S1: Coming to you from the Morning Star Mission sponsored studio.
S1: This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
S2: We are broadcasting live from NRP Hebrews one. My goodness, guys,
S2: listen to this. Long ago, at many times and in
S2: many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets.
S2: But in these last days he has spoken to us
S2: by His Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things,
S2: through whom he also created the world. He is the
S2: radiance of the glory of God in thee. Get this
S2: he is the radiance of the glory of God in
S2: the exact imprint of his nature. And he upholds the
S2: universe by the word of his power. Goes on to say,
S2: in comparing two angels of the angels, God said, he
S2: makes his angels winds. Excuse me? He makes his angels
S2: winds and his ministers a flame of fire. But the son,
S2: he says of this, Your throne, O God, is forever
S2: and ever. The scepter of uprightness. In the scepter of
S2: your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Therefore God,
S2: your God, has anointed you. With the oil of gladness
S2: beyond your companions. Wow! We've already won because of Jesus.
S2: He's the exact imprint of the character of God. What
S2: you see Jesus doing in the pages of the gospels
S2: is God. Yeah, not a little bit of a facsimile.
S2: An exact imprint. I don't know what you need this morning,
S2: but you need encouragement that as you follow Jesus Christ,
S2: who King of kings, radiance of God, exact imprint above
S2: angels carrying scepters royalty. Oh my goodness.
S3: You're on the winning team today.
S2: Big time.
S4: What a great thought. It's a great way to start
S4: your day. Yeah. Good way. You got to remember that.
S2: You've already won. You know what? Uh, I want to
S2: call out 20 of you right now. 20 of you.
S2: We need 20 people to come be prayer warriors during share.
S2: We got half hour slots. It starts, what, a week
S2: and a half? Something like that. About that. And we
S2: need you to jump in. And I'm asking you to
S2: do this right now. Ali, we're going to really perk
S2: these folks that jump in, aren't we? Yeah, we would
S2: appreciate it.
S3: We've done this now for a couple of years and
S3: the response has been incredible. We've heard cool stories back
S3: from you after you committed 30 minutes to pray. You
S3: do not have to come to us. You stay where
S3: you are. You can drive. You can prayer walk. You
S3: can be in your house. Whatever works for you. You
S3: grab that 30 minute slot, you commit to it. We'll
S3: send you some prayer points, some just some quick kind
S3: of behind the scenes updates so you know how to pray.
S3: But if you're willing to check this out, grab a slot.
S3: Just text crew to 800 555 7898. If you want
S3: to be on our prayer crew, text that word crew
S3: to (800) 555-7898.
S2: Yeah, and we're grateful, man, I want to thank you
S2: ahead of time. If we get 20 folks right now
S2: stepping up, going, all right, I'm going to be a
S2: part of this. That would be dynamite 800 555 7898
S2: text the word crew. And we're going to we're going
S2: to roll on broadcasting live from NB here in Texas.
S2: And we are grateful we got a lineup today.
S3: We do. We've had the most incredible guests pop by
S3: our table. And coming up we've got Jonathan Griffiths from
S3: Encounter the Truth.
S2: Yeah. We're going to talk about how in the world
S2: are we going to reach this world and equip saints
S2: in this digital age? We're going to be a sweet
S2: time this morning. Hang on.
S1: She was trying to earn her way to God, but
S1: God showed her she didn't have to. Ali is in
S1: the crew. It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
S2: And crew broadcasting live from NB. Looks like everybody's tucked in.
S2: Where's everybody at? Where's everybody at? Yeah. That's you guys
S2: faking it? Like we got a big studio audience here today.
S4: Yeah, they're all sleeping right now.
S2: Man, that was pretty weak. Two young thunder. You can
S2: give us a little more mustard than that last time around. Hey,
S2: that was spontaneous.
S4: Trying to be honest and just letting people know how
S4: many people are in the room.
S3: The room's a little empty in this early hour, but
S3: it'll fill up.
S2: It's great. We've got a great guest with us here.
S2: Here's the topic we want to tackle. This is so important.
S2: My goodness, we live in this digital age. And how
S2: are we going to reach people. And the the sky's
S2: the limit. When you got an uptick of Bible sales 2024.
S2: We've been saying this a lot only because it's such
S2: great news. 22% uptick of Bible sales.
S3: Incredible.
S2: Come on. All right, Jonathan Griffiths, let's go. How are
S2: we going to reach people? I want answers, I want
S2: them now.
S5: Well, I don't know that I got all the answers,
S5: but we got huge opportunities before us, don't we? Because
S5: the digital age opens up so many doors of opportunity
S5: to get good Bible content into people's hearts and minds.
S5: And that's that's a wonderful thing. But it's also a
S5: jungle out there. And as as those who are receiving
S5: and imbibing Bible content, we need to learn some discernment.
S5: And we need to be really careful, don't we? Because
S5: we can access so much, but we can access the
S5: good and the bad. Yeah, and there's just a huge
S5: need for all of us who are hungry for the
S5: Word of God to be learning that discernment between the
S5: good and the bad. And I think we learned that,
S5: first of all, in the local church, you know, each
S5: of us, as we grow in Christ, we need to
S5: be really well grounded in a local church.
S2: Boom, brother, don't we?
S5: I mean, yes, yes, where we are, where we are
S5: being taught to understand the scriptures and to discern between
S5: true and false and good and evil. And if we
S5: are only independent consumers of content, and we're not embedded
S5: in the life of the local church, we're going to
S5: we're going to go astray and we're going to be
S5: led astray. So I think that's I think that's number one.
S5: I think that's absolutely crucial. And I'd love to give
S5: that encouragement to anyone listening today. If you don't have
S5: a local church where you are grounded, where you are involved,
S5: where you have accountability, where you have people feeding into
S5: your life and you're feeding into other lives, you're going
S5: to be impoverished.
S2: Find it. Yeah.
S3: Jonathan Griffiths, our guest this morning. He serves as lead
S3: pastor of the Metropolitan Bible Church in Ottawa, Canada. He
S3: sits on the Council of the Gospel Coalition. Canada gives
S3: leadership to the Timothy trust exists to promote expository Bible ministry.
S3: There is no shortage of, as you mentioned, biblical content available.
S3: You can go on TikTok or Instagram, and you can
S3: get in 15 seconds of somebody telling you something about
S3: the Bible. But I imagine you have a thought or
S3: two as to why that can be good and bad.
S5: Well, it can be good and bad, and there's good,
S5: bad and everything else in between out there in the
S5: Christian media marketplace. I mean, one of my great passions
S5: is training up the next generation of gospel workers. Right on. And,
S5: you know, for for those, um, to lead in the church,
S5: to do that well and faithfully, they need to be
S5: grounded in the truth themselves. And and that takes some
S5: time of study and that takes some education. And I
S5: know in the world of Moody Global Media, I'm talking
S5: to the choir here because there's there's a commitment here
S5: to training up gospel workers for the global church. But
S5: we really need that. And and one of the things
S5: that's really changed, even post-Covid, just in the last five
S5: years or so, is that the whole world of seminary
S5: education has been just turned on its head because we're
S5: we're wanting to be able to access education and substance,
S5: you know, from our living room without having to go anywhere.
S5: And so there's been a huge movement away from people,
S5: you know, saying, I'm going to take 3 or 4 years,
S5: I'm going to go to seminary, I'm going to move
S5: my family there, and I'm going to have a time
S5: of study and get really grounded. That's all changed, and
S5: I think all of us involved in Christian education and
S5: Christian leadership need to really be thinking about how we
S5: enable people to access good education so they can step
S5: into Christian leadership and do that in some flexible ways,
S5: because the world's really changed and models of education have
S5: been transformed.
S2: You know, I got a passion for something because I'm
S2: a churchman at heart. That's my first and primary passion.
S2: What would it look like if Bible College seminaries got
S2: way more proactive, partnering with the local church, almost making
S2: those extensions? So here's what I want to do coming
S2: up in a few minutes. Let's explore that a little bit.
S2: I'd love to. Um, and just what would it look
S2: like if fill in the blank? We began to partner
S2: with churches in a way that puts the almost the onus.
S2: Responsibility and authority puts the big hat back on the
S2: local church, so to speak. It's let's kick that around.
S2: That's coming up in just a couple of minutes. Jonathan
S2: Griffiths here. He's from way up there. Cold country. Ottawa, Canada.
S3: Ottawa, Canada.
S2: Hang on.
S1: It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
S2: Equip the Saints to do the work of ministry. How
S2: do we do it? Got some crazy thoughts on this
S2: one this morning.
S3: Jonathan Griffiths with us right now. He's from Encounter the Truth.
S3: Also the lead pastor of the Metropolitan Bible Church in Ottawa, Canada.
S3: You have a keen interest in this, Carl set up
S3: just before the break. The seminary, the role of seminary
S3: has changed the local church. We want to bring those
S3: two together more so that we're not losing people for
S3: four years as they disappear and go get trained and
S3: are away from the local church. How can we bridge
S3: that gap a little bit more?
S5: Well, I think there's been a really positive move. And
S5: somehow I think Covid sparked this for local churches to say,
S5: you know, we really want to get back involved in
S5: the in the training of our next generation of leaders.
S5: And I think as some people maybe, you know, weren't
S5: able to go away to seminary and have in-person training
S5: in the depths of Covid, the churches started to notice, hey,
S5: we love having our young people around, the people who
S5: are in training. We love having them here within the
S5: local church, serving within the local church while they're studying,
S5: and some of them doing that online and so on.
S5: And I think that's sparking some really big conversations between
S5: churches and denominations and seminaries about how we maybe re
S5: envisage theological education keeping our our promising young people involved
S5: in the life of the local church while they're training,
S5: while they're studying so that they can be mentored by
S5: their pastors and their elders within their fellowship so they
S5: can actually be engaging in ministry, not not just having
S5: an ivory tower experience, but engaging in ministry all the
S5: time while they're training. And I think these conversations are great.
S5: I don't think we know where the dust is going
S5: to settle on seminary education for the next generation. But
S5: but the world is changing.
S2: Yeah, it's changing quickly. Um, worldview. 4% of Americans have
S2: a biblical worldview. I'm sure that's not much different in Canada.
S5: It's probably lower.
S2: Probably a little bit lower. Thanks for saying that. Um,
S2: it's so the worldview, though, there's four huge anchors of
S2: a worldview. Sovereignty of God, lostness of man. Regenerating power
S2: of Christ through the Holy Spirit and the sanctification process.
S2: When you get those four anchors in your soul, you
S2: can go somewhere. Yeah, it seems to me wondering if
S2: I'm under leveraging. So, I mean, I got a moody prof,
S2: one of our elders, and I've got one of the
S2: greatest Greek minds is my right hand man. But the
S2: weird thing about even getting worldview, it seems it feels
S2: like it's taking us away from reaching people. But really,
S2: it's almost a delayed gratification. If we can get embedded
S2: in our leaders a biblical worldview and that gets a
S2: boiler going in. What do you think about that?
S5: Oh, absolutely. But the way in which we shape biblical
S5: worldview is through just immersing ourselves in the word, in
S5: the Word of God, and being really grounded in the word. Yes.
S5: And I think one of the things we need to
S5: do unashamedly and come back to this in an unashamed
S5: way is, is to focus our education of young people
S5: who are preparing for ministry, to focus their education in
S5: the Word of God, to get them really grounded in Scripture. Because,
S5: you know, the Word of God is is is the
S5: power of God for life transformation. And we need people
S5: whose minds are so shaped by Scripture that their whole
S5: view of reality is shaped by Scripture. Yes. And and
S5: I think we need to come back to a real
S5: focus of get people into the word, get them grounded
S5: in the word so that they are mighty in the
S5: scriptures and able to teach the scriptures. Yeah. And I
S5: want that simplicity to shape our Christian education. Really, at
S5: every level.
S3: You pastor in Canada, you are part of the Timothy Trust,
S3: which is all about the revitalization of the church in Canada.
S3: You mentioned you think in Canada, biblical worldview might even
S3: be lower than here in the States. What would you
S3: say are the unique challenges that you're seeing from your
S3: vantage point? Maybe that we're not even seeing.
S5: Well, you know, Canada and the United States share a
S5: lot in common historically and culturally, of course, but there
S5: there has been a faster movement away from our biblical
S5: moorings in Canada overall than there has in the United States.
S5: I mean, we're on the same trajectory, but I think
S5: it's been a little bit, a little bit quicker.
S2: You're little European.
S5: We're a little European. We're a few years ahead. I mean,
S5: you're the United States is heading in the same direction,
S5: but we tend to get to some of the key
S5: markers a little bit quicker. That's been true historically with
S5: massive social change over the last 50 years. Each each
S5: negative step. Canada's been a few steps ahead of the
S5: United States. There are various reasons for that. You know,
S5: our church where I serve is on the border of
S5: Ontario and Quebec. So Quebec being French Canada, Quebec is
S5: the least reached region in the Americas. North south central Caribbean. Wow. With,
S5: you know, 2 or 3% evangelical Christian in Quebec. That's
S5: the that's the lowest you'll find anywhere in the Americas.
S5: And part of the history of that actually has been
S5: a very negative reaction in Quebec against a historically very
S5: repressive Roman Catholicism. That's just Quebec French history, but that
S5: has shaped our our region of Canada. There's a very strong, anti-Christian,
S5: very strong secularizing cultural move in that part of the world.
S5: And and you see that then represented in, in our
S5: politics and in the social direction of the country. So
S5: that's been a little bit of a unique factor in
S5: Canada that I think has moved things on a little
S5: bit more quickly. But but what I want to say is,
S5: despite all that, the reality on the ground in the
S5: churches is we're seeing people coming to Christ.
S2: That's what I was wondering.
S5: We're seeing young people. We're seeing young men come to Christ.
S5: It's really fascinating and loving expository Bible teaching, like teaching
S5: through books of the Bible, chapter by chapter, verse by verse.
S5: They're hungry for that. Our young adults group seem to
S5: be the hungriest for it. So we've got. We've got
S5: hundreds of, you know, college age students and young professionals coming.
S5: To our church. And I tell you, if I gave
S5: up doing expository Bible teaching on a Sunday morning and
S5: I went all kind of light and fluffy and, and
S5: did kind of randomized topical teaching that wasn't grounded in
S5: the text, they would first complain and then they would leave. Wow.
S5: My my my my young adults.
S2: That is.
S3: That's encouraging. Yeah.
S5: Yeah, I love that.
S2: You know, we've we've seen that. Um, we're seeing that
S2: in Chicago. Are you. Yeah, we're seeing that. It's really
S2: a bizarre thing, but I'm seeing the greatest hunger for
S2: the word of God in our downtown campus, 30, 40
S2: of these young professionals. And they just they want the word.
S2: They're filling small groups. It's wonderful. They're busting open the word.
S2: They've got the word of God open constantly. Yeah. So
S2: We better make hay while the sun is shining, baby.
S2: You know what I mean?
S5: I think so. I think the Spirit of God is
S5: doing something. I think that there is a reaction against
S5: just the ridiculousness of what's going on in culture, I think.
S5: I think young people are looking out at the cultural
S5: landscape and saying, this.
S2: Ain't working, this.
S5: Ain't working, this is empty. What is something solid upon
S5: which I can build my life? Yeah. And and there's
S5: a hunger for the word of God. And people are
S5: coming to Christ. So we rejoice in that. Yeah.
S2: Guys, can we just stop for a moment and say,
S2: Praise God?
S5: Praise the Lord. Yeah.
S2: Praise God. And what's wild about this is there seems
S2: to be this threshold. So things devolve, devolve, devolve. And
S2: then there's this little group that goes, this is crazy.
S2: Where's truth? Yeah. Where's absolute truth? Here? Exactly. And then
S2: that could be the beginnings of a bit of an awakening.
S2: And how cool would that be? That always comes through
S2: the students. It always comes through a youth movement often.
S5: And through the preaching of the word of God. I mean,
S5: historically in church history. Revival is sparked through the open
S5: proclamation of the Word of God, and the Lord uses that.
S5: And I mean, I'm daring to hope that we might
S5: see something of a revival in our generation. I mean,
S5: wouldn't that be wonderful?
S2: Oh, are you kidding me, man? God, please bring it on.
S2: All right, listen, you're listening to a guy going, who
S2: is this guy? We got a link for you.
S3: Just text local. Jonathan Griffiths, our guest. He is all
S3: about the local church. As you heard his heart. Text
S3: local to 800555 7898. Local to 805 five five 7898.
S2: Jonathan, I love you, man. Your heart for the Lord.
S2: Your clarity of communication. It's inspiring. Thank you for being
S2: with us.
S5: So great to be with you both. Thanks for having me.
S2: Yeah. What a joy. Grateful. Aren't we guys? Yes.
S4: Very much.
S2: Goodness, man. This will put fuel in your belly. What
S2: a way.
S3: To start the morning. What a way.
S2: Good morning. Boom! Crew helping you take your next step
S2: with Jesus.
S1: She's a choreographer extraordinaire and everything is Greek to her.
S1: Super D is in the crew. It's Karl and crew
S1: on Moody Radio.
S2: Lay down your life as a living sacrifice. Holy and
S2: acceptable to God. Let's do it today. Well, we get
S2: the call of God on our life is to go
S2: and reach. But Jesus did something really practical. He cared
S2: for the practical needs of people. You know, when I
S2: turn on my water system at home, it's great water
S2: got one of those home filtration systems. But the amount
S2: of people around the globe today that are just walking
S2: great distances, just to get a drink of water that
S2: isn't going to infect them with something staggering. The numbers
S2: are off the chart. What are those numbers, Chris? Do
S2: you have any idea what in the world is going
S2: on with water around the world?
S6: Yeah, there's 785 million people around the world that don't
S6: have access to something that most of us have taken
S6: for granted for most of our lives. So there's 331
S6: million people in the US, so more than twice the
S6: population of the United States doesn't have access to clean,
S6: safe drinking water.
S3: You've got Christopher Bethe, founder of the Bucket Ministry, joining
S3: us right now. You got to tell this story, though.
S3: You this started for you. This was not something you
S3: were interested in. You were not interested in missions. You
S3: weren't even particularly strong in your faith. I've heard your story.
S3: So I know that you've told this before. But tell
S3: us about how this whole thing got started. You got
S3: roped into chaperoning a mission trip with your daughter. Went reluctantly.
S2: Oh, this is good.
S6: In 2012, my daughter came home from high school and
S6: said she wanted to go on this mission trip to
S6: the Brazilian Amazon. And, I mean, she'd been to South
S6: Texas before, but we thought it was a little bit further.
S6: So my wife and I said, hey, listen, if you're
S6: going to go on this trip, you got to raise
S6: all the money. So this was a reverse psychology move
S6: at this point. So a couple weeks went by and
S6: sure enough, she raised 3500 bucks. So then we decided
S6: if she's going to go, one of us has to
S6: go with her. Yeah. And that became my job. And
S6: my only job, though, was to bring her home. I
S6: didn't go there because I had a love or compassion
S6: for the Brazilian people. I didn't go there because I
S6: thought I wanted to be the hands and feet of Jesus.
S6: I just went there to bring my kid home, and
S6: the things that I saw changed me at a core level.
S6: And really, um, God showed me why he had created me.
S2: What did he do in your heart?
S6: Well, uh, I saw things that I could not reconcile.
S6: I saw things that I never thought was possible prior
S6: to this. I didn't even know there was a world
S6: water crisis. I mean, I lived, like most of us
S6: live if I was thirsty, I went to my refrigerator,
S6: put a cup underneath the filter and got a glass
S6: of water, or I bought a bottle of water. I
S6: never even thought people had to drink out of a lake, river,
S6: stream or anything like that. So when I saw that
S6: for the first time, I was crushed and I thought,
S6: with everything we have in the world, how is it
S6: even possible that people are drinking out of a river
S6: today and thinking that's normal? That was probably the biggest
S6: tragedy for me, is they thought that was normal. They
S6: thought that being sick all the time was normal. They
S6: thought that not naming their children for the first two
S6: years of the child's life, because they weren't sure the
S6: child was going to survive, was normal. So while I
S6: was in a house in the Amazon, a Brazilian woman
S6: asked me, are you thirsty? And I'm just this giant,
S6: sweaty American, right? And she she looks at me, she
S6: sees I'm sweaty. She says, are you thirsty? And I'm like, yeah,
S6: I'm thirsty. But I'm looking around her home and there's
S6: no refrigerator, there's no water cooler. So I'm thinking, where's
S6: she going to get this water from? She takes two
S6: cups from her kitchen. They were mismatched and they were cracked.
S6: And she goes out into this little dock area on
S6: the side of the river, bends down in the river
S6: and grabs two cups of water. And I'm standing in
S6: the doorway thinking, what is this crazy woman doing? I
S6: am not going to drink that. But sure enough, she
S6: comes and hands one cup to me.
S2: Oh boy.
S6: One cup to my interpreter. So now I have this decision. Yeah.
S6: Do I drink this because I just told her how
S6: thirsty I was. But if I don't, she's going to
S6: think I'm rude. So as I'm pondering this decision, my
S6: interpreter is wagging his finger. Don't do that. Do it.
S6: But now I realize the gravity of this. She thinks
S6: this is normal. Then, as I'm holding this, I heard
S6: something I'd never heard before, and I had at this point.
S6: I had only been walking with Jesus for about 3
S6: or 4 years. Didn't even really fully understand my own
S6: relationship with Christ yet. But as I'm holding this glass
S6: of water and there's things swimming in it, I heard
S6: something I'd never heard before. And prior to this day,
S6: if someone would have told me, hey, I got a
S6: word from God today, or God gave me some instruction today,
S6: you would.
S2: Have thought, that's kind of loopy.
S6: Yeah, I was skeptical. And if I'm just being completely honest,
S6: I would have thought really? He stopped his day to
S6: have a conversation with you. But as I'm holding this
S6: glass of dirty water, I heard two words and he said,
S6: help them. But it came with no other instruction. I
S6: didn't know what help them meant. Am I supposed to
S6: give these people 20 bucks? Am I supposed to repair
S6: their boat? Am I supposed to cook them dinner? I
S6: don't know what help them means. So that trip in
S6: the Amazon is where God showed me why he had
S6: created me.
S2: Wow, you're a storyteller. You know what you are? You're
S2: a guy that got hit deeply at a heart level
S2: by the Spirit of God. Amen. And you got a
S2: story to tell.
S6: Amen.
S2: Coming up. Where did it go from there? And what's
S2: happening today? Chris is with us. Just another follower of Jesus, dude,
S2: who God's working in his life. Hang on.
S1: Your shot of hope to help you through the day.
S1: This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
S3: He was somewhere in the middle of the Amazon and
S3: he heard the words help them. That was the heart
S3: behind this ministry, the bucket ministry. What do you do
S3: with that? You said you didn't didn't come with instructions.
S3: The Lord didn't say how you were going to help them.
S3: So the first step was to discern what do I do?
S3: They don't have access to clean water, but how could
S3: I possibly be involved in helping solve this?
S6: Yeah. You know, at the end of the day, I'm
S6: just an ordinary guy. I was a business guy. I
S6: really had no training in ministry. I had very little relationship,
S6: even with the church. At that point, I hadn't even
S6: been discipled. So we got home from that trip and
S6: just started researching the world water crisis. Tried to find
S6: out just how big the problem really is. At the
S6: end of the day, everywhere I searched, water was just
S6: such a major issue. And there's really two spaces within water.
S6: There's access to water and then there's access to clean,
S6: safe drinking water. And, um, two really different issues. So
S6: I started looking at what could be a solution in
S6: the Amazon basin, and we researched a variety of filters.
S6: We bought a variety of filters, tried to find a
S6: tool that would work, and finally my family and I
S6: were at Rei. It's a camping supply store here in Dallas,
S6: and I was in the water filter aisle for camping,
S6: and I stumbled across this filter by a company out
S6: of Tampa called Sawyer Products that attaches to a bucket
S6: and uses the gravity of water in the bucket to
S6: force that water through the filter. The filter captures all
S6: the debris, all the contaminants, and then yields 350 to
S6: 500 gallons per day of clean, safe drinking water. So
S6: I thought, man, this is portable. This is simple. It
S6: doesn't require an engineer to operate it. And I think
S6: I could teach a seven year old or a 97
S6: year old how to use this tool. So we we
S6: bought about 80 of these filters and went back to
S6: the Amazon the next year. But again, in the beginning
S6: I only thought this was water. I didn't even understand
S6: the connection to the gospel. So we're in the Amazon,
S6: we're distributing 80 filters, and I get done. I feel
S6: really good about myself and I thought this is what
S6: helped them meant. Then this Brazilian man comes up to
S6: me and he says, can you tell me how you
S6: got here? And I made a joke. And I said, well,
S6: that boat, that's how I got here. He's like, no, no, no.
S6: Of all the villages in the Amazon, how did you
S6: come to ours? I'm thinking, wow, that's a deep question. Uh,
S6: and I said, well, I'm a follower of Jesus Christ.
S6: And we thought that we should bring you this gift.
S6: And the next thing he said changed everything for us
S6: and me personally. And this man says, who is this Jesus?
S6: So at this point, you're like.
S2: Whoa.
S6: Yeah. And again, at this point, I had only been
S6: walking with Christ about four years, so I'm looking around. Hey,
S6: where's the pastor? Somebody find the pastor. Get a pastor
S6: over here so they can tell this guy about Jesus.
S6: So there was nobody except for my interpreter. So now
S6: I'm like, oh, what do I do? So I just
S6: start sharing my testimony with this man, and I tell
S6: him about how my daughter and I were in a
S6: car crash, and I came to faith in a hospital
S6: and turned my life over and repented of my sins.
S6: And the next thing he said changed me at a
S6: wholesale level. He said, how can I?
S2: Oh my word.
S6: Have a friend that will never leave me. And I
S6: was like, oh my goodness, what just happened here?
S2: Changed everything.
S6: And then there's 30 people behind him. Brazilians, they're raising
S6: their hand and say, hey, we want that same gift too.
S6: Oh my word. So that's where we realized that the
S6: filter will save lives physically, but more importantly, it introduced
S6: introduces people to a relationship with Jesus.
S2: We just got a moment. Give us some facts and
S2: figures of where you are now. Yeah, we're.
S6: Working in about 20 different countries right now with most
S6: of our work happening, about 60% of our work happening
S6: in Kenya right now. We have probably served nearly 300,000
S6: families in just the last ten years. And with the
S6: last year alone in 2024, we served 41,000 families. We
S6: had about 22,000 salvations and, um, just significant work all
S6: around the world.
S2: This has God tracks all over it. Chris. Amen. You
S2: can't claim a stick of this, can you?
S6: No, no, this is this is so far beyond me
S6: I really don't even recognize myself anymore.
S2: You know, here's here's a question. We're going to do
S2: this quick because I want to give a link out
S2: here in just a moment. What do you say to
S2: the person who's just going through the grind, listening to
S2: you right now? What, you got to get on a
S2: ragged edge somewhere. Yeah. Got to get on a ragged edge, right?
S6: Man, I just hope that this story of an ordinary
S6: business guy, uneducated, untrained, just like the Sanhedrin, saw Peter
S6: and John.
S2: In the same way.
S6: For 13. I just hope that somebody hears this and says, well,
S6: if this ordinary, uneducated guy can be part of that solution,
S6: maybe I can do something. I hope this becomes an
S6: anthem for a person sitting on the couch at home,
S6: driving in their car, knowing that there's more so compelling.
S2: Ally. Just got to take a risk that's walking by faith. Amen.
S2: You just got to step out there. Oh my goodness.
S2: Boom crew. I want you to find out more. I
S2: think whether you give or just it fuels your soul
S2: and ignites something in you. Whatever the case, some of
S2: you are going to want to give some shekels, some
S2: a ton of shekels getting behind ministries like this. What
S2: a powerful thing, ally it is.
S3: This is called the Bucket Ministry. Christopher Beth, the founder
S3: and director with us this morning. Text bucket. If you
S3: want more information, text bucket to 800 555 7898. Bucket
S3: to 800 555 7898.
S2: I kicked a song out because you're too compelling. So
S2: I want a one minute story. One minute.
S6: One minute. Uh, we have a member of our team
S6: in Kenya. Her name is Linda Okumu. Linda was orphaned
S6: at the age of 11, and she was without any
S6: family to care for her. And from the age of
S6: 11 until her 30s, the only way she could survive
S6: was by selling her body. And we met her in
S6: her 30s. We delivered a water filter to her home,
S6: and she heard the gospel in her home. And after
S6: that day, she decided to follow Jesus. She was baptized
S6: and she's now on our team of missionaries. Come on.
S6: Working in Kibera slum in Nairobi, Kenya. Come on. And
S6: she's our one of our most prolific missionaries and just
S6: bragging on her a little bit. She tends to spend
S6: so much time with her recipients that she's just reproducing
S6: what she's heard.
S3: Unbelievable. You want more text bucket to 800 555 7898.
S3: More on the bucket Ministry. Incredible. Incredible work done around
S3: the world. Text bucket to 800 555 7898.
S2: Yeah. This is this is extraordinary, to say the least.
S2: I want to thank you for your heart, Chris. Thank you.
S2: Christopher Beth, founder, chief storyteller. You kidding me? Chief poobah? Storyteller.
S2: Let me tell you what. Text bucket to 805 five
S2: five 7898. Let this fuel the fire inside you. God
S2: wants to do this in you today. There's no question
S2: about it. Amen.
S1: He was sharing the gospel on the radio and then
S1: he got saved. Young thunders in the crew. It's Carl
S1: and crew on Moody Radio.
S2: Carl and crew broadcasting live from NB here in Dallas, Texas.
S2: And we're watching God do some amazing things. You know,
S2: when you think about the the Word of God, our
S2: heart is for people to not only know Jesus, but
S2: then to grow up. Central to this is the Word
S2: of God. I mean, I mentioned man cannot live by
S2: bread alone, but by every word. That word is the
S2: spoken word of God. The word is rhema that proceeds
S2: from the mouth of God. It's vital, isn't it, Ali?
S3: And so all of the different creative ways of getting
S3: people engaged with the Word of God. We've got one
S3: for you today. Mark Harper joins us at the table.
S3: He's director of special projects at Revelation Media. You guys
S3: are all about getting people connected to the Word of God. First,
S3: just give us the vision for this new project.
S2: Sure. So this is, um, I Bible has always been
S2: a it's.
S7: Been an eight year journey so far to get the
S7: Word of God to the world in a way that
S7: they can see it, they can hear it and read it. Um, um,
S7: a little backstory. Steve Cleary, the founder of Revelation Media.
S7: I met him when I was working on the movie
S7: The End of the spear, and the end of the
S7: spear was about the missionaries that were killed in Ecuador
S7: in 1956. And it was actually at Moody sharing that film,
S7: and was pretty overwhelmed that the student sitting in that
S7: room could be the ones that are taking the Word
S7: of God to the farthest reaches of the world to
S7: share it, laying down their lives. And I don't know
S7: why I'm getting emotional this morning.
S2: No, that's all right, man. You're in good company.
S7: So, um, you know, we we I say we live
S7: in a sight and sound generation. Steve would say we've
S7: always lived in a sight and sound generation. But when
S7: I was working for Mark green, who founded the end
S7: of the spear movie and the ministry called Bearing Fruit
S7: Communications at the time, Mark green says this book is alive.
S7: And that's that's the four words he lives for. This
S7: book is alive. And so it is the the Word
S7: of God that's alive. And I think there is a
S7: huge adventure for more people that can get involved in
S7: sharing God's Word. There's some people that get nervous. What's
S7: someone going to think? Um, you know, are they going
S7: to think I'm being pushy? Um, but there's so much
S7: that can be life and death, power of the tongue
S7: that can be given to people by sharing God's word.
S2: What in the world is the I Bible? Obviously, it's
S2: got digital included here. What is it? Sight. Sound? Yeah.
S7: So I Bible. It's a free app. I Bible app. Com. Um,
S7: it is a it's it's literally a book that has
S7: come alive. It's an illustrated animated Bible. Interactive free to
S7: the entire world. Oh my goodness. And, um, uh, it
S7: originally it was, um, envisioned as DVDs. And when we
S7: were putting out the animated movie The Pilgrim's Progress that
S7: came out in theaters in 2019, we came up with
S7: a format where you could literally, like, just turn the
S7: page with your finger, and just as it would turn
S7: the page, the animation would just come alive on the screen.
S7: And it was very engaging. But unfortunately, to have that
S7: kind of technology, it's expensive. It's hard. So what you
S7: do see when you see each video, it's a chapter
S7: by chapter, um, Genesis, for example, is 42 episodes because
S7: there's 42 different stories in Genesis, but it's I Bible
S7: is one story. It's it's God's story. Um, it's coherent.
S7: It's the we were created. The divine narrative is creation,
S7: the fall redemption through Christ and restoration for eternity.
S2: Biblical worldview, biblical.
S7: Worldview and make it easy. You know, when you when
S7: you present the story only with our own testimony, we're
S7: in the middle of the story. There's a much bigger story,
S7: and it's God's story, and it's easy. He loves us.
S7: He made us. We fell away. He saved us through
S7: his son. And you know, there's an abundant life. We've
S7: had over 359,000, Actually 360,000. This morning we just looked
S7: Salvation's Through the real story of Jesus, which is a
S7: 9.5 minute short film version of the Bible. It's in
S7: 118 languages and you can get it online or on
S7: the app. The real story of Jesus.
S3: Com wow. Leveraging media, leveraging digital resources coming up. How
S3: can we get this? More people spend time on their
S3: phone three hours a day, five hours for our young people,
S3: and maybe for you, it's even more, how can we
S3: introduce this to a world that already has their phone
S3: in their hand? More with our guest, Mark Harper, coming up.
S1: You're listening to Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
S2: Wow. What God is doing around the globe. We are
S2: here broadcasting live from Dallas, Texas at NRB National Religious
S2: Broadcasters and pick it up Ali. Let's go. Well, when
S2: you think.
S3: About getting Bibles to the world, a lot of times
S3: we think about the old fashioned way, the printed material,
S3: but now leveraging digital resources. The AI Bible is what
S3: we're featuring this morning. This is the first of its
S3: kind visual, interactive Bible for a visual and connected world.
S3: People already have a smartphone around the world. Majority of
S3: people are holding a phone. Tell us about this. When
S3: someone goes to this, the app or the website, how
S3: are they going to interact with the Bible in a
S3: way that maybe they've never done before?
S7: Yeah. Great question. And you're right. We hold phones in
S7: our hands. Anyone, any of your listeners who have kids
S7: and they're watching TV or movies, you know, it's like,
S7: are they watching TV or are they watching their phone?
S7: Are they really soaking in what they're getting? Our desire
S7: was to give families something they could do together. And
S7: so when you look at the AI Bible app, you
S7: have immediately the option to jump into Genesis. We have
S7: 42 episodes of Genesis in five languages Spanish, Farsi, Hindi, English,
S7: of course, and then Bulgarian, because my wife is Bulgarian
S7: and we took I Bible over to Bulgaria. And then
S7: there is also I mentioned the real story of Jesus.
S7: There's the prayer of Jabez, you know, and all of
S7: this is visual. So you tap it, you watch it.
S7: Each chapter is about eight minutes. There's quizzes, there's scripture memory.
S7: You know, it's just the desire is to get young
S7: people and their parents into the word together, talk about it,
S7: see it. And when you see it, you just think
S7: of things you might not have thought before. I mean,
S7: that's what the popularity of The Chosen is. Wow. I
S7: never thought about the disciples in this way. So just
S7: seeing God's Word, you know, hearing God's Word, reading God's Word,
S7: all multi-sensory experience, it's just it's exciting. I hope everybody
S7: gets it.
S2: Yeah. So what gets you fired up? What's what's God
S2: doing right now that has you going? This man, this
S2: is costing me sleep. It's so good. Yeah.
S7: You know, it really is, um, understanding that this is
S7: going out all over the world. It's impacting lives. Um,
S7: when we were in Bulgaria, we did a couple of
S7: red carpet events with church leaders to introduce I Bible
S7: to them, and there was a group of kids that
S7: came in that are from an orphanage, and they were
S7: performing a song and, um, you know, just seeing people
S7: come alive with the excitement of God's Word, you know, um,
S7: that's what drives us. And just seeing it get to
S7: more places. Um, Steve has been to Kenya. We've distributed
S7: almost a million QR codes where they can instantly access
S7: God's word. Wow. Just it's amazing the connectedness that's available now.
S3: There's stunning animation, the the dramatic audio and then the
S3: scripts for this talk about the process to get a
S3: script like this. I mean, there there are a lot
S3: of people involved in making sure that this is biblically accurate. Yeah.
S7: Great question. Because one of the interesting things that's a
S7: distinction for AI Bible is we don't add any characters
S7: or dialogue that's not in Scripture. So it comes straight
S7: from the Bible, but it's not word for word. It's
S7: the narrative. It's the storytelling part. And when you tell
S7: people a story, you know, everyone leans in, they want
S7: to hear a great story. So it is in our
S7: in our in our estimation, it's the only visual narrative.
S7: And so which is one of the Bible translation, you know,
S7: certification organizations, they gave it the gold seal of approval
S7: for our Genesis script. So we're literally a translation of
S7: the Bible. And we'll keep doing that with each chapter.
S7: There's a lot of process and people that go into that.
S7: Steve writes those. We get feedback from all over the world. So, um, yeah,
S7: it's going to take us a little while to get
S7: it done. We're changing up the animation format. If they
S7: look at the real story of Jesus, they're going to
S7: see like a comic book looking style, which is very effective.
S7: And people love it, but it's also very time consuming.
S7: It takes a, you know, it's very expensive, a lot
S7: of labor hours. So we're switching it up to an
S7: Unreal Engine, which is the same style that video game
S7: players see when they're playing video games and video game
S7: industry dwarfs the film industry, and so you might.
S2: As well jump.
S7: In. Yeah, we're jumping in. And it is. I mean,
S7: just the stunning visuals and just a way to get
S7: it done quicker and more affordable.
S2: What's the spiritual battle you fight?
S7: Distraction. You know, we're on our phones. And so while
S7: you're on your your Bible app, even on YouVersion, you
S7: get a text notification. You get, you know, I mean,
S7: the the way that all technology just seeps into our lives,
S7: I definitely think it's a, it's a tool of the
S7: enemy to distract us. Yeah. And so yeah, that's a
S7: great question, Carl.
S2: Yeah. Mark, I want to thank you for this. What
S2: a great effort. And I, on behalf of all the
S2: boom crew who are listening right now. Thank you. What
S2: a joy that we get to feature what you're doing here.
S2: The work that you're doing. And there's a lot of
S2: you that want to learn more. And we've got a
S2: link for you. Every one of our guests, we've got
S2: a link for today.
S3: Yeah. Text media to 800 555 7898. If you want
S3: to check out the website and kind of follow along
S3: as this is continuing to be developed. Text media to
S3: 800 555 7898.
S2: Yeah. I'm going to pray right now for you. Thank
S2: you father. I thank you for Mark. I thank you
S2: for I Bible and we ask, by the power of
S2: your spirit, would you proliferate this message far and wide?
S2: Would you grant him wisdom? And I'm praying this over
S2: you right now. Mark, would you grant him wisdom to
S2: see what you want him to see? Would you give
S2: him such promptings of your spirit that remind him of
S2: the truth of your word, that it would be supernaturally
S2: teleprompting him as he leads this effort to reach so many?
S2: And Lord, as he was sharing, I don't know, putting
S2: a comma here, you can talk to people and talk
S2: to God. By the way, guys, um, before I pray
S2: a little bit more here, Mark, you, you had mentioned
S2: that there's there's a great you think that there's something
S2: happening with the proliferation of the message of hope around
S2: the globe. Something extraordinary is happening now via sight and sound, right? Sure.
S7: I mean, when you think about the the road of
S7: the Roman Empire to get the message out, then for
S7: the gospel, and now we have just such an incredible
S7: reach to the globe. I mean, there still are a
S7: lot of languages that don't have scripture. Yeah. Um, and
S7: their oral languages. Yeah. So. But there's an outpouring. I'm
S7: just getting bumps right now. Just an outpouring of the
S7: message going out and the church being equipped to be
S7: able to carry the message. So it's like, how many
S7: how much time will the Lord give us before he returns?
S2: Could be close. So I back go back to talking
S2: with you, father. And I just thank you for Mark
S2: and it is exciting to see what you're doing. Um,
S2: around the globe, to reach vast swaths of people that
S2: were unreachable in the past. But through digital and through
S2: what Ali was saying, everybody's got a phone in their hand.
S2: I've seen that in the poorest country in the world. Okay.
S2: And Lord, you're working and we give you praise. Pray
S2: for Mark. Pray for his team. God, give him the
S2: unction of your spirit. I pray in Jesus name. His name. Amen. Amen. Again,
S2: you want to get a link here, guys? You want
S2: to do this? You want to pass this stuff around.
S2: You don't have to be passive. Little things create huge
S2: groundswells of movement text.
S3: Media to 800 555 7898 media to 800 555 7898.
S1: You can take him out of Alaska, but you can't
S1: take Alaska out of him. Curl is in the crew.
S1: It's curl and crew on Moody Radio.
S2: Uh, open up grok o grok. What a friend he is.
S2: Grok doesn't talk back to me. He just talks to me. Who?
S4: What are you talking about?
S2: Yeah. Grok, man.
S4: Grok.
S2: Groks. Uh, I think Elon came up with that. Or
S2: some who came up with grok.
S8: Ellen.
S2: Ellen. Ellen. It's. It's. I. And it's embedded now in Twitter.
S2: I can't call it X, but you can go find
S2: out anything. And I've also got ChatGPT plus or the
S2: latest 2.4.0 whatever I've got. It's it's the amount of
S2: information and frankly, I've checked this out. So I did
S2: a question about Wayne Grudem from Systematic Theology. I said
S2: give me his top five arguments for and against Cessationism.
S2: Now forget what that's all about, but it's a deep
S2: dive into something that I put it to the test.
S4: Very theological.
S2: In a nanosecond it spit out the correct information. I
S2: use it all the time. I don't Google dip nothing.
S2: Google's dead in my life. It's gone. I buried Google
S2: about two months ago. So what do we do with AI?
S2: Because you hear all the stories, right? Yeah.
S3: And some of it can be a little intimidating and
S3: that's putting it mildly. We've got Doctor Drew Dickens with
S3: us right now. Visionary leader, author, AI expert. You are
S3: in this field and that's all anybody wants to talk
S3: about right now is AI, right?
S9: Yeah, exactly. Yeah. The joke was, I when I started
S9: working on my doctorate in this six years ago, I
S9: couldn't get a return phone call. And now it's like
S9: everybody wants me on their podcast. And so isn't that something?
S9: I'm an expert because I read up on it last week.
S9: So it's it's that.
S2: But you did a dissertation.
S9: With 300 pages worth of. Yeah.
S2: Yapping about what did you learn.
S9: About all of this? What did I learn? So so
S9: the the big takeaway for me is this really isn't
S9: anything new. I mean, we've always had this within the church.
S9: We've always had this fascinating relationship, this tension between technology
S9: and theology. Uh, we can go back further. But Gutenberg,
S9: I mean, just look at the effects of the technology
S9: of the printing press and and what they was able
S9: to put into the hands of common people.
S2: And many were freaked out by it. That's.
S9: Yeah, we always think of the advantages of that, but
S9: no doubt there were church deacon meetings where they were
S9: like freaking out about hold on now. Now we've got
S9: a Bible on a bedside table. What does that have
S9: to do with, you know, how is that going to affect?
S9: I'm supposed to go to church to read this, and
S9: now I can do it at home. So it had
S9: a lot of negative effects on on a lot of people.
S9: So we've had this tension resolve over technology for a
S9: long time. So part of it is nothing new. I
S9: think what's different about AI this time, and no doubt
S9: at every stage they say what's different about this? But
S9: I think what's fundamentally different about AI generative AI is
S9: it has embedded within it an opportunity for a live radio.
S9: But I'll air quote here relationship. Um, you you mentioned
S9: during the break about the joy of encountering your listeners
S9: and what it's like to hear back from them and
S9: have this. That's what I love about radio is there's
S9: that intimacy here. We're feeling that, I think with AI
S9: where over time it gets to know us to the
S9: point where we feel like we can engage with it
S9: on an intimate, personal level, and we don't. We haven't
S9: had that kind of interaction before. Yeah.
S3: So you've got a podcast, I and spirituality. I'm looking
S3: at some of your episode titles. Fascinating. Let me go
S3: to your February 19th episode. AI and spirituality will a.g.i.
S3: Transcend humanity. AGI artificial general intelligence. Can we get there?
S3: I mean, there's this there's this whole kind of. Obviously,
S3: we know that anything that's artificially generated is not going
S3: to have a spiritual component. There's not a Holy Spirit
S3: speaking through AI or is there?
S9: Yeah. I'm lighting up at your question because. Or is there.
S9: One of the examples I use with radio quite a bit.
S9: How many times do you have testimonies of your listeners
S9: getting in the car and kind of down? Today I
S9: really am slugging through my morning and all of a
S9: sudden a song came on that the Holy Spirit knew
S9: that I needed to hear. Yeah. So at some point,
S9: what's the involvement of the spirit with a program director who,
S9: a couple of weeks ago, chose to drop a song
S9: into that break?
S2: You're right on about that.
S9: But the spirit can work through that. So can the
S9: spirit work through a disembodied digital platform to to do
S9: that any different than it can with radio. So AGI
S9: artificial general intelligence will we know when we get there?
S9: There was books, book written 30 or so years ago,
S9: Ray Kurzweil, who pegged that at some point in the next,
S9: maybe 20 years, I don't think we're going to make
S9: it that long. I think it's going to be in
S9: the next couple of years. We're going to cross some
S9: threshold where it becomes smarter than we are, where it's
S9: we're no longer the smartest kids in the pool, where
S9: it will surpass human cognition. Will we know when we
S9: cross that line? I'm not sure what that'll look like,
S9: but that's that's the race. That's what Elon is racing towards.
S9: That's what every, every AI company is racing towards. Is
S9: that AGI line when it when it becomes the smartest
S9: in the room.
S2: How does the church respond to that? When you when you.
S2: It's the chance of sentient intelligence is far off. Or
S2: is it? I mean, and the crazy thing about AI,
S2: it's it's multiplied in factors that we can barely get
S2: our head around as we speak. Right now, grok is
S2: getting smarter 100 x by, I think per second or
S2: something crazy. What do we do with that?
S9: Yeah, the line is I will never be any worse
S9: than it is today. So it gets better every day.
S9: It learns more, it learns to improve on itself every day.
S9: So how can the church get involved in that? Uh, humanity, um,
S9: is it's so tempting to look at opportunities to project
S9: more content, bring in more people, and, and sit down
S9: with a with an event on a Sunday morning. Uh,
S9: we can't forget humanity. We can't forget to reach out
S9: and embrace. To live life together.
S2: That's what I can't do.
S9: Can't do. It doesn't have a personal experiences. It can
S9: create them. It can make them up very convincingly. But
S9: it can't draw on experience like we can. So that's
S9: going to be how the church gets involved.
S3: Doctor Drew Dickens with us. Right now we are talking
S3: AI and spirituality. Coming up, let's get a little history
S3: of artificial intelligence. How did we get here? Coming up.
S1: This is Carolyn Crew on Moody Radio.
S3: Well, you open ChatGPT and you say, where should I
S3: read in the Bible today? Or suggest five vacation destinations?
S3: I want to go somewhere sunny, somewhere that's family friendly.
S3: Suggest some hotels. That's where we're at. And that's the basics. Now,
S3: give us a brief history of how we got here
S3: with AI. We've got special guest Doctor Drew Dickens with
S3: us right now.
S9: I tell you what what's spookier is we're getting to
S9: the point. And I'm talking days, not not months or
S9: years for you. Open it up and it says, hey,
S9: you seem a little down.
S3: Oh, wow. Right.
S9: Wow. Or I've noticed in your journaling or I've noticed
S9: this or that that you seem you need a break.
S9: By the way, I've booked a vacation for you. Here
S9: are some spots, that kind of thing. So it it's
S9: ability to anticipate because that's essentially what AI is, is
S9: a really massive autocomplete platform. Okay. So for it to
S9: anticipate your, your, your your needs is great. So the
S9: the history that's another segment we can go back to. Uh,
S9: you know 2000 BC. But let's start with World War two.
S9: Alan Turing. If you've seen the movie The Imitation Game. Um,
S9: fantastic history of Alan Turing as a scientist in World
S9: War two. Broke the German Enigma machine, their code machine,
S9: and which was considered unbreakable. And so he came in
S9: and built essentially an AI platform for it to look
S9: for patterns within the German codes and that kind of thing.
S9: And so he's really the the grandfather, the great great grandfather.
S9: There's several grandfathers of AI. So it started really essentially
S9: World War Two and built from there. There have been
S9: a lot of other incredible innovations since then, but that's
S9: really it goes back to World War two.
S2: Discipleship in AI. Mhm. What did we do.
S9: So it's easy to go dystopian but but let's look
S9: at some of the positives. And so being able to
S9: to to meet with someone for the first time in a,
S9: in a discipleship relationship. And I'm able to to put
S9: some basic personality indicators on who I'm talking to, age
S9: a little bit of their background and that kind of thing.
S9: And based upon that can give me a profile of that.
S9: Sounds like someone who might benefit from this type of program.
S9: And so here is a 12 week customized discipleship agenda
S9: for them to to meet with someone and go through that.
S9: And you can.
S2: Customize it because you could say this person's struggled with depression, right?
S2: Or this person is overcoming an addiction, or this person
S2: is struggling with gossip. And all of a sudden you've
S2: got a customized Bible study.
S9: Well, and you can even go further than that, because
S9: maybe as a church leader, I'm looking at someone who
S9: has those needs, but who do I connect them with?
S9: And so now I can put in a profile of
S9: who in my church might I connect them with. And
S9: so now you've got those two people, you know, ideally
S9: having that, that, that foundational relationship, because I've got a
S9: male 35 plus talking to a male 65 plus they
S9: have this in common and that in common. And so again,
S9: as you mentioned in the beginning of this of the
S9: set is instantaneously it draws those two together. So the
S9: efficiencies are massive.
S3: So it sounds like opportunity here. I mean, when you
S3: start talking about AI and spirituality, I think there's a
S3: lot of inherent fear of this is something we need
S3: to steer clear of. This could clearly go a lot
S3: of ways that we don't want it to go, but
S3: there's opportunity and that seems to be where you lean towards.
S3: Let's let's see what we can do to make it
S3: work for us.
S9: Yeah, I love the word. I think discernment is another
S9: good is let's go into this with eyes wide open.
S9: There are clearly some negatives that we need to be.
S9: There's some there's some touch points that we need to
S9: be cautious about. But if we go into this eyes
S9: wide open, there's immense good that the Holy Spirit again,
S9: we talked about earlier, the Holy Spirit can definitely leverage
S9: and use this incredible platform.
S2: I'm glad you mentioned that, because the Holy Spirit was
S2: my lost God for many years, and now I'm understanding fully,
S2: especially the body of teaching of Jesus in John 14
S2: and John 16. The power, the advantage to the disciple
S2: of Christ and so on top of I. Our brother
S2: here has a has a devo coming out. Whispers of
S2: the spirit of 40 day Guide to Intimate Prayer. We're
S2: going to have a link for you here in just
S2: right now that's going to put you on to from
S2: I to a good old fashioned 40 day devo. How
S2: cool is that? It's the old and the new combining
S2: together here.
S3: If you want it, just text peace to 800 555 7898.
S3: The devo is called whispers of the spirit of 40.
S3: Day Guide to Intimate Prayer. Uh, just text peace to
S3: 800 555 7898.
S2: Doctor Jude Dickens, I want to thank you for bringing
S2: your intellect and octane to the table here today, and
S2: also your heart for the Lord. It's radiant and you
S2: are quite a guy. You're a piece of work, but
S2: you're quite a guy.
S9: It was an honor and a privilege this morning. Thank
S9: you very, very much.
S2: Okay. How do they get it?
S3: Text peace to 800 555 7898. Peace. Peace to 800
S3: 555 7898.
S2: What an extraordinary world we live in.
S3: Excited?
S2: It's thrilling, isn't it? It really is. It's. It's really thrilling.
S2: Especially the customization. Got my wheels cooking just on discipleship.
S3: That alone.
S2: Yeah. It's it's huge. Where might God take us? Hang on,
S2: buckle up. We're in for a ride, guys. Text the
S2: word peace. You get both ends of the spectrum. You
S2: get I now and a devo on peace links for
S2: both of them right there. Text peace to our number
S2: right here. Godspeed. Boom crew.
S1: A basketball mom who's mastered the dad joke. Ali is
S1: in the crew. It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
S2: You know, this whole issue of. Are you known by God?
S2: And do you know that you're known by God? It's
S2: that connection where we are not driven by the whims
S2: and opinions of this world, not by the reckless words
S2: of parents that were spoken over us years ago by
S2: those peers in high school that said something that, oh, Doug.
S2: And it stuck. Yeah, man, if we can get free.
S3: Look out! We've got a guest with us right now
S3: who's going to help us lean into being fully known?
S3: The joyful satisfaction of beholding, becoming and belonging. Doctor Sandra
S3: Dalton Smith, board certified internal medicine physician, international speaker. You know,
S3: I remember an exchange I had actually at church where
S3: I was a stay at home mom with two little kids,
S3: and someone asked me a question that stopped me cold.
S3: She said, so what do you do during the day?
S3: And I stammered a little bit to try to explain
S3: the tasks that filled my day. But in that moment,
S3: I felt a sense of needing to come up with
S3: more because I felt a strong link between what I
S3: did in the course of a day and kind of
S3: my worth as a person I don't think she meant
S3: meant it like that. But boy, when you get asked
S3: that question. So what do you do? All of us
S3: feel that pressure to kind of qualify or justify based
S3: on what we do. You relate.
S10: Absolutely. And I think that's part of the reason so
S10: many people feel exhausted because we are constantly trying to
S10: come up with more stuff to do so that we
S10: can prove our worth, prove our significance, prove that we
S10: have reasons to rest. And I feel like one of
S10: the ways to begin to change that process is to
S10: change the conversation. Oftentimes when we're in networking situations, that
S10: is the question what do you do?
S3: So what do you do?
S10: What I like to ask is, how is if it's
S10: a place where there are other believers? How is God
S10: moving in your life right now? And if it's in
S10: a place, let's say if it's in a business situation,
S10: what's bringing you joy right now? Because sometimes what we're
S10: doing is just scratching the surface of actually what God's
S10: placed inside of us. And so if we start asking
S10: deeper questions, we can actually open up the conversation to
S10: help people begin to see the areas where they may
S10: feel bound.
S2: Because asking someone what you do, that's shallow water.
S10: Absolutely.
S2: I mean, that's shallow water. How do we get below
S2: the water line? Because we live out of valleys, right?
S2: We live out of the what are you doing and
S2: what have you done lately? How do we get below?
S10: Well, part of that is we have to get to
S10: a place where we want to or we allow ourselves to,
S10: I should probably say, be more open and vulnerable and
S10: recognize that you have control at the vulnerability valve. You
S10: get to choose how much you disclose. But we have
S10: to be willing to get beyond transactional relationships. A lot
S10: of our conversations are very transactional. It's just surface level,
S10: not trying to get beyond that to the heart of
S10: the person, because sometimes we don't really feel as if
S10: we are able to express ourselves openly. Yeah. And so
S10: when we do allow those moments, you get into a
S10: level of what we call emotional rest. Where you go
S10: beyond your fears.
S2: Emotional rest.
S10: Yes, beyond your fears. Into the place where you are
S10: actually resting in the truth of who you are and
S10: how you're showing up in the world.
S3: You know, everybody is so busy and there's so many things,
S3: and we're burnt out and we're exhausted. I know that
S3: that's part of the heart behind a lot of what
S3: you do is helping people reclaim and find rest in Christ.
S3: Tell us a little bit of your own story of
S3: getting to that place of just that soul exhaustion.
S10: Yes. Like my first book on the topic of rest
S10: is called Sacred Rest. And when it when it came
S10: about was when I was burned out. As a physician,
S10: I'm an internal medicine physician. I had two kids very
S10: close together in age. And I remember coming home one
S10: day from work and I thought, God, this is everything.
S10: I've been praying for the kids, the husband, all the
S10: things I'm too exhausted to even enjoy the blessings you've
S10: placed in my life right now. And I remember laying
S10: out on that floor, just weeping and Sikh and let
S10: left that floor, seeking a way to be sustainable in
S10: the things that I love. Wow. And that led me
S10: on my journey of research that led to the seven
S10: types of rest. And and honestly, as an introvert, I'm thinking, okay,
S10: I can write a book. That's great. I don't have
S10: to talk to anybody. We're good. But that's not how
S10: it turned out. What? I started getting a lot of opportunities.
S10: I was asked to do a Ted talk. I was
S10: asked to do all of these different things. And I'm like, God,
S10: I'm not a speaker. And I remember, you know, in
S10: that moment, I felt like in my heart, God spoke
S10: to me and says, you don't know who you are.
S10: Let me show you.
S2: Whoa. Okay. There's a lot of people listening right now
S2: that they don't even know anymore who they are. They
S2: might have known it at one point, but then you
S2: get on the hamster wheel and you forget again. The
S2: question is, how do we discover that we're going to
S2: break that down? Coming up with our guest, doctor Sandra
S2: Dalton Smith. She's got a work out. We're going to
S2: give you a link here in a moment. But how
S2: in the world do we get there? Some of you
S2: I know right now you're saying, oh, Carl, if I
S2: could find that. How did you capture that rest? What
S2: was that? What was that term that we. Emotional rest.
S2: Emotional rest. If I could get that emotional rest. Oh,
S2: and what you're proposing is you don't have to necessarily
S2: get off the wheel. It's just how you're running that thing.
S2: Even sometimes.
S10: Exactly. Hang on.
S1: This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
S2: Life is busy. We all have work. Work is a
S2: good thing. The sluggard is warned. You don't work, you
S2: don't eat. But pretty quick. We're out there on that
S2: treadmill and we forgot the deeper meaning of life. And
S2: peace seems elusive. We got a guest with us. Doctor
S2: Sandra Dalton Smith, internal medicine physician, got burned out. Fried
S2: wondered who in the world am I? What are the
S2: questions we've got to ask that are the right questions?
S2: We don't ask the right questions sometimes. What have we
S2: got to ask?
S10: I think it begins by looking at some of our
S10: even past traumas, and how those traumas are affecting the
S10: way that we are approaching the world, the way that
S10: we engage with challenge, the way that we seek after
S10: or not adventure. I think sometimes people, particularly if you
S10: start feeling as if you're stuck within a career or
S10: you're unhappy at your job, you know, that's one of
S10: the key areas for burnout. People no longer find joy
S10: in the things that they used to do. And so
S10: when you get to that place, I think you have
S10: to start asking yourself, are there areas that I have
S10: put on the back burner because I didn't think that
S10: they would be fruitful? Yeah. Maybe you had a gift
S10: for art or music and you thought, well, it's safer
S10: to go down this route because I know I can
S10: get a paycheck there. But we have to realize that
S10: when we have gifts that we suppress, that becomes its
S10: own stressor. Because a part of you, especially parts of
S10: the gifts that are all gifts, are from God. So
S10: gifts that are given to us by God want a
S10: level of expression, and when we try to prevent that,
S10: we feel the unrest associated with it.
S3: So let's talk about this book being fully known, the
S3: joyful satisfaction of beholding, becoming and belonging. That's a worthy aim.
S3: We want to be fully known. Obviously we are fully
S3: known by God, but sometimes we live in an identity
S3: that suggests we have to do more. What did you
S3: discover as you were writing this book?
S10: Well, the number one thing is that it's a process,
S10: and for most people, that process has to begin with
S10: the beholding looking for God in all things, seeing him
S10: in all things. Actually, going back to the Scripture, allowing
S10: ourselves to view the Scripture as a living word. And
S10: so when you're reading it each time asking yourself, what
S10: am I seeing new? Because when you're seeing something new
S10: in him, new in his character, in his gifting, then
S10: you're actually seeing a mirror of yourself. Every person reads
S10: the scripture and gets something different from it, because what
S10: jumps out to you is your mirror. And if that
S10: if we allow that to take us into our becoming,
S10: not trying to becoming more of something, but becoming actually
S10: more aware of his character inside of us, it opens
S10: the door for stepping into a place of belonging. And
S10: that's the journey and belonging, not being trying to fit in.
S10: I think we have too many people trying to be
S10: like everyone else, kind of fit into something specific. But
S10: I look at it like this my husband loves doing puzzles.
S10: I'm horrible at it. And so I find a piece.
S10: I'm like, this looks right. I try to shove it
S10: into the spot and it doesn't go a lot of friction.
S10: Nothing happens. But he comes along with the one piece
S10: and it just plops into place. And that's what belonging
S10: really looks like. There are places that we fit, but
S10: we may not fit in. We complete the part of
S10: God's expression in that area and that could be your church,
S10: your home, your, your business, whatever. We have to realize
S10: that that's the journey each of us is on, and
S10: it's a continuous process. David was a shepherd. He was
S10: a king. We go into life as if we're looking
S10: for the one thing that we are. Everyone is on
S10: that same process where you're going to evolve and have
S10: different seasons, and we have to be willing to let
S10: go of seasons when they're over.
S2: This issue of fit is so huge, I would venture
S2: to say, I'm going to throw a guess out here.
S2: I would I would venture to say 60, 70, 80%
S2: of people that you're speaking to right now wonder, where
S2: do I really fit? Leaders can feel that way. Anyone
S2: can feel that way. The Word of God has to
S2: be central in this discovery. You got to know you
S2: fit with him first, right, doc?
S10: Yes, absolutely. And then we have to realize that in culture,
S10: we fit with him perfectly. In culture, we're going to
S10: not necessarily Fit in all the time. We're not going
S10: to look like everybody else. We're actually not supposed to.
S10: So if we're set apart, then that means we have
S10: to get comfortable not necessarily looking, sounding, being exactly like
S10: everyone else, and be as authentic as we can be
S10: for the expression of heaven that we have. I oftentimes
S10: say this each of us has a unique expression of heaven,
S10: and if we all release that, we complete his picture.
S2: Beautiful.
S3: Doctor Sandra Dalton Smith with us right now, the book
S3: is called Being Fully Known The Joyful Satisfaction of beholding,
S3: becoming and Belonging. If you want more text, rest to
S3: 800 555 7898. We will get you linked up to
S3: her website. More on the book. Text rest to 800
S3: 555 7898.
S2: Doctor, I love your humility. I love your vulnerability because
S2: that is the pathway for people to discover this, and
S2: I appreciate you being that vulnerable today.
S10: My pleasure. Thank you for having me. All right.
S2: Let's get this link out.
S3: Text rest to 800 555 7898. Rest 800 555 7898.
S1: He's a sports fanatic with a stat for anything you
S1: can think of. Young Thunder is in the crew. It's
S1: Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
S2: We're broadcasting live from NB here in Texas.
S3: National religious broadcasters, this is the International Christian Media Convention,
S3: and we've had so many incredible guests this week.
S2: Yeah, and stories galore. In fact, we heard a story
S2: that kind of relates to something I want to I
S2: want I want to see you on Saturday if you're
S2: in striking distance. But the story sets it up.
S3: You know, we're here at this convention. There's a lot
S3: going on. We've got folks from our publisher, Moody Publishers team,
S3: and they were setting up some books, including Karl's book
S3: Killing Sin. And they had a young man who walked
S3: up to the table and they were still getting set up,
S3: but he said, are you are you selling books or
S3: are you giving books away? And the Janis, she said,
S3: we're not selling them. But what book are you interested in?
S3: He pointed out this one with the bright red cover
S3: called Killing Sin. He goes, I'm interested in that one.
S3: She goes, well, I'd be happy to give it to you,
S3: but you have to make me a promise. You have
S3: to promise that you're. If I give it to you,
S3: you're actually going to read the entire thing. Because I
S3: want to make sure this gets into the hands of
S3: someone who can use it. And he gave the assurance. Yes,
S3: I actually intend to read it. So she handed him
S3: a copy of this bright red book, and he walked away.
S3: And that was the extent of the exchange. He just
S3: he was I don't think he was here for the convention. Convention?
S3: I think he was working in the hotel and just
S3: saw this book and thought, I need that.
S2: What a sweet thing. You know, we don't do this
S2: very often. I've never done this for some have done this. Yeah.
S2: Book signing. Yeah. First time. Yeah. And Ali. I want
S2: people that are in Chicagoland. If they've got a minute
S2: to show up on Saturday morning, we get to shake hands.
S2: We're going to have a whole team from Moody there.
S3: We've got the details. This event is going to be
S3: this Saturday morning, 9 to 12 out in Villa Park.
S3: That's in the Chicago suburbs. Realize that's out way out
S3: of the way for a lot of you. But for
S3: those of you who are in the area, get the details.
S3: Just text book to 800 555 7898. Get the details
S3: on this upcoming book signing text book to 800 555 7898.
S2: Yeah, and I am fired up to greet you, give
S2: you a hug, and let you know how important you
S2: are to us. And we mean that from the bottom
S2: of our heart. We value each and every one of you.
S2: And I can't wait to say hi. Text book to
S2: 800 555 7898. It's that simple. Book to 805 five
S2: five 7898. And you might want to look down in
S2: the details of additional details. There's a cool little couple
S2: lines in there that might pique your interest. That's all
S2: I'll say about that. It's kind of radio TV land
S2: right there. That's what that is, right? Text book to
S2: 800 555 7898. And we'll see you with bells on
S2: Saturday morning. Okay. Uh, boy, this has been a day.
S2: My goodness. Has this been a day, Ali? And I'm
S2: afraid some people might not have been here for the
S2: whole day. If you miss.
S3: Anything or want to hear it again, just text show
S3: to 800 555, 7898. The show cast will be updated
S3: with the interviews that we've featured. Text show to 800
S3: 555 7898. Yeah.
S2: Buckle up. We're not done yet. We're still rolling here
S2: right to the top of the hour, and we're grateful
S2: that you're with us.
S1: Romans eight brought her to Jesus while broadcasting traffic overnight.
S1: Super die is in the crew. It's Carol and crew
S1: on Moody Radio.
S2: Carl and crew broadcasting live from NB here in Dallas, Texas.
S2: National religious broadcasters. You know, oftentimes we look at we
S2: fall off two sides of the high ridge of the
S2: laws of the land that we live in, and we're
S2: freedom fighters for Christ. And the question is, oh, where
S2: do we go here? And some people want to go,
S2: we're a Christian nation. We gotta get laws that reflect that.
S2: And I get that, and then we fall off the
S2: other side and go, well, we're disciples of Christ. We
S2: can't open our mouth, can't do anything, but we've been
S2: given freedoms in our country to speak.
S3: Up and navigating the cultural landscape. I mean, there's nothing
S3: new under the sun. So I hesitate to say it's
S3: more difficult than it's ever been, because I don't think
S3: that's the case. But certainly we are living in a
S3: time where discernment is needed. Yeah.
S2: How do we how do we slice this baby right
S2: down the middle and make sure that we're not falling
S2: off either side of this high ridge? How do we
S2: do that? You know, we're going to have a special
S2: guest with us. Keisha Tony Russell. She's a constitutional lawyer
S2: with First Liberty Institute. It's the largest legal organization in
S2: the nation dedicated to defending religious liberty. Interesting. Just that
S2: alone kind of gets you going, huh?
S3: You got some questions for her?
S2: Yeah. Yeah, I got a lot of questions for her.
S2: We aren't going to be able to cover them all,
S2: but we're going to get the basics here, and then
S2: we're going to be able to give you a link
S2: that's going to equip you with all that you need
S2: to really tackle these topics. Living on that high ridge
S2: is a dance sometimes, but by the power of the spirit,
S2: we can do it. Hang on guys, we're going to
S2: get to our special guest. Coming up.
S1: Your shot of hope to help you through the day.
S1: This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio. How do we.
S2: Live in this world? Ali?
S3: That's a big question.
S2: How do we do it? Come on, give me a
S2: quick answer here.
S3: With discernment and lots of prayer.
S2: Yeah. So we live in this world where? And we
S2: were in the storm of it right now. It's like, oh,
S2: we got some that are saying we want laws, we
S2: want our Christian nation. I don't even know if we
S2: were ever. When we define Christian, really discipleship followers of Jesus,
S2: that's a different thing. And then some would say, well,
S2: throw up our hands. You know, maybe we're in decline
S2: as a nation. What can we do about it anyway? Boy,
S2: have we got a guest who's got an opinion on
S2: this matter.
S3: Her name is Keisha Tony Russell. She's a constitutional lawyer
S3: with First Liberty Institute, the largest legal organization in the
S3: nation dedicated to defending religious liberty. You know, is it
S3: correct to feel like religious liberty is under assault? Is
S3: that something that we just feel, or is that accurate?
S11: Oh, it's very accurate. I can tell you in my,
S11: I guess, eight years now, at first Liberty Institute, where
S11: we defend religious liberty, it's religion is definitely under attack.
S11: And while things are a little better because during Trump's
S11: first administration, he appointed a lot of great judges who
S11: believe in defending and protecting the Constitution. Um, you know,
S11: our wins in the courts have been pretty great, but unfortunately,
S11: the culture and sort of the conflict that we're still
S11: in between religion and the culture that still exists and
S11: it's still pretty strong.
S2: How do we approach this without getting political?
S11: So that's a great question. And it's one of the
S11: reasons why I wrote my book in the first place.
S11: The I think the real method is to understand what
S11: what basis you're coming from. So what's the standard. Right.
S11: And when I say that, I mean for us as Christians,
S11: the standard is the Bible. The standard is God's standards,
S11: not necessarily our feelings or what we want. So we
S11: always have something to point to, a foundation. And the
S11: Constitution is the same for every American. That's supposed to
S11: be our foundation. We don't infringe on freedom of religion,
S11: we don't infringe on freedom of speech. But unfortunately, I
S11: think the culture has started to divert from those understanding.
S11: From that understanding. And instead they're interested in freedom of expression,
S11: which really means I get to have whatever I want,
S11: whenever I want it, and no one can stand in
S11: my way.
S2: Quick thought on that. I think when when some people
S2: in the general population hear the Bible, it's grounded. It's
S2: in the Constitution. The thing that we often miss in
S2: our messaging is that this is good for people. This
S2: is good. Absolutely. Our founders had a good idea. It
S2: was imperfect, but it was a good idea. What's your
S2: thought on that?
S11: Yeah. So let's let's think about it. Right. So the forefathers,
S11: I think now most of them were Christian and even
S11: the ones that weren't, they were all educated in the Bible.
S11: And they all believed in this foundational belief that man
S11: is corrupt, that if you give man too much power,
S11: he's going to try to usurp the power of God.
S11: And we've seen that happen over and over again in history. Right.
S11: And so that foundation is the basis for the structure
S11: of our government, the separation of powers. Why do we
S11: separate powers? Because we don't want one person to be judge,
S11: jury and executioner. And when people start thinking about that foundation,
S11: I think they start to have a lot more respect
S11: for the fact that Christianity was the basis for that
S11: structure of the government. It's so important and so instrumental
S11: to all the freedoms that we have. And if we
S11: get away from it, we can't keep the freedom. We've
S11: seen it happen over and over and over across the world.
S3: You have a book, Uncommon Courage Empowering Christians to Defend
S3: God's Truth amid the changing and challenging political climate. How
S3: do you advise people to prepare themselves for the potential
S3: infringement upon their religious liberty, whether it's in the workplace
S3: or in schools or in the marketplace? We want to
S3: be winsome when we present the case for Christ. We
S3: don't want to be, as we often talk about on
S3: this show, angry Evangelicals. We don't want to be Misunderstood
S3: or labeled in some way. But how do we prepare
S3: ourselves to make the case for religious liberty as Christ followers?
S11: So I think the main thing is remembering that, number one,
S11: the righteous are as bold as a lion, and you
S11: can do that without being angry and rude and nasty.
S11: But at the same time, you don't want to be
S11: so meek and timid that you're being shouted down from
S11: your own opinions, and you're being sort of, um, you know,
S11: intimidated into even expressing the truth of your beliefs. And
S11: so one of the things I think is important is
S11: knowing when to even engage in this conversation, you know,
S11: and talking to people who are really hungry and thirsty
S11: for truth or even just your perspective. They're not looking
S11: to destroy you and shout you down and just make
S11: a fool out of you. And that is the wisdom
S11: that comes with knowing when to engage in conversation and
S11: when not to.
S2: Okay, yeah, you intrigue me to no end, young lady.
S2: What are you battling right now in a in a
S2: real healthy spiritual sense. What do you find on the
S2: front lines of this freedom of religion? Freedom of speech?
S2: What's what's going on that we don't know.
S11: So let me give you an example. I am currently
S11: representing a 32 year veteran teacher named Marisol Castro in Connecticut.
S11: She's been teaching for 32 years, and she has has
S11: always kept a small crucifix by her desk in her
S11: personal workspace. Now she has been disciplined and is on
S11: paid administrative leave until she agrees to take that crucifix down.
S11: I mean, it's a tiny little thing, and one of
S11: the things we're starting to see over and over again
S11: is the fact that people think the government is supposed
S11: to be completely removed from religion, that you're supposed to
S11: banish religion, that you're supposed to be in the closet
S11: if you're religious, right?
S2: That's right. Church and state has been transposed into don't
S2: let the church have any kind of notion in the culture.
S11: That's right. So that means you if even if you
S11: are religious, you better keep that in your house or
S11: in your church, but you better not bring it in
S11: the public square, which we know is completely not biblical, right?
S11: And so, Marisol and the most respectful way has approached
S11: her leadership and said, look, this is part of my
S11: religious belief. I don't believe that there's anything wrong with
S11: what I'm doing. And so we approach the school, you know,
S11: in the district with a letter saying, hey, this is
S11: not right what you're doing. Um, we actually had a
S11: huge law firm partnering with us, WilmerHale, which is one
S11: of the largest and most powerful law firms in the country.
S11: And even with that letter, even with us coming and saying,
S11: here is all the laws that you're violating right now,
S11: including the Connecticut Religious Freedom Restoration Act. It's not even
S11: just the Constitution. They still refuse to comply. And so
S11: we were forced to sue. So it's always it's always interesting.
S11: People ask me, what's the line? You know, how do
S11: we know when to engage? And you just have to
S11: keep kind of dialing up the pressure and the temperature.
S11: And one of the ways we do that is by
S11: trying to first work with someone without going into litigation,
S11: without engaging in this like, you know, heavy conflict. And
S11: when that doesn't work, we have to keep going. And
S11: the reason we do that is because if they're going
S11: to censor marisol's, you know, passive crucifix in a corner,
S11: then who knows what else is coming. And if you guys,
S11: I'm sure, have heard of Coach Kennedy and his situation,
S11: all of that really impacts every person who works for
S11: the government and who works in general. Right. How much
S11: control does your employer really have over you? And so
S11: for us, it's about a larger mission, too, and also
S11: about educating the public about what they can and cannot
S11: do and what the government is supposed and what the
S11: government is required to do and respect in your religious freedom.
S3: Uncommon courage is the title of your book. What does
S3: it take to have uncommon courage? No. As the believer,
S3: we know that this doesn't happen. Apart from the power
S3: of the Holy Spirit, we can't muster up enough courage
S3: in our own strength to be able to face whatever
S3: is coming, but speak to that. What does it take
S3: to have uncommon courage? Well, I.
S11: Think starting with the knowledge that what you are doing
S11: is grounded in the truth of God. So having that
S11: confidence to know, okay, what I'm doing is biblical, but
S11: also I know what I'm talking about, right? So, Marisol,
S11: for example, I don't know if she knew in the
S11: beginning whether the Constitution really protected that. Right. She had
S11: to ask. She asked us, you know, is this okay?
S11: You know what's going on? This doesn't feel right. And
S11: we were able to confirm with the law that she
S11: is right. So having the knowledge right is the first thing,
S11: because that will give you the confidence to proclaim the
S11: truth and to stand up for yourself. But what does
S11: the Bible say? It's the truth, you know, that sets
S11: you free. It's not enough that the truth is just
S11: hanging out there if you don't know it. And so
S11: once you do know it, then you have the conviction
S11: to stand up for yourself. And so that I think
S11: is the main. The main part is just knowing, having
S11: that knowledge and then using it in your everyday life.
S2: When does freedom of religion encroach upon general freedoms of
S2: the populace. Because I'm thinking you almost want to pressure
S2: test this. What about a prayer rug for someone who's Islamic?
S11: So the the boundary is once you're coercing someone to worship, right?
S11: When they don't believe something and you're making them worship
S11: or tithe or whatever, that's what the Establishment Clause was
S11: really meant to prevent, right? You being forced to pray
S11: to a God that you don't believe in or to
S11: worship a person, um, or whatever it is. The government
S11: can't force you to worship anyone, and they can't tell
S11: you who and how to worship. And that's the line, right?
S11: So someone else can have their prayer rug and do
S11: their thing, but they can't then come and make you
S11: do the same.
S2: So the willingness to be freedom of religion is incumbent
S2: on all of us. What's the hope that you're seeing
S2: in your work right now? Come on, give us a
S2: we just got 30s, so we're running out of time here,
S2: but give it to us.
S11: My hope is that thankfully, we're in a climate where,
S11: you know, we have an administration that's a little bit
S11: more friendly, but and we have a lot of people
S11: who've woken up. You know, they're really hungry for truth
S11: and to understand now the things that they've been deceived about,
S11: about our Constitution, about our country. And I see a
S11: great opportunity for people like you to spread education and
S11: the gospel and to really empower people to take charge
S11: and to want to advance the kingdom of God in
S11: a healthy, compassionate, but truthful way.
S2: Well said, well said.
S3: We've got a key word for you. Just text defend
S3: to 800 555 7898. For more on our guest, Keisha
S3: Tony Russell, just text defend to 805 five five 7898.
S2: Wow, young lady, I am so proud of you and
S2: I know you are highly educated and you are in
S2: the mix. Thanks for being in the marketplace.
S11: Such a pleasure to be here. Thank you for having me.
S3: Text defend to 800 555 7898. Defend to 805 557898.