June 4, 2025 • 34 mins
Today, on Karl and Crew, we continued our weekly theme of stories with a testimony from one of our co-hosts, Karl Clauson. He shared with us how God’s grace delivered him out of a raging cocaine addiction. We also had Dr. Sam Storms join us to discuss the current state of Cultural Christianity. Dr. Storm is the founder and president of Enjoying God Ministries and serves on the Council of the Gospel Coalition. He is also the Executive Director of the Convergence Church Network. Dr. Storm has also authored several books, including “Understanding Prayer: Biblical Foundations and Practical Guidance for Seeking God.” We also shared a few laughs with Ally during “Ally Thinks It’s Funny”, a segment where Ally tells Dad jokes. You can hear the highlights of today’s program on the Karl and Crew Showcast.
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Episode Transcript
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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. I got
up early this.
S2 (00:09):
Morning earlier than early.
S3 (00:12):
I was going to say, as opposed to this kind
of comes with the job getting up early.
S2 (00:17):
Oh my goodness. I was wrestling with God. I've shared
my story so many times, and I was in a
battle man and not really wrestling with God. I think
that there was a spiritual attack afoot. In fact, young Thunder,
I told him early when we came in here, I said, man,
it's a battle raging and there always is. Especially if
you think about the apex of the gospel of Jesus
(00:39):
Christ and what it's done in a person, there's going
to be a battle there. So I pour out my
heart to you today in absolute humility and asking God
to use it as he would see fit. And father,
I'm asking you to move empower here as I just
open up my heart and share with some friends that
I've not even met yet. Many of them, but that
you would move in a powerful way In the name
(01:01):
of Jesus, I pray. Amen.
S3 (01:03):
Amen.
S2 (01:04):
You know what, guys? I was, uh, I was raised
in a far off place. I was raised in Alaska,
and I was born in Homer, Alaska, and I was
raised by a mom and dad that had me in
church constantly. And they loved the Lord. My dad, just
a big grace guy, a big guy, big Swedish dude, man. And, uh,
(01:24):
a great man of God. And my mom, a great
woman of God. But my dad had huge impact in
my life. Still resounds to this day in my heart.
Got a picture of him nearby here and I. I
did the whole deal like young Thunder. If you weren't
here yesterday. And here it is. Story. I mean, I
was raised in church and baptized as a young guy
(01:47):
and I knew all the songs, memorized verses one huge
candy bars for memorizing verses, the oversized ones, man. And
that was great inspiration. Um. Even as a young boy,
I remember wrestling with a lot of identity issues. I,
(02:08):
I didn't suck a thumb when I was a kid.
I sucked 2 or 3 fingers, looked like I sucked
a fist because I had huge buck teeth hanging out
the front of my face. And I had I had
an electric orange hair. And that brought as a young
boy some insecurity. If it wasn't the fact that I
was a leader and I was a fast kid and
(02:29):
sprinting and things like that use a lot of things
to deflect things that were going on inside my heart.
But I, I didn't have, even as a young man
raised in church and baptized and walked aisles, I didn't
have a living, breathing, personal relationship with Jesus Christ. And
when you're lacking that, you go on a quest to
find something to fill that void. And I did, man.
(02:52):
15 years old, I was listening to the broadcast of
the finish of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. It
had only been going a few years at that point,
but for some reason I got this cockamamie, to use
my dad's word idea that I'm going to compete in
this thing when I turn 18. And I set my
heart to it, and I began to train for two
(03:13):
years in high school, struck a deal with the vice
principal at a school, high school. I was going to,
he said. If you keep your grades a B, you
can keep training for the Iditarod. In fact, he was
all fired up. He's like, go for it, man. We'd
love to have a Wasilla warrior. That was my high school.
We'd love to have Wasilla Warrior complete that race. That
would be awesome. So I trained, came to the starting
line first Saturday in March, 18 years old, and took
(03:38):
off on that race. My dad actually stopped me before
I headed out and there were dog teams all around me,
dogs yelping and people just getting their gear on their
sleds and everything. And he said, I want to pray
with you. And I'm like, oh boy, pray in front
of all these tough dudes that I'm competing against. This
is awkward, he said, I want to pray for you.
And he prayed with me and he actually told me
(03:59):
that day. He said, I've. I want you to know something.
There's a lot of rumors about whether or not you're
going to make it to Nome because you're young. He said,
I want you to know I already bought my ticket
to Nome. I'll see you when you get there. That's
a powerful move of a dad.
S3 (04:13):
I gave you such confidence that he so believed that
you could do it.
S2 (04:18):
Yeah. It wasn't until two years after the Iditarod was
over that it dawned on me I might not make it.
How about that?
S4 (04:26):
You're done with it for years. You're like, oh, wait,
I could have died out there.
S2 (04:28):
Yeah. So I'm out on that race. And I saw
God reach out his hand to me once in a snowstorm,
going from, I mean, there was every turn of the
Iditarod I could see, looking back, God's mercy. I was
still far from God. Thought I knew him, but I
didn't finished that race 21 days, eight hours, 12 minutes
and 32 seconds. And I had the most awesome and
(04:52):
awful feeling. I had the elation of finishing this race
in the emptiness of oh no, that didn't fill the void.
And it was crushing to me. To be candid with you.
I've never cried about that part of the story, but
I was one lonely, hurting, 18 year old kid. It's
a horrible feeling when you feel like everyone's looking at
(05:12):
you going, wow, you made it to Nome. And I'm
saying to myself, yeah, big deal. I made it to Nome.
Why am I so hollow inside? And there's some of
you chasing things in life. And you're hollow inside. And
you can be like me. Go to church and know
(05:33):
verses in your hollow inside. Because you had a problem
like I had. And I didn't discover it for a while.
I walked out onto the sea ice in Nome, Alaska.
I put on my mukluks. I put on my socks, mittens,
beaver hat, wolf rough, pulled it over my head and
walked out alone and lonely into the night. Sleep deprived
(05:54):
but so wired. Just wondering where do I go now?
And I heard the voice of God clearly calling me
to himself. But I was a reckless young man, and I.
I was going my own way. And for the next
several years, I made a mess of my life. And
(06:15):
I thank God that I made a mess of it,
because I don't know if I'd have snapped out of
it if I could have kept it under control. There's
some of you that have made a mess of your life,
but it's not quite messy enough for you to hear
the voice of God. That's a bummer, but maybe God
will use my story to help you today. It was, uh.
(06:37):
It was crazy because I was a good kid. I
was a good church kid. And now I'm finding myself
in the oil field to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, making a
couple thousand a week after taxes. Back in the day.
That was a lot of money then and now, and
I started. I just went down a path, man. I
couldn't even imagine myself. I got hooked on cocaine. Bad
(06:59):
to the point where I had a gram in one
pocket and a few hundred dollars in the other everywhere
I went. And it got so bad, this addiction that
I wanted to fund it and not pay my own
money to have to feed my habit. I found a
connection in Southern California. The second little shipment. I wasn't
a big dealer, but I'd cut it up and send
(07:22):
it out to guys that were going to bars just
to pay for my own addiction. And the second package
I had shipped to Alaska was busted by the feds
with my name on it. And sometimes when you're running
from God and you might be running from God right now.
And you are. You're blown away if you look back
(07:44):
and you might look back today and go, man, I've
been running from God, but he's been extending mercy to
me the whole time, and God allowed me to avoid
picking up that package. If I'd have picked it up,
I'd have done a lot of years. 15 to 20
in prison would have never met my bride. I wouldn't
know the children that I have now, let alone my
precious granddaughter. But God saved my soul. And let me
(08:12):
tell you how he did it. My dad loved me
so much that he knew my life was out of control,
and I was out at their home, sitting on a
hearth in the very house that dad and I built
together when I was 16. And mom had found a
money order for Western Union for thousands of dollars. And
(08:33):
it would. It was the receipt that I had sent
this drug dealer. I will leave his name out, but
I had sent him some money, and they knew I
wasn't buying used cars in Southern Cal. And, um, dad
walked around the corner and he had tears coming down
(08:54):
his face. I'm like, oh no, no, no. Here comes
the come back to church talk. And he said, you
know what? Son wrapped his arm around me. He said,
I'm no longer praying. I mean, tears are flowing off
of his face, man off of his chin. And he said,
I'm no longer praying that you come back to church.
I'm praying that you would finally have a relationship with
(09:14):
Jesus Christ, or that God would take you out of
this world because you're killing yourself anyway. And I'd seen
my dad's prayers answered regularly for 20 years plus. And
on that day, God, by his grace, set in motion
a series of events that kicked every crutch out from
(09:35):
under Carl, every crutch. And in one cold winter in Alaska.
February 11th. Under the influence of Crown royal and cocaine.
But sober as can be. Empty young man driving down
a cold road I'll never forget it. I know the
(09:57):
stretch of road when I've been back a time or two.
I drive down that stretch and I almost can't make
it without crying. And God just said to me, are
you done yet? And on that day I said, God,
I'm so done. And I drove to my big sister's home,
(10:18):
who was just down the road and knocked on her door,
and she saw me sobbing and she said, what's going on?
I said. She said, what's wrong? And I said, nothing's wrong.
Everything's right. Sharon, today I gave my life to Jesus Christ.
And I just I want you to know because in
my heart aches for people who are in the church
(10:43):
or have been churched or are measure in their life
by who knows what, but you're trying to cram something
into a God shaped void, and only God belongs there.
And I just if Paul did this for people in
the scriptures, I'm going to do it with you. Now,
I beg you, be reconciled to God. And I want
to ask you one question, one question that the Spirit
(11:04):
of God asked me. And I'm praying that the Spirit
of God uses my words to speak into your heart.
Are you done yet? Are you done yet? On February 11th,
the power of the spirit set me free from addictions.
And he put my feet on a path and a
(11:26):
journey that I had heard about, but I had never
tasted until that day. And he made me brand new.
And what's amazing is, is that I'm more fired up
about my faith in Jesus Christ today. If it's possible,
than I was even then. Do I have battles? Oh,
big ones and my perfect. Far from it. Follow me
(11:47):
for around for a week, you'll see that. But it's
the grace of God. Transform me! Oh you betcha. And
I just want to ask you, are you done yet?
I don't care. I don't care what your substitute God is. Today.
I'm asking you, please know that you know you've been
saved by the power of God. And this is how
(12:10):
I want you to repent right now. Just cry out
to God. Say I'm turning around. I'm done. I'm turning around.
Today I give my life to Jesus. Today I confess
to you that you are King of Kings. And I'm
making you the leader of my life. And today, right now,
I embrace the truth that I'm a sinner and I
need a Savior. And it's a cry of the heart.
(12:34):
I didn't pray a fancy prayer. I did what you
just did right now. And if that's you, I want
to help you right now. I want you to text
the word new because God is making all things new
for you. Today, I just want you to text the
word new right now, wherever you are, to 805 five, 578, 98.
Come on. I'm ready for some new brothers and sisters
(12:54):
in Christ, come on into the family. Takes the word
new to 800 555, 7898. Today is the day. Don't wait.
Today is the day of your salvation. Come one, come all.
Text new to 800 555 7898.
S1 (13:14):
He was running from God. But God's love brought him home.
Carl is in the crew. It's Carl and crew on
Moody Radio.
S2 (13:23):
Father, we're grateful for the power of your spirit that
reaches in and grabs hearts and changes them. It's been
an overwhelming week, and we're thankful that as we march
on today, that you are. We're following Jesus and you're
in front of us, and your spirit gives us the unction,
the filling to keep in step with you. And I
(13:43):
praise you for that God. We couldn't do this crazy
show without you, Lord. And we're grateful for your guidance
and your direction and your love. It's awesome. God and
I give you thanks. In the name of Jesus I pray. Amen. Amen.
It's good. Good to have you guys with us today.
It's I just got done in the last hour sharing
my story. And one thing dawned on me. I'm asking
(14:05):
people to text the word new to our number here,
and it's awesome. So many of you did. And yet
I want to explain why we send you that link
in that link, when you text the word new and I,
we got some one off comments from people saying I'm done, man. Uh,
somebody said, I'm tired of letting my job define me.
Somebody said, I'm I'm giving up. I'm giving it up
(14:27):
to Jesus today. But the reason we send you this
link is that we do everything we can here to
help you take your first steps with Jesus when you're
a new follower of Christ. And so if that is you,
why we ask you to text the word new, it's awesome.
You're putting a flag in the air going, that's me.
But it's so much more than that, right, Ali?
S3 (14:44):
Absolutely. And so we always want to provide content that's
going to help you take that next step.
S2 (14:49):
Yeah. And the content in this link new has three
things embedded in it. This is why we want you
to text it to us. When you surrender for the
first time in your life to Christ, it's got a
I put a blog in there of how to find
a church with people that are going to help you
grow up in Jesus, because we don't presume everybody's in
that or experiences that you may be, but you may
(15:10):
not be. So it's also got a link for a
good we. I went through and found a good collection
of Bible links so that you can grab a Bible.
I'm blown away in this day. How many folks maybe
don't have them? And there's not a lot of Christian bookstores,
but we got links for you to find one right there.
And then the third one is a link that you'll click.
We're going to ask you to just fill out your
(15:31):
home address. We won't spam you. We're not going to
harass you. Nothing like that. We're here to help you,
but we'll send you a resource that will show you
how to now walk in God's power and no longer
bootstrap it with self-help. So if you're surrendering your life
to Jesus today for the very first time, just text
the word new to (800)Â 555-7898. It's more than just putting
(15:53):
an arm in the air going, I'm new. It's we're
helping you take your next step. What an amazing week
we're having here. Ali, what's on your heart this morning?
S3 (16:00):
You know, and this conversation I think is so important.
And when you start thinking about cultural Christianity, what does
it mean to be saved? I know sometimes that can
feel a little bit uncomfortable, and it doesn't get talked
about much in the church, and I'm not sure why
that is.
S2 (16:15):
That's a good question. I think that's an interesting question.
And having been a pastor for a lot of years
and a pastor right now in Chicago, by the way,
we got a campus downtown in the South Loop and
one out in the burbs. Um, you know, it's it's
an interesting things. We have been inoculated by our heritage.
(16:37):
We've been inoculated by our heritage. And what I mean
by that is that we've had three great awakenings in
our nation. And what came out of that was a
great movement of God. I mean, all my ancestors came
from Sweden. I mean, D.L. Moody had a huge audience
in America. His second largest audience was in Sweden.
S3 (16:56):
I didn't.
S2 (16:56):
Know that. Isn't that cool? Wow. And so all of
my grandparents and great grandparents, they had heard or not heard,
they read the written material of D.L. Moody. And so
when they came here to Chicago, when they immigrated, a
lot of them were here. And what what happens is
we're living kind of in the fumes of what was
an awakened church. And it creates this culture of Christianity
(17:19):
without the power of God, a form of godliness, but
without the power thereof. And that's the danger, isn't it, Ali?
S3 (17:27):
It is. And so these conversations do we is this
all we do on our show? No, no, this is
we're focusing it on it this week. We do talk
a lot about it from time to time. But no,
this is not what we do every single day of
our show. We want to cover as much of Scripture
as we can, and the Bible talks about lots of
other things too. But this in particular is is part
(17:50):
of our heart and part of what we feel like
is our mission.
S2 (17:54):
Yeah. I mean, our brand promise here is to help
you take your next step with Jesus. But here's what
I've learned as a pastor. It's hard. No, let me be.
Let me be accurate. It's impossible to disciple people who
are bound by culture, cultural Christianity, and have never been
(18:14):
born again. It's impossible. And I've talked with a lot
of pastors about this guys, and it's it's one of
these aha moments when pastors realize, whoa, we're trying to
help people take their next step who have never stepped
into relationship with Christ. Yes, that's that's impossible to do.
(18:34):
And so we're wanting to clear the decks this week
and just go, here's where we're at. This is our heart.
These are our stories. This is our song. Praising our
Savior all the day long. Man, now I'm going classic
on us here.
S3 (18:45):
And I want to give you an exercise to do.
And I've actually done this with my own kids to
sometimes surprising results. If your kid has been raised in church,
ask them what they believe it means to be saved
or to be a Christ follower. Just ask them and
see what they say. And I've asked my kids this,
and at times have been surprised by areas where they're
(19:07):
a little foggy and they've been in church for their
whole lives, and there has been some messaging that they've
absorbed in an awesome church in an awesome Christian culture.
But there's some areas of confusion that I realized that
they had that I'm like, okay, I want to know
what it is that you think it means, and then
let's talk about it. So try that exercise with your
(19:29):
kids if they're old enough to kind of have a
general understanding. Talk with them about it. Ask them. So,
you know, we go to church every week. What do
you think it means to actually be saved, to actually
be a disciple of Jesus? Open that. That opens the
door to a conversation. Try it.
S2 (19:44):
It's good. And here's why. The truth will set you free.
Absolutely not. Half truths, not Cultural Christianity truths. The truth
will set you free. Oh, you know, I'm feel prompted.
I'm going to do it, father. Open hearts today. Bring
us to this raw. I mean, strip the veneer off
of our lives and help us to live so power
(20:07):
packed by your spirit that we're being honest with you.
Honest with ourselves, honest with our kids, honest with what's
going on in our world today and responding appropriately. I
pray it in the name of Jesus. Amen. And let
it be. Well, coming up, one of our favorites, Doctor Sam,
storms the fact that Sam has makes time to come
(20:28):
on here is awesome. Yes.
S3 (20:31):
So let's talk about what some of those foundational understanding.
What is salvation? How do we talk about it? You'll
hear more from him coming up.
S1 (20:39):
He was sharing the gospel on the radio and then
he got saved. Young thunders in the crew. It's Carl
and crew on Moody Radio.
S5 (20:49):
The reality is we have great gospel preaching churches that
people flock to are filled or half filled with well-meaning
people every weekend, Ali, some of whom are going to
possibly experience this, not a well done and good and
(21:09):
faithful servant, but I never knew you. And even saying
those words out of Matthew seven, it grips our heart,
doesn't it, Ali?
S3 (21:18):
Absolutely. But the reality is, in a Western mindset where
cultural Christianity is so prevalent, it can be confusing. Are
you born into a Christian family? Are you a Christian
because your mom and dad and your grandma were, and
you went to church your whole life? No.
S5 (21:37):
And are you Christian? Because you're spiritually active, you're doing
mighty works. You're even baptizing in the name of Jesus.
And then you add to it, the God of this
age has blinded the minds of the unbelieving. And we've
got a spiritual battle. sand storms with us right now. Sam,
we're in a war for souls, aren't we? My man.
S6 (21:53):
Absolutely. Perhaps at an all time high, so to speak.
I hate to compare ages or generations, but it seems
as if the enemy is ratcheting up his attack on us,
trying to delude us and confuse us about what salvation
is and who Jesus is.
S3 (22:11):
Doctor Sam Storms, our guest right now founder and president
of Enjoying God Ministries, serves on the Council of the
Gospel Coalition. You've written extensively on a lot of different topics,
but celebrating our salvation. One of your most recent blog
posts that we're featuring today. You write that there's some embarrassment,
some modern day embarrassment, even around using the term salvation
(22:34):
or being saved. It seems outdated. Old fashioned to some.
Talk a little bit about that.
S6 (22:39):
Yeah, it really does. And I think perhaps the reason
for that is because we don't know what we're saved from,
and we don't know what we're saved to. We've lost
any sense really of the of the justice and the
holiness of God. And we fail to realize that what
I'm saved from isn't low self-esteem. It's not, you know,
(23:00):
a warped view of myself. I'm not saved from some
psychological disorder. We're being saved from the wrath of God.
Delivered by God's love from the wrath of God. And
I think we've lost that sense of God's transcendent holiness.
And we just assume that as long as I, you know,
pay my taxes and don't commit some scandalous sin, that
(23:21):
I'm in good shape. And yet, as you mentioned a
moment ago in Matthew seven, there will be a lot
of people who are confused about that and who are
convinced that because of all the great things they've done,
that they are in good relationship with God. And Jesus
said quite clearly, I never knew you. You are workers
of lawlessness. So we need to recover the word salvation.
(23:42):
It's everywhere in the New Testament and kind of redeem
it for what God intended it to be and what
he intended us to understand.
S2 (23:50):
We know that the spiritual war afoot here, Sam, and
the God of this age, has blinded the minds of
the unbelieving. The God of this age is Satan and
all of his demonic forces. How do we intervene? There's
a lot of people listening right now. Some are very
secure in their salvation. Others are rattled a little bit
this morning. Some are brokenhearted. For kids that were raised
(24:10):
in church. Talk about an epidemic, Sam. That's everywhere. Kids
raised in church but far from Christ. How do we
deal with this spiritual war of blindness?
S6 (24:22):
The ultimate answer is with the truth of God's Word
in the power of the Holy Spirit. Because my words
are your words alone are. Listening to a radio program
isn't ultimately the solution. What people need to do is
they need to return to the the inspired and authoritative
Word of God. They need to listen to the voice
of Jesus through the New Testament authors, and to realize
(24:43):
that real power, real purpose, only comes in a personal
relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, you just
mentioned there about people raised in the church and walking away.
I've had two young ladies in the church where I
used to pastor, who were vibrant, it seemed, and were
very active in church and passionate worshipers. And now they
(25:04):
have both walked away, and they I don't know if
they use the word deconstruction, but they have lost confidence
in the goodness of God and the the truthfulness of
his Word. And basically, my response. I've reached out to
both of them and I just say, look, let me
talk to you about Jesus. If you saw something in
church that offended you or you were hurt or manipulated,
(25:24):
let's try to look beyond that to the person of
Christ Himself, who will never manipulate, who will never lie,
who will never fail to come through on his promises.
S3 (25:33):
Doctor Sam storms our guest right now. You know, when
I was first presented with the gospel, I remember hearing
a lot about hell. I remember watching a graphic presentation
of Heaven's Gates and Hell's Flames. And so the idea
of being saved from hell or the wrath of God
was made clear to me. What wasn't made as clear
(25:54):
to me was what I was being saved to. Talk
a little bit about that.
S6 (25:59):
Really, we need to understand God's ultimate purpose in our salvation.
We read about that in Ephesians one where he says,
we have been predestined us to adoption as children of God,
being taken into the family of God, being given an
insight and wisdom and understanding the beauty and the majesty
of God. Although we have to make it clear that
(26:20):
there are eternal consequences for unbelief and rebellion. We need
to make clear that the greatest and most powerful, alluring
factor in the Bible is the beauty and the transcendent
majesty of the Lord Jesus Christ. I often ask people,
you know, if you could go to heaven and have
every physical need met and get to walk on streets
(26:41):
of gold and get to be reunited with your family
and get to have a redeemed body? But Jesus wasn't there,
would you be happy? And I hope they would say, well, no,
because what we're being saved to is a captivating, enthralling
vision and experience of the majesty and the beauty of
the God who has Genesis one on his resume. I
(27:02):
love that first Peter 318 which says that Jesus, the
Righteous One, died for the unrighteous to bring us to God.
That's the ultimate purpose. People need to realize that we're
not primarily talking about setting them free from past behavior
or moral failures, although that's important, but we're talking to
(27:22):
them about the only way in which you can come
and get God gaining the experience, the personal intimacy, the
vision of the majesty of our great Triune God. That
is what we are saved to. And that's what I
think ultimately will captivate people and take their eyes off
of the flesh in the world.
S3 (27:40):
You mentioned our adoption as sons and daughters of our
Heavenly Father, which contrasts the popular notion that everyone is
a child of God. Adoption. Where do we misunderstand this word?
S6 (27:54):
Well, you're exactly right. Everybody says, oh, well, we're all
children of God. And of course, in one sense that's
true in the sense that God made us all. We
are his creatures. But that doesn't mean that you are
a part of the spiritual family of those who will
inherit everything that Christ has died to secure for us.
And in fact, I would say, let me just kind
of riffed on that just a moment. I would say
(28:14):
that if there's one default belief among most people in America,
maybe worldwide, it is universalism. Yes, I'm going to die
and go to heaven because, well, that's what God does,
or I haven't been that bad. Or maybe my good
works have outweighed my bad. But this default view is
and you see it all the time somebody died, a
famous actor or athlete and say, well, he's up there
(28:37):
looking down on me, or she's up there looking down
on her family. Maybe not. Death does not qualify you
for heaven. It's faith in the Lord Jesus Christ who
has delivered us from death.
S7 (28:47):
You know, talk to the person right now who wrestles with,
I have this fear of God's wrath, and yet I
want to experience the love of God. How does a
holy fear. Healthy fear, biblical fear of God really jive
with the love of God? How do they come together?
S6 (29:06):
You know, I think the best answer to that is
is right there in Romans chapter five where Paul says,
if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God
by the death of his son, how much more, now
that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life?
So we have to understand. Yes, we were at enmity
with God because of our moral failure, our brokenness, our rebellion,
(29:29):
our unbelief. But the love of God sent the Son
of God to die for us, that we might become
the children of God and be delivered from the wrath
of God. So the wrath of God and the love
of God are not mutually exclusive. God's love is precisely
designed to deliver us from a well deserved wrath, a
well deserved, eternal condemnation. So I think we just have
(29:51):
to again come back to the reality of what God
has done for us. You know, right there in that
Romans five passage, he says, much more shall we be
saved by him from the wrath of God. So Paul
doesn't shy away from talking about wrath, but he says, look,
God's love is greater still. God's mercy in Christ has
made a way for all of us to be set
(30:13):
free from that condemnation. So we can say in Romans
eight one, there is therefore now no condemnation for those
who are in Christ. We say, well, where did that
condemnation go? It was laid on the Son of God
at the cross. And if we will only lay hold
of that by faith, we can live in the joy
and the freedom that we know. There is no condemnation
(30:33):
now or for all eternity.
S7 (30:35):
It's beautiful. Sam storms our guest. Sam, we're going to
spike this blog that you wrote here not long ago
celebrating our salvation. How can this be used both in
the life of someone who can celebrate their assurance of salvation?
It can also mirror back for someone. Boy, I might
not know this savior. There's nothing really to celebrate. Speak
(30:57):
to that.
S6 (30:58):
Well, again, it comes from the perspective that a person
brings to the whole issue of the Christian faith. If
we look at it exclusively as being delivered from judgment
that we otherwise deserved, we will have a warped view.
What we need to see is that God desires that
his people experience him, enjoy him, delight in him, find
(31:21):
their ultimate satisfaction in him. If you talk to a
typical unbeliever today and you really press deeply, they will
confess to being deeply unsatisfied, wandering with no sense of
purpose or meaning or value, not sure of the reason
for their existence and we need to present to them.
Look the person of the Lord Jesus in his life,
death and resurrection has provided for us a way to
(31:44):
experience the greatest glory, the greatest joy that any human
being could ever know. And that is seeing. Believing in.
Trusting in knowing. Uh, resting. In being enthralled and captivated
by the majestic beauty of Jesus Christ. We have to
keep Jesus central in all of our discussion and dialogue
(32:05):
with the unbeliever.
S7 (32:06):
Dynamite Sam Storms, our guest. He's written this great blog
called Celebrating Our Salvation.
S3 (32:12):
This is a lengthy read, but totally worth it. There's
a lot here. I want you to get it. We'll
send it right to your phone. Just text the word
storm to 800 555 7898. Just text storm to (800)Â 555-7898.
S1 (32:29):
A basketball mom who's mastered the dad joke. Ali is
in the crew. It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
S7 (32:37):
Well, guess what? It's the bottom.
S2 (32:38):
Of the hour and it is.
S7 (32:40):
Wednesday.
S2 (32:41):
It is time for Young Thunder. Take it away, my man.
S1 (32:44):
Making herself laugh no matter who joins her. It's time
for Ali thinks it's funny.
S3 (32:51):
Here we go.
S8 (32:52):
Here we go. You're on kiddo.
S3 (32:54):
Wednesday mornings they cue the mic. They set up the stage,
and I go up there and I tell jokes. Have
you ever paid attention to the insect world?
S4 (33:06):
No. A little.
S2 (33:07):
Bit.
S3 (33:07):
Not really. Watched how spider moves or I don't know.
What do you call those ones with all the. All
the legs? Centipede.
S4 (33:16):
Centipedes.
S3 (33:17):
Those are the worst ants, though. We can learn a
lot from ants. Yeah. The Bible even says. Consider. The
ant can learn a lot from those little guys.
S8 (33:25):
Get up and get going. Man.
S3 (33:27):
Absolutely. Ants also rarely get sick. They're a remarkably healthy
little bug. Do you want to know why that is?
Why don't ants ever get sick?
S9 (33:37):
Why?
S3 (33:38):
Because they have little antibodies. Little antibodies that keep them
from killing.
S8 (33:44):
I love that one. That one's very good. Young thunder.
Not nary a grin. Young thunder.
S3 (33:50):
This next one, though, I think Young Thunder is gonna get.
I've been excited to tell this one. So yesterday my
husband asked me if I could clear the dinner table.
Simple request. Right?
S9 (34:00):
Sure.
S3 (34:01):
I told him. The answer is no.
S9 (34:04):
Wow. Why?
S3 (34:05):
Even with a running start, I couldn't clear it.
S10 (34:09):
Ready? Ready. Ready. Ready. Ready to run.
S9 (34:17):
Clear the table.
S3 (34:19):
Oh, can you picture that?
S8 (34:21):
I actually can clear your brother. Your brother's a hurdler,
and I don't think he can help you on that one.
S3 (34:27):
I don't know, my brother might be able to clear
the dinner table, but definitely not me and definitely not
at my age. Text the word jokes to 800 800
555 7898. If you want this morning's jokes, this our
only text jokes to 800 555 7898.
Coming to you from the Morning Star Mission sponsored studio.
This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio. I got
up early this.
S2 (00:09):
Morning earlier than early.
S3 (00:12):
I was going to say, as opposed to this kind
of comes with the job getting up early.
S2 (00:17):
Oh my goodness. I was wrestling with God. I've shared
my story so many times, and I was in a
battle man and not really wrestling with God. I think
that there was a spiritual attack afoot. In fact, young Thunder,
I told him early when we came in here, I said, man,
it's a battle raging and there always is. Especially if
you think about the apex of the gospel of Jesus
(00:39):
Christ and what it's done in a person, there's going
to be a battle there. So I pour out my
heart to you today in absolute humility and asking God
to use it as he would see fit. And father,
I'm asking you to move empower here as I just
open up my heart and share with some friends that
I've not even met yet. Many of them, but that
you would move in a powerful way In the name
(01:01):
of Jesus, I pray. Amen.
S3 (01:03):
Amen.
S2 (01:04):
You know what, guys? I was, uh, I was raised
in a far off place. I was raised in Alaska,
and I was born in Homer, Alaska, and I was
raised by a mom and dad that had me in
church constantly. And they loved the Lord. My dad, just
a big grace guy, a big guy, big Swedish dude, man. And, uh,
(01:24):
a great man of God. And my mom, a great
woman of God. But my dad had huge impact in
my life. Still resounds to this day in my heart.
Got a picture of him nearby here and I. I
did the whole deal like young Thunder. If you weren't
here yesterday. And here it is. Story. I mean, I
was raised in church and baptized as a young guy
(01:47):
and I knew all the songs, memorized verses one huge
candy bars for memorizing verses, the oversized ones, man. And
that was great inspiration. Um. Even as a young boy,
I remember wrestling with a lot of identity issues. I,
(02:08):
I didn't suck a thumb when I was a kid.
I sucked 2 or 3 fingers, looked like I sucked
a fist because I had huge buck teeth hanging out
the front of my face. And I had I had
an electric orange hair. And that brought as a young
boy some insecurity. If it wasn't the fact that I
was a leader and I was a fast kid and
(02:29):
sprinting and things like that use a lot of things
to deflect things that were going on inside my heart.
But I, I didn't have, even as a young man
raised in church and baptized and walked aisles, I didn't
have a living, breathing, personal relationship with Jesus Christ. And
when you're lacking that, you go on a quest to
find something to fill that void. And I did, man.
(02:52):
15 years old, I was listening to the broadcast of
the finish of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. It
had only been going a few years at that point,
but for some reason I got this cockamamie, to use
my dad's word idea that I'm going to compete in
this thing when I turn 18. And I set my
heart to it, and I began to train for two
(03:13):
years in high school, struck a deal with the vice
principal at a school, high school. I was going to,
he said. If you keep your grades a B, you
can keep training for the Iditarod. In fact, he was
all fired up. He's like, go for it, man. We'd
love to have a Wasilla warrior. That was my high school.
We'd love to have Wasilla Warrior complete that race. That
would be awesome. So I trained, came to the starting
line first Saturday in March, 18 years old, and took
(03:38):
off on that race. My dad actually stopped me before
I headed out and there were dog teams all around me,
dogs yelping and people just getting their gear on their
sleds and everything. And he said, I want to pray
with you. And I'm like, oh boy, pray in front
of all these tough dudes that I'm competing against. This
is awkward, he said, I want to pray for you.
And he prayed with me and he actually told me
(03:59):
that day. He said, I've. I want you to know something.
There's a lot of rumors about whether or not you're
going to make it to Nome because you're young. He said,
I want you to know I already bought my ticket
to Nome. I'll see you when you get there. That's
a powerful move of a dad.
S3 (04:13):
I gave you such confidence that he so believed that
you could do it.
S2 (04:18):
Yeah. It wasn't until two years after the Iditarod was
over that it dawned on me I might not make it.
How about that?
S4 (04:26):
You're done with it for years. You're like, oh, wait,
I could have died out there.
S2 (04:28):
Yeah. So I'm out on that race. And I saw
God reach out his hand to me once in a snowstorm,
going from, I mean, there was every turn of the
Iditarod I could see, looking back, God's mercy. I was
still far from God. Thought I knew him, but I
didn't finished that race 21 days, eight hours, 12 minutes
and 32 seconds. And I had the most awesome and
(04:52):
awful feeling. I had the elation of finishing this race
in the emptiness of oh no, that didn't fill the void.
And it was crushing to me. To be candid with you.
I've never cried about that part of the story, but
I was one lonely, hurting, 18 year old kid. It's
a horrible feeling when you feel like everyone's looking at
(05:12):
you going, wow, you made it to Nome. And I'm
saying to myself, yeah, big deal. I made it to Nome.
Why am I so hollow inside? And there's some of
you chasing things in life. And you're hollow inside. And
you can be like me. Go to church and know
(05:33):
verses in your hollow inside. Because you had a problem
like I had. And I didn't discover it for a while.
I walked out onto the sea ice in Nome, Alaska.
I put on my mukluks. I put on my socks, mittens,
beaver hat, wolf rough, pulled it over my head and
walked out alone and lonely into the night. Sleep deprived
(05:54):
but so wired. Just wondering where do I go now?
And I heard the voice of God clearly calling me
to himself. But I was a reckless young man, and I.
I was going my own way. And for the next
several years, I made a mess of my life. And
(06:15):
I thank God that I made a mess of it,
because I don't know if I'd have snapped out of
it if I could have kept it under control. There's
some of you that have made a mess of your life,
but it's not quite messy enough for you to hear
the voice of God. That's a bummer, but maybe God
will use my story to help you today. It was, uh.
(06:37):
It was crazy because I was a good kid. I
was a good church kid. And now I'm finding myself
in the oil field to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, making a
couple thousand a week after taxes. Back in the day.
That was a lot of money then and now, and
I started. I just went down a path, man. I
couldn't even imagine myself. I got hooked on cocaine. Bad
(06:59):
to the point where I had a gram in one
pocket and a few hundred dollars in the other everywhere
I went. And it got so bad, this addiction that
I wanted to fund it and not pay my own
money to have to feed my habit. I found a
connection in Southern California. The second little shipment. I wasn't
a big dealer, but I'd cut it up and send
(07:22):
it out to guys that were going to bars just
to pay for my own addiction. And the second package
I had shipped to Alaska was busted by the feds
with my name on it. And sometimes when you're running
from God and you might be running from God right now.
And you are. You're blown away if you look back
(07:44):
and you might look back today and go, man, I've
been running from God, but he's been extending mercy to
me the whole time, and God allowed me to avoid
picking up that package. If I'd have picked it up,
I'd have done a lot of years. 15 to 20
in prison would have never met my bride. I wouldn't
know the children that I have now, let alone my
precious granddaughter. But God saved my soul. And let me
(08:12):
tell you how he did it. My dad loved me
so much that he knew my life was out of control,
and I was out at their home, sitting on a
hearth in the very house that dad and I built
together when I was 16. And mom had found a
money order for Western Union for thousands of dollars. And
(08:33):
it would. It was the receipt that I had sent
this drug dealer. I will leave his name out, but
I had sent him some money, and they knew I
wasn't buying used cars in Southern Cal. And, um, dad
walked around the corner and he had tears coming down
(08:54):
his face. I'm like, oh no, no, no. Here comes
the come back to church talk. And he said, you
know what? Son wrapped his arm around me. He said,
I'm no longer praying. I mean, tears are flowing off
of his face, man off of his chin. And he said,
I'm no longer praying that you come back to church.
I'm praying that you would finally have a relationship with
(09:14):
Jesus Christ, or that God would take you out of
this world because you're killing yourself anyway. And I'd seen
my dad's prayers answered regularly for 20 years plus. And
on that day, God, by his grace, set in motion
a series of events that kicked every crutch out from
(09:35):
under Carl, every crutch. And in one cold winter in Alaska.
February 11th. Under the influence of Crown royal and cocaine.
But sober as can be. Empty young man driving down
a cold road I'll never forget it. I know the
(09:57):
stretch of road when I've been back a time or two.
I drive down that stretch and I almost can't make
it without crying. And God just said to me, are
you done yet? And on that day I said, God,
I'm so done. And I drove to my big sister's home,
(10:18):
who was just down the road and knocked on her door,
and she saw me sobbing and she said, what's going on?
I said. She said, what's wrong? And I said, nothing's wrong.
Everything's right. Sharon, today I gave my life to Jesus Christ.
And I just I want you to know because in
my heart aches for people who are in the church
(10:43):
or have been churched or are measure in their life
by who knows what, but you're trying to cram something
into a God shaped void, and only God belongs there.
And I just if Paul did this for people in
the scriptures, I'm going to do it with you. Now,
I beg you, be reconciled to God. And I want
to ask you one question, one question that the Spirit
(11:04):
of God asked me. And I'm praying that the Spirit
of God uses my words to speak into your heart.
Are you done yet? Are you done yet? On February 11th,
the power of the spirit set me free from addictions.
And he put my feet on a path and a
(11:26):
journey that I had heard about, but I had never
tasted until that day. And he made me brand new.
And what's amazing is, is that I'm more fired up
about my faith in Jesus Christ today. If it's possible,
than I was even then. Do I have battles? Oh,
big ones and my perfect. Far from it. Follow me
(11:47):
for around for a week, you'll see that. But it's
the grace of God. Transform me! Oh you betcha. And
I just want to ask you, are you done yet?
I don't care. I don't care what your substitute God is. Today.
I'm asking you, please know that you know you've been
saved by the power of God. And this is how
(12:10):
I want you to repent right now. Just cry out
to God. Say I'm turning around. I'm done. I'm turning around.
Today I give my life to Jesus. Today I confess
to you that you are King of Kings. And I'm
making you the leader of my life. And today, right now,
I embrace the truth that I'm a sinner and I
need a Savior. And it's a cry of the heart.
(12:34):
I didn't pray a fancy prayer. I did what you
just did right now. And if that's you, I want
to help you right now. I want you to text
the word new because God is making all things new
for you. Today, I just want you to text the
word new right now, wherever you are, to 805 five, 578, 98.
Come on. I'm ready for some new brothers and sisters
(12:54):
in Christ, come on into the family. Takes the word
new to 800 555, 7898. Today is the day. Don't wait.
Today is the day of your salvation. Come one, come all.
Text new to 800 555 7898.
S1 (13:14):
He was running from God. But God's love brought him home.
Carl is in the crew. It's Carl and crew on
Moody Radio.
S2 (13:23):
Father, we're grateful for the power of your spirit that
reaches in and grabs hearts and changes them. It's been
an overwhelming week, and we're thankful that as we march
on today, that you are. We're following Jesus and you're
in front of us, and your spirit gives us the unction,
the filling to keep in step with you. And I
(13:43):
praise you for that God. We couldn't do this crazy
show without you, Lord. And we're grateful for your guidance
and your direction and your love. It's awesome. God and
I give you thanks. In the name of Jesus I pray. Amen. Amen.
It's good. Good to have you guys with us today.
It's I just got done in the last hour sharing
my story. And one thing dawned on me. I'm asking
(14:05):
people to text the word new to our number here,
and it's awesome. So many of you did. And yet
I want to explain why we send you that link
in that link, when you text the word new and I,
we got some one off comments from people saying I'm done, man. Uh,
somebody said, I'm tired of letting my job define me.
Somebody said, I'm I'm giving up. I'm giving it up
(14:27):
to Jesus today. But the reason we send you this
link is that we do everything we can here to
help you take your first steps with Jesus when you're
a new follower of Christ. And so if that is you,
why we ask you to text the word new, it's awesome.
You're putting a flag in the air going, that's me.
But it's so much more than that, right, Ali?
S3 (14:44):
Absolutely. And so we always want to provide content that's
going to help you take that next step.
S2 (14:49):
Yeah. And the content in this link new has three
things embedded in it. This is why we want you
to text it to us. When you surrender for the
first time in your life to Christ, it's got a
I put a blog in there of how to find
a church with people that are going to help you
grow up in Jesus, because we don't presume everybody's in
that or experiences that you may be, but you may
(15:10):
not be. So it's also got a link for a
good we. I went through and found a good collection
of Bible links so that you can grab a Bible.
I'm blown away in this day. How many folks maybe
don't have them? And there's not a lot of Christian bookstores,
but we got links for you to find one right there.
And then the third one is a link that you'll click.
We're going to ask you to just fill out your
(15:31):
home address. We won't spam you. We're not going to
harass you. Nothing like that. We're here to help you,
but we'll send you a resource that will show you
how to now walk in God's power and no longer
bootstrap it with self-help. So if you're surrendering your life
to Jesus today for the very first time, just text
the word new to (800)Â 555-7898. It's more than just putting
(15:53):
an arm in the air going, I'm new. It's we're
helping you take your next step. What an amazing week
we're having here. Ali, what's on your heart this morning?
S3 (16:00):
You know, and this conversation I think is so important.
And when you start thinking about cultural Christianity, what does
it mean to be saved? I know sometimes that can
feel a little bit uncomfortable, and it doesn't get talked
about much in the church, and I'm not sure why
that is.
S2 (16:15):
That's a good question. I think that's an interesting question.
And having been a pastor for a lot of years
and a pastor right now in Chicago, by the way,
we got a campus downtown in the South Loop and
one out in the burbs. Um, you know, it's it's
an interesting things. We have been inoculated by our heritage.
(16:37):
We've been inoculated by our heritage. And what I mean
by that is that we've had three great awakenings in
our nation. And what came out of that was a
great movement of God. I mean, all my ancestors came
from Sweden. I mean, D.L. Moody had a huge audience
in America. His second largest audience was in Sweden.
S3 (16:56):
I didn't.
S2 (16:56):
Know that. Isn't that cool? Wow. And so all of
my grandparents and great grandparents, they had heard or not heard,
they read the written material of D.L. Moody. And so
when they came here to Chicago, when they immigrated, a
lot of them were here. And what what happens is
we're living kind of in the fumes of what was
an awakened church. And it creates this culture of Christianity
(17:19):
without the power of God, a form of godliness, but
without the power thereof. And that's the danger, isn't it, Ali?
S3 (17:27):
It is. And so these conversations do we is this
all we do on our show? No, no, this is
we're focusing it on it this week. We do talk
a lot about it from time to time. But no,
this is not what we do every single day of
our show. We want to cover as much of Scripture
as we can, and the Bible talks about lots of
other things too. But this in particular is is part
(17:50):
of our heart and part of what we feel like
is our mission.
S2 (17:54):
Yeah. I mean, our brand promise here is to help
you take your next step with Jesus. But here's what
I've learned as a pastor. It's hard. No, let me be.
Let me be accurate. It's impossible to disciple people who
are bound by culture, cultural Christianity, and have never been
(18:14):
born again. It's impossible. And I've talked with a lot
of pastors about this guys, and it's it's one of
these aha moments when pastors realize, whoa, we're trying to
help people take their next step who have never stepped
into relationship with Christ. Yes, that's that's impossible to do.
(18:34):
And so we're wanting to clear the decks this week
and just go, here's where we're at. This is our heart.
These are our stories. This is our song. Praising our
Savior all the day long. Man, now I'm going classic
on us here.
S3 (18:45):
And I want to give you an exercise to do.
And I've actually done this with my own kids to
sometimes surprising results. If your kid has been raised in church,
ask them what they believe it means to be saved
or to be a Christ follower. Just ask them and
see what they say. And I've asked my kids this,
and at times have been surprised by areas where they're
(19:07):
a little foggy and they've been in church for their
whole lives, and there has been some messaging that they've
absorbed in an awesome church in an awesome Christian culture.
But there's some areas of confusion that I realized that
they had that I'm like, okay, I want to know
what it is that you think it means, and then
let's talk about it. So try that exercise with your
(19:29):
kids if they're old enough to kind of have a
general understanding. Talk with them about it. Ask them. So,
you know, we go to church every week. What do
you think it means to actually be saved, to actually
be a disciple of Jesus? Open that. That opens the
door to a conversation. Try it.
S2 (19:44):
It's good. And here's why. The truth will set you free.
Absolutely not. Half truths, not Cultural Christianity truths. The truth
will set you free. Oh, you know, I'm feel prompted.
I'm going to do it, father. Open hearts today. Bring
us to this raw. I mean, strip the veneer off
of our lives and help us to live so power
(20:07):
packed by your spirit that we're being honest with you.
Honest with ourselves, honest with our kids, honest with what's
going on in our world today and responding appropriately. I
pray it in the name of Jesus. Amen. And let
it be. Well, coming up, one of our favorites, Doctor Sam,
storms the fact that Sam has makes time to come
(20:28):
on here is awesome. Yes.
S3 (20:31):
So let's talk about what some of those foundational understanding.
What is salvation? How do we talk about it? You'll
hear more from him coming up.
S1 (20:39):
He was sharing the gospel on the radio and then
he got saved. Young thunders in the crew. It's Carl
and crew on Moody Radio.
S5 (20:49):
The reality is we have great gospel preaching churches that
people flock to are filled or half filled with well-meaning
people every weekend, Ali, some of whom are going to
possibly experience this, not a well done and good and
(21:09):
faithful servant, but I never knew you. And even saying
those words out of Matthew seven, it grips our heart,
doesn't it, Ali?
S3 (21:18):
Absolutely. But the reality is, in a Western mindset where
cultural Christianity is so prevalent, it can be confusing. Are
you born into a Christian family? Are you a Christian
because your mom and dad and your grandma were, and
you went to church your whole life? No.
S5 (21:37):
And are you Christian? Because you're spiritually active, you're doing
mighty works. You're even baptizing in the name of Jesus.
And then you add to it, the God of this
age has blinded the minds of the unbelieving. And we've
got a spiritual battle. sand storms with us right now. Sam,
we're in a war for souls, aren't we? My man.
S6 (21:53):
Absolutely. Perhaps at an all time high, so to speak.
I hate to compare ages or generations, but it seems
as if the enemy is ratcheting up his attack on us,
trying to delude us and confuse us about what salvation
is and who Jesus is.
S3 (22:11):
Doctor Sam Storms, our guest right now founder and president
of Enjoying God Ministries, serves on the Council of the
Gospel Coalition. You've written extensively on a lot of different topics,
but celebrating our salvation. One of your most recent blog
posts that we're featuring today. You write that there's some embarrassment,
some modern day embarrassment, even around using the term salvation
(22:34):
or being saved. It seems outdated. Old fashioned to some.
Talk a little bit about that.
S6 (22:39):
Yeah, it really does. And I think perhaps the reason
for that is because we don't know what we're saved from,
and we don't know what we're saved to. We've lost
any sense really of the of the justice and the
holiness of God. And we fail to realize that what
I'm saved from isn't low self-esteem. It's not, you know,
(23:00):
a warped view of myself. I'm not saved from some
psychological disorder. We're being saved from the wrath of God.
Delivered by God's love from the wrath of God. And
I think we've lost that sense of God's transcendent holiness.
And we just assume that as long as I, you know,
pay my taxes and don't commit some scandalous sin, that
(23:21):
I'm in good shape. And yet, as you mentioned a
moment ago in Matthew seven, there will be a lot
of people who are confused about that and who are
convinced that because of all the great things they've done,
that they are in good relationship with God. And Jesus
said quite clearly, I never knew you. You are workers
of lawlessness. So we need to recover the word salvation.
(23:42):
It's everywhere in the New Testament and kind of redeem
it for what God intended it to be and what
he intended us to understand.
S2 (23:50):
We know that the spiritual war afoot here, Sam, and
the God of this age, has blinded the minds of
the unbelieving. The God of this age is Satan and
all of his demonic forces. How do we intervene? There's
a lot of people listening right now. Some are very
secure in their salvation. Others are rattled a little bit
this morning. Some are brokenhearted. For kids that were raised
(24:10):
in church. Talk about an epidemic, Sam. That's everywhere. Kids
raised in church but far from Christ. How do we
deal with this spiritual war of blindness?
S6 (24:22):
The ultimate answer is with the truth of God's Word
in the power of the Holy Spirit. Because my words
are your words alone are. Listening to a radio program
isn't ultimately the solution. What people need to do is
they need to return to the the inspired and authoritative
Word of God. They need to listen to the voice
of Jesus through the New Testament authors, and to realize
(24:43):
that real power, real purpose, only comes in a personal
relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, you just
mentioned there about people raised in the church and walking away.
I've had two young ladies in the church where I
used to pastor, who were vibrant, it seemed, and were
very active in church and passionate worshipers. And now they
(25:04):
have both walked away, and they I don't know if
they use the word deconstruction, but they have lost confidence
in the goodness of God and the the truthfulness of
his Word. And basically, my response. I've reached out to
both of them and I just say, look, let me
talk to you about Jesus. If you saw something in
church that offended you or you were hurt or manipulated,
(25:24):
let's try to look beyond that to the person of
Christ Himself, who will never manipulate, who will never lie,
who will never fail to come through on his promises.
S3 (25:33):
Doctor Sam storms our guest right now. You know, when
I was first presented with the gospel, I remember hearing
a lot about hell. I remember watching a graphic presentation
of Heaven's Gates and Hell's Flames. And so the idea
of being saved from hell or the wrath of God
was made clear to me. What wasn't made as clear
(25:54):
to me was what I was being saved to. Talk
a little bit about that.
S6 (25:59):
Really, we need to understand God's ultimate purpose in our salvation.
We read about that in Ephesians one where he says,
we have been predestined us to adoption as children of God,
being taken into the family of God, being given an
insight and wisdom and understanding the beauty and the majesty
of God. Although we have to make it clear that
(26:20):
there are eternal consequences for unbelief and rebellion. We need
to make clear that the greatest and most powerful, alluring
factor in the Bible is the beauty and the transcendent
majesty of the Lord Jesus Christ. I often ask people,
you know, if you could go to heaven and have
every physical need met and get to walk on streets
(26:41):
of gold and get to be reunited with your family
and get to have a redeemed body? But Jesus wasn't there,
would you be happy? And I hope they would say, well, no,
because what we're being saved to is a captivating, enthralling
vision and experience of the majesty and the beauty of
the God who has Genesis one on his resume. I
(27:02):
love that first Peter 318 which says that Jesus, the
Righteous One, died for the unrighteous to bring us to God.
That's the ultimate purpose. People need to realize that we're
not primarily talking about setting them free from past behavior
or moral failures, although that's important, but we're talking to
(27:22):
them about the only way in which you can come
and get God gaining the experience, the personal intimacy, the
vision of the majesty of our great Triune God. That
is what we are saved to. And that's what I
think ultimately will captivate people and take their eyes off
of the flesh in the world.
S3 (27:40):
You mentioned our adoption as sons and daughters of our
Heavenly Father, which contrasts the popular notion that everyone is
a child of God. Adoption. Where do we misunderstand this word?
S6 (27:54):
Well, you're exactly right. Everybody says, oh, well, we're all
children of God. And of course, in one sense that's
true in the sense that God made us all. We
are his creatures. But that doesn't mean that you are
a part of the spiritual family of those who will
inherit everything that Christ has died to secure for us.
And in fact, I would say, let me just kind
of riffed on that just a moment. I would say
(28:14):
that if there's one default belief among most people in America,
maybe worldwide, it is universalism. Yes, I'm going to die
and go to heaven because, well, that's what God does,
or I haven't been that bad. Or maybe my good
works have outweighed my bad. But this default view is
and you see it all the time somebody died, a
famous actor or athlete and say, well, he's up there
(28:37):
looking down on me, or she's up there looking down
on her family. Maybe not. Death does not qualify you
for heaven. It's faith in the Lord Jesus Christ who
has delivered us from death.
S7 (28:47):
You know, talk to the person right now who wrestles with,
I have this fear of God's wrath, and yet I
want to experience the love of God. How does a
holy fear. Healthy fear, biblical fear of God really jive
with the love of God? How do they come together?
S6 (29:06):
You know, I think the best answer to that is
is right there in Romans chapter five where Paul says,
if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God
by the death of his son, how much more, now
that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life?
So we have to understand. Yes, we were at enmity
with God because of our moral failure, our brokenness, our rebellion,
(29:29):
our unbelief. But the love of God sent the Son
of God to die for us, that we might become
the children of God and be delivered from the wrath
of God. So the wrath of God and the love
of God are not mutually exclusive. God's love is precisely
designed to deliver us from a well deserved wrath, a
well deserved, eternal condemnation. So I think we just have
(29:51):
to again come back to the reality of what God
has done for us. You know, right there in that
Romans five passage, he says, much more shall we be
saved by him from the wrath of God. So Paul
doesn't shy away from talking about wrath, but he says, look,
God's love is greater still. God's mercy in Christ has
made a way for all of us to be set
(30:13):
free from that condemnation. So we can say in Romans
eight one, there is therefore now no condemnation for those
who are in Christ. We say, well, where did that
condemnation go? It was laid on the Son of God
at the cross. And if we will only lay hold
of that by faith, we can live in the joy
and the freedom that we know. There is no condemnation
(30:33):
now or for all eternity.
S7 (30:35):
It's beautiful. Sam storms our guest. Sam, we're going to
spike this blog that you wrote here not long ago
celebrating our salvation. How can this be used both in
the life of someone who can celebrate their assurance of salvation?
It can also mirror back for someone. Boy, I might
not know this savior. There's nothing really to celebrate. Speak
(30:57):
to that.
S6 (30:58):
Well, again, it comes from the perspective that a person
brings to the whole issue of the Christian faith. If
we look at it exclusively as being delivered from judgment
that we otherwise deserved, we will have a warped view.
What we need to see is that God desires that
his people experience him, enjoy him, delight in him, find
(31:21):
their ultimate satisfaction in him. If you talk to a
typical unbeliever today and you really press deeply, they will
confess to being deeply unsatisfied, wandering with no sense of
purpose or meaning or value, not sure of the reason
for their existence and we need to present to them.
Look the person of the Lord Jesus in his life,
death and resurrection has provided for us a way to
(31:44):
experience the greatest glory, the greatest joy that any human
being could ever know. And that is seeing. Believing in.
Trusting in knowing. Uh, resting. In being enthralled and captivated
by the majestic beauty of Jesus Christ. We have to
keep Jesus central in all of our discussion and dialogue
(32:05):
with the unbeliever.
S7 (32:06):
Dynamite Sam Storms, our guest. He's written this great blog
called Celebrating Our Salvation.
S3 (32:12):
This is a lengthy read, but totally worth it. There's
a lot here. I want you to get it. We'll
send it right to your phone. Just text the word
storm to 800 555 7898. Just text storm to (800)Â 555-7898.
S1 (32:29):
A basketball mom who's mastered the dad joke. Ali is
in the crew. It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
S7 (32:37):
Well, guess what? It's the bottom.
S2 (32:38):
Of the hour and it is.
S7 (32:40):
Wednesday.
S2 (32:41):
It is time for Young Thunder. Take it away, my man.
S1 (32:44):
Making herself laugh no matter who joins her. It's time
for Ali thinks it's funny.
S3 (32:51):
Here we go.
S8 (32:52):
Here we go. You're on kiddo.
S3 (32:54):
Wednesday mornings they cue the mic. They set up the stage,
and I go up there and I tell jokes. Have
you ever paid attention to the insect world?
S4 (33:06):
No. A little.
S2 (33:07):
Bit.
S3 (33:07):
Not really. Watched how spider moves or I don't know.
What do you call those ones with all the. All
the legs? Centipede.
S4 (33:16):
Centipedes.
S3 (33:17):
Those are the worst ants, though. We can learn a
lot from ants. Yeah. The Bible even says. Consider. The
ant can learn a lot from those little guys.
S8 (33:25):
Get up and get going. Man.
S3 (33:27):
Absolutely. Ants also rarely get sick. They're a remarkably healthy
little bug. Do you want to know why that is?
Why don't ants ever get sick?
S9 (33:37):
Why?
S3 (33:38):
Because they have little antibodies. Little antibodies that keep them
from killing.
S8 (33:44):
I love that one. That one's very good. Young thunder.
Not nary a grin. Young thunder.
S3 (33:50):
This next one, though, I think Young Thunder is gonna get.
I've been excited to tell this one. So yesterday my
husband asked me if I could clear the dinner table.
Simple request. Right?
S9 (34:00):
Sure.
S3 (34:01):
I told him. The answer is no.
S9 (34:04):
Wow. Why?
S3 (34:05):
Even with a running start, I couldn't clear it.
S10 (34:09):
Ready? Ready. Ready. Ready. Ready to run.
S9 (34:17):
Clear the table.
S3 (34:19):
Oh, can you picture that?
S8 (34:21):
I actually can clear your brother. Your brother's a hurdler,
and I don't think he can help you on that one.
S3 (34:27):
I don't know, my brother might be able to clear
the dinner table, but definitely not me and definitely not
at my age. Text the word jokes to 800 800
555 7898. If you want this morning's jokes, this our
only text jokes to 800 555 7898.
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