May 10, 2025 • 45 mins
Do you ever wonder what it means to truly glorify God in your work if you’re not a pastor, missionary, or religious professional? Rather than offering theological exposition to answer that question, our guest, Jordan Raynor, will use vivid, fast-paced storytelling to present the captivating lives of five “mere Christians” who will show you what it looks like to follow Christ wherever you live and work.
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S1 (00:00):
Hi friend, thanks so much for downloading this broadcast and
it is my hope that you'll hear something that will
challenge you, grow you up in him, and get you
out into the marketplace of ideas. But before you start listening,
let me take a moment and tell you what this
month's truth tool is. It's the Mediterranean Sea Rules by
Robert Morgan. I talked to him often on the air
because he's such a superb writer, and in this particular book,
he takes the story of Paul's shipwreck, recorded in the
(00:20):
book of acts, and gives us ten principles of how
we push through the storm, learning to trust in God
and all that he has done for us. It's a
magnificent book. It's a short book, and in typical Robert
Morgan writing style, it is a powerful book. I strongly
recommend that you have a copy of The Mediterranean Sea Rules,
because trust me, every single one of us will find
(00:40):
ourselves on stormy seas at some point in our voyage
through life. As for your copy of the Mediterranean Sea
Rules by calling 877 Janet 58. That's 877 Janet 58
or go online to in the market with Janet Parshall.
Scroll to the bottom of the page. There's the book,
click it on, make Your Gift and we'll send you
a copy. My way of saying thank you because we
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(01:03):
the air. By the way, if you'd like to give regularly,
you're called a partial partner. You give every single month
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about it and thanks in advance. Just call 877 Janet
58 or online at In the Market with Janet Parshall.
(01:25):
Again the truth tool the Mediterranean Sea rules. Thanks so much.
And now please enjoy the broadcast. Hi friends. This is
Janet Parshall and I want to welcome you to the
best of in the market. Today's program is prerecorded so
our phone lines are not open. But I do hope
you'll enjoy today's edition of the Best of In the
(01:46):
Market with Janet Parshall.
S2 (01:48):
Here are some of the news headlines we're watching.
S3 (01:50):
The conference was over. The president won a pledge.
S4 (01:52):
Americans worshiping government over God.
S5 (01:55):
Extremely rare safety move moved by a mere 17 years.
S6 (01:58):
The Palestinians and Israelis negotiated.
S3 (02:01):
Divorce is not on the table.
S7 (02:17):
Her name is Margaret Hamilton. Here's a picture of her.
One of the movies that she played in was called
The Wizard of Oz, and she played the part of
the Wicked Witch of the West.
S8 (02:30):
Sometimes, Mr. Rogers, I'm a little unhappy because lots of
children are quite scared by her, and that always makes
me feel a little sad, because I don't think any
of us thought, you know, that it would be as
scary as sometimes it seems to be. But when you
understand her, when you realize it's just pretend and that
everybody can do it, you can do it.
S7 (02:50):
Would you try on a dress like the one you
had on? Yes.
S8 (02:54):
I'd love to. I think that would be fun.
S9 (02:57):
Look at here.
S8 (02:58):
Something to put things in. Even witches have to have pockets.
S7 (03:02):
It's helping me just to see you get into these things.
S8 (03:05):
Oh, I'm glad.
S7 (03:06):
To know that you're a real lady who got dressed
up to play this part. This is a real zipper
back here. Just like the zipper on my sweaters. There
it goes. There.
S8 (03:21):
Now let's see. Oh, there's your old friend, the Wicked
Witch of the West.
S7 (03:26):
How did you. How did she talk?
S8 (03:29):
Well, she talked like this. It's very nice to see you.
S1 (03:35):
Mr. Rogers. Just merely being a Christian at work. Welcome
to In the Market with Janet Parshall. And that's what
we're going to talk about. How the mission field isn't
over there. It's the ground between your two feet. And
so often we think that you have to be a, quote,
professional Christian, a pastor, a missionary, a leader. Somehow we
forget that every single one of us has been given
the title upon receiving Christ as our personal Lord and Savior.
(03:57):
Ambassador for Christ. And so we're going to talk about
some of those mere Christians this hour, and a wonderful
book that Jordan Rayner has just authored. He is a
leading voice of the faith and work movement, and he's
got podcasts, best selling books and devotionals. And vis a
vis all of those avenues, he's helped millions of Christians
throughout the globe connect the gospel to their work. So
(04:17):
his latest book is called Mere Christians hat tip to C.S.
Lewis in his book, of course, Mere Christianity, and the
subtitle says it all binge worthy biographies, and we'll get
to that binge worthy part in a minute that show
you how to glorify God in your work. And so
in this book, there are five individuals he showcases in
very fascinating biographies, the kind where you're going to pick
(04:38):
one up and read about one of these five Christians,
and you're going to want to read through all of
it until you go to the next section of the
book that sounds that helps us find another mere Christian.
But we start with Fred Rogers, by the way, because
he was exemplary in his understanding the innocence of children
desiring to preserve it. Kindness, community. And of course, if
you wanted to, for this one, it's a twofer, because
(04:59):
Margaret Hamilton was also very actively involved in her local
church as well. Jordan, it's a brilliant idea out of
the panoply of mere Christians who walked the planet and
bring their faith into the workplace. It had to be
an excruciating task to whittle this down to five.
S10 (05:14):
I have a spreadsheet of 137 backup names. This is
not an easy task.
S1 (05:20):
By any stretch. Well, tell me about Fred. Why? Almost
an easy pick, which is why I started with him.
S10 (05:25):
Uh, I just think I've never seen a more Jesus
like person live out their faith in the workplace. I mean,
I could tell dozens of stories to make that case.
I'll just tell one real quickly to frame up the conversation.
So in the 1980s, when Fred was at the height
of his fame, Mister Rogers Neighborhood was watched by 10%
(05:45):
of American children. There was this one child named Beth Usher.
This five year old with a one inch 10 million
brain disease who endured Janet, get this 100 seizures a
day until Mr. Rogers came on. And for two years,
that show delivered this miraculous 30 minute reprieve from Beth
suffering every single weekday. So one day, a bright young
(06:07):
surgeon named Doctor Ben Carson, a name our listeners are
probably familiar with, said he was going to need to
perform this surgery to remove half of this little girl's brain.
And so Beth's mom, Kathy, called Fred's office and requested
a signed photo of Mister Rogers for her daughter. And
so his secretary comes to Fred and he says, hey,
they want this picture. He's like, oh my gosh, no way.
We're doing one better than that. Secretary calls them on back, hey,
(06:29):
will you be home tonight at 7:00? Fred would like
to call and actually speak with Beth after a busy
day at the office. And right on time he did.
And in her family's kitchen, this five year old girl, Beth,
took the phone and heard this familiar voice on the line.
And for nearly I have a five year old. This
is hard. It's a hard story to tell For nearly
an hour. This girl talked to Fred about everything from
(06:50):
her fear of dying to her longing for friends. While
around the corner, her parents quietly listened with tears streaming
down their face. So after the surgery, Fred calls again
to see how this kid's doing. Uh. And he learns
that she had slipped into a coma. And so he
called every day for two weeks to check in on
this kid, until finally he hung up one day, turned
to his wife and said, I got to go to Baltimore.
(07:12):
So he calls Ben Carson, and he says, hey, I
want to come and visit this girl. One rule no press.
He shows up the next day and performs this quiet
puppet show for this girl, and leaves behind the puppets
and prays for her. And he left the puppets behind
for a gift for her to wake up, to which
she did. A couple weeks later and Janet, the first
time I read this story, with tears streaming down my
(07:33):
face like a five year old girl at a Starbucks, right?
I just kept thinking, who does this? What kind of
person has the capacity to love this one? Here's the answer.
Somebody who is so filled up with the love of
God that they can't help pour it out on others.
Fred spent so much, he accomplished more than any of
us will ever dream. And yet he spent more time
(07:54):
with his Heavenly Father than most of us ever dare. Why?
Because he deeply understood that his work was ministry, that
he was part of the royal priesthood. As Peter says,
all of us are called to, and he let that
faith infuse his work in radical ways, on and off camera,
for more than 30 years.
S1 (08:14):
Yes. If no one else takes anything away from this conversation,
the transcendence, the purpose for the book is really encapsulated
Jordan in what you just said, which is it isn't
an over there experience. It's a right here and a
right now. And the other thing that I love so
much about Mr. Rogers is that he was exactly the
same person in front of the camera as he was
away from the camera. He makes the declaration to Ben,
(08:35):
no press. So he wanted to do this just because
he wanted to show the love of Christ to this
little girl who was struggling. and he was faithful in
doing it. Nobody told him to do it. He wasn't
going to get any plaudits or praise or publicity out
of it. He was just living out authentic Christianity in
the workplace every minute of every day. Recognizing his role
(08:56):
as ambassador for Christ. The book is chock filled with
stories like this. That's just Mr. Rogers. Now, by the way,
I got to give you a fair warning. Jordan is
a superb writer. There's so much more in every one
of these biographies. There are five. I'm going to do
a flyover for all five, but you got to get
the book to read the rest of the story. Hat
tip to Paul Harvey. So do it, because it's a reminder.
You don't have to be a mr. Rogers, but you
(09:17):
are already an ambassador for Christ. So mix together your
faith and your work for his glory, for his name,
for his purposes. Back after this. When the storms of
(09:46):
life hit with hurricane force. How do you respond? This
month's truth tool is the Mediterranean Sea Rules, where Robert
Morgan writes how God will redeem our tragedies for his purposes.
Don't just survive the storms. Learn to serve God in
the midst of them. As for your copy of the
Mediterranean Sea Rules, when you give a gift of any
amount in the market, call 877. 58. That's 877 58
or go to in the market with Janet Parshall.
S11 (10:12):
Mr. chairman, and to the credentials committee. It was the
31st of August in 1962 that 18 of us traveled
26 miles to the county courthouse in Indianola to try
to register to become first class citizens. We was met
(10:34):
in Indianola by policemen.
S12 (10:38):
The president, Lyndon Johnson. He's not afraid of Martin Luther
King's testimony. He's afraid of Fannie Lou Hamer testimony. And
so he decides that the country should not see her
testify live.
S13 (10:54):
Johnson is in the white House, and he convened an
impromptu press conference.
S14 (10:59):
You will return to this scene in Atlantic City, but
now we switch to the white House and NBC's Robert Goralski. Now,
ladies and gentlemen, the president of the United States. On
this day, nine months ago.
S13 (11:13):
He did it knowing that they would break away, thinking
he might announce who his choice of vice president was
going to be. Instead, he gets up there and he announces,
get this. He announces that it's nine months to the
day since since Governor Connally, who was there, was shot
along with President Kennedy. So he announced a nine month anniversary.
(11:34):
Everybody's scratching their heads.
S14 (11:35):
Thank you very much.
S13 (11:37):
And then he leaves. And by that time, Fannie Lou
Hamer testimony was over. However, it backfired on Johnson because
it became a story that she had been taken off
television and in the news that night and for days afterwards,
they replayed her testimony.
S11 (11:59):
I was carried to the county jail and put in
the booking room. They left some of the people in
the booking room and began to place us in cells.
S12 (12:11):
She had Mississippi in her bones. Martin Luther King or
the snake field secretaries. They couldn't do what Fannie Lou
Hamer did. They couldn't be a sharecropper and express what
it meant. Right? And that's what Fannie Lou Hamer did.
S11 (12:35):
And it wasn't too long before three white men came
to my cell. One of these men was a state
highway patrol. He said, we're going to make you wish
you were dead.
S1 (12:46):
Fannie Lou Hamer for some people, you know exactly who
this woman was. Civil rights activist, but first and foremost,
an ambassador for Christ. Second of all, just a little
tease on her very important and powerful story. And one
of the five Christians Jordan Raynor writes about in his
newest book, Mere Christians binge worthy biographies that show you
how to glorify God in your work. Jordan, this is
(13:07):
a fascinating and very important part of American history for
President Johnson to be so afraid of the testimony of
Fannie Lou that he fakes this press conference so that
the press will cut away and came back to haunt him.
You know, a little something about presidential politics. You worked
for George W Bush. So, you know, watching how you
can play the media to your advantage. It's all part
of what comes in the white House. But here's this
(13:29):
precious civil rights activist from Mississippi telling her story out
of the overflow of the heart. The mouth speaks and boy,
she captivated the nation despite the best efforts of the
sitting president to stop her. Tell me more about her.
S10 (13:40):
This is an unbelievable true story. And here's what's crazy, Janet.
I have never met a black friend who doesn't know
Fannie Lou Hamer story, and I've never met a white
friend who does. Man, we got to be telling this
story in the church. So I love that segment you
guys just played. So the testimony she gave that day
to the 1964 DNC Credentials Committee shared how she was
(14:04):
unjustly imprisoned, brutally beaten by police, and shot at 16 times,
all for having the audacity to register to vote. An act,
of course, which was perfectly legal. To make a long
story short, that testimony that day when she came out,
nobody wanted to talk to Doctor King, who also testified
that day. They all crowded around Fannie Lou Hamer, and
(14:26):
eventually that testimony paved the way for protecting African Americans
right to vote in this country. So it's a super
dramatic made for TV story. But I would also I
would also argue it's a super relevant one to Christians
today because like all of these biographies, we're not just
telling their stories in the book I'm showing where here's
(14:46):
what this means for you. Here's how you can glorify
God in your own work today, as seen in the
life of Fred Rogers or Fannie Lou Hamer. And Hamer
specifically shows us, I think, how to glorify God by
doing justice without hating the unjust. Are she boldly confronted
injustice of her day? But unlike today, when so many
(15:07):
Christians are doing justice while canceling the unjust, she never
did that. She refused to hate. She refused to retaliate
against her enemies. Instead, she prayed for them. So, number one,
she shows us how to glorify God by doing justice
without hating the unjust. But number two, she also shows
us how to glorify God by trusting in God for
the results of our work while simultaneously hustling in that work. J.I.
(15:33):
Packer once said, quote, The Christian's motto should not be
let go and let God, but trust God and get going.
End quote. And Hamer embodied that at a deep level.
And then finally, number three, she shows us how to
glorify God by believing that God is creating an impact
through our work, even when that work appears to be
totally in vain. There were many times when Fannie Lou
(15:57):
Hamer thought that she had failed in her fight for
black voter rights, but over time, she was able to
look back and see how God was using all of
those supposed missteps, all of those supposed failures, all of
that oppression, all work she thought was in vain for
her glory and for his good. And by the way,
it's easy to talk about these heroes, Janet. Like Hamer,
(16:17):
like Rodgers and these others we're going to talk about,
think about, oh, that's nice, Fannie Lou Hamer, she was amazing.
Of course she could do that. Great stuff. Or Fred Rogers,
of course, he's a hero of the faith. He can
have that great impact. Don't forget this. The exact same
Holy Spirit that was working through Fannie Lou Hamer and
Fred Rogers to will and to act to to accomplish
(16:38):
God's good purposes. See, Philippians two is working through you
and me today the exact same Holy Spirit. And if
we can baptize our imaginations of what's possible when we
as mere Christians empty ourselves as vessels for God to
use in the workplace, the world can be a radically
different place.
S1 (16:57):
Yeah. Amen and amen. One of the things that I
so appreciate about her is that she really and truly
was unwavering. She didn't care how big the Giants were.
She served a bigger God and that she didn't have animus.
When you read about some of the things that were
done against her, like the Mississippi appendectomy that you write about.
Hint it has to do with being forcibly sterilized and
not being bitter and not being angry, even if your
(17:18):
dreams of having children had been dashed. That's authentic Christianity,
and she is one of the mere Christians, much more
than mere, by the way, that Jordan Raynor writes about
in his newest book, Mere Christians. We got more after this.
S15 (17:39):
The name that you need to get familiar with here
is Ole Kirk Christiansen. He was what we could easily say,
the father of Lego. But before that he was a
pretty well known carpenter. How well known exactly was Kirk's shop?
Offered carpentry work to customers from all over the area.
His shop made unique kind of furniture and as we
just said, they were quite famous. If someone wanted top
(18:01):
quality furniture, they had no choice but to visit this store.
His business went amazingly well for around ten years, after
which disaster struck and the shop caught fire. Rather than
being discouraged, Kirk made a decision to start another wood shop,
but this time his goal was to expand it. He
wanted to expand his business and also increase his customers
and get more jobs. The era we're talking about here
(18:24):
was the late 1920s. And you know what happened during
that time? The global financial crisis knocked on the door.
Like most other businessmen at the time, Kirk lost many
of his customers. As you can imagine, at some point
he ran out of big plans and decided, like any man,
to start small and ultimately make it big. He created
smaller models of the wood products he created as a
(18:44):
design aid. He made miniature versions of ironing boards, ladders,
and other household items. Kirk decided to start making toys
after seeing how adorable they were. Kirk began experimenting with
and creating wooden toys for children around 1932. These were
common toys such as trucks, cars, police vehicles, children's banks, etc.
(19:05):
after some time, he got back into the business of
making furniture, but he did not stop making these toys.
He held a public contest for employees to decide on
a company name, and most settled on the name Lego,
which means play well in Danish. After a while, employees
at the company that is now known as Lego, came
to know that the word Lego meant I assemble in Latin.
(19:26):
Another widely spoken language, Kirk liked this name so much
that he finally agreed to use it for all of
his products. So did Lego come before the actual Lego
toys were made? Pretty much yes.
S1 (19:39):
Ole Kirk Christiansen if you don't know Ole, then you
certainly know Legos. Just about every person within the sound
of my voice has either played with them themselves or
gifted them over and over and over again. Jordan Raynor
wisely chose Ole Kirk Christiansen as one of the mere
Christians he profiles in his newest book called Five Mere
Christians Binge worthy biographies that show you how to glorify
(20:00):
God in your work. Jordan. Absolutely fascinating person, by the way,
and I love biographies. My mom was one of those
brilliant people who gave us biographies as a child growing up,
Christian biographies so that we would have role models. And
so I love his story for so many reasons, not
the least of which is what a perfectly encapsulated picture
of God bringing beauty quite literally from ashes. If that
(20:23):
fire hadn't occurred, would he have started doing furniture but
preceded that by making miniatures of the furniture, which then
opened the door for making toys, which then opened the
door for Legos? So you see God going before us also.
I love the fact that, in typical Danish fashion, his
name was originally spelled with a k, but after he
became part of Christ's family of faith, he changed the
(20:45):
K to a C and took that name and that
spelling to his grave. Talk to me about that.
S10 (20:49):
Yeah. He did. I mean, everyone knows Lego. Nobody knows
this story. It's crazy. And I love that you love biographies, Janet,
but I think you and I are in the minority here. Right.
I think most people have a love hate relationship with
this genre because most biographies are way too long right there.
They're way too boring, and they're way too disconnected from
the busy lives of modern readers. And so my audacious
(21:12):
goal with telling Ole Story and Fred's story and Fannie
Lou Hamer story was to create biographies that were, number one,
mercifully short. Each of these can be read in under
an hour's number two binge worthy entertaining can compete with
Netflix and TikTok and whatever. And then number three. Profoundly helpful.
And to your point, man, oh Lake or Christiansen's story
(21:34):
has been profoundly helpful to me. You mentioned the fires.
I don't think Lego would have existed without fire number one,
two and three. The workshop burnt down three times. He
spent years on the brink of bankruptcy. Oh, yeah, and
then Nazi soldiers commandeered this guide's home. And as Nazis
were living in the first floor of his house, he
smuggles grenades to Allied forces in Lego boxes. Oh, yeah.
(21:58):
And then, in just a span of a few days,
this guy suffers the unimaginable loss of a child and
his wife. And yet. And here's what's helpful to me.
Janet Christiansen consistently joined his biblical counterpart job in saying,
the Lord gives, the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the
name of the Lord. He believed that God is doing
(22:19):
good to us even when it doesn't feel good to us.
And he persevered through those trials in faith. Right. I
mentioned that each of these biographies concludes with three ways
that we can glorify God in our own work today,
as seen in these stories. That's takeaway number one from Ola,
and I encourage readers and I'll encourage listeners right now, hey,
(22:39):
I don't know what your trial is right now at
work or at home. Maybe. Maybe you like Ola or
suffering the loss of a loved one, or you're suffering
debt or a failing business, or, I don't know, maybe
even a fire in your workshop. I would encourage you
to do three things. Number one, journal your lament to
God about those trials, right? Yes, work to consider it
pure joy when we face trials of many kinds. See
(23:00):
James one. But God also invites us to lament about
the thorns and thistles to fight back against us. See
Psalm 34 and you better believe Ola or Christianson did that.
Number two journal about how God has used your past
Trials for good. Ole was masterful at this, right? He
understood that hindsight is 2020. It's way easier to see
how God has used a past trial for good than
(23:22):
it is to see how he might use your current
trial for good. And then finally, number three, after reflecting
on God's faithfulness in the past, journal in faith that
God will keep his promise to use your current trials
for good, even when you don't see how.
S1 (23:38):
Yeah. Wow. And by reading. This is why I do
love biographies. And thank you for making them binge worthy.
And thank you for making them so entertaining, because I
think we grow by reading how God has worked in, for,
and through other people, and that there really is no
temptation common to man that he doesn't understand. There's nothing
new under the sun. So here is now this widow
(23:59):
who has to raise four sons, run this factory, and
he literally is able to say, in the midst of
all of this, thy will be done, Lord Jesus. You
will never look at a Lego block the same way again,
will you? That's why biographies are important. Jordan Raynor is
with us. We said five mere Christians. We've got two
more to tease you. And again, let me just say
for the record, Your Honor, a ton more on each
(24:20):
of these people in the book. We're just giving you
a flyover to make you not walk, but run and
get your copy of Mere Christians back after this. We
live in a culture that's infatuated with the latest fads,
but Ephesians 415 calls for us to be stable, no
longer infants, Paul said, tossed about by the waves and
(24:43):
carried about by every wind of teaching and in the market,
we're exposing current trends and finding our balance by standing
on the solid foundation of God's Word to get exclusive
behind the scenes information and benefits, become a partial partner.
Call 877 Janet 58 or go online to in the
market with Janet Parshall.
S16 (25:04):
There's never been anyone quite like Hannah Moore. Her books
were kept in the homes of presidents and peers of
the realm. They were a best selling phenomenon, and she
the most successful British author of the romantic period. More
successful financially than Sir Walter Scott and more than Jane Austen.
A gifted poet and playwright, Hannah More was, by her
(25:27):
early 30s, the toast of literary London. Samuel Johnson collaborated
with her in writing verse, and David Garrick, one of
the greatest Shakespearean actors in theatre history, was her mentor
and devoted patron. Hannah is a member of the bluestocking
circle of the late 1700s, was a pioneering artist and
celebrity throughout the English speaking world. She became a household
(25:51):
name in later years after her passing in 1833. Her
legacy lived on. C.S. Lewis knew her story and wrote
about it. Her good works. Born of faith as a
philanthropist and reformer, she was the cherished colleague of William Wilberforce.
Their friendship and endeavours were famous in their own right.
(26:12):
Together they were abolitionists, and together with Wilberforce backing Hannah,
more and her sisters created nine schools where there were
none and educated 1000 poor students a year for decades.
Her own charities were legion and supported by her great
royalties as a writer. Yet there were broken moments in
her life. She overcame tragedy and debilitating pain. She knew
(26:38):
what loss and failure were and learned the ways of
grace amid it all. And so, in a word, Hannah
Moore is one of the most fascinating figures in the
pages of history, and her faith was a benison for
the time in which she lived. Her life was illumined
by the sacred flame of Christian belief. It inspired books
that speak to us now with power and eloquence, charting
(27:01):
the reasons for hope, lending timeless words. It is our
privilege to know and return to.
S1 (27:09):
And kudos to Jordan Rayner for choosing Hannah More as
one of his five mere Christians he writes about in
his brand new book, These Are and his words, not mine.
And he's spot on, by the way, binge worthy biographies
that show you how to glorify God in your work. Jordan,
I have to tell you, you know, I smile here
in Washington, DC and you know this town full well,
(27:29):
but you have Women's History Month. How come Hannah Moore's
name is not up there? I want my friends to understand.
S10 (27:34):
I don't have time to unpack that.
S1 (27:35):
Seriously, seriously. And not only that, but she is in
the 1700s. You know, I think of all the female
writers that came after her up until the early 1900s,
who had to write under a pseudonym because they didn't
think they'd get published as a woman. She didn't do that.
She wrote in her own name. And when you drop
names like Garrick, the esteemed actor and Johnson, these are
(27:56):
her peers to say nothing of her relationship with Wilberforce.
I mean, God just pulled back the veil, opened the curtain,
and let her go so that her creativity could bring
honor and glory to the Lord. In a time when
women couldn't vote, couldn't own property, and if they were
going to write, they generally had to write under a
man's name to even get published. I mean, she is
a standout in history.
S10 (28:15):
She's unbelievable. And oh, by the way, not just a
woman in the 1700s, a single woman in the 1700s
who never married. Right. She had this fiance once, uh,
William Turner, uh, who called off the engagement four times.
Four times. And there's this great little poetic detail that
(28:36):
we share in the book that for the rest of
his life, William Turner and his first glass of wine
every night would toast. Hannah Moore is the one who
got away. And she was right, and I. I love
that you brought up William Wilberforce, because, listen, I'm sure
a lot of our listeners know the name William Wilberforce,
a member of the British Parliament who gets the vast
majority of credit today for abolishing the slave trade throughout
the British Empire. But Wilberforce is owned. Biographer Eric Metaxas
(29:00):
said that Wilberforce's success quote has everything to do with
Hannah More. End quote. Why? Because Wilberforce is brilliant, and
he understood that before legislators minds would change on the
issue of slavery, the British people's hearts had to change first.
Political changes never led by politicians. It's led by the
(29:23):
people and only followed by politicians and Hannah Moore's poems
and novels. Exposing the horrors of slavery to the people
are what changed culture at scale, paving the way for
Wilberforce's work in Parliament. And I love this little detail, Janet.
So great was Hannah Moore's contribution to the cause of
(29:44):
abolition that for years Christian missionaries would name nameless African girls,
orphaned African girls Hannah to honour this woman's role in
abolishing slavery. It's an unbelievable made for TV story, and
it shows us practically how to glorify God in our
own context here in the 21st century.
S1 (30:04):
Well, and so you talk about authentic Christianity and the
way she lived it out. You could say that if
she had just been a poetess and a playwright, she
could have shown her honor and glory to God just
through that. If she was an educator helping establish schools
for destitute children, that alone she could have been recognized for.
But then she works in the abolitionist movement, which, by
(30:25):
the way, let the record reflect. They abolished the slave
trade in the UK way in advance of what we
did here in the United States. You know that, because
you all know the Wilberforce story. So she's got this
triune influence, and any one of those would have been
a standout in a single person's life. But she moves
almost seamlessly between these three areas. Which raises an interesting
question how did she and I? It's probably in due
(30:47):
deference to the circles in which she moved. But what
was her heart? How did she get involved in the
idea of being an abolitionist? Because if we use Wilberforce's
story as a touch point on this. This was the
rest of his life. I mean, he dies before he
finally realizes it's been abolished in the UK. So it
was again talk about a woman who was willing to
take risks. This was a risky business for her to
(31:09):
get involved in. So how was she drawn into that?
S10 (31:12):
Oh, I love that you asked this question because it
points to a really important takeaway for our listeners today.
So Hannah was the toast of London. She she was
kind of quasi brought up in the church, but she
wasn't serious about Jesus. In fact, we have this great
quote from her journal when she was living the high
life in London. She says, quote, I read 4 or
5 hours every day, and we have a pretty agreeable,
(31:33):
laudable custom of getting tipsy twice a day, unquote, at
Buckingham Palace, by the way. But then Hannah Moore met
Jesus Christ, and everything began to change. And like so
many newborn Christians, Janet Hannah initially believed that following Jesus
meant retreating from her secular vocation as well as her
(31:55):
location in the big City of London. And so she actually,
for a while quit writing altogether. She bought a humble
cottage in rural England and withdrew from London entirely, and
her life slowed to this radically different pace as she
filled her days with gardening and exploring the English countryside
on horseback. And she probably would have stayed there forever
(32:17):
had it not been for Wilberforce. Right? So Wilberforce and
Hannah met on the English countryside. They had dinner one
night that lasted for 4 or 5 hours, and it
was Wilberforce who in part convinced Maud that following Jesus
does not mean retreating from the darkness of the world,
but engaging it. And he had a very specific proposal
(32:37):
to that end. He explained that he was a part
of this Christian community in London that was working to
abolish the slave trade in their lifetime, and he wanted
to know if Hannah would join them in the great cause.
And praise God. Hannah More said yes, and we already
talked about how they worked in tandem for decades to
do this. But here's the point for us today. So
she's one of the older stories in this book, but
(32:58):
I would argue it's one of the most relevant for
modern readers and listeners, because Hannah More points us to
this important truth we mere Christians will glorify God by
rejecting isolation from the world while embracing insulation from the world,
because Jesus, right before his death, pleaded with the father
(33:20):
on our behalf. My prayer is not that you take
them out of the world. As you sent me into
the world, I have sent them into the world. But Janet,
I know so many Christians today who are fighting against
Jesus's prayer. I know so many believers who only want
to work for Christian employers, send their kids to Christian schools,
consume exclusively Christian content. And to be clear, I have
(33:41):
nothing wrong with any one of those decisions. But in aggregate,
I think they point to a disturbing trend of retreat
and isolation from the world that stands in contrast to
the way of Jesus. And by God's grace, Hannah came
to reject that type of isolation. But not at first.
It took Wilberforce to convince her that, quote, mischief arises
(34:01):
not from our living in the world, but from the
world living in us. Amen.
S1 (34:07):
Wow.
S10 (34:08):
Wow. And it was that Christian community back in London,
that circle of Christian influencers like Wilberforce, that that served
as a jacket of sorts, right? Insulating her so that
she could brave the cold, brave the darkness of this
world for the glory of God and the good of others.
S1 (34:23):
Wow. You know, Jordan, I find it interesting and not
a surprise. I think there's a Sunday school lesson inherent
in this somewhere. That it was Wilberforce himself who struggled
with whether or not he should become a pastor, or
whether or not he should stay in Parliament. So the
very advice he ends up giving Hannah Moore is exactly
the quagmire he had to get out of himself. Now,
thanks be to God. He listened to the counsel of
(34:45):
those who said, you can glorify God in Parliament. Ta da!
The essence of what you do. the intersection of faith
and work. And I'm sure it would have been a
wonderful pastor, but British history would have been radically rewritten
if Wilberforce had retreated and decided to insulate. Not that
there's anything wrong with being a pastor, but God gifted
him and gave him a voice, gave him the gravitas,
the ethos, as well as the pathos to serve in
(35:06):
Parliament and then to work toward a standard of righteousness, i.e.
the eradication of the slave trade in the UK. He
then turns around and offers that same counsel to Hannah More,
which tells me that it wasn't an academic decision. This
was deep within the chambers of his heart, and that's
why he gave that advice appropriately to Hannah so freely,
I think.
S10 (35:24):
I think so, too. And it's John Newton who wrote
amazing Grace that actually gave Wilberforce that advice to go
back to Parliament. It's John Newton was basically just preaching
out of First Corinthians. I think it's chapter 11 or
7 where Paul says, no, no, no, you're following Jesus.
Now stay in the position you were in when you
were called. And that's a message for us today. You
don't have to leave your job to glorify God. Stay
(35:45):
where you are and change your relationship to the work.
S1 (35:48):
You can tell that's fire in Jordan's bones. That's really
his thing. And he's so spot on about that. That's
why this program is called In the Marketplace. I'm not
asking you to circumnavigate it or visit one time and
back off. We're trying to train you to get out
there in the marketplace of ideas, so you can influence
and occupy and let your light so shine before men.
All the people that Jordan writes about in his newest book,
(36:09):
Mere Christians, did that. And history was changed as a result.
This little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine.
That's what it's all about. Not retreating, but illuminating for
the cause of the cross. We've got one more Christian
that he writes about you. Guess who it is. We'll
talk about it after this.
S17 (36:35):
In these talks, I've had to say a good deal
about prayer. And before going on to my main subject tonight,
I'd like to deal with a difficulty some people find
about the whole idea of prayer. Somebody put it to
me by saying, I can believe in God, all right.
But what I can't swallow is this idea of him
(36:56):
listening to several hundred million human beings who are all
addressing him at the same moment. And I find quite
a lot of people feel that difficulty. Well, the first
thing to notice is that the whole sting of it
comes in the words at the same moment. Most of
us can imagine a God attending to any number of claimants,
(37:20):
if only they come one by one. And he has
an endless time to do it in. So what's really
at the back of the difficulty is this idea of
God having to fit too many things into one moment
of time. Well, that, of course, is what happened to us.
(37:41):
Our life comes to us moment by moment. One moment
disappears before the next comes along. And there's room for
precious little in each. That's what time is like. And
of course, you and I tend to take it for
granted that this time series, this arrangement of past, present
(38:05):
and future isn't simply the way life comes to us,
but is the way all things really exist. We tend
to assume that the whole universe and God himself are
always moving on from a past to a future, just
(38:26):
as we are. But many learned men don't agree with that.
I think it was the theologians who first started the
idea that some things are not in time at all. Later,
the philosophers took it over, and now some of the
scientists are doing the same. Almost certainly God is not
(38:50):
in time. His life doesn't consist of moments following one another.
If a million people are praying to him at 1030 tonight,
he hasn't got to listen to them all in that
one little snippet, which we call 1030. 1038 and every
(39:15):
other moment from the beginning to the end of the
world is always the present for him.
S1 (39:23):
Not bad for a former atheist, that is. C.S. Lewis now,
so many of his books, by the way, emanate out
of his series of radio broadcasts. Mere Christianity is a
perfect example of that. But again, a fascinating man who is,
as he said in his own words, God's most reluctant convert.
It's one of the mere Christians that Jordan Raynor writes
about in his brand new book called Five Mere Christians,
(39:46):
and how appropriate that we end with C.S. Lewis again
emanating hat tip to the title of the book Mere Christianity.
But the subtitle says it all. Binge worthy biographers that
show you how to glorify God in your work. Again,
I am so very, very grateful that so many of
his radio addresses are preserved forever so we can hear
his real voice and to hear his real heart as well,
(40:06):
and to challenge Christians to think bigger about God and
deeper about His Word. You know, Jordan, it would be
remiss not to have included him. But at this point,
a lot of people might say, oh, we know everything
there is to know about C.S. Lewis. Well, you did
your homework. What did you learn about him writing your
part of the book on C.S. Lewis that you didn't
know before?
S10 (40:24):
Oh, in my experience, Janet, many people know Lewis's work.
Very few people know the story. Lewis was functionally orphaned
by the age of nine, even though his dad lived
for many more years. He spent his college years as
a drunk Sadomasochist fought in World War One, then comes
back and, most biographers agree, spends much of his 20s
(40:46):
having an affair with his dead best friend's mom. And
we don't know these parts of the story, and I
would argue that's a shame, because when we hear these
parts of the story, Christ gets greater glory that he
redeemed that guy, that guy that found that was trying
to find joy in all of those places. Christ gets
so much greater glory when we hear that part of
(41:07):
the story. And it also reminds us that mere Christians
like Lewis. Lewis was not a religious professional. He was
an English tutor at Oxford, and I would argue that's
exactly why he was chosen to defend Christianity to the
British people in the midst of World War Two. And
I don't have to make that argument. Lewis himself made
(41:29):
that argument when he was asked why he thought the
BBC had selected him to give this religious talk. He said, quote,
I think the BBC asked me chiefly for two reasons. Firstly,
because I am a layman, not a clergyman, or in
my own words, a mere Christian. And secondly, because I
had been a non-Christian for so many years. End quote.
(41:52):
And I think he's exactly right, Janet. That's why his
message in those radio broadcasts resonated with so many people.
He sounded like a trusted friend to so many people
because he was them in so many ways. And this
is so contrary to the messages that we hear in
a lot of our churches. I grew up in this
church culture that assumed that the best way to make
(42:13):
disciples of all nations was for Christians to leave their location,
to leave their vocation and service full time missionaries overseas.
But Lewis's example and much of church history tells us
a very different story. Tim Keller was on my podcast
a couple months before he died. He said Jordan 80%
of evangelism in the early church, the church. The first
three centuries when Christianity exploded around the world was done
(42:37):
not by ministers and professional evangelists, but by tentmakers, shepherds
and merchants. It has always been mere Christians in the
marketplace who have done the most for the Great Commission,
and experts say that will continue. In a world where
the fastest growing religious affiliation is no religious affiliation believer,
(42:59):
your non-Christian friends are less likely than ever to step
inside of a church to learn about Christ for the
first time. So where will they hear the good news
in the marketplace? Amen.
S1 (43:08):
Amen and amen. Last 30s Jordan. In an hour. That's
gone far too quickly. But my fervent hope is that
my friends will now get a copy of Mere Christians
and read more in depth of the five Christians that
Jordan has chosen. And by the way, he's got a
list of over 100. So I hope and believe there'll
be another book down the road apiece, and you actually
have a chance to go to his website and vote
(43:28):
on the list and see who you'd like to see
in that next book. but my last 30s Jordan. And
that is what, what what do we need to do
to get out in the marketplace? A lot of people
would say, you don't know my job. You don't know
my boss. I can't bring any kind of an influence.
I just duck and cover, bring home my bread and
that's the end of it. Give them a pep talk
to get out there.
S10 (43:45):
The Holy Spirit is living inside of you. And so
the only thing you need to do to turn that
secular workplace sacred is walk through the front door or
log on to zoom.
S3 (43:54):
Yeah.
S1 (43:56):
That's it. Well said Jordan, thank you. The book again.
Mere Christians binge worthy biographies that show you how to
glorify God in your work. These were not extraordinary people.
These were people who served an extraordinary God and said, yes,
now you and I have that same opportunity to go
out and influence and occupy until he comes. I'll tell
(44:16):
you what I love the fact that Jordan referenced John 17.
He doesn't want us out of the world. He wants
us to be sanctified with his truth. Now get out there. Thanks, Jordan. Thanks, friends.
We'll see you next time.
S18 (44:28):
Retractable claws up to 1.5in long, capable of jumping 36ft.
A roar that can be heard five miles away. The
lion King of the beasts. Picture yourself surrounded by several.
Like Daniel, he determined to prey, though he knew he
(44:48):
would pay. Are we willing to face the lions of
our culture? Be a Daniel. A challenge for Moody Radio.
S19 (44:58):
How long have you been a part of the Moody
Radio family?
S20 (45:01):
Well, I've been listening to Moody since 1993. And, I mean,
I get up with Woody, I go to bed with Moody,
and it just. It's been a blessing in my life
for all these years. They teach him and they worship.
And Moody is a station that is really rooted in
the Word of God. In the series about who is God.
S19 (45:20):
Serious about God? That's us. And we're seriously grateful for
listeners like you.
Hi friend, thanks so much for downloading this broadcast and
it is my hope that you'll hear something that will
challenge you, grow you up in him, and get you
out into the marketplace of ideas. But before you start listening,
let me take a moment and tell you what this
month's truth tool is. It's the Mediterranean Sea Rules by
Robert Morgan. I talked to him often on the air
because he's such a superb writer, and in this particular book,
he takes the story of Paul's shipwreck, recorded in the
(00:20):
book of acts, and gives us ten principles of how
we push through the storm, learning to trust in God
and all that he has done for us. It's a
magnificent book. It's a short book, and in typical Robert
Morgan writing style, it is a powerful book. I strongly
recommend that you have a copy of The Mediterranean Sea Rules,
because trust me, every single one of us will find
(00:40):
ourselves on stormy seas at some point in our voyage
through life. As for your copy of the Mediterranean Sea
Rules by calling 877 Janet 58. That's 877 Janet 58
or go online to in the market with Janet Parshall.
Scroll to the bottom of the page. There's the book,
click it on, make Your Gift and we'll send you
a copy. My way of saying thank you because we
are listener supported radio. Your gifts keep this broadcast on
(01:03):
the air. By the way, if you'd like to give regularly,
you're called a partial partner. You give every single month
a level of your own choosing. You always get the
truth tool. But in addition, I'll send out a weekly
newsletter that only my partial partners get. It contains my
writing and a little audio piece as well. So pray
about it and thanks in advance. Just call 877 Janet
58 or online at In the Market with Janet Parshall.
(01:25):
Again the truth tool the Mediterranean Sea rules. Thanks so much.
And now please enjoy the broadcast. Hi friends. This is
Janet Parshall and I want to welcome you to the
best of in the market. Today's program is prerecorded so
our phone lines are not open. But I do hope
you'll enjoy today's edition of the Best of In the
(01:46):
Market with Janet Parshall.
S2 (01:48):
Here are some of the news headlines we're watching.
S3 (01:50):
The conference was over. The president won a pledge.
S4 (01:52):
Americans worshiping government over God.
S5 (01:55):
Extremely rare safety move moved by a mere 17 years.
S6 (01:58):
The Palestinians and Israelis negotiated.
S3 (02:01):
Divorce is not on the table.
S7 (02:17):
Her name is Margaret Hamilton. Here's a picture of her.
One of the movies that she played in was called
The Wizard of Oz, and she played the part of
the Wicked Witch of the West.
S8 (02:30):
Sometimes, Mr. Rogers, I'm a little unhappy because lots of
children are quite scared by her, and that always makes
me feel a little sad, because I don't think any
of us thought, you know, that it would be as
scary as sometimes it seems to be. But when you
understand her, when you realize it's just pretend and that
everybody can do it, you can do it.
S7 (02:50):
Would you try on a dress like the one you
had on? Yes.
S8 (02:54):
I'd love to. I think that would be fun.
S9 (02:57):
Look at here.
S8 (02:58):
Something to put things in. Even witches have to have pockets.
S7 (03:02):
It's helping me just to see you get into these things.
S8 (03:05):
Oh, I'm glad.
S7 (03:06):
To know that you're a real lady who got dressed
up to play this part. This is a real zipper
back here. Just like the zipper on my sweaters. There
it goes. There.
S8 (03:21):
Now let's see. Oh, there's your old friend, the Wicked
Witch of the West.
S7 (03:26):
How did you. How did she talk?
S8 (03:29):
Well, she talked like this. It's very nice to see you.
S1 (03:35):
Mr. Rogers. Just merely being a Christian at work. Welcome
to In the Market with Janet Parshall. And that's what
we're going to talk about. How the mission field isn't
over there. It's the ground between your two feet. And
so often we think that you have to be a, quote,
professional Christian, a pastor, a missionary, a leader. Somehow we
forget that every single one of us has been given
the title upon receiving Christ as our personal Lord and Savior.
(03:57):
Ambassador for Christ. And so we're going to talk about
some of those mere Christians this hour, and a wonderful
book that Jordan Rayner has just authored. He is a
leading voice of the faith and work movement, and he's
got podcasts, best selling books and devotionals. And vis a
vis all of those avenues, he's helped millions of Christians
throughout the globe connect the gospel to their work. So
(04:17):
his latest book is called Mere Christians hat tip to C.S.
Lewis in his book, of course, Mere Christianity, and the
subtitle says it all binge worthy biographies, and we'll get
to that binge worthy part in a minute that show
you how to glorify God in your work. And so
in this book, there are five individuals he showcases in
very fascinating biographies, the kind where you're going to pick
(04:38):
one up and read about one of these five Christians,
and you're going to want to read through all of
it until you go to the next section of the
book that sounds that helps us find another mere Christian.
But we start with Fred Rogers, by the way, because
he was exemplary in his understanding the innocence of children
desiring to preserve it. Kindness, community. And of course, if
you wanted to, for this one, it's a twofer, because
(04:59):
Margaret Hamilton was also very actively involved in her local
church as well. Jordan, it's a brilliant idea out of
the panoply of mere Christians who walked the planet and
bring their faith into the workplace. It had to be
an excruciating task to whittle this down to five.
S10 (05:14):
I have a spreadsheet of 137 backup names. This is
not an easy task.
S1 (05:20):
By any stretch. Well, tell me about Fred. Why? Almost
an easy pick, which is why I started with him.
S10 (05:25):
Uh, I just think I've never seen a more Jesus
like person live out their faith in the workplace. I mean,
I could tell dozens of stories to make that case.
I'll just tell one real quickly to frame up the conversation.
So in the 1980s, when Fred was at the height
of his fame, Mister Rogers Neighborhood was watched by 10%
(05:45):
of American children. There was this one child named Beth Usher.
This five year old with a one inch 10 million
brain disease who endured Janet, get this 100 seizures a
day until Mr. Rogers came on. And for two years,
that show delivered this miraculous 30 minute reprieve from Beth
suffering every single weekday. So one day, a bright young
(06:07):
surgeon named Doctor Ben Carson, a name our listeners are
probably familiar with, said he was going to need to
perform this surgery to remove half of this little girl's brain.
And so Beth's mom, Kathy, called Fred's office and requested
a signed photo of Mister Rogers for her daughter. And
so his secretary comes to Fred and he says, hey,
they want this picture. He's like, oh my gosh, no way.
We're doing one better than that. Secretary calls them on back, hey,
(06:29):
will you be home tonight at 7:00? Fred would like
to call and actually speak with Beth after a busy
day at the office. And right on time he did.
And in her family's kitchen, this five year old girl, Beth,
took the phone and heard this familiar voice on the line.
And for nearly I have a five year old. This
is hard. It's a hard story to tell For nearly
an hour. This girl talked to Fred about everything from
(06:50):
her fear of dying to her longing for friends. While
around the corner, her parents quietly listened with tears streaming
down their face. So after the surgery, Fred calls again
to see how this kid's doing. Uh. And he learns
that she had slipped into a coma. And so he
called every day for two weeks to check in on
this kid, until finally he hung up one day, turned
to his wife and said, I got to go to Baltimore.
(07:12):
So he calls Ben Carson, and he says, hey, I
want to come and visit this girl. One rule no press.
He shows up the next day and performs this quiet
puppet show for this girl, and leaves behind the puppets
and prays for her. And he left the puppets behind
for a gift for her to wake up, to which
she did. A couple weeks later and Janet, the first
time I read this story, with tears streaming down my
(07:33):
face like a five year old girl at a Starbucks, right?
I just kept thinking, who does this? What kind of
person has the capacity to love this one? Here's the answer.
Somebody who is so filled up with the love of
God that they can't help pour it out on others.
Fred spent so much, he accomplished more than any of
us will ever dream. And yet he spent more time
(07:54):
with his Heavenly Father than most of us ever dare. Why?
Because he deeply understood that his work was ministry, that
he was part of the royal priesthood. As Peter says,
all of us are called to, and he let that
faith infuse his work in radical ways, on and off camera,
for more than 30 years.
S1 (08:14):
Yes. If no one else takes anything away from this conversation,
the transcendence, the purpose for the book is really encapsulated
Jordan in what you just said, which is it isn't
an over there experience. It's a right here and a
right now. And the other thing that I love so
much about Mr. Rogers is that he was exactly the
same person in front of the camera as he was
away from the camera. He makes the declaration to Ben,
(08:35):
no press. So he wanted to do this just because
he wanted to show the love of Christ to this
little girl who was struggling. and he was faithful in
doing it. Nobody told him to do it. He wasn't
going to get any plaudits or praise or publicity out
of it. He was just living out authentic Christianity in
the workplace every minute of every day. Recognizing his role
(08:56):
as ambassador for Christ. The book is chock filled with
stories like this. That's just Mr. Rogers. Now, by the way,
I got to give you a fair warning. Jordan is
a superb writer. There's so much more in every one
of these biographies. There are five. I'm going to do
a flyover for all five, but you got to get
the book to read the rest of the story. Hat
tip to Paul Harvey. So do it, because it's a reminder.
You don't have to be a mr. Rogers, but you
(09:17):
are already an ambassador for Christ. So mix together your
faith and your work for his glory, for his name,
for his purposes. Back after this. When the storms of
(09:46):
life hit with hurricane force. How do you respond? This
month's truth tool is the Mediterranean Sea Rules, where Robert
Morgan writes how God will redeem our tragedies for his purposes.
Don't just survive the storms. Learn to serve God in
the midst of them. As for your copy of the
Mediterranean Sea Rules, when you give a gift of any
amount in the market, call 877. 58. That's 877 58
or go to in the market with Janet Parshall.
S11 (10:12):
Mr. chairman, and to the credentials committee. It was the
31st of August in 1962 that 18 of us traveled
26 miles to the county courthouse in Indianola to try
to register to become first class citizens. We was met
(10:34):
in Indianola by policemen.
S12 (10:38):
The president, Lyndon Johnson. He's not afraid of Martin Luther
King's testimony. He's afraid of Fannie Lou Hamer testimony. And
so he decides that the country should not see her
testify live.
S13 (10:54):
Johnson is in the white House, and he convened an
impromptu press conference.
S14 (10:59):
You will return to this scene in Atlantic City, but
now we switch to the white House and NBC's Robert Goralski. Now,
ladies and gentlemen, the president of the United States. On
this day, nine months ago.
S13 (11:13):
He did it knowing that they would break away, thinking
he might announce who his choice of vice president was
going to be. Instead, he gets up there and he announces,
get this. He announces that it's nine months to the
day since since Governor Connally, who was there, was shot
along with President Kennedy. So he announced a nine month anniversary.
(11:34):
Everybody's scratching their heads.
S14 (11:35):
Thank you very much.
S13 (11:37):
And then he leaves. And by that time, Fannie Lou
Hamer testimony was over. However, it backfired on Johnson because
it became a story that she had been taken off
television and in the news that night and for days afterwards,
they replayed her testimony.
S11 (11:59):
I was carried to the county jail and put in
the booking room. They left some of the people in
the booking room and began to place us in cells.
S12 (12:11):
She had Mississippi in her bones. Martin Luther King or
the snake field secretaries. They couldn't do what Fannie Lou
Hamer did. They couldn't be a sharecropper and express what
it meant. Right? And that's what Fannie Lou Hamer did.
S11 (12:35):
And it wasn't too long before three white men came
to my cell. One of these men was a state
highway patrol. He said, we're going to make you wish
you were dead.
S1 (12:46):
Fannie Lou Hamer for some people, you know exactly who
this woman was. Civil rights activist, but first and foremost,
an ambassador for Christ. Second of all, just a little
tease on her very important and powerful story. And one
of the five Christians Jordan Raynor writes about in his
newest book, Mere Christians binge worthy biographies that show you
how to glorify God in your work. Jordan, this is
(13:07):
a fascinating and very important part of American history for
President Johnson to be so afraid of the testimony of
Fannie Lou that he fakes this press conference so that
the press will cut away and came back to haunt him.
You know, a little something about presidential politics. You worked
for George W Bush. So, you know, watching how you
can play the media to your advantage. It's all part
of what comes in the white House. But here's this
(13:29):
precious civil rights activist from Mississippi telling her story out
of the overflow of the heart. The mouth speaks and boy,
she captivated the nation despite the best efforts of the
sitting president to stop her. Tell me more about her.
S10 (13:40):
This is an unbelievable true story. And here's what's crazy, Janet.
I have never met a black friend who doesn't know
Fannie Lou Hamer story, and I've never met a white
friend who does. Man, we got to be telling this
story in the church. So I love that segment you
guys just played. So the testimony she gave that day
to the 1964 DNC Credentials Committee shared how she was
(14:04):
unjustly imprisoned, brutally beaten by police, and shot at 16 times,
all for having the audacity to register to vote. An act,
of course, which was perfectly legal. To make a long
story short, that testimony that day when she came out,
nobody wanted to talk to Doctor King, who also testified
that day. They all crowded around Fannie Lou Hamer, and
(14:26):
eventually that testimony paved the way for protecting African Americans
right to vote in this country. So it's a super
dramatic made for TV story. But I would also I
would also argue it's a super relevant one to Christians
today because like all of these biographies, we're not just
telling their stories in the book I'm showing where here's
(14:46):
what this means for you. Here's how you can glorify
God in your own work today, as seen in the
life of Fred Rogers or Fannie Lou Hamer. And Hamer
specifically shows us, I think, how to glorify God by
doing justice without hating the unjust. Are she boldly confronted
injustice of her day? But unlike today, when so many
(15:07):
Christians are doing justice while canceling the unjust, she never
did that. She refused to hate. She refused to retaliate
against her enemies. Instead, she prayed for them. So, number one,
she shows us how to glorify God by doing justice
without hating the unjust. But number two, she also shows
us how to glorify God by trusting in God for
the results of our work while simultaneously hustling in that work. J.I.
(15:33):
Packer once said, quote, The Christian's motto should not be
let go and let God, but trust God and get going.
End quote. And Hamer embodied that at a deep level.
And then finally, number three, she shows us how to
glorify God by believing that God is creating an impact
through our work, even when that work appears to be
totally in vain. There were many times when Fannie Lou
(15:57):
Hamer thought that she had failed in her fight for
black voter rights, but over time, she was able to
look back and see how God was using all of
those supposed missteps, all of those supposed failures, all of
that oppression, all work she thought was in vain for
her glory and for his good. And by the way,
it's easy to talk about these heroes, Janet. Like Hamer,
(16:17):
like Rodgers and these others we're going to talk about,
think about, oh, that's nice, Fannie Lou Hamer, she was amazing.
Of course she could do that. Great stuff. Or Fred Rogers,
of course, he's a hero of the faith. He can
have that great impact. Don't forget this. The exact same
Holy Spirit that was working through Fannie Lou Hamer and
Fred Rogers to will and to act to to accomplish
(16:38):
God's good purposes. See, Philippians two is working through you
and me today the exact same Holy Spirit. And if
we can baptize our imaginations of what's possible when we
as mere Christians empty ourselves as vessels for God to
use in the workplace, the world can be a radically
different place.
S1 (16:57):
Yeah. Amen and amen. One of the things that I
so appreciate about her is that she really and truly
was unwavering. She didn't care how big the Giants were.
She served a bigger God and that she didn't have animus.
When you read about some of the things that were
done against her, like the Mississippi appendectomy that you write about.
Hint it has to do with being forcibly sterilized and
not being bitter and not being angry, even if your
(17:18):
dreams of having children had been dashed. That's authentic Christianity,
and she is one of the mere Christians, much more
than mere, by the way, that Jordan Raynor writes about
in his newest book, Mere Christians. We got more after this.
S15 (17:39):
The name that you need to get familiar with here
is Ole Kirk Christiansen. He was what we could easily say,
the father of Lego. But before that he was a
pretty well known carpenter. How well known exactly was Kirk's shop?
Offered carpentry work to customers from all over the area.
His shop made unique kind of furniture and as we
just said, they were quite famous. If someone wanted top
(18:01):
quality furniture, they had no choice but to visit this store.
His business went amazingly well for around ten years, after
which disaster struck and the shop caught fire. Rather than
being discouraged, Kirk made a decision to start another wood shop,
but this time his goal was to expand it. He
wanted to expand his business and also increase his customers
and get more jobs. The era we're talking about here
(18:24):
was the late 1920s. And you know what happened during
that time? The global financial crisis knocked on the door.
Like most other businessmen at the time, Kirk lost many
of his customers. As you can imagine, at some point
he ran out of big plans and decided, like any man,
to start small and ultimately make it big. He created
smaller models of the wood products he created as a
(18:44):
design aid. He made miniature versions of ironing boards, ladders,
and other household items. Kirk decided to start making toys
after seeing how adorable they were. Kirk began experimenting with
and creating wooden toys for children around 1932. These were
common toys such as trucks, cars, police vehicles, children's banks, etc.
(19:05):
after some time, he got back into the business of
making furniture, but he did not stop making these toys.
He held a public contest for employees to decide on
a company name, and most settled on the name Lego,
which means play well in Danish. After a while, employees
at the company that is now known as Lego, came
to know that the word Lego meant I assemble in Latin.
(19:26):
Another widely spoken language, Kirk liked this name so much
that he finally agreed to use it for all of
his products. So did Lego come before the actual Lego
toys were made? Pretty much yes.
S1 (19:39):
Ole Kirk Christiansen if you don't know Ole, then you
certainly know Legos. Just about every person within the sound
of my voice has either played with them themselves or
gifted them over and over and over again. Jordan Raynor
wisely chose Ole Kirk Christiansen as one of the mere
Christians he profiles in his newest book called Five Mere
Christians Binge worthy biographies that show you how to glorify
(20:00):
God in your work. Jordan. Absolutely fascinating person, by the way,
and I love biographies. My mom was one of those
brilliant people who gave us biographies as a child growing up,
Christian biographies so that we would have role models. And
so I love his story for so many reasons, not
the least of which is what a perfectly encapsulated picture
of God bringing beauty quite literally from ashes. If that
(20:23):
fire hadn't occurred, would he have started doing furniture but
preceded that by making miniatures of the furniture, which then
opened the door for making toys, which then opened the
door for Legos? So you see God going before us also.
I love the fact that, in typical Danish fashion, his
name was originally spelled with a k, but after he
became part of Christ's family of faith, he changed the
(20:45):
K to a C and took that name and that
spelling to his grave. Talk to me about that.
S10 (20:49):
Yeah. He did. I mean, everyone knows Lego. Nobody knows
this story. It's crazy. And I love that you love biographies, Janet,
but I think you and I are in the minority here. Right.
I think most people have a love hate relationship with
this genre because most biographies are way too long right there.
They're way too boring, and they're way too disconnected from
the busy lives of modern readers. And so my audacious
(21:12):
goal with telling Ole Story and Fred's story and Fannie
Lou Hamer story was to create biographies that were, number one,
mercifully short. Each of these can be read in under
an hour's number two binge worthy entertaining can compete with
Netflix and TikTok and whatever. And then number three. Profoundly helpful.
And to your point, man, oh Lake or Christiansen's story
(21:34):
has been profoundly helpful to me. You mentioned the fires.
I don't think Lego would have existed without fire number one,
two and three. The workshop burnt down three times. He
spent years on the brink of bankruptcy. Oh, yeah, and
then Nazi soldiers commandeered this guide's home. And as Nazis
were living in the first floor of his house, he
smuggles grenades to Allied forces in Lego boxes. Oh, yeah.
(21:58):
And then, in just a span of a few days,
this guy suffers the unimaginable loss of a child and
his wife. And yet. And here's what's helpful to me.
Janet Christiansen consistently joined his biblical counterpart job in saying,
the Lord gives, the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the
name of the Lord. He believed that God is doing
(22:19):
good to us even when it doesn't feel good to us.
And he persevered through those trials in faith. Right. I
mentioned that each of these biographies concludes with three ways
that we can glorify God in our own work today,
as seen in these stories. That's takeaway number one from Ola,
and I encourage readers and I'll encourage listeners right now, hey,
(22:39):
I don't know what your trial is right now at
work or at home. Maybe. Maybe you like Ola or
suffering the loss of a loved one, or you're suffering
debt or a failing business, or, I don't know, maybe
even a fire in your workshop. I would encourage you
to do three things. Number one, journal your lament to
God about those trials, right? Yes, work to consider it
pure joy when we face trials of many kinds. See
(23:00):
James one. But God also invites us to lament about
the thorns and thistles to fight back against us. See
Psalm 34 and you better believe Ola or Christianson did that.
Number two journal about how God has used your past
Trials for good. Ole was masterful at this, right? He
understood that hindsight is 2020. It's way easier to see
how God has used a past trial for good than
(23:22):
it is to see how he might use your current
trial for good. And then finally, number three, after reflecting
on God's faithfulness in the past, journal in faith that
God will keep his promise to use your current trials
for good, even when you don't see how.
S1 (23:38):
Yeah. Wow. And by reading. This is why I do
love biographies. And thank you for making them binge worthy.
And thank you for making them so entertaining, because I
think we grow by reading how God has worked in, for,
and through other people, and that there really is no
temptation common to man that he doesn't understand. There's nothing
new under the sun. So here is now this widow
(23:59):
who has to raise four sons, run this factory, and
he literally is able to say, in the midst of
all of this, thy will be done, Lord Jesus. You
will never look at a Lego block the same way again,
will you? That's why biographies are important. Jordan Raynor is
with us. We said five mere Christians. We've got two
more to tease you. And again, let me just say
for the record, Your Honor, a ton more on each
(24:20):
of these people in the book. We're just giving you
a flyover to make you not walk, but run and
get your copy of Mere Christians back after this. We
live in a culture that's infatuated with the latest fads,
but Ephesians 415 calls for us to be stable, no
longer infants, Paul said, tossed about by the waves and
(24:43):
carried about by every wind of teaching and in the market,
we're exposing current trends and finding our balance by standing
on the solid foundation of God's Word to get exclusive
behind the scenes information and benefits, become a partial partner.
Call 877 Janet 58 or go online to in the
market with Janet Parshall.
S16 (25:04):
There's never been anyone quite like Hannah Moore. Her books
were kept in the homes of presidents and peers of
the realm. They were a best selling phenomenon, and she
the most successful British author of the romantic period. More
successful financially than Sir Walter Scott and more than Jane Austen.
A gifted poet and playwright, Hannah More was, by her
(25:27):
early 30s, the toast of literary London. Samuel Johnson collaborated
with her in writing verse, and David Garrick, one of
the greatest Shakespearean actors in theatre history, was her mentor
and devoted patron. Hannah is a member of the bluestocking
circle of the late 1700s, was a pioneering artist and
celebrity throughout the English speaking world. She became a household
(25:51):
name in later years after her passing in 1833. Her
legacy lived on. C.S. Lewis knew her story and wrote
about it. Her good works. Born of faith as a
philanthropist and reformer, she was the cherished colleague of William Wilberforce.
Their friendship and endeavours were famous in their own right.
(26:12):
Together they were abolitionists, and together with Wilberforce backing Hannah,
more and her sisters created nine schools where there were
none and educated 1000 poor students a year for decades.
Her own charities were legion and supported by her great
royalties as a writer. Yet there were broken moments in
her life. She overcame tragedy and debilitating pain. She knew
(26:38):
what loss and failure were and learned the ways of
grace amid it all. And so, in a word, Hannah
Moore is one of the most fascinating figures in the
pages of history, and her faith was a benison for
the time in which she lived. Her life was illumined
by the sacred flame of Christian belief. It inspired books
that speak to us now with power and eloquence, charting
(27:01):
the reasons for hope, lending timeless words. It is our
privilege to know and return to.
S1 (27:09):
And kudos to Jordan Rayner for choosing Hannah More as
one of his five mere Christians he writes about in
his brand new book, These Are and his words, not mine.
And he's spot on, by the way, binge worthy biographies
that show you how to glorify God in your work. Jordan,
I have to tell you, you know, I smile here
in Washington, DC and you know this town full well,
(27:29):
but you have Women's History Month. How come Hannah Moore's
name is not up there? I want my friends to understand.
S10 (27:34):
I don't have time to unpack that.
S1 (27:35):
Seriously, seriously. And not only that, but she is in
the 1700s. You know, I think of all the female
writers that came after her up until the early 1900s,
who had to write under a pseudonym because they didn't
think they'd get published as a woman. She didn't do that.
She wrote in her own name. And when you drop
names like Garrick, the esteemed actor and Johnson, these are
(27:56):
her peers to say nothing of her relationship with Wilberforce.
I mean, God just pulled back the veil, opened the curtain,
and let her go so that her creativity could bring
honor and glory to the Lord. In a time when
women couldn't vote, couldn't own property, and if they were
going to write, they generally had to write under a
man's name to even get published. I mean, she is
a standout in history.
S10 (28:15):
She's unbelievable. And oh, by the way, not just a
woman in the 1700s, a single woman in the 1700s
who never married. Right. She had this fiance once, uh,
William Turner, uh, who called off the engagement four times.
Four times. And there's this great little poetic detail that
(28:36):
we share in the book that for the rest of
his life, William Turner and his first glass of wine
every night would toast. Hannah Moore is the one who
got away. And she was right, and I. I love
that you brought up William Wilberforce, because, listen, I'm sure
a lot of our listeners know the name William Wilberforce,
a member of the British Parliament who gets the vast
majority of credit today for abolishing the slave trade throughout
the British Empire. But Wilberforce is owned. Biographer Eric Metaxas
(29:00):
said that Wilberforce's success quote has everything to do with
Hannah More. End quote. Why? Because Wilberforce is brilliant, and
he understood that before legislators minds would change on the
issue of slavery, the British people's hearts had to change first.
Political changes never led by politicians. It's led by the
(29:23):
people and only followed by politicians and Hannah Moore's poems
and novels. Exposing the horrors of slavery to the people
are what changed culture at scale, paving the way for
Wilberforce's work in Parliament. And I love this little detail, Janet.
So great was Hannah Moore's contribution to the cause of
(29:44):
abolition that for years Christian missionaries would name nameless African girls,
orphaned African girls Hannah to honour this woman's role in
abolishing slavery. It's an unbelievable made for TV story, and
it shows us practically how to glorify God in our
own context here in the 21st century.
S1 (30:04):
Well, and so you talk about authentic Christianity and the
way she lived it out. You could say that if
she had just been a poetess and a playwright, she
could have shown her honor and glory to God just
through that. If she was an educator helping establish schools
for destitute children, that alone she could have been recognized for.
But then she works in the abolitionist movement, which, by
(30:25):
the way, let the record reflect. They abolished the slave
trade in the UK way in advance of what we
did here in the United States. You know that, because
you all know the Wilberforce story. So she's got this
triune influence, and any one of those would have been
a standout in a single person's life. But she moves
almost seamlessly between these three areas. Which raises an interesting
question how did she and I? It's probably in due
(30:47):
deference to the circles in which she moved. But what
was her heart? How did she get involved in the
idea of being an abolitionist? Because if we use Wilberforce's
story as a touch point on this. This was the
rest of his life. I mean, he dies before he
finally realizes it's been abolished in the UK. So it
was again talk about a woman who was willing to
take risks. This was a risky business for her to
(31:09):
get involved in. So how was she drawn into that?
S10 (31:12):
Oh, I love that you asked this question because it
points to a really important takeaway for our listeners today.
So Hannah was the toast of London. She she was
kind of quasi brought up in the church, but she
wasn't serious about Jesus. In fact, we have this great
quote from her journal when she was living the high
life in London. She says, quote, I read 4 or
5 hours every day, and we have a pretty agreeable,
(31:33):
laudable custom of getting tipsy twice a day, unquote, at
Buckingham Palace, by the way. But then Hannah Moore met
Jesus Christ, and everything began to change. And like so
many newborn Christians, Janet Hannah initially believed that following Jesus
meant retreating from her secular vocation as well as her
(31:55):
location in the big City of London. And so she actually,
for a while quit writing altogether. She bought a humble
cottage in rural England and withdrew from London entirely, and
her life slowed to this radically different pace as she
filled her days with gardening and exploring the English countryside
on horseback. And she probably would have stayed there forever
(32:17):
had it not been for Wilberforce. Right? So Wilberforce and
Hannah met on the English countryside. They had dinner one
night that lasted for 4 or 5 hours, and it
was Wilberforce who in part convinced Maud that following Jesus
does not mean retreating from the darkness of the world,
but engaging it. And he had a very specific proposal
(32:37):
to that end. He explained that he was a part
of this Christian community in London that was working to
abolish the slave trade in their lifetime, and he wanted
to know if Hannah would join them in the great cause.
And praise God. Hannah More said yes, and we already
talked about how they worked in tandem for decades to
do this. But here's the point for us today. So
she's one of the older stories in this book, but
(32:58):
I would argue it's one of the most relevant for
modern readers and listeners, because Hannah More points us to
this important truth we mere Christians will glorify God by
rejecting isolation from the world while embracing insulation from the world,
because Jesus, right before his death, pleaded with the father
(33:20):
on our behalf. My prayer is not that you take
them out of the world. As you sent me into
the world, I have sent them into the world. But Janet,
I know so many Christians today who are fighting against
Jesus's prayer. I know so many believers who only want
to work for Christian employers, send their kids to Christian schools,
consume exclusively Christian content. And to be clear, I have
(33:41):
nothing wrong with any one of those decisions. But in aggregate,
I think they point to a disturbing trend of retreat
and isolation from the world that stands in contrast to
the way of Jesus. And by God's grace, Hannah came
to reject that type of isolation. But not at first.
It took Wilberforce to convince her that, quote, mischief arises
(34:01):
not from our living in the world, but from the
world living in us. Amen.
S1 (34:07):
Wow.
S10 (34:08):
Wow. And it was that Christian community back in London,
that circle of Christian influencers like Wilberforce, that that served
as a jacket of sorts, right? Insulating her so that
she could brave the cold, brave the darkness of this
world for the glory of God and the good of others.
S1 (34:23):
Wow. You know, Jordan, I find it interesting and not
a surprise. I think there's a Sunday school lesson inherent
in this somewhere. That it was Wilberforce himself who struggled
with whether or not he should become a pastor, or
whether or not he should stay in Parliament. So the
very advice he ends up giving Hannah Moore is exactly
the quagmire he had to get out of himself. Now,
thanks be to God. He listened to the counsel of
(34:45):
those who said, you can glorify God in Parliament. Ta da!
The essence of what you do. the intersection of faith
and work. And I'm sure it would have been a
wonderful pastor, but British history would have been radically rewritten
if Wilberforce had retreated and decided to insulate. Not that
there's anything wrong with being a pastor, but God gifted
him and gave him a voice, gave him the gravitas,
the ethos, as well as the pathos to serve in
(35:06):
Parliament and then to work toward a standard of righteousness, i.e.
the eradication of the slave trade in the UK. He
then turns around and offers that same counsel to Hannah More,
which tells me that it wasn't an academic decision. This
was deep within the chambers of his heart, and that's
why he gave that advice appropriately to Hannah so freely,
I think.
S10 (35:24):
I think so, too. And it's John Newton who wrote
amazing Grace that actually gave Wilberforce that advice to go
back to Parliament. It's John Newton was basically just preaching
out of First Corinthians. I think it's chapter 11 or
7 where Paul says, no, no, no, you're following Jesus.
Now stay in the position you were in when you
were called. And that's a message for us today. You
don't have to leave your job to glorify God. Stay
(35:45):
where you are and change your relationship to the work.
S1 (35:48):
You can tell that's fire in Jordan's bones. That's really
his thing. And he's so spot on about that. That's
why this program is called In the Marketplace. I'm not
asking you to circumnavigate it or visit one time and
back off. We're trying to train you to get out
there in the marketplace of ideas, so you can influence
and occupy and let your light so shine before men.
All the people that Jordan writes about in his newest book,
(36:09):
Mere Christians, did that. And history was changed as a result.
This little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine.
That's what it's all about. Not retreating, but illuminating for
the cause of the cross. We've got one more Christian
that he writes about you. Guess who it is. We'll
talk about it after this.
S17 (36:35):
In these talks, I've had to say a good deal
about prayer. And before going on to my main subject tonight,
I'd like to deal with a difficulty some people find
about the whole idea of prayer. Somebody put it to
me by saying, I can believe in God, all right.
But what I can't swallow is this idea of him
(36:56):
listening to several hundred million human beings who are all
addressing him at the same moment. And I find quite
a lot of people feel that difficulty. Well, the first
thing to notice is that the whole sting of it
comes in the words at the same moment. Most of
us can imagine a God attending to any number of claimants,
(37:20):
if only they come one by one. And he has
an endless time to do it in. So what's really
at the back of the difficulty is this idea of
God having to fit too many things into one moment
of time. Well, that, of course, is what happened to us.
(37:41):
Our life comes to us moment by moment. One moment
disappears before the next comes along. And there's room for
precious little in each. That's what time is like. And
of course, you and I tend to take it for
granted that this time series, this arrangement of past, present
(38:05):
and future isn't simply the way life comes to us,
but is the way all things really exist. We tend
to assume that the whole universe and God himself are
always moving on from a past to a future, just
(38:26):
as we are. But many learned men don't agree with that.
I think it was the theologians who first started the
idea that some things are not in time at all. Later,
the philosophers took it over, and now some of the
scientists are doing the same. Almost certainly God is not
(38:50):
in time. His life doesn't consist of moments following one another.
If a million people are praying to him at 1030 tonight,
he hasn't got to listen to them all in that
one little snippet, which we call 1030. 1038 and every
(39:15):
other moment from the beginning to the end of the
world is always the present for him.
S1 (39:23):
Not bad for a former atheist, that is. C.S. Lewis now,
so many of his books, by the way, emanate out
of his series of radio broadcasts. Mere Christianity is a
perfect example of that. But again, a fascinating man who is,
as he said in his own words, God's most reluctant convert.
It's one of the mere Christians that Jordan Raynor writes
about in his brand new book called Five Mere Christians,
(39:46):
and how appropriate that we end with C.S. Lewis again
emanating hat tip to the title of the book Mere Christianity.
But the subtitle says it all. Binge worthy biographers that
show you how to glorify God in your work. Again,
I am so very, very grateful that so many of
his radio addresses are preserved forever so we can hear
his real voice and to hear his real heart as well,
(40:06):
and to challenge Christians to think bigger about God and
deeper about His Word. You know, Jordan, it would be
remiss not to have included him. But at this point,
a lot of people might say, oh, we know everything
there is to know about C.S. Lewis. Well, you did
your homework. What did you learn about him writing your
part of the book on C.S. Lewis that you didn't
know before?
S10 (40:24):
Oh, in my experience, Janet, many people know Lewis's work.
Very few people know the story. Lewis was functionally orphaned
by the age of nine, even though his dad lived
for many more years. He spent his college years as
a drunk Sadomasochist fought in World War One, then comes
back and, most biographers agree, spends much of his 20s
(40:46):
having an affair with his dead best friend's mom. And
we don't know these parts of the story, and I
would argue that's a shame, because when we hear these
parts of the story, Christ gets greater glory that he
redeemed that guy, that guy that found that was trying
to find joy in all of those places. Christ gets
so much greater glory when we hear that part of
(41:07):
the story. And it also reminds us that mere Christians
like Lewis. Lewis was not a religious professional. He was
an English tutor at Oxford, and I would argue that's
exactly why he was chosen to defend Christianity to the
British people in the midst of World War Two. And
I don't have to make that argument. Lewis himself made
(41:29):
that argument when he was asked why he thought the
BBC had selected him to give this religious talk. He said, quote,
I think the BBC asked me chiefly for two reasons. Firstly,
because I am a layman, not a clergyman, or in
my own words, a mere Christian. And secondly, because I
had been a non-Christian for so many years. End quote.
(41:52):
And I think he's exactly right, Janet. That's why his
message in those radio broadcasts resonated with so many people.
He sounded like a trusted friend to so many people
because he was them in so many ways. And this
is so contrary to the messages that we hear in
a lot of our churches. I grew up in this
church culture that assumed that the best way to make
(42:13):
disciples of all nations was for Christians to leave their location,
to leave their vocation and service full time missionaries overseas.
But Lewis's example and much of church history tells us
a very different story. Tim Keller was on my podcast
a couple months before he died. He said Jordan 80%
of evangelism in the early church, the church. The first
three centuries when Christianity exploded around the world was done
(42:37):
not by ministers and professional evangelists, but by tentmakers, shepherds
and merchants. It has always been mere Christians in the
marketplace who have done the most for the Great Commission,
and experts say that will continue. In a world where
the fastest growing religious affiliation is no religious affiliation believer,
(42:59):
your non-Christian friends are less likely than ever to step
inside of a church to learn about Christ for the
first time. So where will they hear the good news
in the marketplace? Amen.
S1 (43:08):
Amen and amen. Last 30s Jordan. In an hour. That's
gone far too quickly. But my fervent hope is that
my friends will now get a copy of Mere Christians
and read more in depth of the five Christians that
Jordan has chosen. And by the way, he's got a
list of over 100. So I hope and believe there'll
be another book down the road apiece, and you actually
have a chance to go to his website and vote
(43:28):
on the list and see who you'd like to see
in that next book. but my last 30s Jordan. And
that is what, what what do we need to do
to get out in the marketplace? A lot of people
would say, you don't know my job. You don't know
my boss. I can't bring any kind of an influence.
I just duck and cover, bring home my bread and
that's the end of it. Give them a pep talk
to get out there.
S10 (43:45):
The Holy Spirit is living inside of you. And so
the only thing you need to do to turn that
secular workplace sacred is walk through the front door or
log on to zoom.
S3 (43:54):
Yeah.
S1 (43:56):
That's it. Well said Jordan, thank you. The book again.
Mere Christians binge worthy biographies that show you how to
glorify God in your work. These were not extraordinary people.
These were people who served an extraordinary God and said, yes,
now you and I have that same opportunity to go
out and influence and occupy until he comes. I'll tell
(44:16):
you what I love the fact that Jordan referenced John 17.
He doesn't want us out of the world. He wants
us to be sanctified with his truth. Now get out there. Thanks, Jordan. Thanks, friends.
We'll see you next time.
S18 (44:28):
Retractable claws up to 1.5in long, capable of jumping 36ft.
A roar that can be heard five miles away. The
lion King of the beasts. Picture yourself surrounded by several.
Like Daniel, he determined to prey, though he knew he
(44:48):
would pay. Are we willing to face the lions of
our culture? Be a Daniel. A challenge for Moody Radio.
S19 (44:58):
How long have you been a part of the Moody
Radio family?
S20 (45:01):
Well, I've been listening to Moody since 1993. And, I mean,
I get up with Woody, I go to bed with Moody,
and it just. It's been a blessing in my life
for all these years. They teach him and they worship.
And Moody is a station that is really rooted in
the Word of God. In the series about who is God.
S19 (45:20):
Serious about God? That's us. And we're seriously grateful for
listeners like you.
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