On Air
Mon - Fri: 12:00 AM - 12:30 AM & 11:00 AM - 11:30 AM
Join us as we unravel the profound yet often misunderstood concept of the 'old man' in Christian theology. By examining Paul’s teachings in Romans, we uncover the distinction between our natural humanity and the spiritual life offered through faith in Christ. This episode challenges common misconceptions and emphasizes the freedom and common sense that comes with understanding the sacrifice of Jesus as our divine representative.
SPEAKER 01 :
So here we are in Romans chapter 6, and we're at verse 6, where Paul says, Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin. Now, this is very interesting. It's strange as well. And, you know, I'm not sure how I can explain it to you, but I see the book of Romans in a very different way now from how I saw it when I first started teaching this book decades ago. I still saw the gospel in it decades ago, but I see it with a difference now. You see, I thought Paul was simply talking atomistically, shall I say, and that is his own personal experience. And he was simply talking about his having been, let's see, how does it say, that his old man had been crucified with Christ. What I didn't understand then, and I do now, I think, is that Paul is talking about the whole of humanity. Paul is talking about humanity in a personal way so that we get it personally, but it applies to all humanity. Well, let's go on, and then we'll perhaps see that more. Knowing this... What do we know? That's what you and I have to ask ourselves as Christians. Because, you see, we live in a fallen world, and we are part of that fallen world. We have a broken-down human nature, a sinful human nature. a nature that is corrupted. And so the inclination of our hearts and our minds is downward. It's towards sin. It's towards misery. It's towards evil, towards other people and to ourselves and before God, because we are in a state of suppression, as Paul says in chapter 1 of Romans verse 18. But now we've seen Jesus Christ. Christ has revealed himself to us. God sent his Son to reveal himself to the world and to reveal the Father to the world through his Son. And so something has happened to some of us, not all of us at this point. You see, Paul is talking with two voices. He is reminding us that as one man brought sin and death into the world, Adam, so one man brings righteousness and life to the world, Christ. As one man brings about death to everyone, so one man brings life to everyone. That's the good news that we're looking at here, you see. So, in general terms, he's talking about all the world, but then he gets specific about himself and about Christians who know something. What is it we know? That our old man was crucified with him. Now, what is this old man? Well, it's our human nature. It's the whole of us. It is this humanity that is all broken down, that goes in the wrong direction when we want it to go in another direction. This humanity... that would not naturally lift its heart up to God, but naturally go down into the ways of Satan, that humanity of ours, that's what we are, was crucified with him. Well, you say, that sounds weird, ridiculous. I wasn't there even. We're talking about 2,000 years ago at the cross. How could I be crucified with him? And this is where you have to understand the background that Paul is talking about Jesus as a representative for the whole of humanity. Now look, we have recently seen, or today, we have seen the inauguration of a new president. That president represents now the country. Whether we like him or not, that's not the issue. I'm not being political here. I'm simply saying that a person represents the whole. Many, many times we know this. You may have a favorite football team, and you say, we won. And you say, we? Well, we weren't on the football field, were we? But we won because our team represented us. This is what it means when we talk about Jesus as being the representative. What Jesus did for the world was to take the judgment of the world upon himself. And that means that you and I, by faith, are no longer under that judgment. It's as if our natural humanity had already been executed. You see, Jesus' death was not simply the death of a natural death. Obviously it wasn't. It was a crucifixion. But it was an execution. It was an execution for crime. We are the criminals. We are the ones who have suppressed the image of God in us, and we have gone our own way and followed idols, and ultimately that means the dehumanization of every human being. That's what our problem is, and that's what our old man is. That old man then is now counted as if it had been executed because Jesus, the representative of the human race, the sort of spiritual president of all humanity, was executed on our behalf. Now there are some people who turn this into insanity, because what they do is to say, oh well, there's an old man and there's a new man in me, and the old man now is crucified. Well, it's supposed to be anyway, they say, but I haven't succeeded in crucifying it yet, but if I keep working at it, I'll be able to finally kill it off. and they go into all kinds of spiritual insanity. This is what I call religious neurosis. And they try to kill off their old man. And they go on fasts, and they go into rituals, and they go into extensive meditation. And what they're trying to do is eliminate that old man that exists in them. You can see, can't you, how absolutely erroneous that is. Paul is not talking about an old man in us, like a part of us, while we have the new man also in us, that other part. He's not talking about a divided humanity. The old man is our human nature, our humanity. and it is crucified, but not in itself. It is crucified in Christ who represents us before the Father. So this, you see, is Paul identifying by faith with Jesus Christ. This is one of the most amazing and intimate verses you will find anywhere in the Bible. Because this is Paul feeling or knowing that he is so close to Jesus, rather more accurately, Jesus is so close to him that Jesus is identifying with Paul. Now look, you and I need to say, Jesus is identifying with me. I'm not simply identifying with Jesus, because that would be an eternity's work, and I may not be able to do it in this world totally, and I certainly will not be able to do it to identify totally with him. There are people who try to do this. There are crazy people in the Philippines, for instance, I mentioned this the other day, who actually get on a cross and nail themselves to it during the Easter season. It's insanity. It is utterly false religion. They try to identify with Jesus. The faith life is that Jesus identifies with me. You say, well, Colin, how could he identify with me? I'm a sinner. But that's precisely the point. That's why he died. He died a sinner. And this gives you and me the courage to go forward. We are faced every day with our utter corruption. Well, if you're in reality, you're faced with your corruption. If you're in delusion, you think you're an angel about to go to heaven if you don't overshoot. But the truth is, that Jesus has said, I know how messed up you are, Colin, and I am going to identify with you and take all the judgment that you deserve, and I'm going to take it upon myself. And that is how and why Jesus died on the cross. So you and I, on a daily basis, lift up our heart before God and we say, Jesus, thank you so much for identifying with me to the extent that you took my judgment. Thank you that I'm free from judgment, even though I'm a sinner still. You see then, that your old man that is crucified with him, that's not a psychological reality, because if you think it is that, then you're going to go into this religious neurosis where you're trying to spiritually kill yourself. and it is absolutely sick. Don't try it. But when you, by faith, lift up your heart, and you say, oh Jesus, thank you so much, that the burden of guilt, the sense of judgment that I feel I should take, is not upon me anymore. You took it. And as you speak this way to God, you begin to experience a freedom in your spirit that enables you to move forward with some common sense. You understand what I mean by common sense. Common sense only comes to people of faith because men and women without faith are ridden with guilt and shame. And if you're ridden with guilt and shame, you can never think in a common sense way. You're always evaluating the world and how you look before people and how other people look before you with loads of guilt and shame. You're thinking, how do I look? What do they think of me? Whatever will they think of me if they knew what I do? Or you are evaluating them. They're no good. They're stupid. They're useless. And you're contemptuous of other people because guilt and shame are floating around in your mind and heart, and you're evaluating yourself that way, and so you have no common sense at all. But when it comes to faith, we then can look at ourselves and say, I know I'm a sinner, but my Savior Jesus has taken my judgment. And so my old man, the natural humanity that I am in, is finished. It's condemned, and it has been executed. Now, you notice that Paul uses the word old man. Don't use the word old in the sense of time. Well, that was my old man a year ago when I was converted, but now I no longer have an old man because I'm converted. No, the old man is simply your natural humanity in one way of looking at it, in one sphere of existence. But you are now resurrected with Christ. And so you have a new humanity. And that humanity is the way you look at things through the eyes of Jesus Christ. So don't get bowled over by false teaching about, I was this years ago, but now I'm this now. Rather, I'm in myself, an old man, but that's not reckoned against me anymore because I'm crucified in him. And now I'm in Christ, and I have a new humanity. Thanks for listening today. Colin Cook here. You can hear this program on your smartphone any time of the day or night. Simply download a free app, soundcloud.com or podbean.com and key in how it happens with Colin Cook when you get there. Thanks so much for all your support and I'll see you next time. Cheerio and God bless.
A collection of podcasts from our wonderful programs and hosts that specifically discuss anxiety; how to combat it, where it comes from, what you can do about it, and more. If you have a prayer request, please send us a message or call us at 303.481.1800 and we will agree with you in prayer and petition to the Father.
Join us as we unravel the profound yet often misunderstood concept of the 'old man' in Christian theology. By examining Paul’s teachings in Romans, we uncover the distinction between our natural humanity and the spiritual life offered through faith in Christ. This episode challenges common misconceptions and emphasizes the freedom and common sense that comes with understanding the sacrifice of Jesus as our divine representative.
SPEAKER 01 :
So here we are in Romans chapter 6, and we're at verse 6, where Paul says, Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin. Now, this is very interesting. It's strange as well. And, you know, I'm not sure how I can explain it to you, but I see the book of Romans in a very different way now from how I saw it when I first started teaching this book decades ago. I still saw the gospel in it decades ago, but I see it with a difference now. You see, I thought Paul was simply talking atomistically, shall I say, and that is his own personal experience. And he was simply talking about his having been, let's see, how does it say, that his old man had been crucified with Christ. What I didn't understand then, and I do now, I think, is that Paul is talking about the whole of humanity. Paul is talking about humanity in a personal way so that we get it personally, but it applies to all humanity. Well, let's go on, and then we'll perhaps see that more. Knowing this... What do we know? That's what you and I have to ask ourselves as Christians. Because, you see, we live in a fallen world, and we are part of that fallen world. We have a broken-down human nature, a sinful human nature. a nature that is corrupted. And so the inclination of our hearts and our minds is downward. It's towards sin. It's towards misery. It's towards evil, towards other people and to ourselves and before God, because we are in a state of suppression, as Paul says in chapter 1 of Romans verse 18. But now we've seen Jesus Christ. Christ has revealed himself to us. God sent his Son to reveal himself to the world and to reveal the Father to the world through his Son. And so something has happened to some of us, not all of us at this point. You see, Paul is talking with two voices. He is reminding us that as one man brought sin and death into the world, Adam, so one man brings righteousness and life to the world, Christ. As one man brings about death to everyone, so one man brings life to everyone. That's the good news that we're looking at here, you see. So, in general terms, he's talking about all the world, but then he gets specific about himself and about Christians who know something. What is it we know? That our old man was crucified with him. Now, what is this old man? Well, it's our human nature. It's the whole of us. It is this humanity that is all broken down, that goes in the wrong direction when we want it to go in another direction. This humanity... that would not naturally lift its heart up to God, but naturally go down into the ways of Satan, that humanity of ours, that's what we are, was crucified with him. Well, you say, that sounds weird, ridiculous. I wasn't there even. We're talking about 2,000 years ago at the cross. How could I be crucified with him? And this is where you have to understand the background that Paul is talking about Jesus as a representative for the whole of humanity. Now look, we have recently seen, or today, we have seen the inauguration of a new president. That president represents now the country. Whether we like him or not, that's not the issue. I'm not being political here. I'm simply saying that a person represents the whole. Many, many times we know this. You may have a favorite football team, and you say, we won. And you say, we? Well, we weren't on the football field, were we? But we won because our team represented us. This is what it means when we talk about Jesus as being the representative. What Jesus did for the world was to take the judgment of the world upon himself. And that means that you and I, by faith, are no longer under that judgment. It's as if our natural humanity had already been executed. You see, Jesus' death was not simply the death of a natural death. Obviously it wasn't. It was a crucifixion. But it was an execution. It was an execution for crime. We are the criminals. We are the ones who have suppressed the image of God in us, and we have gone our own way and followed idols, and ultimately that means the dehumanization of every human being. That's what our problem is, and that's what our old man is. That old man then is now counted as if it had been executed because Jesus, the representative of the human race, the sort of spiritual president of all humanity, was executed on our behalf. Now there are some people who turn this into insanity, because what they do is to say, oh well, there's an old man and there's a new man in me, and the old man now is crucified. Well, it's supposed to be anyway, they say, but I haven't succeeded in crucifying it yet, but if I keep working at it, I'll be able to finally kill it off. and they go into all kinds of spiritual insanity. This is what I call religious neurosis. And they try to kill off their old man. And they go on fasts, and they go into rituals, and they go into extensive meditation. And what they're trying to do is eliminate that old man that exists in them. You can see, can't you, how absolutely erroneous that is. Paul is not talking about an old man in us, like a part of us, while we have the new man also in us, that other part. He's not talking about a divided humanity. The old man is our human nature, our humanity. and it is crucified, but not in itself. It is crucified in Christ who represents us before the Father. So this, you see, is Paul identifying by faith with Jesus Christ. This is one of the most amazing and intimate verses you will find anywhere in the Bible. Because this is Paul feeling or knowing that he is so close to Jesus, rather more accurately, Jesus is so close to him that Jesus is identifying with Paul. Now look, you and I need to say, Jesus is identifying with me. I'm not simply identifying with Jesus, because that would be an eternity's work, and I may not be able to do it in this world totally, and I certainly will not be able to do it to identify totally with him. There are people who try to do this. There are crazy people in the Philippines, for instance, I mentioned this the other day, who actually get on a cross and nail themselves to it during the Easter season. It's insanity. It is utterly false religion. They try to identify with Jesus. The faith life is that Jesus identifies with me. You say, well, Colin, how could he identify with me? I'm a sinner. But that's precisely the point. That's why he died. He died a sinner. And this gives you and me the courage to go forward. We are faced every day with our utter corruption. Well, if you're in reality, you're faced with your corruption. If you're in delusion, you think you're an angel about to go to heaven if you don't overshoot. But the truth is, that Jesus has said, I know how messed up you are, Colin, and I am going to identify with you and take all the judgment that you deserve, and I'm going to take it upon myself. And that is how and why Jesus died on the cross. So you and I, on a daily basis, lift up our heart before God and we say, Jesus, thank you so much for identifying with me to the extent that you took my judgment. Thank you that I'm free from judgment, even though I'm a sinner still. You see then, that your old man that is crucified with him, that's not a psychological reality, because if you think it is that, then you're going to go into this religious neurosis where you're trying to spiritually kill yourself. and it is absolutely sick. Don't try it. But when you, by faith, lift up your heart, and you say, oh Jesus, thank you so much, that the burden of guilt, the sense of judgment that I feel I should take, is not upon me anymore. You took it. And as you speak this way to God, you begin to experience a freedom in your spirit that enables you to move forward with some common sense. You understand what I mean by common sense. Common sense only comes to people of faith because men and women without faith are ridden with guilt and shame. And if you're ridden with guilt and shame, you can never think in a common sense way. You're always evaluating the world and how you look before people and how other people look before you with loads of guilt and shame. You're thinking, how do I look? What do they think of me? Whatever will they think of me if they knew what I do? Or you are evaluating them. They're no good. They're stupid. They're useless. And you're contemptuous of other people because guilt and shame are floating around in your mind and heart, and you're evaluating yourself that way, and so you have no common sense at all. But when it comes to faith, we then can look at ourselves and say, I know I'm a sinner, but my Savior Jesus has taken my judgment. And so my old man, the natural humanity that I am in, is finished. It's condemned, and it has been executed. Now, you notice that Paul uses the word old man. Don't use the word old in the sense of time. Well, that was my old man a year ago when I was converted, but now I no longer have an old man because I'm converted. No, the old man is simply your natural humanity in one way of looking at it, in one sphere of existence. But you are now resurrected with Christ. And so you have a new humanity. And that humanity is the way you look at things through the eyes of Jesus Christ. So don't get bowled over by false teaching about, I was this years ago, but now I'm this now. Rather, I'm in myself, an old man, but that's not reckoned against me anymore because I'm crucified in him. And now I'm in Christ, and I have a new humanity. Thanks for listening today. Colin Cook here. You can hear this program on your smartphone any time of the day or night. Simply download a free app, soundcloud.com or podbean.com and key in how it happens with Colin Cook when you get there. Thanks so much for all your support and I'll see you next time. Cheerio and God bless.
In this transformative episode of Discovering the Jewish Jesus, Rabbi Schneider delves into his God-given vision for witnessing without fear. Through a compelling dream, Rabbi Schneider was shown a unique approach to share faith authentically and effectively, emphasizing the importance of personal connection and divine security in our lives. Join him as he recounts this heavenly encounter and shares insights that promise to revolutionize your approach to faith-sharing. Learn how to adopt a secure and confident stance in your faith journey, and discover how to ask the ultimate question that cuts through pretense: "What do you think of Jesus?" Embrace a new level of boldness and clarity as Rabbi Schneider guides you through powerful, real-world applications and scripture revelations. This episode is a call to action for all believers to stand firm, address insecurities, and present Jesus with genuine love and personal engagement.
SPEAKER 01 :
Hello, and welcome to Discovering the Jewish Jesus. I'm your host, Dustin Roberts, and today Rabbi Schneider reveals the secret to witnessing without fear. Every single one of us has felt uncertainty when it comes to sharing our faith. We wonder if we'll say the wrong thing or if the other person will reject us. And that's why Rabbi Schneider today, he wants to give us some natural and authentic ways that we can transform the way we witness to the world. And you can learn more about Rabbi Schneider and this ministry by visiting discoveringthejewishjesus.com. And right now, let's begin our message on sharing our faith with prayer. Here's Rabbi.
SPEAKER 03 :
Father, we ask you to come today, Father, that you'll move through this broadcast with power, God. Let your word, Abba, run swiftly, we pray in Yeshua's name, in Jesus' name. Amen and amen. Beloved, we're in the midst of a series entitled Sharing Your Faith. This is part number four. I'm not going to go back and review. This has been a very exclusive series, very important. I really encourage you to get it and study it. We're talking about how to share our faith. Today, beloved, I'm going to talk to you about a subject that I've spoke on before, but I want to bring it up afresh and anew on this series. I want to talk about the specific strategy I am talking about the divine cutting edge strategy that's come to me directly from heaven that the Holy Spirit has given me in terms of how to share our faith. Beloved, there are many good ways to share our faith, but I am about to tell you that the Holy Spirit came to me and spoke to me verbally a specific question teaching me to share my faith in a specific way and encouraging me in doing so to teach others to do it in this same way. I believe you'll find it extremely effective because what I'm about to share with you, beloved, it's not from me. It came from God. Here's how it happened. Early this year, the Lord spoke to me in a dream. In the first phase of this dream, I found myself in a room. The room was shaped like a rectangle. I don't know exactly how big the room was. It wasn't a real big room. In the room, there was a couch. The coloring in the room was darkish grayish. It wasn't like the windows were open and a lot of sun was coming in, but it wasn't totally black either. It was just kind of a darkish grayish color in the room, but you could still see in the room. And I go onto the couch and there's a lady sitting on the couch. Next to the lady on the far end of the couch, so I'm at one end of the couch, and then on the other end of the couch, there's a man sitting. He looked to be about maybe 50 years old. The dream opens. My head is kind of leaning on this lady's shoulder. It was just like there was kind of like a mother or something like that. It was just kind of a comfort thing. You know, David said in one of his writings, he said that he had stilled his soul like a child at rest leaning against his mother. I believe it just meant that I was secure. And then this man is sitting at the other end of the couch. And I asked the man, beloved, in this dream, this specific question. What? Do you think of Jesus?" Immediately after this phase of the dream, the dream rolled into a second dream that was connected to it. And it was this second phase of the dream that made me absolutely sure, beloved, that I was having a dream from God. In the second part of the dream, I find myself in a room almost identical to the room that I was in in the first dream, about the same size. Again, there's a couch. Again, it's kind of gray in terms of the coloring of the room. There's not a lot of light in there, but you can still see it's not totally dark either. I believe that represents the spiritual climate of the world right now. And we can still see, but it's dark right now. Morality is dark. Hopelessness is pervading. Things are becoming more and more chaotic. Jesus described this world as a place where Satan dwelled. And so I'm in this room, the second phase of the dream. I'm on the couch and a young girl is in the room. She's standing in the center of the room. She looked to be about 20 years old. And I asked her in the dream, listen, beloved, the same exact question, what do you think of Jesus? And when I asked her the question, this is what she said. She said, well, I know he said a lot to the church, But he never said anything to me like about being boyfriend, girlfriend. And as soon as she said that, the dream was over. And I knew that I was having a dream from God because her statement was so unique and so profound. And it said volumes. This is what she was meaning, beloved, that she had heard maybe some preaching before. Maybe she was raised in church or had sat in church at some points in her life. But she never said, heard and understood that Jesus loved her. And I knew through this dream that the Lord was telling me several things. He was first of all telling me that my people need to be secure. This was communicated to me, beloved, in the dream when I found myself as the dream opened with my head leaning on that lady's shoulder, like David said, like a child leaning on his mother. It represented security, that you and I need to break off the lie of insecurity because we are secure in Jesus. Insecurity is part of our old life. We need to step out of it. We need to break it. We need to confess, I am secure in Jesus. My father is with me. Jesus is with me. His presence is all around me. He's going to provide for all my needs. It doesn't matter what anybody else thinks about me. It only matters what he thinks about me. So I will be secure. Part of being secure, beloved, is a decision. So the Lord was communicating that if my people are going to be obedient to me, ensuring their faith, they're going to have to step out of insecurity and into security. And beloved, that is a choice that you need to make. Remember when Jesus gave out the talents and when he called those he had given the talents to, to return and to show them the investment that they had made on the talents and how their talents had multiplied. Remember the one said, Lord, you gave me 10 and now here's 20. And the other one came and said, Lord, you gave me five talents, now here's ten talents. And then Jesus called the one that he had given one talent to. And the man came to Jesus with his one talent and he said, sir, you gave me one talent and here's your one talent back, for I knew you to be a hard man. He had a wrong concept of God. And because of that, he was insecure and fearful. And Jesus rebuked him. He was displeased. And beloved, you and I need to make a decision that we're going to obey God, because God has not given us a spirit of fear or timidity, but of love and of power and of a sound mind. So the first thing that you and I need to know, beloved, is we need to break off insecurity and fear and step into security and boldness and confidence. That was what the Lord showed me by showing me with my head leaning against that woman's shoulder. Then the next thing was that the man was sitting on the couch. And I asked him the question, what do you think of Jesus? And beloved, he was kind of a macho looking man. And I believe the Lord was communicating, you don't bow down to asking anybody this question. Don't fear being intimidated. Don't be afraid of what someone's going to think about you. Don't be concerned that someone's going to think you're weak because you're talking about my son. I want you to ask the world the question, what? do you think of Jesus?" And then, as I indicated, as the dream shifted, I found myself in the room, once again, similar room with the young lady, 20 years old. I asked her the same question, beloved, what do you think of Jesus? And she said to me, I know he said a lot to the church, but he didn't say anything to me like about being boyfriend, girlfriend. And what the Lord was communicating to me here was that people need to not just be presented with the doctrine of the Bible. They don't just need to hear that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. What we need to be communicating, beloved, to people as we're witnessing to them is that God loves them. individually, personally, that God knows the number of hairs on their head, that God knows where they work. He knows what their phone number is. God says, when you share me with people, I want you to communicate to them how much I love and care about them as individual people. that I care about them in their work, that I care about what happens to them in their future, that I care about their relationship with their husband or wife, that I care and I'm concerned with them and I want to be involved in every detail of their life.
SPEAKER 01 :
You're listening to Discovering the Jewish Jesus and Rabbi will be right back in a moment. It's our prayer that today's message has been a blessing to you so far and we hope that it enriches your walk with Yeshua. If you have a prayer request, we invite you to submit it online at discoveringthejewishjesus.com. Our team lifts up every individual request before the Lord and it would be our pleasure, privilege and honor to pray for you and your family. At Discovering the Jewish Jesus, we are looking for like-minded people who are ready to partner with us. If you're sensing the Lord leading you to offer a financial gift of support, would you please contact us today? Become a monthly partner. Go to discoveringthejewishjesus.com. or to give a gift of any amount today, just call 800-777-7835. That's 800-777-7835. And now here's Rabbi Schneider with the rest of today's message. And so God shared with me, beloved, this strategy
SPEAKER 03 :
when we're out there witnessing for him to be asking people the question, beloved, what do you think of Jesus? You see, when you ask somebody that question, we're not even asking them, what do you think about Jesus? Because if we ask them, what do you think about Jesus, that can get to be kind of a heady question. But when we ask them, what do you think of Jesus, that's a hard question. And when they respond to us, we can know when somebody responds where they're at in their walk with God. And then hearing their response, we can know how to proceed, beloved, to present the love of God to them. This is the time for the church to get bold like never before. I'm not talking to just a few. I'm talking to all of us and to begin to share our faith, beloved, like never before. I want to encourage you. Don't be afraid of somebody getting mad at you. People will get mad at you. But you know, sometimes when someone gets mad at you, that's the first step to them coming to faith. Oftentimes, beloved, someone gets really mad, but they get mad because they're being faced with something that's really disturbing them and upsetting them. And this is the beginning with them wrestling with the issue. And God may use you to do it so the outcome is not based on whether they got mad or not. The outcome may be that they got mad, but six weeks later they received Jesus. And it had to do with you boldly presenting the gospel to them. What do you think of Jesus? And also when we're sharing with people, we want to be humble. And one of the best ways to do that is not to place ourselves above them, but to share with them what Jesus has done for us. making ourselves voluntarily weak. In other words, saying, oh, it wouldn't have been for Jesus. And everything that we say, we say, praise Jesus. It's a good God. We're making ourselves voluntarily weak. So we're showing them that we need Jesus just like they do so that they don't think that we're condescending. Also, beloved, I want to encourage you. To be prepared. The more prepared you are, and I'm not telling you you have to know the Bible backwards and forwards. No, I'm not telling you that. But I'm saying be as prepared as you can be. And don't wait till you're prepared perfectly to start. Start right now. But it's like this. As you learn some of the strategies that I've shared in this broadcast, and as you continue to read the Bible on a daily basis, beloved, Even if it's just a chapter a day, you're going to get more and more prepared to be able to respond to people and to be able to bring up Scripture, because the Scripture itself has life and power in it. See, the Word of God is living and active and sharper than a two-edged sword. It's able to pierce between the division of soul and spirit. So when you know the Word of God, you can bring it to the table. It's kind of like a carpenter. A carpenter can do almost any job. Why? Because he's got the tools. And so the more prepared you are, the more tools you'll have. But I don't want anybody to wait until they're more prepared. Start right now. God will train you as you go. Some of you have heard it said before, God can't steer a parked car. Just start and God will teach you and train you along the way. And again, don't be thrown when people get defensive. Don't let it throw you. Just be convinced in your heart, beloved, that the message that you bring is real. You need to be convinced that Jesus is the only way. If you have a mindset that simply says, well, Jesus is good for me. but, you know, this person doesn't believe in Jesus, so God bless them, that's fine too. A lot of people that call themselves Christians are like that. It's like they claim that Jesus is the only way. They sing praises to God in church that Jesus is the only way. But when it comes to the way that they relate with other people, it's evident by the way they relate to other people that they really don't believe that. Because they've got all these people that they know that they're in relationship with, and they know these people aren't believers in Jesus, and yet they don't tell them about Jesus. If you and I were really convinced that those people were going to hell, we would be telling them about Jesus. Jesus said, unless you believe that I am he, you'll die in your sins. We must be convinced that people need Jesus, that he is who he said he was, that Jesus said there's no other name under heaven by which men can be saved but the name of Yeshua HaMashiach. Be convinced, beloved, that people need him. And don't be afraid, beloved, that someone's going to know more than you know. No, beloved, the Bible tells us that we shouldn't be afraid because the Holy Spirit, the Scripture says, will give us what we need in the hour thereof. one of the secrets to becoming free and fluent and powerful in the abundant life of God. It's stepping out and trusting him. We have a supernatural God. And one of the things that our supernatural God does for us is he anoints us by the Holy Spirit to witness. So don't worry about having to think everything through that you're going to know exactly what you need to say in every situation. He'll give you the words Jesus taught us in the hour thereof. Now, a few practical things. Try to avoid words that people won't relate to. In other words, when Paul was on Mars Hill in the book of Acts, these people didn't know the Torah. They didn't know the scriptures. So Paul didn't start out talking to them about the Torah. But rather what Paul did is he started relating to them where they were at in life. He says, I see you have many statues here where you're worshiping an unknown God. And so Paul began by meeting them where they were at, and then he began to move from there, teaching them that this unknown God, that his name was the God of Israel and his son's name was Yeshua. And so we need to have that same mindset when we're speaking to a secular world and we're speaking to people that don't know the Lord. We want to avoid kind of Christian jargon that we might know what it means, but to them, they might not understand what we're saying. And so we need to be trying to communicate with them, beloved, in a language Hallelujah, that they can understand. Well, we began, beloved, at the beginning of this broadcast talking about how to approach the atheist. And I shared with you early on that the scripture tells us that deep inside everybody that's ever been born into the world knows there's a God. The scripture tells us that it's evident within them. And not only is it evident within them, Not only is their conscience bearing witness with them that there is a God, but when they look at creation and they see the sky that goes on forever and the beauty and the colors, deep inside they know there's a God. So when we come across an atheist, don't be intimidated and don't let the strength of their personality or their hostility or their condescending attitude throw you. Deep inside, every man knows there's a God. I talked about three ways to respond to the atheist. I talked about the argument of intelligent design, that in creation, beloved, we have intelligence. In other words, intelligence is built in to creation so that the body, beloved, when it begins to overheat, it automatically perspires to bring the temperature back down to normal. When we get sick, our body automatically begins to create antibodies to combat the sickness. And we could go on and on. There's intelligence in creation. Beloved, intelligence could not be in creation if there wasn't an intelligent designer behind it. So the first argument that we have for the atheist is the argument of intelligent design. The second argument, beloved, for responding to the atheist is the law of absolute morality, that deep down inside, all over the world, mankind at the most basic level has a sense of right and wrong. Now, the atheist will say he doesn't believe in moral absolutes, that there's no such thing, he'll say, as absolute right or wrong. But rather, he says, morality is relative, that morality is culturally defined, that morality isn't defined by a god, but they say instead, morality is defined individually. But you take that same atheist and somebody steals something from them, and what do they want? They want God. justice and so deep inside the atheist when he's wrong automatically now they revert back into a position of morality and then the third response beloved to the atheist is the response of first cause all the other theories beloved of the existence of life all the other theories of evolution have to do with beloved something that began in other words you begin with many evolution theories with what a big bang But the most obvious question when you begin to talk about a Big Bang is, well where did the Big Bang come from? What caused the Big Bang? And the only answer to this dilemma, beloved, is that there had to be a first cause that was without cause. God, by nature of who He is, has always been, He has no first cause, and that is the only possible explanation that one can come up with for the existence of life. There had to be something in the very beginning that was without cause, that has always been, and that is God. That's why God is beloved eternity. We talk about the exclusive claim of Jesus. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life. No man comes to God but through me. So what we do now is we bring a person to the place of having to face making a decision about Jesus. And here's what we say. If I can show you that Jesus is who He said He was, will you receive Him and will you receive His truth? We want to get them in a position that they're getting ready to have to make a decision. And then what we do, beloved, is we explain the historical accuracy of the Bible that I've covered in my earlier broadcast, why we can trust the Bible as being a historically accurate document, recording accurately the claims of Messiah. And finally, beloved, I talked about on this broadcast, we need to be asking people the question, what do you think of Jesus? I don't know about you, but for me, it seems like time keeps on going faster and faster and faster. Remember when we were little kids and it seemed like a summer was endless, like a whole lifetime was enveloped in a summer? Well, the older we get, it just seems like the years fly by. And so here we are, another year is coming to an end. As we come to the end of 2024, can I ask you humbly to give your very best love offering to the Lord through Discovering the Jewish Jesus? Because of you, beloved ones, millions of people are being reached through this ministry. In fact, I just received a testimony recently of a Jewish man that came to faith directly as a result of discovering the Jewish Jesus, and he's just one of many Jewish people that are coming to the Lord. And not just Jews, but people from all over the world are coming to the Lord, beloved, because of your sowing financially into this ministry. Thank you for your love. Would you give your best offering right now? Thank you, I love you, and shalom.
SPEAKER 01 :
Amen. That testimony from the Jewish man was so encouraging to receive. And like Rabbi said, we're at the end of the year, so there's not a lot of chances left to give an end of your offering. So if God is leading you to financially support discovering the Jewish Jesus with a special end of your gift of any amount, then please reach out to us today. You can call us at 800-777-7835. That's 800-777-7835. You can also send your financial gift in the mail. Our address is Discovering the Jewish Jesus, P.O. Box 777, Blissfield, Michigan 49228. And as a token of our appreciation back to you when you give, we want to send you our insightful newsletter. We'll make sure that it arrives at your door each month. This resource, it's a great way to keep track of what's happening here at the ministry. It also includes exclusive teaching from Rabbi, a letter from his wife, Cynthia, and also testimonies from people who've been touched because of listeners like you who financially support us. I get it myself every month, and I am definitely encouraged seeing all the testimonies. So if you want to be connected with this ministry in a greater way, please give today. Visit discoveringthejewishjesus.com. Thanks so much for your support. Now here's Rabbi with the Aaronic Blessing.
SPEAKER 03 :
In the book of Numbers, chapter six, we find a personal blessing from God our Father. This blessing should touch our hearts because it's so personal. Father God wants to intimately bless you, so receive his blessing into your life today with gladness and an open heart.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yevarechecha Yahweh, vayishmarecha Ya'er Yahweh, P'navei Lecha, Vichu Ne'echa Yissa Yahweh, P'navei Lecha, Ve'asem Lecha
SPEAKER 03 :
The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift you up with his countenance. And the Lord give you, beloved one, his peace. God bless you and shalom.
SPEAKER 01 :
I'm Dustin Roberts, and this program is produced and sponsored by Discovering the Jewish Jesus. Join us again next time when Rabbi Schneider explains how you can prepare for spiritual breakthrough. Learn more Friday on Discovering the Jewish Jesus.
Barbara Carmack, along with her daughter Kimberly, invites you into a heartfelt exploration of spiritual life on Call to Freedom. Reflecting on the importance of being a light in the world, they discuss the transformative power of faith and the peace that comes with accepting Jesus as Savior. With passages from Isaiah 9 and personal stories of overcoming darkness, this episode serves as a reminder that we are never alone in our journey towards spiritual fulfillment and eternal joy.
SPEAKER 01 :
Welcome to Call to Freedom with Barbara Carmack. This is Jimmy Lakey, and I'm delighted that you are joining us for this half hour. You can reach Call to Freedom at Box 370367, Denver, Colorado, 80237, or by going to the website at www.freedomstreet.org. If you want to leave a message or order a Word Power Daily Reading Bible Guide or a Freedom Street Express newsletter, you can call us toll free at 1-877-917-7256 and leave your name and address, including your zip code. If you want to talk to Barbara right now, she is expecting your call. You may call that same toll-free number, 1-877-917-7256 to speak to her. And now, let's join Barbara in the studio.
SPEAKER 02 :
Ah, what a wonderful time to be alive. I hope you're praising God that you are alive today. Welcome to Call to Freedom. May God work in you what is pleasing to Him through Jesus Christ to whom be glory forever and ever and ever. Oh, amen. He is going to give us such a wonderful eternal life we can't even begin to imagine. Just today I was seeing some beautiful photographs from Austria and and Bavaria in Germany. And I said, Oh, Lord, I'd love to see that. And this little voice inside of me, yes, I mean, it wasn't vocal, it wasn't verbal, but it was, you're going to see it. And I said, oh, thank you, Lord. Thank you. I'm going to see it someday. Oh, this world, this earth, this global earth is going to be gorgeous someday, folks. And when you accept Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord, you're going to see all that he has planned for you. You are blessed to dispense for in him you live and move and have your being. And you can give online to Call to Freedom by going to freedomstreet.org. And if you donate in the month of December, you get a 2025 calendar. And it's beautiful. It's a motivational calendar. It has an adjective for every month. And you can just work on all those different characteristics that you're working on. And I am working on them still. Amen. My life has not been complete. Hallelujah. He's still working on the things. Oh, the hurrying. This morning he said, Barbara, there's time. You can just take a few moments. You don't have to hurry. You don't have to run. And it's been my life. So just taking a moment and saying, thank you, Father. Thank you for being in every moment of my day and encouraging me to stop and rest and take a moment. So if you go to freedomstreet.org, you can not only... give online but you can also listen to radio shows and if you want to listen to a radio program from there you can go down a couple three months i know our webmaster says you've got shows for from a year back and so we're going to kind of trim those up but You may go back and listen to all those shows and the Friday shows of Darren. It's just a wonderful thing. And as I said before, you're going to get a 2025 motivational calendar if you give during the month of December. So you've got some days left. And today we're going to... be talking about such a wonderful verse, a prophecy that came true. If that prophecy came true in the Old Testament, do you think that the prophecies about Jesus returning are not going to be true? Boy, do people have another thing coming. Praise the Lord. Well, I am talkative this afternoon, so I'm going to let my daughter, Kimberly, God bless you, Kimberly, come in and take over for this wonderful teaching.
SPEAKER 05 :
Hey, I miss you. I miss just being with you and seeing each other's faces across that table there.
SPEAKER 02 :
I know. I know. It is really different, isn't it? When you're sitting alone and it's blank. It is.
SPEAKER 05 :
Not being able to see you.
SPEAKER 02 :
I know. I know.
SPEAKER 05 :
And I just wanted to say that. But you know what? I'm going to say thank you real quick. Brett, if you're listening, I just want to say thank you for the matching mugs. I'm holding mine right now. It's full of warm tea. And this morning, Mom and I were talking, and she said, oh, yeah, my mug is right here. I'm just very grateful to have these matching mugs so that when you're drinking coffee, Mom, and I'm drinking tea... And it's really fun to just know that we're connected. We're still connected. We're looking at the same thing and holding the same thing, holding it in our hearts, too, holding the word of God in our hearts. And I love that connection.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, it was so sweet of Brett. I mean, he had to go to work, and yet he came and knocked on the door, left not only those Duffy donuts. Oh, my goodness. Cinnamon rolls, I guess.
SPEAKER 01 :
They're rolls. Yeah.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes, but also those mugs for you and me. And I think we have a game tonight and one more left. And so tonight I'm going to be using my mug, my Bronco mug. It's so cute. Thank you, Brett.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 02 :
Thank you so much. Yes.
SPEAKER 05 :
We were talking about Isaiah 9, 2-7, and it's the season to be reminded that a child has been given to us. And I would like for you to start out reading that passage from Isaiah 9.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes. Isaiah 9, verse 1. And this is in the message, folks. And if you don't have a message translation, you need to go to ChristianBook.com and just order one. The message is such a beautiful description. It may not be literal translation, but boy, it's so close. And it's so beautiful. Here it is. But there will be no darkness for those who were in trouble. Earlier, he did bring the lands of Zebulun and Naphtali into disrepute. And I've got to say right here, sometimes God may disturb you and your habits because you have been in such a habit of doing something. He wants you to change. And so he's going to bring you into disrepute for just a season to teach you some new things. That's what he's doing for me. So he did bring the lands of Zebulun and Naphtali into disrepute. But the time is coming when he'll make that whole area glorious, the road along the sea and the country past the Jordan, international Galilee. Isn't that beautiful?
SPEAKER 05 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yes. Keep going. Are we still in Isaiah 9? Yes. Verse 2. Just keep reading. Verse 2. Read the whole thing.
SPEAKER 02 :
Oh, the whole, okay. Verse two, the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. For those who lived in the land of deep shadows, light, sunbursts of light. You repopulated the nation. You expanded its joy. Oh, they're so glad in your presence. Festival joy, the joy of a great celebration, sharing rich gifts and warm greetings. And we can say with them, Nehemiah 8, 10, let's eat the fat and drink the sweet and share with others for the joy of the Lord is our strength. Verse four of Isaiah nine, the abuse of oppressors and cruelty of tyrants, all their whips and cudgels. Now I had to look up the word cudgels. It's a short, thick stick used as a weapon, as a club. Have you been beating yourself up? Do you want me to stop there? No, keep going. Here comes the best part. Okay, right in the middle of all this burning. Verse 6, for a child has been born for us. For us, folks. The gift of a son for us. He'll take over the running of the world. His names will be Amazing Counselor, Strong God, Eternal Father, Prince of Wholeness. His ruling authority will grow and there'll be no limits to the wholeness he brings. Excuse me. He'll rule from the historic David throne over that promised kingdom. He'll put that kingdom on a firm footing and keep it going with fair dealing and right living, beginning now and lasting always. The zeal of God of the angel armies will do all this.
SPEAKER 05 :
I love that in the message version. That is so beautiful. The way that it's talking about a celebration, sunbursts of light, festival, joy. This is a time of celebration. It's holy to the Lord. You had inserted Nehemiah 8.10 there. Eat the fat and drink the sweet and do not be sad. Don't be grieved. This is a holy time of celebration to the Lord for what he has done. And then it just mentions right in here, it inserts love. The the cruelty of the oppressors and the tyrants that have beaten us up with whips and clubs. And that might just be our own generational curses and our own thoughts in our own head that are so cruel to us. And they're gone. They're done away with. We've been delivered from all of that. And it's going to be. heaped up in huge heaps and burned so that they'll never bother us again. The fire's going to burn for days. Why? Because a child has been born for us. And what a gift this child is. What a gift. The son for us. He will take over the running of the world. He will take over the running of your mind. And I was just looking at some of these words. It starts out talking about those who live in a land of deep shadows and Those deep shadows, they can come in a lot of different forms. If you're going through a transition in your life, you might have been shaken up unexpectedly and that can feel dark. And if you've been in the same old job with the same old people, the same old things for so many years, that can feel dark. If your relationships with your family keep ending up in the same old loops and you just keep going around and around the same old arguments, the same old mountains, that can feel dark. And maybe you're struggling with an addiction. That can feel really dark too. So deep shadows can touch all of us in different ways. And addictions, I don't know why, that's standing out to me right now, they can flare up during this time of year. Addictions can really be a problem. And I think what feels darkest about an addiction is that you feel like you have been struggling with this thing for so long and you're never going to beat it. That feels really dark. But the good news is you're right. I know that's not what you were expecting me to say. You're right. You're not going to be able to beat it on your own. And nor were you meant to. You were not meant to beat it on your own. The good news is that someone else with a capital S and a capital O, someone else beat has beat it for you and the whole point is to be in touch with him i really appreciated your program monday mom you played breath of heaven and you encouraged us to make time and give time to the one we were made for. The more we talk with him, the more we spend time with him and he reveals himself to us in that time, the more we are aware of his help and his victory in our lives. We can't beat this stuff on our own. We need him. And that's what it means that his strength is perfected in our weakness. We're too weak to handle it in our own strength.
SPEAKER 02 :
We need him. Yes. Oh, this morning, Kimberly, it was a prime example. I had my day all figured out. This is what I'm going to do. Oh, God is so precious. And, you know, I go into the office. I'm going to print off all the name labels so I can just stick them on the calendars and take them to the post office and stand in line and get them sent. Well, I start getting into the programs and something's happened. And so the publisher won't talk to Excel, and I'm stuck. And I'm going, oh, Father, I had all this planned out. I was going to do this. And I said, okay, Father God, I guess I know who to call. So I called Chris. He's precious. And I called his direct line. He's given me his direct line, and he says hello. And I said, Chris, I've got just a little issue here. He went right into the computer, even though he was online with another person. He put them on hold and went right into the computer. And while he was fixing it, it took about 20 minutes. I got to clean my desk, which I haven't cleaned for five years. And I was just throwing stuff in the trash and throwing up. And I'm saying, wow, Lord, you just picked this time for just some cleaning up. And so when he got back online, we talked and talked. And I thanked him for having some time last week for you and him and me to meet for lunch and whatever. We just had such a good conversation. That's what God wanted. He didn't want me just printing off these mailing things and getting it to the post office. He wanted some communication and some wonderful fellowship. Yes. Yes. Yes.
SPEAKER 05 :
So it worked out. Yes, it did work out. And when we go back into our routines like that, that's what can start feeling dark. And we don't even know it. We don't even know that we're just walking in darkness. Right. But we keep putting one foot in front of the other, doing the same old thing, and that's when we need light. And Isaiah 9, is that verse 5? The light, sunbursts of light that God brings to us. It says here, you, God, repopulated the nation. You expanded its joy. That is so wonderful to hear that. We can be so glad in His presence and have this kind of a festivity, festival, joy, celebration, great celebration, and share, share rich gifts and warm greetings with one another because of this light, this light. Now, remember when Jesus told us that we are the light of the world? That's in Matthew 5, 14 and 16. He says, you are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lamp stand. And it gives light to all who are in the household. So we are the light of the world. It also says in John 8, 12, that's where it's recorded that Jesus is the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. So this is what we want to remember. Jesus is the first light of the world. When we are following in his ways, in his footsteps, when we are practicing the fruits of the spirit, we are then the light of the world also.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 05 :
And it breaks my heart when I see those who have lost hope, who have lost the light in their lives, because we've all been created to be light in this world. And if we get stuck or lost in such a way that we are no longer a light in to others, that is really sad. We need to find our way back to the light, back to relationship with the one who is the first light. And being in relationship with the light brings you back to shining your light as well. Romans 8 reminds us that nothing can separate us from the love of God. You know, that could read, nothing can separate us from the light of God. Yeah. So if you're feeling separated from that light, it's not because he walked away from you because nothing can separate us from his light and his love. He stays with us. So if you're not seeing the light, if you're not feeling the love. more than likely you were the one that walked away. And if that's true, then find that place where you felt like you had to leave him. Find that place in your life and move back toward him today because we want to stay in relationship with the light of life.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes. Oh, in John one for Kimberly, it says of Jesus in him was life and the life was the light of men. You can't have light without Jesus. You cannot know light. And then it says, and the light shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot overpower that light. Who is Jesus Christ? Right.
SPEAKER 05 :
the light of the world. Oh, that's right. That's good. Yes. Yes. So if you're not in relationship with the light of life, consider reading or listening to the Bible. or make it a habit to listen to praise and worship music or hymns. There are many sources that sing the word of God. And that's one thing that I actually appreciate about the Catholic church. They love to make Bible verses and word for word verses available in songs. And I know there are other churches that do it too, but I just think it's wonderful that the Catholics still practice that. They like to put those Bible verses in song. And if we go back to Isaiah 9, and we're talking about the oppressors and the cruelty of their whips, cudgels, clubs, and curses, you know, so many of those are our own thoughts that we get stuck in. Or habits and ways of our generations. We just do it a certain way and we don't even realize that it's doing damage. And it goes on to say that the boots of all those invading troops along with their shirts, those boots and shirts are going to be piled up in a heap and burned. I was thinking, okay, what's so important about boots? You know, there's an old song, these boots were made for walking and they're going to walk all over you. If you have ever felt trampled in this life, or if you've been given the boot, you know, that saying, they gave him the boot, you've been kicked around, you've been kicked out or made to feel like you're less than. Well, those boots are going to burn, along with the shirts. Or you could think of shirts as somebody's money and resources. You've heard the saying, he lost his shirt in that deal. Oh, that's good. So that's one way of looking at resources or power and substance. And if the enemy has taken that shirt, you've lost your shirt in the deal. We're going to watch those shirts and those boots burn because a child has been born to us. There's a beautiful song by Bebe and Cece Winans called For Unto Us a Child is Born. And I would like to hear that song right now.
SPEAKER 03 :
Unto us a child is born Unto us a son is given Unto us a child is born Unto us a son is given Unto us a son is given. For unto us a child is born. this one to judge with justice and love. Almighty God, everlasting love. Right this one I know It shall be mine to own Oh Jesus, for unto us a child is born You're a transgression Yes, yes, yes.
SPEAKER 05 :
That is such a beautiful song.
SPEAKER 02 :
Oh, it is. And as the message says, amazing counselor, strong God, eternal father, prince of wholeness or peace. Kimberly, if our listeners need someone to counsel or get advice from, they need a strong God surrounding them and wrapping them around with love. It's Jesus. It's Jesus. All they have to do is reach out to him.
SPEAKER 05 :
That's right. You had pulled up a scripture from Revelation. You might still have that in front of you. The kingdoms of this world.
SPEAKER 02 :
I'll let you read it. The kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdom, capital K, of our God and of his Christ. And he shall reign forever and ever. Revelation 11, 15. Yes. Yes.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yes. The kingdoms of this world, they can beat us up. They can walk all over us. Those boots that just keep kicking us to the side, kicking us to the curb and losing our shirts because we just haven't had any kind of an upper hand in any way. But here is one, a child who has been born to us and his kingdom, the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ. This is what's taking over. It's a new administration. It's a new authority that is taking over on the inside of every one of us. We're all so weary and tired of the deep shadows. We're tired of the darkness and trying to find our way in the dark. We're ready for the light. the light has been given to us and all of those old kingdom ways with the boots that have been kicking us the shirts that have been stained with innocent blood that's going to be gathered up in a heap burned with fire burned and burned and burned it might take a few days for it all to burn away and it's being burned Because of our Lord, because of Jesus. And we are so blessed to be called his own. We are so blessed to be pulled into that kingdom of light. And I'm just encouraging each one of you to live in that light. Go back and find where you may have walked away from it and let that light be restored in your life because we miss you. If your light has grown dim, know that you are missed in this world. Your light is missed and we really want you back. So come back to us. Come back with the light and come back and live in that love and in that peace.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes. We won't have you here this next Wednesday because it's Christmas. So Kimberly, we all wish you a Merry Christmas. We love you dearly and we thank you for all your wonderful anointed teaching. God bless you.
SPEAKER 05 :
Thank you. Take joy.
SPEAKER 01 :
Thank you for listening to Call to Freedom with Barbara Carmack. You may get in touch with Barbara at Call to Freedom, Box 370-367, Denver, Colorado, 80237. Or you may leave your message at 1-877-917-7256. Call to Freedom is a listener-supported radio ministry. Barbara and her power partners invite you to come on board with us and become a network of hands holding up Call to Freedom ministry. Our partners support Call to Freedom with prayer and monthly financial support. You will be blessed supernaturally. We invite you to visit Call to Freedom's website, www.freedomstreet.org, where you can hear Barbara's daily radio broadcast 24 hours a day or order materials. You may share your praise reports and heart cries by mailing them to Call to Freedom, Box 3703675. denver colorado 80237 or you may email us at barbara carmack at freedom street dot org until next time remember jesus loves you barbara loves you and take joy
Join us as Alan J. Huth shares his personal reflections on the principles found in Matthew 18. From the story of childlike faith to the necessity of avoiding temptation, Alan navigates through each verse with thoughtfulness. We also hear a heartfelt testimony of how a near-death experience awakened a lifelong commitment to daily Bible reading and living a purpose-driven life.
SPEAKER 01 :
Welcome to Add Bible, an audio daily devotion from the Ezra Project. We join Alan J. Huth as he shares Bible passages and comments from over 30 years of his personal Bible reading journals.
SPEAKER 05 :
Today we are in Matthew chapter 18. We'll listen to Faith Comes by Hearing's recording of the 35 verses of Matthew 18. Matthew 18
SPEAKER 04 :
At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?
SPEAKER 03 :
And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, Truly I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me. But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin... It would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe to the world for temptations to sin, for it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes. And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire." And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire. See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven. What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? And if he finds it, truly I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish. If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector." Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them. Then Peter came up and said to him,
SPEAKER 02 :
Lord, how often will my brother sin against me and I forgive him? As many as seven times?
SPEAKER 03 :
Jesus said to him, I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven. Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold with his wife and children and all that he had in payment to be made. So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, "'Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.'" And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. And seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, Pay what you owe. So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, Have patience with me, and I will pay you. He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. Then his master summoned him and said to him, You wicked servant, I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant as I had mercy on you? And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.
SPEAKER 05 :
Chapter 18 opens with the story about childlike faith. And I think I have childlike faith. But then when I thought about it, I thought, what does it even mean? Childlike faith is when a child jumps off of the monkey bars into a parent's arms. She doesn't even think about it, and that's because she trusts the parent. I also think of the bright, wide-open, innocent eyes of a child when hearing a story or seeing something new and simply believing. And then I think about childlike faith, that they try new adventures because they have not yet been discouraged or jaded with failure. So what I mean by childlike faith is that I trust. I trust in the Lord. I believe. And I trust and I believe even after discouragement or failure. The next principle of the chapter is that temptation is necessary. Now, I don't want to believe that, but that's what verse 7 says. For it is necessary that temptation come. But the next two verses remind me that I am to avoid temptation as best as I can, because temptation can lead to sin and sin to hell of fire. Now let's look at verse 10. It says, Now, I don't know what you think about children having guardian angels, but this verse gives a lot of credence to that, doesn't it? Again, it does say, See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven. And isn't it cool that our angels always have God's attention? I also hope that I never grow out of my guardian angel, that it's not just when I'm a child, but that I also still have angels watching over me this day, and that they have direct access to God Almighty in heaven. In my journal in 2016, I wrote about the next section in this chapter. I titled it, Sin Correction. And I wrote four steps. Step one, go tell him alone. Step two, take one or two others. Step three, tell it to the church. Step four, if there's still no reconciliation or no repentance or no forgiveness, break fellowship. Is this how we handle sin today? Do we go tell that person alone or share with that person? And if that doesn't work, then do we take a few others and go visit with them? And if that doesn't work, do we get the church involved? Or do we just gossip about it through, quote, prayer requests? Hey, we need to pray for so-and-so and then share the story. And next comes this great verse, verse 20. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them. And what does that tell us? It tells us we ought not be lone ranger Christians. We need to be in fellowship, which means being in the church, which means maybe being in a small group, which means having a core of Christian friends around us that we can gather and pray for one another. But it means don't be a Lone Ranger Christian. And the chapter closes with forgiveness. In my journal in 2007, I wrote about this passage. We also need to forgive and be forgiving. People will stumble and cause others to stumble. So be forgiving. We will also stumble and cause others to as well. And we need forgiveness too. I have been forgiven a debt I cannot pay by Jesus, so forgive others. And I followed those entries with a listing of my prayer that day. Help me resist temptation. Keep me from falling. Help me be forgiving. Father, thank you for forgiving me more times than I deserve. And therefore, by that pattern, I too am to forgive others more times than maybe I think they deserve. Your forgiveness is unlimited. May mine be also unlimited. Also, Lord, lead me not into temptation, but deliver me from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Amen. Thanks for listening to AdBible today. You might wonder how I became a daily Bible reader. When I was 15 years old, a buddy and me stole his father's car. We could steal his father's car because his father was in Vietnam, serving in the war. So he was never home. So we took the car that day. Neither one of us with a driver's license. And we took off out east of Colorado Springs on a dirt road. We were flying down this dirt road at 60 miles an hour. And he lost control of the car. We began to spin, and we were going down the road, fishtailing, and he spun the wheel of the car 60 miles an hour. The car tumbled, crushed the top, tucked the wheels under, totaled the car. I was on a dirt road. I don't know if I was thrown out of the car or crawled out of the car, but I looked at that car, and I thought, am I even alive? Am I broken? Am I bleeding everywhere? And I began to pat myself down, and I felt like I was okay. So I stood up, and I was uninjured, amazingly. The sheriff came to draw up the accident. He said, it's a miracle you guys are alive. I got home that night, went down into my bedroom. My mother came to me and said, you ought to thank God you're alive. I was laying on my bed, and I was thinking about the day's activities, and I just thought, wow, I could have been dead today. I wasn't the driver. I was the passenger. I wasn't in control, but God was. At that moment, I figured out at 15 years old, God could take my life any time. He could have that day. So as I laid there, I thought, okay, you could take my life any day. So you saved my life today for a reason. For whatever reason that is, I'm going to live for you and that reason. As I said that, I heard a voice say to me, there's a Bible on your bookshelf. Get it down and read it. I must have heard something, because I got up, I went over to the bookshelf, and I pulled down a Bible. I opened it to the first page, just like I would any other book, and I began to read God's Word. I read Genesis chapter 1. The next day I read Genesis chapter 2. The next day I read Genesis chapter 3. And a chapter a day, I began to read God's Word at 15 years old. If you do that, by the way, it'll take you about three and a half years to finish reading the Bible a chapter a day. And that's a good plan. So that's how I became a daily Bible reader. And when I finished going through the Bible the first time, at 18 years or so, I just started over because I thought that's what Christians did was read their Bibles every day. So that's how I became a daily Bible reader.
Join Charles Stanley in this enlightening episode as he uncovers the depth of living each moment in the awareness of God's constant presence. Throughout life's daily activities, from waking up to resting at night, understanding that we are encompassed by divine love provides an unparalleled peace. Explore how this awareness transforms our lives and leads us to find ultimate security and joy in God's companionship.
SPEAKER 01 :
Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Wednesday, December 18th. God hasn't left us alone, but are you aware that He is with you? Today, we are reminded to open our eyes and ears and develop our awareness of God's presence.
SPEAKER 02 :
Now, when you think about it for a moment, you are aware of lots of things. There are a lot of things going on that you're unconscious of, but today, right now, you are aware of where you are. What about, in your mind, where is God? Are you aware of His presence? Are you aware that when you awakened, that you were awakened in the presence of God? Will you be aware that you're driving in the presence of God? That you'll be laboring all day in the presence of God? And that you'll be laboring among your fellow laborers in the presence of God? That you'll come home in the presence of God? That you'll be with your family in the presence of God in the evening? And whatever you do throughout the night, you're going to do it in the presence of God. Why? Because there is no better way. to go to bed at night, then they go to bed in the awareness of the Son of God living within you, who's your friend, your companion, your Savior, your Lord, your Master, your Helper, your Provider, your Healer, you name it. He's all of that. You wake up in the morning, before I'd get out of bed, thank You, Lord Jesus, for a good night's rest. Or maybe I didn't rest so good. Maybe sometimes I can't sleep or whatever it is for a while. I'm going to get up in the morning and just thank You, Jesus. Thank You that You woke me up this morning. Hallelujah. For the simple reason, we have a relationship. And, listen, He can stop you faster than you can bat your eye if He wants to. Look how long He's put up with all of us. And you know what He wants most of all? He wants you to be aware that He's your heavenly Father, that He loves you and that He's the source of everything in your life that's good. But if I get too busy? I don't have time for the Word of God." Or, I'm distracted by other things in life, and the truth is there are many distractions that we're not even aware of. Don't have time to think about our Lord because we are attracted to or distracted by something else. Now, what I'd like for it to do for a moment is to give you a few statements. These are things that are true. You're living in the awareness of His presence, and the first one is this. He's continually in your thoughts, your conscious and your subconscious. It doesn't mean you just think, God, God, God. It means that He's so real to you. Listen, you don't have to think. In other words, just that quick, He has your attention. And you don't have to say, well, I'll get the Bible and see what the Bible says. I need to call so and so. No. Living in the awareness of His presence means that instantaneously Whatever's going on, I am, listen, I am conscious of His presence as something He may be doing. And so, if you're walking and living in His awareness of His presence, that'll be true. Secondly, you're continually seeking His guidance. Listen, if you're living in the awareness of His presence and you have a decision to make, You don't have to go around asking somebody else. It doesn't mean you shouldn't ask for information when necessary. But when you're living in the awareness of His presence, you know what? You have the ultimate director in your life at that moment to tell you exactly what to do. He may tell you to go to someone else for information or whatever it might be. But living in the awareness of His presence, you are never at a loss for the simple reason that He will direct your life and show you exactly what you should do next. Likewise, you will view Him as a constant companion. And in other words, many people say, where is God? He's in heaven. Well, is that my relationship to Him? Is that the way I see God? No. God, through the Holy Spirit, is in my heart, in my life, in my conscience, my subconscious. He's here. And the more aware you are of His presence, it'll begin to express itself in many ways. You'll see Him as a constant companion. In other words, you don't have to go somewhere to pray. You don't have to go somewhere to confess your sin. Listen, if you're saved by His grace, He's living within you. And He's always there. And remember this, He doesn't turn a deaf ear to one of His children. So you don't have to say, oh, I hope God will hear me this morning. What you want to be able to do is to live the kind of relationship with Him that whatever the issue is, you know He's there. He has the answer. He's not going to mislead you. What an awesome sense of security we have in knowing we have that kind of relationship with Him. Then, of course, you're going to have peace in your heart. Listen, when you're living in the awareness of His presence in your life, no matter what happens, There will be an overwhelming sense of peace that will cover you. Well, because listen, the peacemaker is on the inside, the One who has all power to change your circumstances. He's within you doing what? Living out His life through you. So, there's going to be a sense of peace when there are storms. And I think most all of us have been in storms of life where everything around us was stormy and dark, and there didn't seem to be any hope. But when you set your attention upon Him, all the darkness disappeared. All the insecurities disappeared because, listen, when you are aware that you are in the presence of holy God, you're in the presence of omnipotence, of absolute indescribable love that has no, it has no circumference, it has no measurements whatsoever. That's the kind of God He is. And that's the kind of relationship He wants with every single one of us. There are many people who are saved. who go to church, they've been baptized, all the things that have happened to you, but you don't live in the awareness of His presence. So, what are you living for? Where are you headed? What do you want to accomplish in life? How are you going to get it done? If you're not walking in His presence and fulfilling His will, then what are you doing? Here's what's happening. Time is going by. And you may be accomplishing this or failing at that. But what's the purpose of it all? The awareness of His presence keeps us focused on where God wants us to go, what He wants us to do, and how He wants us to do it. And He, listen, He's continually focusing us on the ways in which He operates in our life so that we don't have to fear. We don't have to be afraid. We don't have to be wondering what we're going to do when the storms come in our life. And we're going to have a sense of joy in our life and a consciousness of the good things that He's doing. When you live in the awareness of His presence, everything changes for good, no matter how tough it can be. Because listen, you have holy God, so to speak, on your side in your life. And listen, He is absolutely committed, watch this, He is so committed for not only our salvation, He's so committed to revealing His will to us. And to God is to discover that will. Look at the cross for a moment. That was the ultimate expression of the ultimate love that could ever be expressed by anybody, that being the case. And I am aware of His presence in my life. I can always look at what's going on in my life, whatever it is, I know that there is a love that's beyond my comprehension. There is a love I don't fully understand. In other words, if He loved me enough to die for me, And He loved me enough to indwell me. And He loved me enough to write my name in the Lamb's Book of Life. And He loved me enough to seal me forever as a child of God. I don't want to live without the awareness of His presence. Because every single solitary thing we need, He makes available. What does He want? He wants relationship. The awareness of His presence. Why? Because that intimate awareness just absolutely fulfills every desire that a person can have. And that's what He wants for us. See, I want you to be aware. That I'm here. I want you to be aware that I love you. I want you to be aware that I'm looking out for you. I'm going to protect you. I'm going to take you through this deep, dark valley, but I want you to be aware. It's dark. You can't see two feet in front of you. You don't know what's happening, but I want you to be aware of this. You are walking through the darkness in my awesome light. I see all the way to the end, and you're going to be okay. You know what? Riches can't give you that. You can't buy that. Only God by His grace and love and mercy can give you that. And when I think about all the things that come to us as a result of the awareness of His presence, sift all of our decisions through Him, wake up every morning to a brand new day. Listen, a brand new day with the same Jesus who started out with us in the very beginning. And think about this, that the person who indwells you, the Holy Spirit, before you were ever born, He knew all about you. In other words, think about this. God has these awesome goals and He's going to bring them to pass. And out there somewhere in life, we have to make a choice. Am I going to believe God? Am I going to trust Jesus? Or am I going to do it on my own? And so many people have decided they don't need God in their life. It is the most, watch this carefully, it is the most foolish. It is the most damaging. It is the most eternal, destructive decision you'll ever make to decide you're going to live without God. It's the worst decision you could possibly make. And you say, I'll get by. No, you won't. You cannot get by a God. created you with a purpose and loves you, went to the cross for you, and who has a sense of direction for your life and all the good things that He can provide for your life, when you absolutely, purposely refuse Him, ignore Him, shut Him out, defame Him, you're making a mistake that'll cost you your eternity. He wants us to live in the awareness of His awesome loving, joyful, peaceful, providing. You can just get the dictionary out or send them a book and go through all the words that you possibly can and you'll never be able to fulfill all that He is to us. That's who He is. And remember this, God's not dependent upon us. We're dependent upon Him. Watch this. We don't have a thing He needs. We need everything He has. To live in the awareness of His presence is to acknowledge who I am really, creation of God. It's to acknowledge that He knows the best for my life. It's to acknowledge that He knows what His purpose is. And He is willing to show you if you'll trust Him, if you'll surrender your life to Him. He's not going to let you just hang out in life. He'll give you a sense of purpose. Why? Because this is what He's all about. He's all about not just creating us, but creating us for fellowship. And as we saw in the very beginning in Genesis, let us make man in our own image. Why? So that God could express His love and His power in your life and mine. But if I neglect Him, if I refuse to acknowledge it, then I will pay a price. And so, what happens is when a person begins to get a glimpse of, now what does the awareness of His presence mean in my life? It means that while I'm sitting in church and listening to somebody else's voice, I'm walking out with the truth of holy God in my mind and heart. It means that I want to walk in such a way that the Holy Spirit has freedom to express to me, in me and through me and for me, the will and purpose and plan of God. I want to be able to walk out and know that the next decision I have to make, He's going to help me make it. Watch this. Why does He want this relationship? God doesn't need it. Here's the reason He wants it. Because He desires to express in you, to you, through you, for you who He is. He desires to express His love for you, His provision, He wants for us, He desires for us because He, listen, He says, let us make man in our image. He didn't need that, but He desired it. And He created you ultimately, listen, to do what? To reflect Himself. What did Paul say in Romans? He says, God predestined. That means before the time, before the time ever started, God did something. What did He do? He predetermined beforehand that you and I would be conformed to the likeness of His Son, that the very life of Jesus would be evident to other people. And the more you and I walk in the awareness of His presence, the more of who He is is going to be seen in our life. God is everywhere. And so, you and I have the privilege of living every day in the awareness of His presence. When the Spirit of God is able to get to your mind and heart and soul and spirit, and you begin to realize that God, who cannot be fully described and cannot be contained, He's this awesome God of ours. When you begin to realize that He is your Creator and your heavenly Father, and your joy and your peace and your future and your happiness and your everything, when you begin to be aware of that, your whole life's going to change. You know why? Because you'll not be able to think up anything God does not desire to provide for you when you surrender your life to Him. The awareness of His presence. When I'm asleep, I know He's there. When I'm awake, I know He's there. When I'm reading the Word, I know He's there. When you are living in the awareness of His presence, He's always there. Well, He's there, He's here. Whatever you're thinking, whatever's going on in your life, He's there. What He wants is this. It's almost like He's saying, I'm here. Just listen to me, I'm here. Look, I'm right here. I'm going to provide whatever's necessary in your life. He could not give us a greater gift following His Son coming into our life than the privilege of living in the awareness of His presence. It's all there. Now, you say, well, I'm not a Christian, so what's that mean to me? It means if you continue to live like you're living, you'll stand before God one day and give an account for a wasted life. A life that rejected. Well, look and think about it. That rejected the love of God. Think about this. When you reject Jesus, you reject the Father. And to reject Him, to reject God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, is to reject life. And you reject that which has absolutely no substitute. And my prayer is that you But ask the Lord Jesus Christ to give you a little glimpse of your life, that you'd be willing to confess the sin that He's going to show you. Ask Him to forgive you, that you don't deserve it, but that you know that the Bible teaches, because you've heard it over and over again, maybe it's the first time you ever heard it, that He sent Jesus, His Son, into the world primarily for the purpose, not only of revealing God to us in a whole different perspective, but to die and to shed His blood on the cross, which was God's way of, listen, fulfilling that debt of sin we owe. He paid the price for our sins, His life. And now He forgives you of your sin, writes your name in the Lamb's Book of Life, you become a child of God. And then you begin this awesome journey that many of us have walked a long time. You can't win without Him, and you can't lose with Him. That's the choice we have. And I pray you'll make that wise choice, allowing Him to come into your life and begin to start living, really living, for the first time. And Father, how grateful we are for your patience. And I pray that You'll just sink these simple truths. You can take one thought here and one thought there and vice versa, whatever it might be, and drive them home in different ways to different people's hearts. But Lord, most of all, to see that You love us and that You desire that we live in the awareness of Your presence, which is a presence of awesome, indescribable love and goodness and mercy and kindness. Thank you for loving us like that. It's our prayer in Jesus' name. Amen.
SPEAKER 01 :
Thank you for listening to part two of Developing Our Awareness. If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or InTouch Ministries, stop by InTouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of InTouch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.
SPEAKER 05 :
welcome to the good news with angie austin now with the good news here's angie hey there it's angie austin and dr cheryl lentz with the good news and today we are talking about difficult things that really have payoff so things you'd rather put off but the payoff is is as you know pretty impressive hey cheryl
SPEAKER 06 :
Hello, hello, hello. Hi, everybody.
SPEAKER 05 :
Hey, I was thinking about this today, actually, because my daughters are doing their finals for high school, and my senior went into finals with grades that were not so hot, and she brought them all up, and a couple of them significantly. And so, yeah, and I said to her, I said, it can be hard and boring, like memorizing things and studying. I'm like, but isn't the payoff great?
SPEAKER 06 :
Some interesting lessons for... Not the instant gratification that our society is known for, that actually hard work has a longer payoff. So good lesson there, Mom.
SPEAKER 05 :
And Jim Stovall, our buddy, believes in pre-crastination. And he said his old secretary that he had for like, you know, 50 years, she just retired. Maybe it was 40. But she used to put all these things down that he'd already done. And he said, well, those are done already. She goes, I know, but it's so satisfying to cross them off.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, that's what I tell my students. I don't have a to-do list. I have a to-done list. Oh, I love that. If it goes on the list, it has to come off. And I get annoyed if something's been on there too long. That's the motivation going, I don't like when things hang out there. They've got to have a new list.
SPEAKER 05 :
Oh, that's so funny. All right. This one I really like because I've thought about it many times just with my faith and everything, really giving everything my all. And it's start putting your heart and soul into the little things you do. So let's say like I'm doing the dishes and I just stack them all sloppy and then a glass falls off and breaks. I know it sounds silly, but to really do everything you do well.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, and I think that's important because how you do one thing is how you do everything.
SPEAKER 05 :
That's interesting. That's so funny. That's what grandpa said to me when someone brought this crummy salad with, you know, big onion chunks in it and some small, the strawberries were cut all shabbily. It was really not pretty. And it was, you know, a relative that doesn't seem to care much. And he said, See, that's why we just don't even ask people to bring anything. I'd rather be responsible for everything. I'm like a little stick to still taste good because you have it. How she does one thing is how she does everything. She doesn't put any care into it whatsoever.
SPEAKER 06 :
You know, and that's why, you know, it's one of those if you look at from a religious standpoint, if If God can't trust you to do the little things, why is he going to trust you to do the big things?
SPEAKER 05 :
Oh, good one. Okay. Here's one I think that you've done that you do do because you were such an exceptional student and organ player for many years. And to start stretching yourself to the edge of your ability. I don't think most of us do that.
SPEAKER 06 :
No, because it's safe for not to. I try to tell my students it's when we're out of our comfort zone is where the learning happens, because you already know what's in your comfort zone. It's when you have to find things you don't know, and what you don't know is uncomfortable. And so I want my students to get comfortable with being uncomfortable.
SPEAKER 05 :
Oh, I love that to get comfortable being uncomfortable because, you know, my friend just the other day, Michelle was saying she's 80. She takes field trips still because she was a teacher and she and her husband, he's a retired teacher. They take these really cool field trips to like the puzzle museum and the celestial tea factory and Hammond's candy factory. And I'm like,
SPEAKER 06 :
oh that's so cool she's like when you stop learning like you die she said something that john wooden coach john wooden said something like that but when you stop learning you're basically dead you know that you have to keep learning it's a lie i mean you look at the idea of lifelong learning is what do you want to be when you grow up and if you never grow up you're always in pursuit and that's was the secret for one of john stovall's book is the point isn't the answer the point is in the quest for the answers
SPEAKER 05 :
oh he's my favorite all right um another one start giving yourself more grace when things don't go well or when you do fail and part of your um like when your ted talks wasn't it about kind of failing to success oh absolutely succeed soon or fail faster succeed sooner oh i like that you've got all these great things i used to teach that all the time and i've scared the heck out of most of my bosses they're like you want to do what
SPEAKER 06 :
I'm like, I want to teach them how to do things the wrong way, how to get it out of their system and be done with it so we can get to the good stuff. And they're like, oh, but anything takes a learning curve. And most of us don't have the patience because failure is just another way of learning.
SPEAKER 05 :
I like this one, and it's funny because I think you also sidestep unnecessary drama, but you're also extremely honest. So people might think you're creating drama when I don't think you like drama. You like honesty, but some people aren't used to honesty, and so they might think that you're being blunt. When in reality, you're just being honest. You're not trying to be hurtful. And so this one is sidestep drama when possible. And I have to say, I feel like I do that. I'm constantly tap dancing and sidestepping drama because my husband loves a good argument and I don't. And so I'm always trying to calm the waters at home.
SPEAKER 06 :
But I think it's the purpose of it. Sometimes some people have the, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. And some of us also have the, if it ain't broke, you need to break it. It all depends on what the situation calls for. No, I don't like drama. But I also realize that there are problems that are not going to get better if we ignore them. And sometimes you have to have that upfront, honest conversation. But I think I've learned how to do it a little bit more diplomatically.
SPEAKER 05 :
I think you have.
SPEAKER 06 :
More preparation.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 06 :
Than trying to just say, hey, you suck. Yeah, that's not going to go over real well.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, yeah. Okay, here's one I like a lot. Make sure that you're true to your values and convictions. Because if you aren't, how do you even live with yourself, right?
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, and that's something that I remember a coach of mine asking is, what's your philosophy? Because we always in business create vision statements, right? And we always do it for the company, but we had to do it for us. And that's what guides me is to be able to make sure, am I being true to me? And there was one time that I wasn't and I had to quit my job to be successful elsewhere because they passed that line and I couldn't do it.
SPEAKER 05 :
All right, start looking for the silver linings. I think that's something I try to do, you know, with the kids. Like, my husband just threw out, like, $1,500 worth of shoes of my son's that he'd sold, and they were in the same bags that I do my donations in. And it was funny because he had them divided left and right. So he still has all the right shoes, but my husband donated all the left shoes. All right. and so but then my husband bought him this really neat trailer for his you know work and it's like an enclosed trailer like really nice like one of those big Harley ones and I'm like see didn't that kind of make up for the shoe situation that he bought and now he's fixing it up for my son to use at thrift con and you know I'm like so look at the silver lining you've got to let go of the shoes it's done like what's done is done
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, and that's it. You can't undo unring the bell. You can't pull the bottle. You can't rewrite history. All you can do is what are you going to do with the history that's written? You have a choice on how you show up and when you show up differently. So does the world. But you can't change what's happened.
SPEAKER 05 :
All right, we're almost out of time, but I just want to mention this one because I think I did this a lot in trying to get ahead in my career. Start taking the next small step and the next and the next. Like your goals might take years, but if you take that little step each day, it's not that painful, but each day you're taking one more step. And some days you may take a really big step and some days you might take a step back, but start taking the next small step. Okay, Cheryl, stick around because I've got some great ideas coming up for last minute shopping with an expert. but I want to make sure people can find you as well. Dr. Cheryl Lentz.com and Merry Christmas, my friend.
SPEAKER 06 :
Merry Christmas to you.
SPEAKER 05 :
All right, changing gears a bit. You know, shopping season is really starting to wind down. But for many people, there's always a, you know, kind of a last-minute scramble to find gifts. And here to help is award-winning journalist and shopping expert, Claudia Lombana. Claudia is an Emmy and Peabody Award winner who regularly analyzes shopping trends for TV and radio. Welcome, Claudia.
SPEAKER 07 :
Thanks for having me. I'm happy to be here.
SPEAKER 05 :
You are welcome. All right, so how many of us really wait until the last minute to kind of shop or finish things up?
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, you are not alone. Let's put it that way. We are really a procrastination nation. According to the National Retail Federation, 53% of us will be shopping on Super Saturday, which is the last Saturday before Christmas, the 21st of December. That's 126 million people, so a lot of us waiting until the last minute.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yikes. All right, let's talk about maybe a hot gift that you think will still be available out there.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, so far this season, video games have been very hot, and this year we've got the newest in the franchise, Sonic, rather, the Hedgehog. We know and love. It's been around for decades, and the new game is called Sonic X Shadow Generations. This combines classic Sonic and modern Sonic in an all-new collection featuring 2D and 3D Sonic levels. The gamers are going to love this new Sonic X Shadow Generations. It is available digitally and physically starting under $50, and it's available on all the platforms, including PlayStation 5 and 4, Xbox Series XS, Xbox One, the Nintendo Switch family, and PC.
SPEAKER 05 :
Okay, that might sound like that. How about something unique?
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, I think we've all got those people in our lives that are kind of the person that has everything. What do I get them? think a really cool and unique gift is giving the gift of language with Rosetta Stone lifetime unlimited membership we've got 50% off for the holidays that gives you access forever to all 25 of the languages that Rosetta Stone offers for just $199 this is a really cool idea to help somebody learn a new language maybe the traveler in your life they're going to a different country sometime in 2025 and they can learn a new language hmm
SPEAKER 05 :
All right. I like that idea because it can be difficult when you're in a class doing it. So I like the idea of kind of doing it without being, you know, graded and judged. All right. I don't know if everyone still does stockings, but we do. Any stocking stuffer ideas?
SPEAKER 07 :
Absolutely. Now, my favorite stocking stuffer is to combine the idea of self-care with a gift. And we can do that this year with the Massage Envy gift card.
SPEAKER 04 :
And this is one gifted.
SPEAKER 07 :
Everybody will love. Yeah, and Massage Envy isn't just massages. They've got everything from results-driven facials, of course the soothing massages, but they also have innovative stretching services. Nice. With a gift card from Massage Envy, yeah, you can let loved ones choose how they want to spend their quality self-care time. Now, they have a great deal going from now until the end of the year through December 31st. If you buy any combination of $100 worth of Massage Envy gift cards in location, you You're going to get a free $20 promo card to use later. So this is a good way to give a gift to somebody else and to yourself. Some terms do apply. And you can get more information at MassageEnvy.com.
SPEAKER 05 :
And I don't know if a lot of people realize it, but massage and stretching is very therapeutic, too. You think it's just like, oh, it's just fun. It just feels good. It's actually extremely good for your body. And they have great prices, too, I think, compared to many of the spas. They're very reasonable. All right. What about the gift that'll, you know... I think I know what you're going to talk about here because I saw, we chatted a little bit, and I saw your idea before we started, that light that can light up the holidays for someone. I think this might be something good for teenagers too.
SPEAKER 07 :
I think anybody can really use this. Now, this is the GE Sync Indoor Smart Plug. This is a great last-minute gift or stocking supper to make your holiday decorations smart. So the way that the GE Sync Indoor Smart Plug works is – You can plug anything into it, really. But for holidays, plug in your lights, your tree, any other light-up holiday decorations, and then you can control them with your voice, your phone, or the Sync app. So you just set it up to plug in. You turn your lights on and off at desired times. You can set that up as well. This is ideal for taking control of your holiday decor and making it smart. And after the holidays are over, you can plug anything into this guy to make anything smart. So I have a friend who uses it for her flat iron. I forgot to turn on my flat iron. Let me just hop on the phone or on my app, and I can turn it off remotely from there. This is a really cool thing. The GE Sync Indoor Smart Plug, you can find it on Amazon for under $20.
SPEAKER 05 :
I was going to do it for my daughter's dorm room for next year for her lights, but she just called me like two days ago and said, Mom, I left the house. Can you go see if I left my flat iron on? I want to burn the house down. And she hadn't, but her makeup mirror was on. I thought, oh, well, I didn't know I could use it for that. That's great. Where do we go for more info for all of this stuff, Claudia?
SPEAKER 07 :
You can head over to tipsontv.com.
SPEAKER 05 :
Tipsontv.com. Excellent. Thank you so much.
SPEAKER 07 :
You bet. Happy shopping.
SPEAKER 05 :
You too.
SPEAKER 03 :
Castle Rock is locked into the mighty 670 KLT Denver.
SPEAKER 02 :
Arc Thrift is the perfect place to buy quality winter clothing for a fraction of the new price. Cold weather is coming fast, and you need to get your winter clothing before it gets cold. Arc Thrift has all you need for the winter months. They have tons of options like long sleeves, ski pants, snow boots, gloves, beanies, puffer jackets, and so much more. Arc Thrift is perfect for kids because they grow so fast. Spending hundreds, maybe even thousands of dollars on winter and ski clothing adds up when your children grow out of it every year. So why not save with Arc Thrift? There is fresh new inventory added every day and new great finds are waiting. There is also a new store in Littleton at South Broadway and Mineral Street just off C-470. Arc also has sales every weekend so you can get deals on top of deals. To find your nearest Arc Thrift location, go to arcthrift.com today.
SPEAKER 05 :
Hello, friend. It's Angie Austin and the Kid Whisperer, Jeff Schott, and we are talking about his book. We're going to kind of break it down chapter by chapter, and the book is What's Really Causing My Kid's Behavior. Jeff Schott, welcome.
SPEAKER 04 :
Angie, it's great to be with you.
SPEAKER 05 :
All right, so I want to start with chapter one because I thought, you know what, we can kind of work our way through the book and kind of, you know, break down parenting chapter by chapter. And the first chapter is compliance versus change. What do you mean by that and what are you teaching us as parents?
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, I think one of the challenges that I faced was when I started in my parenting journey and my first two kids of four were already in the house, I was doing the traditional parenting route. which what I discovered in the research I did with 3,000 kids meant I was getting my kids to comply, but their attitudes, their desires, their underlying feelings weren't changing. They were complying because they wanted to avoid the consequences or the spanking, but they weren't necessarily changing their perspective, their thoughts, their ideas, their attitudes.
SPEAKER 05 :
I like that. And when you say traditional way of parenting, I think it's probably the way many of us do. But I have to be honest with you, Jeff. I think a lot of people are actually a lot more lax than my husband and I are. And I know I'm considered by the kids to be the nicer parent per se. But when we come up with a punishment, we stick with it. We're not those fake punishment parents. They're like, you know, if you don't clean the bathroom, you're not going to Disney World. And then, of course, the kid knows that, of course, they're still going to Disney World because maybe you've traveled to Florida, right? And my husband did try that once while we were in Florida. He told the kids, if you don't behave yourself, we're not going to Disney World tomorrow. They go, oh, no, no, no. I said, we're not doing that punishment because that punishes mommy. I'm like, so we're going to have a punishment we really do, not a fake punishment. Because I see so many parents threaten and never follow through. So when you say you did the old school parenting, I think I might be what you're talking about, the old school, my way or the highway kind of, a bit.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, no, that's definitely what we're talking about, but we're also talking about the threats. I mean threats are, again, targeted at getting compliance, right? Yes, yes. And when you look at the way Jesus led and you see how he brought about deep internal change in the disciples' desires – they went on and they continued in the faith and they actually went to their deaths for the faith, right? They obviously had internal desire change. They learned to love the sheep and lay down their lives for the sheep just like Jesus. And today what we see is so many kids are complying with their parents until they leave home. And the second they're out of home and the parents aren't there to force them to comply anymore, They go a thousand different directions, and a vast majority of them leave the faith. And so we're not getting that heart change that we see Jesus got.
SPEAKER 05 :
You know, I think about my, okay, I'm in like a mom's dorm room group. And so it's thousands of moms with kids that are like a lot of them freshmen, right? And a couple of them have mentioned that, you know, what you're saying, like I had a straight A student, you know, everything was on time. You know, they were in sports, they had clubs, they were in honor society and did their volunteer work. But the mom micromanaged every second of their day. So straight, a student goes off to college and we expect that kid to succeed because that kid was, you know, the kid, the valedictorian. And then they're like falling through the cracks and just things aren't getting done. And the mom, you know, the specific mom that was mentioning this in the mom's group said, I think it's because I did a lot for them and I really didn't make them accountable for their behavior. Like I managed their lives.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, well, what we saw in the research was we saw valedictorians who got to school, and they got their full-ride scholarship, and they got their spending money for the first semester, and they blew all their money in over three or four weeks.
SPEAKER 05 :
Oh, my gosh.
SPEAKER 04 :
That's so funny you say that. And the parents didn't have money to help them get through the rest of the semester, and they ended up back home because they didn't know how to manage money. And so when we did this research, what we found is kids weren't prepared to manage their own priorities, to manage their time, to manage their social decisions. Because the parents, out of fear, which I totally understand because I had the same fear with middle school and high school students. You know, we're controlling them, preventing them from doing things. And so built all this back pressure, like I'm prevented from doing this and I'm prevented from doing that. I'm prevented from doing this. And my parents are controlling my money and my parents are controlling everything. And they get on campus and they don't know how to manage any of it.
SPEAKER 05 :
and all that back pressure of having been prevented and controlled goes hog wild on campus it's so funny you say that because just last night my son who's a freshman said said to me we're sorry i'm sorry about that i'm just coughing he said to me mom it happened he said mom i don't want to be like these kids he goes i've seen their bank accounts he said one of my friends has six dollars in his account
SPEAKER 04 :
Right. Yeah. And that's where I think we've lost the whole point of the word discipline. Biblically, in biblical times, not today, but in biblical times, discipline meant teaching, training, and upbringing. It's the root word of discipleship, which is what Jesus did with the disciples. Discipline is the root word of discipleship, not the root word of punishment. And so what we're not doing is is helping our kids learn. I wish consequences taught kids to learn, but our research proved beyond a shadow of doubt that they don't learn a thing from consequences. They're up in their room lamenting the consequence, frustrated with their parent, and going, My parents, they sometimes yell at me. No one takes their cell phone away. How is this fair? How is this right? They're not learning because when we issue a consequence, it shuts down having a productive conversation about what were you feeling? What went wrong? Why did you make this decision? What are you going to learn from this decision? And helping and discipling them and helping them learn from their own mistakes. Because failure, you know, the world says we learn more from our failures than our successes, and somehow in the church for parents it's become never fail or else. And that's not realistic because we're in person inside of heaven, right? Right. So how do we get change? We have to go after what caused them in the first place to make the mistake. What emotional things were going on that led to, example from our previous radio program, your daughter hanging out in the parking lot and driving over curbs. The parking lot kids, yes. Right. What caused her to need to do that? What's going on inside her that caused her to make those decisions? Helping her understand that through doing deeper conversations and helping them realize these things is how they start to learn. to avoid making such stupid decisions when they get out and are away from our consequences that keep them compliant.
SPEAKER 05 :
You know what's amazing to me about all of that is we really didn't punish her per se. We did stop sleepovers, but we really didn't punish, but not at our house. She can have people here. We just didn't let her sleep, but we haven't let her. But other than that, there was no taking the phone away. There was no, you know, she still worked her job. We didn't take any money. We didn't take the car. We didn't take the phone. We didn't ground her. But I told her she was very, like, very embarrassed when we, you know, went on her phone and saw the videos of her driving over the curb and blah, blah, blah. So she she was so, like, ashamed. She said, I said, just not you. It's not your behavior. That's not who you are. You know, I mean, she is in young life. You know, she leads a Bible study for the young athlete. She goes to church every week and she has youth group. And then she has fellowship of Christian athletes. That's five times a week that she voluntarily on her own, you know, gets up at six o'clock in the morning, like to do the Bible study this morning. OK, so and meets the kids before school. OK, so with that said, it didn't like fit who she was and she was so embarrassed by it. And that was her biggest thing. She was embarrassed. And with and again, no, no punishments per se. And she stopped. I mean, she really turned her. It was probably like a month of bad summertime behavior that we figured out when we went into her phone, which I just said, give me your phone. You know, and I just went in and went through like all the Snapchat and all that, tried to figure out all the different apps and the hidden pictures and the for your eyes only. I'm like, what's the code for for your eyes only? Like whose eyes? Because this is my phone. That's for my eyes too. So anyway, once we uncovered all that, I didn't shame her. I'm like, don't be embarrassed. It's over. It's a new slate. And again, I was surprised my husband went along with the no punishment. And she really stopped. She really turned it around. And I know a lot of kids, you know, buck that kind of, you know, abrupt halt in their behavior where we're like, no, this isn't going to fly. This isn't who you are. And she really did turn it around because she realized that wasn't her identity.
SPEAKER 04 :
Right. And I think, you know, what we've seen is if you can go even deeper with them and dig down to the roots of what was motivating you. Right. What's going on inside of you? Is there a disconnect with us as your parents? Is there a disconnect going on where you hurt with another friend group and so you you needed to replace it? Helping them dig deeper is really important. The other thing parents have to be on guard for, unfortunately, is our research also found that 70 to 90 percent of Christian kids were leading dual lives. So the fact that they're at Young Life and the fact that they're a youth group doesn't necessarily mean that they're not being pulled down dangerous roads. In fact, most of the kids in the research said the first time I was offered drugs or the first time I was offered to hook up or the first time I was offered drugs, Wow. Yeah. Yeah. from the research we did.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, yeah. Well, I do with my son, and again, I was probably most afraid with him of him kind of detaching from the faith when he went up to college. And I think I've told you that his young life on campus is like thriving and really big, and they have a big... a building on campus or right across the street, which is rare on a campus of 40,000 people to be right there on campus and be able to afford a building to be so close to the kids and convenient. That's really been his main socialization. He's not in a frat, so that's like his frat. So I'm happy to say he hasn't left the faith. But, you know, I think that is a fear of a lot of parents when we're not the ones, you know, demanding they go to church. But I think the roles have switched in our family. I have to say that my 17-year-old got me to church this weekend, and the two of us went together, and it was, you know, her. Like, she drove me. She's like, Mom, we have to leave in 15 minutes, or somebody make sure Mom's up. You know, and so they actually have kind of taken the lead when it comes to, you know, helping us, you know, get to church.
SPEAKER 04 :
That's great, you know, and that's— That's not that common, as you probably know. And so there's something that's going on there that's causing them to attach, which is great. And going off to Young Life, and Young Life does have a lot of ministries on campuses now. You've got Campus Crusade, Navigators, InterVarsity, all of that. Unfortunately, what we've started to pick up on from those groups in the research and the students we talked to, is that the dual life is unfortunately going on within those ministries now. That wasn't the case 10, 15 years ago. And so once again, being able to talk deeply with your kids and talk to them about, hey, what are the other kids like in the group? Are kids pressuring you to do things? Is there a dual life going on within your ministry? Having the type of relationship where they'll open up and talk with you about those things is where they really begin to grow, where they really begin to learn, where we have the opportunity to disciple them and see internal change as opposed to trying to force compliance. We need to be targeting those deeper conversations and drawing them out because I was stunned when I went to do the research. I had no idea any of this was going on, and when I'd sit down and ask these complete strangers – very deep questions about their life, what they were frustrated with in their homes, what they were thinking about the college transition, what was going on in their youth group. I was shocked at how many of them were like, I've gotten sucked into the dual life myself. I don't want to. I didn't want to, but I am. And they would tell me these stories and sometimes just them sharing that with me, me, got them to break out of that pattern because they talked about it.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, and it's not their identity. Well, we're out of time. Again, it's Jeff Schott. He joins us weekly. What's really causing my kids bad behavior? Thank you, Jeff.
SPEAKER 04 :
Thank you, Angie.
SPEAKER 01 :
Thank you for listening to The Good News with Angie Austin on AM670 KLTT.
Liz talks with Joe Beckler, Vice President of Christian Business Men’s Connection (CBMC) – the largest marketplace ministry in the world with local sites all across the country. Men account for over 75% of all suicides. Men are twice as likely to be addicted to drugs and alcohol. 36% of children don’t live with their fathers. And yet, only about 10% of churches have a men's ministry! That is why CBMC equips men to be an ambassador for Christ within the marketplace and their sphere of influence. Encouraging and training men to invest in other men, while surrounding themselves with a trusted team of advisors and accountability is what sets CBMC apart in today’s culture. www.cbmc.com.
Are you in control of your spirit? Do you know what it takes to walk in freedom from the frustrations of life? In today's episode, explore God's promises to you as revealed in Psalm 103, and learn how you can strengthen your inner man to walk in glory daily.
Visit our website at DiscoveringTheJewishJesus.com
Get a full explanation of how we don’t have to allow our circumstances to determine our level of peace.
Dive deeper into God's promises and how they relate to humility.
