You Can't Change Yourself

Today, on Karl and Crew, we continued our weekly theme, "Debunking Myths, and we discussed the statement, "I need to change my life". We cannot change ourselves. Only when you celebrate your utter weakness before God can there be freedom. This awareness can lead to real change. It's found in Humility before God (I Peter 5:6), Proximity to Jesus (John 15), and the Liberty of the Holy Spirit (John 14 & 16, and Romans 8). Our special guest was David Gregory, who is an author, speaker, and blogger. He's the author of the NY Times bestseller "Dinner with a Perfect Stranger" and "One of Us". Also joining us was Shane Barnard. He is a recording artist, songwriter, producer, and founding member of the worship group Shane and Shane (along with friend Shane Everett). They have dedicated their efforts to equipping and empowering worship leaders worldwide called The Worship Initiative. You can hear the highlights of today's program on the Karl and Crew Showcast.

 

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Episode Transcript

S1 (00:00):
Coming to you from the Morning Star Mission sponsored studio.
This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio.

S2 (00:10):
There is a notion running around out there in circles
of disciples and I mean disciples. People who love God
have been radically altered by Jesus, and they suspect I
need to change my life. Let me give you one statement,
and then we'll shut down the show for today. And
we're done.

S3 (00:29):
Okay. This replay, this three minutes for. Wow.

S2 (00:33):
No you don't. That's God's work. I want you to
think about what you're up against today. When I say
up against, I'm not talking about external forces of opposition.
I'm talking about the internal battles that you have going
on in your mind, in your body. Addictive cycles that

(00:54):
need to be broken. And those come in a lot
of different forms. Don't don't go to the. Oh, yeah,
those cocaine snorters like old Carl was back in his
young 20s. No, no, I'm talking about those behavioral things
that range from lack of time control. So you're wasting
great hours in the day that God wants to redeem

(01:17):
in your life, and you know it. Don't beat yourself up.
Let's just have a touchpoint here to that common thing
you do when your cup gets bumped and anger just
splashes out to the ones that you love the most,
to your a serial gossiper and you can't seem to

(01:38):
shut the trap up. You've tried over and over again. To.
I am chronically given toward sullenness, and I let my
sullenness be seen by everybody, hoping that that will give
me some comfort, but I know God wants to change

(02:00):
my sullenness. He goes on and on. Right, guys?

S3 (02:04):
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Absolutely. There's I mean, if you
allowed yourself to look at all the things that you
quote unquote need to work on, then you can just
become overwhelmed because you're like, oh, man, there's just so
many things. And every time I take care of one
quote unquote, there's like three more that pop up.

S2 (02:24):
Oh yeah, man, it's I love spiritual. Whack a mole
is a great illustration for this.

S3 (02:28):
It is a great, great term.

S2 (02:30):
But the funny thing about spiritual whack a mole is
you're right, young thunder. You whack one. And that's not
like one more comes up. It's like 2 or 3.
It's like, oh, for crying out, pick. And you can't
get your hand working fast enough.

S3 (02:42):
No you can't. And you just get tired and then
you probably get frustrated and say, I'm done playing.

S2 (02:47):
Yeah. And you know, that is what happens. We feel
this overwhelming need to change our life. And then exhaustion
creeps in. And then we wave a white flag. And
you know what we believe. Well, some things will never change.
That really ticks me off. For you, it really does.

(03:10):
I'm not mad at you because I live just like
you do. We're all the same. There's no such thing
as sinless perfection. No one's claiming this. But these cycles
that we feel like when we look at our life.
And it can be any way under the sun. I mean,

(03:31):
the the patterns that are destructive to our life can
manifest themselves in every layer imaginable. And I think Satan
does a pretty good job of trying to. It's kind
of like, you know, the the big game in Africa.
We've determined the big stuff. This is how Recovery Ministries

(03:51):
got going. And I'm going to remind you again. I
love Recovery Ministries and they give me an upset tummy
as a pastor. And I genuinely mean this because it
casts this, this notion over the body at large. That, boy,
we got this recovery group over there. Look at those guys.

(04:11):
You see them over there. Oh my goodness. Bless their hearts.
They're in recovery. Yeah boy. And then we forget we're
all in recovery. Every one of us. No one no

(04:32):
one's not right, Ellie.

S4 (04:33):
Right. And it's so often the people who come to
the end of something and show up at a recovery
group are actually the ones best positioned to actually change.

S2 (04:45):
Boom. And then the follow up question is, why is that?
And you got to ask that question. Why do you
hear such stories of breakthrough from Recovery Ministries? And could
it be that God could do that in me? And
the answer is absolutely. So coming up here, I'm going

(05:09):
to give you the single most secret sauce to changing
your life that you will ever find or hear about
the single most important thing. Money back guarantee. Money back guarantee.

S4 (05:26):
I'm really curious. Like, I'm trying to think of what
you're going to whittle it down to, and I'm actually
not sure.

S2 (05:32):
That's good.

S4 (05:33):
We're gonna we're gonna have a little competition between the
team here. We're. None of us know exactly what you're
going to say, but we're all going to come up
with a guess of what that one thing might be,
and we'll see who gets closest to it.

S2 (05:44):
The single most important factor that will begin to give
you breakthrough in your life. And I'm going to give
one away because some of you are guessing, oh, Carl's
big on humility. It's humility. Nope.

S4 (06:02):
Nope. That was my guess. Okay, check.

S5 (06:04):
Yeah. Me too. Throw that one out the window. I
want humility.

S4 (06:08):
Not humility.

S2 (06:08):
Humility is right on this one's heels. But this one
is the single most important factor. You learn to celebrate this,
things will start to change in your life. Yeah. So
fired up. I can barely stand it.

S1 (06:29):
Start your day moving closer to Jesus. You're listening to
Carl and crew.

S2 (06:35):
I'll tell you when I praise God. And I'm doing
it this morning. When you have a touch point of
truth that you're like, boom! That. That is so true.
You know what I'm talking about, guys. You read through
the Bible, you see a truth, and you go.

S6 (06:49):
Whoa! Where the world has this been?

S4 (06:51):
Mind blown emoji.

S2 (06:55):
It's just so great. So here's the question because the
myth is I need to change my life. And here's
the truth. You can't do that. Which is somewhat freeing
because you beat your head against the wall over something
in your life. And I want to make sure that
we're not letting anyone escape the orbit of what we're

(07:15):
talking about here today. So what are some of the
little things that we kind of give a pass to,
that need to change in our life, that we can
maybe benefit greatly by going, no, no, no, let's not
let's not give that a pass. What are some of
these things that are kind of accepted in evangelical circles,
if you will?

S3 (07:35):
That's a good question.

S4 (07:36):
A big one we hear often from people is lack
of time management.

S2 (07:40):
It's big, isn't it?

S4 (07:41):
So like an unproductive time wasting.

S2 (07:45):
Yeah. And full confession here I feel like I leverage
time as well, or better than almost anyone that's in
my sphere of influence around me. I really work at that.
Can I tell you something, guys? It is an 24
hours is a lot of time. I know you're you

(08:07):
got a lot going on. You're raising kids. Ali's got this. Um,
I mean, she's shuttling kids to basketball games when she
gets off air and does a bunch more work than
she goes home. And here goes mama. Commuter engine. She's
flying all over. I get it, but I'm telling you, it's.
Let's just pressure test this. Ali, there's still moments in

(08:32):
your day that could get unredeemed. And of course, I
don't want to put words.

S4 (08:37):
No, no, no, I mean, that's 100%. And we get
so programmed to kind of say, well, I'm so busy.
And kind of the flip side is so I sort
of deserve to kind of like veg out or and
they're talking about relaxation because relaxation is purposeful, right?

S5 (08:55):
There's spiritual rest for sure. And promote.

S4 (08:57):
Promotes rest. But what happens to me often is I'll
just kind of like get into like a funk of like, okay, well,
I'm tired, so I think I'm just going to scroll
or I'm just going to like sit here and like,
but it's not purposeful rest. It's just like unproductivity. And
then you don't feel good about it. You don't feel

(09:18):
any better. You feel worse.

S2 (09:20):
I love your term, purposeful rest. That's the line of demarcation.
That's what delineates good rest from slothfulness. I mean, let's
use the word right. It's not just slothfulness. There's other
things that get a pass. There's things like and we
almost we didn't go here because there were some pastors

(09:41):
that were pretty big gluttony That that I remember as
a kid thinking as a kid going, because I heard
this word gluttony in Sunday school class. And I thought,
I wonder why we don't talk a lot about that.

S3 (09:56):
And you're right. We don't.

S2 (09:59):
And that's a hard one.

S3 (10:00):
It's a hard one.

S2 (10:01):
And I've always said this here. Easy for you to say, Carl.
You've got challenges in your life, and and weight is
not one of them. But in the. The bummer about
gluttony is that it is. So there's a lot of
tentacles to it. A lot of this stuff is is
a place of self-protection because of things that have happened

(10:23):
in the past. But even in that if you pressure
test it, God wants to give us victory even there.

S3 (10:29):
Yes.

S2 (10:30):
Even their hard fought hallelujah.

S3 (10:33):
And it's not about, you know, it's not about the eating.
It's about what you get from it almost. You know,
I feel like there's a, a deeper thing that comes
with it. You know, I've tried to make some changes
of of eating healthier and, and having specific days where
I can, I can have a snack or something that

(10:54):
I really like. And I, I noticed at the beginning
of it sometimes now that, hey, I'm a little I'm
a little more upset on the days where I can't
have the snack because. Because maybe I was trusting in
that a little too much to make me feel good
after a stressful day.

S2 (11:12):
All right. Gluttony. Confession. I'm going to come in right
behind you. I'm going to tell you what it is.
I've actually had to get this under control. By the
power of the spirit. I'm going to make a confession
to you here. This is. This might sound goofy to you,
but it's a spiritual thing to me. So I used
to love Cheez-Its when I was a kid, but my
wife told me those things are just jammed full of chemicals.
We got to get you something different here. And so

(11:34):
she got me on to these things. They're called bunnies.
I think that you get them at healthy kind of
places and they're like, you know, made with, you know,
they strip out all.

S4 (11:43):
The cheddar.

S5 (11:43):
Bunnies.

S2 (11:45):
Yeah, they're like cheddar bunnies.

S4 (11:46):
Oh, the cheddar bunnies. Okay.

S5 (11:47):
Yeah. Oh, yeah.

S2 (11:48):
Well, you know what I do get a box. I
have been known to eat the entire box in one sitting.

S3 (11:55):
I love it.

S2 (11:55):
Entire box of cheddar.

S3 (11:58):
Bunnies. That's real.

S2 (11:59):
And then I get up. Oh, why'd I do that?
I ate the whole box. Should I even tell my wife?
Should I? Should I put the empty box up in
the cabinet? Or should I throw it in the trash
and then have her say to me, what's going on
with the cheddar bunnies, man? You went on a cheddar
bunny binge.

S3 (12:19):
It's so good.

S2 (12:20):
I'm serious about this, guys. Let's cut it to you straight.

S3 (12:23):
No. That's real.

S2 (12:24):
Let's be real here. Well, I digress. I don't care
if it's cheddar bunnies gossiping in the lobby. Kind of
an addiction to sullenness. You know what I mean? Guys,
we can all get into that funk. It's kind of
like o b o b o b. Oh.

S6 (12:40):
Yeah.

S2 (12:40):
Things. Things aren't very good over here.

S4 (12:42):
Oh, woe is me.

S5 (12:43):
Sort of outlook on life.

S2 (12:45):
Yeah. Victim mode. We can all get there. We're all
in recovery. Here's the secret sauce. Here is the secret
sauce to your life changing one word weakness and learning
to celebrate that you are too weak to change your life.

(13:08):
Apostle Paul said it. He said, man, it's thorn in
the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan,
to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Reading
from Second Corinthians 12. But look at the many verses here.

(13:29):
Is it the money verses? Verse eight. Three times I
pleaded with the Lord about this, that I that it
should leave me. But he said to me, my grace
is sufficient for you. Oh, no, not just sufficient. There's
a comma. For my power is made perfect in weakness.

(13:51):
Back to Paul writing here. Therefore I will boast all
the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power
of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ,
then I am contentment with my weaknesses, even insults and hardships,

(14:12):
persecutions and calamities. For when I am weak, then I
am strong. Oh my goodness! How great is God's word!

S4 (14:31):
Here's my question for you though. So does this mean
that I can boast in the weakness of, let's say,
unproductivity and time management say, well, that's the thorn in
my flesh, and I'm okay with that because weakness is good.

S2 (14:47):
Great question. Let's tackle that straight ahead.

S1 (14:52):
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.

S2 (15:03):
The crazy economy of God's world, as we find in Scripture,
is so inverted, upside down and backwards to the world
that we live in. I mean, we live in a
world that screams at you. You need to overcome something.

(15:24):
You need to get bowed up. You need to get strong.
You need to get over this thing. You can do it.
I mean, how many posters were in the 70s that said, inspiration,
you can do this thing. And the reason people got
sick of those after a while is guess what? They
can be a real black hole.

S5 (15:46):
It's exhausting.

S2 (15:47):
It's exhausting. And you know, this is another topic for
another time. But I'm absolutely convinced of this. I had
a great discussion a number of years ago with my son.
We were talking about tech founders that he was working with,
and he said, man, there's a there's a black hole
with a lot of tech founders. He goes, they're they're
on Adderall to get their day started, and they're on

(16:09):
weed to shut down the day. And he says, I've
seen a couple of these guys get off one or
the other or both. But the conclusion was they pick
up some other kind of vice or thing because, wow,
what are we left when we have nothing at all?

(16:31):
The interesting thing, Ali asked a great question. And that is,
do we kind of revel in the thorn in the flesh?
I mean, is that thing that keeps us weak? Restate
that question.

S4 (16:42):
Yeah. I mean, you read the passage out of Second
Corinthians about boasting in the weakness so that the power
of Christ may rest upon me. Does that mean that
we accept whatever it is? I keep using the lack
of time management or time wasting slothfulness and say, okay, well,
that's the thorn in the flesh. That's how I am.
This is my weakness. And so then I'm not going

(17:03):
to do anything about it because of Second Corinthians 12.

S2 (17:07):
Yeah, that's a that's a good point here, because the
malady that that Paul struggled with was something that he
desperately wanted to overcome. The general overarching thing here that
we find in Isaiah 40. And I'm going to give
this to you in just a moment, because it's classic,
is that weakness is to be celebrated because it forces

(17:28):
us to rely upon the grace of God to get
through and overcome things in our life. We find this
over and over again. I have two appeals that I'll
have on this one. One is blessed are the poor
in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. When
we are bankrupt emotionally, spiritually, relationally, when we realize we've

(17:51):
got nothing, Jesus says, now you've got everything. Okay, so
the way up is down. You want to go to
the front of the line, go to the back of
the line. Everything in God's economy is different than what
we're told in our youth. And here in Isaiah 40.
It's an amazing thing. Verse 29, he gives power to
the faint and to him who has no might, he

(18:13):
increases strength. What an amazing thing to he who has
no might. He increases strength. So what's going on there?
It's like, hold it. He increased his strength. How? By
embracing the fact that apart from him, we can do nothing. Nothing?

S7 (18:30):
Not a thing.

S2 (18:33):
And then he goes on. This is classic. You probably
you just didn't know that verse. But you know, verse 30,
a lot of you do. Even youths shall faint and
be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted. But they
who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength. They
shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run
and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint.

(18:55):
What a beautiful thing! Those who wait on God's power.
So here's the deal. Do you need to change your life? No.
That's God's work in you. Bottom line, it's God's work
in you. And he can do it. And it is
a beautiful thing. It is beautiful. Let him have his
way in you today. We're going to be talking about

(19:15):
this all morning. Big myth we're debunking. I need to
change my life. No. First reliance upon God's power.

S1 (19:23):
This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio.

S2 (19:27):
It's one of the greatest discoveries that we can find
wherever you go in God's word. I mean, consider my
favorite king. I can you can go anywhere in the
Bible to find people that walk in victory. And there
is this one key. It's more than an emotion. Help
me with this word. It's the awareness that I am

(19:52):
too weak to do anything about this situation. It's what
got the tax collector Matthew out of the tree to
follow Jesus. It's the this the stunning response of the
woman at the well. It's it's Lydia, the the seller

(20:14):
of purple who just saw her need to then bring
in these guests that were preaching to her. It's it's
the list goes on and on and on. It's Moses,
It's Moses faced with a sea in front of him
and Pharaoh's army coming after him. God, what do we do?

(20:38):
It's it's it's over and over. Isn't it amazing, guys,
that when you look at the Hall of Fame, of
faith from Genesis to Revelation, when you look at the
Hall of Fame of faith, you see this deep river
of perceived weakness in themselves and a and a desire
to lean into God.

S4 (20:58):
I think the thing is that keeps us stuck is
that so often we live with the illusion that for
this thing, I just need to keep trying harder, or
that there's some tactic that I haven't tried. I think
we get it, that there's nothing we can do when
we're faced with something that feels out of our control,
some sort of diagnosis, something that's that truly we had

(21:18):
nothing to do with per se. But when it's like
those daily habits and hangups, we kind of live with
the illusion that I'm just not trying hard enough.

S6 (21:27):
Yeah.

S2 (21:27):
Absolutely. Ali.

S3 (21:29):
I think we our big mistake is that we live
as unqualified people constantly trying to qualify ourselves.

S2 (21:38):
That's a great way to put it, young Thunder.

S3 (21:40):
We are we.

S2 (21:41):
Unable people that try to be able.

S3 (21:43):
Yeah. And it's just the way it is. We will
always be unqualified. The victory and the success comes when
we acknowledge, when we're aware of our inability to be
qualified on our own, and the fact that it's all God.
God does the work when we let him have it.
He gets the glory and he uses us.

S2 (22:06):
So what do you do when you realize your weakness,
your inability to change your life? Do you sit there
because you could sit there and just go, yeah, I
can't do it. Or does that move us into a
relationship with the Holy Trinity that positions us for God's power?
Hang on.

S1 (22:25):
Tune in whenever you like. Check out the Carl and
Crew podcast wherever you like to stream.

S2 (22:31):
Okay, here's the beauty. And I want to. I want
to tackle this quickly. And I've done it again. She
did it again. She's coming up with a cool little
hot link that all you're going to do is text
a keyword, and we're going to shoot it back to you. Bang!
You don't even have anything to open up. It'll be
right there before you. This proves how incredibly how incredibly.

(22:53):
I almost want to use the word simple. Yeah, simple,
but not easy. God's solutions are for our life. They're
not easy, but they are very simple. God made the
gospel so relatable to all of us. This is why
he says, let the children come to me. Let the
children come to me. The gospel is relevant for all ages, stages,

(23:18):
and no matter what you're up against today, the first
thing that needs to be celebrated when you realize you
can't change something in your life is that you are
utterly weak and you rejoice in it, as Paul did
as Isaiah tells us. In our weakness he is strong.

(23:39):
He gives power to the faint, says Idea Isaiah. And
to him who has no might, he increases strength. Is
that amazing? I mean, how how beautiful is God's Word
and how beautiful is God.

S3 (23:57):
It's the upside down kingdom.

S2 (23:58):
It's the upside down kingdom.

S3 (24:00):
I think that that's one of the best ways to
explain the kingdom of God, because it's the stuff that
you wouldn't, you wouldn't think by worldly terms is what's
going to move you closer to him, what's going to
make you stronger. But it's true. Weakness is strength.

S2 (24:15):
Let me just give it to you quickly if you
want real change. First and foremost, embrace Race. Your utter
inability to change yourself. That's number one. That then ushers
you into an awareness for where real change happens. And
it's all related to the Trinity. It's found in humility

(24:39):
before God. You humble yourself under God's mighty hand. He
will lift you up. It's proximity to Jesus. You be
a branch that abides in the vine. You will bear
much fruit. And it's also found in the liberty of
the Holy Spirit, raising the sails of your soul and
allowing God to absolutely rock your world. This is such

(25:02):
an important. This is such an important kind of paradigm shift.
I love what you just said, Young Thunder. How did
you say that again? The kingdom is.

S3 (25:14):
It's the upside down kingdom. The. The things that the
world tells us are what we need to be strong
or what we need to have it all is is just.
It's the opposite in the Kingdom of God. It's blessed
are the poor in spirit, for they shall receive the
kingdom of heaven. It's Jesus saying, whoever is first will
be last, and whoever is last will be first. It's
God lifts up those who are weak. It's, you know,

(25:38):
it's it's.

S2 (25:39):
The upside down kingdom. How good is that? The upside
down kingdom.

S4 (25:43):
It's so true.

S2 (25:45):
You know, I don't know what you're up against today,
but I know this for sure. A myth that many
of us have believed. And. And by the way, do
we have to fight this off in here? Can we
just all.

S5 (25:57):
Yes, yes. Hands raised. Hands raised.

S2 (26:00):
Can. I've got both hands in the air right now.
And can we just all say that this is one
of the greatest baits of Satan?

S3 (26:09):
Yeah.

S2 (26:10):
When you hear that notion rattling around in your brain, boy,
you need to change your life. The conviction Is possibly
from God that something needs to change in your life.
The deception is that you need to do it, and
it's deadly. Scripture is loaded from beginning to end. Every

(26:31):
time somebody wandered out into the wilderness of thinking, I
got to. I got to fix this. I've got to
get us across this river. I've got to. You've filling
in the blank. I don't care what it is. I've
got to fight this war. Jehoshaphat said, I've got this.
So much. So put the worship team out in front

(26:53):
of that story. It's. It's an amazing paradigm shift embrace.
Let me just boil this down. Embrace your weakness. When
we are weak, then he is strong. Embrace it. And
then go after this humility before God. You humble yourself

(27:17):
under his mighty hand, he'll lift you up. Proximity to Jesus.
You abide in the vine. You will bear much fruit.
One of those fruits is self-control. Something you've been kicking
your tail. You're like, I have no self-control and you
don't have to produce it. That's the fruit of the spirit.

(27:41):
And liberty of the Holy Spirit. Raise the sails of
your soul. Let the Spirit of God remind you of
truth that's going to carry you into God's power and
into change. It's an awesome thing. And super. I did
it again for us.

S5 (27:57):
Yes she did.

S4 (27:58):
She put together these quick little points just in a
key word for you to grab. It's just a power
packed little statement. But man, there's scripture attached to it,
so spend some time with it. Just text change to
800 555 7898. Just text change to 800 555 7898.

S2 (28:18):
Yeah. What a what a thrill. And I think what's
so great about the Word of God is that it
is not easy, but there's no complexity. God is very
simple with this. Embrace your weakness, my friend. And then
let's go on this ride. Trust in God. Text the

(28:41):
word change to 800 555 7898. Just change to 800
555 7898.

S1 (28:50):
Your spiritual pit stop to keep you going in the race.
You're listening to Carl and crew.

S2 (28:57):
Alex, got a question for you. You exhausted yourself trying
to change yourself, and then you cried out to God.
And you've got a story of deliverance. In our weakness,
he is strong. We are ready for your calls right now.

S4 (29:11):
800 555 Five, 7898 [phone].

S2 (29:17):
This is a big one, isn't it? Because it's it's
the point at which we realise I can't do this,
that God shows up. Why do we keep thinking I
need to do this in my strength? What keeps us there? Ali?

S4 (29:33):
Well, it's that dangling carrot. I think we are hard wired.
I mean, every January 1st, most people, whether they make
a specific resolution or not, most people have some sort
of idea that this is going to be a year
that X, Y, or Z happens. This is going to
be the year that's different. People have like dry months
where they if they feel like they're too dependent on alcohol,

(29:55):
people will do dry January and try to give up
drinking for a month, or I'm going back to the
gym because we're hardwired to want to be better.

S3 (30:06):
I this is something that God's been putting on my
heart a lot recently, and I'm finding a lot of
areas where it comes up, So it's convicting for me.
But I think that we either don't trust to experience
God in this kind of way, that he's going to
handle it for us or or we just have assumed like, ah,

(30:28):
God doesn't really show up in lives like that anymore.
You know, I think about the way the apostles experienced
Jesus because they were with him and they had this
relationship with him. And even when he left, they were close.
They had these encounters of the Holy Spirit. And there's
this quote that I heard recently that really has stuck
with me saying, you know, the the apostles had this

(30:50):
life changing experience with, with Jesus, but it wasn't because
Jesus loved or attended to them more than he does
to us. It's because they loved and attended to him
more than we do. And and I think that's a
big deal when it comes to this, that we we
tend to go on our own because we go, oh,
God doesn't God doesn't show up in lives like that.

(31:14):
But if we allow ourselves to experience him and spend
time with him and love him, then he does.

S2 (31:20):
Yeah. And here's one point I want to I want
a nuance to this is all you have to do
is look at the apostles life and the struggle that
they had with this very thing. Look at Peter. Sure enough,
he denied Christ. And all you got to do is
look at Peter and go, hold it a second here. Okay.

(31:40):
We're all in a process. Yep. Do you think they
got weak in the knees and tried to trust in
their own strength when they were taking the gospel around? Undoubtedly, guys. Yeah. Undoubtedly.
That was a battle.

S3 (31:51):
I mean, Paul even talks about in Galatians how he
had to confront Peter because Peter was was getting a
little more afraid of what people thought of him than
what the gospel really was. And he was sticking around
with maybe some of the the Jewish believers who were the, the,
the over legalistic type of followers and and he was

(32:11):
not sitting with the Gentile crowd. And I mean, they
they did that. They struggled with the same stuff.

S2 (32:17):
Yeah. Good question Ali. You exhausted yourself trying to change
yourself and then you cried out to God. We're looking
for some testimonies in here today. Come on, get on
the soapbox and share what God did in your life
when you came to the end of yourself. In our weakness,
he is strong. Life change happens when we embrace our

(32:38):
weakness and God's strength. Phone lines wide open. I'm asking
you to call in right now and testify your story.
Someone needs to hear it. 800 555 7898 800 555 7898.

S1 (32:54):
Walking closer to Jesus every day you're listening to Carl
and crew.

S2 (32:59):
The single most important emotion that we can have when
we really want to see change in our lives is
when we embrace our utter weakness to make it happen.
Sounds crazy, but it's true. In our weakness, he is strong.
We find it all over Scripture. Check this out Isaiah 40.

(33:22):
He gives power to the faint and to him who
has no might. He increases strength. How much might know.

S3 (33:30):
Might know.

S5 (33:30):
Might, might.

S3 (33:32):
It's so good.

S2 (33:33):
It's so powerful. When you embrace your weakness now you're
positioned for the God of all power to do a
work in your life. We're asking you a question. You
exhausted yourself trying to change yourself, and then you cried
out to God. What stories do you have today?

S4 (33:49):
800 555 7898. Let's go to Nikki. First time caller
from Florida. Nikki, tell us your story. You exhausted yourself
trying to change yourself.

S8 (34:01):
So a little over a year ago, I was having
a really bad, Intrusive suicidal thoughts. And I kept telling
myself that, you know, I just have to change my
way of thinking. I had to go to a therapist,
go to a counselor, just, you know, change the way
I was doing things. And after months of failing and

(34:21):
the intrusive thoughts were getting worse, I dropped to my knee.
I was a lukewarm Christian before all this also, and
I dropped to my knees and I just. I begged
Jesus for help and, you know, just opened my heart
to him. And immediately those intrusive thoughts disappeared. And they
haven't been back since then.

S5 (34:38):
Wow.

S2 (34:39):
Yeah. And, Nikki, this is not this is not some
cheap fix. You were you were truly desperate, and you
embraced weakness in a very practical way and cried out
to God. It's just that must have been a beautiful
moment of emptying yourself and realizing, God, you got to
do this, Nikki.

S8 (34:57):
It was. And, you know, I remind my family all
the time, like, you know, you just have to open
yourself up because, you know, my my family worries about stuff.
They're like, oh, bills and know this and know that.
And I'm just like, that's not. Yeah. You just have
to let God let it be and let God.

S2 (35:13):
Amen. Nikki, there's so much truth in that. It's the
large and the small stuff. It's horrible thinking suicidal thoughts
to I've got to get this to do list done today.
It's it's that real God's power. Is that real? Evelyn
in Florida. Thanks for holding on. What's your story, Evelyn?

S9 (35:30):
Hi. Good morning. Yeah, I had been in alcoholic addiction
for over 30 years, seeking help from recovery programs, from counseling,
and nothing work. I would just get worse. And I
remember sitting in my living room crying to God and
asking him, God, why can't I do this? And he
gave me a vision of what my life would be

(35:50):
like if I didn't stop. And that day, um, he
took me to a church and I surrendered myself entirely
to God. And I've been three and a half years
sober since then.

S6 (36:01):
Wow.

S2 (36:02):
Praise God. Were you born again on that day for
the first time, Evelyn, or what was going on?

S9 (36:08):
I'm going to say I was because I knew who
God was. But today I know who God is.

S6 (36:14):
Yeah, I.

S2 (36:14):
Knew who God was. But today I know who God is.

S6 (36:18):
Yeah.

S2 (36:18):
Are you kidding me? Quotable quotes. Evelyn. Way to go,
Sister Cynthia. First time caller in Tennessee. What's your story,
Cynthia Carle.

S10 (36:27):
Back in 1993, I was a young girl. Not having
anywhere to live, found myself in a fornicating relationship, was
there because mainly I needed shelter. But I heard the gospel.
And the Holy Spirit, you know, just filled me up
and and led me to understand that I can't be

(36:50):
on both sides. So I wanted to serve God with
my whole heart. But I knew that would call for
me to give up the shelter that I had in
the relationship. And six times I tried to come out
of it on my own, tried my own strength, and
kept failing miserably. And on the seventh time I said

(37:11):
I went to church, went to the altar, I said, God,
I have tried six times to come out of this
because I want to serve you in truth. I said,
but Lord, here I am again, broken. Can't do it
on my own. I said, father, if you don't do it,
it cannot be done. And I'm not taking myself out
of this anymore. I'm letting you know I want to

(37:32):
come out. So you're going to have to take me out.
And I saw the power of God move in my life,
removed me from that situation. And the rest is history.
Gave me a husband like the following year. We were
married for 20, almost 27 years when he passed away
from Covid in in 2021. And I'm living the best life.

(37:55):
Still serving the Lord. I can tell you stories upon
stories about the miracles we have wrought in my life.
From that one decision I made to choose him over
a fornicating relationship.

S2 (38:07):
Oh, Cynthia. Oh, God bless you, sister. In the. And
you know what the fruit of the spirit is pouring
out of you? Just pouring out of you, Cynthia.

S10 (38:15):
Absolutely.

S6 (38:16):
Oh.

S2 (38:17):
Oh, what a tremendous word. And listen, if you're listening
right now, you've got to. You got to know something.
Cynthia's story can be your story. Guys, this is. This
is why we do this here.

S6 (38:28):
Yeah.

S2 (38:29):
In our weakness, he is strong. There are hundreds of
women and men listening to that saying, oh, God, let
it be me. Fall to your face, my friend. Come
right to the end of yourself. You got to get
to the point where Cynthia got where she said, I
got nothing here. God. I can't do this. Six times

(38:50):
I've tried to separate myself. I can't do it. But
God can. I mean. Some of the greatest evidence. Let's
go back to the phone lines here. What do.

S5 (39:00):
We have.

S4 (39:01):
Cindy calling in? First time caller. Cindy, first time caller
from Pennsylvania. Cindy. Go ahead. Tell us your story.

S11 (39:09):
Oh, so at 62, due to back problems, I became
an alcoholic. And alcohol is in my family, so I
knew the consequences, but I couldn't stop. I would get
up in the morning and say, okay, I'm not drinking today.
On the way home from work, I would stop at
the state store. And so I found out about Celebrate

(39:30):
Recovery and went to one of their meetings. And on
the way home I just screamed at the Lord, who
does that? And I said, Lord, I don't care what
it takes. This has to stop and you have to
do it because I can't.

S2 (39:48):
Amen.

S11 (39:49):
And I this is stupid, but I fell down the
cellar stairs and broke my C-2, and by rights, I
should have died or been a paraplegic. And I'm as
normal as I ever was. That's not saying a whole lot.

S2 (40:08):
I hear that one. But the bottom line, Cindy. Bottom line, Cindy,
is you cried out to God and he saved you
right there. That is beautiful, Cindy. First time caller from Pennsylvania.
I mean, this is awesome, man. We got barely time here.
I got to get one more in. Heather, first time
caller from Florida. We got a moment here. What's your story, sister?

S12 (40:28):
Uh, I am now clean and sober from drugs, cocaine
and opiates and alcohol for 13.5 years. And in sobriety,
I have also been pushed down to my knees by
God with my face in the ground, crying, begging for
help to take something that I was once again trying
to control. And today I earn a living with my

(40:49):
clothes on and I walk with my head held high.
And I'm so grateful. And I get the opportunity to
help other women do this journey as well.

S5 (40:57):
Wow.

S2 (40:58):
Heather, what a story. And I hear that other little
thread in your story. Heather. And that is beautiful, sister.
Ample evidence. We just got here. Allie.

S5 (41:07):
Right?

S4 (41:07):
Yeah. I mean, the common denominator is getting to that
point where you're so sick and tired of being sick
and tired, as the quote goes, and and you cry
out to God and you finally get to the point
where you go, I can't do this myself. And that's
where you're best positioned to receive all of the grace
and the mercy and the help that's available for gossip.

S2 (41:33):
For lack of time, redemption, discipline in your life. For
horrible thoughts that keep coming back again and again. In
our weakness. He is strong. Fall to your knees today, friend.
I don't care what it is. Please don't whitewash it
and shove it back into the shadows. Own it. Let

(41:55):
God change you. He absolutely can. He absolutely can. Wow. Boom! Crew!
You guys are awesome.

S1 (42:06):
Get to know the team behind the scenes. Follow Carl
and crew on Facebook and Instagram.

S2 (42:12):
It's unavoidable. It's almost like a mantra. Even for Christ followers,
I need to change my life. The question is, what
do you do with that? And I think the operative
word that needs to change is I. It's often a
man centered gospel knowing that God alone saved us, and
then we think it's on us to change us. David Gregory.

(42:35):
That's a crazy maker, isn't it, my man?

S13 (42:37):
It is. Good morning, Carl and Ashley. So good to
be with you again.

S2 (42:41):
Yeah. What's going on there? Um, how did we get this?
It seems to not just be in North America as
I traveled here recently to Africa. It's all over the world.
Is it is Satan baiting a trap to get this
thing called sanctification? Growing up in God, making it all
about us?

S13 (42:59):
Well, absolutely. And where it goes back to is us
eating originally from the tree of the Knowledge of Good
and evil, which puts us into a, um, a self
sufficiency mode. And it's all up to me mode. And
God has switched kingdoms on us and brought us into
the kingdom of God. And now we're eating from the

(43:21):
tree of life, which is a 100% grace mode. God
does it, we receive it. And so what that means
is that we are not the agent of change. The
Holy Spirit is. And so our role is to receive
it all by faith. You know, in in Romans one, uh,

(43:42):
Paul says, the righteousness of God is revealed not from
our effort to our effort, but from faith to faith.
It's because the gospel is a gospel of grace. And
that means that God does it and we receive it.
And so that's that's the the realm in which we
operate now. But learning to operate fully in that realm

(44:03):
rather than this realm, it's it's it's a real transition.
I mean, God has to teach us.

S4 (44:10):
David Gregory, our guest right now. Best New York Times
best selling author. Tell us a little bit about your
own journey. You were saved in college, but it wasn't
until about ten years later that you made a pretty
important discovery.

S13 (44:24):
Yeah, I, I went to a retreat that was taught
by this guy named Dan Stone and ended up going
to several retreats that he was teaching at. And through him,
he was just a pastor that nobody knew almost from,
from Kentucky. But God had revealed to him the reality
of Christ in us and how Christ has come to

(44:44):
live within us in order for us to trust him
to be living his life through us. Which is exactly
the way Jesus operated on the earth, trusting the father
to be living his life through them. Through him. That's what, uh,
is evident if you read the Gospel of John closely.
And so Paul said, the primary message that God has

(45:07):
given him to share with the church is Christ in us.
It's not the forgiveness of sins. The forgiveness of sins
is is obviously an essential message. But the primary message
Paul said in Colossians one that God has given him
is Christ in us. And when you think about it,
if God Himself has come to live within us, shouldn't

(45:31):
that change everything? And why am I trying to pull
off the life of Jesus and to, uh, you know,
emulate the life of Jesus when Jesus himself is living
in us and he is perfectly able to live his
own life. I can't duplicate the life of Jesus, but

(45:51):
he sure he can surely live it. Yeah. And so
that's why Paul says in Galatians 220, I've been crucified
with Christ, and it's no longer I who live, but
Christ lives in me. And the life which I now
live in the flesh. I live by faith in the
Son of God, who loved me and delivered himself up
for me. And so Paul is saying, hey, I'm not

(46:11):
even the one living this life. It's Jesus living in me,
and all I'm doing is trusting him to do it.
And so that is is the fullness of the gospel.
When we really grab the reality that Jesus is the
one who's living his life in us, and we are
at rest in that reality, then the Christian life becomes

(46:33):
exactly what Jesus said it was. He said, uh, my
my load is is uh, is easy and my, my,
my yoke is easy and my burden is light. That
doesn't mean life is easy, but walking with Jesus is
supposed to be easy because we're simply trusting in him.

(46:54):
We're not trying to pull it off all through our
Herculean efforts.

S2 (46:59):
Yeah, I love it. David Gregory, our guest right now,
we're going to have a link for you in a
little bit for more resources. This is a circuit breaking message,
and my wife and I constantly say to one another,
we we need to relearn this truth over and over
again because there's a grooved swing, little golf metaphor here
in our mind that says, I need to change my life.
So I just I want you to respond to this

(47:21):
because Ali and I use this passage here all the
time out of Titus two, for the grace of God
has appeared, bringing salvation for all people. And I think
most people get that. We know that we didn't do anything.
But there's a comma there. David training us to renounce
ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright and

(47:42):
godly lives in this present age. That is enormous, isn't it? David,
isn't that central to this whole issue? God does it
by his grace.

S13 (47:50):
Yeah. It's incredible. And that's what he. That's what he promised, uh,
in the in the to his old covenant people that
would happen under the new covenant. Uh, in Ezekiel and Jeremiah,
God says, talking about the coming New covenant. He says,
I will forgive you. I will cleanse you. I will
remove your dead heart. I will give you a living heart.

(48:12):
I will put my spirit in you, and I will
cause you to walk in my ways. Well, how many
of us are living in the daily reality of God
is the one who causes me to walk in his ways,
and my role is to receive that, and simply to

(48:33):
rest in trusting in that reality.

S14 (48:36):
Wow.

S4 (48:37):
You know your book that you co-wrote with your mentor,
the rest of the gospel? What are we missing when
we miss the rest of it? I mean, I know
you captured in the book, but for those who haven't
read it, what does life look like when we're only
living out the partial gospel?

S13 (48:54):
Yeah, the partial gospel is certainly contains a lot of truth,
which is Christ died for the forgiveness of our sins.
He he rose from the dead. We trust in him.
We're forgiven. And one of these days we'll go be
with him forever. But in the in between. How do
we live this life? And the rest of the gospel
is we can't live this life. The only one who

(49:18):
can live it is Jesus, because it's his life. And
he is the life. And so he's come to live
within us. We're the vessels of his life, and he
simply wants to live his own life through us. And
so our role in that is faith. We receive that.
We trust him to do it. And, uh, so we

(49:38):
just go from one episode of Faith to the other,
trusting that Christ in us is living through us and
he is completely sufficient for every circumstance.

S2 (49:48):
David, I want to get into the real pragmatic end
of this thing, because a lot of people then go, okay, well,
what what in the world does this look like? Uh,
this has been a great journey that my I say,
my bride, she is just a great partner in really
this knowledge and growth and the grace of God and
the rest of the gospel was huge in our lives.

(50:12):
I just need you to know that, David. Huge. It
was like Epiphany central. It was beautiful. But if we
look at how we relate even to God, humility is
the one of the postures that allows us to live there.
With regard to the son. Proximity. John 15 allows us

(50:32):
to bear fruit. None. None of those are our work.
It's just a posture before the father and the son,
and then the liberty of the Holy Spirit, hearing his
voice and going his way as he reminds us of truth.
Get really pragmatic here. Somebody gets up. Let's just take
let's just take an issue right now. Let's just take time. Redemption.
A lot of people call in here and texting here going, I,

(50:54):
I find I'm a sluggard. I can have I can
work really hard. And then I waste four hours of
the day. And then the common context is I need
to change that about myself. David Gregory, coach us up.
How do we live in the grace of God? How
do we live in the rest of the gospel to
see that change rather than our own self-help?

S13 (51:13):
Well, I think our problem in that scenario, just like
any scenario you might want to throw out, is we
believe something that's false. What we believe is what you've
been talking about. God expects me to change myself.

S2 (51:29):
Yeah.

S13 (51:30):
And so then we develop plans and programs and schemes
to do all that and it ends up failing. And
then we think, okay, well, God's disappointed with me. But
our initial premise is completely wrong. God doesn't expect us
to change ourselves because the Holy Spirit is the agent

(51:51):
of change. And so what we do is we say, okay, God,
I see this, this area of my life that seems
like it. It could use some improvement, which is my
time management. So I'm going to come before you. I'm
going to wake up in the morning, I'm going to
come before you and I'm going to say, God, how

(52:11):
would you like me to be spending my time today?
And I'm going to spend a little bit of time simply,
quietly listening to what your Holy Spirit has to say
to me. And when I hear what the Holy Spirit
says to me, oh, work on this project today. Work
on that project today. Do this with your kids today,
whatever it may be. Then I say, okay, I hear

(52:36):
that from your spirit, and I'm trusting Jesus that you
are completely able to do that through me today. I
present myself to you as the vessel for you to
do that through. Here we go. Let's get up. Let's
fix breakfast. Let's let's start going through the day. And
I'm going to trust you to do what the Holy

(52:57):
Spirit has said. Do this.

S2 (52:59):
Okay, David, I want or this is huge right now
because the Holy Spirit was my lost God for two
decades of my spiritual journey. He was at work, but
I called it. Oh, I have a hunch. I have
a prompting. You know, we kind of speak of it
in terms like that. I am now absolutely convinced the

(53:20):
Holy Spirit is speaking constantly, if we will but tune
an ear to him. He is here. He's now he.
We're sealed in the Holy Spirit. Ephesians one we're grafted in,
and we need to raise the sales of our soul.
To those that have never listened to the Spirit's voice.
I want you to demystify this, and let's just make

(53:41):
this rock solid right now. David.

S13 (53:44):
Well, we were made to communicate with God. I mean,
that that's that's how God created human humanity in the
first place. That is obvious from the Garden of Eden,
how God and Adam and Eve were communicating constantly. I mean,
there was an open flow of communication between them. And
so that's how we were made. And so this idea

(54:05):
that we actually hear from God and we not only
speak to him in prayer, but we hear from him
in prayer or just casually throughout the day, shouldn't be
something that's that's strange to us at all. I mean,
you go through the Gospel of John, and Jesus is
constantly saying, I only speak what I hear from the father.
I only do the things I see the father doing.

(54:27):
I only I only say the things that that the
father tells me to say I don't do anything by
my own initiative. I only do what the father is doing.
And so the father was not only living through him,
but the father was constantly communicating with him through the spirit.
And that's just the way we're designed to live. If

(54:47):
we want to live like Jesus lived, that's how we live.
We're in this constant communication with the father. And so
that's something that we simply learn to do by letting
the Holy Spirit teach us. And will we do it
perfectly every time? Will we always know for sure? Okay, well,
the Holy Spirit is saying this to me. Well, I
think that's that's something that that he wants to train

(55:11):
us to hear his voice. And so we just step
out in faith. We take time to be with him
and we just say, Holy Spirit, what are you saying
to me right now? Yeah. And, uh, and we trust
that that he's speaking to us.

S2 (55:24):
30s on this one. How do you discern between an
accusation of Satan? Um, a self-led hunch versus the Spirit
of God.

S13 (55:34):
Well, God never accuses us of anything. And so that's
never from the Holy Spirit. And I think in regard
to trusting that it's the spirit. I think the best
thing to do is just to realize we're on the
same page as him. Our heart, our new heart, wants
what he wants. And so he's not trying to overcome

(55:55):
anything with us. We're already on the same page. And
so if he nudges us in a certain direction, we
take that as from him. Do we know 100%? Well,
maybe not, but we learn. And it's that way with
any communication. And so he's our trainer and he's very patient.

S4 (56:12):
David Gregory, if you want more resources to check out
the website, some of the books just text David to
800 555 7898. For more on David Gregory, our guest
this morning, text David to 800 555 7898.

S5 (56:29):
898.

S2 (56:29):
Yeah. David, I want to thank you for being with
us today. And this is this is not a one
and done. You feel that with me, Ali? This is
not like one conversation and we're done. And the only
I think one of the the little things I'd add
and I want you to kind of follow up quickly here, David.
We're up against it. But if you're if you're feeling
a hunch that we've got the word of God, that

(56:52):
the Spirit of God is constantly reminding us with his words,
that's the promise in John 14. John 16. We've got
that as the kind of the failsafe to know if
we're hearing from God and if it's confirmed in Scripture. Correct, David?

S13 (57:08):
Absolutely. I'm so glad you said that. I mean, the
Scripture will never lead us in a direction contrary to
God's Word. I mean, that's a given. And so, uh, yeah,
we can, uh, that's why it's important to know God's word.
And so we need to both know God's Word and
to learn to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit.

S2 (57:26):
Amen. Love it brother. Thank you so much. Again, that
keyword and how do they get it out?

S4 (57:32):
Text David to 800 555 7898. David to [phone].

S1 (57:40):
You're listening to Carl and crew on Moody Radio.

S2 (57:44):
Uh, we love making sure that you are resourced in
every way possible. And there is I mean, one of
my great joys in life is Sunday morning on either
one of the campuses at 180 Chicago here and watching
God move through worship. It is awe inspiring. And boy
have we got which Shane do we have here?

S5 (58:06):
We have.

S4 (58:07):
Shane Bernard.

S5 (58:08):
Oh, good.

S4 (58:08):
He's along with his friend Shane Everett. They have the
group Shane and Shane, a Texas based contemporary worship music band.
They are known for acoustic praise and worship. I'm a
personal fan.

S2 (58:20):
I know.

S5 (58:20):
You are. I am.

S2 (58:21):
Yeah. And we're going to play. We're going to spin
one of those in just a second here. Shane, how
are you doing this morning? It's God at work in
your life, my man.

S15 (58:29):
Oh, doing great this morning. You know, just trying not
to forget all his benefits this morning. You know what
I'm saying?

S2 (58:35):
Oh, absolutely. You know what I want to drill down on?
You've already won. This has deep, solid theology. What does
what caused you to write this song? And I want
you to pour out your heart about the kind of
the underbelly of that writing process. This is powerful truth
that you sing about.

S15 (58:52):
Oh, man. You know, I mean, there's just there's just
crazy truth that we live in a time where, um,
you know, things are hard. And we might ask ourselves
the question a lot like, God, I don't know what
you're doing. I don't know what you're doing, because, I mean,
but he he he's promised that this in this world,
we'll have trouble. And I don't know when we when

(59:12):
we travel around, we see people. We meet people where
people are in a place where they're like, God, I
don't know what you're doing, but there's a truth that
he's given us through his Word. We are standing on
the promise that he has won the victory, you know.
And so we we know what he's done on the
cross for us. And that's enough. That's enough. But because
of his precious word, we know how the story ends.

(59:33):
We know what's coming for those who are in Christ.
And so, you know these two truths. We live in
the middle right now, and we we can really stand
on the hope that he is coming to make all
things new. But he has forgiven of our sins and
has has paid the price for us to enter into
relationship with him. And he's promised to be with us

(59:54):
even through it. And so that's where this song comes from.
It's just like, man, we live in that place of
the already, but not yet. You know, we know the
truth and he has already saved us, but he has
not yet wiped away every tear from our eyes. But
but let me tell you something, believer. He is going to. Yes.
And we don't even have a. We don't even have

(01:00:15):
the mind to comprehend what is to come. Yeah. For
those who are in Christ Jesus, it's it's going to
be a good day.

S4 (01:00:21):
Shane. So from your vantage point as a worship leader,
we know that obviously musicality is important. You got to
be able to play the instrument or hold a tune.
Those things are vital. But from your vantage point, what
is often missing when it comes to what we put
forth on a Sunday morning in worship?

S15 (01:00:39):
Oh, man. You know, like, I think as a as
a person who, you know, has served the local church and,
and we get to walk through an organization we started
about ten years ago called the Worship Initiative with churches.
We serve about 10,000 now on a weekly basis with resources.
And what we found is there is a lot of well,

(01:01:01):
I'll just say there's a lack of biblical knowledge and, and,
and how the scriptures inform the songs that we sing.
And so we're on a mission to get the Word
of God in the mouths and the hearts of worship
leaders all over this nation and the world and, and, uh,
you know, if you're a worship leader. It's just like, man,

(01:01:22):
it's just like, how do I get better? What? At
what I do. How do I, you know, you can.
You can learn your instrument, but know the word of God.
Saturate your mind and your heart in it. We plagiarize
the scriptures. You know, if you've ever listened to any
of our music, you would realize that it's just like
these guys have never written really anything on their own.
And it's true, because we believe that the Word of

(01:01:45):
God is the hey, it's the power of God to save.
You know? So come on.

S2 (01:01:50):
Oh come on, we're big. We're big on this one here.
And we don't do Christian bubble gum. Here we go
right after it. And central to that is the word
of God. I mean, we've been drilling down this morning
on the. If we want our life to change, the
first emotion we need to break is that we are
utterly powerless. And in our weakness, our God is strong.

(01:02:10):
And it's this biblical illiteracy. It seems to be a big,
a big challenge across the Christian landscape in North America
and beyond. How do you practically do this? We're about
to spike a tool that you have for pastors, worship leaders,
and members of worship teams, and you're going to be
fired up to hear this. But before we get to that,

(01:02:31):
how how important is this and how do you aim
to equip people to be people that deliver the Word
of God, not just music of God.

S5 (01:02:41):
Who.

S15 (01:02:42):
You know, I say this, I'll start with this. We've
just done survey after survey after survey, specifically with pastors.
And it's just like, what are your what are your
deepest concerns for like the guys who lead on Sunday
or your teams or what are the biggest holes that
you you would like us to if you could help
us with? And I think that a lot of it
is leadership in discipleship in the Word of God. Like,

(01:03:05):
how do we duplicate and how do we find leaders
who are not just hungry for the Word of God,
but have a desire to see the people of God
understand the truths in Scripture? And so what we do
is every day we get up and we create content
and resources to say, here's how you do it, you know.
And so from discipling teams to really getting into Bible studies.

(01:03:30):
And so we build a lot of tools around like
how do the scriptures inform the songs that we sing?
A lot of people don't even know how rich some
of these praise courses are in Scripture. And so what
we try to do is just say, okay, this is
where this come from. This is the concept. But like,
here are tier ten verses that kind of inform this thought.

(01:03:51):
Like implant those in your heart, implant those into people
because it's just like, man, we're equipping people for the
I mean, for the good work, you know. And so
if you've got if you've got people that are sitting
under you on Sunday and you've got 22 minutes, it's
just like, what are we going to do with those
22 minutes, man? We want to inform these people of

(01:04:12):
God and equip them for the good work. You know,
of sharing the gospel of of being, realizing who you
are in Christ. Like connecting with the heart of God.

S4 (01:04:22):
Born out of that passion. Shane and Shane started the
Worship Initiative. It's a community of worship leaders and musicians
from around the world committed to serving the church faithfully.
Their support in just about every area. You can think
about leadership, training and development, but also just the practical harmonies,
strumming all of the things that go into a Sunday
morning service. There's opportunities for you to take part of

(01:04:45):
this individually or as a collective. Just text the word
worship to 800 555, 7898. Text the word worship to
800 555 7898.

S1 (01:04:57):
Making herself laugh no matter who joins her, it's time
for Allie thinks it's funny.

S4 (01:05:04):
Anyone have a dentist in their life? I hope everybody
has a dentist in their life.

S5 (01:05:08):
In your life.

S2 (01:05:09):
Is kind of an interesting way of putting.

S5 (01:05:11):
It. You have a relationship.

S4 (01:05:12):
With the dentist, correct?

S3 (01:05:14):
Oh.

S2 (01:05:15):
Yeah. I don't like to get too close to my dentists.

S5 (01:05:18):
That's fair.

S4 (01:05:20):
What would we do without our favorite dentist? I have
a favorite dentist I've been going to for at least
ten years.

S2 (01:05:25):
Okay, quick, quick.

S5 (01:05:26):
Note on this.

S2 (01:05:27):
I know we'll get back to this, but I had
a dentist friend who he was one of my elders
years ago. In fact, he did a lot of work
on my teeth and all that kind of stuff. And
every time I got around him, I just felt the
need to smile more.

S5 (01:05:41):
It was.

S2 (01:05:41):
Weird. And I noticed this and I said it one
one day to him. I said, Paul, I feel so
weird talking with you, even though we're comrades in ministry.
I said, I feel like I have to check my
teeth before we meet to make.

S5 (01:05:54):
Sure I floss.

S2 (01:05:55):
No groceries.

S5 (01:05:56):
In there.

S2 (01:05:57):
And then. And then I feel. And he laughed. He goes,
everybody says that to me.

S5 (01:06:01):
That's so funny. Isn't that funny?

S4 (01:06:02):
So you got Paul. So I got a gift idea
for you. What do you give your favorite dentist in
your case, Paul? What do you give your favorite dentist
at the end of the year? This is your way
of saying thank you. You you give them a little plaque.

S5 (01:06:21):
Thank you. Great. Oh.

S2 (01:06:24):
Great.

S4 (01:06:25):
So I have a hobby that maybe you didn't know about.
I like to do a little limbo. A little limbo.

S5 (01:06:31):
Wow. Yeah. I guess.

S4 (01:06:33):
So there's a stick that I keep in my garage
that's specifically for limbo. And would you believe that about
three nights ago, someone stole my limbo stick out of
my garage?

S3 (01:06:45):
What a bummer.

S5 (01:06:46):
Yeah.

S4 (01:06:46):
I mean, how low can you go?

S16 (01:06:49):
Every little girl all around the limbo world.

S3 (01:06:54):
That was.

S16 (01:06:54):
Good. Limbo around. All around.

S5 (01:06:59):
Oh. That's great. If you love those jokes.

S16 (01:07:02):
Or.

S5 (01:07:02):
Sex jokes.

S4 (01:07:04):
To 800, 555, 78, 98. Text jokes to 800 555 7890.