S1: Coming to you from the Morning Star Mission sponsored studio.
S1: This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
S2: In the Spirit of God is here right now at
S2: work in many of your hearts. It's an awesome thing.
S2: Spirit of God convicts. The Spirit of God comforts when
S2: we've been transformed by the power of God. He directs.
S2: We want to get anchored in what the Spirit of
S2: God is up to. Just go to John 14, John 16,
S2: Romans eight. Do a deep dive on the power of
S2: the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God is on
S2: the move. Yesterday we had an interesting day. Phenomenal day
S2: at 180 Chicago. I pastor a church in downtown Chicago.
S2: We have two campuses here in Chicago. I was downtown
S2: preaching yesterday. So many young people at this campus. It's
S2: unbelievable guys. Absolutely unbelievable. So we had 40 come away
S2: after the service that are young adults. So they're all
S2: in their 20s, a couple in their 30s, but they're
S2: all young. A couple of them were married and we were.
S2: We were talking about the stuff of life and love
S2: and intimacy. And my bride told me going in. She said, bub,
S2: make sure you share the gospel. I'm like, I'm with you, babe.
S2: I love having my bride, man. She's. We were riding
S2: shotgun yesterday and it was so sweet to be teamed
S2: up together in ministry. And she was right. And I
S2: should never be surprised by this. But I had the
S2: privilege of watching two guys surrender their lives to Jesus
S2: Christ yesterday at that gathering of 40. Praise God. Yeah.
S2: Isn't that sweet? One of them was a pastor's kid,
S2: and he just came up to me and he said,
S2: I've never fully surrendered my life to Jesus Christ, man.
S2: He says, I'm in a campus ministry. I'm in this.
S2: I'm in that. And I said, today is your day,
S2: isn't it? He said, today is the day, Carl. And
S2: I said, listen, this is awesome. And when we got
S2: done praying, I said, what are you feeling? He says, man,
S2: like a load of bricks is off me. I said,
S2: I want you to tell your mom and dad they're
S2: going to cheer for you. You can get a little
S2: bit wiggy. You're going to hear Young Thunder's story on
S2: this this week because we're talking stories of salvation. But
S2: he was sweet. I said, you tell your mom and dad,
S2: you got to tell your you got to tell those
S2: that are close to you in your life and let
S2: them know what Jesus has done. So I can't wait
S2: for that report back. But it is so easy to
S2: slip through the cracks, so to speak, in our Christian
S2: culture today. And there's so many different ways to slip
S2: through the cracks. I mean, you can be the prodigal
S2: that's being crazy. You can be the prodigal who's jumping
S2: through hoops and you can be super die. It's easy
S2: to slip through the cracks, isn't it? Super die.
S3: Very, very easy to slip through. And Satan just loves it.
S2: Yeah, he loves it. He's laughing all the way to
S2: the dark bank. Tell your story, sister. We want to
S2: hear it.
S3: You got it. Um, basically, I, I grew up in
S3: a very dysfunctional situation. Very dysfunctional family. Went through a
S3: lot of abuse, physical, sexual, emotional, mental. And a lot
S3: of it was done by the hands of people that
S3: I thought were my safe people. They should have loved me.
S3: They should have protected me. And it was not only
S3: by their hands, but also people that surrounded me because
S3: of them. And when I would try to say something,
S3: I was either told I was lying or what did
S3: I do wrong? I brought it upon myself. Or also.
S2: That's a brutal accusation.
S3: That's a very brutal accusation. But this one's even better.
S3: Don't do anything to disrupt this relationship for me. Don't
S3: ruin this for me. So just shut up and deal
S3: with it basically is what that is saying to me,
S3: especially as a child. Um, so yeah, very dysfunctional. So
S3: a lot of stuff's going on in my brain and
S3: in my heart of my value and who I was
S3: and continued for quite a while. The emotional mental continued
S3: for a long time, even through high school. So I'm
S3: packing away and headed out to college and going to college. But, uh,
S3: as I look back, I realize, yeah, I packed up
S3: and went to college, but I also packed up all
S3: that junk. I took it with me. Yeah. And a
S3: lot of that anger, confusion, pain. Because again, like I said,
S3: these are people that were supposed to be safe and
S3: loved me. So if they weren't loving me and safe
S3: for me, then where's God in all this? So my
S3: anger extended even to God. Thanks a lot for this.
S3: You didn't protect me. You didn't help me. Where are you?
S3: Where are you? So that just festered and festered and
S3: festered within me. And it continued to fester and fester
S3: even into adulthood. I just made a lot of wrong decisions.
S3: A lot of my personality. I became rather snarky. People
S3: were a commodity. I mean, if I wasn't important, you know,
S3: I didn't want to get married. I wouldn't have kids.
S3: Kids were a problem. Kids were in the way. Kids
S3: kept you from dreaming and living, you know? So why
S3: would I want that?
S2: No one's important.
S3: Exactly. You know, why would I want that? And to
S3: understand who God was. I mean, I, growing up younger
S3: within the church, I mean, I knew who God there was.
S3: There was a God. I knew who God was. There
S3: was Jesus, his son. He died on the cross. We
S3: had Easter. We cracked red eggs, you know, that kind
S3: of situation. But there was no relationship. And I certainly
S3: wasn't a situation where, going through all this, I could
S3: go to Jesus because you didn't go to Jesus. There
S3: was a flow chart. You don't bother Jesus. You go
S3: to the priest, you go to the adults, you go
S3: to a teacher, you go to a parent. But all
S3: of these people were unsafe to me, so why would
S3: I go to them? You know, so that didn't help
S3: me either. And as far as the word of God,
S3: may be ministering to me and breathing life into me.
S3: That wasn't an option either, because the Bible. Yes, it
S3: was sacred. It was the Word of God. But it
S3: sat on a end table and it got dusted once
S3: in a while. So that was the situation. So I
S3: really didn't know where to go except for myself. And
S3: that was not the good choice. But yeah, I went
S3: for myself and my decisions and my thinking and where
S3: I was going and what I was doing. Get out
S3: of college. Again, the personality, the snarkiness, the the self, self,
S3: self all the way and just vindictive like anybody who
S3: wronged me. Boom! They got my revenge. I did not
S3: have time for you. You got my revenge. Because I
S3: wasn't going to let it happen to me again. That
S3: kind of thing. No way. I wasn't going to let
S3: it ride. There wasn't an ounce of forgiveness if you
S3: wronged me. Or at least I thought I was being wronged.
S3: Let's put it that way, too. Yeah, but here we go.
S3: One night I'm working in the John Hancock building. It
S3: was the job. Beautiful gig, I'm telling you. We were
S3: on the observatory level. Was the offices of this of
S3: this job. And I'm working an overnight shift on the
S3: 94th floor of the John Hancock Building. And I took
S3: the Bible and I thought, okay, God, I'm going to
S3: give you one more chance. I'm going to give God
S3: one more chance. What am I thinking? Duh. But I'm
S3: going to give God one more chance. So I'm reading
S3: the Bible, and one night I go through Matthew, just
S3: kind of reintroducing myself to Jesus a little bit. And
S3: then I go into Luke, and then I go into
S3: Romans one. Oh, that always just takes my breath away. Romans, Romans, Romans,
S3: it spoke to me all the way through. God used
S3: Romans to just strike my heart. Romans 839 especially that
S3: there's nothing, nothing that can separate me from the love
S3: of God. Because you have to understand, love was conditional.
S3: Love came with a price, and love can be taken.
S3: But not in Romans, Not in the gospel. No, not
S3: God's love, not the love of Christ. That's why he
S3: was on the cross. It wasn't conditional. It was unconditional.
S3: And that just took me away. And I literally fell
S3: to my knees hard. I fell to my knees, arms up.
S3: I am bawling, I am crying, I'm like, God, I
S3: am so sorry. I my took out everything the wrong way.
S3: I am a sinner. I am a mess, I'm a mess.
S3: The checklist was long. I am so tired of doing
S3: this on my own. I don't know what I was thinking.
S3: I'm on this, you know, hamster wheel trying to figure
S3: things out. And no, I turn to you. I'm turning around.
S3: I'm turning to you. And I just sobbed and my
S3: hands are up and I'm going through this and I'm
S3: just praying and sobbing and praying and sobbing and asking
S3: for forgiveness and asking him to take over my life.
S3: I'm giving myself to him. And I really, physically felt
S3: like all that festering, all that back trauma, hate, whatever revenge.
S3: It was. A backpack of cement, I always call it,
S3: literally fell off of me, I felt lighter. I'm a swimmer.
S3: I felt like I had come up and I had air.
S3: I could just breathe and a warmth came over me.
S3: I will never, ever forget that moment, and I, I,
S3: I just gave my life to Christ.
S2: You know, I'm going to I'm going to tell you
S2: something here. This is something that is, uh, I love
S2: doing this when you hear stories. So I've never done this,
S2: but I'm going to do it right now for you.
S2: Somebody's never done this for you. It's one thing to
S2: hear a story. It's another thing to hear it confirmed
S2: by someone who's close to him. Somebody is imperfect, but
S2: radically transformed by Jesus. Everything that she was before her
S2: surrender to Christ has been changed. This is the beauty
S2: of the power of the gospel, the goodness of God,
S2: the grace of God. When she turned to Jesus, he
S2: turned her around. The gospel changes everything. Now she's a dancer.
S2: She's a lover of people. She believes the best. She
S2: extends mercy. It's all God, isn't it? Super.
S3: It's only and only. Only and always God. And I
S3: just want to say, you know, it becomes to where
S3: if you have gone through this type of heaviness and
S3: maybe some of you even more, you are not a victim.
S3: Don't believe the lies of Satan. He wants you to
S3: feel that you're a victim. He wants you. He wants
S3: to keep a foothold on you. He wants to fill
S3: you with shame so you don't tell your story. You
S3: are not a victim. You are a victor in Christ.
S3: Tell your story.
S2: Yeah.
S3: Witness. Be a testimony to it. And I'm telling you.
S3: Romans 839. You are so, so loved. God does not
S3: want you to stay in your past. He does not
S3: want you there. He has so much purpose for you.
S3: And I want you to know and believe that today.
S2: Yeah. The light yoke that somebody talks about is promised
S2: by Jesus himself. And some of you want that. But
S2: before even Jesus spoke of the light yoke, he had
S2: something really tough to say. And he has to say
S2: it to you and we'll give that to you. Coming up.
S1: Romans eight brought her to Jesus while broadcasting traffic overnight.
S1: Super dei is in the crew. It's colonel and crew
S1: on Moody Radio. Video.
S2: It's awesome. When you hear a story, you have new appreciation.
S2: Your your heart actually goes out and goes, yeah, I
S2: want to hug you right now. And the amazing thing
S2: about Super Di is that she's a she's a hugger.
S2: She's a dancer. She's a believer in people. I through
S2: the dancer thing in there for you. Super. Thank you.
S2: Not necessarily a spiritual gift, but boy, we sure appreciate it.
S2: She believes in people. She loves victory stories. She has compassion.
S2: But she didn't always have that. No sexual abuse. Verbal abuse.
S2: I thank you so much for sharing your story. Super di.
S2: But it brings this. It brings this moment for us
S2: here that are two radically, almost feels like two radically
S2: different themes, but they're absolutely the same. And they're found
S2: in Matthew 11. I want to begin with one of
S2: the coolest things here are might get choked up. Come
S2: to me. All who labor and are heavy laden. And
S2: I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon me,
S2: Jesus said, and learn from me, for I am gentle
S2: and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for
S2: your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden
S2: is light. I want to speak to you, my friend.
S2: You just heard my story, and we know that there's
S2: many thousands listening right now who have been burdened down
S2: with the weight of all kinds of injustice and pain
S2: in this broken and fallen world. That's real. Right? Let's
S2: just sit there for a second. That's real, isn't it, Ali?
S4: It. Absolutely. And maybe you just don't talk about it.
S4: That's you. It's part of your story. But like I said,
S4: you just. You've buried it and you just don't talk
S4: about it.
S2: Yeah. The crazy thing is that on the polar extreme
S2: of this thing, And the very words that Jesus said
S2: right before, come to me, all who are weary and
S2: heavy laden. Was he. He said these words. He began
S2: to denounce the cities where most of his mighty works
S2: had been done, because they did not repent. Now, the
S2: word repentance isn't an angry word. It's a sweet word.
S2: It's what somebody heard on the 92nd floor of the
S2: John Hancock building. Yeah, yeah. She heard turn around. Super die. Yes.
S2: Because here's two things exist. Both. We have been hurt
S2: in this broken and fallen world, and we hurt people.
S2: And apart from the grace and power of God, we're
S2: going to stew in our anger, in our rage, in
S2: our disappointment, in our shame. And Jesus went on to say,
S2: woe to you, Bethsaida and Chorazin. For if the mighty
S2: works I did in front of you had been done
S2: in Tyre and Sidon. That's modern day Beirut, Lebanon, by
S2: the way, guys, they would have repented long ago in
S2: sackcloth and ashes. Here's the point. The point is repentance
S2: in our heart for you this week, as you hear
S2: our stories, is that you not be a person that
S2: stays in kind of the hamster wheel of the pain
S2: of your past, but that you own the pain of
S2: your own sin and walk in freedom. Both coexist. Isn't
S2: that wild, guys? He says, woe to you, Chorazin. Woe
S2: to you, Bethsaida! And here's the point. You've got to
S2: have a touchpoint with somebody on two things one, the
S2: weight of the pain that she had from childhood all
S2: the way up through her tweens, even into her teens
S2: with abuse and neglect, and at the same time own
S2: the fact that, as somebody testified, Inside. There are things
S2: that we've done that has sinned against God and others,
S2: and we need a Savior. Both coexist. Isn't that amazing?
S2: That's the beauty of the gospel, guys. That's the beauty.
S2: God sees it all. So he says, come to me,
S2: to you today. You're wearing a heavy yoke. I get it,
S2: Jesus says, but he also says, come to me, repent
S2: and turn around of your own sins. Both are there.
S2: And you've heard my story, and you've heard stories of grace,
S2: possibly before. And according to Jesus's words, it'll be better
S2: for those that have not heard the story of grace
S2: on the Day of Judgment, than for those that have
S2: heard and have not yet repented. I'm not saying that
S2: to scare you. I'm saying that because I love you.
S2: This is the gospel. And I've often wondered, and I've
S2: actually had an opportunity to warn many people that being
S2: exposed to the grace of God is a beautiful thing
S2: for those who repent, but it's a very scary thing
S2: for those who don't. And my heart goes out to
S2: you today. I want for you to experience new life
S2: in Jesus Christ. I want you to come to the
S2: one who can take the weight off your shoulders, and
S2: you can say to him, I'm heavy laden. And I
S2: also want for you to repent of your sins, because
S2: that's how the weight gets lifted. You know what comes
S2: first in the storyline in Matthew 11 is the warning
S2: to those who don't repent. But what comes second is
S2: the come to me now, all of you who are
S2: weary and heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. And
S2: you might be saying, well, what does this look like? Well,
S2: there's one key word I want to focus on here,
S2: and it's the word repent. And it's a beautiful word.
S2: It's what somebody did when she fell to her knees.
S2: She repented of her sin and found freedom from the
S2: sins of others. That's beautiful. And I just invite you
S2: right now in the quietness of this moment, because God's
S2: quietly speaking into your heart. Please, friend, don't carry that
S2: weight alone anymore. The weight of what others have done,
S2: nor the weight of your own sin. Today you can
S2: give it to God. Repentance means to turn around. It's
S2: the most loving word going on this broad path that
S2: leads to destruction. There are many substitute gods, and maybe
S2: your substitute god has been vengeance or bitterness. Your substitute
S2: God has been shame. And I want you to know
S2: Jesus wants to free you from that today 100%. He
S2: wants to give you total and complete freedom. And I
S2: appeal to you, friend. Don't wait till the day of judgment.
S2: Today is the day to repent and to give your
S2: life fully to Jesus Christ. It's so much more than
S2: being raised with a good book on a nightstand. So
S2: much more than going to church. It's falling to your
S2: knees and finding the one who loved you so much
S2: that he sent his son to die for you, so
S2: that you will not perish, but you will have everlasting life.
S2: And I'm asking you to put yourself in the arms
S2: of God today for the first time in your life.
S2: I'm absolutely confident that the Holy Spirit is convicting. The
S2: Holy Spirit is comforting, and the Holy Spirit is calling
S2: this morning. And I'm asking you to surrender to Jesus today.
S2: I want you to just pray along with me. It's
S2: a cry of the soul. It's a cry of faith.
S2: But today is your day of salvation, friend. Today is
S2: your day. Today is the day when you are no
S2: longer going to be carrying around this weight, and you
S2: are no longer going to go your own way to
S2: sort it out. You're going to repent and follow Jesus.
S2: So just cry out to God and see Jesus today,
S2: I believe. I believe you want to free me from
S2: the weight that I'm carrying. And I believe you want
S2: to free me from my own sin in my life.
S2: And today I repent. Today I turn around. Today I
S2: follow Jesus. Today I speak the truth that you came
S2: into this world because you love me, and you died
S2: for me, for my sin and the sin of the world.
S2: And today I confess that I'm a sinner and I
S2: need a Savior, and I'm tired, and I'm asking you
S2: to carry this weight that I've been carrying for so long.
S2: Take it off my shoulders, Jesus. Today I give you
S2: my life completely. Today I am a Jesus follower. And
S2: I give you my life completely. There are many of
S2: you right now who are surrendering your life to Jesus
S2: Christ for the first time. And we want to help you.
S2: We've got a link. I want you to get your
S2: phone because we want to help you today. And we're
S2: going to auto respond to one word that you're going
S2: to text us. And when you text this word, you're
S2: going to have a little tool in your hand that's
S2: going to show you how to find people who are
S2: going to help you. It's going to show you where
S2: you can find a Bible that will be a guide
S2: for you moving forward if you don't already have one,
S2: and it will will have a little link in there
S2: that we're going to be able to send you via mail,
S2: some resources that are going to help you live now
S2: in this power that set you free from your sin.
S2: So it's really simple. Just text the word new right
S2: now to 805 five, five, 78, 98. Wherever you are,
S2: just text in that word because whom the son sets
S2: free is free indeed. When somebody got up off her
S2: face and off of her knees. Everything was new, right?
S2: Super die.
S3: Everything was new. It was amazing. And. Yes, exactly. That
S3: backpack of cement came off. I came up for air,
S3: and I just physically felt the warmth of God's love.
S2: Tex knew right now, if today is your day of salvation,
S2: just text the word new to 800 555, 7898. You
S2: were surprised by the spirit this morning, and we're going
S2: to shout out in just a moment the last four
S2: numbers of your telephone number. We're blowing through some of
S2: our natural stops here. But that's okay, isn't it?
S4: It's totally okay.
S2: Just text the word new right now, wherever you are,
S2: to 805 five, five, 78, 98. If today is your day,
S2: where God is freeing you from a yoke of slavery.
S2: Just text the word new to 800 555 7898. Let's
S2: take time here, Ali, before we even spin a song here,
S2: let's shout out the last four numbers of those who
S2: are surrendering to Jesus today.
S4: Yeah, those of you texting new, I want to read
S4: out the last four digits of your number. 2024 0550.
S4: Welcome to the family. 3208 79. 40. 43. 48. 49. 70. 37. 40. 82,
S4: 49 and 68. 18. Welcome to the family.
S2: Amazing. Welcome to the family. God is making all things
S2: new for you. Continue to text as you feel led.
S2: We're here for you. There's no time. Stop on this text.
S2: New to 800 555 7898.
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: Oh my goodness. Super di Diana Berriman, uh, a colleague, friend,
S2: dear one that we love so much. One of the
S2: team here just poured out her heart about her story.
S2: God's redemption, his grace, his power, his ability to take
S2: a concrete backpack and throw it off of you. Super di.
S3: Absolutely.
S2: And look what God's doing, kiddo. Look what God's doing.
S2: He's saving people out of the shadows of darkness and
S2: bringing them into the light. And we've invited so many
S2: of you to repent today and to turn around and
S2: give your life to Jesus. And we know that there's
S2: without a doubt, there's many of you wiping up tears.
S2: Tears are a good thing. I've found that, uh, real
S2: men cry, real men cry, real women cry. And it's okay.
S2: But the tears of salvation are a tear of shame
S2: draining out of you and joy pouring in. And Ali,
S2: we've had so many surrender to Jesus today. We've called
S2: out a ton of numbers here, but let's just affirm
S2: some more.
S4: I've got some more welcomes. This is last four digits
S4: of your phone number. I want to welcome you to
S4: the family. 6056379 40 1178 3500. I want to welcome
S4: to the family. 6360 903, 43, 24, 68, 47, 74, 17, 53, 55, 65.
S4: Welcome to the family 09110.
S2: That's so good. And I think 1178 came in as well. And, uh,
S2: way to go. Way to go. You know, it's an
S2: awesome thing, uh, for us to be able to come
S2: to you with the hope of the gospel. And I
S2: just want to speak to this one thing that happened
S2: here just now. I think there's a lot of people
S2: that have, um, in an attempt to reach people, sometimes
S2: we lower the bar of what salvation is. But one
S2: of the most one of the most abused and misunderstood
S2: words that we find and we've heard is the word repent.
S2: But it's the most beautiful word. Jesus never said it,
S2: banging on a piece of wood, yelling at people. He
S2: said repentance like turn around. He told his first disciples,
S2: follow me. Turn around. Let's go. And we find in
S2: Matthew chapter 11. It's time to repent. It's time to
S2: turn around from the broad path that leads to destruction,
S2: onto this narrow path that leads to life. And Jesus
S2: is clear if you are going to find it. But
S2: there are many of you today that are among the few,
S2: and we want to welcome you to the family from
S2: the bottom of our heart. Use that link that we
S2: sent you. We're here to help you not only step
S2: into this new relationship with Christ, but then to grow
S2: in him. And one of the big sticking points of
S2: growing in our relationship with God is that we have
S2: to wade through the morass of a cultural Christianity and
S2: boil it all right, down to living in God's power
S2: and not bootstrapping this faith. Speak to that alley.
S4: Well, you know, it's it's pretty common in Western culture
S4: to have some sort of a religious background. I mean, many,
S4: many people do. And sometimes it's linked to cultural. Sometimes
S4: it's linked to your origin, your family dynamic. And so
S4: you might have a religious understanding. And so I think
S4: sometimes that really muddies the water because you, it's, it's
S4: rare to meet somebody who's never heard the name of
S4: Jesus here in this country. Yeah.
S2: It doesn't it.
S4: Doesn't often happen. Most people have heard the name of Jesus,
S4: and most people have some sort of already preconceived idea
S4: about what it means to be a Christian.
S2: Yeah. And my contention is, though, that we live among
S2: a lot of those people that have some vague idea.
S2: I am absolutely convinced we live among a vast millions
S2: and millions of people in America that have never had
S2: a fair shot of the good news of Jesus.
S4: And I think the difference between, like maybe going to
S4: being a missionary to an unreached people group in some
S4: place where they've never heard the name of Jesus is here.
S4: You're having to wade through a lot of kind of
S4: undo some wrong teaching. I will never forget the person
S4: who said one of the reasons why they enjoyed the
S4: show is because growing up, they got bad information about
S4: the gospel.
S2: That was a classic call.
S4: And and I thought that for now, for years now
S4: is captured. What I think happens to a lot of us,
S4: you get bad information about the gospel. So it's not
S4: that you've never heard the name of Jesus, it's that
S4: you've never actually heard the gospel of what it means
S4: to be saved and what it really means to follow him.
S2: Yeah, yeah. It's so true, Ali. And we're breaking. We're
S2: seeing breakthrough with the cultural Christianity that's cloaked so many
S2: of us. And we're going to be talking about this
S2: all week long. And you know, there's some of you
S2: that wonder right now. Where do I stand with God.
S2: Where do I stand with God? And that's a fair question.
S2: I mean, wanting to know you stand with God and
S2: that he stands with you is huge. And one of
S2: the things that we want to do is have this
S2: juxtaposition of giving the clear gospel of who Jesus is
S2: and how he wants to transform you and walk you
S2: into that very abundance that Jesus spoke of. And the
S2: amazing thing is, is that we don't. We don't actually
S2: reach anyone. The Holy Spirit uses words to regenerate your soul.
S2: And that's that's a powerful thing. You know what? I
S2: feel prompted that I want to give a resource because
S2: there were there was some time ago when I felt like,
S2: oh my goodness, people need to know and measure where
S2: they stand with God. Let's let's do this right now. Ali,
S2: this resource has been used by tens of thousands of
S2: people and there's many. They're going to want this today.
S4: It's very it's pretty short. It's readable. It's right from
S4: the Word of God. It's our standard resource. It's nine
S4: ways to know you stand with God. He stands with you.
S4: Just text the word stand to 855 five 7898. Text
S4: stand to 800 555 7898. We'll send it right to
S4: your phone.
S2: Yeah. That's great. What an awesome thing to witness. What
S2: God is doing here today. So many people called out
S2: of darkness and into the light. What a powerful thing. Father,
S2: I thank you for these newborn children. These ones that
S2: were carrying weight and are now free in Christ. And
S2: I pray in Jesus name. I'm reminded of Philippians one
S2: six that you who began this work in them will
S2: carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus,
S2: and I thank you for that. In the name of Jesus,
S2: we thank you. Amen.
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: curling crew on Moody Radio.
S4: How can I get that story to share with someone else?
S4: Just got that text message. We want to make it easy.
S4: If you ever hear something that you would like to
S4: hear again, or you'd like to share with someone in
S4: your life who you think would really benefit from it,
S4: just text the word show to 800 555 7898. Text
S4: show to 800 555 7898. You're going to get back
S4: from us a link that gives you direct links so
S4: that you can listen whether you're on iPhone or Android,
S4: and that usually gets updated a couple of hours after
S4: we are our show concludes. So usually around 1030 or
S4: 11 Central time. So look for it. Then just text
S4: show to 800 555 78, 98. Another thing we like
S4: to feature is resources that are going to help you
S4: take your next step in your walk with Jesus. And
S4: coming up, we're going to feature one that allows you
S4: to get into the Word of God with some context,
S4: some historical understanding right here. Produced at Moody Bible Institute,
S4: it's called today in the word. And if you've not
S4: heard about it, boy, we need to get you connected.
S4: We'll have a special guest coming up.
S1: You can take him out of Alaska, but you can't
S1: take Alaska out of him. Carl is in the crew.
S1: It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
S2: This is going to sound super sappy. I just want
S2: to give you a warning. Um. God expresses his love
S2: to us in so many cool ways. And the sappy
S2: part for me is I've got two of these rescue cats.
S2: And I kid you not, God encourages my hearts with
S2: them in the craziest ways.
S3: That's sweet.
S2: And I kid you not. And one of them, we
S2: got on three legs. And when I told my wife yes,
S2: she's like, she's it's her second rescue cat. And she's like,
S2: this thing's wheezing. It's going to die. And can I
S2: bring it home? And I'm like, yeah, bring it home.
S2: And that sucker got home here. And I'm like, oh, Nelly,
S2: we're gonna have a cat that's stuck on one floor
S2: and it's on three legs. And it had been smacked
S2: by a car hit so hard that teeth had been
S2: knocked out, a jaw had been broken, a leg had
S2: been broken. And I don't know why they did this.
S2: They gave my wife the pictures of this thing when
S2: she adopted it and it was bad. And come to
S2: find out, he was just a teenager at that time.
S2: We thought he was full grown, but he kept growing
S2: and God in his grace healed that guy up and
S2: he had PTSD from getting whacked.
S3: Oh I'm.
S4: Sure.
S2: So what really got him was tin foil. Because it
S2: must have simulated the sound of something breaking or cracking
S2: or something. So he'd pull out a piece. Just a
S2: little piece of tin foil. This guy. So we got
S2: wood floors, and he's a big, hairy booger. So he's
S2: got hair coming out the bottom of his pads like crazy. Like,
S2: so much so his pads didn't can't hit the floor.
S2: It's just hair and and no joking. He's a he's
S2: a a Norwegian tree cat or forest cat. And um.
S2: And he loves trees. So anyway, he's got hair coming
S2: out so long. No joking. Two inch hair coming out
S2: and lots of it from between his pads. So when
S2: he gets freaked out, he's just, like, doing this cartoon
S2: where he's just spinning out, trying to get traction. And
S2: I used to die for him because he started spinning
S2: out on three legs and that was hard to watch. Well,
S2: his leg gets healed, and now he's getting over his PTSD.
S2: And he trusts me and he loves me. And he
S2: comes up to me and he just bumps into me
S2: and he's like, hey, can I get a neck rub?
S2: He's not audible, by the way. Of course, obviously.
S5: But Karl has a talking cat. Whoa. Oh, okay.
S2: But I kid you not, there have been times when
S2: I've been. Because, believe it or not, ready for a secret? Shh, shh.
S2: Don't tell anyone. Karl can get sad, too. Yeah, I
S2: can get sad. There's times when I've been sad. And
S2: God brings that crazy cat up to me. Named him Sozo.
S2: Means saved and healed. And sozo. Kind of like a
S2: mountain or a stream. Can encourage your soul. God saw
S2: fit that a stray cat with three legs, got healed up,
S2: spins out on hardwood floors would ultimately be a huge
S2: source of encouragement for his son. Carl. Isn't that wild?
S2: Isn't that wild? Oh, how he loves you. Oh, how
S2: he loves you. How are you seeing God express his
S2: love toward you today? Make sure you look and see.
S2: Because he's doing it. He's doing it. Coming up, we
S2: got a got a treat for you, right, Ali?
S4: Yeah. I mean, if you loved Carl's story about his
S4: rescue cats, you're going to love hearing about all the
S4: cool mentions of animals in the Bible this month. Today
S4: in the word devotional, we've got the author with us
S4: coming up.
S1: This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
S2: It's a dog eat dog world out there.
S5: Ali.
S4: Yes.
S5: What in the cat hairs going on around here? Oh,
S5: I see where you're going with this. Come on, let's
S5: have a little bit of fun. Let's see what other.
S4: Animal.
S5: Reference.
S2: Well, you told me that you were when you were
S2: in middle school. You felt a little.
S5: Long in the legs, right? Well, um, you ever get.
S2: Called.
S5: Giraffe or anything like that? Giraffe?
S4: I unfortunately, I felt kind of like an ugly duckling.
S5: Oh, don't do that to me. No, I'm just just
S5: tell we're going. Animal. Ducks are fair game. They are
S5: fair game. I just my dad heart came out right there.
S5: I don't want that. Um, it's funny because you look
S5: in the scripture. And what do you find? Animals everywhere.
S4: And not just in the garden? No, and not just
S4: on the ark.
S5: No.
S4: They're animals sprinkled everywhere in Scripture. If you start looking for.
S5: Them, you got talking donkeys. You got people called dogs,
S5: by the way, the Samaritans. So dogs, Animals are everywhere.
S5: Jim Coakley. What's with animals in the Bible?
S6: Yeah, they're all over the place, as you just mentioned.
S6: And of course, like many of our listeners, I grew
S6: up loving animals. I had unusual exotic pets. I had
S6: an American toad. I had instead of goldfish, I had
S6: a bluegill. And my roommate at college had a piranha,
S6: and we put him in the same tank and they
S6: survived with each other. Oh, I.
S5: Thought you were going to give us something that we
S5: had to have a little ear warning on.
S6: No, but my wife did put it down. One time
S6: at a church camp. I picked up this lovely green snake,
S6: and I wanted to bring it home. And she said, nope, nope, no,
S6: no snakes at home.
S5: You know, I knew I loved Gail. Now I love
S5: her all the more. You need some wise counsel in
S5: your life, don't you?
S6: Yes, I.
S5: Do.
S4: Doctor Jim Coakley is the author of this month's today
S4: in the Word devotional, which focuses on animals in Scripture.
S4: Why did you take on this as a topic for
S4: a whole month? This probably is going to, for most people,
S4: seem a bit obscure.
S6: I like what Proverbs six tells us to do, because
S6: I think this really is the inspiration for the whole
S6: month's study. It tells us to what? Go to the ant,
S6: you sluggard. And so we're told to look at the
S6: animal kingdom. We're looking at the ant. And so we
S6: learn wisdom principles by looking at some of God's creatures,
S6: but they're also used symbolically. The lion and the lamb.
S6: You know, Jesus, the lion of the tribe of Judah,
S6: Jesus the Lamb of God. The metaphors that are there,
S6: of course, we have associations with, you know, snakes with
S6: deception and and all sorts of, you know, kind of
S6: eerie associations with some things like in the book of Genesis,
S6: goats are always around deception, you know, they fool dad. Uh, again, uh,
S6: Jacob fooled Isaac with goat skin. Yes. Uh, we have
S6: the goats speckled and spotted goats. Jacob's trying to get
S6: the upper hand with Uncle Laban. Uh, we have the
S6: brothers of Joseph dipping Joseph's garment in goat's blood to
S6: try to show evidence that he's been devoured by wild animals.
S6: So goats in the Book of Genesis are associated with deception.
S6: but they're wily animals, so it fits the kind of
S6: the nature of the animal itself.
S5: You know, even the book of Job, for crying out loud.
S5: I mean, we got references to animals, some of which
S5: people speculate. Is this referring to what we would call
S5: prehistoric now? Right. So why?
S6: I mean, right in Genesis one, they're part of the
S6: created world. And so we have the fact that God
S6: made them. And so there's lessons to be learned from
S6: what we have with that. And like you say, the
S6: book of Job, were you there, uh, all those questions
S6: that God asked job at the end of the book
S6: to kind of say, hey, you need to knock it
S6: down a little bit in terms of what you think,
S6: in terms of understanding my ways, because were you there
S6: when the ostrich gave birth or whatever? I mean, so
S6: it's a way for us to kind of make sure
S6: that we realize God is sovereign and powerful and way
S6: wiser than you and I are.
S5: You know, I wonder if we're missing something. And I
S5: genuinely mean this right now. I wonder if we're missing
S5: something that we know we appreciate animals, for crying out loud.
S5: You got these things called zoos, right? I mean, you go.
S5: We went to San Diego Zoo. Me and my bride
S5: about a year ago. It was epic. But I wonder
S5: if we are missing something. Scripture is clear. Ponder the ant. Right?
S5: I mean, so what's a good discovery that you had
S5: preparing for.
S2: This.
S5: Devotional?
S6: One I don't think our listeners are necessarily going to
S6: like to envision, but in Isaiah 40, a wonderful passage
S6: about they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.
S6: And it goes on to say, and most translations say,
S6: they shall mount up as wings on eagles like eagles.
S6: And so we think, especially as Americans, we think of
S6: the American bald eagle, our national bird and majestic and
S6: full of symbolism. But I hate to break it to
S6: our audience. There's no American bald eagles in Israel. They're
S6: not a native animal there. So it's not likely that
S6: they're thinking of our statuesque kind of national bird. You've
S6: been to Gamla. I've been to Gamla. There's a number
S6: of refuges in Israel for what is called the Griffon vulture.
S6: These are magnificent birds. They're ugly birds, but they're magnificent
S6: because they have long, long wingspan. And you go over
S6: and you see these cliffs and you see these birds
S6: soaring effortlessly. And that's the whole point. It's not the
S6: fact of their beauty, it's the fact that they work
S6: so effortlessly to stay aloft. They should be sinking like rocks,
S6: but God keeps them aloft because of their aerodynamics. And
S6: so that's really then we can soar above our difficulties.
S6: But it doesn't sound so impressive for us to say
S6: we shall mount up like wings as vultures.
S5: But when you see them, it changes everything.
S6: It changes everything.
S4: Doctor Jim Coakley, our guest right now. What's another animal
S4: reference that's maybe surprised you as you were doing your study?
S6: Revelation chapter five. It talks about, you know, again, Jesus,
S6: the lion of the tribe of Judah, and it's mentioned
S6: as part of a song, the Song of Moses and
S6: The song of the lamb. And so we mentioned, of course,
S6: lion with Jesus. And of course associated with Judah. But
S6: then we go all the way back to Genesis, the
S6: first book of the Bible. In Genesis 49, we also
S6: have the mention of the messianic prophecy about Judah being
S6: the seed line, and Judah will lie down like a lion.
S6: And so we have all these, these references. And it's
S6: interesting that the original Lion King, it's not from Disney,
S6: it's from Scripture, because right from the beginning, in a
S6: very poetic, lyrical section, Genesis 49, we associate lions. And
S6: throughout the Pentateuch, I should say it's also mentioned in
S6: Balaam's Oracles and in the Song of Moses we have
S6: lions mentioned, and then we have them at the end
S6: in the book of revelation, all associated with King Jesus.
S6: And so lions associated with royalty again as a big
S6: image all the way through the ancient Near East, you
S6: go to ancient Near Eastern courts. You see kings killing
S6: lions pictured as lions. And so this shows they're royalty.
S6: But again, Jesus is King of kings and he is
S6: the original Lion King.
S5: Give us a quick riff on the spirit and dove correlation.
S6: Yeah. I mean, certainly, again, I think kind of similar
S6: to the eagle vulture. The doves are timid or.
S5: Tender.
S6: Tender. They're not at all threatening. And so we have
S6: then the spirit descending like a dove, kind of a comforter. Yeah.
S6: And of course, doves are used. Turtle doves are used
S6: as part of the sacrificial animal system. If you didn't
S6: have a sheep or a goat, a ram to offer.
S6: And so they're multi-use kind of purposes, both for food,
S6: for sacrifices, but also the nature of the dove itself
S6: is a great analogy.
S5: Who'd have thunk it? So much from animals in Scripture.
S4: If you want to spend some time in the month
S4: of June in this devotional, highly recommend today in the word.
S4: It is a phenomenal resource. Just text. Today we'll get
S4: you connected. Text today to 800 555 7898. Just that
S4: one word. Spell it out today 800 555 7898.