S1: Coming to you from the Morning Star Mission sponsored studio.
S1: This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio. Well.
S2: Oh, I'm so thrilled this morning. Sometimes you have times
S2: when you're studying the word and and you're just kind
S2: of going along and you have little discoveries. I think really,
S2: when we get into the word and we get the
S2: word into us, there's an opportunity to have ongoing discoveries
S2: of the magnitude of God. Right, guys?
S3: Yes. Oh, absolutely.
S2: His goodness to us. Right. And I'm so giddy this
S2: morning I can barely stand it. And I want to
S2: give credit where credit is due. A week ago we
S2: had Phillip miller in and we're going to have him back.
S2: If you weren't here a week ago. Hang on, get
S2: a swig of water and buckle up. Phillip miller happens
S2: to be the lead pastor of the Moody Church in
S2: downtown Chicago. Great man, Humble man. Great man, great student.
S2: But he has done a deep dive on something that.
S2: Let me just frame it out for you. I'm going
S2: to kind of put a twist on this this morning.
S2: And I want to illustrate for you today three baits
S2: that Satan is setting for you to pull you away
S2: from God. All week long we've been talking about the
S2: power of God demonstrated in us as Jesus is the vine,
S2: we are the branch. If we abide in him, we
S2: will bear much fruit. So let's just break it down
S2: here really quickly. It's two God's glory that we bear
S2: much fruit. Correct. So we're going to begin with the
S2: end of the branch in mind. How awesome is this?
S2: Let's just go for a little bit and let's just
S2: give God praise today. How great is it that God
S2: is glorified in us as we are satisfied and producing
S2: fruit in him, by him and from him? How awesome
S2: is that?
S4: It's a beautiful thing that that's what he not just
S4: desires for us, but that his glorified it.
S2: I mean, how great is it? I think most religious
S2: folk think God is glorified as we are obedient to him.
S2: Now let me say this. Sure, that's true in so
S2: much as every call to obedience in Scripture is inextricably
S2: linked to the greater reward in God. Yes, God is
S2: a functional father, super functional. He doesn't say, do this.
S2: And when we ask why. He says, because I told
S2: you so. God doesn't do that. God always has the bigger. Yes. How?
S2: I mean, how awesome is this?
S3: It's great because it lets us know what he's having
S3: us work towards, and that he's always having us work
S3: towards something. So when we and I say work and
S3: I mean in his power.
S2: No, no. It's okay. Young thunder.
S3: Yeah. I mean, I always watch out for.
S2: The work.
S3: I mean, and things like that.
S2: Work there is. Who said it? Grace is not opposed.
S2: This is Dallas Willard's statement. Ready for this one? Grace
S2: is not opposed to effort. It is opposed to earning.
S3: Yes.
S2: So we effort in the power of God, not for
S2: the purpose of walking through some religious hoop, but for
S2: the joy of seeing that his promise is real. God says,
S2: do this. This is what you will receive. There's no
S2: commandment of God, no precept of God, no teaching of Jesus,
S2: no guidance from the Holy Spirit that isn't ultimately linked
S2: to the greater reward for God's kids. Oh, I could
S2: spontaneously combust in here today. How thrilling is that? And
S2: that's just the first part. So it's to God's glory
S2: that you bear much fruit. Go back to the beginning.
S2: Jesus said, I am the vine. He told his disciples
S2: in that beautiful setting, the final probably three four days
S2: away from his crucifixion. So last words of a man,
S2: especially the Son of Man. We gotta listen. So he
S2: grabs those grape leaves, picks them up, looks, and says, man,
S2: listen to me. I'm the vine. You're the branch. You
S2: abide in me. You'll bear fruit. Okay, this is huge.
S2: So Jesus said, proximity to him is more important than
S2: focusing on producing fruit for him. Whoa!
S3: Which is the most relieving thing in the world?
S2: Hallelujah.
S3: Because he says, apart from me, you can do nothing.
S3: So it's taking the impossible part for us out of
S3: the equation. We don't even we don't even have to
S3: worry about doing something on our own because we just
S3: we just be with him. And as we stay with him,
S3: fruit comes. We don't even have to try on our
S3: own to get it.
S2: A men and a men.
S5: What a freedom.
S2: What a freedom!
S5: Whew!
S2: What a joy. So I am the vine. You're the branch.
S2: You remain in me or abide in me. And I
S2: will bear fruit in your life. It's to my father's
S2: glory that you bear much fruit. Now Jesus did say,
S2: I believe. Verse six. Apart from me you can do nothing. Nothing.
S2: So that's sobering, isn't it?
S4: Well, because you go, okay, so really nothing like there's
S4: nothing like nothing of value, nothing of significance that I
S4: can do without apart from him.
S2: Yeah. It's we cannot do what Jesus is saying. Let's
S2: just break this down. We cannot do the work of
S2: God that produces the kind of fruit he wants to
S2: have in our life without his work in our life.
S4: Correct.
S2: Wow. So the real question is it's all about remaining
S2: or abiding. And today we're going to tackle the things
S2: that pull us away from this abiding relationship with Christ.
S2: The God who saved you when you were clinging to
S2: him wants you to stay there. How do we do it?
S2: Hang on.
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 on Moody Radio.
S2: We had a little shrew problem in our garage.
S5: A little what.
S2: A little shrew problem. Not rat shrews. You know it.
S2: Shrews are.
S5: No.
S2: Shrews are little miniature rats, are they? They're like mice. Yeah.
S2: Look up. Shrew.
S5: Shrew. Okay. Yeah.
S2: Look up shrew. They're little. They're little dudes. And what's
S2: sad about this, that I'm about to tell you is
S2: they're cuter than a bug's ear. Aren't they cute?
S3: Yeah, they are cute.
S5: If they're anywhere near the rat.
S2: Different opinion. Well, they are in the rat.
S5: Family and.
S4: They're definitely not.
S5: Cute. Their nose is very long.
S2: Yeah. And, uh, I don't know, these might have just
S2: been mice, their little boogers, and they aren't big, and
S2: they don't grow into big rats. But we got these
S2: little things. They found the bird seed in the suet
S2: in my garage that I use, and and.
S5: Oh, happy day for them.
S2: Yeah. Oh, they were chowing down and they were smart, man.
S2: They were going from the back of the pack in
S2: the back of the bag and.
S3: Kind of chewing up the bottom.
S2: Yeah. They were they were like, uh, we don't want
S2: Karl to see that we're consuming the groceries for the birds.
S5: So floppy ears.
S2: Yeah. So here, let me break this down. This is
S2: super important, guys, if you're going to trap or kill anything,
S2: I'm sorry.
S5: But.
S2: I got to go here because the metaphor is the
S2: spiritual life that we're living. Okay. If you're going to
S2: trap or kill anything, you've got to use good bait. Yeah.
S2: What's a bad bait for a for a shrew or
S2: a rat.
S4: Brussels sprouts.
S5: Well, vegetables.
S2: It's bad bait for me. Thank you. That's a bad
S2: bait if you want to knock me out.
S3: Carl's not falling.
S2: I'm not falling for that one. You put a Brussels
S2: sprout on a Carl trap, and I ain't eating it.
S3: I don't know a rock.
S2: Yeah, okay. Because I was sitting here thinking Skittles. And
S2: I'm like, no, they.
S5: Might like Skittles.
S3: I think a mouse would probably eat anything.
S2: Yeah, I think so. So, yeah, this is funny. Here,
S2: I'm trying to think, what's a bait? What's a bait?
S2: That wouldn't work for a rat. I mean, they come
S2: to almost anything but. Yeah.
S3: Mouse meat.
S2: Okay, now we're getting really raw here. But, yeah, their
S2: own kind. Yeah. I don't think they're cannibalistic, so maybe
S2: this is getting on the edge. Uh, a rock, a rock.
S2: I'm gonna put this rock here, and this will bring
S2: them in. No, it probably won't. Nope. Um, a leaf
S2: might not do it. In fact, it won't.
S3: I don't think so.
S2: No. They got to have something that's rotting and fermenting and,
S2: you know, they love that stuff. Yeah. So what do
S2: you bait? And I did this. What do you bait?
S2: A allie's got a look on her face. Like we
S2: got to get off this topic. I'll make the transition soon.
S4: I'm following with.
S2: You. What do you bait a trap with? For a
S2: rat or a mouse. Or a shrew?
S3: Cheese?
S2: Yeah.
S5: Something desirable.
S2: Because they love it, man. I don't know why they
S2: love cheese.
S3: Tom and Jerry said so.
S2: There you go. Boy, we got bunny trails here, and
S2: usually you guys have to keep me on it. Now, today,
S2: I'm having to keep you lined out here. So it's
S2: it's it's just a truism that if you're going to
S2: bait something, you got to go with something that they're
S2: going to take.
S4: Yes. Something that's desirable.
S2: Yes. So, mind blowing epiphany last night and this morning.
S2: And I am so giddy about what I'm about to
S2: share with you. And some of you, like, share it already.
S2: Hang on. We got to clear away something here. But
S2: coming up in three minutes, I want to tell you
S2: that today Satan is baiting you three different ways. He's
S2: baiting you. And I'm going to tell you right now,
S2: the bait is good.
S5: Desirable. It's not Brussels sprouts.
S2: It ain't.
S5: Brussels.
S2: Sprouts. It ain't rocks. It's not leaves.
S5: Better than cheese.
S2: Way better than cheese. He's got you all lined out
S2: and he's ready to set the trap. And he's setting it.
S2: This morning, while we were asleep last night, Satan was
S2: set in the trap. What are the three baits of
S2: Satan to keep you away from God or away from
S2: proximity to Jesus? You get this one. Today you will
S2: walk in greater victory by high noon. I promise you,
S2: we'll give it to you.
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 Karl and crew on Moody Radio.
S2: All right. Three baits Satan uses to pull us away
S2: from proximity to Jesus and our relationship with God. They
S2: are everywhere in Scripture, highlighted best in a very interesting
S2: place now. We're called to be disciples of Christ. In
S2: other words, he is our leader, right?
S5: Right.
S2: So we follow him. That's he's our guide. So the
S2: life he lives, we want to emulate that life. And
S2: it's going to serve us so well. Well, in the
S2: temptation after 40 days of fasting, you find the three
S2: baits of Satan.
S4: This is where in Scripture Matthew four.
S2: Okay, so in Matthew four you find the three baits
S2: of Satan. Let me just go through these here quickly.
S2: This is so powerful because once you see it once,
S2: you will never unsee it. How great is that spiritual
S2: truth that you never unsee. Here it is. Jesus was
S2: led by the spirit, Holy Spirit into the wilderness to
S2: be tempted by the devil. And by the way, all
S2: of this was done to model for us the battle
S2: that we would face with evil. After fasting 40 days
S2: and 40 nights, he was hungry because he's fully God
S2: and fully man. He's hungry. Got to eat. And the tempter, Satan,
S2: came to him and said to him, if you're the
S2: Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.
S2: But he answered, it is written, man shall not live
S2: by bread alone, but by every word that comes from
S2: the mouth of God. By the way, that word there
S2: is rhema. And next week I'm going to explain to
S2: you how important that is. It's the spoken word of God.
S2: But let's just take this for what it is. Satan
S2: was baiting Jesus to find satisfaction apart from the father.
S2: And what Jesus did is he responded from Deuteronomy three times,
S2: by the way. So he knew the Word of God.
S2: He's like, no, I'm not going to get my satisfaction
S2: from what you're offering me. So there's a bait of
S2: satisfaction being set for you today in all kinds of
S2: things that are not grounded and founded in God. Fair enough.
S4: Fair enough.
S2: Then you go next one. Then the devil took him
S2: to a holy city and set him on the pinnacle
S2: of the temple and said to him, if you're the
S2: Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written,
S2: he will command his angels concerning you, and on their
S2: hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your
S2: foot against a stone. And Jesus said to him, again,
S2: it is written, you shall not put the Lord your
S2: God to the test. Here was the bait of Satan.
S2: Number two. Security. I'll hold you and comfort you. I'll
S2: take care of you. Do you know how many times
S2: Satan baits us to find security in things apart from God?
S2: Oh my goodness! I got you covered. I'll be your
S2: safety net. I'll be there when you fall. And I mean,
S2: we don't even need to fill in the blanks and
S2: give illustrations of satisfaction and security baits that are out
S2: there today.
S5: Do we know they're everywhere?
S4: As soon as you start to see this framework, you
S4: do see it everywhere.
S2: It's everywhere. And then Satan comes at him with a
S2: third bait and he says again, the devil took him
S2: to a very high mountain and showed him all the
S2: kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said
S2: to him, all these I'm going to give you, if
S2: you'll just fall down and worship me. And Jesus said
S2: to him, be gone, Satan. For it is written, you
S2: shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall
S2: you serve. What was the third bait of Satan? It
S2: was significance apart from God. Now this is convicting stuff.
S2: This is convicting stuff. But it's compelling.
S4: Because when you think about the things that draw us away,
S4: it everything, pretty much everything you can think of is
S4: going to fall into one of these three categories.
S5: Yeah.
S2: Satisfaction. Security. Significance. Who's satisfying your soul?
S4: What do you hunger and thirst for? What? What satisfies
S4: your appetite?
S5: Yeah.
S3: And it's not necessarily that one sin falls under only
S3: one of these buckets. You take like money for instance.
S3: Money can bring you satisfaction, but it can also give
S3: you the feeling of significance.
S2: And security.
S3: And security.
S2: And so this is why money is such a problem.
S3: Yeah, absolutely.
S2: It can be such a problem.
S3: And so it's not just, oh, I struggle with money,
S3: but it's. No, I struggle with trying to find my
S3: significance in money or trying to gain a sense of
S3: security in money alone and not God.
S2: Here's why. The love of money is the root of
S2: all evil. The love of money is the root of
S2: all evil, because in it is significant security and satisfaction
S2: in a diminished, distorted, funky way.
S3: No doubt.
S2: And I know this because God's given me relationships with
S2: people that are on the street. Got a guy in
S2: our church right now and we're getting them off the street.
S2: And I love this character. He's a piece of work,
S2: but I love him. And and I've and I've known
S2: people of amazing wealth. And I'll tell you this. It
S2: it afflicts paupers and princes. Man In love of money.
S2: Root of all evil. Why? Because. Security, significance and satisfaction.
S2: Have you the temptation to derive one or all three
S2: of those things from that is like an ever present danger?
S2: I'll tell you what's huge about this. And I want
S2: to give credit to Philip miller, who's going to be
S2: coming up in this next half hour. If you can
S2: possibly stick around, you got to do it because this
S2: this guy, he's done a deep dive on these big three.
S2: And I don't even know if Philip's found this correlation
S2: in In the Temptations of Christ probably has. But if
S2: he hasn't, I know he's going to be fired up
S2: because he's a humble dude and he's going to go, Shazam!
S2: We have concluded in here. We were talking as a
S2: team that you take these three baits of Satan to
S2: pull us away from God. You get these things identified,
S2: you bring them before your mind constantly. You're going to
S2: be able to say no to the beta of Satan
S2: and say yes to God over and over and over again.
S2: How sweet.
S5: Is this?
S4: Because you'll be able to identify it when that temptation comes.
S4: What am I looking for here? What is this? Pornography?
S4: Let's take that as an example. What does this represent
S4: for me?
S5: Yeah.
S4: Is this, uh, is this an attempt to find satisfaction,
S4: to satisfy an appetite? Apart from God? Yep, yep. Most likely.
S2: Is it a power grab? Can it be a distorted
S2: significance move? Yeah. In a weird way, this is why
S2: food is such a problem. We had Laurie on here yesterday.
S2: If you didn't hear Laurie's testimony. Oh my goodness. As
S2: a matter of fact, if you hear anything here on
S2: Carl and crew that you feel has some value for
S2: you or someone you love, I'm going to put a
S2: banner ad up right now. Grab this link and have
S2: it ready. Whether you got Android or iPhone, we're ready
S2: for you.
S4: Just text the word show to 800 555 7898. Text
S4: show to 800 555 7898.
S2: And I promise you this little crunch down teaching that
S2: we've done here this morning. This. No, not that we've
S2: done this teaching that Jesus has that we're just passing on.
S2: We'll have it in there for you today. Make sure
S2: that's loaded up. Okay guys. But we'll we'll crunch it
S2: all down right there. Man what a joy it is
S2: to look at God's Word, isn't it, guys?
S1: It is your shot of hope to help you through
S1: the day. This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
S2: We are talking all week long about this abiding life
S2: in Christ. What a joy. It's to God's glory that
S2: you bear much fruit. Come on, give him some praise
S2: for that. This scarcity mindset has no place in the
S2: Christian church that is committed to being disciples of Christ.
S2: There is no such thing as scarcity mindset. You look
S2: in Matthew 13, you look at at what? What the
S2: seed produces that lands on that fertile ground, imperfect but
S2: fertile ground. 30, 60, 100 fold. You look at the
S2: comparison in John 1010. And by the way, the thief
S2: that came to steal and kill and destroy is actually
S2: all represents all the bad shepherds, even more so than Satan.
S2: I know we often call it Satan, but in John
S2: 1010 the context of that passage are shepherds that are Pharisees.
S2: They're they're a joke. They're not the real deal. And
S2: Jesus said, they're coming to steal and kill and destroy.
S2: Are they used by Satan? Oh, big time tools of Satan.
S2: But he said, I came to give you life and
S2: more abundantly. You look at Joshua one eight, you meditate
S2: on these words of mine, this law, day and night
S2: you're going to have success and prosperity wherever you go
S2: in this new land. Joshua. You look at Psalm one
S2: one through three. Get away from fools, mockers, and scoffers.
S2: Better to walk alone with the Word of God. Better
S2: to walk alone with the Word of God than to
S2: have fools, mockers, and scoffers around you. Because if you
S2: meditate on this word, you're going to be like a
S2: tree planted by streams of living water. Your leaf will
S2: never wither, and all you do, you will prosper. Get
S2: this scarcity Christianity out of your life. Our God is
S2: a God of abundance. Now, abundance does not mean that
S2: we're not going to have incredible persecution. In fact, I
S2: submit to you, the more you lean into discipleship with Jesus,
S2: the bigger the bullseye is for Satan on your life.
S2: But even through that, we are more than conquerors through
S2: him who loves us. So fired up man, I can
S2: barely put out. I can barely put a damper on
S2: my what God's doing in my soul this morning. It's
S2: just thrilling. So credit where credit is due. I had
S2: this huge, and I would almost call it an epiphany,
S2: where God used a man named Philip miller last week
S2: to take. We were talking about identity and in Christ,
S2: and he just came in with kind of three buckets
S2: to think through and how powerful this is, so that
S2: we don't take what I'm calling this morning the three
S2: baits of Satan satisfaction, security and significance. Satan's kind of
S2: constantly bait us with those things. But God wants to
S2: do what Satan can never offer. Philip miller. You guys
S2: ready for him? He's coming up.
S5: Here. Yeah, definitely.
S2: Wow. David Crowder here first. Somebody prayed. I want you
S2: to know it's to God's glory that you bear much fruit.
S2: Let's lean in to proximity to Jesus today.
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: All week long, we're tackling this powerful text out of
S2: John 15. Some of the final words of Jesus to
S2: his disciples. He says, men, listen to me. Look at
S2: these grapes. He said, this is this is my plan
S2: for you and all the disciples that would come after you.
S2: I want you to bear much fruit. My father is
S2: glorified by you, bearing fruit. And then he says, I
S2: am the vine. You are the branches. Abide in me,
S2: and I will abide in you. Apart from me, you
S2: can do nothing. What a vision. If you're weary from
S2: trying to perform for Jesus here at a great place today,
S2: because that weariness is met with proximity to Christ. And
S2: when we have proximity to Jesus, everything changes. Now, I
S2: had a huge, borderline epiphany here where God revealed something
S2: to me through our brother, Philip miller. That is profound.
S2: Let's get him in here. Philip, this thing of significance
S2: and satisfaction and security, those baits of Satan, as we've
S2: been looking at this morning in Matthew four, this is
S2: a construct for discipleship, my friend. Like I think we
S2: have not seen, I have not seen in my lifetime.
S2: These three buckets are huge, aren't they, Philip?
S6: Yeah. I think there's something really profound about recognizing this
S6: deep structure of how our hearts are made. You know
S6: that deep down, we long. Our identity is built around
S6: three primary hungers and appetites of the soul for significance.
S6: I want to know that I matter security. I want
S6: to feel safe in the universe and satisfaction. I want
S6: to be happy and, uh, and delighted. And in life.
S6: And those three deep appetites are are not bad things.
S6: They're good things. They're they're the sort of the hollow
S6: shape of what God is meant to fill in our souls.
S6: And so, you know, Blaise Pascal said, there's a God
S6: shaped hole in the heart of every person, right? And, um,
S6: and this notion of like, that's what God is meant
S6: to provide us security, significance, satisfaction. But the problem is
S6: we wake up in the universe as orphans. We wake
S6: up as strangers from the God we were made to
S6: know and call father, uh, because of our sin, because
S6: Adam and Eve fell, and because we wake up in
S6: a universe that's broken. And so we have a broken
S6: relationship with God. And because of that, that emptiness we feel.
S6: What we tend to do is we tend to go
S6: out and live as orphans in the universe and look
S6: for substitutes to give us the security, significance and satisfaction
S6: we think and we know we need. And so we
S6: run after all the wrong things. And I think what
S6: you're pointing out this morning is that you know, Jesus,
S6: when he offers himself as he says, you're the vine
S6: or I'm the vine, you're the branches. He's offering to
S6: reconnect us with the very life we were made to
S6: have in the very beginning.
S2: And all three of those are embodied in that connection satisfaction,
S2: security and significance. It's so powerful.
S4: Philip miller, our guest right now is senior pastor of
S4: the Moody Church in Chicago. He's a visionary leader, 15
S4: years plus of ministry experience. So tell us, I'm curious,
S4: how did you first start to develop this, your understanding
S4: of this framework? I you're it's all over scripture, but
S4: when did it kind of become clear to you.
S6: There's a lot of inputs, but one of them is
S6: Tim Keller in New York. He wrote a book called
S6: Counterfeit Gods, and he basically talks about idolatry in our hearts. And, um,
S6: and so he he talks about these three things. I
S6: think the contribution where I've maybe developed it a little
S6: bit further is connecting it with identity. Um, recognizing that
S6: what happens is that we, we have these longings, and
S6: so then we decide, oh, I'll be whatever I need
S6: to be in order to get these things met. And so,
S6: like in my life as a young child, I wanted
S6: more than anything to be significant. And I want to
S6: know that I matter, that I, that I was, you know,
S6: a winner. And so I learned that if I, you know,
S6: scored a goal in soccer or if I got good
S6: grades in school that I would get applause, I would
S6: get affirmation from my parents, my teachers and friends. And
S6: that was pretty close to love and affirmation. The thing
S6: I wanted really deep in the bottom of my soul.
S6: And so that was sort of the transaction I learned
S6: to live and and of course, what that ends up
S6: doing is it makes you perform in order to get love,
S6: which is, at the end of the day, it's a
S6: pretty unhealthy construct, because here comes the gospel, and the
S6: gospel says, you know, you aren't a good performer. You've
S6: actually failed in every way, and yet you're loved for
S6: Jesus sake. And so I actually had to unlearn this
S6: little formula, this orphan hearted posture in life. I had
S6: to unlearn that in order to grab Ahold of the
S6: gospel and really deeply believe it.
S2: Yeah. Here's what's interesting. Philip Philip miller with us right now.
S2: We are unlearning it because it's the flesh. It's the sarx.
S2: It's what we were born with before we were born again.
S2: Coming up here in just a moment, Philip, I want
S2: you to break this down. Significant security satisfaction. If we
S2: get that identity and even more than identity. Right, Philip?
S2: If we. If we derive that all the good stuff
S2: that comes from that, it's just not a mental assent
S2: to I'm significant, secure and satisfied in Christ. It's a
S2: functionality of it. Give a blue sky vision for what
S2: could be more with Philip miller coming up.
S1: She's a choreographer extraordinaire and everything is Greek to her.
S1: Super dye is in the crew. It's Karl and crew
S1: on Moody Radio.
S2: Proximity to Jesus not performing for Jesus is the game changer.
S2: When your mind moves to be the branch that abides
S2: in the vine Christ, rather than trying to perform. We
S2: quit putting on plastic fake fruit and we can have
S2: the real deal. Now there's a lot of baits of
S2: Satan three particularly that he tries to bait us with
S2: that will try to pull us away from proximity to Jesus.
S2: Philip miller is here with us right now. We're talking
S2: about him. They are significant security and satisfaction. You find
S2: them in the in the in the Gospel of Matthew
S2: chapter four. And Satan said it. He tried to pull
S2: him away with significant security and satisfaction apart from the father.
S2: But let's get some blue sky here, Philip, to someone
S2: who says, I'm going to find my significance, security and
S2: satisfaction in Jesus. What's the vision out there? Where are
S2: we going with this?
S6: So here's what happens when I'm an orphan and I'm
S6: living in this orphan hearted universe. And I think I
S6: need to find significant security and satisfaction on my own
S6: in the world and fend for myself. What that does
S6: is it makes me go out into all the world
S6: and I'm very needy. I need to go into the
S6: world and take and and there's this huge sucking sound,
S6: because I've got to go out and I've got to,
S6: I've got to fill my soul up. So I've got to.
S6: I've got to find significance in the world. I've got
S6: to find satisfaction in Security and every relationship, every possession
S6: I have, every bit of power I have in the
S6: world is about me, and it's about filling me up.
S6: And that's that orphan hearted mentality. But if you if
S6: we can abide in Christ and recognize that he is
S6: our security, satisfaction and significance, what it then does is
S6: it it starts filling us. It flips it all on
S6: its head. So instead of going out to to people
S6: around me and needing people to secure my identity, to
S6: give me what I need in my soul, I can
S6: go out and pour myself out in love and radical
S6: self donation for the people around me and serve them
S6: and sacrifice. And even if they don't love me back,
S6: I can love them even as even an enemy I
S6: can love because I'm filled from the inside. Uh, because
S6: of my relationship with Jesus Christ. And I no longer
S6: need the people around me in the same way. I
S6: can actually love them the way I'm. I'm meant to.
S6: Same thing with power. Power doesn't become a a thing
S6: that I've got to have to feed my soul. I
S6: can actually now steward power as a servant, and I
S6: can sacrifice, and I can use power to honor and
S6: lift other people up because it's about them, not me.
S6: And the same thing with our possessions instead of possessions
S6: possessing me because I've got to have them so I
S6: can have security, significance and satisfaction. Now I can just
S6: have stuff. I can give it away freely. I don't
S6: have to own it in the same way. And I
S6: can be generous with what God's given me. So this
S6: hinge from the orphan hearted life where I'm trying to
S6: get security, significance, and satisfaction on my own is a
S6: kind of idolatry that destroys me. And when I when
S6: it's straightened out through the abiding life with Christ, it
S6: actually turns my soul outward. And it makes me pour
S6: myself out in loving sacrifice and service in the world,
S6: which is the life that Jesus has for us. That's
S6: what abundance looks like. That's the fruit that he wants
S6: us to bear.
S2: This is so powerful. And boom crew, our goal here
S2: and our aim is that you would come as you are,
S2: experience God, overcome what seems impossible and live as you
S2: never imagined. And central to this is your identity. Central
S2: to this is your proximity to Jesus. And when you
S2: begin to look at Scripture through the lens of significant
S2: security and satisfaction, boom, everything will change. Right now, we've
S2: got a resource for you, and I'm asking you to
S2: come and get it.
S4: This is going to be a PDF that goes a
S4: little bit of a deeper dive on each of these. Security, satisfaction, significance.
S4: Just text identity to 805 55 7898. We'll send this
S4: as a PDF right to your phone. Just text identity
S4: to 800 555 7898. And our thanks to Philip miller,
S4: our guest, for providing this resource.
S2: Great job. Philip. I love you, man. This is powerful truth.
S2: Let's go. Boom! Crew, walk in it.
S1: This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
S2: The call on our life. The call on our life.
S2: By Jesus to his disciples. To look at your life
S2: as a branch and to have proximity to Jesus. Not
S2: with this compulsion to produce fruit, but out of proximity
S2: to Jesus. You know that he is the one that
S2: produces that fruit. That's a game changer, guys, because Western
S2: Christianity is all about looking right, acting right, big general terms.
S2: I'm not calling every church or every Christian that, but
S2: generally there is a prevailing undercurrent in the culture that says,
S2: who you got to show up, you got to look right.
S2: There's a language you speak. There's a way you act.
S2: There's a joy that's expected of you. Put a smile
S2: on your face.
S5: Right?
S2: You know what Jesus said? Don't put a smile on
S2: your face. Don't show up to all these programs. You
S2: abide in me. I'll get you to that small group.
S2: I'll get you into the word. But that proximity to
S2: Jesus is everything.
S4: And there are times when you can go through things
S4: that can continue to try to drive you away from
S4: that proximity, create distance between you and God. And it's
S4: a constant fight to fight the drift, but then also
S4: to fight discouragement, disappointment, bitterness.
S2: From childhood, family of origin issues. I mean, super die.
S2: I don't want to get into the weeds here with you,
S2: but I've loved the fact that you've been very guarded
S2: but very open. My bride loves the way you communicate,
S2: by the way. But you went through some childhood trauma
S2: that has had massive lingering effects, hasn't it? Hesitant super.
S5: Die. Even to this day, sometimes it's a daily walk,
S5: a daily abiding and just knowing who I am in
S5: Christ and just a very much a needed reminder how
S5: loved I really am. Unconditionally loved, I really am. But yeah,
S5: it can linger all the way through. And Satan's just
S5: there knocking away.
S2: Do you find that it tries to come back in constantly?
S5: Yes. Um, the word constantly. What I found with with
S5: freedom in Christ and walking and abiding with Christ. I
S5: know Satan's constantly there, but I don't feel it constantly anymore,
S5: like I used to before. And that is I'm going
S5: to tear up. That is so a precious thing to me,
S5: and it's there for you. And if you're going through
S5: something like that, yes, it can happen for you too.
S5: You don't need to feel that constantly. Let Jesus walk
S5: you and help you through that daily.
S2: You must get an opportunity to talk to people from
S2: time to time that have had their soul dragged through
S2: the mud in their childhood.
S5: The more that I finally voiced it and it took
S5: a very, very long time to even voice anything because
S5: Satan uses that to keep it quiet, keep it shut up.
S5: Keep it behind closed doors. Don't say anything. Well, then,
S5: how can God work? Hello.
S2: One plus.
S5: One. And once I realized all that. And I just
S5: let God lead me. And he has. Yes. Put me
S5: in situations and just let the Holy Spirit. You know
S5: the words, Lord, you just use me. And and he
S5: has mightily and it's very, very humbling and it's very
S5: emotional that God can use something like that to actually
S5: help somebody else know God's love.
S2: Pretty powerful super day.
S5: It really turns.
S2: You're my super.
S5: Trooper.
S2: You are my super trooper.
S5: Well.
S2: That's what you.
S5: Are. Well, thank you, but no.
S2: It reminds me of an ABBA song. Oh, no. Remember
S2: that one?
S7: It just stuck in my brain.
S2: Super trouper.
S8: Doo doo doo doo doo doo doo.
S4: I must have missed that one.
S7: You didn't miss anything.
S2: It's not one of their best.
S7: You're okay.
S2: All right, coming up. We got a treat for you.
S4: We've got Suzy Larsen, best selling author, national speaker, a
S4: powerful radio host sharing a little bit of her own
S4: journey of walking through a long term struggle and the
S4: fight to stay close to Jesus.
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: The most epic, quintessential teaching on discipleship. I truly believe
S2: this is when Jesus. It's his last words. It's his
S2: last week. He's on the way to the cross. He
S2: grabs a bunch of grape leaves, picks him up, says, gentlemen,
S2: look at that. That's what I want your life to be,
S2: that bodacious, fruit bearing person. And so he goes on
S2: to teach it. He says, I'm the vine. You're the branch.
S2: You abide in me. You will bear much fruit. It's
S2: to my father's glory that you bear much fruit. How
S2: thrilling is that, by the way, just parenthetically. Oh, then
S2: he says, apart from me, you can do nothing. And
S2: we want to believe there's got to be something in
S2: there mid zone.
S7: Somewhere I can do.
S2: I mean, a little bit of some juice I'm bringing
S2: to the table, but no, nothing. So we've established this
S2: week we've been walking through this journey of this abiding
S2: life in Christ. And we know proximity. Yes productivity. That's
S2: God's job. Stay away from focusing on that end of
S2: the branch. And yet when we talk about proximity and
S2: that abiding remaining, making Christ your home alley stuff can
S2: get in the way.
S4: And one of the biggest things that can creep in
S4: is Discouragement, discontentment, and exhaustion, particularly if you've been walking
S4: through hard things for a long season and you've not
S4: seen the full answer from God, the full deliverance. And
S4: yet you're fighting for it. We have a special guest
S4: who knows this struggle well. Susie Larson, bestselling author and
S4: national speaker radio host. Tell us a little bit about
S4: what this has looked like in your own journey. You've
S4: had seasons where you've had to walk through over the
S4: long haul, some really tough stuff.
S9: I've walked through some pretty significant health challenges for 35
S9: years and it's ebbed and flow, but the stretches that
S9: have been difficult have sometimes lasted seven years, where I'm
S9: army crawling and there's times where, I mean, I'm seasoned
S9: enough in my faith now to know God never loses
S9: my address. But I thought he lost my address years ago,
S9: and I remember, I think I've shared this with you before,
S9: but about ten years ago when I had a massive
S9: relapse and the worst of it was intense for several years.
S9: At night, I was having stroke like symptoms and neurological
S9: fireworks in my body and my brain wasn't working. And
S9: I'm like you on live radio, so I need my
S9: faculties sharp. And I remember just going face down, being
S9: so disappointed in God. I mean, that was hard for
S9: me to say because I'm not flippant about my relationship
S9: with God. I fear him, I honor him. But he
S9: pulled it out of me because I was crying out
S9: to him and he helped me see I was hurt
S9: because this is going so long. And it just and
S9: it's it's lethal to compare, especially when you're in a battle.
S9: It's just lethal to me. It's like a soldier who's in,
S9: you know, hunkering down in a ditch and scrolling social media,
S9: looking at his friends, living their best life in civilian clothes.
S9: It's just lethal to compare your life to someone's when
S9: you're suffering. And I had done that a little bit
S9: because people look like they were healthy and that just
S9: things weren't hitting them like they were hitting me. And
S9: the Lord brought me to the passage where, you know,
S9: Jesus is met by John the Baptist. Friends. John, Jesus said,
S9: is there's no greater man born to woman than John
S9: and yet he is in prison and then starts to
S9: doubt which should comfort you a little bit. Because, you know,
S9: we all have moments when you get battered enough by
S9: life and that enemy comes in with his questions. Did
S9: God really say you entertain and start to wonder? So
S9: he sends his friends and asks his cousin, are you
S9: the Christ?
S7: Yes.
S9: Or should we be looking for someone else? And Jesus
S9: response was so to me, passionate but full of conviction.
S9: And my paraphrase so many words, you go tell John
S9: the blind see the lame leap, the deaf get their
S9: hearing back. But blessed are you who are not offended
S9: by me. In other words, I'm still the same miracle
S9: working God. And just because you happen to be in
S9: a season where you're away from the action, you're in obscurity.
S9: You feel overlooked. It doesn't change the fact that I'm
S9: still a miracle working God. So the work for you
S9: in this place is to work on your heart that
S9: you're not offended by me. And I knew that was
S9: my homework. Ali and Carl. I knew that I had
S9: to rise up and go. You know what? You are good.
S9: You redeem all things. My goal here in the abiding
S9: life is to be at peace with God, because the
S9: enemy is always trying to bait you into building a
S9: case against God and accusing him of things the devil's
S9: guilty of. So good of God just to show me that.
S9: And I immediately repented and was restored back to peace.
S9: And I saw fruit in my life immediately after that.
S2: Susie Larson, our guest right now. You know, in all candor,
S2: I went through a stretch and I didn't do well
S2: because I was I was betrayed at such a deep level.
S2: I had heard about betrayal. I had counseled as a
S2: pastor people that had gone through betrayal. But I went
S2: through it myself, and it was so visceral that I
S2: knew that God knew my address to steal your words.
S2: And I knew his promises. But in that zone of affliction,
S2: it can be easy to rely on your own strength
S2: to get you through a day. What's the deal breaker? Well, no. No.
S2: Let's go. Positive. What's the deal maker that moves you
S2: from isolation back toward the face of God.
S9: I don't know who said this first, but I love
S9: the idea and I don't know if it's in a
S9: song or a lyric. You know, in a poem, but
S9: to the degree that I can't hold their list in
S9: my hand while my list is nailed to the cross,
S9: and that is just a painful truth. And I've walked
S9: through it as well. Carl, I'm walking through something somewhat
S9: similar right now, and I've been immersing myself in the
S9: scriptures and God is just. He takes these things very seriously,
S9: but I feel like it takes great humility to let
S9: the fire refine you when someone else is guilty of
S9: lighting the match. You know, because in the fire, if
S9: God has allowed it, there's redemption in it somehow. And
S9: it's not to say he won't deal with your betrayer
S9: and your accuser, but if we can humble ourselves in
S9: that fire to say, you know what? My God is
S9: a consuming fire. He's going to consume my foes and
S9: my flesh. So if there's anything in me that needs
S9: to be purified, do it because it makes you, I think, bulletproof. Yes.
S9: When you can say, you know what? No demon in
S9: hell gets to say, have the last say about who
S9: I am. I'm a child of God. And judgment does
S9: begin first in the house of God and Jesus was betrayed.
S9: We will be betrayed. But I feel like if we
S9: stay in that abiding place, we will come through pure, stronger,
S9: bolder than we did before. And I don't know, Carl,
S9: don't you feel that every time we walk through betrayal
S9: and we sort it through in a redemptive way, the
S9: gap widens between how man's opinion affects us and how God's.
S9: And you need to break free from the fear of man.
S9: That's the surest way to do it, is to be betrayed.
S7: Yeah.
S2: The interesting thing, just to echo that one of the
S2: things that I think I struggled with for a lot
S2: of years was, in fact, I had a phenomenal friend
S2: who's a great counselor, and he said, you've got a problem, Carl.
S2: And I said, well, tell me about it. But he said,
S2: your problem is people winning. It's a cousin of people pleasing.
S2: You want to win people over. And he said, you're
S2: going to have to start learning to live with disappointment.
S2: And you're right, Susie, it is incredibly fruitful.
S4: Susie Larson, best selling author, national speaker. With us right
S4: now coming up, we're called to abide, to bear fruit
S4: out of the abiding relationship. What does fruit bearing look
S4: like when you feel like you can barely get out
S4: of bed in the morning? Let's ask Susie that coming up.
S1: She was trying to earn her way to God, but
S1: God showed her she didn't have to. Ali is in
S1: the crew. It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
S10: So we're called to.
S4: Abide and bear fruit out of that abiding relationship. But
S4: when we think about fruit, Susie Larson, we think about
S4: the things we can go and do for God. Yes, you.
S7: Know.
S4: Preach a sermon, lead a Bible study, make a meal
S4: for someone, and there's someone going through it to the
S4: point right now that they go, what does fruit bearing
S4: look like when I can barely get out of bed
S4: in the morning?
S9: There are some people that are running hard, producing, and
S9: it's fruit that's not real, and it's going to burn
S9: up because they are trying. They're misusing time, treasure and
S9: talents to try to prove something. Jesus has already proven right.
S9: Where there's many, many Christians who know they're saved, they
S9: don't know they're loved, and they're striving in their own
S9: strength to try to establish their identity. And so if
S9: you're in the place where you can't get out of
S9: bed and again, you compare, you will despair because it
S9: all looks shiny and all. And I'm not saying all
S9: fruit is bad, but I'm saying there are a lot
S9: of times the enemy will put people in your path
S9: that look so shiny and so flashy. When you're at
S9: the lowest point and you feel like my laundry is overflowing,
S9: my dishes are overflowing. I've got bad hair, you know?
S9: But in that place you can bear fruit as you
S9: really submit to God, resist the devil and he must flee.
S9: And you know, I had a dream last night, and
S9: I don't dream very often, but I feel like there's
S9: some message in this dream that's so powerful. In the dream,
S9: I was doing ministry with my husband, Kevin, and one
S9: of our ministry mentors. We're just busy, but I'm slowing
S9: everybody down because I have this armful of laundry and
S9: I'm carrying it around with me wherever I go. And
S9: it was way too much for me to carry, so
S9: I kept dropping pieces. I'd squat down to pick up
S9: a piece and drop another piece. Suddenly, I'm walking through
S9: a mall with this armful of laundry, and the mall
S9: was connecting me to some ministry venue and a piece
S9: drops off my, you know, load. And these three women
S9: were behind me. And this one, she looked kind of
S9: rough edged. She picks up the t shirt, tosses it
S9: back into my arms, kind of annoyed that she had
S9: to do it. And I'm like, thank you. I take
S9: about two more steps and I drop another pair of something,
S9: and so she picks it up, flings it on the
S9: pile and says, I'm not going to keep doing this.
S9: And after they walked away, the camera zoomed in and
S9: I saw it was a bunch of old outdated t shirts,
S9: but they were washed and it made me feel like
S9: somebody listening today that one of the reasons you can't
S9: get out of bed is you're under condemnation and shame,
S9: and you keep rehearsing and rehashing your failures, and you're
S9: letting the enemy accuse you and your sins have been washed.
S9: You know, our best days are filthy rags. But if
S9: you're under the blood, you're under the blood. Yeah. And
S9: oftentimes what slows us down and makes us feel hopeless
S9: and helpless is we're carrying this burden that Jesus already buried.
S9: So I just maybe someone needed to hear that today.
S2: Yeah. They did. I mean, what we see versus what
S2: God sees is a world apart at times, and it's beautiful.
S2: All right, here's a crazy maker though, because at times,
S2: who how do I say this? I this is the
S2: most loving thing I can say as a pastor. And
S2: this is one of the toughest things I've ever said
S2: on this show. There are a ton of people listening
S2: right now that their tragedy has become their friend. Their
S2: betrayal has become their partner. They're so familiar with it,
S2: they don't know that they want to get away from it.
S2: And actually offering them help at times can be met
S2: with resistance. That's hard to say. But if we're going
S2: to be truthful here with Carl and crew and we
S2: want to be Susie, we got to go after that
S2: angle of this thing because it's everywhere.
S9: 100%, I mean, it really what you're talking about is
S9: making pain an idol and getting your identity from your affliction.
S9: And that, to me, is the antithesis of the abiding life.
S9: And again, God is not a cruel taskmaster, and he's
S9: not given us a spirit that makes us fearful slaves.
S9: He's given us his spirit so we can cry out, ABBA, father!
S9: When we've made an idol out of our pain, when
S9: we get our identity from our affliction, we literally are
S9: taking matters into our own hands. We are not abiding,
S9: we are self preserving, and we are saying that this
S9: inferior status is God's best for us and it's not.
S9: And really, at the core of that is a mistrust
S9: of God. Yeah. You know, when you think of Jesus
S9: was walking with his disciples and he says, who do
S9: people say I am? And they were like, well, the prophet,
S9: they were listing all the Elijah, you know. And then
S9: he stops and I picture him on this dirt road
S9: and turns to Peter. Who do you say that I am?
S9: You're the Messiah, the son of the living God. And
S9: Jesus says, the father has revealed that to you. You
S9: didn't get that yourself. And because Peter was in a
S9: posture to get a revelation about who Jesus was, Peter
S9: was in a posture to get a revelation about who
S9: he was, because then Jesus said, and let me tell
S9: you who you are. And he started to speak to
S9: Peter about his identity.
S2: Oh that's powerful.
S9: So if somebody is listening today and I get it,
S9: because I've been through stretches where I was known as
S9: the girl with Lyme disease. And I don't want that identity,
S9: but I there's times you wake up and feel sorry
S9: for yourself, but I'm just saying you don't need pity.
S9: You've got the promises of God, you know. And so
S9: I've been there. I'm saying that. But when you posture
S9: yourself to say, Lord, I humble myself, I smash these idols.
S9: I want my truest identity, which comes from the abiding life.
S9: No other place. Give me a fresh revelation about who
S9: you are. God. Something that I've not known about you yet.
S9: Because obviously I've got these little idols in my tent.
S9: And as your posture to see him as he is,
S9: you will start to see yourself as you are, as
S9: God says you are.
S4: We've got a resource for you, Susie Larson, our guest
S4: right now. If you want an opportunity to get some
S4: power packed encouragement devotionals from her. Just text mind to
S4: 800 555 7898 text mind, mind to 800 555 7898.
S1: He was sharing the gospel on the radio and then
S1: he got saved. Young thunders in the crew. It's Carl
S1: and crew on Moody Radio.
S2: You know, there's times when we're doing radio here and
S2: we feel prompted by the spirit. Let's boom, let's go
S2: this direction. By the way, that's exactly how the Spirit
S2: of God led and guided the church in the book
S2: of acts. And you might say, well, how in the
S2: world does that happen? Well, it's it's not void of
S2: the truth. We got this. I've got a Bible open
S2: in front of me. Ali does. We've all got the
S2: Word of God in front of us. And then the
S2: we're promised by Jesus, the Spirit of God will guide
S2: us into all truth. And there's promptings of the spirit
S2: that comport with the Word of God. It's not like
S2: extant from the Word of God, but it's right here.
S2: And I want to talk with you about something I
S2: was going to save till next week, but I'm going
S2: to give you a bit of it right now, because
S2: God loves you so much that he brought you here,
S2: my friend, you, for this moment. Because this is very important.
S2: I want to talk about the hallucination of salvation. And
S2: I'll illustrate it this way. I got to take you
S2: to Alaska on the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. I
S2: ran this race back when I was 18 years old.
S2: It's 1100 mile dog sled race across Alaska, and I
S2: was probably 700 miles into this race. Sleep deprived, just tired.
S2: And now I'm on the Norton Sound of the Bering
S2: Sea coast of Alaska, the west coast of Alaska. I'm
S2: leaving the village of Unalakleet, headed for the village of Shaktoolik,
S2: and I'm getting out of Unalakleet, and I've got a
S2: team of like eight dogs left in my team. I
S2: had to drop some dogs. They don't. They don't die.
S2: They're cared for by veterinarians, but they had lacerated pads.
S2: Or maybe they were dehydrated and on a couple for
S2: a couple of those dogs, my heart just went out
S2: to them and I probably dropped them sooner than I
S2: should have. But I'm like.
S7: Oh, they're.
S4: Struggling.
S2: Yeah, they're battling a little bit. I got to, I
S2: got to leave you behind at a checkpoint. So I
S2: had about eight dogs in front of me, and we're
S2: making our way up out of Unalakleet over land, and
S2: we're coming down into the village of Shaktoolik, and I'm
S2: going through what's called the Raspberry Hills and the Raspberry Hills,
S2: then descend deep, steep down onto the Bering Sea coast.
S2: And I was waiting for the village of Shaktoolik. Man,
S2: I was ready. I'm hungry, I'm cold, and I am
S2: ready to get my dog team parked, get them booted up,
S2: get them bedded down on some straw and get some
S2: shut eye. I was ready, so I want to see
S2: Shaktoolik in a big way pretty quick. Here it is.
S2: And it was awesome guys. I'm coming up onto the
S2: village and I'm seeing smoke come out of a chimney,
S2: and I see lights on and a cabin, and there's
S2: a guy out front and he's splitting wood and I'm like, Hallelujah!
S2: And I get closer and closer. And then it's starting
S2: to feel like. Why am I getting closer? And then
S2: I get a little bit closer to it. And something's
S2: not seeming right. But I see him right there. The
S2: guy's chopping wood. The cabin's got a light on in it,
S2: for crying out loud. So I put my emergency brake down,
S2: which is a snow hook. Stomp it into the, stomp
S2: it into the trail, and I start to walk toward
S2: this cabin, and in an instant, poof, it disappeared. And
S2: all I see is the Bering Sea flat ocean. I
S2: wasn't at Shaktoolik, I was hallucinating, and I had heard
S2: so many stories about hallucinations on this race.
S4: Just the fatigue.
S7: The fatigue.
S2: And everything that's going.
S7: On.
S2: And poof.
S4: So you were sure that you saw something that wasn't
S4: actually there?
S7: Yeah.
S2: And therein lies the point. This is exactly what Jesus
S2: spoke of primarily in the Gospel of Matthew. Because salvation
S2: hallucination is thinking that you see something in yourself that
S2: isn't there and it's real. In Matthew seven, Jesus said,
S2: many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord,
S2: and he's going to say, I never knew you. Depart
S2: from me. And these are people who say, but we,
S2: we spoke in your name, and we baptize in your name.
S2: And we did mighty works in your name. So here's
S2: the point. You can be spiritually active. And have a
S2: hallucination of salvation. That's crazy, isn't it?
S7: It is.
S2: And then you go a little bit further. You go,
S2: you dig into Matthew 25 and you find the parable
S2: of the ten virgins and all ten of these bridesmaids.
S2: Another term for them. They're waiting for the the groom
S2: to come. Jesus is coming and Jesus is telling the
S2: story and he says, five got lamps that are full
S2: of oil. The other five have lamps, so they're all
S2: dressed up. They all look the same, but only five
S2: are ready to go, and five will be left behind
S2: because they have no oil in their lamps, and that
S2: signifies the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. I believe that
S2: is exactly what Jesus is saying. And then I was
S2: on vacation with my bride, and I was doing deep
S2: dives early in the morning, and I and I got
S2: into Matthew 13 and I'm like, Lord, you're showing me again.
S2: And you see the the parable of the different heart
S2: conditions and seed that is thrown on the soil. And
S2: you see hard ground and boom, the seed doesn't get
S2: any root, and Satan comes and takes it away. And
S2: that person a hard heart and no salvation. But you
S2: find two other soil types or heart types, and one
S2: is shallow soil and they sprang up. But a little
S2: bit of opposition comes and they fall down. And then
S2: you find those that seem like I'm ready to go.
S2: But the worries of this world, the deceitfulness of wealth,
S2: and the desire for other things make it unfruitful. It
S2: never really was in Christ. And those three soil types
S2: never really were in Christ. And then he casts a
S2: vision for what life in Christ really is. And it's
S2: an imperfect but great, fertile soil of humble contrition before
S2: God that says, I give you my all, and that
S2: produces 30, 60, and 100 fold. Wow. And coming up here,
S2: I want to speak to you, and I want you
S2: to stay with me. I don't want you to let
S2: anything take you away. If you can possibly stay, because
S2: I want to tell you how you can know that
S2: you know that you don't have a hallucination of salvation,
S2: but that you really know Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.
S2: That's coming up.
S1: Romans eight brought her to Jesus while broadcasting traffic overnight.
S1: Super die is in the crew. It's curl and crew
S1: on Moody Radio.
S2: Salvation. Hallucination is a real thing. I agree wholeheartedly with
S2: John Piper, Louie Giglio, and many others and any pastor
S2: that I talk with that there are churches that are
S2: preaching the Word of God every weekend that are loaded
S2: with people that do not know Jesus personally. They're going
S2: through a lot of religious motions. What we find in
S2: Matthew seven, many will say on that day, Lord, Lord,
S2: and these are not people that are bellied up to
S2: a bar for happy hour. These are folks that are proclaiming,
S2: they're saying, I believe. They're saying be baptized in Jesus name.
S2: They're very active. They're doing things for God, and yet
S2: they don't know him personally. And you might say, Carl,
S2: how does that happen? Well, next week we're going to
S2: explain to you how that happens for all of us
S2: in here. But today, I want to focus on you
S2: and your soul and heart condition today, because we find
S2: in the book of Matthew. And why this is so
S2: important is Jesus was introducing salvation to a very religious
S2: group of people. Matthew was written to a Jewish audience.
S2: And how that relates to today is there's a lot
S2: of religion in the West. There's a lot of people
S2: that claim Christ but don't know him personally. And so
S2: when we're talking about the abiding life in Christ, you
S2: can only abide when your soul has been regenerated by
S2: the Holy Spirit transformed. And the question you may have
S2: right now is, Carl, I. I want to know that
S2: I know that I. That I'm in Christ Jesus. And
S2: I want you to know that to my friend. And
S2: let me be clear with you in John chapter 14,
S2: the disciples themselves were troubled when they heard that Jesus
S2: was going away, and he said some words that apply
S2: to you today. He said, let not your hearts be troubled.
S2: Believe in God. Believe also in me. This word belief
S2: is not a mental assent. We know that there are
S2: many people who believe in Jesus, like the demons believe
S2: in God that we find in the book of James.
S2: But they're not saved. Belief that saves is a belief
S2: of humble contrition, brokenness inside of yourself saying, I've got nothing.
S2: All I have is you. And there's a lot of
S2: people that are still holding on to themselves, their identity,
S2: their money. That's what kept the rich young ruler away
S2: from an authentic faith. They're holding on to status their job.
S2: They're holding on to their religious action. Here's what I'm
S2: telling you today Jesus Christ wants an abiding relationship with you,
S2: and it's going to transform you, and the yoke that
S2: you're carrying will be thrown off. And Jesus said, take
S2: my yoke upon you. Learn from me, for I am
S2: gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest
S2: for your soul. And I'm inviting you in to rest today.
S2: Please don't let pride of how long you've been in
S2: church hold you back from salvation today. You see, Carl,
S2: how can I know? Jesus went on to answer Thomas
S2: and his disciples, who had a troubled heart, and he
S2: spoke to you today from these very pages in John
S2: 14 he says, let not your heart be troubled. Believe
S2: in God, believe also in me. And this is what
S2: he said, I am the way. I am the truth.
S2: I am the life. And I just want to ask
S2: you today, because the Spirit of God is working in
S2: your heart right now, and he's revealing to you today
S2: that you've not yet been born again. Praise God. Rejoice
S2: in that, because here's what he says I am the way.
S2: Meaning there's a broad path that leads to destruction and
S2: many are on it. But if you turn around, repent today,
S2: and begin to go God's way and say, I'm leaving
S2: behind all that I am, all that I hope to be,
S2: all that I was. And I'm turning to Jesus today.
S2: He will give you new life. He says, I am
S2: the way, the truth. If you're willing to embrace the truth,
S2: that you're a sinner who needs a Savior and you're
S2: willing to say those words Jesus says to you, come on,
S2: you're my child today. And he says, I am the life. Zoe. Life.
S2: And he's going to give it to you abundantly. If
S2: you've never before surrendered your life to Jesus Christ, today
S2: is the day. And I'm asking you to surrender to
S2: him for the first time ever. I don't care how
S2: long you've been in a church. Pray with me right now. Jesus,
S2: today I'm going your way. I'm no longer going my
S2: way Today I declare I'm turning around. I'm repenting. Today
S2: I embrace the truth that I'm a sinner. I need
S2: a savior. I know you rose from the dead. I'm
S2: ready for the Zoe life that you have for me.
S2: I give my life to you. In Jesus name, Amen.
S2: If that's the cry of your heart, I want to
S2: help you right now. And we're going to help you
S2: in practical ways. Get your phones right now. Get your phones.
S2: Let's help them.
S7: Out.
S4: Just text the word new. We've got something that we
S4: want to send you that's going to give you some encouragement,
S4: some next steps, an opportunity to get a resource that's
S4: going to help you text new to 800 555 7898.
S4: Just one little word. New, new to 805 55 7898
S4: text new to 800 555 7898.
S2: Welcome to the family of God.