Coming to you from the Morning Star Mission sponsored studio. This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio coming out.
Hot on this beautiful. What day is it? Tuesday. What day is today? Okay.
July 1st.
It's July 1st, everybody.
Can't believe it.
Doesn't that mean, like summer just showed up? Or is that a few days ago? That was nine days ago. Sorry about that. I'm not doing well this morning on my markers in life. Sorry, but I know this for sure. It's gonna be hot in Chicago. How about where you are today? I don't know what it's going to be, but, boy, we've had a hot streak here in Chicagoland. It's Carl and crew helping you take your next step with Jesus this whole week long. And this is why I wanted
to do this. We're coming to a weekend that you know what weekend vacations can do.
What's that?
They can discourage you thoroughly. Why? They can be so.
No, I love them.
I love them, too. Two. I love them too. But have you ever come back from a vacation either exhausted, sideways with a family member, or feeling like you're behind in life altogether? Well, you know what I'm saying? It's like it's either like, I've gotta take a break from this break. Yeah. Uh, something came up with a family member, and now I got to sort that out, and I'm so behind. I don't know how to get caught up.
That's fair.
The third one's a big one for me.
Yeah, yeah. And then on a on a very slightly long weekend, you know, it's still too short of a break to get any of that stuff resolved. And now you're tired from the, the conflict of the weekend, and then you're back in it.
So I promise you, Thursday I'm going to tell you how to vacation. Not with a.
Purpose.
But I'm going to tell you how to vacation in a way I shouldn't be tongue in cheek in this, I shouldn't I should be more serious. I'm going to tell you really what the Lord taught me. On my last vacation. I had the best vacation, Haitian and I really mean this ever. And it all had to do with spiritual refreshment. And so on Thursday I'm going to try to break that down for you. Anyhow, it's going to be fun. I love it. Ellie got back in the wee hours of the morning. I told her, take
a rest, young lady, but she is so fired up. Guys, she was in a location we still cannot disclose, and, uh, hopefully she'll be able to, but either way, um, she had an incredible trip abroad. That's all I got. Just incredible. And she said truly life changing were the words she said.
That's awesome.
Awesome.
So we're going to hear back from Ali, God willing, tomorrow. Who knows? She might have had such a good time overseas or wherever she was that she just leaves and goes back.
Gets right back on that plane.
Never, never jumps in here again. I don't.
Know. I could see that.
You just never know. I mean, you just don't know. It's crazy. Christ followers these.
Days.
It's crazy. Crazy grace followers these days? Okay, coming up here in a moment. Here's what we are wanting to do this week. Give you bedrock, rock solid truths that can lead into this incredible weekend. And there's something about getting on the rock and then applying things so that we can truly build our life on the rock. That changes everything. So we're trying to give you some core truths that are going to help you today, this weekend,
and in this journey ahead. You know, I don't know what you are up against today, but this I know for sure. Giving God praise is incredibly powerful. So powerful that we wanted to get Sam Storms in here to talk about it. Hang on.
She was trying to earn her way to God, but God showed her she didn't have to. Ali is in the crew. It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
There is power in praise. And oftentimes we think, yeah, you're right. There is power in praise. And it's for the glorification of God. But what if it's not only for the glorification of God, which is everything, but for the good of we who stop to give him praise? With me right now, Doctor Sam Storms. Sam is the founder and president of Enjoying God Ministries and serves on the Council of the Gospel Coalition. Prolific author, great preacher and a heart as big as a bucket for the
things of God. Praise Sam. Talk to me about it. It's vital, isn't it?
It is. It is absolutely vital. Unfortunately, I think that some Christians, and obviously a lot of non-Christians struggle with it because we look at the Bible where God says, praise me. Tell me how great I am. And we think, my goodness, that sounds a rather egotistical, rather selfish God constantly telling us to praise him. And yet we read more in Scripture and we find this to be true and confirmed in our experience that when we praise God, he communicates his presence to us. He comes to us
in power. There are numerous examples of this in the Bible, both Old and New Testament. I was just reading the other day a very famous passage. I think most everybody listening to this knows the story of Jehoshaphat in Second Chronicles 20.
Great story.
He is faced. Yeah, he's faced with the ammonites, the Moabites, and, uh, doesn't really know what to do. And he puts the choir in front of the army and basically says, just say this. Give thanks to the Lord, for his steadfast love endures forever. And the next verse is stunning. It says, and when they began to sing and praise the Lord, he set an ambush against the men of Ammon, Moabite,
and others. So it wasn't until they praised that God's power was released in their midst to defeat their enemies. So it's remarkable. Yes, we are extolling God. We are exalting him. But when we do that, God goes to work on behalf of his people. He draws near to us. We experience his presence, intimacy with him. And there's also the release of his power into our lives to help us do what we otherwise couldn't do.
Sam, you're not wrong. I'm just going to cite a few here. Boom. Crew praise invites God's presence that's found in Psalm 22 three. Praise shifts our focus from ourselves to him. Psalm 34 one and two. It breaks chains and brings deliverance that's found in acts 16. It strengthens faith and defeats fear. That's in Psalm 28 seven and it goes on and on, confuses the enemy, cultivates joy
and peace. You know you hit something, Sam. I don't know that we have apprehension as much as we've not had good information about what praise can do.
I think you're exactly right. Praise is the consummation of our joy in Jesus. Uh, we talk about enjoying God. We talk. That's the name of my ministry. We talk about delighting in him, but that is never fully consummated until we give expression to it in worship. I tell people all the time, try to think of that which you enjoy most in life, and then try to keep it to yourself. It's it's painful. It's hard. We just instinctively want to give, vent to and voice to the
things that we value most and treasure most. And that especially applies in our relationship with God. He is the most valuable being in the universe, the greatest prize, the greatest treasure. And to know that and then not be able to give expression to it in worship, it's stunted. Our joy is not allowed to come to its consummate expression. So if we want to enjoy God to the fullest, we need to praise him regularly, daily, moment by moment.
There is something about the posture of praise. The irony is we can get more fired up about a three pointer at the buzzer or a field goal in overtime than we can about God. What's going to break us free from that funky mess? It is misconception. It's a little bit of apprehension. What have you learned will break people free, Sam?
Well, first of all, is a greater grasp of the glory and the greatness and the beauty and the majesty of God. I think people have a very stunted and limited view of who God is and what he's done for us in Jesus. I think, secondly, we have to help people overcome their fear. They're afraid of doing something that might draw attention to themselves. They're afraid that somebody might think, oh, they're just showing off, or they're afraid
that somebody will accuse them of being overly emotional. And I just think we need to stop and just basically push delete on all of our fears concerning what other people think. My only concern when I worship is what does God think? How can I honor him? Let me give you one other verse that that I've always found really important in this regard. It's in acts 13, when
Paul and Barnabas were at the church in Antioch. And it says while they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, set apart for me Barnabas and Saul, for the work to which I've called him. Now think about this. Prior to that moment, Paul had not gone on a missionary journey. He had not planted a single church. He hadn't written a single one of his letters. And yet it was in the midst of a worship service. And it's again, while they were worshiping at the moment,
they were exalting God. The Holy Spirit invaded the meeting and said, set apart these men for the ministry to which I've called them. That changed the course of world history. That worship service and the in-breaking, as it were, of the Spirit's voice in commissioning Paul and Barnabas. The whole world is different as a result of that one worship service. And it happened while and I even like to say, because they were worshiping and praising the Lord.
That can get lost on us quickly. So you would say not to stretch it, stretch it, but direct application. Oftentimes, praise will unlock the direction that God has for the glorification of his name through our lives.
Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. I'm sure Paul and Barnabas were wondering. You know, Paul had been commissioned, been saved for I don't know how long before they arrived in Antioch, but really at that time had no direction as to where they should go, what they should do. And it was in the midst of a worship service. They were exalting the Lord, celebrating him, acknowledging and extolling his greatness and
his glory that God drew near. I mean, it's the principle of James four eight draw near to God and he will draw near to you. When we draw near to God and worship, he promises he will draw near to us, whether in power, to help us overcome struggles with sin or giving us guidance as to what we should do and how we should carry out ministry. But even more than that, he'll draw near to us in intimacy and love, and enable us to feel the affection
that he has for his children. And all of this happens in the context of worship and praise and celebration of who God is.
Sam, there's habitual things that we do. Some habitually go into a, let's just say, a worship service. Let's say it's 1110 and there's a, a song that's being performed that gives glory to God. But habitually, that person that's listening right now has never gotten their hands out of their pockets or from their sides. Others habitually raise their hands. Both can be habitually kind of off, as it were.
Sure.
So how do we break the habits and really have a right response to God as we posture ourselves in worship?
Well, obviously, I mean, you identified it. People who are exuberant and physically expressive, as well as those who are silent and look like dead statues. They can all dishonor the Lord. It's a question of the motivation of our hearts. What is my intent? What am I doing here? Am I just singing a song? Because that's what we do every week. Or I'm singing this song from memory because I've heard it so many times before in years past.
Or are we captivated by the majesty and the splendor of who God is and all that he is for us in Jesus? Just getting back to the whole issue of raising of hands, I had a man come to me one time and he said, Sam, why do you raise your hands in worship? And I said, well, why do you assume that the proper posture is for your hands at your side or in your pocket? You don't have a single text of Scripture that tells you to
do that. I've got a dozen or more that tell me to lift my hands in gratitude and praise and thanksgiving. He just kind of stood there stunned. He said, well, yeah, I never thought about that. Why do we just assume that God wants us to stand there stiff like a flagpole? Rather than extolling. And we're supposed to worship God with our bodies, not just our our hearts and our minds. I mean, Paul says in Romans 12, present your bodies to the Lord as a sacrifice of praise and honor and worship.
Wonderful. Doctor Sam Storms our guest right now. Sam, it's it's an interesting thing. We aren't even getting into dancing before the Lord with all your might, as David did. We aren't even going there right now. We're just talking about let's get our posture rightly responding to God. I was at a Promise Keepers event. I think it was the first time I was kind of jarred loose from
some of my early childhood spiritual moorings. Somebody that raised their hand in the church where I was at in Anchorage, Alaska, for a lot of years, and they were good saints in that church. Don't get me wrong here. There's no denigration here. But somebody who lifted their hands was a visitor, Sam. I mean, that's what they were. And I remember thinking, boy, could I ever get the courage of the brand new follower of Jesus? Could I get the courage to lift
my hands and praise? And we were at this Promise Keepers event at Texas Stadium before they tore it down. And God was on the move and a wave of hands began to go in the air. And, you know, it was the most natural response to what God was doing in that moment. And when I lifted my hands before God, between me and him alone, it was like there was a new sense of freedom. Now, this is not about getting your hands in the air, right, Sam? This is about glorification of God and a right response
to what he's done. Final words? Absolutely.
Yeah. And one other topic. I don't want us to end this without addressing this is the relationship between our worship and spiritual warfare. Let me just give you one example.
Okay.
You mentioned David back in first Samuel 16. You remember him. Saul had fallen into idolatry and sin, and an evil spirit came upon him to torment him. And when David came in and played his lyre or his harp or whatever the ancient equivalent of a guitar would be, it says, the spirit lifted off of Saul, and I find that every time David would play, it would lift. When he would stop, it would come back. Demons hate our worship.
They hate it when we extol the Lord. They hate it when they see we are wholly committed to him. Whether soul, mind, spirit, body will all of our affections and they run for cover. So sometimes when we're being attacked by the enemy, people say, what should I do? I said, well, obviously there are a lot of things you can pray, you can read scripture, but spend an hour today just silently by yourself, not silently, but by yourself worshiping the Lord. Or go to a corporate worship service.
The enemy hates it because the one thing he wants to do, he wants to short circuit and undermine our extolling of God and are drawing attention to Him and His glory. So when we worship, when we give expression in song and in our bodies and in every other way, it drives the enemy mad. And that's that is something people need to keep in mind. Just really do think you know. Revelation 12 talks about they conquered him by the word of their testimony. Well, that's not just spoken word,
it's sung word. It's singing as well as speaking. That's what conquers the enemy.
Boy, this is powerful, Sam.
This is powerful. We had a guy text in one time to our show, and he wasn't. He went years without being born again. He said something profoundly simple. He said I just got bad information. He said now that I've got good information, I've surrendered my life to Jesus. And we've given you boom crews some good information here, and I want you to build on this. You want more? Sam storms, phenomenal author. Great blog posts, great resources. One stop shop. Text the word storm to our number here
800 555 7898. Storm to 800 555 7898.
Walking closer to Jesus every day. You're listening to Carl and crew.
What a day for praise. What a day for praise. Coming off that interview with Sam Storms, if you're just joining us, bottom of the hour here we are giving rock solid truths this week that you can take to the spiritual Bank. One of them is praise. There's something about praise that just lifts your heart. It reorients you when you have a a gratitude journal. You with me on this one?
Oh, goodness.
All the.
Way. I mean, just a gratitude journal alone, where at least somewhere in your day, you're taking time to mark down these things I give God praise for. It can give you perspective because the black dot is easy to see. The cumulus nimbus cloud, that big one that's over there is easier to see than all the rest of the blue sky.
Mhm.
And there's so much to give God praise for. I want to do something really different here today. I want to enter God's gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise this morning.
Amen.
I want to be thankful unto God and bless his name. For the Lord is good, his mercy is everlasting, and his truth endures for all generations. I want to praise the Lord. I want to praise God in his sanctuary. I want to praise him in the firmament of his power. Praise him for his mighty acts, praise him according to his excellent greatness. And I want to tell you what I want to praise God for this morning. I have a word of praise. I want to praise God for all of you that are new to Carl and crew.
Or should I say, we are new to you?
Yeah.
I want to praise him that God has arranged things, that he has God's kids so teed up for change. So willing to flex by the power of the Holy Spirit that you have been gracious to us. I praise God for your kindness. I praise God for your words of encouragement. I praise God that you've battled well through changes in life. I praise God for you, boom crew. I don't think I've ever done that in ten years where I've been this bold.
No, but I think it's good.
That was great. Yeah.
I don't you guys. Are you with me on this one?
Of course. Of course.
110%.
I mean, we, you know, we're we're talking about it. So change is difficult and it's hard and it's not it's not easy to deal with all the time and and listen, I we got an email yesterday from someone who, who was listening and and they said, you know, we underwent the change and, and we stopped and we prayed. We prayed that that God would just give us an open heart. And I mean that that just makes me sit back in my chair, humbled the to to sit there and say, God, would you just let me hear
and be open to what you're doing? I mean, that is that is a heart that inspires me to move closer to God. That's the heart you have. Boom crew.
Yeah, it's it's an awesome thing to behold. It really is. I, I am so filled with praise this morning. I mean, my heart is overflowing with joy. I don't know you, but God does. And if God is our father, we are brothers and sisters in Christ, and we are on this path less traveled. And we're on this narrow way. And we're being shaped and molded by the power of the Holy Spirit to be men and women. Young people. I'm blown away, too. I want to give God praise
for the 20 somethings that listen to this program. Blows my mind. Just blows my mind. I want to thank God for the 90 plus year olds that listen here, and when they call in, we get testimonies that they're still submitting themselves to God for his power to change them. Still, I praise God for that.
Yeah.
We praise God for that. My goodness. What are you praising God for today? I want you to be a gratitude journal on air. We're going to open up phone lines right now. Little bursts of praise. And you know what? I'm not, I am absolutely not asking you to praise God for what we're doing here today. I want you to look around at the things in your life and give God praise. It is so healthy. It is. And Philippians four what do we find Paul saying? Whatever is
worthy of praise, whatever is true, whatever is good. Put your eyes on these things. It's easy to see the trials. Some of you are going through it today. But the backdrop behind all these trials, and beside all these trials and challenges, is the goodness and greatness of God. So let's give him praise today. We're going to open up phone lines, little bursts of praise, but we're asking you to just call in with bursts of praise. What are you praising God for today. Lift up his name. It's
so healing to the bones, man. Think about it.
You're listening to Curl and crew on Moody Radio.
Danielle, first time caller in Florida. What do you say? Danielle?
Hi there. Good morning guys. Um, I am just so grateful. Um, we've had a very stressful, um, week, and God has provided a reprieve in the church member opening up their home to us while we're having that issue in our home, and which has been such a beautiful testimony of God's goodness just using the body and also him working in the lives of everyone in our family.
Yeah. It's beautiful. Danielle. Danielle, I hear your voice cracking there a little bit, sister. And I rejoice with you. It's through the pain that sometimes God shows his glory the most. And you are spot on, sister. The body of Christ. Spiritual gifts. Loving one another. Bearing one another's burdens. It's a beautiful thing. Way to give him praise, Danielle. Caroline in Florida as well. What do you say? Caroline.
Yes. Hi. Good morning. I am extremely grateful. The fact that God's breath in my lungs. He woke me up. My state of mind. To the point where I can just. I'm so gracious and grateful. I can just praise his holy name. Because without him, I would not be able to see another day today. So that I'm very thankful and extremely grateful to my Heavenly Father for her.
Isn't it great breath in our lungs this morning? Caroline from Florida. Thank you for calling in taking your phone calls this morning. What are you giving God praise for? Praise him in the sanctuary. And you know what's amazing about this term? Sanctuary from Psalm 100 and Psalm 150. In both of them we are the temple of God. We praise him in the sanctuary in ourselves. Yes, we are indwelled by the Holy Spirit, these old tents. I know they they aren't much. You might look at your
bod and go, wow, this is the temple of. It's the temple of God. And we give him praise today.
Tune in whenever you like. Check out the Carl and Crew podcast wherever you like to stream.
Stephanie, first time caller in Florida. What do you got, Steph?
I am so grateful. And I'm praising God because my son's father, who was shot over the weekend, made it through the night. We're taking this thing one day at a time, and I'm praising God that he survived another night.
That was your dad?
No, my son's father.
Your son's father. Oh my goodness. Stephanie. Sister, we're praising God with you. God's got a reason that this man has breath in his lungs. Be looking around. Live with your head on a swivel and see what God's doing there, sister. Way to go, Steph in Florida. First time caller. Thank you for that, Joe in Illinois. What do you say, Joe?
Uh. Good morning. I just want to praise and thank God for his healing touch and his work in, um, helping my wife battle blood cancer for the last two and a half years. She's doing great. I just praise and thank God for his healing touch and his guidance and navigating and just sustaining us through this challenging time.
Way to go.
You're a good man, Joe. You're a good husband, Joe. Giving God praise. Happy for your wife, man. Happy for her. And we give him praise today. Way to go, Joe in Illinois, Jake, first time caller in Ohio. What are you praising God for today?
So I came to a roadblock a year ago in my life and didn't know what to do or where to go, And, uh, he pretty much uplifted my whole life. Changed it in one year. He blessed me with a house. My first house. I bought a new fiance. I'm getting ready to marry and, um, a new job with Christian people. I'm just blessed to have that today.
And give him.
Praise today, Jake. And you're making a left turn there. I can hear the clicker, my man. You're ready to go left. Oh, sweet word from Jake in Ohio. First time caller. What are you praising God for today? Think about that. You know, it's one thing to think to yourself. It's one thing to kind of consider what you're going through. It's another thing to stop and look for those things that we can give God praise for today. You know, praise is one of the most therapeutic things that we
can do. And it's a God glorifying thing. We lift up our voice to God. It gives us new perspective on the day. So I don't know what you're going through, what you're up against, but I know this for sure. Our God, he's worthy of praise. And I'm asking you to give him praise today. Gary, first time caller in Indiana. What do you say, Gary?
I'm just giving God praise for the lung surgery. I just came through. Um, my, uh, men's group that prayed me through. My church family that I was prayed through, and just the family in Christ I have. Everywhere I go, I get to give the testimony.
Way to go, Gary.
In my life.
Way to go, Gary. I appreciate you, man. First time caller from Indiana. Good word, my man. Keep spreading the word. Matt in Grand Rapids. What do you say, Matt?
I am thankful for salvation through Christ Jesus. That I don't have to face the wrath to come, and that my mercy I can share with others the amazing love God has for the lost.
Amen. Amen. Matt from Grand Rapids. Uh, that's good theology, man. Because there is going to come a day when we are going to be called to account. Did we look at creation Romans one and see God? And what did we do when we saw that? It's a beautiful thing to give God praise for. I want to take you to a passage of Scripture that shows the power of praise.
In Second Chronicles, chapter 20, after the Moabites and the ammonites and all these conflicts, some men came and told Jehoshaphat, A great multitude is coming against you from Edom from beyond the sea. They're coming. Jehoshaphat was afraid, and he set his face to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all of Judah and Judah assembled to seek help from the Lord from all the cities of Judah.
They came to seek the Lord. Josephat stood in assembly, and a man came to him and actually said to him, put the worship leaders out in front, and they put the worship leaders out in front. They put the choir in the front. And you know what happened? God delivered. The story that we find from this battle in Second Chronicles 20 is an epic story of the power of praise.
The Lord did their fighting. Give him praise today. I know you're up against tough stuff, but put the choir out in front and watch God get the victory in your life. He can do it. Burt, right here in Illinois. What are you praising God for, Burt?
Hey, here is an awesome thing. For two months, I had back pain a couple months ago. Went in to get it checked out. They found out I've got stones. Kidney stones. Right? That's happening. I still have them today. They also found in there taking blood all this stuff. You look like you might have prostate cancer. I was like, the devil's a liar. I do not have prostate cancer. I'm standing on the word. I am beautifully and wonderfully made. God, you're going to deliver me from this? No weapon formed
against me shall prosper. That happened then they said your body's producing too much calcium. Brother. Something's wrong with your parathyroid. Which you just look it up. And I was like, what is going on? But I stood in God's word and I'm journaling. You said this a minute ago, Carl. It's important to journal because go back to what's happening on a daily basis, if you can, or whatever you need to do, and trace it and follow it. But
I'm praising God. I said, God, I'm beautifully, wonderfully made. If you don't dissolve these stones. And I still have the stones. I'll do surgery. I'm still praising you.
Because.
The praise is the weapon against the enemy. You've got to raise your hands. You got to open your mouth because they cannot. It's like being in an NBA game. Like the finals. You know how they get. So one team gets so far ahead, the other team just looks dejected. That's what's happening. That's what's happening with the enemy. So you got to praise. The praise absolutely has to. You have to worship a God. He loves us too much. So I'm praising God today.
How's your.
Pain?
How's your pain?
Okay, so I forgot to tell you the most important part. I prayed to God. Even if you don't dissolve these, whatever you're going to do, however you're going to heal me. I just don't want to feel the pain. And so I'm going into the doctors. They're like, these things are huge and they're not passing. How are you? Not in my office, in the fetal position, laying on the floor crying. I've seen men with the size, and I've got them on both. On both kidneys. I've seen men with these
sized stones balling in my office. And In all I told my doctors was, I don't know what else to tell you.
Chalk it up to God.
I serve a God. I serve a god.
Yeah. Burt, thank you for calling in my man. Good word. Good word. Taking your calls right now. Let's load them up, guys. Maureen in Akron, Ohio. What do you say, Maureen? What's your what are you praising God for today?
I'm praising God for this radio station. I've been a listener of Wkar's out of Cleveland. We're in Akron for 54 years, and we've had some hard changes with things. And every morning I get up, you've got something on there that blesses me. And I'm talking to other older people and telling them, you've got to get on the program. It's really good. So I'm praising God for CRF and for you guys being faithful and for God always meeting our needs.
Maureen, you made my day. Thank you for Macron. Thank you for that. Appreciate you. Maureen. Go back to the phone lines here. What are you praising God for today? Meena in Illinois. What do you say, Meena?
Yeah. Good morning. Thank you all for having me. Um, so I'm praising God for two things. Number one, my father's surgery. He had a bad arthritis for years and he was scared to have surgery. But finally he did. And now he's able to walk well. So I just want to give God all the glory for no complications. And then I'm thanking God for the success of my wedding. This year makes it six years of marriage with three beautiful children. So I'm so grateful for all of that.
So thank you all so much. I'll bless the Lord at all times. His praise will continue in my mouth. Hallelujah!
Amen. You broke away there, but we know the passage. The praise will continually be in my mouth. Give him praise. Peace is right. Coming in the door. Right behind that word of praise. Roberta in Chicago. What do you say, Roberta? What are you praising God for?
Oh, hi. How are you? I've been listening to you forever. I'm in Chicago, okay. And I call in sometimes write my emails. But going back five years ago, I just happened to call it. I can't remember what the topic was, but at any rate, I called in for something else and I said, by the way, today is my 80th birthday and you guys saying happy 80th birthday to me on air. Well, in a couple more weeks I'm going to be 85. Praise you Jesus. And I'm just as healthy as ever running around.
Roberta, you sound you sound like you're 33.
Well, I, you know, run around a lot, but my mom was like that, too. She passed away at 94, and she was a contemporary lady. And, I mean, she just lived every day. It's. It could be as basic as just what I do is get up in the morning, raise my arms and say, oh, my gosh, thank you so much. It's like somebody said, I got a birthday card the other day, said, happy birthday. And they said, congratulations, you're still alive.
It's beautiful. Roberta, thank you for calling in today. 85 years young. Let's go to Dave in Wheeling. What are you praising God for today, Dave?
Light is the first thing made in creation. It's a beautiful thing this morning. Um, we had a great Bible study with your friend Freddy Velasco on Saturday, and we were praising John one, where he is the light in the darkness. And the darkness didn't understand him. And he's the promise and the hope of Christ. It's a beautiful thing.
Yeah, it is beautiful, Dave. Light is beautiful. Dave. In Illinois. Right here. Way to go, my man. What do you say, Abigail? First time caller from Florida. What are you praising God for today?
Hi, guys. I just want to say that I've been a believer my whole life. My mom didn't play that. She really raised us the right way. But recently, I became closer to God. And every single day, I really, really thank him for Jesus Christ. He is the most biggest historical figure that people literally need to know about. He was truly sent as a messiah and to this day, places where he walked and talked are being guarded. And I just really thank God for Jesus Christ, my family,
every person that's pushing the gospel. Thank all of you guys.
Amen. Abigail, first time caller from Florida. It's true Messiah. Deliverer. He is the deliverer. And although we're raised in a Christian context, that faith needs to become our own way to go. Abigail. Ron. First time caller in Florida. What are you praising God for? Ron.
I got so many things to praise for that I couldn't. It would take up too much time. But a person is 74 and 79 years old with a wife of 55 years. I am totally thankful for the caring people that are around us in different places, but starting off for the entire book of the Bible with everything that's in it from the beginning to the end, all the wonderful words of life that are expressed throughout the Bible
that are meaningful on a daily basis. But as of the moment, you know God has blessed us in our work overseas for over 20 years and 26 countries, and protected us in many cases with many examples of near misses. But what is the most important thing now? My wife has been discovered with lung cancer that spread to her spine and spread to her brain. But we have a wonderful team of doctors that have come together that we believe were were brought together with the help of Jesus Christ.
That's the only thing I can say. Doctor. Amen. They are there. The mechanics, the equipment is there. The medicine, the the blessings that God has provided in the kind of medicines that are out there. And then at our church where we are connected, caring friends who are praying for us.
That is beautiful, Ron. Ron, first time caller from Florida. When you have something that you're up against like that and then bang, God shows up in power, a team of good caregivers, and then a church to support you. It is huge. Let's get a couple more in here. Is it Sukhwani? Did I get that right or is that off? Szechuan. Szechuan? Szechuan from Indiana. What do you say? Szechuan?
Yes.
I am so grateful for God, grace and his mercy and his faithfulness. Like throughout my seasons, his faithfulness has been always true. Um, times when I just felt like, you know, things may not be going well, and then I turn to God and I'm like, you know what, God, you have been faithful in every season and I trust you in this season. And also his grace and his mercy. Lord have mercy. My my faith has been tested so strongly these last couple of weeks. But you know what?
God great that his mercy, the way that he loved us. And he said, look, I give you grace. You give other people grace because people do not know what I am doing inside of you. And what I need you to do is show up as who I am designed for you to show up as. And so I just thank God for it because Lord knows he is so good.
Yeah, that is so good. Shaquan. That's great. You go by Queenie too. I'm going to go with Queenie. I'm going with that. Yeah, I love nicknames. Yeah. Way to go, sister. Thanks for calling in here today.
Start your day moving closer to Jesus. You're listening to Carl and crew.
The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer. My God, my rock in whom I take refuge. My shield and the horn of my salvation. My stronghold. Psalm 18 two. Give God praise for that. And I'm so intrigued by the metaphor of rock used most powerfully in the sermon on the Mount. Jesus said these words, everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice, application, not just information becomes a person who survives storms. You
want to be a storm survivor. God's hardwired you for victory, even through difficulty. So what are some bedrock truths? Three of them in particular that every disciple of Christ needs to stand on. Greg Dempster is with me right now. He's a man that has mentored, coached, helped provide wise counsel to a lot of pastors that feel burned out and have lost their way. What are you learning, Greg?
The symbolism of rock is dead on. That's where my heart was this morning. Psalm 27 that you can. The one thing that David asked for, and the one thing that he sought, was to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of his life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord, and to seek God where he could be found. And the result, then, that he expected that he'd be put high up on a rock.
Yeah.
When we're thinking about three core truths to base our lives on, that's one of them. That. Why try to. Why waste our lives trying to protect ourselves when God so clearly wants to protect us?
Yeah. And it's it's an amazing thing because we're afforded that opportunity. Everyone listening right now can make that adjustment, that shift, even a moment of repentance to get back on that rock. Right. Greg, it's that we have a binary choice today.
Well, you said hardwired. That's exactly it. We're hardwired to turn to to Jesus for help. I mean, that's Jeremiah 213, right? That the nation of Israel had committed two grievous sins. They had forsaken the fountain of living water in their thirsting, in their living. They turn from God as their supply, and they tried to do it on their own. God's wired us to turn to him, and that might be where a lot of your audience is today, man. They've been trying it on their own for a long time,
and they feel like they're out in the the flats. Man. With the tide coming in and the tide rushing out. In fact, a lot of us feel are totally embarrassed when the tide goes out because everything that's buried in our lives shows up on the sand there, all the old tires, all the old mess of our lives, and we just want to keep it covered. Yeah. And so we wear masks. We strive, we try to perform, gain approval. And God just wants us to turn this moment, turn
to him and just say, I'm done, man. I can't do it myself. I need you come and draw me to yourself.
And that discipline of coming back to God. This isn't a one and done. We're disciples of Christ. There are such things as derailed disciples. Disciples that find themselves in a ditch off the path, off the rock. So get back to the rock. His name is Jesus. All right. Second bedrock truth. What do you got, Greg?
Psalm 139. Man, that there's nowhere we can go where he's not present. And we need to begin practicing the nearness of God. The question that we've got to ask ourselves is, where is our gaze set? Because where our gaze set, our life will follow. In Psalm 139 opens up this phenomenal reality that that God, there's nowhere I
can flee from God's presence. And God would desire for us to begin to live in a sense of that nearness, as the sense of the rock being right before me, the rock being right behind me, the rock being never leaving me. And so the idea that number one, that I learned to trust in his protection. But number two, that I'm learning that I'm never alone, that God is always with me. That God will never reject me, never forsake me. And accessing his help and his power is
just a matter of stopping right now. Turning my attention to him.
And.
Asking him to fill me with himself.
David is so clear. Where can I go from your spirit? You're everywhere. Yeah. It's so beautiful. All right, third bedrock truth. Every disciple needs to stand on what's on your heart, Greg.
I would say Augustine. Augustine says that our hearts are perpetually restless until they find their rest in him. And and so we need to realize, I mean, even going back to Jeremiah 213, where God reveals that he's the fountain of living water. Every thirst that you have today, every hunger or desire that you have growing in your heart, is something that God wants to move into and fill you with himself to satisfy that. Sometimes we develop these
these habits, these appetites around wayward and broken things. But at the root, you need to understand that you're thirsting isn't bad. God's just surprised. He's not surprised that you have thirst. He's surprised that you're turning to anything else to get that thirst quenched. And so wherever you are, if you're turning to pornography today to get thirst quenched, let me just say there's a way better way to go.
And that is the fountain of living water. That's a God who who desires for you to leave restlessness and move towards being deeply satisfied in him.
Yeah, the Jeremiah's passage that is so powerful there we forsake these these living waters, and then we hew out cisterns. These are these water reservoirs that can't hold water. Greg, what do you say to someone that is hewed out a cistern and they come in a lot of forms. It can be in the food that we eat, the porn we watch, the 401 K that we're carving out
for ourselves. And the amazing thing is whether it's emotional, financial, relational cisterns that were digging out their leaky and and God says, I want to give you a drink, and I want to build your reservoir so that when times are lean, you got something to dip into. What's on your heart with that? Greg.
Wherever you are right now, if you've got a Bible on your phone, just open it up to Jeremiah 213. If you look at the end result of that small portion of scripture, you see that you've only got two options. You've got the fountain of living water who will supply everything, everything that you need. The other option is intense labor and total failure. That's where it goes, either the fountain
of living water or intense labor. Total failure. Last time I checked, the ancient world didn't dig cisterns out of dirt. They dug them out of solid stone. And that's the metaphor that the prophet Jeremiah is giving to us. Either backbreaking labor and in the end, failure, or the fountain of living water. When failure, intense labor, and total failure is in front of me. And I know that investing in the independent life going my own way is going to lead to that end. It causes us to take
a step back. Yeah, it's like that three second pause on radio, right? It gives us that three second pause to say, no way, I've tried this road. It's a rip off. I'm going to move towards the fountain of living Water.
Greg Dempster, my guest right now, he's the founder and director of Christ's Life Ministries. He's been a dear friend for a lot of years. We've been in ministry together in the past, running shoulder to shoulder, watching God do amazing things. What he's talking about is real. And you want that today. Greg, I'm going to ask you to pray right now. We got a lot of people right
now that have forsaken living water. They've stepped away from the rock, our fortress, our our mighty protector, and they have opted for digging out cisterns that can't hold water. You're right. They've they've opted to try to carve out a life for themselves in the dirt. And it's leaky. I want you to pray right now that God would bring us home back to that rock. Would you do that right now?
God, I just I'm just asking for a great grace. Your grace is you doing something for us that we can't do for ourselves? Over all the thousands and thousands of listeners right now, I'm asking for a great grace. Would you. Would you just lift them up? Would you? Would you give them a hand up? Lord? Would you lift them out of all of their self-effort and their inability and all their brokenness and all this just slamming into the wall over and over and over again. And
would you give them a great hope? Would you allow your hope and your deliverance to rise like, like the sun rising over the mountain and just asking for your freedom for these people that that you would allow great wisdom, a great sense of your presence to to fill their lives, and that you would break every chain to the independent life. And I thank you in Jesus name. Amen.
And let it be. You know, Greg has got a very unique ministry right now ministering to a lot of spiritual leaders. A lot of spiritual leaders. What's the common thread that you see that leads people to digging out their own muddy cisterns? Greg. What? What is that? What? Because if we can identify that, we can. We can unwind that thing. What is it?
I think prior to Christ. All we have is the independent life, right? It's what I bring to the table. My own intellect, my own ability, my own strength. When we surrender our lives, when we transfer ownership of our lives to Christ, all of a sudden we have a new experience, and that is that we die in Christ, lives in us. And there's the sanctification process. And the process of changing is the process of me relinquishing control, allowing me becoming less and allowing Christ to become more.
And in that process, a lot of these governing ideas that drive our lives rise to the surface. And a lot of the leaders that I work with are driven to perform in order to be valued. They're driven by approval. They're driven by the needs that they have for for acceptance or importance. They have, as Dallas Willard would call them, these governing ideas that drive their lives, and that what's true for these pastoral leaders is also true for everyone
who's listening today. The question that we've got to ask is, what really are my primary motives, what drives my life? And can I identify those and move them into the presence of the true Jesus and ask him to to make the swap? Really? God loves to take the trash of our lives and replace it with gold. That's what he does. He loves to take the broken things in us that just don't work and replace it with himself. And so for most of the pastoral leaders I'm working with,
there are guys that are there. Some of them are leading churches of 20, 25,000 people. And and so getting set free from the things that empower our flesh is a key aspect of, of moving forward towards Christ.
Man, I love you, Greg. This is good stuff. You might want to learn a little bit more about what Greg's up to with Christ's Life Ministries, and we're going to in the coming days, weeks and months here. We're going to bring on Greg, and we're going to walk through this journey of identifying those, what do you call those things, those thoughts of origin, what do you call it? What's that term you use?
Yeah, actually the term is a Dallas Willard term as governing ideas. But the other way to talk about it is our core distortions. What are what are the distortions that drive my life. We've got to uncover those. That's part of the sanctification or the the journey towards Christ is uncovering those flawed areas of thinking and inviting God to change our perspective.
Yeah, it's so true. One of the things I love to say here that is just a it's almost a scary reality, but what we're thinking about today will be lived out in our life by high noon. Here, Greg.
It's where we fix our gaze, man. Where our gaze is fixed, our lives are going to follow. And Jesus is inviting us to lift our gaze unto him.
It's great stuff. Greg Dempster everybody, if you want to learn more about what Greg's up to, just take a peek. You're going to be blown away. And we're going to bring him on. He's he is he is taking what he's been mentoring now for many years. These spiritual leaders at a very high level, leaders that have just gotten off the path. And we're going to be walking through some of that content here. It's going to be a lot of fun. You're going to want to keep it
pinned here with Carl and crew. And Greg can be found by texting the word life. Just the word life to 800, 555, 78, 98. You might want to take a look at that link and go look at some of those resources at Christlife Usa.org. Just text the word life. We'll get you a link. Life to 800 555 7898 Eight.
Your spiritual pit stop to keep you going in the race. You're listening to Carl and crew.
Just had Greg Dempster with us here and this just got my fires cooking here. Uh, I'm going to ask you a crazy question here in just a moment, but let me set it up. I'm going to linger here in Jeremiah two for a moment. When God's people went away from him, they tried to carve out a life for themselves. This is what we do. You can be radically altered by Jesus Christ. And some of you might say, I don't know if I've been radically altered. If you
have been saved by God, you've been radically altered. You're born with your backs to God. We are born as enemies of the cross. I know that's hard to get your head around, but it's true. Let me give you another truth that we often don't embrace. We are not born children of God. We are born again to be children of God. Got to get our theology straight. This is really matters.
It does.
And in Ephesians one, we're were sealed in the Holy Spirit. God's gifts and callings are irrevocable. No one can snatch you from the hand of God. You cannot lose genuine salvation. No way, no how. How is that true? Because we did not earn it. Therefore we cannot lose it. If you have an idea that you've somehow earned God's favor, well, that's not salvation. That's a works based, salvific approach that ends in heartache. But when we're born again by God,
he has brought us into this new life. Now, Jeremiah two is very relevant for the Christian life, even though it's an Old Testament passage, because, hey, even Abraham was justified by faith. He believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. So these Old Testament saints put their full faith and trust in God. Now this is amazing. The people of Israel tried to carve out a life for themselves, these empty cisterns. I'm going to read that in just a moment. So God sent a prophet, Jeremiah,
and he didn't hold back. He told people what he heard from God. And we love to quote Jesus, the truth will set you free. But I got some news for you. Tradition holds that the truth got the prophet Jeremiah stoned to death. Guys. It seemed any time that Jeremiah dared to speak truthfully, he was falsely accused, beaten, imprisoned, or thrown into a cistern himself and left for dead. Now, Jeremiah's words might not have gotten him killed today, but
for sure he'd have been silenced. Listen to what he says. Be appalled, O heavens, at this. Be shocked. Be utterly desolate, declares the Lord. For my people have committed two evils. My people. They are his people and they've committed two evils. They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out or carved out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water. The metaphor is super clear here for those people, then, and it is for us today.
You can go anytime. If you go to Israel, you'll find cisterns, ancient cisterns. They're cut out of bedrock. They don't leak because they're in the right material. But they had dug out cisterns out of clay, out of soil. And the metaphor is that they've done their own digging, not where God wanted them to build their life, but they tried to carve out a life for themselves, their own way. Jeremiah nailed it, and his words ring true today.
It is true that we can abandon the Abandoned the guide who wants to fill our lives and dismantle our self constructed cisterns that can hold water. We build systems for ourselves that can't deliver what we'd hope for or what we need. They leak. They come up empty. And I've got a simple question for you today. Where have you been? Carving out a life for yourself that the Holy Spirit is saying no more? Where have you been digging to get yourself validated, to find security. But it's
not in God. As I say those words, a lot of different things come to your mind. And I'm not even going to fill in the blank. I'm going to let you do that for me. You can call in anonymously. You can call in with your real name. You can call in. But I'm wondering, do we have 1 or 2 of you this morning that are willing to say, Carl, I've been carving out a life for myself that's not grounded in God. It's not in the bedrock of my identity,
of who I am in Christ Jesus. I'm trying to get my validation, my security, my elevation from something or someone else. Where have you been digging that God is saying no more today? Where is that? Who's got the courage to call? Get up on a soapbox and say, this is what God is revealing to me in my life right now. 855 five 7898. The real test for a cistern that we dig out in our lives is the dry season. There's no more the runoff water. It's done. And we look down and we go, man, this thing
is dry hole. There's nothing here. There's no reservoir to pull out of. What have you been digging in? Trying to carve out a life for yourself. And it's coming up empty. And God's telling you it's time to build your life on Christ again. Moses in Florida. What do you say, Moses?
God bless you. Thank you for your message. I just realized that within that message, it's been 40 years with my ministry. I've been pastoring and I have an outreach ministry called Feed Our Children. We've been giving food for hundreds and hundreds and giving water. But I realized I haven't given the bread of life, haven't given them the water that lasts forever. They keep coming back for food and food. And we've been serving and serving and serving. And I said, Lord, how many have I given back
to you? And I said, you know that's what you say. Let your good be evil spoken of. It's been good, but it hasn't been good enough because the bread of life has not been given.
Moses, what? What a humble pastor you are. And that is so good. It is so easy to do good things, but it's a great thing. It moves from good to great when you attach that to the gospel. And I don't know how God's going to give you wisdom to do that. But Moses, I want to confess something with you. A number of years ago, we were giving out backpacks loaded with winter gear for homeless people in Alaska, and one of our elders came to us at a meeting
that we had before we launched these things. And he said, what are we doing? Not to not to make it something difficult for people, but to make sure that they receive this backpack in the name of Jesus so that we they know what motivates us and where life is really found. And we went to work on that stuff. Moses and I got to tell you, man. God gave us a vision for what to do. And Moses is
what I'm believing. As you bow your head in prayer with your leadership, God's going to make this food ministry into a gospel ministry as well. Are you with me, my man?
Oh, yes. Yes, yes.
He's going to do it. Moses. And I love you, man. Thank you for calling in. You're a good pastor. That takes humility to admit that that's powerful. What about you? What's this life you've been carving out for yourself? But it doesn't hold water. And you get it. Joshua, first time caller in Ohio. What do you say, Josh?
It's just the lifestyle of drugs and, um, women and stuff like that. That's my past that's haunting me. And, um, I'm ready to. I'm going back. I'm going to sober living. Um, I've been going through a rough patch. And, um, I'm grateful my grandma has cancer and stuff, and I've been out on bond, and, um, God told me to, uh, everything in my heart told me to go to sober
living before her, and I just started working. Well, um, I have some stuff going on, and I'm going to Sober living next week, so hopefully everything works out with that. But just the.
Life.
I live, it's following me.
Yeah. Joshua, I need you to hear my heart here for a second, bro. And I want you to listen really closely to me. When you get out of prison and you're out on bond right now, we've got an amazing opportunity. God's put a Y on the road for you and Joshua, I know you, I don't know you, but I, I know you. I've been there. I'm an old cocaine addict from the early 20s of my life. I gladly say that because I know the God who delivered me. And I want you to hear me, Joshua.
Right now. Listen closely to me. I want you to find a man somewhere at a church or this ministry that you're going to. Whatever. And I want you to tell him what you just told me. That things have to change. And I want you to fully surrender all that you are to Jesus. What's amazing is you've been kicked hard. You've had to pay a price for some
foolish stuff. But all that can be turned away from as you repent and give your life totally and completely over to Jesus, begin to reorient the friends around you. Begin to reprioritize what matters, and believe that God can break the addictions of your past. Joshua, do you hear me speaking to you right now?
Yes, yes I do. I've done that. That's what I've been going through, actually, for the past two years. I've done that and I've been doing great. It's just this little hiccup in the road right now. That.
That's awesome.
I have to deal with, you know.
Yeah. And you know, the little hiccup. I want you to take that to the Lord. I don't know what that hiccup is, but I want you to take that to the Lord as well. Satan's trying to derail you again. Don't let him do it. Joshua. First time caller in Ohio. Man, it's easy to carve out a life for yourself that doesn't hold water. It's easy, but God's got more. So much more. Dana, first time caller in Florida. What do you say, Dana?
I, um, have been blessed to be raised by a pastor and have been a Christian from a very young age. Um, but we did not have very much growing up. And I have been holding on to my finances, even tithing and giving. Um, I've been blessed in the stage of life, and God got me through nursing school, which was the hardest thing I've ever done. I just feel that he's possibly calling me to something else. I don't know what it is. Yeah, my heart's broken for my children and
my grandchildren and ministering to them. And I feel like all I'm doing is working and making money. Um, I feel like I need to give that portion over to him. And I know that we are created in his image. I know that he is sovereign over my life. I trust him, I bring him glory and honor in everything from being able to pass school. But I'm finding my security and satisfaction and performance in that area. And I have not given that over to him.
Yeah, Dana, you're a precious. It's a real.
Struggle.
Here's what I want you to do, Dana. I want you to listen to me. I want you to go tell one person who is rich in faith today. This other than me. Okay? I want you to go find a sister who is rich in faith. And I want you to make that break today because finances is great until it becomes a god, right?
Yes.
That's the problem.
Yes.
Yeah. Dana.
Yeah.
Dana, it's a new day to day. Go find a sister. Get on your knees, physically. Get on your knees. Let's break ties with this thing that's been binding you up, and you're going to walk in freedom, sister. Thank you. Dana from Florida. First time caller. Way to go.
Romans eight brought her to Jesus while broadcasting traffic overnight. Super die is in the crew. It's curl and crew on Moody Radio.
Well, I guess first you got to answer. Where in the world are we aiming our kids? We want to aim them for success. Where are we aiming them, Arlene? Where are we aiming? Kids? What is the goal for success? For kids?
Well, that's a good question, right? And it's something that we can be like, where are we? Are we going like academic success, sports success, you know, kind of merit. We are aiming for kids who love God, who have character, who are going to be good people as they grow up, who will be adults, who can be independent of us, who will actually know what to do when they become adults. I think that is really what we are aiming for.
That's a that's an awesome thing. Arlene Pelikan, speaker, author, host of Happy Home Podcast. She is truly a marriage and parenting expert and she's written some amazing books Growing up social, calm, cool, and connected. That's a cool title. Parents rising screen kids Grandparenting Screen Kids. So really, what we want to talk about here today is relevant not just for parents, but for grandparents. But getting those kids
aimed at something rock solid is real. But what I wanted to pitch to you today, and I'm having some fun with this. Give me three rock solid A bedrock truths that set kids up for success. What do you say?
Yeah. Number one, I think fear God, not man. So, like, as you are parenting, you know, sometimes we have the fear of man. Oh my goodness, I have to put my kid in this. And everyone else is doing this. And Instagram tells me to do this. It's like, wait, no, wait a minute. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and and respect God. Honor God. Think of like what you know. Make that the the center so God not Google. You know, we've talked about this before. Yes,
you may use Google. Yes, I guess you may use AI, but those are not really your parenting tools. Your biggest parenting tools are God, I'm going to fear you. God, I'm going to seek you. I'm going to pray. I'm not going to think of the fear of man. And really, a lot of that has to do with with our kids. Are they more connected to you, to God, or are they more connected to their iPad, to their video game? You know, if do they cry more when they say goodbye to you? Or do they cry more when it's
like you take away their tablet? Okay, so we just have to connect to God and not to devices and what our devices are going to teach you. The fear of man. Like, okay, what do people say about me?
Let me let me ask you something here. Something just dawned on me. It seems that a really healthy parenting tactic is that when the fear of people disappoints, they get betrayed by a friend. They get let down by this. It comes up empty. Aren't those great teaching moments right there to go right here? Not to rub it in their face, but isn't that a golden opportunity to say, look at this. This is what I told you. Now you're getting burned by it. Let me cry with you here.
But isn't that. Aren't those the moments that God gives us?
Arlene, there's a friend that sticks closer to you than a brother, right? So that when you have a team that was like, oh my goodness, I thought these were my friends and this is what they're saying about me or whatever it is that just like you're saying, you're commiserating, you have empathy, but you're like, you know what? In your mind, instead of rushing to fix it, to, like,
erase it to, you know, whatever snow plow it. Let them feel those things and let them experience the comfort of the Holy Spirit so that they are building that relationship with God. Yeah, that's so good. Yeah, I love that, I love that, that's good. Okay, so fear God, not man.
Yeah. And and by the way, and here's the beauty. And I just want to spike this. We're we're all big kids now. Sometimes that's God's dinner bell for us when the world disappoints. And he's saying, come back here. Come on, let's fear me. It's it's beautiful. Okay. Second, rock solid truth that set kids up for success. What do you say?
Build a home of joy so that your house has smiles and laughter and fun. And when your kids think of God, they smile. they say like, wow. That's because look at our look at Jesus. He is a God of joy. Children come to him at the right hand there is fullness of not like rules or meanness or, you know, passivity or whatever. It's joy. There's fullness of joy, pleasures forevermore. So I think as you are parenting your kids,
be in that position, right? That you're that you're experiencing the joy of God that's overflowing out of your life to your kids. And when you go to church, it's not like a death sentence. It's like, okay, guys, it's Sunday. Get in the car. Let's go. Let's open up the Bible. You know, we gotta do this, you know? Oh, you're not allowed to do that because God doesn't like that. You know that we are parenting from this place of like, no,
we know this is where the joy is. And that when other families look at your family, they would say, wow, they have fun together. They laugh together, they do things together. So really like, like work on that. Jesus. When he's talking to his disciples, he's about to face the cross and he's telling him, you have sorrow now, but soon your heart will rejoice and no one's going to take away your joy. So joy is so crucial to the faith and make your house a house of fun so
that you're really laughing together. You're not just sitting in a room together, you know, just coexisting. You are having fun.
A quick note on that joy is a fruit of the spirit, and one of the things that I have told and challenged people from John 15 is Jesus's great metaphor. I am the vine. You're the branch. You abide in me. You'll bear much fruit. Now here's the kicker with this the fruit that's borne is fruit of the spirit. It's not our own. And joy, if it's not coming from the Lord. Some parents could do a mad scramble. And what we find ourselves doing is trying to manufacture facture
something that only God can give us. And what's crazy is we put fake fruit on our life. Arlene and those closest to us, our kids and grandkids, know it for what it is. What does a parent do that feels like, um, you know what? Joy sounds great, but if I try to muster that, it's going to be fake fruit. What? What does a parent do, I guess? Bottom line, we got to get back with God here, right, sister?
Yes, it's Lord. Fill me by your Holy Spirit having that faith that God, I just have this teeny tiny mustard seed of faith. And I'm giving it to you. And I'm asking you, will you bring back the joy of my salvation? Will you renew my spirit, Lord, and trust and look at those things? And then, you know, it's as simple as smiling in the morning when you don't even feel like it, and just kind of working with the Holy Spirit. That's like, okay, Lord, I need
you to fill me. And then I'm going to physically try to smile and and you will start smiling. Be thankful. Look for things to to be thankful for. Cultivate that gratitude in your life as that's often very connected to joy.
Yeah, we were actually talking about that in the first hour of The Power of Praise, because there's some people you don't need to manufacture joy. You can look around with a gratitude journal today and go, wow, there's some things to praise God for, and I need to look at those, not the big cumulus cloud hanging over our home today. Yeah. Good stuff. Okay. Number three third rock solid truth to set kids up for success. What say you, Arlene?
This one comes out of one of the chapters of Parents Rising. And it's parents Call the shots. So, my friends, that the parent. You go be the parent. It used to be maybe a generation ago that the parent was too big and the child's real small, and the child never says anything. He's afraid to say anything, right? So big parent, very small child. Now we have the very big child and the very scared tiny parent. That's like, okay, if you want that after, you know, your fifth screaming thing,
I will buy that for you. You know, we're afraid now. So it's so important for us to realize, oh, I am the adult in the room. Honor your father and mother so it will go along with you. It's not honor your children. It's honor your father and mother. Train up a child. You know Proverbs 22 six that we have that responsibility of training. So don't blame. Don't blame like, oh, it's the school system. Oh, it's the government. Oh, it's the peer pressure. Oh, it's the phone. Oh, it's the
video games. Know that. We say, wait a minute, I'm the parent. Whether I have a two year old or an 18 year old that we say, wait, I still have influence. And for the 18 year old, you have a lot of influence. For the two year old that I will be the parent. I will be the leader. You know, in our neighborhood, we we had we watched all these dads and their kids would be riding around without helmets like bike helmets. And so my husband would ask the dad once, like, why doesn't your kid wear
a helmet? And he's like, I just can't get him to wear the helmet. I mean, the kid's like five years old, right? And we had the experience that our kid in first grade literally got hit by a car in our neighborhood. But he was wearing a helmet. He went to the hospital. Everything. But he was fine. And so my husband, James would say, you know, our motive was was hit on this street with wearing a helmet. Really helped him. And yet no change. So for parents
to realize. Wait a minute. You know, the Proverbs four tells us, my children, listen, when your father corrects. Pay attention and learn. Good judgment. So really taking that role of. Wait a minute. I'm supposed to help my child have good judgment? I am really crucial in training this child.
And a big, big underlying thought here. I can feel it with thousands of parents right now. And grandparents is what if my kid doesn't like me? Arlene.
I know it's like, oh, no, this is like you. Because we have to have friends that we have to have friends that do like us. So when our kid looks at us and either tells us I hate you or I don't like you, or acts in that way, that we can say, I really don't care, like I obviously I do care. I do care that I want my children to like me, but to realize that's not my role. My role is to help you, to guide you, to correct you. And nobody really likes that person that's
correcting you. But you have a child who's uncorrected and you have a wild child that's not going to be very happy later when they have to have all these difficulties later in their life. So, so be okay with not being liked and realize that your child down the line will grow to like you again. So it's not a permanent thing, but just you just have to weather that moment of, okay, I'm not here to be popular. I'm not here for adoration. I'm here to actually be your parent.
Yeah, we laugh about that. But there's a lot of parents that are hooked on an addiction of affirmation back from their kids. And we've got to break that tie, don't we?
We do. We do. And honestly, and I'm not joking about have a friend. If you're married, your spouse like someone else, give you that stability and be okay with it. Hey, I'm not always going to say the popular thing with my kid, and that's okay.
That's good. Arlene Pelikan, let me ask you a crazy one here. Kind of philosophical slash culture. Watch what's going on. What are parents up against today? That's. It. Seems like even with AI, everything is moving. It's like Satan never stops angling to get his way into our home. What's going on right now?
Well, literally what you just said, I. I think that is the big thing that we are not ready for as parents. Like if we thought, wow, this whole video games and Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, you know, this kind of variety was really getting to our kids. I mean, what what's coming down the pike. So I think the connection to people and not device like understanding the difference of this is what's happening in the real world. This is
the virtual world. And then the real world is better because all the persuasive design is going to get better and better and better. And that AI chatbot that your kid, if your kid's used to texting and now they've got this AI chatbot. Believe me, they're going to like that chatbot more than any other person because it's going to know them inside and out. It's going to compliment them. It's going to feed them what they like. There will be no problems with them there, you know, with real people.
You know, you get conflict. You get correction. You get to say you're sorry. Like this is going to be huge. So the way that kids grow up, the way what they know and learn, and instead of learning that they say, I don't have to learn that my I will do that for me. Like that's going to be a problem.
It's it already is. Yeah, it already is.
It's just going to get bigger.
You know. Interesting. Arlene, I think, um, it's. We live in a weird world right now, and it's. And knowledge is increasing on steroids, by the way, which is predicted to come in Matthew when the end is near. I'm not saying the end is near, but, boy, there's so much geopolitically in family, in church, in government structure around the globe, not just stateside here, we're not the focal point of end times prophecy. In fact, we're absent, which
is eerie. But the interesting thing is that we find ourselves in a world today that is so inundated with fake gods. Yeah. And my question is, how do you help a kid? And if your grandparents, you're kind of co-coaching if those parents have granted you that opportunity and authority, how do you how do you coach kids without them feeling deprived? How do you help them see that? No,
this phone isn't yours right now. No, you're not going to be five years old and have a smartphone or ten or whatever age, but how do you give them a bigger yes without them resenting you? Because that's a yeah, whatever it is, through the ages, that's always been the challenge.
Yes. Yeah. And I think we're actually could be at an inflection point here where more parents are realizing this whole device based childhood is not good for children. And getting back to a play based childhood that that is good for children and for kids, like, think of it as a kid. If they're given the choice, like, hey, I get to run around and like be crazy and
like jump off of things and like, build things. Like, I think they would like that better than I'm going to sit stock still for eight hours every day of my life and look at a screen and not move. So I think that as we embrace as parents like, oh no, we're taking this back, we're going to give our kids fun, that you won't have that, that, um, you know, I think about my own children. I have one now who is post college and working. I have a college student and I have a high school student.
I know. How did this happen, Carl?
How did it.
Happen? You know, how did this happen? And they didn't get phones, smart phones in high school. You know, they did all the and they had a real childhood and they don't resent us. They're like, hey, this this was good. This worked out real good for us. We have skills and we have hobbies, and we play instruments and do sports and do art like they like it. So I think if you as a parent approach it not like, oh, woe is us, we're like these Luddites and we can't
do anything. No, but you say, hey, we're kind of smarter than everybody else because we're actually doing things and you're healthy. You're not you're not sedentary all the time. You're doing things. And the thing is, think of all the times a kid has a device in their spare time, and they go to the device when the kid does not have a device. Guess what? They get bored. They create, they talk to God. They learn how to be more patient.
They learn how to wait for things, and it's way, way better for them.
That's so much better. It's not even close. It's not even close. It's not even. It's not even a close call. You know, if I couldn't have built stuff, broken stuff, and fallen out of trees when I was a kid, I. It wouldn't have been a great childhood. And I, and I thank God that I was raised in the woods and that we built stuff and created. And I want that for your kids and grandkids, guys. And Arlene's got some great truths. You just the podcast amazing but tons of.
And you you were my guest on the happy podcast and when I yes when I have to wake up early because I'm in California to be on this show, my daughter Lucy, who edits the podcast, is like, oh, Mister Carl, killing sin. Like, of course you have to do that with Mister Carl. He's the best. Like he's.
That's encouraging. We had a sweet time together, for sure. Um, this this landing page that we're going to get you to is chock filled with resources, and you're going to want to check it out. Just text the word happy. You're going to get in touch with Arlene Pelikan. She's in our frequent flyer club here. Means that we call her up and we say, would you come on again? And she happily says, okay, so text the word happy to 800 555 7898 800 555 7898 just that word
happy and Arlene. Thank you sister. You are such an encouragement and I mean that from the bottom of my heart. Thanks for being with us today.
Thank you so much, Carl.
Again, that word is happy to 800 555 7898. Get those resources today.
He's a sports fanatic with a stat for anything you can think of. Young Thunder is in the crew. It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
All right, my man, we are having some fun. Boy, what a day we've been having, huh?
It's been a great day, Sam storms.
Greg dempster, Arlene Pelikan. You listen to anything you hear here. And somebody. This is so funny. We get these texts every now and then. Sorry for bumping my microphone there. Every time you bump your mic, it goes like that. That's a bump mic. Uh, somebody said I won't give you the name. They said they called out someone's name. They texted us and said, I couldn't help but think of you when I heard this on my Christian radio station this morning. I know you have a lot of resources,
but here's one that that's really special, I think. So we've got to let this person know. I think you meant it for someone else, but how cool that there are people getting hold of friends going. Get a hold of this resource. Now, we've been given instructions par excellence, and we're going to do a crash course on it right now. If you have not gotten our showcast yesterday.
Young Thunder took two minutes. You're fired up. Aren't you ready? Okay, so yesterday Young Thunder took two minutes to tutor everyone on how to download the show cast, so that you never have to text the word show again.
Yes.
Now this is really cool. Now our show cast is what our show.
Our show cast is the best bits of every single day we have here. So you can go back and listen to a year worth of shows. We get all the songs out, all the underwriting. It's just our content and guests and calls.
So today, Sam Storms. Yep. Greg Dempster, yep. Greg Dempster three bedrock things every disciple of Christ needs to bank on. I mean, the list goes on and on. And then Arlene Pelikan just crushed it with three rock solid truths that set your kids up for success. I mean, killer stuff. Now, you might want to hear it again. Or you want to pass it on to a friend. Bada bing, bada boom. Have we got it for you? Take it away, young thunder. Yeah. How does it work?
It's great. So first just text the word show. Text the word show to 800 555 7898. When you do, it's going to send you back to links. If you have an iPhone or an Apple product, it's going to give you a link for Apple Podcasts. That's an app that's automatically downloaded onto your iPhone when you get it. So it's a little purple app. It'll open that up. Or if you don't have an iPhone or you just like to use it, Spotify, you get that app as well. Once you get those, those links are going to take
you to them. Once you get those, it's going to take you right to Karl and Cruz page. You'll see all of our shows there that you can access. But up at the top of those pages there's going to be a button. And it's basically the same for both apps. It's a follow button. Click the follow button. That means every time you open up your Apple Podcasts or your Spotify, you'll be able to see new episodes of Karl and crew right there. You don't ever have to text show again.
Now, I think some people, when they hear follow button, they're freaking out, going, uh oh, this means I'm going to get spammed or something. No, that doesn't happen that way, right?
No, it's it's nothing. We're not going gonna text you anything or anything like that. It's. It's literally just letting the app know this show. I want to get updates of when they drop a new episode. So every time we drop a new episode, it'll either give you a notification on your phone or when you open the app, it'll just be right there at the top of the page saying, hey, Carl and crew dropped a new episode recently.
And you might. Yeah, and you might go, huh, okay. And move on. Cooking bread or whatever you're doing driving down the road. Or you might go, I got to check that out or forward it on ahead. Okay. You got the goods. You know how to do it now. Text the word show. Let's get this show cast fired up. We want you to be, um, radiant lights. And sometimes some of the coolest things you can do is forward on resources. As God leads to people that you know
and love, they could be radically committed Christ followers. Here you go. Oh, they've been battling with something. I know exactly what to do. Like we had a guy text in here just a moment ago. Thank you so much for that segment with Arlene. The past two days, I've been praying and asking God to show me how to navigate through a situation I'm having with my 16 year old son. I don't want my son to resent me, but I also don't want my son hanging out with
the crowd he's been hanging out with. Tough situation, but thank you guys. Well thank you. Yeah, because we're in this thing together. All right. How do they get that link? Young thunder.
Just text the word show to 805, 55, 78, 98, 805 five, five, 78, 98. The word show. Yeah.
Oh my goodness. Okay, I got a crazy question for you.
Okay.
You and I got a crazy question for you. Crazy question. You guys ready for this one?
We're ready.
Okay.
What is the craziest thing you did as a kid growing up that had nothing to do with a machine? No phone, no game, no Pac-Man, no Pac pack, mom. Did they pack? Mom?
Uh. Miss Pac-Man.
Pac-Man. Pac-Man. We'll see. I miss that one. Uh, they didn't have the Air Force thing. That was the big thing. After. What was the Air Force game? You had that.
You mean Galaga?
Yeah. See, there. Um, that shows you how much I was into those things.
Jonathan.
And how do you know that? For crying out.
Loud.
I'm a pro at Galaga.
Oh, wow. Okay.
Okay.
So.
What did you do as a kid? That was just crazy.
Crazy town.
Crazy.
Come on. Crazy thing.
I don't know if it's a good. Please don't do this at home. Can I just preface what I'm going.
Okay. Go ahead.
I mean, back in the day, uh, but we we would take off on our bikes. You know, you didn't have to be home to, like, street lights came on kind of thing. Right. But we would like, we would go to abandoned buildings and just kind of play hide and seek in these abandoned buildings. Now you've got these young kids in abandoned buildings. Hello.
I love it.
You blast. We played hide and seek. We played tag in these buildings.
If you survive, you grow up well adjusted by going through abandoned building.
There were holes in the floor. Sure, you just hopped over them. I mean, come on. But yeah, it's good stuff.
Good stuff. See, she was raised in a Greek home. Uh, everybody had a bottle of Windex on their hip. Just like my Big Fat Greek Wedding. It was just great. And then she went to abandoned buildings on a bike and had to be home by dark. But we rarely made it home by dark, right? Oh, it was just at the.
Nip.
Right there.
Bang! Oh, calling it close.
Young thunder, what do you say, my man?
Yeah. For me, I was, uh, I was really big into climbing trees. So when I was a kid, there was a tree in my yard that, you know, was probably about 30ft tall. And so I would just climb to the top of the tree, and I would sit up at the top and just chill out up there. I loved just being up high. It felt good. It felt nice. And and any tree you could give me that I could climb, I'd climb it.
Make the world go away. While I sway in the branches.
It's basically what it means a lost art. People do it anymore.
I don't know, no tree climbing still happening.
I feel like it's innate in kids.
To sound, of sound of music. Like tree climbing. Sorry. Ali's not here today. She'd be fired up right now. All those kids up in the trees. Remember that.
Scene? Film. By the way, everyone.
Oh, yeah, she loves it. She's getting back from the mission field. She'll be here tomorrow. Uh, somebody texted in. I didn't even ask him. Said craziest thing I did as a teenager. Galloping across a golf course at night on my horse.
Oh, yeah. On a horse.
Wow.
The grounds crew had been digging that.
That's called.
That's called divots. That's called divots for sure.
Okay.
Okay. I'm opening up phone lines right now. What's the craziest thing you did as a kid? Craziest thing you did as a kid? 805 five, five, 7898, 805 five, five 7898.
Get to know the team behind the scenes. Follow Carl and crew on Facebook and Instagram.
What's the craziest thing you did as a kid? David in Florida. What do you say, my man?
Me and my friend tried to.
Parachute.
With a bed.
Sheet.
Off of his roof at the peak.
That's awesome.
I think most kids tried that. I tried to do it with spruce boughs taped to my arms. David, I tried to fly off of a garage. Didn't work. How did it work for you, David?
Okay. Uh, well, the knots didn't hold, and we lost a grip on one end, and we both landed hard on our each individual attempts. Nothing broken, but we were sore for days. And then, of course, we're like moms. Why are you limping? Oh, I crashed on my bike or something.
Yeah. You lied. Oh, goodness. David in Florida. Way to go, my man. Uh winnette. I think that's how I pronounce it. Uh, in Illinois. What do you say?
Hi.
Um, I'm still laughing from that last one.
That was hilarious. Um, I grew up in front of a very large cemetery, and, like Young Thunder, I was a tree climber. So me and my friends would climb trees all over that cemetery because it was loaded with them. And occasionally we would get caught having to sit up there for quite a while because a funeral would come by and all the cars would stop underneath us, and so we had to wait it out.
I did the leaves.
I saw many a visitation or funeral.
Oh, bless your heart. That is great. Winnette. Oh my word. All right. Taking your calls, we're going to go to Lightning Round here in three minutes. What's the craziest thing you did as a kid? Craziest thing you did as a kid? My bride. Do you know what she would do, guys? No joking. As a teenager, she would look in the Rockies at a peak, look at the peak and go, I'm going to go climb that mountain. And she'd go do it alone.
Oh my goodness. How old was she?
Teenager.
That's crazy.
She looks back and she goes, I don't know why I did that stuff alone. Matt and Grand Rapids, what do you say, Matt?
Um, we took my dad to the state patrol car. State police patrol car for a drive. Me and my buddy as they went up to House Lake to vacation. But on the way back, I looked in the rear view mirror. And that's my dad and my siblings in the car with my mom just gazing at me. So that was the craziest thing I ever did. And I survived the beating. When we got home, um, so I wouldn't advise anyone to do that.
So if your dad's a trooper, don't use his car ever. Oh my goodness. It's crazy what kids do. They think yeah, this looks like it could be fun.
Looks fun.
Oh my word. Dave, first time caller in Indianapolis. What do you say, my man?
Oh, the craziest thing I've ever done was jumped off of an overpass onto the back of a moving semi, just to see if I could do it. My friend and I made it, and the driver didn't realize we were on top of the trailer until he was almost to Chicago.
Okay, that is in a new category of crazy. Oh my goodness. People do not do this.
We do not recommend.
In fact, I should have put a teen ager warning.
Yeah, that's true too.
Do not take your dad's car if he's a state trooper and do not jump off overpasses. Talk about crazy stuff.