Coming to you live from the Morning Star Mission sponsored studio. This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio. It's Carl and crew helping.
You take your next step with Jesus. And I'm running home to eternity. And I ran back home to see you. Boom crew. Because I love you. That week away, though. Ooh, nelly.
Back from vacation.
Do I feel good? No joking. That was the most refreshing week I've had in a long, long time. Getting getting a week away, spending time with the Lord. It's a beautiful thing. Talking identity this week. Why is identity so important?
Well, who you are or who you believe yourself to be is going to make a huge impact in how you live. I mean, you think about people who live from an identity of something, things that have been told to them. Maybe you were told you're never going to make it so you do or you're never going to amount to anything. So you do 1 or 2 things. You start to live into that identity because you believe that, man, I'm never. My life's never going to amount to anything
because that's what I was told. Or you try to outrun that. You live to prove people wrong. I'm not going to be my father. I'm not going to be what my teacher said. I I'm going to prove all of them wrong. And that can be a an okay motivation, I guess, if it motivates you to try to be better. But it ends up being very hollow because instead of living into something, you're running away from something.
How what do you guys think? How many people who are in Christ Jesus think about their identity often?
Few.
Few. I would probably say, Max.
If you put a.
15 to 20%.
Really?
Yeah.
That's why every time we mention this topic, we hit paydirt here because it's a big deal. Yeah. The interesting thing about your identity is that one of the ways that we can get lulled to sleep is that we almost get a ticket punched mindset that says, okay, well, I've been born again and now I'm just going to go live my life. And I don't think anyone who's no one who's been truly born again just Calculatedly says, is that true? Let me check that. Do people say
who have been truly born again? I'm just going to go out now, live like I'd like? I don't believe so.
I don't think no, I don't think anyone says that. I think it's the subconscious sort of acting into that where you haven't decided that you're just going to go now and live your life any kind of way, but you also haven't decided, like in a different direction. So that's kind of the default.
Yeah. And then you can get into this weird mindset to that, because then when you head that way, when you aren't really locked into who you are in Christ, You can begin to get compromises in your life. And then you lean back on that great salvation and you go, well, good thing I'm saved.
Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. I also think, you know, sometimes we we talk about the enemy giving us identity that leads to like a negative view of self. And I think sometimes the enemy gives us something where it's like, no, remember, you got Grace. You can go and just do this stuff and it's fine. And and you don't think much of, you know, hey, I'm consciously not going to go follow Jesus. But you say, hey, you know what? It doesn't really matter.
I'm saved either way. And that can be a really dangerous spot just the same.
So the question is, now what? Now that we're born again, truly in Christ. Now what? Hang on. Special guests, coming up.
Your shot of hope to help you through the day. This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
Carl and crew helping you take your next step with Jesus. So now what? You've been born again. And the danger without knowing some of the most simple things about what we do now is that we can find ourselves living as the author of a great little blog says, living on the wild side. Wild doesn't always mean crazy, does it, Ali?
No, I mean wild could mean just sort of like a self-led life.
Yes. That boom, boom, boom boom. That's the issue. Because wild can manifest itself in a lot of ways. It can manifest itself in male passivity. A man living on the wild side, not knowing the grace of God. That is not permission to live as you like, but the privilege to live as you never could before. You can miss what it is to love your wife as Christ loved the church like a broadside of a barn. You've lived long enough to see this, haven't you? Doctor Michael Melnick.
Yeah, I've been around.
Death doesn't mean money. It can mean clear, can't it? Michael.
That's actually my my real hope in writing that blog and the stuff I have written about walking with the Lord. Try and make it as simple and clear as possible in terms of what we are expected to live like. And I think it's simple and clear about the perseverance of the Savior. You know, a lot of people believe in the perseverance.
Of the saints.
Of the saints. It relied on me. I'd be in trouble. But the perseverance of the Savior is much stronger.
Hold it. Hold me! Stop the buses, everybody. I want us to linger on that one. Perseverance of the saints is the P of tulip. If you're a Calvinist or understand what tulip is, we won't get into that. But if. Perseverance of the Savior. Michael, I'm going to steal that from you. That is beautiful. I want you to expound on that for a second before we jump into this blog.
Sure. In John ten it says that the Lord Jesus has us in one hand, the father has us in the other, and nothing's going to take us out of his hand. And he said in John 637 through 40, I've come not to do my will, but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me. Of all that he has given me, I lose not one of them. And so the security that we have as believers isn't because I'm resting in me.
Yes.
It's him. He is the one that holds me. And I think that sometimes people say, well, that means you can just live any way you like. And that's why I wrote that blog. Now what do I do? I had been writing for several weeks in that blog about the perseverance of the Savior, and how secure we are and how safe we are. And then I think a lot of people criticize this view because it says that, you know, you can okay, just go live any way you like. Live on the wild side, as we just said, right? Yeah,
but that's not the case. Now, what do I do now? What should I do now that I am secure in the Savior? Now that I have this new identity, that I belong to him? He's never going to let me go. He's never going to let you go. Which, by the way, Carl, I would if I were him, but no, he even promised you. Yeah, he's got you, right? He definitely let go of me. You know, if there was someone that didn't deserve it, he'd let go of me. But he's got me. So what do I do? That's where I.
I thought, well, I'm going to give us a little motivation. What? What's expected of us now that we're secure, now that we're safe now that he'll never let us go. Nothing will separate us from his love. Okay. So what? Well, the very first thing that I believe we ought to remember is that since we have this great high priest, it says in Hebrews 414, let us hold fast to what we believe. Uh, some versions say, let us hold fast to our confession of faith. We have to hold
fast to what we believe. There's going to be all sorts of ups and downs, doubts and difficulties. And when we face them, what we face them with. With a confidence that I'm holding on, even if I have questions, if whatever's going on, I still hold fast to what I believe. Now I have a friend. She had all these doubts and she abandoned her walk with the Lord. And she kind of gave up her faith. And just recently she said, you know, I've come back to my faith.
And I said, why? She said, well, I don't have all the answers, but I know I need him. And then I thought she thought that she was talking to someone that had all the answers. I'm like, welcome to my world. I don't have all the answers, but I need him. And that's that's what we know about the disciples. Remember, everyone else left the Lord. All these people who had superficial nothing faith. They all left. John six. Where's the bread? We wanted bread. You're talking to us about the bread
of life, right? And the Lord says to his followers, those guys that were with him all the time, where are you going to go? Are you going to leave, too? And they said, to whom shall we go? You alone have the words of eternal life. Hold fast to what we believe.
We're talking about what the now. What now that I am secure in Christ, my eternal future is secure. How now shall we live? That first one. Hold fast. Coming up, let's move on to part two, three and four of how we shall live.
This is Colonel and crew on Moody Radio.
Doctor Michael Riedel, our guest right now. Now that I'm in secure in Christ, what do I do? The temptation, Doctor Reidel was explaining, is to maybe kick back on. My eternal future is secure. I've got my ticket punched to heaven, so now I can live however I want to live. Doctor Reidel, nothing could be further from the truth. You just outlined. Are the call to hold firm to our faith. What's the next call?
We have to live holy lives. It's the most natural expression of who we are is to live a holy life. We have been declared holy by God. He declares us righteous, and now we have to live like we are. It says in Romans six, what shall we say? Should we continue in sin so that we might get more grace or that grace may multiply? Then he says, how can we who die to sin still live in it? That's what the answer is. We have a new identity. We have to live according to that. New identity is who
we really are. I think that's something that we forget if we have that new identity, when we try to live outside of it, it's going to torture us.
Yeah. What shall we say, then? Phrase I don't know the second time the verse exactly, but I was reading through Romans six here recently. It's in verse one, and then it's halfway through that chapter. It's like he uses that as, as a, a tool to get people kind of jarred going, hey, what do you say then, if this grace is this powerful, how in the world do we live? Uh, third response to our security in the Messiah is that we now need to focus on doing
good works for him. Now, this can get squiggly because even Martin Luther had a bit of a challenge with this. He looked at the book of James and said, it's not look, this is not a works based thing, but works are the fruit of faith. Explain how we do that.
Root of our salvation is faith. By grace are ye saved through faith, not of works. So that's the root, but the fruit of it. What will come out is that we have been created in the Messiah, Jesus for good works. He's created them for us, and we're to walk in them. Uh, he's made the good, good works. And so it's not like we're saying, oh, boy, now, now I'm going to earn my salvation. No, no, no, now we're going to live out our salvation, and it will affect how we live. And it will make us
focus on doing what is good to honor him. That's why we're doing it, not because we want to draw attention to ourselves. Matthew six. People will see the good works we do and give glory to our father in heaven. It's to point to him. That's the point of doing good works. It's not for ourselves. And then after you do good works, of course, one of the great passages or principles of the New Testament is that we look forward to that great reward. You know, some people think
that's mercenary. And I know the parable that the Lord Jesus taught. We're only unworthy servants. Only doing that which is required. But over and over the Bible teaches that we're going to be rewarded. And I think the most important reward that we're going to get is when we stand before him and he says, well done, well done, good and faithful servant. Matthew 25 and you know, the
Bible says that we're going to get crowns. You know, I don't know if that's literal or what, but we're going to take those crowns, toss them at his feet because he earned it, not us. But the most important thing I can tell you is hearing those words. Well done. Uh, you know, I have, uh, I have a Sheltie and a boxer.
I didn't know that. I didn't know you had a sheltie.
Shelton, a boxer.
I've got a Sheltie.
And a boxer. And I'm telling you, when you just say you're a good boy, I'm telling you, it brings the light to their lives. They're so grateful that they're recognized for being obedient dogs. And they are good and obedient dogs. And I think if that's how my dog is, how much more will I feel it when the Lord Jesus himself looks at me and says, well done, well done. And so I look for that. I long for that.
Doctor Michael Melnick joining us right now. Now, in light of these four truths that you just outlined, do you think that this is something that once as a, as a believer, you take hold of this, you get it? Or is this something that you have to kind of keep reminding yourself of from time to time? Can you slip back into sort of a passive sort of approach to faith that says, yeah, I'm glad I'm going to heaven? Let me kick back.
Well, I think what it is.
One of my big principles of life, is to be in the word every day. I know, Carl, you and Ali. You both teach that, right?
Yeah.
And I try to live it myself. And here's what happens when you're in the word every day. Each of these principles will come up from time to time.
Uh.
You know.
Someone once said that we should be talking to ourselves more than listening to ourselves. And when I read the word, I talk to myself about these things. I constantly remind myself. I keep forgetting I am shallow, I am easy to forget. And so I stay in the word. And just periodically, each of these principles, they come up, they remind me. And that's why I think we need to be in the word every day. Uh, it's it's the because we're very forgetful.
Michael, I got to tell you, I just came back from a week break, and I really decided. I told my bride, I said, I'm going to lean into the Lord almost more than vacation. And it made for. I'm getting choked up right now.
Goodness sakes.
It made for the greatest week of vacation I've ever had in my life. And I kid you not, Michael, I was up early. I spent long periods of time in the word and it was so stinking rich. It just was. The overflow of it just made everything, including snorkeling go better. I know that sounds crazy, but it made everything go better. Michael, you know I'm going to throw in a bonus here for everyone that's listening. It was a year and a half ago. I called Michael
and I said, hey, why haven't you told me? What my new discovery. Hagar, this great word about meditation that actually means speak, mutter, moan, shout, sing. And you said, I've been saying this forever, Carl. And I said, well, you haven't been saying it loudly enough. Explain that quickly. Why that's so important that the Word of God needs to get off of our lips. And that was. That's what they're doing at the Wailing Wall without the Spirit of God. But that's what they're doing, Michael.
Well, yeah, there's.
This kind of talking. Talking to ourselves? Yes, with the word of God. I think when we speak it, it has greater impact on our lives than just reading it silently. I think reading it silently is critical. We have to do that. But then we mutter it, we speak it, we meditate on it. That word, by the way, was used. This is an interesting thing. Other usages of it. It's of a cow chewing. It's cut. And so what do we do? We bring it up, we chew on this word, we mutter about it, we talk about it, then we
swallow it. And it starts to impact our lives, to affect our lives, to change how we live. And I think that's why the principle of meditation is so critical. And, you know, I'm not really good at that, but I'm married to a wonderful meditator. She's always telling me what she's reading and talking about it with me, and we meditate on it and it motivates me to talk with her,
even though we meditate on our own. It's that reminder to tell each other and talk with each other about what's going through our head as we read the word. That kind of forces us both into a meditation on the word, to speak it, not just to read it.
Yeah, I love it. Yeah. Michael, I was blown away when I first saw in my favorite Psalm one one through three that your leaf will not wither and all you do, you will prosper. And then you pop over to Joshua one, I believe, verse eight, meditate on the law day and night, and you will have success and prosperity wherever you go. What an amazing promise. We could go on Hagar forever, but what a great what a great word. Michael. I love you, buddy. Thank you for
being in here. Deep water, but not muddy alley. Not at all. But not muddy.
We've got this resource for you. We've been pulling from this blog, this great blog by Doctor Michael Riedel. If you want to check it out, text secure to (800) 555-7898. Just write out that one word. Autocorrect I think will help you secure to 800 555 7898.
Always good to get Doctor Michael right in here. Great little blog. Great little blog. Text. The word secured 800 555 7898.
Tune in whenever you like. Check out the Carl and Crew podcast wherever you like to stream.
Well, getting back from a week of vacation was one of the most refreshing times, and I feel like it's going to have a long tail. I'm going to be in the saddle here for a while, until I head off to Burundi, here for a few day trip, and doing some discipling of about 400 pastors down there, and it's going to be a sweet time. But I learned a lot this week away. You know, I always ask the Lord to give me opportunities to share my faith.
And I love talking with people. And I learned something again on this trip that I just wanted to share with you. Boom crew. I had an opportunity to be around a lot of people in a enclosed area. Some of you might be guessing what this is For a long period of time, and it was a sweet it was a sweet experience because I got to meet people from all over the world, every kind of walk of life you can imagine. And it gave it just it's like God kept teeing up opportunities for me to share
what Jesus Christ has done in my life. And I, I share this with you because I think a lot of us are missing out on one of the greatest blessings there are. And this is not pressure at all. It's an invitation to step into sharing your story of what Jesus has done and what he's doing in your life.
In fact, I while I was away, I did a bit of a deep dive and one of the things I came away with is I want us to be talking more and more around here about not only what Jesus saved us from, but what he saved us into, and this experience that we now have in our relationship with Jesus Christ. How it's quantified. What does it look like? How is that working in my life? But I want to give you three responses that I found to witnessing.
And it's pretty sweet. I found that some people were for sure a couple, not too many, uh, just kind of turned off. Three turns here. A couple of them were like, nah, didn't feel like there was a receptive audience. That's going to happen, right?
Oh, yeah. And I'm curious when you say there were opportunities teed up, what did that what do you mean by that?
Oh, when you start talking about anything about life and I love to ask people, where are you from? Tell me your story. And then invariably that turns around where they're asking you about your story. Okay. And I'm not, I'm not I'm not playing a game to try to get in there. I genuinely love hearing people. Right? Yeah, I love I love people. I mean, I love hearing stories.
I think that genuine curiosity about other people gives you the credibility to then be able to share your own story when the questions asked. So it doesn't feel like, oh, this dude was just trying to get me to ask him so he could tell me stuff. Yeah, no, I love the curiosity part.
And invariably I'm sitting around a table and we had an occasion to sit down with four people that I didn't know any of them, and my bride knows my story well enough. She actually told part of it. So we sit down and the waiter comes up and he says, what would you like to drink tonight? And I said, I'm going to have water, give me some lemon wedges. And he said, okay. And and I forget what came up. But my bride was able to say, well, my husband here,
and she didn't have anything to drink either. But she spoke up for my story, and she said he drank his entire quota in about a five year period of time. And boy, that got some discussion going.
Sure.
So she said he was knocking them back left and right in his youth. And the question came up. Well. Well, what? What happened? Well, good grief, I was able to pour out my heart. You know what's interesting? So on some of those encounters, some people were turned away. But in this one, there were four people there that had varying degrees. And I would say two of them I think were
probably born again. Uh, but the conversation around that table up to that point in time hadn't been anything close to this, but I saw what happened as I shared my story. All of a sudden, stories began to start percolating about their relationship with God and what they wanted for their life and what God had done in them. And so some will be turned off, some will be turned around even in discussion. And then the third thing
that I observed was some people were turned up. They were already on fire for the Lord, but boy, they were turned up. And I benefited from a couple of conversations that were so incredibly rich where people are in Christ Jesus going for it with the Lord. And it was awesome. It was just awesome to witness. And then I had an opportunity to touch back with these people, base again on a couple of them. One man in particular, I could tell he was going through a difficult, difficult time.
And as God would have it, God had me run into him no less than 3 or 4 more times, which was a God thing. In fact, my bride told me after I told her that I'd run into him again, she said, you know, I was praying that you would. And I said, babe, it was so beautiful because by the time we got done talking, just standing, just passing, um, he had tears in his eyes. Wow. And he was so encouraged in his faith. And I think sometimes when we head into witnessing, we're thinking about, oh, I've got
to turn someone on to Jesus. Well, it could be that the response is that people are turned off, and that's okay. That's okay. It's not the time for them, but for some they're turned around. Maybe they've been far from the Lord for a while. And your story and you just conversing about the goodness of God can help turn them around. And for others, they're on fire for the Lord. And maybe they're from another place, another world,
another background, so different than yours. But the power of God is clearly at work in their life, and then you get mutually encouraged with that person as you discuss the goodness of God. It's a beautiful thing. Also find that when you even go away into a corner of an area and a bunch of people come into a dining setting and you got your Bible open, it will attract some discussion.
Yes. Sure. Yeah. It really does. An open Bible nowadays really attracts attention and not. And when you're not trying to. But people notice there's something about this book. They know what it is, and they see someone reading about it and it attracts attention.
It really does. And then when that attention leads to discussion, it can lead to some incredible stuff. It was awesome. I know that there was one couple looking in as I was praying with a with a gentleman who ultimately plopped down across from me, and we were just talking a little bit. And then I prayed with him and I looked up after we were done praying and he walked away. And this couple was so confused by me. I mean, they were so confused. They're like, what in
the world? But I always pray that that intrigue will learn to will turn to personal discovery and questions that they ask themselves. But the world is not nearly as adversarial to the gospel as I think we believe they are at times. And I think there's a lot more fruit out there than we might imagine. So I leave that with you today to say. look at what God can do through your story today. And when God opens the door, puts t ball up there for you. Take it,
take it. Somebody asks you tell me about yourself. Make sure to weave in the grace of God and His goodness in your life. It's amazing what a story can do. Absolutely amazing. Coming up here, we're talking identity all week long. Who are you in Christ. And boy, knowing who you are is critical.
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.
You know, knowing who you are, not who you were, not where you were born, but who you are really can keep you out of a world of hurt and keep you safely at home. A crazy thing happened many years ago now. You guys know how much I love my grandpa, Axl Johnson. Boy, talk about a big old Swede. He's. He's the guy. He's the man who left home at 16, said goodbye to his dad knowing that he'd never see him again. Most probably. And they shed some tears, gave
each other hugs. My my grandpa Axl Johnson got on the boat from Stockholm, headed for America for the great new dream, right? And he he's quite a guy, man. He was in Chicago for a lot of years, and then he went out to Southern California, started Atlantic Richfield Company gas stations, got a about four of them going in Los Angeles area. Years go by. Grandpa's getting older, moved to Kingsburg. I started doing shuffleboard when I'd visit
down there with my grandpa. Shuffleboard is like required activities for older people. Apparently.
You got to get you got to get into that no matter what.
Yeah. You got to have cornmeal down. So he had a beautiful you got to have cornmeal down. You got those little discs and shoot those down there. I had a hard time beating grandpa, man. He was good. He was good. He was so good at that. But he was just a great dude. Just a giant of a man. I mean, he he was he just had a great sense of humor. He had a couple of neighbors over. We sat in the backyard, had some tea. It was
hot out, and we were in Kingsburg. And and he says with that great Swedish accent, let me introduce you to. And he says that the two big wheels that live next to me here, he says I'm the axle between two big wheels, Carl. And he was just he was just great that way. He had a great sense of humor and just a just a man's man. Just a great dude. Well, the last time my grandpa ever drove a car was because Is it couldn't happen again. We're in Alaska and we get notified that grandpa has gone
missing with his car. And where was he? Well, he was supposed to be in Kingsburg, but he's not going back home. Headed out in the morning, and grandma called my mom and said, your dad's gone, and I don't know where he is. She said, what do you mean you don't know where he is? Yeah, I don't know where he is. She said, well, you need to go down to his watering holes in downtown. She says, I've been down to all the watering holes, all the little places where he'd go to get a cup of coffee
in the morning. And hardware store to hang out and talk with the fellas and things like that. He is nowhere to be found, and no one's seen him coming up here in a moment. It's important to know who you are. I'll prove it to you with grandpa Axl.
Romans eight brought her to Jesus while broadcasting traffic overnight. Super die is in the crew. It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
Grandpa Axl Johnson, quite a guy. Retirement years in Kingsburg, California. But he spent a lot of his years in Los Angeles. And so when they retired to Kingsburg, I mean, it's a totally different life for grandpa. He would commute a little bit back into LA, where he had spent some of his last years, but he was pretty anchored in Kingsburg, and one morning he gets up and heads out to go do his morning routine, and my grandma calls Alaska as if we're going to be able to help pin
him down. Right, Ali? I mean, but your grandpa's gone missing.
That's never what you want to hear.
Grandma Fern calls my mom, and Fern says your dad is gone. And mom says, well, find the places where he goes and see if we can track him down. She says, I've been all over town. I can't find him. Well, now things get dicey because they can't find them. It's getting early afternoon, then late afternoon into the evening, and grandpa's not home. Guys, it's kind of scary. The next day. They got word from the Los Angeles Police Department that my grandpa had been found. My grandpa Axel had headed
out and he was starting to slip. And he had a big slip that morning before. And when he headed out, somewhere in his mind, he needed to jump on the I-5 head all the way up over the grapevine, down into the LA basin. And he didn't know where he was going. Ali. And he wound up, landed in some neighborhood And thank the Lord. A sweet woman saw Grandpa Axel walking up and down the streets in a neighborhood
and started asking him questions. Now what's funny is he knew everything about his childhood in Stockholm.
Oh, wow.
And he knew everything about coming to America. But he did not know who he was now.
Mhm.
And so they had to do some sleuthing around. And they found his car that was parked in the neighborhood. And they start looking at registration and they find out this is Axel Johnson who now lives in Kingsburg, California. And he's a long ways away from home. And the phone rings. My grandma Fern picks it up and says, we've got your husband here at a police department in Los Angeles. Could you come get him? She said, I'll
be right there in about four hours. You know, guys, I they share with you that story because some of us are putting ourselves in a really perilous situation. Knowing who we are in Christ today can keep us close to home. And that's what God wants for us. And I don't know where it is that you got off track understanding who your identity in Christ is, but I
want you to be secure today. I want you to know who you are in Jesus Christ so that you know who you are now, not what you were, not where you've been, not where you were born, but who you truly are in Jesus Christ. It's a game changer. And I think a lot of us almost go through life wondering. Or stating if someone were to ask us. We can talk about the jobs that we've had, where we've been, where we were born. But there is nothing more important than who we are today in our relationship
with Jesus. It's that vital.
Yeah.
That identity of who you are in Jesus Christ is the thing that can keep you closest to home than any other thing. And it's that powerful.
I think it can be pretty dangerous to live in the identity of yesterday. You know, whether it's the glory days of the past that keep you from living in the reality of today, or whether it's looking at the the person that you were before Christ and kind of assuming, oh, I was this awful person, I was horrible, and you can't stop thinking about it. You don't live in the truth and reality of who you are in Christ. A freed person who who has been broken of the chains
and bondage of sin. I think that who we are today is so important, and we have to be aware of that reality. Otherwise, life doesn't get lived to its fullest.
We're in a new place. You're right on Young Thunder. We're in a new place.
A new place.
We're new people. And knowing who you are in Christ is absolutely vital. You know, we give out this blog here often, but the reason we wanted to do this week, I don't know if you guys remember when we were planning this a few weeks ago? We were we were absolutely blown away because we were freshly inundated with people who so benefited from understanding who they are in Christ. Do we need to be reminded, as Ali was talking earlier with Doctor Michael Riedel? Do we need to be
reminded all the time? Right.
Ali we do, and we have this resource for you. Maybe you haven't looked at it in a while. Take a fresh look or a first look. If this is new to you, just text the word truth to (800) 555-7898. Truth T.r.u.t.h. Just that word. Truth to (800) 555-7898. Grab this resource. Read it twice a day for the next 21 days, and see if you don't have a better understanding of who you are in Christ.
A basketball mom who's mastered the dad joke. Ali is in the crew. It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
We're going to do something really fun here. Our number here to text in is 800 555, 78, 98. This is what I want you to do. I want you to bring to mind right now something that you've seen God do in your life in the last few. Let's go from Saturday morning, from Saturday morning to right now, in this last weekend. What is something that you have seen God do? Now think about that a moment. Some of you haven't even thought, oh boy, that was God.
He had his fingerprints all over that thing. But bring it to mind. What is that thing? And I'm going to show you. We're going to prove to you in just a moment here how you can leverage this big time. All I want you to do is give a sentence statement. If this is what God has done in my life since Saturday morning. Pick one thing that you know is from the hand of God. I don't care how trivial it may seem to you, how small it may seem. We're not talking about you went out, walked on water.
We're talking about you met with God, and he showed up in something 855 five, 78, 98. We're going to prove to you how incredibly radiant what God has done in your life since Saturday morning till now, how relevant that is to the world around us. 800 555 7898 what's that one thing that you've seen? God, that you look back, you go, boy, that was God's hand. Clearly 800 555 7898 we asked for text and you guys decided, call boy, we got phone lines lighting up here. But
there's great responses here. Um, somebody said, God, in this last few days has shown me an area of pride in my life. How can that be used in witnessing just practically. Ali.
Oh, boy. I mean, you share that with someone. That's that's a conversation starter in and of itself. People are so slow to share weaknesses or areas where they realize they're blowing it. Boom.
That's exactly right. And but they're hungry for it, aren't they? When they see.
It, tell someone, man, God showed me. I've really been prideful lately. That's going to record scratch. Tell me more.
Love it. Uh, calls. Janet. How have you seen God move in the last few days?
Got me through a really intense move. Okay. That's been rough.
Well, that's that's beautiful. Janet. Now, I don't want you to lose that as an opportunity, because here's the deal. I go back to my dad. My dad saw God's hand of grace in everything. When he was changing brakes on a car. He saw the grace of God we got. I mean, every good and perfect gift comes down from the father of lights.
Yes, yes.
Every good and perfect gift. Chris in Wisconsin. What do you say, Chris?
Hey, uh, I've been praying a lot for my wife to come back to church, and she came back to church yesterday without, I mean, on Sunday without me even knowing it, that she was going to stay there. And that kind of lifted my spirit up.
Awesome. Yeah. And you know what? You got a story to tell. God moves hearts, Chris. That's what we're talking about. Ryan in Illinois. What do you say? Ryan?
Hey, Carl, I'm cheating a little bit. I'm going back to Thursday. But God brought a perfect stranger into my life as I was driving on the road and, uh, poked me and said, hey, you need to stop and talk to her. And I fought it because all the reasons. But I stopped and wound up having an hour long conversation with this lady. I prayed with her, and then by the time we were done talking, I prayed with her a second time. And the first time in my whole life I have ever led anybody to the Lord.
But it was unbelievable.
Oh, wow. See, dude.
Now don't let that stop there. That's a story to share. You just did it with thousands and thousands of people. Way to go, my man. What do you got, Ali?
Let's go to Willie from Chicago. Willie, what do you say?
Hey, I'm in my 70s. My wife is in her 60s, and she had to go to the doctor for a procedure. And we prayed together and the procedure came out zero.
Wow.
I was struggling with that all day Friday. All day Saturday. And we went yesterday for the procedure. All is well. All is well. You did it again.
Willie. Thank you for calling in, man. And see, here's the thing. We we don't want to sit on those things. Right, Ali?
Yeah. And the awesome thing is, you can share that story in many different ways. You can share the outcome, which is that God delivered my wife and everything's okay. But you can also share how the Lord helped you through that processing of a little bit of anxiety and the fear of having to sit and wait on those results. You can meet people in a couple of different ways with that story.
I love it, man. Uh, somebody said texts in here 7912. Uh, God showed me this morning that rising from the dead wasn't the only huge thing that he did to overcome the world. He also lived a sin free life. Who else has done that? Defeating the sin nature from day one. That's overcoming the world to, you know, it's little things like that that if you just let those percolate. And what's wild is if you're open to let the Spirit of God use you, you don't know how they're going
to manifest itself, but they do. That's the beautiful thing. How do you witness to the world let that percolating joy of the Lord overflow and begin to share with others around you how God is at work.
You're listening to Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
Let's go to Gary calling in this morning from Illinois last 48 hours. Give it to us, Gary.
Uh, Yesterday, I completed leading a four week study of C.S. Lewis's book, Mere Christianity at my church, and my pastor has told me that it was the best attended Sunday morning study they've ever had. And all I was was God's instrument. Ali. God worked through me, and we brought a whole lot of people into study of that wonderful book.
Awesome, Gary, thank you so much for sharing that with us. Let's go to Mike. Also calling in from Illinois. Mike, tell us last 48 hours. What have you seen God do?
Yeah, I've seen God really just reach out and just grab me by the shirt collar. Um, I've been struggling with sin and temptation in my life, and, um, I've just had this empty space. So I've been praying and calling out to God. And this weekend, um, he just happened to send missionaries to my neighborhood, and they they went to the wrong building, but it happened to be my building. And we crossed paths at just the right moment,
and they invited me to church. And the message that was given in church service was just so pinpoint for me in the moment that I was at and where I'm at right now, that I just. I know that God's hand is all over it.
Oh, this is great. Asking a question what have you seen God do in the last 48 hours that gets you? It builds a basis for a story that it. I'll show you how powerful popsicles can be. Okay, this is how powerful popsicles can be as a testimony to God's love and mercy. Got this text came in from 7002. I had a cool experience this weekend in the midst of frustration. My partner and I are homicide detectives. We
were canvassing for witnesses and doing some videoing. A group of teens walked up to my partner and I and offered us popsicles. It was that little gesture that honestly brought me so much hope and brought tears to my eyes. I felt like it was such a God moment. He knew I needed now.
Come on. Wow. Wow.
That's pretty incredible.
Come on.
God can use it all.
And now, listen to me. Homicide detective at 7002. I just shared your story. I want you to share that ten times today. Because that popsicle matters.
Yes.
All you got to do is walk in the room, and detectives can. And you tell them. Or who knows who you're running into. Can I tell you about how powerful a popsicle was in my life?
Someone's going to ask you today how your weekend was.
Yes. Okay. And there you go. Can I tell you about a popsicle? I got to tell you a story. Now, I'm a.
Homicide detective, and I was discouraged. And I'm out canvassing for witnesses on this homicide case. I'm working. By the way, how cool are the people that listen here to Carl and crew?
The coolest people, man, I love it.
My goodness. All of those little graces of God that we see can be leveraged to say. And this is how God is at work in my life today. Boom! I'm so fired up. My goodness, Ellie, what else do we got?
Yeah, let's go to Lacey. First time caller from Wisconsin. Lacey, how have you seen God at work in the last 48 hours?
Hi, everybody. Can you hear me?
Yes, we've got you. Go ahead.
Um, my daughter's just graduating from college down in Chicago at DePaul, where I went. And it's time for her to move into her very first apartment without roommates. And it has been a very frustrating, frustrating search to find someplace. They're all nice places, but they're just not her. And they're not the price she can afford. And so Saturday, she was in tears in the back of the car because another place had fallen through, and I prayed for
God to show us his will. And within an hour we were in contact with her now, landlord, uh, of what I think is going to be a great place for her.
Wow, that's so awesome. Okay. Exactly what we're talking about.
Lacey. God gave you one? It's teed up, sister. You got one. I mean, look at this. Look at these examples. One after another. Now they seem small, but they're huge in their real. People can relate to this stuff, right?
Absolutely. You're going to get an opportunity to share with someone today. You don't have to go all the way back to the very beginning of your testimony. Sometimes it's better to go back to the last 48 hours.
Yeah. All you got to do is look back. If the Apostle Paul can say this to Agrippa, God is working in you the same way God is helping me to this very day. Look, watch, see the grace of God and share it. I don't care if it's an apartment or a popsicle. Share that story with someone today, guys. It may open someone's eyes to receive Jesus. You just don't know. That's how powerful the grace of God really is. Share your story no matter what it is, and watch what God can do.