Coming to you from the Morning Star Mission sponsored studio. This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
You know, I gotta tell you, I got to go back to this lunch that I had yesterday with, uh, some really cool staff at our church here in Chicagoland. It was such a. You ever been in those meetings that kind of caught you off guard?
Yes. Yes, in a great way.
Yeah, in a great way. Not a bad way.
Not the other kind of caught off guard meetings. Those you don't want to talk about.
Oh, we have these meetings here at Moody Radio where we have to rate the meeting and thankfully, what are what are the normal ratings come in at for our meetings.
Between 8 to 10? Yeah, yeah. Nine's like the average. Yeah. Yeah.
So between 8 to 10. But we're doing good when we can have a meeting and, and we have to rate every meeting at the end of it. Yeah. Now we found out that if you rate it at A7I believe or below. Then it kicks a system error back to you going why? Why was why why not an eight or a nine or a ten?
Then you have to have a meeting about that.
Then you have to have a meeting about that.
Yeah.
But it's really cool. But we sat down at this meeting yesterday and one of the young ladies just opened up and I, I forget what opened this, this door, but it was beautiful. And we all began to share stories of how the Lord had ministered to us deeply in our pain and some of the stuff that people had gone through. And one young lady was sharing. And then as she was sharing, a girl sitting right next
to her just began to weep for her. And then we all get choked up because it's like, oh boy, and I'm glad we were sitting off in a corner because we're like, oh man, what the world's going on over here? We got a therapy session. Well, basically it was it was really dynamite. And, you know, we've been talking about transformational tools, and I just want to champion
something right now. One of the most transformational tools you can have in your life is to be in a loving community of other Jesus followers, where you can have lunches like that, you can sit down and share your heart and go, let me tell you what God's done in my life, and maybe even deal with things that aren't totally resolved yet, but watch God minister there. It's one of the most powerful things that we can do. You ever been in one of those? Ali?
Yeah. One of those meetings where it was unexpected. It was unexpected. And there was a heart connection. I think back to some meetings. It used to be a part of a ministry called Moms on Mission, and it was a moms ministry that met at our church. And I started attending and then eventually was helped lead helped to
lead it. But it was just those meetings were have such a sweet place in my in my memory because such humility, such a sense of collaboration, a desire to be growing in Jesus ourselves, but also to encourage other moms, moms of little kids, moms of adult kids and everything in between. And just the heart of the women that I got to serve with. I always left so encouraged and challenged in the Lord.
Yeah, what I'm feeling compelled with is that there's some of you listening that still are kind of coming out of the Covid fog, and that long tail on that thing is huge. And maybe you spent years going to church but not being the church. I'm asking you to take a risk and put yourself out there and find yourself.
Get into especially this fall when they really kick off in earnest again, get into a small group, get into a group, and ask God to align yourself with people that you're going to be opening up your chest cavity and sharing your heart. And you might be a dude listening right now going, Karl, I don't do that. Well, you're missing out, my brother. You really are. You're missing out,
my brother. And the amount of grace that God has deposited, not only in you, but in other people, in still grace, that God wants to visit you with his power, his favor, to unlock something in you that maybe you're stuck in. We don't come transformed by God, fully sanctified. I experience it, you do too. We got to grow. And one of the ways we grow is to let someone see what's going on inside our heart. And when we do that, boom, things can begin to happen. Okay, coming up here in
a moment, I was hurting. I got to take you to the Iditarod just about a day and a half into the race, I was hurting. I couldn't believe I left it at home or lost it on the trail.
Uh oh.
I still don't know what happened to it, but I was in a bad way. I'm on the squint in the river and I'm like, how in the world am I going to survive? Little did I know there was a resource to fix my problem. Just nearby. And I'm going to give you the details coming up. This is Megan Woods. The truth.
She was trying to earn her way to God, but God showed her she didn't have to. Allie is in the crew. It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
This whole week, we are tackling resources that can transform. Sometimes there's funny things that come along in life, and they're illustrative of how something might be right in front of us, and we don't even know it's there. So back in the day, when I was 18, I headed out on the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, and I had everything on board. I've got all my gear and 13 sled dogs in front of me at that point in the race. By the way, I had King up
in lead. Isn't that a classic name for a lead dog? King.
King feels appropriate.
Yeah. He was in single lead when we got to the coast of the kind of the west coast of Alaska. I put two twin sisters up in lead. They were both named White Eyes. They were litter mates. They were team mates. And they actually they actually died within months of each other. They were precious girls, man. They were incredible huskies. They were great in the wind. They were. They were better than king by far. King was great for wide open trails in trees and when the sun
was shining. But when the weather got tough, you put those girls up in lead. How about that? Power to the girls, Ali.
There you go, I love that.
Yeah, they were amazing. So I'm day and a half into the race. Slept one night just short of, uh, just short of the squint in a checkpoint. And this is back in the day when it took a lot longer to get to Nome, Alaska than it does now. The trail was a little tougher. Dogs were not as fast, food was not as advanced. All the stuff. But we were we were making good time. The sun was out. There was not a breath of wind. It was probably, I don't know, I think it was probably zero, maybe
five degrees below zero. So balmy for, you know, Alaska terms. And the sun was high in the sky and I could not believe it. I am scrambling, I'm looking through everything. As we're mushing down the trail. I got my Velcro ripped open on my sled bag and I am scouring the sled bag. I am in a panic because I have chapped lips like nobody's business. It was bad. You ever get them? I don't know if anyone else here ever struggles with chapped lips, but man.
Yeah, I remember that. Remember that feeling. Being younger and being at school and like, you feel like your lips are like red and cracking and. Oh, and it's painful. I can't even imagine out on the Iditarod where you've got the cold and the wind just beating against your face.
Yeah, and there's no 7-Eleven nearby. You know what I mean? So it's nothing. You know it's not. I'm going to whip in here and get some carmex somewhere. And I think back in the day, I was looking for a tube of carmex, and I'm digging around. I couldn't find it, and I am panicked over the silliest little thing, and that is, I don't have any chapstick, and I feel like my lips are falling off my face or I
wish they would. So I come around the corner and there's two dog teams camped in the trail cooking some meals for their team, and I thought, man, I've been going now about four hours. It's time for a stop anyway. So I pulled in beside him. It was Emmitt Peters and Isaac Oakley. I'll never forget it. Two native Alaskan mushers. Emmitt was a bit of a friend of mine. I'd gotten to know him. I didn't know Isaac Oakley. He was from the interior of Alaska. But both of these
guys were really respected dog mushers. And they were I mean, they were outdoorsmen par excellence. It was absolutely amazing to slide up alongside them. They actually told me, come on in here, man, we're making a fire. And get your get your cooker on the fire and we're going to be good to go. And finally I had enough courage to muster it up. I said, do either of you guys have any chapstick with you? And they just laughed their heads off at me. Chapstick? What do you mean, chapstick? Chapstick.
You use chapstick and they start making fun of me and I'm like, oh, boy. Wrong question. Shouldn't have asked him. And they said, do you know that God gave you chapstick? And I'm like, what do you mean? And they and they laugh with each other and they're holding out the information. Then finally Isaac looks at me and he he comes up close to me. He says, this is where God gave you chapstick. And he says, do what I do. And he reaches behind his ear, right behind that lobe.
And he says, you want to press your finger against your skin behind your earlobe. There's that stuff back there. And then you wipe that onto your lips and I. Yeah. And I thought.
Oh.
This is kind of crazy.
This is gross.
But I, I did it and it worked. It gave me a little relief. It wasn't like carmex, but it was God's carmex for the moment. And I now, all seriousness, I know it's gross.
Yes. The story. I've heard it before and it never gets less gross to me.
But it's it's it's good. And Native Alaskans swear by it. It's like. And it's cheap.
Like the oil behind. Like the oil.
In your.
Deposits?
Yeah.
The deposits. Sounds gross.
Well, you know what I'm saying?
Deposits.
So right now somebody is trying this.
Oh, I'm sure.
It it works. That's what's beautiful about it. So it gave me a little bit of relief, and I actually gave me enough relief where I could get up to. I forget what city I got to. I guess I had to go all the way to McGrath, which was a town another 2 or 300 miles down the trail that actually had a store where I could go in and get some chapstick. And oh boy, that was good because it worked. But I had such a severe case of chapped lips, I needed something a little more industrial
strength than what I could muster behind the ear. And it's really funny because I said at first, I said, I don't get it. And he said, get your fingernail in there and scrape it out. Oh.
That's even worse.
Yeah, I know it's kind of rough, but it's it's it's what Native Alaskans do. And you know what? It helped. It was the funny tool. Yeah.
In the moment.
This this is my Bible study tool, uh, Illustration here. Sometimes the greatest tools we find are close by.
Okay.
And they come right when we need them. And so we are going to tee it up for you right now. We got a question for you. What is that tool that resource that you needed and you didn't know how much you needed until you got it. And you want to shout it from the mountain tops. It's a transformational tool. Who knows what it is? Could be a mr. pin sleek highlighter. Could be a certain commentary. It could be. You name it. Fill in the blank. We are ready
for your phone calls right now. And you get bonus points if you try the chapstick that Carl just recommended you.
You don't have to tell us about it, though. Try it on your own time. But we do want you to call in on this question. What is that tool of transformation that really unlocked things for you? Could have been a Bible study, could have been a devotional habit. It could have been an accountability partner. This was something that you did not know how much you needed until
you had it. 800 555 7898. Talking about taking those next steps in our walk with Jesus, what was that tool of transformation that made all the difference in the world for you? 805 55 7898.
You can take him out of Alaska, but you can't take Alaska out of him. Carl is in the crew. It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
This is your opportunity to get up on a soapbox and cheer for something. And you want to do it. You got a resource. It's really helping you grow and go with God. It's a transformational tool. Something that came that might have been close by. Maybe you had it in your house for years. Maybe it's something that you had at the office. It might be an online tool. What is that tool of transformation that you use? Could be a devotional, could be a book. And you're like,
I got to shout this one from the mountaintops. 800 555 7898. Call in right now. Phone lines wide open 800 555 7898. It's good to cheer about it, Ali.
It really is. Let's go to Erica calling in this morning from Tennessee. Erica, what's that tool of transformation that really has helped you?
Yeah. So my Christian counselor met me at a really hard time in my life where I wanted to express to God and like I needed his help, but I didn't have a lot of people around me that I could share with. And she taught me a method called the Dilemma Book Method, dilemma Book method. And it did helpful where you journal this lament to God writing down what's on your heart. And then she specifically taught me
and find Scripture that correlates with what I need. And it felt like I was just taking the medicine I needed to heal my soul and just bring the comfort that I needed. Because sometimes, you know, we're at places where we don't have people around us to support us, and we just really need God, but we don't have the words for it. So journaling with the Dilemma book method has really helped me over for several years now.
That's beautiful. Erica, thanks for having the courage to call in. We appreciate that. Um, that's that's that's so sweet. It's interesting that you mentioned that, uh, you know, I'm convinced that one of the big challenges, by the way, if you've got a resource that you want to shout from the mountaintops, we'd love to hear from you right now. Call 1-800-555-7898. I want to make sure you get the phone number here. (800) 555-7898. Give us a call. Let's load
up the phone lines. Guys. There's there's resources, books, journal, tactics, all these different things that God can really use in a powerful way. Um, so give us a call right now. 800 555 7898. You know, it's interesting. We had a very unusual staff meeting. I pastor a church here in Chicagoland, and we've got a just a great team of people, young and old. We've got we've got 20 somethings and we've got 60 somethings, and it's really cool because we
had a sweet time yesterday. What began is going to be just kind of a lunch celebrating. Some things turned into a lot of tears, and I'm glad we were tucked off in the corner because we had this table there. And we're we're talking about life. And pretty quick, a layer got peeled back and, uh, one of the young ladies began to share a little bit of her story, just some of her upbringing. Very appropriate sharing, but it was really powerful. And then someone else shared and someone
else shared. And by the time we were all done sharing, it was just one of the most uniting things we could have done. It was, I think too many times we fly through life even thinking about spiritual growth and we miss. And this is why I'm so glad Eric had called in. We miss the beauty of digging down deep enough not to camp out, or to worship that thing of pain, but to embrace man. I am really impacted to this day from what happened to me back here.
And the beautiful thing about that is when you bring it into the light, you find that there is a a increased sense of intimacy with God and friendship with others that is unstoppable. It's a beautiful thing. You know, for a lot of years, I think until probably 16 years ago, I didn't have a deep understanding of. Of digging down to the point where you go, why do I do what I do? What's driving me? Is there something from family of origin that's causing me to say
what I say to. To be what I am. Then you dig down and you get a little bit further and you start to see things. And the beautiful thing about God's grace and mercy is that as we see those things, he begins to craft in us a brand new identity, who we are in Jesus Christ. And one of the biggest aha moments that I had a number of years ago, and it was reaffirmed yesterday around the
lunch table, is that man. It's a freeing thing to know that we have nothing to prove to God that we're not working for God, we're not working for Jesus, we're not working for the Holy Spirit. We are with God. We are with Jesus. We are with the spirit. And he doesn't need us to have everything perfectly packaged up. He just wants to walk with us that way. So I appreciate you, Erica, calling in this morning because it's. It was Erica, right? Yes. Um, I appreciate you calling
in this morning because that's. beautiful. I'm so glad that journaling the dilemma journaling, is that what it was? Dilemma journaling.
I've not heard about that before, but that that sounds good.
Let's get a couple more calls in here. We got wide open lines 805 five, 578, 98. What's that resource that has really impacted your life? Let's go. Let's go back to Elizabeth.
First time caller from from Chicago right here in Illinois. Elizabeth, what's that tool of transformation or that resource that's really helped you take a step forward with Jesus?
Good morning. A friend of mine challenged me to do the Bible app, read the Bible in a year with her, and I've attempted a couple of times to do it on my own and and do a reading plan. But with the Bible app, I, I even if I'm on the go, I can always do my reading. And it's been a huge transformation in my life and my prayer life and my spiritual walk with God. It's been so
amazing and I can't do without it. And I can't wait now to finish the Bible app so I can start all over again and again and again and again. I don't think I could ever go without it.
That's beautiful.
Elizabeth. Elizabeth.
Thank you. Thank you for calling in. Yeah. What's really sweet about the YouVersion Bible app? If you get the Bible app, they've got read through plans. So many that are so varied. You can go all the way from a power read through. Ready for this? You can do an eight day read through of the Bible. So if you got eight days and you're going away to some cabin somewhere, you might be able to pull it off. Uh, but you can go all the way to yearly read
through and so many different approaches to read through. But way to go, Elizabeth. That is great. All right, let's keep going here. Ali, who do we have?
We have Susan, first time caller from Tennessee. Susan, what's that tool of transformation or that resource that's really helped you?
Well, I have to plug the Bible app also because this devotional talking about is, uh, called um, Celebrate Recovery and um, um, the, uh, I went through it three and a half times. I was in a, uh, I was in a very huge depression. Like, I had to. I had to transform my life hugely. And, um, I couldn't I couldn't get out of this. Even my husband, he was like, you've got to do something because we
can't live with you like this. So I so I cut out a whole bunch of things in my diet, went to I went to a couple of doctors and I found this devotional, it's like 41 to 45 days, three and a half times going through it. And, I mean, I'm a Christian. I've been a Christian for 30 something years, and this was amazing. It just what it brought out. I've never done drugs. I've never done alcohol. I've never done anything like that. But just, just I was just
wanting to celebrate being over being depressed. And it worked. It was amazing what God brought, brought through to this. It was hard and it was wonderful.
Yeah. Susan, thank you so much for calling in. First time caller from Tennessee celebrate recovery. Alright. Ali probably knows where I'm going to go here.
I think I do.
Yeah, we're all in recovery. See, one of the great dangers with Recovery ministry is that you start thinking, man, I'm glad I'm not that poor person over there. The irony is, is that we were all born with our back to God. And when we had our back to God, we. There were a lot of seeds sown that need to be unwound. And even when we come into a relationship with Christ, we're not fully sanctified. Everything isn't perfect. And
all of us are in recovery things. And oftentimes one of the dangers with recovery ministry is we look at those guys over there. And the beautiful thing about recovery ministry is that there's a level of authenticity and vulnerability that we need across the entire spectrum of the church, everybody. We would all benefit from it. So that's my two shots on that one. That's an important one. Susan, thank
you for calling in. We're going to spin a song here, but we're going to keep phone lines wide open here. We've got a question for you right now.
What's that tool of transformation that's helped you take a step forward in your walk with Jesus? It unlocked things for you. It's the tool you didn't know you needed until you had it. 800 555 7898 (800) 555-7898.
She's a choreographer extraordinaire and everything is Greek to her. Super dei is in the crew. It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
Going back to the phone lines. What's that tool of transformation that God has used in your life so radically? You got to. You need a soapbox. We got one for you. 800 555 7898 taking your calls this morning 800 555 7898 take it away, Ali.
Let's go to Mike. First time caller from Indiana. What's that tool of transformation that's really helped you?
Uh, it would be a book called Love and Respect by Emerson Etheridge. It really transformed in my marriage. Um, just help me understand how I needed to relate to my wife and the roles that God had put in our lives. And we've we've used that for just talking to other couples who were struggling, how it helped us.
Yeah it's beautiful Mike. That's a great book. And getting a resource like that can be so transformational. I appreciate it. Mike, I'm so glad for your marriage. How many years you've been married, Mike?
Uh, 44 years this year.
Wow. My man. Way to go. When did you get your hands on that book? How many years of marriage?
Uh, well, let's see, it was.
Now I'm having you do math.
Yeah, ten years ago.
So 34 years of marriage. Hey, I want to thank you, Mike, for being a man. That's not, uh, you're not mailing it in. You're leaning in even to your relationship with your bride, bro. That's so encouraging. May your tribe increase, Mike. Godspeed, man, I love you. Thanks for calling in. How cool is that? Yeah, I love that 34 years of marriage. And he picks up a book and goes, we're we're working on this still.
Yeah. I need to change how I'm relating to my wife.
Yeah. Let's go back here. Ali, who do we have.
Got Scott calling in this morning from Illinois. Scott, tell us, what's that resource, that tool of transformation that's helped you take that step forward?
Good morning. It's kind of obvious, but the Bible really touched my heart. One day we were at our son Stephen's graduation from the Marine Corps Boot camp in San Diego on March 15th, 2018, and the commanding general was going to have a presentation to any family members at the at the parade deck. And, uh, at 7:00. So I was out there with a big cup of coffee and the word and I was reading Proverbs 15 because that was the 15th, which is kind of what I do,
and I've read it many, many times before. And, um, I was sitting there because I got discharged from the Marine Corps under other than honorable conditions because of drugs and alcohol and getting in trouble in 83. And I was reflecting on like how I blew it and why it happened the way it did. And, you know, what did God do with that? Why? You know, and, um, I read Proverbs 15 five and, uh, it says a fool spurns his father's discipline. And it just hit me
like the Holy Spirit said. That's why it ended up for you the way it did. Because I reached out to you so many times and tried to get you, and you didn't want to listen to me. And so I let you go your way. And if I hadn't been sitting there reading that that morning, that wouldn't have happened. And it's it's really challenged me to be in the word as much as I can, because I want that to happen more.
Scott, I want to thank you too, man, for your vulnerability. That takes up real spiritual, strong man to share that story. That must have been it. Two things happened there. One is you go, this is why it happened. I hope it was soon followed by a big old hug from God. Did you feel that one, Scott?
Oh, yeah. Every time I think about it, it's. It's just fills my heart with love for him. You know that he would do that. That he would, you know, touch my heart with that little verse that morning at that time and answer my question for me.
That's beautiful. Scott. I love you, man. Thanks for calling in. Scott from Illinois, man. This. This is just what my soul needed today. How how sweet is this? This is not just resources. This is stories of. This is how it impacted me.
Yeah. And if you've got one of those, the tool of transformation, a resource that really met you at a moment or unlocked things, helped you take a step forward in your walk with Jesus. 800 555 7898 855 five 7898.
Kenyan first time caller from Georgia. What do you say? Kenyan?
Um. Hi there. Um, I have, um, This thing where whenever I think of my dog who died, like last year, um, there's this podcast called No Sanity Required from Snowbird Wilderness Outfitters in North Carolina, and they had a podcast on dealing with loss of family and animals. And I mean, just listening to the whole hour of that podcast helped me a lot, much, a lot, much more than if I didn't listen to it.
Yeah, right.
Oh, wow. I'm looking up this podcast. Right. Kenyon, how old are you? Kenyon calling in this morning.
I'm 13 years old.
13 years old? That's awesome. I'm looking up this podcast. This is awesome. It's a it's a podcast that has been began in 1997. The mission is to equip the local church. Wow. So it's a new way to teach Scripture in a relational way. Strong focus on the faithful exposition of God's Word for the growth of his church. So this is a this is a gospel centered podcast. You chose Kenyon. I think that's awesome. Thanks for listening to Carl and crew. Hold on the line. We want to get you a Carl and crew.
I was gonna do it if you didn't do it. Kenyon's getting a Carl and crew prize pack.
We get a 13 year old up that.
Early, listening to Carl and crew and talking about a podcast where that God used to help him through a season of grieving a pet boy.
Oh, boy, that's beautiful.
What's the name of that podcast everybody's going to be asking us via text?
It's called No Sanity Required. I've not heard of it, but looks fascinating.
Coming up, taking more of your calls. What's that transformational tool that God has used in your life? 800 555 7898 800 555 7898 if you're on the phone lines right now, stay on hold. If you possibly can, we'll get to you straight ahead.
Said 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.
And get a couple more in here for another quick break. We're going to powerhouse right to the end of this hour. This is awesome. We got text messages coming in saying, loving this. We're with you. What is that transformational tool that God has used so powerfully in your life and these heartfelt stories? My goodness, Ali warms the cockles of your heart to grab one of my dad's statements.
It really does because you think about the different all the there's a million things out there, but God can use one specific tool or resource at the moment when you need it. And that's what we're hearing, David from Michigan, you've got one of those. Tell us what's that tool of transformation that God really used in your life?
It's called the Scripture Typer app, and you can download it and import all of your favorite scriptures. You can organize them into categories, but what it is is you type the first letter of each word, and it fills the rest of the word in for you. And as you get toward the end of it, all of the letters kind of fade away. So you you kind of gain points, lose points. But the whole purpose is to memorize scripture.
And oh.
I really enjoy that.
So it kind of gamifies it.
Yeah.
Oh.
Interesting.
Really cool. It's called the Scripture taper. Is it a free app or do you have to pay some shekels?
It's free if you use the King James Version, but ESV charges you.
I gotta call my friend Wayne Grudem, who's the general editor of the ESV, and go, why are you charging for the ESV on? No, it's a publishing thing. Oh that's hilarious, David, that is hilarious. Uh, the Scripture typer, especially all UK fee fans. Is it new King James Version or just old King James Version? That is free.
Uh, I don't remember. You'll have to download it and tell me.
I'll have to download it now.
You got me going to look at it. All right. David, thank you for calling in from Michigan. Really cool. I mean, we're learning some good stuff.
I know I'm writing stuff down.
Uh, Will, let's get you in Illinois. Right here in Chicago. What do you say, Will?
Uh. Good morning. I was with about six gentlemen in Gurnee, and we studied Andrew Murray's humility. And a trusted brother made a study guide for it. And what I learned is, you know, even in our righteousness, we can be prideful.
Yeah. Yeah. There's not a wasted word in that book. That's one of my top five books of all time. Might actually be. I'm going to call it right now. It's top three. It's up there with Divine Conspiracy and a couple others, but Humility by Andrew Murray. Thank you, Will, for calling in today. That is, if I can recommend a book for you to get Humility by Andrew Murray. It's a very short read. You can get it. I'll
go ahead and say it. You can get it on the big box Amazon for like $7 and change right now. Get the one with the vase on the cover. It's kind of a brownish cover, but for $7 and change, you can get a book that is one of the most transformational things going. It's called Humility by Andrew Murray. And way to go, Will. Okay. Coming up we're going to go back to more of you man. It's lighten up in here Ali.
What do you say. What's that tool of transformation, that resource that got us really used in your walk with him? 800 555 7898.
You're listening to Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
So grateful.
These stories. This is some of the most heartwarming content that we've had. I there's something about you, the boom crew doing what you do. And by the way, I haven't done it today. Boom. To all of you, it's a big affirmation. Thank you. Heartfelt. How many people are leaning into their relationship with God and finding hope in transformational tools? It is awesome.
Huge. Huge. Can I grab the next caller because she shares a tool that's really helped me. Let's go. We have the same one. Tina. First time caller from Florida. I'm going to let you talk about this awesome resource that sounds like we're both doing.
Good morning.
The Bible recap by Tara Lee Campbell. It's a great resource. It's a hardcover book. You can get and also a podcast. Uh, I started reading that book daily. It's a daily reading plan with the Bible, and I started reading that five years ago. I have read the Bible through and through for five years, and it's really enhanced my knowledge and love for God.
Wow. Yeah. Okay. This is first time I've heard of this Tina.
First time caller from Florida. I am so with her on this. I have started this this year. It's called the Bible Recap. There's different ways you can engage with it. I do it on the YouVersion plan, and so there's a daily reading plan. And then a daily mini video of just kind of helps you get some context for what you're reading, but it's done in such a way
that it really makes it fun. And you're learning. You're engaging with the Word of God, and it helps fill in some of those gaps that if that exists, particularly in some of those tougher Old Testament passages, it has really illuminated some things for me. I'm pumped. I want to cheer for that one as well. It's called the Bible recap.
Okay, man, we got banner ads going up here.
I'll do a banner ad for that one. It's well deserved.
That's great. Kimberly and Aurora, let's get you in here. What do you say, Kim?
Hi. I love you, ally. All of you guys, actually, however, mine is. called The Garden Within by Anita Phillips. It talks about how your heart is a garden, and it gives a translation of how real garden is, and how roots are deeply rooted in your heart, and how it has to be plucked up from the root and not just from the vine. And it tells you from gambling to, um,
whatever you're dealing with. She tells you how God removes it and helps you remove it when you are walking with him, and how to get it deeply rooted out of your heart or is going to resurface. It's a great read.
Way to go, man. Transformational tools. Are you kidding me? This is the garden within. Garden within. Let's go to dawn in New Orleans. What do you say, Dawn?
Hi there. So my thing was I traveled with my daughter, who's military, and I found when she left to another post, I was lonesome, and I'm not a lonesome person. So I was praying. And the Lord said, take me on
a date with you. So I started going on dates with the Lord when I was thinking I wanted a husband or, you know, a boyfriend, and I would go to the movie and I would take my Bible and my book and then go to the coffee shop, spend time with the Lord, and then I'd go to dinner, and then we would go and read my journal, bring my journal and my book and my Bible and go just so now I do that all the time and quite often. And I'm never lonely because he's my father.
He's my provider. He's my king, my savior. Why not? Can he be my boyfriend or my husband?
Boom! Sister.
Wow!
Go out with God and stay there. Beautiful. Beautiful feedback. Today we're talking transformational tools all week. And we got a character here. His name is John Yeager. He's a man of many voices. He does a lot of the spots here. He's got a he's a wild man. He's an old soul and yet still young. Good guy. Tremendous guy. But what God's doing in his life with regard to Bible memory is one of the coolest things going, isn't it?
It is because he likes to say that. Like, it's not that he's got this great mind. This is his words, not mine. This great mind that's just built for memorization. It's not a natural thing. It's it's out of necessity. He says. This is what I need. And you know what? I think this is what we all need. How to commit more scripture to memory in a way that makes it super fun and practical. We've got some tips a downloadable for you as well. All that's coming up here on Carlin Crew.
This is Carlin crew on Moody Radio.
This entire week we are going after Tools of Transformation, and I think most of you get pretty fired up. You're like, yeah, Moody Bible commentary. Thanks for giving those away. We got a couple here that we're giving away each day this week. That's awesome. And we hear stories from Michael Riedel, and he gives us study tips that he got from Howard Hendricks. And the list goes on and on. And we're like, yeah that's good. And I mentioned the words Bible memory and you might turn away. Don't turn
away as many of your Bible memory. It's like it took me back to Boys Brigade and I want some candy bars, but it was hard for me to memorize verses.
But most of you would appreciate the value of it. But how do you start? What's the best way to memorize scripture? John Gager joining us right now, John, you first started to really appreciate the importance of memorizing the Bible when your Bible was not able to be with you on a trip, right?
It was a trip with former Moody Radio pastor Donald Cole to Angola, Africa. I'd packed everything so carefully my malaria medication, the shirts, the special Deet spray. Oh, I was armed to the teeth and ready to go. And then, as you said, the luggage didn't arrive and never arrived with it. My Bible gone. So there you are. You know. What do you do for your devotional time? I'm lying in bed. I'm quoting Bible verses I memorized in Awana as a kid, and and that was great. For the
first night and second night. You're quoting those verses again, and then you and you're going, man, I wish I'd memorized more. And then you say, I wish I'd memorized longer passages. Something to really chew on. Really, really hang on to. And then the thought is, hey, what happens if I get to that point in life where you know whether America falls apart and I'm in jail or something? I don't have a Bible. What then? I think I
wish I'd memorized more. I was so scarred by that, Carl and Ali that I came home and immediately made a booklet of Bible verses, and I started working on them, and one thing led to another, and then it became the Psalms. And I've never quit. 25 years later.
Oh. That's beautiful. You know, it's funny. You're catastrophizing the reason for memorizing scripture, but but there's some truth in that. We live in a dicey world. That's not a bad motivation, is it, John?
No, I don't think so. And as we have the Word of God in our hearts, suddenly we go from catastrophe to blessing because we see what it does in so many practical ways.
So most people feel like, okay, maybe I've memorized Psalm 23 or so. There's some that are often memorized. Many people could probably quote John 316, but how do you get started in this, where you're memorizing and expanding a little bit longer passages?
I think you first got to look at where you're at in life. What is it I'm doing that I'm messing up at consistently, or where am I hurting? What is my need? From the Word of God? You find a passage, you bumped into it, you didn't look for it. It came at you, maybe. And that's the one. That's how you know. Because this is meeting a need of yours. This is scratching an itch. This is bringing a comfort that you're hungry for. Start there on that passage. In
my case, I like to do cards. I take the passage, stick it on a photo I've taken, play with it in Photoshop. Maybe you're going to handwrite it out, you say.
Come on now, you're so old fashioned. We got apps for that. And we do.
I've got some apps on my phone, but my problem is I'm so distracted. The moment I grab that app, I'm playing with the text. I'm playing with an email. It's a schedule issue, so the card is old fashioned and analog as it is, is a great blessing because there's no distraction. It's the card. It's me and the word of God. And that's it.
You know, I've found that for me, one of the reasons that I do memorize scripture now and oftentimes for teaching is I've had too many times when I've had a vague notion of what this book, this chapter says. But that vague notion sometimes can lead you astray. You make conclusions about what was cited there. That may not be true. There's something about memorizing that gets you anchored in the truth, not a vague notion. And that's a game changer.
That's huge. What you're sharing there because we think, oh, I have to memorize. Oh, I'm not good at that. My mind doesn't work that way anymore. Hey, mine doesn't either. You know, I'm as slow or slower than the next guy. That's okay. Last I checked, there's no prizes being handed out for first place. So just start where you are. But to your point, Carl, here's what I'm learning. Okay. Just because I've committed to memorizing the Word of God, a I'm no longer as mired in the crummy thinking
that I was mired in walking home from work. I'm replacing that with something positive. B in the act of memorizing now, I'm actually meditating on that. You can't help but you're going phrase by phrase. And so suddenly this is kind of getting a hold of you. It's seeping in. It's oozing all over your soul. Three you have something to hang onto when you're not sleeping at night. The benefits go on and on and on. Replacing junky thinking with biblical thinking.
Okay, let's dispel a myth, because I think Ali and I are probably on the same wavelength because we've worked together so long. I think when you hear Bible memory, there's a lot of things get a bit discouraging. Yeah. And I think, um, one of them is how much do I need? I guess the real good answer is some is better than none if it's focused on what you lead with. And that's the need that God has in your life right now, right, John?
Yeah. We are just so prone to legalism. I mean, you're not doing a whole chapter well. You're just a junior saint. You're not even.
That.
Forget that. Just start with something. Your word I have hidden in my heart that I might not sin against you. Classic story. I'm working on Psalm 27 right now, and I'm coming to the verse, verse eight, when you said, seek my face, my heart said to you. And that's an interesting phrase. My heart said to you, I shall seek your face, Lord. Okay, so I'm walking down the street, busy street in downtown Chicago, coming into Moody. And you know, my heart said, I shall seek your face, Lord, I
shall seek your face, Lord. Walking right into view is a jogger with too few clothes. And whatever of them there are are way too tight. And this verse is screaming at me, seek my face. When you said, seek my face, Lord, my heart said, I shall seek your face. It literally prompted me, look away, don't go there. So in the act of memorizing scripture, it's fighting some of the temptation going on around me. I thought, wow, now that's powerful stuff. No wonder the Word of God calls
itself sharper than any two edged sword. I needed that.
If you had an estimate of how much Scripture you've now committed to memory and not, I'm just asking out of curiosity. I know you're not one to try to show off in this way. That's never your motive, but you've invested a lot of time into this. How much scripture have you memorized?
I don't keep track of individual verses. I'm just. I'm working on Psalms. I've done about 20 Psalms. And if God should give me health, strength and a mind by the time I'm 80, I'd like to do 50. I do have a goal, and it's to do 50 psalms by the time I'm 80.
Okay, now we got the question. How do you do it? What have you learned? You must have gone through the school of hard knocks on this.
I'm still going through the school of hard knocks. Ali. Carl, I. I'm still learning. But I again choose a passage that meets a need right there. Where are you at now? In your journey? What verse. What chapter do you need to hang on to? There's something also, I think that's real huge.
I can't do it, I just can't. My mind. Try it.
Force yourself to do just one verse. Once you see one verse and one phrase. Even if it takes you a month. So what? That begins to build a sense of confidence that, you know, I'm slow, but I can still do this. I ain't dead, you know, and I can go at this. So choose a passage that meets a need. And then if you're going to do you know, any kind of a analog way, you got to print out multiple copies. You want one on your wallet, you want one on your purse, you want one on on
the nightstand. You want one in your backpack. When I do a passage, I've got six and they're laminated and they're everywhere because I lose them sometimes. And so you want to print out multiple copies. You want to learn to use small moments to memorize. You're in line at the store. You're at the bank, you're grabbing a bowl of cereal in the morning. Memorize. You're waiting at the doctor's office. Why read moldy magazines? Why not pick up your card? Uh, I you know, those are some of
the tips that I would suggest. Don't beat yourself up if it takes a while. We're so into that. Get out of that. Just do what you can.
We have a resource for you. It's John's five favorite Bible memory tips. If you want this, we've got it for you. You can print it out and get started today. Just text tips to 800 555 7898. Text tips to 800 555 7898.
Okay, I feel prompted by the spirit that's promised in John 14. John, would you pray for us right now? Because some people have this want to, but feeling immediately condemned, you know what I'm saying, bro?
Yeah. Let's pray. Lord, would you free us from this self-condemnation. Therefore, there is no condemnation now for those who are in Christ Jesus. Thank you for that assurance, Lord. Would you help us move instead toward obedience, picking up what we need, where we are as we can to memorize what you, by your Holy Spirit, divinely, uh, show us. We invite you to do that. Where are we hurting? What do we need from your word? Show us. Give us the gumption, Lord,
and we will follow up. We will give us a shot in the strength and in the power for the glory of Jesus we pray. Amen.
Amen.
I believe that prayer was a bump and encouragement to someone going, all right, I'm going to get this crazy thing. They were going to veer away from it. Now they're all in. Isn't that great? How God works?
Text tips to 800 555 7898. If you want John's five favorite Bible memory tips, just text tips to 800 555 7898.
Hang on, we got a treat for you. Coming up, Jamie Ali, take it away.
Someone mentioned it earlier. Their tool of transformation was today in the word. Haven't heard of it. Oh, we've got something for you. This might become your favorite tool as well. Coming up.
Your shot of hope to help you through the day. This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
Well, a million people are saying yes and Yesterday. Amen. A million people plus. How in the world does that happen? Over a lot of years, for sure.
Yeah, and word spreads. This is a good thing.
It's a good thing. Jamie. Janice. Over a million people.
Yes. Can you believe it?
I know it's really shocking.
It's a wonderful thing.
Yeah, I love it. Uh, today in the word devotional. Jamie. Janice, she is running point on this whole thing. Go ahead and give the proper bio here. Ali.
Yeah. Jamie. Janice is the managing editor for today in the Word. How long is today in the word been established? I don't think I even know this.
I believe, boy, see? It's early. You're putting me to a quiz. I think it was 1983, if I'm correct.
But this is decades.
Yeah, it's been a while. Yeah.
Okay. What's the goal and intent of today in the word? There's a lot of devotionals that are out there. And by the way, devotionals are still hot items. When one gets produced by a publishing house. Bang, they get grabbed up. My wife loves streams in the desert, but what's today in the word all about?
We like to think of it as like a bite sized meal, so it really is a daily time in the word. Um, we go through an entire book of the Bible a month or a topic a month, and we deep dive a little bit. So it's not lengthy. You don't have to pull out, you know, all your tools and notebooks and everything. You could read it on the go or listen, but it does let you dig a little bit deeper into the Bible than perhaps a
thought of the day type devotional. Um, and yeah, we just we love having people get into the word from cover to cover and to really, um, apply it to their hearts and their lives.
Jamie Janos with us right now. So give us a story. I'm sure you get to hear back from people, uh, on the many different ways that this is being utilized and just helping people take their next step in their walk with Jesus. Is there a story that comes to mind for you.
Yeah. The wonderful thing is we have people who have been believers for years and have used this faithfully as one of the ways they connect with God daily. But I happen to hear a story of a young man named James, and he wrote in and said, you know, this changed my life because he said that he was at the lowest point of his life. He had been raised by his mom, you know, was a Christian, fell away, got into some bad stuff, um, and was arrested, lost his job that same month. His mom said, why don't
you read today in The word? And she handed him the issue, and it was Paul's letters from prison. And James said it just struck his heart. And ever since then he goes, I can't put it down. He goes, I just keep reading and reading. Now he's involved in his church and growing up. Yeah, he's he's drives is an Amazon driver now. And he goes in between stops and I'm always listening to the Bible. So I just praise God because the Word of God is alive and active and it's changing people's lives.
Jamie, obviously the main today in The Word is kind of an individual devotional, but you've also put together some resources, or the team has put together some resources for families to engage around this. Talk about the family studies.
Yeah, we've we've had a lot of fun with this. So each month we take the study and we develop four weekly lessons. So you can have kind of your own mini VBS in your house in a sense. But you read the passage, there's questions that our kids level and then we give a fun activity to do that will kind of reinforce the main point. Um, and then a prayer to do together and memory verses, which you were just talking about, you know, as a kid, you
can memorize a lot. I was an Awana kid. And um, so shout out to Awana because it embedded God's Word in my heart. So I really think it's important that we, um, make sure our kids are getting fed a daily diet of scripture. And this is just one little way. So if you go to our website, you can download those for free, use them for a Sunday school class or for your own personal family.
Okay. Coming up here, Jamie Janos with us right now, today in the word, how in the world can you get it? And what are some of the highlights of the most recent months? DeVos right from Jamie's mouth. Hang on. Coming up.
It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
Maybe you never got an opportunity to go to Bible college. You can actually receive instruction from a moody, Moody Bible Institute professor every single day through the today and the word devotional Moody Bible professor's author. This Jamie Janos, managing editor with us right now. That's the cool thing, is that you are getting high quality instruction, as if you were a student in a classroom here at the Chicago campus. Talk about that.
Yes. All of our, um, authors are Moody Bible Institute professors, so it is really wonderful. It is like you're sitting in their class and getting a refresher course for some of you on the Bible or for others for the first time digging in at this level. And it's so accessible. They really they really feel to me like they're sitting alongside the Bible with you, kind of pointing it out, you know, saying, oh, did you notice this? And do you see the depth of meaning here in this verse? Um,
and I love that. I love that kind of nature of how we're sharing faith with other believers.
Jamie, you've been doing this a while. As you look back, what are some of your favorite Devo moments that stand out to you? And I know it's different for everyone. Jim Coakley's teeing it up this month with animals in the Bible. So that's a that's a real different one. But what really strikes you?
Boy um, yeah. Jim, Jim's is so fun and animals in the Bible I was he proposed it to me and I thought, that's fascinating. So, um, it really has been a great study. You know, the Psalms are my favorite. Probably. And, um, Ryan Cook wrote a series of them, which we just recently released in a new book called talking with God, which collects all of Ryan's devotionals on the Psalms. But he's an Old Testament professor, and he really just gives a deeper look at that beautiful book of the Bible
that teaches us how to be honest before God. So I think that and also, I loved Kelly Wuerl, who does some wonderful devotionals. She's done them on women in the Bible. And she's got she's working on one right now on the book of Ruth, um, for next year.
Jamie Janos, managing editor for today in The Word. And there is no charge to get this daily devotional produced here at Moody Bible Institute. You can download the app. You can sign up. It's available in email, web, podcast and print form. So if you want to get signed up, just text the word today to 800 555 7898. Text today to 800 555 7898.