Coming to you from the Morning Star Mission sponsored studio. This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
It seems like technology has upside and downside. Last night, I was watching a little something with my bride and all the hallmark movie. And, I mean, you know how old it was. Ali.
How old?
It was so old. They had payphones.
You're kidding.
Now, if you're listening right now and you don't know what a payphone is, well.
Google.
Google. Yeah, you don't have to Google it anymore. That's the beautiful thing. You don't have to Google it at all. You don't have to get.
Those.
Crazy ads. Boy, is it a changin. Yes. Watching this thing. And what's the upside of not having cell phones?
I love not having cell phones. Yeah.
Being more aware and present around.
You with the people around you.
Being present.
Fewer distractions. Yeah. Calls are intentional. I remember, like, we couldn't wait till the phone rang and you hung on. You talked for 30 minutes on the phone. No one has a conversation anymore.
No.
Not much. Not.
Yeah. Phone calls give you anxiety.
Maybe because I'm old school, but I still have some long conversations. I need to not lie about that. But, yeah, I mean, it's wild. You know, one thing. I think it's great to know where your kids are at, but cell phones have enabled helicopter parents to hover. I mean, morning, noon and night.
Absolutely.
So it's a it's a wild there's there's kids aren't getting outside as much. Very true. That going on.
But then there's the the convenience factor. So my son got invited to an event and the invitation said snappy casual. And I thought, what in the world does snappy casual mean? So I went to ChatGPT and I said, show me some examples of outfits that are snappy casual for a 12 year old boy going to a bar mitzvah.
Okay.
And so it showed me these outfits that were snappy casual. So it means it's like casual but turned up a notch. So you can do khakis and a nice shirt, but then do some cool sneakers. I got a whole picture graph of outfits for my son that were snappy, casual, that were it was very helpful for me to dress.
I remember that on its way. Snappy casual, snappy casual.
I preach snappy casual.
Yeah.
You live snappy.
Casual fast snappy casual.
You're a snappy casual guy.
Well, snappy casual.
There you have.
It.
See, technology can make you feel a little bit better when you're on yourself, when you're down on your wardrobe.
Oh, man.
That's really funny, by the way. That's something that's changed over the years, hasn't it? I mean, I used to preach in Joseph Abboud suits.
Oh, yeah.
And it wasn't that long ago. go.
No, no, no, the suit thing changed. You know, I mean, pretty recently.
For many churches, I mean, some churches still are.
Yeah. No there's.
Some. Yeah, there's some that are still breaking suits.
It's not a requirement though anymore. It used to be a requirement. Yeah. Had to wear one or expectation.
Yeah.
It was kind of seen that way but yeah. Technology's a funny thing because it's like any innovation there's good and there's bad. There's good and there's lousy. And I don't know what outweighs what with what's going on right now. I got a I'm an optimist. Would you say I'm an optimist?
Yes.
Yeah. I'm not bullish on modern technology being good for us over being bad for us. I'm kind of on the we've gotten to a point right now where it's kind of I'm not sure about this.
I think there's fairness to that. Obviously there's really good things, but there are really, really difficult things. Really hard or bad things that That they way back and forth a lot sometimes.
Yeah. I mean, they just I mean, I don't want to get down in the dumps here, but the accessibility of pornography and the here's what's amazing is bullying used to be in person on the playground. Yeah. Now, I mean, I'm watching data and studies that are saying online bullying has exponentially increased because it's online.
Yeah.
And that's and even that is probably, I would say ten years ago was when people were talking a lot about online bullying. And even that has shifted. Now it's even more nuanced like that. People can create a fake profile and impersonate you. So there's like these layers to it where it becomes easier and easier for people to get away with things to, you know, identity theft and more than just like stealing your credit card information, but someone actually pretending to be you online.
Yeah. I mean, it's it's crazy. There's that going on. And then I saw this crazy article that the online bullying has shifted, because now there's some code for kids so that adults didn't don't know it unless they know the code. Like there's emojis that are bully emojis and there's little keywords that are bully keywords.
It doesn't surprise me.
No. I mean, it's a it's a whole subculture.
Platforms like Snapchat where supposedly things disappear.
But they don't. Right. Because you can.
I mean, you can screenshot it. It notifies you that it's that someone's taking a screenshot, but in the way kids use it, they think this image is going to disappear.
Boy, I'm going to have to. Could you coach me up on Screenshotting because Young Thunder thinks he's getting away with murder when he's bullying me with Snapchat.
So I.
Need.
Snapchat. You know, Carl.
And.
I are.
On Snapchat every day.
I don't even I've never been.
On so disruptive during the show. So disruptive.
Yeah. During the show, the show is going.
More of the in-person variety.
The show's going great in Young Thunder's blasted me here behind the scenes.
Sending him selfies.
Hurts.
Oh, man.
Yeah.
You get teased about that stuff because it's happening.
Yeah.
It's happening. Yeah, yeah.
Okay. Coming up, we're talking about this this morning guys. It's tough out there. But what's it leading us to understand and do. And we're going to have a good morning here. And what if you need to return to the Lord. Today we're covering a lot in this hour. Hang on.
A basketball mom who's mastered the dad joke. Ali is in the crew. It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
You truly loved by God today. Somebody needs to hear that. Is that you? You're loved by God today. Please don't forget that as you are. He doesn't want to leave you as you are. We're going to be talking about returning to the Lord. Some of you may look around your life and you see little patterns of destruction, or things that are getting gobbled up by modern day locusts and you're like, ah, what's going on? Sometimes it can
be the circumstances of the world around us. Other times it it can be because we've wandered away from God. And God's got an answer for that today. Well, we're talking technology. Technology has upsides and downsides. And. Oh, have we got an expert, Ali?
Yeah. Imagine sitting down and your assignment is to interview. I kind of like Siri. Hey, Siri. Let's have a whole conversation. Just you and me. Kind of strange.
Only here's the problem. I have a I have an easier time talking with a robot if I know it's a robot. If it sounds like a robot, when it sounds like a neighbor, that's a problem. Or is it? Hang on.
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.
I have a huge celebration moment. You guys ready for it?
Okay, ready.
I no longer Google anything. I'm a Crocker.
Oh.
What?
I'm a Crocker, not a Googler. Yeah, I, I am blown away by it, and I've checked it out. It's crazy. Ali, I don't know how it happens. And I've got a friend who's an absolute brilliant guy in Alaska. I was talking with him and he's like, how does I spit out this stuff? Like instantly in full sentence form? And they just heard the question. It's almost scary. Well, with us, we got an AI expert when he got his PhD in this, I don't think he knew what was coming his way. Ali.
Or maybe he did.
Maybe he.
Did. Doctor Drew Dickens joining us right now. Did you anticipate that this is where we would be with AI?
Boy, that makes me some kind of creepy. Like doctor up in a tower right there. Wild hair, sparks flying everywhere. And no, by the way, I had no clue. I couldn't get a return phone call six years ago when OpenAI hadn't even been launched yet. And. And now all of a sudden, it's like, now I'm on with you guys talking about it. So it's amazing and just incredibly fast.
Every day, a couple of times a day. I was listening to a podcast the other day, and they they actually had to interrupt halfway through because there was an update of what they had already started talking about. So it's moving incredibly fast and it's just it's just amazing. Hey, let me respond to your, uh, your friend in Alaska who was asking those questions. You know, the spookiest answer to that question is no one knows. So Geoffrey Hinton, um.
Was.
Was the AI kind of creator at Google? Um, and it's still around. Uh, he's a professor up in Canada, and he'll tell you flat out he invented what's called the neural network, which he basically created the architecture on how AI thinks. And he'll tell you he doesn't know why. He doesn't know how it does it. So, yeah, the spookiest thing is there's no one behind this thing. It's easy to say, hey, it's made by man, so it must be now. It's on its own.
Doctor Drew Dickens, he's a visionary leader, AI expert, scholar. Tell us about a recent podcast episode you recorded. Speaking of. Kind of spooky. Tell us about.
It.
Yes. Most definitely. So I've got this podcast, AI and spirituality. And the first, I don't know, 7 or 8 episodes are just kind of catching people up on what's going on. Uh, and not to be afraid, but just to kind of start putting your toe in the water. So the first episodes are just about, uh, you know, what is an algorithm? What is a language model? But after that, I start every week kind of intentionally exploring a new launch or
a new feature. And there was a company called Sesame, and they're inventing, um, glasses that, that we'll be able to wear and look at things and, and be able to, to interact. And they decided, you know, what we need is a, a companion When you wear the glasses, they'll be able to talk to you and interact with you as you're walking around with these glasses on. So they've put a lot of time into this companion. And there
are two of them. There's Maya and Miles. And so the other day on an episode, I decided, you know what? Maya and I are going to have a conversation about spirituality. And it was mind blowing. It is so real. The interaction, the the emotion in her voice. And and she's got a super dry sense of humor. She'd be a great host, by the way. Great sense of humor, very sarcastic. And she and I just had a blast talking about just the deeper things of life.
Okay, this is freaking people out. Yeah, not least of which is me. And I'm pretty open to this stuff. And I'm and I'm benefiting greatly from grok. And I think Christians are sometimes late adopters on this. How do you navigate the world where you don't know why I can respond so quickly, and where we're going forward? How do you interact with this?
You know, I came across a great term. I don't know, maybe ten years ago, I was always been very active up in Silicon Valley and, and involved in a couple of different startups and whatnot. And there's a phrase that they use, uh, kind of a critical one, but they'll just, uh, quite often programmers will just look at each other and go, hey, go touch grass. And I love the idea of just all of us pausing periodically and just going outside and take your shoes off and walk through the grass is
to get grounded again. And that's what I think is going to creep up on us, and already is creeping up on us, where we begin to rely on this more and more grok, Claude or these other language models. And, uh, I love that you've kind of navigated towards grok. I'm more of a Claude guy, which to those listening, is another language model like grok. Um, but it's easy to get wrapped up in this or Maya and really kind of forget, you know, what is going on right now.
And I need to get back to this, like what you and I are doing right now, what the three of us are doing. I need to get back and look people in the eye and listen to conversations and and just walk through the grass sometimes. So that's one of the things I'm, I'm really touching a lot on lately is encouraging people to step away and to kind of re-engage with creation, uh, re-engage with the creator.
We've got Doctor Drew Dickens with us right now. So speaking of Touch and Grass, you've written a book to help people re-engage with spiritual discipline. Hearing from the father. It seems like it couldn't be further apart from your work with I, but kind of talk about these two things that you have a hand in.
First off, just acknowledging that there's a separation between the two and and it's easy to get lost in whatever technology media. I don't mean to to trash all that, but it's easy to get lost. And especially as you said earlier, when they respond so quickly. I coined a term a couple of years ago about AI is incapable of not answering. Rare use of a double negative there, but it can't not answer. And so it can't say boy,
good question I don't know. And so you've got something that will always answer your questions and answer them quickly. And boy that that's addictive. In in our world where we're just constantly looking for answers or direction or guidance. And so it's easy to get lost in that. And I don't fault I don't shade anybody for that because I get lost in that. And so I thought, man, we need to find some way in in Scripture. I just love the story. It's how I started the book.
We look for him in the thunder, right? We look for him in the earthquake. We look for him in the the loud voice. But it's his whisper that we really need to learn to stop and just again walk through the grass and just stop and and look up. We were at a church service in New York. Beautiful church, beautiful ceilings, and you couldn't help the entire service. But
look up. And that's, I think architecturally, what they were looking to do is just put yourself in a place where you're constantly looking up and being reminded of creation. And that was my heart. In writing, whispers of the spirit is to man engage in the technology. It's not going away. It's only getting better every day. It will. It will never be any worse than it is today. So engage in that. Learn it. But don't forget to listen to the whispers of the spirit.
I got a hunch. My hunch is that you're touching grass. Moment is this whispers of the spirit. And you must feel at times. I'm not going to put words in your mouth. Doctor. Drew Dickens is with us right now. He's got a PhD in this stuff called I before it was even popular. But there must be a sense in which this is almost the cry of your soul to save us from ourselves on I. Am I going too far there? I mean.
Wow, man, I'm going to steal that phrase. Thank you. That.
Well, I mean, but really this is scary stuff. I where it's going and you're saying let God still be God.
Look at our relationship with technology as, as Christians. I mean we can go back. Oh my gosh, we can go back, you know, thousand, 2000 BC when we have the ancient prophets of Scripture, them relying on the Ark of the covenant, them relying on, you know, casting of lots, uh, the Urim and Thummim in first and second Samuel, ah, was a device that the priests used to inquire of God. So we're used to, um, leveraging technology to encounter the divine.
And we've always done that. Then fast forward, man. We've got, uh, we've got Gutenberg and we've got the printing press. And and so we've always leveraged, oh my gosh, the radio. Okay. Yeah. You go back to the Billy Graham Organization, which leveraged the power of this brand new medium to reach millions of people with the gospel like you do every morning, every day. So we have this relationship with technology to
help us encounter God. So it's nothing new. I think what's unusual about this version of those things is, well, Boy again, as you touched on a moment ago, it's quick, it's instant. It seems to have a personality when we talk to it, when we engage with it, and it derives that knowledge from the entirety of human knowledge. So from Sumerian writings to, frankly, this broadcast this morning, it's
consumed all that. So it can draw on that to give us instant answers, which isn't that unusual to forms of technology that we as believers have have sought and leveraged in the past.
But what we're looking for is that deeper connection with the divine, which can often feel elusive when you have technology pulling at you, when there's distractions, when there's so much noise, what do you want the reader to gain? This 40 day guide to intimate prayer?
You just touched on something I think really, really spot on is we long for that connection, and I think if we're not careful, we can find ourselves relying on this for divine inquiry. Divine guidance that was my dissertation was its effect on spiritual direction. So instead of talking to a pastor, talking to a spiritual guide, talking to someone in your circle that you trust in and can meet with and have you know what and have shared
experiences with. They may not answer the phone call at 3 a.m., uh, or they may go, hey, you know what? This has been fun, but I got to go. This won't it won't say, hey, I'm bored, let's move on. And so I think there's going to be a time where we're looking for it to answer a calling in our life, uh, that it will be happy to provide
to us. And I think we just need to learn to have others in our life and, frankly, be mindful of that in our life where we need to stop and go, okay, I need to we keep going back to this, but I need to go outside and walk in some grass. I love it. Um, and just be sensitive to that.
It's really good. It's really good. It's freaky. Uh, I'm going to give it to you straight up. I mean, I'm I'm gobsmacked by what I'm finding as I do grok searches and I'm I'm leveraging it for tons of stuff. I mean, historical cultural study for message prep that I'm doing. I mean, it's it's crazy. Okay, Ali, we got a two for here because we got something really intriguing with this podcast, right?
Yeah. You're interested in both, right? The whispers of the spirit of 40 Day Guide to Intimate Prayer. But also, you can't help but wonder. I wonder what that podcast sounds like. We've got links to the book and the podcast. Just text the word peace to (800) 555-7898. Text peace p a c e peace to 800 555 7898.
This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
You ever had a situation where you're looking at something in the Word of God and you go, why didn't I see this sooner? We've all had that.
Oh, yeah. Absolutely.
Yeah. We go. Why didn't I see this sooner? This morning? Early? Actually, it was last week. I found this reference. I did a deep dive on it early this morning and boy is it powerhouse. This could be one of the most powerful moments in your life spiritually. And I'm not overstating it. I'm not overstating it. So let me set it up this way. There are a lot of reasons why things fall down around our lives. Fair guys?
Yes.
Very fair.
And there are a lot of external forces at work. I mean, we've got demonic things that are going on. We've got people that are under the influence of the prince and power of the air, and that is Satan. And there are just there's natural things. Myanmar. I mean, look at what's going on with earthquakes. I mean, my goodness, there's so many things going on in this broken and fallen world that we look back and go, oh my goodness, look at what? Look at the fallout from this thing.
Things are broken. So the danger is, is that as Christ followers, we miss one of the greatest gifts God gives to us. And that is looking for. Personal responsibility. No matter if it's a grain of sand compared to an a beach of external forces, that is our responsibility in this thing. And this can get so difficult because you've got Satan himself saying, don't look at the grain of sand of your responsibility, right? I mean, that's the way it rolls.
It is. And there are so many things that have happened to us where we have zero fault in it. Yep. Zero fault. So you could have had a very traumatic background. That was zero.
Sexual assault.
For you to own in that. What it can produce in you is a is a is a bitterness and anger that starts. You start to carry into other situations in your life where you show up in your workplace, and maybe because of some trauma in your background, you react to people poorly. You don't trust people.
You snap at.
People.
And so you had zero ownership in the thing that happened to you. But what it produced in you causes you sometimes to then sin against other people. And you have to own the sin where you can own regardless of you've got nothing to own. And what happened in your background?
Yeah, it's the council. My bride got from her mentor named her daughter after her. She was so wise. Some of the best counsel I've ever received was from my mouth. The mouth of my bride. After she had met with Muriel one afternoon, way back in the day, nearly 40 years ago. For crying out loud in Marilyn, Ford looked at Jinan and said, as difficult as it is whenever you face fallout in your life if there is 10% ownership. And so let's break this down 20%, 50%, 70%, 0.05%
that you can own. And I want to restate, are there issues out there that people have gone through that have zero response? Yes. But Allie's right too on this one because what that can create is a downstream impact. That's like, okay, that thing back there was. And let's just take sexual assault that had nothing to do with me. Childhood. Not even going to go for any little ear warnings here.
But you know what I'm talking about. Boom crew. But carried forward if if it begins to cloud everything around us and we then find ourselves saying, God, help me to separate that from this. That's a powerful growth opportunity. And oftentimes, here's what we miss. I know I've done it. It's easy to do in marriage. It's easy to do in business partnerships. It's easy to do with your co-hosts on Carl and Crew. Morning. It's easy. It's easy. It's
easy to point. How long has it been said? You know, when you got one finger pointing forward, you got, you know, what do they say?
Pointing back at you.
Or three and a half. I never could get my thumb.
The thumb can't go backwards.
Yeah, we got it. We got it.
Three and a half.
Yeah.
And that's the point. Now, some of you have things that it's like. If I'm honest with God. Carl. Yeah, A man. There's no question in my mind. I got 100% ownership in this one thing. And some of you guys got 70%. I can own some 40%, some 30%, some 10%. You know, getting into percentages can be dicey, too, because you can say, I got 0.0123. That's pretty small to own.
And it's really hard to own your 1%. If you feel like the person who's 99% needs to own it won't. And that can get you stuck, too. I've been there.
But do.
You see how much more at fault she.
Is?
Look at that sucker.
God, she's not apologizing.
To me for the 99%.
Smoke em! God! Smoke em! I'm standing by and watching. I'm in the front row. Let lightning fall.
Careful.
Yeah. And here's why the prophet Joel said, there's so much that we're missing out on. And coming up here, we're going to break it down from the prophet Joel. We don't even know the exact time that it was written, but boy, is it relevant. No matter what time it was written. So I want you to have just a moment here of introspection and be willing to say, search me, God. Search me. Hang on.
Romans eight brought her to Jesus while broadcasting traffic overnight. Super die is in the crew. It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
The essence of discipleship is really not to go through just perfunctory motions. Spiritual disciplines are great, but there's moments of introspection, humble introspection that allow us to change radically. But I don't want you to head into this without the greater vision. So the prophet Joel, we don't know when this book was written. Exactly. There's a lot of strong opinions on both sides. Some say 800 A.D. excuse me BC, and some say it was during the Babylonian
captivity in 536 or so BC. But it really doesn't matter, because it's a theme that's repeated over and over again for God's kids then and today. So it's really a timeless book. And the prophet Joel says these words, now you got to get the whole thing and the payoffs at the end here. Yet even now, declares the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning, and rend your hearts and not your garments. Isn't that a funny statement, guys? Rend your hearts, not
your garments. In other words, don't let this be a surface repentance. Go. Let it go deep. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love. And he relents over disaster. And we love that, don't we? And that's the payoff. I love that that Hebrew word there for steadfast love is one Hebrew word, hesed. And it's a covenantal love. It means that we're coming under the umbrella. Remember that insurance company? I forget the name of it.
You come under the umbrella. I forget what it is. But every time I saw that way back in the day, I thought, oh, these guys don't know anything about him. Umbrella insurance policies. The hesed love of God's got them all beat, baby.
Amen.
They got them all beat. So here's what's going on. The nation of Israel had walked away from God. So he says, yet even now, declares the Lord, return to me with all your heart. Why? Because the locusts had eaten their stuff. So sometimes we've got stuff going on in our life that locusts have eaten, that are totally
detached from us. I'm reminded of of why I love studying history and getting just snippets, and the Great Depression came so quickly that there were tycoons on ships in the Atlantic when they went from gazillionaires to paupers overnight because they couldn't get on land to trade stocks or dissolve them fast enough to save anything. That's a shocker, isn't it, guys?
Wow.
It's a shocker. Was that their doing? No. I mean, you could maybe go ah well they were speculating and they were, you know, they, they were reaching for more. Okay. Whatever. But the depression hammered everyone in this nation without respect to income level. It just hammered everybody. So there's things like that sexual assault of a child. Those things. Come on, man. Those those things. There's nothing attached to us. But there's
so much stuff in our workaday world, everyday life. And it could be a company that you started that's beginning to crumble. And part of it is due to the fact that you've been far from God in this process of being an entrepreneur. And that's hard to hear. If not, for I'm abounding in steadfast love. I'm gracious and merciful, says God. Come on home. Return to me. You see, yesterday we were looking at the sermon on the Mount
and that there's reward for fasting. The only question is, do you want to be rewarded by man, or do you want to be rewarded by God? And here Joel says, go into a quiet place. Don't tear the outer garments. Don't be surface level. Go right down to the core and just repent and go. God hears my heart and this and this is what you do. You have humility. You have introspection, you have consecration and you have restoration.
Wow.
Hallelujah. And I want you to know something I go first. Do I always know? Sometimes I'm teaching stuff here. Pouring out my heart about stuff. And I don't go first. But this morning I went first. And I tried to. I'd say if I'm putting percentages to things, I'd say 90% of the time I. I try to go first. I don't want to dish up stuff here that I'm not practicing. That would be there's warnings against those guys too. We got to be careful here, don't we? Alien team.
Yeah.
So what I want you to do is have a time of humble introspection right now. And look at something that locusts have eaten in your life and go, God, what percentage of this is mine? And then we're going to pray together of where you go from there. They're coming up.
You're listening to Curl and Crew on Moody Radio.
Humility. Introspection. Consecration always leads to restoration. It's repeated over and over in Scripture. I want to stand up and shout. It's one of the most amazing things about God's goodness to us. And some of you are wondering this morning, have I wandered too far from God? I can't return to him. The journey's too long. He's right behind you. He's. That's the amazing thing about traveling far from God. In his mercy, he travels along with us so that when we repent, boom! We're there.
Yeah.
Isn't that beautiful?
It's so beautiful. Because you think about, I mean, how much you can feel like you've blown it, and then you feel like I've blown it again and again and again and again, and then you start reading in the Bible and you realize, hmm, I'm not the first one to have blown it again and again and again. And God still had mercy and still had compassion and kindness. And he's the same yesterday, today and forever. So that's for me to.
Yeah.
So in case you just tuned in, let me recap this. And then Ali's going to pray for everyone. Big blanket prayer right now because some of you need to return to God. And the reason you know, it is the Holy Spirit that convicts the world of sin, righteousness and judgment is revealing to you things that are broken in your life, the equivalent of things that locusts have eaten. Little aspects, maybe not the whole enchilada, but there's something you can own somewhere. And the Holy Spirit is so good.
I've found him to be inexplicably accurate in my life, inexplicably spot on. The only question is, will I linger there? Humility. Introspection. Real contrition. Real contrition. And restorations coming your way. Nation of Israel. They're like, ah, look at what the locusts have eaten. And Joel the prophet prophets were not popular. They were not popular. He said, even now, declares the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting. Whoa! Why?
Why fasting? Because withholding a meal today to say. Oh, God. I haven't been the husband to my bride like you've called me to be. I'm owning it. I haven't been the boss. I haven't been the coworker. I've been the parent. I haven't been filling the blank. You know the Holy Spirit's telling you. And then you begin to change. Why? Because the Lord loves you that much. And it is beautiful. Return to the Lord today. Ali. Let's pray.
Lord, thank you that you invite us to return to you. God, that we are not too far gone. So for the person who's listening today. God, I pray that as you're at work by your spirit in their heart, that they would sense your nearness and presence in a fresh way. Thank you that you are gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love. Thank you that we have a position in Christ that's secure, that we cannot be snatched out of your hand. So today we return to
you in repentance, rending our heart and not our garment. Lord. So from the inside out we come back to you. I just pray for a great cleansing today, Lord. Cleanse us of our unrighteousness. Cleanse us of our sin. Wash us clean, Lord. Restore what the locusts have eaten. God. Allow us to experience the newness of turning back to you again. God, we appreciate you. We're so grateful because we. Where else can we go?
Where do.
We go?
Where do we go if not to you? So thank you today for a fresh start for the person who needs it. Lord, beginning in this room. God in every area where we need it, we're grateful. So, Lord, we turn back to you today and we thank you in Jesus name. Amen.
Amen. I'm convinced because I've seen it. The moment you turn toward God, you come under the umbrella of his love, that covenantal love. And please, keep the bigger why in mind. You don't repent to pay penance. You repent and return to God because he is slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, and he relents over disaster and heartache and pain. Return to God today. Return to God today.
He was running from God, but God's love brought him home. Carl is in the crew. It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
You know what I think? Have we got Franklin in here right now?
We do, we do.
Let's get him in. Franklin. Graham. How are you, my friend?
I'm doing good. I trust you're doing well.
Yeah, I'm doing really well. So we're. We wanted to get you in here. Thank you for taking the time to do this. I know you got plenty going on, Franklin, but what's going on in Myanmar and all ultimately neighboring, uh, Thailand. What's what's going on?
Well, we're responding to the crisis there in Myanmar. We've got, um. Today we're taking a hospital out of Calgary. One of our field hospitals, and we're flying it, uh, into, um, Rangoon or Yangon, they call it now. And then it'll be trucked up to the Mandalay area. And so it's a it's a 60 bed, uh, tier three hospital. Tier three means we got two operating rooms, uh, emergency room, uh, x ray, uh, laboratory, uh, everything that you need. And all of this is very modern equipment. It's the same
equipment that the US military uses in their field hospitals. So, uh, that we've got that going, we'll have, uh, about 60 people right now. Uh, that will be over there. Then we'll have, um, uh, probably build it up to a little over 100, maybe 120 people. And then you have to rotate your doctors and nurses out about every 4 to 6 weeks. Uh, so, uh, these are doctors and nurses that have full time jobs, uh, other places, but they take a they, they take a break to work
for us. But we've got to turn that that team over and keep it, keep the hospital up and running. But uh, and of course, with that Carl, you got all the supplies that the hospital needs. Uh, you just don't go run out and buy locally. You have to take it with you. And not only that, but we have to take our own generators, water purification system. Um, because the water systems there are compromised. Uh, your your generators. It's a different, uh, power grid. So we're on 110, uh,
there I think is on 220. So we have to take we have to take generators to generate our own electricity. So it's it's a it's a complicated system, but it's, uh, but it works. And we've, we've used we've got one right now in Sudan, a maternity hospital. And we've set these up, uh, here in the United States, but around the world. And we keep about five hospitals in stock so that whenever there's a crisis, we're ready to go.
Amazing.
Franklin Graham. Our guest right now, he's the president and CEO of Samaritan's Purse, which is an international Christian relief and evangelism organization. That this disaster is the worst to hit the region in over a century. And as you have responded and been over overseeing the response of Samaritan's Purse over so many years, what what do you see
when you when you arrive to such devastation? And there's people in need and there's crisis and you're you're providing practical care, but in the name of Jesus Christ, what does this look like on the ground in these first days and weeks and months?
Well, it's very chaotic because the infrastructure of the country is is seriously compromised. Roads, trains, electrical grid, all of this is down. Uh, whole sections of cities are flat. Uh, when the earthquake first happened up in Mandalay, fires broke out and and just leveled level. Huge portions of the city by fire. So this is a this is a catastrophe. Uh, they're saying over 2000 some people have have died, but it's going to be we're afraid it's going to be
in the many thousands. Uh, when all the numbers come in, they just don't have any. The, uh, we talked to local people today. Uh, and these are church partners that we have with Operation Christmas Child and that we've been working with for years in the country. And they they said, we don't know what to do, not only for our own people. We have no resources to help them, but we don't even know what to do for our own families. Uh,
we need drinking water. We need mosquito nets. Uh, we need, uh, shelter. Uh, and they don't have any of that. And so, uh, that's some, some things that we'll be getting in in the next few weeks is, you know, uh, tarps. Uh, for people where, you know, they can cut a piece of plastic and at least make a makeshift shelter to keep out of the rain and. Mosquito nets. This is this is a big thing. So we're going to be busy. But the most important thing is we do it in
the name of Jesus Christ. Uh, this this, uh, government has, uh, has had difficulty with this church relations. And we hope that after all of this, it will improve the church relations with the government. And so just pray that we can be the hands and feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. Uh, in these next few months as we try to minister in his name.
What keeps you going, Franklin? What what keeps this passion burning? Is it lives change, lives touched. What? What is it?
Well, we're commanded to go into the world to make disciples of all on all, all nations. And listen, the those. Those are the orders from the King of kings and the Lord of lords. The those that those orders have not been rescinded. And so we're still under that mandate. And I just think when there's a crisis like this, this is a great opportunity to go in and help people and do it in Jesus name and make disciples as we go.
Amen. Uh, you're listening to this right now. Ali, I'm going to ask you to pray here in a moment, but text the word Pierce. We've got some Franklin, as you know. And that's why I'm so grateful that you come on here. But we got some of the most generous people now across the nation. Carlos Cruz, Carl and crew has heard across the nation. Uh, I want you boom crew right now. If God is prompting your heart, let's throw some shekels to this ministry right now. Text
the word purse. Just the word purse to 800 555, 78, 98. There's a lot of entities that are in there, but none or few like Samaritan's Purse that do it so strongly in the name of Jesus. Text purse to 800 555 7898. We're going to keep you here, Franklin. Ali, would you pray?
Yeah. Lord, we thank you that you are sovereign. over all things, Lord. You are sovereign over storms, over earthquakes, over disaster. God. And we don't have answers. We we don't fully understand why things happen, but God, we trust
in your goodness and your sovereignty. So we pray that you would comfort the afflicted God, that those who don't know you would turn to you as their source of hope, as their source of comfort, as the anchor for their souls in the days and weeks, and Lord, that eternity would be changed for so many people, God, as they turn to you. Lord, we pray for Samaritan's Purse, for the the doctors and the volunteers and the people who will be on the ground. Lord, we pray for their protection,
for their safety. Lord Jesus, for the as they as they work and as they minister God, that there would be stories of transformation. God of healing, Lord of healing of bodies, healing of families, Lord, and ultimately healing of souls. God, we just ask that you would use this as you always do. God, you can take the worst thing, God, and you can use it and be glorified through it. Lord,
we don't know how, but we trust you. So we just pray, Lord, over this entire region that your name would be lifted high, God, that your presence would be felt in tangible ways. Lord, that as they are looking for survivors, Lord, that those who are still clinging to hope, God, that they would cry out to you and you would be their rescuer. Lord, we pray for miracles out of this. So, God, we just ask for your sovereignty, for your mercy, and for your deliverance. In the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.
Amen. And let it be.
Amen. Thank you.
Guys. Franklin. Franklin. Graham, thank you for being with us. Text the word Pierce to 800 555 7898. Just the word Pierce, and you'll get a link there. A lot of you wonder, and I get this question a lot. How do we care for needs in this area, that area when it comes to these kind of responses? Samaritan's purse is top of the list.
Top of the list.
Text purse to 800 555 7898. Godspeed, Franklin, we love you. Great.
Thank you guys. God bless you.
Yeah. God bless you, brother. Oof! That hits hard, huh?
Yeah.
Yeah. And him, I mean, recovery efforts. There are people flying in from all around the globe on recovery efforts, because in many of these countries, they don't have the kind of equipment needed to even sense, you know, they're out of that crazy. Sadly, they're out of that recovery zone. It's kind of that life zone where people can sustain life buried. So now it's moving into more of a
recovery effort rather than rescue effort. But the amount of lives that are buried under rubble right now, it's horrific. And yet even after that, what you're doing now is ministering to family and friends and loved ones. And what a powerful ministry.