 I'm Anna Schmidt and I'm here with Tom Hollis and for all of you at a fantastic conversation coming up Tom tell us about it. We got a brand new world, brand new week, brand new world. Well Noah and Nicole Stratton will be with us. They are from the Museum of the Bible and I hope that you have been to the Museum of the Bible or plan to go. It's tremendous. There's so much to see there but they also have a world-class theater and they are doing a production of Prince Caspian. That is the second book in the Chronicles of Narnia series and I have to tell you I'm a big fan. I'm a huge fan but I had a chance to talk to them and they're going to be sharing about us what it means why it's important and what they hope to accomplish with this production. It's amazing. It's an amazing production what they've got coming. And there's so much good scripture tie-in with Narnia. I can't wait to talk about it so we'll be diving into that. We'll also be looking at an inspiring story about what is going on at the southern borders and then towards the end of the show we're going to have some ministry time with the Holy Spirit as well as Tom has a story for you. Story time with Tom. Story time with Tom but don't change the channel. No it'll be good and you'll enjoy that a lot but I do want to say to you maybe this is a situation today where you're going through something difficult. We've all gone through so many things you know and I just this past weekend there was a funeral for my uncle my dad's brother and you know he struggled a lot in his life but at the last 25 years he got right gave his life to the Lord, served the Lord and that made all the difference. It wasn't where he started that mattered or even the the fight through the middle section it was where he ended up that mattered and I got to give the eulogy and I said that because that's what really matters in life. It's not again it's not about where we start it's where God takes us and I know that he's rejoicing with the Lord today. Right it doesn't matter what mistakes we have from our past it matters that God makes us new that there is a new beginning a new life that he rebuilds restores and makes us into the the man or woman he made us to be. Absolutely yeah so uh you know if you need prayer you can always call our prayer line the number's on your screen you can pray for get some prayer with someone who's there just to pray with you that's why the prayer partner's there just for you. Well we're going to take a quick break and when we come back we'll have Noah and Nicole Stratton and a little bit of Narnia. Discover what God's word has to say about healing and deliverance bestselling author John Eckhart makes topical bible study easy with his new book scriptures for faith deliverance and healing this handy references for those who want to have a greater understanding of healing and deliverance to incorporate God's word into their prayers Eckhart also includes targeting commentary to highlight key scriptures and life application his spirit filled perspective will enhance your time and God's word and encourages the spiritual disciplines of memorization and meditation request scriptures for faith deliverance and healing as our thank you gift when you support cornerstone television this month request your copy today if you want to strengthen the ministry of ctv in share your best gift by visiting us online at ctv in dot org slash donate or call us at 888-665-4483 thank you for your partnership hope happens here as some of you know i'm a huge fan of the c.s lewis chronicles of narnia series and currently playing now through april 27th at the museum of the bible in washington dc is the amazing theatrical production of prince caspian check out some of the highlights from this incredible breathtaking production return to narnia with c.s lewis's thrilling adventure prince caspian the world of narnia comes to life on stage with stunning effects dramatic storytelling and life-size puppetry the logos theater's original production of prince caspian the world's first professional stage adaptation of this beloved tale has captivated audiences from near and far this is a very special production i was amazed at the quality and everything to do with this particular production fabulous performance um broadway caliber disaster phenomenal do not miss this play now you can see the show that fans and critics are praising from around the world on tour only at museum of the bible's world stage theater march 1st through april 27th for tickets visit the academy of arts dot org slash logos theater on tour joining me now are noa and nicole stratton from the academy of arts noa is the president of the academy and he also portrays miras in the play and nicole is the artistic director of the academy and was the first person to adapt the entire prince caspian book into a theatrical script noa and nicole welcome to hope today thank you so much it's a pleasure to be here with you yes so i'm excited i know we talked before uh and uh and you know i'm just excited to see the the play and i need to get down there soon but tell me about adapting such a beloved series i mean this is the one that a lot of people such as myself have read multiple times read it to our children we love it nicole what was it like to write that script well thankfully i am but i'm a luvist fan as well so that really helps to guide you as you're looking at the book instead of just looking at it as just another script we i really wanted to serve uh the book and bring it to life for fans like myself and have us enjoy it rather than be thinking of all the ways the book was messed up so um it was enjoyable we also got to work with uh douglas gresham like you saw on the video he's the stepson last living relative of c.s louis and he was the one that really helped to you know vet my script so that was exciting to be able to bring that to life but if you know prince caspy and you know it's not anywhere it's not lacking a lot of tricks there are trees that come to life you've obviously got the majestic aslin you've got to bring to life tales to reappear tell marines to disappear so many different effects um so god to blow up a bridge yeah so there's a need to and bringing the books to life to get into theatrical puppetry so all of that was quite the challenge but the logas theater is now becoming known for bringing the loas books to life on the stage so it was a real joy and blessing and thankfully fans have been very pleased with the adaptation so far so that's good well i mean it looks stunning looks amazing and and then your husband is the bad character your husband is mere ass what was it like know to play the basically the evil character in the play and he's such a nice guy yeah i got tight cast it's yeah no it's it's great playing playing the character what we like to do in in in these productions is be able to bring as much power and authenticity even to the evil characters because that then lets you see the good triumphing in even a more powerful way if there's a very simple pathetic antagonist it's not way that exciting to see them conquer to see the good win and louis is brilliant at that at portraying evil in a in a realistic way not getting gratuitous or going over top with it um but portraying it that way so portraying hit that character for me um it is a joy because i i like to portray it so that hopefully when he is taken down everybody's cheering so if everybody says they hate me i hopefully i did a good job that's good and he will look completely different we go with a viking look for the tellm greens because of how louis describes them so he's got a a face tattoo and a little ponytail and the whole works i mean they look pretty fierce well that's good yeah i mean i'm glad you're putting the intensity into all the characters like that but let me ask you about the aslan character i mean this is the this is the crux here this is what matters is getting aslan right and uh and i you know i've heard people say that as they've read the chronicles of narnia they've felt a love for jesus through that character like they'd never felt before and i i've experienced that as well what can you tell me about creating that character for stage and adapting it there and for us that was very important our ministry is a full-time ministry and we are out to not to reclaim the arts for christ we want to bring honor and majesty to that character because of who we represent so we didn't want to move forward on the books so we knew we could do as an well and thankfully we have the ability in our ministry to build life-size puppetry now we are the only christian company that we know of that are doing it full-scale professional puppetry like this for the stage there's only three other companies in the world and they all source broadway and west end so we were able to use our abilities in the puppetry department to build a majestic lion that's run by three men which we think is neat because three in one they all work together as one to create this puppet and it is such a powerful it's it's hard to call him a puppet but he has such a personality and power and then his voice is voiced by the founder of our ministry dr nicky chevers who's my father and um he founded this ministry in 1971 and persevered for years through many obstacles and his heart for the lord comes through in the way he voices it and he has such understanding so we have actually had people just tell us that as soon as as them came on to the stage and started speaking they just started weeping and um so it's a very powerful connection he makes with the audience so and then he's only one of several puppets we have two bears in this show uh two while a wild bear and bulgy bear i was gonna ask you about that how do you do all the animals there are so many talking animals in this book that when i read it to my daughter i kept messing up which animal which voice i was supposed to be using that's right so a lot of it is that life sized puppetry uh or even larger than life sometimes um so yeah we have seven uh full size puppets that are in this one we have three large trees one really large tree it's amazing seeing those come to life you know and aslan wakes the trees up to go win the day help win the battle we have the two bears we have aslan so it's just amazing um what god has enabled our team to do you know we we were begun like nicole said 1971 with the mission of making the bible come alive in minds and hearts through the power of storytelling and jesus constantly did that right with his parables parables he was telling stories and so we love to follow that model as we are made in his image he's the great communicator and so we get to communicate as well and communicate truth and we love c.s luis in a way that he did that with his storytelling yeah nicole let me ask you about that what are you hoping uh in fact you can both respond what are you hoping people to take away from this when someone comes maybe a long time fan like me the tough critic person who's going to come or someone who's never read one page of the chronicles of narnia when they come away from this what are you hoping to see we are hoping what luis really hoped as he wrote the book i believe is all the books is that they would engage in these stories and learn more and be drawn to know more about who jesus christ is in narnia and then outside of narnia in their own world and i think it's such a message of hope there is a message of faith all through all through the prince caspian so i pray that they're encouraged to walk not by sight but by faith and to be able to take those next steps in their walk with jesus christ and so so far even for our cast that has been such an impactful thing to do this production because the messaging that luis has woven through this book is life changing and so we hope it's more than a production we hope that it is real encounter with the holy spirit and to be able to see these truths come to life and of course we want the fans to be so pleased we want them not to walk away and be disappointed and thankfully as we've been performing this since 2017 we've had such great feedback so if you love the books you can't miss this it'll really come to life absolutely well let me ask you one one final question how are you two doing i mean this is a huge huge undertaking and you guys are at the point of this what what has it been like but one thing that's come to my mind is the the theme of sacrifice from it's 12 one and two it's just reasonable service to give your life back as a sacrifice to the lord so yeah it's a ton of work it's a ton of pressure but it's exciting to be in god's work and in god's service and every time we do a play we follow that theme in that play so the prince caspian of following of sacrifice of faith has been beautiful to experience in our own lives as well and we're grateful for museum of the bible they've made this possible caspian has never toured before it's too big of a show i thought but now it's touring on the road so museum of the bible is being a forerunner and bringing professional christian productions to the country we hope christians come out and and and support it so thank you for helping us spread the word and we have smart performance like literally in an hour so we're excited and the team is ready to go well i am so excited nicole and noah thank you so much prince caspian is playing now through april 27th at the museum of the bible in washington dc thank you guys and god bless what you're doing thank you so much appreciate it are you tired of just getting bills in your mailbox find inspiration instead by subscribing to the cornerstone television's hope today newsletter each month we'll deliver good news about what god is doing in our region and world through ctvn's ministry we'll keep you in the know about our latest special programming and our full program guide will keep you connected to all your favorites you'll also find a new dashing dish recipe every month as you read our hope today newsletter stay encouraged knowing your generosity and giving to ctvn is making a difference in building god's kingdom we can't do it without you sign up today to receive your inspirational free hope today newsletter every month in your mailbox go to our website at ctvn.org slash news or call us at 888-665-4483 thank you for being a part of our cornerstone television family hope happens here oh we really would love to send you our monthly hope today newsletter each month we feature a cover article that has just an inspiring faith-based story we bring you encouraging testimonies of how god is working in our ctvn family and also through our cornerstone cares which by the way if you give to ctvn a portion of all that you give goes to support many different missionaries and organizations around the world that are doing amazing things and then of course we have our recipe tell me about crock pot pizza soup that doesn't exactly sound great but you try these well maybe it does come on you try these don't you you actually try before you put them in there so dashing dish is a program that we produce right here at ctvn and every month i get to pick the recipe that goes into the newsletter and i make them i taste them i test them make sure it's good for you oh man i have a pizza lover yeah it was fabulous a pizza usually on a piece of bread you could put in pepperoni sausage mushrooms all the good stuff well no that that's that's important it's important to know that there's so many good things in the newsletter if you don't have a subscription to it just call the prayer partner and get your free subscription yes and every monday if you stay with us you know that we have meaningful monday and this is just a story that we look for in the news that's inspiring that will make your day and so we're ready now for meaningful monday well more than four thousand people made professions of faith for jesus christ during evangelist franklin grams god loves you frontara tour along the southern u.s border graham said we've had a higher response to the gospel invitation here than anywhere else i've preached in the united states people are hungry and they are hurting they're hungry for truth and the tour began february 24th in brownsville texas and concluded march 9th in chula vista california and after seven stops the billy graham evangelistic association reported that over 33 000 heard the gospel preached well more than 4 000 surrendered their lives to christ praise god and we give a great thanks to milton quintania from christian headlines dot com for this inspiring story i love it you know i love it i love it because this has been so much a political issue so much about keeping the border safe or letting people in all that back and forth back and forth it's been like a political football what does god want in the situation can we stop for a second and say what does god want and what god wants always is that the gospel and i would be shared with the people anywhere and sometimes people in desperate times are more open to the gospel than any other time and so here is franklin graham bringing the gospel and bringing the love of jesus christ the people who need it the most and i say praise god 4 000 new souls into the kingdom it's it's a miracle like it's beautiful to see how god is working through his people and remember like we don't have to be franklin graham to tell people about the good news of jesus christ as we heard franklin say like people are hurting and they are hungry they are hungry for truth and so god has strategically put you in a place where you have a circle of people that you impact each and every day friends family your community and so pray and ask god to just show you like who needs an encouraging word today that conversation ask the lord to help you have a strategic opportunity to be able to share god's love his good news of salvation and then we get the personal joy of seeing those around us come to the saving knowledge of christ it's quite the privilege it is a privilege and it's fantastic well i want to share a little story with you i'm going to share a narnia story with you so please stay with me and let's see if we can hear the voice of the holy spirit in this in another one of the books not prince caspian called the voyage of the dawn treader one of my favorites uh there's a character named ustas he tags along with the uh narnia kids and he's a real pain he's their cousin he's a real pain in the neck he just is always a a problem and and spoiled in so many ways and and they're traveling on a ship from island island and they stop at this one particular island they don't know but it's called dragon island and uh they ustas ends up running off into the woods just misbehaving completely ends up going into a cave and finding a bunch of gold there now if you've read some stories you might know you don't want to be laying on gold that a dragon has and he actually puts a dragon a piece of the dragon gold up on his arm and what happens he turns into a dragon and uh he flies back as a dragon to his shipmates on the beach and they're afraid of him of course then they find out who he is he can't talk of course because he's a dragon and uh but he he uh he writes in the sand he lets him know who he is and uh anyway he actually becomes a a better person as a dragon than he was as a little kid and um but he's still you know kind of feeling sorry for himself goes off into the woods lays down besides a pool of water and then aslan shows up the jesus character and aslan tells him you need to go into this water and bathe yourself and he does and he begins to peel off a layer of skin kind of like you've seen a snake skin or a reptile does it and that skin comes off but he's still a dragon and aslan says you need to go back in there again he goes back and he washes again in this pool and he begins to see another layer of skin come off and he does it a couple times two three times and aslan says i'm going to get involved and he goes in there and he's a lion right and so he has his claws and he begins to scrape this dragon skin off of Eustace and layer by layer layer by layer and it says in the book it hurt it hurt but it was good and then all the dragon skin comes off and he's Eustace again he's the boy again and aslan bathes him and clothes him and he goes back and he tells the story of how aslan rescued him from being a dragon well maybe we can see the spiritual lesson here the spiritual parallel the world the flesh and the devil has put everything on you has put all kinds of layers of stuff on you all kinds of things our sin has put layers of hurt and pain and problems and falsehoods upon us people have said things to you maybe it was your parents maybe it was a teacher maybe it was a bully said things to you and that and you've taken that to yourself and it's become part of who you are and God says no it isn't that's not who i made you to be you're not the dragon that you think you are there's a person inside of you the one i created the one that the world the flesh and the devil has tried to obscure but i'm here today i'm here today to change all that because when we come to christ things change listen to this verse 2nd chrithians 5 17 says therefore if any man or boy or woman is in christ he is a new creature the old things passed away behold new things have come this is what that story is about and god wants to do that for you today what things have been put on you what things has the world the flesh and the devil have people put on you that you're wearing like it's who you really are and and god's here today to say no that's not who you really are he's going to put that claw in there and you know what it does hurt because we become used to those things they become part of who we think we are and sometimes it's hurts to give them up but when we come to christ all of a sudden those things are taken away and we become who we were meant to be everything's not perfect but everything is right with god that's where he wants you to be today so just take a moment say god i'm sorry for my sins forgive me of my sins take these things away from me take those falsehoods away from me and let me live the life that you've created me to live and it's freedom in him it is absolutely freedom in him and tom even as you are sharing the story you know i'm sitting here and i'm just allowing myself to get into god's presence and i i hope that wherever you're watching today that you also just enter into god's presence because what we need is fresh revelation of god's incredible love for you and for me that he formed you with his own hands in your mother's womb and before you were ever born he wrote a story every day of your life that would cause you to be a person that a child of god first of all and that you would also be a person of great purpose and influence but one who is made for relationship with jesus christ and see way back in genesis one and the beginning of the bible we read how god made all of us perfect you know like adam and eve were perfect but then they fell into sin because the temptation of the serpent who we know is the devil but god already had a rescue plan for them and for you in place by sending his son jesus to die on the cross to forgive our sins to be the perfect lamb of god the perfect sacrifice to take away all of our sins all the shame all the guilt all the fear all the things that took away the core of who god made us to be and then we become a new creation in christ and so today if you've never given your life to christ this is your chance to become a brand new creation where god makes all things new where he revives and he rebuilds and restores let me tell you i am living in a season of life where i am seeing the restoration of god in all areas where lives are being raised up and made new again and god wants to make you brand new and put you on a path to receive his love and be the man or woman that he created you to be so he's going to take those things off you he's going to take that that bad word that someone said about you he's going to take the the things that that years of abuse have put on you and he's going to say today is a new day if you are in christ your new creature walk as a new creature in newness of life today on tomorrow's hope today are you in need of a miracle in your life today pastor matt brown shares his personal healing story and discusses whether or not jesus still performs miracles today don't miss tomorrow's hope today cornerstone television wishes to thank all our faithful viewers whose consistent prayers and financial support have made this program possible