tree come down a couple a couple weeks ago. Okay.
- 1:36S2: And so I don't even it didn't even feel like
- 1:39S2: it was that significant of a storm. Like I think
- 1:42S2: the wind gusts were bad.
- 1:44S4: Right? It's the way the wind is coming through and
- 1:46S4: the twisting of the wind.
- 1:47S2: My daughter drove home and she was like, did you
- 1:50S2: see that tree down across the street? And I did
- 1:53S2: what all people over the age of, I don't know,
- 1:55S2: over a certain age. Let me go see. Because I mean,
- 2:01S2: because I am becoming my parents.
- 2:03S4: So your dad would be proud.
- 2:04S2: I don't know what it is. And so I'm like
- 2:06S2: at the window. And then I'm like, I can't see
- 2:08S2: good enough from the window. So let me go out
- 2:10S2: and investigate.
- 2:11S3: I think that that's an every when I was a kid,
- 2:14S3: I'd love to go. I mean, everyone loves to go
- 2:16S3: see what's going on.
- 2:18S2: My husband always tells me to not do that. He's like,
- 2:21S2: stop being nosy. If it doesn't pertain to you, just
- 2:24S2: keep it moving. And I'm like, this is a tree
- 2:27S2: in our neighborhood. Let me go check it out. So
- 2:29S2: I go and I'm like peering. And sure enough, this
- 2:32S2: was probably a oh boy, this branch had had to
- 2:35S2: be at least 10 to 12ft. And it's big. And
- 2:39S2: so it came down and it was like, wow, covering
- 2:43S2: most of the part of the intersection. So like if
- 2:46S2: you were driving down our block, you were going to
- 2:49S2: have to make a pretty wide veer around to even
- 2:52S2: get through the intersection.
- 2:54S3: So did you go up there and pull it back?
- 2:55S2: No, of course not. And and I didn't. I figured
- 2:59S2: that since it wasn't my tree and there were other
- 3:01S2: people around, I didn't like, call and report it either,
- 3:05S2: which I've been known to do.
- 3:09S3: Ain't nothing bad about. I'm a caller and reporter, man.
- 3:12S3: I'm like, someone's got to do something about it.
- 3:13S2: Someone should call and report this. So anyway, so this tree,
- 3:17S2: it it's been now probably a good three weeks. And
- 3:20S2: when it first came down, it was all still green
- 3:25S2: and leafy. And then very quickly, I don't know if
- 3:29S2: it was the neighbor or somebody else came and kind
- 3:31S2: of chopped it all up so that it could be
- 3:33S2: moved out of the main part of the street, but
- 3:36S2: it's still there, right? So it's still now this pile
- 3:40S2: of tree debris that's just been sitting for the better
- 3:43S2: part of three weeks. And it's interesting to watch the
- 3:46S2: transformation of a branch that was once connected to the
- 3:49S2: tree that is now in pieces on the ground.
- 3:53S3: And the difference between what those two things can do.
- 3:57S2: We could not talk about dependence on God this week
- 4:00S2: without going to one of the hallmark passages we talk
- 4:04S2: about on this show, and it is one of my
- 4:07S2: personal favorites. John 115. The vine and the branches dependence
- 4:13S2: on God. Let's go there.
- 4:15S1: Your spiritual pit stop to keep you going in the race.
- 4:19S1: You're listening to Carl and Crew.
- 4:22S2: You know, one of the first illustrations that I remember
- 4:25S2: Carl using, and maybe you remember this was back in
- 4:28S2: the day. This was like Carl and crew, early days.
- 4:31S3: Oh, yeah. This is like one of the one of
- 4:33S3: the bedrock passages we've had since our beginning.
- 4:37S2: Yes. So let me read it to you then I'm
- 4:38S2: going to explain how Carl illustrated this. So this is
- 4:41S2: John 15. I'm going to read verses one through five.
- 4:44S2: I am the true vine, and my father is the
- 4:46S2: vine dresser. Every branch in me that does not bear
- 4:49S2: fruit he takes away. And every branch that does bear
- 4:52S2: fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already
- 4:55S2: you are clean because of the word that I have
- 4:57S2: spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you.
- 5:00S2: As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it
- 5:03S2: abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide
- 5:06S2: in me. I am the vine. You are the branches.
- 5:09S2: Whoever abides in me, and I in him, he it
- 5:11S2: is that bears much fruit. For apart from me you
- 5:14S2: can do nothing. Very familiar passage of Scripture to many
- 5:19S2: of you. Do you remember the illustration, how Carl illustrates this?
- 5:22S2: Have you. Have you been privy to this?
- 5:25S3: Yes, I believe so. It involves spoons. So does he
- 5:29S3: use spoons? One time I remember.
- 5:31S2: He used spoons.
- 5:32S3: Or. Yeah. You know what? Okay. This is before he
- 5:34S3: started doing the thing with people.
- 5:36S2: Oh, okay.
- 5:37S3: He used spoons before people, and then he started using people.
- 5:40S3: But yes.
- 5:40S2: So the people illustration that he uses for this usually
- 5:43S2: goes like this. He picks somebody and he says, what
- 5:46S2: does he say?
- 5:47S3: He says, you're going to be.
- 5:48S2: Jesus to be Jesus. We've all seen him do this,
- 5:51S2: and then he picks somebody else. Let's say, let's say
- 5:55S2: for this illustration, Jonathan, you get to be Jesus. And
- 5:57S2: then he says, Diana, you're going to go over there
- 6:00S2: and your only job, put your hand on Jonathan's shoulder
- 6:04S2: and just stay there. I'm paraphrasing this very loosely. That's
- 6:08S2: your only job. You just got to stay connected here.
- 6:11S2: Just put your hand on the shoulder, and then he
- 6:13S2: finds something that's going to represent fruit. I remember one
- 6:16S2: time he did this. I think there was like a
- 6:18S2: thing of jelly beans.
- 6:20S3: Yes, you're right, you're right.
- 6:22S5: You are right.
- 6:23S3: Good fruit.
- 6:24S5: This is clearly a very memorable illustration.
- 6:28S2: And so then with one hand, John Diana, you've got
- 6:32S2: one hand on Jonathan's shoulder. Jonathan, who represents Jesus. Diana.
- 6:36S2: And then in your other hand, you get to hold
- 6:38S2: the jelly beans. And so it's this simple illustration that
- 6:42S2: it is the connectivity between you as the vine that
- 6:48S2: bears fruit. Right? And so there's some definitions that I
- 6:52S2: think are important because this is a very, very simple parable.
- 6:55S2: I think it's pretty easy to get the meaning.
- 6:59S3: Yes, absolutely.
- 7:01S2: But I think it is important to remind us that
- 7:05S2: Jesus is the vine. Because sometimes when I when we
- 7:10S2: read like I am the vine, it's like, no, no, no, no,
- 7:14S2: we have to remember who the I is here, who
- 7:16S2: the voice is. So Jesus is the vine, the gardener,
- 7:20S2: the vine dresser. Well, that represents the father, the branch
- 7:24S2: that's the disciple of Jesus. That's you. That's me. Yeah.
- 7:27S2: Remain abide. That's to maintain connection and intimacy and the fruit,
- 7:33S2: of course. And you think about the fruit that comes
- 7:37S2: off of an apple tree. Well, it's an apple. The
- 7:39S2: fruit is the result of a life in Christ that
- 7:41S2: brings glory to God and nourishment to other people. So
- 7:46S2: let me just read that key part again. I am
- 7:48S2: the true vine. My father is the vine dresser. I'm
- 7:52S2: going to skip down a little bit. Abide in me
- 7:54S2: and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit
- 7:56S2: by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can
- 8:00S2: you unless you abide in me. So I want to
- 8:03S2: ask you this morning, what does it look like to
- 8:06S2: be fruitful? Think about it. We want to bear fruit.
- 8:11S2: We know we're called to bear fruit. We know from
- 8:13S2: this passage that it is to his glory that we
- 8:16S2: bear much fruit. But what does that look like? Let's
- 8:19S2: talk about it coming up.
- 8:21S1: Your shot of hope to get you through the day.
- 8:23S4: You are so, so loved. God does not want you
- 8:27S4: to stay in your past. And I want you to
- 8:29S4: know and believe that today.
- 8:30S1: You're listening to Carl and crew.
- 8:33S2: You know, for years I had this bowl of fake
- 8:37S2: apples that was a centerpiece on my coffee table. And
- 8:42S2: I think I got him at Hobby Lobby or one
- 8:45S2: of those crafting stores.
- 8:47S3: Those things are so funny.
- 8:48S2: I think I even had some lemons too, at some point.
- 8:52S4: That's plastic.
- 8:52S2: Fruit. I was in my fake fruit era, but it
- 8:55S2: made a nice decor piece because I mean, to be honest,
- 8:58S2: they didn't look that realistic. The lemons looked more realistic
- 9:01S2: than the apples, for sure. The lemons, I think, are
- 9:05S2: easier to fake.
- 9:06S3: Yeah, I think so. They're not as smooth skinned. Anyway, you.
- 9:10S2: Get a little texture, some variation of yellow.
- 9:13S3: And it makes sense. You can have a little dent
- 9:15S3: in the skin of a lemon and it looks a
- 9:17S3: little more normal.
- 9:18S2: But over the years, the apples that sat on that
- 9:20S2: coffee table one, they collect a surprising amount of dust.
- 9:24S2: That's really that's, that's a first giveaway. But at one point,
- 9:28S2: because they, you know, after after kids and they got
- 9:32S2: thrown around quite a bit. Yeah. So they were.
- 9:35S3: Definitely in the.
- 9:36S2: House. They were definitely launched a couple of times. So
- 9:38S2: one of the apples in particular, when you turned it,
- 9:41S2: you could see where the red had kind of chipped away,
- 9:44S2: revealing the Styrofoam. It was actually Styrofoam underneath. So okay,
- 9:50S2: just make sure that that one is like face up.
- 9:53S2: Don't inspect the fruit too closely. You know, when we
- 9:57S2: think about living a fruitful life, one of the biggest
- 10:00S2: takeaways out of John 15, and this is one of
- 10:02S2: the foundational Carling Cru passages, I would say there's a
- 10:06S2: couple that I would point to, and this is one
- 10:08S2: of them that we everything kind of comes back to
- 10:11S2: this that are living fruitful is all about proximity and
- 10:15S2: not performance.
- 10:18S4: 100% hands down.
- 10:19S3: It's the only way it can be.
- 10:20S4: No argument.
- 10:21S2: We go back, right back to the text. I am
- 10:23S2: the vine, you are the branches. Whoever abides in me
- 10:26S2: and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit.
- 10:29S2: For apart from me you can do nothing. We cannot
- 10:33S2: get away from the fact that there is nothing, nothing
- 10:37S2: of value, of eternal value that we can do apart
- 10:40S2: from him.
- 10:41S3: And it kind of comes back to this point that
- 10:42S3: we hit a lot yesterday. Sometimes we just give ourselves
- 10:45S3: way more credit than we deserve. Thinking that we we
- 10:49S3: do more than we actually do. Yeah. And I you
- 10:54S3: look at a branch and you see it on the ground.
- 10:57S3: No one expects a, a branch that's not connected to
- 11:00S3: a tree or a vine to have anything coming out
- 11:03S3: of it. And anything that's alive on it, if it's
- 11:06S3: been recently cut off, you expect it to be soon dead.
- 11:10S2: And so you cannot escape the fact that the most
- 11:13S2: fruitful people are the people who abide. And I'm not
- 11:19S2: talking about just look fruitful because there's it's easy to
- 11:23S2: be very busy and active in doing things for God.
- 11:29S2: And I'm using that kind of an air quotes because
- 11:31S2: our motive, even our motives can get a little squiggly,
- 11:34S2: as Carl likes to say.
- 11:35S3: 100%.
- 11:37S2: But I'm wondering, in what area of your life are
- 11:41S2: you a. Are you tempted to try to be fruitful
- 11:45S2: apart from abiding, you would not say that. But if
- 11:49S2: you're honest, you're most tempted in this area to try
- 11:53S2: to go about producing something good not connected to him.
- 11:58S2: And for me, I can tell you exactly where that is.
- 12:02S2: That is in my role of mentorship or counseling, not
- 12:09S2: in a formal way, but kind of advising other people.
- 12:13S2: One of the things that I've noticed in this season
- 12:15S2: of life is that the Lord often directs me to
- 12:20S2: younger women, women who are, you know, maybe ten plus
- 12:25S2: years younger than me.
- 12:26S4: Mentorship.
- 12:26S2: Yeah. And not in a formal like, hey, do you
- 12:29S2: want to be my mentor kind of way? Although I've
- 12:32S2: had that happen to. But relationally, I find myself in,
- 12:36S2: in a position of kind of a where there are,
- 12:39S2: there are older women that I look to and I
- 12:41S2: find that there are now some younger women that look
- 12:44S2: to me? And so what I realized is that if
- 12:46S2: I'm not careful, I can start to try to with
- 12:49S2: very good intentions.
- 12:51S3: Absolutely.
- 12:51S2: Of course, because it's not like I'm like, here, let
- 12:53S2: me dispense some fake apples. You want a bite of
- 12:56S2: this Styrofoam apple that's collecting dust on my coffee table?
- 13:00S2: That's not my intent. But if I'm not careful, I
- 13:02S2: can try. I can rely on experience, on just kind
- 13:07S2: of life lived, even on lessons learned. And there's a
- 13:11S2: place for all of that. Sure. But if it's not
- 13:15S2: rooted in an abiding dependence on God, I have to
- 13:19S2: be so careful because what am I giving someone if
- 13:23S2: I'm not abiding?
- 13:25S3: Yeah. You know, I this is funny because we we
- 13:28S3: talked with Abdu Murray recently. Oh, okay. Uh, but it
- 13:31S3: was actually after the interview, uh, that he dispensed some
- 13:35S3: knowledge that it just wasn't a part, it was just
- 13:37S3: in some conversation we were having in here and, and
- 13:39S3: how amazing of a speaker he is because he really
- 13:43S3: is so skilled at it. And he said, you know,
- 13:45S3: I learned something, uh, from, from one of my teachers
- 13:48S3: who was also a skilled speaker. He said that I
- 13:51S3: need to remember every day to trust God and use
- 13:56S3: my knowledge instead of trusting my knowledge and using God.
- 14:01S3: And I thought that was so profound because we have things,
- 14:05S3: all of us, that we are skilled at. And, and Ali,
- 14:09S3: obviously people are coming to you for mentorship. It's easy
- 14:13S3: sometimes when we're not thinking about it and not intentionally, subconsciously.
- 14:17S3: So it's this way to trust more in your ability
- 14:21S3: to dispense wisdom than going to the source and trusting
- 14:25S3: in God to provide it for you.
- 14:27S2: It's a great example. And what comes to mind for
- 14:29S2: you guys? I'm curious. And you think as you're listening,
- 14:32S2: what area of your life are you maybe tempted to
- 14:35S2: trust more in your gifting and your skill and your
- 14:38S2: experience rather than truly abiding, and like a branch that's
- 14:45S2: connected to a vine simply bearing fruit as the Lord
- 14:49S2: leads you. Give us a call or text on this one.
- 14:51S2: I would love to hear from you. (800) 555-7898 (800) 555-7898. What
- 14:58S2: comes to mind?
- 14:59S3: Yeah, I think for me, because like we're talking about,
- 15:02S3: it comes with the things that sometimes we're a little
- 15:05S3: more skilled at that God has gifted us in. Uh,
- 15:07S3: for me, I have a teaching gift. I really enjoy
- 15:11S3: teaching the word. I don't want to give fake fruit. Yeah.
- 15:14S3: But sometimes I struggle and can struggle with trusting in
- 15:19S3: my ability to speak words clearly. Yeah. And and so
- 15:24S3: before I get up and I preach, I usually am
- 15:27S3: in a lot of prayer. Uh, asking God to help me,
- 15:30S3: really putting my focus back on him because the struggle
- 15:34S3: is real to, you know, when it comes down to it,
- 15:36S3: when you're nervous, when you're afraid, you know when it's coming.
- 15:40S3: Quick at you. What do you do? The first thing
- 15:42S3: you're going to try to do, uh, in your flesh,
- 15:44S3: is to turn to yourself and say, okay, what do
- 15:46S3: you have inside to be able to do this? And
- 15:48S3: those are some of my least successful times of doing anything.
- 15:51S2: Totally. Because, because you can, you can prepare, you can
- 15:56S2: have all these notes and you can feel like that
- 16:01S2: was pretty powerless. Yeah. And not like you're trusting in
- 16:04S2: your feelings. But there are times when, you know, when
- 16:07S2: you're leaning on the power of the Holy Spirit, and
- 16:09S2: there are times when you know you are pushing and
- 16:11S2: striving to try to make something happen in your own strength.
- 16:14S3: And that's one of the things I've really enjoyed about, uh,
- 16:17S3: make it a metaphor. Yeah. You know, for instance, is
- 16:20S3: because I genuinely don't hear any of the things that
- 16:23S3: are coming up. And so I don't have an opportunity
- 16:26S3: to just trust my ability to speak, uh, because I
- 16:30S3: don't know what I'm going to be talking about. And,
- 16:33S3: and so before those moments, I do have to sit
- 16:36S3: in here and pray and say, God, I don't know
- 16:39S3: what I'm about to hear, but give me wisdom that
- 16:41S3: will help people grow. Yeah. Not that we'll make me
- 16:44S3: look good. That will that will get me out of
- 16:46S3: this situation, but that will help people grow. Uh, and,
- 16:50S3: and that's where he comes in and does work. And
- 16:53S3: I'm happy about that.
- 16:54S2: What do you say?
- 16:54S4: I, I think too, when you're sharing with someone or
- 16:57S4: God put you in that situation, you need to be
- 16:59S4: really careful. You don't make it about yourself.
- 17:01S2: Yeah.
- 17:02S4: Right. That's a big one. It's like, okay, yes. You know,
- 17:05S4: I hear you. I went through the same thing and
- 17:07S4: then all of a sudden you start spewing and going,
- 17:09S4: wait a minute, the tables have just turned and I've
- 17:11S4: made it all about me. And you're looking at them
- 17:13S4: and they're staring at you and you're like, whoa, I
- 17:16S4: just fell off the tree. I am laying on the ground.
- 17:19S4: I am not abiding. And God is not redeeming this
- 17:22S4: story in any way, shape or form for this person.
- 17:24S4: So God, yeah, take it and you use it. But yeah,
- 17:28S4: be careful. We can make it about ourselves.
- 17:31S2: And there's so much grace here. So I don't want
- 17:33S2: this to become like this heavy laden, heavy yoked. Kind
- 17:36S2: of awesome. Because the fact of the matter is you
- 17:40S2: don't like. We don't always get five five hours of preparation. No,
- 17:46S2: like an hour of of prayer before a tough conversation.
- 17:49S4: No.
- 17:50S2: A lot of times, oftentimes this stuff comes kind of
- 17:54S2: unexpectedly on the fly, right?
- 17:56S3: That's, that's real too. And I think that we how
- 18:02S3: do I say it? We have done ourselves a little
- 18:05S3: bit of disservice in general, not saying everyone does this,
- 18:09S3: but I feel like there's this little bit of like, yeah,
- 18:13S3: to always take time ahead, to pray and to discuss
- 18:17S3: it with God. And if you don't have that time, well,
- 18:19S3: then you're kind of just like done with. Yeah, no,
- 18:22S3: it's good to prep and pray when you have the
- 18:24S3: time to do that. But God is a God who's
- 18:26S3: present right here in this moment, right now to speak
- 18:30S3: to us in the moment. And so you may have
- 18:34S3: five seconds of, okay, you're hearing something right now and
- 18:37S3: you've got to respond right now. Why? God can be
- 18:41S3: here in those moments too. Yeah. And I think we
- 18:43S3: do ourselves a disservice of kind of subconsciously thinking that
- 18:45S3: he can't be.
- 18:46S2: Because then it can be, it becomes back to how
- 18:49S2: well did I prepare?
- 18:50S3: Exactly.
- 18:51S2: It can very quickly, oh boy, it's all about you.
- 18:53S2: It's amazing how quickly it gets back to us. You know,
- 18:56S2: I remember a pastor saying one time it was a quote.
- 19:00S2: And basically I may not get it word for word,
- 19:03S2: but he said daily dependence leads to on the spot reliability.
- 19:08S2: And so what I took from that is, is it's
- 19:10S2: our daily abiding in walking with him that allows us
- 19:14S2: to be prepared in the moment, on the spot when
- 19:17S2: there's no time to. That's also true, you know, to,
- 19:20S2: to search 500 different cross-references and, and study the original Greek.
- 19:27S2: And there's no time for that. You've got something right
- 19:29S2: in front of you that you have to make a
- 19:31S2: judgment call. You have to help somebody make a decision,
- 19:33S2: or you're called to be fruitful in some area where
- 19:36S2: you didn't even see it coming. And so we can
- 19:39S2: trust that it's and that's the encouragement, right? That as
- 19:42S2: we just daily abide and depend on him, the fruit
- 19:46S2: is bore from our life, not because of us.
- 19:50S1: Your shot of hope to help you through the day.
- 19:53S1: This is Carl and Crew on Moody Radio.
- 19:56S2: Well, it is Wednesday morning. And boy, oh boy. Sometimes
- 20:00S2: you feel like you just need a little bit of
- 20:02S2: a laugh to lighten the mood. It can feel heavy, right?
- 20:07S3: Oh, goodness.
- 20:07S2: Yeah.
- 20:08S3: All right. Heavy stuff. All the time. We need to laugh.
- 20:10S1: Making herself laugh no matter who joins her. It's time
- 20:14S1: for Allie thinks it's funny.
- 20:17S2: Couple disclaimers before I tell these jokes. And I'm giving
- 20:22S2: you three this morning. A little bonus this half hour.
- 20:26S3: Wow. Thank you.
- 20:27S2: Jonathan and Super Di are not going to laugh at
- 20:29S2: any of these jokes.
- 20:30S3: Wow.
- 20:31S2: You're just not.
- 20:32S4: My.
- 20:33S2: They're just not.
- 20:33S3: Don't do self-fulfilling prophecy.
- 20:35S2: No, I just I know that that's the case because
- 20:39S2: these are the cringe factor is high because I'm going
- 20:42S2: I'm sticking with my 4th of July theme on these jokes.
- 20:45S4: But I like that.
- 20:46S2: Okay, so they're not going to laugh and that is okay.
- 20:49S2: But I am still providing this service to you, the
- 20:52S2: fine listeners of this show. So this is 4th of
- 20:57S2: July themed jokes for you. Feel free to use one
- 20:59S2: or use all at your next gathering. Where did George
- 21:04S2: Washington keep his armies? Where did George Washington keep his armies?
- 21:10S2: A very specific place that he kept his armies. Virginia
- 21:14S2: in his sleeves.
- 21:17S3: In his what?
- 21:18S2: In his sleeves. He kept his armies in his sleeves.
- 21:24S4: Okay.
- 21:26S2: Joke number two.
- 21:28S4: Yeah.
- 21:29S2: What famous document gives birds certain inalienable rights? There is
- 21:37S2: a document that exists that gives birds certain inalienable rights.
- 21:42S3: Hadn't heard.
- 21:42S2: That. It's known as the declaration. Wow.
- 21:53S3: Okay. I'm not. Don't get me wrong. I'm not laughing
- 21:58S3: at the joke.
- 21:58S4: I know these are bad. I'm, like, laughing at Ali.
- 22:01S2: Trying to say declaration a couple times and not laugh.
- 22:04S2: I mean, come on, it's just. Okay. Last up.
- 22:07S4: I'm actually watering and everything.
- 22:09S2: They are. My eyes are watering. And this one I'm actually. Okay. Jonathan,
- 22:13S2: I'm gonna give this joke and I'm not even gonna
- 22:15S2: say the punchline. I'm just gonna ask you to play
- 22:17S2: the music.
- 22:18S3: The thing you asked me to play. Okay. Okay, you
- 22:20S3: got it.
- 22:21S2: What do you get when you cross a T-Rex with fireworks?
- 22:27S2: A T-Rex with fireworks and dynamite.
- 22:34S4: Thank you for using that bike. I have a great show.
- 22:38S4: Great show.
- 22:39S2: I had to text jokes to 800 555, 7898. I
- 22:45S2: enjoyed them text jokes to 800.
- 22:49S3: I liked okay, you know what? You're one for three
- 22:52S3: for me.
- 22:52S2: Which one?
- 22:53S3: Declaration.
- 22:54S2: Declaration.
- 22:54S3: Declaration. But it was really dynamite. Not even the dynamite.
- 22:58S4: The dynamite.
- 22:58S2: Thank you.
- 22:59S4: Thank you. Yes, I did. Super.
- 23:00S2: I appreciated it. Yes. Text jokes to 805 557898. Jokes
- 23:06S2: 805 557898.
- 23:09S1: She's a choreographer extraordinaire and everything is Greek to her.
- 23:14S1: Super di is in the crew. It's Carl and crew
- 23:18S1: on Moody Radio.
- 23:20S6: But when we think about.
- 23:21S2: What dependence on God looks like, sometimes it's hard for
- 23:25S2: us to picture. We know what it's like to depend
- 23:28S2: on a person. If we've. Everyone has been a child
- 23:31S2: and has been dependent on a parent or a grandparent
- 23:34S2: or a caregiver to meet those daily needs. But we
- 23:37S2: like to think that as we grow up, that our
- 23:40S2: need for others decreases. But dependence on God is a
- 23:44S2: lifelong goal, not something that we want to graduate out of.
- 23:48S2: Special guest. He's a new voice to Carl and crew.
- 23:51S2: Excited to introduce him. His name is Paul Miller. He's
- 23:54S2: the executive director of See Jesus, which is a global
- 23:56S2: discipleship mission. He's also an author of the book where
- 24:00S2: he talks a lot about this very subject. Paul, thank
- 24:03S2: you for being with us this morning. What has dependence
- 24:06S2: on God? How have you learned that lesson the most?
- 24:09S2: What has been the thing that is most kept that
- 24:12S2: at the forefront for you?
- 24:14S7: Uh, probably things going wrong and realizing that I can't
- 24:19S7: fix them. I think it was parenting that where, uh,
- 24:23S7: you know, we have six kids and a daughter with disabilities.
- 24:26S7: And I remember all the different ways, counting the different
- 24:30S7: ways our kids could fight. And I began to realize
- 24:34S7: that I just needed God to help me parent. And
- 24:38S7: so I began to parent by prayer.
- 24:41S2: Explain that to me a little bit more.
- 24:43S7: Well, like I realized, if I didn't pray every day
- 24:47S7: for every one of my kids by name and thoughtfully,
- 24:51S7: they would just kill one another. You know, it was
- 24:53S7: just there were so many different ways that that, that
- 24:58S7: things could go wrong in our house. And so, so
- 25:01S7: it was a learned dependence. I slowly learned that that
- 25:06S7: if I was just like a child before my heavenly Father, uh,
- 25:12S7: and just, and brought my problems to him very simply and,
- 25:17S7: and didn't try to get it organized necessarily, but I
- 25:20S7: just opened up my heart to him with, my concerns.
- 25:26S7: Then he actually heard me and he would start doing things.
- 25:30S7: So it's not complicated.
- 25:32S2: Well, you know, it's interesting because as a parent, you know, you,
- 25:36S2: you were trying to really embrace a child like faith
- 25:39S2: as you were trying to parent your own children. At
- 25:41S2: least that's what it sounds like. How did you see
- 25:43S2: God meet you there?
- 25:45S7: Well, maybe even before that, I, I had just in
- 25:49S7: my study of Jesus as a person from the Gospels,
- 25:53S7: I was so struck by, um, uh, like he, he
- 25:59S7: just says it all through, particularly the gospel of John,
- 26:02S7: that I do nothing on my own. Um, John 519.
- 26:06S7: I just do what I see my father doing. Like,
- 26:09S7: like Jesus himself talks like a child and he has
- 26:14S7: this soft dependent spirit. Um, and then in answer your question, like, so, so,
- 26:21S7: so that was a frame for me. Mhm. Uh, that.
- 26:24S7: So it was a way of becoming like Jesus to
- 26:28S7: be dependent on my Heavenly father, the way Jesus was
- 26:32S7: dependent on his heavenly Father. And then how how did
- 26:36S7: he meet me? Like the spirit would just show up
- 26:40S7: and do stuff. It's just like it happened all the time. Uh, like,
- 26:45S7: like it just so, so so now it it sort
- 26:49S7: of like I, I'm afraid of going through a day
- 26:52S7: that hasn't been prayed over.
- 26:53S2: Oh, wow. I love that Paul Miller, our guest this morning.
- 26:56S2: His book is called A Praying Life Connecting with God
- 27:00S2: in a Distracting World. What are some, I guess, warning
- 27:04S2: signs that we are trying to live life to independently?
- 27:10S2: That we have lost that childlike dependence on God? What
- 27:13S2: would you say are the warning signs?
- 27:15S7: There are so many different ones and. And the difficulty is,
- 27:18S7: is the warning signs become sort of part of us
- 27:21S7: that we don't even realize that they're signs. Uh, one
- 27:25S7: of the things, uh, is cynicism kind of it's very dominant. Uh,
- 27:30S7: it's just a kind of a quiet cynicism about God.
- 27:36S7: And what cynicism is, is, is kind of the beginning
- 27:40S7: of unbelief. Uh, like, and it's why so many Christians
- 27:44S7: are so prayerless, uh, that, that they just don't think
- 27:48S7: it works. Um, and, and so it, it's, um, it's
- 27:54S7: low level doubt and it's, it's, it just pervades the church.
- 27:59S2: And that was I, that's an unexpected answer. Tell me
- 28:02S2: a little bit more about what you're seeing the, the
- 28:04S2: pervasiveness of, of cynicism because, because you're right. But speak
- 28:08S2: to it a little bit more deeply.
- 28:09S7: Wow, I could go on forever. Here I was reading
- 28:12S7: a book, um, when I was writing a Praying Life. Uh,
- 28:17S7: and it was a good book. He was a good man.
- 28:20S7: But he said that, you know, prayer is about a
- 28:23S7: relationship with God. And, you know, it's not about God
- 28:26S7: doing things for you. And I know what he means. Like, like,
- 28:31S7: you know, prayer is not manipulation. It's not magic. But I,
- 28:35S7: I couldn't keep reading it because I need help. You know, I,
- 28:40S7: I need my kids to, you know, to learn to
- 28:42S7: love one another. I, you know, I, I run at
- 28:46S7: my love energy runs out and I need to be
- 28:49S7: filled with the spirit. So I need to turn and
- 28:52S7: ask for grace and that just that childlike move, instead
- 28:57S7: of going into depression or anger or anxiety, or where
- 29:02S7: you're just sort of bringing your life to God is
- 29:06S7: what kills cynicism. Uh, and, and it's not, oh, here,
- 29:10S7: let me give you just another quick example of that.
- 29:13S7: Augustine says something like this a little bit like, ask
- 29:16S7: nothing of God but God himself. And it sounds so spiritual.
- 29:21S7: And there's good things in it that God is our.
- 29:24S7: He is our best gift. But, you know, imagine if
- 29:27S7: I told that to my wife, you know, don't ask
- 29:30S7: me anything more because I'm your best gift. I mean,
- 29:35S7: I mean, let's say if this really is true, that
- 29:38S7: the husband is the best gift to his wife. Yeah.
- 29:42S7: It's like it's what what it does. It separates God's
- 29:45S7: doing from his being. And it's very Gnostic. Um, and
- 29:51S7: there's a kind of Gnosticism that that pervades prayer. Like
- 29:55S7: prayer is sort of, quote, a relationship with God. But,
- 29:58S7: but relationships exist in time and space. We do things
- 30:02S7: for one another. We listen to one another, we help
- 30:06S7: one another. Does that connect a little bit?
- 30:09S2: Yeah. Yeah. You know, when we think about dependence on God,
- 30:12S2: as you've been talking about kind of like this childlike faith,
- 30:15S2: this going to God with, you know, with just the
- 30:18S2: very simple stuff. Not wanting a day to be prayed for.
- 30:22S2: If we're not careful, it can. That can feel limiting.
- 30:26S2: You know, most people do not want to be in
- 30:30S2: a place where they are so dependent on someone else.
- 30:33S2: Like we, we just that's so uncomfortable for us. Why
- 30:37S2: is that the wrong way of thinking about it? Why
- 30:40S2: does dependence on God actually expand and not limit your life?
- 30:46S7: Well, it's because it brings this Holy Spirit into your life.
- 30:51S7: And one of the marks of the spirit is surprise.
- 30:55S7: It's just like things happen out of the blue. Your
- 30:58S7: attitude changes and it's just he's present in your life.
- 31:02S7: Like he's, he's, he's like a, he's out ahead of you. Uh,
- 31:09S7: and you begin to anticipate that, uh, and, and wait
- 31:14S7: on the spirit. Uh, and and then you create. You know,
- 31:18S7: if you can create a culture of prayer in your family,
- 31:22S7: you're creating or work or wherever or, you know, among
- 31:26S7: your friendships, it just brings the Holy Spirit in.
- 31:29S2: The most natural thing for us to do is when
- 31:32S2: you talk about a culture of prayer, is that we,
- 31:35S2: we ask God to do things for us. You know,
- 31:37S2: when we teach our kids to pray in the most
- 31:39S2: simple way, right? Is this something that you need? Okay,
- 31:42S2: we'll ask God. We're going to ask God to provide
- 31:45S2: for us, right? How do we deal with the sometimes
- 31:48S2: complicated answers that maybe we like? Okay, well, I asked
- 31:52S2: God for this thing or to heal this person, and
- 31:55S2: it didn't happen. How do we continue to develop that
- 31:58S2: culture of prayer? Releasing the need for the outcome to
- 32:02S2: look how we expect.
- 32:04S7: You know, that troubles many, many people.
- 32:08S2: Yeah.
- 32:08S7: And there are complex answers. Obviously, there are times where
- 32:13S7: God closes the door. But if I know he's closing
- 32:17S7: the door or he's shutting that down, then I can
- 32:20S7: begin to watch the story that unfolds. And in our work,
- 32:25S7: in our seminars, that that our mission does and our
- 32:28S7: prayer seminars and churches, we help people to begin to
- 32:31S7: slow down and watch the story of what God's doing
- 32:35S7: and be aware of that and watch it. And, and,
- 32:40S7: and his will emerges in the story. And you just
- 32:46S7: have to, you know, both Jesus and Paul put together
- 32:50S7: watch and pray. So a Christian who develops a praying
- 32:55S7: life just begins to watch their life. And it he,
- 33:01S7: he really does begin to do beyond all that you
- 33:03S7: can ask or think. And we buried a daughter seven
- 33:08S7: years ago who was 43 and loved the Lord Jesus.
- 33:11S7: We have a daughter with disabilities. Uh, we have had
- 33:15S7: a lot of suffering in our life, but at every
- 33:17S7: point we can see God at work and it, it
- 33:22S7: just requires slowing down and asking him. And one, I mean,
- 33:27S7: one other thing I would just share with that is, uh,
- 33:31S7: on the really hard things that go away, uh, learning
- 33:36S7: to lament, like bringing that honest self, uh, to your
- 33:42S7: heavenly father. Little kids are like professional mentors. I mean, no,
- 33:49S7: you know, and only kind of as adults do you learn,
- 33:52S7: you know, that, that you don't take the lament psalm seriously.
- 33:56S7: But but they, you know, my God, my God, why
- 33:59S7: have you forsaken me? Where you open up your heart
- 34:01S7: in grief to God is a statement of, of very
- 34:06S7: significant faith.
- 34:08S2: Yeah. What is your heart for the listener. I mean,
- 34:12S2: you are so clearly rich in faith and you've you've
- 34:15S2: lived a lot of life and you've walked this out
- 34:18S2: as the as you sense the Holy Spirit leading you,
- 34:21S2: even right now. What do you want the person listening
- 34:24S2: to hear today?
- 34:28S7: You know, this is repeating it just to become like
- 34:31S7: a little child. Don't bring your religious self to God.
- 34:37S7: You know that acts, adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and supplication helps
- 34:42S7: you then great. But but you know, I don't come
- 34:46S7: home and adore my wife and then confess my sins
- 34:48S7: and then thank her and then ask her, you know,
- 34:51S7: she like, she's like, huh, what's wrong with you today?
- 34:55S7: You know, like, so so bring your real self to God,
- 34:59S7: warts and all. You know, he doesn't, you know, Jesus
- 35:02S7: doesn't say, come to me, all you who are learned
- 35:05S7: how to concentrate in prayer and I will give you rest. Uh,
- 35:09S7: you know, come to me, warts and all. You know,
- 35:11S7: come to me. You are weary and heavy laden. So
- 35:14S7: bring your weary self to God and he will meet you.
- 35:19S2: And then I'm, I'm sure a big part of it
- 35:21S2: is the is in the repetition too, right? I mean,
- 35:25S2: so you do that today and then you get up
- 35:26S2: and you do it tomorrow and maybe you. Yeah. That's right.
- 35:29S2: Maybe you feel, you know, we sometimes get driven by
- 35:33S2: our feelings. Maybe you feel the earth move and you
- 35:36S2: feel heaven open up and then some some days you
- 35:39S2: feel like, is anybody listening? But the continuing to show up,
- 35:44S2: I would imagine, over the long haul has been a
- 35:47S2: big part of your journey.
- 35:49S7: Yeah. I mean, are the feelings of our soul rise
- 35:53S7: and fall? But but what? What happens if you develop
- 35:56S7: a steady faith? Then then you're, you're you're not hunting
- 36:01S7: for feelings anymore, but you're actually dialoguing with God. He's
- 36:05S7: your helper. And, And he really wants to help you.
- 36:09S2: I love it. Thank you so much. Paul Miller, our
- 36:11S2: guest this morning. The book is called A Praying Life
- 36:14S2: Connecting with God in a Distracting World. Just text connect
- 36:18S2: to 800 555 7898, text connect to 805 557898.
- 36:27S1: Helping you take the next step in your walk with Jesus.
- 36:30S8: God longs for us today to seek him and ask
- 36:34S8: him to move in ways that we never could.
- 36:36S1: You're listening to Carl and crew.
- 36:39S2: How easily are you able to identify what it is
- 36:41S2: that you are feeling?
- 36:44S4: You mean emotion? Emotion at the time?
- 36:47S2: Yeah. Do you have a good grasp on what am I?
- 36:52S2: How am I feeling right now?
- 36:54S4: Yeah. I mean, now expressing it's two different things. I
- 36:57S4: can I can throw the dart and I know what
- 37:00S4: it is, but yeah. Uh, putting.
- 37:04S2: It down, saying it out loud.
- 37:05S4: Saying it out loud or sharing it.
- 37:07S2: Challenging.
- 37:07S4: It's a little more challenging every time.
- 37:09S2: I was just looking at this feelings wheel. I've heard
- 37:12S2: Carl talk about this.
- 37:13S4: Yes he.
- 37:13S2: Has. And you know, it's if you've never seen it,
- 37:16S2: it's worth looking up because it's interesting because you at
- 37:18S2: the very center of the feeling wheel are some of
- 37:22S2: the main big word emotions that people would default to happy, sad, surprised, disgusted. Angry. Fearful. Bad.
- 37:32S4: Yes.
- 37:33S2: But then it breaks down into smaller little segments. So
- 37:38S2: let's take happy for, for example.
- 37:42S4: Okay.
- 37:43S2: Well, what specifically playful. Content. Interested. Proud. Accepted, powerful. Peaceful, trusting, optimistic.
- 37:53S4: And then yeah.
- 37:54S2: And then it breaks down even further. Okay, so you're
- 37:57S2: feeling powerful. Are you feeling courageous? Creative? Are you feeling
- 38:03S2: loving or thankful? sensitive. Hopeful. Inspired. Curious. Joyful.
- 38:11S4: Maybe I'll change my answer now I'm like, oh.
- 38:15S2: We don't want to fixate on how we feel, but
- 38:19S2: how we feel shouldn't be ignored. And I think you
- 38:24S2: can go through seasons of life where you're on the
- 38:28S2: other side of that feelings wheel, or you're not feeling
- 38:32S2: like happy or surprised, even you're more in like the angry, fearful, bad.
- 38:40S3: I think those ones are especially important to know why
- 38:42S3: you're feeling those things.
- 38:44S2: Like, why are you, why are you feeling this your
- 38:48S2: feelings guy. Jonathan.
- 38:50S3: Oh, that's a good question. Yeah, I'd say generally I'm
- 38:54S3: a pretty feelings guy. I, I remember, so this is
- 38:58S3: what it's like growing up in a house the youngest
- 39:00S3: of four boys. Okay. Uh, I don't remember. I was
- 39:04S3: like eight, so I don't remember why I was crying,
- 39:06S3: but I was crying about something. And I was walking
- 39:10S3: down the hall and I passed my brother, who's who
- 39:12S3: was ten closest in age to me, and he said,
- 39:15S3: why are you crying? And I said, just leave me alone.
- 39:18S3: And he said, why are you crying? And I said,
- 39:20S3: shut up. And then and then he punched me in
- 39:24S3: the arm and said, tell me why you're crying. And
- 39:27S3: I said, well, that now. I said, that's the reason now.
- 39:30S3: And then I left.
- 39:31S4: And that's.
- 39:33S2: Classic.
- 39:33S4: Classic picture of yeah.
- 39:35S3: Oh yeah, big brother. But no, I'd say, I'd say generally, yes,
- 39:38S3: I'm a, I'm a pretty feely guy.
- 39:40S2: You're a feely guy. Yeah. Thanks for admitting that.
- 39:43S3: Yeah that's fine. I don't I don't mind it.
- 39:45S2: Well coming up we are going to talk about what
- 39:47S2: to do with some of those difficult emotions from a
- 39:50S2: guy who has lived it. He's maybe a feelings guy too.
- 39:54S2: What do you go do when you go through seasons
- 39:57S2: of sadness or even depression?
- 40:01S1: The gospel changes everything.
- 40:04S2: Where else am I gonna find peace, joy, eternal life
- 40:07S2: not found in anyone else.
- 40:10S1: You're listening to Carl and crew.
- 40:12S2: Can you experience joy apart from God? And what happens
- 40:17S2: when you are in Christ? But you don't seem to
- 40:20S2: have much joy? I'm gonna give you quick answers to
- 40:24S2: either of those questions, but are a good starting point
- 40:26S2: for our guest, Nate Pickowicz, joining us right now. He's
- 40:29S2: the author of the book Overcoming the Darkness Biblical Help
- 40:33S2: for Spiritual Depression. Let's start to unpack with, can you
- 40:37S2: experience joy apart from God?
- 40:40S9: Well, I think when we talk about what joy really is,
- 40:43S9: I think there's what's called a common grace of God,
- 40:46S9: where we can be happy in our circumstances. We get
- 40:49S9: the blessings of life. But I think when we're really
- 40:51S9: talking about what true joy really is, the purpose for
- 40:55S9: which we were created, communion with God, we have to
- 40:58S9: really be in fellowship with him. He's the one who
- 41:01S9: produces all eternal joy that's only found in Christ. So, uh, yeah,
- 41:06S9: I think there are great things about this life, but ultimately,
- 41:09S9: we are meant to find our source of comfort and
- 41:11S9: joy in him.
- 41:12S2: And many people wrestle with, oh, boy, I feel like
- 41:16S2: I've lost any ability to feel joy. And, you know,
- 41:19S2: whether you have a clinical diagnosis of depression or it's
- 41:23S2: just a season of really, really hard emotions. Have you
- 41:28S2: experienced this yourself, Nate? Obviously, you've written the book Overcoming
- 41:32S2: the Darkness. What does this look like in your own journey?
- 41:35S9: Yeah, I've wrestled with this for years. I mean, I
- 41:38S9: when I was a kid, I was always kind of
- 41:40S9: an anxious kid. I grew up going to church with
- 41:42S9: my family, but just really wrestled with these feelings of
- 41:46S9: worry and anxiety, fear, and even got into my teens
- 41:50S9: and 20s some pretty serious bouts of depression. And so
- 41:54S9: this is very personal to me. Um, I did not
- 41:57S9: initially set out to write a book about it. I
- 41:59S9: was really just trying to work this through for myself
- 42:01S9: as a believer. And then the more I began to
- 42:04S9: study scripture, it just became clear that I not only
- 42:07S9: was I finding answers in the Word of God, but
- 42:09S9: I wanted to help other people work through it too.
- 42:12S9: I think there's there's help to be had for us
- 42:15S9: who are seeking to find comfort and strength in the Lord.
- 42:17S9: So that's kind of the desire is, is to help
- 42:20S9: other people to work through this. And I think God's
- 42:24S9: word does have a lot to say about how to
- 42:26S9: battle this.
- 42:27S2: So let's talk about it because a lot of times
- 42:29S2: these conversations sometimes become difficult or even controversial in the
- 42:34S2: church because we maybe wrongly assume that the only place
- 42:37S2: to look is in, you know, this psychology books or
- 42:41S2: in the, the clinical counseling setting, all of which have
- 42:45S2: their place. But sometimes we can go, okay, well, but
- 42:47S2: we want to go to the Word of God. What
- 42:49S2: is the Word of God say? What do you say?
- 42:52S9: Yeah. It's interesting because I agree with you that it's
- 42:55S9: sort of a minefield out there. And I think talking
- 42:57S9: about this in the church has become stigmatized quite a bit.
- 43:01S9: And I think it's important that we do talk about it.
- 43:03S9: But it's interesting to note that when you read the Bible,
- 43:07S9: the Bible always seems to assign spiritual value or spiritual diagnoses,
- 43:13S9: so to speak, on things like anxiety, fear, worry, depression.
- 43:18S9: The Bible treats these as spiritual realities. Now we also
- 43:21S9: recognize that God creates us as whole people, our bodies,
- 43:25S9: our minds, our hearts. Everything is connected. So it is
- 43:28S9: hard to figure out how much of this is a physical,
- 43:31S9: you know, mental thing. How much of this is a
- 43:33S9: spiritual thing that can be challenging? But I do think
- 43:36S9: that if you're able to apply scriptures, treatments and scriptures cures,
- 43:41S9: you'll find that it really does make a difference. And
- 43:44S9: I think my opinion is it's a lot more spiritual
- 43:47S9: than we tend to give it credit for.
- 43:48S2: So what are some of the causes then of, of
- 43:51S2: spiritual depression?
- 43:53S9: You know, if there are problems, physical Problems. It's important
- 43:57S9: that you get treated for that. I mean, sometimes there
- 43:59S9: could be dietary things, there could be physiological problems. So
- 44:03S9: some of those things can play a part in it.
- 44:05S9: But I think a lot of times we find that
- 44:07S9: there are lots of causes. Sometimes you're just in a
- 44:11S9: season where you're just in calamity. You know, when someone
- 44:14S9: in your life passes away and you're going through extreme grief,
- 44:18S9: that can obviously drive you to those places. Sometimes physical ailments, sickness,
- 44:23S9: disease can cause it relational strife. And then there's always
- 44:26S9: the issues of sin. I mean, you know, David struggled
- 44:29S9: with sin in Psalm 51. And so his depression was
- 44:33S9: brought on by his sin problem. So I think there's
- 44:35S9: a lot of reasons why this happens. And I think
- 44:38S9: part of our challenge is to try to navigate through, well,
- 44:41S9: why do I feel this way? You know, why? Why
- 44:44S9: am I so downcast? And what do I do? So yeah,
- 44:47S9: I can come from a lot of a lot of places.
- 44:49S2: You mentioned, David, what other examples in scripture do we
- 44:53S2: see of of faithful individuals who went through deep sorrow,
- 44:58S2: maybe even depression.
- 45:00S9: Sure. I mean, obviously the most classic example is Jobe,
- 45:03S9: who pretty much had everything that could happen to a person,
- 45:06S9: happened to a person. He went through just a bout
- 45:09S9: of intense grief and sorrow. Even Moses, I think about
- 45:13S9: Moses as an example of that. He was dealing with
- 45:15S9: an obstinate people. He was dealing with relationships and people
- 45:19S9: who were just miserable to deal with. And it drove
- 45:22S9: him to the point where he was despairing of his
- 45:23S9: own life. Uh, you think about the apostle Paul. Um,
- 45:27S9: you think about all kinds of people in the scriptures
- 45:29S9: who do have these adverse circumstances, and for one reason
- 45:33S9: or another, they're just driven to a bad place, and
- 45:35S9: they have to turn their hearts and turn their minds
- 45:39S9: back to the Lord to find their source of spiritual healing.
- 45:42S9: So yeah, I was surprised at how many people in
- 45:44S9: the scriptures really do struggle with this. And so this
- 45:47S9: is a relatively common thing for believers.
- 45:50S2: How important is it to kind of examine our own
- 45:53S2: hearts to try to determine the cause. I mean, you've heard,
- 45:57S2: you know, we want to be careful. We don't want
- 45:59S2: to be navel gazing. You know, you can you can
- 46:01S2: drive yourself crazy trying to be too introspective. But what's
- 46:06S2: a healthy level of introspection where we're looking and even self-diagnosing. Hey,
- 46:10S2: what's going on in my heart?
- 46:12S9: Yeah. I think it's important that we do do it.
- 46:14S9: I mean, I think your caution is important that we don't,
- 46:17S9: we don't just spend all of our time just wallowing
- 46:20S9: in it, uh, that we do have to get moving
- 46:22S9: and live our lives. But I do think, I mean,
- 46:24S9: the Bible keeps on telling us, you know, to examine ourselves,
- 46:28S9: to test ourselves. I mean, in Psalm 42, which is
- 46:31S9: probably one of my favorite songs to deal with this problem,
- 46:34S9: David begins by saying, why are you downcast, O my soul?
- 46:37S9: You know, he looks inward and says, what's wrong with
- 46:40S9: you self and and works through that. So I think
- 46:43S9: asking those questions, and I think even really beginning in
- 46:46S9: prayer and saying, Lord, I need help. Uh, you know,
- 46:48S9: starting and asking God, you know, to help you work
- 46:51S9: through and, if there are spiritual problems to convict you
- 46:55S9: of those and help you through those. If it really
- 46:57S9: is a physical thing or if there are other factors
- 46:59S9: to work through that. But I think not just saying, oh,
- 47:02S9: this is this is how I am and just settling
- 47:04S9: in that, but really trying to work toward I want
- 47:07S9: to be more spiritually healthy. I want to feel better
- 47:10S9: in the Lord. I want to be closer to God.
- 47:12S9: I think those are really admirable goals to pursue.
- 47:16S2: As you think about your own journey towards healing and wholeness.
- 47:20S2: What practices or disciplines have you found to be helpful?
- 47:24S2: And the flip side, what doesn't help? Maybe what that's
- 47:28S2: been suggested actually is not helpful.
- 47:32S9: I mean, I tend to go to what is not helpful.
- 47:34S9: I can tell you my iPhone does not help any
- 47:37S9: of these things at all. Social media. My goodness. No,
- 47:40S9: but I do find what's helpful. I mean, honestly, it's
- 47:43S9: the normal disciplines of the Christian life. You know, starting
- 47:46S9: your day in prayer and in the Word of God,
- 47:49S9: you know, starting by By putting in what is from
- 47:52S9: the Lord into your mind and into your heart. That's
- 47:55S9: a good start. I think a healthy level of exercise,
- 47:59S9: you know, goal setting, just kind of keeping moving, uh,
- 48:02S9: you know, relationships, trying to be active in your church
- 48:05S9: and be connected to other people. I think depression and anxiety, uh,
- 48:09S9: those are very isolating things. They pull you away from people.
- 48:13S9: So I find that, you know, when I'm able to
- 48:15S9: talk to others, my family, my friends, that makes a
- 48:18S9: huge difference. And I think really just seeking the Lord's will, like,
- 48:22S9: you know, recognizing this is something I'm struggling with and
- 48:25S9: just being very honest before God and recognizing this is
- 48:28S9: a real thing, but I just need the help. And
- 48:31S9: I think praying and seeking his will in that. So
- 48:34S9: those are just some of the things I think that
- 48:36S9: come to mind that I've employed in my own life
- 48:38S9: that's been helpful and hopefully helpful for other people as well.
- 48:41S2: Nate Pickowicz with us this morning. The book is called
- 48:45S2: Overcoming the Darkness. I want to get you a key
- 48:47S2: word so that you can get more Just text overcome
- 48:50S2: to 805 557898. Just text that one word overcome to
- 48:55S2: 805 557898.
- 48:59S1: This is Carl and Crew on Moody Radio.
- 49:03S2: Well, sometimes you have to really look at the big why.
- 49:05S2: You have to boil it all down to what really matters, right?
- 49:09S2: Because there's a lot of things that you can do
- 49:11S2: on any given day, but a big part of life
- 49:14S2: is prioritizing. Yeah.
- 49:16S3: Right. And if you don't know why, you're going to
- 49:18S3: put everything in the wrong order and your life's gonna
- 49:21S3: look kind of messy.
- 49:22S2: I've got a special guest. It's an honor to have
- 49:24S2: him joining us this morning. Uh, Tim Goeglein, he is
- 49:27S2: vice president of external and government relations for focus on
- 49:30S2: the family. His latest book is called What Really Matters
- 49:33S2: Restoring a Legacy of Faith, family, and Freedom. Tim, you
- 49:38S2: have done a lot. You've been a special assistant to
- 49:41S2: President George W Bush, a deputy director of the white
- 49:44S2: House Office of Public Liaison. You've served in government. You've
- 49:48S2: served in ministry first before we get to the book.
- 49:52S2: How did God call you out of darkness into light?
- 49:55S10: I love that question, and I'm honored that it's first.
- 49:58S10: I grew up in a Christian home, but I promise
- 50:01S10: and pledge to you. I was on a Greyhound bus
- 50:04S10: from my hometown of Fort Wayne, Indiana to Toledo, Ohio.
- 50:09S10: And I don't mind saying, when I got on the bus,
- 50:12S10: I was one person. When I got off the bus,
- 50:14S10: I was another. That was the moment where I overwhelmingly
- 50:18S10: knew that I was committing my life and categorically, to
- 50:22S10: be an ambassador of Jesus Christ. And in the ten
- 50:26S10: years that I worked in the Senate, the eight years
- 50:28S10: that the white House, all the 18 years here at
- 50:32S10: focus on the family as our vice president of government
- 50:35S10: and external relations in Washington, D.C. all of my professional
- 50:39S10: life lived and worked inside the Beltway. You understand that
- 50:44S10: as a Christian, you are overwhelmingly the minority. So you
- 50:48S10: have to really be able, with conviction and with grace
- 50:52S10: and goodwill to defend what really matters. And so that's
- 50:55S10: the entire narrative of the book, but it's a reflection
- 50:58S10: of my testimony and my life in Christ.
- 51:01S2: You know, when we talk about what really matters, and
- 51:04S2: I know that you have an interesting vantage point here,
- 51:07S2: it can be easily easy to start confusing one for
- 51:10S2: the other, right? I mean, because what really matters we
- 51:13S2: know is our relationship with Jesus is our call to
- 51:16S2: go and to preach the gospel. And sometimes politics can
- 51:21S2: help and sometimes politics can seem to make that more confusing.
- 51:25S2: I'm sure you've encountered this sort of tension over your years.
- 51:30S10: I could not agree more. And beautifully said. And in fact,
- 51:34S10: I was speaking at a well known, very elite New
- 51:37S10: England College two years ago in the academic year for
- 51:41S10: focus on the family. And a young woman said to
- 51:44S10: me after my remarks, she said. Why does the political
- 51:47S10: class seem to talk about everything except for what really matters?
- 51:52S10: And I thought to myself, that's the title of the book,
- 51:55S10: because the political class, they will talk about borders and
- 51:59S10: the war and taxes and as well they should. But
- 52:03S10: the institutions that really matter, what really matters. The narrative
- 52:07S10: of this book is marriage, family, parenting, human life, religious liberty, conscience, rights,
- 52:15S10: parental rights, all in the foundation of Jesus Christ. That's
- 52:19S10: what really matters. And if we're going to have a
- 52:22S10: true spiritual and cultural renewal in our country, that's where
- 52:27S10: the discussion needs to start.
- 52:29S2: So let's talk about that. What do you we pray
- 52:32S2: for awakening. We pray for revival. What does that look
- 52:36S2: like from your standpoint?
- 52:38S10: Well, I believe categorically that we need a monumental work
- 52:43S10: of reclamation and revival in the United States. And so
- 52:48S10: what I wanted to write about, and which I do
- 52:50S10: write about, and I hope people get and read and
- 52:54S10: enjoy the book as one of the tools in the
- 52:56S10: toolbox for the kind of regeneration and restoration that we're
- 53:00S10: speaking about. I write at length about the restoration of marriage,
- 53:04S10: the restoration of the family, the restoration of the American male.
- 53:10S10: This is one of the chapters that has gotten a
- 53:12S10: lot of attention with this new book. I also did
- 53:15S10: a wonderful chapter called Restoring a Well-Ordered Society. How are
- 53:21S10: you supposed to live? What constitutes the life well lived?
- 53:25S10: These are kind of the spaces and the chapters that
- 53:28S10: I write about along the lines of restoration. It's very
- 53:32S10: important in the time that we're in, not to be
- 53:35S10: discouraged or despairing because it negates the hope of Jesus Christ.
- 53:40S2: You said the chapter that's getting a lot of attention.
- 53:43S2: Restoring the American male. Speak to that a little bit more.
- 53:46S10: It's sobering and it's good news. The sobering side is
- 53:51S10: that American men now account for three out of every
- 53:55S10: four suicides or drug overdoses. And get this, approximately 15%
- 54:02S10: say they have no friends. I mean, there is a
- 54:05S10: lot going on. Uh, you know, in that space of
- 54:09S10: the need to restore the American male and the idea
- 54:13S10: of masculinity and femininity. But here is the silver lining.
- 54:17S10: And I think it's very important that American men 18
- 54:22S10: to 35, increasingly, overwhelmingly, they tell reliable people they want
- 54:28S10: to be married. They want to have children. They want
- 54:31S10: to be part of a continuous faith community. I mean,
- 54:35S10: these are very good things. The challenge in the same
- 54:38S10: demographic is that we have millions of American men who
- 54:42S10: are not working. They're not looking for a job. They're
- 54:45S10: not in school. They're not looking to be in school.
- 54:48S10: Demographers say that kind of prospect is unmarriageable. So we
- 54:53S10: have millions of American women who do want to be married,
- 54:56S10: but they're looking for the continuity and stability in marriage
- 55:00S10: and children that they need from a reliable American man.
- 55:05S10: And I think it's a big part of what really matters.
- 55:08S10: And this is one of the tools in the toolbox.
- 55:10S10: A key part of our restoration.
- 55:13S2: So what do you think restoration looks like? I mean,
- 55:16S2: obviously there's a there are a lot of ways that
- 55:19S2: you could attack this, but what do you think is
- 55:22S2: part of the solution of helping men become more connected
- 55:25S2: to community, helping them become gainfully employed and not just
- 55:30S2: getting a job, but having a desire and a passion
- 55:33S2: for a greater purpose.
- 55:35S10: The answer is fleet. We have to have an unshakable
- 55:40S10: faith and to impress upon the rising generation of young
- 55:45S10: Americans that it is not money, but the family that
- 55:49S10: is the foundation of our public life. And as the
- 55:53S10: family has become weaker, every structure upon that foundation has
- 55:58S10: become weaker. And the corollary is true that as family marriage, parents,
- 56:04S10: as it becomes stronger and they become stronger, the nation
- 56:08S10: becomes stronger. I think that we need to say that
- 56:12S10: marriage orients men and women toward the future because it
- 56:17S10: asks them, you know, not just to commit to each other,
- 56:21S10: but to plan and to earn and to save and
- 56:23S10: to devote themselves to advancing their children's prospects. It seems
- 56:29S10: to me that in my book, what really matters, that
- 56:31S10: that is that kind of golden narrative, not any kind
- 56:35S10: of government view downward, but from an organic and a
- 56:39S10: role of the church upward. That's the kind of place
- 56:42S10: that we'll have restoration.
- 56:44S2: Tim Goeglein with us right now coming up. Let's talk
- 56:47S2: about the elephant in the room, no pun intended. The polarization,
- 56:53S2: the current political climate that we're living in can make
- 56:56S2: even conversations like this one feel loaded. How do we
- 57:00S2: take steps forward to unity, even within the church, as
- 57:04S2: we pursue what really matters more coming up here on
- 57:07S2: Carl and Crew.
- 57:08S1: Tune in whenever you like. Check out the Carl and
- 57:11S1: Crew podcast wherever you like to stream.
- 57:14S2: His latest book is called What Really Matters Restoring a
- 57:16S2: Legacy of Faith, family, and Freedom. His name is Tim Goeglein.
- 57:20S2: He is with us right now, president of External and
- 57:22S2: Government Relations for focus on the family. You have worked
- 57:25S2: for decades in government and in ministry. You know, we
- 57:30S2: have become so polarized that even conversations like the one
- 57:33S2: that we are having can feel loaded for people. Words
- 57:37S2: like faith, family, and freedom can mean a lot of
- 57:41S2: different things to different people, even within the church. How
- 57:44S2: do we take steps forward toward unity when man, it
- 57:48S2: is polarized and it feels like you are dodging landmines
- 57:52S2: as soon as you even bring up the conversation.
- 57:54S10: Well, I couldn't agree more. And I'm an inveterate optimist. First,
- 57:58S10: I believe that in the Christian life, discouragement and despair
- 58:02S10: is a sin because it negates the hope of Jesus Christ.
- 58:06S10: And I think that we can, in fact, have a
- 58:08S10: hopeful way forward, and that the church and Christians can
- 58:12S10: play a very large role in bridging this divide of
- 58:16S10: polarization in our nation. And I think that it begins
- 58:19S10: with a realization that a complete overhaul of society will
- 58:24S10: not happen overnight. I mean, just as long as a
- 58:27S10: series of small compromises got us way off course. It
- 58:31S10: seems to me it's going to require a long series
- 58:34S10: of small corrections to help point us back in the
- 58:37S10: right direction. And I think one of the things that
- 58:40S10: helps us address polarization is that in one sense, it's
- 58:44S10: not about creating a Christian nation. It's about returning to
- 58:48S10: the things that made this nation stable, secure, and free.
- 58:52S10: You know, in the first place. And these are the
- 58:54S10: things that benefit everyone in a pluralistic society, whether they
- 58:59S10: be men and women of faith or, you know, people
- 59:01S10: of no faith at all. Uh, faith has got to
- 59:05S10: be the foundation. We are Christians. We are Christ followers.
- 59:09S10: When we talk about what really matters, it's rooted in faith.
- 59:13S10: But it's a large, complex continental nation of 340 million souls.
- 59:19S10: So if we're going to talk about restoration and addressing polarization,
- 59:23S10: it seems to me we have to begin with the
- 59:25S10: prospects of these kinds.
- 59:27S2: Tim Goeglein with us right now. I'm curious, in your
- 59:31S2: own conversations, you know, people always say the things that
- 59:34S2: you should avoid talking about are religion and politics, and
- 59:38S2: you're in that world. So I'm sure you talk a
- 59:41S2: lot at the dinner table and at family reunions. How
- 59:44S2: do you navigate when people maybe see things differently than you?
- 59:48S10: You know, I really am more honored by that question than,
- 59:52S10: you know, because it goes to the heart of my
- 59:53S10: own vocation, which is I am really comfortable speaking in
- 59:57S10: large auditoriums of people who agree with us. And I'm
- 1:00:01S10: equally comfortable speaking in large auditoriums with people who profoundly
- 1:00:05S10: disagree with us. And I think it begins with the
- 1:00:08S10: idea of whatever we say, salt and light. I really
- 1:00:13S10: believe firmly, after 40 years of doing this in the
- 1:00:16S10: public square, that it's got to be civil, it's got
- 1:00:20S10: to be magnanimous, it's got to be gracious, and we
- 1:00:23S10: have to do something that is increasingly old fashioned, which
- 1:00:27S10: is we have to listen. You know, Doctor Dobson, the
- 1:00:31S10: founder of focus on the family, used to say that
- 1:00:34S10: conversation is like tossing a baseball. When you have the baseball,
- 1:00:38S10: you've got the conversation. But when you toss the baseball
- 1:00:42S10: and the other person has the ball, let him or
- 1:00:45S10: her say completely and categorically what it is they believe.
- 1:00:50S10: And this kind of respectful dialogue, I believe, very firmly
- 1:00:55S10: moves us a far way toward our goal of addressing polarization,
- 1:01:00S10: even on issues that can be, you know, sometimes spicy.
- 1:01:04S2: I put a post up on social media, which I
- 1:01:07S2: don't often do. I might post a couple times in
- 1:01:11S2: a year, but, you know, there were some things that
- 1:01:14S2: I had started to see that I just wanted to
- 1:01:16S2: call attention to. I was seeing, you know, a lot
- 1:01:19S2: of language around like dividing people into groups of us
- 1:01:24S2: versus them and kind of a lacking capacity to feel
- 1:01:28S2: empathy or compassion for people who we put in the
- 1:01:32S2: Them category across the board that this is this is
- 1:01:36S2: who we are. And that category over there, there's no
- 1:01:39S2: compassion and there's no empathy. And there's also a lack
- 1:01:43S2: of genuine friendship with people who think differently than you.
- 1:01:47S2: And you see people like cutting off contact even within
- 1:01:50S2: families because people are on maybe have a would vote differently.
- 1:01:56S2: What do you say to that? I mean, are we
- 1:01:57S2: approaching idolatry when it becomes like a us and them
- 1:02:02S2: kind of dynamic?
- 1:02:03S10: You know, I'm really glad you said that because E
- 1:02:06S10: pluribus unum. You know, this is our national motto and
- 1:02:10S10: it's about unity, but it has never, ever been. I mean,
- 1:02:14S10: from the dawn 250 years ago of the birth of
- 1:02:18S10: our nation, July 4th, 1776, at about 3:00 in the afternoon.
- 1:02:23S10: But there was never a moment in all of American
- 1:02:26S10: history when all of the people said, we completely agree.
- 1:02:30S10: That really is not the case. And so from the
- 1:02:33S10: very beginning, we have had to find a way to
- 1:02:37S10: adequately navigate the shoals of disagreement. And I think we
- 1:02:41S10: have to ultimately be comfortable that there are people who
- 1:02:44S10: hold a worldview that is different than ours. But just
- 1:02:48S10: because they hold a different worldview does not mean they're
- 1:02:51S10: the enemy or the adversary. Quite the opposite. And I
- 1:02:54S10: think we learn from our Lord's example that it's quite
- 1:02:57S10: the opposite. You know, we are to sit down and
- 1:03:00S10: to actually engage with people who disagree with us and
- 1:03:04S10: often profoundly, I believe good things actually can come routinely
- 1:03:09S10: from such engagements.
- 1:03:11S2: Tim Goeglein with us this morning. The latest book is
- 1:03:13S2: called What Really Matters Restoring a Legacy of Faith, family,
- 1:03:17S2: and Freedom. Text legacy will send you the details. Just
- 1:03:20S2: text legacy to 805 557898, text legacy 805 557898.