S1: Coming to you from the Morning Star Mission sponsored studio.
S1: This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio. All right,
S1: I'm going to prove something here. Super die. What's one
S1: of your favorite not not secular tunes that just comes
S1: to your mind that you just love?
S2: Oh my goodness. Secular tunes.
S1: Come on.
S2: Come on. Just just pick one. Just pick one. Anything
S2: by U2.
S1: Okay, so pick one by U2. What? Which one is.
S2: It? Um. Still haven't found what I'm looking for.
S1: Yeah. That's great. So give me some of the lyrics
S1: to that. You don't have to sing it, but give me.
S1: Give me some of the lyrics.
S2: Oh, you're putting me on the spot. Yeah. Uh, just
S2: I can't, I can't I'm sorry. I'm. I'm totally stumped.
S1: Great.
S2: So, yeah.
S1: This is absolutely ruining my whole.
S2: And I apologize.
S3: I can help with this.
S1: The fear of the moment. All right, go ahead, young thunder.
S3: Uh, Hall and Oates. Maneater.
S1: All right, give me the lyrics.
S3: Oh, here she comes. Watch out, boy, she'll chew you up. Oh,
S3: here she comes. She's a maneater.
S1: Do you know any more of the song? Give me
S1: some more lyrics.
S3: Uh, man. No, not on that one. But do you
S3: want another song with. With other lyrics?
S1: Yeah. Give me, give me another song. Some more lyrics.
S3: Honesty. Billy Joel.
S1: All right. Just. Just kind of voice. Slash. Sing them.
S1: Go ahead.
S3: Honesty is such a lonely word. Everyone is so untrue.
S3: Honesty is hardly ever heard. But it's mostly what I
S3: need from you.
S1: Yeah, you did good. I mean, the pressure here is hard.
S1: Super dive now.
S2: Coming to you.
S1: Now that you relaxed.
S2: A little bit.
S1: Yes. Okay.
S2: Go ahead. Okay. All right. Breathe, breathe. I know breathing.
S2: She's breathing.
S1: She's not new to radio. But radio can make you wiggy.
S2: It can, it can.
S1: It can seize you up. All right, go ahead.
S2: I have climbed the highest mountains. I have run through
S2: the fields only to be with you. I've scaled city walls,
S2: these city walls again. Only to be with you. But
S2: I still haven't found what I'm looking for.
S1: I'm looking for.
S4: Still haven't found.
S3: Yeah.
S4: It's a good song I'm looking for. Yeah.
S1: That's. Yeah. Okay, so here's the thing. I'm proving to
S1: you the power of music, right?
S2: Yes.
S1: No doubt. It's amazing if you can't memorize a verse,
S1: put a song to it, and you're probably going to
S1: do it.
S3: Oh, yeah. Absolutely. And there's some songs that when I
S3: try to think of the lyrics, I'm like, oh, I
S3: don't know how that goes. But then the tune starts
S3: playing and it all just starts coming out and I'm like.
S2: Oh, you think you know the lyrics? And it's like,
S2: oh no, that's not the lyric.
S3: That happens to.
S1: All right, somebody come on here right now and sing
S1: your favorite song without a cheat sheet in front of
S1: you right now. Come on. And it's got to be
S1: a secular song. Come on right now. 800, 500. No,
S1: not 800, 500, 800, 555, 78, 98, 805 five, five, 78, 98.
S1: Somebody come online right now and sing your favorite song.
S1: There's a Carl prize pack here, and I don't want
S1: you to sing much because we can't handle that. But
S1: we'll take a few phrases. That's all you got to
S1: do is a few phrases. You get a prize back.
S1: I'm proving something to you here. 800 555. 78. 98.
S1: Light em up. Come on, let's go. 805. Five. Five. 78. 98.
S1: Your favorite tune. Secular tune. 800 555 78. 98. Wow.
S1: This could be a lot of fun.
S2: I was waiting for you to sing. Carl.
S1: No, no no no. Like I say, man, I can
S1: make a joyful noise. But singing something else.
S5: She's a choreographer extraordinaire. And everything is Greek to her.
S5: Super die is in the crew. It's Carl and crew
S5: on Moody Radio.
S1: Okay. Setting up a point here. This is a powerful point.
S1: You look at the Psalms and my goodness, you got
S1: chapter after chapter, or really song after song iterated there.
S1: It's pretty cool. Okay. Getting a couple of singers in here. Ruth,
S1: give me a song. What do you got that you
S1: don't even need a cheat sheet for? You just got
S1: it on your heart. What is it? Give me a couple.
S6: Climb, climb every mountain.
S1: All right. Give me a few mountain.
S6: For every stream. For every byway. Till you find your dreams.
S1: All right, Ruth, see there? See there, right there. Stay
S1: on the horn. You're going to get a choral and
S1: crew prize pack. Proving a point here.
S3: Hang on.
S1: Hang on. Uh, Paul, Oak Grove, what do you got, Paul?
S7: Chantilly lace by the Big Bopper.
S1: Oh, give me a little bit.
S7: Chantilly lace and a pretty face and a ponytail hanging down.
S7: A wiggle in the walk and a giggle in the talk.
S7: Lord makes the world go round, round, round. There ain't
S7: nothing in the world like a big eyed girl with
S7: big Axel. Make me spend my money. Make me feel
S7: real loose like a long neck goose. Like a girl. Oh, baby,
S7: that's what I like.
S1: All right. Come on, man.
S2: Yeah, the mustard and everything on that one.
S1: Paul, stay on the horn. You're getting Carl and crew.
S1: Prize pack. Chantilly lace. Oh, my goodness. All right, so
S1: here's the point. The power of worship music is profound.
S3: That was the point.
S1: Yes.
S2: Wow.
S1: Here's why. Look at how readily those lyrics come to mind.
S3: That's right.
S1: And this is why music is such a central part
S1: of worship services. And going down the road. And when
S1: you're down, sometimes more than a verse coming to mind,
S1: a verse put to music comes to mind and that
S1: will lift your soul. Do we underestimate the power of music?
S1: I think we do. Boy, I got a special guest
S1: coming in here in just a few minutes. Who's going
S1: to blow that notion out of the water? Because he
S1: has been absolutely in the pocket for decades, writing music
S1: that's been impacting lives. Hang on.
S5: She was trying to earn her way to God, but
S5: God showed her she didn't have to. Ali is in
S5: the crew. It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
S1: One of my heroes is with me today.
S8: Boy, you know how to start an interview. Carl. Hey, Gloria.
S8: Did you hear that?
S1: Yeah. You got to get your wife in to listen
S1: to this. Bill gates is here with us, guys, and
S1: I want to. I want to thank you. I got
S1: to just stop here and tell you this right now.
S1: Bill Gaither, for those of you that are listening, are
S1: tuned in going. Bill Gaither. Some of you. It's like,
S1: who is that for vast swaths of you? You're saying,
S1: I know that, man. It's a funny thing, Bill, because
S1: we're you know, we do ministry for a lot of
S1: years and you've been in the trenches now for how
S1: many decades? Doing music, my man?
S8: Oh, probably probably six. I'm 89 Friday. So when I
S8: was 16, 17, I was out with my sister, my brother,
S8: and we were singing in every little nook and cranny
S8: in central Indiana. And every time I talk to a
S8: young artist and they'll say, can I get some advice?
S8: I said, sure, and they say, how do we get started?
S8: I said, right where you are. My next question is,
S8: do they ask you back?
S1: Bill Gaither, you are something else. You know what? I
S1: want to just stop here and celebrate. He goes all
S1: the way back to the sons of Korah, who, by
S1: the way, 18 generations after they saw the father Cora
S1: himself gobbled up in rebellion. These became some of the
S1: lead worship leaders that for 18 generations they didn't neglect
S1: bringing songs before God. You know, I think we've just
S1: taken for granted the power of music to lift souls.
S1: I don't even think we talk about it enough. Bill,
S1: why don't you speak to that?
S8: I kid my my theological friends and my preacher friends.
S8: I say, you know, in the end, we poets are
S8: going to win. Because if you can rhyme it, I mean,
S8: you know, when you get in a hole, you think
S8: back and say many things about tomorrow. I don't seem
S8: to understand, but I know who holds tomorrow. Yeah, and
S8: I know who holds my hand. Now, that's not scripture,
S8: but it's based solidly, you know, in so many scriptures.
S1: Absolutely.
S8: That we are in good hands. And so, to answer
S8: your question, Carl, Gloria and I both love theology. And
S8: I hope our songs are biblically based, and that it's
S8: just a wonderful way to put a handle on important
S8: scriptures like the first commandment there shall be no other
S8: gods before me. And we have a song that says,
S8: I'll worship only at the feet of Jesus, his cup alone.
S8: My holy Grail. There'll be no other gods before me.
S8: Just Jesus only will never fail. And we can take
S8: major truths and bury them in the middle of a song.
S8: And Corrie ten Boom said in some of her toughest times,
S8: she said A little verse of a song would come
S8: to me, you know, and our minds are like a computer.
S8: What we put into it makes all the difference in
S8: the world.
S1: And putting song into it is powerful. Bill Gaither is
S1: my guest right now. He's married to Gloria Gaither and
S1: they've been a dynamic duo for so many years. I
S1: got to talk with you about because he lives and
S1: the King is coming. My goodness, I was a little guy,
S1: wasn't following Jesus yet. Got saved in my early 20s.
S1: But there was something. Even as I look back as
S1: a young boy in church, hearing because he lives. What
S1: makes that song so powerful? Bill, what does it say?
S8: Carl I think when writers write songs, we don't ever know.
S8: And I can remember we had already written He Touched
S8: me and something about that name. Something beautiful. And probably
S8: we wrote The King is Coming. And because he lives
S8: maybe about the same time. Okay. But God has a
S8: way of taking what we do and multiplying it. We
S8: bring what we bring. And I can remember after we
S8: wrote it, I said, I think it's good. I don't
S8: know how good it is, but I got to tell you,
S8: 50 years later, I mean, it's been translated into so
S8: many different languages, and we're overwhelmed when we hear the.
S8: And we went to Brazil maybe about ten years ago
S8: and started singing because he lives 8000 people, and all
S8: of a sudden we couldn't hear ourselves singing because the
S8: 8000 folks.
S1: I get chills.
S8: Took it over in Portuguese and sang it back to us.
S8: You know, it's then you say that song is not mine.
S8: That you know that belongs to the Lord.
S1: What are you most astounded by over your years of
S1: following Jesus? You've obviously seen the father, son, and Holy
S1: Spirit at work in your life, and he's used music
S1: powerfully that way. What most astounds you about the power
S1: of God to change Bill Gaither?
S8: I think the scripture in James that says, life is
S8: but a vapor here today, and it's gone so quickly.
S8: And my dad, I think, helped me more than anything
S8: as a kid when he would say things like, Bill,
S8: this is not the rehearsal. This is the real thing.
S8: And I think I looked at the good and the
S8: bad of how people would live lives, and many of
S8: them either lived in the past or in the future.
S8: Very few, and sometimes even followers of Jesus would live
S8: in the now. And you know, in this day, and
S8: I think the thing that gripped us pretty quickly was
S8: the moment we had this moment to hold in our
S8: hands and to touch as it slips through our fingers
S8: like sand. Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow may never come. But
S8: we have this moment today. And I would say this
S8: to all the listeners. There are moody an hour history
S8: with Moody goes clear back 50 years ago when we
S8: first started. I can still remember the concerts in that
S8: big old church downtown Chicago. But I would say to
S8: all of our moody listeners, this is the day the
S8: Lord hath made, and we need to rejoice and be
S8: glad in it and drain it for all it's worth.
S8: Live it to its fullest. And I look back on
S8: these 63 years of glory. And I have been married
S8: now and it's not been without struggles just like any
S8: other life. But the joy is still in the journey,
S8: both the good and the bad.
S1: All right, Bill, I got one more question for you here.
S1: And this is an important one. You're a joyful man.
S1: What do you do when your heart gets down?
S8: I don't know if anybody enjoys life all kind of
S8: life any more than I do. What do I do
S8: when I get down? Usually I sing. You know, I
S8: sing because I'm happy. I sing because his eye is
S8: on the sparrow. And I know he watches me.
S1: Well, interesting. Bill. Bill Gaither, my guest. Right now. The
S1: king is coming. What's your take? I know you probably
S1: don't want to postulate too much on this one, but
S1: you've seen a lot of living, and we see what's
S1: going on in the Middle East. And there's a big
S1: song of revival springing up around every nation, tribe and tongue.
S1: It seems like the King is coming soon here, Bill.
S8: And a given concert. We can't sing all of our
S8: big songs because it's just too many high notes. But
S8: I mean, we do sing because they do sing. He
S8: touched me and we do sing. The King is coming sometimes,
S8: not all on the same night, but anytime we pull
S8: that song out, that seems to hit a new nerve
S8: with people these days.
S1: Yeah.
S8: You know, and we love to sing it. And for everybody,
S8: I suppose they have to fill in the blank as
S8: to what are the things that are getting, you know,
S8: are getting their attention. I got to come back to, uh,
S8: our basic philosophy and theology has driven us from the beginning.
S8: Life is a vapor. It is here today, and it's
S8: gone so quickly. The first song we sing every night
S8: is I'm going to love like I'm leaving. Laughing till
S8: it takes my breath away. I'm going to say what
S8: needs saying. Pray what need. Praying I'm going to love.
S8: Like I'm leaving here today. And the King is coming.
S8: Could be today, could be tomorrow. It could be a
S8: lot sooner than any of us think.
S1: Yeah. Bill Gaither, I got to tell you, you are
S1: a blessing. You've inspired myself in so many millions of disciples.
S1: And one day we're going to be singing around the
S1: throne room of God. And I can't wait to be
S1: standing there beside you. I'm going to make sure I
S1: get right up alongside you to try to harmonize. Okay?
S8: You're more than welcome. And I tell you what the
S8: good part about that. Everybody's going to be in tune
S8: that day.
S1: It's going to be that's.
S8: It's going to be perfect. And I wasn't saying that
S8: because I've not heard you sing.
S1: No, no, no, I need it, I need it. I'm
S1: willing to say it. I can carry a tune, but
S1: harmonies are disaster for me. That's why I say I
S1: get to harmonize in glory. Bill Gaither, thank you. And
S1: we've got a link boom crew. Because this man is
S1: still on fire. There are special Easter programmings and we
S1: want to link you up with them. All you got
S1: to do is text the word bill to 800 555 7898.
S1: Just text Bill and you're going to find programming that
S1: is going to inspire during this Easter season. Text bill
S1: to 800 555 7898.
S8: Let me leave you with one little story. A new
S8: usher at a church. Ask an older lady, where do
S8: you want to sit? She said, I want to sit
S8: on the front row. He said, I'll take you down there.
S8: But I got to warn you, our pastor is pretty boring.
S8: She says, young man, do you know who I am?
S8: She said, no, I'm the pastor's mother. He looked at
S8: her and said, do you know who I am? She said, no.
S8: He said, good.
S9: Oh, oh, you made my day. Bill gates for everybody. Oh.
S1: God bless you, buddy. Have a good one.
S5: You can take him out of Alaska, but you can't
S5: take Alaska out of him. Carl is in the crew.
S5: It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
S1: We are messengers. Wholehearted and wholehearted is exactly what God wants.
S1: We find in the book of James. Don't let a
S1: double minded man believe he will receive anything from the Lord.
S1: That term is best translated double souled. That just means
S1: that we've got a divided allegiance, and divided allegiance is
S1: a constant battle that we're going to face as Christ's followers.
S1: But let me be really clear here. The root of
S1: all our sins is that something or someone is taking
S1: the place of God. And I just want to give
S1: you a little guide to think through this. If you
S1: look at the sin of pride, our highest authority is
S1: not God. It's. It's actually self. Gluttony is satisfaction apart
S1: from God. Greed is discontent with the generosity of God.
S1: Hoarding is security not found in God. Lust is gratification
S1: apart from God. Envy is contentment, not found in God.
S1: Cowardice is fear of man more than God. And laziness
S1: or being a sluggard is just lacking the wisdom of God.
S1: So I want to take you back to a story
S1: that I just had from yesterday. Had a conference call.
S1: Kind of. It wasn't even a counseling session. It was
S1: just an encouragement time, because a friend of mine from
S1: many years ago was handed a book from another friend
S1: of mine called Killing Sin, a book that I wrote
S1: here recently. And this is one of the most encouraging
S1: stories that I've heard. She was expressing that her and
S1: her husband were feeling all kinds of stress related to
S1: a venture that they had picked up that they really
S1: felt was given to him by God. And in retrospect,
S1: it was. But what it turned into was something that
S1: was put in extraordinary, extraordinary amount of pressure on them
S1: to perform. As a matter of fact, I can veil
S1: this a little bit so that no one would know
S1: who I'm speaking of here, but it was a it
S1: was a outdoor adventure experience that turned and very exclusive,
S1: that turned into this heavy ball and chain. And as
S1: she spoke, she began to pour out her heart, saying
S1: that the survival of this very thing that God gave
S1: them as a gift became such an epic kind of
S1: front of mind thing that soon they found or she
S1: was discovering, that their love and their joy that they
S1: had in their relationship with God as a couple and
S1: together was now long gone. And now everything in their
S1: life was consumed with sustaining this thing that was ultimately
S1: a gift from God. She was sitting by the ocean,
S1: looking out after she had just been landed, and still
S1: had the book killing Sin in her lap, and the
S1: Lord began to speak to her that this gift had
S1: become an idol. She didn't know how her husband would
S1: receive this, but he was on the phone with us
S1: yesterday as well. She went to him and said, honey,
S1: here's where I'm at. I feel like this thing that
S1: we got given by God, we've taken control of and
S1: we've we've tried to sustain it and make it in
S1: our own power, and it's causing us to even behave
S1: in ways. And she went on to say that she,
S1: because it's a high end kind of situation that they've
S1: been given by God, she started to act in ways
S1: that were inconsistent with how she's even designed start to
S1: wear clothes, in ways that she's are inconsistent with the
S1: way that she was designed. So she took it to
S1: her husband. And her husband said, I couldn't agree more.
S1: Now I was able to tell him, this is an
S1: awesome thing because when a husband and wife agree on something,
S1: you have got some power. It's one thing to have
S1: one person recognize something that is a joint effort between
S1: the two of you, or something that is clearly a
S1: problem for both of you. It's a challenge when one
S1: person sees it and the other one doesn't. But when
S1: both people see it, look out, Katie, bar the door.
S1: And this is what I shared with her. Number one,
S1: it's dynamite to identify that this has become an idol.
S1: Your next move is to do everything you can, in
S1: the spirit of Josiah, to remove that from a position
S1: of idolatry, no matter what it takes. Josiah went throughout
S1: the land at the age of 21, and he took
S1: all the idols of the land. He crushed them to powder.
S1: He did the same with the priests who were offering
S1: idols from the nation of Israel up to these false gods.
S1: And I went on to say, it's important, too, that
S1: you have people around you who you trust that you
S1: share this with, because well-meaning people will try to talk
S1: you out of the revelation God gives you at times.
S1: You ever notice that before, guys?
S3: Yeah, absolutely. Definitely. Are you sure you heard that right?
S1: And there will there will constantly be a bombardment on
S1: your soul. I shared with them that maybe you didn't
S1: hear from the Lord. So having these quiet times of
S1: introspection where you're allowing God to be the God of
S1: this venture that you have yet again will change everything.
S1: Funny thing is, they went on to share that they
S1: had shared this with some other family members, and the
S1: other family members had a kind of a rescue mode.
S1: We've got to keep without saying these words. We've got
S1: to keep this thing going. And they were kind of
S1: appealing for let's just keep this in its place of
S1: idolatry without saying that. And they were able to tell
S1: these family members that this generational thing of holding on
S1: to this by sheer grit is going to end right now.
S1: They were able to tell a family member, you're released
S1: from this, too. We're going to give this back to
S1: God fully. So I don't know what you have in
S1: your life that is keeping you from the abundant life
S1: that is found in Jesus. But I have learned over
S1: the years and from personal experience, I'm walking my own
S1: walk with Jesus. That a daily consecration before the Lord
S1: is the only remedy to not let idols into your life.
S1: And they come in so many forms. But the root
S1: of all our sin is that something or someone is
S1: taking the place of God. And I just want to
S1: ask you today, what is that something or someone that
S1: has taken the place of God in your life? I
S1: want you to think about that for a moment. You
S1: might say, well, Carl, how do I identify if something
S1: or someone is taking the place of God in my life?
S1: I truly believe if there isn't a conscious effort, which
S1: is a healthy effort, to keep this thing before the
S1: Lord and surrender it back to him and to put
S1: it at the foot of the cross, we could be
S1: in a real danger zone when our energy and our
S1: resources and what we say and what we do is
S1: consumed with keeping this idol alive, because we can't imagine
S1: what life would be without it in that position. We're
S1: in trouble and God wants to set you free. So
S1: I just want to ask you, what are you battling
S1: with today? What is that potential idol that is nudging
S1: out the one true and living God? Can ministry become
S1: an idol? Can I mean being a pastor become an idol? Yes,
S1: my friend, trust me. We can make idols out of anything.
S1: As has been said so many times, our hearts are
S1: idol factories. That's why we need to go into the
S1: inner reaches of our heart and go, God, search me,
S1: know me, try me. So coming up here, I'm going
S1: to talk very practically about how to get free from
S1: any idol in your life.
S5: Today he was sharing the gospel on the radio and
S5: then he got saved. Young thunders in the crew. It's
S5: Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
S1: Scripture is loaded with biblical guidance on how to put
S1: idols to death in our life so that we can live.
S1: I mean, it's loaded. So I'm going to give you
S1: the top three things that I see reoccurring themes throughout
S1: the Scripture. One confess it. If you got an idol
S1: in your life, I don't care what it is. Bring
S1: it out of the shadows and into the light. And
S1: how practically, practically does this work? You confess first to God,
S1: but then you go to others. There's power in breaking
S1: the back of Satan's power by just admitting. And by
S1: the way, this is only the courageous need apply for this.
S1: But this is how you walk free in Christ. See,
S1: the root of all our sins? Is that something or
S1: someone is taking the place of God? It can be
S1: a pick up truck. Yeah, it can be a pick
S1: up truck. It can be a spiritual gift that God
S1: gave you. It can be pride. It can be gluttony.
S1: It can be greed. It can be hoarding. It can
S1: be lust. It can be envy. There can be so
S1: many things that crowd out God in our life. So
S1: you got to confess it. Obviously, first you got to
S1: identify it and have the courage as this person that
S1: I was just talking about, we had a great conference
S1: call with just quietly, humbly before the Lord said, God,
S1: why is my joy being ripped off from me? Why
S1: am I getting ripped blind here? your confession is powerful.
S1: We had a sweet time on the phone yesterday afternoon
S1: for about an hour and just pouring it out. This
S1: is how I've been ripped off. This is what it's
S1: done to my life. Awesome. Confess it to God and
S1: 1 or 2 trusted people. Bring it out into the light. Secondly,
S1: you got to attack it. You might say, well, Carl,
S1: how in the world do I attack this idol or
S1: this sin in my life? We have underestimated the power
S1: of God's Word. In fact, when we were on this
S1: call yesterday, even before I got what I'm about to
S1: tell you out of my mouth, my friend who was
S1: on this conference call at a well, talked about how
S1: he went through a plant that he owned. It was
S1: a fabrication plant that had become an idol in his life,
S1: and he began to walk around just speaking out the
S1: word of God and the truth that his identity is
S1: not in this plant. He ran a plant with hundreds
S1: of guys overseeing it, and he owned and operated this plant,
S1: and it had become an idol and he began to
S1: just march. Around speaking out loud the Word of God.
S1: Now that's got biblical roots in it. And I think
S1: the most important root there's two actual terms here. One
S1: is Hagar. Meditation actually means to speak, utter moan, shout.
S1: It's to speak out loud. It's talking about Michael, right?
S1: Don't think about it. And he goes, yeah, we. Got
S1: to keep hammering that. It's so true. But the other
S1: one is the word rhema. Choose 70 to 70 times
S1: in the New Testament. It means the spoken word of God.
S1: It means getting the Word of God on your lips.
S1: And you begin attacking the idol with the truth of
S1: God's Word. And what you do is you find Scripture
S1: passages that align with issues like sexual lust, greed, anything
S1: that you can find. As you read the Word of God,
S1: you begin to get those words Coming off your lips
S1: and you speak it out boldly, just as Jesus did.
S1: Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word.
S1: The Greek word there is rhema that proceeds from the
S1: mouth of God. Get God's Word on your lips. Jesus
S1: actually fought back at Satan with the Word of God.
S1: Quoted Deuteronomy three times. Get the Word of God in you.
S1: Get it on your lips. Third thing. Build boundaries around
S1: your life. Boundaries. Strong boundaries. Get people, places, and things
S1: away from your periphery that have been a stumbling block
S1: in the past and you're going to get some victory,
S1: I promise you that. God wants to give you victory. Confession.
S1: Attacking it with the word and building boundaries are a
S1: powerful means to get that victory. I don't know what's
S1: holding you up today, But it's time to do battle.
S1: Go conquer that one thing that is defeating you today.
S1: It's a great grief for a moment, but in time,
S1: you're going to find freedom like you've never imagined. And
S1: that first step of confession to God and a person
S1: is a powerful first step. Live it today.
S5: This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
S1: Everything we do here is about God not leaving us
S1: where we are, but taking us someplace new. And I
S1: got a dear friend with me here. This guy is
S1: a flamethrower for Jesus. He's doing a great work. He's
S1: the founder and director of Christ Life Ministries. I'll give
S1: you a link at the end of this time that
S1: we have together here, but we're just going to podcast
S1: this thing a little bit. We're just going to have
S1: a conversation bringing in Greg Dempster. Uh, Greg, you're seeing
S1: a lot of people, especially ministry leaders, elders, ministry Industry directors,
S1: senior pastors, worship leaders get freed from idols that we've
S1: created in our life.
S10: We're seeing renewal. God's bringing renewal to the church and
S10: pastoral leaders who have been beaten up by sin, who
S10: have been in their own thinking, separated by their sin
S10: from God, are just humbly returning, experiencing grace. Experiencing renewal.
S10: Experiencing renewed relationship with God. And it's going to spread
S10: from those leaders to the congregants that they serve. And
S10: it's just thoroughly exciting.
S1: How does a leader come to a point or any person?
S1: Because I know you work specifically with leaders. In fact,
S1: I was just glancing at your website and the amount
S1: of testimonies Greg, you've got on your site from pastoral leaders.
S1: I mean, scores of them that have that are now
S1: walking free is astounding. How does a leader identify that
S1: they've made something into an idol, or they've let a
S1: besetting sin just kick their tail and they've been living
S1: in secret. I mean, does it? It's there has to
S1: become a point of brokenness, right?
S10: I think it's just really simple. The leaders that come
S10: in to meet with me, and they're feeling a sense
S10: of restlessness, like a lack of satisfaction. And you know
S10: as well as I do, Augustine was the one who
S10: quoted ages ago where he said, our hearts are restless
S10: until they find their rest in you, God, and they
S10: come in. We're not as off as we think we are.
S10: The reality is we just know something's not working internally.
S10: We just don't know how to identify that and how
S10: to actually move towards freedom.
S1: When you identify something. Confession is everywhere in Scripture. Why
S1: is confession just a. And by the way, it's not
S1: like we're revealing something to God, but agreeing with them.
S1: This is why I'm off and then going to people.
S1: This is why I'm off. Why is that threshold so
S1: tough to cross through?
S10: I think it's because we built our lives around ourselves.
S10: It was Blaise Pascal who said that the inexcusable sin
S10: is making ourselves our own ruler, our own master, our
S10: own provider. And when we live in, develop appetites around
S10: us being the center, us being our own provider. The
S10: reason why it's difficult to break out of those patterns
S10: is because the opportunities that God gives us to live
S10: his way have been left untried or untried. We just
S10: know something works in a minimal sense over here, although
S10: it leaves me bankrupt and restless and we don't know
S10: what God can provide or how God can step in
S10: and bring freedom because those options have been remained or
S10: have remained untried.
S1: Yeah, yeah. Coming up here in a few minutes, I
S1: want to talk to you. Pride. Your highest authority isn't God. Gluttony.
S1: Satisfaction apart from God. Greed. Discontent with the generosity of God. Hoarding. Lust. Envy. Cowardice.
S1: Maybe I don't know what it is you're battling with,
S1: or what you've made into an idol. And what's wild
S1: about idols is you can take a pickup truck you
S1: got from God and turn it into the very idol
S1: that God never intended it to be. Isn't that wild?
S1: How that works, guys?
S3: It's so wild.
S1: Coming up, more with Greg Dempster. We're going to talk
S1: about how to come out from under this heap of
S1: shame and condemnation, because that's really a layer in here
S1: as well. Hang on.
S5: You're listening to Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
S1: The root of all our sins. Is that something or
S1: someone is taking the place of God and it rips
S1: us off with me. Greg Dempster, dear friend and an
S1: incredible guy. Great worship leader and a great man of
S1: God who coaches, actually senior leaders And leaders of every
S1: size church. You can imagine watching them fall in love
S1: with Jesus again, and some for the very first time. Greg.
S1: When someone identifies a sin or an idol, something that's
S1: taken the place of God, how do you walk people
S1: through the process of deliverance?
S10: It's multifaceted. I think we need to understand why we
S10: make the choices that we do, and we bring a
S10: person through what we call the awareness, where they can
S10: understand how their mind. Romans 12 two was formed over time,
S10: and often understanding that helps them begin to get set
S10: free to understand the why behind the dysfunctional lifestyle choices
S10: that they're making.
S1: So to get it that why I know that you
S1: are big on going back to some family of origin things.
S1: Earliest memories. Why is that important? To reach back in
S1: order to go forward?
S10: I think it's a practical part of discipleship, Carl. I mean,
S10: Romans 12 two. We read it. We hear it preached
S10: all the time to be the experience, metamorphosis or transformation
S10: through the renewing of the mind. The Greek word for
S10: mind is nous, and it represents how I perceive, how
S10: I understand, how I feel, how I judge, and how
S10: I determine. Last time I checked, no one comes out
S10: of the womb with a fully developed mind, right? It's
S10: developed through experience. My interpretation of those experiences and then
S10: my response.
S1: So take a case study here. Take a take a
S1: senior pastor that genuinely loves God wants people to hear
S1: the gospel. There's a there's a big motivation there. But
S1: but from his earliest recollection, he never measured up. How
S1: can you reorient that pastor to where now the preaching
S1: of the word comes from a healthy place?
S10: Boy, we could be on the radio for two hours
S10: talking about this. But really, simply stated, we need to
S10: understand what events formed or began the process of informing
S10: the distorted perspective that's driving them. And then we need
S10: to uncover the disruptive emotion that comes from that distortion.
S10: And then what's underneath all these dysfunctional lifestyle choices. And
S10: then we begin to help them become aware, moment by moment,
S10: throughout the day of the disruptive emotion that they're feeling
S10: and the distortion that's underneath. And then all of a
S10: sudden they're empowered like never before to come before the
S10: Hebrews for throne of Grace, the throne that we call
S10: the throne of. I will do it for you. Because
S10: of course, grace is God doing something for us that
S10: we can't do for ourselves. And they begin to experience
S10: a God who loves them. A God who's completely committed
S10: to freeing them. That's really the first step.
S1: That's beautiful. To the person out there who knows they've
S1: identified something in their life that's become an idol, a
S1: reoccurring kind of. We've heard the term besetting sin. You sin,
S1: you got shame, you repent, and you repeat. What do
S1: you offer up to that person today?
S10: I think grace is is grace. Not a whole pass
S10: regarding my sin, but grace as the invitation to approach
S10: a God who is willing to do something that we
S10: absolutely cannot do for ourselves. We have all these people
S10: who who are absolutely convinced that they can't conquer their
S10: own sin. And that's actually correct. They need a God
S10: stepping in through the power of his grace to love
S10: them in the midst, in the middle of their brokenness,
S10: and then provide a route of escape. I would encourage
S10: the people to just bow down right now. Pull your
S10: car over, bow down right now, and just say, I
S10: need grace like I've never had it before. Pour down
S10: your grace. You promised grace to me. You call me
S10: to approach your throne of grace. to help me in
S10: my time of need. That would be the first step
S10: towards freedom.
S1: I love it. Greg Dempster. You just barely got a
S1: snippet here, but some of you and this is awesome.
S1: Every time I have Greg on, people go, there's something
S1: different here that I love. And it is. And it
S1: is grace based. Counsel. Grace based. Living God's power in
S1: us to do what we can't do in ourselves. I
S1: got a link for you. If you want to check
S1: out Greg's website, you might be a pastor or a
S1: leader or know someone who's hurting. You might want to
S1: just get some a good road map. Just text the
S1: word life to our number. Just life to (800) 555-7898. Just
S1: the word life to 800 555 7898. Greg, I want
S1: to thank you. I love you, man. And you're always
S1: an inspiration and a go to man here. Text life
S1: to 800 555 7898.