WEBVTT - 3 Ways Satan Will Try to Bait You Away From God 0:00:00.440 --> 0:00:04.360 Coming to you from the Morning Star Mission sponsored studio. 0:00:04.720 --> 0:00:09.120 This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio. Well. 0:00:10.600 --> 0:00:14.920 Oh, I'm so thrilled this morning. Sometimes you have times 0:00:14.920 --> 0:00:17.840 when you're studying the word and and you're just kind 0:00:17.840 --> 0:00:20.799 of going along and you have little discoveries. I think really, 0:00:20.800 --> 0:00:22.320 when we get into the word and we get the 0:00:22.320 --> 0:00:27.560 word into us, there's an opportunity to have ongoing discoveries 0:00:27.560 --> 0:00:30.840 of the magnitude of God. Right, guys? 0:00:30.880 --> 0:00:32.280 Yes. Oh, absolutely. 0:00:32.760 --> 0:00:36.560 His goodness to us. Right. And I'm so giddy this 0:00:36.560 --> 0:00:41.479 morning I can barely stand it. And I want to 0:00:41.479 --> 0:00:44.280 give credit where credit is due. A week ago we 0:00:44.280 --> 0:00:46.640 had Phillip miller in and we're going to have him back. 0:00:46.640 --> 0:00:49.080 If you weren't here a week ago. Hang on, get 0:00:49.080 --> 0:00:53.440 a swig of water and buckle up. Phillip miller happens 0:00:53.440 --> 0:00:57.280 to be the lead pastor of the Moody Church in 0:00:57.280 --> 0:01:02.770 downtown Chicago. Great man, Humble man. Great man, great student. 0:01:02.770 --> 0:01:05.610 But he has done a deep dive on something that. 0:01:05.650 --> 0:01:08.289 Let me just frame it out for you. I'm going 0:01:08.330 --> 0:01:10.490 to kind of put a twist on this this morning. 0:01:10.490 --> 0:01:14.650 And I want to illustrate for you today three baits 0:01:14.650 --> 0:01:18.770 that Satan is setting for you to pull you away 0:01:18.770 --> 0:01:22.410 from God. All week long we've been talking about the 0:01:22.410 --> 0:01:28.730 power of God demonstrated in us as Jesus is the vine, 0:01:28.730 --> 0:01:31.250 we are the branch. If we abide in him, we 0:01:31.250 --> 0:01:33.850 will bear much fruit. So let's just break it down 0:01:33.850 --> 0:01:36.130 here really quickly. It's two God's glory that we bear 0:01:36.130 --> 0:01:38.330 much fruit. Correct. So we're going to begin with the 0:01:38.330 --> 0:01:41.170 end of the branch in mind. How awesome is this? 0:01:41.209 --> 0:01:43.130 Let's just go for a little bit and let's just 0:01:43.130 --> 0:01:46.330 give God praise today. How great is it that God 0:01:46.330 --> 0:01:50.690 is glorified in us as we are satisfied and producing 0:01:50.690 --> 0:01:54.970 fruit in him, by him and from him? How awesome 0:01:54.970 --> 0:01:55.170 is that? 0:01:55.250 --> 0:01:58.410 It's a beautiful thing that that's what he not just 0:01:58.410 --> 0:02:02.930 desires for us, but that his glorified it. 0:02:03.250 --> 0:02:06.210 I mean, how great is it? I think most religious 0:02:06.210 --> 0:02:11.130 folk think God is glorified as we are obedient to him. 0:02:11.130 --> 0:02:15.329 Now let me say this. Sure, that's true in so 0:02:15.370 --> 0:02:20.450 much as every call to obedience in Scripture is inextricably 0:02:20.450 --> 0:02:24.570 linked to the greater reward in God. Yes, God is 0:02:24.570 --> 0:02:30.130 a functional father, super functional. He doesn't say, do this. 0:02:30.130 --> 0:02:33.049 And when we ask why. He says, because I told 0:02:33.050 --> 0:02:38.570 you so. God doesn't do that. God always has the bigger. Yes. How? 0:02:38.610 --> 0:02:40.329 I mean, how awesome is this? 0:02:40.410 --> 0:02:44.450 It's great because it lets us know what he's having 0:02:44.450 --> 0:02:47.050 us work towards, and that he's always having us work 0:02:47.050 --> 0:02:49.290 towards something. So when we and I say work and 0:02:49.290 --> 0:02:50.049 I mean in his power. 0:02:50.090 --> 0:02:51.570 No, no. It's okay. Young thunder. 0:02:51.570 --> 0:02:53.049 Yeah. I mean, I always watch out for. 0:02:53.090 --> 0:02:53.410 The work. 0:02:53.410 --> 0:02:54.570 I mean, and things like that. 0:02:54.610 --> 0:03:01.540 Work there is. Who said it? Grace is not opposed. 0:03:01.580 --> 0:03:04.500 This is Dallas Willard's statement. Ready for this one? Grace 0:03:04.500 --> 0:03:07.780 is not opposed to effort. It is opposed to earning. 0:03:07.820 --> 0:03:08.220 Yes. 0:03:08.740 --> 0:03:14.620 So we effort in the power of God, not for 0:03:14.620 --> 0:03:20.540 the purpose of walking through some religious hoop, but for 0:03:20.540 --> 0:03:24.100 the joy of seeing that his promise is real. God says, 0:03:24.100 --> 0:03:27.500 do this. This is what you will receive. There's no 0:03:27.500 --> 0:03:31.419 commandment of God, no precept of God, no teaching of Jesus, 0:03:31.620 --> 0:03:36.500 no guidance from the Holy Spirit that isn't ultimately linked 0:03:36.500 --> 0:03:40.100 to the greater reward for God's kids. Oh, I could 0:03:40.100 --> 0:03:44.900 spontaneously combust in here today. How thrilling is that? And 0:03:44.900 --> 0:03:47.780 that's just the first part. So it's to God's glory 0:03:47.780 --> 0:03:49.900 that you bear much fruit. Go back to the beginning. 0:03:49.900 --> 0:03:52.500 Jesus said, I am the vine. He told his disciples 0:03:52.500 --> 0:03:58.150 in that beautiful setting, the final probably three four days 0:03:58.150 --> 0:04:01.910 away from his crucifixion. So last words of a man, 0:04:01.910 --> 0:04:06.590 especially the Son of Man. We gotta listen. So he 0:04:06.590 --> 0:04:10.270 grabs those grape leaves, picks them up, looks, and says, man, 0:04:10.270 --> 0:04:13.590 listen to me. I'm the vine. You're the branch. You 0:04:13.590 --> 0:04:16.910 abide in me. You'll bear fruit. Okay, this is huge. 0:04:17.510 --> 0:04:23.669 So Jesus said, proximity to him is more important than 0:04:23.670 --> 0:04:28.029 focusing on producing fruit for him. Whoa! 0:04:29.390 --> 0:04:31.349 Which is the most relieving thing in the world? 0:04:32.630 --> 0:04:33.589 Hallelujah. 0:04:33.630 --> 0:04:35.750 Because he says, apart from me, you can do nothing. 0:04:35.750 --> 0:04:38.430 So it's taking the impossible part for us out of 0:04:38.430 --> 0:04:40.910 the equation. We don't even we don't even have to 0:04:40.950 --> 0:04:44.790 worry about doing something on our own because we just 0:04:44.830 --> 0:04:48.630 we just be with him. And as we stay with him, 0:04:48.670 --> 0:04:53.590 fruit comes. We don't even have to try on our 0:04:53.589 --> 0:04:54.229 own to get it. 0:04:54.230 --> 0:04:56.630 A men and a men. 0:04:56.670 --> 0:04:57.510 What a freedom. 0:04:57.510 --> 0:04:58.390 What a freedom! 0:04:58.430 --> 0:04:58.750 Whew! 0:04:58.990 --> 0:05:02.589 What a joy. So I am the vine. You're the branch. 0:05:02.589 --> 0:05:07.310 You remain in me or abide in me. And I 0:05:07.310 --> 0:05:10.030 will bear fruit in your life. It's to my father's 0:05:10.029 --> 0:05:13.750 glory that you bear much fruit. Now Jesus did say, 0:05:13.750 --> 0:05:19.150 I believe. Verse six. Apart from me you can do nothing. Nothing. 0:05:21.190 --> 0:05:22.909 So that's sobering, isn't it? 0:05:23.350 --> 0:05:28.270 Well, because you go, okay, so really nothing like there's 0:05:28.270 --> 0:05:32.710 nothing like nothing of value, nothing of significance that I 0:05:32.710 --> 0:05:34.710 can do without apart from him. 0:05:35.910 --> 0:05:41.190 Yeah. It's we cannot do what Jesus is saying. Let's 0:05:41.190 --> 0:05:43.550 just break this down. We cannot do the work of 0:05:43.550 --> 0:05:46.430 God that produces the kind of fruit he wants to 0:05:46.430 --> 0:05:49.990 have in our life without his work in our life. 0:05:50.029 --> 0:05:50.630 Correct. 0:05:50.830 --> 0:05:57.320 Wow. So the real question is it's all about remaining 0:05:57.320 --> 0:06:01.000 or abiding. And today we're going to tackle the things 0:06:01.000 --> 0:06:05.960 that pull us away from this abiding relationship with Christ. 0:06:06.000 --> 0:06:08.440 The God who saved you when you were clinging to 0:06:08.480 --> 0:06:11.640 him wants you to stay there. How do we do it? 0:06:12.000 --> 0:06:12.600 Hang on. 0:06:13.279 --> 0:06:16.280 He's a sports fanatic with a stat for anything you 0:06:16.279 --> 0:06:20.520 can think of. Young Thunder is in the crew. It's 0:06:20.520 --> 0:06:22.840 curling crew on Moody Radio. 0:06:23.440 --> 0:06:25.880 We had a little shrew problem in our garage. 0:06:26.040 --> 0:06:26.720 A little what. 0:06:26.760 --> 0:06:30.520 A little shrew problem. Not rat shrews. You know it. 0:06:30.520 --> 0:06:31.239 Shrews are. 0:06:31.360 --> 0:06:31.760 No. 0:06:31.800 --> 0:06:36.039 Shrews are little miniature rats, are they? They're like mice. Yeah. 0:06:36.080 --> 0:06:37.120 Look up. Shrew. 0:06:37.160 --> 0:06:38.280 Shrew. Okay. Yeah. 0:06:38.320 --> 0:06:41.479 Look up shrew. They're little. They're little dudes. And what's 0:06:41.480 --> 0:06:43.280 sad about this, that I'm about to tell you is 0:06:43.279 --> 0:06:45.760 they're cuter than a bug's ear. Aren't they cute? 0:06:45.800 --> 0:06:46.560 Yeah, they are cute. 0:06:46.600 --> 0:06:48.200 If they're anywhere near the rat. 0:06:48.320 --> 0:06:50.039 Different opinion. Well, they are in the rat. 0:06:50.170 --> 0:06:50.770 Family and. 0:06:50.770 --> 0:06:51.690 They're definitely not. 0:06:51.690 --> 0:06:53.570 Cute. Their nose is very long. 0:06:53.970 --> 0:06:57.450 Yeah. And, uh, I don't know, these might have just 0:06:57.450 --> 0:06:59.490 been mice, their little boogers, and they aren't big, and 0:06:59.490 --> 0:07:01.969 they don't grow into big rats. But we got these 0:07:01.970 --> 0:07:05.130 little things. They found the bird seed in the suet 0:07:05.130 --> 0:07:07.409 in my garage that I use, and and. 0:07:07.570 --> 0:07:08.529 Oh, happy day for them. 0:07:08.570 --> 0:07:11.770 Yeah. Oh, they were chowing down and they were smart, man. 0:07:11.770 --> 0:07:13.890 They were going from the back of the pack in 0:07:13.890 --> 0:07:15.330 the back of the bag and. 0:07:15.330 --> 0:07:16.410 Kind of chewing up the bottom. 0:07:16.570 --> 0:07:18.970 Yeah. They were they were like, uh, we don't want 0:07:19.010 --> 0:07:22.330 Karl to see that we're consuming the groceries for the birds. 0:07:22.370 --> 0:07:23.410 So floppy ears. 0:07:23.810 --> 0:07:25.730 Yeah. So here, let me break this down. This is 0:07:25.730 --> 0:07:31.610 super important, guys, if you're going to trap or kill anything, 0:07:32.650 --> 0:07:33.570 I'm sorry. 0:07:33.610 --> 0:07:33.890 But. 0:07:34.050 --> 0:07:37.410 I got to go here because the metaphor is the 0:07:37.450 --> 0:07:39.770 spiritual life that we're living. Okay. If you're going to 0:07:39.810 --> 0:07:46.850 trap or kill anything, you've got to use good bait. Yeah. 0:07:46.850 --> 0:07:51.610 What's a bad bait for a for a shrew or 0:07:51.650 --> 0:07:52.290 a rat. 0:07:52.450 --> 0:07:53.570 Brussels sprouts. 0:07:54.930 --> 0:07:55.650 Well, vegetables. 0:07:55.690 --> 0:07:58.650 It's bad bait for me. Thank you. That's a bad 0:07:58.690 --> 0:08:00.330 bait if you want to knock me out. 0:08:00.370 --> 0:08:01.170 Carl's not falling. 0:08:01.370 --> 0:08:03.570 I'm not falling for that one. You put a Brussels 0:08:03.570 --> 0:08:05.810 sprout on a Carl trap, and I ain't eating it. 0:08:06.210 --> 0:08:07.290 I don't know a rock. 0:08:07.530 --> 0:08:11.130 Yeah, okay. Because I was sitting here thinking Skittles. And 0:08:11.130 --> 0:08:11.930 I'm like, no, they. 0:08:11.930 --> 0:08:12.810 Might like Skittles. 0:08:13.210 --> 0:08:15.290 I think a mouse would probably eat anything. 0:08:15.330 --> 0:08:18.930 Yeah, I think so. So, yeah, this is funny. Here, 0:08:18.930 --> 0:08:21.490 I'm trying to think, what's a bait? What's a bait? 0:08:21.490 --> 0:08:23.850 That wouldn't work for a rat. I mean, they come 0:08:23.850 --> 0:08:25.570 to almost anything but. Yeah. 0:08:25.850 --> 0:08:26.489 Mouse meat. 0:08:28.050 --> 0:08:32.090 Okay, now we're getting really raw here. But, yeah, their 0:08:32.090 --> 0:08:35.609 own kind. Yeah. I don't think they're cannibalistic, so maybe 0:08:36.210 --> 0:08:40.010 this is getting on the edge. Uh, a rock, a rock. 0:08:40.050 --> 0:08:41.930 I'm gonna put this rock here, and this will bring 0:08:41.929 --> 0:08:45.530 them in. No, it probably won't. Nope. Um, a leaf 0:08:46.050 --> 0:08:47.699 might not do it. In fact, it won't. 0:08:47.740 --> 0:08:48.420 I don't think so. 0:08:48.460 --> 0:08:51.340 No. They got to have something that's rotting and fermenting and, 0:08:51.380 --> 0:08:54.820 you know, they love that stuff. Yeah. So what do 0:08:54.820 --> 0:08:58.179 you bait? And I did this. What do you bait? 0:08:58.220 --> 0:09:01.100 A allie's got a look on her face. Like we 0:09:01.140 --> 0:09:04.020 got to get off this topic. I'll make the transition soon. 0:09:04.059 --> 0:09:04.980 I'm following with. 0:09:04.980 --> 0:09:07.579 You. What do you bait a trap with? For a 0:09:07.580 --> 0:09:09.060 rat or a mouse. Or a shrew? 0:09:09.100 --> 0:09:09.580 Cheese? 0:09:09.620 --> 0:09:10.100 Yeah. 0:09:10.140 --> 0:09:10.900 Something desirable. 0:09:10.940 --> 0:09:12.820 Because they love it, man. I don't know why they 0:09:12.820 --> 0:09:13.740 love cheese. 0:09:13.780 --> 0:09:14.860 Tom and Jerry said so. 0:09:15.460 --> 0:09:18.900 There you go. Boy, we got bunny trails here, and 0:09:18.900 --> 0:09:21.020 usually you guys have to keep me on it. Now, today, 0:09:21.020 --> 0:09:24.780 I'm having to keep you lined out here. So it's 0:09:24.820 --> 0:09:27.740 it's it's just a truism that if you're going to 0:09:27.780 --> 0:09:30.860 bait something, you got to go with something that they're 0:09:30.860 --> 0:09:31.700 going to take. 0:09:31.740 --> 0:09:33.620 Yes. Something that's desirable. 0:09:33.660 --> 0:09:41.180 Yes. So, mind blowing epiphany last night and this morning. 0:09:41.179 --> 0:09:43.620 And I am so giddy about what I'm about to 0:09:43.620 --> 0:09:45.670 share with you. And some of you, like, share it already. 0:09:45.710 --> 0:09:48.230 Hang on. We got to clear away something here. But 0:09:48.230 --> 0:09:51.670 coming up in three minutes, I want to tell you 0:09:51.670 --> 0:09:57.390 that today Satan is baiting you three different ways. He's 0:09:57.390 --> 0:10:00.470 baiting you. And I'm going to tell you right now, 0:10:00.470 --> 0:10:01.710 the bait is good. 0:10:02.070 --> 0:10:05.590 Desirable. It's not Brussels sprouts. 0:10:05.590 --> 0:10:05.990 It ain't. 0:10:05.990 --> 0:10:06.590 Brussels. 0:10:06.590 --> 0:10:09.430 Sprouts. It ain't rocks. It's not leaves. 0:10:09.470 --> 0:10:10.429 Better than cheese. 0:10:10.670 --> 0:10:13.750 Way better than cheese. He's got you all lined out 0:10:13.750 --> 0:10:16.470 and he's ready to set the trap. And he's setting it. 0:10:16.470 --> 0:10:18.990 This morning, while we were asleep last night, Satan was 0:10:18.990 --> 0:10:22.710 set in the trap. What are the three baits of 0:10:22.750 --> 0:10:26.070 Satan to keep you away from God or away from 0:10:26.070 --> 0:10:31.510 proximity to Jesus? You get this one. Today you will 0:10:31.510 --> 0:10:35.750 walk in greater victory by high noon. I promise you, 0:10:36.070 --> 0:10:36.950 we'll give it to you. 0:10:37.230 --> 0:10:39.910 You can take him out of Alaska, but you can't 0:10:39.950 --> 0:10:43.790 take Alaska out of him. Carl is in the crew. 0:10:44.070 --> 0:10:46.589 It's Karl and crew on Moody Radio. 0:10:46.870 --> 0:10:50.910 All right. Three baits Satan uses to pull us away 0:10:51.270 --> 0:10:56.190 from proximity to Jesus and our relationship with God. They 0:10:56.190 --> 0:11:01.710 are everywhere in Scripture, highlighted best in a very interesting 0:11:01.710 --> 0:11:05.630 place now. We're called to be disciples of Christ. In 0:11:05.630 --> 0:11:07.550 other words, he is our leader, right? 0:11:07.590 --> 0:11:08.110 Right. 0:11:08.150 --> 0:11:12.790 So we follow him. That's he's our guide. So the 0:11:12.790 --> 0:11:15.709 life he lives, we want to emulate that life. And 0:11:15.750 --> 0:11:19.230 it's going to serve us so well. Well, in the 0:11:19.230 --> 0:11:25.670 temptation after 40 days of fasting, you find the three 0:11:25.710 --> 0:11:27.189 baits of Satan. 0:11:27.390 --> 0:11:29.470 This is where in Scripture Matthew four. 0:11:29.510 --> 0:11:33.110 Okay, so in Matthew four you find the three baits 0:11:33.110 --> 0:11:35.829 of Satan. Let me just go through these here quickly. 0:11:35.830 --> 0:11:38.830 This is so powerful because once you see it once, 0:11:38.830 --> 0:11:42.880 you will never unsee it. How great is that spiritual 0:11:42.880 --> 0:11:47.040 truth that you never unsee. Here it is. Jesus was 0:11:47.040 --> 0:11:51.040 led by the spirit, Holy Spirit into the wilderness to 0:11:51.040 --> 0:11:54.120 be tempted by the devil. And by the way, all 0:11:54.120 --> 0:11:56.880 of this was done to model for us the battle 0:11:56.880 --> 0:12:01.240 that we would face with evil. After fasting 40 days 0:12:01.240 --> 0:12:04.920 and 40 nights, he was hungry because he's fully God 0:12:04.920 --> 0:12:10.560 and fully man. He's hungry. Got to eat. And the tempter, Satan, 0:12:10.559 --> 0:12:12.400 came to him and said to him, if you're the 0:12:12.400 --> 0:12:16.200 Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread. 0:12:16.200 --> 0:12:18.600 But he answered, it is written, man shall not live 0:12:18.720 --> 0:12:23.280 by bread alone, but by every word that comes from 0:12:23.280 --> 0:12:25.560 the mouth of God. By the way, that word there 0:12:25.559 --> 0:12:27.760 is rhema. And next week I'm going to explain to 0:12:27.760 --> 0:12:31.079 you how important that is. It's the spoken word of God. 0:12:31.960 --> 0:12:35.200 But let's just take this for what it is. Satan 0:12:35.200 --> 0:12:41.810 was baiting Jesus to find satisfaction apart from the father. 0:12:45.170 --> 0:12:49.050 And what Jesus did is he responded from Deuteronomy three times, 0:12:49.050 --> 0:12:50.970 by the way. So he knew the Word of God. 0:12:51.610 --> 0:12:56.130 He's like, no, I'm not going to get my satisfaction 0:12:56.130 --> 0:12:59.929 from what you're offering me. So there's a bait of 0:12:59.929 --> 0:13:03.930 satisfaction being set for you today in all kinds of 0:13:03.929 --> 0:13:09.330 things that are not grounded and founded in God. Fair enough. 0:13:09.370 --> 0:13:10.130 Fair enough. 0:13:11.250 --> 0:13:14.850 Then you go next one. Then the devil took him 0:13:14.850 --> 0:13:18.290 to a holy city and set him on the pinnacle 0:13:18.290 --> 0:13:21.650 of the temple and said to him, if you're the 0:13:21.650 --> 0:13:24.370 Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, 0:13:24.370 --> 0:13:28.809 he will command his angels concerning you, and on their 0:13:28.809 --> 0:13:31.209 hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your 0:13:31.210 --> 0:13:34.329 foot against a stone. And Jesus said to him, again, 0:13:34.330 --> 0:13:36.410 it is written, you shall not put the Lord your 0:13:36.450 --> 0:13:39.530 God to the test. Here was the bait of Satan. 0:13:39.530 --> 0:13:46.329 Number two. Security. I'll hold you and comfort you. I'll 0:13:46.370 --> 0:13:49.770 take care of you. Do you know how many times 0:13:49.770 --> 0:13:54.130 Satan baits us to find security in things apart from God? 0:13:54.450 --> 0:13:59.250 Oh my goodness! I got you covered. I'll be your 0:13:59.250 --> 0:14:05.689 safety net. I'll be there when you fall. And I mean, 0:14:05.730 --> 0:14:07.569 we don't even need to fill in the blanks and 0:14:07.570 --> 0:14:10.850 give illustrations of satisfaction and security baits that are out 0:14:10.850 --> 0:14:11.330 there today. 0:14:11.330 --> 0:14:13.250 Do we know they're everywhere? 0:14:13.290 --> 0:14:15.089 As soon as you start to see this framework, you 0:14:15.090 --> 0:14:16.170 do see it everywhere. 0:14:16.370 --> 0:14:20.850 It's everywhere. And then Satan comes at him with a 0:14:20.850 --> 0:14:23.330 third bait and he says again, the devil took him 0:14:23.330 --> 0:14:25.130 to a very high mountain and showed him all the 0:14:25.130 --> 0:14:29.530 kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said 0:14:29.530 --> 0:14:32.050 to him, all these I'm going to give you, if 0:14:32.050 --> 0:14:34.490 you'll just fall down and worship me. And Jesus said 0:14:34.490 --> 0:14:36.650 to him, be gone, Satan. For it is written, you 0:14:36.650 --> 0:14:40.420 shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall 0:14:40.420 --> 0:14:42.540 you serve. What was the third bait of Satan? It 0:14:42.540 --> 0:14:49.580 was significance apart from God. Now this is convicting stuff. 0:14:50.540 --> 0:14:56.020 This is convicting stuff. But it's compelling. 0:14:56.460 --> 0:15:00.900 Because when you think about the things that draw us away, 0:15:01.420 --> 0:15:04.620 it everything, pretty much everything you can think of is 0:15:04.620 --> 0:15:07.460 going to fall into one of these three categories. 0:15:07.500 --> 0:15:07.820 Yeah. 0:15:09.340 --> 0:15:16.420 Satisfaction. Security. Significance. Who's satisfying your soul? 0:15:16.900 --> 0:15:21.100 What do you hunger and thirst for? What? What satisfies 0:15:21.100 --> 0:15:22.020 your appetite? 0:15:22.060 --> 0:15:22.460 Yeah. 0:15:22.740 --> 0:15:26.700 And it's not necessarily that one sin falls under only 0:15:26.700 --> 0:15:29.580 one of these buckets. You take like money for instance. 0:15:29.580 --> 0:15:32.100 Money can bring you satisfaction, but it can also give 0:15:32.100 --> 0:15:33.500 you the feeling of significance. 0:15:33.540 --> 0:15:34.380 And security. 0:15:34.420 --> 0:15:35.260 And security. 0:15:35.420 --> 0:15:38.390 And so this is why money is such a problem. 0:15:38.430 --> 0:15:39.630 Yeah, absolutely. 0:15:39.670 --> 0:15:40.990 It can be such a problem. 0:15:41.030 --> 0:15:43.750 And so it's not just, oh, I struggle with money, 0:15:43.750 --> 0:15:46.350 but it's. No, I struggle with trying to find my 0:15:46.350 --> 0:15:49.110 significance in money or trying to gain a sense of 0:15:49.110 --> 0:15:51.910 security in money alone and not God. 0:15:51.950 --> 0:15:54.630 Here's why. The love of money is the root of 0:15:54.630 --> 0:15:57.230 all evil. The love of money is the root of 0:15:57.230 --> 0:16:01.430 all evil, because in it is significant security and satisfaction 0:16:01.750 --> 0:16:06.870 in a diminished, distorted, funky way. 0:16:06.910 --> 0:16:07.510 No doubt. 0:16:08.470 --> 0:16:11.710 And I know this because God's given me relationships with 0:16:11.710 --> 0:16:15.030 people that are on the street. Got a guy in 0:16:15.070 --> 0:16:17.430 our church right now and we're getting them off the street. 0:16:17.430 --> 0:16:20.070 And I love this character. He's a piece of work, 0:16:20.070 --> 0:16:24.070 but I love him. And and I've and I've known 0:16:25.190 --> 0:16:31.070 people of amazing wealth. And I'll tell you this. It 0:16:31.110 --> 0:16:36.200 it afflicts paupers and princes. Man In love of money. 0:16:36.240 --> 0:16:41.080 Root of all evil. Why? Because. Security, significance and satisfaction. 0:16:41.440 --> 0:16:45.360 Have you the temptation to derive one or all three 0:16:45.360 --> 0:16:48.960 of those things from that is like an ever present danger? 0:16:50.080 --> 0:16:54.320 I'll tell you what's huge about this. And I want 0:16:54.360 --> 0:16:56.720 to give credit to Philip miller, who's going to be 0:16:56.720 --> 0:16:58.560 coming up in this next half hour. If you can 0:16:58.560 --> 0:17:02.000 possibly stick around, you got to do it because this 0:17:02.000 --> 0:17:05.800 this guy, he's done a deep dive on these big three. 0:17:05.800 --> 0:17:08.200 And I don't even know if Philip's found this correlation 0:17:08.240 --> 0:17:11.359 in In the Temptations of Christ probably has. But if 0:17:11.359 --> 0:17:13.239 he hasn't, I know he's going to be fired up 0:17:13.240 --> 0:17:16.000 because he's a humble dude and he's going to go, Shazam! 0:17:17.359 --> 0:17:19.679 We have concluded in here. We were talking as a 0:17:19.680 --> 0:17:24.040 team that you take these three baits of Satan to 0:17:24.080 --> 0:17:27.560 pull us away from God. You get these things identified, 0:17:27.560 --> 0:17:30.479 you bring them before your mind constantly. You're going to 0:17:30.520 --> 0:17:33.320 be able to say no to the beta of Satan 0:17:33.320 --> 0:17:35.840 and say yes to God over and over and over again. 0:17:35.840 --> 0:17:36.320 How sweet. 0:17:36.320 --> 0:17:36.680 Is this? 0:17:36.680 --> 0:17:40.760 Because you'll be able to identify it when that temptation comes. 0:17:40.800 --> 0:17:44.680 What am I looking for here? What is this? Pornography? 0:17:44.680 --> 0:17:47.200 Let's take that as an example. What does this represent 0:17:47.200 --> 0:17:47.640 for me? 0:17:47.680 --> 0:17:48.120 Yeah. 0:17:48.640 --> 0:17:52.280 Is this, uh, is this an attempt to find satisfaction, 0:17:52.280 --> 0:17:58.679 to satisfy an appetite? Apart from God? Yep, yep. Most likely. 0:17:58.960 --> 0:18:01.480 Is it a power grab? Can it be a distorted 0:18:01.480 --> 0:18:06.640 significance move? Yeah. In a weird way, this is why 0:18:06.680 --> 0:18:10.199 food is such a problem. We had Laurie on here yesterday. 0:18:10.200 --> 0:18:12.719 If you didn't hear Laurie's testimony. Oh my goodness. As 0:18:12.720 --> 0:18:16.160 a matter of fact, if you hear anything here on 0:18:16.160 --> 0:18:19.320 Carl and crew that you feel has some value for 0:18:19.320 --> 0:18:21.719 you or someone you love, I'm going to put a 0:18:21.720 --> 0:18:24.720 banner ad up right now. Grab this link and have 0:18:24.720 --> 0:18:28.160 it ready. Whether you got Android or iPhone, we're ready 0:18:28.160 --> 0:18:28.760 for you. 0:18:29.400 --> 0:18:34.010 Just text the word show to 800 555 7898. Text 0:18:34.050 --> 0:18:37.570 show to 800 555 7898. 0:18:37.570 --> 0:18:40.409 And I promise you this little crunch down teaching that 0:18:40.410 --> 0:18:45.650 we've done here this morning. This. No, not that we've 0:18:45.650 --> 0:18:49.050 done this teaching that Jesus has that we're just passing on. 0:18:49.490 --> 0:18:51.170 We'll have it in there for you today. Make sure 0:18:51.170 --> 0:18:54.570 that's loaded up. Okay guys. But we'll we'll crunch it 0:18:54.570 --> 0:18:59.610 all down right there. Man what a joy it is 0:18:59.609 --> 0:19:01.330 to look at God's Word, isn't it, guys? 0:19:01.330 --> 0:19:04.490 It is your shot of hope to help you through 0:19:04.490 --> 0:19:08.450 the day. This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio. 0:19:09.090 --> 0:19:12.970 We are talking all week long about this abiding life 0:19:12.970 --> 0:19:17.609 in Christ. What a joy. It's to God's glory that 0:19:17.609 --> 0:19:21.290 you bear much fruit. Come on, give him some praise 0:19:21.290 --> 0:19:26.970 for that. This scarcity mindset has no place in the 0:19:27.130 --> 0:19:30.460 Christian church that is committed to being disciples of Christ. 0:19:30.780 --> 0:19:34.260 There is no such thing as scarcity mindset. You look 0:19:34.260 --> 0:19:37.540 in Matthew 13, you look at at what? What the 0:19:37.540 --> 0:19:41.740 seed produces that lands on that fertile ground, imperfect but 0:19:41.740 --> 0:19:46.260 fertile ground. 30, 60, 100 fold. You look at the 0:19:46.260 --> 0:19:49.060 comparison in John 1010. And by the way, the thief 0:19:49.060 --> 0:19:52.020 that came to steal and kill and destroy is actually 0:19:52.380 --> 0:19:56.860 all represents all the bad shepherds, even more so than Satan. 0:19:56.900 --> 0:19:59.020 I know we often call it Satan, but in John 0:19:59.020 --> 0:20:06.100 1010 the context of that passage are shepherds that are Pharisees. 0:20:06.500 --> 0:20:10.540 They're they're a joke. They're not the real deal. And 0:20:10.540 --> 0:20:12.980 Jesus said, they're coming to steal and kill and destroy. 0:20:13.020 --> 0:20:15.820 Are they used by Satan? Oh, big time tools of Satan. 0:20:16.340 --> 0:20:18.460 But he said, I came to give you life and 0:20:18.460 --> 0:20:24.699 more abundantly. You look at Joshua one eight, you meditate 0:20:24.700 --> 0:20:27.620 on these words of mine, this law, day and night 0:20:27.619 --> 0:20:30.740 you're going to have success and prosperity wherever you go 0:20:30.740 --> 0:20:33.580 in this new land. Joshua. You look at Psalm one 0:20:33.619 --> 0:20:37.060 one through three. Get away from fools, mockers, and scoffers. 0:20:37.740 --> 0:20:40.300 Better to walk alone with the Word of God. Better 0:20:40.300 --> 0:20:42.619 to walk alone with the Word of God than to 0:20:42.619 --> 0:20:46.899 have fools, mockers, and scoffers around you. Because if you 0:20:46.940 --> 0:20:49.020 meditate on this word, you're going to be like a 0:20:49.020 --> 0:20:52.620 tree planted by streams of living water. Your leaf will 0:20:52.619 --> 0:20:56.219 never wither, and all you do, you will prosper. Get 0:20:56.220 --> 0:21:00.260 this scarcity Christianity out of your life. Our God is 0:21:00.260 --> 0:21:04.820 a God of abundance. Now, abundance does not mean that 0:21:04.820 --> 0:21:08.300 we're not going to have incredible persecution. In fact, I 0:21:08.340 --> 0:21:11.540 submit to you, the more you lean into discipleship with Jesus, 0:21:11.540 --> 0:21:15.220 the bigger the bullseye is for Satan on your life. 0:21:15.980 --> 0:21:20.300 But even through that, we are more than conquerors through 0:21:20.340 --> 0:21:24.820 him who loves us. So fired up man, I can 0:21:24.820 --> 0:21:27.750 barely put out. I can barely put a damper on 0:21:27.750 --> 0:21:31.310 my what God's doing in my soul this morning. It's 0:21:31.310 --> 0:21:35.910 just thrilling. So credit where credit is due. I had 0:21:35.910 --> 0:21:39.470 this huge, and I would almost call it an epiphany, 0:21:39.510 --> 0:21:42.870 where God used a man named Philip miller last week 0:21:43.470 --> 0:21:46.830 to take. We were talking about identity and in Christ, 0:21:47.230 --> 0:21:50.750 and he just came in with kind of three buckets 0:21:50.750 --> 0:21:53.750 to think through and how powerful this is, so that 0:21:53.750 --> 0:21:55.950 we don't take what I'm calling this morning the three 0:21:55.950 --> 0:22:02.550 baits of Satan satisfaction, security and significance. Satan's kind of 0:22:02.590 --> 0:22:07.950 constantly bait us with those things. But God wants to 0:22:07.950 --> 0:22:12.190 do what Satan can never offer. Philip miller. You guys 0:22:12.190 --> 0:22:13.390 ready for him? He's coming up. 0:22:13.390 --> 0:22:14.750 Here. Yeah, definitely. 0:22:14.790 --> 0:22:19.350 Wow. David Crowder here first. Somebody prayed. I want you 0:22:19.350 --> 0:22:23.230 to know it's to God's glory that you bear much fruit. 0:22:23.950 --> 0:22:27.680 Let's lean in to proximity to Jesus today. 0:22:28.200 --> 0:22:32.680 A basketball mom who's mastered the dad joke. Ali is 0:22:32.680 --> 0:22:36.400 in the crew. It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio. 0:22:36.440 --> 0:22:40.040 All week long, we're tackling this powerful text out of 0:22:40.040 --> 0:22:43.840 John 15. Some of the final words of Jesus to 0:22:43.840 --> 0:22:48.560 his disciples. He says, men, listen to me. Look at 0:22:48.560 --> 0:22:52.960 these grapes. He said, this is this is my plan 0:22:52.960 --> 0:22:56.959 for you and all the disciples that would come after you. 0:22:57.440 --> 0:23:01.040 I want you to bear much fruit. My father is 0:23:01.040 --> 0:23:06.240 glorified by you, bearing fruit. And then he says, I 0:23:06.280 --> 0:23:10.520 am the vine. You are the branches. Abide in me, 0:23:11.560 --> 0:23:14.760 and I will abide in you. Apart from me, you 0:23:14.760 --> 0:23:22.119 can do nothing. What a vision. If you're weary from 0:23:22.119 --> 0:23:26.440 trying to perform for Jesus here at a great place today, 0:23:28.280 --> 0:23:31.080 because that weariness is met with proximity to Christ. And 0:23:31.080 --> 0:23:36.880 when we have proximity to Jesus, everything changes. Now, I 0:23:36.880 --> 0:23:41.920 had a huge, borderline epiphany here where God revealed something 0:23:41.920 --> 0:23:46.600 to me through our brother, Philip miller. That is profound. 0:23:47.440 --> 0:23:50.240 Let's get him in here. Philip, this thing of significance 0:23:50.240 --> 0:23:55.760 and satisfaction and security, those baits of Satan, as we've 0:23:55.760 --> 0:23:59.200 been looking at this morning in Matthew four, this is 0:23:59.200 --> 0:24:02.719 a construct for discipleship, my friend. Like I think we 0:24:02.760 --> 0:24:05.800 have not seen, I have not seen in my lifetime. 0:24:05.800 --> 0:24:08.320 These three buckets are huge, aren't they, Philip? 0:24:08.760 --> 0:24:13.640 Yeah. I think there's something really profound about recognizing this 0:24:13.640 --> 0:24:17.000 deep structure of how our hearts are made. You know 0:24:17.040 --> 0:24:20.400 that deep down, we long. Our identity is built around 0:24:20.400 --> 0:24:25.889 three primary hungers and appetites of the soul for significance. 0:24:25.890 --> 0:24:29.010 I want to know that I matter security. I want 0:24:29.050 --> 0:24:32.370 to feel safe in the universe and satisfaction. I want 0:24:32.410 --> 0:24:36.210 to be happy and, uh, and delighted. And in life. 0:24:36.410 --> 0:24:40.649 And those three deep appetites are are not bad things. 0:24:40.650 --> 0:24:44.010 They're good things. They're they're the sort of the hollow 0:24:44.010 --> 0:24:48.250 shape of what God is meant to fill in our souls. 0:24:48.250 --> 0:24:51.650 And so, you know, Blaise Pascal said, there's a God 0:24:51.690 --> 0:24:55.210 shaped hole in the heart of every person, right? And, um, 0:24:55.210 --> 0:24:58.130 and this notion of like, that's what God is meant 0:24:58.130 --> 0:25:02.530 to provide us security, significance, satisfaction. But the problem is 0:25:02.570 --> 0:25:06.010 we wake up in the universe as orphans. We wake 0:25:06.010 --> 0:25:08.250 up as strangers from the God we were made to 0:25:08.290 --> 0:25:11.690 know and call father, uh, because of our sin, because 0:25:11.730 --> 0:25:14.130 Adam and Eve fell, and because we wake up in 0:25:14.170 --> 0:25:17.490 a universe that's broken. And so we have a broken 0:25:17.490 --> 0:25:22.940 relationship with God. And because of that, that emptiness we feel. 0:25:23.619 --> 0:25:26.100 What we tend to do is we tend to go 0:25:26.100 --> 0:25:28.580 out and live as orphans in the universe and look 0:25:28.580 --> 0:25:33.340 for substitutes to give us the security, significance and satisfaction 0:25:33.340 --> 0:25:36.820 we think and we know we need. And so we 0:25:36.820 --> 0:25:40.060 run after all the wrong things. And I think what 0:25:40.060 --> 0:25:43.180 you're pointing out this morning is that you know, Jesus, 0:25:43.180 --> 0:25:46.460 when he offers himself as he says, you're the vine 0:25:46.500 --> 0:25:49.419 or I'm the vine, you're the branches. He's offering to 0:25:49.460 --> 0:25:53.219 reconnect us with the very life we were made to 0:25:53.220 --> 0:25:54.260 have in the very beginning. 0:25:54.260 --> 0:25:58.220 And all three of those are embodied in that connection satisfaction, 0:25:58.220 --> 0:26:00.659 security and significance. It's so powerful. 0:26:00.700 --> 0:26:03.139 Philip miller, our guest right now is senior pastor of 0:26:03.140 --> 0:26:06.180 the Moody Church in Chicago. He's a visionary leader, 15 0:26:06.180 --> 0:26:09.740 years plus of ministry experience. So tell us, I'm curious, 0:26:09.740 --> 0:26:14.619 how did you first start to develop this, your understanding 0:26:14.619 --> 0:26:17.580 of this framework? I you're it's all over scripture, but 0:26:17.580 --> 0:26:20.060 when did it kind of become clear to you. 0:26:20.060 --> 0:26:22.900 There's a lot of inputs, but one of them is 0:26:22.900 --> 0:26:25.740 Tim Keller in New York. He wrote a book called 0:26:25.900 --> 0:26:32.380 Counterfeit Gods, and he basically talks about idolatry in our hearts. And, um, 0:26:32.420 --> 0:26:35.300 and so he he talks about these three things. I 0:26:35.300 --> 0:26:38.460 think the contribution where I've maybe developed it a little 0:26:38.500 --> 0:26:42.580 bit further is connecting it with identity. Um, recognizing that 0:26:42.580 --> 0:26:46.260 what happens is that we, we have these longings, and 0:26:46.260 --> 0:26:48.700 so then we decide, oh, I'll be whatever I need 0:26:48.700 --> 0:26:51.860 to be in order to get these things met. And so, 0:26:51.900 --> 0:26:55.459 like in my life as a young child, I wanted 0:26:55.460 --> 0:26:58.739 more than anything to be significant. And I want to 0:26:58.740 --> 0:27:00.940 know that I matter, that I, that I was, you know, 0:27:00.980 --> 0:27:04.580 a winner. And so I learned that if I, you know, 0:27:04.619 --> 0:27:07.540 scored a goal in soccer or if I got good 0:27:07.540 --> 0:27:10.420 grades in school that I would get applause, I would 0:27:10.420 --> 0:27:13.940 get affirmation from my parents, my teachers and friends. And 0:27:13.940 --> 0:27:16.660 that was pretty close to love and affirmation. The thing 0:27:16.660 --> 0:27:19.070 I wanted really deep in the bottom of my soul. 0:27:19.350 --> 0:27:21.470 And so that was sort of the transaction I learned 0:27:21.470 --> 0:27:24.910 to live and and of course, what that ends up 0:27:24.910 --> 0:27:28.030 doing is it makes you perform in order to get love, 0:27:28.510 --> 0:27:30.550 which is, at the end of the day, it's a 0:27:30.550 --> 0:27:33.949 pretty unhealthy construct, because here comes the gospel, and the 0:27:33.990 --> 0:27:36.870 gospel says, you know, you aren't a good performer. You've 0:27:36.869 --> 0:27:40.470 actually failed in every way, and yet you're loved for 0:27:40.470 --> 0:27:44.230 Jesus sake. And so I actually had to unlearn this 0:27:44.230 --> 0:27:48.430 little formula, this orphan hearted posture in life. I had 0:27:48.430 --> 0:27:50.389 to unlearn that in order to grab Ahold of the 0:27:50.430 --> 0:27:52.430 gospel and really deeply believe it. 0:27:52.470 --> 0:27:55.510 Yeah. Here's what's interesting. Philip Philip miller with us right now. 0:27:56.310 --> 0:28:00.710 We are unlearning it because it's the flesh. It's the sarx. 0:28:00.910 --> 0:28:04.590 It's what we were born with before we were born again. 0:28:05.030 --> 0:28:06.790 Coming up here in just a moment, Philip, I want 0:28:06.790 --> 0:28:10.149 you to break this down. Significant security satisfaction. If we 0:28:10.150 --> 0:28:14.590 get that identity and even more than identity. Right, Philip? 0:28:14.590 --> 0:28:18.800 If we. If we derive that all the good stuff 0:28:18.800 --> 0:28:21.520 that comes from that, it's just not a mental assent 0:28:21.520 --> 0:28:24.760 to I'm significant, secure and satisfied in Christ. It's a 0:28:24.760 --> 0:28:29.800 functionality of it. Give a blue sky vision for what 0:28:29.800 --> 0:28:32.359 could be more with Philip miller coming up. 0:28:32.520 --> 0:28:37.119 She's a choreographer extraordinaire and everything is Greek to her. 0:28:37.520 --> 0:28:41.280 Super dye is in the crew. It's Karl and crew 0:28:41.280 --> 0:28:42.560 on Moody Radio. 0:28:42.920 --> 0:28:48.080 Proximity to Jesus not performing for Jesus is the game changer. 0:28:48.240 --> 0:28:51.480 When your mind moves to be the branch that abides 0:28:51.480 --> 0:28:56.120 in the vine Christ, rather than trying to perform. We 0:28:56.160 --> 0:28:59.120 quit putting on plastic fake fruit and we can have 0:28:59.120 --> 0:29:01.520 the real deal. Now there's a lot of baits of 0:29:01.560 --> 0:29:06.240 Satan three particularly that he tries to bait us with 0:29:06.520 --> 0:29:10.160 that will try to pull us away from proximity to Jesus. 0:29:10.600 --> 0:29:12.840 Philip miller is here with us right now. We're talking 0:29:12.840 --> 0:29:16.480 about him. They are significant security and satisfaction. You find 0:29:16.480 --> 0:29:19.240 them in the in the in the Gospel of Matthew 0:29:19.240 --> 0:29:23.240 chapter four. And Satan said it. He tried to pull 0:29:23.240 --> 0:29:28.720 him away with significant security and satisfaction apart from the father. 0:29:29.280 --> 0:29:32.200 But let's get some blue sky here, Philip, to someone 0:29:32.200 --> 0:29:35.360 who says, I'm going to find my significance, security and 0:29:35.360 --> 0:29:39.480 satisfaction in Jesus. What's the vision out there? Where are 0:29:39.480 --> 0:29:40.520 we going with this? 0:29:40.840 --> 0:29:43.680 So here's what happens when I'm an orphan and I'm 0:29:43.680 --> 0:29:47.520 living in this orphan hearted universe. And I think I 0:29:47.520 --> 0:29:51.240 need to find significant security and satisfaction on my own 0:29:51.240 --> 0:29:54.040 in the world and fend for myself. What that does 0:29:54.040 --> 0:29:56.840 is it makes me go out into all the world 0:29:57.080 --> 0:29:59.480 and I'm very needy. I need to go into the 0:29:59.480 --> 0:30:03.560 world and take and and there's this huge sucking sound, 0:30:03.560 --> 0:30:05.720 because I've got to go out and I've got to, 0:30:05.960 --> 0:30:08.360 I've got to fill my soul up. So I've got to. 0:30:08.720 --> 0:30:11.000 I've got to find significance in the world. I've got 0:30:11.000 --> 0:30:16.170 to find satisfaction in Security and every relationship, every possession 0:30:16.170 --> 0:30:19.090 I have, every bit of power I have in the 0:30:19.090 --> 0:30:21.970 world is about me, and it's about filling me up. 0:30:21.970 --> 0:30:25.290 And that's that orphan hearted mentality. But if you if 0:30:25.290 --> 0:30:28.610 we can abide in Christ and recognize that he is 0:30:28.610 --> 0:30:33.330 our security, satisfaction and significance, what it then does is 0:30:33.370 --> 0:30:36.050 it it starts filling us. It flips it all on 0:30:36.050 --> 0:30:39.730 its head. So instead of going out to to people 0:30:39.730 --> 0:30:44.050 around me and needing people to secure my identity, to 0:30:44.090 --> 0:30:46.650 give me what I need in my soul, I can 0:30:46.650 --> 0:30:50.010 go out and pour myself out in love and radical 0:30:50.010 --> 0:30:53.050 self donation for the people around me and serve them 0:30:53.050 --> 0:30:55.930 and sacrifice. And even if they don't love me back, 0:30:55.930 --> 0:30:58.810 I can love them even as even an enemy I 0:30:58.810 --> 0:31:02.450 can love because I'm filled from the inside. Uh, because 0:31:02.450 --> 0:31:05.290 of my relationship with Jesus Christ. And I no longer 0:31:05.290 --> 0:31:07.850 need the people around me in the same way. I 0:31:07.850 --> 0:31:09.970 can actually love them the way I'm. I'm meant to. 0:31:10.290 --> 0:31:13.820 Same thing with power. Power doesn't become a a thing 0:31:13.820 --> 0:31:16.340 that I've got to have to feed my soul. I 0:31:16.340 --> 0:31:19.940 can actually now steward power as a servant, and I 0:31:19.940 --> 0:31:23.420 can sacrifice, and I can use power to honor and 0:31:23.420 --> 0:31:26.420 lift other people up because it's about them, not me. 0:31:26.740 --> 0:31:29.940 And the same thing with our possessions instead of possessions 0:31:29.980 --> 0:31:32.620 possessing me because I've got to have them so I 0:31:32.620 --> 0:31:36.660 can have security, significance and satisfaction. Now I can just 0:31:36.660 --> 0:31:40.220 have stuff. I can give it away freely. I don't 0:31:40.220 --> 0:31:42.100 have to own it in the same way. And I 0:31:42.100 --> 0:31:45.740 can be generous with what God's given me. So this 0:31:45.740 --> 0:31:49.820 hinge from the orphan hearted life where I'm trying to 0:31:50.260 --> 0:31:54.220 get security, significance, and satisfaction on my own is a 0:31:54.220 --> 0:31:57.780 kind of idolatry that destroys me. And when I when 0:31:57.780 --> 0:32:00.860 it's straightened out through the abiding life with Christ, it 0:32:00.860 --> 0:32:04.340 actually turns my soul outward. And it makes me pour 0:32:04.340 --> 0:32:08.500 myself out in loving sacrifice and service in the world, 0:32:08.500 --> 0:32:11.180 which is the life that Jesus has for us. That's 0:32:11.180 --> 0:32:14.660 what abundance looks like. That's the fruit that he wants 0:32:14.660 --> 0:32:15.420 us to bear. 0:32:16.100 --> 0:32:20.780 This is so powerful. And boom crew, our goal here 0:32:21.340 --> 0:32:23.900 and our aim is that you would come as you are, 0:32:23.940 --> 0:32:27.380 experience God, overcome what seems impossible and live as you 0:32:27.380 --> 0:32:32.020 never imagined. And central to this is your identity. Central 0:32:32.020 --> 0:32:35.300 to this is your proximity to Jesus. And when you 0:32:35.300 --> 0:32:37.980 begin to look at Scripture through the lens of significant 0:32:37.980 --> 0:32:43.660 security and satisfaction, boom, everything will change. Right now, we've 0:32:43.660 --> 0:32:46.260 got a resource for you, and I'm asking you to 0:32:46.300 --> 0:32:46.940 come and get it. 0:32:46.940 --> 0:32:48.940 This is going to be a PDF that goes a 0:32:48.940 --> 0:32:54.340 little bit of a deeper dive on each of these. Security, satisfaction, significance. 0:32:54.340 --> 0:32:59.660 Just text identity to 805 55 7898. We'll send this 0:32:59.660 --> 0:33:02.740 as a PDF right to your phone. Just text identity 0:33:02.780 --> 0:33:07.540 to 800 555 7898. And our thanks to Philip miller, 0:33:07.580 --> 0:33:09.190 our guest, for providing this resource. 0:33:09.430 --> 0:33:12.430 Great job. Philip. I love you, man. This is powerful truth. 0:33:12.470 --> 0:33:14.230 Let's go. Boom! Crew, walk in it. 0:33:15.190 --> 0:33:18.230 This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio. 0:33:18.750 --> 0:33:22.709 The call on our life. The call on our life. 0:33:22.710 --> 0:33:27.750 By Jesus to his disciples. To look at your life 0:33:27.750 --> 0:33:32.590 as a branch and to have proximity to Jesus. Not 0:33:32.630 --> 0:33:36.550 with this compulsion to produce fruit, but out of proximity 0:33:36.550 --> 0:33:39.270 to Jesus. You know that he is the one that 0:33:39.270 --> 0:33:45.830 produces that fruit. That's a game changer, guys, because Western 0:33:45.830 --> 0:33:50.990 Christianity is all about looking right, acting right, big general terms. 0:33:50.990 --> 0:33:53.709 I'm not calling every church or every Christian that, but 0:33:53.710 --> 0:33:57.950 generally there is a prevailing undercurrent in the culture that says, 0:33:58.390 --> 0:34:02.070 who you got to show up, you got to look right. 0:34:02.230 --> 0:34:05.750 There's a language you speak. There's a way you act. 0:34:05.950 --> 0:34:09.200 There's a joy that's expected of you. Put a smile 0:34:09.239 --> 0:34:10.000 on your face. 0:34:10.040 --> 0:34:10.480 Right? 0:34:10.520 --> 0:34:12.560 You know what Jesus said? Don't put a smile on 0:34:12.560 --> 0:34:16.600 your face. Don't show up to all these programs. You 0:34:16.600 --> 0:34:19.800 abide in me. I'll get you to that small group. 0:34:20.080 --> 0:34:23.960 I'll get you into the word. But that proximity to 0:34:24.000 --> 0:34:25.560 Jesus is everything. 0:34:25.600 --> 0:34:28.640 And there are times when you can go through things 0:34:28.640 --> 0:34:32.359 that can continue to try to drive you away from 0:34:32.360 --> 0:34:36.080 that proximity, create distance between you and God. And it's 0:34:36.080 --> 0:34:39.200 a constant fight to fight the drift, but then also 0:34:39.200 --> 0:34:42.960 to fight discouragement, disappointment, bitterness. 0:34:43.800 --> 0:34:48.520 From childhood, family of origin issues. I mean, super die. 0:34:49.040 --> 0:34:51.600 I don't want to get into the weeds here with you, 0:34:51.600 --> 0:34:54.440 but I've loved the fact that you've been very guarded 0:34:54.440 --> 0:34:57.879 but very open. My bride loves the way you communicate, 0:34:57.880 --> 0:35:01.279 by the way. But you went through some childhood trauma 0:35:01.280 --> 0:35:05.320 that has had massive lingering effects, hasn't it? Hesitant super. 0:35:05.320 --> 0:35:08.360 Die. Even to this day, sometimes it's a daily walk, 0:35:08.560 --> 0:35:11.719 a daily abiding and just knowing who I am in 0:35:11.719 --> 0:35:15.960 Christ and just a very much a needed reminder how 0:35:16.000 --> 0:35:20.520 loved I really am. Unconditionally loved, I really am. But yeah, 0:35:20.520 --> 0:35:23.560 it can linger all the way through. And Satan's just 0:35:23.560 --> 0:35:25.200 there knocking away. 0:35:25.480 --> 0:35:28.640 Do you find that it tries to come back in constantly? 0:35:29.640 --> 0:35:33.520 Yes. Um, the word constantly. What I found with with 0:35:33.560 --> 0:35:37.800 freedom in Christ and walking and abiding with Christ. I 0:35:37.800 --> 0:35:42.280 know Satan's constantly there, but I don't feel it constantly anymore, 0:35:42.280 --> 0:35:47.000 like I used to before. And that is I'm going 0:35:47.040 --> 0:35:51.480 to tear up. That is so a precious thing to me, 0:35:51.719 --> 0:35:53.640 and it's there for you. And if you're going through 0:35:53.640 --> 0:35:56.560 something like that, yes, it can happen for you too. 0:35:56.600 --> 0:36:01.280 You don't need to feel that constantly. Let Jesus walk 0:36:01.320 --> 0:36:02.960 you and help you through that daily. 0:36:03.000 --> 0:36:05.450 You must get an opportunity to talk to people from 0:36:05.450 --> 0:36:09.210 time to time that have had their soul dragged through 0:36:09.210 --> 0:36:10.569 the mud in their childhood. 0:36:10.610 --> 0:36:13.730 The more that I finally voiced it and it took 0:36:13.730 --> 0:36:18.810 a very, very long time to even voice anything because 0:36:18.850 --> 0:36:22.570 Satan uses that to keep it quiet, keep it shut up. 0:36:23.010 --> 0:36:26.850 Keep it behind closed doors. Don't say anything. Well, then, 0:36:26.850 --> 0:36:29.570 how can God work? Hello. 0:36:29.850 --> 0:36:30.450 One plus. 0:36:30.450 --> 0:36:33.129 One. And once I realized all that. And I just 0:36:33.130 --> 0:36:35.290 let God lead me. And he has. Yes. Put me 0:36:35.290 --> 0:36:39.129 in situations and just let the Holy Spirit. You know 0:36:39.130 --> 0:36:42.330 the words, Lord, you just use me. And and he 0:36:42.330 --> 0:36:46.810 has mightily and it's very, very humbling and it's very 0:36:46.810 --> 0:36:50.650 emotional that God can use something like that to actually 0:36:50.650 --> 0:36:52.690 help somebody else know God's love. 0:36:52.730 --> 0:36:54.250 Pretty powerful super day. 0:36:54.410 --> 0:36:55.410 It really turns. 0:36:55.410 --> 0:36:56.210 You're my super. 0:36:56.250 --> 0:36:56.730 Trooper. 0:36:57.090 --> 0:36:58.650 You are my super trooper. 0:36:58.690 --> 0:36:59.130 Well. 0:36:59.890 --> 0:37:00.529 That's what you. 0:37:00.530 --> 0:37:03.060 Are. Well, thank you, but no. 0:37:03.100 --> 0:37:07.300 It reminds me of an ABBA song. Oh, no. Remember 0:37:07.300 --> 0:37:07.780 that one? 0:37:08.780 --> 0:37:10.100 It just stuck in my brain. 0:37:10.300 --> 0:37:11.900 Super trouper. 0:37:11.940 --> 0:37:13.580 Doo doo doo doo doo doo doo. 0:37:14.820 --> 0:37:16.300 I must have missed that one. 0:37:17.219 --> 0:37:18.500 You didn't miss anything. 0:37:18.700 --> 0:37:20.100 It's not one of their best. 0:37:20.900 --> 0:37:21.620 You're okay. 0:37:22.940 --> 0:37:24.780 All right, coming up. We got a treat for you. 0:37:24.820 --> 0:37:28.580 We've got Suzy Larsen, best selling author, national speaker, a 0:37:28.580 --> 0:37:30.980 powerful radio host sharing a little bit of her own 0:37:30.980 --> 0:37:35.580 journey of walking through a long term struggle and the 0:37:35.580 --> 0:37:37.299 fight to stay close to Jesus. 0:37:37.739 --> 0:37:41.580 He was running from God, but God's love brought him home. 0:37:41.780 --> 0:37:45.740 Carl is in the crew. It's Carl and crew on 0:37:45.739 --> 0:37:46.739 Moody Radio. 0:37:47.219 --> 0:37:52.220 The most epic, quintessential teaching on discipleship. I truly believe 0:37:52.219 --> 0:37:55.180 this is when Jesus. It's his last words. It's his 0:37:55.180 --> 0:37:56.940 last week. He's on the way to the cross. He 0:37:56.940 --> 0:38:00.700 grabs a bunch of grape leaves, picks him up, says, gentlemen, 0:38:00.900 --> 0:38:03.420 look at that. That's what I want your life to be, 0:38:03.980 --> 0:38:09.219 that bodacious, fruit bearing person. And so he goes on 0:38:09.260 --> 0:38:11.660 to teach it. He says, I'm the vine. You're the branch. 0:38:11.660 --> 0:38:13.620 You abide in me. You will bear much fruit. It's 0:38:13.620 --> 0:38:17.580 to my father's glory that you bear much fruit. How 0:38:17.580 --> 0:38:21.859 thrilling is that, by the way, just parenthetically. Oh, then 0:38:21.860 --> 0:38:25.339 he says, apart from me, you can do nothing. And 0:38:25.340 --> 0:38:27.460 we want to believe there's got to be something in 0:38:27.460 --> 0:38:28.259 there mid zone. 0:38:28.260 --> 0:38:29.299 Somewhere I can do. 0:38:29.340 --> 0:38:31.180 I mean, a little bit of some juice I'm bringing 0:38:31.219 --> 0:38:34.779 to the table, but no, nothing. So we've established this 0:38:34.780 --> 0:38:37.500 week we've been walking through this journey of this abiding 0:38:37.500 --> 0:38:43.860 life in Christ. And we know proximity. Yes productivity. That's 0:38:43.860 --> 0:38:46.299 God's job. Stay away from focusing on that end of 0:38:46.300 --> 0:38:49.580 the branch. And yet when we talk about proximity and 0:38:49.580 --> 0:38:54.100 that abiding remaining, making Christ your home alley stuff can 0:38:54.100 --> 0:38:54.900 get in the way. 0:38:54.940 --> 0:38:57.299 And one of the biggest things that can creep in 0:38:57.380 --> 0:39:05.230 is Discouragement, discontentment, and exhaustion, particularly if you've been walking 0:39:05.230 --> 0:39:09.670 through hard things for a long season and you've not 0:39:09.670 --> 0:39:13.629 seen the full answer from God, the full deliverance. And 0:39:13.630 --> 0:39:15.830 yet you're fighting for it. We have a special guest 0:39:15.870 --> 0:39:19.910 who knows this struggle well. Susie Larson, bestselling author and 0:39:19.910 --> 0:39:23.149 national speaker radio host. Tell us a little bit about 0:39:23.150 --> 0:39:25.790 what this has looked like in your own journey. You've 0:39:25.790 --> 0:39:29.189 had seasons where you've had to walk through over the 0:39:29.190 --> 0:39:31.589 long haul, some really tough stuff. 0:39:32.030 --> 0:39:35.270 I've walked through some pretty significant health challenges for 35 0:39:35.270 --> 0:39:38.029 years and it's ebbed and flow, but the stretches that 0:39:38.030 --> 0:39:41.550 have been difficult have sometimes lasted seven years, where I'm 0:39:41.550 --> 0:39:44.830 army crawling and there's times where, I mean, I'm seasoned 0:39:44.830 --> 0:39:46.950 enough in my faith now to know God never loses 0:39:46.950 --> 0:39:50.350 my address. But I thought he lost my address years ago, 0:39:50.630 --> 0:39:53.030 and I remember, I think I've shared this with you before, 0:39:53.030 --> 0:39:54.990 but about ten years ago when I had a massive 0:39:54.989 --> 0:39:58.440 relapse and the worst of it was intense for several years. 0:39:58.760 --> 0:40:02.239 At night, I was having stroke like symptoms and neurological 0:40:02.360 --> 0:40:05.680 fireworks in my body and my brain wasn't working. And 0:40:05.680 --> 0:40:07.480 I'm like you on live radio, so I need my 0:40:07.480 --> 0:40:10.640 faculties sharp. And I remember just going face down, being 0:40:10.640 --> 0:40:13.080 so disappointed in God. I mean, that was hard for 0:40:13.080 --> 0:40:15.680 me to say because I'm not flippant about my relationship 0:40:15.680 --> 0:40:18.120 with God. I fear him, I honor him. But he 0:40:18.120 --> 0:40:20.040 pulled it out of me because I was crying out 0:40:20.040 --> 0:40:22.520 to him and he helped me see I was hurt 0:40:22.680 --> 0:40:25.239 because this is going so long. And it just and 0:40:25.239 --> 0:40:29.080 it's it's lethal to compare, especially when you're in a battle. 0:40:29.080 --> 0:40:31.440 It's just lethal to me. It's like a soldier who's in, 0:40:31.480 --> 0:40:34.720 you know, hunkering down in a ditch and scrolling social media, 0:40:34.760 --> 0:40:37.640 looking at his friends, living their best life in civilian clothes. 0:40:37.800 --> 0:40:40.440 It's just lethal to compare your life to someone's when 0:40:40.440 --> 0:40:42.480 you're suffering. And I had done that a little bit 0:40:42.480 --> 0:40:44.359 because people look like they were healthy and that just 0:40:44.360 --> 0:40:46.799 things weren't hitting them like they were hitting me. And 0:40:46.800 --> 0:40:49.120 the Lord brought me to the passage where, you know, 0:40:49.160 --> 0:40:53.040 Jesus is met by John the Baptist. Friends. John, Jesus said, 0:40:53.080 --> 0:40:55.680 is there's no greater man born to woman than John 0:40:55.719 --> 0:40:59.040 and yet he is in prison and then starts to 0:40:59.080 --> 0:41:01.799 doubt which should comfort you a little bit. Because, you know, 0:41:01.840 --> 0:41:04.000 we all have moments when you get battered enough by 0:41:04.000 --> 0:41:06.600 life and that enemy comes in with his questions. Did 0:41:06.600 --> 0:41:09.799 God really say you entertain and start to wonder? So 0:41:09.800 --> 0:41:12.759 he sends his friends and asks his cousin, are you 0:41:12.760 --> 0:41:13.440 the Christ? 0:41:13.440 --> 0:41:13.840 Yes. 0:41:13.880 --> 0:41:16.720 Or should we be looking for someone else? And Jesus 0:41:16.719 --> 0:41:19.719 response was so to me, passionate but full of conviction. 0:41:19.719 --> 0:41:22.080 And my paraphrase so many words, you go tell John 0:41:22.120 --> 0:41:24.640 the blind see the lame leap, the deaf get their 0:41:24.640 --> 0:41:27.440 hearing back. But blessed are you who are not offended 0:41:27.440 --> 0:41:30.120 by me. In other words, I'm still the same miracle 0:41:30.120 --> 0:41:32.680 working God. And just because you happen to be in 0:41:32.680 --> 0:41:35.960 a season where you're away from the action, you're in obscurity. 0:41:36.000 --> 0:41:38.879 You feel overlooked. It doesn't change the fact that I'm 0:41:38.880 --> 0:41:41.040 still a miracle working God. So the work for you 0:41:41.040 --> 0:41:43.440 in this place is to work on your heart that 0:41:43.440 --> 0:41:46.120 you're not offended by me. And I knew that was 0:41:46.120 --> 0:41:49.040 my homework. Ali and Carl. I knew that I had 0:41:49.040 --> 0:41:51.000 to rise up and go. You know what? You are good. 0:41:51.040 --> 0:41:54.969 You redeem all things. My goal here in the abiding 0:41:54.969 --> 0:41:57.610 life is to be at peace with God, because the 0:41:57.610 --> 0:42:00.130 enemy is always trying to bait you into building a 0:42:00.130 --> 0:42:03.050 case against God and accusing him of things the devil's 0:42:03.050 --> 0:42:05.609 guilty of. So good of God just to show me that. 0:42:05.610 --> 0:42:08.850 And I immediately repented and was restored back to peace. 0:42:08.850 --> 0:42:11.370 And I saw fruit in my life immediately after that. 0:42:11.730 --> 0:42:14.969 Susie Larson, our guest right now. You know, in all candor, 0:42:14.969 --> 0:42:18.970 I went through a stretch and I didn't do well 0:42:19.010 --> 0:42:22.850 because I was I was betrayed at such a deep level. 0:42:23.250 --> 0:42:25.969 I had heard about betrayal. I had counseled as a 0:42:25.969 --> 0:42:28.049 pastor people that had gone through betrayal. But I went 0:42:28.050 --> 0:42:32.130 through it myself, and it was so visceral that I 0:42:32.170 --> 0:42:35.370 knew that God knew my address to steal your words. 0:42:35.370 --> 0:42:41.810 And I knew his promises. But in that zone of affliction, 0:42:42.050 --> 0:42:45.290 it can be easy to rely on your own strength 0:42:45.290 --> 0:42:49.609 to get you through a day. What's the deal breaker? Well, no. No. 0:42:49.610 --> 0:42:53.420 Let's go. Positive. What's the deal maker that moves you 0:42:53.420 --> 0:42:56.780 from isolation back toward the face of God. 0:42:57.580 --> 0:42:59.540 I don't know who said this first, but I love 0:42:59.580 --> 0:43:00.900 the idea and I don't know if it's in a 0:43:00.900 --> 0:43:03.540 song or a lyric. You know, in a poem, but 0:43:03.540 --> 0:43:05.900 to the degree that I can't hold their list in 0:43:05.900 --> 0:43:08.180 my hand while my list is nailed to the cross, 0:43:08.420 --> 0:43:11.580 and that is just a painful truth. And I've walked 0:43:11.580 --> 0:43:15.020 through it as well. Carl, I'm walking through something somewhat 0:43:15.020 --> 0:43:17.420 similar right now, and I've been immersing myself in the 0:43:17.420 --> 0:43:21.540 scriptures and God is just. He takes these things very seriously, 0:43:21.860 --> 0:43:24.620 but I feel like it takes great humility to let 0:43:24.620 --> 0:43:27.299 the fire refine you when someone else is guilty of 0:43:27.300 --> 0:43:29.580 lighting the match. You know, because in the fire, if 0:43:29.580 --> 0:43:32.259 God has allowed it, there's redemption in it somehow. And 0:43:32.260 --> 0:43:34.420 it's not to say he won't deal with your betrayer 0:43:34.420 --> 0:43:37.140 and your accuser, but if we can humble ourselves in 0:43:37.180 --> 0:43:39.620 that fire to say, you know what? My God is 0:43:39.620 --> 0:43:42.180 a consuming fire. He's going to consume my foes and 0:43:42.180 --> 0:43:45.180 my flesh. So if there's anything in me that needs 0:43:45.180 --> 0:43:49.220 to be purified, do it because it makes you, I think, bulletproof. Yes. 0:43:49.260 --> 0:43:50.940 When you can say, you know what? No demon in 0:43:51.020 --> 0:43:53.339 hell gets to say, have the last say about who 0:43:53.340 --> 0:43:56.219 I am. I'm a child of God. And judgment does 0:43:56.219 --> 0:43:58.860 begin first in the house of God and Jesus was betrayed. 0:43:58.860 --> 0:44:01.339 We will be betrayed. But I feel like if we 0:44:01.340 --> 0:44:04.660 stay in that abiding place, we will come through pure, stronger, 0:44:04.660 --> 0:44:06.899 bolder than we did before. And I don't know, Carl, 0:44:06.900 --> 0:44:10.339 don't you feel that every time we walk through betrayal 0:44:10.460 --> 0:44:12.700 and we sort it through in a redemptive way, the 0:44:12.700 --> 0:44:16.500 gap widens between how man's opinion affects us and how God's. 0:44:16.540 --> 0:44:18.900 And you need to break free from the fear of man. 0:44:19.020 --> 0:44:21.340 That's the surest way to do it, is to be betrayed. 0:44:21.380 --> 0:44:21.660 Yeah. 0:44:21.660 --> 0:44:24.859 The interesting thing, just to echo that one of the 0:44:24.860 --> 0:44:27.540 things that I think I struggled with for a lot 0:44:27.580 --> 0:44:30.219 of years was, in fact, I had a phenomenal friend 0:44:30.260 --> 0:44:33.340 who's a great counselor, and he said, you've got a problem, Carl. 0:44:33.340 --> 0:44:35.620 And I said, well, tell me about it. But he said, 0:44:35.620 --> 0:44:39.340 your problem is people winning. It's a cousin of people pleasing. 0:44:39.500 --> 0:44:43.020 You want to win people over. And he said, you're 0:44:43.020 --> 0:44:45.860 going to have to start learning to live with disappointment. 0:44:45.860 --> 0:44:48.819 And you're right, Susie, it is incredibly fruitful. 0:44:48.860 --> 0:44:51.710 Susie Larson, best selling author, national speaker. With us right 0:44:51.710 --> 0:44:55.549 now coming up, we're called to abide, to bear fruit 0:44:55.790 --> 0:44:59.190 out of the abiding relationship. What does fruit bearing look 0:44:59.190 --> 0:45:01.509 like when you feel like you can barely get out 0:45:01.510 --> 0:45:04.390 of bed in the morning? Let's ask Susie that coming up. 0:45:04.630 --> 0:45:07.350 She was trying to earn her way to God, but 0:45:07.350 --> 0:45:10.790 God showed her she didn't have to. Ali is in 0:45:10.790 --> 0:45:14.190 the crew. It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio. 0:45:14.630 --> 0:45:15.790 So we're called to. 0:45:15.830 --> 0:45:19.710 Abide and bear fruit out of that abiding relationship. But 0:45:19.710 --> 0:45:22.870 when we think about fruit, Susie Larson, we think about 0:45:22.870 --> 0:45:26.150 the things we can go and do for God. Yes, you. 0:45:26.150 --> 0:45:26.430 Know. 0:45:26.630 --> 0:45:29.470 Preach a sermon, lead a Bible study, make a meal 0:45:29.469 --> 0:45:32.390 for someone, and there's someone going through it to the 0:45:32.390 --> 0:45:34.750 point right now that they go, what does fruit bearing 0:45:34.790 --> 0:45:37.070 look like when I can barely get out of bed 0:45:37.070 --> 0:45:37.950 in the morning? 0:45:38.230 --> 0:45:41.109 There are some people that are running hard, producing, and 0:45:41.110 --> 0:45:43.230 it's fruit that's not real, and it's going to burn 0:45:43.230 --> 0:45:45.950 up because they are trying. They're misusing time, treasure and 0:45:45.950 --> 0:45:49.480 talents to try to prove something. Jesus has already proven right. 0:45:49.480 --> 0:45:52.080 Where there's many, many Christians who know they're saved, they 0:45:52.080 --> 0:45:54.279 don't know they're loved, and they're striving in their own 0:45:54.280 --> 0:45:57.080 strength to try to establish their identity. And so if 0:45:57.080 --> 0:45:58.680 you're in the place where you can't get out of 0:45:58.680 --> 0:46:02.120 bed and again, you compare, you will despair because it 0:46:02.120 --> 0:46:04.080 all looks shiny and all. And I'm not saying all 0:46:04.080 --> 0:46:05.719 fruit is bad, but I'm saying there are a lot 0:46:05.760 --> 0:46:08.240 of times the enemy will put people in your path 0:46:08.239 --> 0:46:11.200 that look so shiny and so flashy. When you're at 0:46:11.200 --> 0:46:14.040 the lowest point and you feel like my laundry is overflowing, 0:46:14.080 --> 0:46:16.600 my dishes are overflowing. I've got bad hair, you know? 0:46:16.640 --> 0:46:19.480 But in that place you can bear fruit as you 0:46:19.480 --> 0:46:22.360 really submit to God, resist the devil and he must flee. 0:46:22.360 --> 0:46:24.239 And you know, I had a dream last night, and 0:46:24.239 --> 0:46:26.600 I don't dream very often, but I feel like there's 0:46:26.600 --> 0:46:29.760 some message in this dream that's so powerful. In the dream, 0:46:29.760 --> 0:46:31.640 I was doing ministry with my husband, Kevin, and one 0:46:31.640 --> 0:46:34.360 of our ministry mentors. We're just busy, but I'm slowing 0:46:34.360 --> 0:46:37.080 everybody down because I have this armful of laundry and 0:46:37.080 --> 0:46:39.279 I'm carrying it around with me wherever I go. And 0:46:39.280 --> 0:46:40.759 it was way too much for me to carry, so 0:46:40.760 --> 0:46:43.040 I kept dropping pieces. I'd squat down to pick up 0:46:43.040 --> 0:46:45.719 a piece and drop another piece. Suddenly, I'm walking through 0:46:45.719 --> 0:46:48.520 a mall with this armful of laundry, and the mall 0:46:48.520 --> 0:46:51.600 was connecting me to some ministry venue and a piece 0:46:51.600 --> 0:46:54.000 drops off my, you know, load. And these three women 0:46:54.040 --> 0:46:55.640 were behind me. And this one, she looked kind of 0:46:55.640 --> 0:46:57.600 rough edged. She picks up the t shirt, tosses it 0:46:57.600 --> 0:46:59.359 back into my arms, kind of annoyed that she had 0:46:59.360 --> 0:47:01.120 to do it. And I'm like, thank you. I take 0:47:01.160 --> 0:47:03.960 about two more steps and I drop another pair of something, 0:47:04.000 --> 0:47:05.719 and so she picks it up, flings it on the 0:47:05.719 --> 0:47:08.200 pile and says, I'm not going to keep doing this. 0:47:08.400 --> 0:47:10.560 And after they walked away, the camera zoomed in and 0:47:10.560 --> 0:47:14.120 I saw it was a bunch of old outdated t shirts, 0:47:14.120 --> 0:47:16.560 but they were washed and it made me feel like 0:47:16.560 --> 0:47:19.399 somebody listening today that one of the reasons you can't 0:47:19.400 --> 0:47:22.880 get out of bed is you're under condemnation and shame, 0:47:22.880 --> 0:47:25.600 and you keep rehearsing and rehashing your failures, and you're 0:47:25.600 --> 0:47:28.799 letting the enemy accuse you and your sins have been washed. 0:47:28.800 --> 0:47:31.239 You know, our best days are filthy rags. But if 0:47:31.239 --> 0:47:33.560 you're under the blood, you're under the blood. Yeah. And 0:47:33.600 --> 0:47:36.440 oftentimes what slows us down and makes us feel hopeless 0:47:36.440 --> 0:47:40.880 and helpless is we're carrying this burden that Jesus already buried. 0:47:40.880 --> 0:47:42.799 So I just maybe someone needed to hear that today. 0:47:42.800 --> 0:47:45.169 Yeah. They did. I mean, what we see versus what 0:47:45.210 --> 0:47:49.610 God sees is a world apart at times, and it's beautiful. 0:47:49.810 --> 0:47:54.250 All right, here's a crazy maker though, because at times, 0:47:55.690 --> 0:47:58.609 who how do I say this? I this is the 0:47:58.610 --> 0:48:00.529 most loving thing I can say as a pastor. And 0:48:00.530 --> 0:48:02.250 this is one of the toughest things I've ever said 0:48:02.290 --> 0:48:05.730 on this show. There are a ton of people listening 0:48:05.730 --> 0:48:09.010 right now that their tragedy has become their friend. Their 0:48:09.010 --> 0:48:13.890 betrayal has become their partner. They're so familiar with it, 0:48:13.890 --> 0:48:16.850 they don't know that they want to get away from it. 0:48:16.850 --> 0:48:20.450 And actually offering them help at times can be met 0:48:20.450 --> 0:48:23.930 with resistance. That's hard to say. But if we're going 0:48:23.969 --> 0:48:26.450 to be truthful here with Carl and crew and we 0:48:26.450 --> 0:48:28.250 want to be Susie, we got to go after that 0:48:28.250 --> 0:48:30.210 angle of this thing because it's everywhere. 0:48:30.610 --> 0:48:33.169 100%, I mean, it really what you're talking about is 0:48:33.170 --> 0:48:37.810 making pain an idol and getting your identity from your affliction. 0:48:38.050 --> 0:48:40.890 And that, to me, is the antithesis of the abiding life. 0:48:40.890 --> 0:48:43.779 And again, God is not a cruel taskmaster, and he's 0:48:43.780 --> 0:48:46.180 not given us a spirit that makes us fearful slaves. 0:48:46.180 --> 0:48:49.500 He's given us his spirit so we can cry out, ABBA, father! 0:48:49.500 --> 0:48:52.020 When we've made an idol out of our pain, when 0:48:52.020 --> 0:48:54.219 we get our identity from our affliction, we literally are 0:48:54.219 --> 0:48:57.339 taking matters into our own hands. We are not abiding, 0:48:57.500 --> 0:49:00.779 we are self preserving, and we are saying that this 0:49:00.820 --> 0:49:03.899 inferior status is God's best for us and it's not. 0:49:03.940 --> 0:49:06.460 And really, at the core of that is a mistrust 0:49:06.460 --> 0:49:08.980 of God. Yeah. You know, when you think of Jesus 0:49:08.980 --> 0:49:10.940 was walking with his disciples and he says, who do 0:49:10.980 --> 0:49:12.980 people say I am? And they were like, well, the prophet, 0:49:12.980 --> 0:49:15.739 they were listing all the Elijah, you know. And then 0:49:15.739 --> 0:49:17.940 he stops and I picture him on this dirt road 0:49:17.940 --> 0:49:20.419 and turns to Peter. Who do you say that I am? 0:49:20.460 --> 0:49:22.940 You're the Messiah, the son of the living God. And 0:49:22.940 --> 0:49:25.460 Jesus says, the father has revealed that to you. You 0:49:25.460 --> 0:49:27.980 didn't get that yourself. And because Peter was in a 0:49:27.980 --> 0:49:31.459 posture to get a revelation about who Jesus was, Peter 0:49:31.460 --> 0:49:33.500 was in a posture to get a revelation about who 0:49:33.500 --> 0:49:35.540 he was, because then Jesus said, and let me tell 0:49:35.540 --> 0:49:37.540 you who you are. And he started to speak to 0:49:37.580 --> 0:49:38.660 Peter about his identity. 0:49:38.660 --> 0:49:39.779 Oh that's powerful. 0:49:39.940 --> 0:49:42.109 So if somebody is listening today and I get it, 0:49:42.110 --> 0:49:44.629 because I've been through stretches where I was known as 0:49:44.630 --> 0:49:46.750 the girl with Lyme disease. And I don't want that identity, 0:49:46.750 --> 0:49:48.790 but I there's times you wake up and feel sorry 0:49:48.790 --> 0:49:51.150 for yourself, but I'm just saying you don't need pity. 0:49:51.190 --> 0:49:53.589 You've got the promises of God, you know. And so 0:49:53.590 --> 0:49:55.790 I've been there. I'm saying that. But when you posture 0:49:55.790 --> 0:49:58.989 yourself to say, Lord, I humble myself, I smash these idols. 0:49:59.030 --> 0:50:02.630 I want my truest identity, which comes from the abiding life. 0:50:02.630 --> 0:50:05.469 No other place. Give me a fresh revelation about who 0:50:05.510 --> 0:50:08.750 you are. God. Something that I've not known about you yet. 0:50:08.750 --> 0:50:11.430 Because obviously I've got these little idols in my tent. 0:50:11.630 --> 0:50:14.070 And as your posture to see him as he is, 0:50:14.270 --> 0:50:16.430 you will start to see yourself as you are, as 0:50:16.430 --> 0:50:17.430 God says you are. 0:50:18.070 --> 0:50:20.630 We've got a resource for you, Susie Larson, our guest 0:50:20.670 --> 0:50:23.110 right now. If you want an opportunity to get some 0:50:23.270 --> 0:50:27.670 power packed encouragement devotionals from her. Just text mind to 0:50:27.710 --> 0:50:36.509 800 555 7898 text mind, mind to 800 555 7898. 0:50:37.110 --> 0:50:40.110 He was sharing the gospel on the radio and then 0:50:40.190 --> 0:50:44.510 he got saved. Young thunders in the crew. It's Carl 0:50:44.510 --> 0:50:46.190 and crew on Moody Radio. 0:50:46.469 --> 0:50:50.069 You know, there's times when we're doing radio here and 0:50:50.070 --> 0:50:55.310 we feel prompted by the spirit. Let's boom, let's go 0:50:55.350 --> 0:50:58.430 this direction. By the way, that's exactly how the Spirit 0:50:58.430 --> 0:51:00.830 of God led and guided the church in the book 0:51:00.830 --> 0:51:02.950 of acts. And you might say, well, how in the 0:51:02.950 --> 0:51:05.390 world does that happen? Well, it's it's not void of 0:51:05.390 --> 0:51:07.790 the truth. We got this. I've got a Bible open 0:51:07.830 --> 0:51:09.950 in front of me. Ali does. We've all got the 0:51:09.989 --> 0:51:12.750 Word of God in front of us. And then the 0:51:12.950 --> 0:51:15.870 we're promised by Jesus, the Spirit of God will guide 0:51:15.870 --> 0:51:19.029 us into all truth. And there's promptings of the spirit 0:51:19.030 --> 0:51:21.470 that comport with the Word of God. It's not like 0:51:21.510 --> 0:51:24.070 extant from the Word of God, but it's right here. 0:51:24.910 --> 0:51:27.150 And I want to talk with you about something I 0:51:27.150 --> 0:51:28.790 was going to save till next week, but I'm going 0:51:28.830 --> 0:51:30.590 to give you a bit of it right now, because 0:51:30.630 --> 0:51:34.029 God loves you so much that he brought you here, 0:51:34.030 --> 0:51:36.989 my friend, you, for this moment. Because this is very important. 0:51:37.590 --> 0:51:41.919 I want to talk about the hallucination of salvation. And 0:51:41.920 --> 0:51:43.680 I'll illustrate it this way. I got to take you 0:51:43.680 --> 0:51:46.440 to Alaska on the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. I 0:51:46.440 --> 0:51:49.320 ran this race back when I was 18 years old. 0:51:49.320 --> 0:51:55.040 It's 1100 mile dog sled race across Alaska, and I 0:51:55.040 --> 0:52:01.600 was probably 700 miles into this race. Sleep deprived, just tired. 0:52:01.840 --> 0:52:04.200 And now I'm on the Norton Sound of the Bering 0:52:04.239 --> 0:52:08.080 Sea coast of Alaska, the west coast of Alaska. I'm 0:52:08.080 --> 0:52:11.640 leaving the village of Unalakleet, headed for the village of Shaktoolik, 0:52:12.280 --> 0:52:14.680 and I'm getting out of Unalakleet, and I've got a 0:52:14.680 --> 0:52:17.080 team of like eight dogs left in my team. I 0:52:17.080 --> 0:52:19.520 had to drop some dogs. They don't. They don't die. 0:52:19.560 --> 0:52:22.840 They're cared for by veterinarians, but they had lacerated pads. 0:52:22.840 --> 0:52:27.319 Or maybe they were dehydrated and on a couple for 0:52:27.320 --> 0:52:29.319 a couple of those dogs, my heart just went out 0:52:29.320 --> 0:52:31.319 to them and I probably dropped them sooner than I 0:52:31.320 --> 0:52:32.920 should have. But I'm like. 0:52:32.960 --> 0:52:33.439 Oh, they're. 0:52:33.440 --> 0:52:34.080 Struggling. 0:52:34.120 --> 0:52:36.319 Yeah, they're battling a little bit. I got to, I 0:52:36.360 --> 0:52:39.049 got to leave you behind at a checkpoint. So I 0:52:39.050 --> 0:52:41.770 had about eight dogs in front of me, and we're 0:52:41.770 --> 0:52:45.049 making our way up out of Unalakleet over land, and 0:52:45.050 --> 0:52:49.450 we're coming down into the village of Shaktoolik, and I'm 0:52:49.489 --> 0:52:52.650 going through what's called the Raspberry Hills and the Raspberry Hills, 0:52:52.650 --> 0:52:57.089 then descend deep, steep down onto the Bering Sea coast. 0:52:57.370 --> 0:53:01.529 And I was waiting for the village of Shaktoolik. Man, 0:53:01.530 --> 0:53:05.570 I was ready. I'm hungry, I'm cold, and I am 0:53:05.570 --> 0:53:08.650 ready to get my dog team parked, get them booted up, 0:53:08.890 --> 0:53:11.410 get them bedded down on some straw and get some 0:53:11.410 --> 0:53:16.210 shut eye. I was ready, so I want to see 0:53:16.250 --> 0:53:20.090 Shaktoolik in a big way pretty quick. Here it is. 0:53:20.610 --> 0:53:23.569 And it was awesome guys. I'm coming up onto the 0:53:23.570 --> 0:53:28.450 village and I'm seeing smoke come out of a chimney, 0:53:28.570 --> 0:53:31.010 and I see lights on and a cabin, and there's 0:53:31.010 --> 0:53:35.370 a guy out front and he's splitting wood and I'm like, Hallelujah! 0:53:36.850 --> 0:53:40.250 And I get closer and closer. And then it's starting 0:53:40.250 --> 0:53:43.170 to feel like. Why am I getting closer? And then 0:53:43.170 --> 0:53:46.650 I get a little bit closer to it. And something's 0:53:46.650 --> 0:53:49.850 not seeming right. But I see him right there. The 0:53:49.850 --> 0:53:53.089 guy's chopping wood. The cabin's got a light on in it, 0:53:53.090 --> 0:53:56.250 for crying out loud. So I put my emergency brake down, 0:53:56.250 --> 0:53:59.650 which is a snow hook. Stomp it into the, stomp 0:53:59.650 --> 0:54:02.570 it into the trail, and I start to walk toward 0:54:03.210 --> 0:54:10.330 this cabin, and in an instant, poof, it disappeared. And 0:54:10.330 --> 0:54:18.009 all I see is the Bering Sea flat ocean. I 0:54:18.010 --> 0:54:23.570 wasn't at Shaktoolik, I was hallucinating, and I had heard 0:54:23.570 --> 0:54:26.330 so many stories about hallucinations on this race. 0:54:26.530 --> 0:54:27.650 Just the fatigue. 0:54:27.730 --> 0:54:28.569 The fatigue. 0:54:28.610 --> 0:54:30.050 And everything that's going. 0:54:30.050 --> 0:54:30.330 On. 0:54:31.650 --> 0:54:33.049 And poof. 0:54:33.290 --> 0:54:36.580 So you were sure that you saw something that wasn't 0:54:36.580 --> 0:54:37.500 actually there? 0:54:37.540 --> 0:54:37.940 Yeah. 0:54:38.460 --> 0:54:42.180 And therein lies the point. This is exactly what Jesus 0:54:42.180 --> 0:54:48.980 spoke of primarily in the Gospel of Matthew. Because salvation 0:54:48.980 --> 0:54:53.299 hallucination is thinking that you see something in yourself that 0:54:53.300 --> 0:54:58.299 isn't there and it's real. In Matthew seven, Jesus said, 0:54:58.300 --> 0:55:00.380 many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, 0:55:00.380 --> 0:55:02.180 and he's going to say, I never knew you. Depart 0:55:02.180 --> 0:55:04.700 from me. And these are people who say, but we, 0:55:04.820 --> 0:55:08.020 we spoke in your name, and we baptize in your name. 0:55:08.020 --> 0:55:11.020 And we did mighty works in your name. So here's 0:55:11.020 --> 0:55:18.460 the point. You can be spiritually active. And have a 0:55:18.500 --> 0:55:24.259 hallucination of salvation. That's crazy, isn't it? 0:55:24.300 --> 0:55:24.980 It is. 0:55:25.500 --> 0:55:27.860 And then you go a little bit further. You go, 0:55:27.900 --> 0:55:31.340 you dig into Matthew 25 and you find the parable 0:55:31.340 --> 0:55:35.510 of the ten virgins and all ten of these bridesmaids. 0:55:35.670 --> 0:55:39.270 Another term for them. They're waiting for the the groom 0:55:39.270 --> 0:55:41.790 to come. Jesus is coming and Jesus is telling the 0:55:41.790 --> 0:55:44.910 story and he says, five got lamps that are full 0:55:44.910 --> 0:55:47.350 of oil. The other five have lamps, so they're all 0:55:47.350 --> 0:55:50.190 dressed up. They all look the same, but only five 0:55:50.230 --> 0:55:52.670 are ready to go, and five will be left behind 0:55:52.670 --> 0:55:55.270 because they have no oil in their lamps, and that 0:55:55.270 --> 0:55:58.989 signifies the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. I believe that 0:55:58.989 --> 0:56:03.630 is exactly what Jesus is saying. And then I was 0:56:03.630 --> 0:56:06.350 on vacation with my bride, and I was doing deep 0:56:06.350 --> 0:56:08.589 dives early in the morning, and I and I got 0:56:08.590 --> 0:56:12.310 into Matthew 13 and I'm like, Lord, you're showing me again. 0:56:12.710 --> 0:56:16.030 And you see the the parable of the different heart 0:56:16.030 --> 0:56:18.790 conditions and seed that is thrown on the soil. And 0:56:18.790 --> 0:56:22.149 you see hard ground and boom, the seed doesn't get 0:56:22.150 --> 0:56:24.469 any root, and Satan comes and takes it away. And 0:56:24.469 --> 0:56:28.189 that person a hard heart and no salvation. But you 0:56:28.190 --> 0:56:31.469 find two other soil types or heart types, and one 0:56:31.469 --> 0:56:33.910 is shallow soil and they sprang up. But a little 0:56:33.950 --> 0:56:37.149 bit of opposition comes and they fall down. And then 0:56:37.150 --> 0:56:40.069 you find those that seem like I'm ready to go. 0:56:40.070 --> 0:56:42.870 But the worries of this world, the deceitfulness of wealth, 0:56:42.910 --> 0:56:46.069 and the desire for other things make it unfruitful. It 0:56:46.070 --> 0:56:49.310 never really was in Christ. And those three soil types 0:56:49.310 --> 0:56:52.630 never really were in Christ. And then he casts a 0:56:52.630 --> 0:56:55.070 vision for what life in Christ really is. And it's 0:56:55.110 --> 0:57:00.230 an imperfect but great, fertile soil of humble contrition before 0:57:00.230 --> 0:57:02.950 God that says, I give you my all, and that 0:57:02.950 --> 0:57:15.270 produces 30, 60, and 100 fold. Wow. And coming up here, 0:57:15.270 --> 0:57:16.710 I want to speak to you, and I want you 0:57:16.710 --> 0:57:19.590 to stay with me. I don't want you to let 0:57:19.590 --> 0:57:22.350 anything take you away. If you can possibly stay, because 0:57:22.350 --> 0:57:24.950 I want to tell you how you can know that 0:57:24.950 --> 0:57:28.190 you know that you don't have a hallucination of salvation, 0:57:28.190 --> 0:57:31.480 but that you really know Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. 0:57:33.440 --> 0:57:34.240 That's coming up. 0:57:35.040 --> 0:57:39.120 Romans eight brought her to Jesus while broadcasting traffic overnight. 0:57:39.440 --> 0:57:43.160 Super die is in the crew. It's curl and crew 0:57:43.160 --> 0:57:44.400 on Moody Radio. 0:57:45.040 --> 0:57:51.360 Salvation. Hallucination is a real thing. I agree wholeheartedly with 0:57:51.600 --> 0:57:55.320 John Piper, Louie Giglio, and many others and any pastor 0:57:55.320 --> 0:57:58.320 that I talk with that there are churches that are 0:57:58.320 --> 0:58:01.320 preaching the Word of God every weekend that are loaded 0:58:01.320 --> 0:58:05.720 with people that do not know Jesus personally. They're going 0:58:05.720 --> 0:58:08.440 through a lot of religious motions. What we find in 0:58:08.440 --> 0:58:11.960 Matthew seven, many will say on that day, Lord, Lord, 0:58:11.960 --> 0:58:14.240 and these are not people that are bellied up to 0:58:14.280 --> 0:58:19.040 a bar for happy hour. These are folks that are proclaiming, 0:58:19.840 --> 0:58:26.480 they're saying, I believe. They're saying be baptized in Jesus name. 0:58:26.480 --> 0:58:31.169 They're very active. They're doing things for God, and yet 0:58:31.170 --> 0:58:33.570 they don't know him personally. And you might say, Carl, 0:58:33.570 --> 0:58:35.370 how does that happen? Well, next week we're going to 0:58:35.370 --> 0:58:37.810 explain to you how that happens for all of us 0:58:37.810 --> 0:58:41.450 in here. But today, I want to focus on you 0:58:41.450 --> 0:58:45.650 and your soul and heart condition today, because we find 0:58:45.650 --> 0:58:47.610 in the book of Matthew. And why this is so 0:58:47.610 --> 0:58:52.210 important is Jesus was introducing salvation to a very religious 0:58:52.210 --> 0:58:55.930 group of people. Matthew was written to a Jewish audience. 0:58:56.330 --> 0:58:58.689 And how that relates to today is there's a lot 0:58:58.690 --> 0:59:01.250 of religion in the West. There's a lot of people 0:59:01.250 --> 0:59:05.090 that claim Christ but don't know him personally. And so 0:59:05.090 --> 0:59:08.169 when we're talking about the abiding life in Christ, you 0:59:08.170 --> 0:59:12.210 can only abide when your soul has been regenerated by 0:59:12.930 --> 0:59:16.610 the Holy Spirit transformed. And the question you may have 0:59:16.610 --> 0:59:19.610 right now is, Carl, I. I want to know that 0:59:19.610 --> 0:59:23.170 I know that I. That I'm in Christ Jesus. And 0:59:23.170 --> 0:59:25.370 I want you to know that to my friend. And 0:59:25.370 --> 0:59:28.650 let me be clear with you in John chapter 14, 0:59:29.130 --> 0:59:32.450 the disciples themselves were troubled when they heard that Jesus 0:59:32.450 --> 0:59:35.570 was going away, and he said some words that apply 0:59:35.610 --> 0:59:38.370 to you today. He said, let not your hearts be troubled. 0:59:38.370 --> 0:59:42.010 Believe in God. Believe also in me. This word belief 0:59:42.010 --> 0:59:44.490 is not a mental assent. We know that there are 0:59:44.490 --> 0:59:48.450 many people who believe in Jesus, like the demons believe 0:59:48.450 --> 0:59:50.970 in God that we find in the book of James. 0:59:51.490 --> 0:59:56.090 But they're not saved. Belief that saves is a belief 0:59:56.090 --> 1:00:01.290 of humble contrition, brokenness inside of yourself saying, I've got nothing. 1:00:01.810 --> 1:00:05.770 All I have is you. And there's a lot of 1:00:05.770 --> 1:00:09.410 people that are still holding on to themselves, their identity, 1:00:09.410 --> 1:00:12.250 their money. That's what kept the rich young ruler away 1:00:12.250 --> 1:00:17.250 from an authentic faith. They're holding on to status their job. 1:00:17.330 --> 1:00:21.130 They're holding on to their religious action. Here's what I'm 1:00:21.130 --> 1:00:26.340 telling you today Jesus Christ wants an abiding relationship with you, 1:00:26.340 --> 1:00:29.260 and it's going to transform you, and the yoke that 1:00:29.260 --> 1:00:32.580 you're carrying will be thrown off. And Jesus said, take 1:00:32.580 --> 1:00:34.620 my yoke upon you. Learn from me, for I am 1:00:34.620 --> 1:00:37.260 gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest 1:00:37.260 --> 1:00:40.420 for your soul. And I'm inviting you in to rest today. 1:00:42.460 --> 1:00:44.620 Please don't let pride of how long you've been in 1:00:44.620 --> 1:00:50.380 church hold you back from salvation today. You see, Carl, 1:00:50.380 --> 1:00:53.660 how can I know? Jesus went on to answer Thomas 1:00:53.660 --> 1:00:57.060 and his disciples, who had a troubled heart, and he 1:00:57.060 --> 1:00:59.780 spoke to you today from these very pages in John 1:00:59.780 --> 1:01:02.420 14 he says, let not your heart be troubled. Believe 1:01:02.420 --> 1:01:04.420 in God, believe also in me. And this is what 1:01:04.420 --> 1:01:07.380 he said, I am the way. I am the truth. 1:01:07.380 --> 1:01:09.260 I am the life. And I just want to ask 1:01:09.260 --> 1:01:12.020 you today, because the Spirit of God is working in 1:01:12.020 --> 1:01:15.900 your heart right now, and he's revealing to you today 1:01:16.260 --> 1:01:20.780 that you've not yet been born again. Praise God. Rejoice 1:01:20.780 --> 1:01:23.550 in that, because here's what he says I am the way. 1:01:23.910 --> 1:01:27.390 Meaning there's a broad path that leads to destruction and 1:01:27.390 --> 1:01:30.750 many are on it. But if you turn around, repent today, 1:01:30.910 --> 1:01:33.870 and begin to go God's way and say, I'm leaving 1:01:33.870 --> 1:01:37.190 behind all that I am, all that I hope to be, 1:01:37.310 --> 1:01:41.590 all that I was. And I'm turning to Jesus today. 1:01:41.590 --> 1:01:44.870 He will give you new life. He says, I am 1:01:44.870 --> 1:01:48.070 the way, the truth. If you're willing to embrace the truth, 1:01:48.070 --> 1:01:51.190 that you're a sinner who needs a Savior and you're 1:01:51.190 --> 1:01:54.510 willing to say those words Jesus says to you, come on, 1:01:54.550 --> 1:02:01.070 you're my child today. And he says, I am the life. Zoe. Life. 1:02:01.750 --> 1:02:05.150 And he's going to give it to you abundantly. If 1:02:05.190 --> 1:02:08.430 you've never before surrendered your life to Jesus Christ, today 1:02:08.430 --> 1:02:10.750 is the day. And I'm asking you to surrender to 1:02:10.790 --> 1:02:12.750 him for the first time ever. I don't care how 1:02:12.750 --> 1:02:17.230 long you've been in a church. Pray with me right now. Jesus, 1:02:17.230 --> 1:02:19.550 today I'm going your way. I'm no longer going my 1:02:19.550 --> 1:02:26.910 way Today I declare I'm turning around. I'm repenting. Today 1:02:26.910 --> 1:02:29.710 I embrace the truth that I'm a sinner. I need 1:02:29.710 --> 1:02:33.470 a savior. I know you rose from the dead. I'm 1:02:33.470 --> 1:02:36.270 ready for the Zoe life that you have for me. 1:02:36.270 --> 1:02:44.030 I give my life to you. In Jesus name, Amen. 1:02:45.070 --> 1:02:46.950 If that's the cry of your heart, I want to 1:02:46.950 --> 1:02:49.110 help you right now. And we're going to help you 1:02:49.110 --> 1:02:53.150 in practical ways. Get your phones right now. Get your phones. 1:02:53.190 --> 1:02:53.910 Let's help them. 1:02:53.910 --> 1:02:54.110 Out. 1:02:54.150 --> 1:02:56.350 Just text the word new. We've got something that we 1:02:56.350 --> 1:02:58.670 want to send you that's going to give you some encouragement, 1:02:58.710 --> 1:03:01.150 some next steps, an opportunity to get a resource that's 1:03:01.150 --> 1:03:07.110 going to help you text new to 800 555 7898. 1:03:07.110 --> 1:03:14.030 Just one little word. New, new to 805 55 7898 1:03:14.070 --> 1:03:18.910 text new to 800 555 7898. 1:03:18.950 --> 1:03:20.950 Welcome to the family of God.