S1: Coming to you from the Morning Star Mission sponsored studio.
S1: This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio. It's Carl
S1: and crew.
S2: Helping you take your next step with Jesus. And we
S2: have had a day. If you did not hear Michael
S2: Ray Dolnick, he gave an acronym for how you approach
S2: the Word of God. This bears repeating. We had hundreds
S2: fly out the door. What is it, Ali? Specs.
S3: It's when doing your Bible study, put on your specs.
S3: This is from Michael Riedel a statement. Is there a
S3: statement of truth? Is there a promise to claim? Is
S3: there an example to follow? Is there a command to obey?
S3: Is there a sin to avoid? So using those first
S3: letters of each of those statements is kind of an
S3: acronym specs statement of truth. Promise to claim example to
S3: follow command to obey sin to avoid.
S2: Yeah. Good stuff. So you're like, all right I didn't
S2: write that down. We've got it for you. Tech specs
S2: s p e s. That's it. No k in there.
S2: S e s. We'll get that right out to you.
S2: What a great tool. Specs s p e c s
S2: to 800 555 7898 800 555 7898. This is good already.
S2: And we just got going on this Monday morning. My goodness. Okay.
S2: Coming up in this half hour. Guess what we've got.
S2: We have got some time in this half hour. A
S2: moody Bible commentary that we're going to give away. It's
S2: not right now. So don't call in. But it's coming
S2: at you soon. But I've got a crazy question for you,
S2: and we're going to need you on the phone lines
S2: to answer this question. Here's the question. Give me three
S2: of the mandatory equipment tools that I had to carry
S2: on the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.
S3: Are we guessing?
S2: Yep. The callers are going to guess. You guys can't
S2: guess because I've. I've shared this before. I think you
S2: probably got I think you've probably got them. So 1100
S2: mile dog sled race across Alaska. I competed in it
S2: when I was 18. I know it's a little crazy.
S2: Have a hard time even imagining that I did it
S2: back in the day when I was 18, 1100 mile
S2: dog sled race. What kind of tools did they mandatorily
S2: make us carry on that race? If you get all three,
S2: you call in, you get all three. First one to
S2: get them gets the Carl and Coop prize pack. So
S2: call in, give it a guess. Three mandatory pieces of
S2: equipment for the Iditarod. Uh, is Google now? No, no,
S2: I on this one. You gotta you gotta go the
S2: old fashioned way. You got to guess 805, 55, 78, 98.
S2: Give us a call. Three essential tools that were mandatory
S2: for me to carry on the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.
S2: From Anchorage to Nome. There are probably seven. Okay. I'm
S2: just asking that you get three. What were they? 805. Five. Five. 78. 98.
S2: There's method to this madness, right? Yes there is.
S3: Yes there is.
S2: We're taking your calls right now. Guess three of them.
S2: You get a Carl and Crew prize pack. First one
S2: to do it. I'm not going to keep giving them
S2: out all day long. We'd be here all day long.
S2: But grab three of them and you get a Carl
S2: and Crew prize pack. 805. Five. Five. 78. 98. 805 five. Five. 78. 98.
S2: Let's go mushing across Alaska here.
S1: She was trying to earn her way to God, but
S1: God showed her she didn't have to. Ali is in
S1: the crew. It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
S2: All right, we got a fun question for you here,
S2: and I'm going to fly blind. Ali. You bring them up,
S2: we got a question teed up and a prize pack
S2: on the line.
S3: Carl ran the Iditarod. It was a how many miles?
S3: How many miles was that?
S2: Oh, they called it 1100 mile race. Back in the day.
S2: You got lost. It might be more.
S3: 1100 ish miles in Alaska. Is a famous dog sledding race.
S3: Carl did that when he was 18. So he's asking you,
S3: what do you think are the three essential tools that
S3: were required? There were more than three. But if you
S3: could get three right, you'll get a Carl and Crew
S3: prize pack. Let's see who gets close. Let's go to
S3: LaVonne from Illinois. Give us your three guesses. Go ahead.
S4: A warm coat, a good sled, and some faithful dogs.
S3: Okay, Carl, how do we land there? Any.
S2: Not. Not mandatory. Uh, that's funny you mention a coat.
S2: They should have made that mandatory, but I think that
S2: was self-evident. Kind of a deal. A sled was also self-evident.
S2: Good guess. Though, you got to have a good sled
S2: and dogs. I'm going to give you one on that
S2: because you actually have to finish the race with five.
S2: You can't go less than five if you get down
S2: to four. Boom, you're out of the race. But good. Go.
S2: I'm loving this. This is fun.
S3: Let's try another one. Lori. First time caller from Florida.
S3: Give us the three that you think were mandatory.
S5: Hi. Good morning guys. I think it is an ice pick.
S5: A rope and a fire starter.
S2: Oh good guesses. Uh, I'm going to give you fire
S2: starter because. A cooker was mandatory back when I ran
S2: back in the day a lot of years ago now.
S2: So if you're googling online, there's a little different. Kind
S2: of an angle on this, but I know ice pick
S2: and rope are not in there, but, uh, we're getting
S2: close with an ice pick, so that's what I'm going
S2: to say for future callers here. But good go, Lori.
S2: Thanks all of you taking guesses. This is wonderful. All right.
S2: Let's keep rolling here.
S3: Kiki, first time caller from Ohio. Give us your three.
S4: Well, I said, um, a sled in some outerwear, like,
S4: in case you fall off. Um. Like, why you riding
S4: in some kind of something to stop your traction? Like
S4: some pokes or something. You know, those sticks or whatever.
S4: Like they protect you from falling.
S2: Okay, okay.
S3: Very reasonable.
S2: Yeah. Very reasonable. Poles are used now. They're doing a
S2: lot of sled pulling. So you'll see ski poles that
S2: are used. Every musher uses them. So they push along
S2: rather than just kicking between the runners, which is what
S2: we did old school. But now a lot of sled pulls.
S2: So but none of those are required gear. Still looking
S2: for top 3 or 3 of the required gear. You
S2: got to have tools on board a sled when you're
S2: mushing the dome. Let's keep going. Ali.
S3: Carol, first time caller from Florida. You get three guesses.
S3: Go ahead.
S6: Okay. Uh, tent for like, a cover. If the wind
S6: picks up too much, you got to get in shelter
S6: and a flare in case you get lost. And some
S6: MRE for food.
S2: Oh, this is good. Okay. Funny thing here, Carol. This
S2: is a hoot. They didn't care if we had food
S2: for the musher or not. But you had to have
S2: food for the dogs.
S3: Wow.
S2: Isn't that funny? And tint not required, uh, because most
S2: of us sleep in the sled bags on the Iditarod.
S2: I slept in my dog sled, and. But we're getting
S2: close with that one. Flair not required. Uh, meals for
S2: the dogs, though, was. We're getting closer. We're getting closer.
S2: All right, Ali, let's keep cooking here.
S3: Hanna, first time caller from Kentucky. Let's see how you
S3: do with this one. Go ahead. Give us your three guesses.
S7: Uh, chainsaw, a axe on snowshoes.
S2: Oh, Hannah's got two of the three.
S3: Whoa. Okay. Are you going to tell? Are you going
S3: to tell us which two?
S2: I'm going to tell? Because otherwise we're going to be
S2: here all day. Um, so axe and snowshoes were required
S2: gear when I competed in the Iditarod. Yep. You had
S2: to have snowshoes. If you didn't have them, you're disqualified
S2: from the race. If you didn't have an axe, you're
S2: disqualified from the race. Got to have him on board
S2: all the time.
S3: Okay, Hannah.
S2: No, no, no chainsaw required on the race.
S3: Hannah nailed two out of three. So we know that
S3: axe and snowshoes. So if you want to amend your answers. Axe,
S3: snowshoes and what? Let's give Steve, first time caller from Florida.
S3: Axe snowshoes. What do you think that last item is? Steve.
S3: First time caller from Florida. Go ahead. We've got axe
S3: and snowshoes. What do you think that third one is?
S8: Uh, axe, snowshoe and shovel.
S2: Are getting close. Steve, thank you for calling. Appreciate it.
S2: We got axe snowshoes, and there's. I've got seven things
S2: written down here that I had to carry on the Iditarod.
S2: Fill in the blank. One more. That's all we got
S2: to do. Ali.
S3: Kyle from Florida. Go. Go ahead. We've got axe snowshoes.
S3: Give a guess at that final one.
S9: A satellite phone or radio?
S2: Yeah, it was illegal in my day. As a matter
S2: of fact, they just made it legal to have satellite phones,
S2: but we couldn't even have them back in the day.
S2: No phones, no radio, no communication. But good guess. These
S2: are great guesses. All right, Ali, let's keep cooking.
S3: James, first time caller from Iowa acts snowshoes. Give a
S3: guess at that. A final third item.
S10: How about just a pair of pliers?
S2: Yeah, that's not it. That's a good guess. And I
S2: had pliers with me for sure. Boy, we're getting close here, guys.
S3: Let's go to Heidi. First time caller from Ohio. Give
S3: us a guess.
S6: Okay. My third item. Axe, snow shoes and a compass.
S3: Compass?
S2: No, that's a good idea. Guess. Really good. Guess. Really good. Guess.
S2: We're getting so close.
S3: Okay, let's see if Carol, first time caller from Florida,
S3: can get that last one. Go. Go ahead. Carol, what's
S3: your guess?
S6: Listening to it at the snow shoes and dog food.
S2: You got it. Bingo. We'll give it to you right there.
S2: Carol from Florida. That was a group effort, guys.
S3: Yeah.
S2: It was a group effort.
S3: So give us the whole list of the seven snow shoes.
S3: Food for the dogs.
S2: Yeah, this might really surprise you, but it was mandatory
S2: to carry enough booties for a team between checkpoints. Dog
S2: booties so that if they if you were on ice
S2: or rough conditions, you could swap out booties and keep
S2: the dogs feet healthy. Wow. Um, axe food for dogs.
S2: Sleeping bag. That was Arctic approved. So you had to
S2: have a good sleeping bag on board. Obviously that should
S2: be self-explanatory, but for some guys, no joking. In Alaska,
S2: when I ran the Iditarod, not all these knuckleheads knew
S2: that they had to have a sleeping bag. They thought
S2: they were going to go sleep. In fact, I had
S2: a buddy that refused to sleep in a sleeping bag
S2: because he thought he would sleep too long. So he
S2: slept in all of his Arctic gear on top of
S2: the sled bag. How crazy is.
S3: That? Seems super dangerous.
S2: It was dangerous. As a matter of fact, he told
S2: me he wouldn't do it again after he ran a
S2: 200 mile dog sled race and almost died. Okay. Um,
S2: a couple others. Uh, snowshoes, booties, axe, food for dogs,
S2: £2 of at least commercial feed for every dog in
S2: your team. When you left a checkpoint. Had to have that, uh,
S2: cooker was one thing that you had to have. Something
S2: that you could get over an open fire to cook
S2: that meal, and then another one back in the day.
S2: I don't know if this was mandatory or not. I
S2: forgot I'm forgetting the rules from my day, but I
S2: carried a 44. That's a pistol. And you carry that? Uh,
S2: not for killing game or anything like that and then
S2: eating it, but for especially self-protection. If you have a moose.
S2: Moose hate in the winter in Alaska, they don't like getting.
S2: They love dog sled trails because it's a it's a
S2: machine track. Usually a lot of snow machines have gone
S2: over it. And so the moose love they don't like
S2: waltzing through four feet of snow. So if you get
S2: in a really snowy area, those moose just congregate on
S2: the trail. So you come around the corner, here's a
S2: big old moose and you're like, out of the way, buddy.
S2: And there they are. They're like, I ain't getting in
S2: that deep snow. You can get in the deep snow.
S2: So it can be a standoff. And at times, very rarely.
S2: There's been occasions where moose will charge a team. Uh,
S2: I've had that happen before. Not on the Iditarod. Boy,
S2: moose charge a team.
S3: I won't ask for that story, because I know that
S3: would take us down a trail. Pun intended.
S2: It's it's tough because it can really be injurious to
S2: the musher and especially the dogs. But good guessing guys.
S2: We got some boom crews out there.
S11: Yeah, man.
S2: A lot of fun. Okay, coming up here in a moment.
S2: Back to resources for your spiritual life. Because running the Iditarod,
S2: probably not everyone's going to do it. But following Jesus,
S2: now we're talking coming up in a few minutes. We've
S2: got a moody Bible commentary on the line. Hang on.
S1: You can take him out of Alaska, but you can't
S1: take Alaska out of him. Carl is in the crew.
S1: It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
S2: Coming up here. We've got a great guest. We love
S2: this guy. Or what? Ellie?
S3: Hey, expert doctor Drew Dickens with some hot off the
S3: press updates for you and some cool ways to leverage AI.
S1: She's a choreographer extraordinaire and everything is Greek to her.
S1: Super dei is in the crew. It's Carl and crew
S1: on Moody Radio.
S2: Well, he is coming at us hot. And if you
S2: don't catch up, we're going to be left in the dust.
S2: Does it scare you, Ali? What do you think about AI?
S3: Um. You know, it fascinates me, but I do find
S3: it a little scary. Like the robots and the kind
S3: of the not knowing if something that you're hearing or
S3: reading was written by an actual person. Most likely it
S3: was written by I as a journalist. It scares me
S3: a little bit.
S2: Yeah. I don't blame you. Uh, what do you say,
S2: Doctor Drew? Dickens. I expert before it was even popular.
S12: So? So you bring in the scary guy, right? That's right. So, Ali.
S12: Ali is already scared enough. So you bring in drew,
S12: and let's get really.
S2: Freak out a little bit more. What's going on? What's
S2: going on with I, in fact, back up a little bit.
S2: Give us your history. Wasn't there a time when you
S2: had written on. I did a doctoral dissertation and no one.
S2: You couldn't get a callback?
S12: Exactly. In seminary, I started writing on just technology and theology.
S12: But then when I started working my doctorate, which was
S12: an eternity ago, six years, I couldn't get a return
S12: phone call about I. Nobody. That was pre-gapped. Uh, so
S12: now it's just just like, oh my gosh, we haven't.
S12: You and I, the three of us haven't talked in
S12: maybe a month or so. And now everything has changed again. Uh, Ali,
S12: you just mentioned not knowing whether something was written by
S12: a person. I tell you what's been wild. There's been
S12: an ad for a company called Kalki, and the entire
S12: ad which would have normally taken an ad agency, I
S12: don't know, a year to have produced or whatever for
S12: untold millions of dollars. Uh, they did the entire thing
S12: in a day, created this ad in a day. And
S12: it's all generated by AI and costs. They're saying 97%
S12: less than what it would have cost an agency, and
S12: you can't tell it looks 100% real. It's just people
S12: we won't get into what call she is. That's a
S12: whole other conversation. But, um, it's it's people on video
S12: talking and you can't tell. So forget whether it's been
S12: written or not. Now we have, uh, whether it's been
S12: seen or not or created by a person and is
S12: what I'm watching and hearing real Doctor Drew.
S3: So give us what are the updates that we need
S3: to be aware of, just even since we've last spoken
S3: with you Since yesterday.
S12: Uh, so really, to can you continue that theme Google uh,
S12: has been they kind of stumbled coming out of the
S12: gate a few years ago. And boy, ever since then
S12: they've just been knocking it out of the park and
S12: they came out with a platform called Veo Veo three.
S12: And it allows for the creation of hyper realistic AI
S12: generated video. And what's wild about this is you think back,
S12: you know, I couldn't just decide tomorrow to start a
S12: radio station might cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to
S12: build out a studio. And you think about, you know,
S12: all the costs associated with production and whatnot. Now everybody
S12: has access. Google Gemini AI has 280 million daily active
S12: users who have access to these tools. Where I can
S12: today create something fake, fake news, whatever you want to
S12: call it. I can create a video, post it on YouTube,
S12: have it seen by millions, and never leave my laptop.
S12: And that's just the last couple of weeks and vo's driving,
S12: driving that industry like like we haven't seen any other technology.
S2: Doctor Drew Dickens with us right now. AI expert and
S2: consulted for all things AI when he couldn't get a
S2: call back six years ago. Finish up his PhD. This
S2: is crazy. What you're sharing here. I'm. I'm staying pretty
S2: abreast with what's going on. The only indication I had
S2: that that stuff like this was happening. My son has
S2: a good high school buddy who had built a significant
S2: company with graphic design and branding. He sold it a
S2: year ago because he's told my son he could see
S2: what's coming, and he he got rid of that company.
S2: He said, this is this company's dead in a year,
S2: and now it appears he might have been right. What
S2: is going on? What's going to happen to jobs in
S2: the area of just graphic design, let alone attorneys and
S2: everything else?
S12: Yeah, it's an interesting point. Your your son and his
S12: friend bring up Because just last week, several, uh, AI
S12: leaders were saying that 2020 6th May be the year
S12: that we see $1 billion valued company with one employee.
S12: Now kind of kind of wrap your head around that, okay.
S12: So no air, no walking it down to legal, no
S12: talking to the, you know, whatever. It's one employee, one
S12: one guy, one kid sitting on a laptop. Well, we
S12: will have a company valued at over $1 billion by
S12: this time next year. And it used to be robots.
S12: You know, Ali mentioned, you know, robots taking over the world.
S12: It used to be robots. I think where we're seeing
S12: most of the impact right now, most of the conversations
S12: on jobs being touched and again, to your son and
S12: his friend is software. Um, that's in that's a low hanging.
S12: That's a low bar, uh, because you can program.
S2: All the code writers.
S12: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And, uh, Zuckerberg meta came out with
S12: a quote, uh, two weeks or so ago now. Um,
S12: that already it's about 80% of their code. Meta. Facebook, Instagram.
S12: About 80% of their code is being written by AI.
S12: So it used to all be about that, but now
S12: it's getting into and again, not knowing what's been written
S12: by a person or not. So any anybody that's in
S12: content creation with writing. Yeah. With with producing like that
S12: boy study to become a plumber. That's the best advice
S12: right now. Wow.
S2: What's this do with you, Ali, when you hear this.
S3: There is the element of fear, of the uncertainty. But
S3: I want to talk about the positive here and kind
S3: of shift away. I don't want to seem like we're
S3: trying to freak everybody out. Coming up, Doctor Drew Dickens,
S3: our special guest. He's an AI expert. Let's talk about
S3: AI and spirituality. He has a whole podcast on this.
S3: How can we leverage AI to the positive to help
S3: us get stronger in the Lord? Is that possible? Can
S3: I even say that? Let's ask that question coming up.
S1: This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
S2: With us right now. Doctor Drew Dickens, if you listen
S2: to a few moments ago, you could go, oh no,
S2: what is going to happen to me? My job, whatever
S2: the case may be. But what if it could be true,
S2: as it was with the printing press, that we can
S2: take something that appears to be, uh oh, maybe even
S2: a form of something nefarious or evil, but God can
S2: turn it for good. That's the point, right? Ali?
S3: It is. Doctor Drew Dickens with us right now. How
S3: can we leverage AI to help us in our walk
S3: with the Lord? Is that possible? And to some people,
S3: even asking that question seems like some sort of a
S3: crime to even ask.
S12: You know, I'm reminded of the verse in John 18
S12: where Jesus is asked by Pilate, what is truth? And
S12: that is a question I think more. There's so many
S12: easy kind of toss away answers. Well, God is truth,
S12: the Bible is truth, Jesus is truth, and all those
S12: are true. But I think it's an important opportunity. It's
S12: an important time that each of us sit down and
S12: ask ourselves that question in a very serious way, because
S12: it's going to be challenged, whether it's jobs, whether it's
S12: video generation, whether it's, you know, watching the news and
S12: whether that's real or not. I think this, more than
S12: any other time, is an important opportunity to sit down
S12: and ask ourselves, what is truth? So when I say
S12: Scripture is true, God is true. What does that mean
S12: for me? Because that's going to be challenged. We're going
S12: to see videos of speakers of biblical speakers saying things
S12: that aren't true. And as we enter in times we
S12: know that from Scripture, from revelation that we're going to
S12: hear falsehoods. And so any any more time than this,
S12: it's going to be critical for us to sit down
S12: and evaluate our time with the Lord, our time in Scripture,
S12: where we're going to for resources like Moody, what are
S12: these teachers on air that I can trust? And that
S12: group is going to get smaller. And I think we
S12: each need to take the initiative to decide where I'm
S12: going for truth. But our ears are going to be tickled.
S12: They're going to be so many intriguing, alluring kind of
S12: things to look at, to listen to. Um, but what's
S12: the source of it? We're going to need to stop
S12: and ask ourselves that question. And through that, we grow
S12: closer to the Lord. And by the gifting of the
S12: Holy Spirit, we can grow closer to God through this opportunity.
S12: In fact, what an exciting opportunity for us to more
S12: intentionally decide what is truth to me.
S2: Doctor Drew Dickens, our guest right now a expert and
S2: born for such a time as this. You know, it's fascinating.
S2: I was wanting to study Jeremiah 49, the prophecy of Elam,
S2: and that is the Elamites, which is modern day Iran.
S2: And as I was studying that, it's just amazing what
S2: God did for me. I did a deep dive on
S2: I said, give me three different positions on this because
S2: I knew there was were three already fulfilled 600 BC
S2: dual fulfillment. Future fulfillment. Who are the theologians? What do
S2: they believe? What are they postulate and why? And what's
S2: their basic arguments? No joking. It spit it out in
S2: two seconds. Yeah, and then I cross-referenced to make sure
S2: I'm not getting gobbledygook. And it's absolutely scoured the internet
S2: for some of the best theologians. And I got six
S2: different positions, clearly articulated in ways that I never could
S2: have done in four hours with my library.
S12: Yeah, exactly. Yes.
S2: So there's things to leverage here, practically for anyone who's
S2: broken and humbled before the Lord, that we can use
S2: AI in powerful ways to fast track even learning. Right.
S12: Well, and you mentioned grok, and I know you're a
S12: fan of grok, and that's great. That's Elon Musk's, uh,
S12: I exi used to be Twitter. Uh, his model probably
S12: has the lowest guardrails. Uh, so it's going to give
S12: you a lot more information. And boy, kudos to you
S12: for stopping and double checking and cross-referencing those outputs. Perplexity
S12: is another language model that I would encourage everybody to
S12: take a look at. It provides citations. It sort of
S12: looks like Wikipedia at the end. There's almost a bibliography
S12: at the end of it at the end of their output.
S12: So it can it will tell you where it came from.
S12: ChatGPT of course, everybody's familiar with. So there are a
S12: lot of different language models out there for people to use,
S12: and all of them kind of have their specialty, if
S12: you will. And there are a lot of different versions.
S12: Not to get overwhelming with that, but any of those
S12: are a great place to start. And again, just the
S12: speed of you being able to chase a rabbit. You
S12: know how fun is that? When you when you're reading
S12: through Scripture and you see a reference to another verse,
S12: maybe in the Old Testament you're reading the new and
S12: you're like, wow, where did that come from? And all
S12: of a sudden you find yourself in, you know, third
S12: Hezekiah two eight or whatever, and you're like, wow, I
S12: did not I did not know that. And what an
S12: exciting opportunity just to just to get neck deep in
S12: the Word of God and allow it to have that
S12: tool to help you explore.
S3: Doctor drew, you spoke in a recent episode about how
S3: I guided you through grief in the loss of a
S3: family member. Can you tell? Tell us a little bit
S3: about what you shared in that episode?
S12: And by the way, in case any of your listeners
S12: are trying to look up third Hezekiah two eight, that's
S12: not a real passage. I just made that up just
S12: to illustrate the point. But but yes, it was about
S12: a month or so ago, and a friend passed away
S12: and I started to write a text. We've all done
S12: this and just found ourselves unable to find the words. Right? Um,
S12: and it says says that in Scripture about to interpret
S12: the groanings of our heart, you know, to the spirit.
S12: And I found myself just typing, deleting, typing, deleting. And
S12: I thought, okay, well, I'll have I write this text
S12: to one of my closest friends about his wife passing away,
S12: about how wrong is that? Did it. Um, and it
S12: was phenomenal. And I just couldn't send it, you know,
S12: it was like, you know, there's some things that should
S12: be messy and should be hard. I makes everything easier.
S12: And that's going to be, I think, part of the allure,
S12: the tickling of the ear. It's going to be tempting
S12: to take the short road, take take the wide gate,
S12: not the narrow one. And I didn't send it, but
S12: it was interesting to see what a great job it did.
S12: And for me to realize, you know what? I do
S12: need to do some of this the hard way. I
S12: do need to get in there with pen and paper,
S12: and do the hard work of studying and working through
S12: the words. So that was a good lesson for me.
S2: That is so beautiful. Well, we've got a link for you,
S2: boom crew, because some of you are listening to this going,
S2: all right, I might have a little bit of knees
S2: knocking here, but I'm ready to plug in a keyword.
S2: What do you say, Ali?
S3: Well, if you want more, we've got some resources for you.
S3: Doctor Drew Dickens, our guest. We're going to link you
S3: to the podcast and encouraging article and also a book
S3: he has out, whispers of the spirit A 40 Day
S3: Guide to Intimate Prayer. Lots there. Just text the word
S3: drew to 805 555 7898. Text drew to 800 555 7898.
S1: He's a sports fanatic with a stat for anything you
S1: can think of. Young Thunder is in the crew. It's
S1: curling crew on Moody Radio.
S2: Well, this whole week we're going to be giving you
S2: transformational resources. And I'm loving what we're doing here this
S2: week because we're going to give you some tools that
S2: are going to be dynamite all week long. Boy, some
S2: of the stuff that we have lined up for this
S2: week is epic. But I called the young man yesterday,
S2: called a young man, Doctor Michael Ray Melnick.
S3: Yes.
S2: And I said, Michael, could you come on air and
S2: share with us the most transformational tool that God has
S2: used in your life to grow spiritually? He said, I'd
S2: be happy to do that. And I do not know
S2: what it is. So I'm looking forward to it. And
S2: I also wanted him to weigh in a little bit
S2: about what's going on in Israel today, so we're going
S2: to get that for you. It's an important thing, though,
S2: to keep Kingdom focused. I did a quick deep dive
S2: over the last 2000 years. There's been a lot of
S2: things to derail us, but whether it's Augustine with City
S2: of God, whether it's the disciples that were in a
S2: Greco-Roman culture, boy, they didn't lose their focus on kingdom stuff.
S2: It is so easy to look at political landscape, cultural landscape,
S2: geopolitical stuff and get so derailed, is it not, Ali?
S3: You can get stuck in anger. You can get stuck
S3: in fear and uncertainty. I mean, there's a lot of
S3: different emotions you can be feeling if you spend a
S3: lot of time taking in the news. And we absolutely
S3: need to stay informed with what's happening in the world.
S3: But we do not have to give way to anger
S3: or fear or any of the other complex emotions that
S3: we may be feeling.
S2: Amen. That is so true. This is Tyrion. Honestly, we
S2: just need Jesus. Coming up, Doctor Michael Riedel down the
S2: answer in the question. What's the most transformational tool God
S2: has used in your life to grow spiritually?
S1: You're listening to Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
S2: Talking transformational resources all week long. I've got a transformational resource, Ali.
S3: Oh. What's that?
S2: I've got Michael Redlick on speed dial. And you know what?
S2: He's a great sport. He picks up for me all
S2: the time. He goes, what's up? And I go, all right.
S2: Yesterday it was Jeremiah 4932 to the end of the chapter. Ilam, Iran.
S2: And we had a great discussion. Let's get this young
S2: man in here. Michael, what's the most transformational tool God
S2: has used in your life to grow you up with Jesus?
S13: Well, it's good to be with you. I'd like to
S13: say it was you, but, uh. Yeah.
S2: Yeah. Okay, okay.
S13: Listen, the top 100 list, you're the. Yeah, you're you're
S13: big there. You're you're tall. Uh, hey, no one's ever
S13: called me young in a long time, so I.
S2: Thought, I'm just feeling the joy of the Lord. And
S2: I thought I'd spread it around this morning. Michael.
S13: Thank you, thank you. Hey, uh, I'd say, you know,
S13: you guessed it. Uh, I never told you when we
S13: talked about this yesterday, but you guessed. And it's the
S13: word of God. It's the Bible. I think that's the
S13: most transformational tool in my walk with the Lord. Uh,
S13: but it's it's not just reading it. It's reading it
S13: for life. Change is what I think. Uh, I learned mainly,
S13: and I was always told I had to do that,
S13: but it was Howard Hendricks, a professor I had in
S13: seminary that taught us how to read it for life change.
S13: And it it really has made a difference.
S2: And what's what's the difference maker that he gave you?
S13: Well, first of all, there's a book with his material
S13: that people should get. It's a moody publishers book. It's
S13: called living by the book. It's sort of the course
S13: Bible study methods I took with him. It's put into
S13: a book and that's that's just a great tool for
S13: people to use. But one of the things he mentioned,
S13: and I talk about this all the time on Open Line,
S13: my radio program on Saturday mornings is, uh, specs. Uh,
S13: always put your specs on when you read the Bible.
S13: And what that refers to is putting, uh, glasses for
S13: life change. And so, uh, this is the acronym A
S13: sin to avoid a promise to claim an example to follow,
S13: a command to obey, or a statement to believe. Wow. That's.
S2: I'd forgotten that. You're right. Yeah.
S13: And, uh, when I read the Bible, I'm I'm I'm
S13: doing the observation interpretation application, just like I was taught.
S13: But that's what I'm looking for. Uh, I put my
S13: specs on, and I'm trying to not read it just
S13: for information gathering for, uh, you know, to know stuff,
S13: but to experience life change, and that's how I do it.
S13: And I was going to give you an example just
S13: the other day I was reading in Exodus, and it's
S13: sort of like an example not to follow, to be honest. Uh,
S13: I was reading in Exodus six and it's there when, uh, under, uh,
S13: the Exodus six nine, it says, uh, God promised that
S13: he was going to bring the people of Israel out
S13: of their bondage and give them the land that, uh,
S13: that he promised them. And then it says, Moses told
S13: this to the Israelites. Verse nine. But they did not
S13: listen to him because of their broken spirit and hard labor.
S13: And I thought, how often does God have comforting words
S13: for us from His Word? Encouraging words. And because of difficulties,
S13: tough circumstances, tough situations. Do we not want to hear it?
S13: And and how do we make ourselves open in those
S13: tough times. And so then I wrote down, because Howard
S13: Hendricks always said, never read the Bible without a pen
S13: in your hand. How do we make ourselves open when
S13: we're broken? And I began to really contemplate and meditate
S13: on that from the Word of God. What is it
S13: that keeps us open to God's Word when we're broken?
S13: And I and I came up with some steps that
S13: I would take to keep myself open, even during tough times.
S13: And that's that's what I mean by reading the Bible.
S13: I'm not just reading the Bible to fill my head.
S13: I want to change my heart. And and that's what
S13: I'm looking at.
S3: Doctor Michael Riedel, our guest this morning. Coming up, we
S3: have seen a surge in Bible sales. We talked about
S3: this a little bit last year, 22% increase in sales
S3: of Bibles. So I'm going to ask Doctor Michael Riedel
S3: to this, to speak to that person who's getting a
S3: Bible for the very first time has no familiarity, has
S3: not been in a church, doesn't even know where to start.
S3: Do I open it and start at Genesis one and
S3: read it all the way through? What would you say
S3: to the brand new Bible reader that coming up with
S3: Doctor Michael Riedel?
S1: It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
S3: Well, when you've got people on TikTok documenting the purchase
S3: of their first Bible, you know, something shifted a little bit. 22%
S3: jump in Bible sales last year. Doctor Michael Riedel, our
S3: guest right now, I want you to speak to the
S3: person who is maybe purchasing or or opening a Bible
S3: for the very first time. What's the best tool to
S3: help them get a good start?
S13: Well, I would say the first thing to do is
S13: get a Bible that you can read and understand. You know,
S13: some people think, oh, I need to get a Bible
S13: that has flowery language or is the classic authorized version,
S13: I'd say get yourself an understandable Bible. And the way
S13: to do that is pick up something like the New
S13: Living Translation. I also think the one that I was
S13: just reading from the Holman CSB. Very good translation. I
S13: think there are other good translations. I'm not trying to
S13: say those are the only two, but those are easy
S13: to understand. They're in modern language and you'll you'll do
S13: much better with that. Second step is to not just
S13: start in Genesis because that'll be kind of interesting. But
S13: then you'll you'll get to Leviticus and you're like, oh man,
S13: I'm not going through with this. And yeah, and so
S13: or even the second half of Exodus, you may have
S13: a hard time. So what I would say is I read, uh,
S13: from 3 or 4 different sections of the Bible every day. Uh,
S13: and so I read a gospel, an epistle, and I'll,
S13: I'll read from the historical books of the Old Testament,
S13: and then I'll read like Psalms, Proverbs, things like that. Uh,
S13: in the or prophets. And, and this way I'll take
S13: a couple of chapters from the historical books. A chapter from, uh,
S13: that Psalms, Proverbs, that area, and then a chapter from
S13: the New Testament, from the Gospels, and then a chapter
S13: from the epistles. And I'll end up with about five
S13: chapters a day, at least as a minimum. And that
S13: will give me a good smattering of, of, of, uh,
S13: where the Bible is. And this way I'm not stuck
S13: in just one area. It gives you a broader perspective. Uh,
S13: I would say also, uh, get some basic tools for
S13: understanding the Bible. I would say get that book by
S13: Howard Hendricks, which is, uh, really terrific book called living
S13: by the book. And then lastly, uh, what I would
S13: do is just keep reading. Be consistent. Don't think that
S13: that you need to be a genius to read the Bible,
S13: or you need some special skills. The most important skill
S13: you have is the ability to read. And so read
S13: the Bible. Uh, just regularly. And I'll give you my
S13: two rules of biblical interpretation. Ready? If you didn't. Well,
S13: in order to understand the Bible, we must read it.
S13: And then secondly, uh, if you didn't understand it the
S13: first time, read it again. And there we go.
S2: I love it. You know what? That's hope filled. That
S2: is so hope to anyone listening right now. I so
S2: appreciate that. I want to touch on this quickly. I
S2: called you yesterday about Jeremiah 49. You spoke of foreshadowing
S2: because this prophecy here by Jeremiah of Iran called Islam
S2: was not fully fulfilled in 600 BC. And it talks
S2: of the Lord will set up his throne in Elam
S2: and destroy the kings and officials, declares the Lord. But
S2: in the latter days I will restore the fortunes of Elam,
S2: declares the Lord. Speak about. There's a there's a lot
S2: of discussion about how do I read prophecy? Foreshadowing is
S2: a phenomenal statement. Explain what you mean by that.
S13: Well, Genesis 49, where it talks about in the latter days. Okay,
S13: that's talking about the end of days. So, uh, I
S13: see the restoration that's there in Genesis 49 as an
S13: end of days experience. Uh, but one of the things
S13: that we have seen, and this is pretty typical with
S13: biblical prophecy, and it's important to see this. It's not
S13: we don't see the fulfillment. We're not seeing partial fulfillment.
S13: We're not seeing that. But what will happen over time
S13: is that they'll seem to be that the very same
S13: thing that the Bible is talking about kind of happens, uh,
S13: in a, in a historical setting and we say, is
S13: this the fulfillment? And it's not because it doesn't meet
S13: all the requirements. However, it gives us a picture, a
S13: A foreshadowing of what the fulfillment will be. And there
S13: was a guy named Charles Briggs who wrote about this
S13: in a book about 100 years ago. And I was
S13: reading this book for my doctoral dissertation a long time ago,
S13: and I thought, he's exactly right. He's exactly right. So,
S13: for example, uh, the the desolation, the abomination of desolation
S13: by Titus and by Antiochus in, uh, in history foreshadows
S13: an abomination of desolation that the corruption of the temple.
S13: Yet in the future, when a future political ruler, false
S13: Messiah arises and does it now, what they did were
S13: not partial fulfillments. What Titus, the Roman general, did what Antiochus,
S13: the Syrian king, did. They were not fulfillments, but they
S13: were foreshadowings of what that end of days event will
S13: look like.
S2: Yeah, it's so fascinating. One more quick hit. I got
S2: one minute on this one. If you look at Israel,
S2: a lot of people question why are they God's chosen
S2: people when they are so secular and in many ways
S2: God less?
S13: Well, there there are no more godless than any other nation.
S13: Even even.
S2: Gentiles. Yeah.
S13: Yeah, I think we have to keep it that way. Uh,
S13: God chose Israel according to Deuteronomy. Not because they were
S13: better or bigger, but because he loved them. Uh, he
S13: he said this, and it says it even in their
S13: opposition to the gospel in Romans 1128. It doesn't matter.
S13: It says that God still loves them, still chooses them.
S13: If you read Romans 1128, it's very clear. Despite their
S13: opposition to the gospel, that that choice remains faithful. That
S13: it's dependent on God, not the people. And so, you know,
S13: people say it's biblical Israel and modern Israel the same.
S13: I would say biblical Israel, ancient biblical Israel, and modern Israel.
S13: They're both the nation state of the Jewish people. And
S13: so there is it's not exactly the same. Biblical was
S13: a theocracy. Today is a democracy, but it's still the
S13: nation state of the Jewish people. And so we have
S13: to see that connection and those promises that God made
S13: to Israel. God's going to be faithful to them.
S2: Michael Riedel, everybody, great young man. I'm going to keep
S2: calling you that. And thank you for ducking in here today.
S2: Really appreciate your contribution to the show. Michael. Thank you.
S2: We've got a resource for you right now, don't we, Ali?
S3: Yeah, we have that. Michael mentioned that Bible study specs.
S3: If you want that broken down, those things to look
S3: for as you're reading the Bible, just text specs s
S3: p e c s specs like spectacles specs to 855
S3: five 7898. Text specs to 855 five 7898.