Coming to you from the Morning Star Mission sponsored studio. This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
It's Carl and crew helping you take your next step with Jesus. We've got. We got a day to day, man. I'm going to start this thing out of the chute. Hot. You guys ever had piece ripped off from you or feel like it's elusive?
Yeah, absolutely.
Of course.
What are the situations in your life? What are the situations in your life that seem to rob peace from you? I'm not wanting gory details. I don't need you guys to do that. But generally speaking, what can rob peace?
Family situations.
Family's huge, isn't it?
Big?
Big? Yeah I think, uh, identity anxiety. Yeah.
Work.
What do you mean by that?
So I think that there's a lot of anxiety about that out there about who we are. I, you know, I'm so messed up from this. You know, I've experienced this, and it affects me today. We don't know who we are, and it makes us anxious.
Yeah, we can look at our life and we can see things that have happened in the past. And we're like, who just could be, in our own estimation, a trail of tears. It's unredeemable. How in the world is God going to pull anything out of the ashes here?
Or someone spoken a word to you that that is horrible and untrue, and now you can't get that word out of your head and they go, oh, that person was right. I am this. And it's like, no.
Yeah, we can face issues at work, at home, even in the neighborhood that it's like, boy, there's a situation dangling out here. I don't know what to do with it. And sometimes it's a situation beyond our control. Yes. And it's something being foisted on us. And it can just rob us of peace, rip us off. One of the biggest peace robbers I ever had in my life hit me.
Just blindsided. I can't get into too many details except to say it was about oh goodness sakes, I've been saying 15 years ago now forever, but probably 16, 17 years ago. And it was it was one of the most brutal piece robbers you can ever have in your life. And, you know, the interesting thing about betrayal is that the guy on the street can't betray you, right?
Yeah.
Because only someone who has close proximity can betray you, right? Somebody out on the street can say something about you. The way you look, the way you walk, the way you talk. Whatever. But that's not betrayal.
No, there's no trust.
There's no trust that's been built in order for betrayal to happen. But I went through a season where a couple of guys that I really put my full faith and trust in. And by the way, some of you might say, well, there's the problem. You got to put your full faith and trust in God. Yes and no. We may put our trust in people all the time for partnerships, for marriage, totally. For teachers of our kids at school, we put our trust in them. I mean,
government officials wink, wink. We put our trust in them.
A certain degree, of.
Course. So we entrust ourselves to people all the time or trust people all the time. In fact, there's a there's a key word there. Who do we entrust ourselves to? It has to be God. And that's part of the solution. But we put a level of trust in people. And then when you find that something you shared or something that you've lived or that something is that is said about you is untrue, and you got a fork hanging out of your back. One day when you wake up,
oh my goodness, it can steal peace. When a friend does you wrong with someone you've trusted, truly does you wrong. It can really Rob you of peace can steal it. The myth we want to debunk today is I can't find peace. Peace can seem so elusive, and it's always going to be at risk. There's no way there aren't peace robbers out there waiting for you today. It's in the world system that we live in. Yep. Things can rob us of peace. It's in our own flesh. Things
that we do that can steal peace from us. That's where we look at ourselves going. Oh, man, I'm so. I'm such an idiot. I'm never going to break loose from these patterns in my life. And Satan's constantly setting traps and saying things to you that rob peace left, right and center today. And I don't know how much ground we're going to make in any segment, one segment or half hour today, but we're going to cover some ground. There are three conversations that can change the course of
your life and give you peace. Three conversations, three conversations. And it covers every aspect of life, these three conversations. And I'm not overpromising. It comes right from the book of Philippians. It's one of the most beautiful aha moments. And you might have come here today and very candidly, you feel like, man, Carl, peace is so elusive for me. I mean, God promises peace, but it seems so far away. Peace is a fruit of the spirit, and I'm abiding
in Christ. But where's the peace here? We're just going to focus on peace. Because when peace is missing, everything seems to be falling down. Isn't peace one of the greatest commodities we can possibly have in this world? Give me a little peace. Yeah, we'd buy it, wouldn't we?
Oh, absolutely. And especially in some situations when you have that peace. Others come up to you and go, well, I don't get it.
Especially if they know a situation you're going through.
Is very heavy. Exactly. Like, how are you dealing with how.
How does that.
Happen? Yeah.
Yeah. Coming up here, we're going to talk about the first conversation that can change the course of your life and bring you peace. Some of you are down a path that just is robbing peace from you at every corner. What if I told you Scripture is clear that there are three conversations that can change the course of your life, and you don't have to say any longer, I can't find peace. We're going to be breaking it down for you this morning. And I know some of you did.
You came here today going, boy. Carl, if I could just find a little bit of peace here, life would be so much different. It can be. God's word is just loaded with hope. Hang on.
You're listening to Curl and Crew on Moody Radio.
One of the key things to experiencing peace is understanding who in the world you are in Christ, your identity. There's a lot of discussion about identity in this world that we live in today, for sure, and a lot of people think that they can't choose or settle in on their true identity, but that's simply a falsehood. God wants you to get anchored in who you are in Jesus later on this hour. J Warner Wallace is going
to be with us here. Cold case, homicide detective, turned full blown theologian, theologian, apologist and radical Jesus follower.
You can't even write that.
I mean, what a great dude, huh?
Right.
What a great.
Man. Good friend of the show.
I mean, been on Dateline, so you're going to hear his voice and go, I've heard that voice. Yeah, you've heard it before. Imagine those spending all your time doing cold case detective work.
That's heavy. Heavy talk about peace. Talk about peace in your head.
Yeah. This is why his radical transformation. Not as a young man or in Sunday school, but later on in life, proved to be one of the biggest transformative things that he could have ever imagined. And he's going to be here with us today. I can't find peace. Is that myth that needs to be debunked? You may not have it for a moment, so I want I don't want to diminish the lack of peace. Anxiousness is a very real thing. And the reason we know it's going to
be real, even for followers of Jesus. And praise God, we don't have to paste on the fake fruit of peace. Have you ever tried to do that where it's like you're going through an anxious moment and like, give me a plastic banana of peace over here.
It's fine.
You guys nailed it, man.
Yeah, it's fine, it's fine. Don't worry about it. Just push it off. Yeah. Don't think about it.
Just keep swimming.
You guys never do that, do you?
No, never. Of course. Yes, I do it.
No. I'm fine, I'm good. Yeah. Never.
It's a dangerous thing. Three conversations we want to cover this morning. I don't know, let's cover one of them right now. Spend some time here before the bottom of the hour. Really covering something here. Three conversations that can change the course of your life and really bring you peace. It's a fascinating storyline here in Philippians four, he got he got two ladies in Philippi who are at odds with one another. And this is what Paul says. I
entreat Euodia and Syntyche to agree in the Lord. How in the world did they make it into this letter? I'm going to explain that in just a moment. Yes. I ask you also, true companion, help these women who have labored side by side with me in the gospel, together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers whose names are in the book of life. So Paul's interrupting this incredible book to really talk about as we're going to unfold here today, three conversations that can change
the course of life and give you peace. So the backstory on Aotea and Syntyche is that we don't know much at all.
Yeah, no.
Because they're introduced right here.
And then out of nowhere.
And it's gone pretty quickly.
Yeah, it's in and out. So here's the cool little insight that we can get. Euodia and Syntyche were obviously partners in the gospel at such a level that if they didn't have peace in their relationship, it was going to have ripple effects throughout the church of Philippi.
Right? You see that and feel that.
And there's another player here, and we don't even know who it is. Yes. I ask you also, true companion, help these women who have labored side by side with me in the gospel. We don't know who this is. We don't know if this is Timothy. We don't know if we don't know if this is Luke. We don't know who in the world this is. All we know
is that these women are at odds with one another. Now, if you do a deeper dive on Scripture, I'm absolutely convinced that this wasn't a big deal that had caused a divide here, because if it was, it had been a theological issue, something of substance that it would have been it would have been much different for Paul. He would have been writing.
Oh, he'd been right there.
One of you or one of you are writing heresy or speaking heresy, and or both of you have bailed on the truth of the gospel. No, he's just saying, I entreat Euodia, and I entreat Syntyche. So he's entreating them both. This is very interesting. By the way, I'm talking to you both here to agree in the Lord. Yes. I ask you also, true companion, help these women who have labored side by side with me in the gospel, together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers
whose names are in the book of life. What's he helping them to do? He's helping them to find peace. There is something that has caused a divide. And here's the amazing thing about relationships that rob peace from you and cause you to say, I can't find peace with this person. I can't find peace with someone, particularly in the body of Christ, because this is why it's so important. The body of Christ are closer relationships than even our
blood relatives. That's what Jesus said. Who's your sisters? Brothers? Mothers? Fathers? Who? Aunts? Uncles? Who are they? Aren't they of the household of faith? Yes. Why? Because we are knit together. Not by common earthly blood, but by spiritual blood. The blood of Jesus Christ. He brings us together so that unity is almost more important than getting sideways with family. Even though family can wreck your heart. We're going to talk about that today. So
it was probably a little thing. And this is just like marriage. And you might be in a marriage right now where you're going. We don't have peace. So the application point here is real for you as well. If you got two people that are in the Lord and you're finding a wall between you, here's what I've found many years of ministry. It's usually not the big things that divide. It's a little brick, little brick, little brick of little stuff that creates a wall of divide. That's
what does it. Coming up here in three minutes. What in the world is the principle here that we find in this text that peace seems elusive for you now with someone. What does it mean to find peace in the Lord? Let's break it down. Straight ahead.
He's a sports fanatic with a stat for anything you can think of. Young Thunder is in the crew. It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
Today we're tackling the myths. I can't find peace. And sometimes the biggest peace robbers are in relationships, even those in the body of Christ. This is a big one. Why? Because we need each other in Christ more than almost biological family. That's very true. We know what it is to lack peace with regard to where our kids are at, where a spouse is at, and all these different relationships that we have. And we're going to get into that today.
But one of the three conversations that can bring peace to you and change the course of your life is this talk with your brothers and sisters in ways that bring unity. It doesn't mean that whatever caused Euodia and Syntyche to not have agreement, you just kind of brush that under the rug. It's the bigger yes. You know, there's a character trait in Scripture that we're called to
use constantly, and that is forbearance. Forbearance says just because you do something differently than me, just because you set up the info kiosk differently than me at church, just because you put the sugars by the coffee's a little bit differently than I would. Doesn't mean we need to have a problem here.
That's very correct. And I think sometimes we can miss that.
It's fairly true to.
The things that divide us in spiritual relationships are usually not big theological things. They're usually stylistic more than they are substantive.
Yeah. Yeah, I would agree because I mean, largely in your faith based community, there are going to be the majority of people who theologically agree with you on the most important things, the the dogma, which is the gospel. Uh, you know, the things that cannot be changed or disagreed upon and still be okay. So every most people agree
on those things in your community. However, preferential stuff is the stuff that sometimes we feel the most emotionally charged to because we have this grip on it, this hold on it, that it has to be this way or I like this the best. And we kind of interpret that as it has to be this way.
It's my way or the highway, brother or sister. And here's what Paul says to Euodia and Syntyche. He says, I entreat you both to agree in the Lord, and you've got to ask, what in the world is that? I think there's forbearance there, for sure, but all you have to do is look back two chapters. And when I was doing a deep dive on this text a
couple of weeks ago, this is what you find. Have this mind among yourselves which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant being born in the likeness of man and being formed. Being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross.
The preeminent characteristic that can bring some peace into your life is to begin to have conversations with brothers and sisters. In a way that makes Christ central. Agree in the Lord. You notice what Paul's saying here. He doesn't say, come to agreement about all the details of what's got you all messed up, ladies?
Yeah, one of you better submit and agree to the other person's opinion.
You know what he's saying? It's the greater good. It's the bigger. Yes, it's the yes. And some of you right now when I'm saying this, you're going, oh, boy, you're right. I'm all hung up on the handlebars of a stylistic thing or a way they do something, or the way they didn't talk to me or the way they did talk to me. What if, instead of me getting piece robbed, I have a conversation that says, let's come back to the Lord and maybe you don't say
it to the other person. You just exhibit it and say, I'm going to take the posture of humility. It's not my way or the highway. I know there's differences in the body of Christ. Have you ever noticed how different we are, guys?
Very. I mean, we're all unique people.
For a purpose and a reason.
You got a family of six and you got six completely different people. It's a bigger. It's a bigger group.
And their family is six. You at least have same family of origin kind of issues that you can all relate to. But when you've got like we have downtown, our downtown campus has 22 languages spoken at it. Do you.
Know beautiful.
Do you know how much potential there is for conflict? Goodness sakes. Cultural differences. But when we agree in the Lord, we're taking on a posture of humility. It's not my way or the highway, and I just appeal to you today. One conversation that can give you peace and change the course of your life is talked with your brothers in a way that bring unity, and it's usually through humility. Choose it today. And I'm telling you, peace is right
around the corner. Think about that person or persons you felt something for. A little forbearance goes a long way. Humility takes it over the top. Live it today, guys.
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.
The tongue is a powerful thing, isn't it? Oh, boy.
Man. No doubt.
What we speak, what we say matters. The most comprehensive, the most comprehensive teaching in all the scriptures on the tongue is in the book of James, chapter three, verses one through 13. I'm almost inclined to read this whole thing. Let me grab let me grab chunks of it here. Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with
greater strictness. So here's the deal. James says, we all stumble in many ways, and if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he's a perfect man, able to bridle his whole body. If you can get the tongue under control, you got everything cooking here. He goes on. If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. Boy,
that's a great metaphor. Look at the ships also. I've seen some big boys, Though they are so large and driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. It's true guys, I've seen some of the. When I commercial fished in Alaska for eight seasons, we would go deliver our salmon to tenders. Okay, so if you've ever seen the crabbers on The Deadliest Catch. Yeah. So like high spirits and all these different boats, I've been in the
kitchen galley. That's what they're called of a good number of those boats on Deadliest Catch. Those boats have been around a long time. And those boats in crab season, Deadliest Catch, they're out there in the high seas of the Bering Sea, just getting tossed about to and fro. But in the summer months, they come in and they collect. They're the intermediary between our little 32 foot gillnetters, and we're putting anywhere from 5 to £25,000 pounds of salmon
on our boat, and then we go deliver them. And they're in big trailers. They're called their big old nets. When you pull up alongside these tenders, they gather them up, pick it up. And that's this is the fun part because there's a scale at the bottom of the picking hook. Oh cool. So it's a big digital scale. And they pick up that trailer. And I would always guess how many pounds are in those trailers. They'd be 2 to 3, three, £4,000 of fish in one day.
Wow.
One net. So they pick it up and it's like £3,200. Yes. And I'm doing the math in my head because that was that was big dollars for a kid.
Pounds to dollars.
Oh, it was big, big dollars. But then those tenders would take those fish from that tender to a larger ship. And these were they were called Trampers. They were converted World War Two ships that the Japanese had. So these were ships that were used against us once upon a time. Now they're converted into refrigeration processing ships. So then the the the fish get taken from those tenders in huge batches over to these Japanese trawlers. And here's these guys, man.
They it was great. I got invited up on one one time and this was before I was saved. So they introduced me to Saki, which is bad news. It's just poison. Clear poison is what it is. Oh my goodness. And seaweed and all kinds of goodies. And I couldn't speak their language, but we spoke the language of food really well.
Something was spoken there for sure.
So. But here's what's funny. The the tides were so huge in Bristol Bay that at times these huge Japanese trawlers would get beached and the waters would go out. And here's the entire ship on a beachhead out of the water. And then you'd look down and the point is you'd look down at the rudder and you're like, man, I mean, the rudder is big, but when you've got a ship that's 350ft long and I don't know how many tons, and you've got a piece of metal that's
like six feet by eight feet. That's steering it, right.
Oh, it's tiny comparatively to the ship.
Yeah, well, that controls it. Exactly.
Yeah. Now, Paul didn't see the same ships I did, but he's or James, the brother of Jesus. But they still had that going on.
Absolutely.
And so he goes on, he says, man, these ships are guided by very small rudder where wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also is the tongue a small member? Yet it boasts of great things. And then it goes on to talk about forests set ablaze by a small fire. In this this tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. And he goes on to explain this with it we bless our Lord, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. And then he says these words in verse 13, who
is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct, let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom, meaning wise people get their tongues under control. This morning we're talking about three conversations that can change the course of your life and give you peace. And for some of you, the myth that we're debunking today is very pointed. I can't find peace, Carl. I can't find peace. Coming up here, I'm going to tackle the second conversation that
can change the course of your life. It's all hinges in God's providence, omnipotence, and sovereignty. We'll give you the whole thing straight ahead.
Your shot of hope to help you through the day. This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
Sometimes we start believing this myth that I just can't find peace. I can't find it. I don't want you to beat yourself up. Sometimes the absence of peace is the presence of incredible heartache. God's not asking you to wave a magic wand over your life, but really, conversations that we have, three of them that we're covering here today can bring peace when it seems elusive. And I promise you that I do. You know. You ever see. Now you're talking. We all do, don't we? Now you're.
Talking. Oh, yeah.
Isn't that a common phrase? Let me. Let me tell you. Let me tell you. When I say now you're talking. Let me give you a couple. When my bride says, let's go to Napoli, I'm like, now you're talking. Yeah. Napoli has got the real pizza. Real pizza is thin crust from Sicily, I think. Right.
I mean, careful.
No, I'm going to go for it all, you deep crushers. Uh uh, all the thick pi pi people, all that stuff. No, I'm a Napoleon patootie. I get a diavola with extra diavola, which is just a classic pepperoni pizza. I love it. It's so good I can polish off one whole thing myself. No problem. So when my bride says, want to go to Napoli, I'm like, now you're talking.
Came from Naples, Italy.
Naples. Okay, there we go.
Not Florida. Italy?
Yes.
Thank you.
Just making sure.
Maybe there's a pizza joint in Naples, Florida.
There probably.
Is.
There's a Little Caesars.
A good one. Oh, no.
Don't even get me going there. I'm not even going to go there. Okay. So when do you say. Now you're talking. Come on.
Oh, man. Uh, now I'm talking. Probably.
Now you're talking. Yeah. So someone else says something to you. You go. Now you're talking.
Uh, so the food thing. Definitely. My wife says, hey, you want to get chick fil A tonight? That would be mine.
Oh my word.
Oh, yeah. You're. Now you're talking.
You're easily pleased.
That's good. I am easily pleased.
Uh, chick fil A is good, though.
Or, uh, you know, when when the bears quarterback throws a deep touchdown pass. That's probably my. Yeah. Sports related for me. That's that's a big one.
You two. Super day.
Yeah. Sports related. That kind of thing with the Cubs. Now you're talking. Come on. Yeah.
When the Cubs. Sorry, I'm in Chicago here for all you fans everywhere else. When the Cubs management before the trading deadline gets three new pitchers. Yes. Two relievers and one one starter. Now you're talking. They haven't done it yet. But I'll be. I'll be doing it. I'll be saying. Now you're.
Talking. That's right.
Now you're talking. That's right. It's it's funny because what we say matters.
Yes.
And there's three conversations that can change the course of your life and give you peace covering the second one. Now, talk with God in ways that release you from anxiousness. Look at what Paul says here. Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard actually a better word. Translated there is garrison. It's not just guard. It's not like you got a little foam thing up in front of you here. It's like there's this fortress of God's power. It will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. So what does this mean? I mean, what's it mean? Well, this conversation with God, talking with God in ways that releases you
from anxiousness is embedded right here. We'll break it down straight ahead.
Get to know the team behind the scenes. Follow Carl and crew on Facebook and Instagram.
Covering three conversations that can change the course of your life and bring deep peace. We're in the second conversation. Talk with God in ways that release you from anxiousness. There's a peace in this. Before I get into who in the world we're talking to, because I think prayer sometimes is feeling like I've got to speak some words about something that stealing peace from me. And if I speak these words, then the magic sauce is then I'm
going to have peace. And we sometimes wonder, well, what's the gap? And this is where we got to understand who we're talking to. But there's one aspect in here of thankfulness that you want to spike Young Thunder.
Yeah, I love this because I think back to my time where I was in the church but didn't know Christ. And if I read this verse at this time, I would have thought something because, uh, Paul says here in verse six, do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. So we're talking to God about what makes us anxious, asking him for what we need,
but also in thanksgiving. And I would have read that and probably thought like, that's a weird kind of power trip thing that like, oh, I've gotta, I've gotta make sure I say my thank yous to God. Otherwise, you know, he's not going to hear my stuff or hear my requests. And and that's not what this is about at all. God is is telling us to talk to him in
thankfulness for our benefit. Because I was thinking about this, um, gratitude allows us to remember what God has done for us in the past and his faithfulness for us today. So I thought about it.
It's not a weird oh, thank you.
You better.
That's in a void of any experience.
No. Absolutely not. And I think about it this way. My wife does so much for our family. Uh, a little synopsis of her day is that she gets up early in the morning, uh, 640, 7:00, and immediately my daughter is up and she's taking care of my daughter. So it's immediate sacrifice playing with her, feeding her, taking her on a walk. And then once she gets her down for her afternoon nap, I come home from work and she starts work. Then she works through the afternoon.
And once she's done working, she gets to making dinner. And. But my daughter hasn't seen her all day. So now she wants. My daughter wants her to hold her. So she's holding my daughter and making dinner at the same time. Hey, dad. Can't take Ellie away from from her mom. That's just not gonna happen. And so. So she's doing all this,
and then. And then we go out on a walk together, and we're doing family time, and then we put our daughter down, and it's a couple hours together before I gotta go to bed and wake up early the next day. But she's focused on me. And how can she connect with me? How can she take care of me? Because I've had a long day and she wants to do that if I don't thank her, I will in my own, in my own human nature, forget all of the things
that she's done for me in a day. But when I say, you know what, Shannon, thank you so much for how you've served today. I remember everything, and and that's what God wants. He says, thank because you will remember how I've been faithful to you, and then you will know and be able to trust that I will be faithful to you again in what you're asking me for right now.
Awesome. Beautiful. Now. Shannon has great capability.
Yes.
She's an amazing woman of God. I love your bride. But even Shannon comes short of God.
Of course. Right? Yeah.
When we're talking with God, there's three things I want you to remember. God's providence, his omnipotence, and his sovereignty. Providence of God means that he is actively involved in governing details of the universe in your life to fulfill his purposes, and they're always good and wise. Boom! Anchor it. He's providential. He's omnipotent. His power is infinite. His ability to create, sustain, and act in any way miracles of redemption.
All these things that he orders in our life. And he works outside the sphere of humankind so he can rearrange things that are not bound by the limits of what we can do. That's his power. And then his sovereignty. He has supreme authority over everything. Nothing happens outside his control. When we begin to talk with God in ways that we know his providence, his omnipotence, his sovereignty, we can pray with thankfulness because we've seen him work back here,
and he will work again. And all of a sudden when we lay it down at the foot of the cross, we go, I can have peace. Now, here's here's a big deal, guys, I want you to know that I haven't always prayed in a way that brings peace. What do I mean? Even for many years as a pastor, I saw prayer as far too perfunctory. It's just something we do. Being honest with you here. But when I began to pray, knowing God pulls the levers of things that are concerning me today, and then I truly, in humility,
laid them down at the cross. And I began to see God work. And I listened to his spirit, and I began to watch. What in the world is he orchestrating here? Unbelievable. To the point where I know this is something that you want and I want to tell you. It can be yours. I pray with expectation, Confidence and peace like never before in my life. It's the craziest thing. I can look over this last week and I can see God's hand moving. Sometimes God's hand not moving. And the benefit of that.
Yeah.
And I don't know what you're up against today, but I want you to know our God is a God of providence. Our God is a God of omnipotence. Our God is a God of sovereignty. Our God moves. And when we pray, he takes it. And I don't know what you're up against today, but I know this for sure. Talk with God in ways that trust his providence. Trust his power, trust his sovereignty. And then I want you to live with your head on a swivel and look at what God is doing today. I am asking you
taste and see that the Lord is good. Watch what happens today.
A basketball mom who's mastered the dad joke. Ali is in the crew. It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
I'm reminded of the fact that Jesus said, go talk to your father. He wants to give you good things. He knows your heart. He says, what kind of a earthly dad? If you ask for bread, he's going to give you a stone, right? Now, some of you have some horrendous upbringings, and I get that, and that taints your view of God. But take it from me with my dad, when I would ask my dad, I remember one time working on a go cart, I was driving,
I was going crazy. I couldn't get the wheel on the axle, I couldn't get the keeper key to work or anything like that. And I said, dad, now this is what I said, hey dad, I'm in the garage. I got a problem with my go kart. And you know what he said? Oh, hang on, son, I'll be right now. And he comes down and he goes, well, let's look at this here. Let's pick this axle up. Let's put this here. And oh you got a little sticking point here. Grab that rubber mallet off the workbench.
Grab that rubber mallet. He goes look at this. Bang bang bang. Tap that in. Let's get that keeper key right there. Okay, we got it I said thanks, dad. Now you know what Jesus said. If our father in heaven, you you being earthly, are so imperfect. Dads. What? Jesus says with absolute confidence. How much better is it to take these requests to God? And there's some of you that, as Sam Storms reminded us a couple of weeks ago, I remember this, he said, and I bottom lined him.
I said, so, Sam, what you're saying is some things, some answered prayers are going to be left on the table here on earth because we've not given them to God. And he said, yeah, so I don't want you to leave things on the table. I want you to come and get these blessings from God. He's providential. He orders the affairs of this world. He's omnipotent. He has power to move in people or situations like you can't move and he's sovereign. He orders all these things. Nothing happens
apart from his ultimate will. Even the attacks of Satan on your life. But God is greater.
Yeah, and you know what? He cares. He cares about you. In this verse that we're reading from Philippians four verse six, you know, it says, do not be anxious about anything, but that's not the first part of the sentence. That first part of the sentence, actually in verse five where it says, the Lord is at hand. Do not be anxious about anything. Yeah. I've, I've done a little bit of research on this and that Lord is at hand. More likely means that the Lord is near. The Lord
is near to you. Do not be anxious about anything. He's close. He wants to grab you up, hold you and hear what you have to say.
Hand it to him.
Hand it to him.
Ask him for help.
Yeah, he's right there.
And I can't get into deep weeds. Of all the answered prayers that I've seen just in the last week. But I can tell you this right now. You pour your heart out before God and don't prescribe how it's going to go. But tell him, all right? This is the thing that's got me wigged out right now. God, could you come help me? And he's not going to throw a stone down the staircase. When you've asked for a loaf of bread, he's going to come down. He's going to say, let me help you on this one, kid.
We got this thing. Here's what's beautiful about beginning to pray to a God who can move outside the sphere of human realm and reorder things. When you see God answer one prayer that you've truly released to him because he's near, you will now have an attitude of Thanksgiving because you've seen him move in the past and he
will move again. I'm telling you, my bride and I are praying with expectation like never before, not presumption, but with expectation that he's going to move like never before in our lives. And I want you to begin to move that muscle of prayer. But it's got to have that backdrop of our God is good, our God is loving. He's at hand. He can move outside the realm of what you can see, touch and move. Think about that wayward kid that you have. Think about that wayward spouse
that you have. Think about that wayward grandkid that you have right now. You want a real practical prayer. God, according to John 14, trouble their hearts to the point where they say, I believe in God. I believe in Jesus. Bring them. Give them no joy in being off in Antioch. That's parable, the wayward son. Give him no joy with the lights of the city and the stuff of this world. God let everything that they're tapping into and spending money on come up empty. Have I seen that prayer answered?
You better believe it. It's almost eerie. My bride and I were at a Cubs game and she was talking with someone, and we got up and left the Cubs game. We'd been praying for this person. She goes, bub, we're walking out. She goes, bub, you won't believe it. I'm sitting there listening to this girl talk back to me. And she goes, that's an answered prayer. That's an answered prayer. That's she counted ten things that she said at this
Cubs game. This girl is repeating back to her things that were answers to prayer.
Wow.
Directly from the hand of God. Believe it. Guys.
Tune in whenever you like. Check out the Carl and Crew podcast wherever you like to stream.
So there's three conversations that can change the course of your life. They are as real as real can be. They're right here in Philippians chapter four. We've been breaking them down for you today. We're on the third conversation. And this is this is a little bit wild, but it's absolutely true to the scriptures. Talk with yourself in ways that bring gratitude and peace. Look at what we
find Paul saying here. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable. Boy, he's covering some ground here, huh? If there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me. Practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. Now it's more than just thinking the word for think. And
just take this one for instance. The word Hagar in the Old Testament is often translated meditate. So you find Hagar in Psalm one one through three. Meditate on the law day and night and meditate on it, and you will be like a tree planted by streams of water. Your leaf will never wither, and all you do, you will prosper. Joshua one. We find you going to the new land. You meditate on the law day and night. You will have success and prosperity wherever you go. You
know what the the Hebrew word Hagar means? It means to mutter, moan, shout, scream, sing. Isn't that fascinating?
I love.
That. Oftentimes we just go, I'm just going to think about it. What if you spoke it out? And so here we find whatever is true, honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely. This is so important. Here's the point. Talk with yourself in ways that bring gratitude and peace. And I just want to spike this with a really practical exercise that some of you can do today. And I want to give you permission. Turn off Carl and crew if you have to, because this
is a good tool. For a number of years, my bride has done something that is so cool when I get up early in the morning. Early. My bride's up right behind me and she opens up a journal and she writes, you know what it is? It's a gratitude journal.
I love that.
She writes and writes and writes. And one day I thought, what in the world is she writing about? And then it dawned on me, oh, she's married to me. It's a joke. I thought, she's going on. I've even teased her like that. Boy, you must be writing about me again, huh? And she goes, knock it off, you crazy person. But she. She does.
Sure.
Write out gratitude. And here's what this has done. She went through a time where she says, man, I was suffering from deep, dark night of the soul. And she heard a great talk on brain science, how God's wired us and what gratitude can do to change all your circumstances. And here's the bottom line for you. You got to begin to talk with yourself in ways that bring gratitude and peace. I know you're going through something that's got you in the soup, but you know what? If you
start going, huh? What's true, what's honorable, what's just, what's pure, what's lovely, what's commendable, what's excellent? Is there anything worthy of praise? Think about these things Paul says. Yeah. And you know what the peace of God will be with you. It's time to start having conversations with yourself about what's going good out there.
Absolutely. And listen, you like you're talking about having the word in you to the point where you can speak it out. We can't think about what is good, honorable, pure, praiseworthy if we don't take it in. We have to take in the word. We have to take in what is good in order to have thoughts about what is good, and then in order to think about what is.
Yeah. And practically speaking, you can get up this morning and you can look at yesterday. And by the way, you do these crazy gratitude exercises. What's wild about them is that we did this at Thanksgiving as a family one year, and it had us all in tears. We were going through a tough season, but we stopped to go, all right, what can we thank God for? We started going around the table, guys, pretty quick. We got tears
of joy. All four of us son, daughter, mom, dad and we got tears coming down our face because we're like, you know, there's so much soup that's got garbage in it. But if you weed through it, get the shells out you go. Wow, look at this. Look at this, look at this. It'll change the whole perspective on your day, your life, and maybe the very course that you're carving here.
Absolutely. And the thing is, you're thinking Journal. It can be. Just wake up this morning, think of three things. Just start small. Three things. I woke up this morning. I have provisions this morning. I got a warm bed this morning. Start there. Yeah.
You might. And then some might say the bed was too warm. Make it colder tomorrow. But you had a bed. You had a you had a bed. Find something to give God praise for what is excellent that he has done. Bank on it. Sit on that one today. And the God of peace is going to guard your heart in Christ Jesus. Guys.
Walking closer to Jesus every day. You're listening to Carl and crew.
Gratitude is an amazing thing and it's a powerful tool. Apostle Paul goes to great lengths to illustrate how powerful this is. He says, listen, brothers, which, by the way, is the original Greek word there indicates it's anthropo, meaning brothers and sisters. Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure. But wait, there's more. Whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable. There's even more.
If there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me. Practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. Paul did. We can as well. It's a powerful discipline taking your calls. We've had some wacky doodle phone situations here. I know taking your calls and we had some of you even screened and we lost you. So give us a call, use the gratitude journal. And it's been changing your life.
800 555 7898 800 555 7898. Jeannie. First time caller in Florida. What's your story, Jeannie?
Hi. Uh, yeah. So I've been doing a gratitude list for years. Every morning I'm in a 12 step program, and I learned to do this a long, long time ago. I share it with all my friends. I can't imagine going a day without it. Just like I can't imagine being in God's word first thing in the morning. Yeah, it's it's been amazing.
That's beautiful. Janie. Janie. What was what happened the first time you started journaling? Gratitude. What? What shifted do you remember that day?
Yeah, I remember that. I just had negative thoughts all the time. And I was advised to do five things to be grateful for every day and say, I am grateful for such and such. And then give the reason. Because such and such. And I used to do just five, even if it was having toothpaste for my toothbrush, and now it's just page after page after page, because every good and perfect gift comes from the father of the heavenly lights. And so I'm able to reflect every morning
on the day before. Of all the gifts that God has given me. And the love of Jesus sister.
Way to go. I'm proud of you. That is exactly right. Guys, there's so many things to praise God for. Way to go, Janie. First time caller from Florida. It's just a powerful discipline. Some of you are like, man, gratitude journal. This isn't a bad idea.
Not at all. It's great.
Nancy in Indiana. What do you say, Nancy?
Um.
So I was telling the girl that I was going through about ten years ago, I started what I call My Blessings journal. I was going through a divorce. It was mental health situation and I just started my blessings journal and just it was wonderful because it just focuses you on all the good things. And I haven't done it in a while, but I was telling her, yes, I need to get back to that.
Yeah. There you go. There you go, Nance. Yeah. It's interesting. Here's what's funny. Nancy, bring up Janie. She's still with us.
Yeah, Janie's still here.
Janie and Nancy, you both get to chime in with me here. So you get to run the radio show today. Here's what's amazing when you start journaling, right, ladies? You start to see things. When you start to see 1 or 2 things and you start lingering there, they start piling up, don't they, ladies?
Yeah.
Page after page.
Yeah. It's it's sweet.
The other thing I do is, um, there's some questions I ask myself every day I take an inventory. One of them is, what did I do good yesterday? What did I do for someone else yesterday? What happened yesterday that made me happy? That I had absolutely nothing to do with me. Which is which? We have to stay quiet and reflect. Because God has given you so many unexpected treats that you didn't had nothing to do with you.
That's awesome.
Way to go! How did I fall short? How did I fall short? Do I own amends? Am I closer or further from God? And then what about my actions and behaviors? It's a.
Beautiful.
Inventory.
Yeah. That's beautiful. Janie. How about you, Nancy? Anything, dad. There, sister.
Um, yes, I am. I do this journey of spiritual formation. Um, it's like a three year program. And there it's called Prayer of Examine, and it's what fills me today. What drained me today. What does God want me to learn on through there.
That's beautiful. Way to go, Janey and Nancy. One from Florida, one from Indiana. And we're sitting in Chicago. And that's the way live radio rolls.
Amen.
Your spiritual pit stop to keep you going in the race. You're listening to Carl and crew.
So this whole issue of identity, even discussing it can get a little unnerving. It's like, where do we go with this? And at the end of the day, I think the Christian mind needs to get anchored of, first and foremost, who we are in Christ. J Warner. Wallace. With me right now, God's been having you do a deep work on this identity issue. What have you been showing you? J Warner.
Well, I mean, a lot of this is coming down to how we form identity, and we only form identity three ways, okay. And one of those three ways is a much more advantageous way to form identity. Let me show you what I mean. So you either form identity outside in. That's where you look outside yourself and you say, you know, I kind of like that group over there. The ancients did it this way. They look outside themselves and say, well, who is my clan? Who is my tribe?
Who is my nation? Who is my village? What occupation do my parents hold? Oh, we're farmers, we're coal miners. We're whatever we reach outside ourselves to something that pre-existed us. And we say, yeah, I like that. I'm one of them. That's called Outside In. I'm calling it outside in identity formation. Good. Now there's another one that's much more current, and that's
where you're inside out. Identity formation. That's where you decide based on the desires of your heart, based on things you may be good at or you think you're good at. And you say, I'm one of these, and I want all of you to recognize me as one of these from now on. This could be based on maybe your skill. Like if you've ever watched American Idol and you see people who think they're singers in the early rounds, okay? And they force all of us to identify them as singers. Okay.
But it could also be it could also be your sexual desire, your sexual identity. You could find these things that you say, this is who I really am based on the desires of my heart. You now all must recognize me this way. This is called inside out identity formation. Now, let me just say one thing about this. I discovered this a long time ago, that when you suffer trauma, it causes you to shift the way you think of yourself. Yes, it's an identity shift. So, for example, I'm a healthy person. Well,
now you get the cancer diagnosis. Oh, I'm a married man. Oh. Not anymore. Now you've been divorced. When we suffer a trauma in our lives, we end up changing the way we think about ourselves. Now, keep that in mind, because the opposite is also true. When you suffer an identity shift, you also suffer trauma. I experienced this for myself just when I retired as a detective. I had been a detective for so long, it was the only way I saw myself. And then as I moved away from that,
I was like, well, who am I now? And it was traumatic for about, I'd say about five years. I had to get my feet again. Well, okay, so here's my point. Trauma causes identity shifts and conversely, identity shifts cause trauma. So if you wanted to reduce the amount of trauma in your life, I tell young people this all the time. Here's a hot tip simply pick an identity that doesn't shift. And that comes to the third form of identity formation, which is I call top side down.
That's where you put your identity in something that is unshiftable, that is immutable, that is eternal, that is unchanging. And of course, what would that be? Well, of course, for us as Christians, we would say, well, our identity is in Christ. Well, we say that, but the truth of it is, even those of us who say our identity is in Christ, often it is not. And here's what I mean by that. Look, if you look at Scripture, you only see the Christians called Christians three times. Three times in.
The.
Bible. Yep. Yeah. Yep. Most of the time, Paul will say, it's those who are in Christ. You can make a strong argument that if your identity is not in Christ, you aren't actually a Christian. But what is your identity in really? Well, we say it's in Christ. As Christians, we even say that. But let me ask you, where are you spending your discretionary income? That's probably where your
identity is. What are you spending your time on when you've got discretionary time, disposable income, disposable time, the freedom you have after you've done all the things you have to do, you're going to spend it doing something. You're standing in front of your idol. You're standing in front of your God. You're standing in front of whatever you worship. That is what you're going to place your identity in.
And if you worship your achievements or you worship your spouse, or you worship your family, your kids, well, it turns out you now have got your identity over there. And that's going to shift because you're going to age. Your kids are going to grow up and leave. You're going to your job is going to you're going to retire. These are things that are going to be traumatic because you've chosen them to be traumatic, because you put your identity in them. Yeah. What is our object of worship?
So for example, one quick way to find this is what is the thing that animates you or gets you mad quickly. Is it politics? Is it the culture that's around us? Well, I can tell you where your gods are. Like you're not living in Christ. You're living in the moment, in your identity that you've crafted for yourself based on all of your misplaced devotion?
Yeah, and it's easy to get your identity in a 401 K, a political party, a football team, a baseball team, almost anything. J Warner. Wallace, my guest right now featured in Dateline. You might recognize that voice going, I've seen or heard this guy before. He was a homicide detective and a good one. And now he is an apologist and he is on fire. I want to unpack this with that second layer. I am intrigued by something. You say that trauma creates identity and we need top down.
This might give us a whole lot more compassion for people who are struggling with sexual identity. When we understand the trauma of their childhood or youth. What say you? J Warner.
Well, I think we got to be careful. Where. Look, if nothing else, if you were just being very practical about it, let's say you're not struggling with gender identity issues as much as you're just struggling with sexual issues. What is the thing you're worshiping? You you consider to be of primary importance. Now, remember, all of our misplaced devotion is put into things that God has actually created for our good. There's only three categories of that, by
the way. It's sex, money, and power. So we put our identity in one of those three things that God has created for our good. But here's what we've done. We've made them the goodest thing instead of just a good thing. We've made them the God of our lives. Remember, whatever you are enslaved to, that is your object of worship. Now keep in mind every one of us is listening to this right now. Is enslaved to something. Something your desires limit. What your choices are you. There are certain
things you are willing to submit your life to. Paul says in the book, in many places in Scripture that he is a slave. The writers of the letters of the New Testament will often say, I am a slave to Christ Jesus. Well, not to mean that we are limited in a bad way. Jesus says, your burden is light over here, but you still have a burden because whatever it is you worship, whatever it is you think of as a primary importance, you've decided to voluntarily enslave
yourself to that. We're saying is, hey, there's a better object of worship to which we could be completely devoted because it has our best interest in mind. It's not going to eat us up and spit us out. It's actually going to do something good for us. And that's why we want to readjust. If it's about sexual identity, if it's about job identity, again, sex, money and power.
It's about money. It's about vacations. It's about hedonism, or it's about sexual relationships or just relationships in your family. Or it's about power, your authority, your position at your job that you've achieved things through your job. These are the things that control us.
Yeah. J Warner Wallace, my guest right now. Okay. So let's I love this because this almost takes the whole identity issue because politically it's very charged. And we go down that one narrow sliver, which by the way has huge cost attached to that. You think about female swimmers, and that's been litigated already, even at the Supreme Court level. But then you get into the inner workings of our own heart, and you find out something I'll never forget.
When it dawned on me, probably 20 years ago as a pastor. Oh my goodness, I don't need to teach people to worship their natural born worshippers. That's right. My calling is to help redirect their worship to the one and only true God. Speak to that, because a lot of people right now, this is the tragedy. We've been unpacking it all week. There's a huge delusion of salvation in the church. A lot of people call themselves Christian and are not because their identity truly is most anchored
in things that are not of God. Some, though listening say r g Warner, I struggle, I know I love God, he is my King. He saved me. But I do struggle with my identity. How do we readjust to full on top down identity in Christ?
I totally get it. This is the project I'm working on now. I'm starting to write another book on just this second chapter of The Truth and True Crime, which is on identity, because people ask me this all the time. Okay, it sounds easy, but it's not easy. No one does it. Well, I don't do it well. Remember these three steps of the Christian life that we talk about all the time, right? Justification, sanctification, glorification, justification has been described as that's the moment in which
you are removed from the penalty of sin. Sanctification. You're removed from the overriding power of sin. Glorification. You're removed from the presence of sin. Okay, so there's the three steps. Well, it turns out that the justification is a moment in time. It's the moment you decide to trust Christ as your Savior. And glorification is another door you walk through instantly. It's the moment you are standing in front of a holy God,
because you've passed from this life to the next. But that middle part sanctification.
Path we.
Walk a door.
Not a door.
Crooked hallway. And that hallway is filled with corners and sharp edges and slopes and bumps and bruises. And you'll find yourself taking one step forward and two steps back. I get it. And some people, by the way, don't even decide to walk down that hallway. The thief on the cross, for example. He went from first door to second door. There was no hallway for him. Okay. He missed. I can tell you this if you think you're going to have a straight hallway, it's probably like the thief
on the cross. It's because you have a short life. You make a decision for Christ, and you die because anyone else who has time between the two doors is going to live in the crooked hallway. Are you willing to live in the crooked hallway because you can't take a picture, a snapshot, a Polaroid at some step in that hallway and and judge your whole walk based on that Polaroid. You have to keep walking because the picture is going to change. Now here's what I do know.
If you aim at nothing, you hit it every time. So what we're going to do is get up every day and ask ourselves two things. Number one, it's really in the story of Nicodemus where Jesus quotes to him Ezekiel to tell him the truth about his identity. And what he says basically, is that you're going to have to wash out the water. Is the washing out of all of your idols, the same way that the prophet said, the nation of Israel has to be washed of its idols. You have got to figure out what is it now
that you worship? You care about that you fret over that you dream about, that you spend your discretionary income. Your thought life is given to this. That has become your God. You got to wash that out first. You will not put your identity back in Christ as long as it's misplaced in some place else. And two, it's about humility, this spirit that comes and turns your heart of stone into a heart of flesh. Do you have
the humility to bend your knee? Because almost all the, you know, the things we talk about sex, money and power that distract us, they're built on a pedestal of stupid called pride. It's pride that forces us in those directions. Well, if you find yourself not putting your identity in Christ today, it's because you pridefully think you've got a better way, and you've now misplaced it in one of those objects
of false worship. So it's about every day. Number one, identifying where you're going wrong so you can focus on what you're doing right and not getting upset when you find that you've maybe only got ten minutes today when you were able to do it well, you're in the hallway. You're going to walk and bump into things, but don't be too hard on yourself. But if you aim at nothing, you will hit it every.
Yeah, yeah, humility. I quote Andrew Murray here all the time. He said it is the one virtue that gives birth to every other virtue. In fact, he added in his book, humility, humility, the absence of humility is explanation enough for every character defect down that hallway, to use your metaphor of life. And here's the good thing about it it's a choice we can make. We have a binary choice. Am I going to be self-willed, prideful, or am I going to
humble myself under God's mighty hand today? And that's the beauty of it. J Warner Wallace. Thank you, my man. Uh, you know, I got a crazy question. One last thing on your heart about identity. Give me one final shot. What's on your heart?
Nothing matters more. This idea of humility is the key to human flourishing. It's a secret key that leads to every other aspect of human flourishing. Deeper relationships. Better at your job. Higher SAT scores earn more money. All of these things are dependent upon the one thing that Christianity uniquely offers. If you're listening right now, no other worldview that requires you to earn something produces humility. All it does is produce pride. That's a secular worldview because we
have to earn our way. It's also every other religious worldview. Only Christianity is says, you can't do it. It's been done for you. That's why Christianity is true.
Yeah, man is at the center of every other world religion. Christ is at the center of biblical Christianity and it's so freeing. J Warner Wallace, what a great guest. And if you want more simple text, the word case to 800 555 7898 text case, just that one word case c a s e to 800 555 7898.