Coming to you from the Morning Star Mission sponsored studio. This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
On this Freedom Friday. Welcome aboard. It's great to have you helping you take your next step with Jesus. We've been talking marriage all week, and there's no greater freedom than we can have than freedom in Christ. And sometimes marriage can bump that cup to the point where we discover maybe what's missing.
And so we have a special testimony this morning that you are going to enjoy. You talk about freedom, freedom from a marriage that is on the brink of divorce. Freedom from a marriage that's been rocked by infidelity.
This this story. Ali will give hope to anyone no matter where you are. God. God can reach in and do something amazing. Ron and Jody Zappia You have a story to tell, and we are fired up. They're going to be with us. Coming up straight ahead. Buckle up on this one. You're going to want the show cast to pass it around as well. Yes. Whenever you hear something or you say, oh, could I pass that along? Just it's simple. Just text the word show to 805, 55, 78, 98.
Just the word show to our number here. Ron and Jodie coming up.
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.
You know, on this Freedom Friday. It is an awesome thing to hear stories of life change in you, and the boom crew are awesome for that. But we wanted to take the power of God to change our lives and bring two people together who otherwise were on the skids and go, uh uh, God's not done with you. His arm can reach you. And some of you, if we talk about it long enough, you'll be crying. But I need you to know something. Help is on the way, and God can do more in the 11th hour than
he you can in the prior ten. Ron and Jody Zappy are with us right now. And boy, you guys believe that, don't you?
I'm telling you, man. We all believe it, Carl. And you know, we've known each other for a long time. We've experienced it and are still experiencing the life changing power of the gospel.
Thankfully, Ron and Jody Zappy are with us right now. Ron is the founding and lead pastor of High Point Church, which is a multi-site church in the Chicagoland area celebrating their 25th anniversary. And his lovely wife, Jody joined us this morning for Freedom Friday.
Hey, I'm just so glad we planted the church coming out of eighth grade. So that's the nice thing about.
Well, I won't say how old he is, but he is getting AARP material sent to his home address, I guarantee you that. All right, so let's have some fun here. Jodie, I'm going to have you tell on Ron and yourself in a healthy way on this Freedom Friday. A lot of people find themselves in a marriage where it's like, oh, and maybe they're religious, or maybe they they just need to know the power of God to save a soul and to save a marriage. Jodie, I'm going to give you the floor. Tell us the story.
All right. Well, we were, um, you know, high school sweethearts, had been friends since we'd been 15 years old and finally, you know, had a long distance relationship in college and then even after college. And, you know, some of these things contributed to us having, um, what I would say is, you know, extremely difficult first year in marriage. And it kind of surprised us. You know, we were building on friendship, and we thought friendship was a solid foundation to build
a marriage on. And it is a great thing, and it has helped us. However, that got tested in year one and when I came home early from a work commitment and walked into kind of the worst nightmare I could have imagined, and Ron was there. There was another woman. And all that to say is I was obviously really devastated. And we ended up, um, I talked to my sister and I said, hey, isn't this grounds for divorce? I'm
pretty sure it is. And just, you know, our background had been both of us in a different traditional churches. So we both would have said we believed in God, but we didn't know God. So, uh, what happened next is we ended up going into my sister said, hey, you know, yeah, you should get counseling before you do that, you know, before you get divorced. It's a really big decision.
So I, I walked over to a church and I purposely waited for church to be over because I was just going to go there to see if I could get counseling. And so I ended up bumping into a woman. First time I had to verbalize. It's literally the next morning what was going on. And I said, you know, I need to find out if I have grounds for divorce. And she could see that I was troubled. I probably started crying. And then she immediately tears in her eyes and she said, you know, my husband, he was a
failure too, and ran away. Wow.
That's what we all are. Carl, I just you just got to be honest with ourselves.
I'm the I'm the Amen choir. All right, Jodi, keep it going.
So she starts off with that, and then she said, interestingly enough, they had had a marriage ministry going that met on Monday night. So the very next day I went there, Ron kind of asked if he could come along, and I was like, well, sure, you know. So we went to this thing. It was a very large group
gathering 500 people. And then, um, I had written in my Franklin planner that by Thursday I needed to make a make a decision about a divorce, so I ended up calling the church to see if I could get an appointment, because I didn't feel like I was getting the answer to my question. So I just said, well, hey, I need to make a decision by Thursday. And, um, they ended up making an exception and let Ron and I come in. And from there, the pastor said, hey, we can talk about the mess you're in, or we
can talk about God's plan for marriage. You know, we kind of looked at each other and the way the question was asked, like, I doubt you're going to get a lot out of the mess we're in, you know? So we're like, well, okay. And then but we did. We ended up getting into that because he clearly, you know, he said, well, I got 45 minutes. He set the timer and we just started meeting. And what happened then
was Ron immediately was broken, visibly broken. That pastor to this day would say he had counseled lots of couples, and he felt like he actually witnessed Ron's genuine repentance right in that office. Wow. Awesome. Me, on Me. On the other hand, I was I was actually the harder person because Ron's heart was broken and he was very aware of his condition. You know, that he was in a that it was a sin issue. I, on the other hand, wanted to just kind of keep the spotlight
on that, on Ron. And again, I went there honestly thinking I was just going to get some sort of like, okay, to get a divorce because I didn't know how to get divorced. So he ended up then from then on, kept putting that spotlight on me and asking me lots of questions. And really, what ended up happening? I recognized quickly, okay, I know what you're getting at and I have sin in my life, and I did. And I was very aware of it, you know. But I said I just
didn't really want to talk about it today. And, um, but had he not delved in, you know, I appeared to be the victim here. And had he gone easy on me, what would have happened then in those last ten minutes is Ron would have left saved. He would have left with an actual relationship with Christ, and I would have left hard hearted the way I came in. So he broke me and. But I needed to be broken. And what happened then is we just met basically at the foot of the cross. And then in the last
five minutes we prayed a genuine. He led us in a genuine prayer for repentance. I knew that little piece of faith that I needed was I'd known that, you know, Jesus was God's Son, and I knew that there was like the Trinity, father, son, Holy Spirit. But I didn't really fully understand that Jesus was God like Emmanuel, God with us, and that that was God's blood shed on the cross for me, and that it was shed for my specific sins that this guy just made me, you know,
think about and confess. So we basically met at the foot of the cross where the ground was even. And that was important because I kind of also thought certain sins were much worse than others. So that was it. We walked out that day knowing for the first time we were forgiven.
Wow. Wow.
Ron and Jody zappia our guests right now. Ron is the founding lead pastor of High Point Church. They also have a book, The Marriage Knot seven Choices That Keep Couples Together. Uh, Ron, want to bring your voice in here? You came to repentance quickly. Would you say that when you talk about coming to the end of yourself when you were caught and you realized the gravity of what you had done? Did repentance come easily or was there any sort of resistance?
You know, I think for me, I was I had to be broken and I had to be cut down at the knees. I didn't have God in my life. I wasn't a Christian, wasn't brought up in it. And, you know, that was the first time I realized. And this is going to sound awful, Ali. But it wasn't just that I sinned against Jody and that I caused so much hurt. But that's the first time that I
recognized that I sinned against God. And just like David says in Psalm 51 when he said, against you, and you have I only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight. I recognise for the first time, yes, my sin and all of our sin. Everybody who's listening. Our sin causes damages to the people around us. But it caused damage to God. And I didn't recognize that. And that was the first time that came into realization. And so I walked out of that office as Jody said, man,
I'm telling you, I felt the forgiveness. And I know many of our listeners that you you know what I'm talking about, that forgiveness of Christ and that fresh start. And we didn't know what was going to happen with the marriage. I mean, you know, like, but we had just been reconciled to God and now it was on us. Are we going to do some things? Are we going to let God's power and the power of the gospel reconcile us to each other? And that's the most difficult part.
We meet with couples now. And, you know, we tell our story and we provide hope. But if we don't have two soft hearts ready to look at each other, examine themselves, and really take ownership for their part in the marriage breakdown. And that's a big statement. Each of us has to take ownership. If we don't have that, then we won't find the reconciliation that I know God desires.
Coming up, you know, we're going to be promoting a book here that Ron and Jody have. That's powerful work. But we also want to tell you where we go from here. So coming up, Ron and Jody Zappia talking about those first days of digging out, because it's those first days, it's those baby steps that change everything. Hang on.
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.
With us right now. Ron and Jody Zappia. A story of radical transformation. If you did not hear the first portion of this interview, you must go back and get it. I'm asking you right now to text the word show to (800) 555-7898. If you didn't hear this first part, you got to get it 805 55, 78, 98 just text the word show to that number and you're going to have it. All right guys, let's pick it up here. You're freshly broken. God has transformed your heart in a
counseling session. And it was really the counsel of the spirit that spoke through this gentleman. And the Spirit of God convicted. The Spirit of God called the Spirit of God did it all you. You really didn't bring anything to the party except a broken heart, right, guys?
That's exactly true. I mean, we had first recognized, I mean, that man, my sin had brought this on, and I had was losing the best thing that I ever had. I mean, you know, we weren't Christians. We weren't following after God. We didn't have the truth. And the next thing I knew, my behavior, uh, had had really crushed the relationship. And so it would have been have been easy for us to throw up our hands. And I know it's true for many couples, you know, it's like, hey,
we had just been married. It was just a year. We didn't have any kids. You know, we were in a new town here in the Chicagoland area. Yeah. Carl, you know what? We had to take some baby steps. I mean, honestly, you know, we didn't know what was going to happen to the marriage. We knew that, you know what? We had just been reconciled to God. We had experienced forgiveness firsthand. And now it was about, where are we going to put our faith into action? And
I think that's the key for many people. We try to fix everything ourselves. And for us, it was like we knew we couldn't fix it. I couldn't fix myself. I couldn't change the behavior that had been exhibited for years. Jodi had to forgive me. So Jodi had to forgive and I had to start living the truth. And so, you know, honestly, Carl, I wish I could say I did some great things, but I had to come to terms with who I really was. Next thing I knew, God started to change some things in me that I
couldn't change in change in myself. And that was the key. And I think, Jodie, you recognize some of that change. So those are the baby steps that we took. Forgiveness was number one.
That's big. You know what? I want to kick it to you, Jodie, because a lot of those first steps out of this obviously have been embedded in the book that you and Ron wrote together. But from your perspective, what were some of those first? This is deep soul work that God does. Right, Jodie?
Yeah. And, um, first question I get asked at this point is, you know, how did you forgive? And I would say the truth was I mentioned I had just been forgiven also. And Ron was right there, and I knew that I knew something had happened and that really brief period of time. But I knew it was real, and I knew I was forgiven. And that in and
of that, I knew then I needed to forgive. And I knew that because I had come across a verse once back in the day when I would just flip my Bible open looking for an answer to something, right? And one time I remember it said, hey, unless you forgive your brother, you will not be forgiven. Then I would probably close my Bible like, uh oh, I'm in trouble. But, um, I knew there was something to that. And I knew that in the same way I had just been forgiven.
I could forgive Ron because I knew God had just forgiven him, too. So I knew that. But my bigger issue, and I can remember even asking the pastor and saying, hey, I know I need to forgive Ron. I think I can do that, but I don't have to stay married, do I? Because the bigger issue to me, I said, you know, how can you possibly have a marriage when there is zero trust? And so trust had been thrown out the window. So for me, it was funny because he asked me, oh, that's interesting. He said, Does the
Bible say trust one another? And I didn't really know the Bible, but that did not sound right. I said, no, he said, you're right. Any ideas why it might say that? And I said, probably because we're not trustworthy. And he's like, that's right. You know. And then he said, what does the Bible say that we're supposed to do to one another? And said, love. And he said, that's right. He said, God's not asking you to trust Ron. He's asking you to love Ron. And what was interesting about that is
it was very freeing. Just hearing that, it made sense and it took this huge pressure off me, because the choice to forgive was like a moment in time, like I could choose to forgive. But the process of forgiving is the part that takes a little longer. And so then that kicked in following all that. But the only way to do that was I had to trust God.
I had to trust God with Ron. Like I had to fully release Ron and his offense like what he had done to God, and trust God with that, and trust that God was going to take care of me. Whatever happened, whether the marriage worked out or not. And so I left that day knowing, hey, trust God. Love, Ron. Trust God. And then I had to try to figure out what does that mean practically?
This is so beautiful. I'll tell you what's powerful about this conversation we're having, guys, is that we haven't even gotten into the book. But here's what I want to spike. Boom crew. Here's here's what I want to spike. The beauty of this is, if people have gone through this dark night of the soul crisis, we're up against it. And out of our brokenness. We found God. Those are the people you need to listen to. We're not professionals. We're all in recovery. No one's arrived.
That's right.
We're all there. So I want you, Ron. Give us the book and what's behind it.
So, you know, this is the thing. And the reason, you know, we wrote the book was because our story, you know, was such and where we needed to be restored. And so we believe that all marriages need to be enriched and some marriages need to be restored. And so really what happened was we started taking small steps, baby steps of faith where we would just actually, literally do what the Bible says in regards to. Treating each other in a way that was honoring to put God at
the center of your marriage. And so that's what the book is. The book is seven choices that keep couples together. And so whether you are looking for enrichment, you're looking for restoration. These are the steps that you need to take. And so I wish it was some profound thing. It was like, no, they're just biblical steps. Like choosing to grow spiritually and choosing to love unconditionally and serve sacrificially. I mean, you know, the list goes on and on.
Communicate respectfully. I mean, these are biblical choices that oftentimes we don't take seriously. And, you know, maybe somebody's listening and they're like, man, I you know, I don't have that much of a problem. Well, that's good, but a lot of us do. But all of us trust is broken in marriage and we need to rebuild trust. Yes, yes. And it takes you know, we teach this equation. It's cb over t CB is for change behavior over time.
And so you got to have change behavior. And that only happens through repentance and a relationship with God that you can truly change. And then time it takes time. You know in our situation with our story, fortunately this hadn't gone on for a long time, so it didn't take as long for us to come back together. And I think that's where couples are having trouble, is that they need to own each part of the breakdown and that change behavior over time. Trust in the Lord. I mean,
he can reconcile anything. I know you believe that. I know we've experienced stories of people who have seen it. And so, um, you know, really it's just the choices that you choose in the daily life of, are you going to honor God and are you going to honor each other? And those are the things that are the most important.
The name of the book is The Marriage Knot. So here's our key word, and I know we're going to get crushed with text messages, so get your phone handy. Here's what I want you to do. Text the word not with a k k o t as in the marriage. Not text not k n o t to 800 555 7898. Text not to 805 55 7898. And God's going to meet you here. I don't care how far you've gone. God's arm is not too short. And if you can fog a mirror, God can change your life and your marriage.
Text not k n o t to 805 55 7898. Thanks, you guys, for being with us today.
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.
Well, sometimes when you get a link, you got to got to look down in additional details.
So specific sometimes is really specific. Okay. Sure.
Oh because there's some additional details that we want you to know about.
Did that really well.
Top top level stuff first though. Ali wasn't the world's going on here.
Carl has a book signing. It's coming up March 1st, 9 to 12. It's a Saturday morning. You are invited. If you want to get out to Villa Park, just text the word book to get the details. Text book to 855 five 7898. Text book to 800 555 7898.
And then when you get the link, you'll have the details, and then you just look a little deeper for additional details.
Carl, it's really important you got to do it. Strange.
I know, but that's what makes me roll. I know I'm bizarre, but you are too. early anyway. Good to have you here this morning, guys. Today we're talking about marriage and freedom and the even the prospect of Valentine's Day for some can get a little discouraging, right, Ali?
I mean, it's so much pressure.
Like, it just feels like pressure. I remember one a couple years ago, I was at menards of all places on Valentine's Day, and I saw they had these bouquets of really sad looking roses that were for.
Sale at menards.
And it was like towards the end of the day, if I'm remembering this correctly, and I thought, huh, if this is somebody's.
Like, oh, well.
I'm at Menards and I haven't done anything for the person that I love.
So let me grab these.
Flowers that are right by the checkout counter. I thought, oh man, I feel like this, this holiday. It just carries too much pressure and expectation and it almost always feels like a letdown.
Yeah. So it's it's true, man. It can be for some. By the way, we celebrated Valentine's Day last night. We had a great time. Uh, we get out and we do. The day before. We just had a super time together. Uh, it was really funny. We do crazy stuff. We did a we did a a $20, uh, spontaneous. You got 30 minutes to go find in a mall, a $20 gift for each other, and we just go. Go.
Oh. That's fun.
It's super fun.
It's just you and your bride. Are you doing this with your. Okay?
Just. Just me and my bride. And then we meet back up in the center of the mall, and and, uh, I always I break the rules. Oh.
Big surprise. Right?
I don't limit it to 20. But we were talking, and she shared a funny story. I'd totally forgotten. We were talking yesterday about chick fil A, and we love chick fil A. Um, I don't eat it a lot, but when I do have it, it's like, oh my goodness, man. It's so good. But I'd totally forgotten about this. And she shared with me. My bride is so funny. We're down at a Family Life speakers retreat in Saint Pete Beach, and we would have different. These are all the speakers
for weekends to remember. We spoke with them for 11 years or something like that. And we would have different people come in like Howard Hendricks and you name it. Um, but one time there was going to be a guest speaker, and he was going to be honored and featured. And I didn't know this guy. Janine didn't either. And, you know, going and getting this big buffet and go sit down at these tables. And she plops down next to this guy named Truett Cathy. Founder of chick fil A.
Oh. That's right. Yeah. Yes.
And, uh, she's conversing with him. Sadly, we hadn't been to a chick fil A yet. And she's just John with him. She didn't know the scope of chick fil A or anything, and she just says, well, is it any good?
Hey, that's a fair question if you've not had it.
Did you mean it? He's your heart.
Of course it is. And he chuckled. But I thought, oh, great. I told her last night. I said, baby, how many people have looked at Truett Cathy and asked, is it any good? Is it any good?
Well.
What a gracious guy he was. He was super good about it. But yeah, we got a lot of chick fil A fans out there today, don't we? And you know, I was thinking about this yesterday as well. I just had a kind of a daydream. I wonder how many people that do have a lot of means or something like that. Because I always think about Valentine's Day. You got to pop for the big meal out. I wonder how many people go, let's go to waffle House. You know, let's just let's just let's go have some waffles, man.
Let's put strawberries all over them and let's just have some waffles.
Have some Fun. Yeah.
Sometimes we just gotta go. All right, we're gonna go have some fun here. And, uh, we had a ball. I hope you have a great day. And yet, the reality is, some of you listening feel like, ah, what are we going to do here? Uh, maybe your heart's hurting. Or maybe you don't feel like you have love to give. I was super compelled by. Doctor Thrasher and what he put in an email form to us. It was encouraging, wasn't it, Ali?
It was because I think on a day like today especially, there's a lot of things that can creep up in your mind. I'm alone today. Nobody loves me. Nobody's remembered me. Why don't I get to feel what I see in the movies or I see on the hallmark card? That doesn't describe my. Maybe you're single and don't want to be. Maybe you're married, but don't feel like the love is there.
Don't want to be. Yeah, you can be that real coming up here in a couple of minutes. Doctor Bill Thrasher is going to be with us. I love this guy's heart, and I love the fact that he takes us always back to the word of God. Where is that love coming from? We get that squared away first.
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.
I walked through Jewel-osco local grocery store. The amount of Valentine's balloons. I don't know what's going on, but there seems to be something afoot. There are. It looked like thousands. It was probably many hundreds. But this, this day captures people. The amount of revenue that flows through registers and databases is staggering. What do you think about Valentine's Day?
You know, I've never loved Valentine's Day, to be honest. the the pressure, the expectation that this is the day that I'm going to feel loved feels like one of those, oh man, I can't quite live up to what you'd want it to be.
Yeah. And and it's and it's hard too, because there's a lot of and we haven't lingered on this, but there's a lot of people that feel like, yeah, shoot, it didn't maybe meet my expectations. And for some of you, it will. It's going to be like, oh, this guy's surprised me with this. And by the way, powerful words were spoken over me. And that's beautiful. But when you hear those powerful words, they're most often linked to a deeper narrative. And that's God's love for us. And here's
what's beautiful. If we anchor ourselves there, Ali, we're changed.
Let's bring in doctor Bill Thrasher. This is on your heart as well as we are celebrating Valentine's Day. You say love is a great thing to celebrate, but as long as it's, it has to be rooted in something deeper than just, you know, the pink and red and white carnations and balloons and a hallmark greeting card. Right.
You got that? You know, Scripture says that God is the source of all love. Love is from God. First John four seven. God is love. His very nature. Never be afraid of overemphasizing love as long as you rightly understand it. All the other attributes help explain. It is a holy love. Uh, it is an eternal love. A faithful love, an infinite love. He can love us as if we were the only person in the world and
not get his attention off anybody else. So, you know, the Scripture says that love is the most important thing. Those that beautiful first Corinthians 13, if you meditate on it, it's pretty powerful. I actually do look at a phrase of that every day just to start my day. But he says, you know when you see it, okay. Love is the most important thing. Everything. It's worthless. Everything apart from that. But we love because he first loved us.
If that's true. If love is the most important thing and we love because he first loved us, I guess the most important thing I could trust God for is, Lord, would you overwhelm me with your love for me so so that I could better respond in loving you and loving others? I would like all of our precious ones that listen faithfully to this program. I pray that they would be overwhelmed with love to say, God, would you?
I know this is your will. If love is the most important thing, God, would you overwhelm me with your love? And I'll talk about that in my own life. I think that's the most important thing to trust God for.
How do we know we are overwhelmed with God's love? Because love, sometimes we have expressions of love that can be candidly, sometimes self-serving. They can be right, uh, kind of glossing over the bigger needs. How do we know we've been irrigated by God's love? How do we know it?
Really? When you sense that he loves you in the way no one else ever can or ever will. His love is superior. There are wonderful expressions of love, but I get my students to to meditate on this verse. It says, can a woman forget her nursing child and have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, but I will not forget you.
Oh that's powerful.
God loved his son. His son was his beloved. He allowed his son to be crushed because he had an eternal purpose that was beyond that. So we also have to be attentive. I remember one time I was just so encouraged and and just really thanking God and felt his love for me. And it was God saying, you know what? I love you this way all the time. My love is unchanging. But we do tend to look at it very circumstantially. And when you're not feeling well, when you are sick, when you're in pain, it's hard
to grasp it. Now, God's love is there every time I go to Scripture and scripture, and it would encourage me to love in a certain way. I'd back up and say, okay, God, how is it that you love me this way? You know, Proverbs 17 says, A friend loves it all the time. Lord, I know you want me to be that kind of friend, but most of all, I thank you that you're that kind of friend to me.
Doctor Bill Thrasher, professor of Bible and theology here at Moody Bible Institute. We've got something we want to point you to. Doctor Thrasher has written a book, Putting God Back Into the Holidays, where he talks about Valentine's Day, among other holidays. What are some of those lies that you've believed about love? About yourself? Maybe that you're not special or loved by anyone, that you're alone, particularly on
this Valentine's Day. I want you to go on Facebook or Instagram, Carl and crew, and I want you to check out this resource we've put together for you to help you correct those lies of the enemy with Scripture, with God's Word. Just check it out on Facebook and Instagram. Search Carl and crew.
Your shot of hope to help you through the day. This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
There is some help, some hope, and some freedom. And it's through the love of Jesus Christ today. And some of you feel like you need some love. And some of you need love. That leads to the ultimate freedom found in Jesus Christ. God loved the world so much that he sent His Son to this earth, that if you believe in him, you will not perish, but you will have everlasting life, and that can begin today. I know that the Spirit of God is working in someone's
heart today. And is this yours? It could be the absence of earthly love that makes you long for something, and you have that in Christ Jesus. I want you to know today, on this Freedom Friday, how to take hold of that love. If you believe in him, that means the total surrender of your life to Jesus Christ. And you may have believed in him intellectually before, but today is a time for spiritual regeneration. His life and yours.
So I want to ask you a couple of simple questions. One, do you believe that Jesus came to this earth, sent by the father to die for your sins? That would be prompted by the Spirit of God that indwells you right now. But I want to ask you, do you believe that today and today, are you ready to take a step of faith to believe by total surrender, surrendering to this God who loved you so much that he sent Jesus? Do you want that love? Will you surrender
your life in total to him today? Will you believe that he died for you? Will you turn and follow Jesus and give him your life in total? Just saying. My life is yours today. God, thank you for sending Jesus. I needed forgiveness, I needed that kind of love. And if that is you today, I want to encourage you very simply, very practically, we have a resource that we're going to send your way today. I just want you to text the word new. If today you are broken, humbled,
and aware of your need for Jesus Christ. Just text the word new. You might have heard the gospel here many times this good news of Jesus, but today you're surrendering your life to him for the very first time. Today is your day of salvation. Just text the word new to our number here 800 555 7898. What a day to be born again. Valentine's day 805, 55, 7898. Just text the word new and the hug and the
love of God. It transcends all understanding. Man. Just text the word new and we're going to help you in your first steps with Jesus. 800 555 7898 welcome to the family. Welcome to the arms of God's love.