S1: Coming to you from the Morning Star Mission sponsored studio.
S1: This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
S2: Not to disappoint. I got my good friend, Doctor Erwin
S2: Lutzer with us here in just a couple of minutes.
S2: I want to just spike something. I'm going to I'm
S2: going to be at an event that I'm really thrilled
S2: that I get to shake your hand. Boom! Crew, give
S2: us some of the details on this young thunder. Yeah.
S3: This is for those in our boom crew who are
S3: in the Chicagoland area. For now, we're looking at expanding
S3: this event. Yeah, we're other places.
S2: We're getting response from Nashville. And so we may be
S2: we may be coming to Nashville.
S3: And.
S2: Who knows, maybe Spokane.
S3: Yeah. But if you are in the Chicagoland area right now,
S3: this Saturday, March 1st at 9 a.m., Villa Park, it's
S3: going to be at Premium Motors right in Villa Park.
S3: And we're going to be doing a book signing on
S3: his new book, Killing Sin Conquer the One Thing That's
S3: Defeating You. We want you to know all about this.
S3: And if you want to know all about this, we've
S3: got the information for you in just one place. Just
S3: text the word book to 800 555, 78, 98. That's
S3: book to 805, 55, 78, 98. When you click on
S3: the link we send you, make sure to check additional
S3: details on the event page. There's a little surprise there
S3: we have waiting for you. We do not want you
S3: to miss it.
S2: Yeah, yeah, it'll be a surprise for sure. And I
S2: really extend a heartfelt thank you for you being in
S2: the crew. And if you're in Chicagoland, I'd love to
S2: see you there. Just text the word book to 800
S2: 555 78, 98. It's good to shake hands, isn't it, pastor?
S2: With folks. It really is. And it's good to be
S2: able to look them in the eye. There's one thing
S2: about speaking to a crowd, but there's nothing like speaking
S2: to an individual like I'm speaking to you right now. Carl. Yeah,
S2: we are separated by a relatively small table and we're
S2: looking at each other. Yeah. And regarding your book, would
S2: this be a good time for me to comment on it?
S2: You certainly may. I may You're giving me permission. All right.
S2: I want to ask people a question. Why is it
S2: that so many people don't witness to the faith? A
S2: survey was done, and you think it's. Oh, we don't
S2: know how or we don't know enough or, you know, this,
S2: that and the other thing, you know what the primary
S2: thing was? They were struggling with a sin that they
S2: could not overcome, and they felt that they did not
S2: have the integrity to represent Christ to somebody else if
S2: it didn't appear as if he was working for them.
S2: So the reason that I think that this book is
S2: so critical is instead of just talking about sin in general,
S2: this is conquering the one thing that defeats you. And
S2: of course, you know, if we're honest, we all struggle
S2: with sin. Yes. And we all have to recognize that
S2: it is a constant battle now, Carl, what I would
S2: like to do is to say that there are two
S2: ways we fight this. One way is intellectual. That is
S2: what we know, and we apply what we know, Scripture
S2: and so forth. But the other is it's a real battle.
S2: And if you ask me what the problem with the
S2: church is today, I would say this. We're no longer
S2: battling the world. We don't fight the culture because we
S2: are the culture. And you know what we think? We
S2: think we're free and we're bound. And so I'm so
S2: glad for your signing. The title of the book, Killing Sin,
S2: published by Moody Publishers and written by Carl Claussen. I
S2: encourage people to go, and if you can't make it,
S2: I assume, of course, that this book is available in
S2: many different ways where all fine books are sold. Yeah, yeah.
S2: We're using it as a sheer premium for the spring shares. Oh, good.
S2: Isn't that a blessing? Yes. Right. You know what? Let's
S2: keep going here. We're not going to. We're not going
S2: to go to a song. I just want to I
S2: want to pick up and go. That was captured by
S2: a statement deep in your book, The Eclipse of God.
S2: Doctor Erwin Lutzer is my guest right now. We're broadcasting
S2: live from NB. I like to call it national relationship
S2: with the one who can set the captives free. And
S2: the tomb is empty today. Broadcasters. That's my longer version
S2: of NB, I love it. Uh, Pastor Lutzer, there's a
S2: couple of paragraphs in here that are so good I'm
S2: going to read them. Let us never forget we represent
S2: Christ to a confused world. We must return to the
S2: teachings of Paul. When reviled, we bless. When persecuted, we endure.
S2: When slandered, we entreat, we have become and are still
S2: like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things.
S2: First Corinthians 412 to 13. Then you go on to say,
S2: our model is Christ. When he was reviled, he did
S2: not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten,
S2: but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. Let
S2: us your words now. Let us not react with anger,
S2: but with compassion, brokenness, and humility. It is tragic when
S2: people are swept up with obvious delusions, but for them
S2: it can appear as truth. And as we learned in
S2: the previous chapter, we must stand up for the truth,
S2: even as we are compassionate toward those who have been
S2: caught up by lies. That's the thing, isn't it? You know,
S2: I love to share because it's a tragedy when we
S2: become angry evangelicals. How do we live in this tension
S2: of standing for truth without being mean? Well, one thing
S2: we could do to help ourselves is stay off of
S2: social media. Yeah, there's so much. I mean, I could
S2: give illustration after illustration where there is a lot of vengeance,
S2: and vengeance is perfectly acceptable as long as it is
S2: called a quest for justice, and as long as it
S2: makes headlines in some circles. Give us an example of that. No,
S2: I don't want to. Oh, really? It will draw people
S2: to the very example that I give. Ah, because I
S2: see this because of I, because there are people out
S2: there who want to blog and you know that you
S2: can't do that unless you have a sensational headline and
S2: a sensational story. And so what's happening is oftentimes we
S2: are undercutting each other. Now, I do think that there's
S2: a place for discernment, and sometimes false doctrines have to
S2: be exposed, but we just can't keep shooting at ourselves
S2: the way in which we are. We're a circular firing squad.
S2: And yeah, that's wise. Let's not give fuel to that feud. Yeah,
S2: right to that anger. Yeah. And how much? Paul's clear.
S2: We need to leave room for God's vengeance when we
S2: take it on. That can be dangerous territory. You know,
S2: I'm not saying that people shouldn't seek justice for certain situations.
S2: And certainly we see that where there's been abuse and
S2: so forth. All that may be legitimate, but we're living
S2: at a time when nobody wants to leave anything up
S2: for Jesus to judge. Yeah, we will judge ourselves, and
S2: we will make sure that whoever has said the wrong thing,
S2: the wrong sound bite, or this, we'll make sure that
S2: we judge them well. We should, you know, the Bible. Hey,
S2: by the way, I wrote a book entitled Who Are
S2: You to Judge? Learning to distinguish between truths and half
S2: truths and lies. I didn't expect to give a commercial
S2: for it, but it just came to mind. So yes,
S2: we judge, but my we do so carefully. Yeah, because
S2: we are playing with forked lightning if we slander somebody
S2: or misrepresent them. And so it has to be done.
S2: But it has to be done with brokenness and humility.
S2: And how do we exercise judgment without being judgmental as
S2: a hallmark of who we are? I think the judgmental
S2: people are usually people with a lot of self-righteousness and pride.
S2: So you may have a person who's doing it right
S2: and a person who's doing it in the wrong way.
S2: They may actually agree that this is an issue that
S2: needs to be exposed. It's the attitude. Are we approaching
S2: this with a sense of humility and saying, boy, I'd
S2: better get this right because I don't want to slander
S2: A brother or sister? Or are we doing it with
S2: a sense of self-righteousness that we make sure that we are,
S2: of course, above the fray? There's no possibility that we
S2: could be wrong about anything. And so the question is,
S2: I think a lot of it has to do Carl
S2: with attitude. Yeah, I want to get into that a
S2: little bit more. So coming up in a couple of minutes,
S2: because we live in a day to day that is
S2: so polarized. Have you ever seen it more polarized? No,
S2: I don't think so politically. Of course, racially and in
S2: every other way, people have staked out their claim and
S2: we are all taking our positions and making sure that
S2: we are right about everything. Blessed are the peacemakers, not
S2: the peacekeepers. The UN has a hard time keeping peace,
S2: but we're called to be peacemakers. Coming up in a
S2: few minutes. Dear friend, Doctor Erwin Lutzer here with me
S2: in Texas. National religious broadcasters. And we're going to talk
S2: about that. I know as you're listening right now, rancor
S2: can fill your mind. And sometimes you just think, I've
S2: got to say something. Possibly. But how you do that
S2: will either be peace makers or peace wreckers. The former
S2: is the better. How do we do that? Coming up.
S1: It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
S2: Broadcasting live from NTB. We've got some folks in the
S2: audience here. We got some Erwin Lutzer fans out there,
S2: don't we, this morning? Yes we do. Doctor Erwin Lutzer
S2: is with me right now. Most recent book. I guess
S2: it's the most recent, The Eclipse of God. Yes. Um,
S2: but let's I want to go back to the words
S2: of Jesus. Blessed are the peacemakers, not the peacekeepers. Peacemakers.
S2: That's an effort, isn't it, pastor? It really is. And
S2: we have forgotten, as I may have mentioned in the
S2: last segment, that the Christian life is a fight. What
S2: we have decided to do is we've asked ourselves the question,
S2: how much can we be like the world and still
S2: be a witness? And actually, we've lost our witness sometimes.
S2: And yet there are those who want to separate in
S2: a legalistic way, and it doesn't affect their heart. So
S2: what we need to do. But if I might just
S2: make a comment about the eclipse of God. Yes, Carl,
S2: Americans don't mind saying that they believe in God, just
S2: as long as they get to choose the God in
S2: whom they believe. And what you find today is there
S2: are people who say, oh, I'm into spirituality, but I
S2: don't believe in anything specific. I have a chapter on
S2: that in the book, and one of the things that
S2: I show is that God turns out to be their
S2: own consciousness. Yeah. And one of the problems that we
S2: have is understanding the biblical God. Now, in the Old Testament,
S2: people were stoned, of course, and you have the killing
S2: of the Canaanites. And this is all based on an
S2: article that was in The Economist that says nobody believes
S2: in the mighty almighty of the Old Testament, and it
S2: says God is becoming more liberal. He's agreeing with us
S2: about everything. And it even had the nerve to say,
S2: instead of saying, thy will be done on earth as
S2: it is in heaven, we should pray thy word, thy
S2: will be done in heaven, as we are doing on earth.
S2: Oh my word, can you believe that? Oh my word.
S2: So to write those words. Yes. And so the online
S2: article was nearer my God, to me. In other words,
S2: he's becoming like I am. Well, I'm answering that, but
S2: I'm also answering the question, why don't we stone people today?
S2: And one of the longest chapters is, Is God more
S2: tolerant than he used to be? I mean, Old Testament.
S2: I mean, is it safer to sin in the New
S2: Testament than it was in the old in the Old Testament.
S2: Of course, they frequently dealt with sin in a very
S2: different way. So how do we navigate that? So this
S2: is a defense of the biblical God and what my
S2: burden is. We have to get back to God as
S2: he is. As a matter of fact, the last chapter
S2: is entitled Getting Back to the God of Wrath and Grace,
S2: not the God of Unconditional love. Everybody thinks you know
S2: God loves everybody unconditionally. Well then you are really canceling
S2: the wrath of God against sinners. So in the midst
S2: of this, what I try to do, Carl, is to
S2: show the amazing grace of God. And we don't understand
S2: grace until we understand sin, until we understand the wrath
S2: of God. It is then that grace becomes truly amazing
S2: because to use a quote, grace is not sweet until
S2: sin becomes bitter. And what we've done in society is
S2: we've told people to believe on Jesus, which of course
S2: is wonderful, but they're not sure exactly why. Yeah, because
S2: they are not convicted of their sin. So on the
S2: one hand, we have to preach hard truths. As a
S2: matter of fact, I didn't say this, but somebody else did.
S2: I kind of liked it. It says it is better
S2: to be slapped with truth than to be kissed with lies. Yeah.
S2: So what we have to do is to tell the truth.
S2: But it has to be preached with a sense of brokenness,
S2: recognizing our own sinfulness and cleaving to the wonder of
S2: God's grace. Now, in the midst of this, I have
S2: a chapter. Well, we could go on about truth. You know,
S2: I try to explain and help parents to understand why
S2: is it that when I send my child to university,
S2: he comes back thinking differently than I do? Yes, he
S2: sure does. But could it be that syncretism has crept
S2: into this, quote, evangelical system. Barna came out with a
S2: report here the end of January, forecasting what he sees
S2: in 25. And with 4% of Americans only 4%, having
S2: a biblical worldview. He says, we have in the church
S2: what we consider to be strong evangelical people. We've got
S2: a syncretism where we've almost got a mish mash of
S2: American Dream, as it were, kind of overlayered onto God's
S2: vision for our life. How do we separate those out
S2: where we get down to the core essence of God's grace,
S2: his mercy, his sovereignty, his plan for us? No matter
S2: what our political alliances are, we have to explain to
S2: people we do not kiss the, um, the Democratic. What
S2: is it? The, uh, the Democratic donkey or the Republican elephant?
S2: Politics is very important. You could have me on the
S2: show sometime talking about that, but we must always see
S2: Christ above that. And we must proclaim Christ to Democrats,
S2: to Republicans, to. And both of them are going to
S2: hell unless they believe on Christ. So what we need
S2: to do is to keep that priority and then recognize
S2: that these other issues are important. But they are not
S2: all important. They are not consumingly important. And we heard
S2: this last night, actually from Jack Hibbs. There are more
S2: people who are excited about the last election than they
S2: are excited about Jesus. That's a problem. And the triumph
S2: of Jesus eventually over the nations, over sin and so forth. So, boy,
S2: keeping all that balanced in the midst of such loud
S2: voices and screaming on both sides of the issue. But
S2: we need to do is to look at it and
S2: to say, we still recognize that God reigns. One quick illustration,
S2: and I know that time goes so fast on this program.
S2: When Isaiah was had his vision in Isaiah six, you
S2: will recall that in the year, in the year that
S2: King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord. Yea, Uzziah was
S2: a king. I think he reigned for about 52 years,
S2: a pretty good king. And now suddenly the throne of
S2: Israel was empty. And lo, I saw the Lord high
S2: and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. What
S2: God was saying is, Isaiah the throne of Israel is empty,
S2: but the throne in heaven is very well occupied. And
S2: when we see the topsy turvy and of course we
S2: know the election went one way, there could be a
S2: pendulum swing next time to go the other way. When
S2: we see all this, what we have to do is
S2: to keep our bearing and remember that ultimately God does rule.
S2: And so we keep going. We keep doing it. Now
S2: here's another illustration that comes to mind that is related
S2: to what you've said, though perhaps not directly speaking of
S2: false prophets within the church, in the book The Eclipse
S2: of God, I have the story of Hitler who had
S2: a marvelous idea. It was this that what you do
S2: is you take dead allied soldiers, take their uniforms, put
S2: them on German soldiers, and then the Germans could go
S2: behind the lines. And so all kinds of discord and
S2: false rumors and so forth. It didn't work too well
S2: because the Germans still had a German accent. But isn't
S2: that brilliant? Yeah, false prophets wear the uniform of Christianity,
S2: but they're actually working for the other side. And we
S2: certainly see that today in some churches where there has
S2: been a total concession to the culture? Yes. Whether it
S2: has to do with, you know, sexuality and so forth.
S2: A total concession to the culture. And yet God is
S2: calling us to remain firm, but to do so recognizing
S2: that the people who we oppose are really captive, oftentimes
S2: to Satan, we have to see them as captives, not
S2: just as enemies. Jesus said, love your enemies. That's pretty
S2: hard to do, but that's our calling. It all comes
S2: back to the grace of God, God's power to do
S2: in us what we can't do in ourselves. How does
S2: a person today who's has a confession in their heart
S2: that says, I've been held captive by a political victory?
S2: I've been held captive by a fight. I'm winning at work.
S2: How do we Deconstruct anger. You mean a fight that
S2: you're losing at work could be winning or losing? You're
S2: in the fight and it's the wrong battle. In the morning,
S2: when you get out of bed, spend enough time with
S2: God until your heart is at rest. Amen. There's no
S2: easy answer. There's no quick fix, you know. And what
S2: you have to do is to realize that the battle
S2: is going to be won in your heart. Yeah. And
S2: when you recognize that God is in charge, you begin
S2: to relax and you begin to say, no matter which
S2: way this wind blows, I'm going to accept it. Not
S2: from the hand of man, but from the hand of God.
S2: Pastor Lutzer, his most recent book, The Eclipse of God.
S2: Wonderful work, thorough, and one that will, I think, put
S2: something below the waterline in your life. It's the unseen
S2: things that matter most. It is. It always is. I
S2: want you to text the word win. This will give
S2: you a link to all of Pastor Lutzer resources. The
S2: eclipse of God. One of them text win to our
S2: number here 800 555 7898. Win to 800 555 7898.
S2: Pastor thank you this morning. Thanks, Carl. Incredible time. Text
S2: win to our number 805 5578 98.
S1: She's a choreographer extraordinaire and everything is Greek to her.
S1: Super die is in the crew. It's Carl and crew
S1: on Moody Radio.
S2: Broadcasting live from Dallas, Texas. National religious broadcasters. A big
S2: event here, and we've got the opportunity to connect with
S2: some incredible people. And boy, have we got a fine
S2: young lady right now.
S4: Lana Silk with Transform Iran or the chief executive officer
S4: here in the U.S.. Iran is one of the world's
S4: most hostile countries to the gospel. But you're seeing the
S4: church grow rapidly. I feel like I've heard that story before.
S4: Tell us a little bit about what's going on. Yes.
S5: Ali, thank you for having me. The church in Iran
S5: is thriving. It's thriving. It's growing, it's strong. There are,
S5: of course, um, battles with discouragement. But when they see
S5: the way God is moving, it constantly stirs them on
S5: for more. And it's exciting to be part of it.
S2: Give us a story, Lana.
S5: So we were just talking earlier about God's supernatural work
S5: in Iran, weren't we? He is constantly working through that country,
S5: and you know, God is doing his own thing. He
S5: is wooing people to himself, and he is so generous
S5: in allowing us to partner with him. But he can
S5: do it without us. Yeah. So here's an example. This
S5: is one of our pastors now in our churches. She
S5: was part of a muslim family. She was forced into
S5: marriage at 12. She had three kids through her teens.
S5: And then around her 20th birthday, her husband, her brother
S5: and her father were murdered by the government. She's part
S5: of an ethnic minority group in Iran, where there's some
S5: political activities which led to their death. So she took
S5: that as a sign that she wasn't a good enough
S5: Muslim and decided to really press hard into her Islamic faith.
S5: She was praying more, fasting more wanting to please Allah
S5: better so that kind of judgment would fall on her again.
S5: And as she began doing that, Jesus began appearing to her.
S5: So he would stand in the doorway in her room
S5: and put his arm out to her and say, trust me,
S5: come and follow me. Or he would appear to her
S5: in a dream and he would take her flying on
S5: these adventures that she described to me and saying, you know, I, I,
S5: I'm trustworthy, you can follow me. And it would just continue.
S5: And then she started to notice that when she was
S5: praying her Islamic prayers, when she would go to say Muhammad,
S5: the word Jesus would come out by accident. And so
S5: she would catch herself and think, wow, I need to
S5: redo this. This is wrong. Try to pray again and again, involuntarily.
S5: Instead of Muhammad, she would say Jesus. So over the
S5: period of time as this is happening. Of course, we
S5: know the power of the name of Jesus. He began
S5: to really touch her heart and she ended up giving
S5: her life to him. But now it's dangerous for her.
S5: She's in a muslim family, and they're very strong in
S5: their faith, and they're not. It wouldn't be good for
S5: her if they knew.
S2: Has has she? Oh, so they don't know.
S5: They don't know if they know, they would likely turn
S5: her in or kill her themselves. So she describes a
S5: period of time when she tried to keep it hidden.
S5: She would go hide in the bathroom and read her
S5: Bible there. That was the only place where she could
S5: have a little bit of privacy because, you know, in,
S5: in Iran, the the male nearest male relative effectively owns
S5: the woman. So now her husband is dead. Her father
S5: is dead. That means her husband's family take authority over
S5: her and her children, and she's probably living with them,
S5: and she has them in and out of her life constantly.
S5: She's got to be careful. But you know, when Jesus
S5: transforms your life, it's hard to hide it. Wow.
S4: Talk a little bit about the the Ministry of Transform
S4: Iran and your commitment to it.
S5: Yes. Well, the ministry is about reaching our country, reaching
S5: our country with Jesus's love and power, up and down
S5: the country. The men, the women, the children, the illiterate,
S5: the educated women like this lady whose story I'm telling you.
S4: Why is this such a passion point for you?
S5: Well, I was born and raised in Iran. I love Iran,
S5: that's my country. That's my home. Eventually I'll get to
S5: go back and see it again. And I. You know,
S5: God loves Iran even more than me. I think we
S5: only have a glimpse of his passion for the things
S5: that he puts on our heart. And I live for that.
S2: When we come back, Lana, we want to talk about
S2: how widespread is the underground church and how does it
S2: even operate and what is the what are the faith
S2: stories you're getting out of there? We'll get that straight ahead.
S1: This is Curling Crew on Moody Radio.
S4: We're broadcasting live from the National Religious Broadcasters Convention this week.
S4: We've got special guest Lana Silk with us right now
S4: with Transform Iran. born and raised in Iran before emigrating
S4: to the UK. The growth of the church in Iran
S4: has been unbelievable. Tell us a little bit about the
S4: the the information that you do have about the numbers
S4: and just how accelerated it's been.
S5: Yes, well, before the revolution in 79, we think there
S5: were maybe three, 4 or 500 at the most Muslim
S5: background believers in Iran. A few years ago, a research
S5: organization in Holland did some extensive research to try to
S5: ascertain the numbers. They think it was well over a
S5: million at that point. So and people were saying Iran
S5: is the fastest growing church in the world. So if
S5: we're if that is the case, we're probably one and
S5: a half, maybe closer to two. And that's just in
S5: the last 50 years.
S2: How does the church grow? I mean, how does it
S2: you don't you don't set up rent a building on
S2: the corner and hey, put up the sign.
S4: Flyers.
S5: Flyers. No. That's right. You know, the church grows in
S5: the way. It probably should. Yeah. Through the lives of
S5: people who are transformed by God's love and who are
S5: themselves bursting with Jesus in their life and want to
S5: tell people. Other people then get saved. And it sort
S5: of it's fruitful, you know, in the way that I
S5: guess it should be.
S2: What are so those stories where someone is now transformed
S2: by the power of God, they're living as light, they're
S2: bearing fruit. Somebody sees it, they ask him a question.
S2: Now you got a choice. Yes. Do I tell them
S2: who's buttering my bread? You know what I'm saying?
S5: Exactly right. You know, they are so courageous and so
S5: inspiring in the way they are excited for those opportunities
S5: to bring Jesus to the people around them. And bear
S5: in mind, Iran is a country of people who are
S5: really under trauma, like just the oppression, the brutality of
S5: their government. So, you know, when you love a people
S5: group and you see that they are hurting, you know,
S5: you have the answer for their problems, you can't help
S5: but share it, even if it's going to cost you.
S4: What can the American church learn from the church in Iran?
S5: That's a great question. I think all of us who
S5: live in a free context can be inspired by the passion,
S5: the zeal, the sold out nature of the faith, the
S5: people who live in countries like Iran. When we live
S5: in a free world, it's very easy to get comfortable,
S5: to pick and choose, become a consumer really of our faith.
S5: You know which church is more fun? Which worship do
S5: I like more? Which Bible do I want to pick
S5: up or put down? When you're in a context where
S5: you're persecuted, all of those sort of extras go away,
S5: then it's all in, sold out, whatever it takes.
S2: How are you getting resources to the underground church? How
S2: are we getting Bibles? I mean, how does that work?
S5: There are ways to take physical things in, and we
S5: have our secret ways, which we do. But most of
S5: it honestly is digital. Digital media is very powerful and effective.
S5: It's good quality and it's easier to hide. So we
S5: use satellite TV, radio, social media, but we also have
S5: an app where people can download Bibles, discipleship materials. So
S5: that's probably the most predominant way.
S2: So let's say there's a million and a half followers
S2: of Jesus in Iran. How many of those have a
S2: physical Bible or even risk that? I mean, that's a
S2: huge risk, isn't it, to have a Bible in your
S2: on your person?
S5: It is. It is a risk. Um, it wouldn't be
S5: the majority. I would I would love to know myself,
S5: but I would guess it would be less than half
S5: that would have a physical Bible.
S2: This is an awe inspiring. You know, it's the Spirit
S2: of God has hit me with is the children. Yeah.
S2: What are the stories about the children? I feel like
S2: I need to ask you that. Yeah.
S5: You know what? I think that might have been the
S5: Holy Spirit prompting you that the children are really high
S5: on our focus this year. We've been thinking a lot
S5: about how do we empower and strengthen the Christian children first?
S5: Imagine the context in which you have an Islamic education.
S5: You can't tell your schoolteachers you're a Christian. Your whole
S5: family would be outed. You have to play this game
S5: of being a muslim. You're being forced to study the Quran,
S5: to recite the namaz, and all of that is going
S5: on at school. Then you go home and the same people. Moses, Abraham, Noah,
S5: have a different story and a different truth that you
S5: are presented with at home. So that's a struggle. Imagine
S5: a five, six, seven year old having to navigate that.
S5: So we're putting a lot of resources together now in
S5: helping the children just get strengthened in their faith and
S5: then through them reach their friends.
S2: I mean imagine our kids having to go somewhat incognito. Yeah.
S2: And yet they're growing up in their relationship with Jesus.
S2: They see it in their mom and dad. Yeah, they
S2: see it in the underground church. Are they meeting house
S2: to house? Do they gather together? Yes.
S5: House to house in small numbers. And as they grow,
S5: which they do, then we encourage them to split up,
S5: to keep the numbers small so they're not detected so easily.
S2: Some of you wonder right now or have wondered, oh,
S2: what's going on with those people? And you've heard some
S2: stories here today. You think about those children, and I
S2: want that to be an impetus for you to say,
S2: I want to grab a link. I want to help.
S2: This is a tangible way. Talk about return on investment.
S2: My goodness.
S4: The ministry is transforming Iran. Just text transform to 800
S4: 555 7898. We'll get you a link to their website.
S4: Text transform to (800) 555-7898.
S2: Lon. I want to thank you. I feel prompted to
S2: pray right now.
S5: Thank you, I appreciate that.
S2: Father, in Jesus name, we thank you for our brothers
S2: and sisters in Iran and the children right now. Lord,
S2: we pray your protection over them and we thank you
S2: for their witness. I pray, Lord, that you would provide
S2: for them in every way that they're crying out for,
S2: and even surprise them today as we pray with your
S2: abundant grace, which is so rich and I give you
S2: praise today in Jesus name, Amen. And as we pray,
S2: the Spirit of God goes to work and you might
S2: be prompted to join in to this effort. I want
S2: to encourage you to do it right now.
S4: Text transform to 800 555 7898. Just text that one word.
S4: Transform to 800 555, 7898. Get the link. Click it.
S4: Use it as the Lord leads.
S2: Yeah. Lana. Thank you, thank you. You're an inspiration. Thank you.
S6: Appreciate it.
S1: He's a sports fanatic with a stat for anything you
S1: can think of. Young Thunder is in the crew. It's
S1: curling crew one moody radio.
S2: Okay, we need some prayers. We're we're we're needing to
S2: partner with you. And if you can carve out 30
S2: minutes during share, and there's a huge roster to pick
S2: from starting Tuesday. Uh, week from Tuesday, week from Tuesday.
S2: We've got like seven hours every day Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday,
S2: and then a couple hours on Saturday that we'd love
S2: for you to get a half an hour slot and
S2: pray with nine other people. If you've got really the
S2: gift and the time for prayer, I want you to
S2: get more than one slot. Come and grab them. And
S2: what do we have left to die? About 400 slots left. 300. Uh,
S2: almost about 480. Oh, we got a long way to go. Okay,
S2: we started with 600. We got 480. Okay. The time
S2: is now. The time is now.
S4: So you grab a 30 minute slot and scroll all
S4: the way down. You do not have to fill them
S4: in order. You pick a 30 minute slot that works
S4: for you, and then you pick the location. You do
S4: not have to come to Chicago. If you live outside
S4: of Chicago. You come and you go to wherever you
S4: want to be. You want a prayer walk. You want
S4: a prayer drive. You want to be in your closet.
S4: You pick the place. You pick the time. We're so grateful.
S4: We'll send you some prayer points, some behind the scenes
S4: sort of updates so you have a good sense of
S4: what to pray for. Text crew to 800 555 7898.
S4: Just text crew to 800 555 7898.
S2: Okay, we're at a point right now. We need to
S2: call all all prayers. We're just asking you. Come on,
S2: let's go, let's go. So Ali said it. Text crew
S2: to 805 five five, 7898. I got to get that
S2: boiler room filled with prayer.
S4: Do we need Jonathan to call the prayers?
S2: Yeah. Do it. If he's asking for it. Yeah.
S3: Right now. All right. For those of you who are
S3: in meetings in this room, I apologize, but let's do it.
S3: Let's call those prayers. Come on.
S2: Sir. Sir. Come on. Prayers. Time to pray, sir. That's it.
S2: That's how we call him. That's what we needed. It's
S2: just what needed to happen. The best part about that
S2: is that Ali asked for it.
S3: I know that was the shocking part.
S2: I don't know where that came from. Look at em.
S2: They're coming in right now. There they go. Text Cru
S2: to 805 five five, 78, 98. And here's the promise
S2: I'm going to make you. We're going to have we're
S2: going to have Young Thunder on one of those updates.
S2: One of those mornings. We're going to have him thank
S2: the prayers with the sewee. Northwest Arkansas Razorbacks call. Okay.
S2: That's what we're going to do. Sounds good to me. Okay.
S2: Are you just red in the face because it expended
S2: a lot of energy? Huh?
S3: Well, no, I don't usually.
S2: Do it in front of a crowd. I'm sorry. Jonathan.
S2: That's okay.
S3: I do it on the radio, so I shouldn't be embarrassed.
S2: More embarrassed. Look at him. He's blushing. Bless his heart.
S2: Bad people in this room with us. Yeah. Oh, I
S2: don't know. Oh. It's fun. Oh.
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: And crew broadcasting live from NB. Looks like everybody's tucked in.
S7: Where's everybody.
S2: At? Hey, where's everybody at? Yeah, that's you guys faking it?
S2: Like we got a big studio audience here today.
S3: Yeah, they're all sleeping right now.
S2: Man, that was pretty weak. Two young thunder. You can
S2: give us a little more mustard than that this time around.
S3: Hey, that was spontaneous. I'm trying to be honest and
S3: just letting people know how many people are in the room.
S4: The room is a little empty in this early hour.
S2: But it'll fill up. It's great. We've got a great
S2: guest with us here. Here's the topic we want to tackle.
S2: This is so important. My goodness, we live in this
S2: digital age. And how are we going to reach people.
S2: And the the sky's the limit when you got an
S2: uptick of Bible sales 2024. We've been saying this a
S2: lot only because it's such great news. 22% uptick of
S2: Bible sales. Incredible. Come on. All right, Jonathan Griffiths, let's go.
S2: How are we going to reach people I want answers,
S2: I want them now.
S8: Well, I don't know that I got all the answers,
S8: but we got huge opportunities before us, don't we? Because
S8: the digital age opens up so many doors of opportunity
S8: to get good Bible content into people's hearts and minds.
S8: And that's that's a wonderful thing. But it's also a
S8: jungle out there. And as as those who are receiving
S8: and imbibing Bible content, we need to learn some discernment.
S8: And we need to be really careful, don't we? Because
S8: we can access so much, but we can access the
S8: good and the bad. Yeah, and there's just a huge
S8: need for all of us who are hungry for the
S8: Word of God to be learning that discernment between the
S8: good and the bad. And I think we learned that,
S8: first of all, in the local church, you know, each
S8: of us, as we grow in Christ, we need to
S8: be really well grounded in a local church.
S2: Boom, brother.
S8: Don't we? I mean, yes, yes, where we are. Where
S8: we are being taught to understand the scriptures and to
S8: discern between true and false and good and evil. And
S8: if we are only independent consumers of content, and we're
S8: not embedded in the life of the local church, we're
S8: going to we're going to go astray and we're going
S8: to be led astray. So I think that's I think
S8: that's number one. I think that's absolutely crucial. And I'd
S8: love to give that encouragement to anyone listening today. If
S8: you don't have a local church where you are grounded,
S8: where you are involved, where you have accountability, where you
S8: have people feeding into your life and you're feeding into
S8: other lives, you're going to be impoverished.
S2: Find it. Yeah.
S4: Jonathan Griffiths, our guest this morning. He serves as lead
S4: pastor of the Metropolitan Bible Church in Ottawa, Canada. He
S4: sits on the Council of the Gospel Coalition. Canada gives
S4: leadership to the Timothy trust exists to promote expository Bible ministry.
S4: There is no shortage of, as you mentioned, biblical content available.
S4: You can go on TikTok or Instagram and you can
S4: get in 15 seconds of somebody telling you something about
S4: the Bible, but I imagine you have a thought or
S4: two as to why that can be good and bad.
S8: Well, it can be good and bad, and there's good,
S8: bad and everything else in between out there in the
S8: Christian media marketplace. I mean, one of my great passions
S8: is training up the next generation of gospel workers. Right on. And,
S8: you know, for for those, um, to lead in the church,
S8: to do that well and faithfully, they need to be
S8: grounded in the truth themselves. And and that takes some
S8: time of study and that takes some education. And I
S8: know in the world of Moody Global Media, I'm talking
S8: to the choir here because there's there's a commitment here
S8: to training up gospel workers for the global church. But
S8: we really need that. And and one of the things
S8: that's really changed, even post-Covid, just in the last five
S8: years or so, is that the whole world of seminary
S8: education has been just turned on its head because we're
S8: we're wanting to be able to access education and substance,
S8: you know, from our living room without having to go anywhere.
S8: And so there's been a huge movement away from people,
S8: you know, saying, I'm going to take 3 or 4 years,
S8: I'm going to go to seminary, I'm going to move
S8: my family there, and I'm going to have a time
S8: of study and get really grounded. That's all changed. And
S8: I think all of us involved in Christian education and
S8: Christian leadership need to really be thinking about how we
S8: enable people to access good education so they can step
S8: into Christian leadership and do that in some flexible ways,
S8: because the world's really changed and models of education have
S8: been transformed.
S2: You know, I got a passion for something because I'm
S2: a churchman at heart. That's my first and primary passion.
S2: What would it look like if Bible college seminaries got
S2: way more proactive, partnering with the local church, almost making
S2: those extensions? So here's what I want to do coming
S2: up in a few minutes. Let's explore that a little bit.
S2: I'd love to. Um, and just what would it look
S2: like if fill in the blank? We began to partner
S2: with churches in a way that puts the almost the onus.
S2: Responsibility and authority puts the big hat back on the
S2: local church, so to speak. It's it's let's kick that around.
S2: That's coming up in just a couple of minutes. Jonathan
S2: Griffiths here. He's from way up there. Cold country. Ottawa, Canada. Ottawa, Canada.
S1: Hang on it's Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
S2: Equip the Saints to do the work of ministry. How
S2: do we do it? Got some crazy thoughts on this
S2: one this morning.
S4: Jonathan Griffiths with us right now. He's from Encounter the Truth,
S4: also the lead pastor of the Metropolitan Bible Church in Ottawa, Canada.
S4: You have a keen interest in this, Carl set up
S4: just before the break. The seminary, the role of seminary
S4: has changed the local church. We want to bring those
S4: two together more so that we're not losing people for
S4: four years as they disappear and go get trained and
S4: are away from the local church. How can we bridge
S4: that gap a little bit more.
S8: Well, I think there's been a really positive move. And
S8: somehow I think Covid sparked this for local churches to say,
S8: you know, we really want to get back involved in
S8: the in the training of our next generation of leaders.
S8: And I think as some people maybe, you know, weren't
S8: able to go away to seminary and have in-person training
S8: in the depths of Covid, the churches started to notice, hey,
S8: we love having our young people around, the people who
S8: are in training. We love having them here within the
S8: local church, serving within the local church while they're studying,
S8: and some of them doing that online and so on.
S8: And I think that's sparking some really big conversations between
S8: churches and denominations and seminaries about how we maybe envisage
S8: theological education keeping our our promising young people involved in
S8: the life of the local church while they're training, while
S8: they're studying so that they can be mentored by their
S8: pastors and their elders within their fellowship so they can
S8: actually be engaging in ministry, not not just having an
S8: ivory tower experience, but engaging in ministry all the time
S8: while they're training, and I think these conversations are great.
S8: I don't think we know where the dust is going
S8: to settle on seminary education for the next generation. But
S8: but the world is changing.
S2: Yeah, it's changing quickly. Um, worldview. 4% of Americans have
S2: a biblical worldview. I'm sure that's not much different in Canada.
S2: It's probably.
S8: Lower.
S2: Probably a little bit lower. Thanks for saying that. Um,
S2: it's so the worldview, though, there's four huge anchors of
S2: a worldview. Sovereignty of God, lostness of man. Regenerating power
S2: of Christ through the Holy Spirit and the sanctification process.
S2: When you get those four anchors in your soul, you
S2: can go somewhere. Yeah, it seems to me wondering if
S2: I'm under leveraging. So, I mean, I got a moody prof,
S2: one of our elders, and I've got one of the
S2: greatest Greek minds. He's my right hand man. But the
S2: weird thing about even getting worldview, it seems. It feels
S2: like it's taking us away from reaching people, but really,
S2: it's almost a delayed gratification if we can get embedded
S2: in our leaders. A biblical worldview, and that gets a
S2: boiler going in. What do you think about that?
S8: Oh, absolutely. But the way in which we shape biblical
S8: worldview is through just immersing ourselves in the word, in
S8: the Word of God, and being really grounded in the word. Yes.
S8: And I think one of the things we need to
S8: do unashamedly and come back to this in an unashamed
S8: way is, is to focus our education of young people
S8: who are preparing for ministry, to focus their education in
S8: the Word of God, to get them really grounded in Scripture. Because,
S8: you know, the Word of God is, is is the
S8: power of God for life transformation. And we need people
S8: whose minds are so shaped by Scripture that their whole
S8: view of reality is shaped by Scripture. Yes. And and
S8: I think we need to come back to a real
S8: focus of get people into the word, get them grounded
S8: in the word so that they are mighty in the
S8: scriptures and able to teach the scriptures. Yeah, And I
S8: want that simplicity to shape our Christian education. Really, at
S8: every level.
S4: You pastor in Canada, you are part of the Timothy Trust,
S4: which is all about the revitalization of the church in Canada.
S4: You mentioned you think in Canada, biblical worldview might even
S4: be lower than here in the States. What would you
S4: say are the unique challenges that you're seeing from your
S4: vantage point? Maybe that we're not even seeing.
S8: Well, you know, Canada and the United States share a
S8: lot in common historically and culturally, of course, but there
S8: there has been a faster movement away from our biblical
S8: moorings in Canada overall than there has in the United States.
S8: I mean, we're on the same trajectory, but I think
S8: it's been a little bit, a little bit quicker.
S2: You're a little European. We're a.
S8: Little European. We're a few years ahead. I mean, you're
S8: the United States is heading in the same direction, but
S8: we tend to get to some of the key markers
S8: a little bit quicker. That's been true historically with massive
S8: social change over the last 50 years. Each each negative step.
S8: Canada's been a few steps ahead of the United States.
S8: There are various reasons for that. You know, our church
S8: where I serve is on the border of Ontario and Quebec.
S8: So Quebec being French Canada, Quebec is the least reached
S8: region in the Americas. North south central Caribbean. Wow. With,
S8: you know, 2 or 3% evangelical Christian in Quebec. That's
S8: the that's the lowest you'll find anywhere in the Americas.
S8: And part of the history of that actually has been
S8: a very negative reaction in Quebec against a historically very
S8: repressive Roman Catholicism. That's just Quebec French history, but that
S8: has shaped our our region of Canada. There's a very strong, anti-Christian,
S8: very strong secularizing cultural move in that part of the world.
S8: And and you see that then represented in, in our
S8: politics and in the social direction of the country. So
S8: that's been a little bit of a unique factor in
S8: Canada that I think has moved things on a little
S8: bit more quickly. But but what I want to say is,
S8: despite all that, the reality on the ground in the
S8: churches is we're seeing people coming to Christ. That's what
S8: I was wondering. We're seeing young people. We're seeing young
S8: men come to Christ. It's really fascinating and loving expository
S8: Bible teaching, like teaching through books of the Bible, chapter
S8: by chapter, verse by verse. They're hungry for that. Our
S8: young adults group seem to be the hungriest for it.
S8: So we've got we've got hundreds of, you know, college
S8: aged students and young professionals coming to our church. And
S8: I tell you, if I gave up doing expository Bible
S8: teaching on a Sunday morning and I went all kind
S8: of light and fluffy and, and did kind of randomized
S8: topical teaching that wasn't grounded in the text, they would
S8: first complain and then they would leave. Wow. My my
S8: my my young adults.
S2: Awesome. That is that's encouraging. Yeah. Yeah.
S8: I love that.
S2: You know, we've we've seen that. Um, we're seeing that
S2: in Chicago. Are you? Yeah, we're seeing that. It's really
S2: a bizarre thing, but I'm seeing the greatest hunger for
S2: the word of God in our downtown campus, 30, 40
S2: of these young professionals, and they just they want the word.
S2: They're filling small groups. It's wonderful. They're busting open the word.
S2: They've got the word of God open constantly. Yeah. So
S2: we better make hay while the sun is shining, baby.
S2: You know what I mean?
S8: I think so. I think the Spirit of God is
S8: doing something. I think that there is a reaction against
S8: just the ridiculousness of what's going on in culture. I
S8: think I think young people are looking out at the
S8: cultural landscape and.
S2: Saying, this ain't working.
S8: This ain't working, this is empty. What is something solid
S8: upon which I can build my life? Yeah. And. And
S8: there's a hunger for the word of God. And people
S8: are coming to Christ. So we rejoice in that.
S2: Yeah. Guys, can we just stop for a moment and say,
S2: Praise God?
S8: Praise the Lord. Yeah.
S2: Praise God. And what's wild about this is there seems
S2: to be this threshold. So things devolve, devolve, devolve. And
S2: then there's this little group that goes, this is crazy.
S2: Where's truth? Yeah. Where's absolute truth? Here?
S8: Exactly.
S2: And then that could be the beginnings of a bit
S2: of an awakening. And how cool would that be? That
S2: always comes through the students. It always comes through a
S2: youth movement.
S8: Often, and through the preaching of the Word of God.
S8: I mean, historically in church history, revival is sparked through
S8: the open proclamation of the Word of God, and the
S8: Lord uses that. And I mean, I'm daring to hope
S8: that we might see something of a revival in our generation.
S8: I mean, wouldn't that be wonderful?
S2: Oh, are you kidding me, man? God, please bring it on.
S2: All right, listen, you're listening to Guy going, who is
S2: this guy? We got a link for you.
S4: Just text local. Jonathan Griffiths, our guest. He is all
S4: about the local church. As you heard his heart. Text
S4: local to 800 555 7898. Local to 805 five five 7898.
S2: Jonathan, I love you, man. Your heart for the Lord.
S2: Your clarity of communication. It's inspiring. Thank you for being
S2: with us today.
S8: So great to be with you both. Thanks for having me. Yeah.
S2: What a joy. Grateful. Aren't we guys? Yes. Very much. Goodness, man.
S2: This will put fuel in your belly. What a way.
S4: To start the.
S2: Morning. What a way. Good morning. Boom! Crew helping you
S2: take your next step with Jesus.
S1: You can take him out of Alaska, but you can't
S1: take Alaska out of him. Carl is in the crew.
S1: It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
S2: Well, we get the call of God on our life
S2: is to go and reach. But Jesus did something really practical.
S2: He cared for the practical needs of people. You know,
S2: when I turn on my water system at home, it's
S2: great water. Got one of those home filtration systems. But
S2: the amount of people around the globe today that are
S2: just walking great distances, just to get a drink of
S2: water that isn't going to infect them with something staggering.
S2: The numbers are off the chart. What are those numbers, Chris?
S2: Do you have any idea what in the world is
S2: going on with water around the world?
S9: Yeah, there's 785 85 million people around the world that
S9: don't have access to something that most of us have
S9: taken for granted for most of our lives.
S2: Big number.
S9: So there's 331 million people in the US, so more
S9: than twice the population of the United States doesn't have
S9: access to clean, safe drinking water.
S4: We've got Christopher Bethe, founder of the Bucket Ministry, joining
S4: us right now. You got to tell this story, though.
S4: You this started for you. This was not something you
S4: were interested in. You were not interested in missions. You
S4: weren't even particularly strong in your faith. I've heard your story.
S4: So I know that you've told this before. But tell
S4: us about how this whole thing got started. You got
S4: roped into chaperoning a mission trip with your daughter.
S2: Went reluctantly. Oh, this is good.
S9: In 2012, my daughter came home from high school and
S9: said she wanted to go on this mission trip to
S9: the Brazilian Amazon. And, I mean, she'd been to South
S9: Texas before, but we thought it was a little bit further.
S9: So my wife and I said, hey, listen, if you're
S9: going to go on this trip, you got to raise
S9: all the money. So this was a reverse psychology move
S9: at this point. So a couple of weeks went by
S9: and sure enough, she raised 3500 bucks. So then we
S9: decided if she's going to go, one of us has
S9: to go with her. Yeah. And that became my job.
S9: And my only job, though, was to bring her home.
S9: I didn't go there because I had a love or
S9: compassion for the Brazilian people. I didn't go there because
S9: I thought I wanted to be the hands and feet
S9: of Jesus. I just went there to bring my kid home,
S9: and the things that I saw changed me at a
S9: core level. And really, um, God showed me why he
S9: had created me.
S2: What did he do in your heart?
S9: Well, uh, I saw things that I could not reconcile.
S9: I saw things that I never thought was possible prior
S9: to this. I didn't even know there was a world
S9: water crisis. I mean, I lived, like most of us live.
S9: If I was thirsty, I went to my refrigerator, put
S9: a cup underneath the filter and got a glass of water,
S9: or I bought a bottle of water. I never even
S9: thought people had to drink out of a lake, river,
S9: stream or anything like that. So when I saw that
S9: for the first time, I was crushed and I thought,
S9: with everything we have in the world, how is it
S9: even possible that people are drinking out of a river
S9: today and thinking that's normal? That was probably the biggest
S9: tragedy for me, is they thought that was normal. They
S9: thought that being sick all the time was normal. They
S9: thought that not naming their children for the first two
S9: years of the child's life, because they weren't sure the
S9: child was going to survive, was normal. So while I
S9: was in a house in the Amazon, a Brazilian woman
S9: asked me, are you thirsty? And I'm just this giant,
S9: sweaty American, right? And she she looks at me, she
S9: sees I'm sweaty. She says, are you thirsty? And I'm like, yeah,
S9: I'm thirsty. But I'm looking around her home and there's
S9: no refrigerator, there's no water cooler. So I'm thinking, where's
S9: she going to get this water from? She takes two
S9: cups from her kitchen. They were mismatched and they were cracked.
S9: And she goes out into this little dock area on
S9: the side of the river, bends down in the river
S9: and grabs two cups of water. And I'm standing in
S9: the doorway thinking, what is this crazy woman doing? I
S9: am not going to drink that. But sure enough, she
S9: comes and hands one cup to me.
S2: Oh boy.
S9: One cup to my interpreter. So now I have this decision. Yeah.
S9: Do I drink this because I just told her how
S9: thirsty I was. But if I don't, she's going to
S9: think I'm rude. So as I'm pondering this decision, my
S9: interpreter is wagging his finger. Don't do that. Do it.
S9: But now I realize the gravity of this. She thinks
S9: this is normal. Then, as I'm holding this, I heard
S9: something I'd never heard before, and I had at this point.
S9: I had only been walking with Jesus for about 3
S9: or 4 years. Didn't even really fully understand my own
S9: relationship with Christ yet. But as I'm holding this glass
S9: of water and there's things swimming in it, I heard
S9: something I'd never heard before. And prior to this day,
S9: if someone would have told me, hey, I got a
S9: word from God today, or God gave me some instruction today,
S9: you would have.
S2: Thought, that's kind of loopy.
S9: Yeah, I was skeptical. And if I'm just being completely honest,
S9: I would have thought really? He stopped his day to
S9: have a conversation with you. But as I'm holding this
S9: glass of dirty water, I heard two words and he said,
S9: help them. But it came with no other instruction. I
S9: didn't know what help them meant. Am I supposed to
S9: give these people 20 bucks? Am I supposed to repair
S9: their boat? Am I supposed to cook them dinner? I
S9: don't know what help them means. So that trip in
S9: the Amazon is where God showed me why he had
S9: created me.
S2: Wow, you're a storyteller. You know what you are? You're
S2: a guy that got hit deeply at a heart level
S2: by the Spirit of God. Amen. And you got a
S2: story to tell. Amen. Coming up. Where did it go
S2: from there? And what's happening today? Chris is with us.
S2: Just another follower of Jesus, dude, who God's working in
S2: his life. Hang on.
S1: Your shot of hope to help you through the day.
S1: This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
S4: He was somewhere in the middle of the Amazon and
S4: he heard the words help them. That was the heart
S4: behind this ministry, the bucket ministry. What do you do
S4: with that? You said you didn't didn't come with instructions.
S4: The Lord didn't say how you were going to help them.
S4: So the first step was to discern. What do I do?
S4: They don't have access to clean water. But how could
S4: I possibly be involved in helping solve this?
S9: Yeah. You know, at the end of the day, I'm
S9: just an ordinary guy. I was a business guy. I
S9: really had no training in ministry. I had very little relationship,
S9: even with the church. At that point, I hadn't even
S9: been discipled. So we got home from that trip and
S9: just started researching the world water crisis. Tried to find
S9: out just how big the problem really is. At the
S9: end of the day, everywhere I searched, water was just
S9: such a major issue. And there's really two spaces within water.
S9: There's access to water, and then there's access to clean,
S9: safe drinking water. And, um, two really different issues. so
S9: started looking at what could be a solution in the
S9: Amazon basin. And we researched a variety of filters. We
S9: bought a variety of filters, tried to find a tool
S9: that would work, and finally my family and I were
S9: at Rei. It's a camping supply store here in Dallas,
S9: and I was in the water filter aisle for camping,
S9: and I stumbled across this filter by a company out
S9: of Tampa called Sawyer Products that attaches to a bucket
S9: and uses the gravity of water in the bucket to
S9: force that water through the filter. The filter captures all
S9: the debris, all the contaminants, and then yields 350 to
S9: 500 gallons per day of clean, safe drinking water. So
S9: I thought, man, this is portable. This is simple. It
S9: doesn't require an engineer to operate it. And I think
S9: I could teach a seven year old or a 97
S9: year old how to use this tool. So we we
S9: bought about 80 of these filters and went back to
S9: the Amazon the next year. But again, in the beginning
S9: I only thought this was water. I didn't even understand
S9: the connection to the gospel. So we're in the Amazon,
S9: we're distributing 80 filters and I get done. I feel
S9: really good about myself and I thought this is what
S9: helped them. And then this Brazilian man comes up to
S9: me and he says, can you tell me how you
S9: got here? And I made a joke. And I said, well,
S9: that boat, that's how I got here. He's like, no, no, no.
S9: Of all the villages in the Amazon, how did you
S9: come to ours? I'm thinking, wow, that's a deep question. Uh,
S9: and I said, well, I'm a follower of Jesus Christ.
S9: And we thought that we should bring you this gift.
S9: And the next thing he said changed everything for us
S9: and me personally. And this man says, who is this Jesus?
S9: So at this point.
S2: You're like, Whoa!
S9: Yeah. And again, at this point, I had only been
S9: walking with Christ about four years, so I'm looking around. Hey,
S9: where's the pastor? Somebody find the pastor. Get a pastor
S9: over here so they can tell this guy about Jesus.
S9: So there was nobody except for my interpreter. So now
S9: I'm like, oh, what do I do? So I just
S9: start sharing my testimony with this man, and I tell
S9: him about how my daughter and I were in a
S9: car crash, and I came to faith in a hospital
S9: and turned my life over and repented of my sins.
S9: And the next thing he said changed me at a
S9: wholesale level. He said, how can I?
S2: Oh my word.
S9: Have a friend that will never leave me. And I
S9: was like, oh my goodness, what just happened here?
S2: Changed everything.
S9: And then there's 30 people behind him. Brazilians, they're raising
S9: their hand and say, hey, we want that same gift too.
S9: Oh my word. So that's where we realized that the
S9: filter will save lives physically, but more importantly, it introduced
S9: introduces people to a relationship with Jesus.
S2: We just got a moment. Give us some facts and
S2: figures of where you are now.
S9: Yeah, we're working in about 20 different countries right now
S9: with most of our work happening, about 60% of our
S9: work happening in Kenya right now. We, uh, have probably
S9: served nearly 300,000 families in just the last ten years.
S9: And with the last year alone in 2024, we served
S9: 41,000 families. We had about 22,000 salvations and, um, just
S9: significant work all around the world.
S2: This has God tracks all over it. Chris.
S9: Amen.
S2: You can't claim a stick of this, can you?
S9: No, no, this is this is so far beyond me,
S9: I really don't even recognize myself anymore.
S2: You know, here's here's a question. We're gonna do this
S2: quick because I want to give a link out here
S2: in just a moment. What do you say to the
S2: person who's just going through the grind, listening to you
S2: right now? What? You got to get on a ragged
S2: edge somewhere. Yeah. Got to get on a ragged edge, right?
S9: Man, I just hope that this story of an ordinary
S9: business guy, uneducated, untrained, just like the Sanhedrin, saw Peter
S9: and John.
S2: In the same way.
S9: 413 I just hope that somebody hears this and says, well,
S9: if this ordinary, uneducated guy can be part of that solution,
S9: maybe I can do something. I hope this becomes an
S9: anthem for a person sitting on the couch at home,
S9: driving in their car, knowing that there's more so compelling.
S2: Ali. Just got to take a risk that's walking by faith. Amen.
S2: Just got to step out there. Oh my goodness. Boom crew.
S2: I want you to find out more. I think whether
S2: you give or just it fuels your soul and ignite
S2: something in you. Whatever the case, some of you are
S2: going to want to give some shekels, some a ton
S2: of shekels getting behind ministries like this. What a powerful thing. Ali.
S2: It is.
S4: This is called the bucket Ministry. Christopher Beth, the founder
S4: and director with us this morning. Text bucket. If you
S4: want more information, text bucket to 800 555 7898. Bucket
S4: to 800 Five five, five 7898.
S2: I kicked a song out because you're too compelling. So
S2: I want a one minute story. One minute.
S9: One minute. Uh, we have a member of our team
S9: in Kenya. Her name is Linda Okumu. Linda was orphaned
S9: at the age of 11, and she was without any
S9: family to care for her. And from the age of
S9: 11 until her 30s, the only way she could survive
S9: was by selling her body. And we met her in
S9: her 30s. Uh, we delivered a water filter to her home,
S9: and she heard the gospel in her home. And after
S9: that day, she decided to follow Jesus. She was baptized,
S9: and she's now on our team of missionaries. Come on.
S9: Working in Kibera slum in Nairobi, Kenya.
S2: Come on.
S9: And she's our one of our most prolific missionaries. And
S9: just bragging on her a little bit. She tends to
S9: spend so much time with her recipients that she's just
S9: reproducing what she's heard.
S2: Unbelievable. Wow.
S4: You want more text? Bucket to 800 555 7898. More
S4: on the bucket Ministry. Incredible. Incredible work done around the world.
S4: Text bucket to 800 555 7898.
S2: Yeah. This is this is extraordinary, to say the least.
S2: I want to thank you for your heart, Chris. Thank you.
S2: Christopher Beth, founder, Chief Storyteller. Are you kidding me? Chief storyteller.
S2: Let me tell you what. Text bucket to 805 five
S2: five 7898. Let this fuel a fire inside you. God
S2: wants to do this in you today. There's no question
S2: about it.