S1: Coming to you from the Morning Star Mission sponsored studio.
S1: This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
S2: The amazing thing about coming to belief in Jesus Christ,
S2: which is what? When Thomas asked Jesus, which I again,
S2: I just love Thomas. I gotta say, he asked questions
S2: no one else had the courage to ask. It should
S2: be Doubting Thomas. Okay, if you're calling him Doubting Thomas,
S2: it should have a added parenthetical statement that says Doubting Thomas,
S2: who actually spoke up for all those that didn't have
S2: the courage to ask the same questions. Oh, really?
S3: I mean, yeah, it's true.
S2: Guaranteed. The others are like, yeah.
S3: He asked that and glad.
S2: Oh, he put fingers in there and he's given the affirmative. Whew.
S2: That's good. Yep. He felt his nail pierced hands. Okay.
S2: That's good. Right. Because everybody felt that I would suspect
S2: not everybody, but a few of them did for sure.
S2: I mean, it's just a cool thing, but Peter gets
S2: told by Jesus when he's clarifying where he's going. He says,
S2: Believe in God. Believe also in me. Now that belief
S2: changes things. I mean, and it's not just a theological change.
S2: It is a practical shift. Everything happens differently. Now look
S2: at Paul on the road to Damascus. How did his
S2: career shift?
S4: Oh, in a major way. I mean, he was he
S4: was headed to persecution. He was a persecutor of Christians. Yeah.
S2: I mean, he was persecutor slash he was a what's
S2: it called? Uh, what's the law called when you're is
S2: it what's it called when you're a bystander? Nah, it's
S2: not a bystander. When you're watching a homicide and you
S2: do nothing. What's it called? Somebody help me. That's got
S2: a law degree. 805 five, five, 7898, 805 five, five, 7898.
S2: It's not co-conspirator. It's something else. Anyway. There's a technical
S2: term for it. So at minimum he's that some people
S2: have said he's a murderer. I think directly murder one
S2: he was heading for. But on the on the way
S2: to Damascus clearly. But he was at minimum passive when
S2: Steven was getting stoned to death. I mean, here he
S2: was collecting cloaks.
S3: Yeah. That that rule or that law is, is, comes
S3: from the bystander effect. So Paul wouldn't be a bystander.
S3: But from that, that rule, it's bystander.
S2: Name that we have in our in our system. By
S2: the way, every system is different. Wherever I go in
S2: the world, everybody's got a different.
S4: Where you are. You know, like you think about when
S4: someone commits an armed robbery, they will charge the and
S4: it goes bad and someone dies. The person who's driving
S4: the getaway car gets can get the same charge.
S2: Get the same charge.
S4: Because they were. And so Paul was kind of in
S4: more in that role where he was he was a
S4: not an active participant, but certainly a part of the group.
S3: Kind of like a I.
S2: Know it's called accessory to murder.
S3: There you go.
S4: Accessory.
S2: Accessory to murder. So he was an accessory to murder,
S2: if not a murderer?
S3: Outright, for sure.
S2: And he had a career shift.
S3: Yeah. He did.
S2: And a.
S3: Half.
S5: Big one.
S2: Yeah. I mean, come on. So we were. We were
S2: talking about this, and I want to kick it around
S2: with you boom crew. Because this is an important one.
S2: When you believe in Jesus Christ. Everything changes in your life.
S2: I mean, just take the parable of the soils. You
S2: go from a hard hearted person where you heard about
S2: the scriptures and you heard about Jesus, but the seed
S2: fell on hard soil. Dink dink dink. Satan comes along
S2: and grabs that seed so that, lest it bear fruit. Right?
S2: And then you've got the seed on shallow soil. It
S2: goes into a heart. It's not grounded. Shoots up, says I. Yeah,
S2: I'm all in. And then, you know, by high noon
S2: we're out. And then you've got the third kind of
S2: soil that's described by Jesus, which is the thorny soil,
S2: the worries of this world, the deceitfulness of wealth, and
S2: the desire for other things make it unfruitful. By the way,
S2: do you know what, John Piper? Um, let me go
S2: through the ones that I studied this up on. John MacArthur,
S2: John Piper. Uh, Sam Storms, I don't want to speak
S2: out of turn here, but those I studied all three
S2: of those guys in particular, contemporary kind of theologians, deep thinkers,
S2: all of them put that in the category of three
S2: out of the four heart conditions of soil are lost.
S2: Do not know Jesus. All of them. And only one does.
S2: And that's the one that produces a crop 30, 60
S2: and 100 fold. It's fascinating stuff. So when you're truly
S2: born again, everything changes. For me, it did. I mean, guys,
S2: I went from coke snorting, Crown royal drunk and foolish
S2: man to radically transformed. And my entire orientation of my
S2: world shifted overnight. I mean, overnight in a matter of
S2: six months. Was it six months? In a matter of. Yeah, six,
S2: eight months. I was applying to a Bible college to
S2: go to a Bible college that I told my big
S2: sister who went to this same one. I will never
S2: go to this man. This place is filled with dorks
S2: and weirdos. Those are the.
S4: Exact.
S2: Those are the exact words I told her.
S4: Wow.
S2: And she just smiled at me. She's five years older
S2: than me. She thought I was a knucklehead.
S4: Yeah.
S2: But now I'm at the Bible college that I told
S2: her I would never go to. Why? Because Jesus radically
S2: altered me now. It doesn't mean that you get an
S2: absolute career shift for everyone. Look at somebody. You didn't
S2: get a career shift. You got a career supercharge.
S6: Oh, absolutely. And a mind shift of the career that
S6: I had.
S2: Okay. So really quickly, Hancock Tower, is it called tower?
S2: What's it called?
S6: It was the John Hancock building.
S2: Building?
S6: Yes.
S2: Right.
S6: So. Yeah.
S2: So you're up there. God smokes you 3 a.m. or
S2: something like that.
S6: To about 215.
S2: To be exact.
S6: 2:15 a.m. central. Exactly. Between traffic reports. Absolutely. Smoked me
S6: up and became a Christian as an adult. Cared a lot.
S6: A lot of hate, a lot of revenge in me
S6: just because of things that had happened through my life,
S6: and just keeping that in a backpack like cement and
S6: just carry that all my life. And that night, reading
S6: the Bible between traffic reports and in Romans eight and
S6: just fell to my knees. Let that backpack drop and
S6: never look back.
S2: Yeah. Change the way you related to people.
S6: How I related to people. My heart I mean, I truly,
S6: physically felt warmth. And as I was just sobbing and
S6: had to pull it together to do another traffic report
S6: and then sob some more. Yeah.
S2: Yeah.
S6: But yeah.
S2: Okay, so here's the deal, guys. We got a question
S2: for you here today. How has your spiritual transformation, genuine
S2: faith in Christ, changed the trajectory of your life? And
S2: it could have been career. It could have been something else.
S2: It could have been you stayed in that career path,
S2: but it changed kind of how that thing worked.
S3: Absolutely.
S2: And coming up here in a minute, we're all going
S2: to take a shot at this. Okay. We're all going
S2: to go after it and go, all right. This is
S2: how it changed me. But we want your phone calls
S2: right now.
S4: How did being transformed by Christ change your career trajectory?
S4: 805 0555 7898 800 555 7898.
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: Asking you question. How did being transformed by Christ change
S2: your career trajectory? Now, it may have shifted you to
S2: a whole new job, but it could have changed everything
S2: within that kind of career path that you were on.
S2: But it changed something. Light them up, guys. Phone lines
S2: available eight. Eight. Eight. Excuse me. Let me get you
S2: the right number. 800 555 7898 800 555 7898. Scott
S2: in Illinois. What do you say Scott?
S7: Good morning Carl. A quick shout out to my wife
S7: Lorinda and Lagrange Bible Church.
S2: There you.
S7: Go. And so, um, I gotta say that the age
S7: of 27in 1988, I was driving truck and I got
S7: home and I continued to drive and truck, but started
S7: going to Lagrange Bible and was challenged to go to
S7: the missions field by Walt Unander and a member of
S7: the members of the Men's Prayer Breakfast and others, but
S7: mostly Walt Unander and um, he was sold out on
S7: new tribes and uh, their ethos 360 now. But so
S7: I went to Brazil, and before I went to Brazil,
S7: I met my wife at Lagrange, at, um, New Tribes
S7: Bible Institute in Waukesha, and we got married after we graduated,
S7: and we went to Brazil together for three years. So
S7: I never would have been there if I hadn't gotten saved.
S2: Yeah. That's awesome bro. That is so cool. Scott. Boom, brother.
S2: That's why we call you the Boom crew. Way to go,
S2: my man Tyler in Illinois. What do you say, Tyler?
S8: Hey. Yeah, so I was saved in 2012 after living
S8: a pretty hellish lifestyle. Um, addicted to drugs. Similar to you, Kyle.
S8: But in 2000, uh, I was working as a butcher
S8: at the time. That's a small slaughterhouse in Michigan.
S2: Yeah.
S8: And God just started to transform my life. And he
S8: called me to be a counselor. And I graduated from
S8: Moody in 2018, went back to grad school and became
S8: a therapist. And that's where I'm working today in Evanston
S8: as a therapist.
S2: Wow. From a butcher to a therapist, a chef.
S3: That's so cool.
S6: Story.
S2: Bro. Dog. Way to go. Boom, brother.
S6: Yeah.
S2: Oh, I love this question, man. We've never asked this before.
S4: No, we're asking you this morning. How did being transformed
S4: by Christ change your career trajectory? 800 555 7898 (800) 555-7898.
S1: A basketball mom who's mastered the dad joke. Ali is
S1: in the crew. It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
S2: Okay, guys, um, got a question for you. And this
S2: is so much fun asking you to pour it on here.
S2: You might think, oh, boy, you got too many callers.
S2: We're ready for you. 805, 55, 78, 98. What's the question, Ali?
S4: How did being transformed by Christ change your career trajectory?
S4: 805 55. 78. 98.
S2: Yeah, young thunder man. Give em your story, I love this.
S3: Yeah. So my career didn't change because I'm in the
S3: same job, but my career changed. So I was born
S3: into a Christian home. I was a son of a pastor.
S3: Ministry life was very familiar to me, very comfortable to me.
S3: That's why it wasn't hard to go to Moody Bible
S3: Institute or work on Moody Radio and not know Jesus.
S3: I believed Jesus existed and that he died for my sins,
S3: that he was my Savior, but I just didn't really
S3: have the desire to follow him in my life. But
S3: I still knew all the stuff so I could come
S3: on here and I could talk about it. Be pretty
S3: convincing sometimes to convince myself. Sometimes I wasn't trying to
S3: deceive anybody. I didn't know, and When I came to Jesus,
S3: not just saying I believe you exist and that you
S3: died for me, but that I give my life to you.
S3: Everything changes. I can get up and when I'm driving
S3: into work in the morning, I can pray. God, help
S3: me to glorify you today in the way that I work.
S2: So.
S3: Good. And so I'm doing the same ministry work, but
S3: I'm doing it with a with a heart that is
S3: for God, a heart that's not for Jonathan, a heart
S3: that is wanting to bless others and exalt his name
S3: through everything that I say and do.
S2: Beautiful. How did being transformed by Christ change your career trajectory?
S2: We got time to get in a couple of a
S2: couple more callers here. 800 555 7898 805 55 7898
S2: super day. You got a story and a half?
S6: Yeah. I mean, God changed me. Absolutely. I mean, just
S6: things that I experienced through my life. I just carried
S6: a lot of hatred. I carried a lot of revenge. Um, sarcasm.
S6: Just things were commodity. People were commodity. Commodity. I mean, yeah,
S6: I had some close friends, but I just carried a
S6: lot in my heart. And, um, it was a lot
S6: of anger and darkness in my heart. And I carry
S6: that well into adulthood. And God just used. It was
S6: an overnight shift. I was doing traffic reports in, in
S6: here in Chicago, uh, top of a very famous building
S6: called the John Hancock Building at the time. And between
S6: traffic reports, I spirit led, took the Bible in to
S6: read something to read during the overnight and so convicted
S6: in Romans eight, so convicted in Romans eight that nothing
S6: can separate me from the love of Christ, and to
S6: know that I could be loved unconditionally, that that love
S6: was there for me. That was such a mind blowing
S6: concept for me and my experiences. That was my changing point.
S6: Was that love, that power of love of Christ to
S6: go to the cross for me, to want to spend
S6: eternity with me. To know that that love is never changing.
S6: No matter what I do, I am still loved. That
S6: just blew circuits for me and I just fell on
S6: my knees bawling and said, you know what? I'm done on.
S6: I am done on the hamster wheel, I am done,
S6: I am done, I everything I did for myself, I
S6: went in the wrong direction. The wrong relationships. Just wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong.
S6: And I just surrendered it all, put my hands up,
S6: physically cried, gave it to him and I seriously felt
S6: a warmth and I felt cement come off my back.
S6: It was amazing. Amazing experience and from then on just yes,
S6: I stayed in radio. Absolutely. But how I did my job,
S6: why I did my job, and most importantly, how I
S6: acted towards those I worked with changed immensely. I mean,
S6: I even went back to people and apologized.
S3: For.
S6: Treating them the way I did treat them. That's awesome.
S6: I mean, I was a manager with no like, ah,
S6: it was very black and white. How I managed and
S6: I apologized to those who I was able to like. Man,
S6: I am sorry. You know your value.
S2: How was that received?
S6: Mixed.
S2: Yeah, because some had a wait and see. It's like right,
S2: who took over this woman who took over?
S6: It did cost me a position.
S2: It did.
S6: It did eventually cost me a position. It really did.
S6: But I just kept working with joy and I just
S6: kept working. I knew the Lord had me there, and
S6: people began to see a difference in me, and it
S6: just changed relationships and it was amazing. Yes, some were
S6: obviously skeptical. Skeptical. Skeptical. There we go. And others? Yeah.
S6: Just going. Okay. Wow. You know, in that situation. But
S6: just kept going at it. And then eventually the Lord
S6: just opened the door for me to come here to Moody.
S6: And here I am years later.
S2: It's beautiful.
S6: And God, I am so humbled and so beyond blessed.
S6: I am very grateful for where I'm at and what
S6: I get to do and why I get to do
S6: it for the people, the boom crew, the listeners.
S2: Here's how this relates to you today. In one of
S2: about three different ways. And you know what? I feel
S2: compelled to do this right now. Here's one way. Some
S2: of you have been in church, but you've never been
S2: in Christ. Like Young Thunder was in radio, but he
S2: wasn't in Christ. Hard to do Christian radio when you're
S2: not in Christ.
S4: Yeah.
S2: With the kind of power. Young Thunder does it now.
S2: And so some of you have this absolute salvation. Hallucination.
S2: You think you see something in you that is not there.
S2: You're not born again. That's a reality. Jesus said many
S2: would be in that boat. Don't wait till the end
S2: to find out. And don't let pride hold you back. Oh,
S2: I know the tendency is to think, well, think, well,
S2: I did this and this and this and this is
S2: what I'm doing right now. Forget what you're doing. I
S2: got one simple question for you. Is it Christ in you,
S2: the hope of glory. Is it his life in you
S2: that's fueling you, or are you living it by your bootstraps? Friend,
S2: today is a day of salvation. This is for you.
S2: I'm going to focus on that one group. The other
S2: two groups are you're born again and, and and you've
S2: not leveraged that career choice that you're in to for
S2: all that God has for you. For some of you,
S2: you're hearing this right now and you're like, oh boy,
S2: young Thunder, Super Story. And the other two callers that
S2: we just had, Tyler and Scott from the boom crew,
S2: you're like, oh my goodness, God's got a career change
S2: for me. Those are great. But for some of you,
S2: you're not in Christ. And so your career trajectory is
S2: being propped up and manifested by your own juice. And
S2: you don't even know what you're missing out on the
S2: life that is found in Jesus. So I'm just asking
S2: you today. Is today the day, my friend, that you're
S2: going to follow Jesus for the first time and the
S2: Spirit of God is speaking to you right now. And
S2: you're like, I've never heard that voice before, and it's
S2: almost audible. And he's saying, come to me, you're weary,
S2: you're heavy laden, and take my yoke on you. Learn
S2: from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart.
S2: You're going to find rest for your souls. For my
S2: yoke is easy and my burden is light. That's what
S2: Jesus is saying to you today. It's time to be
S2: born again. You're saying, Carl, I'm there. Join me in
S2: a prayer right now. Right now. Just a cry of
S2: the heart, Jesus, today I give you all my life,
S2: my career, my resources, my time, talent, treasure every bit
S2: of it. I laying it down at the foot of Jesus.
S2: I give you my life today. I acknowledge, I confess
S2: I'm a sinner and I need a Savior. His name
S2: is Jesus. Today I surrender everything I am to Jesus Christ.
S2: Tell him that. Just shout it out. Driving at home,
S2: at work. Just shout it out. Give it all to
S2: you God. Today I repent, I turn around, I'm no
S2: longer following even a religious scheme, even a cultural vibe.
S2: Today I followed the Savior of the world. And I
S2: pray this over you. In Jesus name, Amen. If this
S2: is you, I want you to do something right now.
S2: We're all about helping you take your next step with Jesus.
S2: For some of you, this is a first step. We
S2: got a great resource. I'm asking you right now, grab
S2: your phone right now, we're going to auto response out
S2: a link that has three embedded links. And in those
S2: links you're going to find great resources, right Ali. What
S2: are the three things they're going to find.
S4: You're going to find help to find a church. You're
S4: going to find what to look for in a Bible
S4: and an opportunity to get a resource that we're going
S4: to send to you to your home. That's going to
S4: give you some encouragement.
S2: Yeah, it's going to it's going to absolutely fuel you up.
S2: So here's what we've got to have you do right now.
S2: Text the word new to 800 555 7898. Text new
S2: to 800 555 7898. Just that one word. New to
S2: 800 555 7898. I know we need some time, so
S2: I'm blowing out news that's coming up here. We're getting
S2: rid of that. Okay. Right now this is more important.
S2: Just text new to 800 555 7898. And you are
S2: now born again because of your proclamation that Jesus is
S2: my leader. I'm repenting. I'm turning around. Look at him
S2: pouring in here. 74.996. 1776 3840 7413 1318 5604. Keep
S2: pouring it on here, guys. Today you're saying Jesus is
S2: my leader. Jesus is my savior. Carl. He's saving my
S2: life right now. 0922. Just text the word new right
S2: now when you can, to 805 five. Five. 78. 98.
S2: Gotta keep it right here. Ali, shout them out here.
S4: We've got. Thank you. 20 1267 and zero two, 73,
S4: 7568 and 7568.
S2: How sweet is this? Wow.
S4: 8932. Just came in 1760.
S2: Just praising God. And by the way, if you're crying
S2: tears right now, that's I get it. It's gonna happen.
S6: Great place to be.
S2: Great place to.
S6: Be. It really is.
S2: 1251 welcome to the family. Just text the word new
S2: when you can. To 800 555 7898. Wow. This is.
S2: We are messengers. Welcome to the family. We'll shout out
S2: more numbers when we get back.
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: Shout out a couple more here. I don't know where
S2: we left off exactly, but 1996, 91, 53, 56, 98, 88, 57.
S2: A lot of people surrendering to Jesus today. Ali.
S4: Yes. 56, 98, 8857, 1251, 94, 67 1760 if we
S4: missed you, apologies. God sees you. Hopefully you got that link.
S2: Yes. Grateful for what he's doing in you coming up
S2: here in just a moment, man. We're praising God. You
S2: want to know who you are in Jesus? Boy, have
S2: we got something for you. Philip miller coming up. This
S2: is Toby Mac. It's called faithfully. God is faithful, isn't he?
S4: Is faithful. Indeed.
S1: He was sharing the gospel on the radio. And then
S1: he got saved. Young thunders in the crew. It's Carl
S1: and crew on Moody Radio.
S2: So get back from vacation. You learn a lot when
S2: you're away. One is you better have ID when you're
S2: going through different checkpoints. You better have ID. I mean,
S2: it's amazing, isn't it? I mean, goodness sakes, if you
S2: don't have, what's the new ID called the real ID. Oh, yeah.
S2: Real ID as opposed to what, by the.
S4: Way, fake ID.
S2: Well, the world are we doing here? So I didn't
S2: have the real ID, but I had a passport. Could
S2: you hold on to that? Right. Because that's who you are.
S2: Is my face is on there. And there's my number.
S2: And it's. I was game from Homer Alaska. And it's
S2: got it all right down there. But you got to
S2: have it. This whole ID stuff is important when it
S2: comes to who we are in Jesus. Ali.
S4: There was a movie that was popular a couple years ago,
S4: and I can picture the scene. And this woman, she
S4: grabs a hold. She's a nanny for this little girl.
S4: And she grabs a hold of the little girl's face,
S4: and she looks at her deep in her eyes and
S4: she says. She says, you is strong, you is smart,
S4: you is important. And it kind of became a meme.
S4: And it was her trying to speak identity into this
S4: little girl and tell her that she was strong, smart
S4: and important. Those were her big three. We've got a
S4: special guest, Philip miller, joining us right now. You have
S4: a big three, and it's a little different from that
S4: popular phrase out of the movie.
S9: Yeah. So, you know, when we look at the Bible,
S9: there's three big core identity needs that lie in the
S9: heart of each one of us, and that is we
S9: need significance, we need security, and we need satisfaction. And
S9: the reality is, all three of those things we're meant
S9: to find in God, in our relationship with him as
S9: his children. And if you think about it, Jesus at
S9: his baptism, you know, the God the Father says, this
S9: is my son. Significance, right? He's beloved. He's we're secure
S9: in his love. Jesus is secure in the father's love
S9: and in him. I'm well pleased. Right. There's there's satisfaction there.
S9: And so the reality is, if we are in Christ,
S9: those statements actually apply to us as well, that we
S9: are God's children. We are beloved in him. We he
S9: is well pleased over us for Jesus sake. And so
S9: the deep identity that we all long for to matter,
S9: for significance, to feel safe in the universe, to be secure,
S9: to be delighted and happy in the world. To be satisfied.
S9: Those deep identity needs are met in God as our father,
S9: and we are his beloved children. That's where our real, deep,
S9: true identity lies.
S2: Philip miller again. Our guest right now, pastor of the
S2: Moody Church. You've still got the up there, right? I mean,
S2: it's got. Oh, yeah.
S9: The Moody church. Yeah.
S2: I love that. Philip, here's what I love. I think
S2: if most people are talking about who we are in Christ,
S2: they go, okay, um, I'm significant. That's good. I'm secure.
S2: That's good. But I am satisfied. I'm not so sure
S2: that makes a list. Why is that so important?
S9: We're made to rejoice. We're made to be happy like God.
S9: God is, um. You know, you read the Psalms and
S9: you see things like delight yourself in the Lord, or
S9: at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. Right. There's abundant
S9: promises that God is the fountain of our satisfaction. We're
S9: made for him. We're made to come alive and and
S9: find joy. That's what the woman at the well was
S9: looking for in all those failed relationships. And Jesus said,
S9: I'm the real deal, right? So we were made for
S9: the Lord himself. And here's what happens, Carl, I think
S9: we wake up in the universe. We're made for God.
S9: We're made to have these deep identity needs met in
S9: relationship with him. But we wake up estranged in the universe.
S9: And so we wake up functionally as orphans, and we
S9: go out and we fend for ourselves and we think, well,
S9: I've got to get significant security and satisfaction on my own.
S9: I've got to go find it somewhere else. And so
S9: we look for anything that will give us promises that
S9: sound like they're plausible. And so we look to career
S9: and romance and relationships and vacations and all the things
S9: that promise to make us happy and significant and safe.
S9: And of course, all those things fail their idols, and
S9: they will never deliver what God alone can give. And
S9: so our orphan hearts, though, create these like habitual patterns,
S9: these muscle memories of like how to cope through life
S9: in the universe and find identity on on our own.
S9: And it never works. And so then at the end
S9: of the day, we come back and we say, wait
S9: a minute, maybe, maybe God is the one we were
S9: made for all along.
S2: Maybe God had something to say here.
S9: Yeah. And here's the thing. Even as Christians, followers of Jesus,
S9: here's what I think. What happens? I think we have
S9: so much muscle memory from living as orphans that even
S9: though we confess Jesus as Lord, we believe in the gospel.
S9: We have this deep muscle memory, these habits of a
S9: lifetime that have programmed us, as it were, to live
S9: as orphans, even though we have the resources of being
S9: children of God at our fingertips. And part of sanctification
S9: growing in Christ is learning to retrain that muscle memory,
S9: so that we learn to look to God for our
S9: significant security and our satisfaction, instead of all the other
S9: stuff that that are the false promises out there.
S2: Oh my goodness. Phillip miller here with us, lead pastor
S2: of the Moody Church downtown Chicago. Coming up here, I'm
S2: going to pin you, pastor. Here we go. How does
S2: this work for you? Because here's the truth a lot
S2: of people just want to know, is anyone else like me,
S2: pastor Miller, just like you. Coming up.
S1: Your shot of hope to help you through the day.
S1: This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
S2: With us right now. Phillip miller. He's pastor of the
S2: Moody Church downtown Chicago. All right, I promised it. Now
S2: we got to deliver. Pastor, we all live this right.
S2: We can all get on tilt. And I love your analogy.
S2: Living as orphans. And we have a memory muscle of
S2: living as orphans. That is powerful. But how does this
S2: work for you? You've been kicked in the teeth, you've
S2: been sucker punched before, and you've got to regroup around
S2: your identity.
S9: So here's what here's my thesis I think for, you know,
S9: these categories, I've given significant security satisfaction. I think one
S9: of those for most people is a primary longing. We
S9: need all three. But I think for one of those
S9: is for most of us going to be dominant. So
S9: for me, it's significance. I want to matter. I want
S9: to know that I count. I want to make a difference.
S9: I want people to say, man, Philip, you know, that
S9: guy's significant, right? So that's the deep longing in my heart.
S9: What I learned as a child was that, you know what?
S9: If I got good grades, if I scored a goal
S9: in soccer, I would get applause. I would get affirmation.
S9: And so I learned this is the formula. If I
S9: want significance, I got to get it from people. And
S9: so I'm going to perform and I'm going to win.
S9: And then I'm going to get the approval and the applause.
S9: And that's going to give me the significance my heart
S9: is longing for. That was my orphan hearted strategy for living.
S9: And here's the reality that echoes into all kinds of
S9: problems in my life, right? Like, like if you have
S9: to win all the time, it makes you a really
S9: bad person. Like, because you'll cut corners, you'll do whatever
S9: it takes to get ahead, and you'll be a really
S9: lousy loser. Like you will not be able to handle
S9: it if you don't get the applause. And it doesn't work.
S9: Like you cannot come in last place, right? And so
S9: it doesn't make you very loving. It makes you very
S9: needy as a human being because you're not just doing things.
S9: You're getting identity from the things you're doing. And so
S9: you have way too much of your self wrapped up
S9: in your pursuits. And it just makes everything unhealthy, right?
S9: So for me as as a pastor, this is honestly Carl,
S9: this is how it works in ministry, I think for
S9: a lot of pastors is like, if people are coming,
S9: if attendance is rising, if programs are working. If the
S9: budget is balanced, then God must love me. Instead of
S9: looking to God for my significance and resting in the
S9: fact that he delights in me for Jesus sake, and
S9: that I'm his child and that nothing can take that away.
S9: And like, that's the highest level of significance I could
S9: ever want. I'm a child of God. Instead of resting
S9: in that, what I've done is I've. I've become an
S9: orphan that's looking for that significance in my ministry. And
S9: now the ministry itself is not just a thing I
S9: do for Jesus. It's something I'm trying to get my
S9: identity from. And so it goes toxic on me and
S9: it destroys me. And of course, it can never give
S9: me what I what I want. And that's where I think,
S9: you know, you can feel it in your own soul.
S9: That's just how ministry can become an idol. And you
S9: can end up really getting toxic as a human being
S9: because you're you're living for the wrong stuff, right? So
S9: for me, I've got to get up every morning and say, God,
S9: I thank you that you love me because you love me.
S9: Help me to serve you today from that acceptance and
S9: not for it. Wow. I'm not trying to get identity
S9: from my ministry. I'm pouring my identity out into my
S9: ministry because my identity is rooted somewhere else. It's rooted
S9: in my relationship with God.
S4: Philip miller, our guest right now, pastor of the Moody Church.
S4: This framework, as a child of God, I am significant.
S4: As a child of God, I am secure, I am satisfied.
S4: Thanks for honestly sharing what it looks like in your
S4: own heart of when you're not secure in this significance.
S4: Quick thought for those listening. What might it look like
S4: for those who are primarily searching for security or satisfaction
S4: and struggling to find it in Christ?
S9: Yeah, it's interesting because there's people in my life that
S9: are wired this way. Like, I have a friend and
S9: she's a security person. She just wants to feel safe
S9: in the world. You know, that's her top value. And
S9: so it's a slightly different set of resources. They're all
S9: in the gospel. The gospel is the same, but the
S9: set of the resources you metabolize are a little bit different.
S9: So I'm I'm looking for significance. I'm like, where does
S9: God validate and give me a sense of identity that
S9: says he matters, right? That's what I'm looking for. This
S9: friend of mine is looking for security. So different verses
S9: will appeal. Like the Lord is my shepherd, I shall
S9: not want. Like he makes me lie down in green pastures.
S9: He restores my soul. He leads me beside still waters
S9: like his rod and staff. They comfort me like the
S9: fact that God is with me always. He will never
S9: leave me or forsake me. That I'm perfectly safe in
S9: his arms in this universe. That nothing ultimately can take
S9: me down because I'm secure in his love forever, right?
S9: Even death itself cannot disrupt the bond that I have
S9: with my Savior. Those are deeply securing truths that help
S9: us remember that we really are safe and that like
S9: a medical diagnosis is not the end of the story,
S9: you know? And so you can face all kinds of
S9: storms in life if you know you're safe in the
S9: arms of the Lord.
S2: It dawns on me that the rich young ruler was
S2: orphaned by his wealth. Yes. He was not secure in Christ.
S2: He did not lean into that so we can get orphaned.
S2: Insecurity in weird, funky things that are actually blessings from God.
S2: But not him. Right, Philip?
S9: Yeah. So, you know, zooming out here, all three of
S9: these deep soul needs significant security satisfaction. I think when
S9: we're an orphan hearted mode, they mainly attach to three
S9: things people, power or possessions. Yes. And and those three
S9: things people power and possessions. They work for each of
S9: those three things. So if you actually think about it,
S9: there's nine sort of permutations here, if you will. So
S9: and what that means is that you can actually be
S9: looking to, let's say, possessions. Let's say you want a
S9: new car. So if you're a significance guy, you're probably thinking,
S9: I need a new car because that's a status symbol.
S9: It's going to show the world I've made it. If
S9: you're a security person, you might need a new car
S9: because you don't want your you don't want to break
S9: down on the road. It's a safety thing for you.
S9: Or if you're a satisfaction person, you're probably buying the
S9: new car because you want to treat yourself. I deserve
S9: to be happy. I worked hard for this, and you
S9: know I deserve a little treat in my life, right?
S9: So here we are buying a car. It's the same action,
S9: but deep down it's doing different things for our soul.
S4: Pastor Philip miller, our guest right now, we want you
S4: to get this in front of you. This is a
S4: great little printout. You can download it on your phone
S4: and keep it on your your device, but I would
S4: highly recommend if you can get to a printer, print
S4: it out so you have a hard copy. Just text
S4: identity to 855 five 7898. Text identity to 855 five 7898.