S1: Coming to you from the Morning Star Mission sponsored studio.
S1: This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
S2: Anyone that's been born of God is now a child
S2: of God. By the way, did we remember this little
S2: something for free here? Not everyone is a child of God.
S2: In fact, we're born with our backs to God and
S2: as enemies of the cross. So children of God are
S2: those that have come to faith to believe that Jesus
S2: Christ died for their sins, rose again, and gives us
S2: victory by relationship through Jesus Christ, filled with the Holy
S2: Spirit sealed in the Holy Spirit. Ephesians one. And that
S2: we will be gathered up together one day with God
S2: in this new Jerusalem. And that's going to be an
S2: incredible ride, man. Not cherubs and little clouds, no entrepreneurism, adventure. Um,
S2: all that was going on in the garden less sin
S2: is going to be there and more. And I think
S2: sometimes we'll look at the garden and we think, oh boy.
S2: Some of you, you know, think about a garden and
S2: you're like, I don't know if I want to hang
S2: out in a garden my whole life. Well, that's not
S2: the New Jerusalem, but the presence of God and the
S2: absence of sin is going to be an incredible ride. Now,
S2: you are children of God, but as children of God,
S2: we want to live in victory. We want to take
S2: hold of the abundant life that Jesus promises. And we
S2: want to have 30, 60, 100 fold. We want to
S2: produce fruit. We don't want to be holding on to
S2: talents that God gave us. We want to be investing
S2: those in a way. Right? So that when the metaphor
S2: is when we go to be with the Lord, he says,
S2: way to go. Well done, good and faithful servant. We
S2: all want to hear that. So the question is, how
S2: do we do that? And if we look at the
S2: Word of God, we find in Second Timothy that we're
S2: called to look at the totality of God's Word and
S2: to glean from those stories all kinds of lessons that
S2: we can take and apply to our life. We're going
S2: to talk about the need to emulate people from Scripture.
S2: Not all aspects of their life, but certain aspects of
S2: their life. So when you look at the life of Abraham,
S2: you find a man who is, wow. He's the father
S2: of all who believe. We find this in Romans. We
S2: find the apostle Paul hearkening back to Abraham over and
S2: over again. We have so much to owe to Abraham.
S2: He is the template for authentic faith. He believed God
S2: and it was credited to him as righteousness. And you
S2: got to ask the question, well, what in the world
S2: did Abraham believe God for? Well, remember this when he
S2: pulled him out of a tent, he said, hey there,
S2: look at these stars. And oh boy, I got to
S2: do a quick bunny trail here. There is more being discovered.
S2: They are now concluding that the density of some stars.
S2: You ready for this? They've underestimated the density. And they're
S2: estimating that some stars density creates such weightiness that a
S2: sugar cube. Of a certain mass of a star could
S2: be millions of tons. Wow. Millions of tons.
S3: That's hard to even get your mind around.
S2: You can't. You can't get your mind around that. I've
S2: been doing a deep dive. Just kind of hobbying around
S2: while I'm on my phone. Just checking out the wonders
S2: of creation. I mean, it's just mind boggling, so I digress.
S2: He shows Abraham all these stars. He says, count them
S2: if you can and you can't. And he said, so
S2: shall your offspring be. Now, could Abraham do that? Could he?
S2: Could he pull that off?
S3: Not in his own strength.
S2: No way could he even get his mind around it.
S3: No.
S2: No. No possible way. So he couldn't do it, and
S2: he couldn't get his mind around it. And he's the
S2: father of all who believe. So I want to give
S2: you a word of encouragement this morning. You might have
S2: gotten up this morning feeling like Carl Ali young thunder
S2: super day. It's the name of our team in here. Man,
S2: I'm against the wall. I'm really up against something. I
S2: can't do it. Great. You've never been more positioned for
S2: God to take over your life and transform you. Bottom line,
S2: till we come to the end of ourselves, we're not
S2: ready to have faith like Abraham. I can't even get
S2: my mind around what a new life would be. Carl. Good.
S2: Now you're positioned for something great. Because the life that
S2: God offers us through His son, Jesus Christ, is beyond imagination.
S2: You can't even get your mind around it. Reaffirmed, by
S2: the way, in Ephesians 320 and 21. And we certainly
S2: can't take hold of it ourselves. It's a gift from
S2: God so that no one can boast. In fact, I'm
S2: going to throw a net out here right now. Ali.
S2: Someone got up this morning feeling like you are so
S2: far from God. I'm telling you, you are not far
S2: from God. You just have your back to God. And
S2: you were born that way. And God wants to reach
S2: into your heart. Today I'll get back to another application
S2: from Abraham here in a moment, but we've got to
S2: do this for someone this morning. You need to know
S2: that God loves you. You need to know that he
S2: cares and that he can transform your life. And I
S2: want you to know that much like Abraham, I know
S2: you feel this morning like, all right, all the promises
S2: of God. I can't even get my mind around them.
S2: I've heard that Jesus saves, and Jesus can transform and
S2: Jesus can set captives free. And, Carl, I've got chains
S2: around me. God can do what you can't. God can
S2: do in the 11th hour more than you can do
S2: in the prior ten. God can deliver you when you
S2: feel like you're absolutely beyond hope. That's the great news
S2: of the gospel. And so I'm just asking you, as
S2: Jesus told his disciples in John 14. Believe in God.
S2: Believe also in me. So let me tell you, the
S2: faith of Abraham is our model. Today is the day
S2: for you to believe that God can do what you
S2: cannot do in your life. And that it's beyond even
S2: getting your mind around how in the world could God
S2: do this? Your act of faith is to say, I
S2: give my life to God totally and completely. You might
S2: have believed in God. But you've never believed God to
S2: really change your life. It's the full surrender of everything
S2: that you are. Everything that you hope. Everything that you
S2: dream to God. And saying, God, you take my life,
S2: you take over. I'm done. And it's admission, isn't it, Ali?
S2: That I'm a sinner. I can't do this because I'm
S2: in the way of this thing.
S3: Yeah. I mean, it's getting to that place where you
S3: realize I have I. There's nothing good in me. I
S3: bring nothing to the table.
S2: Nothing to the table. And that Jesus came as the
S2: perfect sacrifice for our sin. And he died for us.
S2: Died for you. And it's believing that you're a problem.
S2: Jesus is the answer and that you're willing to turn
S2: around from this direction you've been walking and follow Jesus
S2: now the rest of your life. Leaving behind all that was.
S2: And taking hold of all that can be. That's what
S2: God wants for you today. And if that's your heart,
S2: I'm going to pray with you right now. And then
S2: we're going to give you a link. I want you
S2: to get a phone nearby right now. Get get it
S2: in your hand, because we're going to send you something
S2: that's going to help you. But today is your day
S2: of salvation. So I just got three questions for you.
S2: Number one, are you willing to admit today, for the
S2: first time in your life, at the end of the day,
S2: I'm the problem. I'm a sinner and I agree with God.
S2: That's true. Okay. That's awesome. That's a breakthrough and a
S2: half because you're done blaming everyone else or everything else.
S2: And now you're saying it's me. Great. Jesus is the answer.
S2: Do you believe that he died for your sins, truly,
S2: and that his sacrifice is the only thing that could
S2: pay the price to give you this free gift of salvation.
S2: Is that true of you? Good. And are you today
S2: turning around and following Jesus, saying all that I dreamed,
S2: all that I imagined, all that I was working on.
S2: I'm leaving that all behind to follow Jesus Christ. Today
S2: I'm giving my whole life to him for the first
S2: time in my life today. Is that you? Good. You see,
S2: this prayer of salvation is really a cry of the soul.
S2: It's a cry of faith that says I'm done. Jesus
S2: is my answer. Today I follow him. And get your
S2: phone ready. I'm going to pray for you right now
S2: while you're getting your phone ready. And if you're driving,
S2: get to the side of the road right now. Jesus.
S2: Thank you that you took this moment here today to
S2: prompt us to invite our friends to follow Jesus for
S2: the first time ever. God, just like Abraham, they can't
S2: imagine how this is all going to work out. But
S2: by faith, they're believing that you can do what they
S2: can't do. And I give you thanks today, in Jesus name, Amen.
S3: If that's you, we want to send you something that's
S3: going to give you some encouragement, some next steps. Just
S3: text the word new to 800 555 7898. Text new
S3: E to 800 555 7898. You're going to get an
S3: auto reply that has some hyperlinks. Click on each one
S3: of them. How to what to look for in a church.
S3: How do I buy and read the Bible? Text new
S3: to 800 555 7898. Welcome to the family.
S2: Yeah, welcome to the family. Okay. What a great person
S2: to emulate. You're emulating Abraham, who by faith believed God
S2: for something that he could not do, and that faith
S2: was counted to him as righteousness. Way to go.
S1: Your spiritual pit stop to keep you going in the race.
S1: You're listening to Carl and crew.
S3: What attribute of a person in Scripture would you most
S3: want to emulate? Got a couple text messages. This one
S3: says Elihu from job.
S2: Yeah. Yeah.
S3: Huh? Is that his boldness to deliver the heart on
S3: popular truth to job and his friends? He was considerably younger. Uh,
S3: very young in comparison. But he knew and admitted he
S3: was not on their level, but in their culture. He
S3: was risking his very life to do what he did.
S3: But he boldly gave them the truth anyway.
S2: He gave it to him straight up. He cuts to
S2: the chase and all the bravado of job's friends and
S2: all the junk that was going on. He was a
S2: voice of reason.
S4: I love that.
S2: That's a It's a great character.
S4: You know, for me, I think the faith of Peter
S4: is what I want to emulate. I the the first
S4: set of verses that came to my mind were John
S4: 67 through 69, where Jesus says to the disciples, do
S4: you want to go away as well? After all, these
S4: crowds just left him because of some difficult teaching he gave.
S4: And Peter said, Lord, to whom shall we go? You
S4: have the words of eternal life, and we have believed
S4: and have come to know that you are the Holy
S4: One of God. That even after all these people are like, nope,
S4: we're done, we're out of here. That Peter is like, no,
S4: we believe you're you're the Messiah. You have the words
S4: of life and we're going to stick with you. I mean,
S4: that would have been hard to do. Yeah. And I
S4: want that faith, too.
S2: Yeah. That's beautiful. I mean, he was he was a
S2: pistol man. Peter. Something else, a biblical character that I
S2: really drilled deep on was Abraham. And there's an aspect
S2: of Abraham that I've never discussed before on radio. And
S2: I think it's often overlooked because we look at Abraham
S2: as the father of all who believe. Yes. And we
S2: look at his belief that is coined in Genesis 15,
S2: verses one through three, I believe. And then it's repeated
S2: by the apostle Paul in Romans and then again in
S2: the other letters. It's he's a champion of authentic faith.
S2: And by the way, if Abraham is the father of
S2: all who believe his life and what he believed God
S2: for is a template for us to follow, and I
S2: think it's the best biblical template you can possibly have.
S2: Just take everyone back to that aspect of his life.
S2: But the other thing that's often overlooked is his humble
S2: dependence on God. Think about it. Genesis 12 one through four.
S2: He not only believed God, he immediately left his home
S2: and his family, and he sojourned away to a place
S2: that he did not even know. You look at Genesis 13.
S2: Deference in conflicts. His nephew lot. He let him get
S2: the prime land while they were sojourning, and he didn't
S2: need to. He could have pulled rank and said, no,
S2: get him behind me, young man. But he didn't. Sodom
S2: and Gomorrah. He appealed to God. God, if there's just
S2: a few righteous here, would you spare this city? Right?
S2: Just humbly yielded to God. Acknowledgement of God's role. He consistently.
S2: This is Genesis 1422 through 23, gave credit to God
S2: for the blessings and successes that he had. He even
S2: told the king of Sodom, don't tip me, man, this
S2: is all from God. He's a this is big stuff.
S2: Willingness to sacrifice Isaac. That's humble dependence, man. Humility and
S2: relationship with God. Seen over and over again. Ongoing prayer. Worship.
S2: Building altars to honor God. His life characterized humble dependence
S2: in a big way, and I think what gets overlooked
S2: is he's the father of all who believe. So we
S2: look at him as a template of of belief, but
S2: he's a template of humble dependence, like on steroids. This
S2: guy was he clung to God. And I think one
S2: of the biggest things is his deference to lot. You know,
S2: lot was a reckless guy, and he could have said,
S2: sit down, young man. I'm your senior. No, you're not
S2: getting the prime land. And by the way, God's already
S2: spoken to me. Every time you try to pull this
S2: kind of stuff, you're going to get your turkey in
S2: a squisher. No, he let him go out and taste
S2: it himself. He was quite a guy.
S3: And you and you think about Abraham. Was he was
S3: he perfect? No. Certainly not. And he had moments of
S3: of doubt.
S2: Unbelief.
S3: Unbelief where he, you know, tried to kind of maneuver
S3: things and to try to speed up what God was,
S3: had promised him. Yeah.
S2: I mean, there were a lot of aspects of Abraham,
S2: as with any human being that you can look at
S2: and go, ooh, that wasn't so great. But repeatedly, you
S2: see a humble dependence at critical moments that are unbelievable.
S2: Really cool. So think about it today. Who are you emulating?
S2: And why don't you grab Abraham's humble dependence today? Just
S2: think about that. Yes, he's the father of all who
S2: believe his faith is a template. And by the way,
S2: you might be wondering, well, what did he believe God for?
S2: Because that's what you got to ask. You believe? Well,
S2: what what's the content of his belief? He believed God
S2: for something that was beyond imagination. He couldn't get his
S2: head around it. And there's no way he could have
S2: pulled that promise down from heaven to earth. It was.
S2: It was humanly impossible. And oftentimes we're wanting to kind
S2: of add a little guide to our life, but from
S2: the life of Abraham, we see that Abraham believed God,
S2: and what that meant was a total and complete surrender
S2: to a sovereign God, and only he he alone could
S2: give him the very gifts that he promised him. It's
S2: a beautiful picture. Look at these characters in Scripture and
S2: you find evidence after evidence of someone that we can emulate,
S2: or an aspect of their life that we can emulate.
S2: Pretty cool, isn't it?
S3: It is. And so as you're reading Scripture today, that's
S3: a little that's a little challenging challenge for you. Who
S3: are you reading about and what can you pull out
S3: from their life and go, yes, Lord, today, give me this.
S1: This is Curl and Crew on Moody Radio.
S2: Think about it. Who's that.
S1: Person from.
S2: Scripture that you would love to emulate? Maybe not all
S2: their life, but at least a portion of it. You go, man,
S2: that one right there. Let's go to the phones. Nikki
S2: in Lockport, Illinois. What do you say?
S5: Hi. I, I thought of Esther because of her. Her
S5: amazing courage and her gumption to stand up for her people,
S5: for such, you know, such a time as this.
S2: Yeah. Hadassah was her Hebrew name. Esther. You're right on. What?
S2: A woman became queen and saved the Jewish people from annihilation. Quite. Can't.
S2: I bet you're looking forward to meeting Esther in the
S2: New Jerusalem. Nikki?
S5: Yes, yes I am.
S2: That's so cool.
S5: One of my favorites. I love that whole story.
S2: The whole story is epic. It's the whole book named that. Guys,
S2: check it out. Esther. What a woman.
S3: Let's go to Randy. First time caller from Illinois. Tell
S3: us who's the person and what attribute.
S6: Yes. Uh, my my person would be Caleb. I'm a
S6: pastor in my 60s, and I really want to be
S6: a Caleb. That when I'm in my 80s, there's still
S6: some hill country to take.
S3: I love that.
S2: Isn't that great? You're with me, Randy. I can ask
S2: you this because you've been a pastor a while, haven't you, Randy?
S6: Yes.
S2: How old are you?
S6: 64.
S2: You're my age on the button. But let me go
S2: back to this. This observation of Caleb. Isn't it funny
S2: how when we get older, we start looking at different
S2: attributes of people? Because you didn't think about Caleb when
S2: you were 40?
S6: No, I didn't. Yeah.
S2: It's a cool thing. How long have you been pastoring? Since, uh,
S2: early on.
S6: I've been preaching every Sunday since I was 20 years old.
S2: Oh, my goodness, faithful man. Way to go, Randy. I'm
S2: proud of you. Thank you. Thank you for being so faithful.
S2: May God bless you this year, bro.
S6: Yeah. Thank you. God bless you guys.
S2: Uh, Rick in right here in Illinois. What do you say?
S2: Who's that biblical character you look at and go, I
S2: want to be like that.
S7: Oh, the woman at the well, man, you know, it's, uh,
S7: her life was a train wreck. Jesus comes to her,
S7: she's transformed. She goes, tells her whole village about Jesus,
S7: they get transformed. And and historically biblical history, you know,
S7: tells us that her name was Photina and she was
S7: considered on par with the apostles. She was a powerful
S7: woman of God, and she was a train wreck. And
S7: she became an a seller.
S2: You know, that's a great word. Yeah, I did I
S2: saw that you called in and I heard that you
S2: I didn't know who in the world identified her name.
S2: But in Eastern Orthodox tradition, Photina is her name, and
S2: it means enlightened one. And again, we don't have any inspired,
S2: canonized word of God that says that. But the early
S2: church saw her as a rock star of a hero.
S2: And she was. I mean, this is a woman that
S2: her testimony is Randy, Rick just said, turned a whole
S2: city on to Jesus.
S3: It's unbelievable.
S2: It's unbelievable. You know what's great about her story? Although
S2: her life was a train wreck when Jesus spoke into
S2: her life. She's like, I got no more shame. Let
S2: me tell you. The real skinny on this thing. It's powerful.
S2: Bernadette in Indiana. What do you say, Bernadette?
S8: Um. Joshua, do not be afraid. Do not be discouraged.
S2: Yeah. And give us your thoughts on that one. He
S2: was not only told that, but he did that, didn't he?
S8: He did. He did? Yeah. It's just it's so challenging
S8: to do what God says to do it. There's no question,
S8: no hesitation. Just do it. And I wish that I
S8: could just do that in life, the way the world
S8: is right now with little kids. Everything is just very
S8: hard to have that strength, not be afraid and not
S8: be discouraged.
S2: Yeah. Right on. Bernadette. Way to go from Indiana. Um, awesome.
S2: Because he did. I mean, why did God tell Joshua
S2: not to be afraid or discouraged?
S3: Because the tendency was going to be to be afraid
S3: and discouraged.
S2: The giants were still there. Yeah.
S4: Yeah.
S2: And it's funny because he and Caleb were they were
S2: the two guys that came back and said, look, there's giants,
S2: but have you seen the fruit and the the scarcity
S2: mindset dudes want out cost them 40 years in the wilderness.
S2: That was a big decision.
S4: Yeah.
S2: So the Giants were still there. And that's why God
S2: had to breathe some courage into him. But Joshua ultimately
S2: went for it.
S4: Yeah. And I mean, he was 40 years older than
S4: when he went into the towns as a spy the
S4: first time. And and so that may have been a factor.
S4: And then you spent 40 years in the wilderness, which
S4: is can get kind of comfortable. Hey, at least out
S4: here I'm not being attacked, you know. So there are
S4: plenty of reasons we have to feel comfortable and get
S4: afraid of the change that God's bringing into our lives.
S4: But we can be courageous.
S2: Yeah, they had battles in the wilderness, for sure. But,
S2: I mean, it wasn't anything like they were going to
S2: face when they crossed the Jordan. But the interesting thing
S2: is that You're right. I hadn't even thought about that.
S2: What a great layer to this thing. He's 40 years older. Yeah.
S2: All that vim and vigor of his youth is now
S2: worn off. And he's like, hey, boy, that fruit looked good. Caleb.
S2: It was good fruit, right? Yeah, it was Joshua. Promise
S2: you it was great because. Have you seen those guys?
S2: Suckers are huge. Yeah, and they're mean. You see what
S2: they do to their own people.
S4: Mhm.
S2: Yeah Joshua I do, but we can do this I
S2: promise you. I'm not sure anymore bro. That was 40
S2: years ago I mean think about these conversations.
S1: Get to know the team behind the scenes. Follow Carl
S1: and crew on Facebook and Instagram.
S2: Who's your hero as a kid growing up?
S3: Ellie that's a good question. Honestly. My hero was my
S3: older sister.
S2: Yeah, yeah, that's right.
S3: I'd forgotten that. You know, she was two years older
S3: than me and in my mind, she was everything that
S3: I felt like I wasn't.
S2: Can I do a dad moment? Give me permission.
S3: Well, wait. Okay, sure. Go ahead.
S2: Alli's sister, Erica, was Miss America.
S3: Yes, that is true.
S2: She was Miss America.
S3: She was. But this was even before.
S2: I met her. Not that I'm name dropping or anything,
S2: but I've met Erica.
S3: And this was well before. Yes, she won this big
S3: pageant a while ago.
S2: But this was.
S3: Well before that.
S2: Isn't she an attorney?
S3: She's an attorney. And so. But growing up, she just.
S3: She was so bold and so confident, and.
S2: She just went for it in.
S3: Life. And so she was such a leader. And I
S3: was naturally really quiet and shy. But I always wanted
S3: to be the bold one. And so I would just
S3: watch what she did.
S2: And try to emulate.
S3: It was very gracious in trying to kind of bring
S3: me along. So I was like this little kid in
S3: the shadow of my older sister, but she was always
S3: trying to kind of push me out to, to be
S3: my own person.
S2: That's cool.
S3: But she was my hero.
S2: Young Thunder, who Thunder. Who is your hero?
S4: It's a good question. I don't.
S2: I was just to let you off the hook. I
S2: was cogitating on this one, too. Yeah. And my heroes
S2: were probably Jerry rice.
S4: Yeah.
S2: Uh, because he was a phenomenal wideout. And so I
S2: would have these seasonal heroes. I never had one of
S2: these superhero heroes. I always thought that was weird.
S4: Yeah. No, I.
S2: Mean, why would you idolize Superman? He's a fictitious character.
S4: A fictitious character. I think there's qualities that you admire.
S4: You want to be a hero. You want to. You
S4: want to be a hero yourself.
S3: You never threw on a cape as a kid. No, really?
S4: Oh, I totally did that. I was big on Batman. Yeah.
S2: When I, when I, when I, when I got dressed up, I.
S2: The craziest thing I ever did was I went as
S2: a fur trader trapper. And I talk about how things
S2: used to be. No joking. I took in I took in,
S2: I had pelts that my dad had because he had
S2: he had tanned some game that he had gone and hunted.
S2: So I went into I went into O'Malley Elementary School
S2: for the kind of the the Halloween dress up thingy,
S2: and I had pelts all over me.
S3: Real fur.
S2: Real fur. Wow. And, uh, and I had, you know,
S2: cords wrapped around for a belt. And then I had
S2: traps dangling off my belt, which were traps. They were
S2: iron traps.
S3: This feels very Alaska. Yeah, very, very Alaska.
S2: And the only thing the teacher told me is then
S2: don't set the traps.
S3: Otherwise, the only thing.
S2: They didn't tell me to check him at the front desk.
S2: They just said, don't set the traps.
S3: Interesting. Okay. So you. That would mean you at least
S3: looked up to.
S2: Well, I looked up to adventurers. Oh, okay.
S3: That makes sense.
S2: So I think that was, you know. What about you? Superdog?
S9: I'm trying to think, too. Yeah. They weren't like, you know,
S9: animated characters.
S2: So some Greek scholar.
S4: Socrates.
S9: I think it was because I was so into music,
S9: even very young. So it had to be like musicians, dancers, Nureyev,
S9: Mikhail Baryshnikov, things like that. That that would be to
S9: me what would be the people that were running through
S9: my mind? Like I said, musicians, people heard on the radio,
S9: that kind of thing.
S2: Coming up, we've got a real group of heroes here,
S2: and it's found in acts 17, so I don't leave
S2: you dangling here. But in acts 17, verse ten through 15,
S2: we get a picture of some real heroes, and they're
S2: kind of like surprising heroes, right? Isn't that a good
S2: way to say it?
S4: Yeah. For sure.
S2: Because you might go, well, what's heroic about them? We'll
S2: break it down. Coming up. Wasilla, Alaska. One theater, one showing.
S3: Is this the Star Wars theme?
S2: Yeah, man.
S4: No, it's a Superman.
S3: Oh, Superman.
S4: This is Superman.
S2: I'm sorry. You see, I don't know my superheroes really well.
S2: I thought that was Star Wars.
S4: No. It's close. It kind of sounds a little Indiana
S4: Jones y.
S9: Yeah. Yeah, that's what I was thinking.
S4: But, man, maybe the.
S2: Star.
S4: Wars. You want some Star Wars? Yeah. All right, give
S4: me a Star Wars.
S3: I don't know that stuff, but, I mean, it has.
S3: It does have.
S2: Stuff.
S3: I've never seen it, but it does have a very
S3: hero vibe to it.
S4: She's never seen Star Wars.
S3: Yeah.
S9: Back it up.
S4: You need to change that.
S9: Not one. One of them.
S2: And you're getting on him for never watching Mary Poppins
S2: or whatever it is.
S3: Sound of.
S2: Music. Sound of music?
S4: Yeah.
S3: Classic.
S4: So is Star Wars.
S2: I think. Yes. That would fall into the classic category.
S4: This is Star Wars.
S3: Oh, they do sound very.
S4: They're very close.
S2: Somebody ripped someone off.
S4: You know what? I bet they're the same composer. I'm
S4: gonna check. Because I feel like composers often have kind
S4: of the same sound or theme. Yeah, yeah.
S2: You know, all this stuff. I mean, there's something about.
S2: I mean, what? Remember the mean Joe Green Coke commercial?
S9: Oh, that was so good.
S4: Hey, kid. Catch.
S9: Yes.
S2: I mean, the kid was just changed for the rest
S2: of his life. Now, the kid was fictitious.
S4: And he got paid.
S2: An actor, but whatever. But it was a great story.
S2: I mean, there's something.
S3: Powerful about looking to someone else who's doing something that
S3: you think. Man, if only I could be like that someday.
S2: We got it for you. Take it away, Ali.
S3: Acts 17. Starting with verse ten, the brothers immediately sent
S3: Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. And when
S3: they arrived, they went into the Jewish synagogue. Now, these
S3: Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica. They received
S3: the word with all eagerness, examining the scriptures daily to
S3: see if these things are so.
S2: Boom! Okay. Eagerness. Reception. Checking it out. It was kind
S2: of reaganesque. Trust but verify. And we know because of.
S2: And this is where when you begin to read the
S2: scriptures in context, you discover stuff that's really cool. So
S2: Paul and Silas came to Berea on the second missionary journey,
S2: and he actually kept Silas on and called Timothy in.
S2: And here's why they were so hungry for the Word
S2: of God. They brought more teachers in to say, all right,
S2: let's break it down for you. So we don't know
S2: how long they were there, but we know that this
S2: church grew mightily in the Lord. Why? Because they were
S2: checking it out for themselves. What a heroic thing to emulate.
S3: And when you think about your time taking in or
S3: radio shows or podcasts or a sermon on a Sunday,
S3: this is a great practice to receive the word with
S3: all eagerness, and then go examine the scriptures to see
S3: if what you're hearing lines up with the Word of God.
S3: Not only is it just a great way to make
S3: sure that you're hearing truth, but it also enriches you
S3: personally when you don't just hear somebody else say what
S3: the Bible says, but you actually see those words jump
S3: off the page to you.
S2: You're right on. And that is absolutely true. This is
S2: why doubling down and taking the time to either revisit
S2: a message from Sunday, or to have the Bible open
S2: and see along with them. Okay, this does jive. There's
S2: something it takes it from auditory to some new kind
S2: of tactile thing that you're doing that gets that thing
S2: embedded in your soul. It's worth it, guys. So let's
S2: make them our heroes today.
S3: Be like the Bereans.
S2: Yeah, be like the Bereans.
S1: Walking closer to Jesus every day. You're listening to Carl
S1: and crew.
S2: We're talking about emulating people and events in Scripture, and
S2: the tendency is to look at some events in Scripture
S2: and some of the truths that we find in God's
S2: Word and actually believe. Oh, isn't that great that that
S2: happened then?
S3: Yes. As if somehow there's a we serve a different God,
S3: or I mean, we can even chalk it up to, well,
S3: we just live in a different time. And so therefore
S3: maybe the expectations a little different now.
S2: Yeah. We're in the Age of Enlightenment. That's what we
S2: are in the West. And enlightenment has put the construct
S2: of God in a box by virtue of the fact
S2: that it is a closed system by which we operate
S2: in it. This is why all self-help books leave no
S2: room for anything supernatural. It's about grinding and chunking in
S2: this little box that we have right here. And it
S2: felt prompted. Boom crew of the spirit yesterday when I
S2: was walking out of here and I just felt deeply prompted,
S2: I got to get Ahold of Doctor Samuel Niemann, and
S2: I think we need some back story here. Thank you, brother,
S2: for coming in today.
S10: You're welcome. Carl.
S2: I think we need some back story here, because it's
S2: almost as if we need to be challenged deeply in
S2: the West. Not that we don't have enough resources, but
S2: that we've diminished the God of all resources. We need
S2: to be challenged to look at what God is doing
S2: around the world. So I want you to back up
S2: for those that are new to you. Doctor Damon, a
S2: great professor here at Moody Bible Institute, has a phenomenal
S2: outreach center right here in Chicagoland to people primarily from
S2: the Middle East. But give us your heart as a
S2: kid growing up, from from being raised and really steeped
S2: in Islam, at least your daddy was. And in Pakistan.
S2: Tell us, tell us your story.
S10: Yeah. I was born and raised in Pakistan. My dad
S10: was a former Muslim. He came to Christ. So thank
S10: God I was raised in a Christian home, accepted Christ
S10: as a nine year old kid in a devotional and
S10: serve the Lord with crew and an Om. And then
S10: my younger brother was martyred, shot and killed by Muslim extremists.
S10: But even at that early age, Carl, I saw God's
S10: hand in many situations. I remember coming, we were coming from,
S10: from from a village after an evening meeting and we
S10: crossed a bridge. And my dad, it was kind of
S10: getting chilly. He said, you know what, I'll just close
S10: this window of the car. And three seconds later the
S10: glass just shattered. Someone had shot us. Someone had shot
S10: at our vehicle. And somehow, by God's grace, he, you know,
S10: the Lord prompted him to just close the window and, uh.
S2: It protected.
S10: Your life. It protected us. I mean, I, I have
S10: seen God's hand in many situations in Pakistan, in many
S10: other countries. I've met many people who have seen God
S10: work and who are seeing God work even now in
S10: their life.
S2: You know, it's interesting, the central passage I was going
S2: to use. Ali knows that this is one of my favorites.
S2: It's it's a story out of Second Kings, and it's
S2: about four lepers, and it's about a city that was
S2: under siege by Ben-hadad, a Syrian king. And these four
S2: lepers begin to shuffle their feet, knowing we're dying here.
S2: Let's just go to the Syrians. Just. We'll just go
S2: over there. And as they walk there, God supercharged the
S2: sound of their feet to sound like armies and cause
S2: them to flee. Now that's a miracle. Yes. And a miracle.
S2: I want to give a definition here. Boom! Crew, before
S2: we go on with Doctor Samuel Naaman. A definition that
S2: I felt prompted to write down is this. It's it's
S2: an interruption of natural law and common expectations to bring
S2: validation to God's transcendence. Confirmation of Jesus's deity and salvation
S2: to the lost. So as we think about miracles, it
S2: is truly God intervening in our system for which he
S2: set up the system to move extraordinarily and uncommonly, and
S2: in ways we might not expect. And what a tremendous
S2: discussion we get to have this morning.
S3: Doctor Norman, you mentioned your brother, and I know many
S3: people listening for the first time are going to hear
S3: that and go, whoa, wait. What do you mean? Your
S3: your brother was martyred for his Christian faith. Uh, tell
S3: us a little bit more about what happened and what
S3: that did to your faith.
S10: Yeah, yeah. So, you know, we were very active in
S10: our ministry in Pakistan, and my father started getting threatening
S10: letters from the underground Muslim movement that, uh, and many
S10: people came to Christ from the, from the majority religion.
S10: So he was warned that he should stop the work
S10: and leave the city. And if that doesn't happen, they'll
S10: kill their son. Because they knew that I was studying
S10: in South Korea. And of course, my father himself, who
S10: was a former extremist, didn't budge. And he said, no,
S10: I will continue to serve the Lord. And then they
S10: carried out that threat. Now I had two options, right.
S10: Either we will be exactly. Either we will be very
S10: bitter or I will be very bitter and angry and quit.
S10: I had finished my team was accepted for my doctoral work,
S10: but I, I believe, I firmly believe that the martyrdom
S10: of my brother gave me a new zeal and passion
S10: to hands off evangelism. You know, just gloves off. Whatever happens,
S10: happens because there is nothing else to offer. Now. There's
S10: nothing else to give. I mean, what worse can it?
S10: What worse can happen to me, you know? But God
S10: has been I mean, he passed away in 1990. I mean,
S10: it's 2024 and the Lord has taken me to crazy
S10: places in strange situations. And I firmly believe that when
S10: the time will come, yes, I'll go home to be
S10: with him. But till that happens, I'm not going to stop.
S10: I'm not going to stop.
S2: The interesting thing about that is that that could have
S2: been a point in time when you saw God's hand
S2: not choose to intervene and block that bullet. But the
S2: bullet took your brother? Yes. But you did not stop
S2: believing the God of miracles. No. Why?
S10: Why? Because he. You know, I have seen his his
S10: blessings so many times, Carl. And even after that, even
S10: after that, I have seen his his amazing power in
S10: so many ways. Praying over people. And I'm not a,
S10: you know, divine healer or TV. God is, God is.
S10: And you know, I also believe that as we were
S10: having conversation before we came on air, he chooses to
S10: act where he chooses to act, and he will, regardless
S10: of our understanding or not, he will. And I believe
S10: that that in the non-Western world, when when we quote unquote.
S10: Are not enlightened. Thank God, if in enlightenment takes us
S10: away from the. From the God of the Bible, we
S10: don't need that kind of enlightenment, believe me. With due
S10: respect to my Western friends, people believe when they pray,
S10: they believe that God will intervene and he does intervene.
S10: He does intervene. He does protect and he does heal
S10: in many different. And he does saves people in gospel
S10: proclamation ministry globally wherever we go.
S2: Uh, it's interesting because Craig. Craig Keener, great theologian, phenomenal scholar,
S2: a highly respected man of God, has written in his
S2: book Miracles Today. Full citation of modern day miracles. Even
S2: the raising of the dead. Sure. What is it that
S2: we're going to need to do here? To kick this
S2: box open of the incredible shrinking God that we have
S2: in American Christianity in. The irony is we have everything
S2: resource wise, and yet we limit the God of all things.
S10: I think the problem, Carl, I feel, is that, as
S10: you just said, as we have everything, we feel that
S10: we don't need God's intervention. We can resolve, we can
S10: resolve it. We can go to a doctor. We our technology,
S10: and we can solve every problem. But I think for
S10: us in the West, the basic the first thing is
S10: this we come to the throne of grace, to Calvary
S10: in all humility and say, Lord, we are helpless and
S10: hopeless without you, and we need you in a fresh way.
S10: It happened, it happened. Great awakenings, you know. So it's
S10: not that it cannot happen again. The revival cannot come again.
S10: I believe that when we humble ourselves, go before the Lord. Lord,
S10: these are all my gifts. I bring it to you.
S10: I need you in a fresh way. He will meet us,
S10: I firmly. And by the way, things happen in the
S10: West also. I mean things happen in our do. Things
S10: happen for the last 30 years that we have our
S10: South Asian Friendship Center in Chicago. And amazingly, things happen
S10: among the Muslims and Hindus. We when we had our bookstore,
S10: you know, for 20 years on the street, people used
S10: to come to us for prayer and there was a
S10: common understanding in our neighborhood. You go to SFC and
S10: things change.
S2: Oh.
S10: Right. Here in Chicago.
S2: That's.
S10: The expectation right here or right here in Chicago. And
S10: we saw happening we saw God healing marriages. That's a miracle.
S10: We saw healing physically. Yes. We saw people coming out
S10: of trauma. We saw abuse going away. Of course, in
S10: many situations we saw God, God intervening. Right here in Chicago.
S10: And I can give you example after example.
S3: You know, when you think about a miracle coming up,
S3: let's talk about what what should our expectation be. Because
S3: some would say every morning that you wake up and
S3: take a breath is a miracle, that when you see
S3: a sunrise or a baby born or snowfall or there
S3: are so many miracles that happen every day. So what
S3: should our expectation be? Should we be satisfied with those miracles?
S3: Or should we actually expect more? Coming up, we've got
S3: more with our special guest, Doctor Samuel Naaman.
S1: Tune in whenever you like. Check out the podcast wherever
S1: you like to stream.
S3: You know, I think back to a time where I
S3: had a cousin who was very ill and who was
S3: told had hours to live. And of course, we did
S3: what we're supposed to do as Christians. We were praying.
S3: But if I'm honest, the prayer was perfunctory. We we thought,
S3: this is his time.
S2: Sure.
S3: And then I got a phone call that miraculously, he
S3: was sitting up in bed. He was talking. He was
S3: drinking orange juice. And my daughter, who was about four
S3: at the time, she's sitting there listening to me go. What? No. No. Really?
S3: So I get off the phone and she's excited. She goes,
S3: what happened? What happened? And I told her and she goes, well,
S3: but we prayed. Why are you surprised? And her question
S3: was so honest. It was convicting to me because her
S3: thought we prayed. So of course. Yeah, but now you're shocked.
S3: And it challenged my faith doctrine. Our guest this morning.
S3: Oftentimes we pray but don't necessarily expect God to answer.
S10: We don't Ali. And see the faith of a four
S10: year old child. Your daughter. She knew in her childhood
S10: that when we pray, the Lord will respond and God
S10: will answer. And she's asking, mom, mom, why are you surprised?
S10: We prayed.
S3: We prayed.
S10: We prayed. pray? I mean, I believe that this is
S10: this is, you know, Carl was asking, you know, what
S10: do we need? I believe that we we need a
S10: childlike faith. Like your daughter simply said, when we pray, Lord,
S10: you will not. You may or you wish you will
S10: according to your will, though you will. But we need
S10: to pray with expectation. But for that to happen, I
S10: think our walk with the Lord is has to be
S10: very clear and very strong and solid. I believe that
S10: in many parts of the non-Western world, people have no
S10: one to go to. All they know is the Lord
S10: Jesus Christ, their local church, or the local pastor. And
S10: they gather and they pray with expectations. And the Lord
S10: shows up in a in a mighty way. The Lord
S10: protects God's people in a mighty way. I have seen
S10: that happening in my life. You know, somehow the attack
S10: or the blast or fighting or whatever happened before us.
S10: And when you call, email me yesterday, I said, so
S10: what will I share? I remember our team in Afghanistan,
S10: you know, a few years ago, and we were there
S10: for a month of medical missions, and somehow the Lord
S10: was with us in a mighty way. And the Lord
S10: protected us many times, multiple places. The attack happened. The
S10: suicide bombing happened before us or after us. And the Lord,
S10: somehow in his own sovereignty, protected us in many different ways. Yeah.
S10: And I mean, I have seen this happening in many
S10: other parts, many other parts of the world where he intervenes,
S10: where he intervenes.
S2: You know, I want to undergird this for you guys.
S2: What we're talking about here this morning. Boom. Crews, you're
S2: listening in. We're talking about miracles and having the faith
S2: to emulate what we see all over in Scripture. But
S2: this issue of childlikeness is spiked in Matthew 11. So
S2: when you were mentioning this about your daughter, I thought
S2: immediately about this, And this is what Jesus says, I
S2: declare to you, I thank you, father, Lord of heaven
S2: and earth, that you have hidden these things of the kingdom,
S2: that you have hidden these things from the wise and
S2: understanding the enlightened Western world. Could we add that in
S2: parenthetically easily and revealed them to little children? Now, those
S2: two words in the English little children are one word
S2: in the Greek, and it's nepos, and it means one
S2: without words. It means infant or baby. And the irony is,
S2: you know what an infant or a baby or one
S2: without words can bring to God nothing. Isn't that something?
S2: And then he goes on to say that classic passage
S2: come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden.
S2: In fact, the parenthetically, you might feel like, oh, I
S2: don't have anything to bring to God today. Did you
S2: know that that's exactly how God wants you? Yeah. And
S2: then Scripture. Scripture said cites something that undergirds the really
S2: the answer to this question is it okay to pray
S2: for miracles? Well, that's a fair question, don't you think?
S3: Yes.
S2: Well, look at this. This is acts chapter four. So
S2: there had been a a big movement of God in
S2: the early followers of Christ were being persecuted. And they
S2: came back together to meet and to pray, and they
S2: began to pray. Oh, God. Peter and John have just
S2: been released. But we got to keep this gospel going forward, right?
S2: And this is what they say, among other things, that
S2: they prayed and then they prayed. And now, Lord, look
S2: upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue
S2: to speak your word with all boldness while you stretch
S2: out your hand to heal. And signs and wonders are
S2: performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus. Well,
S2: what we find in the acts account is that there
S2: was prayer for miracles and miracles of the interruption. Of
S2: natural law and common expectations to bring God's supernatural transcendence
S2: into a situation. So we've we've seen God move. Sure,
S2: we believe God can move. As we're talking about this
S2: right now. What what is it that needs to break
S2: free inside of us? That we might see God move?
S2: Not for our entertainment or for our glory, but for
S2: his glory.
S11: Yes.
S2: What do you believe?
S10: I feel, Carl, that we pray with expectations. We we
S10: go back. And probably.
S2: I love that.
S10: Probably it will be helpful for us to see About
S10: and and have a little bit of study about the
S10: early church, how they prayed and the Lord intervened and
S10: maybe get connected more with the non-Western. What the Lord
S10: is doing, I feel that. Yeah. And you you can
S10: I mean, there are snippets, there are news and believe that, wow,
S10: if God can do this in China or in Brazil
S10: or in Nigeria, we worship the same God and plead
S10: before the Lord to bring a fresh awakening of himself,
S10: and the Lord will meet us.
S2: I don't know if I shared this on mic or off,
S2: so I might be sharing it again, but Craig Keener,
S2: in his study of his phenomenal work, the title of
S2: which is Miracles Today, great theologian, phenomenal scholar, and he
S2: did a deep dive on what's God doing today. You.
S2: Here's a shocking stat 90% of Chinese disciples of Christ
S2: today have witnessed and seen God heal and move in
S2: miracle power 90%. It's an expectation they have and they've
S2: seen that personally. The other 10% have witnessed it. But
S2: we're talking about people that have experienced it personally, you know.
S2: Where does this leave us? Well. We can't let the
S2: enlightenment of the West dictate our understanding of God. Is
S2: that fair?
S11: I will say so, yes.
S2: Okay, so let's just break this down. We just can't
S2: let that happen. And we need to start praying and believing.
S3: And I think we also can't let our common experience
S3: dictate the expectation because, you know, we you can't get
S3: past the fact that some people can't get past the fact. Well,
S3: I prayed for that miracle X, Y or Z. And
S3: a lot of times it's related to the healing of
S3: a loved one and the, the thing that people will
S3: kind of push back. I didn't see it. I prayed
S3: I had faith in scripture. When someone prayed with faith,
S3: they saw the miracle. And so how do we kind
S3: of bridge that gap between what often we do experience,
S3: which is sometimes disappointment and and maintaining that expectation that God,
S3: maybe you didn't move where I wanted you to here,
S3: but nothing changes about what I believe to be true
S3: about you.
S10: I will say that these are selfish prayers, right? I mean,
S10: it's okay. It's okay to pray. But we also cannot
S10: dictate what God should do and what God cannot do
S10: and not do. Wherever the Lord showed up, he showed
S10: up to have his glory, not my glory. And yes,
S10: he responds to our prayers according to his will. You see,
S10: this is where I always pray. I said, we will
S10: continue to pray for healing, for I mean, I pray
S10: every day in my classes. I ask students to give
S10: us and.
S2: Good for.
S11: You.
S10: And here also in our classes.
S11: Good for you.
S10: When we have seen the Lord intervene in the lives
S10: of aunts and uncles and grandmas. Believe me when we
S10: simply said, guys, when we pray, listen when we pray
S10: is a small community. At 8 a.m. in the morning,
S10: you're half asleep. The Lord will hear. But one caution
S10: is this we plead before the Lord. Lord, may your
S10: will be done according to your will. He will show
S10: his glory. And Ali, he's showing his glory in the
S10: lives of many young people here at Moody Bible Institute also.
S2: You know, it's fascinating because one other thing, on my
S2: deep dive last night on this, I was reading something
S2: by Piper, and he has two segments because he's asked
S2: the question, Does God still do miracles today? And he said,
S2: we got to remember that in the New Testament they
S2: were far and few is how he titled it in between.
S2: But he said even to this day, they happen far
S2: more often than we might imagine. And you know what's funny?
S2: We put healings in this category here, but we neglect
S2: to remember. We pray for relational healing, and God doesn't
S2: always do it right. There's going to be some relationships
S2: that go all the way out of this natural realm,
S2: into the into the spiritual realm beyond, and never be healed.
S2: And yet God does heal relationships, and God does heal,
S2: and God does move in power, and he rolls up
S2: windows and God prompts my dad. My dad still hangs
S2: on this one. He there's a there's a street in
S2: Alaska called Braga. And when the lake goes green on Braga,
S2: there's another street that comes in just perpendicular or. Excuse me.
S2: It just cuts across grain at a weird kind of angle.
S2: And my dad said the light went green and he
S2: felt absolutely prompted by the spirit. Don't move. He said
S2: I almost couldn't put my foot on the gas. This
S2: is not common for my dad. And he came home
S2: and he told I was a little guy and he
S2: told my mom, he called her Eva. He said, Eva.
S2: I didn't put my foot on the gas. It must
S2: have been for four seconds I couldn't get my foot to.
S2: And then a car came through that intersection, ran a
S2: red and was moving at 70, 80 miles an hour.
S2: And he said, I would have absolutely been killed. We
S2: got to remember that God is bigger than the box
S2: we put him in. Be expectant without being demanding, right? Yeah.
S2: And open to what God might do. You know, I
S2: feel prompted. Would you pray for us?
S11: Sure.
S10: Heavenly father, we come before you. Give us humility. Bring
S10: us to your throne. And, Lord, we do pray that
S10: you may intervene in the lives of many of our listeners.
S11: Yes.
S10: And allow them to pray with expectations according to your will. Father,
S10: show us. Meet us in a special way in this
S10: country and beyond, and allow us to love you more
S10: and more, and expect that you are our God of many, many,
S10: many miracles in our lives and helpless. Help us to
S10: rejoice in those things. Yes, we love you, Lord Jesus.
S10: In your precious name we pray.
S11: Amen.
S2: Amen. And let it be. Thank you brother.
S11: Thank you.
S2: Doctor Samuel Lehman. Always a treat in here, right, Ali?
S3: Oh, boy. Rich and faith.
S1: Start your day moving closer to Jesus. You're listening to
S1: Carl and crew.
S2: Talking miracles today. And it's a discussion that we don't
S2: have possibly enough. It's an expectation that God is going
S2: to move. Enlightenment is the age that we live in now,
S2: and enlightenment has caused us, inadvertently, to put a box around.
S2: God don't need a lot of fanfare around that, because
S2: when you look at the amount of miracles that we
S2: find in the scriptures, for which I've got a little
S2: list here, could I read a few? Ali?
S3: Sure.
S2: So we go through some of these. Just look from
S2: creation of the universe, the flood, Noah's Ark, confusion of
S2: languages at Babel, plagues in Egypt, water to blood, frogs, gnats. Flies. Livestock. Disease. Boils. Hail.
S2: Locust darkness. Death of the firstborn. Parting of the Red sea.
S2: Bitter water made sweet manna. Quail provided. It goes on
S2: and on and on. I'm just going to firehose you here, guys.
S2: Just going to fire hose you. Victory over the Amalekites!
S2: Fire and smoke on Mount Sinai. Aaron's staff buds. Earth
S2: swallows cause rebels. That's a heavy duty one. Balaam's. Donkey speaks.
S2: Jordan River parts. Walls of Jericho. Fall. Sun and moon.
S2: Stand still. Gideon's fleece. Samson's strength. Lion killing thousand men
S2: with jawbone. Killing. Bringing down the temple. Widow's oil and flour.
S2: Raising the widow's son. Fire in Heaven from Mount Carmel Elijah.
S2: Taken to Heaven in a whirlwind. Elisha's miracles. Healing Jericho's waters.
S2: Multiplying the widow's oil. Raising the Shunammite son. Purifying poison stew.
S2: Multiplying loaves to feed 100 men. Floating axe head. That
S2: was a good one. Healing of leprosy. Daniel in the
S2: lion's den. Fiery furnace. New Testament. Let's go to this.
S2: Turning water to wine. Healing the official son. Healing a
S2: man with an unclean spirit. Healing Peter's mother in law.
S2: Cleansing a leper. Healing a paralytic, calming a storm. Feeding 5000.
S2: Walking on water. Feeding 4000. Jarius daughter raised from the dead.
S2: Healing a woman with an issue of blood healing. A
S2: man blind at Bethsaida. Healing a mute and demon possessed man.
S2: Raising Lazarus. I could go on and on just in. Jesus.
S2: I'll move to the apostles. Healing a lame beggar. Peter
S2: heals many. Paul heals a crippled man. Paul and Silas
S2: freed from prison. Raising Eutychus from the dead. Most theologians
S2: agree that there's about 150 that are direct miracles, but
S2: there's so many more subplots, like the four lepers that
S2: are wandering off to see if they might find some
S2: food in the Syrian army that has the city of
S2: Samaria under siege and God miraculously made their feet sound
S2: like the armies of Egypt, and they were certain that
S2: they had been conspired against. And they ran for their lives,
S2: leaving behind everything. And that ultimately changed the entire economy
S2: and the opportunity for Samaria to get out from under
S2: the clutches of evil King Ben Hadad of Syria. They
S2: go on and on. Craig Keener, scholar, phenomenal author, has
S2: written extensively on this. It's called Miracles Today. It's a
S2: book that came out in 2021. Amazing citations of every
S2: kind of miracle you can imagine, including raising from the dead.
S2: And you might say a couple of things. One is,
S2: why don't we see these today? Probably because we live
S2: in a post-enlightenment kind of culture where we've put God
S2: into a box, we got resources out the wazoo. We've
S2: got them all over here. All kinds of resources, all
S2: kinds of tools. But have we stopped believing God for
S2: things that are outside natural law and outside of common expectations?
S2: And what a danger it would be if we were
S2: stuck there, right, Ali?
S3: Oh, yeah. And and when you think about miracles, you go, okay, well,
S3: I mean, the the the miracle of a baby being
S3: born or the the miracle. Sometimes I think we want
S3: so badly to see a miracle that we are willing to.
S3: I don't want to say lower the bar, but I
S3: think sometimes I've seen this happen in, in church where
S3: we were desperate to see a miracle. So we kind
S3: of make the expected miraculous.
S2: So explain that to me.
S3: So, you know, when you we want to see the miraculous, right? Like,
S3: we we.
S2: Maybe I think I think I think for some, yes.
S2: But for many listening, maybe the expectation that God would
S2: move miraculously is not on their radar.
S3: Okay, so then.
S2: But.
S3: But.
S2: Stop.
S3: The. So you disagree with the premise?
S2: Well, no. I think for some you're right. I think
S2: we want to see it. And I think what you're
S2: saying is that sometimes you read things into what is natural, supernatural, right.
S3: Because we think because there feels like there's this disconnect
S3: between I read this scripture, I believe that God can,
S3: but I don't see much of that anymore. So it's like, well, well,
S3: this is a miracle. I saw that, you know, we can.
S2: All see what you're saying. Yeah. So we we almost
S2: reduce God by trying to look at the natural and go, oh,
S2: well we ascribe. Oh well something happened there. Both can
S2: be true. So what if we though believed God not
S2: with our needs being met, but for the glory of God?
S2: I wrote a definition down here of miracles that I
S2: believe captures. I stole a phrase of this from Craig Keener. Again,
S2: phenomenal scholar and theologian. But here's a working definition I
S2: have for this morning an interruption of natural law and
S2: common expectations. That's the keener ism right there to bring
S2: validation to God's transcendence. Confirmation of Jesus's deity. That's in fact,
S2: he said that's why they were done. And salvation to
S2: the lost in the early church did pray this God,
S2: look at the threats that we're having from all the
S2: people around us, and grant to your servants continued power
S2: to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch
S2: out your hand to heal. And signs and wonders are
S2: performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus. And
S2: when they prayed, that place in which they were gathered
S2: together was shaken, and they were filled with the Holy Spirit.
S2: A keener in his book. Fascinating to me. I was
S2: just like, whoa, really? Their study, and this is in
S2: the last few years, their study of what's going on
S2: in the church in China, the underground church in China, 90%
S2: of disciples, our brothers and sisters in China have personally
S2: witnessed a miracle touch from the Lord.
S4: That's amazing. I don't even know how to comprehend that 90%.
S2: So I think you're right, Ali. There's a tendency to
S2: want to see this God of miracles. And so we
S2: ascribe miracles when it's just the natural providence and goodness
S2: of God in everyday life. And then we're left with
S2: can God move outside the natural realm in a supernatural
S2: way that upsets our common expectations in a way that
S2: we see God move? And every indication that we have
S2: all throughout Scripture is that although Miracles are far and
S2: few between. They are happening all over the place today
S2: as we speak. God's showing up to people in the
S2: Middle East in visions in the middle of the night,
S2: revealing to people who are far from God that Jesus
S2: is real. And then some have said, well, you know,
S2: the gospel is going forward into those places because they're
S2: unreached people. We're unreached people here.
S3: Very much so.
S2: And so it could be that we simply need to
S2: believe that God is a God of miracles. By the way,
S2: do we trust in miracles? No, we trust in God.
S2: But part of trusting in God is believing that God
S2: works outside the realm of natural and common expectations, and
S2: he moves in power. Why? For his glory and to
S2: show his providence and his power. And the deity of
S2: Jesus Christ is confirmed and souls are saved. What an
S2: awesome thing. Something. And this is not presuming upon God,
S2: but it's believing that God can move. And you might ask,
S2: maybe you would ask of me, Carl, have you ever
S2: seen a miracle? I have, I've seen God move miraculously.
S2: I shared here a few minutes ago about my dad. And,
S2: you know, it's interesting how that's etched in my heart
S2: as a little boy. How God saw God's hand keep
S2: him from putting a foot on the accelerator when he
S2: normally would have just gone right through that street, and
S2: he would have been T-boned by a car because my
S2: dad believed that God intervened in that moment. Absolutely. There's
S2: no question. And can we dare to believe that God
S2: can intervene in marriages in the lives of wayward kids,
S2: miraculously show up in someone's dreams? Yes, he's doing it
S2: all around the world, and one of the great dangers
S2: with the post enlightened world that we live in is
S2: that we put God in a box, and we ought
S2: not do that. There's so much more.