S1: Coming to you from the Morning Star Mission sponsored studio.
S1: This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
S2: You know, one of the most beautiful things I've ever
S2: heard in my life with regard to a life change story.
S2: Is this. Cool, blessed, awesome young man named Jonathan Reinke.
S2: And I nicknamed him Young Thunder. A number of years ago.
S2: And Jonathan, your story God is going to use today
S2: in such power. And I know you've been in a
S2: spiritual war, haven't you, my man?
S3: Yeah. No doubt.
S2: I mean, it's been a battle over the last 24
S2: hours ramping up to this, but here we go. Let's
S2: go man. Tell us what God's grace means to you.
S3: Sure thing. So I was born into a Christian family.
S3: My dad is a pastor, and. And we went to
S3: church every week. I went on Wednesdays for youth group
S3: and and served regularly in the church. Was on ministry
S3: trips in middle school and high school. And when I
S3: graduated high school, I went to Moody Bible Institute, where
S3: I took 40 hours of Bible classes to get my
S3: communications degree. So I learned a lot about the Bible,
S3: and I was where I was well versed in it.
S3: I got good grades, I graduated, I got my job
S3: here at Carl and Crew while I was a student,
S3: and I got saved, but I got saved at the
S3: end of the story, not at the beginning of the story.
S3: I had prayed a prayer when I was young, uh, five,
S3: and I got baptized when I was eight. But even
S3: though I believed Jesus existed, I didn't ever really care
S3: about following him, about doing what he asked me to do.
S3: Life giving things I wanted to do what I wanted
S3: to do because I thought there was life in that stuff. And. so.
S3: Throughout my time in high school, mainly I was a
S3: really good hider. I acted like a Christian to the
S3: people that I needed to act like a Christian to.
S3: And I didn't act like a Christian to the people
S3: who I didn't need to act like a Christian to. Yeah.
S3: And I didn't feel any conviction about it. I didn't
S3: feel maybe I felt a little twinge here or there,
S3: but it was easily brushed off. It it was just,
S3: you know, I'm gonna do me and I'll make time
S3: for God in my life later. No problem. And I
S3: felt pretty comfortable with that. I even pretty much convinced
S3: myself I was all good to go. You know, I
S3: tried to talk to people about Jesus in the midst
S3: of doing some, some horrible things that I, you know,
S3: I would absolutely never do again. And I'm thinking I'm
S3: they're all good talking to them about Jesus. Us. And
S3: I'm not there myself. I didn't realize it. It wasn't
S3: until I got here to Carl and crew that. I
S3: was finally faced with the reality that I didn't really
S3: know him. Wow. I came into work. I don't know,
S3: probably one of the first Freedom Fridays I had been
S3: a part of. It was early on. Carl was talking
S3: about Matthew seven, which is Jesus says to a crowd
S3: of people that many will come to me on the
S3: day of judgment and say, Lord, Lord. And he will say,
S3: I never knew you. Depart from me. But these aren't
S3: people that that are just crying out for a last
S3: minute thing. These are people that thought they were with him.
S3: They did mighty works in his name. And he said, no,
S3: I never knew you. Depart from me. And God started
S3: to put that on my heart that I never knew him.
S3: That scared me. I really wished Carl at the time
S3: you stopped talking about it because. Because you brought it
S3: up a lot. And I think that was the Holy Spirit,
S3: not just for me, but for a lot of people.
S3: But it was for me too. And I fought that
S3: for a long time, two years. I said, no, I'm good.
S3: I know him, I know him, I'm fine. And I
S3: focused in on the grace of God. God's got grace
S3: for me. You know, he holds me. He forgives me.
S3: I told myself it was deception, that it was deception
S3: that that I was being told I didn't know Jesus
S3: trying to freak me out. And that wasn't true.
S2: It was the Spirit of God.
S3: It was the Spirit of God trying to trying to
S3: bring me closer to him. And. As the years went on,
S3: the years, not the months, I was still trying to
S3: fight it, but it was getting more and more impossible
S3: to fight it. I became very anxious. God was putting
S3: my sin right in front of me. The things that
S3: I had hid away, that no one knew about my life. And.
S3: I desperately wanted that off my shoulders. But I didn't
S3: want to. I didn't want to surrender it. And so
S3: I tried not to. And I said, God, you got
S3: grace for me. You love me. You forgive me. I'm
S3: all good. I'm clean, I'm fine. And he was saying,
S3: that's not what I want of you. I want you
S3: to do something about this. And this is kind of
S3: what he used to get me to him as a whole.
S3: And he said, I want you to do something about this.
S3: You need to you need to bring it out into
S3: the open. I said, no, I'm not going to do that.
S3: And I fought it. I said, God, you got grace.
S3: You forgive me. You love me. I'm all good. And
S3: he brought to me Luke 646. Not reading the Bible,
S3: just brought it to me in one of my God.
S3: I'm all good sessions. He brought to me Luke 646,
S3: which is why do you call me Lord and do
S3: not do what I say. And. He was right. I
S3: believed that he existed. I believed that he died for
S3: my sins. I was all good with that. But I
S3: had no desire ever to do what he said. I
S3: just was going to live the life. And I think
S3: God was gracious to me by bringing the people around
S3: me that he did my wife, godly woman, the people
S3: on this show, and the consistent talking in the word.
S3: I don't think it would have been possible without those
S3: things in my life, but he brought those to me
S3: and it just the word kept coming at me and
S3: I had no defense. And So he finally brought me
S3: to my knees in his grace. Yeah, um, the anxiety
S3: was so much, I couldn't. I couldn't go, you know,
S3: five minutes without just being smacked upside the head with it.
S2: You were losing weight.
S3: I was losing weight. I lost £30 in eight months.
S3: And I mean, it was it was 185 to 155.
S3: So it wasn't it wasn't like, uh, like I was
S3: going and working out at the gym and and going
S3: crazy on fitness. I was anxious and it was falling
S3: off of me. And so finally, when it all came
S3: to a head, I was able to say, Jesus, I
S3: need you. Will you help me? And he did, and
S3: he helped me. And I can say that my desire
S3: is to live a life for him. because that's where
S3: life is. Because I don't believe that the sin path
S3: I was walking was the was the best way for
S3: me anymore. I believe that Jesus, when he says he's
S3: the way, the truth and the life means. When you
S3: follow me, I've got blessing upon blessing for you. So
S3: it's not that I've got a, you know, I've got
S3: to fill in these check boxes. So he's okay with me,
S3: but it's that I get to stand close to him
S3: so that I, I can experience the life that he
S3: has for me.
S2: This help. I want to just talk with you. Friend
S2: to friend. Here. That help was was more than just.
S2: It was more than just rooting kind of sin out.
S2: It was Jesus Christ invading your life and taking it
S2: over for the first time, was it not?
S3: Yeah, yeah, because it was, it was that the way
S3: of life before was impossible.
S2: Yeah.
S3: I didn't I don't want it anymore. And I still
S3: make mistakes. I and I have to wrestle with that.
S3: One thing that God's been bringing into my life recently,
S3: because he still works in me is that he said, Jonathan,
S3: you have a need to feel like you are in
S3: the right that you have. You've done all the things
S3: and that if there's any little thing that's even slightly
S3: not okay, you you have to go do this and
S3: you have to go do that, and you have to
S3: run around and try to make it okay. So you
S3: can feel better. And, and that's a pharisaical part of
S3: me that just wants to feel okay. But he's helping
S3: me to trust in now the part of his grace
S3: where I can say, you know what? I'm following the Lord.
S3: I'm listening to his leading. But I understand that I
S3: still do wrong things and my God has me covered.
S3: He will lead me in the way to right things,
S3: but he has me covered and I don't need to
S3: try to earn it all on my own.
S2: Man. I want you to hear our heart here today.
S2: This is a big deal. I just want to give
S2: you a few kind of points that I want you
S2: to hear very clearly. What Jonathan suffered from was a
S2: hallucination of salvation. We know that belief in God can
S2: be a mental assent to God exists. Jesus exists, and
S2: it's called cultural Christianity. The demons believe in God. They
S2: believe a lot of things that are true of him,
S2: but they've not yet surrendered to him. When Jonathan says,
S2: and he cites from John 14 where Jesus says, man,
S2: don't let your hearts be troubled. And that's what God's
S2: saying to you today. He says, I am the way,
S2: I am the truth. I am the life. No man
S2: comes to the father but through me. Cultural Christianity is
S2: a is a big problem in the West. It's a
S2: big problem. I remember hearing a number of years ago,
S2: Louie Giglio and John Piper speaking in Atlanta, and they said,
S2: there are many, many in fact, I'm going to tell
S2: you what he said, John Piper and Louie Giglio, I
S2: forget which one said. It said there are millions of
S2: people across America and in the West who go to
S2: Bible preaching churches every weekend and are not born again.
S2: And Jonathan's story is a picture of a hallucination of salvation,
S2: thinking you see something in yourself that is not there,
S2: and Jesus wants to pull down the blinders. Today, the
S2: God of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelieving,
S2: and sometimes he will use cultural Christianity to delude you
S2: into thinking that you possess something that you don't have,
S2: and God wants to save your soul today. It's a
S2: sobering thing because as Young Thunder wrestled with, there can
S2: be a moment of pride where you think, well, what
S2: do I do? I mean, right, Young Thunder. I mean,
S2: I'm raised in the church. My dad's a pastor. I
S2: went to Moody Bible Institute. Yeah, but you had the
S2: privilege of going to me, to Ali, to your bride,
S2: to your dad, and tell them I was lost. But
S2: I've been found. My goodness. But walking through that, that's
S2: that's that's the grace of God that gave you the
S2: courage to share that story, right?
S3: Yeah. Uh, the the biggest thing holding me back was,
S3: you know, what would people think? You know, because.
S2: And what does that matter?
S3: What does it matter at the end of the day?
S3: What does it matter what you know? But at the
S3: same time, my fears proved to be, uh, not they're
S3: not real unfounded because everyone I told was happy. Maybe
S3: some people had some questions or didn't understand everything right away,
S3: and that's okay. But at the end of the day,
S3: it was, you know, Jesus. And that's all I care about.
S3: And so I tend to be scared anymore if someone.
S2: If someone hears a story of cultural Christianity and someone
S2: who was stuck in that trap but has been found
S2: by Christ. The people who can celebrate that with you
S2: are the people that you want to walk with on
S2: this new path. But today, God is calling some of
S2: you out of darkness and out of the shadows of
S2: cultural Christianity, into the light of a relationship with Jesus Christ.
S2: And today, I appeal to you, my friend. Don't let
S2: surface stuff keep you from the depths of the riches
S2: of God today. In the Spirit of God I know
S2: is moving across this nation and in your heart today.
S2: And I say be reconciled to God. How? By belief
S2: in Jesus. There has to come a time when you
S2: surrender all to Jesus. We're not fit for the kingdom
S2: of God until we repent of everything on this broad
S2: path and say, God, although imperfect, moving forward, I want
S2: on this narrow path with Jesus Christ today. It's believing
S2: and saying, I believe, I believe, and I accept the truth,
S2: that I'm a sinner and I need a Savior. And
S2: I'm not playing cultural Christian games anymore. Today I surrender
S2: my life to Jesus completely. And if that is you,
S2: I want you to do that today. This surrender of
S2: new life in Jesus Christ and coming out of cultural
S2: Christianity is one of the biggest. It's like the sun
S2: rising on your soul, and it's huge and it's big.
S2: and he's lightning. Your load that you've been carrying. And
S2: and you see it for the very first time. And
S2: today is your day of salvation. And I'm just going
S2: to pray for you right now. And I'm going to
S2: give you some points of declaration along the way. God,
S2: you right now are moving across our nation and around
S2: the globe and I give you praise. I thank you
S2: so much for Young Thunder. I thank you for his story.
S2: I know that you brought him here to be an example,
S2: a model, a picture for people who are stuck in
S2: cultural Christianity. That's why you brought him to our show,
S2: to save his soul and to be a stake in
S2: the ground for others to say, that's my story, young Thunder.
S2: And if that's your story today, and today is a
S2: day of salvation, I want you to just get to
S2: a quiet place, maybe pull to the side of the road,
S2: get to a safe place. And I'm going to give
S2: you a moment right now. And I want you to
S2: say these words right now. Jesus. All to Jesus. I
S2: surrender today, every bit of me. It's been a cultural Christianity,
S2: but today I surrender all to Jesus Christ. I confess
S2: to you that you are Lord of my life. I
S2: believe that you died for my sins and you rose
S2: from the dead, and you're alive today. And I'm experiencing
S2: life now for the first time in my life. And
S2: so declare right now I'm turning around. Just say it loud.
S2: I'm turning around today. From the broad path onto the
S2: narrow path. Declare aloud today I believe in Jesus. I
S2: accept the truth that he died for my sins, and
S2: I embrace it fully. And today I surrender all to
S2: Jesus and for you. This is a new day. It's
S2: a new day of salvation. And I'm going to ask
S2: you to be bold with what God's doing in your
S2: life until. Tell people whom you trust that you know
S2: are authentic followers of Christ. And I want you to
S2: go tell them today, and we want to help you.
S2: And I'm going to I'm going to give you a
S2: link right now. Grab your phone wherever you are, grab
S2: your phone, and we've got a link that's going to
S2: have embedded links in it. They're going to be how
S2: to find a good Bible, how to find a good
S2: church where you can plug into what to look for
S2: in a church that you can plug into. A third
S2: link will have a a place for you to put
S2: your address. We're going to just send you a resource.
S2: We're not going to spam you. We're going to send
S2: you a resource of how to walk in God's power,
S2: no longer with self-help or cultural Christianity going forward. So
S2: I want you to text the word new right now.
S2: New to 800 555 7898. Just text the word new.
S2: Right now to 800 555 7898. Just one word. Just
S2: new to 800 555 7898. If we have time, we'll
S2: shout out the last four numbers of your telephone number.
S2: but God is setting people free all across the nation
S2: today in Chicagoland and beyond. Just text the word new
S2: right now to 800, 555, 78, 98.
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: Watch what God can do. And we are seeing it today.
S2: I do not even have words to describe what God
S2: is doing. He's reaching in grace, extending hands of mercy,
S2: and calling people out of cultural Christianity and into the
S2: light of his grace and power. If you haven't been
S2: with us. Young Thunder shared his story here this morning,
S2: and God has used it mightily. We are going to
S2: hear from Young Thunder again in this hour, but we
S2: just felt like we want to shout out the last
S2: four numbers and it's going to take a bit, but
S2: I want you to rejoice in what the Lord is
S2: doing today to reach into people's hearts, many of them
S2: very religious, very cultural, Christian in nature, but not born
S2: again and now saving them 49, 60, 93, oh nine, 57, 37, 36, 79, 22,
S2: 66 shouting out the last four numbers of your phone
S2: number from area codes all around the United States, and
S2: probably some from Canada. 1855, 29, 68, 62, 47, 95, 22, 2926.
S2: Pick it up from there.
S4: 62, 82, 23, 43, 36, oh three, 92, oh two, 93,
S4: oh three, 40, 49 welcome to the family 52, 48, 33,
S4: 70 8930 930, 1545, 1368, 3706. Welcome 45, 35, 94, 80, 55, 86, 92, 92, 1590.
S4: Welcome 1053, 94, 59, 84, 25, 87, 93. Welcome to
S4: the family. A listener from Ohio 1672, 32, 78, 24, 80, 84, 55, 80, 20, 23, 67, 14, 12, 84,
S4: 48 Carl Go Ahead.
S2: Zero nine, 31, nine, 6184, 76, zero, two, 48, 28, ten, 96, 75, 41, 87, 96, 46, 91, 90,
S2: oh seven, 53, oh two, 60, 21, 54, 87. These
S2: are people who have in the last hour, just moments ago,
S2: actually about 7 or 8 minutes ago, responded surrendering their
S2: lives to Jesus, coming out of cultural Christianity as a
S2: result of of young thunder testifying to the grace of God.
S2: And I continue on 5487, I got that 146 5754, 1467, 44, 32, 33, 32, 96, 77, 67, 26.
S2: The last four numbers of these phone numbers pouring in,
S2: of people surrendering and finding life in Jesus. Freedom from
S2: cultural Christianity. 11 1442. 66 2076. Pick it up, Ali.
S4: 7115. 39. 82. 71. 25. Welcome to the family. 30. 52. 70.
S4: Oh eight 5069 0261 welcome. 3390 4472 welcome. 2874, 27, 29, 93, 94, 20, 53.
S4: Welcome to the family 087408940062 8294 4504. Welcome 4142 5316.
S4: Welcome to the family 2378, 33, 60, 88, oh nine 1671.
S4: Welcome to the family.
S2: To each and every one of you. Father, in the
S2: name of Jesus. We thank you that the tomb is
S2: empty and our God is alive and you're still working today. God.
S2: We thank you for every one of these people. I
S2: have tears of joy and just great celebration in my
S2: heart for all of these that you're calling to yourself.
S2: It's an awesome thing, God and I pray your protection
S2: and those of you that have just surrendered to Jesus
S2: know this that there will be a battle intensified. But
S2: the Lord who began this work in you will carry
S2: it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
S2: It is his work. He begins it. He'll grow you
S2: up in it. He's got this. He's got this. All
S2: of God's children pray for these new followers of Jesus today.
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: So many are surrendering to Christ today. You know, we'd
S2: planned on going a certain direction, but we're going to
S2: really be sensitive to what the Spirit of God is
S2: doing here in this moment right now. Ali, what is
S2: on your heart, sister? The the movement of God is
S2: it's it's it drops you almost. It just drops you
S2: to your knees.
S4: It really does. And you know, I there's something this
S4: isn't talked about much in the church. The idea that
S4: that this can that this can happen. And so initially
S4: it can rattle you a little bit. A story like
S4: young Thunders and you go, how can you be in
S4: church and in Bible school? And it like, how is
S4: that possible? But then when you really think about it,
S4: you go, oh wow. Like that can be that's prevalent.
S4: Prevalent is prevalent because of how we have culture ized Christianity.
S2: It's a profound statement. We have cultural Christianity, and we've
S2: got a, a almost a code of behavior that you
S2: can fly under the radar and do a lot of
S2: Christian things without being born again. And I use Christian
S2: things in air quotes because, man, that's a misnomer. Uh,
S2: the the the interesting thing here, the word Christian is
S2: used three times in the New Testament if you're studying
S2: the ESV. And the interesting thing about the word Christian
S2: is that anytime it was used in the New Testament,
S2: what did it mean, guys? What was coming on the
S2: heels of being called a little Christ is what they
S2: were called.
S3: Persecution.
S2: Persecution or death. So to claim the name of Jesus
S2: and to be Christian back in the day was poof.
S2: And so Christians not the best descriptors. As a matter
S2: of fact believer, we often look at that word and
S2: we go, believer. Is that is that a good word?
S2: It's a good word insomuch as you believe unto salvation
S2: the demons believe and they tremble, according to James, the
S2: half brother of Jesus. So then you got to ask
S2: the question, well, Carl, what in the world is the
S2: best descriptor ready for this 369 times in the New Testament,
S2: the word follower or disciple is used. It's the best
S2: descriptor of having authentic faith with Christ. It means that
S2: when you put your feet on the rug, you are
S2: very imperfect, but you know that your Savior lives, the
S2: tomb is empty and you are following Jesus Christ. And
S2: so the most descriptive word is, are you a follower
S2: of Jesus Christ? Have you surrendered all to him, gotten
S2: off that broad path? And on this new path, are
S2: we stumbling and bumbling? Yeah, I've got sacred scars that
S2: prove you can be born again and have great lessons
S2: to be learned and great grace still needed. That's the
S2: beauty of being a disciple of Christ. What's on your heart,
S2: young thunder?
S3: I think that it's so important to talk about the
S3: follow aspect, not pharisaical like you got to jump through
S3: these hoops to be good with God, but a relationship
S3: with him isn't punching a time card and saying okay,
S3: bye bye. You know, it's what is. What is your
S3: relationship with your spouse, your best friend look like? It's
S3: you want to spend time with him because of who
S3: they are. You want to follow them because you know
S3: that's the the best route. Because you know there's joy there.
S3: And with Jesus, there's life there. You you want a
S3: relationship with them. You. You want to grow with them.
S3: You want to walk with them. It's not just. Thanks. See?
S3: I'll see you when I get there. You know, he's
S3: here for us today, and he wants. He wants to
S3: be a part of your life. Yeah, and going to
S3: church once a week isn't checking any box. Isn't cutting it. Yeah.
S2: Yeah, it's it's crazy because you look at Matthew seven,
S2: the very passage that young thunder, I get such a
S2: kick out of it when he shares his story in
S2: his mind. He was saying, shut up, Carl and Ali.
S2: Shut up with this stuff.
S3: Yeah.
S2: Yeah. And and yet God in his grace used Matthew seven,
S2: which is this classic passage in the sermon on the
S2: Mount that just says, many will say to me on
S2: that day, Lord, Lord, and he's going to say, I
S2: never knew you. And it's it's like sobering. But wouldn't
S2: you rather hear the truth now than later?
S3: Yeah, I I'll say this, that if you're feeling convicted
S3: with that today, there's also almost a sure chance that
S3: you are feeling very afraid of. What are people going
S3: to think? I've. I've been in the church for years.
S3: This is going to people are going to be upset.
S3: People are not going to like me. They're going to
S3: turn away from me because they're going to be freaked out.
S3: I'm going to be embarrassed. All those things come into
S3: your mind.
S2: There's a Greek word for that.
S3: What's that?
S2: Baloney.
S3: Baloney. It's true. Anyone who's worth spending a lot of
S3: time with, anyone who knows Jesus really is not going
S3: to be upset with you for that. They're going to
S3: rejoice with you. They're going to party with you because
S3: they know you know Jesus. And if they love Jesus,
S3: that's all they care about. At the end of the day,
S3: they may have questions, answer them for them, and they'll
S3: rejoice with you.
S2: I was lost and I'm found. Yeah. It's a beautiful thing.
S2: Coming up in three minutes. Listen, with the Spirit of
S2: God is doing here today, and we're grateful for so
S2: many surrendering their lives to Jesus today. Boy, I feel
S2: prompted right now. Somebody's listening right now. You have cultural Christianity,
S2: but you do not have a relationship with Jesus Christ today.
S2: That can be changed. How? By turning around and repenting
S2: of your sin and turning your life over to Jesus Christ,
S2: fully and completely holding nothing back. If the truest expression
S2: of your heart today is God set me free from
S2: cultural Christianity, I want to know Jesus personally. Praise God.
S2: God's spirit convicted you of that need. We didn't. But
S2: don't harden your heart when you hear the voice of
S2: God today. Surrender it all to Jesus and just confess
S2: to him. Jesus, I need you. Help me turn your
S2: life around today. Is that you, my friend? You're saying
S2: today I repent. Today I claim that the life that
S2: Jesus lived and the death he died. He died for me,
S2: for my sins. It's a powerful thing when you confess
S2: with sober mind and heart. I'm a sinner and I
S2: need a savior. Wow. And if that's you today, you
S2: don't even. You don't need to go one more step
S2: except to your knees and surrender all to Jesus. Just say, God,
S2: I give it all to you today. And this is
S2: if this is you, my friend, that you are repenting
S2: of your sin and you know you've been stuck in
S2: a cultural Christianity, we're going to hear your thunder story
S2: again in just a few minutes here. But if that's
S2: you right now, you don't have to wait. The story
S2: is being written in your heart right now, and Jesus
S2: is saying, I'm going to breathe life into your deadness.
S2: My life. And you are being crucified with Christ. It's
S2: no longer you who live, but Christ who lives in
S2: you and the life you now live in the flesh.
S2: You live by faith in the Son of God. And
S2: he's changing you, my friend. It's just a declaration. It's
S2: not a fancy prayer. It's saying today all to Jesus.
S2: I surrender every bit of it. I'm turning around off
S2: this broad path. I believe Jesus died for my sins.
S2: And today I declare he is my leader. I'm going
S2: to follow him. And if that's you right now, we
S2: want to help you with a phenomenal little simple resource
S2: that's going to tell you how to find a church
S2: with people in it. Maybe you don't have one of those,
S2: maybe you do, but maybe you don't. And you need
S2: to find a church that's got a resource. What to
S2: look for in a church with people that are going
S2: to help you walk with God. A Bible to find
S2: that you can read and understand. And then a resource
S2: we're going to send your way on how to walk
S2: in God's power. And if that's you right now, I
S2: just want you to text the word new right now,
S2: 800 555 7898 and as Young Thunder said, and it's true, Ali,
S2: don't the the people that you fear might not understand
S2: that maybe you've been in church, you might have been
S2: an elder, you might have been a pastor. I've seen
S2: worship leaders, pastors, elders surrender to Jesus Christ after years
S2: of being in cultural Christianity. It happens. But do not
S2: let fear of man hold you back from a relationship
S2: with God. Just text the word new today 800 555 7898.
S2: Just new to 800 555 7898. I'm going to give
S2: you a word here, Ali. Something's on your heart.
S4: You know, I just saw one more come in. And,
S4: you know, sometimes it's there's a spiritual war. There's an
S4: opposition to this, to this message because it shakes you.
S4: It causes you to look at things that maybe you
S4: haven't wanted to look at. It causes you to assess
S4: your life in a way that can be uncomfortable. But
S4: as Young Thunder says, there's there's freedom on the other
S4: side of that.
S2: Amen. Just text new to 855 five 7898. We'll shout
S2: out the last four numbers. They're pouring in again. 70, 14, 26. 17, 95. 95. 50. 1454. 55.
S2: Welcome to the family.
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: Jesus looked at a very bitter older brother of the
S2: son that came home. The story is of a wealthy man.
S2: Young son squandered his inheritance. Victim of his passion. Older son.
S2: Victim of his pride. Both separated from God. But he
S2: looked at that older brother and he said. Listen, this.
S2: This brother of yours, he was lost and is found.
S2: We had to celebrate, and that's what we're going to do.
S2: We've had so many scores, hundreds of people surrendered to
S2: Jesus this week. As we share our stories of God's
S2: grace in our own life, and I'm just going to
S2: shout out the last four numbers that have come in
S2: in the last minutes here. Surrendering to Jesus for the
S2: first time. This is just in the last. Goodness sake. Seven, eight,
S2: nine minutes max here. 20, 87, 23, 98, 71, 92.
S2: These are people coming out of the shadows of cultural
S2: Christianity and into the light of Jesus receiving Christ and
S2: life for the first time, 87, 84, 39, oh five, 47, 55,
S2: zero eight, 44, 66, oh six, 30, 63, 26, 64, 73,
S2: oh six, 97, 71. Pick it up.
S4: 36, 33, 82, 98, 79, oh one, 82, 89, 82, 34, 54, 97.
S4: Reading out the last four digits of your phone number.
S4: Those of you who texted new. Welcome to the family
S4: 6419 4709, 80, 85 4812. Welcome to the family 2719
S4: 6807 0750 1254. Welcome 57, 38, 99, 48, 29, 2299. 84, 1440. 5275. 9984.
S4: Go ahead. Carl.
S2: 1969. 9145. 1356. 2123. 1393 3320 203 83. 1878, 56, 78,
S2: zero zero, 1899, 72, 88, 65, 81, 97, 31, 86, 58, 15.
S2: Overwhelming alley. Take it from here.
S4: 6356. Welcome to the family. 77 1099 Nine, 79, 48, 27, 93,
S4: zero seven, zero nine, 89, 43, 90, 47. Welcome to
S4: the family 1553, 1702, 1724, 58, 29, zero one, 41, 49, 63.
S4: Welcome 82, 92, 75, 90, 13, 37, 40, 79, 73, 88.
S4: Welcome to the family.
S2: I'm going to read on here 3570 zero six, 31,
S2: 2395 9914 welcome to the family. Wow. We are so
S2: grateful for the spirit of the living God who convicts
S2: and then comforts right on the heels of conviction, of
S2: a need to come out of cultural Christianity and into
S2: faith in Christ. Overwhelming.
S4: Quick. A quick question that came in by text. I
S4: think it's a good one to answer. What do we
S4: mean when we say cultural Christianity?
S2: Cultural Christianity is all the trappings, some of which we've
S2: adopted along the way. Simply put, if Jesus said, you
S2: can baptize in the name of Jesus and do mighty
S2: works in the name of Jesus, it's possible to it's
S2: possible to do a lot of things that appear Christian,
S2: but you're not yet born again. Jesus warned of it.
S2: And it's it's possible. And it can be things like
S2: going to church regularly, looking to serve, looking to be
S2: a part of different things. The regenerating power of Jesus
S2: by the unction of the Holy Spirit is is not
S2: a a system that you're into. It's a Savior that
S2: invades you and a lot of cultural Christians have stepped
S2: into a system of Christianity. But Jesus is not about systems,
S2: is he, Ali?
S4: No and no. And we think, when you think about Scripture,
S4: how often Jesus pushed back against the religious, the quote
S4: unquote religious people who were doing all kind of things,
S4: jumping through all kinds of hoops. And he kept trying
S4: to draw the contrast between, no, it's not about trying
S4: to live life by the law. It's not trying to
S4: earn your way to me. And for some, that was
S4: it was too much like they were like, no, this
S4: is we want a king. We want someone who's going
S4: to come and give us power now.
S2: Yeah, you're right on. You know, I want to state
S2: this again. I think this is really important. The word
S2: Christian used to really mean something. And I'll tell you
S2: when it meant something 2000 years ago, it meant something
S2: big time. In the New Testament, you find the word
S2: Christian three times every time it's mentioned on the heels
S2: of the context of being called little Christs is what
S2: that means is there was a risk of, well, there
S2: were certain persecution. There was a risk of being killed
S2: because you claimed the name of Jesus. So the stakes
S2: were high. It wasn't easy to slide into a cultural system.
S2: The stakes were so high that it caused people who
S2: were really not in Christ to say, yeah, I'm out.
S4: And and that's true in many places across the globe.
S2: Thank you for mentioning that. We are we have this
S2: great little bubble experiment going on here in America, and
S2: we've almost let the very blessings of God keep us
S2: from the power of God. And we've created a system
S2: that almost inoculates people to the real gospel. That's the
S2: great danger that we have. The word believers used 11
S2: times in the New Testament. It's not even the primary word.
S2: Did Jesus say you must believe? Yeah, but the primary
S2: word Jesus used to describe authentic faith was when he
S2: called people, follow me. Be a disciple of mine. It's
S2: used over 360 times in the Scriptures New Testament. So
S2: what does that mean? It means when you get up
S2: in the morning, you know that the tomb is empty.
S2: You're alive in Christ, and you're going to stumble and
S2: you're going to skin your knees, but you're on a path,
S2: a road less traveled. And that's what God wants for
S2: you today. Coming up here in a couple of minutes,
S2: Doctor Michael Radonich pitching him a question, we're going to
S2: ask him, what's God doing in your life lately?
S4: You're going to hear that. Plus his response to a major,
S4: major incident that's been in the news the last couple
S4: of days.
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: All you got to do is look at acts 26.
S2: And what do you find, Paul? Before King Agrippa and
S2: I love this story. It's a great witnessing tool. You
S2: see Paul in three minutes and about 10s if you
S2: actually do it. Reading speed. Not that I timed it exactly,
S2: but I did. And you see him make a defense
S2: of the gospel talking pre-christ how he met Christ on
S2: the Damascus Road. And the best part? What God is
S2: doing to this very day. Verse 22. And we've got
S2: a man with us who's God is helping to this
S2: very day. Ali.
S4: Doctor Michael Reidel, Nick, professor here at Moody Bible Institute,
S4: also host of Open Line. We want to hear it.
S4: What's the fresh thing from your most recent quiet time
S4: with the Lord that he's doing in you?
S5: I love it, I'm.
S6: Going to comment on Paul before Agrippa. I just think
S6: one of the more interesting things to do is look
S6: at Paul's speeches in acts. When he's before Felix and Festus,
S6: he talks about his changed life. He talks about the resurrection,
S6: but he does not talk about the Hebrew Scriptures put
S6: him in front of a Jewish king like Agrippa. Put
S6: him in front of a Jewish audience. He talks about
S6: the Hebrew Bible. It is one of the great lessons
S6: for evangelism. There is that we understand our audience and
S6: communicate in the terms that they need to hear.
S2: Tremendous. That's a great observation. Uh, quick question before you
S2: get into your devotional story and your quiet time with God.
S2: How do we get some of those observations? How do
S2: you look at the word and begin to see those nuances?
S2: How do you do that?
S6: Well, I'll tell you how I learned about that is
S6: I took Bible study methods with a guy named Howard Hendricks.
S6: May have heard of him.
S5: Uh.
S6: The way he made us do it was first day
S6: of class. He said, I want you to go home tonight,
S6: and I want you to make 25 observations on acts
S6: one eight. It doesn't matter what they are. At least 25.
S6: Write them down.
S4: On one verse.
S6: On one verse.
S4: Wow.
S6: Yeah. And anything. It's like, what is the conjunction here?
S6: What is the geographical locations? You know, you're looking for
S6: all these things and you're writing them down. And he says,
S6: if you have a question about what it means, write
S6: that down. That counts as an observation. And he said,
S6: take a piece of paper, fold it in half on
S6: the left side what you're observing on the right side.
S6: Write your questions and just write 25 at least, he said.
S6: So I did 37 that night. And because, you know,
S6: I was I was driven by grades. I wanted to
S6: get a better grade. And the second day of class,
S6: he says, okay, for tonight, what I want you to
S6: do for your homework is make 25 new observations on
S6: acts one eight. If you did more than 25 last time,
S6: they don't count. Uh, you have to have 25 more.
S6: And so I did about 30 the second night. And
S6: it's looking for the most detailed minor thing to observe.
S6: And you read so carefully that the result is that
S6: pretty soon you start noticing things that are are significant.
S4: Wow. That's a perfect setup. Tell us what you noticed
S4: this morning.
S6: Well, for me, I read a couple of passages from
S6: the Hebrew Bible in the morning and two from the
S6: New Testament. So today I was reading in first Thessalonians four.
S6: And it's kind of interesting because it says in first
S6: Thessalonians four he says in verse one, finally, brothers, we
S6: ask and encourage you in the Lord Jesus, that as
S6: you've received from us how you must walk and please
S6: God as you are doing, notice as you are doing,
S6: do so. Even more so, he says, you have to
S6: walk to please God. You have to love God basically,
S6: and walk in a way that pleases him and you're
S6: doing it do even more. And then I was continuing
S6: to read, and in verse nine he says about brotherly love,
S6: you don't need me to write to you, because you
S6: yourselves are taught by God to love one another. And
S6: he says, in fact, you are doing this. He says,
S6: you're already loving the brothers, but we encourage you, brothers
S6: to do so even more so. What's the basic truth
S6: that Jesus taught about living the life for God? Love God.
S6: Love people? These two exhortations Paul says, you're loving God.
S6: You're loving people, but do so even more. Never get lax.
S6: And what struck me, too is that another thing I'm doing.
S6: I'm reading through a book about the book of Hebrews,
S6: and I was up to Hebrews two one through four
S6: about the danger of slip sliding away, the danger of drifting.
S6: And he talked about all the dangers of how it
S6: is that we drift in our walk with the Lord.
S6: One of the ways we drift is we start coasting.
S2: Doctor Michael Riedel, our guest right now, I wanted you
S2: to respond to the terrorist attack that happened in Boulder, Colorado,
S2: a couple of days ago. There's a lot of fallout
S2: from this. I'm not sure all of it's good. What
S2: are your thoughts initially when you heard this, being a
S2: messianic Jewish disciple of Jesus. And how should we respond
S2: as Christ followers?
S6: The first question is why is this happening? And the
S6: reason it's happening is because of blood libels, false charges
S6: against Israel. That's one of the things that really bothers
S6: me the most. It's not that people just disagree with Israel.
S6: They disagree with what Israel isn't really doing. Yeah, and
S6: modern day blood libels are that Israel is committing genocide
S6: in Gaza. There is no genocide in Gaza. Even when
S6: Israel is giving food, it's not the right agency. It
S6: should be given through the UN, not through Israel. Well,
S6: part of the reason why Israel is doing it is
S6: because the UN was allowing Hamas to steal it and
S6: charge exorbitant prices to the people of Gaza to get it,
S6: and funding Hamas this way. So it doesn't matter what
S6: Israel is doing, right? It is being portrayed as wicked
S6: and wrong. And as a result, there are all these
S6: people who are now being motivated through these blood libels
S6: to take evil actions.
S2: There's even false reporting with regard to the gunning down
S2: of 23 innocent lives in Gaza. That didn't happen 48
S2: hours ago. It didn't happen. And yet it's all over
S2: mainstream news. So how do you fight that?
S6: Of course, what Mark Twain said, you know, is a
S6: lie is halfway around the world before the truth can
S6: put on its shoes and leave. But we have to
S6: get out there as much as we can with the truth.
S6: And one of the things that Israel does is when
S6: a charge like that comes up, the Israeli military doesn't
S6: say right away it didn't happen. They say, well, we'll
S6: investigate this. We don't know. But what happens is, in
S6: the time that Israel is checking it out, the lie
S6: goes all around the world. And that's what the problem is.
S6: And so we need to be active in promoting the truth.
S6: I was talking to a believer, a really godly believer
S6: who loves says God has a great future for Israel.
S6: He says, but of course we can't agree with what
S6: Israel is doing now. I said, why not? If you
S6: were attacked, wouldn't you defend your your nation? And he said, yeah,
S6: but aren't they going too far? It's because he's listening
S6: to the media.
S2: I've got one caveat to throw in here. You are
S2: not saying that the IDF is absent of any bad
S2: apples in the crew. No, you would not claim that.
S6: I am claiming.
S2: This to make sure we're saying this.
S6: There is there is no military that is more committed
S6: to doing what is right than Israel. It is, I
S6: think it's not the most moral, but there is no
S6: military that is more moral. I think just as the
S6: United States trains our soldiers to do the right thing,
S6: to put others first and take care of civilians, that's true.
S6: We do that. But are there bad apples? Absolutely. Same
S6: thing with Israel. There may be a bad apple here
S6: and there, but that is not the norm. And Israeli
S6: soldiers that act out are governed by the military and
S6: they are dealt with. And the reason I know this,
S6: my son, when he served in the Israel Defense Forces
S6: and he was in a special forces anti-terrorist unit, he
S6: said they had more training on ethics and morality than
S6: they had on warfare.
S2: Interesting, Michael. That's a I'm glad you threw that in.
S2: That's important piece. How do we respond as Christ followers
S2: to this?
S6: Do our best to get the truth. Secondly, with anti-Semitic
S6: events like this, I think we have to prosecute our government.
S6: You know what happened with the campus protests? People would
S6: be arrested for taking over buildings, defacing, doing things like that, vandalism,
S6: and then they'd be released and there would be no prosecution.
S6: Charges would be dropped. So that's really important that we
S6: prosecute people, because the more you get away with that,
S6: which gets rewarded, gets repeated. And so now people are
S6: getting more violent because everything else was being allowed. The
S6: other thing that happens is even people who were sentenced to,
S6: for example, community service for assaulting a Jewish person on
S6: campus right at Harvard, then they're honored later on, a
S6: year later after being convicted of a crime of assault
S6: and battery. They are then rewarded, so we have to
S6: be careful not to reward those who break the law.
S6: I think we have to take seriously that this is
S6: a real problem, and if we don't deal with it immediately,
S6: it's going to get worse and worse. And the murderer
S6: of the two workers at the Israel Embassy a couple
S6: of weeks ago. Yeah, they have to be prosecuted to
S6: the full extent of the law because otherwise it's going
S6: to keep being repeated. But the most important thing we
S6: can do is use whatever voices we have to communicate
S6: what is true and not the lies that are being
S6: promoted against Jewish people. We've got to do everything we
S6: can to keep the truth out there.
S2: And we pray for peace.
S6: Oh, this is what I'm praying for. I'm praying for
S6: the peace of Jerusalem to come through the defeat and
S6: surrender of Hamas. There can be no peace until Hamas
S6: gives up its weaponry.
S2: Michael Ray Dolnick everybody.