June 3, 2025 • 43 mins
Today, on Karl and Crew, we started our week off with a testimony from Super Di. She shared how Jesus took the weight of her trauma and pain and freed her from the heavy burden of anger. When we repent and turn from our sins, Jesus relieves us and guides us to freedom from bondage. We also had Dr. Jim Coakley join us to share about the Today in the Word he wrote based on animals. Dr. Coakley is a professor at Moody Bible Institute in the Bible and Theology department. He is also an elder at 180 Chicago and a member of the Evangelical Theological Society. He also wrote Today in the Word for June, focusing on Animals and the Bible. You can hear the highlights of today’s program on the Karl and Crew Showcast.
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S1 (00:00):
Coming to you from the Morning Star Mission sponsored studio.
This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
S2 (00:08):
In the Spirit of God is here right now at
work in many of your hearts. It's an awesome thing.
Spirit of God convicts. The Spirit of God comforts when
we've been transformed by the power of God. He directs.
We want to get anchored in what the Spirit of
God is up to. Just go to John 14, John 16,
Romans eight. Do a deep dive on the power of
the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God is on
(00:30):
the move. Yesterday we had an interesting day. Phenomenal day
at 180 Chicago. I pastor a church in downtown Chicago.
We have two campuses here in Chicago. I was downtown
preaching yesterday. So many young people at this campus. It's
unbelievable guys. Absolutely unbelievable. So we had 40 come away
after the service that are young adults. So they're all
(00:54):
in their 20s, a couple in their 30s, but they're
all young. A couple of them were married and we were.
We were talking about the stuff of life and love
and intimacy. And my bride told me going in. She said, bub,
make sure you share the gospel. I'm like, I'm with you, babe.
I love having my bride, man. She's. We were riding
shotgun yesterday and it was so sweet to be teamed
(01:16):
up together in ministry. And she was right. And I
should never be surprised by this. But I had the
privilege of watching two guys surrender their lives to Jesus
Christ yesterday at that gathering of 40. Praise God. Yeah.
Isn't that sweet? One of them was a pastor's kid,
and he just came up to me and he said,
(01:37):
I've never fully surrendered my life to Jesus Christ, man.
He says, I'm in a campus ministry. I'm in this.
I'm in that. And I said, today is your day,
isn't it? He said, today is the day, Carl. And
I said, listen, this is awesome. And when we got
done praying, I said, what are you feeling? He says, man,
like a load of bricks is off me. I said,
(01:59):
I want you to tell your mom and dad they're
going to cheer for you. You can get a little
bit wiggy. You're going to hear Young Thunder's story on
this this week because we're talking stories of salvation. But
he was sweet. I said, you tell your mom and dad,
you got to tell your you got to tell those
that are close to you in your life and let
them know what Jesus has done. So I can't wait
(02:20):
for that report back. But it is so easy to
slip through the cracks, so to speak, in our Christian
culture today. And there's so many different ways to slip
through the cracks. I mean, you can be the prodigal
that's being crazy. You can be the prodigal who's jumping
through hoops and you can be super die. It's easy
(02:42):
to slip through the cracks, isn't it? Super die.
S3 (02:44):
Very, very easy to slip through. And Satan just loves it.
S2 (02:48):
Yeah, he loves it. He's laughing all the way to
the dark bank. Tell your story, sister. We want to
hear it.
S3 (02:55):
You got it. Um, basically, I, I grew up in
a very dysfunctional situation. Very dysfunctional family. Went through a
lot of abuse, physical, sexual, emotional, mental. And a lot
of it was done by the hands of people that
I thought were my safe people. They should have loved me.
(03:19):
They should have protected me. And it was not only
by their hands, but also people that surrounded me because
of them. And when I would try to say something,
I was either told I was lying or what did
I do wrong? I brought it upon myself. Or also.
S2 (03:37):
That's a brutal accusation.
S3 (03:39):
That's a very brutal accusation. But this one's even better.
Don't do anything to disrupt this relationship for me. Don't
ruin this for me. So just shut up and deal
with it basically is what that is saying to me,
especially as a child. Um, so yeah, very dysfunctional. So
a lot of stuff's going on in my brain and
in my heart of my value and who I was
(04:02):
and continued for quite a while. The emotional mental continued
for a long time, even through high school. So I'm
packing away and headed out to college and going to college. But, uh,
as I look back, I realize, yeah, I packed up
and went to college, but I also packed up all
that junk. I took it with me. Yeah. And a
lot of that anger, confusion, pain. Because again, like I said,
(04:25):
these are people that were supposed to be safe and
loved me. So if they weren't loving me and safe
for me, then where's God in all this? So my
anger extended even to God. Thanks a lot for this.
You didn't protect me. You didn't help me. Where are you?
Where are you? So that just festered and festered and
festered within me. And it continued to fester and fester
(04:48):
even into adulthood. I just made a lot of wrong decisions.
A lot of my personality. I became rather snarky. People
were a commodity. I mean, if I wasn't important, you know,
I didn't want to get married. I wouldn't have kids.
Kids were a problem. Kids were in the way. Kids
kept you from dreaming and living, you know? So why
would I want that?
S2 (05:04):
No one's important.
S3 (05:05):
Exactly. You know, why would I want that? And to
understand who God was. I mean, I, growing up younger
within the church, I mean, I knew who God there was.
There was a God. I knew who God was. There
was Jesus, his son. He died on the cross. We
had Easter. We cracked red eggs, you know, that kind
of situation. But there was no relationship. And I certainly
(05:27):
wasn't a situation where, going through all this, I could
go to Jesus because you didn't go to Jesus. There
was a flow chart. You don't bother Jesus. You go
to the priest, you go to the adults, you go
to a teacher, you go to a parent. But all
of these people were unsafe to me, so why would
I go to them? You know, so that didn't help
me either. And as far as the word of God,
(05:49):
may be ministering to me and breathing life into me.
That wasn't an option either, because the Bible. Yes, it
was sacred. It was the Word of God. But it
sat on a end table and it got dusted once
in a while. So that was the situation. So I
really didn't know where to go except for myself. And
that was not the good choice. But yeah, I went
(06:10):
for myself and my decisions and my thinking and where
I was going and what I was doing. Get out
of college. Again, the personality, the snarkiness, the the self, self,
self all the way and just vindictive like anybody who
wronged me. Boom! They got my revenge. I did not
have time for you. You got my revenge. Because I
(06:31):
wasn't going to let it happen to me again. That
kind of thing. No way. I wasn't going to let
it ride. There wasn't an ounce of forgiveness if you
wronged me. Or at least I thought I was being wronged.
Let's put it that way, too. Yeah, but here we go.
One night I'm working in the John Hancock building. It
was the job. Beautiful gig, I'm telling you. We were
(06:51):
on the observatory level. Was the offices of this of
this job. And I'm working an overnight shift on the
94th floor of the John Hancock Building. And I took
the Bible and I thought, okay, God, I'm going to
give you one more chance. I'm going to give God
one more chance. What am I thinking? Duh. But I'm
going to give God one more chance. So I'm reading
the Bible, and one night I go through Matthew, just
(07:12):
kind of reintroducing myself to Jesus a little bit. And
then I go into Luke, and then I go into
Romans one. Oh, that always just takes my breath away. Romans, Romans, Romans,
it spoke to me all the way through. God used
Romans to just strike my heart. Romans 839 especially that
(07:34):
there's nothing, nothing that can separate me from the love
of God. Because you have to understand, love was conditional.
Love came with a price, and love can be taken.
But not in Romans, Not in the gospel. No, not
God's love, not the love of Christ. That's why he
was on the cross. It wasn't conditional. It was unconditional.
(07:57):
And that just took me away. And I literally fell
to my knees hard. I fell to my knees, arms up.
I am bawling, I am crying, I'm like, God, I
am so sorry. I my took out everything the wrong way.
I am a sinner. I am a mess, I'm a mess.
(08:21):
The checklist was long. I am so tired of doing
this on my own. I don't know what I was thinking.
I'm on this, you know, hamster wheel trying to figure
things out. And no, I turn to you. I'm turning around.
I'm turning to you. And I just sobbed and my
hands are up and I'm going through this and I'm
(08:44):
just praying and sobbing and praying and sobbing and asking
for forgiveness and asking him to take over my life.
I'm giving myself to him. And I really, physically felt
like all that festering, all that back trauma, hate, whatever revenge.
It was. A backpack of cement, I always call it,
(09:06):
literally fell off of me, I felt lighter. I'm a swimmer.
I felt like I had come up and I had air.
I could just breathe and a warmth came over me.
I will never, ever forget that moment, and I, I,
I just gave my life to Christ.
S2 (09:28):
You know, I'm going to I'm going to tell you
something here. This is something that is, uh, I love
doing this when you hear stories. So I've never done this,
but I'm going to do it right now for you.
Somebody's never done this for you. It's one thing to
hear a story. It's another thing to hear it confirmed
by someone who's close to him. Somebody is imperfect, but
(09:50):
radically transformed by Jesus. Everything that she was before her
surrender to Christ has been changed. This is the beauty
of the power of the gospel, the goodness of God,
the grace of God. When she turned to Jesus, he
turned her around. The gospel changes everything. Now she's a dancer.
(10:15):
She's a lover of people. She believes the best. She
extends mercy. It's all God, isn't it? Super.
S3 (10:24):
It's only and only. Only and always God. And I
just want to say, you know, it becomes to where
if you have gone through this type of heaviness and
maybe some of you even more, you are not a victim.
Don't believe the lies of Satan. He wants you to
feel that you're a victim. He wants you. He wants
(10:45):
to keep a foothold on you. He wants to fill
you with shame so you don't tell your story. You
are not a victim. You are a victor in Christ.
Tell your story.
S2 (10:54):
Yeah.
S3 (10:55):
Witness. Be a testimony to it. And I'm telling you.
Romans 839. You are so, so loved. God does not
want you to stay in your past. He does not
want you there. He has so much purpose for you.
And I want you to know and believe that today.
S2 (11:11):
Yeah. The light yoke that somebody talks about is promised
by Jesus himself. And some of you want that. But
before even Jesus spoke of the light yoke, he had
something really tough to say. And he has to say
it to you and we'll give that to you. Coming up.
S1 (11:27):
Romans eight brought her to Jesus while broadcasting traffic overnight.
Super dei is in the crew. It's colonel and crew
on Moody Radio. Video.
S2 (11:37):
It's awesome. When you hear a story, you have new appreciation.
Your your heart actually goes out and goes, yeah, I
want to hug you right now. And the amazing thing
about Super Di is that she's a she's a hugger.
She's a dancer. She's a believer in people. I through
(11:58):
the dancer thing in there for you. Super. Thank you.
Not necessarily a spiritual gift, but boy, we sure appreciate it.
She believes in people. She loves victory stories. She has compassion.
But she didn't always have that. No sexual abuse. Verbal abuse.
I thank you so much for sharing your story. Super di.
But it brings this. It brings this moment for us
(12:22):
here that are two radically, almost feels like two radically
different themes, but they're absolutely the same. And they're found
in Matthew 11. I want to begin with one of
the coolest things here are might get choked up. Come
to me. All who labor and are heavy laden. And
I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon me,
(12:45):
Jesus said, and learn from me, for I am gentle
and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for
your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden
is light. I want to speak to you, my friend.
You just heard my story, and we know that there's
many thousands listening right now who have been burdened down
with the weight of all kinds of injustice and pain
(13:08):
in this broken and fallen world. That's real. Right? Let's
just sit there for a second. That's real, isn't it, Ali?
S4 (13:14):
It. Absolutely. And maybe you just don't talk about it.
That's you. It's part of your story. But like I said,
you just. You've buried it and you just don't talk
about it.
S2 (13:27):
Yeah. The crazy thing is that on the polar extreme
of this thing, And the very words that Jesus said
right before, come to me, all who are weary and
heavy laden. Was he. He said these words. He began
to denounce the cities where most of his mighty works
had been done, because they did not repent. Now, the
(13:51):
word repentance isn't an angry word. It's a sweet word.
It's what somebody heard on the 92nd floor of the
John Hancock building. Yeah, yeah. She heard turn around. Super die. Yes.
Because here's two things exist. Both. We have been hurt
in this broken and fallen world, and we hurt people.
(14:13):
And apart from the grace and power of God, we're
going to stew in our anger, in our rage, in
our disappointment, in our shame. And Jesus went on to say,
woe to you, Bethsaida and Chorazin. For if the mighty
works I did in front of you had been done
in Tyre and Sidon. That's modern day Beirut, Lebanon, by
(14:35):
the way, guys, they would have repented long ago in
sackcloth and ashes. Here's the point. The point is repentance
in our heart for you this week, as you hear
our stories, is that you not be a person that
stays in kind of the hamster wheel of the pain
of your past, but that you own the pain of
(14:58):
your own sin and walk in freedom. Both coexist. Isn't
that wild, guys? He says, woe to you, Chorazin. Woe
to you, Bethsaida! And here's the point. You've got to
have a touchpoint with somebody on two things one, the
weight of the pain that she had from childhood all
the way up through her tweens, even into her teens
(15:20):
with abuse and neglect, and at the same time own
the fact that, as somebody testified, Inside. There are things
that we've done that has sinned against God and others,
and we need a Savior. Both coexist. Isn't that amazing?
That's the beauty of the gospel, guys. That's the beauty.
God sees it all. So he says, come to me,
(15:45):
to you today. You're wearing a heavy yoke. I get it,
Jesus says, but he also says, come to me, repent
and turn around of your own sins. Both are there.
And you've heard my story, and you've heard stories of grace,
possibly before. And according to Jesus's words, it'll be better
(16:10):
for those that have not heard the story of grace
on the Day of Judgment, than for those that have
heard and have not yet repented. I'm not saying that
to scare you. I'm saying that because I love you.
This is the gospel. And I've often wondered, and I've
actually had an opportunity to warn many people that being
(16:31):
exposed to the grace of God is a beautiful thing
for those who repent, but it's a very scary thing
for those who don't. And my heart goes out to
you today. I want for you to experience new life
in Jesus Christ. I want you to come to the
one who can take the weight off your shoulders, and
you can say to him, I'm heavy laden. And I
(16:55):
also want for you to repent of your sins, because
that's how the weight gets lifted. You know what comes
first in the storyline in Matthew 11 is the warning
to those who don't repent. But what comes second is
the come to me now, all of you who are
weary and heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. And
you might be saying, well, what does this look like? Well,
(17:17):
there's one key word I want to focus on here,
and it's the word repent. And it's a beautiful word.
It's what somebody did when she fell to her knees.
She repented of her sin and found freedom from the
sins of others. That's beautiful. And I just invite you
right now in the quietness of this moment, because God's
quietly speaking into your heart. Please, friend, don't carry that
(17:38):
weight alone anymore. The weight of what others have done,
nor the weight of your own sin. Today you can
give it to God. Repentance means to turn around. It's
the most loving word going on this broad path that
leads to destruction. There are many substitute gods, and maybe
your substitute god has been vengeance or bitterness. Your substitute
God has been shame. And I want you to know
(18:00):
Jesus wants to free you from that today 100%. He
wants to give you total and complete freedom. And I
appeal to you, friend. Don't wait till the day of judgment.
Today is the day to repent and to give your
life fully to Jesus Christ. It's so much more than
being raised with a good book on a nightstand. So
(18:22):
much more than going to church. It's falling to your
knees and finding the one who loved you so much
that he sent his son to die for you, so
that you will not perish, but you will have everlasting life.
And I'm asking you to put yourself in the arms
of God today for the first time in your life.
I'm absolutely confident that the Holy Spirit is convicting. The
(18:45):
Holy Spirit is comforting, and the Holy Spirit is calling
this morning. And I'm asking you to surrender to Jesus today.
I want you to just pray along with me. It's
a cry of the soul. It's a cry of faith.
But today is your day of salvation, friend. Today is
your day. Today is the day when you are no
longer going to be carrying around this weight, and you
(19:07):
are no longer going to go your own way to
sort it out. You're going to repent and follow Jesus.
So just cry out to God and see Jesus today,
I believe. I believe you want to free me from
the weight that I'm carrying. And I believe you want
to free me from my own sin in my life.
And today I repent. Today I turn around. Today I
(19:31):
follow Jesus. Today I speak the truth that you came
into this world because you love me, and you died
for me, for my sin and the sin of the world.
And today I confess that I'm a sinner and I
need a Savior, and I'm tired, and I'm asking you
(19:54):
to carry this weight that I've been carrying for so long.
Take it off my shoulders, Jesus. Today I give you
my life completely. Today I am a Jesus follower. And
I give you my life completely. There are many of
(20:17):
you right now who are surrendering your life to Jesus
Christ for the first time. And we want to help you.
We've got a link. I want you to get your
phone because we want to help you today. And we're
going to auto respond to one word that you're going
to text us. And when you text this word, you're
going to have a little tool in your hand that's
(20:38):
going to show you how to find people who are
going to help you. It's going to show you where
you can find a Bible that will be a guide
for you moving forward if you don't already have one,
and it will will have a little link in there
that we're going to be able to send you via mail,
some resources that are going to help you live now
(20:58):
in this power that set you free from your sin.
So it's really simple. Just text the word new right
now to 805 five, five, 78, 98. Wherever you are,
just text in that word because whom the son sets
free is free indeed. When somebody got up off her
(21:19):
face and off of her knees. Everything was new, right?
Super die.
S3 (21:24):
Everything was new. It was amazing. And. Yes, exactly. That
backpack of cement came off. I came up for air,
and I just physically felt the warmth of God's love.
S2 (21:38):
Tex knew right now, if today is your day of salvation,
just text the word new to 800 555, 7898. You
were surprised by the spirit this morning, and we're going
to shout out in just a moment the last four
numbers of your telephone number. We're blowing through some of
our natural stops here. But that's okay, isn't it?
S4 (22:01):
It's totally okay.
S2 (22:04):
Just text the word new right now, wherever you are,
to 805 five, five, 78, 98. If today is your day,
where God is freeing you from a yoke of slavery.
Just text the word new to 800 555 7898. Let's
take time here, Ali, before we even spin a song here,
let's shout out the last four numbers of those who
(22:25):
are surrendering to Jesus today.
S4 (22:27):
Yeah, those of you texting new, I want to read
out the last four digits of your number. 2024 0550.
Welcome to the family. 3208 79. 40. 43. 48. 49. 70. 37. 40. 82,
49 and 68. 18. Welcome to the family.
S2 (22:46):
Amazing. Welcome to the family. God is making all things
new for you. Continue to text as you feel led.
We're here for you. There's no time. Stop on this text.
New to 800 555 7898.
S1 (23:02):
A basketball mom who's mastered the dad joke. Ali is
in the crew. It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
S2 (23:10):
Oh my goodness. Super di Diana Berriman, uh, a colleague, friend,
dear one that we love so much. One of the
team here just poured out her heart about her story.
God's redemption, his grace, his power, his ability to take
a concrete backpack and throw it off of you. Super di.
S3 (23:27):
Absolutely.
S2 (23:28):
And look what God's doing, kiddo. Look what God's doing.
He's saving people out of the shadows of darkness and
bringing them into the light. And we've invited so many
of you to repent today and to turn around and
give your life to Jesus. And we know that there's
without a doubt, there's many of you wiping up tears.
Tears are a good thing. I've found that, uh, real
(23:49):
men cry, real men cry, real women cry. And it's okay.
But the tears of salvation are a tear of shame
draining out of you and joy pouring in. And Ali,
we've had so many surrender to Jesus today. We've called
out a ton of numbers here, but let's just affirm
some more.
S4 (24:06):
I've got some more welcomes. This is last four digits
of your phone number. I want to welcome you to
the family. 6056379 40 1178 3500. I want to welcome
to the family. 6360 903, 43, 24, 68, 47, 74, 17, 53, 55, 65.
(24:30):
Welcome to the family 09110.
S2 (24:33):
That's so good. And I think 1178 came in as well. And, uh,
way to go. Way to go. You know, it's an
awesome thing, uh, for us to be able to come
to you with the hope of the gospel. And I
just want to speak to this one thing that happened
here just now. I think there's a lot of people
that have, um, in an attempt to reach people, sometimes
(24:57):
we lower the bar of what salvation is. But one
of the most one of the most abused and misunderstood
words that we find and we've heard is the word repent.
But it's the most beautiful word. Jesus never said it,
banging on a piece of wood, yelling at people. He
said repentance like turn around. He told his first disciples,
(25:20):
follow me. Turn around. Let's go. And we find in
Matthew chapter 11. It's time to repent. It's time to
turn around from the broad path that leads to destruction,
onto this narrow path that leads to life. And Jesus
is clear if you are going to find it. But
there are many of you today that are among the few,
and we want to welcome you to the family from
(25:41):
the bottom of our heart. Use that link that we
sent you. We're here to help you not only step
into this new relationship with Christ, but then to grow
in him. And one of the big sticking points of
growing in our relationship with God is that we have
to wade through the morass of a cultural Christianity and
boil it all right, down to living in God's power
(26:03):
and not bootstrapping this faith. Speak to that alley.
S4 (26:06):
Well, you know, it's it's pretty common in Western culture
to have some sort of a religious background. I mean, many,
many people do. And sometimes it's linked to cultural. Sometimes
it's linked to your origin, your family dynamic. And so
you might have a religious understanding. And so I think
(26:27):
sometimes that really muddies the water because you, it's, it's
rare to meet somebody who's never heard the name of
Jesus here in this country. Yeah.
S2 (26:36):
It doesn't it.
S4 (26:37):
Doesn't often happen. Most people have heard the name of Jesus,
and most people have some sort of already preconceived idea
about what it means to be a Christian.
S2 (26:49):
Yeah. And my contention is, though, that we live among
a lot of those people that have some vague idea.
I am absolutely convinced we live among a vast millions
and millions of people in America that have never had
a fair shot of the good news of Jesus.
S4 (27:04):
And I think the difference between, like maybe going to
being a missionary to an unreached people group in some
place where they've never heard the name of Jesus is here.
You're having to wade through a lot of kind of
undo some wrong teaching. I will never forget the person
who said one of the reasons why they enjoyed the
show is because growing up, they got bad information about
(27:26):
the gospel.
S2 (27:26):
That was a classic call.
S4 (27:27):
And and I thought that for now, for years now
is captured. What I think happens to a lot of us,
you get bad information about the gospel. So it's not
that you've never heard the name of Jesus, it's that
you've never actually heard the gospel of what it means
to be saved and what it really means to follow him.
S2 (27:43):
Yeah, yeah. It's so true, Ali. And we're breaking. We're
seeing breakthrough with the cultural Christianity that's cloaked so many
of us. And we're going to be talking about this
all week long. And you know, there's some of you
that wonder right now. Where do I stand with God.
(28:04):
Where do I stand with God? And that's a fair question.
I mean, wanting to know you stand with God and
that he stands with you is huge. And one of
the things that we want to do is have this
juxtaposition of giving the clear gospel of who Jesus is
and how he wants to transform you and walk you
(28:26):
into that very abundance that Jesus spoke of. And the
amazing thing is, is that we don't. We don't actually
reach anyone. The Holy Spirit uses words to regenerate your soul.
And that's that's a powerful thing. You know what? I
feel prompted that I want to give a resource because
(28:48):
there were there was some time ago when I felt like,
oh my goodness, people need to know and measure where
they stand with God. Let's let's do this right now. Ali,
this resource has been used by tens of thousands of
people and there's many. They're going to want this today.
S4 (29:04):
It's very it's pretty short. It's readable. It's right from
the Word of God. It's our standard resource. It's nine
ways to know you stand with God. He stands with you.
Just text the word stand to 855 five 7898. Text
stand to 800 555 7898. We'll send it right to
your phone.
S2 (29:25):
Yeah. That's great. What an awesome thing to witness. What
God is doing here today. So many people called out
of darkness and into the light. What a powerful thing. Father,
I thank you for these newborn children. These ones that
(29:47):
were carrying weight and are now free in Christ. And
I pray in Jesus name. I'm reminded of Philippians one
six that you who began this work in them will
carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus,
and I thank you for that. In the name of Jesus,
we thank you. Amen.
S1 (30:05):
He's a sports fanatic with a stat for anything you
can think of. Young Thunder is in the crew. It's
curling crew on Moody Radio.
S4 (30:15):
How can I get that story to share with someone else?
Just got that text message. We want to make it easy.
If you ever hear something that you would like to
hear again, or you'd like to share with someone in
your life who you think would really benefit from it,
just text the word show to 800 555 7898. Text
show to 800 555 7898. You're going to get back
(30:37):
from us a link that gives you direct links so
that you can listen whether you're on iPhone or Android,
and that usually gets updated a couple of hours after
we are our show concludes. So usually around 1030 or
11 Central time. So look for it. Then just text
show to 800 555 78, 98. Another thing we like
(30:58):
to feature is resources that are going to help you
take your next step in your walk with Jesus. And
coming up, we're going to feature one that allows you
to get into the Word of God with some context,
some historical understanding right here. Produced at Moody Bible Institute,
it's called today in the word. And if you've not
heard about it, boy, we need to get you connected.
(31:18):
We'll have a special guest coming up.
S1 (31:19):
You can take him out of Alaska, but you can't
take Alaska out of him. Carl is in the crew.
It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
S2 (31:30):
This is going to sound super sappy. I just want
to give you a warning. Um. God expresses his love
to us in so many cool ways. And the sappy
part for me is I've got two of these rescue cats.
And I kid you not, God encourages my hearts with
(31:53):
them in the craziest ways.
S3 (31:56):
That's sweet.
S2 (31:58):
And I kid you not. And one of them, we
got on three legs. And when I told my wife yes,
she's like, she's it's her second rescue cat. And she's like,
this thing's wheezing. It's going to die. And can I
bring it home? And I'm like, yeah, bring it home.
And that sucker got home here. And I'm like, oh, Nelly,
(32:19):
we're gonna have a cat that's stuck on one floor
and it's on three legs. And it had been smacked
by a car hit so hard that teeth had been
knocked out, a jaw had been broken, a leg had
been broken. And I don't know why they did this.
They gave my wife the pictures of this thing when
she adopted it and it was bad. And come to
(32:41):
find out, he was just a teenager at that time.
We thought he was full grown, but he kept growing
and God in his grace healed that guy up and
he had PTSD from getting whacked.
S3 (32:53):
Oh I'm.
S4 (32:53):
Sure.
S2 (32:54):
So what really got him was tin foil. Because it
must have simulated the sound of something breaking or cracking
or something. So he'd pull out a piece. Just a
little piece of tin foil. This guy. So we got
wood floors, and he's a big, hairy booger. So he's
got hair coming out the bottom of his pads like crazy. Like,
so much so his pads didn't can't hit the floor.
(33:14):
It's just hair and and no joking. He's a he's
a a Norwegian tree cat or forest cat. And um.
And he loves trees. So anyway, he's got hair coming
out so long. No joking. Two inch hair coming out
and lots of it from between his pads. So when
he gets freaked out, he's just, like, doing this cartoon
(33:36):
where he's just spinning out, trying to get traction. And
I used to die for him because he started spinning
out on three legs and that was hard to watch. Well,
his leg gets healed, and now he's getting over his PTSD.
And he trusts me and he loves me. And he
comes up to me and he just bumps into me
(33:58):
and he's like, hey, can I get a neck rub?
He's not audible, by the way. Of course, obviously.
S5 (34:05):
But Karl has a talking cat. Whoa. Oh, okay.
S2 (34:11):
But I kid you not, there have been times when
I've been. Because, believe it or not, ready for a secret? Shh, shh.
Don't tell anyone. Karl can get sad, too. Yeah, I
can get sad. There's times when I've been sad. And
God brings that crazy cat up to me. Named him Sozo.
(34:33):
Means saved and healed. And sozo. Kind of like a
mountain or a stream. Can encourage your soul. God saw
fit that a stray cat with three legs, got healed up,
(34:54):
spins out on hardwood floors would ultimately be a huge
source of encouragement for his son. Carl. Isn't that wild?
Isn't that wild? Oh, how he loves you. Oh, how
he loves you. How are you seeing God express his
(35:15):
love toward you today? Make sure you look and see.
Because he's doing it. He's doing it. Coming up, we
got a got a treat for you, right, Ali?
S4 (35:29):
Yeah. I mean, if you loved Carl's story about his
rescue cats, you're going to love hearing about all the
cool mentions of animals in the Bible this month. Today
in the word devotional, we've got the author with us
coming up.
S1 (35:42):
This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
S2 (35:47):
It's a dog eat dog world out there.
S5 (35:49):
Ali.
S4 (35:50):
Yes.
S5 (35:52):
What in the cat hairs going on around here? Oh,
I see where you're going with this. Come on, let's
have a little bit of fun. Let's see what other.
S4 (35:59):
Animal.
S5 (35:59):
Reference.
S2 (36:00):
Well, you told me that you were when you were
in middle school. You felt a little.
S5 (36:04):
Long in the legs, right? Well, um, you ever get.
S2 (36:08):
Called.
S5 (36:08):
Giraffe or anything like that? Giraffe?
S4 (36:11):
I unfortunately, I felt kind of like an ugly duckling.
S5 (36:14):
Oh, don't do that to me. No, I'm just just
tell we're going. Animal. Ducks are fair game. They are
fair game. I just my dad heart came out right there.
I don't want that. Um, it's funny because you look
in the scripture. And what do you find? Animals everywhere.
S4 (36:32):
And not just in the garden? No, and not just
on the ark.
S5 (36:36):
No.
S4 (36:36):
They're animals sprinkled everywhere in Scripture. If you start looking for.
S5 (36:39):
Them, you got talking donkeys. You got people called dogs,
by the way, the Samaritans. So dogs, Animals are everywhere.
Jim Coakley. What's with animals in the Bible?
S6 (36:51):
Yeah, they're all over the place, as you just mentioned.
And of course, like many of our listeners, I grew
up loving animals. I had unusual exotic pets. I had
an American toad. I had instead of goldfish, I had
a bluegill. And my roommate at college had a piranha,
and we put him in the same tank and they
survived with each other. Oh, I.
S5 (37:08):
Thought you were going to give us something that we
had to have a little ear warning on.
S6 (37:11):
No, but my wife did put it down. One time
at a church camp. I picked up this lovely green snake,
and I wanted to bring it home. And she said, nope, nope, no,
no snakes at home.
S5 (37:20):
You know, I knew I loved Gail. Now I love
her all the more. You need some wise counsel in
your life, don't you?
S6 (37:26):
Yes, I.
S5 (37:26):
Do.
S4 (37:26):
Doctor Jim Coakley is the author of this month's today
in the Word devotional, which focuses on animals in Scripture.
Why did you take on this as a topic for
a whole month? This probably is going to, for most people,
seem a bit obscure.
S6 (37:41):
I like what Proverbs six tells us to do, because
I think this really is the inspiration for the whole
month's study. It tells us to what? Go to the ant,
you sluggard. And so we're told to look at the
animal kingdom. We're looking at the ant. And so we
learn wisdom principles by looking at some of God's creatures,
but they're also used symbolically. The lion and the lamb.
You know, Jesus, the lion of the tribe of Judah,
(38:03):
Jesus the Lamb of God. The metaphors that are there,
of course, we have associations with, you know, snakes with
deception and and all sorts of, you know, kind of
eerie associations with some things like in the book of Genesis,
goats are always around deception, you know, they fool dad. Uh, again, uh,
Jacob fooled Isaac with goat skin. Yes. Uh, we have
(38:25):
the goats speckled and spotted goats. Jacob's trying to get
the upper hand with Uncle Laban. Uh, we have the
brothers of Joseph dipping Joseph's garment in goat's blood to
try to show evidence that he's been devoured by wild animals.
So goats in the Book of Genesis are associated with deception.
but they're wily animals, so it fits the kind of
the nature of the animal itself.
S5 (38:47):
You know, even the book of Job, for crying out loud.
I mean, we got references to animals, some of which
people speculate. Is this referring to what we would call
prehistoric now? Right. So why?
S6 (39:00):
I mean, right in Genesis one, they're part of the
created world. And so we have the fact that God
made them. And so there's lessons to be learned from
what we have with that. And like you say, the
book of Job, were you there, uh, all those questions
that God asked job at the end of the book
to kind of say, hey, you need to knock it
down a little bit in terms of what you think,
in terms of understanding my ways, because were you there
(39:22):
when the ostrich gave birth or whatever? I mean, so
it's a way for us to kind of make sure
that we realize God is sovereign and powerful and way
wiser than you and I are.
S5 (39:33):
You know, I wonder if we're missing something. And I
genuinely mean this right now. I wonder if we're missing
something that we know we appreciate animals, for crying out loud.
You got these things called zoos, right? I mean, you go.
We went to San Diego Zoo. Me and my bride
about a year ago. It was epic. But I wonder
if we are missing something. Scripture is clear. Ponder the ant. Right?
(39:54):
I mean, so what's a good discovery that you had
preparing for.
S2 (39:59):
This.
S5 (40:00):
Devotional?
S6 (40:01):
One I don't think our listeners are necessarily going to
like to envision, but in Isaiah 40, a wonderful passage
about they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.
And it goes on to say, and most translations say,
they shall mount up as wings on eagles like eagles.
And so we think, especially as Americans, we think of
the American bald eagle, our national bird and majestic and
(40:22):
full of symbolism. But I hate to break it to
our audience. There's no American bald eagles in Israel. They're
not a native animal there. So it's not likely that
they're thinking of our statuesque kind of national bird. You've
been to Gamla. I've been to Gamla. There's a number
of refuges in Israel for what is called the Griffon vulture.
These are magnificent birds. They're ugly birds, but they're magnificent
(40:45):
because they have long, long wingspan. And you go over
and you see these cliffs and you see these birds
soaring effortlessly. And that's the whole point. It's not the
fact of their beauty, it's the fact that they work
so effortlessly to stay aloft. They should be sinking like rocks,
but God keeps them aloft because of their aerodynamics. And
(41:07):
so that's really then we can soar above our difficulties.
But it doesn't sound so impressive for us to say
we shall mount up like wings as vultures.
S5 (41:18):
But when you see them, it changes everything.
S6 (41:20):
It changes everything.
S4 (41:21):
Doctor Jim Coakley, our guest right now. What's another animal
reference that's maybe surprised you as you were doing your study?
S6 (41:27):
Revelation chapter five. It talks about, you know, again, Jesus,
the lion of the tribe of Judah, and it's mentioned
as part of a song, the Song of Moses and
The song of the lamb. And so we mentioned, of course,
lion with Jesus. And of course associated with Judah. But
then we go all the way back to Genesis, the
first book of the Bible. In Genesis 49, we also
have the mention of the messianic prophecy about Judah being
(41:50):
the seed line, and Judah will lie down like a lion.
And so we have all these, these references. And it's
interesting that the original Lion King, it's not from Disney,
it's from Scripture, because right from the beginning, in a
very poetic, lyrical section, Genesis 49, we associate lions. And
throughout the Pentateuch, I should say it's also mentioned in
(42:10):
Balaam's Oracles and in the Song of Moses we have
lions mentioned, and then we have them at the end
in the book of revelation, all associated with King Jesus.
And so lions associated with royalty again as a big
image all the way through the ancient Near East, you
go to ancient Near Eastern courts. You see kings killing
lions pictured as lions. And so this shows they're royalty.
(42:31):
But again, Jesus is King of kings and he is
the original Lion King.
S5 (42:35):
Give us a quick riff on the spirit and dove correlation.
S6 (42:39):
Yeah. I mean, certainly, again, I think kind of similar
to the eagle vulture. The doves are timid or.
S5 (42:45):
Tender.
S6 (42:45):
Tender. They're not at all threatening. And so we have
then the spirit descending like a dove, kind of a comforter. Yeah.
And of course, doves are used. Turtle doves are used
as part of the sacrificial animal system. If you didn't
have a sheep or a goat, a ram to offer.
And so they're multi-use kind of purposes, both for food,
for sacrifices, but also the nature of the dove itself
(43:08):
is a great analogy.
S5 (43:10):
Who'd have thunk it? So much from animals in Scripture.
S4 (43:14):
If you want to spend some time in the month
of June in this devotional, highly recommend today in the word.
It is a phenomenal resource. Just text. Today we'll get
you connected. Text today to 800 555 7898. Just that
one word. Spell it out today 800 555 7898.
Coming to you from the Morning Star Mission sponsored studio.
This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
S2 (00:08):
In the Spirit of God is here right now at
work in many of your hearts. It's an awesome thing.
Spirit of God convicts. The Spirit of God comforts when
we've been transformed by the power of God. He directs.
We want to get anchored in what the Spirit of
God is up to. Just go to John 14, John 16,
Romans eight. Do a deep dive on the power of
the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God is on
(00:30):
the move. Yesterday we had an interesting day. Phenomenal day
at 180 Chicago. I pastor a church in downtown Chicago.
We have two campuses here in Chicago. I was downtown
preaching yesterday. So many young people at this campus. It's
unbelievable guys. Absolutely unbelievable. So we had 40 come away
after the service that are young adults. So they're all
(00:54):
in their 20s, a couple in their 30s, but they're
all young. A couple of them were married and we were.
We were talking about the stuff of life and love
and intimacy. And my bride told me going in. She said, bub,
make sure you share the gospel. I'm like, I'm with you, babe.
I love having my bride, man. She's. We were riding
shotgun yesterday and it was so sweet to be teamed
(01:16):
up together in ministry. And she was right. And I
should never be surprised by this. But I had the
privilege of watching two guys surrender their lives to Jesus
Christ yesterday at that gathering of 40. Praise God. Yeah.
Isn't that sweet? One of them was a pastor's kid,
and he just came up to me and he said,
(01:37):
I've never fully surrendered my life to Jesus Christ, man.
He says, I'm in a campus ministry. I'm in this.
I'm in that. And I said, today is your day,
isn't it? He said, today is the day, Carl. And
I said, listen, this is awesome. And when we got
done praying, I said, what are you feeling? He says, man,
like a load of bricks is off me. I said,
(01:59):
I want you to tell your mom and dad they're
going to cheer for you. You can get a little
bit wiggy. You're going to hear Young Thunder's story on
this this week because we're talking stories of salvation. But
he was sweet. I said, you tell your mom and dad,
you got to tell your you got to tell those
that are close to you in your life and let
them know what Jesus has done. So I can't wait
(02:20):
for that report back. But it is so easy to
slip through the cracks, so to speak, in our Christian
culture today. And there's so many different ways to slip
through the cracks. I mean, you can be the prodigal
that's being crazy. You can be the prodigal who's jumping
through hoops and you can be super die. It's easy
(02:42):
to slip through the cracks, isn't it? Super die.
S3 (02:44):
Very, very easy to slip through. And Satan just loves it.
S2 (02:48):
Yeah, he loves it. He's laughing all the way to
the dark bank. Tell your story, sister. We want to
hear it.
S3 (02:55):
You got it. Um, basically, I, I grew up in
a very dysfunctional situation. Very dysfunctional family. Went through a
lot of abuse, physical, sexual, emotional, mental. And a lot
of it was done by the hands of people that
I thought were my safe people. They should have loved me.
(03:19):
They should have protected me. And it was not only
by their hands, but also people that surrounded me because
of them. And when I would try to say something,
I was either told I was lying or what did
I do wrong? I brought it upon myself. Or also.
S2 (03:37):
That's a brutal accusation.
S3 (03:39):
That's a very brutal accusation. But this one's even better.
Don't do anything to disrupt this relationship for me. Don't
ruin this for me. So just shut up and deal
with it basically is what that is saying to me,
especially as a child. Um, so yeah, very dysfunctional. So
a lot of stuff's going on in my brain and
in my heart of my value and who I was
(04:02):
and continued for quite a while. The emotional mental continued
for a long time, even through high school. So I'm
packing away and headed out to college and going to college. But, uh,
as I look back, I realize, yeah, I packed up
and went to college, but I also packed up all
that junk. I took it with me. Yeah. And a
lot of that anger, confusion, pain. Because again, like I said,
(04:25):
these are people that were supposed to be safe and
loved me. So if they weren't loving me and safe
for me, then where's God in all this? So my
anger extended even to God. Thanks a lot for this.
You didn't protect me. You didn't help me. Where are you?
Where are you? So that just festered and festered and
festered within me. And it continued to fester and fester
(04:48):
even into adulthood. I just made a lot of wrong decisions.
A lot of my personality. I became rather snarky. People
were a commodity. I mean, if I wasn't important, you know,
I didn't want to get married. I wouldn't have kids.
Kids were a problem. Kids were in the way. Kids
kept you from dreaming and living, you know? So why
would I want that?
S2 (05:04):
No one's important.
S3 (05:05):
Exactly. You know, why would I want that? And to
understand who God was. I mean, I, growing up younger
within the church, I mean, I knew who God there was.
There was a God. I knew who God was. There
was Jesus, his son. He died on the cross. We
had Easter. We cracked red eggs, you know, that kind
of situation. But there was no relationship. And I certainly
(05:27):
wasn't a situation where, going through all this, I could
go to Jesus because you didn't go to Jesus. There
was a flow chart. You don't bother Jesus. You go
to the priest, you go to the adults, you go
to a teacher, you go to a parent. But all
of these people were unsafe to me, so why would
I go to them? You know, so that didn't help
me either. And as far as the word of God,
(05:49):
may be ministering to me and breathing life into me.
That wasn't an option either, because the Bible. Yes, it
was sacred. It was the Word of God. But it
sat on a end table and it got dusted once
in a while. So that was the situation. So I
really didn't know where to go except for myself. And
that was not the good choice. But yeah, I went
(06:10):
for myself and my decisions and my thinking and where
I was going and what I was doing. Get out
of college. Again, the personality, the snarkiness, the the self, self,
self all the way and just vindictive like anybody who
wronged me. Boom! They got my revenge. I did not
have time for you. You got my revenge. Because I
(06:31):
wasn't going to let it happen to me again. That
kind of thing. No way. I wasn't going to let
it ride. There wasn't an ounce of forgiveness if you
wronged me. Or at least I thought I was being wronged.
Let's put it that way, too. Yeah, but here we go.
One night I'm working in the John Hancock building. It
was the job. Beautiful gig, I'm telling you. We were
(06:51):
on the observatory level. Was the offices of this of
this job. And I'm working an overnight shift on the
94th floor of the John Hancock Building. And I took
the Bible and I thought, okay, God, I'm going to
give you one more chance. I'm going to give God
one more chance. What am I thinking? Duh. But I'm
going to give God one more chance. So I'm reading
the Bible, and one night I go through Matthew, just
(07:12):
kind of reintroducing myself to Jesus a little bit. And
then I go into Luke, and then I go into
Romans one. Oh, that always just takes my breath away. Romans, Romans, Romans,
it spoke to me all the way through. God used
Romans to just strike my heart. Romans 839 especially that
(07:34):
there's nothing, nothing that can separate me from the love
of God. Because you have to understand, love was conditional.
Love came with a price, and love can be taken.
But not in Romans, Not in the gospel. No, not
God's love, not the love of Christ. That's why he
was on the cross. It wasn't conditional. It was unconditional.
(07:57):
And that just took me away. And I literally fell
to my knees hard. I fell to my knees, arms up.
I am bawling, I am crying, I'm like, God, I
am so sorry. I my took out everything the wrong way.
I am a sinner. I am a mess, I'm a mess.
(08:21):
The checklist was long. I am so tired of doing
this on my own. I don't know what I was thinking.
I'm on this, you know, hamster wheel trying to figure
things out. And no, I turn to you. I'm turning around.
I'm turning to you. And I just sobbed and my
hands are up and I'm going through this and I'm
(08:44):
just praying and sobbing and praying and sobbing and asking
for forgiveness and asking him to take over my life.
I'm giving myself to him. And I really, physically felt
like all that festering, all that back trauma, hate, whatever revenge.
It was. A backpack of cement, I always call it,
(09:06):
literally fell off of me, I felt lighter. I'm a swimmer.
I felt like I had come up and I had air.
I could just breathe and a warmth came over me.
I will never, ever forget that moment, and I, I,
I just gave my life to Christ.
S2 (09:28):
You know, I'm going to I'm going to tell you
something here. This is something that is, uh, I love
doing this when you hear stories. So I've never done this,
but I'm going to do it right now for you.
Somebody's never done this for you. It's one thing to
hear a story. It's another thing to hear it confirmed
by someone who's close to him. Somebody is imperfect, but
(09:50):
radically transformed by Jesus. Everything that she was before her
surrender to Christ has been changed. This is the beauty
of the power of the gospel, the goodness of God,
the grace of God. When she turned to Jesus, he
turned her around. The gospel changes everything. Now she's a dancer.
(10:15):
She's a lover of people. She believes the best. She
extends mercy. It's all God, isn't it? Super.
S3 (10:24):
It's only and only. Only and always God. And I
just want to say, you know, it becomes to where
if you have gone through this type of heaviness and
maybe some of you even more, you are not a victim.
Don't believe the lies of Satan. He wants you to
feel that you're a victim. He wants you. He wants
(10:45):
to keep a foothold on you. He wants to fill
you with shame so you don't tell your story. You
are not a victim. You are a victor in Christ.
Tell your story.
S2 (10:54):
Yeah.
S3 (10:55):
Witness. Be a testimony to it. And I'm telling you.
Romans 839. You are so, so loved. God does not
want you to stay in your past. He does not
want you there. He has so much purpose for you.
And I want you to know and believe that today.
S2 (11:11):
Yeah. The light yoke that somebody talks about is promised
by Jesus himself. And some of you want that. But
before even Jesus spoke of the light yoke, he had
something really tough to say. And he has to say
it to you and we'll give that to you. Coming up.
S1 (11:27):
Romans eight brought her to Jesus while broadcasting traffic overnight.
Super dei is in the crew. It's colonel and crew
on Moody Radio. Video.
S2 (11:37):
It's awesome. When you hear a story, you have new appreciation.
Your your heart actually goes out and goes, yeah, I
want to hug you right now. And the amazing thing
about Super Di is that she's a she's a hugger.
She's a dancer. She's a believer in people. I through
(11:58):
the dancer thing in there for you. Super. Thank you.
Not necessarily a spiritual gift, but boy, we sure appreciate it.
She believes in people. She loves victory stories. She has compassion.
But she didn't always have that. No sexual abuse. Verbal abuse.
I thank you so much for sharing your story. Super di.
But it brings this. It brings this moment for us
(12:22):
here that are two radically, almost feels like two radically
different themes, but they're absolutely the same. And they're found
in Matthew 11. I want to begin with one of
the coolest things here are might get choked up. Come
to me. All who labor and are heavy laden. And
I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon me,
(12:45):
Jesus said, and learn from me, for I am gentle
and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for
your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden
is light. I want to speak to you, my friend.
You just heard my story, and we know that there's
many thousands listening right now who have been burdened down
with the weight of all kinds of injustice and pain
(13:08):
in this broken and fallen world. That's real. Right? Let's
just sit there for a second. That's real, isn't it, Ali?
S4 (13:14):
It. Absolutely. And maybe you just don't talk about it.
That's you. It's part of your story. But like I said,
you just. You've buried it and you just don't talk
about it.
S2 (13:27):
Yeah. The crazy thing is that on the polar extreme
of this thing, And the very words that Jesus said
right before, come to me, all who are weary and
heavy laden. Was he. He said these words. He began
to denounce the cities where most of his mighty works
had been done, because they did not repent. Now, the
(13:51):
word repentance isn't an angry word. It's a sweet word.
It's what somebody heard on the 92nd floor of the
John Hancock building. Yeah, yeah. She heard turn around. Super die. Yes.
Because here's two things exist. Both. We have been hurt
in this broken and fallen world, and we hurt people.
(14:13):
And apart from the grace and power of God, we're
going to stew in our anger, in our rage, in
our disappointment, in our shame. And Jesus went on to say,
woe to you, Bethsaida and Chorazin. For if the mighty
works I did in front of you had been done
in Tyre and Sidon. That's modern day Beirut, Lebanon, by
(14:35):
the way, guys, they would have repented long ago in
sackcloth and ashes. Here's the point. The point is repentance
in our heart for you this week, as you hear
our stories, is that you not be a person that
stays in kind of the hamster wheel of the pain
of your past, but that you own the pain of
(14:58):
your own sin and walk in freedom. Both coexist. Isn't
that wild, guys? He says, woe to you, Chorazin. Woe
to you, Bethsaida! And here's the point. You've got to
have a touchpoint with somebody on two things one, the
weight of the pain that she had from childhood all
the way up through her tweens, even into her teens
(15:20):
with abuse and neglect, and at the same time own
the fact that, as somebody testified, Inside. There are things
that we've done that has sinned against God and others,
and we need a Savior. Both coexist. Isn't that amazing?
That's the beauty of the gospel, guys. That's the beauty.
God sees it all. So he says, come to me,
(15:45):
to you today. You're wearing a heavy yoke. I get it,
Jesus says, but he also says, come to me, repent
and turn around of your own sins. Both are there.
And you've heard my story, and you've heard stories of grace,
possibly before. And according to Jesus's words, it'll be better
(16:10):
for those that have not heard the story of grace
on the Day of Judgment, than for those that have
heard and have not yet repented. I'm not saying that
to scare you. I'm saying that because I love you.
This is the gospel. And I've often wondered, and I've
actually had an opportunity to warn many people that being
(16:31):
exposed to the grace of God is a beautiful thing
for those who repent, but it's a very scary thing
for those who don't. And my heart goes out to
you today. I want for you to experience new life
in Jesus Christ. I want you to come to the
one who can take the weight off your shoulders, and
you can say to him, I'm heavy laden. And I
(16:55):
also want for you to repent of your sins, because
that's how the weight gets lifted. You know what comes
first in the storyline in Matthew 11 is the warning
to those who don't repent. But what comes second is
the come to me now, all of you who are
weary and heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. And
you might be saying, well, what does this look like? Well,
(17:17):
there's one key word I want to focus on here,
and it's the word repent. And it's a beautiful word.
It's what somebody did when she fell to her knees.
She repented of her sin and found freedom from the
sins of others. That's beautiful. And I just invite you
right now in the quietness of this moment, because God's
quietly speaking into your heart. Please, friend, don't carry that
(17:38):
weight alone anymore. The weight of what others have done,
nor the weight of your own sin. Today you can
give it to God. Repentance means to turn around. It's
the most loving word going on this broad path that
leads to destruction. There are many substitute gods, and maybe
your substitute god has been vengeance or bitterness. Your substitute
God has been shame. And I want you to know
(18:00):
Jesus wants to free you from that today 100%. He
wants to give you total and complete freedom. And I
appeal to you, friend. Don't wait till the day of judgment.
Today is the day to repent and to give your
life fully to Jesus Christ. It's so much more than
being raised with a good book on a nightstand. So
(18:22):
much more than going to church. It's falling to your
knees and finding the one who loved you so much
that he sent his son to die for you, so
that you will not perish, but you will have everlasting life.
And I'm asking you to put yourself in the arms
of God today for the first time in your life.
I'm absolutely confident that the Holy Spirit is convicting. The
(18:45):
Holy Spirit is comforting, and the Holy Spirit is calling
this morning. And I'm asking you to surrender to Jesus today.
I want you to just pray along with me. It's
a cry of the soul. It's a cry of faith.
But today is your day of salvation, friend. Today is
your day. Today is the day when you are no
longer going to be carrying around this weight, and you
(19:07):
are no longer going to go your own way to
sort it out. You're going to repent and follow Jesus.
So just cry out to God and see Jesus today,
I believe. I believe you want to free me from
the weight that I'm carrying. And I believe you want
to free me from my own sin in my life.
And today I repent. Today I turn around. Today I
(19:31):
follow Jesus. Today I speak the truth that you came
into this world because you love me, and you died
for me, for my sin and the sin of the world.
And today I confess that I'm a sinner and I
need a Savior, and I'm tired, and I'm asking you
(19:54):
to carry this weight that I've been carrying for so long.
Take it off my shoulders, Jesus. Today I give you
my life completely. Today I am a Jesus follower. And
I give you my life completely. There are many of
(20:17):
you right now who are surrendering your life to Jesus
Christ for the first time. And we want to help you.
We've got a link. I want you to get your
phone because we want to help you today. And we're
going to auto respond to one word that you're going
to text us. And when you text this word, you're
going to have a little tool in your hand that's
(20:38):
going to show you how to find people who are
going to help you. It's going to show you where
you can find a Bible that will be a guide
for you moving forward if you don't already have one,
and it will will have a little link in there
that we're going to be able to send you via mail,
some resources that are going to help you live now
(20:58):
in this power that set you free from your sin.
So it's really simple. Just text the word new right
now to 805 five, five, 78, 98. Wherever you are,
just text in that word because whom the son sets
free is free indeed. When somebody got up off her
(21:19):
face and off of her knees. Everything was new, right?
Super die.
S3 (21:24):
Everything was new. It was amazing. And. Yes, exactly. That
backpack of cement came off. I came up for air,
and I just physically felt the warmth of God's love.
S2 (21:38):
Tex knew right now, if today is your day of salvation,
just text the word new to 800 555, 7898. You
were surprised by the spirit this morning, and we're going
to shout out in just a moment the last four
numbers of your telephone number. We're blowing through some of
our natural stops here. But that's okay, isn't it?
S4 (22:01):
It's totally okay.
S2 (22:04):
Just text the word new right now, wherever you are,
to 805 five, five, 78, 98. If today is your day,
where God is freeing you from a yoke of slavery.
Just text the word new to 800 555 7898. Let's
take time here, Ali, before we even spin a song here,
let's shout out the last four numbers of those who
(22:25):
are surrendering to Jesus today.
S4 (22:27):
Yeah, those of you texting new, I want to read
out the last four digits of your number. 2024 0550.
Welcome to the family. 3208 79. 40. 43. 48. 49. 70. 37. 40. 82,
49 and 68. 18. Welcome to the family.
S2 (22:46):
Amazing. Welcome to the family. God is making all things
new for you. Continue to text as you feel led.
We're here for you. There's no time. Stop on this text.
New to 800 555 7898.
S1 (23:02):
A basketball mom who's mastered the dad joke. Ali is
in the crew. It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
S2 (23:10):
Oh my goodness. Super di Diana Berriman, uh, a colleague, friend,
dear one that we love so much. One of the
team here just poured out her heart about her story.
God's redemption, his grace, his power, his ability to take
a concrete backpack and throw it off of you. Super di.
S3 (23:27):
Absolutely.
S2 (23:28):
And look what God's doing, kiddo. Look what God's doing.
He's saving people out of the shadows of darkness and
bringing them into the light. And we've invited so many
of you to repent today and to turn around and
give your life to Jesus. And we know that there's
without a doubt, there's many of you wiping up tears.
Tears are a good thing. I've found that, uh, real
(23:49):
men cry, real men cry, real women cry. And it's okay.
But the tears of salvation are a tear of shame
draining out of you and joy pouring in. And Ali,
we've had so many surrender to Jesus today. We've called
out a ton of numbers here, but let's just affirm
some more.
S4 (24:06):
I've got some more welcomes. This is last four digits
of your phone number. I want to welcome you to
the family. 6056379 40 1178 3500. I want to welcome
to the family. 6360 903, 43, 24, 68, 47, 74, 17, 53, 55, 65.
(24:30):
Welcome to the family 09110.
S2 (24:33):
That's so good. And I think 1178 came in as well. And, uh,
way to go. Way to go. You know, it's an
awesome thing, uh, for us to be able to come
to you with the hope of the gospel. And I
just want to speak to this one thing that happened
here just now. I think there's a lot of people
that have, um, in an attempt to reach people, sometimes
(24:57):
we lower the bar of what salvation is. But one
of the most one of the most abused and misunderstood
words that we find and we've heard is the word repent.
But it's the most beautiful word. Jesus never said it,
banging on a piece of wood, yelling at people. He
said repentance like turn around. He told his first disciples,
(25:20):
follow me. Turn around. Let's go. And we find in
Matthew chapter 11. It's time to repent. It's time to
turn around from the broad path that leads to destruction,
onto this narrow path that leads to life. And Jesus
is clear if you are going to find it. But
there are many of you today that are among the few,
and we want to welcome you to the family from
(25:41):
the bottom of our heart. Use that link that we
sent you. We're here to help you not only step
into this new relationship with Christ, but then to grow
in him. And one of the big sticking points of
growing in our relationship with God is that we have
to wade through the morass of a cultural Christianity and
boil it all right, down to living in God's power
(26:03):
and not bootstrapping this faith. Speak to that alley.
S4 (26:06):
Well, you know, it's it's pretty common in Western culture
to have some sort of a religious background. I mean, many,
many people do. And sometimes it's linked to cultural. Sometimes
it's linked to your origin, your family dynamic. And so
you might have a religious understanding. And so I think
(26:27):
sometimes that really muddies the water because you, it's, it's
rare to meet somebody who's never heard the name of
Jesus here in this country. Yeah.
S2 (26:36):
It doesn't it.
S4 (26:37):
Doesn't often happen. Most people have heard the name of Jesus,
and most people have some sort of already preconceived idea
about what it means to be a Christian.
S2 (26:49):
Yeah. And my contention is, though, that we live among
a lot of those people that have some vague idea.
I am absolutely convinced we live among a vast millions
and millions of people in America that have never had
a fair shot of the good news of Jesus.
S4 (27:04):
And I think the difference between, like maybe going to
being a missionary to an unreached people group in some
place where they've never heard the name of Jesus is here.
You're having to wade through a lot of kind of
undo some wrong teaching. I will never forget the person
who said one of the reasons why they enjoyed the
show is because growing up, they got bad information about
(27:26):
the gospel.
S2 (27:26):
That was a classic call.
S4 (27:27):
And and I thought that for now, for years now
is captured. What I think happens to a lot of us,
you get bad information about the gospel. So it's not
that you've never heard the name of Jesus, it's that
you've never actually heard the gospel of what it means
to be saved and what it really means to follow him.
S2 (27:43):
Yeah, yeah. It's so true, Ali. And we're breaking. We're
seeing breakthrough with the cultural Christianity that's cloaked so many
of us. And we're going to be talking about this
all week long. And you know, there's some of you
that wonder right now. Where do I stand with God.
(28:04):
Where do I stand with God? And that's a fair question.
I mean, wanting to know you stand with God and
that he stands with you is huge. And one of
the things that we want to do is have this
juxtaposition of giving the clear gospel of who Jesus is
and how he wants to transform you and walk you
(28:26):
into that very abundance that Jesus spoke of. And the
amazing thing is, is that we don't. We don't actually
reach anyone. The Holy Spirit uses words to regenerate your soul.
And that's that's a powerful thing. You know what? I
feel prompted that I want to give a resource because
(28:48):
there were there was some time ago when I felt like,
oh my goodness, people need to know and measure where
they stand with God. Let's let's do this right now. Ali,
this resource has been used by tens of thousands of
people and there's many. They're going to want this today.
S4 (29:04):
It's very it's pretty short. It's readable. It's right from
the Word of God. It's our standard resource. It's nine
ways to know you stand with God. He stands with you.
Just text the word stand to 855 five 7898. Text
stand to 800 555 7898. We'll send it right to
your phone.
S2 (29:25):
Yeah. That's great. What an awesome thing to witness. What
God is doing here today. So many people called out
of darkness and into the light. What a powerful thing. Father,
I thank you for these newborn children. These ones that
(29:47):
were carrying weight and are now free in Christ. And
I pray in Jesus name. I'm reminded of Philippians one
six that you who began this work in them will
carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus,
and I thank you for that. In the name of Jesus,
we thank you. Amen.
S1 (30:05):
He's a sports fanatic with a stat for anything you
can think of. Young Thunder is in the crew. It's
curling crew on Moody Radio.
S4 (30:15):
How can I get that story to share with someone else?
Just got that text message. We want to make it easy.
If you ever hear something that you would like to
hear again, or you'd like to share with someone in
your life who you think would really benefit from it,
just text the word show to 800 555 7898. Text
show to 800 555 7898. You're going to get back
(30:37):
from us a link that gives you direct links so
that you can listen whether you're on iPhone or Android,
and that usually gets updated a couple of hours after
we are our show concludes. So usually around 1030 or
11 Central time. So look for it. Then just text
show to 800 555 78, 98. Another thing we like
(30:58):
to feature is resources that are going to help you
take your next step in your walk with Jesus. And
coming up, we're going to feature one that allows you
to get into the Word of God with some context,
some historical understanding right here. Produced at Moody Bible Institute,
it's called today in the word. And if you've not
heard about it, boy, we need to get you connected.
(31:18):
We'll have a special guest coming up.
S1 (31:19):
You can take him out of Alaska, but you can't
take Alaska out of him. Carl is in the crew.
It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
S2 (31:30):
This is going to sound super sappy. I just want
to give you a warning. Um. God expresses his love
to us in so many cool ways. And the sappy
part for me is I've got two of these rescue cats.
And I kid you not, God encourages my hearts with
(31:53):
them in the craziest ways.
S3 (31:56):
That's sweet.
S2 (31:58):
And I kid you not. And one of them, we
got on three legs. And when I told my wife yes,
she's like, she's it's her second rescue cat. And she's like,
this thing's wheezing. It's going to die. And can I
bring it home? And I'm like, yeah, bring it home.
And that sucker got home here. And I'm like, oh, Nelly,
(32:19):
we're gonna have a cat that's stuck on one floor
and it's on three legs. And it had been smacked
by a car hit so hard that teeth had been
knocked out, a jaw had been broken, a leg had
been broken. And I don't know why they did this.
They gave my wife the pictures of this thing when
she adopted it and it was bad. And come to
(32:41):
find out, he was just a teenager at that time.
We thought he was full grown, but he kept growing
and God in his grace healed that guy up and
he had PTSD from getting whacked.
S3 (32:53):
Oh I'm.
S4 (32:53):
Sure.
S2 (32:54):
So what really got him was tin foil. Because it
must have simulated the sound of something breaking or cracking
or something. So he'd pull out a piece. Just a
little piece of tin foil. This guy. So we got
wood floors, and he's a big, hairy booger. So he's
got hair coming out the bottom of his pads like crazy. Like,
so much so his pads didn't can't hit the floor.
(33:14):
It's just hair and and no joking. He's a he's
a a Norwegian tree cat or forest cat. And um.
And he loves trees. So anyway, he's got hair coming
out so long. No joking. Two inch hair coming out
and lots of it from between his pads. So when
he gets freaked out, he's just, like, doing this cartoon
(33:36):
where he's just spinning out, trying to get traction. And
I used to die for him because he started spinning
out on three legs and that was hard to watch. Well,
his leg gets healed, and now he's getting over his PTSD.
And he trusts me and he loves me. And he
comes up to me and he just bumps into me
(33:58):
and he's like, hey, can I get a neck rub?
He's not audible, by the way. Of course, obviously.
S5 (34:05):
But Karl has a talking cat. Whoa. Oh, okay.
S2 (34:11):
But I kid you not, there have been times when
I've been. Because, believe it or not, ready for a secret? Shh, shh.
Don't tell anyone. Karl can get sad, too. Yeah, I
can get sad. There's times when I've been sad. And
God brings that crazy cat up to me. Named him Sozo.
(34:33):
Means saved and healed. And sozo. Kind of like a
mountain or a stream. Can encourage your soul. God saw
fit that a stray cat with three legs, got healed up,
(34:54):
spins out on hardwood floors would ultimately be a huge
source of encouragement for his son. Carl. Isn't that wild?
Isn't that wild? Oh, how he loves you. Oh, how
he loves you. How are you seeing God express his
(35:15):
love toward you today? Make sure you look and see.
Because he's doing it. He's doing it. Coming up, we
got a got a treat for you, right, Ali?
S4 (35:29):
Yeah. I mean, if you loved Carl's story about his
rescue cats, you're going to love hearing about all the
cool mentions of animals in the Bible this month. Today
in the word devotional, we've got the author with us
coming up.
S1 (35:42):
This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
S2 (35:47):
It's a dog eat dog world out there.
S5 (35:49):
Ali.
S4 (35:50):
Yes.
S5 (35:52):
What in the cat hairs going on around here? Oh,
I see where you're going with this. Come on, let's
have a little bit of fun. Let's see what other.
S4 (35:59):
Animal.
S5 (35:59):
Reference.
S2 (36:00):
Well, you told me that you were when you were
in middle school. You felt a little.
S5 (36:04):
Long in the legs, right? Well, um, you ever get.
S2 (36:08):
Called.
S5 (36:08):
Giraffe or anything like that? Giraffe?
S4 (36:11):
I unfortunately, I felt kind of like an ugly duckling.
S5 (36:14):
Oh, don't do that to me. No, I'm just just
tell we're going. Animal. Ducks are fair game. They are
fair game. I just my dad heart came out right there.
I don't want that. Um, it's funny because you look
in the scripture. And what do you find? Animals everywhere.
S4 (36:32):
And not just in the garden? No, and not just
on the ark.
S5 (36:36):
No.
S4 (36:36):
They're animals sprinkled everywhere in Scripture. If you start looking for.
S5 (36:39):
Them, you got talking donkeys. You got people called dogs,
by the way, the Samaritans. So dogs, Animals are everywhere.
Jim Coakley. What's with animals in the Bible?
S6 (36:51):
Yeah, they're all over the place, as you just mentioned.
And of course, like many of our listeners, I grew
up loving animals. I had unusual exotic pets. I had
an American toad. I had instead of goldfish, I had
a bluegill. And my roommate at college had a piranha,
and we put him in the same tank and they
survived with each other. Oh, I.
S5 (37:08):
Thought you were going to give us something that we
had to have a little ear warning on.
S6 (37:11):
No, but my wife did put it down. One time
at a church camp. I picked up this lovely green snake,
and I wanted to bring it home. And she said, nope, nope, no,
no snakes at home.
S5 (37:20):
You know, I knew I loved Gail. Now I love
her all the more. You need some wise counsel in
your life, don't you?
S6 (37:26):
Yes, I.
S5 (37:26):
Do.
S4 (37:26):
Doctor Jim Coakley is the author of this month's today
in the Word devotional, which focuses on animals in Scripture.
Why did you take on this as a topic for
a whole month? This probably is going to, for most people,
seem a bit obscure.
S6 (37:41):
I like what Proverbs six tells us to do, because
I think this really is the inspiration for the whole
month's study. It tells us to what? Go to the ant,
you sluggard. And so we're told to look at the
animal kingdom. We're looking at the ant. And so we
learn wisdom principles by looking at some of God's creatures,
but they're also used symbolically. The lion and the lamb.
You know, Jesus, the lion of the tribe of Judah,
(38:03):
Jesus the Lamb of God. The metaphors that are there,
of course, we have associations with, you know, snakes with
deception and and all sorts of, you know, kind of
eerie associations with some things like in the book of Genesis,
goats are always around deception, you know, they fool dad. Uh, again, uh,
Jacob fooled Isaac with goat skin. Yes. Uh, we have
(38:25):
the goats speckled and spotted goats. Jacob's trying to get
the upper hand with Uncle Laban. Uh, we have the
brothers of Joseph dipping Joseph's garment in goat's blood to
try to show evidence that he's been devoured by wild animals.
So goats in the Book of Genesis are associated with deception.
but they're wily animals, so it fits the kind of
the nature of the animal itself.
S5 (38:47):
You know, even the book of Job, for crying out loud.
I mean, we got references to animals, some of which
people speculate. Is this referring to what we would call
prehistoric now? Right. So why?
S6 (39:00):
I mean, right in Genesis one, they're part of the
created world. And so we have the fact that God
made them. And so there's lessons to be learned from
what we have with that. And like you say, the
book of Job, were you there, uh, all those questions
that God asked job at the end of the book
to kind of say, hey, you need to knock it
down a little bit in terms of what you think,
in terms of understanding my ways, because were you there
(39:22):
when the ostrich gave birth or whatever? I mean, so
it's a way for us to kind of make sure
that we realize God is sovereign and powerful and way
wiser than you and I are.
S5 (39:33):
You know, I wonder if we're missing something. And I
genuinely mean this right now. I wonder if we're missing
something that we know we appreciate animals, for crying out loud.
You got these things called zoos, right? I mean, you go.
We went to San Diego Zoo. Me and my bride
about a year ago. It was epic. But I wonder
if we are missing something. Scripture is clear. Ponder the ant. Right?
(39:54):
I mean, so what's a good discovery that you had
preparing for.
S2 (39:59):
This.
S5 (40:00):
Devotional?
S6 (40:01):
One I don't think our listeners are necessarily going to
like to envision, but in Isaiah 40, a wonderful passage
about they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.
And it goes on to say, and most translations say,
they shall mount up as wings on eagles like eagles.
And so we think, especially as Americans, we think of
the American bald eagle, our national bird and majestic and
(40:22):
full of symbolism. But I hate to break it to
our audience. There's no American bald eagles in Israel. They're
not a native animal there. So it's not likely that
they're thinking of our statuesque kind of national bird. You've
been to Gamla. I've been to Gamla. There's a number
of refuges in Israel for what is called the Griffon vulture.
These are magnificent birds. They're ugly birds, but they're magnificent
(40:45):
because they have long, long wingspan. And you go over
and you see these cliffs and you see these birds
soaring effortlessly. And that's the whole point. It's not the
fact of their beauty, it's the fact that they work
so effortlessly to stay aloft. They should be sinking like rocks,
but God keeps them aloft because of their aerodynamics. And
(41:07):
so that's really then we can soar above our difficulties.
But it doesn't sound so impressive for us to say
we shall mount up like wings as vultures.
S5 (41:18):
But when you see them, it changes everything.
S6 (41:20):
It changes everything.
S4 (41:21):
Doctor Jim Coakley, our guest right now. What's another animal
reference that's maybe surprised you as you were doing your study?
S6 (41:27):
Revelation chapter five. It talks about, you know, again, Jesus,
the lion of the tribe of Judah, and it's mentioned
as part of a song, the Song of Moses and
The song of the lamb. And so we mentioned, of course,
lion with Jesus. And of course associated with Judah. But
then we go all the way back to Genesis, the
first book of the Bible. In Genesis 49, we also
have the mention of the messianic prophecy about Judah being
(41:50):
the seed line, and Judah will lie down like a lion.
And so we have all these, these references. And it's
interesting that the original Lion King, it's not from Disney,
it's from Scripture, because right from the beginning, in a
very poetic, lyrical section, Genesis 49, we associate lions. And
throughout the Pentateuch, I should say it's also mentioned in
(42:10):
Balaam's Oracles and in the Song of Moses we have
lions mentioned, and then we have them at the end
in the book of revelation, all associated with King Jesus.
And so lions associated with royalty again as a big
image all the way through the ancient Near East, you
go to ancient Near Eastern courts. You see kings killing
lions pictured as lions. And so this shows they're royalty.
(42:31):
But again, Jesus is King of kings and he is
the original Lion King.
S5 (42:35):
Give us a quick riff on the spirit and dove correlation.
S6 (42:39):
Yeah. I mean, certainly, again, I think kind of similar
to the eagle vulture. The doves are timid or.
S5 (42:45):
Tender.
S6 (42:45):
Tender. They're not at all threatening. And so we have
then the spirit descending like a dove, kind of a comforter. Yeah.
And of course, doves are used. Turtle doves are used
as part of the sacrificial animal system. If you didn't
have a sheep or a goat, a ram to offer.
And so they're multi-use kind of purposes, both for food,
for sacrifices, but also the nature of the dove itself
(43:08):
is a great analogy.
S5 (43:10):
Who'd have thunk it? So much from animals in Scripture.
S4 (43:14):
If you want to spend some time in the month
of June in this devotional, highly recommend today in the word.
It is a phenomenal resource. Just text. Today we'll get
you connected. Text today to 800 555 7898. Just that
one word. Spell it out today 800 555 7898.
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