WEBVTT - Karl and Crew Rewind- Good Friday 0:00:00.440 --> 0:00:04.080 Coming to you from the Morning Star Mission sponsored studio. 0:00:04.480 --> 0:00:06.000 This is Carl and crew. 0:00:06.040 --> 0:00:11.840 Mornings, helping you take your next step with Jesus. That's 0:00:11.840 --> 0:00:12.680 what we're all about here. 0:00:12.720 --> 0:00:15.240 Ali, do you. Have you ever counted your steps? Have 0:00:15.240 --> 0:00:16.920 you ever worn some sort of a tracker? 0:00:16.960 --> 0:00:19.080 It's funny that you say, oh, steps. I thought you 0:00:19.079 --> 0:00:22.320 were meaning steps with Jesus. Uh, yeah, I have. Do 0:00:22.320 --> 0:00:23.960 you still have your step tracker? 0:00:24.000 --> 0:00:26.680 Oh, I do. And my daughter wears one, too. So 0:00:26.680 --> 0:00:29.120 she's always trying to compete with me. 0:00:29.160 --> 0:00:29.720 That's great. 0:00:29.760 --> 0:00:32.919 It's never even a competition. Mom, how are your steps doing? 0:00:33.360 --> 0:00:39.440 I'm somewhere around 3400. I have 11,000. It's always way more. 0:00:39.880 --> 0:00:42.000 So mom doesn't take nearly as many steps in a 0:00:42.000 --> 0:00:43.960 day as my active 13 year old. 0:00:44.000 --> 0:00:48.000 All we need you to take today is one giant step. 0:00:48.040 --> 0:00:48.560 Just one. 0:00:48.600 --> 0:00:51.879 And we've got some content that will help you do that. 0:00:53.320 --> 0:00:55.480 Rise and shine. Everybody get a cup of coffee or tea, 0:00:55.520 --> 0:00:58.959 whatever it takes. But let's get rolling. So we've been 0:00:59.070 --> 0:01:01.790 talking faith and culture, and this has been some of 0:01:01.790 --> 0:01:06.069 the best content. I mean, I can't keep doing that. 0:01:07.270 --> 0:01:07.750 I can't. 0:01:07.750 --> 0:01:10.949 Keep. I love it. If I had a dollar for 0:01:10.950 --> 0:01:13.790 every time we said a new. 0:01:14.590 --> 0:01:14.830 Oh. 0:01:15.310 --> 0:01:18.830 This has been my favorite week of all time next week. Hey, hey, 0:01:18.830 --> 0:01:19.350 I have some. 0:01:19.670 --> 0:01:23.110 I have something in common with Jesus. We both use hyperbole. 0:01:25.630 --> 0:01:28.070 Can I blame it on Jesus? Can I blame it 0:01:28.069 --> 0:01:31.470 on Jesus? He used hyperbole. Can I use hyperbole? 0:01:31.510 --> 0:01:34.070 Uh, you know what? I'll allow it. Of course you can. 0:01:34.870 --> 0:01:38.830 No, I'm stretching a christocentric theology there that he used 0:01:38.830 --> 0:01:42.789 hyperbole for the purpose of describing things that were innately truthful. 0:01:42.790 --> 0:01:47.310 But in mine is not innately truthful, because you can't 0:01:47.310 --> 0:01:50.110 keep raising the bar. All right. I want to break 0:01:50.110 --> 0:01:52.630 down a Christian worldview. I've jotted down four things that 0:01:52.630 --> 0:01:57.660 are characteristic of a Christian worldview. Now let's. Okay. Christian worldview, 0:01:57.700 --> 0:01:59.900 let's be more accurate biblical worldview. 0:01:59.940 --> 0:02:00.380 Okay. 0:02:00.420 --> 0:02:02.740 Because you can get a little mushy on that one. 0:02:03.060 --> 0:02:08.300 God is creator and sovereign Lord. Humanity has fallen, but 0:02:08.300 --> 0:02:13.140 redeemable still. Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation, 0:02:14.180 --> 0:02:17.540 and a life of faith leads to transformation and purpose. 0:02:18.540 --> 0:02:20.780 Those are just a tread to crunch it down to four. 0:02:20.820 --> 0:02:25.700 That's four. Okay, so if that's a worldview, here's my 0:02:25.700 --> 0:02:28.820 concern with this. And I've been noodling on it all night. 0:02:28.820 --> 0:02:31.260 Literally woke up in the middle of the night going 0:02:31.620 --> 0:02:34.660 home because I've been wrestling this week in a good way, 0:02:34.700 --> 0:02:37.540 not wrestling against God, but like, we've been going down 0:02:37.540 --> 0:02:40.060 a path together and Jesus has had his arm around 0:02:40.060 --> 0:02:43.500 my neck going. Listen up, kid. We're still growing up here. 0:02:43.820 --> 0:02:47.740 But here's the cool thing about this I am convinced 0:02:47.740 --> 0:02:54.300 that we have so made Christianity transactional and not transformational 0:02:54.460 --> 0:02:57.770 in our culture today, that this can just become a 0:02:57.770 --> 0:03:01.570 list that people can ascend to, but never experience it. 0:03:02.010 --> 0:03:05.930 That's a problem man. Mhm. We got our guests groaning 0:03:05.930 --> 0:03:08.210 in the studio here which is a great sign. 0:03:08.810 --> 0:03:10.290 Yeah. He's in agreement with. 0:03:10.330 --> 0:03:13.730 I am thumbs up I am nodding I am getting 0:03:13.730 --> 0:03:15.130 very excited right now. 0:03:15.450 --> 0:03:18.290 Yeah. So let's bring you in here Peter world Ali 0:03:18.290 --> 0:03:21.090 give the bio on this. He's more than a groaner 0:03:21.130 --> 0:03:21.929 and a firmer. 0:03:23.050 --> 0:03:26.370 He is a moody professor. He's an associate professor here 0:03:26.370 --> 0:03:30.730 at Moody Bible Institute. Professor of educational ministry. We brought 0:03:30.730 --> 0:03:32.530 him in to talk about faith and culture, because he 0:03:32.530 --> 0:03:36.530 actually teaches a class here on faith and learning. So 0:03:36.570 --> 0:03:38.610 when he heard that this was our theme this week, 0:03:38.850 --> 0:03:42.170 he popped in the studio actually and said, hey guys, 0:03:42.170 --> 0:03:45.090 can we talk about this? Yeah. So yeah, he's he's 0:03:45.090 --> 0:03:47.050 giving you lots of affirmation this morning. 0:03:47.050 --> 0:03:53.490 But that whole transactional versus transformational, Peter, that that can 0:03:53.630 --> 0:03:56.070 be a problem. And I wonder if, in fact, that's 0:03:56.070 --> 0:03:58.430 what happened with a lot of our kids growing up 0:03:58.430 --> 0:04:00.670 in the church for a long, long time is that 0:04:00.670 --> 0:04:04.270 they had a transaction mentally, but not a transformation. What 0:04:04.270 --> 0:04:04.830 do you say? 0:04:04.870 --> 0:04:08.790 Oh, I've been thinking about this, actually. Um, just the 0:04:08.790 --> 0:04:12.910 the transactional nature of oh, we speak at camps and 0:04:12.910 --> 0:04:14.950 at the camp. We build up to a Thursday night, 0:04:14.950 --> 0:04:17.589 and on the Thursday night we lay out the gospel. 0:04:17.589 --> 0:04:20.750 But the gospel is get out of hell free. And 0:04:20.790 --> 0:04:21.990 and they're like, oh, I want to get out of 0:04:21.990 --> 0:04:24.710 hell free. And they, they say a prayer and then 0:04:24.710 --> 0:04:28.070 they think they're done and nothing changes. Nothing goes on. 0:04:28.310 --> 0:04:32.429 Whereas if a person is alienated from God, you want 0:04:32.430 --> 0:04:36.150 them to have a relationship with God. And actually a 0:04:36.150 --> 0:04:39.029 lot of things that I have conversations with kids about, 0:04:39.029 --> 0:04:41.630 a lot of things I have conversations with people about 0:04:41.630 --> 0:04:45.590 the devil also believes, and so the devil believes that 0:04:45.589 --> 0:04:48.070 Jesus is the Son of God. The devil believes that 0:04:48.070 --> 0:04:51.150 Jesus came and died, and he's very upset that he 0:04:51.150 --> 0:04:53.340 rose from the dead and he's very up. But he 0:04:53.339 --> 0:04:56.340 believes those things. And if it's just an idea of 0:04:56.339 --> 0:05:00.859 what do I understand, then you haven't got that relationship 0:05:00.860 --> 0:05:04.460 with Christ necessarily, because you have to have a dynamic 0:05:04.460 --> 0:05:07.820 relationship of loving the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, 0:05:07.820 --> 0:05:11.820 mind and strength, and loving your neighbor as yourself. And 0:05:11.820 --> 0:05:15.500 that is something that actually I don't have. Now, let 0:05:15.500 --> 0:05:16.940 me explain that a little bit. 0:05:17.220 --> 0:05:18.980 Yeah. Let's get some explanation here. 0:05:19.020 --> 0:05:22.380 I love God more today than I ever have, but 0:05:22.380 --> 0:05:26.820 I don't love God with everything I've got all the time, everywhere. 0:05:26.980 --> 0:05:29.979 And I'm pushing on towards that and I'm pushing deeper. 0:05:29.980 --> 0:05:33.380 And it's a relationship that keeps growing and it keeps 0:05:33.380 --> 0:05:37.339 changing and it's dynamic. And some people, they're done with 0:05:37.339 --> 0:05:40.860 something that happened when they were seven and, and they, 0:05:40.860 --> 0:05:44.220 they just don't know God. And it's knowing God where 0:05:44.220 --> 0:05:45.179 the delight is. 0:05:45.580 --> 0:05:47.020 Peter, do you mind if I jump in here for 0:05:47.020 --> 0:05:49.180 a second? I you know, as you're talking about this 0:05:49.180 --> 0:05:52.690 dynamic relationship and loving the Lord your God more every day, 0:05:52.690 --> 0:05:55.609 and loving your neighbor as yourself. Well, I think of 0:05:55.650 --> 0:05:58.090 that and I say, well, I don't do that perfectly. 0:05:58.089 --> 0:06:01.090 And and I think about the illusion of salvation that 0:06:01.089 --> 0:06:03.490 I had, you know, and so I can think of 0:06:03.490 --> 0:06:06.210 myself as a young Christian going, oh, that kind of 0:06:06.210 --> 0:06:08.850 makes me nervous. I don't love him perfectly every day. 0:06:08.890 --> 0:06:11.050 Am I? Am I saved now because I love him 0:06:11.050 --> 0:06:12.729 really well? But when I don't love him really well, 0:06:12.770 --> 0:06:14.650 am I unsaved? You know, how does that how does 0:06:14.650 --> 0:06:15.050 that work? 0:06:15.089 --> 0:06:17.490 Yeah, well, it depends who you're walking with. So who 0:06:17.490 --> 0:06:19.770 is the first person in your life who is the 0:06:19.770 --> 0:06:23.010 first person that you're following? Did you come to Jesus 0:06:23.250 --> 0:06:26.330 and say, he is my Lord and I am going 0:06:26.330 --> 0:06:28.450 to follow him, and I am going to walk with him? 0:06:28.450 --> 0:06:30.370 If he says, go to that building, I'm going to 0:06:30.370 --> 0:06:32.250 that building. If he says, go to that country, I'm 0:06:32.290 --> 0:06:34.970 going to that country. I'm submitted to him and I 0:06:35.010 --> 0:06:39.250 live for Jesus. And I think, you know, how we 0:06:39.250 --> 0:06:42.730 can get into just the study of Jesus and we 0:06:42.730 --> 0:06:44.610 can pass tests on Jesus. 0:06:44.650 --> 0:06:45.130 You know, I. 0:06:45.130 --> 0:06:47.610 Know and I know, you know, and that's why I'm 0:06:47.610 --> 0:06:50.160 looking at you right now. Because I know you know. 0:06:50.160 --> 0:06:53.560 Because if you don't know Jesus, that's the whole crux 0:06:53.560 --> 0:06:56.480 of the gospel. Because you've got this personal relationship with 0:06:56.480 --> 0:07:00.400 Jesus that just excites you and sets you on fire. 0:07:00.800 --> 0:07:05.480 And I see fewer people in America who are on fire. 0:07:05.640 --> 0:07:09.720 And the religion of Christianity died in England a long 0:07:09.720 --> 0:07:11.520 time ago, in a sense. I mean, I've heard you 0:07:11.560 --> 0:07:14.440 talking to England people, English people, and I'm being a 0:07:14.440 --> 0:07:18.200 little bit facetious, but the thing is that if we 0:07:18.200 --> 0:07:22.160 related the Jesus that we actually know, I think people 0:07:22.160 --> 0:07:24.720 would take our hands and they would hold his hand 0:07:24.720 --> 0:07:28.120 and we would introduce them and they would be excited 0:07:28.400 --> 0:07:30.960 and they would be actually set on fire. 0:07:31.440 --> 0:07:33.280 You know, the Spirit of God might be, as a 0:07:33.280 --> 0:07:36.440 result of our interview with Peter here, just compelling you 0:07:36.440 --> 0:07:38.400 to come to Moody, and we're going to have a 0:07:38.400 --> 0:07:40.560 link for you. And we got a we got a 0:07:40.560 --> 0:07:44.560 Carl and crew, like, little special deal going on. So 0:07:44.600 --> 0:07:46.160 we'll tell you all about that coming up here in 0:07:46.270 --> 0:07:48.990 just a moment. But I want to. I've been noodling 0:07:48.990 --> 0:07:51.630 on something here. Ali. As a matter of fact, I 0:07:52.470 --> 0:07:56.030 was preaching on it. I called it three dramatic realities 0:07:56.030 --> 0:08:01.710 of authentic salvation. One is we're overwhelmed with gratitude for 0:08:01.710 --> 0:08:04.990 God's grace. I see it everywhere in Scripture. Guys, you 0:08:04.990 --> 0:08:07.790 can't avoid it. Yeah. And my concern here is that 0:08:07.790 --> 0:08:11.110 we sometimes look at the disciples story, and we almost 0:08:11.110 --> 0:08:16.190 elevate them like they are something that we can only 0:08:16.190 --> 0:08:20.350 aspire to. Right. No. What? What? That's not biblical. That's 0:08:20.350 --> 0:08:23.110 not true. The woman at the well. The the the 0:08:23.110 --> 0:08:28.070 tax collector. Peter. Andrew, the list goes on and on. 0:08:28.110 --> 0:08:32.469 There's something characteristically different about a life that has been 0:08:32.470 --> 0:08:38.070 transformed by God. And we live imperfectly. Yeah. But there 0:08:38.070 --> 0:08:42.870 is an underlying, even transcending personality. There's an underlying passion, then, 0:08:42.870 --> 0:08:44.820 to live with God? 0:08:44.860 --> 0:08:45.340 Yes. 0:08:45.540 --> 0:08:46.980 Well, that is undeniable. 0:08:47.179 --> 0:08:49.900 I think that part of the thing that I'm wrestling 0:08:49.900 --> 0:08:52.460 with in the culture is people don't see that they're 0:08:52.460 --> 0:08:53.699 dead without Christ. 0:08:53.740 --> 0:08:54.100 Yeah. 0:08:54.140 --> 0:08:56.579 People don't see that. They. They have no life that's 0:08:56.620 --> 0:08:58.820 worth anything. People don't see that. They come from a 0:08:58.820 --> 0:09:02.620 worthless position. And if you come to God and you 0:09:02.620 --> 0:09:05.819 bring something and it's better than me. I mean, the 0:09:05.860 --> 0:09:08.500 people here in this room, I'm. I'm sure you've lived 0:09:08.500 --> 0:09:11.540 in your 20s and been a little bit better than me. Well, 0:09:11.540 --> 0:09:14.500 if you're better than me, that doesn't mean anything. Then 0:09:14.540 --> 0:09:17.380 in front of God. Because God is God and He 0:09:17.380 --> 0:09:20.700 is Almighty, and he is transcendent and he is perfect. 0:09:21.140 --> 0:09:24.540 Now if you look at the disciples, the disciples would 0:09:24.580 --> 0:09:27.420 have known what sin was, and the disciples would have 0:09:27.420 --> 0:09:31.620 fallen off that, and they would have been like, I 0:09:31.660 --> 0:09:34.460 am a sinful person. And Jesus says, well, find God 0:09:34.460 --> 0:09:37.860 through me. They find God through him. And on Pentecost 0:09:37.860 --> 0:09:39.980 they get transformed. And in the book of acts, they're 0:09:39.980 --> 0:09:43.410 going out and telling everybody because they're excited. Because they 0:09:43.410 --> 0:09:47.290 all were to. God, they all were absolutely excited to 0:09:47.290 --> 0:09:50.930 the point that they would die for this. They would 0:09:50.929 --> 0:09:53.930 die for it because they believed it so fervently. 0:09:54.250 --> 0:09:54.690 Yeah. 0:09:55.050 --> 0:09:58.130 Peter Worrell, right now associate professor here at Moody Bible Institute, 0:09:58.130 --> 0:10:00.730 we're talking faith, learning and a whole lot of extra. 0:10:00.770 --> 0:10:03.810 We're throwing in extra this morning on Freedom Friday, which 0:10:03.809 --> 0:10:04.329 I love. 0:10:05.650 --> 0:10:09.010 So, Peter, let's boil this down. Coming up here in 0:10:09.010 --> 0:10:10.969 a few minutes, I want to boil this down to 0:10:11.010 --> 0:10:15.090 someone who's listening this morning and they say, man, I'm 0:10:15.130 --> 0:10:19.450 not overwhelmed by the gratitude of God's grace. Mhm. I'm 0:10:19.570 --> 0:10:25.329 I there isn't an underlying passion for God. Mhm. Uh 0:10:25.330 --> 0:10:29.330 what do they do. There's a growing imperative that we 0:10:29.330 --> 0:10:32.689 feel led by the Holy Spirit, that we help draw 0:10:32.730 --> 0:10:38.210 a very clear line about transactional faith on one side 0:10:38.210 --> 0:10:41.350 of that line, and transformative faith on the other side 0:10:41.350 --> 0:10:43.790 of that line. And then even in this hour, we're 0:10:43.790 --> 0:10:47.750 going to talk about the three barriers that keep you 0:10:47.870 --> 0:10:51.670 from salvation. And then you actually know how to pray 0:10:51.670 --> 0:10:53.950 for people. It's all pretty cool. It all comes together 0:10:53.950 --> 0:10:56.910 when you look at God's Word with just an objective, 0:10:56.950 --> 0:10:58.350 humble heart. Hang on. 0:10:59.110 --> 0:11:01.870 It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio. 0:11:02.510 --> 0:11:06.590 We've already established that transactional faith is no faith at all. 0:11:06.630 --> 0:11:10.429 Transformative faith is is what Jesus aimed at. And it's 0:11:10.429 --> 0:11:14.990 the fruit, Peter, of authentic discipleship. And I want to 0:11:14.990 --> 0:11:18.350 go back to this. It seems like we've elevated the 0:11:18.390 --> 0:11:22.910 apostles and even that early church. But if you look 0:11:22.910 --> 0:11:25.590 at the book of acts, it wasn't just a few 0:11:25.590 --> 0:11:28.590 guys that were meeting together. They were meeting home to home. 0:11:28.950 --> 0:11:32.550 I mean, leaning into God at the cost of their 0:11:32.550 --> 0:11:33.430 own lives. 0:11:33.590 --> 0:11:37.309 Oh yeah. Well, the Holy Spirit descends on the disciples 0:11:37.309 --> 0:11:41.459 and just transforms them and makes them different people. But 0:11:41.460 --> 0:11:45.140 if you see that, they're always kind of grasping. It 0:11:45.140 --> 0:11:47.620 struck me only after I studied at Moody because I 0:11:47.620 --> 0:11:52.179 studied at Moody, too. The transformational nature of what went 0:11:52.179 --> 0:11:56.020 on with the disciples. Because you've got people like Levi, 0:11:56.059 --> 0:11:59.660 the tax collector, he's swindling people. He's trying to make 0:11:59.660 --> 0:12:01.500 a buck, and he's he's trying to. And then he 0:12:01.500 --> 0:12:04.540 just leaves it all and he starts to follow Jesus, 0:12:04.540 --> 0:12:07.860 and he starts to see what's Jesus about. Where's Jesus going? 0:12:07.900 --> 0:12:10.860 And he knows the person of Jesus. And then the 0:12:10.860 --> 0:12:14.420 Holy Spirit fills him. And you see, in the New Testament, 0:12:14.420 --> 0:12:17.500 Peter can't stop speaking about Jesus. Paul can't stop speaking 0:12:17.500 --> 0:12:21.900 about Jesus. They're absolutely transformed because the Holy Spirit sets 0:12:21.940 --> 0:12:25.260 people on fire. And it's the fire that I want 0:12:25.300 --> 0:12:27.260 to see in a student's eyes. So when I'm at 0:12:27.260 --> 0:12:30.100 Moody and I'm teaching, I look around and there's some 0:12:30.100 --> 0:12:32.500 students who are just, you know, I got up, I 0:12:32.540 --> 0:12:35.620 got to your class, leave me alone. But there are 0:12:35.740 --> 0:12:39.970 many students who that fire begins to really catch. And 0:12:39.970 --> 0:12:43.570 I get so excited with them. And we have conversations 0:12:43.570 --> 0:12:47.130 and we're wrestling with things. And it's the fire that 0:12:47.130 --> 0:12:49.570 you see in, in the students because they want to 0:12:49.610 --> 0:12:53.449 know Jesus. It's about knowing a person, not just a concept. 0:12:53.450 --> 0:12:56.850 It's about knowing a person relationally. And I get excited 0:12:56.850 --> 0:12:57.650 about that. 0:12:57.690 --> 0:12:59.890 You know, when you talk about the fire, a lot 0:12:59.929 --> 0:13:03.569 of times people start to really look at what do 0:13:03.570 --> 0:13:07.330 I feel? Do I do I feel like I love 0:13:07.330 --> 0:13:10.730 Jesus today? Do I feel that fire? What do we 0:13:10.770 --> 0:13:13.610 what do you advise for the student who takes a 0:13:13.610 --> 0:13:16.490 lot of Bible classes? Or for our listener who maybe 0:13:16.490 --> 0:13:19.730 listens to a lot of Christian radio and podcasts and 0:13:19.730 --> 0:13:23.730 takes in sermons and starts to wonder, I don't I 0:13:23.770 --> 0:13:26.690 don't know if I feel the right things. 0:13:26.730 --> 0:13:29.850 Yes, well, actually, it's what you think that leads to 0:13:29.929 --> 0:13:33.170 what you feel. So explain. In our society, we've got 0:13:33.170 --> 0:13:36.000 things backwards and we think, well, when I feel different, 0:13:36.000 --> 0:13:41.160 I'll think different. But actually when you study scripture things, 0:13:41.200 --> 0:13:44.640 things will leap off the page and you'll know something 0:13:44.640 --> 0:13:47.320 different and it'll excite you and you've got to tell 0:13:47.360 --> 0:13:50.520 somebody else. My wife also teaches here, so I love 0:13:50.520 --> 0:13:52.480 to tell her. She loves to tell me things. We 0:13:52.480 --> 0:13:56.199 go back and forth and we get excited. So yes, 0:13:56.559 --> 0:14:00.640 being emotionally turned on to God is a thing, but 0:14:00.640 --> 0:14:04.319 it often comes through thinking different thoughts about God. So 0:14:04.320 --> 0:14:06.680 you have to be disciplined and you have to think 0:14:06.679 --> 0:14:09.960 and you have to wrestle. And when you wrestle, you 0:14:09.960 --> 0:14:13.000 get to know God. And when you know God, he 0:14:13.040 --> 0:14:15.880 sets you on fire. I mean, I think there's something 0:14:15.880 --> 0:14:18.800 about a fire resting over the heads of the the 0:14:18.840 --> 0:14:23.400 early Christians in the New Testament in acts, because they 0:14:23.560 --> 0:14:27.360 they were set on fire by the God who they loved. 0:14:27.360 --> 0:14:29.760 And they began to serve him. But they knew so 0:14:29.760 --> 0:14:32.680 many things that they learned with Jesus, and then they 0:14:32.680 --> 0:14:35.590 were set on fire. So it's the knowledge first. 0:14:35.910 --> 0:14:40.790 So, Peter, these four little anchors, I just whittled it 0:14:40.790 --> 0:14:44.270 down to these. God is the creator and sovereign Lord. 0:14:44.270 --> 0:14:49.350 Humanity is fallen but redeemable. Jesus Christ is the only 0:14:49.350 --> 0:14:54.310 way to salvation. A life of faith leads to transformation 0:14:54.310 --> 0:14:58.710 and purpose. We need to think deeply enough where those 0:14:58.710 --> 0:15:01.550 thoughts turn into what? 0:15:01.990 --> 0:15:05.670 Well, you're thinking about them, and they can be on 0:15:05.670 --> 0:15:08.990 a test and and you could pass them on a 0:15:08.990 --> 0:15:13.150 test and then you'd be cold. But there's something about 0:15:13.150 --> 0:15:17.790 the God who in, in, uh, inhabits those ideas. Yes, 0:15:17.950 --> 0:15:21.470 God inhabits those ideas. And when you study them, you 0:15:21.470 --> 0:15:24.070 have to think, okay, how do I get to know 0:15:24.070 --> 0:15:27.110 the personal God who gave me this gift? How do 0:15:27.110 --> 0:15:29.390 I get to know the personal God who's running with 0:15:29.390 --> 0:15:31.940 me and walking with me and leading me on. And 0:15:31.940 --> 0:15:34.940 this is the importance of Jesus, because Jesus shows us 0:15:34.940 --> 0:15:37.820 in Scripture what this God is like as a person 0:15:37.820 --> 0:15:40.220 and what he's like. Because the concept of God in 0:15:40.220 --> 0:15:43.220 the Old Testament is good and it's right, but it's 0:15:43.220 --> 0:15:46.580 God the Father, largely. And it's it's God the Father 0:15:46.580 --> 0:15:50.540 transcending reality. And you need to obey him and walk 0:15:50.540 --> 0:15:53.940 with him, and that is good. But the excitement that 0:15:53.940 --> 0:15:57.500 comes through God, the the Son and God the Holy Spirit, 0:15:57.540 --> 0:16:01.860 the Trinitarian view of of the Godhead, it actually sets 0:16:01.860 --> 0:16:04.580 us on fire. And that's what I'm saying. It's a 0:16:04.580 --> 0:16:06.180 relational thing that inhabits it. 0:16:06.220 --> 0:16:08.740 We've got Peter Wall with us right now, associate professor 0:16:08.740 --> 0:16:12.100 here at Moody Bible Institute. So when you see a 0:16:12.100 --> 0:16:17.540 student and you notice that they are taking in the information, 0:16:18.140 --> 0:16:21.260 they're going to class, they're showing up, but you don't 0:16:21.260 --> 0:16:22.220 see that fire. 0:16:22.300 --> 0:16:22.820 Mhm. 0:16:23.180 --> 0:16:26.100 They're passing the test. What do you do as a professor. 0:16:26.140 --> 0:16:30.410 I'm curious. Do you I mean give us a window 0:16:30.410 --> 0:16:32.690 into when you see a student. And, you know, I 0:16:32.730 --> 0:16:35.890 know Jonathan was a student here and he can relate 0:16:35.890 --> 0:16:39.290 to this when you when you observe that happening in 0:16:39.290 --> 0:16:41.450 a student that you have enough of a relationship with, 0:16:41.450 --> 0:16:43.810 that you feel like you can have a conversation. Yes. 0:16:43.850 --> 0:16:45.010 What do you what do you do? 0:16:45.130 --> 0:16:47.850 Well, I don't always have enough of a relationship because 0:16:47.850 --> 0:16:51.250 it's a class scenario. Sure. But what happens is I'll 0:16:51.250 --> 0:16:53.970 see people discussing and some students just 1 or 2 0:16:54.010 --> 0:16:56.650 in the class, though. So it's a class of 35 students, 0:16:56.650 --> 0:16:58.810 and there may be 1 or 2 who are done 0:16:58.810 --> 0:17:01.250 with the discussion early because they want to get it done. 0:17:01.530 --> 0:17:04.050 And I'll just move over and I'll say, so what 0:17:04.050 --> 0:17:06.410 are you thinking then? Oh, well, I think this, this, this. 0:17:06.410 --> 0:17:08.969 But do you, you know, are you thinking in a 0:17:08.970 --> 0:17:13.169 relational sense, are you actually moving towards God? One of 0:17:13.170 --> 0:17:15.770 the things that really sets me on fire is the 0:17:15.770 --> 0:17:19.090 other side of the coin, where you have students who 0:17:19.250 --> 0:17:23.170 the spark catches and they begin to be enthusiastic. I 0:17:23.170 --> 0:17:26.250 get to meet them for lunch. I get to I 0:17:26.290 --> 0:17:29.350 have the students round to my house. I, I have 0:17:29.350 --> 0:17:32.230 those kinds of things going on which are relational. Can't 0:17:32.230 --> 0:17:36.550 force a relationship on people, right? But when I say 0:17:36.550 --> 0:17:40.470 I'm following Jesus, so come and follow and walk with 0:17:40.470 --> 0:17:43.270 me as I follow Jesus. It's not a it's not 0:17:43.270 --> 0:17:46.030 a case of following me. It's a case of following me, 0:17:46.070 --> 0:17:50.190 following Jesus. And they will have conversations with me, and 0:17:50.190 --> 0:17:53.030 we will get excited about Jesus, and we will find 0:17:53.030 --> 0:17:55.910 that we're up until late at night talking about Jesus. 0:17:55.910 --> 0:17:58.109 But you've got to try to set it on fire. 0:17:58.109 --> 0:18:00.990 And so in the classroom, I'll just move alongside somebody 0:18:00.990 --> 0:18:03.550 and say, so what do you think? How's it going? 0:18:03.590 --> 0:18:04.710 What are you thinking about? 0:18:05.470 --> 0:18:08.270 You know, I feel compelled here that there is someone 0:18:08.270 --> 0:18:12.790 listening and maybe far more than one, because Jonathan's story, 0:18:12.790 --> 0:18:15.590 the short of it is he was at Moody Bible 0:18:15.590 --> 0:18:20.870 Institute and he was passing tests with pretty good grades, 0:18:21.190 --> 0:18:25.790 but he wasn't born again. And that isn't a one off. Folks. 0:18:27.859 --> 0:18:31.820 To be overwhelmed with God's gratitude, or the gratitude that 0:18:31.820 --> 0:18:35.300 you can have in his grace to be imperfect but 0:18:35.340 --> 0:18:38.500 have a deep seated passion for God. If that's absent, 0:18:38.500 --> 0:18:41.500 could the Holy Spirit be calling you to follow Jesus 0:18:41.500 --> 0:18:45.300 today for the very first time? And the answer is absolutely. 0:18:45.540 --> 0:18:46.139 Amen. 0:18:47.140 --> 0:18:49.180 And I just want to appeal to you right now 0:18:49.180 --> 0:18:52.660 to surrender your life to Jesus. The Apostle Paul said, 0:18:52.660 --> 0:18:57.260 I beg you, be reconciled to God. And why would 0:18:57.260 --> 0:19:00.460 he urge that? Because he's urging people to get over 0:19:00.460 --> 0:19:06.820 the speed bump of religiosity and pride and self-will, and 0:19:06.820 --> 0:19:09.379 the Holy Spirit can use our time this morning to 0:19:09.420 --> 0:19:13.899 convict you and to compel you to surrender your life 0:19:13.900 --> 0:19:18.980 to Jesus today. And I want to ask you, have 0:19:18.980 --> 0:19:22.260 you been stuck in a transactional relationship with God? But 0:19:22.260 --> 0:19:26.290 the Holy Spirit right now has revealed you need transformation. 0:19:27.170 --> 0:19:29.650 I want you to just take a moment. If you're 0:19:29.690 --> 0:19:33.570 at home or driving, you can do this. I want 0:19:33.570 --> 0:19:36.689 you to bow your heart with me. I want you 0:19:36.690 --> 0:19:40.810 to bow your heart. Heads are optional, but I want 0:19:40.810 --> 0:19:45.330 you to receive Jesus today. So let me tell you 0:19:45.330 --> 0:19:50.170 what we find in Scripture. There needs to be a 0:19:50.170 --> 0:19:53.970 full throated confession and agreement with God that you're a 0:19:53.970 --> 0:19:58.930 sinner who needs a Savior. That God is sovereign over 0:19:58.930 --> 0:20:04.130 all things. That Jesus is the only way to not 0:20:04.130 --> 0:20:08.810 only eternal life, but life abundant today. And that he 0:20:08.810 --> 0:20:12.890 alone can change you in this new relationship with God. 0:20:14.130 --> 0:20:18.369 And if you're willing to confess with your mouth, speak 0:20:18.369 --> 0:20:20.570 it out. I'm a sinner. Say it right now. Wherever 0:20:20.570 --> 0:20:27.399 you are. I'm a sinner. I need a savior. Today, 0:20:27.400 --> 0:20:29.919 I don't want to have a transactional faith with God 0:20:29.920 --> 0:20:32.760 any longer. Today, for the first time in my life, 0:20:33.000 --> 0:20:36.040 I'm feeling the embrace and the love of Jesus Christ. 0:20:36.880 --> 0:20:40.280 I'm feeling the tug of the Holy Spirit dragging me 0:20:40.280 --> 0:20:46.000 across this threshold of pride and religiosity and self-will. And 0:20:46.000 --> 0:20:51.400 today I'm following Christ, which means that you repent. You 0:20:51.400 --> 0:20:55.520 turn around, away from all of your thinking into a 0:20:55.520 --> 0:21:02.160 relationship with Jesus. And if that's you today, your heart 0:21:02.200 --> 0:21:07.040 has cried the most honest prayer to God, the most 0:21:07.040 --> 0:21:11.680 honest prayer. And I want you to get your phone ready. 0:21:11.680 --> 0:21:13.720 I'm going to pray for you right now, but Ali 0:21:13.720 --> 0:21:16.120 is going to give you a link here in just 0:21:16.119 --> 0:21:19.200 a moment. But today, I want you to know that 0:21:19.200 --> 0:21:21.950 we are going to help you take your first steps 0:21:21.950 --> 0:21:25.750 with Jesus. I want to appeal to you, friend. Don't 0:21:25.750 --> 0:21:29.990 let the pride of your religiosity in your behavior and 0:21:29.990 --> 0:21:34.910 your comparison hold you back from life eternal and life today. 0:21:37.150 --> 0:21:40.990 So let me pray with you. Let's codify this with 0:21:40.990 --> 0:21:47.910 the Lord Jesus. Today I confess to you you are 0:21:47.910 --> 0:21:50.670 the Savior of the world and I needed it. Just 0:21:50.670 --> 0:21:57.350 tell him that I needed it. I thank you that 0:21:57.350 --> 0:22:03.110 you saw my sin and all my flaws. But you 0:22:03.109 --> 0:22:08.470 haven't rejected me. You've embraced me. So I come to 0:22:08.470 --> 0:22:11.310 you today for the first time, authentically in my life, 0:22:11.310 --> 0:22:17.030 moving past transaction into transformation. Today I surrender my life 0:22:17.030 --> 0:22:26.260 to you Fully, completely. Nothing held back. And Lord, I 0:22:26.260 --> 0:22:29.300 pray over this person right now who is turning around 0:22:30.100 --> 0:22:36.300 surrendering all to Jesus Christ. That your love would wash 0:22:36.300 --> 0:22:44.939 over them in ways that would be. Inestimable. That you, Lord, 0:22:44.940 --> 0:22:49.580 would show them this whole new world. You've done it 0:22:49.580 --> 0:22:53.180 right now you're doing it, Lord. And I give you 0:22:53.180 --> 0:22:59.340 praise in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Ali, just from your heart. 0:22:59.340 --> 0:23:00.580 We want to help him, don't we? 0:23:00.619 --> 0:23:02.700 We do. We have something that we've put together. It's 0:23:02.700 --> 0:23:04.860 a resource just for you. Those of you who are 0:23:04.859 --> 0:23:08.220 accepting Jesus, you are turning and going a new direction 0:23:08.220 --> 0:23:13.900 with him. Just text the word new to 800 555 7898. 0:23:13.940 --> 0:23:19.610 Text new to 800 (800) 555-7898. You're going to get from 0:23:19.650 --> 0:23:21.930 us an auto reply that's going to have a link 0:23:21.930 --> 0:23:25.130 with some hyperlinks embedded. Go through it carefully. It's going 0:23:25.170 --> 0:23:26.530 to coach you up on what do I look for 0:23:26.570 --> 0:23:28.890 in a church if you don't already have one? What 0:23:28.930 --> 0:23:30.929 kind of Bible should I be reading? Is there a 0:23:30.930 --> 0:23:34.010 translation that I should look for? Uh, we also an 0:23:34.010 --> 0:23:36.810 opportunity to get a resource from us sent directly to 0:23:36.810 --> 0:23:38.850 your house that's going to help and encourage you. So 0:23:38.890 --> 0:23:45.250 if today that's you, just text new to (800) 555-7898 new 0:23:45.290 --> 0:23:49.369 new to 800 555 7898. 0:23:50.210 --> 0:23:52.850 Your shot of hope to help you through the day. 0:23:53.170 --> 0:23:56.250 This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio. 0:23:58.010 --> 0:24:02.490 So if we take three dramatic realities of authentic salvation, 0:24:02.730 --> 0:24:06.610 which are we're overwhelmed with gratitude for God's grace. We 0:24:06.609 --> 0:24:11.490 live imperfectly. But there's an underlying passion for God. And 0:24:11.490 --> 0:24:13.530 by the way, one that we hadn't even hit this 0:24:13.530 --> 0:24:16.790 morning because we got sometimes too much content here. But 0:24:16.790 --> 0:24:18.550 let me just lay it out right now. We care 0:24:18.550 --> 0:24:22.910 for people's souls more than their behaviors. That's a big one, 0:24:22.910 --> 0:24:23.550 by the way. 0:24:24.950 --> 0:24:25.830 A gigantic one. 0:24:26.310 --> 0:24:27.950 Yeah, we need that on a shirt. 0:24:29.390 --> 0:24:35.109 Yeah. I mean, because. And this is most lethal with parents. Okay. 0:24:36.109 --> 0:24:41.230 You you want your kids so much to know God and. Right. 0:24:41.230 --> 0:24:43.590 I mean, come on, if you've been born again, you 0:24:43.590 --> 0:24:46.109 want your kids to know God. Yes. They're pretty quick. 0:24:46.150 --> 0:24:54.150 You'll start looking for behaviors to validate your passion. 0:24:54.430 --> 0:24:54.870 Yeah. 0:24:55.150 --> 0:25:00.230 And that can be tough. So yes, Jesus is clear, 0:25:00.230 --> 0:25:02.070 by the way, a lot of people say we're not 0:25:02.070 --> 0:25:05.310 called to be fruit inspectors. I couldn't disagree more. We 0:25:05.310 --> 0:25:07.389 actually are called to be fruit inspectors. 0:25:07.750 --> 0:25:10.270 What do you mean by that? Someone who's hearing that 0:25:10.270 --> 0:25:10.910 for the first time? 0:25:10.910 --> 0:25:13.980 Well, that's that's a common term from ages ago. I 0:25:13.980 --> 0:25:17.139 remember probably 30 years ago, people were saying, we're not 0:25:17.140 --> 0:25:19.540 called to be fruit inspectors. I would say a tweak 0:25:19.540 --> 0:25:23.659 on that. We're not called to be fruit scrutinizers. But 0:25:23.660 --> 0:25:27.300 Jesus himself said, you can tell. You can tell what 0:25:27.340 --> 0:25:30.460 a tree is, because a good a good tree cannot 0:25:30.460 --> 0:25:33.859 bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 0:25:34.180 --> 0:25:37.140 So we and we see the fruit of the spirit 0:25:37.140 --> 0:25:40.580 in Galatians five. In fact, we're supposed to be looking 0:25:40.580 --> 0:25:44.060 at our own lives, going, oh wow, I got deeds 0:25:44.060 --> 0:25:46.419 of the flesh coming off my branches, not fruit of 0:25:46.420 --> 0:25:49.220 the spirit. I need to abide in my relationship with 0:25:49.220 --> 0:25:51.379 Jesus more and let the Holy Spirit flow through me. 0:25:51.660 --> 0:25:56.420 So we don't want to. I would say this. You 0:25:56.420 --> 0:26:01.500 do want to be able to look at your children's behavior, 0:26:01.500 --> 0:26:07.100 but not through the lens of scrutiny for judgment, and 0:26:07.300 --> 0:26:13.530 especially not for the purpose of finding validation for yourself. 0:26:13.730 --> 0:26:16.650 That's where it gets kind of sticky. You're looking for 0:26:16.650 --> 0:26:20.570 evidence that my kids are okay. A greater prayer is God, 0:26:20.770 --> 0:26:24.369 give me evidence that their souls okay, not that they're okay. Yes. 0:26:24.369 --> 0:26:26.450 I tell parents this all the time. Don't pray that 0:26:26.450 --> 0:26:28.650 your kids get back in church. Pray that they get 0:26:28.650 --> 0:26:32.010 in Christ and that they can't stay away from church 0:26:32.369 --> 0:26:35.930 because darken the door of a church might be good, 0:26:36.770 --> 0:26:37.730 but it might not. 0:26:38.130 --> 0:26:40.609 Yeah, there there are things that and I think that's 0:26:40.609 --> 0:26:43.330 where we need to understand what fruits of the spirit are. Uh, 0:26:43.369 --> 0:26:46.889 nowhere in in the Scripture does it say that the 0:26:46.890 --> 0:26:49.810 fruit of the spirit is church attendance. You know, and 0:26:49.850 --> 0:26:53.130 and so we can't say that that church attendance is 0:26:53.130 --> 0:26:57.730 this is this clear indication that that our kids know God, 0:26:58.010 --> 0:27:03.970 but love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, 0:27:04.130 --> 0:27:07.810 those things show that's a fruit of the spirit. My 0:27:07.810 --> 0:27:10.440 kid knows Jesus because I see what God's doing in 0:27:10.440 --> 0:27:13.640 them through those things. Not through church attendance. Or they 0:27:13.680 --> 0:27:15.720 went on a ministry trip last summer or those kinds 0:27:15.720 --> 0:27:16.159 of things. 0:27:16.200 --> 0:27:19.080 Yeah, and that's tough to hear. But here's here's what 0:27:19.080 --> 0:27:23.600 I'm saying. I know you love your kids enough that 0:27:23.600 --> 0:27:28.320 you want to pray rightly for them, and I know 0:27:28.320 --> 0:27:33.800 that about you and grandkids. I know that. I mean, 0:27:33.840 --> 0:27:38.280 I was talking with Howie Rosin, 95 years old, my uncle, 0:27:38.480 --> 0:27:42.840 he's in Clovis, California, in an assisted living home. I said, 0:27:42.840 --> 0:27:45.879 how you doing, Howie? For 95, Carl ain't doing too bad. 0:27:45.920 --> 0:27:47.760 I'm actually doing pretty well. Pretty well. 0:27:47.800 --> 0:27:49.560 Here. I love that answer. Wow. 0:27:49.880 --> 0:27:52.800 But he's, you know, one of his greatest joys. He said, 0:27:52.800 --> 0:27:57.640 my son is finally following Jesus Christ. I said, how'd 0:27:57.640 --> 0:27:59.760 that happen? He said the prayers of my bride that 0:27:59.760 --> 0:28:04.960 went home to be with the Lord. My aunt Barb, um, 0:28:05.560 --> 0:28:08.990 two years ago. He said her prayers got him around 0:28:08.990 --> 0:28:12.550 the corner. He said I know it said I'd hear 0:28:12.550 --> 0:28:15.830 Barb praying morning, noon and night. Prayer. Boy, isn't that cool? 0:28:17.630 --> 0:28:19.629 That's emotional man. That's emotional. 0:28:20.550 --> 0:28:23.669 So here's I'm going to coming up here. Do we 0:28:23.670 --> 0:28:24.510 have time for this guys. 0:28:24.510 --> 0:28:25.470 Yeah, yeah, we got time. 0:28:25.630 --> 0:28:29.790 Well, cram it in. Uh, three. The three barriers of salvation. 0:28:29.790 --> 0:28:33.910 When you hear these biblical barriers, then these biblical barriers, 0:28:33.910 --> 0:28:36.750 then you will know how to pray rightly. This is 0:28:36.750 --> 0:28:40.750 just right from the word. Hang on. Great thing about 0:28:40.750 --> 0:28:44.030 God's Word is that it is so clear. And I 0:28:44.030 --> 0:28:47.150 want to give you the three barriers to salvation as 0:28:47.150 --> 0:28:51.150 I see it through Scripture. I'm not saying it's absolutely 0:28:51.150 --> 0:28:53.990 limited to these, but these are three big buckets that 0:28:53.990 --> 0:28:57.870 are barriers to salvation, that are explicit in Scripture. And 0:28:57.870 --> 0:29:01.270 if you understand these barriers, then you can pray rightly. 0:29:01.310 --> 0:29:03.710 And that's the cool thing, right, Ali? Because we go 0:29:03.710 --> 0:29:05.110 to God for this anyway. 0:29:05.660 --> 0:29:09.260 It's not us changing ourselves or anyone else. 0:29:09.740 --> 0:29:13.500 Oh, and praise God for that. If this is on me, 0:29:13.540 --> 0:29:14.459 we're toast. 0:29:14.820 --> 0:29:15.300 Yeah. 0:29:16.780 --> 0:29:21.980 Toast. A terrific man. It ain't going to change diddly. Okay. 0:29:22.020 --> 0:29:26.300 The three barriers to salvation. Number one rebellion. Now, this 0:29:26.300 --> 0:29:28.820 is going to surprise you. Romans one, check this out. 0:29:28.820 --> 0:29:31.260 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against 0:29:31.260 --> 0:29:36.300 all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness 0:29:36.300 --> 0:29:39.820 suppress the truth. Suppress the truth. For what can be 0:29:39.820 --> 0:29:41.820 known about God is plain to them, because God has 0:29:41.820 --> 0:29:44.460 shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his 0:29:44.500 --> 0:29:47.900 eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived ever 0:29:47.900 --> 0:29:50.620 since the creation of the world in the things that 0:29:50.620 --> 0:29:56.300 have been made. My granddaughter's little precious fingers in her eyes. 0:29:56.300 --> 0:30:00.460 Oh my goodness, there's a God. So they are without excuse. 0:30:00.460 --> 0:30:04.610 But look at verse 21. Romans 121. Always look at 0:30:04.610 --> 0:30:09.970 this verse. For although they knew God, so we sometimes ask, 0:30:10.450 --> 0:30:14.250 do you know God? Well, there's a depth of knowledge 0:30:14.250 --> 0:30:18.330 that is not going to change lives here. For they 0:30:18.330 --> 0:30:21.130 knew God. They did not honor him as God or 0:30:21.130 --> 0:30:24.090 give thanks to him. But they became futile in their thinking, 0:30:24.090 --> 0:30:29.170 and their foolish hearts were darkened. Rebellion is this. It's 0:30:29.170 --> 0:30:31.610 staring the truth right in front of your face. And 0:30:31.610 --> 0:30:33.930 your heart stays hard and your fist goes up in 0:30:33.930 --> 0:30:36.090 the air. In essence, your fist goes up in the 0:30:36.090 --> 0:30:40.530 air and says, I'm not going your way. Oh, and 0:30:40.530 --> 0:30:44.490 we know that. We know that happens. We've all met 0:30:44.490 --> 0:30:47.530 people that have been in rebellion and in in true 0:30:47.530 --> 0:30:50.290 spiritual terms, we were all born with our backs to God, 0:30:50.290 --> 0:30:52.850 walk in our own way down this broad path, and 0:30:52.850 --> 0:30:56.450 by his grace alone, he softens those hearts. Let me 0:30:56.450 --> 0:31:01.690 go to barrier number two. It's blindness. Barrier number two 0:31:01.880 --> 0:31:06.560 is blindness. In Second Corinthians four three through four. And 0:31:06.560 --> 0:31:09.640 even if our gospel Paul writes to the Corinthian church 0:31:09.640 --> 0:31:12.720 is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, 0:31:12.720 --> 0:31:16.560 in their case, the God of this world, that Satan 0:31:16.560 --> 0:31:20.680 and his demonic forces has blinded the minds of the 0:31:20.680 --> 0:31:24.200 unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the 0:31:24.240 --> 0:31:26.520 gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image 0:31:26.520 --> 0:31:30.160 of God. And my contention here is that what Satan 0:31:30.160 --> 0:31:34.880 does is he creates spiritual light pollution that keeps us 0:31:34.880 --> 0:31:38.600 from seeing who Jesus is. He gets us so busy 0:31:38.600 --> 0:31:41.760 with this light pollution here horizontally that we can't see 0:31:41.760 --> 0:31:45.440 what's going on vertically. The third one is deception. It's 0:31:45.440 --> 0:31:48.320 out of Matthew seven. Many will say on that day. 0:31:48.480 --> 0:31:52.000 Didn't I prophesy, baptize, do mighty works in your name? 0:31:52.000 --> 0:31:54.280 And he's going to say, I never knew you. Here's 0:31:54.280 --> 0:31:56.320 how I want you to pray and think about this. 0:31:57.800 --> 0:32:00.820 Pray for those with hard hearts that they would be 0:32:00.820 --> 0:32:03.460 softened and that their fists would come down and they 0:32:03.460 --> 0:32:06.260 would receive Jesus. Pray for the blind, that the veil 0:32:06.260 --> 0:32:09.219 of darkness would be removed, and the light pollution of 0:32:09.220 --> 0:32:13.580 this world would fade away. And pray for those in 0:32:13.580 --> 0:32:17.700 deception that they would see. All the spiritual activity in 0:32:17.700 --> 0:32:22.620 the world cannot save them, but Jesus alone can. You know, 0:32:22.660 --> 0:32:25.780 on this Freedom Friday, it is an awesome thing to 0:32:25.780 --> 0:32:29.020 hear stories of life change in you. And the boom 0:32:29.020 --> 0:32:32.340 crew are awesome for that. But we wanted to take 0:32:32.380 --> 0:32:36.900 the power of God to change our lives and bring 0:32:36.940 --> 0:32:40.660 two people together who otherwise were on the skids and go, 0:32:40.700 --> 0:32:45.140 uh uh, God's not done with you. His arm can 0:32:45.140 --> 0:32:47.860 reach you. And some of you, if we talk about 0:32:47.860 --> 0:32:50.060 it long enough, you'll be crying. But I need you 0:32:50.060 --> 0:32:52.020 to know something. Help is on the way, and God 0:32:52.020 --> 0:32:54.860 can do more in the 11th hour than you can 0:32:54.860 --> 0:32:59.330 in the prior ten. Ron and Jody. Zapier with us 0:32:59.330 --> 0:33:02.290 right now. And boy, you guys believe that, don't you? 0:33:02.570 --> 0:33:05.010 I'm telling you, man, we don't believe it, Carl. And 0:33:05.010 --> 0:33:07.650 you know us. We've known each other for a long time. 0:33:08.010 --> 0:33:12.130 We've experienced it and are still experiencing the life changing 0:33:12.130 --> 0:33:13.010 power of the gospel. 0:33:13.010 --> 0:33:15.970 Thankfully, Ron and Jody are with us right now. Ron 0:33:15.970 --> 0:33:18.490 is the founding and lead pastor of High Point Church, 0:33:18.490 --> 0:33:21.690 which is a multi-site church in the Chicagoland area celebrating 0:33:21.690 --> 0:33:26.570 their 25th anniversary, and his lovely wife, Jody. Join us 0:33:26.570 --> 0:33:28.050 this morning for Freedom Friday. 0:33:28.170 --> 0:33:30.370 Hey, I'm just so glad we planted the church coming 0:33:30.370 --> 0:33:33.010 out of eighth grade, so that's the nice thing about it. 0:33:35.970 --> 0:33:38.290 Well, I won't say how old he is, but he 0:33:38.290 --> 0:33:41.530 is getting AARP material sent to his home address, I 0:33:41.530 --> 0:33:44.570 guarantee you that. All right, so let's have some fun here. Jody, 0:33:44.570 --> 0:33:47.130 I'm going to have you tell on Ron and yourself 0:33:47.130 --> 0:33:49.890 in a healthy way on this Freedom Friday. A lot 0:33:49.930 --> 0:33:53.050 of people find themselves in a marriage where it's like, oh, 0:33:53.650 --> 0:33:58.360 and maybe they're religious, or maybe they they just need 0:33:58.360 --> 0:34:00.920 to know the power of God to save a soul 0:34:00.920 --> 0:34:02.880 and to save a marriage. Jody, I'm going to give 0:34:02.880 --> 0:34:04.760 you the floor. Tell us the story. 0:34:04.960 --> 0:34:09.040 All right. Well, we were, um, you know, high school sweethearts. 0:34:09.040 --> 0:34:13.880 Had been friends since we'd been 15 years old. And finally, 0:34:13.920 --> 0:34:17.040 you know, had a long distance relationship in college and 0:34:17.040 --> 0:34:19.919 then even after college. And, you know, some of these 0:34:19.920 --> 0:34:23.080 things contributed to us having, um, what I would say is, 0:34:23.280 --> 0:34:26.440 you know, extremely difficult first year in marriage. And it 0:34:26.480 --> 0:34:29.880 kind of surprised us. You know, we were building on friendship, 0:34:29.880 --> 0:34:33.040 and we thought friendship was a solid foundation to build 0:34:33.080 --> 0:34:35.799 a marriage on. And it is a great thing. And 0:34:35.800 --> 0:34:40.279 it has helped us, however, that got tested in year one. 0:34:40.400 --> 0:34:44.839 And when I came home early from a work commitment 0:34:44.840 --> 0:34:49.040 and walked into kind of, um, the worst nightmare I 0:34:49.040 --> 0:34:53.359 could have imagined, and Ron was there. There was another woman. 0:34:53.360 --> 0:34:58.550 And all that to say is I was obviously really devastated. 0:34:59.190 --> 0:35:03.549 And we ended up, um, I talked to my sister 0:35:03.550 --> 0:35:06.750 and I said, hey, isn't this grounds for divorce? I'm 0:35:06.750 --> 0:35:09.430 pretty sure it is. And just, you know, our background 0:35:09.469 --> 0:35:12.750 had been both of us in a different traditional churches. 0:35:12.790 --> 0:35:15.710 So we both would have said we believed in God, 0:35:15.710 --> 0:35:19.270 but we didn't know God. So, uh, what happened next 0:35:19.270 --> 0:35:22.390 is we ended up going into, um, my sister said, hey, 0:35:22.430 --> 0:35:25.470 you know, yeah, you should get counseling before you do that, 0:35:25.510 --> 0:35:28.150 you know, before you get divorced. It's a really big decision. 0:35:28.750 --> 0:35:32.670 So I, I walked over to a church, and I 0:35:32.710 --> 0:35:36.310 purposely waited for church to be over because I was 0:35:36.310 --> 0:35:38.189 just going to go there to see if I could 0:35:38.190 --> 0:35:42.469 get counseling. And so I ended up bumping into a woman. 0:35:42.910 --> 0:35:45.230 First time I had to verbalize. It's literally the next 0:35:45.230 --> 0:35:48.870 morning what was going on. And I said, you know, 0:35:48.910 --> 0:35:52.350 I need to find out if I have grounds for divorce. 0:35:52.540 --> 0:35:56.100 and she could see that I was troubled. I probably 0:35:56.100 --> 0:35:59.420 started crying. And then she immediately tears in her eyes 0:35:59.460 --> 0:36:03.220 and she said, you know, my husband, he was a failure, too. 0:36:04.180 --> 0:36:04.620 And Ron. 0:36:04.620 --> 0:36:05.020 Always. 0:36:06.739 --> 0:36:08.739 That's what we all are, Carl, I just you just 0:36:08.780 --> 0:36:09.940 got to be honest with ourselves. 0:36:09.980 --> 0:36:12.580 I'm the. I'm the amen choir. All right, Jodi, keep 0:36:12.580 --> 0:36:13.180 it going. 0:36:14.260 --> 0:36:17.140 So she starts off with that, and then she said, 0:36:17.180 --> 0:36:20.460 interestingly enough, they had had a marriage ministry going that 0:36:20.500 --> 0:36:23.259 met on Monday night. So the very next day I 0:36:23.260 --> 0:36:26.180 went there, Ron kind of asked if he could come along, 0:36:26.180 --> 0:36:28.219 and I was like, well, sure, you know. So we 0:36:28.260 --> 0:36:30.300 went to this thing. It was a very large group 0:36:30.300 --> 0:36:34.299 gathering 500 people. And then, um, I had written in 0:36:34.300 --> 0:36:37.140 my Franklin planner that by Thursday I needed to make 0:36:37.140 --> 0:36:41.340 a decision about a divorce. So I end up calling 0:36:41.340 --> 0:36:43.260 the church to see if I could get an appointment, 0:36:43.260 --> 0:36:45.660 because I didn't feel like I was getting the answer 0:36:45.660 --> 0:36:49.020 to my question. So I just said, well, hey, I 0:36:49.020 --> 0:36:52.770 need to make a decision by Thursday, and they ended 0:36:52.770 --> 0:36:55.930 up making an exception and let Ron and I come in, 0:36:55.930 --> 0:36:58.890 and from there the pastor said, hey, we can talk 0:36:58.890 --> 0:37:00.930 about the mess you're in, or we can talk about 0:37:00.930 --> 0:37:03.450 God's plan for marriage. You know, we kind of looked 0:37:03.450 --> 0:37:05.730 at each other and the way the question was asked, like, 0:37:05.770 --> 0:37:07.450 I doubt you're going to get a lot out of 0:37:07.489 --> 0:37:10.090 the mess we're in. You know, so we're like, well, okay. 0:37:10.130 --> 0:37:12.890 And then but we did. We ended up getting into 0:37:12.930 --> 0:37:14.850 that because he clearly, you know, he said, well, I 0:37:14.850 --> 0:37:18.129 got 45 minutes. He set the timer and we just 0:37:18.130 --> 0:37:23.650 started meeting. And what happened then was Ron immediately was broken. 0:37:23.690 --> 0:37:27.569 Visibly broken. That pastor to this day would say he 0:37:27.570 --> 0:37:30.089 had counseled lots of couples, and he felt like he 0:37:30.090 --> 0:37:34.210 actually witnessed Ron's genuine repentance right in that office. 0:37:34.290 --> 0:37:35.009 Wow. Awesome. 0:37:35.050 --> 0:37:38.050 Me, on the other hand, I was I was actually 0:37:38.090 --> 0:37:41.530 the harder person because Ron's heart was broken and he 0:37:41.530 --> 0:37:45.089 was very aware of his condition. You know, that he 0:37:45.090 --> 0:37:48.250 was in a that it was a sin issue. I, 0:37:48.250 --> 0:37:50.640 on the other hand, wanted to just kind of keep 0:37:50.640 --> 0:37:54.640 the spotlight on that, on Ron. And again, I went 0:37:54.640 --> 0:37:57.360 there honestly thinking I was just going to get some 0:37:57.360 --> 0:38:00.000 sort of like, okay, to get a divorce because I 0:38:00.000 --> 0:38:02.799 didn't know how to get divorced. So he ended up 0:38:02.800 --> 0:38:05.480 then from then on, kept putting that spotlight on me 0:38:05.520 --> 0:38:09.360 and asking me lots of questions. And really, what ended 0:38:09.360 --> 0:38:12.839 up happening? I recognized quickly, okay, I know what you're 0:38:12.840 --> 0:38:15.399 getting at and I have sin in my life, and 0:38:15.400 --> 0:38:17.839 I did. And I was very aware of it, you know. 0:38:17.880 --> 0:38:19.960 But I said I just didn't really want to talk 0:38:20.000 --> 0:38:24.160 about it today. And, um, but had he not delved in, 0:38:24.200 --> 0:38:27.520 you know, I appeared to be the victim here. And 0:38:27.560 --> 0:38:30.560 had he gone easy on me, what would have happened 0:38:30.560 --> 0:38:33.520 then in those last ten minutes is Ron would have 0:38:33.520 --> 0:38:36.719 left saved. He would have left with an actual relationship 0:38:36.719 --> 0:38:39.680 with Christ, and I would have left hard hearted the 0:38:39.680 --> 0:38:42.600 way I came in. So he broke me and. But 0:38:42.600 --> 0:38:45.279 I needed to be broken. And what happened then is 0:38:45.320 --> 0:38:48.020 we just met basically at the foot of the cross. 0:38:48.020 --> 0:38:51.219 And then in the last five minutes we prayed a genuine. 0:38:51.219 --> 0:38:54.140 He led us in a genuine prayer of repentance. I 0:38:54.140 --> 0:38:56.940 knew the little piece of faith that I needed was 0:38:56.940 --> 0:39:00.940 I'd known that, you know, Jesus was God's Son, and 0:39:00.940 --> 0:39:03.819 I knew that there was like the Trinity, father, son, 0:39:03.820 --> 0:39:07.259 Holy Spirit. But I didn't really fully understand that Jesus 0:39:07.260 --> 0:39:10.979 was God like Emmanuel, God with us, and that that 0:39:10.980 --> 0:39:14.820 was God's blood shed on the cross for me. Wow. 0:39:15.020 --> 0:39:18.620 And that it was shed for my specific sins that 0:39:18.620 --> 0:39:22.540 this guy just made me, you know, think about and confess. 0:39:22.540 --> 0:39:25.020 So we basically met at the foot of the cross 0:39:25.020 --> 0:39:27.540 where the ground was even. And that was important because 0:39:27.540 --> 0:39:30.180 I kind of also thought certain sins were much worse 0:39:30.180 --> 0:39:32.580 than others. So that was it. We walked out that 0:39:32.580 --> 0:39:34.780 day knowing for the first time we were forgiven. 0:39:34.780 --> 0:39:36.540 Wow. Wow. 0:39:36.780 --> 0:39:39.739 Ron and Jody Zappia our guests. Right now, Ron is 0:39:39.739 --> 0:39:42.500 the founding lead pastor of High Point Church. They also 0:39:42.500 --> 0:39:45.410 have a book, The Marriage Knot Seven Choices That keep 0:39:45.410 --> 0:39:49.210 couples together. Ron, want to bring your voice in here? 0:39:49.250 --> 0:39:53.290 You came to repentance quickly. Would you say that when 0:39:53.290 --> 0:39:55.529 you talk about coming to the end of yourself when 0:39:55.530 --> 0:39:59.489 you were caught and you realized the gravity of what 0:39:59.489 --> 0:40:03.609 you had done? Did repentance come easily or was there 0:40:03.610 --> 0:40:05.489 any sort of resistance? 0:40:05.690 --> 0:40:07.890 You know, I think for me, I was I had 0:40:07.890 --> 0:40:09.810 to be broken and I had to be cut down 0:40:09.810 --> 0:40:11.770 at the knees. I didn't have God in my life. 0:40:11.770 --> 0:40:14.610 I wasn't a Christian, wasn't brought up in it. And, 0:40:14.650 --> 0:40:16.609 you know, that was the first time I realized, and 0:40:16.610 --> 0:40:19.530 this is going to sound awful, Ali. But it wasn't 0:40:19.530 --> 0:40:22.530 just that I sinned against Jodi and that I caused 0:40:22.530 --> 0:40:25.250 so much hurt, but that's the first time that I 0:40:25.250 --> 0:40:29.410 recognized that I sinned against God. And just like David 0:40:29.410 --> 0:40:31.850 says in Psalm 51, when he said, against you, and 0:40:31.850 --> 0:40:34.529 you have I, have I sinned and done what is 0:40:34.530 --> 0:40:38.250 evil in your sight? I recognize for the first time, yes, 0:40:38.250 --> 0:40:41.569 my sin and all of our sin. Everybody who's listening, 0:40:41.570 --> 0:40:45.480 our sin causes damages to the people around us, but 0:40:45.520 --> 0:40:48.600 it had caused damage to God and I didn't recognize that. 0:40:48.600 --> 0:40:52.840 And that was the first time that came into realization. 0:40:52.840 --> 0:40:55.439 And so I walked out of that office as Jody said, man, 0:40:55.440 --> 0:40:58.239 I'm telling you, I felt the forgiveness. And I know 0:40:58.239 --> 0:41:00.600 many of our listeners that you you know what I'm 0:41:00.640 --> 0:41:04.480 talking about, that forgiveness of Christ and that fresh start. 0:41:05.080 --> 0:41:06.839 And we didn't know what was going to happen with 0:41:06.840 --> 0:41:09.680 the marriage. I mean, you know, like, but we had 0:41:09.680 --> 0:41:13.280 just been reconciled to God and now it was on us. 0:41:13.520 --> 0:41:15.879 Are we going to do some things? Are we going 0:41:15.920 --> 0:41:18.359 to let God's power and the power of the gospel 0:41:18.560 --> 0:41:21.800 reconcile us to each other? And that's the most difficult part. 0:41:21.840 --> 0:41:24.239 We meet with couples now. And, you know, we tell 0:41:24.239 --> 0:41:26.720 our story and we provide hope. But if we don't 0:41:26.719 --> 0:41:30.120 have two soft hearts ready to look at each other, 0:41:30.160 --> 0:41:34.480 examine themselves, and really take ownership for their part in 0:41:34.480 --> 0:41:37.480 the marriage breakdown, and that's a big statement. Each of 0:41:37.480 --> 0:41:40.200 us has to take ownership. If we don't have that, 0:41:40.200 --> 0:41:43.469 then we won't find the reconciliation that I know God 0:41:43.469 --> 0:41:45.430 desires coming up. 0:41:45.469 --> 0:41:47.830 You know, we're going to be promoting a book here 0:41:48.310 --> 0:41:51.469 that Ron and Jody have. That's powerful work. But we 0:41:51.469 --> 0:41:55.350 also want to tell you where we go from here. 0:41:55.630 --> 0:41:59.430 So coming up, Ron and Jody Zappia talking about those 0:41:59.430 --> 0:42:02.310 first days of digging out, because it's those first days, 0:42:02.310 --> 0:42:05.990 it's those baby steps that change everything. Hang on. 0:42:07.230 --> 0:42:10.310 This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio. 0:42:11.390 --> 0:42:14.630 With us right now. Ron and Jody Zappia. A story 0:42:14.630 --> 0:42:18.470 of radical transformation. If you did not hear the first 0:42:18.469 --> 0:42:22.470 portion of this interview, you must go back and get it. 0:42:22.510 --> 0:42:25.190 I'm asking you right now to text the word show 0:42:25.190 --> 0:42:28.830 to 800, 555, 78, 98. If you didn't hear this 0:42:28.830 --> 0:42:32.710 first part, you got to get it 805, 55, 78, 0:42:32.750 --> 0:42:36.430 98 just text the word show to that number and 0:42:36.430 --> 0:42:38.229 you're going to have it. All right guys, let's pick 0:42:38.230 --> 0:42:41.339 it up here. You're freshly broke and God has transformed 0:42:41.340 --> 0:42:44.620 your heart in a counseling session. And it was really 0:42:44.620 --> 0:42:47.580 the counsel of the spirit that spoke through this gentleman. 0:42:47.780 --> 0:42:51.220 And the Spirit of God convicted. The Spirit of God 0:42:51.219 --> 0:42:53.899 called the Spirit of God did it all. You. You 0:42:53.900 --> 0:42:57.700 really didn't bring anything to the party except a broken heart, right, guys? 0:42:58.100 --> 0:43:02.020 That's exactly true. I mean, we had first recognized, I mean, 0:43:02.060 --> 0:43:05.980 that man, my sin had brought this on, and I 0:43:06.020 --> 0:43:08.340 had was losing the best thing that I ever had. 0:43:08.380 --> 0:43:11.340 I mean, you know, we weren't Christians. We weren't following 0:43:11.340 --> 0:43:14.500 after God. We didn't have the truth. And the next 0:43:14.500 --> 0:43:17.540 thing I knew, my behavior, uh, had had really crushed 0:43:17.540 --> 0:43:19.379 the relationship. And so it would have been easy for 0:43:19.380 --> 0:43:21.540 us to throw up our hands. And I know it's 0:43:21.540 --> 0:43:23.700 true for many couples, you know, it's like, hey, we 0:43:23.739 --> 0:43:25.620 had just been married. It was just a year. We 0:43:25.620 --> 0:43:27.420 didn't have any kids. You know, we were in a 0:43:27.420 --> 0:43:30.620 new town here in the Chicagoland area. Yeah. Carl, you 0:43:30.620 --> 0:43:34.140 know what? We had to take some baby steps. I mean, honestly, 0:43:34.180 --> 0:43:35.779 you know, we didn't know what was going to happen 0:43:35.780 --> 0:43:38.410 to the marriage. We knew that. You know what? We 0:43:38.450 --> 0:43:43.530 had just been reconciled to God. We had experienced forgiveness firsthand. 0:43:43.730 --> 0:43:45.810 And now it was about, where are we going to 0:43:45.810 --> 0:43:48.290 put our faith into action? And I think that's the 0:43:48.290 --> 0:43:51.490 key for many people. We try to fix everything ourselves. 0:43:51.730 --> 0:43:53.650 And for us, it was like we knew we couldn't 0:43:53.650 --> 0:43:57.529 fix it. I couldn't fix myself. I couldn't change the 0:43:57.530 --> 0:44:00.850 behavior that had been exhibited for years. Jody had to 0:44:00.850 --> 0:44:04.290 forgive me. So Jody had to forgive and I had 0:44:04.290 --> 0:44:08.050 to start living the truth. And so, you know, honestly, Carl, 0:44:08.050 --> 0:44:10.010 I wish I could say I did some great things, 0:44:10.010 --> 0:44:11.930 but I had to come to terms with who I 0:44:11.930 --> 0:44:14.810 really was. Next thing I knew, God started to change 0:44:14.810 --> 0:44:17.529 some things in me that I couldn't change in myself. 0:44:17.969 --> 0:44:20.609 And that was the key. And I think, Jody, you 0:44:20.610 --> 0:44:23.969 recognize some of that change. So those are the baby 0:44:23.969 --> 0:44:26.530 steps that we took. Forgiveness was number one. 0:44:26.570 --> 0:44:28.650 That's big. You know what? I want to kick it 0:44:28.650 --> 0:44:31.690 to you, Jody, because a lot of those first steps 0:44:31.690 --> 0:44:36.600 out of this obviously have been embedded in the book 0:44:36.640 --> 0:44:40.080 that you and Ron wrote together. But from your perspective, 0:44:40.080 --> 0:44:43.320 what were some of those first? This is deep soul 0:44:43.320 --> 0:44:45.160 work that God does, right, Jody? 0:44:45.200 --> 0:44:48.399 Yeah. And, um, first question I get asked at this 0:44:48.400 --> 0:44:51.520 point is, you know, how did you forgive? And I 0:44:51.520 --> 0:44:55.280 would say the truth was I mentioned I had just 0:44:55.280 --> 0:44:58.280 been forgiven also. And Ron was right there, and I 0:44:58.280 --> 0:45:01.000 knew that I knew something had happened and that really 0:45:01.000 --> 0:45:04.280 brief period of time. But I knew it was real, 0:45:04.280 --> 0:45:06.560 and I knew I was forgiven. And that in and 0:45:06.560 --> 0:45:10.400 of that, I knew then I needed to forgive. And 0:45:10.400 --> 0:45:12.640 I knew that because I had come across a verse 0:45:12.640 --> 0:45:14.800 once back in the day when I would just flip 0:45:14.800 --> 0:45:17.879 my Bible open looking for an answer to something, right. 0:45:17.920 --> 0:45:20.080 And one time I remember it said, hey, unless you 0:45:20.080 --> 0:45:22.160 forgive your brother, you will not be forgiven. Then I 0:45:22.160 --> 0:45:24.800 would probably close my Bible like, uh oh, I'm in trouble. 0:45:25.440 --> 0:45:27.799 But I knew there was something to that. And I 0:45:27.800 --> 0:45:29.960 knew that in the same way I had just been forgiven. 0:45:29.960 --> 0:45:32.600 I could forgive Ron because I knew God had just 0:45:32.600 --> 0:45:35.980 forgiven him, too. so I knew that. But my bigger 0:45:35.980 --> 0:45:39.500 issue and I can remember even asking the pastor and saying, hey, 0:45:39.660 --> 0:45:41.380 I know I need to forgive Ron. I think I 0:45:41.380 --> 0:45:43.780 can do that, but I don't have to stay married, 0:45:43.780 --> 0:45:46.620 do I? Because the bigger issue to me, I said, 0:45:46.860 --> 0:45:49.380 how can you possibly have a marriage when there is 0:45:49.420 --> 0:45:52.860 zero trust? And so trust had been thrown out the window. 0:45:53.140 --> 0:45:56.100 So for me, it was funny because he asked me, oh, 0:45:56.100 --> 0:46:00.339 that's interesting. He said, Does the Bible say trust one another? 0:46:00.780 --> 0:46:03.620 And I didn't really know the Bible, but that did 0:46:03.620 --> 0:46:06.220 not sound right. I said no. He said, you're right. 0:46:06.260 --> 0:46:08.580 Any ideas why it might say that? And I said, 0:46:08.620 --> 0:46:11.700 probably because we're not trustworthy. And he's like, that's right. 0:46:11.739 --> 0:46:13.660 You know, and then he said, what does the Bible 0:46:13.660 --> 0:46:17.500 say that we're supposed to do to one another and said, love. 0:46:17.500 --> 0:46:19.540 And he said, that's right. He said, God's not asking 0:46:19.540 --> 0:46:22.580 you to trust Ron. He's asking you to love Ron. 0:46:22.620 --> 0:46:25.660 And what was interesting about that is it was very 0:46:25.660 --> 0:46:30.100 freeing just hearing that. It made sense and it took 0:46:30.100 --> 0:46:33.890 this huge pressure off me because the choice to forgive 0:46:33.890 --> 0:46:36.210 was like a moment in time. Like I could choose 0:46:36.210 --> 0:46:39.009 to forgive. But the process of forgiving is the part 0:46:39.010 --> 0:46:41.890 that takes a little longer. And so then that kicked 0:46:41.890 --> 0:46:44.529 in following all that. But the only way to do 0:46:44.530 --> 0:46:46.489 that was I had to trust God. I had to 0:46:46.489 --> 0:46:49.170 trust God with Ron. Like I had to fully release 0:46:49.170 --> 0:46:53.490 Ron and his offense like what he had done to God, 0:46:54.010 --> 0:46:56.810 and trust God with that, and trust that God was 0:46:56.810 --> 0:46:59.370 going to take care of me. Whatever happened, whether the 0:46:59.370 --> 0:47:01.930 marriage worked out or not. And so I left that 0:47:01.930 --> 0:47:04.450 day knowing, hey, trust God, love Ron, trust God. And 0:47:04.450 --> 0:47:06.010 then I had to try to figure out what does 0:47:06.010 --> 0:47:07.290 that mean practically? 0:47:07.489 --> 0:47:10.129 This is so beautiful. I'll tell you what's powerful about 0:47:10.130 --> 0:47:13.529 this conversation we're having, guys, is that we haven't even 0:47:13.530 --> 0:47:15.730 gotten into the book. But here's what I want to spike. 0:47:15.730 --> 0:47:18.890 Boom crew. Here's here's what I want to spike. The 0:47:18.890 --> 0:47:23.529 beauty of this is, if people have gone through this 0:47:23.530 --> 0:47:28.130 dark night of the soul crisis, we're up against it. 0:47:28.130 --> 0:47:32.160 And out of our brokenness, we found God. Those are 0:47:32.160 --> 0:47:37.880 the people you need to listen to. We're not professionals. 0:47:38.560 --> 0:47:41.239 We're all in recovery. No one's arrived. 0:47:41.280 --> 0:47:41.800 That's right. 0:47:42.280 --> 0:47:47.120 We're all there. So I want you, Ron. Give us 0:47:47.520 --> 0:47:49.760 the book and what's behind it. 0:47:49.880 --> 0:47:52.120 So, you know, this is the thing. And the reason, 0:47:52.160 --> 0:47:54.960 you know, we wrote the book was because our story, 0:47:55.000 --> 0:47:57.720 you know, was such and where we needed to be restored. 0:47:57.719 --> 0:48:00.240 And so we believe that all marriages need to be 0:48:00.239 --> 0:48:04.320 enriched and some marriages need to be restored. And so 0:48:04.560 --> 0:48:08.000 really what happened was we started taking small steps, baby 0:48:08.000 --> 0:48:10.879 steps of faith, where we would just actually, literally do 0:48:10.880 --> 0:48:14.000 what the Bible says in regards to treating each other 0:48:14.239 --> 0:48:16.759 in a way that was honoring to put God at 0:48:16.760 --> 0:48:18.640 the center of your marriage. And so that's what the 0:48:18.640 --> 0:48:22.200 book is. The book is seven choices that keep couples together. 0:48:22.480 --> 0:48:26.360 And so whether you are looking for enrichment, you're looking 0:48:26.360 --> 0:48:29.790 for restoration. These are the steps that you need to take. 0:48:29.830 --> 0:48:31.750 And so I wish it was some profound thing. It 0:48:31.750 --> 0:48:34.310 was like, no, they're just biblical steps. Like choosing to 0:48:34.310 --> 0:48:38.830 grow spiritually and choosing to love unconditionally and serve sacrificially. 0:48:38.870 --> 0:48:40.910 I mean, you know, the list goes on and on. 0:48:41.030 --> 0:48:45.950 Communicate respectfully. I mean, these are biblical choices that oftentimes 0:48:45.950 --> 0:48:50.350 we don't take seriously. And, you know, maybe somebody's listening 0:48:50.350 --> 0:48:52.190 and they're like, man, you know, I don't have that 0:48:52.190 --> 0:48:55.149 much of a problem. Well that's good. But a lot 0:48:55.150 --> 0:48:57.910 of us do. But all of us trust is broken 0:48:57.910 --> 0:49:00.870 in marriage, and we need to rebuild trust. 0:49:00.910 --> 0:49:01.350 Yes. 0:49:01.510 --> 0:49:04.550 And it takes you know, we teach this equation. It's 0:49:04.590 --> 0:49:10.070 cb over t CB is for changed behavior over time. 0:49:10.310 --> 0:49:12.710 And so you got to have change behavior. And that 0:49:12.710 --> 0:49:16.669 only happens through repentance and a relationship with God that 0:49:16.670 --> 0:49:20.510 you can truly change. And then time it takes time. 0:49:20.710 --> 0:49:23.790 You know in our situation with our story. Fortunately this 0:49:23.790 --> 0:49:26.900 hadn't gone on for a long time, so it didn't 0:49:26.940 --> 0:49:30.180 take as long for us to come back together. And 0:49:30.180 --> 0:49:33.140 I think that's where couples are having trouble, is that 0:49:33.140 --> 0:49:36.660 they need to own each part of the breakdown and 0:49:36.660 --> 0:49:40.259 that change behavior over time. Trust in the Lord. I mean, 0:49:40.260 --> 0:49:42.819 he can reconcile anything. I know you believe that, and 0:49:42.820 --> 0:49:46.060 I know we've experienced stories of people who have seen it. 0:49:46.260 --> 0:49:49.339 And so, um, you know, really it's just the choices 0:49:49.340 --> 0:49:54.420 that you choose in the daily life of, are you 0:49:54.420 --> 0:49:56.979 going to honor God and are you going to honor 0:49:56.980 --> 0:49:59.859 each other? And those are the things that are most important. 0:49:59.900 --> 0:50:02.500 The name of the book is The Marriage Knot. So 0:50:02.500 --> 0:50:04.860 here's our key word. And I know we're going to 0:50:04.860 --> 0:50:08.100 get crushed with text messages. So get your phone handy. 0:50:08.140 --> 0:50:11.259 Here's what I want you to do. Text the word 0:50:11.300 --> 0:50:15.700 knot with a k k n o t as in 0:50:15.700 --> 0:50:20.940 the marriage knot. Text not k o t to 800 0:50:20.980 --> 0:50:30.250 555 7898. 98. Text not to 800 555 7898 and 0:50:30.250 --> 0:50:32.370 God's going to meet you here. I don't care how 0:50:32.370 --> 0:50:36.730 far you've gone, God's arm is not too short, and 0:50:36.930 --> 0:50:39.930 if you can fog a mirror, God can change your 0:50:39.930 --> 0:50:47.730 life and your marriage. Text not not to 800 555 7898. 0:50:47.770 --> 0:50:51.210 Thanks you guys, for being with us today. You want 0:50:51.210 --> 0:50:53.450 those words to be a living reality in your life? 0:50:53.450 --> 0:50:56.969 That's Cochran and company running home. Everything changed when I 0:50:57.010 --> 0:51:00.690 came running home. What does that reference to? Probably the 0:51:00.690 --> 0:51:04.650 parable of the wayward sons. One squandered his dad's inheritance, 0:51:04.650 --> 0:51:07.370 went off to a distant country. It would have been representative. 0:51:07.370 --> 0:51:10.569 When Jesus was telling this story, everybody would have thought, 0:51:10.570 --> 0:51:12.450 oh yeah, okay, it's a kid that goes off to 0:51:12.489 --> 0:51:17.690 Antioch and he's partying down, man. Multicultural metroplex of the 0:51:17.690 --> 0:51:22.570 Middle East of that day. And he got in a mess. Man. 0:51:23.760 --> 0:51:26.880 it didn't mean that he wasn't aware of, because the 0:51:26.880 --> 0:51:32.160 parable is a relationship with all of God's creation that 0:51:32.800 --> 0:51:36.960 sees him. They understand how rich they can be in him, 0:51:36.960 --> 0:51:42.879 but they go squander that very real inheritance. Now it's 0:51:42.880 --> 0:51:47.520 a story of lostness being lost and far from God. 0:51:48.000 --> 0:51:50.400 And there's two sons in this story I want to 0:51:50.400 --> 0:51:52.840 tell you about them. The first one. Yeah, it's very 0:51:52.840 --> 0:51:55.480 easy to spot him. He's a victim of trying to 0:51:55.480 --> 0:52:00.600 find life in anything. He can get something to fill 0:52:00.600 --> 0:52:06.880 that void. He's a troubled kid, and he came home. 0:52:07.239 --> 0:52:09.319 And what's interesting about this, he got a wayward kid. 0:52:09.320 --> 0:52:12.440 I want you to do this. That kid. If they've 0:52:12.440 --> 0:52:14.480 never known how much you love them and how much 0:52:14.480 --> 0:52:17.400 you want for them, be sure they know that. Send 0:52:17.400 --> 0:52:19.719 a message to a far off land, wherever that kid 0:52:19.719 --> 0:52:24.100 ran off to, spiritually speaking. Here, of course. Could be 0:52:24.100 --> 0:52:25.700 in the same town with you. Could be right down 0:52:25.700 --> 0:52:27.899 the street but far from God. Let them know how 0:52:27.900 --> 0:52:30.339 much they you love them. But then you know what? 0:52:30.380 --> 0:52:33.980 Sometimes you gotta let them fall into the pig slop, man. 0:52:35.460 --> 0:52:38.260 Because just like you, in order to be born again, 0:52:38.260 --> 0:52:40.420 they gotta come to the end of themselves. And that 0:52:40.420 --> 0:52:44.020 son did. And he came staggering home. And dad must 0:52:44.060 --> 0:52:45.859 have gotten word because he's at the top of the 0:52:45.900 --> 0:52:48.219 pick and parking space right there at the end of 0:52:48.219 --> 0:52:49.540 the road. Right? It is. 0:52:49.940 --> 0:52:50.700 So to speak. 0:52:51.340 --> 0:52:55.700 Yeah, but he's standing right there in the driveway and 0:52:55.700 --> 0:52:58.740 he's looking down that long road. And here he sees 0:52:58.739 --> 0:53:01.060 his son. He can't take it anymore. He's like, he's 0:53:01.060 --> 0:53:04.980 he's back. I'm not enabling. This is this is helping. 0:53:05.700 --> 0:53:08.180 So he sprints down there and he grabs his son. 0:53:08.180 --> 0:53:10.860 And those guys embraced and they hugged. And the son's crying. 0:53:10.900 --> 0:53:14.540 Dad's crying the whole deal. He says get a robe, 0:53:14.540 --> 0:53:17.739 get a ring, get some sandals. Kill the fatted calf. 0:53:17.980 --> 0:53:20.969 He goes, this guy, Man, he doesn't even have shoes. 0:53:22.730 --> 0:53:26.010 It's amazing when we're far from God and he's calling 0:53:26.010 --> 0:53:31.970 us to himself. We realize I got nothing. I had 0:53:33.010 --> 0:53:37.330 or I have everything, but I've got nothing. And there's 0:53:37.330 --> 0:53:41.130 another son. And both of them are lost sons. Both 0:53:41.130 --> 0:53:44.730 of them. The other one stayed on the. He stayed 0:53:44.730 --> 0:53:49.730 on the compound. He heard word that his wayward brother 0:53:49.730 --> 0:53:51.690 was back. And he's like, what's going on? Why is 0:53:51.690 --> 0:53:54.529 the big what's the big celebration? What's going on? He goes, oh, man, 0:53:54.570 --> 0:54:01.730 your brother came home really great. That guy was always squirrelly. 0:54:03.250 --> 0:54:06.370 Now they're throwing a party for him. Dad comes out 0:54:06.370 --> 0:54:08.209 of the party and says, hey, come on into the party. 0:54:08.210 --> 0:54:12.650 He goes, hey, come on. I've been sitting here jumping 0:54:12.650 --> 0:54:16.690 through every hoop you've ever had for me and you've 0:54:16.690 --> 0:54:21.640 never given me any kind of a celebration like this. 0:54:22.600 --> 0:54:25.440 He said, listen, this, this brother of yours was he 0:54:25.440 --> 0:54:28.800 was lost, but he's been found. My son came home. 0:54:31.120 --> 0:54:36.960 Both of these young men are pictures of lostness. One 0:54:36.960 --> 0:54:39.239 a victim of his passion, the other a victim of 0:54:39.239 --> 0:54:46.080 his pride. Both totally missing it with God. That was 0:54:46.080 --> 0:54:49.200 the audience Jesus had then. That's the audience we have now. 0:54:49.200 --> 0:54:51.440 There's two things that keep you from God. Victim of 0:54:51.440 --> 0:54:54.759 your passion and a victim of your pride. And I'm 0:54:54.760 --> 0:54:57.400 asking you to humble yourself under God's mighty hand today 0:54:57.400 --> 0:54:59.520 and come home to Jesus for the first time in 0:54:59.520 --> 0:55:07.480 your life. Oh, I, I get it. You've been in church, 0:55:07.480 --> 0:55:10.200 I get it. You've been jumping through all the hoops. Yep, 0:55:10.200 --> 0:55:12.839 I get it. But you don't know Jesus personally. You're 0:55:12.840 --> 0:55:17.390 not born again. That's a problem, man. that's a problem. 0:55:19.469 --> 0:55:21.589 Do you know what really born again people do when 0:55:21.630 --> 0:55:24.390 wayward sons come back from the far off antics of 0:55:24.390 --> 0:55:30.150 the day. They celebrate because they're already in the celebration. 0:55:31.230 --> 0:55:36.350 They're there. And whether you're a victim of your passion 0:55:36.350 --> 0:55:39.470 or a victim of your pride, I'm asking you to repent. 0:55:40.950 --> 0:55:46.469 Turn around, come home or come into the party. Don't 0:55:46.469 --> 0:55:49.150 let pride or passion hold you back from life found 0:55:49.150 --> 0:55:52.950 in Jesus Christ. It ain't worth it, friend. I tried, 0:55:52.950 --> 0:55:58.430 it doesn't work. So are you a victim of your passion? 0:55:58.430 --> 0:56:00.270 You've been trying to find life in all the things 0:56:00.270 --> 0:56:07.590 that you could get. How's that working for you? Yeah, 0:56:07.590 --> 0:56:09.750 that's what I thought. It's not working. It's good when 0:56:09.750 --> 0:56:12.230 you can be honest with God and honest with yourself. Oh. 0:56:12.270 --> 0:56:19.339 That's good. Maybe you're a victim of your pride. You 0:56:19.580 --> 0:56:24.620 can't even say it. But you feel it. It's like, 0:56:24.620 --> 0:56:26.459 why isn't why aren't things going better for me? I've 0:56:26.460 --> 0:56:28.460 been doing all this and this and this, and I've 0:56:28.460 --> 0:56:30.899 been very religious, and I've been moral and I've been 0:56:30.900 --> 0:56:35.700 this and fill in the blank. Right. It's because what 0:56:35.739 --> 0:56:40.060 Jesus said is true. You must be born again. When 0:56:40.060 --> 0:56:43.660 the lost are found, it is amazing. Some of you 0:56:43.700 --> 0:56:46.940 have been so close to Jesus, but so far away. 0:56:48.860 --> 0:56:51.940 And today I'm inviting all of you to come on home. 0:56:55.100 --> 0:56:58.259 I want you to run to win. And you can 0:56:58.260 --> 0:57:00.460 only run to win when you get off the broad 0:57:00.460 --> 0:57:04.739 path that leads to destruction. And passion and pride are 0:57:04.739 --> 0:57:09.420 the two main appetites down that broad path. It's not 0:57:09.420 --> 0:57:16.170 filling you up, is it? Leaving you empty. Today is 0:57:16.170 --> 0:57:21.050 the day of salvation for you. Yes, it's for you. Say. 0:57:21.050 --> 0:57:24.930 All right, Carl, what do I gotta do? Gotta turn around. 0:57:24.930 --> 0:57:29.890 You gotta repent. You gotta surrender all your pride and 0:57:29.890 --> 0:57:32.970 all your passions. And say I'm done running from God. 0:57:33.610 --> 0:57:39.970 I'm done trying to perform for God. It's recognizing that 0:57:39.970 --> 0:57:45.690 you are missing the mark in your life. And you're 0:57:45.690 --> 0:57:53.930 just exhausted enough to say, ah, I'm done. And right now, 0:57:53.930 --> 0:57:58.770 if that's you, please don't let pride of all of 0:57:58.770 --> 0:58:02.050 what you've done in this life hold you back. Don't 0:58:02.050 --> 0:58:06.810 let the exhaustion of chasing passions think, oh, should I 0:58:06.810 --> 0:58:12.680 chase one more thing? His name is Jesus and he's 0:58:12.680 --> 0:58:15.919 running down the path to greet you. He's stepping out 0:58:15.920 --> 0:58:19.080 in the fields where you've been laboring, thinking you're doing 0:58:19.080 --> 0:58:23.560 so well. Oh, I'm so. I'm working so hard for God. 0:58:24.200 --> 0:58:27.840 I'm being so moral. And he's saying, stop this game. 0:58:28.800 --> 0:58:32.959 Give your life to me today. Turn around. Repent. And 0:58:32.960 --> 0:58:35.360 this is what you need to do right now. This 0:58:35.360 --> 0:58:38.440 is it. Are you willing to acknowledge? I'm going to 0:58:38.440 --> 0:58:40.840 ask you three questions. Are you willing to acknowledge you're 0:58:40.840 --> 0:58:49.360 a sinner who needs a savior? Yes. Good. Good. Are 0:58:49.360 --> 0:58:55.000 you at the end of yourself? And you can't do it. 0:58:55.000 --> 0:58:59.040 And you know it. All the passions you've been chasing. 0:58:59.280 --> 0:59:04.680 All the prideful moves that you've been making. It doesn't 0:59:04.720 --> 0:59:10.300 add up to anything. That's a scary place to be. 0:59:10.340 --> 0:59:12.860 If not for the love of Jesus. It says, come 0:59:12.860 --> 0:59:17.060 to me. Come on into the party. And that's what 0:59:17.100 --> 0:59:19.660 Jesus is saying to you right now. Come on into 0:59:19.660 --> 0:59:26.820 the party. Come on in. So my third question is 0:59:27.740 --> 0:59:32.540 the big one. Are you ready to repent? Turn around 0:59:33.060 --> 0:59:38.140 and head home. You know what's going to happen the 0:59:38.140 --> 0:59:42.940 minute you turn around? The arms of God are right there. Boom, boom. 0:59:44.500 --> 0:59:49.140 And you're feeling them right now. Because, see, salvation is 0:59:49.660 --> 0:59:55.780 by faith. And that not of yourselves. It's not fancy words. 0:59:55.780 --> 0:59:59.100 It's not a slick prayer. It's a heart surrendered to 0:59:59.140 --> 1:00:03.940 Jesus Christ and Him alone. He's coming back again one day. 1:00:06.530 --> 1:00:08.610 And because of what God's doing in your life today, 1:00:08.610 --> 1:00:12.210 you're going to go with them. You won't be left behind. 1:00:15.610 --> 1:00:17.850 So if that's you, I want you to get your 1:00:17.850 --> 1:00:19.610 phone out right now. I'm going to tell you where 1:00:19.650 --> 1:00:23.930 to go. We want to help you in your first 1:00:23.930 --> 1:00:26.050 steps of Jesus. I want you to text right now 1:00:26.050 --> 1:00:28.850 the word new to our number right now. Get your 1:00:28.850 --> 1:00:33.570 phone out. Let's go. If this is you, you really. 1:00:34.890 --> 1:00:36.850 All that you've got to know right now is that 1:00:36.850 --> 1:00:39.210 you are repenting of your sin. You don't need to 1:00:39.250 --> 1:00:42.210 know your next steps. Jesus will help you with that. 1:00:42.210 --> 1:00:44.570 By the power of the spirit and the love of 1:00:44.570 --> 1:00:46.690 the father. He's going to help you with that, and 1:00:46.690 --> 1:00:49.770 we're going to help you as well. But get that phone. 1:00:49.770 --> 1:00:51.810 You got it. Okay, here's what I want you to do. 1:00:51.810 --> 1:00:53.930 I want you to text the word new right now 1:00:53.970 --> 1:00:58.729 to our number here. New to 800 555 7898. I'll 1:00:58.730 --> 1:01:03.210 say that slowly. Text new. Just one word to 800 1:01:03.640 --> 1:01:08.320 Five five, five, 78, 98. It's all I want you 1:01:08.320 --> 1:01:10.840 to text. It's just that one word and we're going 1:01:10.880 --> 1:01:13.040 to send you a link. And this is really cool. 1:01:13.040 --> 1:01:16.040 It's got three embedded links in it. It's how to 1:01:16.040 --> 1:01:20.040 find a church with people that are just like me. Awesome. 1:01:20.600 --> 1:01:22.320 It's going to tell you how to find a Bible 1:01:22.320 --> 1:01:27.120 that you can actually understand. Awesome. And we're going to 1:01:27.120 --> 1:01:30.840 get your snail mail. We're going to send you one 1:01:30.840 --> 1:01:33.640 thing in snail mail. That's it, a resource that's going 1:01:33.680 --> 1:01:38.480 to help you as you walk in the power of God, 1:01:38.480 --> 1:01:41.760 to resist any temptation to try to do this walk 1:01:41.760 --> 1:01:47.040 of faith in your own strength. Because self-help never helped 1:01:47.040 --> 1:01:51.320 anyone but God can. So I want you to text 1:01:51.320 --> 1:01:54.320 the word new right now. Wherever you are, just text 1:01:54.320 --> 1:02:03.440 the word new to 800 555. 78. 98.