Coming to you from the Morning Star Mission sponsored studio. This is Carl and crew.
Mornings helping you take your next step with Jesus. That's what we're all about here. Ali, do.
You. Have you ever counted your steps? Have you ever worn some sort of a tracker?
That's funny that you say. Oh, steps. I thought you were meaning steps with Jesus. Uh, yeah, I have. Do you still have your step tracker?
Oh, I do, and my daughter wears one, too. So she's always trying to compete with me.
That's great.
It's never even a competition. Mom. How are your steps doing? Uh, I'm somewhere around 3400. I have 11,000. It's always way more. So mom doesn't take nearly as many steps in a day as my active 13 year old.
All we need you to take today is one giant step.
Just one.
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He was running from God, but God's love brought him home. Carl is in the crew. It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
I have a fear.
Oh.
I have a lot of fears. I'm not jumping out of a plane, by the way. That's crazy.
No skydiving for you.
I don't call that fear. I just call that wisdom.
A little apprehension with heights.
Yeah, especially these guys that take these full body glider suits and jump off cliffs and then. Oh, I can't.
Imagine that, man.
No, I just don't get it, man. No, I just I love watching the videos on their GoPros, but no, I'm not doing I'm not going there. I'm staying on the ground.
I'm with.
You. Oh my goodness. But my fear revolves around something that happened at lunch in Portland, Oregon, on the river. Downtown Portland, nice little restaurant. Beautiful lunch out with a few friends. My bride, great waitress, comes out boldly coming up to the table. She says to me, fresh mahi mahi as she's coming at terminal velocity.
Oh, no.
Tried to set that plate down, but it didn't work. The entire entree rice, fish, vegetables, lemon wedges. Plop right in my lap.
Oh, boy.
The whole thing.
Oh.
I mean, they're out scrambling. Here comes the general manager. Mr. Claussen, can we launder your clothes? I said they're jeans, bro. It's okay.
It's gonna be fine.
Oh, man.
It's okay. Uh. It's fine. But ever since then, when somebody brings out food to the table, I not any food. You bring out a burger or whatever. I'm not yipping about that, but I got one of my favorite joints in Des Plaines is called. I think it's called Jo Cho Dong, but it's spelled Cho dang. You know, it's one of those things. Okay, but Chodang has these hot pots where they come out. No kidding. They are absolutely bubbling with boiling brew. So it's a tofu beef spices.
Super spicy, man. I mean, it's great. It'll clean you out. No one walks out of there. It gets regular spice or hotter. That isn't absolutely blowing their schnozzle. It's great. Decongestant on steroids.
Wow.
But every time they set that down, I go back to Portland, Oregon. In my mind.
You just get a little nervous. Well, I mean, mahi mahi is I mean, does mahi mahi come hot or is it one of the fish.
Was it was it was pretty hot. It wasn't the heat factor. It was just the dump in my lap. Oh, yeah. So when I see a boiling cauldron of goodies, I'm like, now aim that sucker. Oh, don't drop it. Oh, good. She touched down. And sometimes they walk up like, yeah, this ain't nothing but a thing, right?
Because they've done it a million times. Yeah.
And they're looking around. One time she's plopping it down. She's looking at her manager saying something to her, and I'm like, pay attention to the boiling cauldron that is being placed six inches in front of my lap. Can you feel that with me?
A little a little bit of PTSD from.
Oh my goodness, isn't that funny how that works?
Oh, yeah.
I mean, it's just crazy. You know, it's one thing when you're worried about someone else, but when you've got control over things yourself. I really hope that you have a question mark about, am I going to miss the mark for eternity and life today? I really do. I hope that there is a holy gut check in you where you ask, wow, am I born again? the Apostle Paul said, examine yourself to see if you're in the faith. And by the way, this isn't about being freaked out
about whether or not you're born again. Imperfection. In Followers of Christ, it happens. This is about when you're when you're born again. There is conviction. And I tell most people who go, man, I'm just freaked out. I don't know if I'm born again. And I tell them, first off, your concern is one of the greatest evidences that you are. Because all that then fills in the blank is by faith. Are you ready to surrender all to Jesus Christ? And they're like, oh, I've done that. You know what you
struggle with? You struggle with condemnation or conviction not dealt with in your life. But my greater concern are the people that suffer from some barriers to salvation. This morning I want to give you the three barriers to salvation and what God wants to do with you. This morning he brought you here for a reason. Some of you have been praying for loved ones or wondering how to pray for loved ones. That's the bigger thing, isn't it, Ali?
Oh yeah. Like, oh, what do I do? I've got a I've got a child, I got a husband, I got a wife, I got a friend, I got a neighbor, I've got this person. I go to church with someone, but they, they don't know Christ. And what do I do? Well, it's it's the Holy Spirit's work. But there are things that we can do.
This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
I love this story. Out of acts 16. It's about the missionary journey. Paul and Silas actually find their way via a vessel through Neapolis onto Philippi, and then they go into the city and they sit down with a group of women, and they sat down and spoke to the women who had come together. And then it says in verse 14, this really cool one who heard us. Isn't that funny? So they spoke to a group of women. One who heard us was a great woman named Lydia.
She was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira, and the Lord opened her heart to pay attention. So they're speaking to these women. But one heard. Isn't that great?
I love that distinction.
Oh, isn't that beautiful?
I wish more heard, but at the same time, I love. I love the this one person. The Lord cut through her heart and she said, hey, I'm all in.
So there's a few things here going on, but one is when we preach the gospel or when we share with a friend. I've had this happen many times when I've been preaching the clear gospel of Jesus, and I see people. This last Sunday I was preaching the gospel at our church in the campus in Elk Grove, and I saw three high school boys. In fact, I was talking to some guys afterwards. They say, you see those high school boys, they just know no mom or dad in the church. They just join 180 Chicago.
Wow, great.
Three high school boys. They are sitting on the. And when I say, you know, sitting on the edge of your seat, usually that's a you know, that's.
An expression.
An expression there on the edge of their seat. One guy I felt like saying to him, dude, go back a couple inches, you're about to do a face plant just leaning in. Wow. But then in the audience you can see some people that are hearing, but they're not hearing. Isn't that something?
And can you observe even in the body language?
I think I know in the spirit and the body language what's going on? I don't always get it right, sure, but I often do. But here's what's amazing in this story here in acts 16, they spoke to these women and one heard. Now, there might have been more, but one heard and they're focusing on Lydia. And they said, and the Lord opened her heart.
Wow.
Is that awesome, Ali?
And that's what has to happen. I mean, lest we think that it's us opening our own heart. I mean, we have a part in it, but ultimately it's the spirit that has to draw us. Yeah.
Yeah. I have such joy in my heart because, boom! Crew, you're off the hook. You share your story, you talk about the Lord, you sit down with the men and women. You sit down with those boys and girls, and you pray, Lord, open the heart of one cause. One to hear I'm speaking cause one to hear. Isn't that beautiful, guys?
It is.
I mean, isn't it beautiful? Okay, coming up here in three minutes, I'm going to share. I'm going to speak the gospel. Three barriers to salvation. And I'm going to ask the Lord to open your heart, to hear.
Your shot of hope, to help you through the day. This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
I'm going to speak the gospel here, and I am praying that the Lord causes you to hear. What a beautiful thing, man. Pressure's off here. There are three barriers to salvation, and I'm going to go through them quickly. The first is rebellion. Just good old fashioned rebellion, you might say. Well, really? Yeah. In Romans one we find for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. And that makes sense,
who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. Here's an amazing reality of this text. All you got to do is look around at creation and go, oh my goodness. I mean, I put bird feed out in our feeders
again and those things are coming back. And I just sat looking through the slats of our blinds yesterday for just a couple of minutes. These birds are so amazingly built. I mean, these guys are amazing and they can't see I see them, so I'm really up close and personal, you know what I'm saying? And and I'm watching these things. I'm like, man, how can you how.
Can you not see God? You know what I'm saying?
Yeah.
But here's the reality a heart that's.
Hard can look at all of creation and go, I'm not going your way. Rebellion is one, blindness is another. Second Corinthians four three through four says, and even if our gospel is veiled, this is Paul's preaching here. It is veiled to those who are perishing in their case, the God of this world, that Satan has blinded the minds of unbelievers. Great. We got a blinding problem going on here. Now I just want to speak to this one. Some of it is just straight up light pollution. You
cannot see stars in the city of Chicago. Not well with all the light pollution. And sometimes we are blinded from the light of Jesus Christ because we've got so much stuff. Light polluting the ability to see the one who loves us. Maybe God is taking you out of town spiritually today. Maybe he's taking you to the woods and you're looking up, going, who you're speaking, but I think I'm hearing it for the first time. Carl. Another barrier to salvation is deception. We hit this a lot
around here. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my father who is in heaven. On that day, many, many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, cast out demons in your name, and do mighty works in your name? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness! Oh! So this is really simple. I've just been speaking here for a
few moments. We've just been speaking. And the question is, is someone hearing? Because just like Lydia, the seller of purple from the town of Thyatira, the Lord opened her heart. Maybe the Lord's open in your heart today. And I want to ask you, are you ready to surrender your life to Jesus Christ for the first time ever? No more rebellion. You look at creation today and go, I don't know how I didn't see it before, but this heart of stone. You're turning to a heart of flesh.
I see it and I surrender. Maybe it's been blindness. I don't know what kind of light pollution I had, but I did not see the light of the world. And I see him right now so clearly. And maybe it's deception. I thought all my Christian stuff could get me right with God. And it hasn't. And you're hearing the voice of God. You're not hearing my voice. You're not hearing alleys or Young Thunder's voice. You're hearing the voice of God saying, come on, give me your life.
And I want to tell you how. Jesus said to a troubled heart, I am the way, the truth and the life. No man can go to the father but through me. No woman can get there. But through Jesus he said, I am the way. He got to turn around. Repent. Surrender your life and follow Jesus Christ today. All in. It's not looking over your shoulder saying, hey, I know you're there. It's turning around saying, I'm going with you today. Too many people in church saying, hey, I know he's there.
He's a good man. Today you're surrendering all that you are to Jesus. I am the way. I'm the truth, he said. The truth is this we're sinners born with our backs to God. Alli born with your back to God, right? Sister.
Every single one of us. Yes. I was born with my back to God.
Born with your back to God. And it means you got to repent. Turn around. And in order to repent, you got to know that there's a reason to turn around. Yeah, you got to admit I'm a sinner. I'm missing the mark. I admit it. I'm not doing it. It's not working. I give my life to Jesus. See, belief in Jesus real biblical belief is the full and total surrender of your life to him. It sure ain't perfection, but it's just surrender. It's like saying, I'm jumping in your arms
right now and he's got you. And I'm asking you right now, is that you? I've been speaking, but have you been hearing. And if you have, the Lord has opened your heart. And I want you to pray with me right now. This is a prayer of faith. I don't care where you are in this world right now. I don't care where you are, what state, what burg. I don't care if you are. You might have us on Wi-Fi at 30,000ft. You might. I don't care where you are right now. Today is your day of salvation.
It's a cry of the heart. You might whisper along. You might shout aloud. You don't have to say a word. Your heart surrendered to God is an act of faith. And it's putting words to your soul just like this. Say them with me. Today I give up, God, I surrender. I'm turning around today. You've had a heart of rebellion. Maybe you've been blind. Maybe you've been deceived. But today you're going in a new way. No more barriers. Is that you? All in with Jesus, holding nothing back? Count
the cost. Think about it. It's going to. This is going to change some things now, friend. Whole new direction. It's the best life ever. I can testify to that. But this is a new day. Is that a new day for you? Is it good? All in with Jesus today? Good. Holding nothing back. Right? Brand new. Never had this kind of surrender before. The surrender before. Maybe was just cries to God with, you know, giving him one hand. He wants both hands, both feet. All in with Jesus today.
Is that you? Good. I'm going to pray for you. And then we're going to give you a link to help you. God. Thank you. We've been speaking. Summer hearing because the Lord opens the heart and I give you thanks in the name of Jesus that you're still working miracles today. God, you're still taking rebels with hard hearts, and you're taking a blind people with light pollution. And you're you're showing them the the light of the world, and you're taking those in deception and you're showing them
the truth. That you are the way, the truth and the life. Now God flood them with life. Flood this young lady with life. This older gentleman with life. This teenager listening right now. Flood them with life. And I give you praise in Jesus name. Amen. We want to help you, Ali. Walk them through what they're going to get here.
Yeah. We have a resource that we're going to send to you. If you text the word new to 800 555, 78, 98. Just text new to 800 555 7898. You're going to get an auto reply to your phone. Click the link. Read through it very carefully. There's some hyperlinks embedded in there. What to look for in a church. How to make sure that I've got a Bible in my hands, and an opportunity to get a resource sent to your home from us. So if you today, today you are turning
to Jesus for salvation. There's no other name by which men will be saved. Just text the word new to 800 555 7898, new to 800 555 7898.
And if you listen closely, there's angels celebrating what God's doing in you. It's a new day, friend.
It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
Okay, this is a big aha moment here. And this is a great inductive study. I want you to know the pressure is off. Imagine what Paul and Silas would have felt if they were called by God to head on a voyage through Neapolis, Samothrace, first Neapolis, and then on to the district of Macedonia into Philippi, and to plop down with a group of women and share the gospel. Imagine if they were commissioned by God saying, you got to go save people, man. That pressure would have been heavy.
Oh, goodness. Yeah, you would have been thinking about it all the time. Every time someone didn't listen to you. You would have been like, oh man, I didn't get that one. I think I was supposed to get that one.
Oh, yeah. Yeah. And I didn't say that just right.
Yeah.
You ever had that before, Ali?
Oh, yes.
I didn't say that just right.
Boy.
That's such a common one. That's like, every time, every time I go, oh, I don't know, I don't know. I could have done better there. I could have done better.
And you know, how you do better is when you realize the pressure's off.
Amen.
So this story from Lydia, from Thyatira, who was a seller of purple, is one awesome example because I don't know who else heard, but they spoke. And the way the narrative goes until the story. Ali. And then you can read what you want to read. But this is a great story. I mean, this is they sat down and what did they do? They began to speak the gospel. Right?
And Lydia heard.
She heard.
She heard, and her heart was opened.
Yeah. And the coolest thing here is found in verse 14. And it says, the Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said. Isn't that awesome?
Yeah. I love that.
Have you ever sat down with someone that you really love? And you're like, they're hearing me, but they are not hearing me?
Yeah. You just feel like. You feel like it's kind of going in one ear and out the other.
Oh, yeah. Or you feel like it's like they've got this, um, it's kind of like an airfoil, like a race car. And it's like your message is like air over a race car. It's like.
Yeah, just kind.
Of over the top and back. Yeah.
Yeah, absolutely. And there's nothing you can do about that. That's not up to you. It's up to what God's going to do in them.
The pressure's off. Well, Carl, what do I do? You know what I'm going to boil it down here. Matthew 516. Let your light so shine before men and women, boys and girls, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your father who is in heaven. That's for sure. Something we can do, right, Ali?
Yeah. I mean, and when you have good information, you have good intercession. You always say that.
Yes, yes, yes.
When you have good information, then you pray rightly.
Yeah.
For people.
See you pray. See you pray. How can you pray according to this Lydia story? How can you pray?
Well, you can pray that someone would first listen, that they would be willing to sit down and have the conversation. Okay, you can pray that they would not just hear the words and that it would go into their ears, but that they would actually hear it and it would go into their heart.
Yeah.
You can also pray that God would take the pressure off of you and just allow His Spirit to speak through your words.
Okay, that's a cool implication from the text, isn't it?
Absolutely.
Here's what's cool. Paul and Silas came in. They sat down. They knew this is the Lord's work, because that's what is written by Doctor Luke in Acts 16. And the Lord opened her heart. Yeah. How cool that we don't have to open our kids hearts to the Lord.
It's so freeing, because when we feel like the pressure's on us, then we. We start to strive. We start to beg and plead. And it becomes more about us.
Us. I mean, we're panicked.
And it's not that we don't. It's not like about us in terms of a selfishness aspect, because our heart, our heart's desire, is to see our unsaved loved one come to know Jesus. But it becomes about, okay, how can I do this better?
Yeah, it really can. Yeah. So coming up, we're going to do something crazy here. We're going to pray that the pressure is off of you today. We're going to pray for you. We can pray for you as Christ followers, that the freedom that you would feel today is that the Lord has opened their heart. Okay. You know what that gives you? It gives you the latitude to tend
to your own lordship. To tend to. All right. If I don't have that pressure on me, I now can actually tend to me shining brightly rather than me getting it rightly. Little iteration there for you. And that's liberty, isn't it, Ali?
It is. It is. Because then you're trusting in the Lord who opens hearts.
Yes. Yes.
And you're not trusting in your own ability to convince somebody of something.
Who thought it was on you. Or at least you felt the weight of something being on you that God never intended. And today may be your freedom is is that it's not on you who was stuck there. And today you're getting it. They're coming in now. Somebody said, yep. When someone says I have, that's me. See, they're coming in here. And can I get a big confession? Are you ready for this? That's me. And you know what?
You can be clear on this today. And like a banana peel on a sidewalk, you can slip back into it tomorrow. You got to hold on to these truths. Look at the responses pouring in your alley.
I mean, so many people have felt this, this sort of pressure of, I have to get them saved me. I got to do it.
And if they don't follow Jesus, that's my fault. We're going to pray for you because the greatest powerful witnesses and light shining know that it's God who saves souls. All you do is shine and share. That's it.
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.
A couple of things are happening. People are surrendering to Jesus. But here is the beauty. In acts 16, we get a story of Lydia. She's a seller of purple. She's an entrepreneur. And she happened to be huddled up with a group of ladies in Philippi. And Paul and Silas sailed into town by way of Neapolis and Samothrace first, and then Neapolis, into the district of Macedonia and then into Philippi. They sit down and they speak, but at least one person heard what a huge thing, guys! They spoke,
at least one heard. And that was Lydia. And you know why the Lord opened her heart. Where Paul and Silas swashbuckling gospel presenters. Actually, Paul was a little bit insecure about his ability to communicate well. So here's the deal. The pressure's off. God is the one who saves the Holy Spirit. Convicts of sin. It's the Lord that opens hearts. He pulls down blinders. He takes a heart of stone and turns it into a heart of flesh. We can pray, we can share. We can shine. We can get it
all right. Actually, you can have a three point outline with a poem at the end. And that doesn't necessarily mean that anyone will really hear unless the Lord opens their heart, but he can. Ellie, I want you to pray this back over people. We've got so many responding, going, shoot, man, I felt so long. I just somebody said I've, I've felt the weight of trying to save my sons for years. And this sets me free today. Isn't that awesome? Yeah.
It really is. So let's pray. Lord, we come to you and just thank you that you are sovereign. Yes, over all things, Lord. And I pray, Lord, that as you give us opportunities, first help us to be faithful as ambassadors, that we would be those who let our light shine before men, that people would see our good deeds and praise you in heaven. Help us to live
those kind of lives. And Lord, when you lead us into moments where we have the opportunity to speak, I pray that you would remove pressure, that you would remove unbelief, that you would remove doubt, and that you would give us full freedom to speak as you would lead. And Lord, for the person who's going to hear us, Lord, allow hearts to be opened. Lord, would you give someone, even today, even this weekend? Give them ears to hear what you
are saying through us. Open their heart. Help them to pay attention, Lord, not to our words, but to you, God. I pray that we would see people saved even this weekend. God, as we're gathering, as we're attending sporting events and family gatherings and other things that happen on the weekend. Lord, I pray that this verse would come to mind all across Chicagoland and beyond. This would come to mind that we would speak and that you would open hearts to
pay attention. Lord, it's your work and not ours. And we thank you that you allow us to play even a small part in it. The pressure's off, and we thank you. In Jesus name, Amen.
Amen. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention. They were speaking. Lydia heard the pressure's off. Ali prayed. It gives you more freedom to shine more brightly and gives you more freedom to not get it perfectly. Isn't that. Isn't that I want to just I want to I want to jump in a pool somewhere, man. I mean, this is liberating stuff, guys.
It really is. Because, you know, there's a lot of conversations around evangelism. And, you know, I think especially with young people, young people are always kind of like, you got to get out there. You got to share your faith, you got to share your faith. And I think if you've grown up in Christian, in kind of a Christian culture, you sort of absorb this low grade pressure of, okay, I gotta do it, I gotta do it, I gotta do it. They might not know Jesus. The Lord is the one who opens hearts.
He does.
Your shot of hope to help you through the day. This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
Life can be going along pretty well. And then a crisis hits. And it's what we do at that point of crisis that'll make or break our relationship with God, our mind, our soul, our spirit, our body. Anyone listening right now can relate to that. And boy, have we got a guest here with us today that's going to drive this home.
She is near and dear to our hearts. She is one of our colleagues. Her name is Kenz Weatherford. She works in the promotion department, helps with social media. The crisis that hit for you was a breakup of a pretty serious relationship. And though you had been raised in a Christian home around the things of God, when that crisis hit, you had a moment of decision and you did not turn to God. Yeah. Tell us about that moment.
So growing up in the faith, there was so much that was instilled in me. And my parents got divorced at some point when I was in high school. And when I started a relationship in college, that was for about three years. I got to a spot that that relationship ended, which was really, really hard. We were looking at rings, we were talking about marriage, and when that ended,
it broke my heart in such a way. And instead of turning to God with that hurt that I felt, I was introduced to astrology and I thought this might be an answer that's going to conclude for me. I will not go through a heartbreak. I will know who I'm going to marry, I'm not going to go through divorce, and I'm going to pour myself into this. And I gave myself over to astrology and fortune telling, and that ended up being my pursuit for the next three years.
So this was a self-protection kins.
Yeah.
And I'm not going to I'm not going to. That's not going to happen to me again. I'm not going to get burned like that again.
Exactly. And so when I, I remembered the next day after the breakup, it was a rainy day in a cafe, of course, and I pulled out a journal and I was like, I am going to write down, I'm going to memorize all the signs and the stars, and I'm just going to give myself to this thing because I think there's something here. And along the way, I started to meet more like minded people that practiced spirituality. I
had stopped going to church. It was Covid about that time as well, and so I felt like it was another thing of, hey, I don't really need to, I don't really need to open my Bible. I think that there's some answers here that I can just dive into. And so let me memorize this. God has gifted me with memorizing. I've I've always loved acting, and I've always been able to memorize the words so well. And that was twisted in a way to use it for darkness. But God can redeem anything.
In the moment. What did you feel like? Astrology? The cards. What did you feel like that offered you That God wasn't.
I felt that there was words for spiritual circumstances in my life, like dreams about people before they happened or knowing things before it happened. I didn't talk about that in my Christian community. So then when I met a spiritual community that talked openly about auras and sensing and presences in the room, it felt like I had language for things that I didn't have language for before. And I was like, well, there's probably something, something true in this.
And it wasn't truthful. It wasn't right. I had right answers about the future, but it wasn't truthful and it wasn't building up. It ended up leading to hopelessness. Something I want to share is that when I had an opportunity to look at the future, I thought that this was going to buffer my heart. I thought, okay, so I can know when the bad things are going to come Well in life. We are going to continue to
have trials and hardships. And I thought that if I knew in my strength what that thing was going to be, I could buffer it a little bit more. My heart's not going to hurt nearly as much if I can do that myself. But God showed me that he loves me and there is hope when we partner with him and look at the future through his eyes. He gives us love and hope. And it's him who holds our future. He knows the plans for us.
With us right now is Kenz Weatherford. She's a sister in Jesus. We'll get to that part of the story here in just a moment. But she's a radiant woman of God. Guys, what's wild about your story, Kenz? Is that a lie is nothing but the truth with the twist at the end. And I've heard insight. You wanted. You wanted power. Yeah, but how did this begin to bite you back? It sounds good going in, but boy, it's got some whiplash, doesn't it?
One of the strange things that started to happen was I could feel physical pain in my body from other people in the room, and what started to happen was, is if I felt pain in my left elbow. Oh, I know who in this room is having pain in their left elbow. And then I would go and I would ask that person and offer to do a reading, and I would know things about them and no pain in their body that they were like, how did you know that? How did you know? I hit my head
when I was around eight. Like things like that. And it felt like it was validating. I was like, okay, great. I get to help these people. I get to tell them about themselves. I get to build them up. But it started to get so yucky. I started to feel pain in my body every day. If I didn't meditate, I was going to be overwhelmed by people's pain by going into any public space. So I tried to avoid public spaces if I could help it, unless if I
was meditated or practicing in that. So I felt pain in my body, in any room that I walked into, except when I went to a small group for the first time. This was the strangest thing. So I wanted to try out this church. And so I sat down in the group and I felt around the room, and it was about half of the people that I spiritually
could not feel at all. And there was another couple of people that I felt like if I practice extending my spiritual arm to feel pain in this room, I feel like my powers are going to get shut off. I feel like something bad is going to happen. And so I sat in a room of Christians looking at them like I was scared, and they probably looked at me a little scared too, honestly, because it was this strange world of me living in a kingdom of darkness, thinking that I knew about the kingdom of heaven in
that world. And yet I couldn't understand those people. And I think they were wearing the armor of God. I want to throw in something encouraging, too, that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us, even when we fall short of the glory of God. I think about when I walked into that small group. I don't know how many people like prayed up before they went to small group, but there was still a covering upon them because they walk with God.
Ken Weatherford, our guest right now from the kingdom of darkness to the Kingdom of Light, the rest of her story coming up.
This is Carolyn Crew on Moody Radio.
So what is that one thing that's holding you back? For our guest right now, it was a need to control. It was coming out of a bad breakup. And it was. Instead of turning to God, the God of her youth, the God that she learned about from her parents, she turned to the world of astrology and tarot card reading and all of these dark things that seemed so appealing at first. But things started to shift quickly. Take us back to this Bible study, which you decided to go to.
You were in a room of Christians. You were used to being able to experience pain and all these different spiritual perceptions that you had because of the kingdom of darkness. But something was different this day. Tell us about it.
Yeah. So when I went to this small group and I noticed that I couldn't feel their physical pain, I thought that was weird. And so I started to go to their church. And the first time that I went up for hands on prayer, somebody prayed for me and it was like I could breathe a full breath of air again. It was like fog was lifting. And if I could use the spiritual terms that I would use at the time, it was like a blue aura or
like a shield, a bubble that covered me. And I remember when I got home, I looked around my apartment and it was like swirling fog was trying to get at me, but it couldn't touch me because I was protected. It was the coolest thing. God is so good.
You know, you might be listening to this saying, this is something that I've never heard of. This is happening, and there's portals for this. A quick side note before we go on to more of your victory, I know you got a heart for people that are dabbling in darkness. What are some of the common portals that you know of, Ken, so that people can be on alert for even things like this in themselves or people they love?
I think that if there's something that you felt hurt about and you've been seeking out answers, the spiritual community will only give you more hopelessness as you walk down. Because I remember going to get a reading where somebody could read candle wax and they could read about my ancestry, and it left me with more anxiousness, but I thought I was prepared. I was like, okay, great, I'm walking
away more prepared, I know more. But when we're walking with God, we cast our anxieties upon him because he cares for us, and so we can actually walk through and walk forward with the next trial that comes if we're Christians or not, Christians. When we walk toward that next trial, we have comfort in walking in God. When we abide in him, he gives us peace and hope.
Ken, when did you come to a breaking point where you realized, this is this is getting really dark and and I'm out?
It was an interesting thing. I went to church and it was a class on freedom. And again, somebody prayed for me. It was hands on prayer. And there was something that switched within me that I, I did not have the words for. And I really just kind of sat zonked for a bit. I was like, I have no words to describe what's happening in me. But when I got home, it was just me and the apartment
and I started washing dishes. There were statues and idols all around the apartment and rocks and sage burning and incense. I was standing at the sink washing dishes and it was slowly feeling like my head was so loud. I was starting to feel angry, and then I was like, that's it. I put down the dishes and I walked to my room, and before I really knew what was happening, I was throwing away tarot cards and I was six decks in when I had stopped and realized that my
life has been changed forever by God. And after that brief pause, I continued to get more things thrown in boxes. I filled up a box as much as I could, and I kept going. And I just kept going. And I had one moment where I had my my birth chart of where the stars were when I was born, and I took it out of the frame, and I looked at it and I started to tear up a little bit, and I knew I couldn't keep it anymore.
And so I looked away, ready to tear it, and I just felt prompted, like, no, I need you to see that you are tearing this up because your identity is in me and not the stars. And so I ripped up the birth chart of where the stars were on the day that I was born. My identity is in Christ. It is not in the stars.
Beautiful.
So I threw away all the spiritual modalities. And then my small group showed up to help me move out of that apartment. I moved into a new apartment in less than a week. I moved into a three bedroom because I felt like God had a reason for me to be there. I'm still in that three bedroom. I have two roommates now that both believe in Jesus. It's so cool. But when I moved out of that first apartment, I left behind the couch, the TV and tables. I left my wardrobe, which I looked back at a receipt
and it's like over $1,200. It was things that I was like, I don't want to carry anything with me if it will not bring me peace. And even when I moved into the new apartment and I still, you know, my small group, they helped me move some some things like books and clothes and these things I still felt like, no, no, I, I really need a new life in Christ. And this was McKenzie's decision. I prayed with God, and it felt like the right thing for me to do was to
throw away my clothes. And then literally my sister in law, who did not know what was going on at the time, like had a duffel bag of clothes and was like, hi, I'm about to donate these. Do you want to go through this? And guys clothes have like never fit when it comes to donations like it was. That in itself was a miracle and I just really material possessions do not hold the weight that they had at that time. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are of this earth.
This is amazing. Colossians three guys. Kenz Weatherford, our guest right now and this is speaking for some of you, some sensitivity and maybe freedom is calling your name today. Kenz, what do you say to the person that has been really dabbling on the dark side, looking for power? I'm fed up with brokenness in their life. And they they buy their own strength and by their own will they said, I'm not going to let pain happen to me again. What do you say to them today?
The power of God is incomparable to the spirits that we partner with. Any spirit that I ask any medium, even myself. There is no power that is more comforting, more true, more secure than the power and the presence of God Almighty. He loves you. He really, really does love you, and you can share your heart with him and just see what he says.
So I think people want to know, what's Kenz Ken's Weatherford do today? What's an average day look like for Ken's Weatherford?
Um, well, uh, I'm here at Moody Radio. I work in promotions and social media, but an average an average day today. So I'm about two years in now, if you can believe it. A little over two years of walking with God. And I'm finding that trials are still coming. And I'm like, well, I thought that that was supposed to end when I gave my life to Jesus, but
that's still information. Yeah. And I'm I'm realizing that when I sit and I talk with God, he really wants to know my heart and man, he really is faithful when I'm unfaithful. And I'm realizing when I look back at my history, it wasn't just those three years that I was practicing astrology and fortune telling that I wasn't following God. Like, there's been times way before that that I was not a perfect person, and I didn't see that before I thought that I was I thought that
I was walking as best as I could. But I'm realizing that God has been faithful my entire life, and when I take time to sit with him, he really offers true peace and comfort.
Kenz, we love you. You are inspiring. You are radiant. And what's amazing is you are a new creation. The old has gone, the new has come. You are that girl and we're proud of you. You know, as you're listening right now, you might be saying, all right, how in the world do we conquer this stuff? You know, our heart aches for whatever kind of deception you've bought into, no matter what it is. And some of them manifest themselves in these dark, spiritual ways. Some of them cloak
themselves in everyday life. Right, Allie?
Oh, yeah. Yeah. And I'm seeing more of this introduced in spaces where it wouldn't have been where. And I think there's an allure, even for the Christ follower to start to dabble in things that promise a little bit of protection or a little bit of deliverance. And I think we have to be so on guard that we don't invite darkness into our home, into our hearts and
to our minds, whether it's through. And I don't want to start sounding legalistic, but we need to be on guard for ourselves and for our children, that we are not opening the door to the things of darkness when we are called into the kingdom of light.
The one thing I'd add to that is there is nothing. We don't want you paralyzed with fear. Like, oh, what's spooky here? What's spooky there? This is as practical as. All right. Anything that is leading me away from God is clearly not his will.
Yes.
Those things that are leading me to God and His glory are his will. Stay in that wheelhouse. You know, I don't know what it is you're battling and what's defeating you today. But I know this. We've got a God who will make you more than a conqueror through Christ Jesus. That's the hope that we have.
You're listening to Kerlin Crewe on Moody Radio.
You know, you might be thinking, I don't know if I can be made new. And that's a fair question. You know, you've seen maybe in the end zone of big games, they still put them up. Big old boards. Reader boards are born again. You must be born again. And a lot of people wonder, well, what does that mean? What does it mean to be born again? What's it mean? Mean to be made new. How can God make me new? How can that possibly happen? There's a teaching of Jesus
that's found in Matthew 11 that's incredibly profound. And in one little portion it's cited by Matthew himself. He says that Jesus spoke. He said, come to me, all who are weary and are heavy laden. And I'm going to give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, for you will learn from me. I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your soul. And there's some souls that are really tired listening this morning, and I want to give you some incredible hope this morning.
The way you come under the yoke of God is found by just looking back a few verses before him saying this, and he was speaking to a couple of cities in the northern reaches of Israel. And what he said was, man, if I'd done these miracles up in Chorazin or Tyre and Sidon, excuse me like I've done for you, Chorazin and Capernaum, they would have repented. And you got to ask the question, well, what's God's goal? To show that he's got power. No, it's for you
to experience it. And there's one way to do that. Repentance. You see, we're born going our own way. And Jesus says, come to me. What does that require? Turning around, repenting of your sin and saying, alright, I'm going to give you my heavy yoke. I've been carrying it way too long. As much as we want to believe that maybe going to church can set us free, there's a lot of well-meaning people that have gone to church and never found
freedom from that weight that they're carrying around. It's just a reality, guys. We've all experienced that. I think all of us in this room. Yep. We did. We've all experienced a long season for some of us, some of us shorter where we went to church, but we hadn't released that weight that we were carrying by repenting, coming to Jesus and taking on his yoke. Repentance sounds so rough, but it's really the turning around and turning away from a life of sin and shame and surrendering all to
Jesus Christ. And my heart, passion for you is to come as you are and be changed like you never could ever be or ever imagined before. It's repentance, and I'm going to pray for you in a moment here. But this born again or this all things new experience is really about you surrendering your life to Jesus Christ. Come to him. So I invite you to come to him. I want to urge you. Don't let pride hold you back. I don't know if you're going to get this opportunity
again in your life. We don't know what today holds, let alone tomorrow. But we do know that God holds out before you today a light yoke to come under it, to be a friend of God, all of us, all of us in studio here, and A whole lot of people listening came to that point where they said, I'm done. I surrender. I repent. I'm turning around. And that acknowledgement that you've missed the mark, that you're a sinner and you need someone to save you and you're carrying a
load you can't carry anymore. That can be a crushing moment. But what's on the other side of that is this incredible life in Jesus Christ. It's not without pain. It's not without challenges. It's not without tears. But, man, it's filled with hope. And you'll know that you've touched on this friendship with God and being yoked up with Jesus. Because in a moment, that heavy weight will be thrown off you. And in the spiritual realm, you will realize,
oh my goodness, I'm a friend of God. So I just urge you, wherever you are across this nation or the world or in Canada. I just urge you right now, today is the day of salvation. Today is the day when God can make you born again. And I just want to ask you three questions here this morning. Three questions. Real simple. Number one, are you done yet? Are you done? Is today the day that you're done? Today. The day that you're done. Good. Are you willing to admit I'm
a sinner? I've been missing the mark. I've been wandering my own path. It's been leading nowhere. You might have been in church. Don't. Don't worry, don't. Don't even think about that. It's not about where you're physically located. It's about where you're spiritually located. So are you done in? Are you willing to admit I'm a sinner and I need someone to save my life and take this weight from me today? And I've never before done this. But
today I'm repenting. I'm turning around and I'm following Jesus Christ. If that's you, man, if that's you, young lady. If that's you, sir, and you've been in church many, many years. You, ma'am. No matter how long you have lived, God has not done offering real life to you today. So I'm going
to pray with you right now. And then Allie's going to give you a link, because if you pray along with me, which is really just a cry of the heart, there's nothing magical about this prayer, but there's something incredibly
transformational about this prayer. And if you join us in this, we're going to help you because you've got new legs under you, you've got new feet because you're going a new direction, and you've got the light yoke of Jesus who set you free from that thing that's been killing you. Let me pray. Father, thank you for this person or persons who's come here today. And this is their time, isn't it? God, you you knew that they needed you
today and you brought them here. What a beautiful thing You're pulling down all these blinders and you're letting people see exactly what they need to see about themselves. And now there's full surrender. So, Lord, we just pray. And I want you to say, God, I'm done. Good. And then just tell him, Jesus, I just confess to you I'm a sinner. I'm missing the mark in my life. I need a Savior. And today I repent, I turn around, I'm coming to Jesus. Today, for the first time in
my life. I am finally giving it all to Jesus. Every bit of it. And Lord, I thank you for this person right now. What a sweet thing that they're not only a friend of God, but they are now friends with us at a whole new level, a whole new place in the spiritual realm. We are now brothers and sisters and what a sweet thing that is. And I give you thanks today. In the name of Jesus, I say it. Amen.
Amen.
Ali. We're helping, aren't we?
Sister, if that's you. If today you are following Jesus, we have a resource for you. Just text the word new to 800 555, 78, 98. You're going to get a link. Click it, open it up. Read it through carefully. There's some hyperlinks in there as well. An opportunity for you to get a resource sent directly to your home. Just text the word new to 800 555 7898. New to (800) 555-7898.
And if there is one, welcome. Because God knew that you'd be here today and we're just grateful. Our God is so alive. He's so at work and in the spiritual realm. He cuts through the fog of the earthly realm and he says, come to me. Your life is new and you've surrendered to him. Just text new to 800 555, 7898. You're turning around and you are giving your life to Jesus 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.
When someone turns around and takes on the yoke of Jesus Christ man, it is something worth celebrating. We're grateful for all of you that have been transformed by the power of God. And you know what? We're grateful for all of you that are still wondering, can Christ really do this in me? And our appeal to you is it's it's never too late and it's never too soon to give your life to Jesus.
And so we're so grateful for you. You know, my daughter goes to church a lot. She's in youth group all the time. So she goes, man, they're always they're always sharing the gospel. I feel like we're always having people get saved. And she was excited about it. But at the same time, she's like, I keep hearing the
same thing every week. And I said, I want you to picture that each time you hear the gospel and someone raises a hand that it's like standing outside of a house that's burning, and the firefighter goes in and another one is brought out of the house. And so I told both of my kids, I said, don't get don't let that get old to you. That excitement that you have that another one was saved from the flames.
Picture that every time you hear the gospel, maybe for the 10th or the hundredth time and someone else raises a hand. It is that crucial.
Boom! Ali. That's right on. Yeah, that's. I never get tired of casting that net of hope, casting that line into the water of people that are drowning in sin. And what a great mercy of God. Even while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. What an amazing thing. Never, never grow weary of the message of salvation and never grow weary in doing good. Remember what Jesus has set you free from. Yes, and go live like it today. Right, guys?
Amen.