WEBVTT - I Can't Find Peace 0:00:00.440 --> 0:00:04.360 Coming to you from the Morning Star Mission sponsored studio. 0:00:04.720 --> 0:00:08.080 This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio. 0:00:08.680 --> 0:00:12.399 It's Carl and crew helping you take your next step 0:00:12.400 --> 0:00:16.280 with Jesus. We've got. We got a day to day, man. 0:00:16.320 --> 0:00:19.240 I'm going to start this thing out of the chute. Hot. 0:00:20.800 --> 0:00:23.040 You guys ever had piece ripped off from you or 0:00:23.079 --> 0:00:24.400 feel like it's elusive? 0:00:24.600 --> 0:00:25.800 Yeah, absolutely. 0:00:25.840 --> 0:00:26.880 Of course. 0:00:27.000 --> 0:00:30.720 What are the situations in your life? What are the 0:00:30.720 --> 0:00:35.160 situations in your life that seem to rob peace from you? 0:00:35.159 --> 0:00:37.720 I'm not wanting gory details. I don't need you guys 0:00:37.720 --> 0:00:41.560 to do that. But generally speaking, what can rob peace? 0:00:41.800 --> 0:00:42.840 Family situations. 0:00:42.840 --> 0:00:44.240 Family's huge, isn't it? 0:00:44.280 --> 0:00:44.840 Big? 0:00:44.960 --> 0:00:49.120 Big? Yeah I think, uh, identity anxiety. Yeah. 0:00:49.880 --> 0:00:50.280 Work. 0:00:50.320 --> 0:00:51.200 What do you mean by that? 0:00:51.200 --> 0:00:54.120 So I think that there's a lot of anxiety about 0:00:54.160 --> 0:00:56.960 that out there about who we are. I, you know, 0:00:57.040 --> 0:01:01.330 I'm so messed up from this. You know, I've experienced this, 0:01:01.370 --> 0:01:03.850 and it affects me today. We don't know who we are, 0:01:04.290 --> 0:01:06.009 and it makes us anxious. 0:01:06.330 --> 0:01:08.410 Yeah, we can look at our life and we can 0:01:08.810 --> 0:01:11.410 see things that have happened in the past. And we're like, 0:01:11.450 --> 0:01:15.690 who just could be, in our own estimation, a trail 0:01:15.690 --> 0:01:18.090 of tears. It's unredeemable. How in the world is God 0:01:18.130 --> 0:01:20.170 going to pull anything out of the ashes here? 0:01:20.370 --> 0:01:23.649 Or someone spoken a word to you that that is 0:01:23.650 --> 0:01:26.490 horrible and untrue, and now you can't get that word 0:01:26.490 --> 0:01:28.130 out of your head and they go, oh, that person 0:01:28.130 --> 0:01:30.770 was right. I am this. And it's like, no. 0:01:31.370 --> 0:01:35.250 Yeah, we can face issues at work, at home, even 0:01:35.250 --> 0:01:39.690 in the neighborhood that it's like, boy, there's a situation 0:01:39.690 --> 0:01:42.210 dangling out here. I don't know what to do with it. 0:01:42.209 --> 0:01:46.450 And sometimes it's a situation beyond our control. Yes. And 0:01:46.450 --> 0:01:49.610 it's something being foisted on us. And it can just 0:01:49.650 --> 0:01:53.330 rob us of peace, rip us off. One of the 0:01:53.330 --> 0:01:56.290 biggest peace robbers I ever had in my life hit me. 0:01:56.490 --> 0:02:01.300 Just blindsided. I can't get into too many details except 0:02:01.300 --> 0:02:03.820 to say it was about oh goodness sakes, I've been 0:02:03.820 --> 0:02:07.380 saying 15 years ago now forever, but probably 16, 17 0:02:07.380 --> 0:02:13.220 years ago. And it was it was one of the 0:02:13.220 --> 0:02:17.380 most brutal piece robbers you can ever have in your life. And, 0:02:17.419 --> 0:02:19.940 you know, the interesting thing about betrayal is that the 0:02:19.940 --> 0:02:22.019 guy on the street can't betray you, right? 0:02:22.780 --> 0:02:23.060 Yeah. 0:02:23.100 --> 0:02:27.580 Because only someone who has close proximity can betray you, right? 0:02:27.620 --> 0:02:31.620 Somebody out on the street can say something about you. 0:02:31.620 --> 0:02:33.299 The way you look, the way you walk, the way 0:02:33.300 --> 0:02:36.260 you talk. Whatever. But that's not betrayal. 0:02:36.460 --> 0:02:37.540 No, there's no trust. 0:02:37.540 --> 0:02:40.780 There's no trust that's been built in order for betrayal 0:02:40.780 --> 0:02:46.260 to happen. But I went through a season where a 0:02:46.260 --> 0:02:49.220 couple of guys that I really put my full faith 0:02:49.220 --> 0:02:53.300 and trust in. And by the way, some of you 0:02:53.300 --> 0:02:55.020 might say, well, there's the problem. You got to put 0:02:55.150 --> 0:02:58.389 your full faith and trust in God. Yes and no. 0:02:58.430 --> 0:03:00.510 We may put our trust in people all the time 0:03:00.510 --> 0:03:05.750 for partnerships, for marriage, totally. For teachers of our kids 0:03:05.750 --> 0:03:08.630 at school, we put our trust in them. I mean, 0:03:08.870 --> 0:03:12.350 government officials wink, wink. We put our trust in them. 0:03:12.389 --> 0:03:12.990 A certain degree, of. 0:03:12.990 --> 0:03:16.109 Course. So we entrust ourselves to people all the time 0:03:16.110 --> 0:03:18.510 or trust people all the time. In fact, there's a 0:03:18.510 --> 0:03:21.990 there's a key word there. Who do we entrust ourselves to? 0:03:22.030 --> 0:03:24.190 It has to be God. And that's part of the solution. 0:03:25.310 --> 0:03:27.709 But we put a level of trust in people. And 0:03:27.710 --> 0:03:31.870 then when you find that something you shared or something 0:03:31.870 --> 0:03:35.230 that you've lived or that something is that is said 0:03:35.230 --> 0:03:38.670 about you is untrue, and you got a fork hanging 0:03:38.670 --> 0:03:41.390 out of your back. One day when you wake up, 0:03:42.230 --> 0:03:46.070 oh my goodness, it can steal peace. When a friend 0:03:46.110 --> 0:03:50.430 does you wrong with someone you've trusted, truly does you wrong. 0:03:50.430 --> 0:03:55.330 It can really Rob you of peace can steal it. 0:03:57.610 --> 0:04:01.170 The myth we want to debunk today is I can't 0:04:01.170 --> 0:04:08.570 find peace. Peace can seem so elusive, and it's always 0:04:08.570 --> 0:04:13.610 going to be at risk. There's no way there aren't 0:04:13.610 --> 0:04:17.770 peace robbers out there waiting for you today. It's in 0:04:17.770 --> 0:04:20.610 the world system that we live in. Yep. Things can 0:04:20.610 --> 0:04:25.770 rob us of peace. It's in our own flesh. Things 0:04:25.770 --> 0:04:28.130 that we do that can steal peace from us. That's 0:04:28.130 --> 0:04:30.810 where we look at ourselves going. Oh, man, I'm so. 0:04:31.089 --> 0:04:34.370 I'm such an idiot. I'm never going to break loose 0:04:34.370 --> 0:04:40.089 from these patterns in my life. And Satan's constantly setting 0:04:40.130 --> 0:04:45.210 traps and saying things to you that rob peace left, 0:04:45.210 --> 0:04:49.890 right and center today. And I don't know how much 0:04:49.890 --> 0:04:52.940 ground we're going to make in any segment, one segment 0:04:52.940 --> 0:04:55.339 or half hour today, but we're going to cover some ground. 0:04:55.339 --> 0:04:58.860 There are three conversations that can change the course of 0:04:58.860 --> 0:05:04.420 your life and give you peace. Three conversations, three conversations. 0:05:04.540 --> 0:05:09.860 And it covers every aspect of life, these three conversations. 0:05:11.500 --> 0:05:15.140 And I'm not overpromising. It comes right from the book 0:05:15.140 --> 0:05:18.460 of Philippians. It's one of the most beautiful aha moments. 0:05:18.460 --> 0:05:21.140 And you might have come here today and very candidly, 0:05:21.140 --> 0:05:25.580 you feel like, man, Carl, peace is so elusive for me. 0:05:27.700 --> 0:05:31.020 I mean, God promises peace, but it seems so far away. 0:05:32.140 --> 0:05:35.339 Peace is a fruit of the spirit, and I'm abiding 0:05:35.339 --> 0:05:40.140 in Christ. But where's the peace here? We're just going 0:05:40.180 --> 0:05:48.100 to focus on peace. Because when peace is missing, everything 0:05:48.100 --> 0:05:51.710 seems to be falling down. Isn't peace one of the 0:05:51.710 --> 0:05:55.310 greatest commodities we can possibly have in this world? Give 0:05:55.350 --> 0:05:58.109 me a little peace. Yeah, we'd buy it, wouldn't we? 0:05:58.270 --> 0:06:01.510 Oh, absolutely. And especially in some situations when you have 0:06:01.510 --> 0:06:04.549 that peace. Others come up to you and go, well, 0:06:04.589 --> 0:06:05.549 I don't get it. 0:06:05.589 --> 0:06:08.070 Especially if they know a situation you're going through. 0:06:08.110 --> 0:06:11.390 Is very heavy. Exactly. Like, how are you dealing with how. 0:06:11.550 --> 0:06:12.110 How does that. 0:06:12.110 --> 0:06:12.830 Happen? Yeah. 0:06:12.870 --> 0:06:16.430 Yeah. Coming up here, we're going to talk about the 0:06:16.470 --> 0:06:20.510 first conversation that can change the course of your life 0:06:20.510 --> 0:06:23.230 and bring you peace. Some of you are down a 0:06:23.230 --> 0:06:27.430 path that just is robbing peace from you at every corner. 0:06:27.790 --> 0:06:31.229 What if I told you Scripture is clear that there 0:06:31.230 --> 0:06:35.350 are three conversations that can change the course of your life, 0:06:36.029 --> 0:06:38.710 and you don't have to say any longer, I can't 0:06:38.710 --> 0:06:41.110 find peace. We're going to be breaking it down for 0:06:41.110 --> 0:06:43.750 you this morning. And I know some of you did. 0:06:43.750 --> 0:06:46.589 You came here today going, boy. Carl, if I could 0:06:46.589 --> 0:06:49.640 just find a little bit of peace here, life would 0:06:49.640 --> 0:06:53.479 be so much different. It can be. God's word is 0:06:53.480 --> 0:06:55.839 just loaded with hope. Hang on. 0:06:56.800 --> 0:06:59.800 You're listening to Curl and Crew on Moody Radio. 0:07:00.240 --> 0:07:03.599 One of the key things to experiencing peace is understanding 0:07:03.600 --> 0:07:05.760 who in the world you are in Christ, your identity. 0:07:05.760 --> 0:07:08.520 There's a lot of discussion about identity in this world 0:07:08.520 --> 0:07:11.160 that we live in today, for sure, and a lot 0:07:11.200 --> 0:07:14.520 of people think that they can't choose or settle in 0:07:14.520 --> 0:07:19.760 on their true identity, but that's simply a falsehood. God 0:07:19.760 --> 0:07:21.760 wants you to get anchored in who you are in 0:07:21.760 --> 0:07:24.520 Jesus later on this hour. J Warner Wallace is going 0:07:24.560 --> 0:07:28.840 to be with us here. Cold case, homicide detective, turned 0:07:28.880 --> 0:07:33.120 full blown theologian, theologian, apologist and radical Jesus follower. 0:07:33.160 --> 0:07:34.440 You can't even write that. 0:07:34.480 --> 0:07:36.239 I mean, what a great dude, huh? 0:07:36.280 --> 0:07:36.760 Right. 0:07:36.800 --> 0:07:37.280 What a great. 0:07:37.280 --> 0:07:38.600 Man. Good friend of the show. 0:07:38.640 --> 0:07:41.520 I mean, been on Dateline, so you're going to hear 0:07:41.520 --> 0:07:44.200 his voice and go, I've heard that voice. Yeah, you've 0:07:44.200 --> 0:07:48.650 heard it before. Imagine those spending all your time doing 0:07:48.650 --> 0:07:50.450 cold case detective work. 0:07:50.490 --> 0:07:54.090 That's heavy. Heavy talk about peace. Talk about peace in 0:07:54.090 --> 0:07:54.690 your head. 0:07:54.730 --> 0:07:59.810 Yeah. This is why his radical transformation. Not as a 0:07:59.810 --> 0:08:03.890 young man or in Sunday school, but later on in life, 0:08:04.210 --> 0:08:07.050 proved to be one of the biggest transformative things that 0:08:07.050 --> 0:08:10.050 he could have ever imagined. And he's going to be 0:08:10.050 --> 0:08:14.650 here with us today. I can't find peace. Is that 0:08:14.650 --> 0:08:17.330 myth that needs to be debunked? You may not have 0:08:17.330 --> 0:08:19.050 it for a moment, so I want I don't want 0:08:19.090 --> 0:08:22.650 to diminish the lack of peace. Anxiousness is a very 0:08:22.650 --> 0:08:24.570 real thing. And the reason we know it's going to 0:08:24.570 --> 0:08:27.330 be real, even for followers of Jesus. And praise God, 0:08:27.330 --> 0:08:30.170 we don't have to paste on the fake fruit of peace. 0:08:30.570 --> 0:08:32.170 Have you ever tried to do that where it's like 0:08:32.170 --> 0:08:34.209 you're going through an anxious moment and like, give me 0:08:34.210 --> 0:08:36.330 a plastic banana of peace over here. 0:08:36.370 --> 0:08:37.130 It's fine. 0:08:39.090 --> 0:08:40.250 You guys nailed it, man. 0:08:40.290 --> 0:08:42.330 Yeah, it's fine, it's fine. Don't worry about it. Just 0:08:42.770 --> 0:08:44.980 push it off. Yeah. Don't think about it. 0:08:45.780 --> 0:08:46.620 Just keep swimming. 0:08:46.620 --> 0:08:48.020 You guys never do that, do you? 0:08:48.059 --> 0:08:49.780 No, never. Of course. Yes, I do it. 0:08:49.780 --> 0:08:51.620 No. I'm fine, I'm good. Yeah. Never. 0:08:54.260 --> 0:08:57.660 It's a dangerous thing. Three conversations we want to cover 0:08:57.660 --> 0:08:59.780 this morning. I don't know, let's cover one of them 0:08:59.780 --> 0:09:02.460 right now. Spend some time here before the bottom of 0:09:02.460 --> 0:09:05.579 the hour. Really covering something here. Three conversations that can 0:09:05.580 --> 0:09:09.620 change the course of your life and really bring you peace. 0:09:09.940 --> 0:09:15.460 It's a fascinating storyline here in Philippians four, he got 0:09:15.500 --> 0:09:19.300 he got two ladies in Philippi who are at odds 0:09:19.300 --> 0:09:22.300 with one another. And this is what Paul says. I 0:09:22.300 --> 0:09:28.100 entreat Euodia and Syntyche to agree in the Lord. How 0:09:28.100 --> 0:09:29.860 in the world did they make it into this letter? 0:09:29.860 --> 0:09:31.780 I'm going to explain that in just a moment. Yes. 0:09:31.780 --> 0:09:35.260 I ask you also, true companion, help these women who 0:09:35.260 --> 0:09:38.500 have labored side by side with me in the gospel, 0:09:38.540 --> 0:09:41.910 together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers 0:09:41.910 --> 0:09:45.429 whose names are in the book of life. So Paul's 0:09:45.630 --> 0:09:49.829 interrupting this incredible book to really talk about as we're 0:09:49.830 --> 0:09:52.709 going to unfold here today, three conversations that can change 0:09:52.710 --> 0:09:55.230 the course of life and give you peace. So the 0:09:55.230 --> 0:09:58.030 backstory on Aotea and Syntyche is that we don't know 0:09:58.030 --> 0:09:58.870 much at all. 0:09:59.270 --> 0:09:59.870 Yeah, no. 0:09:59.910 --> 0:10:01.470 Because they're introduced right here. 0:10:01.510 --> 0:10:02.350 And then out of nowhere. 0:10:02.390 --> 0:10:03.630 And it's gone pretty quickly. 0:10:04.350 --> 0:10:08.390 Yeah, it's in and out. So here's the cool little 0:10:08.390 --> 0:10:12.189 insight that we can get. Euodia and Syntyche were obviously 0:10:12.190 --> 0:10:15.950 partners in the gospel at such a level that if 0:10:15.950 --> 0:10:20.110 they didn't have peace in their relationship, it was going 0:10:20.110 --> 0:10:22.230 to have ripple effects throughout the church of Philippi. 0:10:22.270 --> 0:10:23.670 Right? You see that and feel that. 0:10:25.110 --> 0:10:27.550 And there's another player here, and we don't even know 0:10:27.550 --> 0:10:31.110 who it is. Yes. I ask you also, true companion, 0:10:31.150 --> 0:10:34.030 help these women who have labored side by side with 0:10:34.030 --> 0:10:36.790 me in the gospel. We don't know who this is. 0:10:36.790 --> 0:10:38.430 We don't know if this is Timothy. We don't know 0:10:38.470 --> 0:10:40.840 if we don't know if this is Luke. We don't 0:10:40.880 --> 0:10:43.440 know who in the world this is. All we know 0:10:43.440 --> 0:10:46.720 is that these women are at odds with one another. Now, 0:10:46.720 --> 0:10:49.920 if you do a deeper dive on Scripture, I'm absolutely 0:10:49.920 --> 0:10:53.640 convinced that this wasn't a big deal that had caused 0:10:53.640 --> 0:10:57.040 a divide here, because if it was, it had been 0:10:57.040 --> 0:11:00.920 a theological issue, something of substance that it would have 0:11:00.920 --> 0:11:04.240 been it would have been much different for Paul. He 0:11:04.240 --> 0:11:05.160 would have been writing. 0:11:05.200 --> 0:11:06.400 Oh, he'd been right there. 0:11:06.440 --> 0:11:09.199 One of you or one of you are writing heresy 0:11:09.520 --> 0:11:13.480 or speaking heresy, and or both of you have bailed 0:11:13.480 --> 0:11:16.840 on the truth of the gospel. No, he's just saying, 0:11:16.960 --> 0:11:22.000 I entreat Euodia, and I entreat Syntyche. So he's entreating 0:11:22.000 --> 0:11:24.679 them both. This is very interesting. By the way, I'm 0:11:24.960 --> 0:11:28.000 talking to you both here to agree in the Lord. Yes. 0:11:28.000 --> 0:11:31.160 I ask you also, true companion, help these women who 0:11:31.160 --> 0:11:33.280 have labored side by side with me in the gospel, 0:11:33.320 --> 0:11:36.160 together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers 0:11:36.160 --> 0:11:38.380 whose names are in the book of life. What's he 0:11:38.420 --> 0:11:40.620 helping them to do? He's helping them to find peace. 0:11:42.460 --> 0:11:46.699 There is something that has caused a divide. And here's 0:11:46.700 --> 0:11:50.980 the amazing thing about relationships that rob peace from you 0:11:50.980 --> 0:11:53.700 and cause you to say, I can't find peace with 0:11:53.700 --> 0:11:58.500 this person. I can't find peace with someone, particularly in 0:11:58.500 --> 0:12:02.620 the body of Christ, because this is why it's so important. 0:12:02.900 --> 0:12:06.580 The body of Christ are closer relationships than even our 0:12:06.580 --> 0:12:13.980 blood relatives. That's what Jesus said. Who's your sisters? Brothers? Mothers? Fathers? Who? Aunts? Uncles? 0:12:13.980 --> 0:12:17.860 Who are they? Aren't they of the household of faith? Yes. Why? 0:12:18.020 --> 0:12:21.700 Because we are knit together. Not by common earthly blood, 0:12:21.700 --> 0:12:24.579 but by spiritual blood. The blood of Jesus Christ. He 0:12:24.580 --> 0:12:28.260 brings us together so that unity is almost more important 0:12:28.260 --> 0:12:32.620 than getting sideways with family. Even though family can wreck 0:12:32.660 --> 0:12:36.710 your heart. We're going to talk about that today. So 0:12:36.710 --> 0:12:39.950 it was probably a little thing. And this is just 0:12:39.950 --> 0:12:43.990 like marriage. And you might be in a marriage right 0:12:43.990 --> 0:12:46.670 now where you're going. We don't have peace. So the 0:12:46.670 --> 0:12:49.429 application point here is real for you as well. If 0:12:49.429 --> 0:12:51.550 you got two people that are in the Lord and 0:12:51.550 --> 0:12:54.630 you're finding a wall between you, here's what I've found 0:12:54.630 --> 0:12:59.910 many years of ministry. It's usually not the big things 0:12:59.910 --> 0:13:04.270 that divide. It's a little brick, little brick, little brick 0:13:04.270 --> 0:13:08.390 of little stuff that creates a wall of divide. That's 0:13:08.390 --> 0:13:12.510 what does it. Coming up here in three minutes. What 0:13:12.510 --> 0:13:15.070 in the world is the principle here that we find 0:13:15.070 --> 0:13:19.350 in this text that peace seems elusive for you now 0:13:19.350 --> 0:13:23.870 with someone. What does it mean to find peace in 0:13:24.070 --> 0:13:26.710 the Lord? Let's break it down. Straight ahead. 0:13:27.150 --> 0:13:30.150 He's a sports fanatic with a stat for anything you 0:13:30.150 --> 0:13:34.520 can think of. Young Thunder is in the crew. It's 0:13:34.520 --> 0:13:36.719 Carl and crew on Moody Radio. 0:13:37.320 --> 0:13:42.079 Today we're tackling the myths. I can't find peace. And 0:13:42.080 --> 0:13:46.200 sometimes the biggest peace robbers are in relationships, even those 0:13:46.200 --> 0:13:48.800 in the body of Christ. This is a big one. Why? 0:13:48.840 --> 0:13:52.439 Because we need each other in Christ more than almost 0:13:52.440 --> 0:13:57.880 biological family. That's very true. We know what it is 0:13:57.880 --> 0:14:00.720 to lack peace with regard to where our kids are at, 0:14:00.760 --> 0:14:04.559 where a spouse is at, and all these different relationships 0:14:04.559 --> 0:14:06.600 that we have. And we're going to get into that today. 0:14:06.600 --> 0:14:11.120 But one of the three conversations that can bring peace 0:14:11.120 --> 0:14:13.240 to you and change the course of your life is 0:14:13.240 --> 0:14:17.280 this talk with your brothers and sisters in ways that 0:14:17.280 --> 0:14:22.760 bring unity. It doesn't mean that whatever caused Euodia and 0:14:22.760 --> 0:14:27.640 Syntyche to not have agreement, you just kind of brush 0:14:27.640 --> 0:14:30.400 that under the rug. It's the bigger yes. You know, 0:14:30.440 --> 0:14:34.330 there's a character trait in Scripture that we're called to 0:14:34.370 --> 0:14:39.930 use constantly, and that is forbearance. Forbearance says just because 0:14:39.930 --> 0:14:43.250 you do something differently than me, just because you set 0:14:43.290 --> 0:14:46.890 up the info kiosk differently than me at church, just 0:14:46.890 --> 0:14:49.410 because you put the sugars by the coffee's a little 0:14:49.450 --> 0:14:52.130 bit differently than I would. Doesn't mean we need to 0:14:52.130 --> 0:14:53.170 have a problem here. 0:14:53.810 --> 0:14:56.890 That's very correct. And I think sometimes we can miss that. 0:14:57.090 --> 0:14:58.330 It's fairly true to. 0:14:58.370 --> 0:15:02.650 The things that divide us in spiritual relationships are usually 0:15:02.650 --> 0:15:07.410 not big theological things. They're usually stylistic more than they 0:15:07.410 --> 0:15:08.610 are substantive. 0:15:08.650 --> 0:15:14.050 Yeah. Yeah, I would agree because I mean, largely in 0:15:14.050 --> 0:15:16.890 your faith based community, there are going to be the 0:15:16.890 --> 0:15:19.890 majority of people who theologically agree with you on the 0:15:19.890 --> 0:15:24.570 most important things, the the dogma, which is the gospel. Uh, 0:15:24.570 --> 0:15:27.210 you know, the things that cannot be changed or disagreed 0:15:27.210 --> 0:15:31.140 upon and still be okay. So every most people agree 0:15:31.140 --> 0:15:34.940 on those things in your community. However, preferential stuff is 0:15:34.940 --> 0:15:37.739 the stuff that sometimes we feel the most emotionally charged 0:15:37.740 --> 0:15:40.980 to because we have this grip on it, this hold 0:15:40.980 --> 0:15:42.940 on it, that it has to be this way or 0:15:42.940 --> 0:15:46.100 I like this the best. And we kind of interpret 0:15:46.100 --> 0:15:48.020 that as it has to be this way. 0:15:48.020 --> 0:15:52.780 It's my way or the highway, brother or sister. And 0:15:52.820 --> 0:15:58.300 here's what Paul says to Euodia and Syntyche. He says, 0:15:58.300 --> 0:16:01.940 I entreat you both to agree in the Lord, and 0:16:01.940 --> 0:16:03.620 you've got to ask, what in the world is that? 0:16:03.620 --> 0:16:06.060 I think there's forbearance there, for sure, but all you 0:16:06.060 --> 0:16:09.260 have to do is look back two chapters. And when 0:16:09.260 --> 0:16:11.060 I was doing a deep dive on this text a 0:16:11.060 --> 0:16:13.860 couple of weeks ago, this is what you find. Have 0:16:13.860 --> 0:16:19.180 this mind among yourselves which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, 0:16:19.220 --> 0:16:20.940 though he was in the form of God, did not 0:16:20.940 --> 0:16:24.020 count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but 0:16:24.060 --> 0:16:28.590 emptied himself by taking the form of a servant being 0:16:28.590 --> 0:16:32.230 born in the likeness of man and being formed. Being 0:16:32.270 --> 0:16:37.150 found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient 0:16:37.150 --> 0:16:40.030 to the point of death, even death on the cross. 0:16:41.470 --> 0:16:45.110 The preeminent characteristic that can bring some peace into your 0:16:45.110 --> 0:16:50.550 life is to begin to have conversations with brothers and sisters. 0:16:53.430 --> 0:16:58.670 In a way that makes Christ central. Agree in the Lord. 0:16:58.710 --> 0:17:01.350 You notice what Paul's saying here. He doesn't say, come 0:17:01.390 --> 0:17:05.070 to agreement about all the details of what's got you 0:17:05.070 --> 0:17:06.150 all messed up, ladies? 0:17:06.190 --> 0:17:08.590 Yeah, one of you better submit and agree to the 0:17:08.590 --> 0:17:09.550 other person's opinion. 0:17:09.590 --> 0:17:13.310 You know what he's saying? It's the greater good. It's 0:17:13.310 --> 0:17:17.949 the bigger. Yes, it's the yes. And some of you 0:17:17.950 --> 0:17:20.350 right now when I'm saying this, you're going, oh, boy, 0:17:20.350 --> 0:17:24.070 you're right. I'm all hung up on the handlebars of 0:17:24.070 --> 0:17:27.680 a stylistic thing or a way they do something, or 0:17:27.680 --> 0:17:29.520 the way they didn't talk to me or the way 0:17:29.520 --> 0:17:32.560 they did talk to me. What if, instead of me 0:17:32.560 --> 0:17:38.000 getting piece robbed, I have a conversation that says, let's 0:17:38.000 --> 0:17:40.920 come back to the Lord and maybe you don't say 0:17:40.920 --> 0:17:44.040 it to the other person. You just exhibit it and say, 0:17:44.160 --> 0:17:47.760 I'm going to take the posture of humility. It's not 0:17:47.760 --> 0:17:51.160 my way or the highway. I know there's differences in 0:17:51.160 --> 0:17:53.760 the body of Christ. Have you ever noticed how different 0:17:53.760 --> 0:17:54.600 we are, guys? 0:17:54.640 --> 0:17:56.919 Very. I mean, we're all unique people. 0:17:57.119 --> 0:17:58.919 For a purpose and a reason. 0:17:59.240 --> 0:18:01.600 You got a family of six and you got six 0:18:01.600 --> 0:18:04.720 completely different people. It's a bigger. It's a bigger group. 0:18:05.080 --> 0:18:07.480 And their family is six. You at least have same 0:18:07.480 --> 0:18:09.879 family of origin kind of issues that you can all 0:18:09.920 --> 0:18:12.920 relate to. But when you've got like we have downtown, 0:18:12.920 --> 0:18:16.800 our downtown campus has 22 languages spoken at it. Do you. 0:18:16.800 --> 0:18:17.480 Know beautiful. 0:18:17.520 --> 0:18:21.399 Do you know how much potential there is for conflict? 0:18:21.560 --> 0:18:28.179 Goodness sakes. Cultural differences. But when we agree in the Lord, 0:18:29.340 --> 0:18:32.100 we're taking on a posture of humility. It's not my 0:18:32.100 --> 0:18:35.220 way or the highway, and I just appeal to you today. 0:18:36.900 --> 0:18:40.060 One conversation that can give you peace and change the 0:18:40.060 --> 0:18:42.740 course of your life is talked with your brothers in 0:18:42.740 --> 0:18:47.980 a way that bring unity, and it's usually through humility. 0:18:49.100 --> 0:18:52.540 Choose it today. And I'm telling you, peace is right 0:18:52.540 --> 0:18:58.980 around the corner. Think about that person or persons you 0:18:58.980 --> 0:19:02.139 felt something for. A little forbearance goes a long way. 0:19:02.180 --> 0:19:06.420 Humility takes it over the top. Live it today, guys. 0:19:07.020 --> 0:19:09.740 You can take him out of Alaska, but you can't 0:19:09.780 --> 0:19:13.659 take Alaska out of him. Carl is in the crew. 0:19:13.820 --> 0:19:16.380 It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio. 0:19:17.020 --> 0:19:19.980 The tongue is a powerful thing, isn't it? Oh, boy. 0:19:20.020 --> 0:19:20.660 Man. No doubt. 0:19:20.700 --> 0:19:25.630 What we speak, what we say matters. The most comprehensive, 0:19:26.670 --> 0:19:29.590 the most comprehensive teaching in all the scriptures on the 0:19:29.590 --> 0:19:32.709 tongue is in the book of James, chapter three, verses 0:19:32.710 --> 0:19:39.110 one through 13. I'm almost inclined to read this whole thing. 0:19:40.430 --> 0:19:42.389 Let me grab let me grab chunks of it here. 0:19:43.550 --> 0:19:47.870 Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for 0:19:47.869 --> 0:19:50.310 you know that we who teach will be judged with 0:19:50.310 --> 0:19:54.430 greater strictness. So here's the deal. James says, we all 0:19:54.430 --> 0:19:56.910 stumble in many ways, and if anyone does not stumble 0:19:56.910 --> 0:20:00.790 in what he says, he's a perfect man, able to 0:20:00.830 --> 0:20:03.150 bridle his whole body. If you can get the tongue 0:20:03.190 --> 0:20:07.070 under control, you got everything cooking here. He goes on. 0:20:07.109 --> 0:20:09.429 If we put bits into the mouths of horses so 0:20:09.430 --> 0:20:13.510 that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. Boy, 0:20:13.510 --> 0:20:16.790 that's a great metaphor. Look at the ships also. I've 0:20:16.790 --> 0:20:21.040 seen some big boys, Though they are so large and 0:20:21.040 --> 0:20:24.320 driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very 0:20:24.320 --> 0:20:27.160 small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. It's 0:20:27.160 --> 0:20:30.120 true guys, I've seen some of the. When I commercial 0:20:30.119 --> 0:20:35.040 fished in Alaska for eight seasons, we would go deliver 0:20:35.040 --> 0:20:38.879 our salmon to tenders. Okay, so if you've ever seen 0:20:38.880 --> 0:20:42.880 the crabbers on The Deadliest Catch. Yeah. So like high 0:20:42.920 --> 0:20:46.719 spirits and all these different boats, I've been in the 0:20:47.200 --> 0:20:52.000 kitchen galley. That's what they're called of a good number 0:20:52.000 --> 0:20:54.080 of those boats on Deadliest Catch. Those boats have been 0:20:54.080 --> 0:20:58.679 around a long time. And those boats in crab season, 0:20:58.680 --> 0:21:00.639 Deadliest Catch, they're out there in the high seas of 0:21:00.640 --> 0:21:04.760 the Bering Sea, just getting tossed about to and fro. 0:21:05.600 --> 0:21:09.760 But in the summer months, they come in and they collect. 0:21:09.760 --> 0:21:13.440 They're the intermediary between our little 32 foot gillnetters, and 0:21:13.440 --> 0:21:17.930 we're putting anywhere from 5 to £25,000 pounds of salmon 0:21:17.970 --> 0:21:20.369 on our boat, and then we go deliver them. And 0:21:20.369 --> 0:21:23.210 they're in big trailers. They're called their big old nets. 0:21:23.250 --> 0:21:27.090 When you pull up alongside these tenders, they gather them up, 0:21:27.250 --> 0:21:29.690 pick it up. And that's this is the fun part 0:21:29.730 --> 0:21:32.770 because there's a scale at the bottom of the picking hook. 0:21:32.810 --> 0:21:36.210 Oh cool. So it's a big digital scale. And they 0:21:36.210 --> 0:21:38.250 pick up that trailer. And I would always guess how 0:21:38.250 --> 0:21:42.169 many pounds are in those trailers. They'd be 2 to 3, three, 0:21:42.210 --> 0:21:44.169 £4,000 of fish in one day. 0:21:44.490 --> 0:21:44.970 Wow. 0:21:45.290 --> 0:21:49.330 One net. So they pick it up and it's like £3,200. Yes. 0:21:49.330 --> 0:21:51.770 And I'm doing the math in my head because that 0:21:51.770 --> 0:21:54.649 was that was big dollars for a kid. 0:21:54.690 --> 0:21:55.490 Pounds to dollars. 0:21:55.530 --> 0:21:59.490 Oh, it was big, big dollars. But then those tenders 0:21:59.490 --> 0:22:06.169 would take those fish from that tender to a larger ship. 0:22:06.410 --> 0:22:10.090 And these were they were called Trampers. They were converted 0:22:10.090 --> 0:22:13.770 World War Two ships that the Japanese had. So these 0:22:13.770 --> 0:22:16.740 were ships that were used against us once upon a time. 0:22:17.060 --> 0:22:22.580 Now they're converted into refrigeration processing ships. So then the 0:22:22.619 --> 0:22:26.220 the the fish get taken from those tenders in huge 0:22:26.220 --> 0:22:32.540 batches over to these Japanese trawlers. And here's these guys, man. 0:22:32.619 --> 0:22:34.780 They it was great. I got invited up on one 0:22:34.780 --> 0:22:37.660 one time and this was before I was saved. So 0:22:37.700 --> 0:22:40.980 they introduced me to Saki, which is bad news. It's 0:22:40.980 --> 0:22:44.060 just poison. Clear poison is what it is. Oh my goodness. 0:22:44.300 --> 0:22:47.260 And seaweed and all kinds of goodies. And I couldn't 0:22:47.260 --> 0:22:49.900 speak their language, but we spoke the language of food 0:22:50.140 --> 0:22:50.660 really well. 0:22:50.700 --> 0:22:52.220 Something was spoken there for sure. 0:22:52.300 --> 0:22:55.700 So. But here's what's funny. The the tides were so 0:22:55.700 --> 0:22:59.699 huge in Bristol Bay that at times these huge Japanese 0:22:59.740 --> 0:23:03.260 trawlers would get beached and the waters would go out. 0:23:03.260 --> 0:23:07.139 And here's the entire ship on a beachhead out of 0:23:07.180 --> 0:23:09.899 the water. And then you'd look down and the point 0:23:09.900 --> 0:23:12.899 is you'd look down at the rudder and you're like, man, 0:23:13.390 --> 0:23:16.470 I mean, the rudder is big, but when you've got 0:23:16.470 --> 0:23:19.430 a ship that's 350ft long and I don't know how 0:23:19.430 --> 0:23:22.510 many tons, and you've got a piece of metal that's 0:23:22.550 --> 0:23:25.830 like six feet by eight feet. That's steering it, right. 0:23:25.869 --> 0:23:27.869 Oh, it's tiny comparatively to the ship. 0:23:27.910 --> 0:23:30.149 Yeah, well, that controls it. Exactly. 0:23:30.190 --> 0:23:32.350 Yeah. Now, Paul didn't see the same ships I did, 0:23:32.390 --> 0:23:35.830 but he's or James, the brother of Jesus. But they 0:23:35.830 --> 0:23:37.070 still had that going on. 0:23:37.109 --> 0:23:37.750 Absolutely. 0:23:37.869 --> 0:23:40.629 And so he goes on, he says, man, these ships 0:23:40.630 --> 0:23:44.870 are guided by very small rudder where wherever the will 0:23:44.910 --> 0:23:48.750 of the pilot directs. So also is the tongue a 0:23:48.750 --> 0:23:52.750 small member? Yet it boasts of great things. And then 0:23:52.750 --> 0:23:56.630 it goes on to talk about forests set ablaze by 0:23:56.630 --> 0:24:01.630 a small fire. In this this tongue is a fire, 0:24:01.670 --> 0:24:05.350 a world of unrighteousness. And he goes on to explain 0:24:05.350 --> 0:24:07.550 this with it we bless our Lord, and with it 0:24:07.550 --> 0:24:10.230 we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. 0:24:12.960 --> 0:24:15.320 And then he says these words in verse 13, who 0:24:15.320 --> 0:24:19.720 is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct, 0:24:19.720 --> 0:24:22.280 let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom, 0:24:22.280 --> 0:24:28.240 meaning wise people get their tongues under control. This morning 0:24:28.240 --> 0:24:31.760 we're talking about three conversations that can change the course 0:24:31.760 --> 0:24:35.560 of your life and give you peace. And for some 0:24:35.560 --> 0:24:40.400 of you, the myth that we're debunking today is very pointed. 0:24:40.840 --> 0:24:48.760 I can't find peace, Carl. I can't find peace. Coming 0:24:48.760 --> 0:24:51.880 up here, I'm going to tackle the second conversation that 0:24:51.880 --> 0:24:55.080 can change the course of your life. It's all hinges 0:24:55.080 --> 0:24:59.800 in God's providence, omnipotence, and sovereignty. We'll give you the 0:24:59.800 --> 0:25:01.000 whole thing straight ahead. 0:25:02.280 --> 0:25:05.000 Your shot of hope to help you through the day. 0:25:05.280 --> 0:25:08.360 This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio. 0:25:09.450 --> 0:25:14.169 Sometimes we start believing this myth that I just can't 0:25:14.170 --> 0:25:18.490 find peace. I can't find it. I don't want you 0:25:18.490 --> 0:25:21.610 to beat yourself up. Sometimes the absence of peace is 0:25:21.609 --> 0:25:25.970 the presence of incredible heartache. God's not asking you to 0:25:26.770 --> 0:25:31.650 wave a magic wand over your life, but really, conversations 0:25:31.650 --> 0:25:34.370 that we have, three of them that we're covering here 0:25:34.369 --> 0:25:37.850 today can bring peace when it seems elusive. And I 0:25:37.850 --> 0:25:42.690 promise you that I do. You know. You ever see. 0:25:42.730 --> 0:25:45.970 Now you're talking. We all do, don't we? Now you're. 0:25:45.970 --> 0:25:46.850 Talking. Oh, yeah. 0:25:46.890 --> 0:25:48.969 Isn't that a common phrase? Let me. Let me tell you. 0:25:49.010 --> 0:25:51.370 Let me tell you. When I say now you're talking. 0:25:51.369 --> 0:25:53.970 Let me give you a couple. When my bride says, 0:25:53.970 --> 0:25:58.450 let's go to Napoli, I'm like, now you're talking. Yeah. 0:25:58.490 --> 0:26:02.290 Napoli has got the real pizza. Real pizza is thin 0:26:02.290 --> 0:26:05.090 crust from Sicily, I think. Right. 0:26:05.130 --> 0:26:06.090 I mean, careful. 0:26:06.369 --> 0:26:09.629 No, I'm going to go for it all, you deep crushers. 0:26:09.830 --> 0:26:14.230 Uh uh, all the thick pi pi people, all that stuff. No, 0:26:14.670 --> 0:26:19.909 I'm a Napoleon patootie. I get a diavola with extra diavola, 0:26:19.910 --> 0:26:23.590 which is just a classic pepperoni pizza. I love it. 0:26:23.630 --> 0:26:26.590 It's so good I can polish off one whole thing myself. 0:26:26.590 --> 0:26:29.270 No problem. So when my bride says, want to go 0:26:29.270 --> 0:26:31.990 to Napoli, I'm like, now you're talking. 0:26:32.030 --> 0:26:33.430 Came from Naples, Italy. 0:26:33.470 --> 0:26:34.750 Naples. Okay, there we go. 0:26:34.790 --> 0:26:36.710 Not Florida. Italy? 0:26:37.550 --> 0:26:38.149 Yes. 0:26:39.070 --> 0:26:39.750 Thank you. 0:26:39.790 --> 0:26:40.350 Just making sure. 0:26:40.670 --> 0:26:42.790 Maybe there's a pizza joint in Naples, Florida. 0:26:42.830 --> 0:26:43.590 There probably. 0:26:43.590 --> 0:26:43.949 Is. 0:26:44.270 --> 0:26:45.070 There's a Little Caesars. 0:26:45.109 --> 0:26:47.710 A good one. Oh, no. 0:26:48.109 --> 0:26:49.670 Don't even get me going there. I'm not even going 0:26:49.670 --> 0:26:53.630 to go there. Okay. So when do you say. Now 0:26:53.630 --> 0:26:55.389 you're talking. Come on. 0:26:55.430 --> 0:26:58.790 Oh, man. Uh, now I'm talking. Probably. 0:26:58.990 --> 0:27:01.590 Now you're talking. Yeah. So someone else says something to you. 0:27:01.590 --> 0:27:02.550 You go. Now you're talking. 0:27:02.630 --> 0:27:05.920 Uh, so the food thing. Definitely. My wife says, hey, 0:27:05.920 --> 0:27:07.400 you want to get chick fil A tonight? That would 0:27:07.400 --> 0:27:07.800 be mine. 0:27:07.840 --> 0:27:08.520 Oh my word. 0:27:08.520 --> 0:27:09.879 Oh, yeah. You're. Now you're talking. 0:27:09.920 --> 0:27:10.879 You're easily pleased. 0:27:10.960 --> 0:27:12.359 That's good. I am easily pleased. 0:27:12.400 --> 0:27:13.640 Uh, chick fil A is good, though. 0:27:13.680 --> 0:27:16.840 Or, uh, you know, when when the bears quarterback throws 0:27:16.880 --> 0:27:20.480 a deep touchdown pass. That's probably my. Yeah. Sports related 0:27:20.480 --> 0:27:22.120 for me. That's that's a big one. 0:27:22.119 --> 0:27:23.000 You two. Super day. 0:27:23.040 --> 0:27:25.280 Yeah. Sports related. That kind of thing with the Cubs. 0:27:25.320 --> 0:27:27.200 Now you're talking. Come on. Yeah. 0:27:27.240 --> 0:27:30.240 When the Cubs. Sorry, I'm in Chicago here for all 0:27:30.240 --> 0:27:34.280 you fans everywhere else. When the Cubs management before the 0:27:34.280 --> 0:27:38.480 trading deadline gets three new pitchers. Yes. Two relievers and 0:27:38.480 --> 0:27:42.920 one one starter. Now you're talking. They haven't done it yet. 0:27:42.920 --> 0:27:44.840 But I'll be. I'll be doing it. I'll be saying. 0:27:44.840 --> 0:27:45.240 Now you're. 0:27:45.240 --> 0:27:46.040 Talking. That's right. 0:27:46.080 --> 0:27:50.960 Now you're talking. That's right. It's it's funny because what 0:27:50.960 --> 0:27:52.480 we say matters. 0:27:52.520 --> 0:27:53.040 Yes. 0:27:54.560 --> 0:27:57.320 And there's three conversations that can change the course of 0:27:57.320 --> 0:28:00.320 your life and give you peace covering the second one. Now, 0:28:01.280 --> 0:28:06.169 talk with God in ways that release you from anxiousness. 0:28:06.210 --> 0:28:11.250 Look at what Paul says here. Rejoice in the Lord always. 0:28:11.290 --> 0:28:15.530 Again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known 0:28:15.530 --> 0:28:18.290 to everyone. The Lord is at hand. Do not be 0:28:18.330 --> 0:28:24.410 anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication 0:28:24.410 --> 0:28:29.250 with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 0:28:29.930 --> 0:28:35.729 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will 0:28:35.730 --> 0:28:39.690 guard actually a better word. Translated there is garrison. It's 0:28:39.690 --> 0:28:41.890 not just guard. It's not like you got a little 0:28:41.890 --> 0:28:44.050 foam thing up in front of you here. It's like 0:28:44.530 --> 0:28:47.810 there's this fortress of God's power. It will guard your 0:28:47.810 --> 0:28:52.890 hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. So what does 0:28:52.890 --> 0:28:59.610 this mean? I mean, what's it mean? Well, this conversation 0:28:59.610 --> 0:29:03.420 with God, talking with God in ways that releases you 0:29:03.420 --> 0:29:06.500 from anxiousness is embedded right here. We'll break it down 0:29:06.500 --> 0:29:07.220 straight ahead. 0:29:09.020 --> 0:29:12.180 Get to know the team behind the scenes. Follow Carl 0:29:12.180 --> 0:29:14.380 and crew on Facebook and Instagram. 0:29:15.260 --> 0:29:18.220 Covering three conversations that can change the course of your 0:29:18.220 --> 0:29:22.140 life and bring deep peace. We're in the second conversation. 0:29:22.500 --> 0:29:25.580 Talk with God in ways that release you from anxiousness. 0:29:25.580 --> 0:29:28.220 There's a peace in this. Before I get into who 0:29:28.220 --> 0:29:31.460 in the world we're talking to, because I think prayer 0:29:31.500 --> 0:29:35.700 sometimes is feeling like I've got to speak some words 0:29:35.700 --> 0:29:39.180 about something that stealing peace from me. And if I 0:29:39.180 --> 0:29:43.180 speak these words, then the magic sauce is then I'm 0:29:43.180 --> 0:29:46.020 going to have peace. And we sometimes wonder, well, what's 0:29:46.020 --> 0:29:48.620 the gap? And this is where we got to understand 0:29:48.620 --> 0:29:51.980 who we're talking to. But there's one aspect in here 0:29:51.980 --> 0:29:54.260 of thankfulness that you want to spike Young Thunder. 0:29:54.340 --> 0:29:56.620 Yeah, I love this because I think back to my 0:29:56.620 --> 0:29:59.300 time where I was in the church but didn't know Christ. 0:29:59.430 --> 0:30:01.750 And if I read this verse at this time, I 0:30:01.750 --> 0:30:05.270 would have thought something because, uh, Paul says here in 0:30:05.270 --> 0:30:07.510 verse six, do not be anxious about anything, but in 0:30:07.510 --> 0:30:10.510 everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests 0:30:10.550 --> 0:30:13.830 be made known to God. So we're talking to God 0:30:13.830 --> 0:30:17.310 about what makes us anxious, asking him for what we need, 0:30:17.310 --> 0:30:20.390 but also in thanksgiving. And I would have read that 0:30:20.390 --> 0:30:23.230 and probably thought like, that's a weird kind of power 0:30:23.230 --> 0:30:26.110 trip thing that like, oh, I've gotta, I've gotta make 0:30:26.150 --> 0:30:29.190 sure I say my thank yous to God. Otherwise, you know, 0:30:29.230 --> 0:30:32.030 he's not going to hear my stuff or hear my requests. 0:30:32.030 --> 0:30:34.630 And and that's not what this is about at all. 0:30:34.790 --> 0:30:37.590 God is is telling us to talk to him in 0:30:37.590 --> 0:30:42.470 thankfulness for our benefit. Because I was thinking about this, um, 0:30:43.190 --> 0:30:49.230 gratitude allows us to remember what God has done for 0:30:49.230 --> 0:30:51.990 us in the past and his faithfulness for us today. 0:30:51.990 --> 0:30:52.990 So I thought about it. 0:30:53.030 --> 0:30:54.910 It's not a weird oh, thank you. 0:30:54.950 --> 0:30:55.350 You better. 0:30:55.390 --> 0:30:57.350 That's in a void of any experience. 0:30:57.520 --> 0:30:59.520 No. Absolutely not. And I think about it this way. 0:30:59.560 --> 0:31:03.719 My wife does so much for our family. Uh, a 0:31:03.840 --> 0:31:07.040 little synopsis of her day is that she gets up 0:31:07.040 --> 0:31:11.520 early in the morning, uh, 640, 7:00, and immediately my 0:31:11.520 --> 0:31:13.800 daughter is up and she's taking care of my daughter. 0:31:13.800 --> 0:31:16.960 So it's immediate sacrifice playing with her, feeding her, taking 0:31:16.960 --> 0:31:19.520 her on a walk. And then once she gets her 0:31:19.520 --> 0:31:21.760 down for her afternoon nap, I come home from work 0:31:21.760 --> 0:31:24.920 and she starts work. Then she works through the afternoon. 0:31:24.920 --> 0:31:27.920 And once she's done working, she gets to making dinner. And. 0:31:27.920 --> 0:31:29.720 But my daughter hasn't seen her all day. So now 0:31:29.720 --> 0:31:31.440 she wants. My daughter wants her to hold her. So 0:31:31.440 --> 0:31:34.520 she's holding my daughter and making dinner at the same time. Hey, dad. 0:31:34.520 --> 0:31:37.240 Can't take Ellie away from from her mom. That's just 0:31:37.240 --> 0:31:40.120 not gonna happen. And so. So she's doing all this, 0:31:40.120 --> 0:31:42.360 and then. And then we go out on a walk together, 0:31:42.360 --> 0:31:44.000 and we're doing family time, and then we put our 0:31:44.000 --> 0:31:46.160 daughter down, and it's a couple hours together before I 0:31:46.160 --> 0:31:48.480 gotta go to bed and wake up early the next day. 0:31:48.480 --> 0:31:50.560 But she's focused on me. And how can she connect 0:31:50.560 --> 0:31:52.160 with me? How can she take care of me? Because 0:31:52.160 --> 0:31:53.760 I've had a long day and she wants to do 0:31:53.760 --> 0:31:59.290 that if I don't thank her, I will in my own, 0:31:59.330 --> 0:32:02.730 in my own human nature, forget all of the things 0:32:02.730 --> 0:32:05.330 that she's done for me in a day. But when 0:32:05.330 --> 0:32:07.690 I say, you know what, Shannon, thank you so much 0:32:07.690 --> 0:32:12.170 for how you've served today. I remember everything, and and 0:32:12.170 --> 0:32:15.770 that's what God wants. He says, thank because you will 0:32:15.770 --> 0:32:18.650 remember how I've been faithful to you, and then you 0:32:18.650 --> 0:32:20.890 will know and be able to trust that I will 0:32:20.890 --> 0:32:23.170 be faithful to you again in what you're asking me 0:32:23.170 --> 0:32:23.730 for right now. 0:32:23.770 --> 0:32:32.610 Awesome. Beautiful. Now. Shannon has great capability. 0:32:32.650 --> 0:32:33.130 Yes. 0:32:33.970 --> 0:32:36.970 She's an amazing woman of God. I love your bride. 0:32:38.890 --> 0:32:41.210 But even Shannon comes short of God. 0:32:41.250 --> 0:32:42.610 Of course. Right? Yeah. 0:32:43.530 --> 0:32:46.450 When we're talking with God, there's three things I want 0:32:46.450 --> 0:32:50.650 you to remember. God's providence, his omnipotence, and his sovereignty. 0:32:50.690 --> 0:32:55.660 Providence of God means that he is actively involved in 0:32:55.660 --> 0:33:00.140 governing details of the universe in your life to fulfill 0:33:00.140 --> 0:33:04.940 his purposes, and they're always good and wise. Boom! Anchor it. 0:33:04.980 --> 0:33:10.660 He's providential. He's omnipotent. His power is infinite. His ability 0:33:10.660 --> 0:33:15.940 to create, sustain, and act in any way miracles of redemption. 0:33:15.940 --> 0:33:18.140 All these things that he orders in our life. And 0:33:18.140 --> 0:33:22.260 he works outside the sphere of humankind so he can 0:33:22.260 --> 0:33:25.060 rearrange things that are not bound by the limits of 0:33:25.060 --> 0:33:29.300 what we can do. That's his power. And then his sovereignty. 0:33:30.220 --> 0:33:35.660 He has supreme authority over everything. Nothing happens outside his control. 0:33:36.260 --> 0:33:40.820 When we begin to talk with God in ways that 0:33:40.820 --> 0:33:47.340 we know his providence, his omnipotence, his sovereignty, we can 0:33:47.340 --> 0:33:50.180 pray with thankfulness because we've seen him work back here, 0:33:50.180 --> 0:33:52.040 and he will work again. And all of a sudden 0:33:52.040 --> 0:33:53.760 when we lay it down at the foot of the cross, 0:33:53.760 --> 0:33:57.880 we go, I can have peace. Now, here's here's a 0:33:57.880 --> 0:34:00.680 big deal, guys, I want you to know that I 0:34:00.720 --> 0:34:05.520 haven't always prayed in a way that brings peace. What 0:34:05.520 --> 0:34:10.120 do I mean? Even for many years as a pastor, 0:34:10.520 --> 0:34:15.160 I saw prayer as far too perfunctory. It's just something 0:34:15.160 --> 0:34:18.319 we do. Being honest with you here. But when I 0:34:18.320 --> 0:34:21.920 began to pray, knowing God pulls the levers of things 0:34:21.920 --> 0:34:27.839 that are concerning me today, and then I truly, in humility, 0:34:27.840 --> 0:34:31.160 laid them down at the cross. And I began to 0:34:31.160 --> 0:34:33.400 see God work. And I listened to his spirit, and 0:34:33.400 --> 0:34:35.080 I began to watch. What in the world is he 0:34:35.080 --> 0:34:39.680 orchestrating here? Unbelievable. To the point where I know this 0:34:40.000 --> 0:34:42.360 is something that you want and I want to tell you. 0:34:44.719 --> 0:34:50.169 It can be yours. I pray with expectation, Confidence and 0:34:50.170 --> 0:34:54.810 peace like never before in my life. It's the craziest thing. 0:34:55.010 --> 0:34:57.930 I can look over this last week and I can 0:34:57.969 --> 0:35:03.210 see God's hand moving. Sometimes God's hand not moving. And 0:35:03.210 --> 0:35:04.530 the benefit of that. 0:35:04.570 --> 0:35:05.010 Yeah. 0:35:06.730 --> 0:35:08.810 And I don't know what you're up against today, but 0:35:08.810 --> 0:35:10.489 I want you to know our God is a God 0:35:10.489 --> 0:35:13.250 of providence. Our God is a God of omnipotence. Our 0:35:13.250 --> 0:35:16.290 God is a God of sovereignty. Our God moves. And 0:35:16.290 --> 0:35:19.890 when we pray, he takes it. And I don't know 0:35:19.890 --> 0:35:22.970 what you're up against today, but I know this for sure. 0:35:23.210 --> 0:35:28.850 Talk with God in ways that trust his providence. Trust 0:35:28.850 --> 0:35:34.489 his power, trust his sovereignty. And then I want you 0:35:34.489 --> 0:35:36.650 to live with your head on a swivel and look 0:35:36.690 --> 0:35:39.609 at what God is doing today. I am asking you 0:35:39.650 --> 0:35:43.930 taste and see that the Lord is good. Watch what 0:35:43.930 --> 0:35:45.170 happens today. 0:35:46.450 --> 0:35:51.020 A basketball mom who's mastered the dad joke. Ali is 0:35:51.020 --> 0:35:54.660 in the crew. It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio. 0:35:55.340 --> 0:35:59.020 I'm reminded of the fact that Jesus said, go talk 0:35:59.020 --> 0:36:02.300 to your father. He wants to give you good things. 0:36:02.300 --> 0:36:05.899 He knows your heart. He says, what kind of a 0:36:06.500 --> 0:36:09.580 earthly dad? If you ask for bread, he's going to 0:36:09.580 --> 0:36:13.020 give you a stone, right? Now, some of you have 0:36:13.020 --> 0:36:16.780 some horrendous upbringings, and I get that, and that taints 0:36:16.780 --> 0:36:20.260 your view of God. But take it from me with 0:36:20.260 --> 0:36:22.980 my dad, when I would ask my dad, I remember 0:36:22.980 --> 0:36:25.299 one time working on a go cart, I was driving, 0:36:25.300 --> 0:36:27.739 I was going crazy. I couldn't get the wheel on 0:36:27.739 --> 0:36:30.500 the axle, I couldn't get the keeper key to work 0:36:30.500 --> 0:36:34.460 or anything like that. And I said, dad, now this 0:36:34.460 --> 0:36:37.259 is what I said, hey dad, I'm in the garage. 0:36:38.100 --> 0:36:42.540 I got a problem with my go kart. And you 0:36:42.540 --> 0:36:44.660 know what he said? Oh, hang on, son, I'll be 0:36:44.660 --> 0:36:47.229 right now. And he comes down and he goes, well, 0:36:47.230 --> 0:36:49.790 let's look at this here. Let's pick this axle up. 0:36:49.790 --> 0:36:52.629 Let's put this here. And oh you got a little 0:36:52.630 --> 0:36:55.230 sticking point here. Grab that rubber mallet off the workbench. 0:36:55.230 --> 0:36:57.270 Grab that rubber mallet. He goes look at this. Bang 0:36:57.270 --> 0:36:59.709 bang bang. Tap that in. Let's get that keeper key 0:36:59.710 --> 0:37:02.910 right there. Okay, we got it I said thanks, dad. 0:37:03.630 --> 0:37:06.910 Now you know what Jesus said. If our father in heaven, 0:37:07.710 --> 0:37:13.469 you you being earthly, are so imperfect. Dads. What? Jesus 0:37:13.469 --> 0:37:17.790 says with absolute confidence. How much better is it to 0:37:17.830 --> 0:37:21.229 take these requests to God? And there's some of you that, 0:37:21.230 --> 0:37:23.390 as Sam Storms reminded us a couple of weeks ago, 0:37:23.390 --> 0:37:26.590 I remember this, he said, and I bottom lined him. 0:37:26.630 --> 0:37:31.509 I said, so, Sam, what you're saying is some things, 0:37:31.510 --> 0:37:34.270 some answered prayers are going to be left on the 0:37:34.270 --> 0:37:38.310 table here on earth because we've not given them to God. 0:37:39.110 --> 0:37:41.830 And he said, yeah, so I don't want you to 0:37:41.870 --> 0:37:45.359 leave things on the table. I want you to come 0:37:45.360 --> 0:37:48.960 and get these blessings from God. He's providential. He orders 0:37:48.960 --> 0:37:51.760 the affairs of this world. He's omnipotent. He has power 0:37:51.760 --> 0:37:55.239 to move in people or situations like you can't move 0:37:55.239 --> 0:37:59.200 and he's sovereign. He orders all these things. Nothing happens 0:37:59.239 --> 0:38:02.560 apart from his ultimate will. Even the attacks of Satan 0:38:02.600 --> 0:38:05.200 on your life. But God is greater. 0:38:05.239 --> 0:38:09.759 Yeah, and you know what? He cares. He cares about you. 0:38:09.920 --> 0:38:13.840 In this verse that we're reading from Philippians four verse six, 0:38:14.080 --> 0:38:16.240 you know, it says, do not be anxious about anything, 0:38:16.239 --> 0:38:18.319 but that's not the first part of the sentence. That 0:38:18.320 --> 0:38:20.640 first part of the sentence, actually in verse five where 0:38:20.640 --> 0:38:22.839 it says, the Lord is at hand. Do not be 0:38:22.880 --> 0:38:25.600 anxious about anything. Yeah. I've, I've done a little bit 0:38:25.600 --> 0:38:28.480 of research on this and that Lord is at hand. 0:38:28.520 --> 0:38:32.560 More likely means that the Lord is near. The Lord 0:38:32.560 --> 0:38:35.640 is near to you. Do not be anxious about anything. 0:38:35.640 --> 0:38:38.239 He's close. He wants to grab you up, hold you 0:38:38.239 --> 0:38:39.520 and hear what you have to say. 0:38:39.560 --> 0:38:40.840 Hand it to him. 0:38:40.840 --> 0:38:41.930 Hand it to him. 0:38:41.969 --> 0:38:43.090 Ask him for help. 0:38:43.130 --> 0:38:44.130 Yeah, he's right there. 0:38:44.530 --> 0:38:47.049 And I can't get into deep weeds. Of all the 0:38:47.090 --> 0:38:49.770 answered prayers that I've seen just in the last week. 0:38:50.130 --> 0:38:52.850 But I can tell you this right now. You pour 0:38:52.850 --> 0:38:56.410 your heart out before God and don't prescribe how it's 0:38:56.410 --> 0:38:58.969 going to go. But tell him, all right? This is 0:38:58.969 --> 0:39:03.370 the thing that's got me wigged out right now. God, 0:39:03.610 --> 0:39:07.569 could you come help me? And he's not going to 0:39:07.570 --> 0:39:10.890 throw a stone down the staircase. When you've asked for 0:39:10.890 --> 0:39:14.930 a loaf of bread, he's going to come down. He's 0:39:14.930 --> 0:39:17.930 going to say, let me help you on this one, kid. 0:39:19.090 --> 0:39:24.609 We got this thing. Here's what's beautiful about beginning to 0:39:24.650 --> 0:39:28.530 pray to a God who can move outside the sphere 0:39:28.530 --> 0:39:34.130 of human realm and reorder things. When you see God 0:39:34.130 --> 0:39:37.130 answer one prayer that you've truly released to him because 0:39:37.130 --> 0:39:41.540 he's near, you will now have an attitude of Thanksgiving 0:39:41.540 --> 0:39:43.380 because you've seen him move in the past and he 0:39:43.380 --> 0:39:46.060 will move again. I'm telling you, my bride and I 0:39:46.060 --> 0:39:51.819 are praying with expectation like never before, not presumption, but 0:39:51.820 --> 0:39:54.660 with expectation that he's going to move like never before 0:39:54.660 --> 0:39:56.819 in our lives. And I want you to begin to 0:39:56.860 --> 0:39:59.700 move that muscle of prayer. But it's got to have 0:39:59.700 --> 0:40:03.660 that backdrop of our God is good, our God is loving. 0:40:03.900 --> 0:40:07.780 He's at hand. He can move outside the realm of 0:40:07.780 --> 0:40:12.500 what you can see, touch and move. Think about that 0:40:12.500 --> 0:40:15.779 wayward kid that you have. Think about that wayward spouse 0:40:15.780 --> 0:40:18.700 that you have. Think about that wayward grandkid that you 0:40:18.700 --> 0:40:23.940 have right now. You want a real practical prayer. God, 0:40:24.260 --> 0:40:28.820 according to John 14, trouble their hearts to the point 0:40:28.820 --> 0:40:32.700 where they say, I believe in God. I believe in Jesus. 0:40:32.860 --> 0:40:38.359 Bring them. Give them no joy in being off in Antioch. 0:40:38.760 --> 0:40:42.760 That's parable, the wayward son. Give him no joy with 0:40:42.760 --> 0:40:45.680 the lights of the city and the stuff of this world. 0:40:45.960 --> 0:40:50.200 God let everything that they're tapping into and spending money 0:40:50.200 --> 0:40:53.600 on come up empty. Have I seen that prayer answered? 0:40:53.640 --> 0:40:58.000 You better believe it. It's almost eerie. My bride and 0:40:58.000 --> 0:41:00.040 I were at a Cubs game and she was talking 0:41:00.239 --> 0:41:06.080 with someone, and we got up and left the Cubs game. 0:41:06.200 --> 0:41:10.759 We'd been praying for this person. She goes, bub, we're 0:41:10.760 --> 0:41:13.640 walking out. She goes, bub, you won't believe it. I'm 0:41:13.640 --> 0:41:17.280 sitting there listening to this girl talk back to me. 0:41:17.680 --> 0:41:22.000 And she goes, that's an answered prayer. That's an answered prayer. 0:41:22.480 --> 0:41:25.759 That's she counted ten things that she said at this 0:41:25.760 --> 0:41:28.080 Cubs game. This girl is repeating back to her things 0:41:28.080 --> 0:41:29.640 that were answers to prayer. 0:41:29.680 --> 0:41:30.080 Wow. 0:41:30.120 --> 0:41:33.840 Directly from the hand of God. Believe it. Guys. 0:41:34.440 --> 0:41:37.250 Tune in whenever you like. Check out the Carl and 0:41:37.250 --> 0:41:39.810 Crew podcast wherever you like to stream. 0:41:40.690 --> 0:41:43.370 So there's three conversations that can change the course of 0:41:43.370 --> 0:41:45.609 your life. They are as real as real can be. 0:41:45.610 --> 0:41:48.290 They're right here in Philippians chapter four. We've been breaking 0:41:48.290 --> 0:41:51.650 them down for you today. We're on the third conversation. 0:41:51.650 --> 0:41:55.009 And this is this is a little bit wild, but 0:41:55.010 --> 0:41:59.850 it's absolutely true to the scriptures. Talk with yourself in 0:41:59.850 --> 0:42:03.210 ways that bring gratitude and peace. Look at what we 0:42:03.250 --> 0:42:07.890 find Paul saying here. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever 0:42:07.890 --> 0:42:13.129 is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, 0:42:13.170 --> 0:42:17.210 whatever is commendable. Boy, he's covering some ground here, huh? 0:42:18.130 --> 0:42:23.650 If there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy 0:42:23.650 --> 0:42:28.969 of praise, think about these things. What you have learned 0:42:28.969 --> 0:42:33.410 and received and heard and seen in me. Practice these things, 0:42:33.540 --> 0:42:35.780 and the God of peace will be with you. Now 0:42:36.219 --> 0:42:40.060 it's more than just thinking the word for think. And 0:42:40.100 --> 0:42:42.779 just take this one for instance. The word Hagar in 0:42:42.780 --> 0:42:48.060 the Old Testament is often translated meditate. So you find 0:42:48.100 --> 0:42:51.259 Hagar in Psalm one one through three. Meditate on the 0:42:51.260 --> 0:42:54.380 law day and night and meditate on it, and you 0:42:54.380 --> 0:42:56.940 will be like a tree planted by streams of water. 0:42:57.380 --> 0:42:59.739 Your leaf will never wither, and all you do, you 0:42:59.739 --> 0:43:03.859 will prosper. Joshua one. We find you going to the 0:43:03.860 --> 0:43:06.140 new land. You meditate on the law day and night. 0:43:06.140 --> 0:43:08.739 You will have success and prosperity wherever you go. You 0:43:08.739 --> 0:43:11.500 know what the the Hebrew word Hagar means? It means 0:43:11.500 --> 0:43:15.380 to mutter, moan, shout, scream, sing. Isn't that fascinating? 0:43:15.420 --> 0:43:15.700 I love. 0:43:15.700 --> 0:43:18.140 That. Oftentimes we just go, I'm just going to think 0:43:18.140 --> 0:43:21.940 about it. What if you spoke it out? And so 0:43:21.940 --> 0:43:25.220 here we find whatever is true, honorable, whatever is just, 0:43:25.219 --> 0:43:28.580 whatever is pure, whatever is lovely. This is so important. 0:43:28.620 --> 0:43:32.350 Here's the point. Talk with yourself in ways that bring 0:43:32.350 --> 0:43:35.950 gratitude and peace. And I just want to spike this 0:43:35.950 --> 0:43:39.229 with a really practical exercise that some of you can 0:43:39.230 --> 0:43:44.030 do today. And I want to give you permission. Turn 0:43:44.030 --> 0:43:47.110 off Carl and crew if you have to, because this 0:43:47.110 --> 0:43:50.590 is a good tool. For a number of years, my 0:43:50.590 --> 0:43:55.029 bride has done something that is so cool when I 0:43:55.030 --> 0:43:59.509 get up early in the morning. Early. My bride's up 0:43:59.510 --> 0:44:02.870 right behind me and she opens up a journal and 0:44:02.870 --> 0:44:06.710 she writes, you know what it is? It's a gratitude journal. 0:44:06.750 --> 0:44:07.670 I love that. 0:44:07.710 --> 0:44:10.469 She writes and writes and writes. And one day I thought, 0:44:10.469 --> 0:44:12.109 what in the world is she writing about? And then 0:44:12.110 --> 0:44:14.430 it dawned on me, oh, she's married to me. It's 0:44:14.430 --> 0:44:17.709 a joke. I thought, she's going on. I've even teased 0:44:17.710 --> 0:44:20.750 her like that. Boy, you must be writing about me again, huh? 0:44:20.790 --> 0:44:26.630 And she goes, knock it off, you crazy person. But she. 0:44:26.670 --> 0:44:27.669 She does. 0:44:28.270 --> 0:44:28.870 Sure. 0:44:29.920 --> 0:44:33.040 Write out gratitude. And here's what this has done. She 0:44:33.040 --> 0:44:35.800 went through a time where she says, man, I was 0:44:35.800 --> 0:44:40.000 suffering from deep, dark night of the soul. And she 0:44:40.000 --> 0:44:44.920 heard a great talk on brain science, how God's wired 0:44:44.920 --> 0:44:49.680 us and what gratitude can do to change all your circumstances. 0:44:50.480 --> 0:44:54.920 And here's the bottom line for you. You got to 0:44:54.960 --> 0:44:58.319 begin to talk with yourself in ways that bring gratitude 0:44:58.320 --> 0:45:02.239 and peace. I know you're going through something that's got 0:45:02.239 --> 0:45:06.399 you in the soup, but you know what? If you 0:45:06.400 --> 0:45:11.560 start going, huh? What's true, what's honorable, what's just, what's pure, 0:45:11.719 --> 0:45:18.240 what's lovely, what's commendable, what's excellent? Is there anything worthy 0:45:18.239 --> 0:45:23.879 of praise? Think about these things Paul says. Yeah. And 0:45:23.880 --> 0:45:29.050 you know what the peace of God will be with you. 0:45:29.090 --> 0:45:33.010 It's time to start having conversations with yourself about what's 0:45:33.010 --> 0:45:34.210 going good out there. 0:45:34.250 --> 0:45:38.529 Absolutely. And listen, you like you're talking about having the 0:45:38.530 --> 0:45:41.250 word in you to the point where you can speak 0:45:41.250 --> 0:45:46.130 it out. We can't think about what is good, honorable, pure, 0:45:46.210 --> 0:45:50.370 praiseworthy if we don't take it in. We have to 0:45:50.410 --> 0:45:52.770 take in the word. We have to take in what 0:45:52.770 --> 0:45:55.650 is good in order to have thoughts about what is good, 0:45:55.650 --> 0:45:57.250 and then in order to think about what is. 0:45:57.250 --> 0:46:00.130 Yeah. And practically speaking, you can get up this morning 0:46:00.130 --> 0:46:02.730 and you can look at yesterday. And by the way, 0:46:02.730 --> 0:46:06.890 you do these crazy gratitude exercises. What's wild about them 0:46:07.370 --> 0:46:10.250 is that we did this at Thanksgiving as a family 0:46:10.250 --> 0:46:12.450 one year, and it had us all in tears. We 0:46:12.450 --> 0:46:16.250 were going through a tough season, but we stopped to go, 0:46:16.290 --> 0:46:18.530 all right, what can we thank God for? We started 0:46:18.530 --> 0:46:21.610 going around the table, guys, pretty quick. We got tears 0:46:21.610 --> 0:46:24.610 of joy. All four of us son, daughter, mom, dad 0:46:24.610 --> 0:46:27.300 and we got tears coming down our face because we're like, 0:46:27.700 --> 0:46:31.620 you know, there's so much soup that's got garbage in it. 0:46:31.620 --> 0:46:33.980 But if you weed through it, get the shells out 0:46:33.980 --> 0:46:37.100 you go. Wow, look at this. Look at this, look 0:46:37.100 --> 0:46:40.700 at this. It'll change the whole perspective on your day, 0:46:40.940 --> 0:46:44.860 your life, and maybe the very course that you're carving here. 0:46:45.100 --> 0:46:47.819 Absolutely. And the thing is, you're thinking Journal. It can be. 0:46:47.820 --> 0:46:50.180 Just wake up this morning, think of three things. Just 0:46:50.180 --> 0:46:52.819 start small. Three things. I woke up this morning. I 0:46:52.860 --> 0:46:55.660 have provisions this morning. I got a warm bed this morning. 0:46:55.980 --> 0:46:57.380 Start there. Yeah. 0:46:58.060 --> 0:46:59.940 You might. And then some might say the bed was 0:46:59.940 --> 0:47:03.020 too warm. Make it colder tomorrow. But you had a bed. 0:47:03.140 --> 0:47:06.339 You had a you had a bed. Find something to 0:47:06.340 --> 0:47:09.820 give God praise for what is excellent that he has done. 0:47:09.860 --> 0:47:13.739 Bank on it. Sit on that one today. And the 0:47:13.780 --> 0:47:15.700 God of peace is going to guard your heart in 0:47:15.700 --> 0:47:17.020 Christ Jesus. Guys. 0:47:18.700 --> 0:47:22.700 Walking closer to Jesus every day. You're listening to Carl 0:47:22.700 --> 0:47:23.380 and crew. 0:47:26.110 --> 0:47:30.110 Gratitude is an amazing thing and it's a powerful tool. 0:47:30.830 --> 0:47:34.110 Apostle Paul goes to great lengths to illustrate how powerful 0:47:34.110 --> 0:47:39.750 this is. He says, listen, brothers, which, by the way, 0:47:39.750 --> 0:47:45.950 is the original Greek word there indicates it's anthropo, meaning 0:47:45.950 --> 0:47:50.029 brothers and sisters. Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, 0:47:50.550 --> 0:47:54.230 whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure. But wait, 0:47:54.230 --> 0:47:59.750 there's more. Whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable. There's even more. 0:48:00.230 --> 0:48:04.430 If there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy 0:48:04.430 --> 0:48:07.790 of praise, think about these things. What you have learned 0:48:07.790 --> 0:48:10.710 and received and heard and seen in me. Practice these things, 0:48:10.710 --> 0:48:13.469 and the God of peace will be with you. Paul did. 0:48:13.469 --> 0:48:17.990 We can as well. It's a powerful discipline taking your calls. 0:48:17.989 --> 0:48:21.850 We've had some wacky doodle phone situations here. I know 0:48:22.210 --> 0:48:24.770 taking your calls and we had some of you even 0:48:24.810 --> 0:48:27.130 screened and we lost you. So give us a call, 0:48:27.130 --> 0:48:30.450 use the gratitude journal. And it's been changing your life. 0:48:31.370 --> 0:48:39.570 800 555 7898 800 555 7898. Jeannie. First time caller 0:48:39.570 --> 0:48:41.450 in Florida. What's your story, Jeannie? 0:48:42.850 --> 0:48:46.610 Hi. Uh, yeah. So I've been doing a gratitude list 0:48:46.770 --> 0:48:50.690 for years. Every morning I'm in a 12 step program, 0:48:50.730 --> 0:48:52.810 and I learned to do this a long, long time ago. 0:48:53.010 --> 0:48:55.610 I share it with all my friends. I can't imagine 0:48:55.610 --> 0:48:58.130 going a day without it. Just like I can't imagine 0:48:58.530 --> 0:49:01.450 being in God's word first thing in the morning. Yeah, 0:49:02.090 --> 0:49:04.290 it's it's been amazing. 0:49:04.530 --> 0:49:08.490 That's beautiful. Janie. Janie. What was what happened the first 0:49:08.489 --> 0:49:12.009 time you started journaling? Gratitude. What? What shifted do you 0:49:12.010 --> 0:49:13.010 remember that day? 0:49:14.170 --> 0:49:16.850 Yeah, I remember that. I just had negative thoughts all 0:49:16.850 --> 0:49:20.220 the time. And I was advised to do five things 0:49:20.219 --> 0:49:23.060 to be grateful for every day and say, I am 0:49:23.100 --> 0:49:25.940 grateful for such and such. And then give the reason. 0:49:25.940 --> 0:49:29.899 Because such and such. And I used to do just five, 0:49:30.180 --> 0:49:33.419 even if it was having toothpaste for my toothbrush, and 0:49:33.420 --> 0:49:37.060 now it's just page after page after page, because every 0:49:37.060 --> 0:49:39.779 good and perfect gift comes from the father of the 0:49:39.780 --> 0:49:43.580 heavenly lights. And so I'm able to reflect every morning 0:49:43.580 --> 0:49:45.899 on the day before. Of all the gifts that God 0:49:45.900 --> 0:49:49.740 has given me. And the love of Jesus sister. 0:49:49.780 --> 0:49:55.300 Way to go. I'm proud of you. That is exactly right. Guys, 0:49:55.300 --> 0:49:58.060 there's so many things to praise God for. Way to go, Janie. 0:49:58.100 --> 0:50:03.260 First time caller from Florida. It's just a powerful discipline. 0:50:03.340 --> 0:50:06.180 Some of you are like, man, gratitude journal. This isn't 0:50:06.219 --> 0:50:07.299 a bad idea. 0:50:07.580 --> 0:50:09.180 Not at all. It's great. 0:50:09.340 --> 0:50:11.900 Nancy in Indiana. What do you say, Nancy? 0:50:13.540 --> 0:50:14.020 Um. 0:50:14.460 --> 0:50:16.900 So I was telling the girl that I was going 0:50:16.900 --> 0:50:19.589 through about ten years ago, I started what I call 0:50:19.590 --> 0:50:22.870 My Blessings journal. I was going through a divorce. It 0:50:22.870 --> 0:50:28.190 was mental health situation and I just started my blessings 0:50:28.190 --> 0:50:32.549 journal and just it was wonderful because it just focuses 0:50:32.550 --> 0:50:35.589 you on all the good things. And I haven't done 0:50:35.590 --> 0:50:37.350 it in a while, but I was telling her, yes, 0:50:37.350 --> 0:50:38.390 I need to get back to that. 0:50:38.430 --> 0:50:42.589 Yeah. There you go. There you go, Nance. Yeah. It's interesting. 0:50:42.590 --> 0:50:48.590 Here's what's funny. Nancy, bring up Janie. She's still with us. 0:50:49.030 --> 0:50:49.830 Yeah, Janie's still here. 0:50:49.870 --> 0:50:52.109 Janie and Nancy, you both get to chime in with 0:50:52.110 --> 0:50:54.469 me here. So you get to run the radio show today. 0:50:54.670 --> 0:50:57.589 Here's what's amazing when you start journaling, right, ladies? You 0:50:57.590 --> 0:51:00.680 start to see things. When you start to see 1 0:51:00.680 --> 0:51:04.430 or 2 things and you start lingering there, they start 0:51:04.469 --> 0:51:06.670 piling up, don't they, ladies? 0:51:06.710 --> 0:51:07.230 Yeah. 0:51:08.030 --> 0:51:09.469 Page after page. 0:51:09.670 --> 0:51:11.590 Yeah. It's it's sweet. 0:51:11.830 --> 0:51:14.990 The other thing I do is, um, there's some questions 0:51:14.989 --> 0:51:18.320 I ask myself every day I take an inventory. One 0:51:18.320 --> 0:51:21.000 of them is, what did I do good yesterday? What 0:51:21.000 --> 0:51:25.040 did I do for someone else yesterday? What happened yesterday 0:51:25.040 --> 0:51:27.560 that made me happy? That I had absolutely nothing to 0:51:27.560 --> 0:51:31.240 do with me. Which is which? We have to stay 0:51:31.239 --> 0:51:34.359 quiet and reflect. Because God has given you so many 0:51:34.360 --> 0:51:37.840 unexpected treats that you didn't had nothing to do with you. 0:51:38.360 --> 0:51:39.120 That's awesome. 0:51:39.160 --> 0:51:41.960 Way to go! How did I fall short? How did 0:51:41.960 --> 0:51:45.000 I fall short? Do I own amends? Am I closer 0:51:45.040 --> 0:51:47.400 or further from God? And then what about my actions 0:51:47.400 --> 0:51:48.520 and behaviors? It's a. 0:51:48.560 --> 0:51:49.040 Beautiful. 0:51:49.560 --> 0:51:50.360 Inventory. 0:51:50.719 --> 0:51:55.360 Yeah. That's beautiful. Janie. How about you, Nancy? Anything, dad. There, sister. 0:51:56.440 --> 0:52:02.160 Um, yes, I am. I do this journey of spiritual formation. Um, 0:52:02.560 --> 0:52:05.680 it's like a three year program. And there it's called 0:52:05.680 --> 0:52:09.680 Prayer of Examine, and it's what fills me today. What 0:52:09.719 --> 0:52:13.280 drained me today. What does God want me to learn 0:52:13.280 --> 0:52:14.050 on through there. 0:52:14.330 --> 0:52:19.610 That's beautiful. Way to go, Janey and Nancy. One from Florida, 0:52:19.610 --> 0:52:23.090 one from Indiana. And we're sitting in Chicago. And that's 0:52:23.090 --> 0:52:24.930 the way live radio rolls. 0:52:24.930 --> 0:52:25.529 Amen. 0:52:26.650 --> 0:52:30.410 Your spiritual pit stop to keep you going in the race. 0:52:30.570 --> 0:52:32.770 You're listening to Carl and crew. 0:52:33.530 --> 0:52:37.089 So this whole issue of identity, even discussing it can 0:52:37.090 --> 0:52:39.410 get a little unnerving. It's like, where do we go 0:52:39.450 --> 0:52:42.850 with this? And at the end of the day, I 0:52:42.850 --> 0:52:47.490 think the Christian mind needs to get anchored of, first 0:52:47.489 --> 0:52:51.250 and foremost, who we are in Christ. J Warner. Wallace. 0:52:51.290 --> 0:52:53.609 With me right now, God's been having you do a 0:52:53.610 --> 0:52:56.330 deep work on this identity issue. What have you been 0:52:56.330 --> 0:52:57.530 showing you? J Warner. 0:52:57.770 --> 0:52:59.210 Well, I mean, a lot of this is coming down 0:52:59.210 --> 0:53:01.570 to how we form identity, and we only form identity 0:53:01.610 --> 0:53:03.770 three ways, okay. And one of those three ways is 0:53:03.810 --> 0:53:05.969 a much more advantageous way to form identity. Let me 0:53:05.969 --> 0:53:08.090 show you what I mean. So you either form identity 0:53:08.130 --> 0:53:11.009 outside in. That's where you look outside yourself and you say, 0:53:11.050 --> 0:53:13.100 you know, I kind of like that group over there. 0:53:13.140 --> 0:53:15.940 The ancients did it this way. They look outside themselves 0:53:15.940 --> 0:53:17.900 and say, well, who is my clan? Who is my tribe? 0:53:17.900 --> 0:53:20.819 Who is my nation? Who is my village? What occupation 0:53:20.820 --> 0:53:24.020 do my parents hold? Oh, we're farmers, we're coal miners. 0:53:24.020 --> 0:53:28.379 We're whatever we reach outside ourselves to something that pre-existed us. 0:53:28.380 --> 0:53:31.700 And we say, yeah, I like that. I'm one of them. 0:53:31.900 --> 0:53:36.620 That's called Outside In. I'm calling it outside in identity formation. Good. 0:53:36.660 --> 0:53:38.779 Now there's another one that's much more current, and that's 0:53:38.780 --> 0:53:42.460 where you're inside out. Identity formation. That's where you decide 0:53:42.580 --> 0:53:45.580 based on the desires of your heart, based on things 0:53:45.580 --> 0:53:47.540 you may be good at or you think you're good at. 0:53:47.540 --> 0:53:49.979 And you say, I'm one of these, and I want 0:53:50.020 --> 0:53:53.140 all of you to recognize me as one of these 0:53:53.140 --> 0:53:55.700 from now on. This could be based on maybe your skill. 0:53:55.739 --> 0:53:57.620 Like if you've ever watched American Idol and you see 0:53:57.660 --> 0:54:00.100 people who think they're singers in the early rounds, okay? 0:54:00.460 --> 0:54:03.180 And they force all of us to identify them as singers. Okay. 0:54:03.420 --> 0:54:05.259 But it could also be it could also be your 0:54:05.260 --> 0:54:07.899 sexual desire, your sexual identity. You could find these things 0:54:07.900 --> 0:54:10.069 that you say, this is who I really am based 0:54:10.070 --> 0:54:12.989 on the desires of my heart. You now all must 0:54:13.030 --> 0:54:16.750 recognize me this way. This is called inside out identity formation. Now, 0:54:16.750 --> 0:54:18.590 let me just say one thing about this. I discovered 0:54:18.590 --> 0:54:21.710 this a long time ago, that when you suffer trauma, 0:54:22.270 --> 0:54:25.350 it causes you to shift the way you think of yourself. Yes, 0:54:25.390 --> 0:54:28.670 it's an identity shift. So, for example, I'm a healthy person. Well, 0:54:28.670 --> 0:54:32.469 now you get the cancer diagnosis. Oh, I'm a married man. Oh. 0:54:32.510 --> 0:54:35.430 Not anymore. Now you've been divorced. When we suffer a 0:54:35.430 --> 0:54:38.910 trauma in our lives, we end up changing the way 0:54:38.910 --> 0:54:41.390 we think about ourselves. Now, keep that in mind, because 0:54:41.430 --> 0:54:46.190 the opposite is also true. When you suffer an identity shift, 0:54:46.430 --> 0:54:49.549 you also suffer trauma. I experienced this for myself just 0:54:49.550 --> 0:54:51.910 when I retired as a detective. I had been a 0:54:51.910 --> 0:54:54.430 detective for so long, it was the only way I 0:54:54.469 --> 0:54:57.430 saw myself. And then as I moved away from that, 0:54:57.430 --> 0:54:58.910 I was like, well, who am I now? And it 0:54:58.910 --> 0:55:01.310 was traumatic for about, I'd say about five years. I 0:55:01.310 --> 0:55:04.270 had to get my feet again. Well, okay, so here's 0:55:04.270 --> 0:55:10.250 my point. Trauma causes identity shifts and conversely, identity shifts 0:55:10.290 --> 0:55:13.169 cause trauma. So if you wanted to reduce the amount 0:55:13.170 --> 0:55:15.130 of trauma in your life, I tell young people this 0:55:15.130 --> 0:55:18.450 all the time. Here's a hot tip simply pick an 0:55:18.450 --> 0:55:22.290 identity that doesn't shift. And that comes to the third 0:55:22.330 --> 0:55:26.450 form of identity formation, which is I call top side down. 0:55:26.530 --> 0:55:29.730 That's where you put your identity in something that is unshiftable, 0:55:29.730 --> 0:55:32.609 that is immutable, that is eternal, that is unchanging. And 0:55:32.650 --> 0:55:35.089 of course, what would that be? Well, of course, for 0:55:35.090 --> 0:55:37.410 us as Christians, we would say, well, our identity is 0:55:37.410 --> 0:55:39.930 in Christ. Well, we say that, but the truth of 0:55:39.930 --> 0:55:42.250 it is, even those of us who say our identity 0:55:42.250 --> 0:55:45.489 is in Christ, often it is not. And here's what 0:55:45.489 --> 0:55:47.250 I mean by that. Look, if you look at Scripture, 0:55:47.250 --> 0:55:50.050 you only see the Christians called Christians three times. Three 0:55:50.050 --> 0:55:50.290 times in. 0:55:50.290 --> 0:55:50.370 The. 0:55:50.370 --> 0:55:52.930 Bible. Yep. Yeah. Yep. Most of the time, Paul will say, 0:55:52.930 --> 0:55:54.650 it's those who are in Christ. You can make a 0:55:54.650 --> 0:55:56.890 strong argument that if your identity is not in Christ, 0:55:56.890 --> 0:55:59.250 you aren't actually a Christian. But what is your identity 0:55:59.250 --> 0:56:02.730 in really? Well, we say it's in Christ. As Christians, 0:56:02.730 --> 0:56:04.730 we even say that. But let me ask you, where 0:56:04.770 --> 0:56:08.339 are you spending your discretionary income? That's probably where your 0:56:08.340 --> 0:56:10.620 identity is. What are you spending your time on when 0:56:10.620 --> 0:56:14.380 you've got discretionary time, disposable income, disposable time, the freedom 0:56:14.380 --> 0:56:16.140 you have after you've done all the things you have 0:56:16.140 --> 0:56:18.580 to do, you're going to spend it doing something. You're 0:56:18.580 --> 0:56:20.819 standing in front of your idol. You're standing in front 0:56:20.820 --> 0:56:23.739 of your God. You're standing in front of whatever you worship. 0:56:23.739 --> 0:56:26.540 That is what you're going to place your identity in. 0:56:26.700 --> 0:56:30.060 And if you worship your achievements or you worship your spouse, 0:56:30.060 --> 0:56:33.140 or you worship your family, your kids, well, it turns 0:56:33.140 --> 0:56:36.020 out you now have got your identity over there. And 0:56:36.020 --> 0:56:38.660 that's going to shift because you're going to age. Your 0:56:38.660 --> 0:56:40.259 kids are going to grow up and leave. You're going 0:56:40.260 --> 0:56:42.060 to your job is going to you're going to retire. 0:56:42.219 --> 0:56:44.220 These are things that are going to be traumatic because 0:56:44.219 --> 0:56:46.460 you've chosen them to be traumatic, because you put your 0:56:46.460 --> 0:56:50.700 identity in them. Yeah. What is our object of worship? 0:56:50.700 --> 0:56:52.700 So for example, one quick way to find this is 0:56:52.700 --> 0:56:54.580 what is the thing that animates you or gets you 0:56:54.620 --> 0:56:58.140 mad quickly. Is it politics? Is it the culture that's 0:56:58.140 --> 0:57:00.180 around us? Well, I can tell you where your gods are. 0:57:00.500 --> 0:57:03.580 Like you're not living in Christ. You're living in the moment, 0:57:03.710 --> 0:57:06.310 in your identity that you've crafted for yourself based on 0:57:06.310 --> 0:57:07.710 all of your misplaced devotion? 0:57:07.750 --> 0:57:09.710 Yeah, and it's easy to get your identity in a 0:57:09.710 --> 0:57:13.430 401 K, a political party, a football team, a baseball team, 0:57:13.430 --> 0:57:17.390 almost anything. J Warner. Wallace, my guest right now featured 0:57:17.390 --> 0:57:20.710 in Dateline. You might recognize that voice going, I've seen 0:57:20.710 --> 0:57:24.710 or heard this guy before. He was a homicide detective 0:57:24.750 --> 0:57:27.950 and a good one. And now he is an apologist 0:57:27.950 --> 0:57:31.510 and he is on fire. I want to unpack this 0:57:31.550 --> 0:57:35.630 with that second layer. I am intrigued by something. You 0:57:35.630 --> 0:57:40.510 say that trauma creates identity and we need top down. 0:57:40.950 --> 0:57:44.229 This might give us a whole lot more compassion for 0:57:44.230 --> 0:57:48.230 people who are struggling with sexual identity. When we understand 0:57:48.230 --> 0:57:51.430 the trauma of their childhood or youth. What say you? 0:57:51.470 --> 0:57:52.190 J Warner. 0:57:52.630 --> 0:57:54.310 Well, I think we got to be careful. Where. Look, 0:57:54.430 --> 0:57:57.030 if nothing else, if you were just being very practical 0:57:57.030 --> 0:58:00.110 about it, let's say you're not struggling with gender identity 0:58:00.110 --> 0:58:02.960 issues as much as you're just struggling with sexual issues. 0:58:03.280 --> 0:58:06.000 What is the thing you're worshiping? You you consider to 0:58:06.000 --> 0:58:09.680 be of primary importance. Now, remember, all of our misplaced 0:58:09.680 --> 0:58:14.000 devotion is put into things that God has actually created 0:58:14.000 --> 0:58:16.200 for our good. There's only three categories of that, by 0:58:16.200 --> 0:58:18.720 the way. It's sex, money, and power. So we put 0:58:18.720 --> 0:58:21.400 our identity in one of those three things that God 0:58:21.400 --> 0:58:24.520 has created for our good. But here's what we've done. 0:58:24.520 --> 0:58:27.680 We've made them the goodest thing instead of just a 0:58:27.680 --> 0:58:31.240 good thing. We've made them the God of our lives. Remember, 0:58:31.280 --> 0:58:35.520 whatever you are enslaved to, that is your object of worship. 0:58:35.520 --> 0:58:37.720 Now keep in mind every one of us is listening 0:58:37.720 --> 0:58:40.160 to this right now. Is enslaved to something. Something your 0:58:40.160 --> 0:58:42.840 desires limit. What your choices are you. There are certain 0:58:42.840 --> 0:58:46.479 things you are willing to submit your life to. Paul 0:58:46.480 --> 0:58:48.880 says in the book, in many places in Scripture that 0:58:48.880 --> 0:58:50.960 he is a slave. The writers of the letters of 0:58:50.960 --> 0:58:52.800 the New Testament will often say, I am a slave 0:58:52.800 --> 0:58:55.360 to Christ Jesus. Well, not to mean that we are 0:58:55.360 --> 0:58:57.760 limited in a bad way. Jesus says, your burden is 0:58:57.760 --> 0:58:59.890 light over here, but you still have a burden because 0:58:59.890 --> 0:59:02.090 whatever it is you worship, whatever it is you think 0:59:02.090 --> 0:59:06.210 of as a primary importance, you've decided to voluntarily enslave 0:59:06.210 --> 0:59:08.890 yourself to that. We're saying is, hey, there's a better 0:59:09.130 --> 0:59:12.690 object of worship to which we could be completely devoted 0:59:12.690 --> 0:59:16.290 because it has our best interest in mind. It's not 0:59:16.290 --> 0:59:18.450 going to eat us up and spit us out. It's 0:59:18.490 --> 0:59:20.689 actually going to do something good for us. And that's 0:59:20.690 --> 0:59:23.490 why we want to readjust. If it's about sexual identity, 0:59:23.490 --> 0:59:26.250 if it's about job identity, again, sex, money and power. 0:59:26.250 --> 0:59:30.170 It's about money. It's about vacations. It's about hedonism, or 0:59:30.210 --> 0:59:33.330 it's about sexual relationships or just relationships in your family. 0:59:33.330 --> 0:59:36.770 Or it's about power, your authority, your position at your 0:59:36.770 --> 0:59:39.290 job that you've achieved things through your job. These are 0:59:39.290 --> 0:59:40.730 the things that control us. 0:59:40.930 --> 0:59:44.250 Yeah. J Warner Wallace, my guest right now. Okay. So 0:59:44.250 --> 0:59:48.169 let's I love this because this almost takes the whole 0:59:48.170 --> 0:59:52.290 identity issue because politically it's very charged. And we go 0:59:52.290 --> 0:59:55.610 down that one narrow sliver, which by the way has 0:59:55.610 --> 0:59:59.460 huge cost attached to that. You think about female swimmers, 0:59:59.460 --> 1:00:02.940 and that's been litigated already, even at the Supreme Court level. 1:00:03.260 --> 1:00:06.100 But then you get into the inner workings of our 1:00:06.100 --> 1:00:08.700 own heart, and you find out something I'll never forget. 1:00:08.700 --> 1:00:10.700 When it dawned on me, probably 20 years ago as 1:00:10.700 --> 1:00:13.500 a pastor. Oh my goodness, I don't need to teach 1:00:13.500 --> 1:00:17.220 people to worship their natural born worshippers. That's right. My 1:00:17.220 --> 1:00:19.460 calling is to help redirect their worship to the one 1:00:19.460 --> 1:00:22.340 and only true God. Speak to that, because a lot 1:00:22.380 --> 1:00:25.020 of people right now, this is the tragedy. We've been 1:00:25.020 --> 1:00:28.620 unpacking it all week. There's a huge delusion of salvation 1:00:28.620 --> 1:00:30.780 in the church. A lot of people call themselves Christian 1:00:30.780 --> 1:00:34.260 and are not because their identity truly is most anchored 1:00:34.260 --> 1:00:37.420 in things that are not of God. Some, though listening 1:00:37.460 --> 1:00:42.500 say r g Warner, I struggle, I know I love God, 1:00:42.500 --> 1:00:44.860 he is my King. He saved me. But I do 1:00:44.900 --> 1:00:48.820 struggle with my identity. How do we readjust to full 1:00:48.860 --> 1:00:51.740 on top down identity in Christ? 1:00:51.780 --> 1:00:53.900 I totally get it. This is the project I'm working 1:00:53.900 --> 1:00:55.870 on now. I'm starting to write another book on just 1:00:55.870 --> 1:00:58.030 this second chapter of The Truth and True Crime, which 1:00:58.030 --> 1:01:00.630 is on identity, because people ask me this all the time. Okay, 1:01:00.670 --> 1:01:03.710 it sounds easy, but it's not easy. No one does it. Well, 1:01:03.710 --> 1:01:06.950 I don't do it well. Remember these three steps of 1:01:06.950 --> 1:01:11.430 the Christian life that we talk about all the time, right? Justification, sanctification, glorification, 1:01:11.470 --> 1:01:14.230 justification has been described as that's the moment in which 1:01:14.230 --> 1:01:17.590 you are removed from the penalty of sin. Sanctification. You're 1:01:17.590 --> 1:01:20.710 removed from the overriding power of sin. Glorification. You're removed 1:01:20.710 --> 1:01:24.110 from the presence of sin. Okay, so there's the three steps. Well, 1:01:24.110 --> 1:01:26.830 it turns out that the justification is a moment in time. 1:01:26.830 --> 1:01:30.710 It's the moment you decide to trust Christ as your Savior. 1:01:30.990 --> 1:01:34.230 And glorification is another door you walk through instantly. It's 1:01:34.230 --> 1:01:36.550 the moment you are standing in front of a holy God, 1:01:36.550 --> 1:01:38.830 because you've passed from this life to the next. But 1:01:38.830 --> 1:01:40.590 that middle part sanctification. 1:01:40.670 --> 1:01:41.150 Path we. 1:01:41.190 --> 1:01:42.110 Walk a door. 1:01:42.630 --> 1:01:43.390 Not a door. 1:01:43.430 --> 1:01:47.310 Crooked hallway. And that hallway is filled with corners and 1:01:47.310 --> 1:01:50.790 sharp edges and slopes and bumps and bruises. And you'll 1:01:50.790 --> 1:01:53.390 find yourself taking one step forward and two steps back. 1:01:53.390 --> 1:01:56.080 I get it. And some people, by the way, don't 1:01:56.080 --> 1:01:59.240 even decide to walk down that hallway. The thief on 1:01:59.240 --> 1:02:01.760 the cross, for example. He went from first door to 1:02:01.800 --> 1:02:04.800 second door. There was no hallway for him. Okay. He missed. 1:02:04.840 --> 1:02:06.360 I can tell you this if you think you're going 1:02:06.400 --> 1:02:08.760 to have a straight hallway, it's probably like the thief 1:02:08.760 --> 1:02:10.400 on the cross. It's because you have a short life. 1:02:10.400 --> 1:02:12.720 You make a decision for Christ, and you die because 1:02:12.720 --> 1:02:16.200 anyone else who has time between the two doors is 1:02:16.200 --> 1:02:19.320 going to live in the crooked hallway. Are you willing 1:02:19.360 --> 1:02:21.840 to live in the crooked hallway because you can't take 1:02:21.880 --> 1:02:24.560 a picture, a snapshot, a Polaroid at some step in 1:02:24.600 --> 1:02:27.000 that hallway and and judge your whole walk based on 1:02:27.040 --> 1:02:30.200 that Polaroid. You have to keep walking because the picture 1:02:30.200 --> 1:02:32.440 is going to change. Now here's what I do know. 1:02:32.680 --> 1:02:35.760 If you aim at nothing, you hit it every time. 1:02:36.040 --> 1:02:37.880 So what we're going to do is get up every 1:02:37.920 --> 1:02:41.000 day and ask ourselves two things. Number one, it's really 1:02:41.000 --> 1:02:43.240 in the story of Nicodemus where Jesus quotes to him 1:02:43.240 --> 1:02:46.560 Ezekiel to tell him the truth about his identity. And 1:02:46.560 --> 1:02:48.840 what he says basically, is that you're going to have 1:02:48.840 --> 1:02:51.320 to wash out the water. Is the washing out of 1:02:51.320 --> 1:02:54.060 all of your idols, the same way that the prophet said, 1:02:54.060 --> 1:02:56.620 the nation of Israel has to be washed of its idols. 1:02:56.980 --> 1:02:58.900 You have got to figure out what is it now 1:02:58.900 --> 1:03:01.939 that you worship? You care about that you fret over 1:03:01.980 --> 1:03:05.340 that you dream about, that you spend your discretionary income. 1:03:05.340 --> 1:03:07.820 Your thought life is given to this. That has become 1:03:07.820 --> 1:03:10.340 your God. You got to wash that out first. You 1:03:10.340 --> 1:03:12.860 will not put your identity back in Christ as long 1:03:12.860 --> 1:03:15.900 as it's misplaced in some place else. And two, it's 1:03:15.900 --> 1:03:19.380 about humility, this spirit that comes and turns your heart 1:03:19.420 --> 1:03:22.900 of stone into a heart of flesh. Do you have 1:03:22.900 --> 1:03:26.340 the humility to bend your knee? Because almost all the, 1:03:26.340 --> 1:03:28.100 you know, the things we talk about sex, money and 1:03:28.100 --> 1:03:31.260 power that distract us, they're built on a pedestal of 1:03:31.260 --> 1:03:36.500 stupid called pride. It's pride that forces us in those directions. Well, 1:03:36.500 --> 1:03:39.700 if you find yourself not putting your identity in Christ today, 1:03:39.700 --> 1:03:42.700 it's because you pridefully think you've got a better way, 1:03:42.700 --> 1:03:45.380 and you've now misplaced it in one of those objects 1:03:45.380 --> 1:03:48.580 of false worship. So it's about every day. Number one, 1:03:48.580 --> 1:03:52.550 identifying where you're going wrong so you can focus on 1:03:52.550 --> 1:03:54.670 what you're doing right and not getting upset when you 1:03:54.670 --> 1:03:57.190 find that you've maybe only got ten minutes today when 1:03:57.190 --> 1:04:00.150 you were able to do it well, you're in the hallway. 1:04:00.190 --> 1:04:02.669 You're going to walk and bump into things, but don't 1:04:02.670 --> 1:04:04.790 be too hard on yourself. But if you aim at nothing, 1:04:04.790 --> 1:04:05.670 you will hit it every. 1:04:05.710 --> 1:04:09.630 Yeah, yeah, humility. I quote Andrew Murray here all the time. 1:04:09.630 --> 1:04:11.990 He said it is the one virtue that gives birth 1:04:11.990 --> 1:04:16.830 to every other virtue. In fact, he added in his book, humility, humility, 1:04:16.830 --> 1:04:21.270 the absence of humility is explanation enough for every character 1:04:21.270 --> 1:04:25.030 defect down that hallway, to use your metaphor of life. 1:04:25.270 --> 1:04:27.230 And here's the good thing about it it's a choice 1:04:27.230 --> 1:04:29.150 we can make. We have a binary choice. Am I 1:04:29.190 --> 1:04:31.270 going to be self-willed, prideful, or am I going to 1:04:31.310 --> 1:04:34.230 humble myself under God's mighty hand today? And that's the 1:04:34.230 --> 1:04:38.110 beauty of it. J Warner Wallace. Thank you, my man. Uh, 1:04:38.150 --> 1:04:40.190 you know, I got a crazy question. One last thing 1:04:40.190 --> 1:04:42.630 on your heart about identity. Give me one final shot. 1:04:42.670 --> 1:04:43.550 What's on your heart? 1:04:43.830 --> 1:04:46.910 Nothing matters more. This idea of humility is the key 1:04:46.910 --> 1:04:49.840 to human flourishing. It's a secret key that leads to 1:04:49.880 --> 1:04:54.000 every other aspect of human flourishing. Deeper relationships. Better at 1:04:54.000 --> 1:04:57.360 your job. Higher SAT scores earn more money. All of 1:04:57.360 --> 1:05:00.760 these things are dependent upon the one thing that Christianity 1:05:00.800 --> 1:05:04.200 uniquely offers. If you're listening right now, no other worldview 1:05:04.200 --> 1:05:07.960 that requires you to earn something produces humility. All it 1:05:07.960 --> 1:05:11.120 does is produce pride. That's a secular worldview because we 1:05:11.120 --> 1:05:14.800 have to earn our way. It's also every other religious worldview. 1:05:14.800 --> 1:05:18.960 Only Christianity is says, you can't do it. It's been 1:05:18.960 --> 1:05:21.240 done for you. That's why Christianity is true. 1:05:21.400 --> 1:05:25.480 Yeah, man is at the center of every other world religion. 1:05:25.480 --> 1:05:28.640 Christ is at the center of biblical Christianity and it's 1:05:28.640 --> 1:05:32.200 so freeing. J Warner Wallace, what a great guest. And 1:05:32.200 --> 1:05:35.120 if you want more simple text, the word case to 1:05:35.160 --> 1:05:40.800 800 555 7898 text case, just that one word case 1:05:40.840 --> 1:05:46.640 c a s e to 800 555 7898.