S1: Coming to you from the Morning Star Mission sponsored studio.
S1: This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
S2: Sometimes we make the gospel way too complex. We bring
S2: complexity when it doesn't have to be complex. It just
S2: needs to be simple, pure, undiluted. You just need a
S2: little bit of real gospel. You don't need you don't
S2: need to have all this highfalutin, crazy stuff.
S3: You know, I saw this video on, um, social media
S3: over the weekend that caught my attention. And it was
S3: this young woman, and she was she was talking about how,
S3: you know, she was kind of crying. She's like, I
S3: can't believe that this. I've been in church my whole life,
S3: and this is the first time I'm hearing the gospel.
S3: And she as she continues to talk, she gets more
S3: and more emotional. She goes, it's not about trying to
S3: be as good as I can be. And it's not
S3: about trying to be at church for three services out
S3: of every week and trying to be holy. And and
S3: she's going on and on and about all the things
S3: that she clearly her whole religious life has been, has
S3: thought it was. And she was like, you mean that
S3: this is the gospel? I haven't heard it my whole life.
S3: I've been doing this my whole life. And I'm just
S3: now hearing the gospel. And it was it was really
S3: it was both heartbreaking and powerful at the same time.
S3: Heartbreaking because you think, man.
S2: How do you miss it?
S3: But you can miss it because you, you, you absorb
S3: the message that if I just go to church this
S3: many times a week, and if I serve this often,
S3: and if I wear these kind of clothes or don't
S3: or go to these kind of places or don't, I mean,
S3: I related to it a lot.
S2: That's well, that's your story, right?
S3: Like, oh, that's not the gospel.
S2: Yeah. It's interesting because I think we do create a
S2: cultural norm without even saying it. I mean, who would
S2: say Christianity is going to church regularly keeping your act together,
S2: being good? Well, somewhat. I guess.
S3: I think if you went out and asked most people
S3: what it means to be a Christian. They would say
S3: exactly that.
S2: Really?
S3: I think it means you go to church. I think
S3: it means that you try to be a good person.
S2: Oh, you're talking the man on the street? Yes. Yeah,
S2: I think.
S3: But I think sometimes even that creeps into church.
S2: Oh, yeah. Well, it does creeps into that. Gets into
S2: my noggin. Not those kind of metrics, but different metrics
S2: that have. No. There's no biblical basis for it. In fact,
S2: those are the metrics of the Pharisees, by the way.
S3: And why do we get this so confused? Then we
S3: have the Word of God. Why does it become so complicated?
S2: I think you said it right there. It's the complexity.
S2: When the gospel was meant to be simple. Paul has
S2: an interesting warning for the church of Corinth, and it's fascinating.
S2: So there must have been some circuit preachers out there
S2: that were dishing up some other information, because he had
S2: a warning for them. That's really powerful. We're going to
S2: get to that straight ahead.
S1: You can take them out of Alaska, But you can't
S1: take Alaska out of him. Carl is in the crew.
S1: It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
S2: Yeah. There's a warning given to the church of Corinth
S2: that is a little bit shocking. And it's in the
S2: sticky pages. You don't turn to Second Corinthians 11 very often, but, boy,
S2: it's insightful. Ali, take it away.
S3: This is Second Corinthians 11, verse three. It says, but
S3: I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by
S3: his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a
S3: sincere and pure devotion to Christ.
S2: Okay. How beautiful is this? He's talking to Church of Corinth.
S2: He's saying, listen. So there's an assumption here. They've got
S2: a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. Doesn't sound highfalutin, right?
S2: It's pretty basic.
S3: Simple?
S2: Yeah. Simple. Um, when we go on, though, looking at this,
S2: something amazing happens here. So he goes on to say,
S2: for if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the
S2: one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit
S2: from the one you received, or if you accept a
S2: different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up
S2: with it readily enough. Indeed, I consider that I am
S2: not in the least inferior to these super apostles. Is
S2: that hilarious? Super apostles? Even if I am unskilled in speaking,
S2: I am not so in knowledge. Isn't this interesting? He's
S2: saying I'm not very good at public speaking, but I
S2: know some stuff. Indeed, in every way we have made
S2: this plain to you. In all things. So here's what
S2: he's up against. In Corinth, there's a group of people
S2: that are called super apostles. Quick note I might add here,
S2: there is no evidence that the super apostles had any
S2: of their letters canonized as Paul did. So it proved
S2: out to be real. But these are super apostles. These
S2: are the hot dogs. And here. Are you ready for this?
S2: These guys were great speakers, but. And I'm not, I suspect,
S2: when he calls them super apostles. I think that there
S2: were some people that were genuinely born again who were
S2: giving not a different gospel as in heresy, but a
S2: twist on the truth that brought a level of complexity
S2: that was going to steal away from their sincere, simple
S2: and pure faith. Isn't that fascinating? It's not high falutin stuff. Hey, big,
S2: listen to the big eloquent guys. It's just that good
S2: old fashioned street knowledge of what God wants to do
S2: in our life. That's what Paul was appealing for.
S3: So in what ways do you think we're susceptible of
S3: this today, of being kind of led astray from the pure,
S3: sincere devotion to Christ, from the simplicity of the gospel?
S2: Well, I think we can take it at face value.
S2: I think the biggest one at face value here is
S2: you've got, he calls them super apostles. And then he
S2: says of himself, even if I am an unbeliever, even
S2: if I am unskilled in speaking. What that means is
S2: these super apostles were great orators. So great oration does
S2: not mean good gospel, right?
S3: Okay. So we can be susceptible to people who are
S3: very persuasive and speak well.
S2: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, multi-level marketing ministers kind of,
S2: so to speak.
S3: When you think about the, the, the prevalence of social
S3: media and the ability of so many people to have
S3: a platform, I think discernment is so important. Important, particularly
S3: for younger people, people of all ages, but particularly for
S3: younger people, because you can easily listen to somebody on
S3: TikTok or Instagram or pick your platform, and they can
S3: sound so convincing in whatever it is they're presenting that
S3: you can go, okay, that sounds really good. Is it true?
S3: And I think that's the question that we have to
S3: be teaching our kids to ask. Is it true? It
S3: sounds good, but is it true?
S2: Yeah, and it's really good. And be careful here, because
S2: then you can start getting pretty suspicious of anyone who's
S2: got a gift of communication at all. It's not about that.
S2: This is about an eloquence that could lead people away
S2: from the pure and sincere gospel. And what's I think
S2: what's here is that there's a risk of having so
S2: much complexity to the gospel. And when I think of pure,
S2: I don't think about heaps. I think about little bits
S2: that are totally pure, you know what I mean?
S3: Yes.
S2: Like, here's a little bit of purity. And, and it
S2: was sincerity of heart. And Paul's just saying don't let
S2: that sincere and pure faith fade away. You know, I
S2: was talking with Christopher. I took him with me to, um, Arizona,
S2: And it was good, man. I love a jet. You know.
S3: Your right hand.
S2: Guy is my right hand guy. I mean, Young Thunder.
S2: How cool is it? Jet.
S4: A jet is one of the most genuine, kind characters
S4: I've ever met. Love him.
S2: Yeah. He's just he's just as real as real can be.
S2: I love to poke fun at him because he likes
S2: formula one racing. And I'm like, wow, that's one area
S2: of your life that needs lordship in a big way, man.
S2: In fact, he told me, he told me yesterday on
S2: a flight home from Arizona. He goes, man, you know,
S2: you ever dream about if you had all the money
S2: in the world? I go, yeah, what's your dream? I'd
S2: go to every Formula One race there was if if
S2: it didn't compromise my ability to be doing my calling.
S2: I said, well, you have just torpedoed any Ray's recommendation
S2: I may give to you for the ultimate.
S5: That's awesome.
S2: You just torpedoed it. But I digress. What we were
S2: talking about on the plane was he was looking at me.
S2: He says, and you got to remember, Ajit is a
S2: brilliant guy. 200,000 kids matriculated in Chennai. That's his where
S2: he came from in India. And this is a tech
S2: kind of region of India 200,000. Guess where Ajit scored?
S2: Top of the heap. Number one.
S3: Wow.
S5: Wow.
S2: That's a big deal. But this is what he said
S2: to me and I thought it was so good. He said,
S2: we've got to make sure that we don't let the
S2: gospel get too fancy for for what it is. He said, Carl,
S2: it's just so simple. And that's what it is. It's
S2: pure and sincere. And when we get away from purity
S2: and sincerity, you might know a lot of stuff, but, boy,
S2: it doesn't have the kind of fruit anymore.
S3: And it's. That's why it's. We need to continue to
S3: remind ourselves of this, to boil it down to the
S3: absolute basics, the pure, simple gospel that a child can understand.
S3: I mean, that's what we have to remember is that
S3: Jesus called children to to come to him. We were
S3: supposed to embrace him as a child, have faith like
S3: a child. Well, have you ever heard somebody say, break
S3: it down to me like I'm 12 years old?
S5: Yes.
S3: Yes. If it was easy enough for a child to understand,
S3: it was easy enough for a child to understand.
S2: And it's good enough for you.
S3: Exactly.
S2: Okay, coming up here, we're going to give you three simple, pure,
S2: sincere disciplines. And I'm convinced of this. These are. These
S2: are the unseen disciplines that are out there. They don't
S2: they don't show up until you've done them for a while.
S2: And then the fruit is evident. We'll break them down
S2: for you.
S5: Coming up.
S1: A basketball mom who's mastered the dad joke. Ali is
S1: in the crew. It's Karl and crew on Moody Radio.
S2: So here's the deal, guys. We have got a man.
S2: We got people showing up. We got a live studio
S2: audience showing up in here in just a minute. We're
S2: broadcasting live from downtown Chicago all across the United States.
S2: We've got Bruce Everett, Bruce, Bruce, come on in here, man.
S2: You can't stick your head in without getting on.
S5: Microphone.
S3: We're in a different studio, and we have a live
S3: studio audience that's going to be coming in at eight.
S2: Well, we got to get his mic turned on. We're
S2: going to get that going right now.
S3: We have the ability to turn.
S2: Yeah we got him. We got the mic on.
S5: This is so cool. Good morning.
S2: Yeah, yeah. So what's going on? You're bringing in some
S2: live folks here today.
S5: You know, a lot of people are interested about what
S5: goes on here in the morning and how you do
S5: what you do. And yeah, we're going to bring a
S5: few friends of Moody in here and just kind of
S5: watch over your shoulder, see how you do this.
S2: Okay.
S5: This this thing called, uh, Carl and crew. Yeah. And
S5: we're great supporters of this ministry. Strong supporters and champions
S5: of Moody that are going to be.
S2: Here.
S5: This morning and just wanting to add to their story.
S2: You think they can handle curve balls if we throw
S2: them at them?
S5: You know, how do you think they are? They're pretty experienced.
S5: Are they? They. They have their owners of businesses. There are.
S5: They are just influential people all over the country. Florida.
S5: We've got folks from Tennessee, West Michigan, here in Chicago.
S2: I think we got professors and workers and everything.
S5: This is going to be a great day.
S3: Really exciting.
S5: Yeah. You guys are kind of like in a different environment.
S3: Here we are. And a quick plug if you're not
S3: following us on social media Facebook Instagram, Carlin crew. We
S3: will have some updates and behind the scenes pictures and
S3: videos so you can be a part of it too,
S3: even though you're not in studio. We're going to allow
S3: you to.
S5: Wait a minute. There's cameras in here. Yes.
S2: Oh, you're on camera.
S3: I've got a phone that has a camera so I can.
S2: Get a fresh haircut, too, man. It looks good.
S5: Well, I'm. You know, it's. I just got back from Colorado.
S5: I was visiting my daughter, who works for focus on
S5: the family. Graduated from Moody two years ago.
S2: What's that got to do with the haircut?
S5: Well, I tried to look good for her. Oh, I see.
S5: I was.
S2: Trying to figure out what was the line.
S5: There. I just, you know, I try to look for
S5: my daughter, you know?
S2: You know what? You handled pressure really well. I tried
S2: to put you on tilt, but it was impossible. You're
S2: a good man, Bruce. Thank you. Thanks. We love.
S5: You. Hey, we love you guys, too.
S3: We'll see you in a bit.
S2: Uh, we're talking about the basics, and I want to
S2: give you three, because sometimes that pure and sincere faith
S2: that Paul speaks of can be lost. And I just
S2: want to break it down really simply. I'm going to
S2: give you three words. I'm going to give them to you,
S2: and then we're going to break them down. We're going
S2: to do it together. Okay guys. So humility before God.
S2: It truly is the one virtue that gives birth to
S2: every other virtue. Just think about that. If you can
S2: just get up this morning and go, God, I'm going
S2: to approach this day humbly. I don't need to be seen.
S2: I don't need to win at this. I don't need to.
S2: What are other things where pride manifests itself? I don't
S2: need to put myself in front of someone I'm not.
S2: My worth is not based in how people respond to
S2: me today. It's based in.
S3: Need, the approval of other people. And I think just
S3: also the humility of if I if you don't show up.
S3: I got nothing today. Like there's nothing in me that
S3: can tackle anything that's coming my way. Apart from your
S3: grace and power.
S2: Boom! And that leads to the second one. So the
S2: one is how we relate to God is humbly. And
S2: by the way, these are part. This is how we
S2: relate to the father, son, and Holy Spirit. How we
S2: relate to the son is Jesus said it. He said,
S2: have proximity to me. Quit worrying about producing fruit, proximity
S2: over performance. And this weekend I did this. I got
S2: two guys on stage, got one big dude that has
S2: just surrendered his life to Jesus a few hours before he's.
S2: I put him in the role of Jesus being the vine,
S2: and he's got tears streaming down his face while he's
S2: doing this. He's like, oh, I can't believe he's just
S2: this big old guy. And then I had a guy
S2: being a branch, and it's as simple as this. If
S2: you've not heard it before here on Carlin Cruz, it's
S2: one of our anchor passages. It's out of John 15.
S2: Jesus said, I am the vine, you're the branch. You
S2: abide in me and I in you. You will bear
S2: much fruit. Apart from me, you can do. Let's get
S2: a spot. Check here. Ali.
S3: Nothing.
S2: Nothing at all?
S3: Nothing.
S2: Okay. So proximity. If we can focus on talking with Jesus,
S2: open in his word. And by the way, word is
S2: central here because he says, if you abide in my
S2: word and my word abides in you, ask whatever you
S2: wish and it will be done. That's a big, bold statement,
S2: but proximity by way of being in the Word of God.
S2: See how simple these are? Humility before God, proximity to Jesus,
S2: and then liberty in the Holy Spirit. Three big bodies
S2: of teaching on the Holy Spirit John 14. John 16.
S2: Romans eight. I'm going to tell you this right now.
S2: You go John 14, John 16, Romans eight. You camp
S2: out there for this week. You will have a better
S2: understanding of what the Holy Spirit wants to do in
S2: your life than you've ever had. I promise you that.
S2: But the bottom line is this the Spirit of God
S2: gives liberty. Where the spirit of the Lord is, there
S2: is liberty, there is peace, and God wants to give
S2: that to you today. Now why do we mention that?
S2: Because the Apostle Paul said, man, I'm concerned that the
S2: super apostles are coming in and they're leading you to
S2: this distorted gospel, which would have been convoluted and off
S2: the point of grace. It would have been leaning into
S2: man's performance. And he said, listen, keep it sincere and pure,
S2: my friends. And he says, I know I'm not as
S2: eloquent as some of those guys. But then he says,
S2: I know some stuff. Don't you love how he says that?
S2: I know some stuff. Come on, hang with me here, people.
S2: And it's I think it's cool that Paul's letters are
S2: in the canon, and I don't know that any of
S2: those super apostles have a letter in the canon that
S2: we read every day.
S3: Yeah. You know, we interviewed somebody a couple weeks ago,
S3: or maybe, maybe it's been a little longer now, but
S3: at the National Religious Broadcasters Convention. And I was so
S3: struck by what he said, he was talking about sometimes
S3: the difference between the church globally versus the American church.
S3: And he said, there are places in the world where
S3: access to the information around the gospel is very limited.
S2: Limited.
S3: The podcasts, the books, all of the resources, even radio,
S3: is limited. He goes, but the level of obedience is high.
S3: Knowledge may be low, but obedience is high. He said,
S3: and we have to work on that. A shrinking, that gap.
S3: Here in the West between knowledge and obedience.
S2: That was a profound statement.
S3: And it stuck with me because he was so right.
S3: We can have knowledge sometimes that's off the charts. We
S3: have podcasts and books and resources and blogs, and you
S3: can fill yourself up with all of that. And yet
S3: our level of obedience is low. And when I thought
S3: about that, when you're talking about the simplicity of the gospel,
S3: sometimes our level of knowledge can actually work against us
S3: if it keeps us from understanding that it's not the
S3: knowledge that's going to get us closer to God.
S2: It's interesting, too, that Paul says, I know some stuff,
S2: I have knowledge, but he's the same one who said
S2: knowledge can puff up, so we have to live down
S2: that up on that high ridge and we can boom crew.
S2: I want you to know something. Keep it sincere, keep
S2: it pure. Don't let it die on orthodoxy and ritual.
S2: Don't let it die. Keep it pure. Keep it sincere
S2: and keep it simple. And we're going to be okay.
S2: God's going to do something amazing.
S1: This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
S2: We're going to have Joe Stoll coming in here in
S2: a little bit. And a whole live studio audience, no
S2: matter where you are in the world. Ali's going to
S2: load up pictures for you and all that good stuff.
S2: We got this. Look at these green lights going up
S2: the walls and everything around in here. Really cool. We
S2: got cameras behind us, cameras in front of us. Look
S2: at these guys. A bunch of tech guys behind the glass.
S2: Look at them in there, waving their hands around.
S3: At us. Acting like, acting like we've like. We've not like.
S3: Look at the lights. Ooh, they're so pretty. We're normally.
S5: Well.
S2: We're usually in a box.
S6: This is a much bigger space than we're used to,
S6: so we're acting like I'm.
S2: On a field.
S6: Trip.
S2: Didn't you get giddy about field trips when you were
S2: a kid?
S6: Okay. No, I hate.
S3: Field trips.
S6: But that's.
S2: Okay. See? There we.
S6: Go. Oh, Ali.
S7: Ali wanted to be. Hold on a second. Ali had
S7: an aversion.
S2: To school.
S7: Buses.
S6: I did.
S7: Oh, yeah.
S2: Go ahead and explain your version of school.
S6: Why? Why do we need to?
S7: Well, you brought it up.
S2: You said you hated field trips.
S3: Okay, so I developed a bit of a phobia of
S3: school buses. It started from when somebody puked on a
S3: school bus. And you can't get off a school bus.
S6: That'll do it.
S3: And so I became terrified of school buses. And so
S3: how do you get to field trips?
S6: Well, load on the big.
S3: Yellow school bus. And I would say, no, thank you.
S3: And to this day, if I have to chaperone my
S3: kids field trip. I'll just meet you guys there. I'm
S3: gonna drive my car. Thank you very much.
S4: Are you okay to see the school bus? You can
S4: see it.
S3: Yes, I can see him. I just, ah, the whole
S3: the whole thing. It's just like being in just like
S3: a big, stinky tube.
S7: Big stinky tube. It's okay. Well.
S2: In all seriousness, don't don't diminish what Ali's feeling, because
S2: the fact is, this is how it's real.
S4: I'm afraid of dolphins. I mean, what am I supposed
S4: to laugh at her about? Yeah.
S3: We're not gonna just keep throwing stuff in that needs
S3: so much explanation.
S2: Yeah, okay. Your fear of dolphins. Now, are we going
S2: to go all the way around Macready's barn? We're going
S2: to get our little phobias.
S3: Strange phobias.
S2: What's the problem with dolphins?
S4: It's not that it's not that crazy. It's just. It's
S4: really sea life in general. I just.
S3: That's.
S8: Better. Way better.
S4: I don't want to. I don't want to be in
S4: their home territory, man. If I get in the ocean
S4: and they decide they don't like me, I'm done for.
S4: I can't, like, I kind of fight them off. I'm
S4: in their home territory. Re. They're way better in the
S4: water than I am.
S3: Wow. Did you have an incident with.
S2: Did something happen? Something did a did a dolphin throw
S2: up in close proximity to you?
S8: Were you on a bus with a dolphin?
S4: Yeah.
S8: No. Okay.
S4: No, I just, uh, I can I can see it now.
S4: They're coming to get me. If they don't like me.
S4: And I can't do anything about it.
S2: Huh? All right. Super guy. What's your phobia?
S8: Do not put me on a roller coaster. They go
S8: straight down. No, that one feels way more normal. On
S8: anything kind of thing. But do not put me on
S8: a roller coaster.
S2: It does not feel normal. And I had this happen
S2: once where somebody threw up in a little splatter. Got
S2: on me. Okay.
S8: Great.
S2: This is not the whole thing. Just a little splatter.
S3: This is not good.
S8: No.
S2: Stop! I got Chris Seeger in here. Just.
S8: This is not good.
S2: He's got napkins over his mouth.
S3: You want to. You want to wrap us up?
S2: Yeah. Let's let me take us back, because these guys
S2: got this show out of control here. Let's have the
S2: cooler here.
S3: In the studio with a live audience that thankfully didn't
S3: have to see any of this. They've got 20 more
S3: minutes before they are.
S8: Subjected to our craziness.
S2: Oh, where are we at here? Here's what I want
S2: to talk to you about. And this is important. I
S2: think sometimes we think about boy, talk about whiplash here.
S2: It's like a roller coaster. Um, when we think about
S2: being light in this world, we can think about. Having
S2: a prominent role or a visible role. And nothing could
S2: be further from the truth. Have you ever noticed that
S2: the people who shine most brightly, our number one, they
S2: stand out in the contrast of darkness?
S3: Yes. And they stand out almost quietly, which seems like
S3: kind of a juxtaposition of being able to do that. But,
S3: you know, I think sometimes we think that in order
S3: to be a light, we have to be loud.
S2: Yeah, I think you're right. I think we think that.
S2: And the fact is, nothing could be further from the truth.
S2: Let's break it down. Coming up here.
S1: Romans eight brought her to Jesus while broadcasting traffic overnight.
S1: Super die is in the crew. It's curl and crew
S1: on Moody Radio.
S2: You know, if if love's got away. You know what
S2: it's got? It's carrying a light. It's got light.
S8: Yes.
S3: Light is very important. And we can be that.
S2: I love it. I keep going back to. I know
S2: I've said this before, but I'm going to say it again.
S2: Effie Latham. That was her name at the AD building.
S2: Administrative building in downtown Anchorage. My dad said, man, Eva
S2: talking to my mom if he nails it. Joe, we
S2: just need to let our light shine. Don't make it shine.
S2: Just let it shine. And boy, was he a champion
S2: of her. And she. He said she had some of
S2: the most simple, powerful gospel understanding going. And when I
S2: remember my dad, whose seminary trained, came home and says, Eva,
S2: we just let it shine. We don't make it shine.
S2: If he's right on this one, she is.
S3: She absolutely is. So how can we live lives like that?
S3: Special guest Joe Stoll coming up.
S1: You're listening to Curl and crew on Moody Radio.
S2: So light is important. You'd agree with that, right?
S8: Uh, I prefer.
S3: To have a night light still on at night. I
S3: don't like dark rooms.
S2: That's too stubborn. Or something else, aren't they? One of
S2: the funniest little things from the Iditarod was not me,
S2: but I pulled into the village of. Or the town
S2: little small town of McGrath, and I got my team
S2: bedded down and a musher came in behind me, and, uh,
S2: he's offloading some stuff from his sled, and he looked
S2: a little bit gruff and disappointed. I said, what's going on?
S2: And he said, Carl, you won't believe it. He said,
S2: I got lights for my headlamp. I didn't test them
S2: before I plugged them in. And I am going down
S2: the trail and my headlamp. That's supposed to be a
S2: solid light, right? He got blinkers.
S8: So.
S2: The light would come on and it would go off
S2: and it would come on and it would go off,
S2: he says. It's driving me and my dog team absolutely crazy.
S2: So he he forged around in hardware store the next morning,
S2: and McGrath found some solid lights and he was off
S2: and running. There's something about solid light that even Jesus champions.
S3: Very much so. This light of mind, the title of
S3: a book we're featuring today. Living Like Jesus in a
S3: non Jesus world. The author, Doctor Joseph Stoll, joining us
S3: right now. Light is important as Christians were called to
S3: be salt and light. But man, it can be difficult
S3: when you feel like the world is getting darker.
S9: So true. And one of the reasons I wrote the
S9: book is because Christians need to be called to be
S9: the light in the darkness. And you know, this is
S9: such a season of great opportunity, guys. You know, to
S9: attract people to Christ. It's such a broken world, right?
S9: The chaos, the divisiveness, anxiety, despair, angry. The long list, right?
S9: Of lonely, confused people. And I just want the light
S9: of Jesus to rise up. Remember when he said, come
S9: on to me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden,
S9: and I will give rest to your soul. You know
S9: I want that light to be shouted into our culture. Unfortunately,
S9: I think as followers of Christ, we tend to lapse
S9: into the darkness ourselves. Matthew chapter five Jesus so clearly
S9: calls us to light up our world with our good works.
S9: Interestingly enough, the good works the power of good works.
S9: The book basically says, Jesus has a plan. Let's get
S9: on the plan and light up the darkness.
S2: You know what I love about Matthew 516? It's let
S2: your light shine before others so they may see your
S2: good works or good deeds and some translations, and give
S2: glory to your father who is in heaven. This is
S2: a low threshold. This isn't being apologetics pro. This doesn't
S2: have the Roman road memorized or anything like that. Not
S2: saying that those aren't valuable. They are. But this is
S2: a all swim. Everyone who's in Christ is called to
S2: let it shine. Right, Joe?
S9: Absolutely. You know, Carl, you know, we live in a
S9: world that doesn't want to hear what we have to
S9: say anymore. Yeah. So I think it's interesting that when
S9: Jesus said that. Let your light so shine, that people
S9: may hear the message you're preaching. No may see a
S9: different kind of a life, a life that lives to
S9: bless others. And that becomes an initial stage of attraction
S9: so that they are curious about where did these people
S9: get this kind of thing? Right. Then we can answer
S9: the curiosity with the wonderful message of Jesus Christ. And again,
S9: Jesus's ways are so upside down to us, we think
S9: we ought to go out and fight our culture and
S9: win the war for our culture. And he's going, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
S9: we don't win it like that. So we just have
S9: to understand that when we think he's so upside down
S9: that we're the ones that are upside down, actually, and
S9: he's trying to flip us right side up.
S8: Now, many people.
S3: Listening, I mean.
S8: Have a lot.
S3: Of different opinions about what's going on in the world,
S3: what we see culturally, what are some of the actions
S3: and the attitudes that you find most concerning among Christians
S3: that actually could be hindering our gospel witness?
S9: Well, I think one of the attitudes are the way
S9: we feel about this slip in the culture, right? The
S9: sense of despair, the anger that we have at the
S9: cultural realities that violate the convictions that we hold so
S9: dear in our hearts, the sense that we're the losers and,
S9: you know, nobody's going to be attracted to that. I
S9: find it very interesting that Jesus, when he was here,
S9: walked into a very hostile culture. The Jewish state was
S9: under the thumb of the oppressive Roman government, and yet
S9: people were so attracted to him because he had a
S9: very positive, redemptive message of his kingdom. So I think
S9: we've got to have a huge attitude shift. And I
S9: think to one of the things that has alienated people
S9: from Jesus is the politicisation of our faith. Barna survey
S9: says that the people look at evangelicals as though we
S9: are a political force, and I think Jesus called us
S9: to be him. You know that he is what people
S9: see in us, not our political force. Not that we
S9: don't vote. We ought to vote for our values. We
S9: ought to run for office, run for school boards. But
S9: when the world gets the impression that we're a political force,
S9: then we become a political enemy. And how are they
S9: going to accept Jesus when we're their enemies? So I'm
S9: thrilled that we don't have to do head scratching. Okay,
S9: then what will we do? Well, we'll do the Jesus way.
S2: Yeah, I love it. Joe Stoll, our guest right now,
S2: has written a new book called This Light of Mine
S2: Living Like Jesus in a non Jesus World. You know, remember, Ali,
S2: we had a question here. Not too many days ago
S2: where we said, how has God used compassion in someone's
S2: life to draw you closer to God? The responses were
S2: pretty amazing, Joe. I think we undersell the impact of
S2: letting our light shine. I don't think we've got a
S2: big enough vision for what it can do.
S9: Here's where I think you know it's working. When your
S9: boss says, you know, I don't get Christians, but our
S9: office is a lot better place because they work here.
S9: Or your neighbors say, oh, I don't get Christians. But
S9: I tell you, our neighborhoods are much better place because
S9: they live here, or our town's a better place because
S9: Christians are here. When we start living that kind of
S9: a light into our world, then they may be just
S9: interested to know something about our Jesus who makes this
S9: light shine everywhere. My favorite thing in kindergarten was show
S9: and tell, right? Anybody? You guys remember?
S2: Show and tell. I remember it.
S9: You know? But it's that way with this light of
S9: mind that Jesus called us to, we have to show
S9: him to our world through our lives, and then we
S9: earn the right to tell them about this Jesus that
S9: makes the light shine.
S3: The book is called This Light of Mine. Living like
S3: Jesus in a non Jesus world. Author doctor Joseph Stoll.
S3: Our guest right now. Text light. If you want the details,
S3: text light to 800 555 7898. Just that one word.
S3: Try not to put the emoji in there. I know
S3: it's tempting, but it'll keep you from getting the auto reply.
S3: Just the word light to 800 555 7898.
S1: He was sharing the gospel on the radio and then
S1: he got saved. Young thunders in the crew. It's Carl
S1: and crew on Moody Radio.
S2: A lot of stuff we do around here just got
S2: aligns things here for I'm not ashamed of the gospel,
S2: for it is the power of God for salvation to
S2: everyone who believes, to the Jew and also to the Greek.
S2: I'm not ashamed of the gospel because it is the
S2: power of God unto salvation. You know power. You know,
S2: sometimes we're all grappling for it. Somebody wants the power
S2: brokers all over this world. Everybody wants a chunk of
S2: the action. Right, Ali?
S3: It's so true. You know, my my daughter made a
S3: comment over the weekend. That was hilarious. She's a teenager,
S3: and they had to volunteer to do something. And all
S3: the other teenagers were kind of hanging back, and she
S3: was the first one to volunteer. She goes, you know,
S3: it's funny when you're when you're a Christian, like, you're
S3: just bold. So like, nothing fazes you. So volunteering to
S3: be in this video, that's no problem. Like if you're
S3: going to live for Jesus as a 15 year old,
S3: you got to be bold. So it works in her favor.
S2: I guess it's a beautiful thing. So we're going to
S2: be talking about the power of God. It seems that
S2: there's something going on in our culture today. I was
S2: in Arizona over the weekend. I got back last night, um,
S2: got to bed about 11. It's good. Got a few hours,
S2: couple hours. And, uh, it was an awesome thing. Gave
S2: an invitation. We had scores of men surrendered their life
S2: to Christ. These are guys from churches all around Arizona.
S2: About 500 men packed into a retreat center. And to
S2: watch scores of men flock to aisles in a sloped
S2: floor kind of auditorium and fall to their knees. Surrendered
S2: to Jesus for the first time was one of the
S2: most overwhelming things. In fact, there was a sound. There
S2: was a guy running sound and lighting and all that
S2: stuff in the back, and he's a young man, and
S2: he came to me and he said, you know what?
S2: I've been praying that I could see the power of God.
S2: He says, I've been praying over broken down cars, just
S2: thinking the cars going to get healed. And it hasn't been.
S2: And he said, I was starting to think, where's the power, God.
S2: And he said, I saw something today, Carl. I said,
S2: you saw it too. I said, I did to see
S2: these guys. I've I've seen responses to calls for salvation,
S2: but I've never seen anything like this in many, many years.
S2: When I said, if today is your day of salvation,
S2: I want you to come to one of these aisles,
S2: and we're going to have all the other men lay
S2: hands on you. We're going to pray together because today
S2: is your day. The guys were stumbling over one another
S2: to hurry to that aisle. It wasn't a hesitancy. It
S2: was just a just a a sea of men just
S2: dove into those aisles. And I can honestly tell you,
S2: although God had chosen me to share the gospel, goodness sakes,
S2: going to get choked up here? Probably because we got
S2: some friends sitting in front of us right now. It
S2: was it was something else to sit back and watch.
S2: Look at God move here. Watch God move. And there's
S2: something about that kind of power that we love to see.
S2: And you know what? I it's not presumptive to believe
S2: that if you look at the book of acts, you
S2: see power everywhere. And can we are we presumptive to
S2: believe God for that?
S8: No.
S3: Because we have his word and so we can, on
S3: good record, say, God, this is what you did, then God,
S3: will you move in power today?
S2: Do it again. Give me that song. Loaded up. Young Thunder.
S4: Coming.
S2: Up. You know it. Yeah, I gotta do it. We
S2: got a studio audience filled with good people here. You know,
S2: there's stories behind every one of these faces. I think
S2: we better get a couple of those stories.
S3: Okay, let's do it. Who do you want to start with?
S3: We've got a whole room full.
S2: You know what I think we need to get? I
S2: think we need to get. John Kelly is going to
S2: be the first up here.
S8: He's going to step.
S3: Up to the microphone.
S2: You don't have to step up right now. We got
S2: a little bit of time. You got to get warmed up.
S2: We might we won't have you sing a tune or
S2: anything like that. But we're going to have you jump
S2: up here for sure. And we got a great room
S2: full of people here this morning broadcasting from Chicago all
S2: around the globe today. And we're glad that you're with us.
S2: We got some folks that can testify to the power
S2: of God. He's done it in the past.
S3: And he can do it again.
S2: He can do it again.
S1: It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
S2: Among the studio audience here.
S8: We don't get to say that.
S2: I know among the studio audience here, we've got Joe Stoll.
S2: And I was just bragging on him to the whole
S2: group here. There's something about staying in that grace pocket.
S2: You know, it's unmerited favor if you want to pass
S2: a seminary course, but it's unmerited favor and unlimited power.
S2: I think we miss that aspect of grace. It's the
S2: grace of God that saved us. Titus 211 and 12
S2: and trains us to renounce ungodliness, worldly passions, and live self-controlled,
S2: godly lives in this present age. Wow. That's the grace
S2: of God. Anyone in here this morning fired up about
S2: that grace?
S8: Yeah.
S2: Yeah. I told you they were their boom crew. Some
S2: guy in Canada is going. You say there's an audience.
S2: I don't hear.
S3: Them. They're very quiet.
S2: All right, so let's hear it right now. See? There
S2: they are. There they are. All right. Coming up here
S2: in a moment. I've been hearing about this guy.
S3: His name is John Kelly. He is a pastor right
S3: here in Chicago. We're going to hear a little bit
S3: of his story. It's not a Freedom Friday. Maybe it's
S3: a Freedom Monday.
S2: It's a Freedom Monday.
S3: That's coming up.
S1: Walking closer to Jesus every day. You're listening to Carl
S1: and crew.
S2: Well, sometimes people step into our studio, and then we
S2: hit them cold.
S3: Which, Carl, you do so well. So, are we getting cold?
S10: I knew you were going to bust me on that one.
S3: You can't get a room full of people in front
S3: of us and Carl not call on somebody.
S2: Got to get someone up here. This is a this
S2: is a. Let me just tell you, we've got a
S2: studio audience this hour and these are some really sincere
S2: is I think about we were in Second Corinthians 11
S2: this morning that this call to this sincere and pure
S2: faith that Paul talked about that is so sweet. Hang
S2: on to it. to it. He said, don't let's not
S2: get this thing so complicated that we lose out on
S2: what is most important. And I think we got a
S2: guy like this, John Kelly, standing in front of us here.
S2: He got a bio on this guy.
S3: He is the lead pastor of Chicago West Church right
S3: here in Chicago. We hear that you have a testimony.
S3: You are pastoring. You are in the trenches. Tell us
S3: a little bit about what God's done in your life.
S11: Yeah, yeah. I was born in Chicago but grew up
S11: in Philadelphia in a very, I would say, very violent, um,
S11: under-resourced community with a high level of prostitution. So I
S11: wasn't exposed to maybe the best scenes, the best environments. Um,
S11: by the time I was 12, I was selling crack
S11: in crack houses. Really? The first time I ever got arrested,
S11: I was about 12, 13. That's the first time I
S11: ever got convicted. Um, I was in and out of
S11: juvenile detention centers pretty much my whole juvenile years. I mean,
S11: just to give you a context, I mean, I felt
S11: the seventh grade went to four different high schools in
S11: my freshman year, I dropped out so it was high
S11: every day, always getting shot at, shooting at someone. I've
S11: seen a lot of stuff that I probably shouldn't have
S11: seen by the time I was 14 or 15. Um,
S11: just following that path of foolishness by the time I
S11: was 19. Let me back up a little bit. I
S11: actually turned to Islam for a little bit. So about
S11: six years was a professing Sunni Muslim, but still was
S11: in the streets doing dumb stuff. And then by the
S11: time I turned 19, went with a group of friends
S11: to rob a drug dealer in the neighborhood. And one
S11: of my friends shot and killed him. So we all
S11: got arrested and I was 19 years old, had just
S11: lost my son, who was stillborn at the time, um,
S11: was at the lowest point and was sitting in prison
S11: looking at the death penalty or life in prison with co-defendants.
S11: I was in solitary confinement, um, just at a low
S11: point when a prison guard gave me a copy of
S11: God's Word. I needed something to read. This was 2002.
S11: Back then, you could get a newspaper. So I was like, man,
S11: give me whatever you can. And he was like, I'll
S11: get you a Bible. I was like, whatever, give it
S11: to me. And he gave me a copy of God's Word,
S11: and I began reading for the first time. High school
S11: dropout and I began from Matthew, and I read nonstop. Yeah,
S11: I probably would have been like 24 hours straight until
S11: I got to Hebrews chapter four, verse seven that says, today,
S11: if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart.
S11: And I gave my life to the Lord right there
S11: in the prison cell. Wow. So when I came to
S11: faith in Christ, there's I didn't go to a church service,
S11: didn't hear a sermon. God's word was enough. And so,
S11: as a preacher of the gospel, I have so much
S11: confidence in God's Word that he uses us, but he
S11: doesn't need us.
S2: Yeah. Speak to that, because the Word of God, when given,
S2: we find here on air pastor, that when we when
S2: we feel like, Lord, where would you have us go?
S2: And we break open the word and read it?
S11: Yeah.
S2: There is something about the Word of God.
S11: The power is in the gospel and the spirit working
S11: through the living Word of God to soften hardened hearts
S11: and redeem souls to Christ. Yeah. And we can get
S11: so caught up in the vessels. And it was interesting
S11: because God can still redeem a lost soul through a
S11: weak vessel that's not on their A-game that day. Amen.
S11: And for me, in that cell, it was just vital
S11: for me because I'm in solitary confinement. So like in,
S11: you know, on the streets, if you get in trouble,
S11: you go to prison. In prison, if you get in trouble,
S11: you go to solitary confinement in the hole. You're in
S11: 23 and one, and you come out one hour a
S11: day handcuffed and shackled. You're allowed no human contact. I mean,
S11: I couldn't even get toilet paper and a blanket sometimes.
S11: But God got his word into the, you know, the
S11: hardest place and got it into my hand. And his
S11: word was enough.
S2: How was that the grace of God that got you
S2: to that point? Some people, some people Pooh Pooh jailhouse faith.
S11: I did.
S2: Was.
S11: That my lawyer did. He was Jewish. I was like,
S11: you're supposed to get this thing, you know?
S2: What's the matter with you? You're in the book here, man.
S2: It's to the Jews.
S12: First and then the Gentiles.
S11: To jail and finds God and, you know.
S2: But you said I really did.
S11: And I would say it's extremely hard to be a
S11: devout Christian in a penitentiary. It's not an environment that's
S11: conducive for you to to truly live. You don't turn
S11: the other cheek there. Yeah. And so my faith was
S11: really tested in the fire. So God was gracious. Um, just,
S11: you know, I here's a funny thing. Well, it's not funny,
S11: but it's just what you do. About 2 or 3
S11: months went by, and I really was feeling convicted that
S11: I'm pleading not guilty of a crime that I'm guilty of.
S11: And I felt convicted that I was going in front
S11: of the Lord.
S2: Holy Spirit.
S11: And not a judge. And so I told my lawyer
S11: some months later, hey, I'm a Christian now. I'm a
S11: Christ follower. I know you think this jailhouse religion, but
S11: I can't say I've repented of something that I'm pleading
S11: not guilty to. Wow. And so you can go to
S11: the judge and tell them that I just want to
S11: ask for forgiveness and whatever they want to do to me,
S11: they could do to me. He's like, well, you know,
S11: this is foolish. You got an opportunity, I think, to
S11: beat this thing. It's not about beating it. I'm going
S11: in front of God's presence and I'm guilty paying you
S11: to get me off. And so I went in front
S11: of the judge. I went in front of the young
S11: man's family, looked his mother in the eye and told
S11: her my testimony and said, I'm a Christ follower now,
S11: and you know, your son lost his life, but he
S11: was created in God's image. And if I could trade places,
S11: I would. And whatever you want to do, it's right.
S11: The Bible says an eye for an eye, a tooth
S11: for a tooth. And when it was her time to speak.
S11: You know what she said? Nothing. She showed me mercy
S11: and grace.
S2: Oh my goodness.
S11: And so I ended up with 6 to 20 years
S11: for third degree murder. And I went on to the
S11: state penitentiary, and there I got my GED.
S2: How much time did you do?
S11: I was supposed to do about 18. You know, you
S11: do like, you know, 85%. I did six years. Wow.
S11: And you came home on parole and a couple of
S11: years later ended up at Moody.
S3: Tell us then how. Coming up, you've got a special
S3: guest here going. Who is this? John Kelly with us
S3: right now, lead pastor, Chicago West Church, right here in
S3: the city of Chicago. Coming up, we're going to find
S3: out how he went from the penitentiary to the pastor.
S1: She was trying to earn her way to God, but
S1: God showed her she didn't have to. Ali is in
S1: the crew. It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
S2: We got someone here who is a miracle child. We're
S2: picking it up midstream. Recap this. Ali, this is an
S2: amazing story from John Kelly.
S3: Pastor here in Chicago. His name is John Kelly. He
S3: just shared his story. I spent six years of a
S3: much longer sentence. He was convicted of a third degree
S3: murder that he confessed to after he found Jesus in
S3: solitary confinement. Reading the Bible got to Hebrews. What was
S3: your verse?
S11: Hebrews four seven which says, what? Hear his voice. Do
S11: not harden your heart.
S3: So you you get out. After six years, you're a
S3: brand new man than the man who went in. How
S3: did God call you to now, pastor?
S11: Well, I felt called when I first came to faith
S11: in Christ. I just wanted to preach the gospel. Make disciples.
S11: I didn't know what that meant. We were starting, you know,
S11: we were trying to plant churches on every cell block.
S11: We had prayer groups in every cell block.
S2: Planting churches on cell blocks. Now there's a church planting
S2: effort right there.
S12: Yeah, we.
S11: Did that, by God's grace. When I came home, I
S11: just submitted to the church. I was going to Christian
S11: Stronghold Church. Um, Pastor Willie Richardson loved Doctor Stoll, and, uh,
S11: he used to do the pastor's conference here. We had
S11: quite a few pastors that had went to Moody, and
S11: so I had felt called to ministry. He recommended Moody, and, uh,
S11: he supported that and moved out here in 2011 with
S11: my wife to walk in that calling to plant a
S11: church and to get trained in the gospel.
S2: You know, I got to tell you something. Your bride
S2: sitting here maybe shooting some video right now. She loves her, man.
S2: I do. Yeah, you could hear that from a distant mic. How?
S2: How in the world did you meet this fine bride
S2: of yours?
S11: Yeah, I, um, it's a long story, but I met
S11: her at church. We both served in youth ministries. A
S11: very large youth ministry was not for the faint of
S11: heart at all with those youth. And one of the
S11: men that was discipling me was like, you know, her
S11: dad's not in her life. If you're going to approach her,
S11: you need to go ask her mom for permission to
S11: talk to her. That's what I did. So I went
S11: to her mom after her Bible study. I was like, man,
S11: I've been praying. Your daughter seems like a sweet woman.
S11: If you say no, I'll walk away. I asked her
S11: permission and she gave me her blessing.
S2: Honorable man.
S11: Yeah.
S2: You know what? Her mom saw what we see and
S2: hear right now. A broken, humble, dependent man on the
S2: grace of God. You know, there's people listening right now
S2: because we were just talking in here. Wes Ward, VP of, uh,
S2: Moody Global Media, is in here with us, too. And
S2: he was just saying this, and it's true. There's 20
S2: plus percent. Who knows? Maybe upwards of 30% of people
S2: listening right now all across the globe who hear your story.
S2: And they're like, Could God? Is his arm too short
S2: for me? Could he reach me? Pour out your heart, man.
S2: What's the good news?
S11: Man, the good news of the gospel is that God
S11: not only loves us so much, but he's willing to
S11: go down the pit and get us himself. That, um.
S11: That Christ died. When we say Christ died, it's not
S11: a cool slogan. It's not something we just say on
S11: Easter Sunday. It's a reality that God loved us so
S11: much that he sent His Son to come get us.
S11: And for me, when I'm in solitary confinement. Um, what
S11: brought me to tears was that my savior, um, loved
S11: me so much that he was willing to become a
S11: convicted felon. That I might become free.
S2: Yeah.
S11: And like the thief on the cross, he says, today
S11: you will be with me in Paradise. So I don't
S11: care how far you've gone, how much you've messed up.
S11: You're talking to a guy that's had abortions, a guy
S11: that's stolen from his family, been strung out, living in
S11: his car, and took the life of a young man
S11: who didn't deserve it. And Christ says, my love is
S11: there for him, and I will change him and make
S11: him whole and new. And I would just say, no
S11: matter where you are, no matter what suicide, thoughts of
S11: suicide is doing, depression, alcohol, giving up, you want to
S11: harm yourself. Christ came that you might have new life
S11: in him if you would just turn to him wherever
S11: you are right now. Yeah. Your prayers don't have to
S11: be all nice and clean. They have to be sincere
S11: with a broken heart. And he won't forsake a broken heart. Yeah, man. Ever.
S2: You know, I just the thing that hit me is
S2: that there's a lot of people in solitary confinement, but
S2: they aren't in a prison. They're in the prison of
S2: their own life.
S11: I learned that when I came out.
S2: That there's a whole world of solitary confinement. Speak to
S2: that person right now who feels all alone and out
S2: of reach of God.
S11: Yeah, well, I would just say is, you know what?
S11: You might truly feel like the people around you don't
S11: get you. And there might be some valid points of
S11: that because of what you're going through. But God understands you.
S11: We do not have a high priest. We do not
S11: have a Savior who can't sympathize with our weaknesses. He
S11: was tempted as we were, yet without sin. He knows
S11: the struggle. He knows what it's like to be rejected.
S11: He knows what it's like for people to turn away
S11: from him. He knows what it's like to be homeless.
S11: The Son of Man has no place to lay his head.
S11: He knows like to endure pain. Yeah. He knows what
S11: it's like to lose a stepfather. To lose someone you love.
S11: And so I would just say, um. Don't allow Satan
S11: to to to bring the lie into your mind that
S11: God can't relate to your pain. If anything, he enters
S11: into it and he fully understands it.
S2: So let's do this together. You and me, brother. Pastor
S2: to pastor here. Uh, there were some troubled hearts one
S2: day when Jesus was telling some men that he was
S2: going away, and he said, don't let your hearts be troubled.
S2: Believe in God. Believe also in me. He said, I'm
S2: going to prepare a place for you. That's unbelievable. Then
S2: he said, I am the way. I am the truth.
S2: I am the life. What does it mean to come
S2: off the broad path and go God's way? There's repentance
S2: involved there, isn't there?
S11: Yeah. It means you have to acknowledge. Right? I always
S11: say you can't. You can't get healed from something you
S11: won't acknowledge.
S2: Acknowledge it friend.
S11: You got to acknowledge and to say, man, you know what? Um,
S11: looking at my life, I'm pretty broken. I'm not perfect.
S11: I don't have it all together. I don't know one
S11: person in human history or on this planet right now
S11: that will say I am perfect. I have it all together.
S2: But those that admit.
S11: It, that admitted that God's like man. I can work
S11: with that. Come here and I will make you whole.
S2: I am the way he said. That means we got
S2: to turn around. Off the broad path. Just turn around.
S2: And he'll do the rest. We're just turning toward him.
S2: I am the truth. Meaning we can no longer fly
S2: by the seat of our pants and our truth. It's
S2: God's truth. We're sinners, separated from God. What would seemed impossible?
S2: Jesus bridged that gap, and he saved us. While we
S2: were yet sinners. Christ died for us and he rose again. Pastor,
S2: pour out your heart. He wants to give resurrection power
S2: to everyone right now.
S11: Yeah. I mean, you know, we can go to therapists,
S11: we can go to counselors, we can listen to podcasts.
S11: But when we say that he is the truth, we're
S11: saying you are the primary voice in my life right now.
S11: I've tried every other way. I'm listening to your voice
S11: and your voice alone. I need you to direct me.
S11: And you are the life I've been around a lot
S11: of death. I've been around a lot of suffering. But, Jesus,
S11: I'm turning to you right now to take these broken
S11: pieces of my life and build a beautiful mosaic that's
S11: a reflection of your image. And there's so much hope
S11: in that, because it not only means that God can
S11: change where we are right now, but it means we
S11: have an expectant future that's full of joy, that's going somewhere.
S12: We're going.
S11: To.
S12: Be.
S11: Like, man, like if we were to like, leave this
S11: planet in the next 24 hours, man, we could we
S11: could leave knowing that where we're going is far greater
S11: and far better than everything that's behind us. And so
S11: it's instant joy and it's guaranteed. It's not a wish.
S11: It's not something I hope for. It's practical and it's real.
S11: It's real as you are hearing my voice, I believe
S11: that right now God is pricking someone's heart. He's speaking
S11: to you right now. You know he is. And all
S11: he wants you to do is just surrender.
S2: Today is your day. He's speaking to you of your salvation.
S2: And you know what's amazing? The Holy Spirit is beginning
S2: to convince you and convict you that it is true
S2: what Pastor John is saying. So right now. If you
S2: confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in
S2: your heart that God raised him from the dead, you
S2: will be saved. You know, it's amazing. There's no patent
S2: little prayer. We pray. It's a faith is a heart
S2: surrender totally to Jesus, a turning around and saying, Jesus,
S2: you're my Savior today.
S11: Lord, I am broken. I am turning to you to
S11: be my everything and my Savior. I'm believing that by
S11: faith today.
S2: And if that's you right now, I want you to
S2: text the word new to a number I'm going to
S2: get you, get your phone out and get to the
S2: side of the road. Some of you are wiping away
S2: some tears. That is healthy and normal. Get to the
S2: side of the road right now. I'm going to give
S2: you a moment. Grab your phone and as soon as
S2: you get that phone, we want to help you. We're
S2: going to send you an auto response right back to
S2: you that's going to help you. It's got embedded three links.
S2: It's going to help you find where you can get
S2: a Bible that you can read. It's going to help
S2: you learn how to find a group of people, just
S2: like Pastor John, who loved the Lord just as much
S2: as you do right now and are going to help
S2: you keep walking with Jesus. And then we're going to
S2: in the third link in this link that we're going
S2: to send you, we're going to ask for your snail mail,
S2: your home address, and there's no strings attached. We're going
S2: to send you a resource that tells you how you
S2: do not have to live in self-help. You can live
S2: in God's power moment by moment. So we're going to
S2: send that to you. All right, Ali, there's people out
S2: there right now responding to God by faith. Brand new
S2: followers of Jesus.
S12: Yes.
S2: How do they get this?
S3: Just text the word new N-e-w to 855 five 7898.
S3: If today that's you, today is the day of salvation.
S3: Text new to 800 555,898. New to (800) 555-7898.
S2: You know, we're we've got a live studio audience here,
S2: and there's plenty of evidence. Jesus said it that there
S2: would be celebration in the presence of God for one
S2: person who turns toward home today. And I don't care
S2: if it's 1 or 100 of you right now. We
S2: want to celebrate with you.
S12: Yes we are. Yes we are.
S2: Again, text just that one word right now. New to
S2: 800 555 7898. Just text new to 800 555 7898.
S2: I'm going to keep it right here for a moment.
S2: This is really awesome what God is doing here. Shout
S2: out the last four numbers of your phone numbers. Those
S2: of you surrendering to Jesus today. 92, 67, 84, 2242
S2: 59 To five three. They're zipping off my screen here quickly, Ellie.
S2: I mean, they're flying in here right now. All right,
S2: let's let's just take it, boy. Ellie, they're pouring in here.
S3: 92, 67, 84, 22, 42, 59, zero two, 53, 44,
S3: oh four, 74, 82, 34, 65, 85, 86, three, eight, three, nine, 68, 1540, 50, 81, 69, 27,
S3: oh seven, 55, 95, 1582, 58, 88, 35, 32, 038, five, six, nine, nine, eight, 76,
S3: oh seven, 52, 44.
S2: Yeah, and I'm sure they're still coming. Yeah.
S12: Yeah.
S11: And the door never closes with the Lord.
S2: No. And we're here for you. Some of you're scrambling
S2: for your phone going, that's me, man. I'm sitting in
S2: my life to Jesus today. Just text the word new
S2: when you get your phone. We'll be here for you.
S2: Just text new N-e-w to 800 555 7898. Just text
S2: new to 800 555 7898. And what we want to
S2: say is welcome to the family. Welcome to the family. John,
S2: thank you so much.
S12: Thank you.
S2: We are messengers. God you are.
S1: He was running from God, but God's love brought him home.
S1: Carl is in the crew. It's Carl and crew on
S1: Moody Radio.
S2: What an amazing day.
S12: Right, guys?
S2: Great broadcasting live right here, as always from downtown Chicago.
S2: But we've got a bit of a studio audience. You
S2: just heard a story from a great man of God,
S2: Pastor John Kelly. Uh, coming up here in a moment.
S2: What a great blessing we have. Doctor Joe Stoll is
S2: with us, and I've asked him to help us understand
S2: for those new in Christ scores this morning. Well over
S2: 30 and many more who are listening right now who
S2: want to know how do I walk with this Jesus?
S2: What are my first steps look like? Hang on. Doctor
S2: Joe stole straight ahead.
S1: This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
S2: We have had a morning here, and we got a
S2: live audience right down here in downtown Chicago. And, Ali,
S2: this has been epic. Um, Pastor John Kelly just shared
S2: his story. The power of God to transform is undeniable.
S3: And so we saw at least 30, maybe close to
S3: 40 people respond with new. Today is the day of
S3: salvation for me. So we've invited another special guest who's
S3: in studio with us, uh, Joe Stoll, former president of
S3: Moody Bible Institute, also an author. You heard from him
S3: earlier this morning about a book he's got out. What
S3: would you say to those who are just turning to
S3: Jesus for the first time? What are some practical next steps?
S9: Well, I would just want to say what Carl. Already said.
S9: Welcome to the family of God.
S2: Yeah.
S12: And to remember. Hold on.
S3: That deserves.
S12: Yeah. Yeah.
S9: And to remember you're never alone again. Because not only
S9: have you accepted Christ, but he now lives within you.
S9: And you're going to hear a lot of voices. From
S9: the dark side.
S2: Yes you will.
S9: Doubts. You just need to listen to the voice of Jesus.
S9: So keep asking him to speak to you, and he
S9: will speak to you. But he speaks to you. Through
S9: his word. So I'd say get a Bible. Yes. And
S9: I would also say start reading the. Gospel of John.
S9: So you can meet Jesus personally in the pages of Scripture.
S9: And then better. Go to the three links. Right. Carl,
S9: what would those three links again?
S2: Yeah. We've got three embedded links in this that that
S2: will allow you to not only get a. Good Bible,
S2: but it will help you understand what to look for
S2: in a church because you got. To land with a
S2: group of people that are going to walk with you. Yeah.
S9: You took my next step away. Okay, let's go there.
S2: Right. Right away.
S9: You know, you're never alone because God now dwells within you.
S9: You know what a wonderful partner in life. But there
S9: are other people around who believe like you believe and
S9: who have Christ in them, who will speak to you
S9: and pray for you and comfort you. And so find
S9: a good church, a church that really believes that the
S9: Bible is the Word of God. Make sure of that
S9: and get involved in that church. And, uh, a good
S9: church is a safe place. There aren't many safe places
S9: left in our world anymore, but a good church is
S9: a safe place finally, for you to be, where you'll
S9: be loved, where even your failures will be helped. And
S9: you know where our downsides are tolerated. Because nobody's perfect, right?
S2: And you'll. You'll have to tolerate others downsides.
S9: Too, right? Exactly. That may be the toughest job, but
S9: how important it is to be in community? Yeah, I
S9: know that when Jesus came, he didn't choose one person.
S9: He chose 12. There was a community of belief. And
S9: then that 12 went out and built communities of belief
S9: because we desperately need one another and to love one another.
S9: So get a good Bible, read the book of John.
S9: Know you're never alone. Get in community.
S2: I want to double back to the Bible and the word.
S2: I think we that can even sound. I want to
S2: I want to say this. The word of God. I
S2: think we miss this sometimes. The word of God. And
S2: I'm the voices. You're going to hear them. This won't stick. This, this,
S2: this is going to be another. Tried it before. You've
S2: tried it before. And it goes on and on. Jesus himself, though,
S2: did battle with the tempter coming out of a desert experience.
S2: It was a vicious fight. But Jesus used the Word
S2: of God. In fact, he said, man shall not live
S2: by bread alone, but by every rhema word of God,
S2: the spoken word of God. Joe Stoll I just set
S2: up a tee ball for you, man. How important is that?
S9: Yeah. It is so very important because we meet Jesus
S9: and we meet God in His word. He spoke to us, right? Yeah.
S9: God's not silent. He's not like somewhere over there. I
S9: hope I can find him. He's now found you this morning? Yes.
S9: And he was ready to speak to you. And he'll
S9: speak to you through his word. And you always have
S9: to measure what other people speak to you by his word, right?
S9: Because like you said, there's a lot of other voices
S9: coming at us. And so to meet him in his word,
S9: and I would read the Bible to hear him speak,
S9: not just to read the Bible.
S12: Amen.
S9: You know, Lord, speak to me, read one verse and
S9: he speaks to you, and then cling to that all
S9: day long. And I think another thing that we all
S9: need to know is that some of us who today
S9: accepted Christ as our Savior, that's it. I'm perfect because
S9: we are going to trip, right? Yeah. And we are
S9: going to fall.
S2: We're going to grow.
S9: And the wonderful thing is that God is always there
S9: to pick us up, right? And to forgive us afresh
S9: because we're his children now and he loves us. And
S9: so then he wants us to grow. And the joy
S9: of like a year from now, how different your life
S9: will be in Jesus. You have to have that hope, right?
S9: Like a year from now, I'm going to be so different.
S2: You will.
S9: You know what the difference is? It's being like Jesus.
S2: Yeah.
S9: To be in his image and to reflect it. And
S9: by the way, not only get in community, but it's
S9: time to share it too, right? Do you have some
S9: friends that need Jesus? Like you just found him?
S2: Share it. Tell him. Tell him what happened.
S3: Doctor Joe Stoll. Our guest this morning. We got about
S3: two minutes to go, but I want you to speak
S3: to a different group of people when you. There's the
S3: excitement of the new believer. And then there's some people
S3: who think, man, I've kind of lost the joy of
S3: my salvation. Maybe I need to text in new again
S3: and get saved again, because I want to have that joy,
S3: that fresh relationship with Jesus. Speak to the person who's
S3: maybe been in Christ for some time, but that joy
S3: is not there. That freshness, that vitality is absent.
S9: Yeah, well, I would think. Let's talk a little bit
S9: about what's what. What has been the joy spoiler in
S9: your life. Maybe there's a joy spoiler in my life,
S9: some sin that I continue to do, or some doubt
S9: that I have, or not really deeply believing that Jesus
S9: is all that I need. And so I just come
S9: on back. Come on back to the freshness of Jesus,
S9: and again to meet him in His word and to open.
S9: Maybe you haven't been, in a word, for a long time.
S9: That's a real joy killer right there all by itself, right?
S9: Get back in the word and read to hear him
S9: speak to you. And if there's those unconfessed sins that
S9: are joy killers, deal with those effectively in your life.
S9: And maybe find a friend that you guys can pursue
S9: the Joy road again together.
S2: Yeah. You know, there's a great work of the Lord
S2: moving right now across this listening audience. And you may
S2: be in Canada, you may be in Europe, you may
S2: be an Islander, you may be in Chicagoland. All points between. Joe,
S2: it's important. And we've got people still responding to the gospel. 074077569955.
S2: In 30s what's their first step they take right now, Joe?
S9: First step is to be thankful and tell God how
S9: thankful you are that he has received you to be
S9: his child. And then run for the word and find
S9: him there.
S2: Yeah, what a day. We've got a studio audience here,
S2: and I know that it's resonating in your heart. We're
S2: getting so much feedback. You began a good work in you.
S2: He'll carry it on to completion until the day of
S2: Christ Jesus.
S3: I want to give you one more link. If you
S3: missed any of today and want to listen again, or
S3: want to share this with a friend, just text the
S3: word show to 800 555 7898. Text show to 800
S3: 555 7898.
S2: What a joy.
S12: Guys.
S2: Huh? What a.
S12: Joy.
S2: Carl and crew broadcasting live in Chicago with a live
S2: audience this hour. Godspeed.