S1: Coming to you from the Morning Star Mission sponsored studio.
S1: This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
S2: Helping you take your next step with Jesus. Come as
S2: you are. Come as you are. Experience God overcome what
S2: seems impossible and live as you never imagined. That's a
S2: little creed that I have in my heart for you,
S2: and we want that for you in a big way.
S2: This whole week we're talking about going under the hood
S2: and under the hood is a metaphor very similar to
S2: the root system of a tree. It's the unseen things
S2: that matter most in the spiritual life. Oftentimes we lead with,
S2: let's get into a small group. Let's join this effort
S2: over here. Let's use our gifts. They're all those are great.
S2: Those are great. Those are great. But if the engine
S2: room of our soul, if the root system of our
S2: soul is unattended, those can turn into, uh, painful things.
S2: You ever been in a small group and you're like, God,
S2: deliver me. Carl.
S3: That's really funny. Oh my goodness.
S2: Come on, let's get out of here. You ever been
S2: in a small group and it's God. Deliver me.
S4: Yes, there's a moment. Yes I have.
S2: Deliver me. God. How many more weeks? Four more weeks.
S4: How many more chapters?
S2: Oh.
S4: Yeah.
S2: I'm feeling something.
S3: Are you okay?
S2: Well, know what you can do is you can miss
S2: two of them with a cold.
S4: Oh.
S3: Can't miss all of them.
S2: I mean, let's just let's just break it down and
S2: get honest here. Yeah, sure. Sometimes you signed up for something.
S2: It's like. Yeah. I felt a weak moment, and I
S2: signed up for children's ministry. Now I'm enslaved to the children.
S4: I'm stuck coming.
S2: Phoebe.
S4: Phoebe is coming, by the way. But. Yeah.
S2: Oh, no. VBS is awesome. I love VBS, VBS in
S2: Alaska was great. We would, we would.
S4: Oh, I can imagine.
S2: Oh, VBS in Alaska was the greatest thing. I mean,
S2: it involves shooting things. I mean, that's.
S3: That sounds like a fun VBS to me.
S4: Oh, yeah.
S2: I mean, I remember one VBS, it's like, bring your
S2: 20 twos 22 caliber guns.
S4: No, really. Bring your own. Oh, yeah.
S2: Oh, yeah. Everybody had them. Bring your 20 twos. We've
S2: got the bullets and we're going to do target shooting.
S3: Oh man.
S2: And everybody knew how to handle their guns. So to
S2: be fair, it's not like you're handing a weapon to
S2: a kid that knows nothing about it.
S4: Sure. Yes.
S3: Very different.
S4: Scenario. Exactly. Yeah. So scary.
S2: I bought my first I bought my first 22. And
S2: I got the thing for, I think $18, and I.
S2: And I found it in the ads of the newspaper.
S2: Do you know what ads are, young Thunder?
S3: I know what ads are.
S2: No, you don't know what ads are.
S3: Well, isn't it the just the section of the newspaper
S3: that that has like little, little slips of like, advertisements.
S4: You.
S2: Know, how do you know that young soul?
S3: Well, I mean, magazines have those types of things. And
S3: my dad used to have newspapers. I would assume I'd
S3: seen those, but yeah.
S2: So I guess. Yeah. So we used to take out
S2: ads and you could take out ads. I think back
S2: in the day, you know, you didn't want to go
S2: over three lines and it got into big dollars.
S4: 250 oh, right. Or half a page full page ad.
S4: Oh no no.
S2: No no no. I'm talking about in the classified sections.
S2: You didn't want to go past three lines. Oh no way.
S2: It was three lines. You know, you're grunting basically in
S2: an ad.
S3: You got to get the cheap stuff, the.
S2: Cheap table like new.
S4: Um, that's pretty good Shaker design. There you go.
S2: No, you couldn't even use design. No, you just have
S2: to go Shaker.
S4: People knew.
S2: $25. Come and get it.
S3: That's awesome.
S2: Yeah. And then you had your phone number in there.
S4: Oh. That's crazy.
S3: That is.
S4: Crazy. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
S2: Nowadays were great days, huh? But I digress.
S4: Yes.
S2: Sometimes we find ourselves in situations that we're like, oh
S2: my goodness, what is going on? And and the, the
S2: thing that you're serving at. I mean, there's some of
S2: you are like our teams for 180 Chicago. I pastored
S2: church here in Chicago. We got two campuses. Both of
S2: them are still we are our newer campus, obviously, but
S2: we're meeting in rented space. You know what that means?
S2: You back up trailers and you got a team and
S2: you grind it out. And my heart for these guys
S2: always is that they don't lose the joy of the
S2: Lord in that thing, that it doesn't become something where
S2: you're like, God, deliver me from. We call them the crew.
S2: Deliver me from the crew. We don't want that. And
S2: so the question is, what is it that's under the
S2: hood that's going to really keep our soul stoked with
S2: passion for Jesus? What is that? And there's several things there.
S2: The hidden disciplines. It's it's a heart that is quiet
S2: before the Lord. It's silence. It's solitude, it's prayer. That's
S2: why Jesus said, go into the closet. Why private prayers?
S2: What God sees in secret, he will reward. There's something
S2: about that honest thing that has no performative element in
S2: it at all, that is just really attractive to God.
S2: It's beautiful. It's absolutely beautiful. And the question then has
S2: to become, if you really go under the hood, is
S2: there something else that needs to constantly be on the
S2: forefront of our mind to even keep those hidden disciplines
S2: in place? And there is. I want to talk to
S2: you coming up about two men who were cheating on
S2: their wives. Two men that were cheating on their wives
S2: came into my office. One had one response, the other another.
S2: And what happened?
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: So I want to tell you a tale about two men.
S2: And having been a pastor for a lot of years,
S2: it's not just twice that I've run into this. And
S2: it's not just men, but I want to give you
S2: these two men that are a great juxtaposition of choices
S2: that are made. I've gotten word from a really desperate
S2: wife that her husband was cheating on her. I called
S2: him up. He was the CEO of a pretty good
S2: sized company. And I said, hey, I need you to
S2: come into my office, man. We need to have a chat.
S2: And he said, I figured you'd call. And he came
S2: into my office and sat down and I said, what's
S2: going on? He said, I'm going to leave. My wife said,
S2: what do you mean you're leaving your wife? What's causing this?
S2: He said, oh, Carl, I love this new woman. I
S2: have a love for her like I never had for
S2: my wife. And I said to him. You're lying to yourself.
S2: I saw the love you had for your wife. He said.
S2: He insisted. He's like no man. Honestly, Karl. I the
S2: the the the love that I have for this woman.
S2: I said, bro, that's that's lust that's self-serving stuff going on.
S2: That's what you're needing right now. That's not love, bro.
S2: And I said, listen to me right now. You're going
S2: to walk out of this office, and I'm appealing to
S2: you to return to the love of your wife. But
S2: if you don't, it's going to cost you dearly. You're
S2: going to lose all credibility with your family, friends. You're
S2: going to be isolated from God. It's going to be
S2: painful because you're not going to greener grass, baby, that
S2: is astroturf. And it hurts when you hit it. He
S2: went off and did it. And everything I predicted came
S2: to pass. Not because I'm some prophet, but because the
S2: Word of God is clear. It was painful. About a
S2: year later, another brother came into my office. Same kind
S2: of circumstances. Got caught, came in, and I looked at
S2: him and I go, man, what's going on? You're sleeping
S2: around on your wife. He said, I am. I said,
S2: listen to me. You got to return to that love
S2: that you had with your wife, and you've got to
S2: do an about face right now. You got to turn around.
S2: You got to repent. He wrestled a little bit with
S2: the emotions that he was feeling. But ultimately, said, Carl,
S2: I'm going to turn around today. And he broke. See,
S2: there were no tears from the first guy, but the
S2: second guy, man, there were tears galore. Oh man, it
S2: was awesome. I bet we sat there and I joined
S2: them in tears. I bet we went through a half
S2: a box of Kleenex just pulling them out.
S3: Good.
S2: Repentance is a beautiful thing. When you got both nostrils
S2: vacating everything that's in there. It was beautiful to see.
S2: And this man ultimately went back to his wife. And
S2: they've got a legacy today like you can't believe. Perfect. No.
S2: Intact rolling with God. You better believe it. Here's the
S2: issue for for both of these guys. Here's the issue
S2: for both of these guys. They weren't sleeping around on
S2: their wives. First and foremost. They were sleeping around on God.
S2: I want to give you a principle here that is
S2: found everywhere in Scripture. When the nation of Israel would
S2: walk away from God, you know what it was called? Adultery.
S2: That's what it was called.
S3: We don't often think about it like that.
S2: No. Do you know what James half brother Jesus called it?
S2: He's talking about you're coveting. You're wanting other stuff. You
S2: don't have it. You ask and don't receive because you
S2: ask with wrong motives. And then he says, verse four,
S2: chapter four. And James, you adulterous people. What?
S4: There's the word.
S2: Don't you know that friendship with the world is enmity
S2: with God? And the risk for. Radically transformed people to
S2: wander away from their first love is profound. That's what
S2: happened to the church of Ephesus. They left their first love.
S2: And what the consequence is going to be is their
S2: lampstand was going to be removed. Now they were going
S2: to church and they were opening their Bibles, and they
S2: were testing apostles that were coming in, whether or not
S2: they were teaching the truth, but they were sleeping around
S2: on God. Isn't that wild? And I think sometimes we
S2: kind of sanitize this thing and we call it backsliding.
S2: The problem with the word backsliding is that it's nowhere
S2: in the New Testament.
S3: This is accurate.
S2: It's not in the Greek language. It's nowhere. Backsliding is.
S2: And I'm just. I love you enough to tell you this.
S2: I know this is a hard topic today, but we
S2: got to go here. But backsliding is a sanitized way
S2: of saying my love and eyes for God have been
S2: distracted by a love for something or someone else. That's
S2: all it is. And when you when you talk about
S2: getting under the sheets with something or someone else in
S2: your love for God fades, most people that are born
S2: again can immediately go boom. This is what's pulled me away.
S2: This is my new affection. And it can come in
S2: so many different forms. Now I want to forecast something
S2: for you. We're going to have two days that have
S2: the potential to be incredibly powerful. We could see an
S2: awakening across this nation. For all of you, our listeners.
S2: And I believe this because I see it in Scripture
S2: and it's overwhelming for me. Tomorrow we're going to talk
S2: about how to return to your first love, and I'm
S2: going to have and I'm going to have a resource
S2: for you that is going to give you a biblical
S2: path back to your first love. But I just want
S2: to ask you what was going on when you weren't
S2: sleeping around on God. Just think about that a moment here.
S2: And let's not be careful here because it's easy to
S2: sanitize sleeping around. Right, guys?
S3: Oh, it's.
S2: Easy.
S3: To do. Well, absolutely. I think that's why we maybe
S3: came up with the term backsliding because. Because sleeping around
S3: sounds really harsh. It sounds really uncomfortable.
S4: And so we softened it.
S3: No one wants to admit to have done it. So
S3: we soften it.
S2: And here's the thing. Rub a dub. We're all in.
S2: We can all be in this tub. And this is
S2: why this call to intimacy and practicing God's presence daily
S2: is so vital. Because there are any number of things
S2: that Satan is baiting us with constantly saying, come on
S2: over here, fall in love over here. I think the
S2: reason God uses adultery is because we all feel that
S2: one together. It's like, oh boy.
S3: Yes, everyone knows what it means. Everyone's uncomfortable by it.
S2: Everybody knows the fallout. Everybody gets it. But what if
S2: we came back? Here's a question I have for you.
S2: What are the things that pull us away from a
S2: love for God? Begin to list them. I want you
S2: to text in what are those things that pull you
S2: away from God? You, not someone else. This is for
S2: us to do some soul work together under the hood
S2: with God. Because, see, here's the thing. Even the power
S2: of prayer in secret, even the power of solitude, the
S2: power of silence, the power of reading the Bible. It's
S2: all baked in with having that first love. So churches
S2: Ephesus was was warned about mere button down. Man, you're
S2: going to church every Sunday. You got it going. You're
S2: bored again, there's no doubt about it. But boy, you
S2: have left your first love. And I know this sounds raw,
S2: but it's biblical. When we're sleeping around on God, our
S2: witnesses compromise, our life is compromised, our witness to our
S2: kids and grandkids is just so compromised. All we got
S2: to give them is dead orthodoxy. But when we come home, Katie,
S2: bar the door. Want to ask you a question? I
S2: want you to wrestle with it. And I want you
S2: to be honest to God. I'm not going to shout
S2: out your phone number. I don't know your name. You.
S2: This is totally anonymous, but I want you to ask
S2: God right now what has pulled you away from your
S2: first love. What affection have you fallen more in love with?
S2: It could be. It could be an adulterous relationship for
S2: a percentage of you. But it could be any number
S2: of things. And you know what it is? I don't
S2: even need to prime the pump text in right now.
S2: Make this a holy moment. What has pulled you away
S2: from the love of God? Now, here's the hope in
S2: this when you begin to identify it. Katie, bar the door.
S2: We know the path back. And tomorrow we're going to
S2: absolutely ink it for you. What is the affection that
S2: has pulled you away from your love for God? Remember
S2: when you were in Fuego for Jesus? What pulled you away? 855. Five. 78. 98.
S2: In one word or a phrase or one sentence. No
S2: more than one sentence. Just give it to me right now.
S2: I'm going to read them on air. Remain totally anonymous.
S2: Make this an act of worship this morning. Maybe God's
S2: Spirit is telling you, man, I've left my first love
S2: and I don't want my lampstand gone. I don't want
S2: my witness compromised. I know you don't want that. See,
S2: this is the beauty of the power of the spirit.
S2: He can call you back home today. What's pulled you away? Oh,
S2: they're coming in right now. This is beautiful. 800 555, 78, 98.
S2: I'm going to read them out when we get back.
S2: 800 555. 78. 98.
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: Phenomenal responses coming in, asking you questions. Tough one. Today
S2: you go to the Word of God and you look
S2: at life and you go, wow. What caused the church
S2: of Ephesus to leave their first love? And here's the point.
S2: It's another affection that's captured our heart. It's just that simple.
S2: And the beauty of it is. And the hope is
S2: we can return to our first love. We can return.
S2: And the lampstand, the light of our life. The intimacy
S2: and power of God can be restored in in amazing ways.
S2: Some of you. Some of you have a wayward kid.
S2: You know the greatest gift you can give to them.
S2: Let loose of any false affections any. And let them
S2: see your heart burning hot for Jesus Christ. It's the
S2: best gift you can give them. You guys believe me
S2: on that one?
S4: Absolutely.
S2: I mean, honestly.
S3: Yeah, it's the best gift we can give anybody in
S3: our lives.
S4: Any witness.
S2: I ask you a question. A lot of your very
S2: courageous in texting in this morning, I asked the question,
S2: what is the affection that has pulled you away from
S2: a love for God and their candid here? I'm just
S2: going to read them out. Pornography, pride. Sexual addiction, the world.
S2: Let me explain the world. Because that is that is
S2: a real one. The world is all the world's systems,
S2: and it can manifest itself in us getting more political
S2: than we are spiritual.
S3: Sure.
S5: Oh yeah.
S2: Frustrations of life. Yeah. You can get frustrated with life
S2: and pretty quick that becomes your focal point rather than
S2: the goodness of God.
S5: Yeah.
S2: Food, work, sleep, laziness, my job. People, material things, lust,
S2: cell phone addiction, comfort. What a.
S4: Great.
S2: Observation.
S3: Wow. That's great.
S2: What a great observation. Beer? Yeah, you were sipping it.
S2: Now it's sipping you, man. Sexual addiction. Alcohol again. Porn lust.
S2: More money. Better paying job. Yeah. To aspire to. That's great.
S2: But when that affection takes us away from a love
S2: for God. Oh, my goodness, we're sleeping around on God. Okay,
S2: here's the deal. And I want to give you hope today.
S2: The Spirit of God that indwells you can turn you
S2: around from those affections. Bang! Now, tomorrow, we're going to
S2: spend the whole time. I'm going to have a resource
S2: for you that's going to tell you how to regain
S2: that love for Jesus that you once had, and make
S2: it singular again. Somebody just texted in the American dream. Oh,
S2: my friend, don't get me on a soapbox now.
S3: It's real.
S2: American Dream can be one of the greatest distractions from
S2: God's vision for our life that you can imagine. Facebook.
S2: Social media. Somebody just came in with. Yep. It can
S2: bite us all, man. It can be an infection that
S2: can pull us away. I just here's all I want
S2: you to do with that substitute God that you've put
S2: in place that's got you. As James says, it's so
S2: hard to hear. And it's like, man, so early in
S2: the morning we got to hit this stuff. You adulterous people,
S2: James wrote. You're out looking for everything in this world
S2: you covet. You're trying to get something. You ask and
S2: your prayers are bouncing off the ceiling because. It's it's
S2: so hard to say, but adulterous people just means you're
S2: sleeping around on God. In the church of Ephesus was told,
S2: return to your first love. and you can just humble
S2: yourself under God's mighty hand today and watch what he
S2: can do to restore you. This is Katie Nicole. My
S2: God can lift a palm before the Lord and just say,
S2: this is what I've had for an affection.
S1: She's a choreographer extraordinaire and everything is Greek to her.
S1: Super di is in the crew. It's Carl and crew
S1: on Moody Radio.
S2: You know, if you're just catching us right now, we're
S2: midstream of some heavy work we're doing. We're talking about
S2: identifying those loves that have pulled us away from our
S2: first love. Scripture is clear. It's hard to hear, but
S2: anything that we find ourselves loving more than God is
S2: an adulterous relationship or sleeping around on God. You don't
S2: have to go just in Hosea. You can go all
S2: the way back to Deuteronomy. You go to James chapter four,
S2: verse four. You can see it right there for yourself.
S2: And it's a hard one to hear. But I love
S2: how graphic God is because it's that honesty without kind
S2: of dumbing it down that allows us to see something
S2: in us that's pulled our affection away from God. And
S2: we can go, yes, I'm coming back to you, God,
S2: coming back to you. And if the Spirit of God
S2: is calling you, turn your heart toward home today. Tomorrow,
S2: on Freedom Friday, call your friends, neighbors, family. I'm serious.
S2: We are going to have a day of freedom where
S2: we are going to give you practical tools about how
S2: to return to your first love, how to identify the
S2: love that's kind of supplanted God, not kind of, but
S2: has supplanted God and how you can get back again.
S2: Hormoz Shariat is the Billy Graham to Iran. No joking.
S2: 7 million people weekly he is speaking to via the
S2: internet and pumping television into the underground church and underground
S2: seekers all across Iran. There is something happening in Iran
S2: and could it be linked to Jeremiah 29? Could it be?
S2: Hang on. Details are going to be coming up. This
S2: is Jordan Feliz. Praise God for that.
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: Well, it's not lost on you. There's a lot going
S2: on in the Middle East, primarily Iran. And an attempt
S2: from Israel with an assistance from the United States to
S2: thwart Iran's ability to get nuclear weaponry. We got the
S2: right guy with us, doctor Hormoz Shariat with us. He's
S2: the founder and president of Iran Alive Ministries broadcasts into
S2: Iran with daily listeners, viewers of 7 million people. How
S2: are you doing this morning, Hormoz.
S6: Hey, good morning Carl. A lot is happening, so we're
S6: busy serving the people of Iran.
S2: Give us an update from your perspective. We know from
S2: the news generally what's happening from a geopolitical standpoint, but
S2: can you shed more light on that? Are you getting
S2: news from boots on the ground there?
S6: Sure. You know, we broadcast, but we have on the
S6: ground churches. We have many leaders inside Iran serving the country,
S6: serving through the media. So yeah, I'm in touch with
S6: them daily. The situation when you look at from the
S6: physical point of view, political economy, I mean, the war suffering,
S6: that looks really bad. And looking at it from a
S6: spiritual point of view, it continues to be good. The
S6: Lord is continuing to save millions of Iranians already. They have.
S6: And even more openness. So looking at the situation, it's
S6: really desperate. And right now they have pain, but they
S6: have joy also the pain of the war. It's very
S6: hard to live in a war, but at the same time,
S6: I see joy or hope in the hearts of the
S6: people of Iran.
S2: All right, let's back up a little bit. Doctor Hormoz
S2: Shariat is our guest right now. Give us your backstory
S2: and try to give it at 30,000ft. How in the
S2: world did you land in Southern California broadcasting the gospel?
S2: They call you the Billy Graham. I know you don't
S2: even necessarily love that name, the Billy Graham of Iran,
S2: but how did you land there? What's going on? Give
S2: us a quick flyby.
S6: Yeah, I was on the streets of Tehran 79, as
S6: a young student. As I came to us a PhD
S6: in artificial intelligence and Southern California, University of Southern California.
S6: And then I got interested in spiritual things. I want
S6: to be a good Muslim. So I said, I'm going
S6: to read Quran and really dedicate my life to Islam.
S6: But when I read Koran one more time, it didn't
S6: really satisfy my soul. I said, I'm an open minded person,
S6: I'm going to read the Bible also. And that's when
S6: things started happening. Reading the Matthew and reading about Jesus,
S6: I went through several months of which one is true,
S6: which one is true? Both cannot be true. And eventually
S6: I prayed a simple prayer inviting Jesus into my life
S6: and amazing, miraculous change happened inside of me first and
S6: then my marriage. So I said, this is a powerful message.
S6: I'm selfish if I keep this to myself. I started
S6: sharing the gospel with other Muslims and one by one
S6: they came to Christ, planted churches in Northern California, started
S6: a broadcast after nine over 11, and we have been
S6: doing 24 over seven satellite broadcasts the last 15 years.
S6: People come to Christ. We take care of them. We
S6: disciple them. We plant underground churches. We plant churches. So
S6: broadcast is a tool, satellite broadcast to go over the
S6: heads of the mullahs into people's homes and tell them
S6: about Jesus. The real hope. The real Savior.
S2: Amen. Doctor Hormoz Shariat is with me right now. Let's
S2: get into it. We've been talking all week here on
S2: our morning show about the need to deal with the
S2: unseen things in our life, the disciplines of prayer and
S2: solitude and fasting and Bible study in secret in those
S2: quiet places that aren't seen. That's what keeps the church
S2: really alive in Iran. Talk to us about what God's
S2: doing hormoz.
S6: Well, this is a miracle in the making in the
S6: last 40 years. It took him 40 years to come
S6: to this point, that Islam is not the way Islam
S6: is their source of the problem, and they need to
S6: get rid of it. So that's why we see such
S6: a high number of conversion. Amazing. The last few years,
S6: even this year, we see an exponential growth of number
S6: of people coming to Christ. And the reason is, on
S6: the one hand, they know Islam is not the way
S6: they're done. They're done with Islam. They've been set free
S6: from that spirit of Islam, by the way. It's so strong.
S6: It's so strong. Muslims are not allowed to question Islam
S6: and look, but the people of Iran are looking, they're comparing,
S6: they're studying, they're reading, and many of them are coming
S6: to Christ. So the great miracle has been that the
S6: Prince of Persia, the spirit over Iran, have been defeated
S6: and weakened, and the captives are being set free by Jesus.
S2: You know, you speak to it being a place of
S2: Christian revival and awakening and you appeal to. Last time
S2: we had you here was Jeremiah 49. And I read,
S2: and I will set my throne in Elam, which is Iran,
S2: and destroy their king and officials, declares the Lord. But
S2: in the latter days I will restore the fortress of Elam,
S2: declares the Lord. Now, I've done a lot of study
S2: on this one in the last couple of weeks. I
S2: know that there's great theologians that hold to this is
S2: a future fulfillment, but many hold to this was fulfilled
S2: in 600 BC. Where do you stand on this prophecy
S2: of Jeremiah?
S6: Yes, I've studied it very deeply. I've read all those
S6: historical documents. For example, Jeremiah 4934, he says, I will
S6: break the bow of Iran, the base of power. Israel
S6: will attack Iran and will destroy its military bases, the
S6: nuclear sites and all that. But what is in those
S6: verses is happening right now that Iran is losing the
S6: base of its power. This base of its spiritual power
S6: is Islam. It's gone now. Nuclear sites are gone. Missile
S6: sites are gone. So then after that, you read in
S6: Jeremiah 49 that Iranians will go to a suffering, and
S6: that's what's happening and will happen, continue to happen. But
S6: not many people know that God promises that. He said
S6: he will set his throne in Iran. People know Jeremiah
S6: 317 that God says he will set his throne in Jerusalem.
S6: But not many people know God will set his throne
S6: in Islam. Also, what that means is that Iran will
S6: be a Christian nation. You know, when I say that,
S6: people say, are you crazy? Iran will be a Christian nation.
S6: Where did you get that idea? And I tell him, hey,
S6: I stole that idea. Where did you get it? I
S6: stole it from Jeremiah 4938. Because God promises that Iran
S6: will be saved as Israel will be saved.
S2: You know, it's interesting in acts two, when Peter preached
S2: on that day of Pentecost, among those who had the
S2: gospel translated into their language were Elamites. So those are
S2: Iranian born again Christians. This dates back 2000 years ago,
S2: that God was already doing a work of evangelism in Iran.
S2: Speak to that one Hormoz.
S6: You know Cyrus is the only one God calls him
S6: besides Jesus. He calls him my Messiah and Isaiah 40.
S6: So what we see in Genesis 12, God says, I
S6: will bless those who bless Israel. That's a promise. And
S6: in the Bible, it's only Persia and Cyrus that qualifies
S6: for that blessing part. So there is a favor on Iran.
S6: God is blessing Iran because Iran blessed Israel.
S2: Hormoz Shariat. My guest right now, what are you seeing
S2: practically that are the spiritual disciplines in the life of
S2: the Iranians that makes them strong at the threat of persecution,
S2: even martyrdom? What is going on is their prayer movement,
S2: is their introspection, is their repentance, is their all the above.
S2: What is God doing?
S6: It is all of the above, and it's a move
S6: of the spirit. When we talk about the move of
S6: the spirit Iran, we think conversion, conversion, conversions, yes, of course,
S6: but the work of the Holy Spirit does not stop
S6: at conversion. He continues to work in the hearts of Iranians.
S6: They love Jesus. You know, Carl, when you come from darkness,
S6: you appreciate the light even more. They have come out
S6: of darkness, the oppression of that spirit. And now they
S6: have come to know Jesus. They have come to know
S6: God that God is love. God is not hatred. God
S6: is not violence. So they fall in love with Jesus.
S6: Number two, the Holy Spirit. After conversion, they have taken
S6: away the spirit of fear. The spirit of fear is
S6: taken away. What is it? What does it replace it? Love,
S6: power and sound mind. So we see the Holy Spirit
S6: working among Iranians. According to that verse, he has not
S6: given us the spirit of fear. So we see a love.
S6: Iranian Christians are known for their love and people. Muslims
S6: are attracted to the love in the hearts and the
S6: actions of Iranian Christians. So many conversions are coming because
S6: family member comes to Christ and the rest is saying, hey,
S6: what happened to you? Now you have love, you have joy,
S6: you have peace. We want that. We want that. So
S6: it's an amazing thing.
S2: Doctor Hormoz Shariat with us today and we've got a
S2: link for you to learn more about this incredible work
S2: and really get some context so that you can pray.
S2: Text alive to 800 555 7898. Just the word alive
S2: to 800 555 7898.
S1: You're listening to Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
S2: Here's where we've been, and then we're going to pick
S2: it up with Gary Thomas coming up here in a moment. Listen,
S2: it's hard to hear, but any love that is redirected
S2: affection for anything other than God, and he's not looking
S2: for perfection. He's just saying at the very core of
S2: your soul, is there a love for God there, or
S2: are you? Well, here's the word committing adultery, sleeping around
S2: on God. And we've had a slew of you respond
S2: here from social media. It can be food, it can
S2: be the ladder you're climbing in the corporate world, it
S2: can be. I mean, fill in the blanks. Social media
S2: is huge, guys. There can be affections that draw us
S2: away and they come in any form. Satan does not
S2: mind what baits you as long as you're sleeping around
S2: on God. Gary. Thomas. You're here in my heart here
S2: this morning. We have got a big group of of
S2: Jesus followers listening to you right now. You and I,
S2: we've been pastors for decades. We've seen this happen. It's
S2: it's an amazing thing that we can go white hot
S2: from a relationship with Jesus and then find ourselves getting
S2: under the sheets with substitute gods. How does that happen, Gary?
S7: You know, I think God takes us through a process.
S7: I call it divine disillusionment. We're looking for our parents
S7: to love us like only God can love us, and
S7: they just can't. Then we think it's a romantic partner.
S7: Then we think it's a child. Because I can control that.
S7: I've had wives, young mothers. Tell me, Gary, is it
S7: possible for me to love my child more than I
S7: love God? And I'm like, well, God has a cure
S7: for that. It's it's called that adolescence. Just give it
S7: time and then even we'll go into the church. And
S7: all the while, God is waiting. You've been disappointed by
S7: your parents. You've been disappointed by your romantic partner. You're
S7: disappointed by your children. You're disappointed by your church members.
S7: Will you look to me? That's what we find in
S7: James four eight when he says, draw near to God
S7: and he will draw near to you. And clearly he
S7: is talking to believers when he says that, just take
S7: a step toward God and find that fulfillment that you're
S7: looking everywhere else to find.
S2: And here's the wild thing. I'm so glad you were
S2: in James four eight, which is so providential. I don't
S2: even know if you heard this. I've been in James
S2: four four because they're struggling with I want this, I
S2: want that, I want this, and their prayers are bouncing
S2: off the ceiling. Gary and and then James half brother
S2: Jesus says, you adulterous people. What? He's calling them spiritual adulterers,
S2: getting under the sheets with all their passions. And then
S2: you're right. He says, come back to me, draw near
S2: to God, and he will draw near to you. It's
S2: like Satan has this, I don't know. He's got this
S2: plethora of things that try to draw our affection away
S2: from that white hot love for God. And Gary, this
S2: can happen to pastors too, right, brother?
S7: Oh it can. I mean ambition, acclaim from others instead
S7: of appreciation from God and an affirmation from God. We
S7: can look everywhere else. But Carl, a lot of it,
S7: I think, is that Christians often don't know how best
S7: to connect with God. They don't know how to get
S7: their heart needs met. They don't know what it means
S7: to set their souls and their minds and their hearts
S7: on God. They're trying to one size fits all spirituality
S7: when God made us so different. He's a he's a
S7: creative God who created us to relate to him in
S7: different ways. And so sometimes it might just be the
S7: way that we're trying to meet with him that keeps
S7: us from finding that fulfillment and that joy and expectation
S7: in our worship.
S2: I love it. Okay, hang on, Gary, can you hang
S2: with me for a moment here, my man?
S7: Absolutely.
S2: Okay. Hang on. More with Gary Thomas coming up. And
S2: as a matter of fact, let's pick away at nine
S2: ways to connect with God. You might feel far from
S2: him this morning. God can bring you home, and it's
S2: a beautiful thing. Hold on to not the dream. Certainly
S2: not the American dream, but God's vision of a 30, 60,
S2: 100 fold life. Abundant life. Hang on.
S1: It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
S2: With me right now is Gary Thomas. I didn't even
S2: ID the guy. Poor guy. Teaching pastor at Cherry Hills
S2: Community Church in Highlands Ranch, Colorado. And he's the reason
S2: I brought you in here, Gary, is because I wanted
S2: to hear some thoughts. You've written a book called Sacred
S2: Pathways and and boom crew. We're not selling books here today.
S2: We're going to get a we're going to get some
S2: nuggets from this. But give me you got nine ways
S2: to connect with God. Give me the top two that
S2: you think would deal with this issue of spiritual adultery
S2: when we let other affections steal our love for God.
S7: Well, let me say first, a therapist friend of mine
S7: once told me, if you're not worshipping God, you're addicted
S7: to something. So when you're talking about adultery, you're entirely
S7: on we will worship. The question is, who will we worship?
S7: Or even what will we worship? And so the pathway
S7: is recognize there's different ways that we connect to God
S7: so that he fills our hearts. Naturalists are a common
S7: one when people get outdoors. Psalm 91 says, the heavens
S7: declare the glory of God. If you're a naturalist, whether
S7: it's the stars, whether it's the mountains, whether it's just
S7: the sand, you're just seeing the forest. You're just overcome
S7: by God's creative power, his beauty. Uh, a mountain climber
S7: once told me he was up on a mountain that
S7: probably nobody else had climbed that year. And there was
S7: this stunning flower. And it just hit him that God
S7: creates beauty for the sake of beauty. And that revealed
S7: to him who God is. Just a powerful way. Yes,
S7: there are activists that their heart is filled when they're
S7: fighting God's battles. Caregivers, their hearts are filled when they're
S7: caring for others. In Jesus name, it's they feel closest
S7: to God when they're providing care to someone. There's so
S7: many ways we could just find out when we give
S7: our hearts and minds over to meeting with God in
S7: these different ways, we're ruined to the world. We're ruined
S7: to the idols.
S2: Yeah. That's beautiful. Gary Thomas, my guest right now. You know, Gary, repentance.
S2: It has been so of Satan. He pulled a good one.
S2: He pulled it off with rainbows. He pulled it off
S2: with the word repentance. He is great at rebranding. Good words.
S2: Repentance isn't an angry word, is it, Gary? It means
S2: turn around. And there's some people right now that know
S2: they're sleeping around on God with some crazy, cheap substitute God,
S2: and they're addicted to it. And they wonder why their
S2: radiance has dried up, why their wayward kid doesn't find
S2: anything attractive in them. What does repentance look like in Scripture?
S2: Pour it out here for a second.
S8: Yeah, well.
S7: Repentance is a word of love. God was silent for
S7: 400 years between the Old and New Testament. When John
S7: the Baptist came the first prophet to speak again. His
S7: first message was, people can look this up, repent, and
S7: you think, well, that's John the Baptist. He's kind of angry.
S7: He wore the animal skins. He ate bugs, right?
S2: He's he's crazy.
S7: Jesus's first message was really was literally repent because you
S7: say you're going the wrong direction. It is the the
S7: biggest word of love is somebody going the wrong direction,
S7: and that direction is taking them off the cliff. It
S7: is a word of love to say, hey, why don't
S7: you turn around? You don't have to fall. You don't
S7: have to destroy yourself. You don't have to keep looking
S7: in the wrong place. You've got to turn and look
S7: somewhere else. Is what you've been saying this morning? Turn
S7: from the idols because they're ruining you. It's. It's about compulsion.
S7: It's about being driven, not being fulfilled, not being loved,
S7: not being affirmed by God. You're just telling people to
S7: turn around. What you're doing isn't working. God offers something else.
S7: Draw near to God. He'll draw near to you.
S2: Yeah, you're right back at James four eight, aren't you,
S2: my man? Oh, isn't it good? Gary, here's what's great.
S2: When we strip it all down, get rid of all
S2: the religious pretense. We're all on this same battleground. We're
S2: all on the same turf, dude. No one avoids it.
S2: I mean, lead pastors. How much? And I was a
S2: lead pastor of a big old church in Alaska. And
S2: I'll tell you right now, Gary, you and I both
S2: know Satan is setting bait for pastors, that you find
S2: your validation in nickels and noses, brother. It's like a right.
S2: Come on.
S8: It is. Look, every.
S7: Heart is an idol factory. It really is. And we
S7: can't afford to lose our taste for God. And that's
S7: why I think it's so important to find out how
S7: we best connect with God because we're, as you are saying,
S7: we're constantly being lured away. And you develop spiritual tastes
S7: just like you develop taste buds. If people grew up
S7: in Japan, they would have a very different breakfast than
S7: if they grew up in Chicago.
S8: Because you just develop.
S7: What you're hungry for. Well, we can move our souls
S7: in that direction. We could train our souls to hunger
S7: after God.
S4: Boom!
S2: Gary, you're crushing it. Well, you're on the frequent flyer list.
S2: First time you've been here with me, but you're on
S2: the frequent flyer list. Here's what I want you to know. Boom! Crew,
S2: listen to me. He's got. I'm going to give you
S2: a link. He's got some most popular blog posts here
S2: and all kinds of resources. And yeah, you can get
S2: his book to Sacred Pathways. The key word is going
S2: to be sacred. But I want to tell you what's
S2: going on. How porn creates Angry Men, one of his
S2: most popular blog posts. God didn't tell you to marry
S2: your spouse. Another popular blog post. There's a ton of
S2: these really provocative what God asks of husbands killer stuff.
S2: So text the keyword sacred. We're going to get you
S2: hooked up with Gary. And this is powerful content here.
S2: All free content. There's a ton of it there. You
S2: can go buy a book as well, but check it out.
S2: Text sacred to 800 555 7898. Sacred to 800 555 7898.
S2: And we're going to watch God do something here today.
S2: You know, final word here, Gary got 30s. What's on
S2: your heart? What's the Spirit of God saying for you
S2: to urge people to do right now? Right now.
S7: There's no more exciting life than to worship God and
S7: to be used by God. And when you worship wrong things,
S7: you're living for yourself. The wonderful thing about being affirmed
S7: by God is that you're able to give yourself fully
S7: over to others, a pastor said, I figured this out.
S7: If I'm good enough for God, I'm good enough for others.
S7: And so it's receiving so that you can give. And
S7: that's the whole point is not just to be fulfilled,
S7: it's to have a life of reaching out to others.