S1: Coming to you from the Morning Star Mission sponsored studio.
S1: This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
S2: I'm excited. I'm fired up this whole week. I feel
S2: like I'm getting more thrilled about this morning show with
S2: every passing month. Amen. I came in here, remember when
S2: I walked in and we had a we had a
S2: pretty good hour. I forget what was going on. And
S2: I said, finally, we're doing good radio. And now he goes,
S2: you are something else, man.
S3: You used to say that all the time.
S4: Yeah, it's kind of a catchphrase. My first.
S3: Year here, every day. Every good day, you would say,
S3: we're finally doing good radio.
S2: And good radio for me is getting out of God's way.
S2: I mean that from the bottom of my heart.
S4: That's what it is.
S2: Getting out of God's way. And let him drive the bus, man.
S2: All right, I got a wingnut idea for you guys.
S4: Oh.
S5: I'm a little nervous, but sure.
S2: Super die. You're gonna be to be muttering under your
S2: breath after this one.
S3: Great.
S2: No, it's not that bad. I think we need to
S2: take this CRC 2025 trends outlook, and I think we
S2: need to make a link and send it to the
S2: peeps to all of our boom crew.
S3: That's not.
S4: Crazy. That's not.
S5: Crazy. I think that's.
S4: Okay.
S2: It's a lot of pages, man.
S4: Oh, how.
S2: Many pages in this sucker? Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Seven
S2: pages of of single spaced, small font. It's worth reading, though.
S2: I mean, if you just read the first couple of pages,
S2: you got enough. But this is good content.
S3: It is, it is. We will. Let's work on that
S3: and we'll get that.
S2: So cherry, pick a couple of hot items off their
S2: alley that have really driven us this week here.
S3: Well, this this CRC, the cultural research center out at
S3: Arizona Christian University. They do these kind of world view
S3: research where they they look at different trends. And so
S3: this bar with George Barna, they're describing faith and cultural
S3: trends likely to emerge in this year, so one of
S3: them deals with discipleship. Unfortunately, how discipleship, even though many
S3: churches talk about it, um, very few go beyond just
S3: encouraging personal Bible reading, uh, attendance at church, maybe note
S3: taking through sermons. It also looks at this idea of syncretism,
S3: where only 4% of adults have a Christian, a actual
S3: biblical worldview. But many more 92% of people are doing
S3: what's called syncretism, where they sort of customize their own
S3: version of faith, where they're blending lots of different ideas.
S3: Taking a little bit from here, basically a God of
S3: our own making, making God into what we would like
S3: him to be, and then kind of having developing that
S3: as a worldview. Like, I like that God is love.
S3: I don't like really like the judgment part. So let's
S3: borrow some other philosophy and put that in. And that's
S3: how I form my worldview. Interesting stuff in stuff in
S3: this study.
S2: Good recap. Yeah. The one thing that stuck out to
S2: me that you alluded to here, but I'm going to
S2: quote it, thousands of the of the nation's Christian churches
S2: say they are committed to discipleship, but strikingly few do
S2: much beyond encouraging note taking during sermons. Independent Bible reading
S2: during the week in attendance at church initiated small groups,
S2: which research indicates are generally ineffective at making disciples. Ooh!
S2: That hurts.
S3: It does. It does.
S2: It's true. But. But the numbers don't lie. This is
S2: why I like to measure the important stuff in life.
S2: So anyway, we're going to get a link made up
S2: for you guys, and we'll have it for you. I
S2: promise you, it'll be later on this hour. We'll have
S2: a link. I know that's a wing nut thing to
S2: throw on you guys there, but I think this is
S2: good because we got a lot of thinking people in
S2: the in the boom crew who want to go. All right.
S2: What are the numbers? What are they telling us? Okay,
S2: coming up here, we got a special guest, though. We're
S2: talking faith and culture rally.
S3: So let's get a faith and culture analyst to join
S3: us to come in on some of these trends coming up.
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: Well, if we're going to make faith not get dominated
S2: by culture as we're talking about this week, we got
S2: to drill down on what the word is faith here anyway. Ali.
S3: What do you mean, what is faith?
S4: Yeah.
S2: What's faith? I think that's what we got to surmise here.
S2: What in the world is faith? What is it to
S2: have a biblical worldview? We've been doing some deep dives
S2: on that, haven't we?
S3: Let's bring in our special guest to weigh in. Doctor
S3: Alex McFarland. He's an apologist, author, evangelist, religion and cultural analyst.
S3: Is our understanding of the word faith. Do you think
S3: that that has changed in terms of how people use
S3: the word.
S6: You know, the word faith really means trust. And in
S6: terms of the Christian faith, we're believing what God said
S6: about Jesus, the Son of God, who rose from the dead.
S6: You know, the book of Hebrews tells us that faith
S6: is hope and evidence. You know, the hope that we
S6: put in the Lord. The evidence, the proof of our
S6: relationship with him. So humans, throughout history, we have a
S6: God shaped hole in our heart, and only Jesus can
S6: fill that hole. So, you know, the culture changes, but
S6: we still need to put our faith in Christ. And fortunately,
S6: I think more people than ever are doing that.
S2: We've been looking at a Barna report that's forecasting where
S2: we're going here. It's been sobering. I mean, 4% of
S2: the population in America has a Christian worldview. A lot
S2: of synchronization is going on there synchronizing the gods of
S2: this world. And and Ali is big on this. It's
S2: not new age anymore. It's new thought. But there's a
S2: lot of spiritual talk. You know what I mean? And there's.
S2: And even the word faith. You ask people, what's your faith?
S2: And it's a system by which they believe in. But
S2: it's certainly not entrusting themselves to someone very often speak
S2: to that, Alex.
S6: Well, the greatest thing for our faith, the thing that
S6: will give us strength and spiritual nutrition, is the Word
S6: of God. You know, I think for a lot of people,
S6: you know, I meet a lot of people that they'll say, well,
S6: you know, I'm really spiritual. And I'll say, well, what
S6: does that mean? And if you died and stood before
S6: God and God said, why should I let you into heaven?
S6: What would you say? It's this kind of amorphous, fuzzy hope.
S6: And I understand that. But at the same time, the
S6: Bible tells us that we can know where we stand
S6: with God. The Bible tells us that we can have certainty.
S6: That's first John 513. So I would just encourage people
S6: to not just have maybe some vague faith or wishful thinking.
S6: Now put your trust in the Lord Jesus who loves you.
S6: Jesus is as close by as a prayer. And that's
S6: the kind of faith that will change your life and
S6: give you stability in your soul.
S3: Doctor Alex McFarland with us right now. You know, last
S3: time we had you on with us, we talked about
S3: this Bible sales booming in 2024. A surprising statistic given
S3: what we're talking about. 4% of people have a biblical worldview.
S3: There's declining church attendance, but a 22% increase in Bible
S3: sales in 2024. Is that the spiritual sort of interest?
S3: That's maybe driving people to open the Word of God,
S3: even if they're not yet a believer?
S6: Yeah. I mean, people just it's part of the human experience.
S6: They want some solid ground on which to stand. And
S6: I am very encouraged that so many people are reading
S6: the Bible. More and more people are spiritually open. So
S6: what we churches have, you know, pastors, churches, uh, church members.
S6: What we have is an opportunity. But, you know, LifeWay
S6: research and many other organizations show that almost 90% of
S6: all the people around us, it's in the high 80s.
S6: But they said that they would strongly consider going to
S6: church if somebody invited them.
S7: I know, that's just shocking.
S6: Isn't that awesome?
S4: Yeah it is.
S6: Let's build relationships because, hey, you know, it's like, um,
S6: if you buy a set of weights, that's great, you're
S6: going to work out. But it helps to have a
S6: fitness coach. Well, the church, good churches that believe the
S6: Bible and teach it, they're like our spiritual fitness coach
S6: and it's great to buy a Bible. I encourage people
S6: to read it. The Holy Spirit will help people read
S6: the Word of God. But church, we need that community.
S6: It's an opportunity for service, but also good teaching and
S6: the ministry of the word churches help us grow in
S6: terms of discipleship. So I encourage everybody, if you're spiritually searching,
S6: find a good church. Yeah. If somebody's listening, if you
S6: are a Christian, be an inviter. Be a habitual inviter.
S6: Because nearly 90% of all the people around us that
S6: don't have a Christian background are saying, I want to
S6: know more if somebody would just reach out and invite me.
S2: All right. I'm going to pin you down, Alex, because
S2: you're an evangelist. You've spoken over 2200 churches throughout just
S2: North America. Do you think we have a rebellion? Kind
S2: of Romans one people shaking a fist at God issue?
S2: Or is it more of a searching? But no one's
S2: taken me there issue because the stats you're giving us 80%
S2: of the alley, does that blow your mind a little bit? Yes. That,
S2: if invited, would come to church.
S4: Yes.
S2: What's going on here? I think a lot of us
S2: in the church look at the world and go, oh, man,
S2: they're just shaking their fist at God. Your stats say no.
S2: They might not have had a fair shot at the gospel.
S6: There is Romans one. I realize that, but I think
S6: our culture is much more like in the book of acts.
S6: Remember Philip met this Ethiopian eunuch and the Ethiopian man
S6: was reading Isaiah. Philip says, do you understand what you're reading?
S6: And he goes, I don't know. How could I unless
S6: somebody would teach me. And I truly think, because, I mean,
S6: I'm with people all the time, you know, once a
S6: year I'll meet somebody who's, you know, angry at God
S6: and shaking their fist in God's face. But every single day, literally,
S6: we get emails from people saying, I know I need
S6: to get right with God. Uh, I'm not sure how
S6: to even find a church, but wow, what does it mean?
S6: In fact, I've got one staff member full time and
S6: then another person part time, simply helping me with the
S6: daily slew of emails of people that basically what they're
S6: what they're saying is, how do I know that I
S6: really have Jesus in my life? And you know, the
S6: Lord said, the fields are white unto harvest. And guys,
S6: I think that's true in any generation but relationships, you know,
S6: psychologists tell us that a true relationship has trust, honesty, respect.
S6: And I have found, look, with people that are very
S6: far away from Christ in their worldview. If you build
S6: a relationship and there's trust, honesty, respect, you can share
S6: even the hard truths of God's Word. And people will
S6: respond because they know that you care about them.
S3: Doctor Alex McFarland with us right now. Apologist, author, evangelist,
S3: religion and culture analyst. Coming up, I got a tough
S3: question for you. The label of evangelical or even Christian
S3: is taken a bit of a hit as of late.
S3: We've seen public scandal. We've seen lots of things linked
S3: to that word that may or may not be true.
S3: How do we Reclaim the word and even describe or
S3: even separate ourselves from some of the things that people
S3: assume to be true about us. That may not be
S3: true at all. Let's talk about it coming up.
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.
S3: We've got a religion and culture analyst to Doctor Alex
S3: McFarland with us right now. You know, when you tell
S3: somebody these days that you are a Christian or an
S3: evangelical Christian, they are likely going to make a lot
S3: of assumptions about you, about me that may or may
S3: not be true. This can make conversations a little bit
S3: more challenging. How do we navigate the terms evangelical Christian?
S3: That's become pretty loaded?
S6: Yeah, there is baggage around the word evangelical right now,
S6: and that's unfortunate because evangelism is telling the good news.
S6: And an evangelical Christian has traditionally meant one that believes
S6: in the Great Commission telling people about Jesus. You know,
S6: there was a time they used the word soul winner
S6: or just one. That's a witness for Christ. Now, in
S6: the last 25 years, the word evangelical in the minds
S6: of many people has, you know, become a politically charged word.
S6: It's not that there's anything wrong with the word evangelical,
S6: but people have so many misconceptions that I really just
S6: tend to use the word Christian or, you know, Christ follower.
S6: But I think that one of the ways we get
S6: around the misconceptions people may have is just to show
S6: that we are authentic. This consistency validates authenticity, and when
S6: people see that, it's not just talk that the Lord
S6: Jesus Christ is the absolute foundation of everything we are
S6: and we do share truth. And we live God's Word
S6: and we are people of integrity, and we are people
S6: that we're not in the business of using people, but
S6: of loving people and loving people enough to tell them
S6: the saving truth of Scripture. You know, whether or not
S6: we rebuild the word evangelical doesn't matter to me so much,
S6: but maintaining the purity of the word Christian, I think
S6: that should be every Christian's priority. Really?
S2: Yeah, I'd love that. Doctor Alex McFarland is our guest
S2: right now. We're going to have a link for you
S2: in just a moment, but I want to give you
S2: the floor. You want to riff? I know your heart
S2: is family. What are we going to do? And here's
S2: here's the big rub. My bride and I have a
S2: list of ready for this. People that we know whose
S2: kids were raised in church. Good kids, great parents. Not
S2: not Pharisees. I mean imperfect, but going for it with God.
S2: Whose kids left high school? left the home and they've
S2: walked away from the church. Most of whom now look
S2: back and go, these kids were never born again. How
S2: do we bust through cultural Christianity and get this family
S2: unit back on track with discipleship in the Lord Jesus Christ?
S6: A lot of prayer and a lot of consistent living.
S6: You know, the divorce rate among professed Christian families is
S6: at or maybe even higher than the divorce rate of
S6: the unchurched world, and that's a tragic thing. And, you know,
S6: we are in the lives of 1200 teenagers every summer.
S6: And I can really tell you, the state of the
S6: family really does shape the spiritual outcomes in the lives
S6: of so many young people. So I would say this now,
S6: having been married myself for 36 years and having counseled
S6: a lot of couples, I know marriages go through seasons
S6: and rocky spots. I would just implore everyone listening If
S6: you were married, the marriage that God wants to bless
S6: and save is the one that you're in. And I
S6: would just encourage husbands and wives, you know, don't be
S6: looking for greener pastures. Really believe God to save the
S6: marriage that you're in. If Jesus can resurrect the dead,
S6: he can resurrect relationships. But in terms of the hand off,
S6: for one, I realize that there are godly moms and
S6: dads and they do everything right, and their kids sometimes
S6: wind up in atheist humans, have free will and even look, even,
S6: you know, the first family ever. You know, Cain and Abel.
S6: Cain killed his brother. So the first human family ever.
S6: And we've got a homicide on our hands. You know,
S6: we're sinners. That being the case, I will say this.
S6: I want to make a plea to men, have a
S6: daily devotion with your wife, and let your kids see
S6: that it is absolutely Real. It's not just a perfunctory,
S6: you know, hour or two on Sunday morning, once a month,
S6: but that you are a Jesus man. And I thank
S6: God for Christian moms. Thank God for the the godly women.
S6: But so much of the spiritual outcome of children flows
S6: from the dads relationship with Christ. Role model it. And men.
S6: I want to say to the men out there, the
S6: best favor you can ever do your kids, is to
S6: love their mother and lay down your life for your bride.
S6: As Christ laid down his life for his bride, the church.
S3: Doctor Alex McFarland, our guest this morning. If you want more,
S3: he's got resources on his website. You can link to
S3: what's available. Just text Bible to (800) 555-7898. Just text Bible
S3: to 855 five 7898.
S1: A basketball mom who's mastered the dad joke. Ali is
S1: in the crew. It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
S2: Guess what? Bottom of the hour. You know what that
S2: signal is, young Thunder.
S4: Oh, you know I do.
S1: Making herself laugh no matter who joins her. It's time
S1: for Ali. Thinks it's funny.
S2: I applaud you, though. Laughing at your own material when
S2: it's good.
S4: Yeah.
S2: That's him. Play. You ever seen the stand up comedians
S2: that are pretty straight faced? But then they crack a
S2: good one and everybody's roaring, and they they they they
S2: just smile a little bit.
S4: It's like I actually kind of like that a lot.
S4: The fact that they smile, it's like, okay, they know
S4: it's funny and it makes me laugh even more.
S3: I'm working on my delivery guys. Is that what you're
S3: trying to say? No. No need.
S4: To.
S3: Laugh. Laugh less?
S4: No, I'm saying no, no, no. You laughing at your
S4: own jokes makes it funny.
S3: Ah, okay. Got it.
S4: Yeah.
S2: Got it. And dad, jokes are laughable if you're doing
S2: stand up comedy and you started roaring your own stuff,
S2: I would call you down and go, sister, we gotta
S2: change this.
S3: I do not have a future in stand up comedy,
S3: that is for sure.
S2: But dad jokes are a totally different category. All right, Ali, ready?
S3: Nobody wants to go to jail.
S4: Right?
S3: Nobody. The belt.
S4: I did.
S3: What?
S2: But anyway.
S3: Okay. It's another story for another day.
S4: Continuing.
S3: Ali, why did the belt go to jail?
S4: Huh? I don't know.
S3: Why did the belt go to jail? Was found guilty
S3: of holding up a pair of pants.
S4: Ha!
S8: That is really good. That's good. Wow.
S4: That's good, I like that.
S8: Oh, what do you mean, that's good?
S2: And you're sitting there.
S8: Groaning.
S4: Like what? No. It's good. I'm not groaning. That was super.
S8: Laugh out loud funny. That one was.
S4: I gave you a smirk.
S8: A pair of pants. Oh, that's a dad joke. And
S8: a half out. I'm crying in here.
S3: I got a little, uh, a little warning for you. Um,
S3: you got to be careful, because there's some fake spaghetti
S3: that's been making its way on the shelves. And you
S3: have to be careful that you're getting the real thing.
S3: What do you call this? Fake spaghetti?
S4: I don't know.
S3: An imposter. Okay. She is gone. We've lost Ellie for sure.
S3: Text jokes to 800 555, 7898. Text jokes to 800 555, 78, 98.
S3: You're welcome. You're welcome. Diana. Thank you. I know you
S3: especially look forward to this segment.
S4: Thank you. Yes.
S3: Just wait for my jokes. What's she going to come
S3: up with next?
S8: You should be roaring. That is funny. Get out!
S3: Impostor!
S4: Do you get it, di? Do you get.
S3: It? Yes.
S9: Thank you. Young thunder. Yeah. You're welcome. Oh, boy. The
S9: delivery says it all. I love it. I wish we
S9: had the visual of her telling these jokes.
S2: Come on, get this link. You two can torment.
S8: Your friends and family.
S9: Oh. That's funny.
S2: Text jokes to 855. Oh, let me do it again.
S2: Jokes to (800) 555-7898. That was. Those were two. Just.
S8: Boom.
S3: I, I think I.
S8: Was.
S3: Six for six today.
S4: Ali was on. Don't you always think you're six for five.
S8: Six.
S3: Five for six. I, I sometimes they don't land.
S4: Well that's true.
S3: I still think they're funny, but I today I really
S3: think everybody should have thought they were funny.
S9: That's so good. What's wrong with you?
S8: Her public opinion is if you don't think.
S2: If you don't think they're.
S8: Funny, there's something wrong with you.
S9: It's your humor.
S4: I will, I will say it was a strong day.
S4: A strong day for Ali. Jokes.
S3: Thank you. Thank you.
S2: Somebody just texted. Can you please explain the Amazon.
S8: Chicken egg joke?
S2: I still can't figure it out. I love your.
S8: Jokes.
S3: Okay. I told a joke in one of the hours
S3: I said, I went on Amazon and ordered a chicken
S3: and an egg.
S4: Yes.
S3: I'll let you know. It took the team a minute. Apparently,
S3: it's taking others.
S8: It took me a minute. It took me.
S3: Think about it for a.
S8: Minute.
S4: The classic saying.
S8: Classic.
S3: What comes first? The chicken or the egg? So the
S3: joke is, I ordered a chicken and an egg off
S3: of an Amazon and off of Amazon. Then you pause
S3: and I'll let you know. Dot dot dot. Which comes first?
S2: That's a great that's a.
S8: Really.
S4: Is a good.
S8: Joke.
S9: That's intellectual.
S4: It's intellectual.
S3: That's generous.
S8: Oh, for.
S2: Goodness.
S8: Sakes.
S2: I got a stomachache from those two. Oh. That's good. Hey,
S2: you two can work your ab muscles and have a
S2: six pack. Listen to Ali every bottom of the hour
S2: on Wednesdays. You two will have a six pack before
S2: it's said and.
S8: Done.
S3: By June.
S2: Jokes by June.
S8: 6th. Pack by June. Just by listening.
S3: For the summer.
S8: Tex jokes 800 555 7898.
S2: Embarrassing. Going to the beach. Listen to Ali thinks it's funny.
S9: There you go.
S4: Get your summer bod ready with Ali.
S9: Thinks it's funny.
S8: Right now we've.
S9: Gone.
S8: Off. Okay, see.
S2: Now, dude, that's a little too.
S8: Far.
S9: That was too far, Jonathan.
S4: Way too far. Okay. Went over the edge there. Sorry. Sorry. Apologize. Yeah.
S4: Please forgive me.
S2: You got to tell the back story on that one because.
S4: Oh, yeah. So, Carl. Carl has this habit, and this
S4: is when we're off air. Carl has this habit of saying,
S4: saying things, crazy things. And he's getting us all riled
S4: up and going and laughing. And then someone adds something,
S4: particularly when it's me. Adds something to the joke, and
S4: he goes, nope, you can't do that. It's too far.
S4: You you killed it. You're done. It's done. You can't.
S4: That's too far. You can't do that. And and he
S4: goes so deadpan.
S8: Variably, invariably.
S2: Young thunder turns.
S8: Bright red.
S4: Oh, yeah. Yeah. Because the.
S8: Thought of I have done something.
S4: Wrong. The thought of I've crossed some type of line
S4: is like one of my, one of my painful. I'm like,
S4: oh no, I can't do it. I embarrassed myself in
S4: front of everybody. But Carl knows he can get me
S4: that way.
S8: Oh, I'm just dying. Oh, I.
S2: Love you, dude. You know that.
S8: All right.
S2: We got a important link coming up for you.
S1: This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
S2: We have got a resource for you. I had a
S2: brainstorm here at the top of the hour, and I'm like, man,
S2: let's just get this content out. Now, this is, what,
S2: seven pages. Right, Ali?
S3: It's a it's a link to a website. So this
S3: will you can scroll through it probably a maybe a
S3: 5 to 7 minute read. I would guess if you
S3: want to take a look at these cultural trends likely
S3: to emerge in 2025, just text trends to 855 52898.
S3: Text trends to 855 555 7898.
S2: Okay. We want you to get that link trends. And
S2: this is this is good reading. Why? Why is this
S2: important to read? Would you say Ali.
S3: I think being aware of where I mean, no, research
S3: is perfect, but when you have a general sense of
S3: like take something like only 4% of people having a
S3: biblical worldview or the fact that many, many people have
S3: developed a worldview that blends a belief in God with
S3: a lot of other things, syncretism, then it affects how
S3: you view conversations. To be aware of that, that's going
S3: to be the predominant viewpoint, is a blend of a
S3: lot of different faiths. That's going to help guide how
S3: you talk to people when you talk about Jesus.
S2: Ali just built a good case. Come and get it.
S2: Trends to 855 five 7898 855 five 7898. Get this
S2: in hand. We're going to cherry pick a couple of
S2: these things coming up.
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: Yes. Yes. Yes, yes. She's Greek, she's crazy. She's fun,
S2: she's winsome. She's lost her mind at times. Oh, she
S2: is super die. Only because you're working with Ali. That's
S2: what you were.
S9: Perfectly.
S2: Normal.
S9: Until you.
S2: Started working with Ali.
S4: That's what.
S2: It was. Everything went south.
S9: That did it. Yep.
S2: Yeah. Well, I want to thank you for making this link.
S2: I'm blown away at how many people are grabbing this. Okay.
S2: We've we've been using some content, and we're not going
S2: to withhold it from you no more. Ali told me, Carl,
S2: we shouldn't give it to him. Actually, I shouldn't even.
S9: What? Wait wait, wait.
S2: Ali. Ali was right on with this thing, man. We
S2: gotta we. If we get this out to you, you're
S2: going to be able to have a way to look
S2: at our culture and then go, whoa, what's this mean
S2: about our faith? And and don't underestimate your power to
S2: influence culture. Don't underestimate it. The amount of the amount
S2: of movements of God that have started with a humble
S2: few are pretty staggering. So coming. Get this link. Spread
S2: it around. This is one of these things that when
S2: you when you read it, you'll have a now a
S2: new metric by which you can measure, how are we
S2: doing with faith in the culture in which we live?
S2: Text the word trend. You'll get the entire link here
S2: to CRC research. It's George Barnes's latest kind of really
S2: forecasting what's going on in 2025 based on current trends.
S2: Text trend to 855 five 7898. So what this causes
S2: us to do is think about, well, it's kind of
S2: the Francis Schaeffer question, how shall we then live? I
S2: had a great dialogue with Jim Coakley. I'd heard him
S2: say this. I forget when it was and when he
S2: said this supposition that I'm going to share with you,
S2: I'm like, wow, that's one of those insights that you've
S2: got to just hold on to and not lose, ever.
S2: And here's in a nutshell, here's what we find. The
S2: apostle Paul begins in Philippians three, and he starts talking
S2: about his kind of pedigree. And he said, I was
S2: a Hebrew of Hebrews. But as he gets older, things change.
S2: And it's Jim says it's four year increments chronologically following
S2: the letters. And then he says, I'm the chief of
S2: sinners of the apostles. And then he says, I'm really
S2: the the chief sinners of all the saints. And then
S2: in his letter to Timothy, he says, I'm just the
S2: chief of sinners, period. Which is an amazing thing. And
S2: you've got to ask the question, what is going on here?
S2: And Jim texting me early this morning, I'm so glad
S2: this doctor, Jim Coakley, my buddy, is up early because
S2: he's got some great content. He said in every one
S2: of those passages, the word grace is found. The more
S2: he understands grace, the less he thinks of himself. Then
S2: he goes on to say, This is Jim Coakley. Honestly,
S2: I'm not even sure it was intentional for him to
S2: do this. I just think it is a natural byproduct
S2: of humility and deeper understanding of grace, so that the
S2: wild thing about a deepening faith is obviously a deepening dependence.
S2: But you got to ask the question why the dependence
S2: and the deepening dependence is a byproduct of a deepening
S2: awareness of what kind of a sinner I really am.
S2: Isn't that awesome, Ali?
S3: Yeah. I mean, you think about I have a I
S3: have this magnifying mirror that I use to to do
S3: my makeup in the morning, and sometimes like the when
S3: you can flip it. So there's the one side that's
S3: just like the regular mirror. But then when you flip
S3: it and you get closer to it and every everything
S3: is magnified, it's almost a little intimidating because you're like, whoa,
S3: that's there and that's there. And it's like.
S9: What a great.
S7: What a great analogy. It's like one of those things,
S7: I mean, in a lot.
S3: Of a lot of us ladies do, if you if
S3: you like to put a little, as Carl likes to say,
S3: paint on the barn, you use a nice magnifying mirror
S3: and you make sure that it goes on evenly and
S3: that it's blended super nice in here. Dying.
S9: Oh.
S7: No. No, it's in there. This is this is real stuff.
S3: It's like a it's like the magnifying mirror, like you,
S3: you you start to see more and it's, it's sometimes
S3: it's hard, but it's like the closer you get to God, you,
S3: it's like the magnifying mirror and you see more of
S3: the ickiness that's there. And, and it causes you to
S3: be more dependent on God because you know that you
S3: can't change yourself.
S2: Yeah, I looked at I used my wife's mirror one
S2: day and I'm like, wow, I don't need to do
S2: that again. I mean, good gracious, it looks like Mars.
S2: It's like, what in the world is going on with
S2: this lunar surface? But, you know, I'm with but you're.
S2: But the analogy is perfect, Ali. I mean, the closer
S2: you get to God, it's like the closer you get
S2: to the sun, the more impurities. Right? Get revealed. Pretty cool.
S2: What do you say, young Thunder?
S4: Well, I love seeing this progression from Paul, because I
S4: think that a lot of us err, sometimes in the
S4: way we think about what it means to move closer
S4: to God. Sometimes we equate moving closer to God with
S4: doing more spiritual things, and when that's kind of our
S4: equation to it, the more spiritual things we do and
S4: the more we measure ourselves based off of that, the
S4: more prideful we get. We don't get more humble. We
S4: get more prideful. And so I love seeing this progression
S4: from Paul saying, hey, the closer he got with Jesus
S4: and the and the more his relationship with him deepened,
S4: the more humble he got, the more he realized his
S4: need for Jesus. And I think that that's a great
S4: marker that let you know you're on the right path
S4: to moving closer with Jesus is that you genuinely recognize
S4: I need him so much.
S2: I mean, if you take what he says at face value,
S2: he begins with this progression of, all right, my pedigree
S2: is I'm a Hebrew of Hebrews, born in the tribe
S2: of Benjamin. With regard to the the law of God,
S2: I was faultless. Yeah. But then, you see, is this
S2: progression every four years he goes from, man, I'm the
S2: chief of sinners to the apostles, then I'm the chief
S2: of sinners and saints. Then it's the final one to Timothy. Dude,
S2: here's the deal. I'm the chief of all sinners. You
S2: know what spiritual maturity says? I see my sin more
S2: and more. Whoa, whoa. I see more blemishes. The closer
S2: I get to Jesus, the stronger I get in get
S2: in Jesus. The more I see my need for him.
S2: I mean, how beautiful is that?
S3: Sometimes it's hard. Sometimes it's hard. It's beautiful and it's hard.
S2: It's hard. But if you can keep looking in that mirror, which,
S2: by the way, is a great metaphor, because that's exactly
S2: what we find James using. Don't walk away forgetting what
S2: you've seen. Mhm. I mean everything changes. It's this is
S2: one of these hidden gems in the word that the
S2: decline into humility was the evidence of Paul's spirituality. Man.
S2: Guys that will carry you today. I know we sometimes
S2: resist humility because it's like, oh, Carl, for crying out loud,
S2: I've been beat up enough. No, biblical humility lifts you up.
S2: First Peter five. Let's go guys.