Coming to you from the Morning Star Mission sponsored studio. This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
Man, I love these songs. Meant to help you take your next step with Jesus. And they're so encouraging. Speaking of encouraging. Look who's back in town, man. Yes.
I'm back in the saddle again. Allie's back out where a friend is a friend. Where the longhorn cattle feed on the lowly jimson weed.
Yes, she was out in these.
Parts in the saddle again, riding the range.
Once I was riding the range.
Totin my old 44.
44, 44.
Where you sleep out every night. And the only law is right. Yeehaw! Back in the saddle.
Thank you, Gene Autry. Appreciate you reintroducing Allie to the whole team here.
Two days I was gone Friday and Monday.
Oh, no. That's a its four day weekend.
It feels like a more appropriate. If it was like a two week vacation.
You got to have some fun though. It's good to have you back. It's a good time away.
Yep, it was explored. The great state of Iowa.
You explored it. Would you explore?
Well, I saw a lot of the I saw actually a lot of hills. I was really surprised someone texted me. Yes, Iowa has a lot of hills. I was expecting total flatland.
Well, yeah, it's next to Illinois. And Illinois is one of the flattest land you can find.
I drove to a small town called Waukee, Iowa. Never heard of Milwaukee, but just take off the mill and it's just Waukee town, Waukee, Iowa. My my son, who's like a little stat man. He likes to find out demographic information on the places that we're going.
That's awesome.
Like, this is the population of this city that we're going for a big, uh, girls basketball tournament that lots of games, lots of time spent in a in a gym watching.
Oh, yeah.
Watching my daughter and.
Those gyms still smell all the same, right? Well, this this.
Was a really I mean, Waukee has a like this gym facility was really one of the nicest I have ever been to. Brand new. I think this was the first tournament and you could tell it was new because they had just put sod down everywhere on all of the landscaping around. So there was all these keep off the grass signs and it was.
Like.
Literally like patches of grass that had just been put down. So this was like fresh. You could hear the sneakers squeaking on the floor. It was brand new. So it was a it's a nice trip.
Here we go.
There you have it.
It's good to have you back here.
Good to be back.
Uh, got a question for you. What's the most recent search you've done on AI? Whether your platform is ChatGPT or grok or what are the other AI platforms out there right now? All I know is grok.
I mean, I use ChatGPT.
I use ChatGPT as well. Yeah.
Or if you're going old school. Isn't that funny? Google's old school.
Yeah, Google is old school now.
Most recent search that you have if you can share it.
Oh man I'm gonna have to.
Look to.
See 805 five five 7898. What say you boom crew. Most recent search. If you're hands free right now, if you do not need them to drive, please be safe. What's most recent search you've got on ChatGPT or Google? What do you have, young Thunder?
Well, I know that general question. I don't have an account with ChatGPT, so it doesn't tell me what my my previous questions were, so I don't remember exactly. But as a new parent, I get freaked out about a lot of stuff. And so and if I go to Google, Google will say, oh yeah, everything's wrong. You got to go to the doctor right away because they just do that. And but ChatGPT gives me a little more nuance. And
so I'm like, hey, chat, can you this happened. How likely is it like, you know, maybe she's a little a little overtired today. Is that a problem or should I take her to the doctor? Is she probably fine? And?
And they said she's probably okay, right?
She's probably. Probably okay. And I go, okay, cool. I don't need someone to tell me that there's, like, a chance of things going wrong. I just need to know she's probably fine. And then I go, okay, she's probably fine. And then I let it go. So that's helpful.
Yeah. Okay. This is great. We got the first 2 in 855, five, 78, 98, 805 five, five, 78, 98. The most recent question that you feel comfortable sharing with us here on ChatGPT AI platform of any kind, or Google load them up. Um, mine was, uh, Kierkegaard in theology, kind of a boring guy. Soren Kierkegaard I was wanting to know some stuff about what Kierkegaard had said with regard to some theological points. So there you go. Uh, did the Cubs win yesterday.
For six.
Eight, seven? Oh 4289. Was looking for job interview You questions 43, 43, 85 looked up. What's the difference between an apostle and a disciple?
Oh, good.
I wonder what came up on that one.
Oh, I wonder if it came up right.
She's a choreographer extraordinaire and everything is Greek to her. Super die is in the crew. It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
You know, it would be great if we get transformed by the power of God. And then all of our questions are answered. It's just like we got. We got them. Everything's handled. Ali, wouldn't that be great?
It would be, but yet it seems impossible. So many questions remain.
Uh, we got a man right now that's going to clear the fog. Alex McFarland, give us his, uh. What's his pedigree here? Ali.
Doctor Alex McFarland is a Christian apologist, author, evangelist, religion and culture analyst. You pay a lot of attention to what's going on in the world around us. Ten questions that every Christian is asking or soon will be. Where did you come up with that? How did you identify these ten as the big ones?
You know, I've been doing a lot of traveling for like 25 years, and I've just kept journals of the questions people ask. And, you know, the good news is, for one thing, let me say, when people have questions and they're searching for truth, I think God's okay with that. Because like the Bible says in Isaiah 118, God says,
come now, let us reason together. And so when people have spiritual questions, questions about life, questions about integrating Scripture into our life, you know, that's a wonderful opportunity to grow. And so there are answers. The good news is there are answers to the questions. And my wife and I, our journey has been to help people find those answers.
What are some of the biggest questions you had as a young follower of Jesus? What are they?
You know, for me personally, it took me a while to really have assurance of my salvation. I became a Christian when I was in college. I was 21 years old and I really for like a year, was on this treadmill of thinking that maybe I wasn't really saved because I had grown up. I was really into like the Ouija board and magic and trying to learn even,
you know, spell casting and things like that. I mean, I had a very unhealthy interest in the occult, and I was afraid that I was unsavable and that I was, like, too sinful for God to really love me. And what really got me sorted out was Scripture. Guys, I think that's really a reason that the Bible is so near
and dear to my heart, for one thing. And I'll be brief, but I was reading first John 513 and it says of Scripture, these things are written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know you have eternal life K-n-o-w know. And I later looked that word up. And it means to know something with certainty. And for me and this, this may not be where many people are, but I just I had to give myself permission to trust that Jesus really could love me as as bad, as sinful
as I was. Yeah. I think about a quote by John Piper is really cool. John Piper said, the bad news is you're a whole lot worse sinners than you think you are. But the good news is, God's a whole lot bigger Savior than you think he is. That was my deal, was assurance of my salvation.
You know. And that brings us to one of ten questions that you say most followers of Christ are going to have. Or if they don't, maybe next week they will. And we have this here, Alex. We've had thousands of people surrender to Christ on this morning show that we've sent follow up material to about 7000, maybe more in just a few years. But one of the things that I see that breaks my heart and actually chokes me up right now, and you answer this question how do
I overcome memories of my sinful past? I was a cocaine snorting, crown royal drinking fool, and and sometimes I get bombarded with the past. Not so much lately, but for the first few years of my spiritual life, I think I had a notion like you. It's like, did God really change me? I was such a horrendous sinner. Why is it so important to overcome, and how do we overcome memories of our sinful past?
This is where really biblical worldview truth, I believe, can be so transformative. Because when we put our faith in Jesus, our identity changes in the eyes of God, Almighty God. And these are the promises of His word that we are in Christ. And while we as humans, obviously we remember stuff, you know, but in a very legal sense, not only are we not guilty of those past sins,
they've been absolved, forgiven, washed away in Jesus. But even more than that, Romans chapter four says that the righteousness of Christ has been attributed or accredited to us. Now here's the deal. To get to heaven, you've got to be righteous. You say, what does that mean? Well, righteousness means as holy as God. And you say, Uh-Oh. I'm not as holy as Almighty God. And you can't buy it.
You can't earn it. So what do you do? Romans four says, if we put our faith in Jesus, that Jesus is the Son of God, and he died on the cross for me and for you and for everyone. And he rose from the dead. So you say, Lord, I trust you. I believe in you. And please save me. Well, according to Romans four and five, this is utterly unique in the pantheon of world religions. God says of the believer, I count you as righteous as Jesus. In other words, the holiness.
That's so.
Good, the Son of God is accredited or attributed. The technical word is imputed to you. And so if you say, oh, you know, I'm such a bad sinner. God, if he were here, God would say, I'm sorry. I don't know what you're talking about, because I look at the believer and I see the believer as holy as my own son. Now we don't get arrogant. We're like, oh, I'm. I'm as holy as God. It's a gift. It's his grace.
It's his mercy. But honestly, and I want to say to everybody out there and guys, I was on a radio show last week and weekend, a woman called in just profusely crying, and she had prayed to accept Christ a thousand times. But she had had an abortion years ago and she said, can I go to heaven? And I said, absolutely. We prayed with her on the air and I said, look, sin is serious. We're all sinners. I'm a sinner. We're all sinners. But God loves to forgive sinners. I mean, that is the joy of the
heart of God is to say we're good. Yeah, my son paid it all. And God looks at us no matter who you are. Maybe there's even somebody listening right now and they're incarcerated. We hear from so many people that are serving time in the eyes of God. You're clean, you're new, and so don't let the accuser, Satan, keep you in the bondage of shame and guilt in the eyes of the Lord. If you're a believer, you're set free.
Doctor Alex McFarland, our guest right now, Christian apologist, author, evangelist. You know, we want that assurance of salvation for ourselves. We want to be free from the memories of our past. But as a parent, I would say you want it even more so for your children. You have this desire for your children to know the Lord. One of the questions you tackle, which is a big one that people are asking, how can I help my kids care about Jesus? Yes,
they're going to church. They're doing the things their youth group, Sunday school. But man, are they getting it.
I think all of us that have raised kids resonate with that. You know, the good news is there's a real, real desire among the part of young people to know truth. Bible sales. For the last five years, Bible sales have been increasing 14 to 20% a year. And the number one purchaser of the scriptures are people 18 to 30, so they skew kind of young. I was on a show just recently, and they were showing the bookshelves in one of the major national retailers, and the Bible shelves
were like 90% empty. And this bookstore manager, he was like, yeah, we're selling Bibles as fast as we can get them in.
Wow.
So kids have a spiritual hunger, and that's a wonderful thing. But I would say what young people are looking for, really, they might not verbalize it this way, but they want to see authenticity in the lives of the adults around them, especially mom and dad especially, you know, the youth pastor and pastor that if we as the grown ups, if we talk about Jesus, we should live it. You know, it ought to be real. So they're looking for authenticity,
consistency and accessibility. And I want to say to moms and dads, be the person that your kids are going to come to you when they've got the big questions. Try not to have the deer in the headlights look. They want to see that this Jesus thing is real in your life.
Yeah. It's beautiful. Alex McFarland, our guest. I got one more for you. And this relates to everyone listening right now. Why does God sometimes seem so far away? I think what's so encouraging is that he's near to the brokenhearted, right? Alex? I mean, isn't that beautiful? So. But take it away. What do you say, my man?
The two big things. One is like the problem of pain and suffering. You know, if God is good, why are there bad things in the world? But the other is the apparent sometimes. Not always, but the hiddenness of God. Sometimes God seems distant because we have drifted away. Yeah. And then other times, like any good parent or any good teacher, sometimes God is allowing us to go through something that is going to teach us Purge and cleanse us. Mature us. I will tell you this in all of my,
you know, dark nights of the soul. I learned things about the faithfulness of God. Yeah. Now, it took a while. I look back retrospectively, and I see how faithful God was. I see how he did answer the cries of my heart. And so to the question, Why is God sometimes apparently hidden? Well, God is at work. I can promise everyone here by a dozen scriptures and a lot of testimony. God has not abandoned you. God has not gone off to do other things. God is very often silent, but he is
at work. And be patient. Please and know that Almighty God will not harm you. Almighty God, will not abandon you. And if we wait and trust, that trust is always validated. It really is.
Yeah. Those dark nights of the soul. I mean, they are real. Um, but I think all of us here on our team, Super Die Young, Thunder Alley and myself, can attest to the fact that oftentimes that that meeting, that appointment with God in the dark night of the soul can be one of the most transformative, you know, boom crew. You're listening to Amanda and Alex, who has put together a resource, and it's titled ten Questions Every Christian is Asking or Soon Will be. That's true, isn't it, Alex?
It is. And we've got it for you, along with some other information from his website, including an upcoming speaker series, Conversations That Matter. You've got it all in one link. Just text 10 to 800 555 7898. Spell it out, please. T e n 10 to 805, 55, 7898.
He's a sports fanatic with a stat for anything you can think of. Young Thunder is in the crew. It's curl and crew on Moody Radio.
Okay, we got a big one for you. Some really big news usually coming in here on Wednesday. And we don't want to mess up your circadian rhythms or your sleep schedules or anything by this, but we just thought it's probably better to give it to you today rather than not have it tomorrow. What am I speaking of? I'm speaking of the phenomenal time that we have with
Ali around here. And tomorrow's going to be a day and Thursday set aside for some Uber special that's super die, by the way, is super fired up about.
Uber.
Fired up about.
All right. So it's going to bump out jokes tomorrow. And Ali came in and said Ali we got to give the people what they need.
That's such a such an oversell.
No, we got to give the people what they need, right? All I need is one text right now. Going? Yes. If we don't have jokes tomorrow, we need them today. If. If no one wants them, that's okay. But if you want the jokes today because we can't get them tomorrow, just say we want the jokes so to.
So. If even one person wants the jokes on a Tuesday, you'll go for it.
Well, yeah. I mean, if we'll see which one comes in first. No, we can pass on the jokes or give me the jokes. 800 555 7898 800 555 7898. But I thought I came in with a heart of compassion because we're going to be talking about that here next few minutes. And oh, there we go. Yes jokes.
Yes. Jokes.
9658 said it. So here we go.
Making herself laugh. No matter who joins her, it's time for Ali thinks it's funny.
Little fun.
Amount of.
People that are saying yes jokes. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. What happened? Oh my goodness. They're, like, demanding the jokes. It's like okay.
Hey, mom.
Oh my goodness.
It's an.
Angry mob.
Okay, well I'm encouraged.
Okay.
The people have spoken. First joke up today. Fun fact for you. Anyone enjoy French fries?
Love em. Yes, I love French fries.
French fries.
Side note I tried those air fryer French fries.
From.
Sweetgreen.
You didn't like.
Garlic.
Sauce? Yes.
Whoa.
Was that good? Oh, are those awesome or what?
I thought Carl was not lying.
You just made Carl very okay.
So try him today.
Back to. Back to the joke. First French fries. Did you know they were not actually cooked in France? The first French fries were not actually cooked in France.
I didn't know this.
Fun fact. They were cooked in Greece. Yes.
Okay.
Super die. Come on. That was for.
You. Super die. That's me. Yeah.
They were cooked in Greece.
Okay.
I was watching a beehive the other day. There's a beehive near one of my kids schools. That is a fact. And it was just one be just one bee. The rest of his compadres. I don't know where they were, but this one bee. He kept going into the hive, and then he would pop right back out, and then he'd go back in the hive. And this went on for maybe a good 2 or 3 minutes. It's like he couldn't make up his mind. What do you call a bee who can't make up his mind?
I don't.
Know.
A maybe. Oh, you.
Gotta give me points.
At least for the setup on that one.
Oh. Come on.
I'll give you points for the genuine excitement that was on your face. Maybe. Oh, I.
Know I.
Was itching to give you that punchline. That one man, that one.
Slaps text jokes.
To (800) 555-7898. Text jokes to 805 Oh.
Those are good.
Glad you enjoyed it.
Maybe a maybe in Greece.
Super.
That was for you.
She tried. She tried to.
Give.
It her best.
I cheered. Oh my goodness.
Way to go, Ali. Keep telling those little jokes.
Golf clap.
I'm still bummed that the sequels to My Big Fat Greek Wedding were so lame.
Oh, okay. I'm still.
Bummed about.
That. Like super dying.
Oh, okay.
They were.
They just weren't that good.
I mean.
Isn't.
That mostly true of sequels?
I don't know, I'm not a big sequel guy.
Oh, yeah. I mean, it's always the original. And then you try to recreate what made it great.
And there are a couple of.
A couple of instances where the sequel is better. Really? Yeah. Star Wars Empire Strikes Back is known as being better than A new Hope, which was the first and second movie that came out.
Hmm.
I don't know, man. That first one. I remember where I was sitting.
Do you really?
Yeah, yeah. One theater. I mean, we're in Wasilla, Alaska, man. And the guy that ran the place was the grumpiest old guy. And I made it my job to make him laugh, and I could get him going, but, boy, he was grumpy.
That's great.
He's a grumpy old guy. He owned and operated the whole thing. I think his wife was taking tickets, you know. That's back when. I mean, come on, you got cash tickets?
Yeah, yeah.
Oh. Can I. Can I go back to the jokes for a second? Yeah, sure. 1155 just gave me an alternate punchline to my joke. Oh, and I love this one. This one? Oh, this rivals the so the maybe so. A bee that can't make up his mind. Could be a maybe. They also said it could be bewildered.
Oh that's good that is. 1155 I had to give you a shout out there.
If you are co-writing jokes with me.
I am.
Appreciative. Giving me alternate.
Like I've seen your ending.
I've seen alternate punchlines come in several.
Times for some of these over the years.
That's good.
You could also answer it this way. Thank you for that.
Okay. Text jokes to 800 555 7898. You too can drive someone crazy today.
And write your own ending.
Yeah. Tremendous stuff, man. Maybe. Okay. Uh, got a question for you. It's a serious one. We're going to get. We're going to whiplash here. How has someone else's compassion led you to trust God? I want you to think about this a moment. It's built on the premise of Holy Week that Jesus put on display the heart of God. Because what you see Jesus do. You've seen the father. How how has someone's compassion been the thing that God used to lead you to God? How did that work?
Text or phone calls? In fact, let's get some phone calls in here. Someone's compassion led you to trust God And it could be for saving faith or to trust him more fully. And it was just like transformative. Let's just use that kind of a general bucket. It was someone's compassion really changed your life. (800) 555-7898 taking phone calls. Let's light them up. Boom. Crew if you can. If you can text for jokes, you can call for compassion. Yes.
I love this question. How did someone else's compassion lead you to trust God? Maybe more. Or maybe for the first time. (800) 555-7898 phone lines officially open. 800 555 7898.
She was trying to earn her way to God, but God showed her she didn't have to. Ali is in the crew. It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
Got a question for you. And it flows right out of Holy Week. Jesus rode into To Jerusalem on a donkey. And then he went in and he flipped over tables, and then he flipped over conventional wisdom because the blind and the lame, they came to him and children started crying out, Hosanna to the Son of David! And the Pharisees were indignant. They're like, come on, what's going on? Do you hear what they're saying? Jesus said to them, yeah. Have you never read out of the mouth of infants
and nursing babies? You have prepared praise. Wow. What a statement. So here's what Jesus flipped upside down. His kingship, his authority. His deity was grounded in compassion. How powerful is that, guys?
It's the most important thing. It's so good because it draws us to him. And it also gives us the blueprint as to how to present him to others. Yeah.
Vivi in Illinois. What do you say, Vivi? What's your story?
Well, Carl, I just come back from missions in Africa at 18 and in Africa my face got covered in pimples, almost like it looked like volcanoes were erupting all over my face. And I was so ashamed. I was so ashamed as an 18 year old girl. And I went to Oral Roberts University and heard pastor Bill Wilson of what is now Metro World Child speak about ministering to prostitutes, and it touched me so much. So afterwards I went to meet him and he had had his face disfigured
as a child. He had a prostitute mother. She was an alcoholic and was born with a disfigured jaw. And he reached out. When he saw me, he saw my my shame from my face. And he reached out. He took my face in his hands, and he looked deeply into my eyes. And I could see that he understood my shame, and he was accepting me and reaching out and touching me just as Jesus touched the leper. And that kindness drew me closer to God and to understanding the love of God.
That's a great story, sister. Thank you so much. How real is that alley, man?
And you feel that, like those teenage years, you can still feel the things that you felt about yourself that made you unlovable. Unacceptable.
Yeah.
Taking your calls right now. How is somebody's act of incredible compassion drawn you closer to God? Might have saved your life. God used that. Possibly 805 five. I got it here. 800 555 7898. Give us a call. Let's go. Let's light them up. How is someone's compassion drawn you closer to God? 800 555 78. 98.
You can take him out of Alaska, but you can't take Alaska out of him. Carl is in the crew. It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
You ever have someone see or hear of you doing something that could be somewhat embarrassing. And instead of kind of jumping on with the embarrassment factor, they go a totally different direction with it and it's like, oh, thank you for that compassion, man, I needed that. I ran a half marathon that to this day. Uh, I trained on flat ground and in Portland, Oregon, and I'm a newlywed and I'm getting ready for this half marathon. And I'd been a sprinter in high school, and I should
have known. Maybe I'm reaching beyond my capacity here. How? I'm naturally wired. But I started training. It was getting pretty. It's getting pretty good. I was breaking through some walls, actually. It was getting. It was getting good. Did a couple of ten mile runs. So I was getting ready for this half marathon I signed up for. I should have known by the name of the half marathon it was going to be a problem. It's called the Goat Mountain Gallop.
So maybe.
No. Say that one more time, please.
Goat mountain gallop.
Thank you.
Isn't that.
Something? What a name.
Well, I didn't know two things. I didn't know how many hills would be out there, and it was. I mean, the whole thing was up and down, up and down. But the first mile wasn't that way. The first mile was pretty good. But what piled there were a couple of school buses showed up, and these guys get off and they've got on track and they are prepping. I mean, these are no joking. Kenyans, Ethiopians prepping for like Olympic trials and stuff. And I didn't know that because Portland's
a big running area, you know what I'm saying? I mean, it's a big runner's Paradise. Well, I didn't know this was like a warm up meet for these guys. And the only thing going through my head is make sure the first mile is slow. Make sure the first mile is slow. Don't. Over. Well, that didn't last long. The gun goes off, and here I go. And at the one mile mark. No joke. I was at fifth or sixth in the whole pack, and there was 150, 200 runners out there. And I was where I should not
have been. It was probably the fastest mile I've ever run in my life, which is not what you do when you've got another dozen to go. And it was bad news. And immediately then after that first mile, we start to go into some mountains, as in Goat Mountain. Gallup. Carl boy speaking to younger Carl now. And it was horrible. And I went up that first hill. And you guys have heard of stitches there.
Oh yeah. Absolutely.
And you're when your abdomen muscles and I had them so bad that right below my rib cage. Why am I feeling my rib cage right now? Right below my rib cage. Right where it gets. You know, there's no more bone there. Those things swelled up so thick and tall. I was pulling muscles in my abdomen that were just, like, almost dangerous. And they were cramped up so bad. But I was still wanting to compete. So I'd walk a little bit, and then I'd jog a little bit, and
then I'd walk, and then I'd have to stop. And I had guys coming by me. A couple guys chuckled. One guy said, stitches, huh? And and I'm like, I didn't even know what they were, by the way, that's how novice I was to any distance running. And. But a couple guys patted me on the shoulder and said, you got this. That's what's cool about runners, right? You get some guys that go, you got this, man.
It feels like a team sport.
But I didn't have it. And my wife's at the finish line waiting for me to come in, and she's seeing all these people come in. And now really slow runners are coming in. And people that she thought maybe he should have been in front of these folks and I'm wiped out. So I was out on that race course. No joke. In half marathon for four hours. Absolutely. Battling in agony, walking, stopping, laying down. It was brutal. And I got Ahold of my buddy, Mark Donner. I'll never
forget this. I got Ahold of him and I said, hey, Mark, I ran a Goat Mountain gallop. And he said, how'd it go? And he was in Alaska. And I said, well, I told him the story. You know what he said? He said, four hours. Man, that's a long time battling. I'm proud of you. And I'm.
Like.
Oh, that's.
Great.
Oh.
You know what I'm saying?
Yeah.
What a beautiful thing man.
Wow. My eye.
And Mark. Mark is a great distance runner, but he didn't put it in my face. He. He went. He flipped it the other way around. Compassion's like that, it does something inside us. And that's what Jesus put on display in Holy Week when he said, come on, children, you can come to me. And he said to the lame and to the blind, he said, well, he had said for three years, by the way he lived. Come on. Come on in here. Compassion's powerful guys. Uh, let's go
back to the phone lines. Jack in Indiana. Thanks for holding on. How did compassion move you? Closer to God?
I remember when I went to, uh, kids camp, uh, upon all the activities that we did, they shared the gospel to us. And I had this big emotional response. I felt the weight of my sin and God's love. And of course, tears started rolling down my eyes. And, uh, a youth counselor or, uh, or kids counselor at that time pulled me to the side. Seeing the response that I had and sat next to me and guided me to the prayer of salvation and and what I was
feeling and what I was experiencing in that moment. I will never forget the person, maybe the name I forgot, but I was 1011. Uh, but yeah, she led me to the Lord that day, and I've been serving him ever since.
Wow, how.
Cool is that? How cool is.
That? Wow. I love that.
Compassion of a camp counselor.
Compassion wins the day. That's what Jesus put on display in Holy Week. You know, it's pretty cool. I love this. The blind and the lame came to him in the temple. You know why? The word was on the street. No one's held at arm's length from Jesus. And if we could be that today, can you imagine.
If we could be the kind of people who other people thought. Oh, yeah, go talk to her. Go talk to him.
Yeah.
Power, man. You know, we're disciples of Christ. And in this Holy Week, we're going to get an opportunity to look at these cool little snippets of what Jesus did, how he lived. And I'll tell you one thing for sure compassion is victory. We don't even know the outcome of it, but it's victory. God wants you living with compassion today. Be that arm around for someone else.
Your shot of hope to help you through the day. This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
I don't know if we maybe shoot too high or miss the mark with regard to what we think. Kind of the essence of what our faith is going to look like. But I think Jesus makes, uh, what's the term? I'm reaching for outreach. I guess I think when we think of outreach, we think of an event, a speaker, a bold witness, something like that. Right?
Yes.
It's interesting, but Jesus flips everything upside down. Pardon the pun, but he just walked into the temple and he took the money changers table, and he flipped that upside down. But that's not the only thing he flipped upside down because he comes in as the King of Kings, and immediately he starts acting not like a king, not in the common world, but as King eternal. And by Jesus's actions, we get a reflection of our Heavenly Father and a model for how in the world we can express outreach
to the world around us. I think sometimes we think, oh, I'm not equipped. I've got to get apologetics. I've got to have few verses pinned down. I've got to. What if it was way more accessible than that? Boy, have we got a passage of Scripture here. Ali, pick it up, sister.
This is Matthew 21, starting with verse 14. And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, Hosanna to the Son of David! They were indignant. And they said to him, do you hear what these are saying? And Jesus said to them, yes. Have you never read out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies? You have prepared praise.
Yea it's beautiful. And here's here's the point. Notice that the blind and the lame came to him. Jesus, in three years had put on display that he was accessible and that no one was below him. How powerful is that, guys?
It is because you think about like the boldness to approach Jesus. But they knew enough about him.
To.
To believe that maybe they'd have a moment with him, an audience with him, that he would not turn them away. I mean, how that took a step of faith on their part. But also, have you ever not approached someone because you thought there's no way they'd want to talk to me?
Sure.
Have you ever, like, shied away from a conversation? Maybe it is. It wasn't even with someone who was like, super important. Maybe, like, you're don't even approach your boss because you're like, yeah, they don't really they don't want to hear from me. This is Jesus. And they're like.
Yeah.
Yeah, let's go talk to him. Maybe he can help us.
And the word on the street with the little kids apparently was, hey, Jesus is a good guy. He's good with kids. And we know that because he told the disciples on multiple occasions, let the little ones come to me. And now he's having to duke it out with the Pharisees who are saying, hey, these kids. And here's we got to remember this historically, up to this point in time, children were discarded. They were exchanged. They were sold. They
were left for dead. I mean it he Jesus revolutionized not just the calendar, not just the monetary system, but all of life. That's the cool thing about our Savior.
Yeah, I, I love that Jesus made these reputations for himself so that when he came to Jerusalem this time it was so known about him. Hey, we the kids can come to him, the sick can come to him, the poor can come to him. And it makes me think of the reputations we build for ourselves. Or how are we building our reputation? Or am I known as compassionate? Am I known as approachable? That someone can come to me and I'm not just going to shirk them off? You know, that's important for us to remember.
Yeah. If you think about people who are approachable, there is just something about them where you feel like, oh man, I if I. Here's the beauty. When you feel like I've got something to share I've got a need. I've got a concern. Yeah, I can go to this person. What a great attribute. And I think sometimes we put ministry on this high bar of apologetics, and we've got to have everything kind of pinned down theologically. We've got
to know a certain number of scriptures. What if Jesus put on display in Holy Week what real ministry looks like? And that's to have compassion for everyone, especially those that the world says we got no place for you. What a ministry.
And when you think about just historically, the impact of Christ followers like we would not have what hospitals if it wasn't for Christ's followers. You think about all of the good innovation. And I'm not talking about just like progress in terms of inventing things. I'm talking about care for the poor, care for the sick, the way we treat people. Any sort of ethos that is inclines towards compassion is because of Christians.
Yeah.
Yeah, it's because of this template that God put down here 2000 years ago. I mean, Ali's right, guys. I went through that whole riff. Remember that a few years ago, I had a whole outline of all the things that changed as a result of the coming of Christ. Now he's right. Hospitals, orphanages, child care. It's just a beautiful thing. And here's here's what's awesome about this passage of Scripture. It tells us today that we can follow Jesus by
being people of compassion. Compassion is victory in God's economy. Compassion is victory. Oftentimes in the evangelical world, we we get notches on our belt for how many people get saved, how many people get baptized? What if I told you God measures it by how many people you're compassionate to today? And you know what's awesome about that? Everyone needs that up and outers down and outers. We all need it. So Jesus was breaking the mold of what ministry looked
like when he came. And I just want to challenge you today. Would you break the mold today? Would you break the mold? Would you be the person that asks someone, how are you doing? Is there something I can do for you? If you see someone who is apparently struggling at work or at home, you say, can I pray for you? You know, it's the wildest thing I have. Yet never once have I been turned down when I've asked someone who and I don't go up asking random
strangers this. But if someone's hurting at. I mean, a clerk at a store, um, someone that I see on a plane. I've prayed with people on a seat next to me on a plane who it was very obvious they were going through some pain. When I ask, would, would you be okay if I prayed with you? I've never been turned down. Everyone needs this, right?
Everyone needs compassion. We know that we need it. And so today, look for opportunities to extend compassion. Maybe it's somebody who comes across as pretty rude, pretty mean. Maybe you respond like Jesus would with compassion.