Coming to you from the Morning Star Mission sponsored studio. This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
It's Carl and crew. Mornings on this Freedom Friday. Having some fun to kick off this hour here. I want to tell you that, uh, self-deprecating humor is the best humor, for sure, when you take shots at yourself. That's a good thing. Uh, you know, I'm always taking shots at myself about my hair color. It's not as take shot a bull as it used to be. My wife said that my red hair jokes need to stop. She told me that about 20 years ago. She said it's not
like it was. I mean, when I was a when when I was young and our kids were young, my precious daughter, who's now an adult and provided us a grandchild here recently. And I was able to hug her yesterday and hold her. Oh, I love that little girl. Um, she. My daughter. Um. Oh, funny. These kids, what comes out of kids mouths sometimes it'll it'll flat out you're like, okay, you can say that stuff to me, but don't say it out in public. Don't do that. But it wasn't
really bad. But she just came up to me one day, little tyke, and she says, dad, dad, I need to talk to you. I said, what's up, Muriel? She said, you just can't go around the rest of your life with that hair color.
The best thing ever. Talk about bold.
Dad, you just can't.
Out of the mouth. Okay.
Dad. And you know, her perspective is ain't nobody got that hair color.
I've never seen hair like that before. And we're.
You know why my dad? Why can't my dad just have hair like everyone else? Or no hair like half the dudes out there?
Too late now.
Because what's really funny is I see a hint of she's not going to have electric red hair. We can't tell these babies. You can't tell. One day she looks brunette. The next day She looks like.
She looks strawberry to me a little bit.
Little bit. Something maybe.
There a little baby fuzz.
Yeah. Oh, it's just great. Um, but taking shots at people is fun. My son yesterday. So the Masters is going right, guys, right. Yeah. And Bryson DeChambeau is, uh, he plays on the live tour normally. And by the way, there's a big dust up about that. Oh, yeah. But
he's doing he's in really good position. And when you get like I think he's in third place or something, he's three under I think uh, Justin Rhodes is seven under and I can't watch a bunch of golf, but I, I beat feet at home because I heard that DeChambeau was doing pretty good. And I saw I saw my one of my son's best buddies, and he was in his wedding, and he's a great kid. And, uh, they call him bone. He's Greg Bodine, and, uh, he's the
caddie for Bryson DeChambeau. And DeChambeau is just tearing it up, So my son, I said, hey, Kevin, you better take some shots at your. Have you seen Greg? He goes, dad, I'm running out of business. I haven't watched any of the masters down here. I said, well, you need to know he's getting a lot of a lot of air time. And, uh, so Kevin, not even seeing him, said, oh, I'm going to send him a text right now. I said, what are you sending him? He says, I just sent him. Boy,
you need to get to the gym. People are saying, you don't look as jacked as you did when you were younger.
Kidding me?
Everyone's talking about you. That's what.
Everybody. Everybody's.
He said everybody from Biola is talking about.
You.
Man. That's where he met him. At every from everybody from Biola was talking about you.
That's awesome.
And, uh, Greg Bodine takes it back. He says, oh, shut up, man, and call me sometime. We got to catch up. Pretty funny stuff. Um, you know, life is filled with just. Isn't life funny?
Oh, yeah. I mean.
Life.
Funny life. Life has to be laughed at. You have to find those moments to laugh because there's a lot of things to not laugh about. But let's find the moments where we can.
Yeah. So what do you find just really funny about life? It's just like. Huh? Things that make you go, huh? That's really funny. Things we do. Things we don't do. What motivates us? Uh, give me a call. I might have a Carl and crew prize pack on the line. You say? Well, what's this got to do? Got a lot to do with everything, because we're going to break into some passages of scripture today. Everyone okay in there? I'm hearing stuff getting knocked around.
Savannah, would you go answer phones?
Oh, okay. Yes. Um, so what is it? What is it that just makes you laugh about life? 855 five 7898 855 five 7898. Comedians are invited in here today.
She's a choreographer extraordinaire and everything is Greek to her. Super di is in the crew. It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
Well, we're having a good old time in here laughing our heads off. Have you ever done role playing before? Where it's like, imagine this.
Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Of course. Especially stuff that's, like, out of character. I love imagining people doing things that are just so out of their character. Well, it's like yesterday. Yesterday we were talking about stress dreams, and I said I had a really bad stress dream that Ali started yelling at me at work. And that's just the funniest thing I can think of in my head now. Because Ali doesn't yell at anybody.
She. No, she.
She. One time back in the old building, she raised her voice at me. She did one time, but one time. One.
That's it. One time.
Yeah. And you're like, that's out of character for her. And it's the most hilarious thing in the entire.
The interesting thing about the way God's wired me is my voice is raised all the time. So I don't know if. You guys are so full of grace. You love me still.
Oh, goodness. Who doesn't need a lot of grace in the positions they work? I do too.
Are you implying I do need a lot for that?
I said, who doesn't?
That's what. Lord help us. Okay.
Okay.
Yeah.
Coming up here, I think the reason I needed some levity is I got to get into a weighty, not heavy, but a weighty topic here. And it's so important. Presumption is one of the most deadly devices of Satan. He can plant in our mind. And I'm going to break it down from you. For you. I got up super early this morning, and this is what's on my heart. We'll give it to you. Coming up.
A basketball mom who's mastered the dad joke. Ali is in the crew. It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
I feel a certain weight of responsibility here that I think is spot on. I mean, we're not to be under a heavy yoke. I don't feel that. But I feel a certain weight of responsibility here that we take on topics and that we tackle issues that are challenges that you need to overcome, battles that you need to fight. We really do want you to take your next step
with Jesus. I mean, that's our heart, man. And part and parcel of this is understanding that first step and being super clear about what that first step is and what it isn't. I was on a great interview yesterday. I was filling in for Chris Brooks and I had on Doctor Sean McDowell, and we were talking about this crazy thing that we're seeing in the church right now, which is kids that are just leaving the church. Post Covid, I mean, there's a lot of reasons for why that is, but.
I was discussing with Sean what's what's really going on with these kids, because a lot of people are just really wanting their kids to get back to church. And my supposition has been largely due to my own story, is that the big problem isn't that they aren't in church, is that they aren't in Christ. And Sean picked up on that, and he said, Karl, let me tell you my experience. He said, I've talked to at least 30 adult kids that were raised in church with imperfect but
great parents. And he said, I've asked them all of these 30 the same question. Have you ever come to a point in your life when you were utterly at the end of yourself, and you saw your sin and your need for a Savior so clearly that you surrendered your life to Jesus Christ? Only one of those 30 said, yes, that was me. His point is that a lot of these kids that have walked away from the church have not walked away from Christ because they were never in Christ.
You see, that's the point. So I really I got up early this morning and I'm like, man, I, I know you hear me talk about this here often, but today I want to even take a deeper dive on this thing, even go deeper. And I want to begin with Matthew seven. So Jesus is in the sermon on the Mount and he's preaching and he says, many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord. And he says, I'm going to have to say to you, I never
knew you didn't know him personally. And the three characteristics of these people that he did not know personally are astonishing, because this is what they say. We preached in your name. We baptized in your name. We did mighty works in your name. And he says, depart from me. I never knew you. Now you hear that? And you think, my goodness. So what does it what does it reveal? That there are people that are presuming something about their relationship with
God that isn't true? It's just not true. It's a flat out lie. And they're not trying to be nefarious, necessarily, but there's something deep within us that hasn't been altered. We've not been born again. That's what Jesus said had to happen to Nicodemus. And he uses a lot of stories to illustrate this. Now, before I go any further, I just want to tell you I don't have any jollies by trying to put people on tilt. That's never
my goal here. I don't want to be a provocateur, but I do want to probe, just as Jesus did, with questions that have eternal consequences that I will do. And this is eternal consequences. And so I give out a blog here often nine ways to know You stand with God. And he stands with you because the greatest evidence of where you really stand with God. And I just want you to get this link and then stick with me here, because I'm going to ride this for
a little bit here. But if you want to know whether or not you stand with God and he stands with you, that's a great question to ask. And this is a great way you look at this. And now you can begin to pray for people, maybe a wayward kid or a spouse or someone, and you can go, whoa, this isn't about them getting into church. This is about them getting in with Christ. And it requires you peeling away all of the funky motivations for validating your parenting,
or something weird thing like that. It's weird what we can do to try to prop ourselves up. We've got to have our kids be okay, because if they aren't okay, then I'm not okay. Well, you know what? It's better off to be okay with what's really going on, rather than to try to be okay with yourself just cutting it to you straight. So text the word stand right now to 805, 55, 78, 98. That's one resource I want to give you right now. Stand nine ways to know.
You stand with God and he stands with you. Text stand to 800 555 7898. So the Lord's been doing something in my life that I have to believe. It's got a direct link to you. And let me just go through a couple of things here that we find in Scripture that are very important. In the book of Luke, we find this parable of the wayward sons or the
prodigal sons. And one thing I want to note here is a lot of us assign our kids are prodigals or someone's a prodigal, when really what's being spoken of here is not a kid that was in Christ and then walked away. This is someone who was never actually two people who were never in Christ. Prodigal means never in, but far away. So we got to get that straight. And I'm going to I'm going to explain this. So the first son he's took his takes his father's inheritance.
And it's a great story that Jesus tells. He takes his father's inheritance and he goes and he squanders it in a far off land. And those guys are easily visible because they're like me. And I was a cocaine addict for three and a half years, something like that. The whole three and a half years was a fog. Here I am leading construction crews high as a kite on cocaine. Amazing. I didn't cut off fingers or cause more injury to someone else. But we were all like that.
We were all loaded on the site. It was crazy. So I was. I was far away from God, raised in the church, Baptized. Never knew Jesus personally. Truth. Fact. So that's that one son. But the other son is far more dangerous. And I used to always say, and this morning I'm altering it a little bit. I always used to say the first son is a victim of his passion, and the second son is a victim of his pride. I think it's more accurate to the text to say the second son is a victim of presumption.
He's thinking that he's got something that he doesn't have, and he hears word of his brother that's come back. And he's like, man, can't believe it. They're throwing a party for him. And what does the older son say? He says, man, everything that you've told me to do, I've done. You've never given me a goat to have, you know, barbecue with my friends and all this. Here's what Tim Keller says about these two prodigals. Two of them.
There are two ways to be your own savior by breaking all the rules, younger son, or by keeping all the rules older son. Both of them aim to control God. Whoa! Jonathan Edwards says that the younger son is blind to God's holiness. And the older son is blind to his own need for mercy. I want to shoot it to you straight today. God got me up early for you. And I need you to know from the bottom of my heart that many will say on that day, Lord, Lord.
And he's going to say, I never knew you. And this is an epidemic in American Christianity, Canadian Christianity, Western Christian. It's an epidemic in Europe. It's interesting. Young Thunder was reading some stats to me. Give us the quick one. The quick version of these stats. This is staggering here bro.
So so basically the study was done on American faith practices. And they a large group of the people studied were identified as Christians. Now they had a way of figuring out or identifying as practicing or nominal Christians. The first was if they attended church once a week, the second was if they said their faith had high or utmost significance in their lives. Those were the two criteria.
Pretty low bar, low bar.
With those criteria, 33.3 of the self-identified Christians were counted as practicing. 66 were counted as nominal, which means that means they said it doesn't have utmost significance in their life and they don't attend church.
So what I would say, tell me what you think, Young Thunder. I'd say that the older son who was saying to the father, hey, I've been I've all I've done. I mean, he'd be in the 33%. He was a practicing. He would. He's not even in that nominal. No. Right. He's in the practice. And so even with the practicing, you've got to go. Whoa whoa whoa. In the practicing, there are many who are going to say, Lord, Lord. And he's going to say, I never knew you.
Yeah. If you look at those numbers, it shows the vast majority of people who call themselves Christians. Even in that 33%, it's lower than that who have that genuine relationship with him.
Then there's a story that Jesus tells in Matthew 25 that is a boy. This is heavy. He says there are ten virgins or bridesmaids that are waiting for the bridegroom. Okay. And they're all dressed up the same. They all are the same. And they all have lamps. But five have oil in the lamp and they're ready for the return of the bridegroom. And five are all dressed up, but they don't have oil in the lamp and last minute they're scrambling. But there's not time because the door is shut.
So they look identical. Their aspirations are the same. Some are ready, some are not. And so let me just boil it down for you here. Look, I'm going to tell you straight up truth here. Presumption is a horrific spiritual toxin. And it will take you all the way to an eternity separated from God. And this is an epidemic in our country. This changes the way we pray for wayward kids. Sean McDowell's right. One out of 30. Just his anecdotal evidence. Ever said I plead for the
mercy of God. I'm a sinner. I'm a person with unclean lips, unclean heart. I need a Savior and cry out with tears. Give me your life, Jesus. And he said, one out of 30 of those wayward kids that were raised in churches, went to youth group, went to Sunday school. And so and here's what I want to say. There's a lot of you listening right now that are in church but are not in Christ in the Spirit of
God may be convicting you today. Now, I already gave you a resource so that you can know because again, I want to state this. I'm not messing around with you. I get no kicks out of freaking anyone out. I get greatest joy of watching people in relationship with Jesus and then having seen that repentance undergirding for them their identity in Jesus Christ and how much they're loved, and that he he cares for you and that even when you screw up, he's still loving you. But have you
ever truly been born again? Deep burden I have for you, man. And there's ample evidence to say that I'm going to be called to account for what I say or don't say on air here. And I want to be able to tell God I handled your word as rightly as I could. And I looked at the culture that we live in, and I was as honest to I was as honest to you and to them as I could be. And I want to tell you, Jesus loves you and
he died for you. And if you have a moment of Holy Spirit sobriety where you recognize I'm a sinner, I need a Savior. I need God's mercy. Praise be to God. I want to go back to Tim Keller's quote. And this is this is so beautiful. He says there are two ways to be your own savior by breaking all the rules, younger son, or by keeping all the rules. Older son to get control of God. And I just want to ask you today, have you found God to be uncontrollable? And he's knocking at your heart's door and
he's wanting in. Totally. And if that's you. You're at the end of yourself. You're broken. You're pleading for mercy. For the first time in your life. You're being so honest to God going. There's nothing good that dwells inside me. Nothing. I see my sin for what it is. I want you to come into Jesus today. I want him to fill your lamp so that you're ready when he returns. And I want you to pray with me these words right now. I'm going to tell you what they are
before you say them. Jesus. I repent and I turn around and I'm going your way Away for the first time in my life. Just tell him that I turn around. I'm going your way. You say that you are the truth. Not only the way, but you are the truth. Today I'm willing to face the truth. I'm a sinner in need of mercy. And I plead save my soul. Save me from me. I have no ands and no buts attached to this. I'm just saying. Save me. And will you acknowledge today that Jesus is the way, the truth
and the life? Will you say that, my friend? And that the Holy Spirit at work in you right now is convicting you of this? You know you didn't dream this up. This is the mercy of God reaching into your heart today. Jesus died for your sins. Your sins. Own in that deeply. I miss the mark. I can't do it. And even the rules I've been trying to keep have been controlling God. Because I've been trying to be in control of my life. And today I'm saying
I'm giving you control of me completely. Praise God. And if this is you, Jesus said, I am the way, I am the truth. I am the life. And it's the word Zoe that means life abundant. And there is hope, possibility, new beginnings welling up inside of you. Because that's what Jesus promised. And if that's you, I want to help you in your first step with Jesus, not your second, your first. Because today is the beginning of a brand new life in Christ, and Jesus makes all things new.
I want you to just text me right now if today is your day. I'm going to send you a resource back. Get your phone. I don't care where you are in this world today. I don't care if you're in the UK. We had a caller from the UK earlier. I don't care where you are. I want you to text the word new. Right now. New to 800 555 7898. And let me tell you what I'm going to send you. It's going to be a link with three embedded links. It's going to tell you how to find a good Bible,
how to find a good church. People that are, are, are with you. It's going to we're going to ask for your snail mail and we're going to pay for postage. And we don't want anything in return, and we're not going to hound you. We're just going to send you a resource that's going to help you now in your next steps. Live in God's power, not your own. So just text the word new. One word. N-e-w. Right now to 800 555 7898 800 555 7898. Today's your day.
There's nothing holding you back any longer. You know that God is doing a powerful work of mercy. He's shown mercy to you. He's wiping up tears. He's changing everything. Just text the word new right now to 805, five, five, 78, 98. I'm going to get a resource out to you right away instantly. And you just walk through that 800 555 7898. Today is your day of salvation. Today is your day. Today is your day. 75, oh eight, 77, 43, 25, 21, 58, 58, 8660677109151.
2878 7189 0721. Come on in. Jesus is inviting you in today. 0720. Welcome to the family. To all of you. Just when you can, you grab that phone and you text new to 800 555 7898. What a beautiful thing to be broken free from. Presumption from recklessness into freedom found in Jesus Christ. We praise God. They keep pouring in here. 9975, 72, oh three, 36, oh two, 64, 31, 82, 55, 66.95. 22. 72. Welcome to the family. To all of you. Praise God, praise God for what he's doing in your life today.
We've got we've gone long today. Uh, it's because the Lord had me get up early because he loves you that much. 72, 91, 49. 73. Welcome to the family, guys. Welcome to the family. 63. 99. 74. 13. Father, I thank you for all of these that are responding to you right now. Surrendering their life to Jesus Christ, acknowledging their a sinner, that they need mercy and crying out to you today and God, I praise your name. It's a beautiful thing, Lord. It's. I seem so incapable of
communicating the truth sometimes. But your spirit translates right over the airwaves and it's awesome. And it's also amazing to me that you can use an imperfect guide to be a spokesperson for you. But it proves even your mercy in my own life. And I praise you for that. Thank you, Lord, for these coming to you today. And oh God, let them experience the joy of their salvation in profound ways today. And I give you thanks in Jesus name. Amen. I want to be real clear here.
Somebody sent me the last four numbers of your number. Here's what you do. If today is your day of salvation, you're surrendering your life to Christ, begging the mercy of Jesus, unwilling to keep God in your box of rules any longer. Admitting pride. Admitting recklessness. Admitting presumption. Admitting being a victim of your passion. Just text the word new to 800 555 7898. That's all you do. New to 800 555 7898.
There's many more coming in here. 49, 73, 63, 99, 74, 13, 33, 93, 20, 22, 44, 77. Welcome to the family, to all of you. We're going to play a song here for you because this is so true. Big Daddy Weave sings about it. It's called All Things New. This is for you. This is for you today. And there's still time grabbing your phone. Get into a safe place on the side of the road. Father, make your work complete. Thank you for the work that
you're doing here. And thank you that you who begin it We'll carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Amen. And let it be.
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.
Those of you that are in Christ Jesus. And it's really funny. Um, before I tell you what God's doing here this morning, which is really cool. Um, young Thunder, explain. Because what you said about reading the blog stand. Because this is so cool. Because young Thunder, your experiences is should be all of ours. So take it away.
Yeah. So the The Stand article is, is a link that we give out for when you text the word stand to our number here. And I'll say that more, you know, with more detail in a second. But the stand article is nine ways to know you stand with God, and God stands with you. And it's nine, uh, Scripture based criteria as to as to being assured of your salvation.
Things that things that Christians do experience and taste and feel and all that stuff.
Right? Absolutely. And so you can look at these things and say, hey, maybe I'm not completely 100% perfect in all these things, but I'm growing. I can identify these things within myself because God's confirming that in me. So you look at these things and it's really helpful. I've used it multiple times, but I was just telling Carl in the break, I said, it's so insane how often I have to go back and look at those nine things to ground myself because I, you know, I had
the illusion of salvation. And so something Satan can use sometimes in my head is trying to convince me that I'm still not there yet. You know that I'm wrong, I'm wrong, I'm wrong. And it's like. And the more I get lost in that, stuck in that I, you know, I'm going off on my own thoughts, trying to self identify my own stuff. And I'm like, no, I need to go back to scripture on this. So I just pulled up the article again. I looked at it and
I said, okay, I identify these things within myself. This is scripture based. This is what God says and I believe it. And I go, okay, I'm good. And then I, you know, all that anxiety and stuff washed off of me and I can just continue.
But the bigger thing that is the punchline here is what this does to bolster us.
Absolutely.
It actually, when you read truth of what Christians do, how they act, how they function, how they respond to situations, you go, yeah, that is me. And I can still grow in that. Yes. And how cool is that?
Oh, it's confidence building. It's so amazing. And the, the articles good for two things, because if you're a Christian and you're wondering and you feel scared, you can go, you can look at it and it bolsters you up to walk in confidence in God. And if you look at those things and you say, I can't identify with those things, I don't believe those things, but I want to. Then you can fall on your knees right then and there and come to Jesus. And and then those things will be true about you.
Yeah. Confess your sin, by the way, 89, 73. And, uh, 1119 and 5782 and 1867. More of more people following Jesus that are just getting the resource here today. But yeah, this stand resource. You know, we don't talk about this much, but this is when you look at this is a template to know you stand with God, and God stands with you when you look at it, you go, all right. And I got some good growing to do inside.
Of this.
Because I don't look at all I wrote this stupid thing, and I, and I don't look at all of them and go, oh yeah.
I'm a plus.
Carl. And he choose something, man. I don't ever do that. I look at that and go, yeah, that's true of me. And I got some growing to do in that.
That's right.
So it's it's, it's it's both and and so you want to grow up on Freedom Friday. You know, you're secure in Christ but you're like you got some discipleship material? Yeah. Nine ways to know you stand with God. And he stands with you because you might go, well, I'm a little weak in the knees over here. I'm standing with God. But, boy, and I need to get to the spiritual gym. And if that's what it does, like it does for Young Thunder and Super dying for me.
Amen. Yes. Right on.
Yes, please.
All right. How do they get it?
Just text the word stand to 800 555 7898. Text the word stand to 800 555, 7898. Again, we cannot endorse it enough. We go back to it and look at it for ourselves and our own personal benefit.
Sometimes when no one's watching, when.
No one's watching, most of the time when no one's.
Watching.
Oh, text the word stand to 800 555, 7898. Oh, one more added value with this thing. I'll tell you in three minutes.
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.
Oh, that one always. That one always gets me. That one always. That's Young Thunder's story. You've heard it before. We're not going to break it all down right now. But we are going to break down something here. I just read it. So what is it? It's a blog that we that I made up, and it's called Nine Ways to Know You stand with God and He stands with you. Now there's a double edged win on this
thing number one. Well, really a three fold approach. If you're uncertain of where you stand with God and you read it and you're going, man, these are not characteristic of me. You can fall on your face, receive mercy in your time of need, like right now. And if you're born again and you want assurance of salvation, you can read this. And it will then further motivate you
to go, wow, okay. There's some This is characteristic of the way I'm bent, for sure, but I got some growing to do in this area, and so it's really a cool resource. That way you can just text stand by the way and get this resource to 800 555 7898. But I think one of the hidden benefits of this blog and all it is, is Scripture. Excuse me, nine ways to know You stand with God and He stands with you. It will allow you to have insight crystal clear about how to pray for a lost spouse. A relative,
a neighbor. Someone that goes to church with you. But it seems like the true lights are on, but no one's Jesus isn't in there. That's not the light of Christ, and it will really sober you up about how to pray for your children. And it's going to require a little bit of fortitude, because one of the great dangers. Since we're being brutally honest here today, one of the great dangers for Christian, I'm using that in air quotes, parents, is that we oftentimes attach so much to how we
brought up our kids and a threat to. Did I screw it up that we we try to talk ourselves into a place where our kids are that they, in fact, aren't there? And that is dangerous because you want to
be praying rightly for your kid. And one of the coolest things that I've ever seen is this movement that's afoot right now, where people are sobered up about where their kids are at, and more and more are saying, yeah, I'm no longer praying that my kids get back to church because they were raised in church, but they were never in Christ. And that that's freedom. That's not condemnation, that's freedom. And can I remind you, it's the Holy
Spirit that saves. Not their upbringing. It is their transforming that saves. And that's the Holy Spirit's work. I've seen kids talking to Sean McDowell yesterday when I was guest hosting for Chris Brooks. I've seen kids and this is what he said, and I've seen it, too, that were raised in lousy homes that surrendered to Jesus. And I've seen kids raised in awesome homes that walk their own way. This is about them and God. You are off the hook. This is God's work. But how you pray for him.
Text the word stand to 800 555 7898. Text the word stand. Get this resource. Hold on to it. Read it. Let it motivate you spiritually, and let it allow you to pray for others more accurately. Stand to 805, 55, 7898.