Coming to you from the Morning Star Mission sponsored studio. This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio. All right, I'm going to prove something here. Super die. What's one of your favorite not not secular tunes that just comes to your mind that you just love?
Oh my goodness. Secular tunes.
Come on.
Come on. Just just pick one. Just pick one. Anything by U2.
Okay, so pick one by U2. What? Which one is.
It? Um. Still haven't found what I'm looking for.
Yeah. That's great. So give me some of the lyrics to that. You don't have to sing it, but give me. Give me some of the lyrics.
Oh, you're putting me on the spot. Yeah. Uh, just I can't, I can't I'm sorry. I'm. I'm totally stumped.
Great.
So, yeah.
This is absolutely ruining my whole.
And I apologize.
I can help with this.
The fear of the moment. All right, go ahead, young thunder.
Uh, Hall and Oates. Maneater.
All right, give me the lyrics.
Oh, here she comes. Watch out, boy, she'll chew you up. Oh, here she comes. She's a maneater.
Do you know any more of the song? Give me some more lyrics.
Uh, man. No, not on that one. But do you want another song with. With other lyrics?
Yeah. Give me, give me another song. Some more lyrics.
Honesty. Billy Joel.
All right. Just. Just kind of voice. Slash. Sing them. Go ahead.
Honesty is such a lonely word. Everyone is so untrue. Honesty is hardly ever heard. But it's mostly what I need from you.
Yeah, you did good. I mean, the pressure here is hard. Super dive now.
Coming to you.
Now that you relaxed.
A little bit.
Yes. Okay.
Go ahead. Okay. All right. Breathe, breathe. I know breathing. She's breathing.
She's not new to radio. But radio can make you wiggy.
It can, it can.
It can seize you up. All right, go ahead.
I have climbed the highest mountains. I have run through the fields only to be with you. I've scaled city walls, these city walls again. Only to be with you. But I still haven't found what I'm looking for.
I'm looking for.
Still haven't found.
Yeah.
It's a good song I'm looking for. Yeah.
That's. Yeah. Okay, so here's the thing. I'm proving to you the power of music, right?
Yes.
No doubt. It's amazing if you can't memorize a verse, put a song to it, and you're probably going to do it.
Oh, yeah. Absolutely. And there's some songs that when I try to think of the lyrics, I'm like, oh, I don't know how that goes. But then the tune starts playing and it all just starts coming out and I'm like.
Oh, you think you know the lyrics? And it's like, oh no, that's not the lyric.
That happens to.
All right, somebody come on here right now and sing your favorite song without a cheat sheet in front of you right now. Come on. And it's got to be a secular song. Come on right now. 800, 500. No, not 800, 500, 800, 555, 78, 98, 805 five, five, 78, 98. Somebody come online right now and sing your favorite song. There's a Carl prize pack here, and I don't want you to sing much because we can't handle that. But we'll take a few phrases. That's all you got to
do is a few phrases. You get a prize back. I'm proving something to you here. 800 555. 78. 98. Light em up. Come on, let's go. 805. Five. Five. 78. 98. Your favorite tune. Secular tune. 800 555 78. 98. Wow. This could be a lot of fun.
I was waiting for you to sing. Carl.
No, no no no. Like I say, man, I can make a joyful noise. But singing something else.
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.
Okay. Setting up a point here. This is a powerful point. You look at the Psalms and my goodness, you got chapter after chapter, or really song after song iterated there. It's pretty cool. Okay. Getting a couple of singers in here. Ruth, give me a song. What do you got that you don't even need a cheat sheet for? You just got it on your heart. What is it? Give me a couple.
Climb, climb every mountain.
All right. Give me a few mountain.
For every stream. For every byway. Till you find your dreams.
All right, Ruth, see there? See there, right there. Stay on the horn. You're going to get a choral and crew prize pack. Proving a point here.
Hang on.
Hang on. Uh, Paul, Oak Grove, what do you got, Paul?
Chantilly lace by the Big Bopper.
Oh, give me a little bit.
Chantilly lace and a pretty face and a ponytail hanging down. A wiggle in the walk and a giggle in the talk. Lord makes the world go round, round, round. There ain't nothing in the world like a big eyed girl with big Axel. Make me spend my money. Make me feel real loose like a long neck goose. Like a girl. Oh, baby, that's what I like.
All right. Come on, man.
Yeah, the mustard and everything on that one.
Paul, stay on the horn. You're getting Carl and crew. Prize pack. Chantilly lace. Oh, my goodness. All right, so here's the point. The power of worship music is profound.
That was the point.
Yes.
Wow.
Here's why. Look at how readily those lyrics come to mind.
That's right.
And this is why music is such a central part of worship services. And going down the road. And when you're down, sometimes more than a verse coming to mind, a verse put to music comes to mind and that will lift your soul. Do we underestimate the power of music? I think we do. Boy, I got a special guest coming in here in just a few minutes. Who's going to blow that notion out of the water? Because he has been absolutely in the pocket for decades, writing music
that's been impacting lives. Hang on.
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.
One of my heroes is with me today.
Boy, you know how to start an interview. Carl. Hey, Gloria. Did you hear that?
Yeah. You got to get your wife in to listen to this. Bill gates is here with us, guys, and I want to. I want to thank you. I got to just stop here and tell you this right now. Bill Gaither, for those of you that are listening, are tuned in going. Bill Gaither. Some of you. It's like, who is that for vast swaths of you? You're saying, I know that, man. It's a funny thing, Bill, because we're you know, we do ministry for a lot of years and you've been in the trenches now for how
many decades? Doing music, my man?
Oh, probably probably six. I'm 89 Friday. So when I was 16, 17, I was out with my sister, my brother, and we were singing in every little nook and cranny in central Indiana. And every time I talk to a young artist and they'll say, can I get some advice? I said, sure, and they say, how do we get started? I said, right where you are. My next question is, do they ask you back?
Bill Gaither, you are something else. You know what? I want to just stop here and celebrate. He goes all the way back to the sons of Korah, who, by the way, 18 generations after they saw the father Cora himself gobbled up in rebellion. These became some of the lead worship leaders that for 18 generations they didn't neglect bringing songs before God. You know, I think we've just taken for granted the power of music to lift souls.
I don't even think we talk about it enough. Bill, why don't you speak to that?
I kid my my theological friends and my preacher friends. I say, you know, in the end, we poets are going to win. Because if you can rhyme it, I mean, you know, when you get in a hole, you think back and say many things about tomorrow. I don't seem to understand, but I know who holds tomorrow. Yeah, and I know who holds my hand. Now, that's not scripture, but it's based solidly, you know, in so many scriptures.
Absolutely.
That we are in good hands. And so, to answer your question, Carl, Gloria and I both love theology. And I hope our songs are biblically based, and that it's just a wonderful way to put a handle on important scriptures like the first commandment there shall be no other gods before me. And we have a song that says, I'll worship only at the feet of Jesus, his cup alone. My holy Grail. There'll be no other gods before me.
Just Jesus only will never fail. And we can take major truths and bury them in the middle of a song. And Corrie ten Boom said in some of her toughest times, she said A little verse of a song would come to me, you know, and our minds are like a computer. What we put into it makes all the difference in the world.
And putting song into it is powerful. Bill Gaither is my guest right now. He's married to Gloria Gaither and they've been a dynamic duo for so many years. I got to talk with you about because he lives and the King is coming. My goodness, I was a little guy, wasn't following Jesus yet. Got saved in my early 20s. But there was something. Even as I look back as a young boy in church, hearing because he lives. What makes that song so powerful? Bill, what does it say?
Carl I think when writers write songs, we don't ever know. And I can remember we had already written He Touched me and something about that name. Something beautiful. And probably we wrote The King is Coming. And because he lives maybe about the same time. Okay. But God has a way of taking what we do and multiplying it. We bring what we bring. And I can remember after we
wrote it, I said, I think it's good. I don't know how good it is, but I got to tell you, 50 years later, I mean, it's been translated into so many different languages, and we're overwhelmed when we hear the. And we went to Brazil maybe about ten years ago and started singing because he lives 8000 people, and all of a sudden we couldn't hear ourselves singing because the 8000 folks.
I get chills.
Took it over in Portuguese and sang it back to us. You know, it's then you say that song is not mine. That you know that belongs to the Lord.
What are you most astounded by over your years of following Jesus? You've obviously seen the father, son, and Holy Spirit at work in your life, and he's used music powerfully that way. What most astounds you about the power of God to change Bill Gaither?
I think the scripture in James that says, life is but a vapor here today, and it's gone so quickly. And my dad, I think, helped me more than anything as a kid when he would say things like, Bill, this is not the rehearsal. This is the real thing. And I think I looked at the good and the bad of how people would live lives, and many of them either lived in the past or in the future. Very few, and sometimes even followers of Jesus would live
in the now. And you know, in this day, and I think the thing that gripped us pretty quickly was the moment we had this moment to hold in our hands and to touch as it slips through our fingers like sand. Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow may never come. But we have this moment today. And I would say this to all the listeners. There are moody an hour history with Moody goes clear back 50 years ago when we first started. I can still remember the concerts in that
big old church downtown Chicago. But I would say to all of our moody listeners, this is the day the Lord hath made, and we need to rejoice and be glad in it and drain it for all it's worth. Live it to its fullest. And I look back on these 63 years of glory. And I have been married now and it's not been without struggles just like any other life. But the joy is still in the journey, both the good and the bad.
All right, Bill, I got one more question for you here. And this is an important one. You're a joyful man. What do you do when your heart gets down?
I don't know if anybody enjoys life all kind of life any more than I do. What do I do when I get down? Usually I sing. You know, I sing because I'm happy. I sing because his eye is on the sparrow. And I know he watches me.
Well, interesting. Bill. Bill Gaither, my guest. Right now. The king is coming. What's your take? I know you probably don't want to postulate too much on this one, but you've seen a lot of living, and we see what's going on in the Middle East. And there's a big song of revival springing up around every nation, tribe and tongue. It seems like the King is coming soon here, Bill.
And a given concert. We can't sing all of our big songs because it's just too many high notes. But I mean, we do sing because they do sing. He touched me and we do sing. The King is coming sometimes, not all on the same night, but anytime we pull that song out, that seems to hit a new nerve with people these days.
Yeah.
You know, and we love to sing it. And for everybody, I suppose they have to fill in the blank as to what are the things that are getting, you know, are getting their attention. I got to come back to, uh, our basic philosophy and theology has driven us from the beginning. Life is a vapor. It is here today, and it's gone so quickly. The first song we sing every night is I'm going to love like I'm leaving. Laughing till it takes my breath away. I'm going to say what
needs saying. Pray what need. Praying I'm going to love. Like I'm leaving here today. And the King is coming. Could be today, could be tomorrow. It could be a lot sooner than any of us think.
Yeah. Bill Gaither, I got to tell you, you are a blessing. You've inspired myself in so many millions of disciples. And one day we're going to be singing around the throne room of God. And I can't wait to be standing there beside you. I'm going to make sure I get right up alongside you to try to harmonize. Okay?
You're more than welcome. And I tell you what the good part about that. Everybody's going to be in tune that day.
It's going to be that's.
It's going to be perfect. And I wasn't saying that because I've not heard you sing.
No, no, no, I need it, I need it. I'm willing to say it. I can carry a tune, but harmonies are disaster for me. That's why I say I get to harmonize in glory. Bill Gaither, thank you. And we've got a link boom crew. Because this man is still on fire. There are special Easter programmings and we want to link you up with them. All you got to do is text the word bill to 800 555 7898. Just text Bill and you're going to find programming that
is going to inspire during this Easter season. Text bill to 800 555 7898.
Let me leave you with one little story. A new usher at a church. Ask an older lady, where do you want to sit? She said, I want to sit on the front row. He said, I'll take you down there. But I got to warn you, our pastor is pretty boring. She says, young man, do you know who I am? She said, no, I'm the pastor's mother. He looked at her and said, do you know who I am? She said, no. He said, good.
Oh, oh, you made my day. Bill gates for everybody. Oh.
God bless you, buddy. Have a good one.
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.
We are messengers. Wholehearted and wholehearted is exactly what God wants. We find in the book of James. Don't let a double minded man believe he will receive anything from the Lord. That term is best translated double souled. That just means that we've got a divided allegiance, and divided allegiance is a constant battle that we're going to face as Christ's followers. But let me be really clear here. The root of all our sins is that something or someone is taking
the place of God. And I just want to give you a little guide to think through this. If you look at the sin of pride, our highest authority is not God. It's. It's actually self. Gluttony is satisfaction apart from God. Greed is discontent with the generosity of God. Hoarding is security not found in God. Lust is gratification apart from God. Envy is contentment, not found in God. Cowardice is fear of man more than God. And laziness or being a sluggard is just lacking the wisdom of God.
So I want to take you back to a story that I just had from yesterday. Had a conference call. Kind of. It wasn't even a counseling session. It was just an encouragement time, because a friend of mine from many years ago was handed a book from another friend of mine called Killing Sin, a book that I wrote here recently. And this is one of the most encouraging
stories that I've heard. She was expressing that her and her husband were feeling all kinds of stress related to a venture that they had picked up that they really felt was given to him by God. And in retrospect, it was. But what it turned into was something that was put in extraordinary, extraordinary amount of pressure on them
to perform. As a matter of fact, I can veil this a little bit so that no one would know who I'm speaking of here, but it was a it was a outdoor adventure experience that turned and very exclusive,
that turned into this heavy ball and chain. And as she spoke, she began to pour out her heart, saying that the survival of this very thing that God gave them as a gift became such an epic kind of front of mind thing that soon they found or she was discovering, that their love and their joy that they had in their relationship with God as a couple and together was now long gone. And now everything in their life was consumed with sustaining this thing that was ultimately
a gift from God. She was sitting by the ocean, looking out after she had just been landed, and still had the book killing Sin in her lap, and the Lord began to speak to her that this gift had become an idol. She didn't know how her husband would receive this, but he was on the phone with us yesterday as well. She went to him and said, honey,
here's where I'm at. I feel like this thing that we got given by God, we've taken control of and we've we've tried to sustain it and make it in our own power, and it's causing us to even behave in ways. And she went on to say that she, because it's a high end kind of situation that they've been given by God, she started to act in ways that were inconsistent with how she's even designed start to wear clothes, in ways that she's are inconsistent with the
way that she was designed. So she took it to her husband. And her husband said, I couldn't agree more. Now I was able to tell him, this is an awesome thing because when a husband and wife agree on something, you have got some power. It's one thing to have one person recognize something that is a joint effort between the two of you, or something that is clearly a problem for both of you. It's a challenge when one
person sees it and the other one doesn't. But when both people see it, look out, Katie, bar the door. And this is what I shared with her. Number one, it's dynamite to identify that this has become an idol. Your next move is to do everything you can, in the spirit of Josiah, to remove that from a position of idolatry, no matter what it takes. Josiah went throughout the land at the age of 21, and he took all the idols of the land. He crushed them to powder.
He did the same with the priests who were offering idols from the nation of Israel up to these false gods. And I went on to say, it's important, too, that you have people around you who you trust that you share this with, because well-meaning people will try to talk you out of the revelation God gives you at times. You ever notice that before, guys?
Yeah, absolutely. Definitely. Are you sure you heard that right?
And there will there will constantly be a bombardment on your soul. I shared with them that maybe you didn't hear from the Lord. So having these quiet times of introspection where you're allowing God to be the God of this venture that you have yet again will change everything. Funny thing is, they went on to share that they had shared this with some other family members, and the other family members had a kind of a rescue mode. We've got to keep without saying these words. We've got
to keep this thing going. And they were kind of appealing for let's just keep this in its place of idolatry without saying that. And they were able to tell these family members that this generational thing of holding on to this by sheer grit is going to end right now. They were able to tell a family member, you're released from this, too. We're going to give this back to God fully. So I don't know what you have in your life that is keeping you from the abundant life
that is found in Jesus. But I have learned over the years and from personal experience, I'm walking my own walk with Jesus. That a daily consecration before the Lord is the only remedy to not let idols into your life. And they come in so many forms. But the root of all our sin is that something or someone is taking the place of God. And I just want to ask you today, what is that something or someone that has taken the place of God in your life? I
want you to think about that for a moment. You might say, well, Carl, how do I identify if something or someone is taking the place of God in my life? I truly believe if there isn't a conscious effort, which is a healthy effort, to keep this thing before the Lord and surrender it back to him and to put it at the foot of the cross, we could be in a real danger zone when our energy and our resources and what we say and what we do is consumed with keeping this idol alive, because we can't imagine
what life would be without it in that position. We're in trouble and God wants to set you free. So I just want to ask you, what are you battling with today? What is that potential idol that is nudging out the one true and living God? Can ministry become an idol? Can I mean being a pastor become an idol? Yes, my friend, trust me. We can make idols out of anything. As has been said so many times, our hearts are
idol factories. That's why we need to go into the inner reaches of our heart and go, God, search me, know me, try me. So coming up here, I'm going to talk very practically about how to get free from any idol in your life.
Today 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.
Scripture is loaded with biblical guidance on how to put idols to death in our life so that we can live. I mean, it's loaded. So I'm going to give you the top three things that I see reoccurring themes throughout the Scripture. One confess it. If you got an idol in your life, I don't care what it is. Bring it out of the shadows and into the light. And how practically, practically does this work? You confess first to God, but then you go to others. There's power in breaking
the back of Satan's power by just admitting. And by the way, this is only the courageous need apply for this. But this is how you walk free in Christ. See, the root of all our sins? Is that something or someone is taking the place of God? It can be a pick up truck. Yeah, it can be a pick up truck. It can be a spiritual gift that God gave you. It can be pride. It can be gluttony. It can be greed. It can be hoarding. It can be lust. It can be envy. There can be so
many things that crowd out God in our life. So you got to confess it. Obviously, first you got to identify it and have the courage as this person that I was just talking about, we had a great conference call with just quietly, humbly before the Lord said, God, why is my joy being ripped off from me? Why am I getting ripped blind here? your confession is powerful. We had a sweet time on the phone yesterday afternoon for about an hour and just pouring it out. This
is how I've been ripped off. This is what it's done to my life. Awesome. Confess it to God and 1 or 2 trusted people. Bring it out into the light. Secondly, you got to attack it. You might say, well, Carl, how in the world do I attack this idol or this sin in my life? We have underestimated the power of God's Word. In fact, when we were on this call yesterday, even before I got what I'm about to tell you out of my mouth, my friend who was on this conference call at a well, talked about how
he went through a plant that he owned. It was a fabrication plant that had become an idol in his life, and he began to walk around just speaking out the word of God and the truth that his identity is not in this plant. He ran a plant with hundreds of guys overseeing it, and he owned and operated this plant, and it had become an idol and he began to just march. Around speaking out loud the Word of God. Now that's got biblical roots in it. And I think
the most important root there's two actual terms here. One is Hagar. Meditation actually means to speak, utter moan, shout. It's to speak out loud. It's talking about Michael, right? Don't think about it. And he goes, yeah, we. Got to keep hammering that. It's so true. But the other one is the word rhema. Choose 70 to 70 times in the New Testament. It means the spoken word of God. It means getting the Word of God on your lips. And you begin attacking the idol with the truth of
God's Word. And what you do is you find Scripture passages that align with issues like sexual lust, greed, anything that you can find. As you read the Word of God, you begin to get those words Coming off your lips and you speak it out boldly, just as Jesus did. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word. The Greek word there is rhema that proceeds from the mouth of God. Get God's Word on your lips. Jesus actually fought back at Satan with the Word of God.
Quoted Deuteronomy three times. Get the Word of God in you. Get it on your lips. Third thing. Build boundaries around your life. Boundaries. Strong boundaries. Get people, places, and things away from your periphery that have been a stumbling block in the past and you're going to get some victory, I promise you that. God wants to give you victory. Confession. Attacking it with the word and building boundaries are a
powerful means to get that victory. I don't know what's holding you up today, But it's time to do battle. Go conquer that one thing that is defeating you today. It's a great grief for a moment, but in time, you're going to find freedom like you've never imagined. And that first step of confession to God and a person is a powerful first step. Live it today.
This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
Everything we do here is about God not leaving us where we are, but taking us someplace new. And I got a dear friend with me here. This guy is a flamethrower for Jesus. He's doing a great work. He's the founder and director of Christ Life Ministries. I'll give you a link at the end of this time that we have together here, but we're just going to podcast this thing a little bit. We're just going to have
a conversation bringing in Greg Dempster. Uh, Greg, you're seeing a lot of people, especially ministry leaders, elders, ministry Industry directors, senior pastors, worship leaders get freed from idols that we've created in our life.
We're seeing renewal. God's bringing renewal to the church and pastoral leaders who have been beaten up by sin, who have been in their own thinking, separated by their sin from God, are just humbly returning, experiencing grace. Experiencing renewal. Experiencing renewed relationship with God. And it's going to spread from those leaders to the congregants that they serve. And it's just thoroughly exciting.
How does a leader come to a point or any person? Because I know you work specifically with leaders. In fact, I was just glancing at your website and the amount of testimonies Greg, you've got on your site from pastoral leaders. I mean, scores of them that have that are now walking free is astounding. How does a leader identify that they've made something into an idol, or they've let a besetting sin just kick their tail and they've been living
in secret. I mean, does it? It's there has to become a point of brokenness, right?
I think it's just really simple. The leaders that come in to meet with me, and they're feeling a sense of restlessness, like a lack of satisfaction. And you know as well as I do, Augustine was the one who quoted ages ago where he said, our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you, God, and they come in. We're not as off as we think we are. The reality is we just know something's not working internally. We just don't know how to identify that and how to actually move towards freedom.
When you identify something. Confession is everywhere in Scripture. Why is confession just a. And by the way, it's not like we're revealing something to God, but agreeing with them. This is why I'm off and then going to people. This is why I'm off. Why is that threshold so tough to cross through?
I think it's because we built our lives around ourselves. It was Blaise Pascal who said that the inexcusable sin is making ourselves our own ruler, our own master, our own provider. And when we live in, develop appetites around us being the center, us being our own provider. The reason why it's difficult to break out of those patterns is because the opportunities that God gives us to live
his way have been left untried or untried. We just know something works in a minimal sense over here, although it leaves me bankrupt and restless and we don't know what God can provide or how God can step in and bring freedom because those options have been remained or have remained untried.
Yeah, yeah. Coming up here in a few minutes, I want to talk to you. Pride. Your highest authority isn't God. Gluttony. Satisfaction apart from God. Greed. Discontent with the generosity of God. Hoarding. Lust. Envy. Cowardice. Maybe I don't know what it is you're battling with, or what you've made into an idol. And what's wild about idols is you can take a pickup truck you got from God and turn it into the very idol that God never intended it to be. Isn't that wild? How that works, guys?
It's so wild.
Coming up, more with Greg Dempster. We're going to talk about how to come out from under this heap of shame and condemnation, because that's really a layer in here as well. Hang on.
You're listening to Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
The root of all our sins. Is that something or someone is taking the place of God and it rips us off with me. Greg Dempster, dear friend and an incredible guy. Great worship leader and a great man of God who coaches, actually senior leaders And leaders of every size church. You can imagine watching them fall in love with Jesus again, and some for the very first time. Greg.
When someone identifies a sin or an idol, something that's taken the place of God, how do you walk people through the process of deliverance?
It's multifaceted. I think we need to understand why we make the choices that we do, and we bring a person through what we call the awareness, where they can understand how their mind. Romans 12 two was formed over time, and often understanding that helps them begin to get set free to understand the why behind the dysfunctional lifestyle choices that they're making.
So to get it that why I know that you are big on going back to some family of origin things. Earliest memories. Why is that important? To reach back in order to go forward?
I think it's a practical part of discipleship, Carl. I mean, Romans 12 two. We read it. We hear it preached all the time to be the experience, metamorphosis or transformation through the renewing of the mind. The Greek word for mind is nous, and it represents how I perceive, how I understand, how I feel, how I judge, and how I determine. Last time I checked, no one comes out of the womb with a fully developed mind, right? It's
developed through experience. My interpretation of those experiences and then my response.
So take a case study here. Take a take a senior pastor that genuinely loves God wants people to hear the gospel. There's a there's a big motivation there. But but from his earliest recollection, he never measured up. How can you reorient that pastor to where now the preaching of the word comes from a healthy place?
Boy, we could be on the radio for two hours talking about this. But really, simply stated, we need to understand what events formed or began the process of informing the distorted perspective that's driving them. And then we need to uncover the disruptive emotion that comes from that distortion. And then what's underneath all these dysfunctional lifestyle choices. And then we begin to help them become aware, moment by moment, throughout the day of the disruptive emotion that they're feeling
and the distortion that's underneath. And then all of a sudden they're empowered like never before to come before the Hebrews for throne of Grace, the throne that we call the throne of. I will do it for you. Because of course, grace is God doing something for us that we can't do for ourselves. And they begin to experience a God who loves them. A God who's completely committed to freeing them. That's really the first step.
That's beautiful. To the person out there who knows they've identified something in their life that's become an idol, a reoccurring kind of. We've heard the term besetting sin. You sin, you got shame, you repent, and you repeat. What do you offer up to that person today?
I think grace is is grace. Not a whole pass regarding my sin, but grace as the invitation to approach a God who is willing to do something that we absolutely cannot do for ourselves. We have all these people who who are absolutely convinced that they can't conquer their own sin. And that's actually correct. They need a God stepping in through the power of his grace to love them in the midst, in the middle of their brokenness, and then provide a route of escape. I would encourage
the people to just bow down right now. Pull your car over, bow down right now, and just say, I need grace like I've never had it before. Pour down your grace. You promised grace to me. You call me to approach your throne of grace. to help me in my time of need. That would be the first step towards freedom.
I love it. Greg Dempster. You just barely got a snippet here, but some of you and this is awesome. Every time I have Greg on, people go, there's something different here that I love. And it is. And it is grace based. Counsel. Grace based. Living God's power in us to do what we can't do in ourselves. I got a link for you. If you want to check out Greg's website, you might be a pastor or a leader or know someone who's hurting. You might want to just get some a good road map. Just text the
word life to our number. Just life to (800) 555-7898. Just the word life to 800 555 7898. Greg, I want to thank you. I love you, man. And you're always an inspiration and a go to man here. Text life to 800 555 7898.