Coming to you from the Morning Star Mission sponsored studio. This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
The interesting thing about. About music is that it grabs our soul. It really does. And it's going to take you one way or another.
There's the catch.
That's the that's the deal, isn't it?
Absolutely. That's the bull's eye. You hit it.
The interesting thing about music, and this is why we love interspersing, uh, especially songs that enthrall our minds with God, is that it can capture us in a big way. I mean, there's a whole hymnal in the scriptures.
The book of Psalms.
The Book of Psalms, which were sung. You know, I was in Jerusalem on one of our visits there, and I was with our guide, Omer Eshel, and we began to open up the songs of ascent, and he and I arm in arm with the Bible open, put music to the song of ascent as we climb the steps into Jerusalem.
Oh wow.
Isn't that.
Fun? Must have been an awesome experience.
Had me crying.
Oh boy. Had me crying about it.
Oh, isn't that something? So they can they they are used mightily of the Lord to to capture something that's just beautiful. You know, I had a thought early this morning, and it is early, but early for us is earlier than early. So. And you know, you're the boom crew. Let me tell you what that means. It means that we took this word boom. Because I had this crazy habit of going boom when people would call in and share testimonies. It's just an affirmation. It's even more than
a modern day Amen. It's just a yes. Let's go. What a what a great thing you've just shared. And we try to we try to boom you if it's if it's crazy out of the blue nutso. We give what's called a.
A boom.
A triple.
Boom. It's like a three exclamation point. Yes.
So it's and it all revolves around a few key things. So let me give you an analogy from Commercial Fishing. I used one of these yesterday. I spent eight seasons commercial fishing in Alaska. And one of the things you need to know if you're going the objective of commercial fishing in Alaska. I was on a driftnet boat. It's called a limited entry. There's only so many permits that are given for Bristol Bay on the west coast of Alaska.
The waves are always pretty strong at times. There's times there's just absolutely flat ocean, but those are rare days and everybody's just like pumped up. But it's it's rocky. It it can be a bit dangerous at times. But if the objective is to get fish on the boat and that is the objective as many red salmon or sockeye salmon as we can, there's a couple key things that you want to do. One is you want to get the net down in the right place. Make sense?
Yeah. So to go where the fish are.
Gotta thank you. Ali. She's. Boy, she's a commercial.
Fisherman, yes I am.
You got to go where the fish are. And and you want to make sure that you're caring for those fish as you bring that net in. And what that means for us in radio is very simple. There's a couple key messages that are going to allow us to do Christian radio. And I've got that in air quotes, because Christian radio can be a lot of different things. But there's a couple key things that we have observed that God has put into our heart that are absolutely essential.
One is, if we're going to put our nets down, we got to put our nets down in the waters of clarity of the gospel. The gospel has been lost for a lot of years here in the Western world. Really lost. It's been dumbed down. What do I what do I mean when I say that?
I mean, I think it's been when you think about the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, it's been reduced to church attendance, church membership, even, um, doing or not doing certain things even. I mean, you think about today's climate, even having a certain political position or affinity or not.
Yeah. So it can be that and but generally speaking, wouldn't you say people define themselves as Christians very culturally, whatever those drivers are.
For all of the above reasons.
Yeah, for all of the above. And so you get what is commonly called christers, right, which is Christmas and Easter attenders. And by the way, I happen to be of the mindset I have no knock on that. I'm like, if they're coming twice a year. Let's go. Let's be clear with the gospel. I'm not one that says let's target them, but let's be clear when they're there. Yeah.
What's what's going on? And let's cast that net. So there's a lack of clarity about what the gospel really is, and then there's lack of clarity around what sanctification is and how we get there. Fair enough guys.
Fair enough.
Those are two huge places that we try to lower our nets around here. And what we've seen is an incredible harvest. And it's humbling. And I want you to know that I am convinced that God and this is for you. God never elevates the messenger. He always elevates the message, which is huge.
Because God can use anyone.
He proves it all the time with us.
Anyone? I mean, you think about a donkey spoke truth? Yes. So true. It's all about the message.
And I mean, look at what Jesus said. Let the little ones or the children come to me. And that word for children is Nepos. It means one without words. God is pleased to have someone come to him and use them, when they all they have is open arms and lifted hands, saying, I can't even form a word. God, here I am. And he loves to use that. So I want to clarify what that means coming up. And then this half hour, we're going to ask a question out of that. That's going to open up phone lines
today in a fun way. Sound good.
Friday. So that's what we do.
Yeah. And we're going to hear your freedom stories.
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.
So we want to be lowering our nets where the fish are using a little commercial fishing metaphor from Alaska. We had a spotter pilot back in the day, and that was a 180 or a Super Cub that was flying above the fishery that we were in, covering a good amount of square miles. And at times they would say, go south, go south. And I remember one afternoon the sun baking down must have been 60 degrees out.
Ali sounds delightful. That's way too.
Cold. It was actually really warm that day for Alaska temperatures in the summer. And they were like, go south, go south, and we're on VHF radios. And and I'm hearing the through the squawk box on the flying bridge where my captain is and, and we're going south, and I'm watching nets that have fish that are coming into them. And I'm like, man, we got to throw it out, Marvin. And then the spotter and he's saying, spotter pilots saying, go south. And I'm like, ah, man, we're we're driving
right past paydays here. Well we went further south, further south, further south. And then, then the pilot of the 180 who was flying up in the sky and we saw him up there. He said, throw it out. There were no boats around us and we threw it out. And
it's called smoke on the water. In the commercial fishing grounds, we put out 300 yards of net, and as we laid that net into the water, we have corks on the surface of the water, but we would see that cork line just surge with hundreds of salmon, hit it, and then we would see splashes of tails and heads up and down the whole thing. And we're just celebrating going, look at this. And he said, I told you I'd put you on him. I heard him in the squawk box.
Told you I'd put you on him. And what God is doing here, even this week, is is putting us on him. What is that? We want to go where the fish are. There's a couple key messages that God has called us to hear with Carl and crew, and we're so grateful that you're along for the ride. But one of them is we want to be super clear with the gospel. Why I'm going to touch on this
quickly next week. We're going to unpack it totally. Matthew seven Jesus spoke to the people and he said, many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, and he's going to say, I never knew you. And these are not people bellied up to a bar at happy hour. I know we want to think in our minds, well, those that God's going to say I never knew you. It's like they've been far from him. No, the hallucination
of salvation is real. These are people who preached in Jesus name and cast out demons in his name, and did mighty works in his name, and that might make you a little bit wiggy in your heart right now. You could say, oh, Carl, my goodness, what's going to what's happening here? If you are asking the question, how can I know that? I know you can. And we're going to we might even give a resource out today so that people can know they stand with God, and
he stands with you, because that's very important to know. Yesterday, in just a 35 minute span, we saw 117 people surrender to Christ across the United States of America and Canada. Incredible, incredible. And those are just the ones that that texted in a link to get new, uh, new follower material that have surrendered fully to Jesus. But that that that salvation experience is the total surrender of oneself to the lordship and leadership of Jesus Christ. So that's where we want
to lower our nets here constantly. The other one is what happens after God harvests those. And and then we work in partnership with God to say this big fancy word here, sanctification, which just means growing up in Jesus Christ, is all about a vision of what we've been hitting this week. Bearing fruit 30, 60, 100 fold. The abundant life that is promised in John 1010. I came to give you life and life more abundant. It's found in
Psalm one one through three. Man, you walk away from fools, mockers, and scoffers, but you hang out with the Word of God and you meditate on it, and you're going to be like a tree planted by streams of water. Your leaf will never wither in. All you do will prosper. The promise was to Joshua from God Himself. He said, listen, you're going across the Jordan. Young man, listen to me. Here's what you got to know. You camp out on
the Word of God. You meditate on it day and night, and you will have success and prosperity in all that you do. Our God is a God of abundance. And so that's the blue sky vision. And here's the interesting thing. Ali was in Romans six yesterday as we were praying about how God would craft today and a huge epiphany that we find everybody's bearing some kind of fruit. Right, Ali?
Absolutely. And you think about the questions that you start to ask in life, whether it's a midlife crisis or much earlier, you start to look at what's the fruit of my life? Even if people don't use that language, people take stock of what have I produced? What is my life produced? And sometimes people have great grief over looking at a life that has produced fruit that doesn't benefit anyone.
Yeah, and that's okay. That's okay. Because here's what we find as as we look at Galatians, you find a contrast. You got fruit of the spirit, which is a result of the abiding life in Christ. And then you've got deeds of the flesh. Here's what we have in our life. The question isn't will we have fruit? The question is, what kind of fruit will we have?
Kind of fruit are we bearing?
Yeah. Now, God doesn't do that to freak us out. He loves us so much, he's allowing us to look at Galatians five and go, boy, what's coming out of my life? Now here's the beauty. When you catch a vision of what God wants to do in your life, and you begin to cultivate this abiding life in Christ, as we've been talking from John 15 all week, the promise is that you will bear much fruit and glorify God. And so we got a really cool question for you.
And we're going to open up phone lines. And I'm asking you, as you are led by the Spirit of God, just call in with your story.
You know, you experience a change of heart when you're new in Christ, but you also experience a change of fruit, the result, the consequences of how you're living. So we want to know from you this morning on this Freedom Friday, what was the biggest change of fruit that you noticed when you experience new life in Christ. Maybe you went from anxiety to peace. Maybe you went from lust to all of a sudden you produce the fruit of self-control. What was the biggest change of fruit you noticed in
yourself when you became new in Christ? 800 555 7898 855 57898.
We are ready, aren't we, guys?
Absolutely. Yeah. It's freedom Friday.
800 555 7898.
This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
All right, let's go right to the word of God. Paint a picture here.
You know, when you look at Galatians five, you see two different lists here. I want to read to you starting with verse 16. But I say to you, walk by the spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the spirit, and the desires of the spirit are against the flesh. For these are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the spirit, you are not under the law. Then here it comes. Verse 19.
Now the works of the flesh are evident sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I'll stop there. That's fruit.
Yeah.
That's the fruit of a life lived apart from God.
Yeah. And what's what's amazing about what Paul does here. If you notice, he's got orgies in fits of anger in the same list. Yes. And I think sometimes we want to almost spiritualize or somehow dumb down some of those things. But here's the power of this contrast. When we are abiding in Christ, the Spirit of God is filling us up and what comes out of our life becomes this fruit that we can't take credit for.
No.
It's all God.
No. Then you jump down to verse 22. But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law. Your life is producing fruit. It's just a question of what kind of fruit are you producing?
So bang, that's the point. We're all producing some kind of fruit. Yes. In fact, Jesus said this. You can tell a tree by the fruit that it bears, which means you can also tell what root system that tree has. So as we get grounded and rooted in Jesus Christ, and that's that's where we lower our nets around here with Carl and crew helping us know that we are truly born again. And then what that abiding, empowering life looks like by God to bear fruit in keeping with
being disciples of Christ. Got a really cool question for you this morning asking you to call in as the Spirit of God leads. What was the biggest change of fruit you noticed when you experienced new life in Christ? Come on, break it down right now. Just one word or a sentence or a paragraph of testimony. Call in right now. What was the biggest change of fruit you noticed when you experienced new life in Christ? 800 555 7898. That's why we call you the Boom Crew. This is
your show. Call us right now. 800 555 7898 800 555 7898. What's the biggest change of fruit?
Your shot of hope to help you through the day. This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
We are asking a question right now. That is Freedom Friday, and Freedom Friday is an opportunity for you to stand up and testify to the goodness and the power of God in your life. All week long, we've been talking about the beautiful promise of Jesus to His disciples and to us. Today. I am the vine. You're the branch. You abide in me. You will bear much fruit. Now here's the aha moment. If you look at Romans six, you will find out that we are all bearing fruit.
Yes, Romans 621 says, but what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end eternal life. So there's fruit everywhere you look at the fruit of your life. What is your life producing when you are new in Christ? What was the biggest change of fruit that you noticed? 800 555 7898.
Princess in Illinois. First time caller. What was that fruit that changed when you were in Christ?
Hi. Good morning. My fruit is joy, peace, and that peace that surpasses all understanding. You know, I'm dancing on the grave that I once lived in. Well, yes. And you know. So I am so grateful to God that I am set free.
Isn't that amazing, Princess? Thank you for calling in Sister Boom. This is why we call you the boom crew. Mark in Florida. What do you say, man? Hello, Mark. We got you. We're trying to get you loaded up. There we go. Mark in Florida. What do you say?
Uh, when Christ came into my life, I started to experience peace for the first time in a long time. Um, and I just touch base with you guys for some reason. This is like the third day I've listened to you since y'all Joe went nationwide and it's awesome. Thank you.
Mark. Thank you. First time caller from Florida. Love you man. Mark that that is what happens. That's the boom moment when Christ takes over our soul. Maybe the one one of the greatest evidences is peace. And that's the result of of Jesus's promise. Come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. And it's like, oh my goodness, I've been looking for it my whole life. And there it is, found in Jesus Christ. It's amazing. Let's go back to the phone lines here, Marcia.
First time caller in Indiana. What do you say, Marcia?
Um. My temper.
Mhm.
It was, it was, um, when I, when I found Jesus, I prayed, let me do whatever it takes to make me like Jesus.
Ah, beautiful. You know, Marcia, here's the cool thing. One of the fruits of the spirit is self-control. Has it been awesome for you to witness God get that temper under control? Marsha?
Yeah, he's under control for several years now.
That's beautiful sister.
That's awesome.
And you think about, like, how do you how do you do that?
We don't.
We don't.
That's the see, this is this is the point bootstrapping Christianity that says, okay, let's just say I've been born again. I was at a point of absolute abandonment to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. The great misnomer in Western Christianity is then I got to get up and I got to go. Please, God. Yes and no. Yes, we honor God, but the way, the manner in which we do it is by utter dependence. Still, the posture in which God saves you is the same posture in which God will
grow you. I was at a men's conference a few years ago, and I got on my knees and I said, gentlemen, this is where you are born again. Full stop. Jesus said it. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Spiritual bankruptcy, emptiness, dependence, full surrender is where we are born again.
Yeah.
Full stop. Here's the irony. You ready for this? That's how we grow in that posture of utter dependence on God. There's no other way around it. It's a beautiful thing. When we fully surrender to our Lord.
And we experience a change of heart, but also a change of fruit. So we're asking you, what was the biggest change of fruit you noticed when you experienced new life in Christ? The results, the consequences of your life were different. rent. Let's go back to the phones. Let's go to Michael in Illinois. What was the change of fruit that you noticed?
You know what?
My compassion kind of like, multiplied by tenfold. I started looking at men as trees. Um. And I couldn't judge anybody's situation. You know, it's like if it was not for God's grace. There go I.
Yes.
And it just it just gives you a different perspective. Um, as to, you know, why, where someone is in their current state and how the compassion that you have to have for that person because they just don't know God like you do and they're on their way and you need to participate and do something about it. But that's that's probably the biggest change.
Michael. Boom, brother. That is spot on when you get knocked over by the grace of God, that judgmental spirit, that whole idea, when you're truly knocked over by grace, you look around and you say, but for the grace of God, there go I. Now you have a whole new perspective on even caring for people around you. Boom! This is why we call you the Boom Crew. Christ is alive and well, and he's working in you. Coming up,
we've got a real treat for you. We got Chip Ingram that's going to be coming in here talking about what Joy really is and how to take hold of it today on this Freedom Friday.
She was trying to earn her way to God, but God showed her she didn't have to. Ali is in the crew. It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
It's Carl and crew. The beauty of the gospel is that we can come as we are, overcome what seems impossible and live as we never imagined. And it's all about God. You know, happiness is an interesting thing, but happiness is really linked to happenings. Things that are going on around us, right?
Yes.
So happiness can be fickle. You can have a happy moment at high noon, and by 3:00 things can be going south.
So happy.
But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, joy, joy, joy. Chip Ingram going to unpack it for us coming up here in three minutes.
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.
What a promise. What a vision. All you got to do is look at John 15, and you see some of the very final words of Jesus as he's making his way to be the ultimate sacrifice for our sins. And he tells his disciples, look, guys, it's to my father's glory that you bear much fruit. And there's a lot of ways to look at that fruit, but it's a joy completed, according to Jesus himself in John 15, that we would have this abiding relationship, close connection with
with Christ our Savior. And then the fruit of that, all you got to do is go to Galatians five and you see love and joy and multiple other attributes of those that have this abiding relationship with Christ. We got a man with us right now that knows and wants for you to experience this in a big way. Chip. Joy. I mean, come on. Talk about an attribute of being filled with the power of God. That's got to be one of the hallmarks, right?
Yeah, I think after love, I mean, all these are an expression of the spirit working inside of our heart as we're connected to Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit. But I love C.S. Lewis's quote that joy is the serious business of heaven. It's really a byproduct of that abiding that gives us incredible strength in the midst of very challenging times.
Chip Ingram, our guest right now, pastor, author, teacher for more than three decades. You know the title of this book, I choose Joy. Many people would get behind that. I spend some time on social media, and I often see language around things like choosing joy, choosing happiness, choosing to see your circumstances with a certain set of eyes. And it's not all biblical. This is something I think most people would embrace, even if they don't know what the
root is. But what do we miss in that messaging of simply choosing to be joyful or choosing to be happy in spite of sometimes what we're going through?
Well, I think the focus often there is that we have this power and we can choose this and we can choose that. And I think that part of the choosing is important. We have a decision. But the fact of the matter is, is that it is supernatural, abiding presence of Jesus in us. The Apostle Paul is literally waiting possible execution. And as you study Philippians chapter one, he teaches us how to have God's perspective and to be connected in the midst of the worst of circumstances.
And so it's something that God does. We participate. We choose. We're not victims. But at the same time, that perspective only comes when you see life circumstance and challenges through the lens of an eternal perspective and what the spirit provides.
Now Chip Joy has some meat to it. It's got some substance that actually sets itself apart from happiness. Help us delineate between those two.
Well, happiness by and large. And by the way, I think it's a wonderful thing to be happy. Sure, but even the word it's based on happenings, good happenings, you're happy, bad happenings or circumstances, you're not very happy. Joy supersedes that. Joy in the midst of the most challenging times allows us not necessarily always to be, oh, life is wonderful and great and happy, but there's this sustaining presence of
God that gives you a perspective. As you look at Philippians one, which is the the whole book is based on that. You know, Paul's focus is upward on God and outward on people while his circumstances are. I mean, he's in prison. He's chained. It's that perspective that produces the byproduct of joy.
Chip, was there something going on in your life that prompted you to explore the topic of joy?
Yeah, it's, I guess, part embarrassing and part just real life. The quick story is over a period of the last 7 or 8 years, I had excruciating back problems, multiple surgeries, hardware in my back problems. After that, laying on my side during Covid for 21 days could not get in the hospital and being in pain all the time. Ice packs, everything you can imagine almost 24 over seven. And you know, it was a long journey and still have considerable pain,
but nothing like it used to be. And my wife, one day I was doing one more rehab, learning to walk again in the backyard and shuffling around. And I sat down and she said, can I share something just honestly. Oh, yeah. Sure, honey. Go ahead. And she goes, do you realize how negative you've become?
Oh, boy. That hurts.
And I said, what? She said, honey, I love you. But I married a positive, upbeat, future oriented, filled with kind of faith. And these years, you've been through a lot. I understand, but when you get up, you groan and people ask a couple questions, and we're always talking about your back. And, you know, there's this internal, you know, publicly you're doing better. But around me, I see it
more than others. And I remember, of course, my first reaction, because I'm so in tune with the Lord was no, no, no, no, no.
Oh, man.
And as those words were coming out of my mouth, I was like, oh, you're so right. And I literally it was probably three months later, I was to speak at the Billy Graham Conference Center, and it was going to teach on Philippians one. And as I studied through that, what I recognized Was I needed to choose joy. And this book is about going into training. This is not thinking positive thoughts, declaring you'll be joyful, not looking at reality. This is a journey and a process and a practice.
And I went into training that came out of that passage to learn how to look at life through God's purpose, God's focus, my ultimate hope, and readjust expectations. Where Jesus met me by the power of the Holy Spirit to allow me, despite the circumstances, to really experience joy. That's powerful, and that is what it grew out of. And so a lot of the very practical sides of it are things that I've been doing for a number of years now. I still have a card right in the front of
my desk that has a passage about rejoicing always. And then be thankful. Be positive. Choose. Don't complain. And then I have these four questions that flow out of that passage that have transformed my thinking and therefore my life.
You know, Chip, I think your wife and my went to. The Great Wife Clinic together on how to have tough questions for their husbands.
You mentioned those four questions. Can you give us a quick rundown on what they are?
Sure. The first one is where's your focus when our focus is upward? You don't have to feel like it, but you choose to worship an outward you. You care and pray for other people. Versus your focus on yourself. Things change when the question is, what's my purpose? What's God's agenda in this challenging situation? Versus why me? This isn't fair. I hate this, I can't believe God will let this happen. And the third question is where's my hope? Is it in circumstances? Is it in this person? Is it?
You know things are going to turn out right, is it? My marriage is going to completely get better. Is it that, you know, until God gives me a husband or a wife or until my finances? We play a game where we put our hope in places. And so when you ask, where's my hope? And you realize the only anchor of your hope can be the person of Christ and what
he's promised. And then the last question has probably the most helpful is, what are my expectations toward the end of that passage in Philippians one, he says, while he's awaiting execution, he says to these Philippians, it has been granted. The word is grace. It has been granted to you not only to believe, but to suffer for his sake. And sometimes we get disillusioned because we're in difficult times. We think, God, I obey you, I love you, I'm
following you. We unconsciously think if we do x, Y, and Z that somehow God is obligated to make our life wonderful and no problems and healthy. And the fact of the matter in a fallen world, part of the gift. And this is hard for Americans to hear, especially part of the gift of God, is the gift to believe, to be connected, to be forgiven, to have His Spirit taken up residence in us. And we go through suffering
with us. That process in a fallen world is actually one of the key elements that allow us to become more and more like Jesus. It creates a dependency that can't happen any other way. He allows it to happen. God isn't angry. He's not punishing people. But suffering is a part of the journey. And if you expect it to be great all the time because you've done X, Y, and Z your expectations, you set yourself up to be very disillusioned with God, with life, and with other people.
Yeah, and that's a performance metric rather than a proximity to Jesus metric. And it always fails us. On that note, we've been talking all week about the abiding life. I have this new conviction, having been a pastor and a leader for a lot of years. And sometimes I look back and go, Carl, why didn't you learn this stuff sooner? But the Lord's been gracious to me, and I feel like the church has put before people a bit of a hamster wheel of performance, and they're all good things.
So it's. Read your Bible and pray and and give and find your gifts and use them. And those are all great. But I feel like we've neglected those abiding disciplines of silence, solitude, aloneness with God, uh, where we can cry out, search me, know me, try me in the darkness of the morning. And I've been doing this for goodness sakes, probably six months now, really regularly. And I'm finding that that's the fuel for this fruit producing life.
It's it's him. It's his presence. It's not even activity. Speak to that chip.
Well, I would have to say that I agree with you. And, um, I think we have a transactional perspective. I'm going to do these things. So. So that it's the so that that kills us so that my life will be better, my work will be better, my kids will turn out right, my finances will go up, my marriage if I have one. And so that is what kills us, because God refuses to be a means to an end. And we don't have to wait till we get to heaven to be
with him. The same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead dwells in us, and its intimacy with him that sustains you. It's intimacy that brings joy. And it's not. I've read my two chapters. I've prayed through these three things. Okay, God, here we go now. Make my life work. Yeah. It's the byproduct. The blessings. Every good and perfect gift, in fact, comes from him. But when the gifts get more important
than the giver, that's where we get in trouble. You know, I've done a lot of counseling in my many, many years as a pastor, and people come with all kinds of problems and struggles, and I try to listen and lean in and ask questions and be very, very concerned. But I always get around to tell me a little bit about your own private worship. Tell me about your time Unhurriedly in God's Word and hearing from God and being connected to him. And how do you practice his
presence throughout the day? And the correlation I've seen after these many decades, Carl, is this little time with God really, really big problems? I mean, the average follower of Jesus doesn't spend any time with Jesus. And as a result of that, they can't figure out why all the promises of Jesus they're not experiencing in their life.
And joy is there.
If you want more from our guest, Chip Ingram. He's a pastor, author, teacher, teaching pastor for living on the edge. Just text the word joy to (800) 555-7898. Text joy to 800 555 7898. You'll get to his website. You can see where to get the book. How to get a free download. Text joy to 800 555 7898.
This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
Well, let me give you a metaphor from commercial fishing that'll fit with why in the world we lower our nets. Where we do here we're called to be fishers of men, right? Yes. And by the way, fishing for men is not a conversion discipline alone. It's not like getting people converted. Really? Fishers of men is getting people on this path, which includes regeneration, salvation of soul. But then growing up in this relationship with God is. That's when the work begins.
I mean, talk to any pastor out there, they will tell you. Yeah, it's easier to gather a crowd than it is to make disciples. Disciple making is hard work. But if, uh, let me take you to Alaska. Let's go north. Come on. The rush is on. Here we go. Um, so eight seasons I commercial fished in Bristol Bay, Alaska. It's on the west coast of Alaska. It's on the Bering Sea. 32 foot boats were the largest vessels that
you could have. I'm sitting here thinking about this now, many years later, going now, why did they limit it to 32ft? I don't know. Those are small boats for some rough water, I'll tell you that. And I've known people that we lost in Bristol Bay. It's a dangerous. It's a dangerous fishery. There was one young man that was fishing in the Dillingham district. I had met him in King Salmon, Alaska. He was a young guy. We were all in our 20s back, way back in the
day when I started, I was 19. Commercial fishing in Alaska. And he was a great kid, but he was on the bow of a boat throwing out an anchor. And one of the things you got to do is stay away from the lines. Stay away from the lines. And he got his foot into a half hitch. And that means that the the line is wrapped around your leg. And that anchor took him overboard. And we found him three days later. Washed up on a beach. Life comes
at you fast in Bristol Bay. A he can. It's a very dangerous fishery, but there's great lessons that come out of tough stuff. Have you ever noticed that the best illustrations of life come out of tough stuff? Yeah. And one of the things that we learned commercial fishing in Bristol Bay. Number one, job one, get on the fish. You don't want to set a net out in the open ocean where there's no fish. And the other one is when you get them on board, care for them
because there's nothing like. In fact, Ali and I were just talking here about wild caught Alaskan salmon. There's nothing like wild caught Alaskan salmon. But not all of them are cared for in the way that you might really make it palatable for, for you on your dinner table. And that kind of drives what we do around here. We want to get on the fish, so to speak, because we're called to be fishers of men, and we want to care for those rather than just be reckless
with them when they come on board. And here's the beautiful thing about it. This is all God's work. He's the one that reels him in. He's the one that casts the net. We're just partnered with him in his greater ministry. And then we are charged with here in the morning show to help you not only be found in Christ, but then cared for as we grow and grow, and as we've been talking about this week, really bear fruit in Christ. One time we were on the west
coast of Alaska. We were in the Ugashik district, so it was way south and east. And so we're out in high seas. We got big old sea swells, big rolling sea swells that come in from Russia, and these sea swells are just humongous. And then sometimes you'll get breakers in those sea swells. But we had our eyes focused on one thing. Let's get on the fish. Let's not worry about the weather. Let's get to those fish. And we had a 180, which is a small little
plane that was had a spotter on board. So that spotter, it's an amazing thing because the vantage point and I've flown over those districts and seen fish from above, there's things that you can see from a thousand 2000ft that you can't see at water level. Boy, there's another analogy for life, isn't it?
Our perspective is pretty limited, in fact.
So I'm going to throw this in for free. This is why we talk with God every morning, because he is our ultimate spotter pilot. He can tell us, go south, go north, throw the net out. And this is what I want you to do here. God can do that for us. So the spotter pilot had us going south, south, south. And he's like, go south. And I'm hearing him on the squawk box. So we got this kind of open air.
It's called a flying bridge where the captain is and he's up in the wheelhouse and there's there's sea waves coming over that bow, but he's in his rain gear and so he's taking whitewater over the front. Isn't that great?
It's like a movie.
I'm in an adventure.
It is. It's called Deadliest Catch, and I used to deliver fish to all those boats that are in Deadliest Catch. I've been on board almost all of them. Not the newer ones, but I've been on the high spirits and all those. I've been cool. I've been in the kitchen and in the galley, having coffee with the captains. Isn't that wild?
I love it.
So we would deliver fish to them, though, in these off seasons for crab fishing. And it's just an amazing thing. A lot of whitewater, a lot of rough water. So he's yelling at us on the VHF radio, very high frequency. And he's saying, go further south, and we're going past boats that have their nets out 300 yards a gear, and there's little plunk in and you can see fish when they hit that net. And I'm like, Marvin we're we're on we're on them. Shouldn't we throw it out?
And he said, he's telling me, keep going south and we're yelling over the waves. I mean, yeah, we're. Are you there.
With me, guys? I'm on the boat. We're there.
And finally we go south. And now we're going further south. Now we're away from any boats. And he says, throw it out and we get this buoy. At the end of the gear, big orange buoy. And I throw that thing out over the stern roller, and then out comes 300 yards of gear, one cork at a time. And the cork sit on the surface of the water. And I mean, immediately we got about one fathom of gear out and we call it smoke on the water. The
fish started pouring in. We couldn't see it, but that spotter pilot put us right over the sweet spot of thousands of salmon that haul that day. We brought in in one set £10,000 of fish.
Wow.
I like.
That you thought.
You saw it before you saw it. You were like, hey, there's something over here. But the guy who saw the whole picture was like, just wait. Something better is coming. Yeah. Stay impatient.
We were just going by faith. Yeah. Which great metaphors here, right, guys?
He's got it coming.
I mean, God often says to us, go further south. Go further south, a little further, a little further. And then God will say, slap it out, slap it out. So what we do here with Carl and crew is we're trying to get over. We're trying to get over the sweet spot of where God would have us. And so one of the two things that drives us here is we want to be able to give a clear gospel message so that we can make sure that we're doing everything to honor God, to be fishers of men.
We believe that. So next week, we're going to be unpacking this incredible hallucination of salvation and and setting you free from fear of do I know? How do I know? I stand with God and He stands with me. And those are great questions, right?
Yes.
I mean, everyone is going to face those questions, even those of you that are born again. The other thing, though, is this whole dynamic of how in the world did we grow in Christ when God catches us, by the way, we don't catch God. Let's get the metaphor right here. God grabs us and he calls us out of darkness. He did that for me. He took a kid with a raging cocaine addiction and in his young 20s, raised in church. Pretty good kid. Lost my mind. Type A
personality working in the oil fields of Alaska. Got a raging cocaine addiction and I was so far from God in my life. Was just a mess. And God said, are you done yet? And on that day he saved my soul. But here's what's awesome he not only saved my soul, he put me on this path, guys, and it's like he brought me on board his boat. But then he's caring for me and he's he's nurturing me and helping me grow. And and by the way, he's
not condemning me. So I hit my lips about three weeks after I was born again and got my Tookie and a swisher. Big time. And I'll share with you next week that story, because that was a disaster. It even caused me to question. Did did God save me? And there's a lot of you that have that that have had that experience where you're you're called out of darkness into the light, you're truly born again. And then you're like, ah, I just did something so dumb. God
must be fed up. God loves you and he's patient and he's forbearing. Then he gives us a vision. And this is the second part of what we want to do around here is be these nurturers of you that have been caught by the grace of God and brought on board into the kingdom of God and help you grow and go, and God with God. And this is why we've been talking about bearing fruit this week. This is why we've been talking about this. Because John 15 is clear. And I'm sorry. Sometimes I come uncorked. And
some of you may be new. Listening to us here might think, is this guy for real? I'm. My joy in the Lord. Started many years ago. But man, it's built with passion over the years and I'm more sold out to this thing called the sanctification process than ever before. And it's a big fancy word for growing up in Jesus. But what a promise. When Jesus looked at his disciples and said, guys, you've been brought on board. You're my kids. You. I caught you, by my grace. Now I want to
grow you. And that's when he looked at those grapes and he says.
That's what I want you to have. It's to my father's glory that you bear much fruit. Now, here's the kicker. With that.
We've been exploring all week what it is to abide in Christ. Because we've we all know the pain of trying to produce fruit in our own power. Take it away, Ali. How painful is that?
It is. I mean, when you're trying to do good.
Things for God.
How painful.
Painful.
And we know what it is to go. I can do it, I got this. And we know what it is. That in the 11th hour, God comes in and he can do more than we did in the prior ten. But here's what we're going to talk about on this Freedom Friday, because some of you have stories and they are mighty stories. We want to talk about measuring the fruit that you now have in Christ. It's been a change of fruit. Now, Ali was talking with me yesterday and she had a great insight came out of Romans six. Take it away.
Yeah. Romans six, starting with verse 20. It says, for when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end eternal life. Our life is bearing fruit. It's producing.
Something.
Every everyone.
Everyone's life is producing something. And sometimes people get it. Takes stock of it and go, what? What am I producing?
Yeah.
Anger. Am I producing fits of rage? Am I producing jealousy? Envy? You see a whole list in Galatians five. So we're asking you, when you experienced a change of heart, you were new in Christ. What was the biggest change of fruit that you noticed? You went from a change of heart to then a change of fruit. Tell us about it. 800, 555, 78, 98. We'll illustrate it with our own stories coming up, but we want to hear from you on this Freedom Friday.
Biggest change of fruit you experienced when you experienced new life in Christ. 800 555 Five, 7898.
A basketball mom who's mastered the dad joke. Ali is in the crew. It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
It's a beautiful.
Thing when you can stop for a moment to look at the fruit born in your life, and then you say, all, glory to God. I didn't do this. This is God at work in me. We're asking you a simple question today on this Freedom Friday, what's the biggest change of fruit you've noticed as you've experienced new life in Christ? Christina. Right here in Illinois. What do you say? Christina.
Hey, Carl. I'm glad to speak with you guys. I would say the biggest change I've noticed so far is just the peace of knowing that I don't have to respond in a back and forth, argumentative way to people who bring offenses or criticisms to me, and just instead let God handle it because he says vengeance is his. And instead I just pray for that person because we don't know what kind of hurts they're experiencing to cause
them to be that way. because I used to argue with them all the time and now I just pray for them.
Christina. That is power, sister. That's why we call you the Boom crew. When you get released from that kind of slavery, when you feel like I've got to get my point across, I got to get them around the corner. When you can say, no, this is God. He's going to handle it. I'm going to let him fight my battles.
That's fruit.
That's a change of fruit. Thank you. Christina. You proved it. Let's go back to the phones. Elena calling in from Illinois. What was the biggest change of fruit you noticed when you had a change of heart?
Forgiveness. I was in a 30 year abusive relationship, and I was able to forgive. I was set free.
It's a big deal. And I want to bring some. That's powerhouse, Elena, and we need that. And I just want to say, boom, sister, you're in the boom crew. Some perspective on this one that I want to give to make sure that we're on with this one. This is we got to be accurate here. Forgiveness does not mean forgetting, and forgiveness does not mean that you are somehow reintroducing a person who betrayed you, hurt you, injured you back into your life. That's a twisted form of forgiveness.
But a healthy forgiveness is allowing yourself to be off the hook of that person and dragging that offense around. And candidly, a spirit of forgiveness, although full forgiveness really would would benefit from an admission, a desire to make right what was wrong, a confession of that sin so that you can grant them that forgiveness is very transactional, that freedom that you find by saying, I'm not going to I'm not going to drag this dead carcass around anymore.
That's liberty. That is liberty. Why is this so important, ally?
You know, because when you think about what your life is producing, it is producing fruit. And I think it's good to take stock in a healthy way of what am I producing? And I think people get to a point in their life where they kind of grapple with that. This is why people go through midlife crisis is because they look back on their life and they don't see the kind of fruit they were hoping for. They don't see the kind of legacy building, and maybe they don't
have words for it. If there's not been a worldview or a heart change. But people, everybody wants to leave the kind of legacy that the world is better off because of them, that their family is blessed because of the choices that they made. But a change of heart has to happen before we can have a change of fruit.
So true. There's a guy, his name's Dore. He wrote a book called Measure What Matters. It's very popular. If you're a business leader or you've got an MBA or anything like that, you know of that book. But the principle from it is great. His contention is that businesses succeed or fail by one thing. They don't measure what matters. And if you measure your life, your spiritual life in Christ, by how many times you're going to church, wrong measurement.
It's good, but it's a field from the right one. If you measure it by how many chapters you're getting through in a day in the Bible, that's good, but it's not the best measure. If you measure it by boy, am I using my spiritual gifts or how much money am I giving? Those are measures, but those are secondary measures. The primary measure is found in Galatians five is the fruit of the spirit. Being born in your life? Is
God altering you? And everything we're doing here with Carl and crew is to help you see the need for God, for salvation, and the need for God, for sanctification. And the rest works itself out. How awesome is that?