0:00

Coming to you live from the Morning

0:02

Star Mission sponsored studios.

0:04

This is Carl and Crew. Mornings

0:07

on 90.1 FM Moody

0:09

Radio.

0:10

Good Tuesday morning to you.

0:13

Quick update for you. You may have

0:15

noticed Carl is not live with

0:17

us this morning. He just needed

0:19

a day. Yes, needed.

0:22

We all.

0:22

Do. Happens sometimes. Right?

0:24

He's just taking a day to kind of recover.

0:27

Just physically after

0:29

a lot of hours and share last week.

0:31

If you were with us at all. Thank you, by the way.

0:33

Thank you for your prayers. Thank you for your giving.

0:36

I'll give you a quick update of

0:38

where we stand right now here in Chicago.

0:40

1 or 1,001,000.

0:42

It was more than a thousand. We had many thousand dollar

0:45

gifts because we shouted out letters.

0:47

Yeah, over the

0:49

whole week I would probably say

0:52

close to 200.

0:53

$200,000 plus gifts. Yeah.

0:55

Right now we stand at $1.4

0:58

million, 1.4 plus,

1:00

uh, a little bit of extra there

1:03

with 4568

1:06

individual gifts. So

1:08

more than 4500 people giving

1:10

gifts, more than 500 people

1:13

praying. We can't thank you enough.

1:15

And I know that that doesn't even reflect all

1:17

of the people who are involved, maybe who who

1:19

were driving and you didn't sign up to pray, but

1:21

you prayed for us anyway. And maybe you didn't

1:24

give this year, but you've given in previous

1:26

years, or you volunteered

1:28

to work a phone center at some point

1:30

in time. So thank you. This truly is

1:32

a family here, and we're grateful for you.

1:34

So, Carl. Yes, Carl's out today.

1:36

Is expected to be back in with us tomorrow.

1:39

Just needed the day the

1:41

physical demands of that many hours

1:43

on air. And he has the lion's share

1:45

of it.

1:46

He carries it.

1:46

So he is doing just fine. Just taking

1:49

a little bit of day to recover and

1:51

to rest, as promised. Coming up,

1:53

we have Cece Winans

1:55

talking about the Goodness Tour. She's going to be

1:57

in concert this Friday,

1:59

March 22nd at House of Hope. We've

2:01

got ticketing information and

2:03

a conversation with Cece.

2:06

No energy, no problem.

2:08

We have all the energy you need

2:10

and more. You're listening to Carol

2:12

and crew mornings.

2:14

She is the best selling, most

2:16

awarded female gospel artist

2:18

of all time. Long since cemented

2:20

her status as one of the most accomplished and

2:22

celebrated women in modern music history.

2:25

Joining us right now, CC

2:27

wine, and so excited to have you joining us here

2:29

on Carl and Crew mornings. Good morning. How are

2:31

you?

2:32

Good morning. Good morning I'm good.

2:34

How are you I am great. So what

2:36

are you believing for God

2:38

to do in this goodness tour that you are bringing

2:41

to Chicago this Friday?

2:43

Oh, man. Um, I'm

2:45

believing for him to do the impossible

2:47

and the lives of the people. You know, people

2:50

are coming out. The Goodness tour has been

2:52

awesome because they are

2:54

coming ready to lift up

2:56

a praise, you know? And

2:58

there's power in unity. There's

3:00

power and praise, and God

3:02

is showing up. So I'm just believing that

3:05

people are coming. They're being refreshed, they're being

3:07

renewed, but they're being saved.

3:09

We do the salvation prayer every

3:11

night. Um, and we're

3:13

believing for healing. We're just believing for

3:16

God to do what he does best. And

3:18

that is blesses people.

3:19

Yeah.

3:20

As you've made these different stops, I know it's

3:22

a 20 city tour. It started back

3:24

in February. You're going to be joining

3:26

us this Friday here in Chicago at the House of Hope.

3:28

But do you get a sense,

3:30

I mean, from your perspective as you're

3:33

you're leading in worship and as

3:35

you're encountering people at

3:37

different places and stages in their

3:39

walk, do you get a sense of any

3:41

sort of trends of what you see in terms

3:44

of struggle or strongholds,

3:46

or what people are dealing with across

3:48

the country right now? I know that's maybe an

3:50

odd question, but from what? From

3:52

your perspective, what are you seeing? What are some

3:54

of the major themes or struggles?

3:57

Well, okay. It's. You

4:00

said the struggles. And I believe

4:02

there are major struggles

4:05

everywhere that that

4:07

people are going through, um,

4:11

depression, uh,

4:14

family issues, uh,

4:16

sicknesses. Definitely. But

4:18

I the theme I'm seeing

4:21

is desperation. I'm seeing desperation

4:23

for God.

4:24

Wow.

4:25

And and

4:27

that's good news to me. People

4:30

are not coming to be entertained. They're coming

4:32

to participate. And

4:35

and I see an awakening.

4:38

You know, um, because

4:40

because there is when we really

4:43

begin to. Understand

4:45

that we need God. Not

4:47

only do we want them, but we need them. Um,

4:51

there's a different sound to

4:53

me of desperation,

4:56

of appreciation. Um,

5:00

yeah. Yeah, in the church,

5:02

across the board. Um, but

5:04

as far as the, the, the same

5:06

type of trend of what

5:09

people are going through. Not

5:11

really. Um, it's

5:13

just that I know, I know of different cases.

5:16

I know of different things that are going on.

5:18

Um, not just in my home church,

5:21

but, you know, because of who I

5:23

am and what we do. Um, I'm aware

5:26

of of this. So it's

5:28

a lot of darkness happening. Yeah.

5:30

Um, we can see that on the news. We

5:32

we we. That's kind of a known.

5:35

It's it's but but it's when God,

5:37

you know, the word, it's almost like when the word of God says,

5:39

if my people, which are called by my name,

5:41

would humble themselves and pray and seek

5:43

my face and turn from their wicked ways,

5:46

then I'll hear from heaven. I

5:48

feel like we're

5:50

getting that. Yes, we understand

5:52

that. It depends on us.

5:55

Well, that's so encouraging to hear. I mean, you

5:57

use the word you seeing people desperate

5:59

for God, and you use the word awakening.

6:02

That's got to encourage your heart

6:04

as a worship leader, as a the

6:06

wife of a pastor. Yeah. That's got to excite

6:08

you.

6:09

It does. It excites me. And I'm leaving.

6:12

So blessed. I'm telling you, I've

6:14

been doing every night, you know,

6:16

a little recap of just thanking people for

6:18

coming. But there has been times

6:20

when I just thought the place

6:22

was going to explode. It's been

6:25

so.

6:25

Powerful.

6:27

Um, and I just, I just I don't hear

6:29

all the personal testimonies. I'm asking people

6:31

to send them in now, but I

6:33

know God has got to be moving

6:35

because his word tells us. And when you look

6:38

at the scriptures, when you see what happened, when they

6:40

followed the instructions at Jericho,

6:42

you know, when they shouted and

6:44

they and they followed the instructions prior

6:47

to that, how the walls came down. When you

6:49

see what happened with Paul and Silas

6:51

at midnight, when instead of complaining,

6:54

they begin to worship and praise God,

6:56

how God set them free. And not just them,

6:58

but everybody in prison. You know, there's

7:00

a desperate sound in

7:02

praise that I'm hearing

7:05

that I just know God is doing great

7:07

things.

7:07

Wow.

7:08

Cece Winans, our guest right now, now, you've

7:10

you've been doing this a lot of years, and

7:12

you're kind of in the middle of this 20

7:14

city tour. How do you keep yourself?

7:16

We've been talking here in Chicago

7:18

about devotions and kind

7:21

of our own personal time with the Lord.

7:23

How do you keep yourself strong

7:26

in the Lord as you're doing a lot of traveling

7:28

and the, the, the wear and tear on your

7:30

on your vocal cords and the fatigue,

7:32

how do you build yourself up in the faith

7:34

so that when you get on that stage, it's it's

7:37

not a performance, but it's worship.

7:39

Yeah. Yeah, well, well, I

7:42

give out of my overflow. You

7:44

know, I'm. I understand the

7:46

importance of staying in the

7:48

word of God, having

7:50

times of quiet, you know? So even though

7:53

when you look at my schedule, it looks like

7:55

there's nonstop that

7:57

that's that's not what it is. Because

7:59

if it was nonstop, I would stop.

8:01

Yeah.

8:04

Especially at this age I would stop.

8:07

Um, but but it's making sure

8:09

like, even even with the tour, I do

8:11

three days a week. I

8:13

told everybody, you know, I think three

8:15

days will be the max. So I'm normally

8:18

home on Saturday, so I'm at Saturday

8:20

prayer. We have 9 a.m. prayer at

8:22

church. Then I have my life group

8:24

that I do on Saturday after

8:26

prayer. And then we there for Sunday,

8:28

all three services. And then we're, you

8:30

know, I'm resting on Monday. Tuesday

8:33

I'm talking to great people like you. And

8:35

then I'm back on the road tonight.

8:38

And this is during the tour. I'll get on the bus at

8:40

at 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.

8:42

tonight, and, um, and

8:44

then I'm, I'm, I'm really having most

8:46

of my days free until about

8:48

2:00 when I'm out on the road. So

8:51

I have time for my prayer. I have time to just

8:54

sit there in the presence of the Lord. Um,

8:56

and then I listen to great

8:59

music, um, Christian music all

9:01

day. Um, I'm listening

9:03

to Holy Favor, the instrumental. You know,

9:05

I'm living in his presence.

9:07

So then when I get on the stage,

9:10

it's just an extension of what I've

9:12

been doing all day. And then. And then

9:14

joining in with the people

9:16

of God coming to worship.

9:18

And that's what I've been encouraging them all

9:20

to do. Come ready to open up your

9:22

mouth, come ready to lift your hands, come ready

9:24

to cry out, um, so

9:27

that God will not only bless us, but would

9:29

bless our cities.

9:30

Wow, Cece.

9:31

Winans, you're going to be singing some of the familiar

9:33

favorites that we play believe for

9:35

it. Goodness of God. Yes, you're also going

9:37

to be introducing some new music.

9:40

You've got an album coming out next month.

9:42

Uh, tell us about some of the new music

9:44

you've got going.

9:46

Oh, well. Well, you know, it's it's another

9:48

live record. This is my second library,

9:51

but this time we actually have a live audience. Praise

9:53

God. Um, last time it

9:55

was during the pandemic and we could only have

9:57

50 people. Uh, but

9:59

we, we redid a holy

10:01

favor, so we got some new songs,

10:03

um, brand new songs, original songs.

10:06

But also we did some remakes, powerful

10:08

remakes that you guys have heard

10:10

already. Um, Holy. Forever.

10:13

Um, we're singing our new single, That's

10:15

My King, which is so much fun

10:17

and so powerful, declaring who Jesus

10:19

is. Um, and then

10:22

let me see what else we're doing. Refiner.

10:24

Um, it's just amazing.

10:26

And we're doing believe for it. We're doing,

10:28

uh, goodness of God. And

10:31

everybody is just it's just beautiful

10:33

hearing hearing the voices.

10:35

And I think that's one of the major things on this

10:37

new record that is so powerful.

10:39

One original song that.

10:41

We.

10:42

That we're, we recorded, it's called

10:44

Too Late to Lose. Oh my goodness,

10:46

it's so powerful.

10:47

I love that.

10:48

And to hear the and the hear the

10:50

audience singing too late too. It's

10:52

just like we're joining in with heaven. We're

10:54

joining in with heaven. When you know, when you

10:56

sing holy forever, and when you sing,

10:59

you know the praises and

11:01

worthy, uh, worthy

11:03

is your name. It's just powerful.

11:06

So, yeah, we're singing some of the new stuff from the

11:08

new record, some of the, uh, old

11:10

stuff from Billy, for the record. And we,

11:12

we even go a little bit further from there. And

11:14

then we're doing some helm's in there. It's.

11:16

It's a powerful.

11:17

Night.

11:18

Sounds like it's Cece Winans. Thank

11:20

you so much for your time this morning.

11:22

Always such a blessing. Uh,

11:25

we're going to play.

11:26

Forward to seeing everybody in.

11:27

Chicago come on out and worship with

11:29

me.

11:29

Absolutely. We'll get you ticketing information

11:31

if you text the word tickets to 312274962

11:37

for text tickets, we will send

11:39

you the link in concert. This Friday

11:41

at 7:00. House of Hope in Chicago.

11:44

Just text tickets to (312) 274-9624.

11:51

Here to help with your spiritual spring

11:53

cleaning work call and crew mornings.

11:56

Well, it is the first day of spring.

11:58

It may not feel like it necessarily,

12:01

but according to the calendar, spring has

12:03

upon us is upon us. Rather. What

12:05

is that first thing on your list?

12:08

That now that the calendar, there's something

12:10

about it being like the official start that

12:12

does get your wheels turning like, oh,

12:14

these are the things that I need to do

12:16

now that the weather's changing. Happy

12:19

spring says 9796.

12:21

Thank you. Nine 712. Clean up

12:23

my gardens 9787.

12:25

Clean windows 5689.

12:28

Uncover the air conditioning. Air

12:30

conditioner okay 8060 declutter.

12:33

Oh, yeah.

12:34

Declutter.

12:35

Declutter the spring clean.

12:37

What are you going to do? The. First thing on your spring

12:39

to do list is what?

12:41

Nothing.

12:41

Have a baby.

12:43

Baby is is the only

12:45

thing on my mind right now. You

12:47

now.

12:47

Are officially going to have a spring.

12:48

Baby. Yeah, no doubt about that. No winter

12:50

baby here. Any day, any day,

12:53

any hour. Could be any minute. Who

12:55

knows? But yeah,

12:57

right now there's nothing else on my mind. And you know what?

12:59

I live in a condo. And so

13:01

any yard work is taken care of

13:03

by like, an HOA. So

13:05

I have no, like, fun

13:08

spring. Like, I can't go, like, make a garden,

13:10

you know, because I don't have that ability.

13:13

I live on a second floor condo. Yeah. There's, like.

13:15

The little urban gardens. That's true. You

13:17

can grow stuff on your. Do you have any kind of a patio

13:19

outdoor space?

13:20

I do, but now you're forcing me to say I have

13:23

no interest. Okay.

13:25

Fair, fair. Super di. What's

13:27

tops on your spring to do list?

13:29

Do you have anything on your spring? Uh,

13:32

got to do this.

13:34

Um.

13:34

Nothing too outstanding. I mean, probably

13:36

get outside a little bit and kind of just clean up,

13:39

you know? Yeah, garden, stuff like

13:41

that. The foliage around my

13:43

home.

13:43

The voyage.

13:44

Yeah.

13:45

What do you think? You can keep it coming. Boom. Crew,

13:47

text us (312) 274-9624.

13:51

Coming up though, what do you do

13:53

when you have questions about the Bible?

13:55

Maybe something kind of obscure.

13:58

Do you go and do a Google

14:00

search? I've done that. Is there

14:02

a better way to get your question answered?

14:05

Still, using the internet will tell.

14:07

You gotta go into

14:09

work. Don't worry. Check out

14:11

the curling crew show cast wherever

14:13

you like to stream. You're listening

14:15

to Carl and crew mornings. Have

14:17

you ever googled anything, Ali?

14:20

Along the lines of the Word of God where

14:22

you're like, what in the world here? What does

14:25

this.

14:25

Mean? I saw this word and I don't

14:27

know what it means. Let me find out what Google says.

14:29

You know what? You get some crazy stuff

14:31

that pop up.

14:32

You gotta really look through it.

14:34

I'm laughing because I had one the other day like that.

14:36

Uh, you got to be careful when

14:38

you're searching on the net. And

14:41

we've got a bigger yes

14:43

today in a big way.

14:46

Chris Martin joining us right now. He's the editor

14:48

of Bible to life.com.

14:51

Give us the 32nd elevator pitch.

14:53

What is Bible to life.

14:54

Com Bible to life. Com is a

14:56

resource is a website where we collect all kinds

14:59

of articles from various moody

15:01

publishers, authors, and other friends who

15:03

are close with us, who have plenty

15:05

to tell us about the Bible and how it applies

15:07

to our lives. And the real mission of Bible

15:10

to life is to do exactly what you guys were just

15:12

describing. For those who are poking around

15:14

the internet looking for answers to their faith questions,

15:16

or specifically their Bible questions

15:18

to find a place that they can get trustworthy resources

15:21

and answers to their questions that aren't just random

15:23

websites on the internet that may just appear at the top

15:25

of Google. And so we really see the Google

15:27

search bar as a massive mission field.

15:30

And the mission of Bible to life is really

15:32

to take the truth and the gospel to that place

15:34

and direct people to trustworthy resources

15:36

rather than just whatever the most people are clicking

15:38

on.

15:38

So we're talking devotionals all week long

15:41

here, Chris, and devotionals can

15:43

be checked the box. But we have

15:45

this firm conviction here that

15:47

a good devotional causes you to think

15:49

differently, causes you to act

15:52

in a way that maybe you hadn't before, and ultimately

15:54

to grow. Are you seeing that

15:56

happen at Bible to Life?

15:58

Com yeah, definitely. What's really interesting

16:00

to me as I just kind of talking from a meta

16:03

perspective, like big Picture, I spend

16:05

a lot of time every week, you know, a little

16:07

bit of time each day looking at what are some of the most

16:09

popular resources on Bible to life,

16:11

because the way I think of it is what people

16:13

click on is what people are telling us is important

16:16

to them. Yes. And so looking at what some of the most

16:18

popular resources are can really help me.

16:20

Gear Bible to life content to be the most

16:22

helpful that it can possibly be. And what's most

16:24

interesting to me is what are some of the most

16:27

common resources. So I'll just list the yeah, give

16:29

us some for you. In the month of March, about

16:31

130,000 people on the site.

16:33

And some of the most popular resources are

16:35

two categories. Our most popular one

16:37

is our collection of Bible verses. So about

16:39

once a week we post a collection of Bible verses around

16:41

a particular topic around the topic of

16:44

sin, or what it means to face

16:46

fear and anxiety or things like that. And

16:48

as you can imagine, a lot of people are googling for

16:50

Bible verses on blank, and

16:52

those are frequently some of our most common

16:55

resources. And I think that's just because a lot of folks

16:57

don't know where to look for their scripture for

16:59

various topics, just because maybe they're

17:01

not as familiar with the Bible as as they wish

17:03

they were, or whatever else. And so they'll just Google they don't

17:05

have a concordance handy, you know, just sitting on their

17:07

bedside table. And so they'll just Google Bible

17:09

verses on blank. And so this month we have

17:12

93 encouraging Bible verses. People are looking

17:14

for encouragement perhaps in, you know, the doldrums

17:16

of winter as we head to spring. They're looking for Bible

17:18

verses on healing. That's another common

17:20

resource, I'm sure you guys can imagine.

17:22

A Bible verse is on the second coming of Jesus. People

17:24

wondering when Jesus is coming back.

17:27

I think that's a pretty perennial resource. But

17:29

beyond that, beyond the sort of verse

17:31

collections, I think those are often telling, especially

17:33

not only the fact that Bible verse collections

17:35

are popular. I think that communicates one message,

17:37

but I think it's also in. To see which collections

17:40

are versus our most popular, and that can really vary

17:42

based on time of year. Beyond that,

17:44

the second most popular kind of resource

17:46

collection we have is our questions,

17:48

which isn't surprising if people are googling questions

17:51

more than they're googling anything else. And so

17:53

in the last month or so, some of our

17:55

most common question resources are

17:57

the following. Who wrote the book of Genesis?

17:59

We actually have a new resource on that from the

18:01

Moody Bible Commentary. About 7000

18:03

people have access to that resource just in the last two

18:05

weeks. Obviously, Genesis is a cultural

18:07

icon. A lot of people, even who aren't Christians, talk

18:10

about the Book of Genesis and who wrote it and what

18:12

are the Ten Commandments is another popular resource.

18:14

What are the seven deadly sins? Another?

18:16

When was the Book of Genesis written? How can

18:18

I better study the Bible and things like that? And so

18:21

I think very much in line with what you're talking about. People

18:23

are what I've gathered, looking for

18:25

two things encouragement for their daily

18:27

walks with Jesus. Alongside

18:29

that, they're looking for very specific

18:32

sort of factual things

18:34

about the Bible that maybe they're

18:36

afraid to ask their pastor, like, oh, I really feel like I

18:38

should know this little factoid about the Bible, but I don't really

18:40

want to ask anybody, so I'm just going to Google it. Those

18:42

are a couple of the most common things, and I think that speaks

18:44

to what people are doing in their devotional study as well.

18:47

Chris Martin with us right now, editor of

18:49

a great website, Bible to Life.

18:51

Com to the articles or the answers to these

18:53

questions are all written by trusted authors

18:55

that are vetted by the Moody

18:57

Publishers folks. So this is

19:00

content and answers that you can trust.

19:02

Chris, give us a story. Have you heard back

19:04

from anyone who went on one

19:06

of these searches, or maybe clicked

19:09

on a question and it somehow was

19:11

able to be helpful in their life in some way?

19:13

Have you gotten to hear any reports?

19:15

Yeah, occasionally we get emails in

19:17

our contact box from people who use the site.

19:19

What we often get in our responses

19:21

or contact forms is people who have clearly

19:24

accessed a piece of content, whether it's our Bible

19:26

verses on how to walk through a cancer diagnosis

19:28

or how to handle a particularly

19:31

hard marital situation. We have a handful of articles

19:33

on that, and what people often do is they'll

19:35

cite that article and say, hey, you know,

19:37

I was reading this, will you please pray for me about

19:40

this particular topic, about my

19:42

friend who's walking through this situation or

19:44

myself, who just recently got this awful

19:46

diagnosis. And so what I would say, if

19:48

I could kind of encapsulate the most common email

19:50

responses we get is clearly

19:52

people who have access to pieces of content, an article

19:55

or resource. It's touched them in some way,

19:57

stirred their heart, and they either respond,

19:59

thanking us for posting it, or hey, this was really helpful

20:01

for me. Or they specifically

20:04

ask for prayer for themselves or others

20:06

who maybe they're passing that article along

20:08

to boom crew.

20:09

You got it, don't you? Bible to

20:12

life.com Bible to

20:14

life.com Chris Martin.

20:16

Thanks for being with us today my man.

20:19

Ever wonder what happens when the mics

20:21

are off? Find out on Kalw and

20:23

Crew Mornings, Facebook and Instagram.

20:26

Did you ever do one of those

20:28

experiments when you were in?

20:30

Maybe this was middle school for me. Did you ever

20:32

do the egg drop?

20:34

Egg drop? Uh, where you have

20:36

to, like, protect it?

20:37

Yes. Were you at to to come up with

20:39

some sort of contraption?

20:41

I saw it, but I never did it.

20:43

You never did it? No.

20:44

Super di. I didn't do it, but my son did.

20:46

Son do it? Okay, so. Yes, I want

20:48

to tell you about this, this science

20:50

thing that you that a lot of kids do and text

20:52

in. If you have done this or your kids,

20:55

or you were tasked with building

20:57

something that would protect

20:59

an egg when dropped,

21:02

that's, that's that's what you're given

21:04

and you could go anywhere with it. You

21:06

drop an egg from increasing

21:08

heights. Can you build something that

21:10

will protect it? Did you do

21:12

this? Do you have ideas? You

21:14

engineers of what might work for

21:16

this? I'll tell you where I'm going with this coming

21:19

up.

21:20

New to the show. Stick around for

21:22

a while where Carl and crew mornings.

21:25

So the assignment goes something like this.

21:28

Your science teacher says,

21:30

here's this egg. It's a raw egg.

21:32

You're each going to get one of them, and

21:34

you need to construct something

21:37

that's going to protect that egg

21:39

so that when it's dropped, it

21:41

will not break. And it's interesting

21:44

to see what some people come up with.

21:46

Oh yes. Some people come up with

21:48

something that will try to

21:50

create as much cushion as

21:53

possible.

21:53

That's what I would do.

21:54

So that's I think that's where I went with it.

21:57

Okay. Maybe you have soft

21:59

items you try to create

22:01

encase it in cotton or bubble

22:03

wrap or something to. Soften

22:06

the impact of the fall.

22:08

And so, you know, it gets

22:10

more and more difficult the higher height

22:13

that you go. Someone just said, uh, 0458

22:16

in sixth grade, I dropped it off the

22:18

roof of the school back in the 1970s.

22:21

That's some serious commitment I love it.

22:23

That's awesome.

22:25

8957. You did

22:27

this assignment as well. And so

22:29

the one I remember being the most

22:31

effective, I don't know, it's randomly

22:34

things you remember. I think this was eighth grade.

22:37

Someone actually suspended

22:39

put the egg inside like a piece

22:41

of cut up, like pantyhose.

22:43

Okay, a woman's pantyhose. And so

22:46

it was suspended. And then there

22:48

was basically just space

22:50

around it to where when

22:52

it was dropped, there was enough

22:54

room to where it could move up and down

22:56

with that actually allowed?

22:58

Yes.

22:58

It would kind of created this sort of internal

23:01

suspension system. Yeah.

23:03

Or the egg could move, but it was

23:05

contained ID in the, in the pantyhose

23:07

and it never actually hit.

23:09

It wasn't impacting onto anything. Yeah.

23:12

And so that's cool. I want

23:14

to read this verse to you. This is

23:16

out of Jude. We've been talking about devotions

23:18

this week. This is Jude.

23:20

It's just one single chapter. So it's Jude

23:23

20 or Jude chapter one

23:25

verse 20. But you, beloved,

23:28

building yourselves up in your most

23:30

holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit.

23:33

Keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting

23:35

for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that

23:37

leads to eternal life. There

23:39

is a building that's

23:42

happening as you do your devotional

23:44

time each day, and

23:46

you think about that egg that

23:48

you want to protect, that egg

23:50

when it's dropped, when there's

23:53

impact, when something

23:55

the force of let's

23:57

just go ahead and take the metaphor, the force of life

23:59

or the force of the sidewalk or

24:01

the force of the concrete. Yeah. You

24:04

want to protect that egg from

24:06

breaking? Yeah. When we are

24:08

spending time in the word,

24:10

when we are spending time in prayer

24:12

creating this devotional habit,

24:15

we are building

24:17

ourselves up. Bracing,

24:20

not bracing in the in a bad sense, but

24:22

protecting ourselves from impact,

24:25

knowing that there will be bumps

24:27

and bruises, there will be things that

24:29

rub us the wrong way and

24:31

our building. I love this word

24:34

building. Building yourselves up because

24:36

I think about some, some, some

24:38

synonyms strengthening,

24:40

sort of fortifying, creating

24:43

a protection system. You are building yourself

24:45

up, not in your own strength.

24:48

You're building yourself up in

24:50

your most holy faith.

24:52

You're making yourself stronger,

24:54

more protected, more resilient,

24:57

more will

24:59

able to withstand impact,

25:02

but in the faith. So

25:04

as we talk about devotional this week,

25:06

each day we're just going to give you little shots

25:09

of kind of maybe some helpful

25:11

motivation or a different way to think about

25:13

it. So today, I want you to think about as you approach,

25:16

maybe you're headed toward that this morning,

25:18

spending some time in prayer. You

25:20

are protecting, strengthening,

25:22

fortifying yourself,

25:25

building yourself up in the

25:27

faith. Think about yourself. Kind

25:29

of like that little egg.

25:33

We don't want.

25:33

To break.

25:34

No, and we are fragile. We

25:36

are.

25:36

Fragile, but we can certainly

25:39

be built up and protected.

25:41

Giving hope directly from the

25:43

source where Carl and crew mornings.

25:46

Where would I be if I didn't

25:48

know? There's sometimes that can

25:50

be a.

25:50

Almost a scary thought because you think

25:53

it could.

25:54

Be. I could be anywhere. I

25:56

could be doing.

25:57

Anything, you know, because you can

25:59

look at the the lives of people

26:01

who. Have blown it

26:03

in some major way, and a

26:05

sobered up, humble person knows

26:09

the gospel well enough to know. But

26:11

for the grace of God, there go I. That's not

26:13

just the trite expression that

26:15

you can look at the life of any person

26:17

in the news, from the

26:19

from the worst criminal

26:21

to the most corrupt

26:24

politician. But

26:27

for the grace of God. Yeah.

26:29

We can't even fathom what

26:32

we're capable of. And I know that that sounds

26:34

kind of harsh, but it's a good thing

26:36

to keep in mind that we've been

26:38

saved. It's not just that we've been saved

26:41

into. We've been saved

26:43

from a life of self-destruction,

26:46

a life of going our own

26:48

way, a path that ultimately

26:50

leads to death. Thank

26:53

God I know him today.

26:57

Coming up in this next half hour. Pastor

26:59

Colin Smith on the call

27:01

on the Christ follower. Our lives

27:03

to persevere.

27:06

Going from believers of Jesus

27:08

to followers of Jesus. You're

27:11

listening to Carl and Crew mornings.

27:15

There is a call on

27:17

the life of a Christ follower to

27:19

persevere. Looking at

27:22

the book of Jude right now, we got Pastor Colin

27:24

Smith who's going to break some of this down

27:26

with me, Pastor Colin Smith. Before I even

27:28

bring you in, I'm going to read this passage of Scripture,

27:30

just a couple of verses and allow

27:32

you to comment on it. It says, but you

27:35

must remember, beloved, the predictions of

27:37

the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. They

27:39

said to you in the last time

27:41

there will be scoffers following

27:43

their own ungodly passions. It

27:45

is these who caused divisions, worldly

27:47

people devoid of the spirit. But

27:50

you, beloved, building yourselves

27:52

up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy

27:54

Spirit, keep yourselves in the love

27:56

of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord

27:58

Jesus Christ that leads to eternal

28:00

life. Pastor Colin Smith, host

28:03

of Open the Bible, which you hear weekday

28:05

mornings at 9:00. This

28:07

is a phenomenal passage of Scripture.

28:09

I want to break it down a little bit with you. Let's

28:12

start with first it in

28:14

the last time or in the last

28:16

days. How should this be

28:18

understood or interpreted? Is that

28:21

for us today?

28:22

Well, it certainly is. I mean, the Bible uses

28:24

the last days, um, uh, to

28:26

refer to the entire period between

28:29

the ascension of the Lord Jesus, uh,

28:31

as he returned to the right hand of the father,

28:33

and the day when he will come

28:36

again. So we are certainly

28:39

in the last days. And of

28:41

course, there is also a sense in which the

28:43

last days refers to the last

28:45

days of that period between his

28:47

ascension and his return. As

28:50

we get nearer and nearer to the day

28:52

when the Lord Jesus Christ will

28:55

return again, and I mean just reading

28:57

what it says here

28:59

in regards to, um,

29:01

these days. Boy, if

29:03

there was ever a verse

29:06

that just immediately engaged

29:08

the attention and said, The Bible speaks

29:10

right into our day today,

29:13

um, what you've just read there,

29:16

um, would be exactly it. I mean,

29:18

scoffers, following

29:20

their own ungodly

29:23

passions, not interesting,

29:25

their own ungodly

29:27

passions. So the way that we're

29:29

made is with

29:32

the purpose that we will pursue

29:34

God passionately.

29:37

And what happens is that when we replace

29:39

God with ourselves, which, of course

29:41

is the original temptation the devil is

29:43

saying to to Eve, now you shall

29:45

be as God and Adam and Eve buying that

29:48

lie. Uh, what happens is

29:50

we end up pursuing ungodly

29:52

passions and there are own passions

29:54

within a I'm God, um,

29:56

what I feel is the right thing,

29:59

and I'm going to go after it with a passion.

30:01

And that's a distinguishing

30:03

mark. Um, that

30:06

is being stated here

30:08

as to what we Christians will see increasingly

30:11

around them. And that, very obviously

30:14

is our circumstance today.

30:17

And and then the effect of that

30:19

it is these who cause divisions.

30:23

So the effect of everyone pursuing

30:25

their own passion is that we become more

30:28

and more and more divided.

30:30

The world becomes more fractious,

30:33

more, more angry. So you just

30:35

you just read a verse like this and

30:37

you think, now the Bible speaks right

30:39

into our world and

30:42

into our lives today.

30:44

Yes.

30:45

And then there's this contrast that's

30:47

drawn that starting in verse 20.

30:49

So we've just heard about in the last

30:51

days, there will be scoffers

30:53

following their own ungodly passions.

30:55

They will cause divisions. They'll be

30:57

worldly, devoid of spirit. Then

31:00

verse 20, but you, beloved,

31:02

so just that there, that. But

31:04

you, beloved, there is a shift here,

31:06

that there is something that's going to

31:08

be different about the group that's about to

31:10

be described, the recipient of this

31:13

from the people that were just described prior.

31:15

Correct. Is that good inductive Bible study

31:17

here?

31:18

Yeah, that's that's exactly right.

31:21

And um, and so even

31:23

before going on to what we're instructed,

31:25

uh, to do here, it's

31:27

helpful to, um, to

31:29

pause on, on, on, on the but

31:32

and to say, okay, so now we're getting

31:34

the opposite, as you just pointed out here,

31:36

here. So, um, what

31:38

that means is that

31:40

we are not to be scoffers.

31:43

We are not to be

31:45

cynics. So that's a

31:47

good thing for me to take to my heart today.

31:49

Don't be a cynic. Don't be a scoffer.

31:52

Don't be looking down your nose at someone

31:54

else. That's a good rebuke for me.

31:57

And and because I'm to be pursuing

31:59

the opposite of ungodly passions,

32:01

I'm to live with a passion for Christ

32:04

today. That's what I'm to put the. And

32:06

that's what I'm going to put the, the, the energy.

32:08

And I am to seek

32:11

to be the opposite of someone who brings

32:13

division, to try to bring healing and to try

32:15

to bring help. Um,

32:17

and the reason for that is, um,

32:20

that it says in the verse that you just read

32:22

that those who are the scoffers pursuing ungodly

32:25

passions and, and dividing, they

32:27

are devoid of the spirit. So the reason I'm

32:29

to do the opposite is because I've been given

32:31

the Holy Spirit. Yes. And the Holy

32:33

Spirit is not a scoffer the Holy Spirit,

32:36

um, enables me

32:39

and in genders raises

32:41

a passion for godliness,

32:43

and the Holy Spirit brings people together.

32:46

So so the contrast there, even

32:48

before we get on to the specific instructions

32:51

as to what the people given

32:53

the spirit are to do, um, there's

32:55

some rebuke and there's some help for me as

32:57

I read that verse. And, uh, and for

32:59

any of us as we do the same.

33:01

So verse 20, Pastor Colin

33:03

Smith was with us right now. But

33:05

you, beloved, building yourselves

33:07

up in your most holy faith

33:09

and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep

33:11

yourselves in the love of God, waiting

33:14

for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that

33:16

leads to eternal life. So

33:18

there is some Holy Spirit

33:20

empowered work

33:22

to persevere here. Talk a little bit about

33:24

that. That building yourself

33:27

up, that keeping yourself

33:29

in the love of God, the waiting.

33:31

There's some action required on the part

33:34

of the Christ follower.

33:35

And it's very specific, isn't it?

33:37

You know, I think the value

33:39

of what you're doing here today and what you're

33:41

trying to encourage us with,

33:43

is that it's very important in

33:45

reading the Bible just to slow

33:47

down. I find that's

33:50

probably the single piece of counsel that

33:52

I, I give to people a little more than

33:54

anything else on this subject. People

33:56

sometimes have the idea that, you know, I've just

33:58

got to read a chunk of the Bible and I've read

34:00

it. And actually what we're

34:02

trying to do here in this conversation

34:05

is what the Bible calls meditate.

34:07

You, you slow down,

34:09

you you, um, focus

34:11

in on what it actually says and

34:13

try and apply it to yourself. I mean,

34:15

here's a great example of

34:18

of how to do that in

34:20

this verse. You've got some some clear steps.

34:23

You're to build yourself

34:26

up in your most holy faith. There's

34:28

number one, pray in

34:30

the Holy Spirit. Number two,

34:33

keep yourselves in the love of

34:35

God. That's number three.

34:38

And waiting for the mercy

34:40

of the Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal

34:42

life is number four. So here are four

34:45

very distinct things that we can hone

34:47

in on even further. And

34:49

they are, as you say, can clear

34:51

instructions and

34:54

things that we are ourselves

34:56

to do. How do I build myself

34:59

up in my most holy

35:01

faith while I build myself

35:03

up through the Word of

35:05

God? Exactly what we're doing

35:07

now, taking in the truth of

35:10

the Word of God so that faith

35:12

may be strengthened. Faith comes by

35:14

hearing, and hearing comes by

35:16

the Word of God. And I'm to

35:18

pray, um, and I'm

35:21

to pray in the Holy Spirit, which

35:23

is the most wonderful reminder that

35:25

no Christian ever prays

35:27

alone, that the father hears

35:29

us. The Holy Spirit

35:31

helps us, and that our prayers

35:34

are sent to the father through the son.

35:36

So the Holy Spirit constantly helps

35:38

us in our praying. And that's

35:41

one of the greatest encouragements, I think, to

35:43

pray that we're not

35:45

praying alone, and then keep

35:47

yourselves in in the love of

35:49

God at that point, not

35:52

only to remembering that God

35:54

loves me, but to obeying

35:56

the Lord Jesus Christ. Um

35:59

uh, if you love me, uh,

36:01

you will keep my commandments.

36:03

The Lord Jesus Christ says, and

36:06

there's no doubt that walking

36:09

with the Lord is the way in which

36:11

we have the clearest, um,

36:13

knowledge of his love. His

36:15

love for us never changes. But just

36:17

as clouds can blot out the warmth

36:19

of the sun in the sky, walking

36:22

at a distance from Christ and

36:24

in disobedience to him, that

36:27

can diminish our felt

36:29

awareness of the love of God for us. So

36:31

keep yourself in the place where

36:33

you have the knowledge of the love of

36:35

God around you, and then

36:37

do that in anticipation. That's the

36:39

marvelous note of hope there, isn't it? Whatever

36:43

I'm facing today, there is a

36:45

glorious future ahead of me.

36:47

But these are some things just to take into mind,

36:50

and they are strengthening as we just

36:52

engage ourselves in the Word of God.

36:54

Pastor Colin Smith, a phenomenal

36:56

our guest this morning, coming up, uh, we're

36:58

going to tell you about something, a film

37:00

that is going to be available

37:03

to you Palm Sunday through Easter.

37:05

That's coming up here on Carlin two mornings.

37:08

Helping you start your day with a boom.

37:10

You're listening to Carl and crew mornings.

37:14

As we approach Palm Sunday and

37:16

Easter a couple of weeks away.

37:18

We're going to be featuring a film. Actually,

37:21

Pastor Colin Smith and his team at Open the

37:23

Bible are going to be featuring a film, Heaven

37:25

how I Got Here. You're going to be making

37:27

it available on your website. First, just give us a

37:29

little bit of an overview of what this

37:31

is.

37:32

It's a film of an event in

37:34

which Stephen Baldwin, the

37:36

actor, portrayed the story

37:38

of the thief on the cross. It took place

37:40

in the church that I pastored. The orchard

37:42

here a number of years ago was filmed,

37:45

and we're making this available

37:47

for free during Easter week.

37:50

Um, at Open the bible.org

37:53

encouraging people to see it. It is a

37:55

very moving portrayal

37:57

of the thief on the cross,

38:00

and the way in which we hope

38:02

it can be used. Is this story,

38:04

more than any other story I know

38:06

really helps people to

38:08

grasp grace. A lot

38:10

of people have the idea that if you know you're to get

38:12

to heaven, it's on the basis of living a good enough

38:14

life. And obviously the thief

38:16

on the cross didn't do that. He wasn't

38:19

in a position to start doing that.

38:21

And yet Jesus says to him, today

38:23

you will be with me in Paradise.

38:25

And so he got into heaven

38:27

on the basis of something other than living

38:29

a good enough life. And that, of course,

38:31

is the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.

38:34

So this is a wonderful story,

38:36

movingly portrayed by

38:38

an outstanding actor. And

38:41

the message of grace is very,

38:43

very clear. And it's freely

38:45

available for a week leading

38:47

up to Easter, a great opportunity

38:49

either to, um, commend

38:51

us to someone who needs to understand

38:53

grace, or perhaps to invite them over

38:56

into and to watch it with them.

38:57

I love this, you know, as you think

39:00

about the amount of people who

39:02

are willing to consider whether

39:04

it's going to church or even hearing

39:06

about Jesus in Easter

39:08

season, there are so many misconceptions

39:11

that people walk into church doors with

39:14

or walk around with just rattling around

39:16

in their head. This certainly dispels

39:18

one of the biggest one that good people.

39:20

I live a good enough life and that's how

39:22

I get to heaven, right?

39:23

Yeah, that's exactly right. And

39:26

so clearly the thief on the cross

39:28

doesn't fit well. He actually explodes

39:30

that whole myth, doesn't he? He really does.

39:32

Because we have the word of Jesus

39:34

that he enters into

39:37

the presence of the Lord. And

39:39

I think this is a wonderful story

39:42

for us to use in reaching

39:45

out to others at this Easter

39:47

season.

39:48

Pastor Colin Smith, thank you for your

39:50

time this morning. If you want more,

39:52

including a link to that movie,

39:54

just text open to (312) 274-9624.

39:59

This is going to take you to the Open the Bible website.

40:01

So you'll see some of the topics and resources.

40:04

And then Easter week, Palm

40:06

Sunday through Easter Sunday. That film

40:08

will be made available here as well. Text open

40:10

to (312) 274-9624.

40:14

Just open to (312) 274-9624.

40:21

Helping you take the next step in your

40:23

walk with Jesus. This is Carl

40:25

and crew mornings.

40:27

Want to give a huge thank you?

40:29

If you have not heard from us yet.

40:32

Thank you, thank you, thank you for

40:34

your support during this recent

40:36

share. Young Thunder, how

40:38

would you describe some

40:41

of what we experienced this

40:43

last week of share awe

40:45

inspiring.

40:47

Uh, boom crew? I mean, we

40:50

say it every year because it

40:52

happens every year that your

40:54

generous heart for people to

40:56

know the gospel really comes

40:58

through and it shows itself and it doesn't

41:01

come through only in the

41:03

gifts that you give. It comes through

41:05

in the comments that you make that your heart

41:07

is for people to know Jesus. You're not

41:09

doing it because you feel pressured, because

41:12

you feel obligated. You're doing

41:14

it because God has touched

41:16

your life and you want him to touch someone else's.

41:18

And so we see that

41:20

and and it does leave

41:23

all of us speechless at times.

41:25

We are grateful and

41:27

and we cannot say it enough.

41:29

I want to give you a quick update where we

41:31

are at this point here in Chicago,

41:33

$1.4 million,

41:37

just over $1.4 million raised

41:39

by our boom crew, 4568

41:44

individual gifts.

41:46

It's incredible.

41:47

4568

41:49

people who made a monthly commitment

41:51

or who gave a one time donation,

41:54

maybe during a match or outside of a

41:56

match, but took a step of faith and

41:58

said, I want to invest in what God's doing

42:00

here. So again, thank

42:02

you so much. If you did miss it, no

42:04

pressure whatsoever. But if your plan was to

42:06

give, it is not too late. You

42:08

can call that number 800 609

42:11

624 (800) 600-9624

42:15

or go online to Moody Radio. Org.

42:18

Just click on the banner that says share.

42:25

Hey, this is Carl with Carl and crew, and I'm so

42:27

grateful that you listen to this show cast.

42:29

Thank you mostly for being part of the boom

42:31

crew. As we help you take your next

42:33

step with Jesus, you're a huge encouragement

42:36

to us. We'll be here again live every

42:38

weekday morning from 5 to 9

42:40

a.m.. Godspeed.