S1: Coming to you from the Morning Star Mission sponsored studio.
S1: This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
S2: All right, I got to go to Alaska. Come on.
S2: I got to get to Alaska.
S3: Me, too.
S2: Got to get some. Got to get some Alaska music here.
S4: Give me two seconds.
S3: Where are we going? Where in Alaska are we going?
S2: Well, we're going to go to. We're going to go
S2: to big city. The big city? The biggest city in Alaska. Anchorage,
S2: 250,000 people.
S5: The state that stands alone. There's a dog race run
S5: from Anchorage in Nome.
S4: It's my favorite one.
S5: And it's a grueling race with a lightning pace with
S5: the chilly winds. Do well beneath the northern lights cross
S5: snow and the ice. And it's called the Iditarod Trail.
S2: The event was warming up for the Iditarod.
S4: It's warming up.
S2: Two years prepping for it. The story I.
S5: Have.
S2: 49.
S5: When I'll get back to my home. Hey, I can
S5: tell my tale. I did, I did, I did, I
S5: did it right.
S2: Okay? Yeah. Back in 1979, when I was two years old,
S2: I ran that race.
S3: Is that actually a song that people in Alaska listen to?
S2: Well, they did really well. I mean, for the Iditarod,
S2: let's put it that way. It was played in the
S2: bars in Nome, Alaska, let's put it that way. How
S2: about the bar in Nome, Alaska?
S4: Yeah, because it's like a town of like, five people.
S2: Well, no, there's more than that. There must be at
S2: least 2000. 3000. Oh, okay. Anyhow, so I'm preparing for
S2: the Iditarod. I've now got a team of five dogs.
S2: The only time to go train these things was nighttime.
S2: And sun goes down early in Alaska in the middle
S2: of winter. So I went out on a training run,
S2: but I didn't have my dad with me. Mom was
S2: the one that braved it. We had a a great
S2: rig that towed a trailer and that had all my
S2: dog kennels on it and dog sled, and so we
S2: went down to a place called Tudor Track. It's really
S2: cold out. Not a breath of wind, though. And I
S2: hook up. My team told mom I'll be back in
S2: about 45 minutes. I said, you hang right here. She's like, okay, well,
S2: she's hanging right there. Little did she know, I'm on
S2: the back stretch of what's called Campbell Airstrip, going through
S2: these moguls. And all of a sudden I lost my
S2: balance and the dog team threw me off the sled.
S3: Oh, no.
S2: Kaboom. And I thought, oh, they'll stop. And they didn't stop.
S4: Oh, no.
S2: And the more I yelled, the faster they went. And
S2: I'm like, oh no, here I am standing there, I've
S2: got a headlamp and I don't know what to do
S2: because they're going to get back somehow. Maybe. So. I
S2: didn't know what was going on. I didn't know that
S2: they'd get in a few tangles before they got back,
S2: but I thought, I have got to get back quicker
S2: than running another five miles in my polar gear, right?
S2: Because that's.
S4: Heavy stuff.
S2: Heavy stuff. So I decided to take a shortcut. So
S2: I cut through. I'm young guys. I'm thinking back about
S2: this going. This is crazy. It's cold out, man. I mean,
S2: I got I got no weapons if I run into
S2: moose on the trail and it's dicey. So I'm. I'm
S2: taking a shortcut back, which makes me walk back, jog
S2: back slow, jog on the outbound trail, because that was
S2: the shortcut. So take the shortcut, and when I get back,
S2: there's my dog team. But my mom is gone, and
S2: I'm like, what is going on? Well, I put two
S2: and two together and, uh, well, what happened was the
S2: dog team came in and she's cheering for me like crazy.
S2: All right, man, this is a good time.
S3: And then you're not.
S2: They're not on the sled.
S4: Oh, boy. Nothing worse for a mom to experience.
S3: Wow. Kidding.
S2: I'm not on the sled. So mom goes out walking
S2: out the inbound trail. I'm walking in the outbound trail.
S4: Oh, man.
S2: And so I missed her. And she goes out to
S2: Campbell Creek. That's open, and it's running pretty good. And
S2: she was absolutely convinced in her mind, the only place
S2: I fell off and got lost and couldn't get back
S2: up was I fell in the river.
S4: Oh, no.
S2: And she is yelling my name. Karl.
S3: Karl! Karl.
S2: And she's thinking I'm gone, guys. So I'm standing there
S2: with the dog team, and now I see my mom
S2: walking in the inbound. And she sees me and she
S2: starts jogging. And she's got all of her gear on,
S2: and she gave me a big old hug, and we
S2: talked about what went down. Went home that night, she
S2: made me some of her famous four alarm chili, Chile,
S2: which that's the that's the spice level. And trust me,
S2: it's like you got fire alarms in your belly for
S2: a week. It's awesome. And we just had a great
S2: mom son time. It was just beautiful. And mom kept
S2: rehearsing the story for me. I thought you were gone.
S2: I thought you were in the creek. I thought you
S2: were poor.
S3: Mom.
S2: She didn't want to say. I thought you drowned because
S2: she couldn't get it out of her mouth. But she said,
S2: I thought you were gone. And I'm like, oh, mom,
S2: thanks for being so good to me. And she was
S2: a good mom. You know what? Moms are something else,
S2: aren't they, guys?
S4: And they aren't.
S2: They? None of them are perfect. And some of you
S2: have gone through some hard stuff with your mom. Hard stuff.
S2: But we got an opportunity for you to cheer for
S2: and honor your mom and maybe win her something. And
S2: what's great about this? See, we're getting you way ahead
S2: of the curve here on something. That's what's.
S3: Awesome. This is our Mother's Day giveaway and we're really
S3: excited to share this with you. You have an opportunity
S3: to win something for a mom in your life, maybe
S3: a mom figure who stepped in, or if you're a mom, hey,
S3: you can enter to win this for yourself. $550 worth
S3: of prizes. This is going to be a spa gift
S3: certificate or restaurant gift certificate that we will customize for
S3: wherever you are located. We know we have listeners across
S3: the country. We will customize this for you or for
S3: your mom. Text the word mom. We'll get you signed up.
S3: Text mom to 800 555 7898. Got an entry form
S3: that also gives you an opportunity to cheer for your
S3: mom a little bit. Tell us the story of what
S3: makes her unique, special, one of a kind text mom
S3: to 800 555 7898.
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: So, Ali is doing some planning for a message. Uh, recently,
S2: in fact, we covered this a little bit on air,
S2: a little bit of the difference between didactic learning and
S2: Socratic learning. Remember when we were having that discussion?
S3: I do, I do.
S2: And it was fun because we're talking about the early
S2: church was very Socratic in the way that they learned.
S2: They get around and huddle up. And then a few
S2: hundred years into this new incredible movement of the church
S2: of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, things change. And
S2: we got a guy up front. Now it's becoming didactic.
S2: Everybody's talking at you rather than you processing together. Well,
S2: what came out of this was something really interesting. I
S2: started doing a deep dive on Socrates, and I'm like,
S2: he's a foregone conclusion in this world today. Like, everybody
S2: believes in Socrates. Here's the stunning thing. The guy keeled
S2: over dead for 99 BC and he never wrote anything
S2: that lasted. The only evidence we have of Socrates is
S2: that Plato repeated over and over again what he taught.
S2: Being one of his proteges, J. Warner Wallace, I was
S2: blown away. There are more people on Socratic bandwagon than
S2: there are of Jesus, and there's no evidence that he
S2: even existed. J Warner, do you feel what I'm feeling,
S2: my man?
S6: Yeah, I think what it is is, let's face it,
S6: there's no supernatural claims related to Socrates. None. I mean,
S6: it's not as though that anyone ever said he did miracles.
S6: I think if somebody claimed that he rose from the grave, well,
S6: now you would see the kind of skepticism you see
S6: in a culture that rejects anything supernatural to begin with.
S6: And we are so committed to our philosophical naturalism that
S6: we refuse to even entertain the possibility that somebody could
S6: do something outside of space, time, matter, physics and chemistry. Right.
S6: This is what we believe governs the universe. And Socrates
S6: fits within that worldview. Just another guy who came and
S6: lived and died and maybe had some special insight into
S6: the way the reality really functions. But he never claimed
S6: to do anything supernatural.
S2: Supernatural. The thing that stunned me is we take Socratic
S2: learning as a method. Just we just take it. And
S2: yet there's more evidence of the teachings of Christ. Forget
S2: the miracle of his resurrection than there is of of Socrates.
S2: And yet Socrates gets a pass and Christ goes through
S2: this grid. Why does Christ go through such a heavy grid?
S2: Is it because of strictly the claims of the supernatural,
S2: or do they need to chip away at his existence
S2: in total?
S6: Yeah, I do think it is the claims. Here's why
S6: I say that. So if you take the most aggressive
S6: skeptic of Jesus and you were to just kind of
S6: give them a thought experiment. If the gospels, if the
S6: ancient texts described a simple preaching rabbi in the first century,
S6: just a guy who came and lived and preached, kind
S6: of like Socrates had some things to say about loving
S6: people born of a virgin. Didn't rise from the dead,
S6: never worked a miracle, never walked on water. All the
S6: the miraculous stuff was removed. There wouldn't be a single
S6: skeptic on planet earth who would doubt the historicity of Jesus,
S6: given the man believed that evidence? Absolutely. There's no better
S6: attested ancient in the history of ancients than Jesus of Nazareth.
S6: But you insert one miracle and suddenly everyone's like, no,
S6: this has all got to be garbage. Well, what is
S6: that about? It's not about the manuscript evidence or how
S6: we're even evaluating the manuscript evidence, or how much we have,
S6: or how much impact this person has had on history.
S6: It's all about the insertion of supernatural elements. Now, suddenly,
S6: skepticism is a high peak. This shows you that the
S6: issue is not about the evidence. The issue is about
S6: a presuppositional bias, a presuppositional bias against the supernatural. Now,
S6: there's one more thing here. Socrates never called you to
S6: live a certain way to bend your knee, and Jesus
S6: clearly does so. So that's another huge issue. It really
S6: is about kind of our foundational worldview in the 21st century,
S6: plus our foundational desire to be our own God in
S6: the 21st century.
S3: J Warner Wallace, our guest right now, he's a Dateline
S3: featured cold case homicide detective. If you were thinking, he
S3: kind of sounds like a detective. You're absolutely right. National speaker,
S3: podcast host. Author. Now, you. Your passion is helping people
S3: become Christian case makers. Give us in. Just just in
S3: a nutshell, how you got to this. You were 35
S3: years old. You'd been an atheist. No background in church.
S3: You went to church because your wife thought it would
S3: be nice to raise the kids with some form of religion.
S3: And as a detective, you took on this challenge. I've
S3: started the story for you. You take it from there.
S6: Well, yeah, I just I just didn't have anybody in
S6: my family who was a believer that could, you know,
S6: it wasn't part of my upbringing. I wasn't around anyone
S6: who told me they were a believer growing up or
S6: ever invited us to church. And my dad is still
S6: a very committed atheist. He's 85. I keep on praying
S6: that at some point he's going to have an epiphany moment,
S6: but I can tell you it's not happened yet, and
S6: I don't think he's that close. That's just who I was.
S6: That's how I was raised. You know, I became a
S6: detective the same way he became a detective. I actually
S6: closed one of his old unsolved murders. You know, I
S6: kind of followed in his footsteps, and my atheism also
S6: followed in his footsteps. But when I examined the Gospels,
S6: using the same skills we use to examine any set
S6: of eyewitnesses, that's the only way I knew to do it.
S6: You know, what is the criteria for reliable eyewitness in
S6: the state of California? I'm in Los Angeles County. Okay, well,
S6: there's a certain criteria in the jury instructions. If I
S6: apply that criteria to the gospel authors, would they pass? Well,
S6: aside from the fact that they make a claim of
S6: supernatural activity, everything else about them will pass. Now, you
S6: go to the question, what do you do with that? Then?
S6: You know, to be honest, I knew there was something
S6: outside of space, time and matter. But that means there's
S6: something outside of space time and matter that is the
S6: cause of space time and matter according to the science.
S6: So you already know there's something out there. The only
S6: question is, is it personal? Because if it's personal, you know,
S6: the biggest miracle in the scriptures is not in the
S6: New Testament. It's in Genesis one, everything from nothing. If
S6: you can do that, you can certainly walk on water.
S6: So I think you just have to have an open
S6: hand at least about the issue of supernaturalism. And then
S6: you will start reading the scriptures differently. And that's what
S6: helped me to kind of overcome my own biases. You know,
S6: you said something interesting a minute ago when you're talking
S6: about the ways that we teach. You know, I was
S6: talking to my son, who's now 36, and he was
S6: an avid comic book reader growing up. And it's interesting,
S6: if you asked him today, he would probably tell you
S6: that his moral formation was grounded as much in those
S6: old superheroes as it was in the teaching of Scripture,
S6: because I became a Christian when he was about eight.
S6: So he kind of came along with me, but he
S6: would tell you that it was storytelling. Yeah. Because you
S6: you find yourself not just learning about an issue. You
S6: find yourself living in the story and wanting to be
S6: part of this story. And I'll bet you that's happening
S6: for a lot of young people, which means that we
S6: have to not just tell them what's true, but we
S6: have to start creating stories that embody what is true.
S3: Perfect setup. Coming up, we're going to tell you about
S3: one of those stories that J. Warner Wallace, our guest,
S3: paired up with his son to create a graphic novel.
S3: This is something that's one of the first of its kind.
S3: We're going to tell you all about it coming up.
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: Karl and crew on Moody Radio.
S3: Well, if you are a graphic novel fan, this is
S3: for you. You're going to love this full color graphic
S3: novel for adults. Highly engaging. It's called Case Files Murder
S3: and meaning J. Warner Wallace, the author with us right now.
S3: Tell us about this. For those of us who have
S3: no familiarity with graphic novels, what is this?
S6: Well, basically a large comic book. So it's more like
S6: 5 or 6 comic books bound together as one overarching story.
S6: I always knew that, you know, I've written a lot
S6: about nine books that are nonfiction, but I knew eventually
S6: we would move toward fiction. But my son being a
S6: fan of comic books. And so when we saw that
S6: our publisher for several of our early books was purchasing
S6: a comic book, well, we knew this was something that
S6: we could reach people with. We wrote a book that
S6: I think will be a really fast reading comic book.
S6: And it's probably something you'll read halfway through and not
S6: even realize it's a Christian comic book. But in the end,
S6: we want to examine at least one apologetics issue. And
S6: in this first book, it's about the value of human life.
S6: Like what determines human value? Most of us will put
S6: our value in our achievements and our financial status in
S6: our family structure where we live. These are things that
S6: we typically say, this is who I am. But it
S6: turns out that those things usually are exposed when you
S6: think deeply about your life, especially as you get older.
S6: And they are certainly exposed in murder investigations. Because I'll
S6: tell you what, there's a bunch of murders are happening
S6: right now as we speak. And no one's even going
S6: to cover them in the news media unless the right
S6: person gets killed. And then it'll be a national headline.
S6: Why do we think that that person is worthy of
S6: our attention, but the others aren't. What gives one person
S6: value when you think others don't have it? We actually
S6: think that's a false notion as Christians. But how do
S6: we communicate that? Well, we've got a story about a
S6: serial killer who is targeting people of increasing cultural value
S6: just to bring the issue to light. And we've got
S6: a bunch of detectives who are trying to understand their
S6: own value as they chase this killer.
S3: This is a fascinating project to me because you take
S3: you and your son, your background as a cold case
S3: homicide detective. You take the genre of graphic novel. You
S3: kind of have this murder meaning mystery going on and
S3: somehow apologetics, the gospel is woven in. How in the
S3: world does this all come together?
S6: Well, that's the trick, right? So I think that there's
S6: a fair criticism that often we are a little bit
S6: too aggressive and ambitious with every Christian project. Right? Like
S6: at the end of this thing, at the end of
S6: this movie, everything's got to end well and everyone's going
S6: to get saved and it's going to be pollyannaish. And
S6: that's just not the way that life is. So we
S6: wanted to write a story that was real. And people
S6: most of the early reviews will say, yeah, this is
S6: a very realistic book because the conversations between cops at
S6: death scenes are conversations we've had. So we know what
S6: those conversations sound like. And we all know people in
S6: the industry because we work with them. We could talk
S6: about Jesus with them till we're blue in the face,
S6: and it's going to sometimes feel like a conversation that's
S6: just going into the ether, and we want to portray
S6: it this way. Our main characters are not Christians. There's
S6: just one character, a minor character that even holds a
S6: Christian worldview, and his voice is not going to be
S6: respected by the others. Because to be honest, if you're
S6: in a law enforcement agency, that's probably you. If you're
S6: the Christian in your organization, it's just not a dominantly
S6: Christian industry. It's a dominantly pessimistic industry where people get
S6: jaded and that jaded nature helps us solve crimes. So
S6: it turns out you're a glass half empty view actually
S6: serves you well in this industry. And that's what we
S6: wanted to capture in this book. Not every plane is
S6: going to land safely. Not everyone's going to end up saved.
S6: It's a very realistic view of what the industry looks
S6: like and what human nature looks like, right? So I
S6: just wanted something that you would read at the end
S6: and you would say that was satisfying on a couple
S6: of levels, and was not this pollyannaish kind of Christian
S6: story that you might expect.
S3: But definitely raises some good questions for further investigation. J
S3: Warner Wallace with us right now. This is something I
S3: think you're going to want to check out. Maybe this
S3: isn't for everyone. Maybe you don't like graphic novels, but
S3: there's probably someone in your life who does. So I
S3: want you to check this out. Text case to 800
S3: 555 7898. You can also explore a host of other
S3: books and great resources on the website. Text case to
S3: 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: Guess what we didn't forget. No, we're right on time.
S2: Right on time.
S7: Yeah, we're right on time. That's that from that album
S7: Black Box Hits. That thing is so good.
S2: From 1990.
S7: That was so good though.
S2: Every tune on that album, but I digress. It is
S2: the bottom of the hour on this Wednesday morning. Take
S2: it away, young thunder.
S1: Making herself laugh no matter who joins her. It's time
S1: for Ali thinks it's funny.
S3: Anyone in here? Play a little tennis?
S4: Uh, I've tried and failed.
S8: Yeah, yeah.
S2: It's a that's a that's a tough sport.
S4: It's a tough sport.
S2: You gotta you got to get in a lot of reps,
S2: I feel. But yeah, I've tried.
S3: You're good at it or you're.
S8: No no.
S2: No I mean I.
S7: Got.
S2: One summer. I got pretty good at it. But good
S2: is relative, Ali.
S8: Anyway. Go ahead. Okay.
S3: Okay. So there's no professionals. That's okay. You still might
S3: know the answer to this question. Uh, what do you
S3: call a girl standing in the middle of a tennis court?
S3: The middle of the tennis court. There's tennis courts by
S3: my house. There's a girl who just hangs out there.
S3: She's just standing in the middle. I found out her name.
S4: What?
S3: Her name is Annette.
S8: So bad. That was bad. That was bad.
S2: Low down. So bad. It was almost.
S8: Good. Thank you, thank you, I appreciate that. Next up
S8: for you.
S3: Because I always do two and hope at least one
S3: of them lands. Little bit of an awkward situation. Scientists.
S3: I have a scientist friend, but he has bad breath.
S4: Oh, no.
S3: What do you give a scientist with bad breath?
S2: Oh, this would be fun to guess at an experiment.
S8: She's laughing.
S3: So.
S8: Hard, it's like.
S3: Here's a little.
S8: Experiment for you.
S3: Use it liberally. Text jokes to 800 555 78. 98.
S3: Jokes to 800 555 7898. I like to keep preparing.
S3: Prepared for all situations.
S9: Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. Okay.
S2: By the way, talk about awkward moments when somebody offers
S2: you a breath mint. Would you like one of these?
S3: You have to assess. Are they being kind?
S2: Are they.
S8: Being gracious? They're really insisting. No, really.
S4: Would you like a breath mint?
S2: Awkward when they foisted on you. And then, you know,
S2: there's a bigger issue going on? No, really, I think
S2: this would be good.
S8: For you to take. They're so good. Please try one.
S2: Experiment.
S8: It's real life stuff, right?
S2: Oh, boy. You want those jokes, don't you?
S3: Text jokes to 800 555, 78. 78.98.
S2: Oh! Goodness sakes. Well, today, one of the topics that
S2: we want to tackle with you is the beauty of
S2: living from your identity with Christ, and not for the
S2: approval of others. It's a big deal, isn't it, guys?
S8: It is because.
S3: Living for the approval of others. Well, man, you don't
S3: need to fill in too many blanks to know how
S3: that goes.
S2: Well, what what what does it do in you? It's exhausting.
S4: Yes. What else does it do? You never stop running,
S4: so it's absolutely exhausting.
S2: You never hit the mark. No, you never hit the mark.
S4: It's stressful because you're afraid. You're. You're thinking, what are
S4: these people thinking about me? It's fickle because it changes
S4: all the time. Yeah.
S2: It's not good, Matthew. Truth be told, we're going to
S2: break it down for you to give you a resource
S2: coming up.
S1: She's a choreographer extraordinaire, and everything is Greek to her.
S1: Super dei is in the crew. It's Carl and crew
S1: on Moody Radio.
S2: You know, we want to help you take your next
S2: step with Jesus. But it is really difficult to navigate
S2: this world to understand how secure you are in Christ,
S2: that you've got a genuine purpose and that you aren't
S2: living for the approval of others unless you are living
S2: from your identity in Christ. And that identity, I think,
S2: is best illustrated, and this is what I love about
S2: Jesus's teaching. He gives stories from everyday life to illustrate
S2: hard to understand spiritual truths. He does it all the time.
S2: And so let me give you a story. I've got
S2: a couple of them. I'm going to go back to
S2: Moon Barrett though. He's so good. Moon Barrett was my
S2: manager at Carrs grocery store. In fact, I think he
S2: was the GM. He had a lot of hats that
S2: he wore, but he oversaw all 32 box boys. Now,
S2: this was intense. This was back in the day. I
S2: don't know if y'all are old enough to remember this,
S2: but when we hauled out groceries, we'd take them out
S2: in these big carts that they were kind of vertical carts.
S2: You'd stack all these bags in them, not these little
S2: handy dandy jobbies that you walk through the store in.
S2: And then we had different carts for carrying out groceries. Okay.
S2: And so you could stack like maybe 12, 15 bags
S2: in these things. They were huge. You'd tip them back
S2: so they they looked like a hand truck. Only it
S2: had it looked like a hand truck with shelves. That's
S2: what it looked like.
S4: Okay.
S2: So big shelves. And I loved working with this team. Man.
S2: I'm 14 years old, got the job at cars and
S2: loved it. Poor dad and mom because nobody's driving. Guess who?
S2: Guess who shuttled you down to Carrs grocery store and
S2: picked you up every day?
S8: Yep.
S2: I never did pay gas money to them for that.
S2: By the way. It just dawned on me that was
S2: a gracious thing they did.
S4: I think they were okay with that.
S2: Yeah, yeah. So we were busting it. I think I
S2: was making $3.25 an hour, and we were I was in.
S8: Woo.
S2: Man hog Evan. I was making jingle. So I started
S2: busting my tail because dad taught me how to bust
S2: my tail. And I mean, I'm busting it. First few
S2: months of working, I'm starting to get promoted. And then
S2: I got to the point where I was team lead.
S2: So I'd have this whole team underneath me, and I
S2: was supposed to make sure that guys were scattered throughout
S2: the registers properly, and we everybody's groceries were bagged. But
S2: immediately I could see I had a problem here, and
S2: I had some guys on the team that had been
S2: around a while. I've been around a while. They were
S2: old men to me. A couple of them were 16
S2: and I'm.
S8: 14 men.
S2: And no. But when you're 14, a.
S8: 16 year old.
S4: You're like, that's a grown man.
S2: That's like grandpa right there. This guy probably has four kids.
S2: I mean, it's just it felt so and the power
S2: differential was so strong that I started I moved my
S2: whole mindset moved from, I'm here working for moon. Now
S2: I'm here working for these guys, and I was trying
S2: to work to get their approval, and I couldn't get it. Guys,
S2: it was painful. I thought if I work hard, harder
S2: than all of them. No, that didn't work. So I
S2: thought if I work at their pace and that didn't work,
S2: go back to the break room. If I joke around
S2: with them, that didn't work. So I'm like, odd man out.
S2: And now I'm miserable hating this new position that I've
S2: been given. Moon saw this one day. Moon was quite
S2: a guy, man. Big old boy. And he stood in
S2: the in the tower. The tower is where the manager stood.
S2: You know, it wasn't a big step up, but it
S2: was a foot. And so they're looking down at everyone.
S2: And he shut down the whole line. He said, boys
S2: shut her down. Told all the mainly women at the
S2: cash registers. A couple other guys were in there. But
S2: I mean, these were lined up. These were there was
S2: no self checkout. I mean, it was just lined up.
S2: He said, you guys got to bag your stuff, took
S2: all of us back to the break room. He said.
S2: In about two minutes, he said, let me be clear.
S2: Carl is a team lead. Start treating him like it. Carl,
S2: don't let these guys. And I mean, he's back in
S2: the day. Even managers got colorful in language when 14
S2: year olds were around. It's just the way it rolled
S2: back in the day. And he was colorful. And I
S2: walked out of there feeling so authorized. And what happened
S2: was it changed everything because he he took the time
S2: to identify for these guys in a few seconds. I
S2: chose Carl for this position. He's got my stamp of
S2: authority on him, and he does not need to prove
S2: to you that he's okay. That's basically what he said. Now,
S2: how this relates spiritually is when we've been born again
S2: by the Holy Spirit into a relationship with Jesus. We're
S2: new creations. The old is gone. The new has come.
S2: We're fully forgiven. We're adopted as God's children. He's put
S2: the big hat on us. He says, you're my kids.
S2: Not for braggadocio, but for authority. We've got new authority.
S2: All authority in heaven and earth has been given to you. Go,
S2: he says with even with the Great Commission. So he's
S2: authorized us. We're his workmanship, made with a purpose. And
S2: here's the problem. If you do not get that vision
S2: of what Scripture is replete with, that we can live
S2: from our identity in Christ, not for the approval of others.
S2: We're going to be on what I just said here
S2: a few minutes ago, this hamster wheel of exhaustion, not
S2: knowing which way to turn, how to dress, what to say.
S2: It's exhausting. It's defeating. And you know what? You never
S2: get on about living the joy filled life that Christ
S2: expects And enabled us to have. So the question is
S2: how do we do it? Well, we got a resource
S2: for you coming up in just a moment. And I'm
S2: telling you, some of you have received this before. Do
S2: not be ashamed that you need it again because I
S2: need it once a month myself. Hang on.
S1: Your shot of hope to help you through the day.
S1: This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
S2: You know that walking closer to Jesus every day. What
S2: does that mean? At the end of the day, it
S2: can be very fanciful, almost hallmark card ish. Or it
S2: can get down to the point where you're hearing his voice.
S2: He's speaking to you from the pages of Scripture. He
S2: starts rerouting, kind of retraining your mind re wallpapering your
S2: mind to understand who you are in Jesus. Because when God,
S2: through His Son Jesus, puts the big hat on us,
S2: not big braggadocious hat, but that identity of new creation
S2: old is gone. Fully forgiven. Adopted as God's child, no
S2: longer a slave to sin. God's workmanship made with the
S2: purpose indwelt by the Holy Spirit. More than a conqueror
S2: through him who loves us. Those are just a few
S2: that begins to change everything about how we relate to people.
S2: We're no longer living for approval. We're living from our identity.
S2: And it's a game changer.
S3: And it gives us so much freedom, freedom to to
S3: really be focused on other people.
S8: Yes.
S3: And one thing that I've noticed about some of the
S3: women that I most look up to, women of faith
S3: who are a little bit more seasoned than I am,
S3: they've reached a place, they've lived enough life. They don't
S3: care what people think anymore. It's like, it's so sweet
S3: to me and all. There's like at least 3 or
S3: 4 women that I can think of in particular. They're
S3: all in their late 50s, early 60s, and they are
S3: so intentional about ministering to other people. And one of
S3: the things that I've noticed that's consistent is that they
S3: are they're not self-focused anymore. They walk into a room
S3: not worried about who's there, what they're wearing, what people
S3: are thinking. They walk into their room looking to see
S3: how other people are doing. Who needs a word of encouragement?
S3: Who's a little down today? And so when your focus
S3: is not on you, what am I doing? Okay. Are
S3: people okay with me? You're more effective in your ministry.
S8: Yeah. This is.
S2: Huge. Understanding your identity when you come from your identity
S2: and don't live for the approval of others, everything changes.
S2: Do not kick yourself for where you're at today. Some
S2: of you can look back at Sunday. You can look
S2: back at work yesterday. You can look at family. No
S2: no no no no no. Get this. We're all learning
S2: and growing, and some of you know what it is
S2: to be so secure in Christ that it's like all
S2: those perceptions of people, it doesn't matter. But you can
S2: get back there again. We've got this tool I'm encouraging
S2: 21 days morning and evening. Take it away, Alex.
S3: This is a great resource. It's our truth blog, one
S3: of our most popular. It's just powerful truth from the
S3: Word of God about who you are. Text truth will
S3: send it to you. T.r.u.t.h. Truth to 800 555 7898. Text.
S3: Truth to 800 555 7898.
S2: When our vision of who God says we are and
S2: how secure we are in Christ aligns with the truth
S2: of God, the pressure to live for the approval of
S2: others will evaporate. Get it? Text truth to 805 55, 7898. Man,
S2: what a freedom.