 news, old things have passed away and behold, all things have become brand new. Can we just take a praise break and say thank you Jesus? I'm Amy Schaefer and I'm here with Corey and with Sydney and Sydney today. This shows for me, it is a great topic. It truly is. We're two months into 2023 and today we want you to do a spiritual check-in, a personal inventory about the current state and place of your life. If you're feeling stuck or unfulfilled, then you don't wanna miss our conversation with Carl Klosson, who's gonna teach you the seven resolutions you can make with God that will help you overthrow old patterns and live fully in his power. And you saw Carl right there and we're so excited to speak with him in just a moment. So stay tuned with us and I know Corey, this is something that is deeply in your heart about just the spiritual change and evolution that people are really stepping into this season. Yeah, yeah, it's just so important that we come into alignment with God in this season and so that God could speak to us about the inner gifts that's inside of us and deal with the sin areas, but also just help to just mitigate some things and just manifest some things in our lives. So I'm excited to really, really hear what he's gonna say this morning. If you think about resolutions, I mean, I made some, you made some, we all made some, some we've done well with, some we've let down already, but I wonder if it's okay, guys, if we just say, Holy Spirit, come and just do whatever you want. Shake up all of my plans, invade my life, my family, my church, not just Kentucky, invade Pittsburgh, invade our life, invade this program today. Let's make sure we leave room, Sydney, as we're structuring resolutions, we leave room for the Holy Spirit to just do what he needs to do and move. Because if we don't have the Holy Spirit, I think all of us, we can say, what's the point? Why are we here? Why are we doing what we're doing? One thing God has really put in my spirit and my heart is I feel like there was such a push even within the body of Christ, it's like, oh, I'm in inflores on that. And I was like, God has really put my heart, like lay those idols down because it means nothing. What are you willing to let go of? What are you willing to surrender? What are you willing to lay at the altar down at the Father and being like, okay, do a work inside of me, oh God. What do I need to transform? What do I need to do so I can truly be your vessel because I truly live, Corey, we're called to be glory carriers in this season to be a light in our world like never before. Oh my goodness. Yeah, I mean, you said it so absolutely well. You could become trapped in the idea of what I'm supposed to be for God, especially when you talked about that influencer aspect, like I'm an influencer for God, I'm this and that. But ultimately we have to give that glory back to God so that we don't literally marginalize God out of what he wants to do. And that's very dangerous to start to feel like, hey God, this is on me. And so we're gonna talk about the Holy Spirit a little bit later, but I'm excited to really, really get into this. This is exciting, so excited. So we are so glad that you're with us because our next desk desires for all people to come out of the shadows of shame and trust God to heal what has been hidden. Carl Colosson is the morning host of Carl and the Morning Crews, excuse me, Carl and Crew Mornings on Moody Radio and the lead pastor of 180 Chicago. Carl was on a mission to spark a spiritual revolution in the church that reaches the world. In his book, The Seven Resolutions, Carl Impacts Where Self-Help Ends and God's Power Begins. Carl, welcome to Hope Today. We're so glad that you are joining us. So good to be with you. I sense God's spirit in this morning show with you guys. What, what, what a blessing. Thank you. It is such a blessing that you are with us and we're all partnering together and just seeing how Holy Spirit is gonna move and work. And speaking of Holy Spirit, Carl, you and your wife actually recently had an opportunity to go to the Asbury Revival. I saw you posted on your social media. Can you talk to us about your experience and even what God revealed to you? Well, you know, I've been praying for 35 years with my bride. Can't believe I married that long to this great woman. But 35 years, we've been praying for awakening or revival. And I think it's important to note that the definition of terms here, I've been really drilling down on this, but we're called in the church to be revived. It implies that we have been touched by God, experienced his power, but we need a fresh wind of the Holy Spirit filling us up. And we know that this is true. Jesus said to the church of Laodicea, he says, you think you're rich. You think you have needed nothing. But he says, I'm standing at the door and knocking. If you'd open the door and let me come in, I'll be with you. And that is not a verse of salvation. It's a reverse of, it's a verse of revival. He's saying, come on, man, you are the church of Laodicea. You're leaning on your stuff when I've got Holy Spirit for you. And that's what I'm thrilled about. So the revival at Asbury, it's real. It's genuine. This is not a splash. This is gonna make a difference. And I got there before the crush of people got there. There were just a thousand people in line when I was there, but there were thousands of people in line at five different venues on campus at Asbury University to see what God was doing. And I will say this, they were not spiritual gockers. They were there to seek and to take back with them what God is doing there. So I have great hope for our nation. I've wondered, can we have an awakening God? And it's gonna begin with a revival in the church. No, Carl, that's so exciting. What we're seeing is this like the spiritual awakening, this fervor that is rising within people's hearts like never before. And I know something that you're passionate about is really that being revived within. And can you tell us a little bit about your story, your background of, you know, you had to come to the end of yourself in some pretty amazing and powerful and dramatic ways. Can you share your story with us? Yeah. Yeah, I think we, no one's fit for the kingdom of God until you do come to the end of yourself. And for me, it was pretty dramatic because in the early 80s, you know, I competed in something called the Iditarod trail sled dog race when I was 18. It's an 1,100 mile dog sled race across Alaska. And I remember at the age of 18, I was feeling this incredible sense of hollowness. Even though I was gonna be this hometown hero and boy, I did this when I was 18, I felt hollow. And I sensed the spirit of God saying, Carl, come this way, come with me. And there was another voice of demonic influence that was saying, go your own way. And I went my own way for a few years. And I wasn't born again at this point. I'd been raised in church, but I did not. I memorized a lot of verses, won a lot of candy bars for memorizing a lot of verses, but I didn't know the author of those verses. I didn't know them personally. And so I went out and I lived like hell for three years, four years. And I was a pretty good kid at the age of 18, but I started drinking and one drink couldn't contain the hollowness in my, they couldn't fill that hollowness in me. And I became really hooked on crown, oil and cocaine guys, early 80s in Alaska worked in the oil fields. And I was snorting coke so heavily that I would have chronic nosebleeds. I couldn't get enough cocaine to fill that void in my life. But on February 11th of 1984, I was driving down a road in Anchorage, Alaska. And every crack was kicked out from under me. I'm making good money, but my soul was empty still. And God came into my car and he said to me, are you done yet? And I broke into a bundle of sobs. And I said, God, I'm so done. I give you everything. And on that day, he's so radically changed my life. I'm living it right now with you guys. He's so radically changed me and put me on this path less traveled. And I've been on it ever since and the fire does not have to go out for Jesus. Like some say, no, he can stoke those goals right to the end. Wow. Carl, just so you could just feel like just like what you were experiencing and sensing the Holy Spirit. Like I just like doing a new thing. Can you just take a moment to speak to someone? Because we know in this area in Pittsburgh, beyond even in across the country, that addiction has such a stronghold and a root on people. So can you just take a moment and speak to somebody who may be watching or that family that has a loved one that is in the throes of addiction. Can you take a moment and just minister to them? To both groups, I'll say this, it's an amazing thing, but there is no one, we can't save anyone and we can't save ourselves. Jesus said to Nicodemus, he says, man, you gotta be born of the spirit. And then he went on to say where the spirit of God blows, we don't know, but there's someone watching right now and the Holy Spirit is blowing into your life right now. And he's saying you can get free. And it's not just from cocaine or alcohol or food, it can be addiction to latter climate in the corporate world. It can be an addiction to sex. It can be an addiction to any number of things that are just derailing your life. But Jesus said it is to his glory that you bear much fruit. And so he invites you to be a branch that abides in the vine because apart from him, we can do nothing, but in him, it's to God's glory that we bear much fruit. So the hope is out there. And if the winds of the spirit are blowing in your heart right now, just know this, you feel like you've got nothing. That is your strategically positioned for God to do everything. And that isn't hype, those aren't words. That's the gospel message. And if you're just responding and listening to what Carl is saying right now, we have a number on our screen, our prayer line, 888-665-4483 where you can call a prayer partner right now, come into agreement because we know the winds of the Holy Spirit are blowing right now upon you if you're in your living room or your bedroom, wherever you're watching from, from a prison cell, wherever you are all over the world, God is seeking you now. And so reach out and give us a call. Carl, thank you so much for what you just shared in that moment and being led by a Holy Spirit and something that you are so passionate about is a spiritual revolution, just taking over the body of Christ and you have a new book that you wrote that's seven resolutions. Can you talk to us about how it came about and tell us what are the seven resolutions that God revealed to you? Well, the whole premise of this book is that we in American Christianity, I think it's unique to us because our brothers and sisters in the underground churches around the world, in Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, China, you name it, all these 1040 window countries that are under a lot of affliction, they have a built-in mechanism that drives them back to the feet of God. We struggle and here's what we've done. We've actually layered the American dream over God's vision and they don't jive. I'm not again, the American dream's great but God's economy is the way up is down. And my concern was for myself because it was three weeks after I was born again that I had one of the mother of all faceplants. I found myself being discipled now by my uncle who was a golf pro but a radically committed, freshly committed Jesus follower and I'm three weeks in the word. I'm highlighting Romans like, I mean, you might as well just dunked it in some yellow paint because I highlighted every verse and I'm just weeping over the word and then one fateful Friday afternoon after I knocked off work, now I'm taking my, I was taking at the time my construction skills and working, building a health club. And it was hot, central California and my buddies invited me out and I'm like, I'm gonna go witness to them. That's what I'm gonna do. Well, I tipped up a wine cooler that afternoon with these guys and I got on a slippery slope that never ended well for me. And I found myself, this is shocking what through. Here I am born again, filled with the Holy spirit and because I didn't have key discipleship principles under me, I found myself around some bad company and I had a man hold out a piece of tin foil that he held a big lighter under and he gave me a hit of crystal meth. Here I am, brand new in Jesus, fallen off the cart and the minute I took a hit of that, it's like the play was revealed. It's like curtain fell down and I could almost see physical demons in that room. I ran for my life out of there that day. I ran home. I knelt beside the bed where my uncle was around the corner with his bride and I started to pray. And I said, God, you saved me, now kill me because some battles can't be won. And I meant it. I said, God, I know your grace has saved me. Now just take me out of here. In fact, I said, kill me. My uncle heard my prayer and he put his arm around me and he knelt down beside me and he said, no. You're God's kid. We're gonna get you on your feet by the power of God and we're gonna see victory in your life. And the reason I wrote seven resolutions is far too many Christ followers whether it's pornography or food or just an addiction to gossiping and you can't seem to shut your stupid mouth. We find ourselves living with 80% victory but 20% of our lives lived in the shadows and we're getting our booties kicked by Satan because he tempts us to live with this compromised life. We know that we're new creatures in Christ but we're wondering how in the world do I get my life aligned with Jesus that actually fits a picture of the scriptures? How do I do this? And so the premise of seven resolutions is where self help ends and God's power begins. And whether it's Galatians three where Paul says foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you? And this is what he says, verse three. That that you began in the spirit why are you working out in the flesh and what he's saying is this. He says you're going to church and you're now living in your own strength what was begun by the power of the Holy Spirit. And that's what we do in Americanized Christianity. This is why we have this bifurcated life where we've got this thing. Oh, I'm all in for Jesus over here but we got this whole chunk of us living in the shadows over here. And we try to rationalize it or minimize it but God wants us to address it because he wants to give us victory. Are we gonna be sinless and perfect? No, but do we have to let certain battles never be won? No way. That is not God's plan for our life. No, ma'am. No, sir. That is not God's plan. And I live to tell the world about it. You are lighting up a fire in our spirits right now. We're sitting here soaking it all up but I just want to go through the seven resolutions because I love them what you'd like to have down. So join God, think truth, kill sin, choose friends, take risk, focus, effort, redeem time. So Carl, what would you say to the person today that's watching that feels like they've been right where you are. Maybe they've took a hit of something or feel like everything's collapsing and they're just in this place that they feel sick. What are the things that they can do right now to truly experience God's power made manifest in their lives? There's not a natural progression necessarily in these seven resolutions except that join God is preeminent. And this is what I would say. No matter what it is that's living in the shadows of your life, no matter how big or small you have may have characterized it, Satan's baiting you and then he beats the Taradiyah. The sin, repent, shame, cycle goes on and on. And we all know that. The key element, and Andrew Murray says it this way and I capture it in joining God, that one resolution. He says humility is the one virtue that gives birth to every other virtue. And it is true, blessed are the poor in spirit, theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Apart from me you can do nothing, John 15. So there between the Sermon on the Mount and Jesus's last words with his disciples on the way to die for our sins. He gives us the secret. We've got to come to the point where we realize this God who saved us is the same God that wants to train us. According to Titus 2, 11 through 12, the key to understanding the grace of God is that the same grace that saves us, that same power that saves us is the same power that's gonna train us. And we can't live by shoulds and ought tos. It's time today that we live in the power of Jesus and that's best by humbling yourself. God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourself under God's mighty hand and He will lift you up. Humility is not a spiritual gift that we go out in the woods and hum a little bit and it's gonna fall on us. It's a choice we make every day. And if we have that choice to humble ourselves, I'll tell you right now, I was a horse's rear end as a husband. Here I am following Jesus, leading people to Christ. But the first seven years of our marriage I was a horse's rear. And my bride grabbed my hand when I was walking past her one day and I looked down at her and her chin was quivering. I got a great bride. I said, what's going on? And she said, Bub, I don't love you anymore. And I said, what do you mean? You don't love me anymore? He said, I'm scared to death. We'd let so many things just go in our marriage. And I walked around the corner that day, Mr. Alaska, I fix it, build it, restore it. And I walk around the corner, guys. I looked in the mirror at our bathroom vanity and there was a battle raging. And it was like, am I gonna rationalize and blame my wife for which she would have owned plenty of things in our marriage? Or am I gonna own what I've gotta own? And on that day, by God's grace, God humbled me, broke me and showed me that another Bible study isn't what I needed. Another little trick, another person that I witnessed to wasn't the secret sauce. The secret sauce was humbling myself under God's mighty hand. And he would allow me to be the man that loves my wife as Christ loved the church and it revolutionized our marriage. And I'm here to tell you today that if you wanna bear fruit in your life, the primary thing we need to do is constantly, not for salvation, but for sanctification. It's a big, fancy word for growing up in Jesus. We need to be clinging to Christ and let the winds of the spirit lead us along and that can only be found through humility. Carl, so beautifully said and put and we just say amen. Thank you so much, Carl, for everything that you poured out, your wisdom, your life, your ministry, all that you do. You are truly a gift and a blessing and a voice that is needed right now in this season, this hour for the body of Christ and for believers. Thank you so much, Carl, for joining us today. Thank you, joy to be with you guys. It is such a joy to have Carl with us today in this conversation and Corey and Amy. Wow, I think we're just all soaking it up of what he shared, of what he imparted into us. Corey, what are your thoughts? I'm really honestly in awe right now. As he was ministering, I just could feel the presence of God just really just permeating into the atmosphere. There was such authenticity. Did you hear what he was talking about in his scripture, in his testimony about what he was saying? And it just hits. I mean, it really, really does, it goes down. You know how the word, it goes down to the bone marrow. You know, when you have some greens, you put the bone in the greens, you know what I mean? Because it's like the bone marrow, it has the flavor that you cannot make that up. This is his life, he covered his marriage, he covered his soul, he covered addiction, he covered relapsing back. And I don't think we talk about that enough as believers. It's like, oh, I gave my life to Jesus and then everything is just sunshine. And I was like, no, I gave my life to Jesus and I relapsed and I failed. God saved me, but I want you to kill me too. That's what he said. And so just that level of transparency and authenticity, I believe that's where God really wants to live with us. Like take off that mask of perfection and that pressure and that weight to please God. Listen, without Jesus, without the Holy Spirit, we can never amount to what we feel God wants from us. We need the Holy Spirit. We need that presence with Jesus, not relationship with Jesus to be able to do that. Listen, the scripture today, the focus of it was coming from John chapter 14 verse 26. And it says this, but the helper of the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all the things and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. Listen, just to talk about this just for a moment. The Holy Spirit is, there's so many different names for the Holy Spirit. It's the Comforter, the Helper, the Advocate. But one that I really love is the Intercessor. The Intercessor to enter scene, to intervene into things. And the word intervene means to come in between. And it reminds me of interception. I used to play football all the time. Played college football and high school football. And sometimes things are going one way and then there's an interception. And the Holy Spirit will intercept some things that were meant to destroy you. They're meant to kill you. They're meant to take you out in your mind. But he is interceding on your behalf. And that's what we need. We don't just need more money. We don't need more influence. We don't need more likes or loves. We need more of God's presence because in his presence is the fullness of joy. And I'm just excited. I'm telling you, the Holy Spirit is truly moving. I mean, Amy, I know you got some things that you want to share. I mean, that scripture you just read, the Holy Spirit are helper. Now, we're in a self-help world and culture. Self-help everything, self-care everything. And there is an importance and a value to that. But there is something called the power of God. There's something called the Holy Spirit, my helper. He does for me what I cannot do myself. We have this thing called flesh and it's so strong. And that flesh craves bad stuff, sin. He said, I was addicted to crowned royal and cocaine. That is what we call the flesh nature, the sin nature. And sin or sin, that's what you crave. So how does that break in our life? We need the Holy Spirit, our helper. And guess what? He's as close as the mention of his name. It's not like he's off in some far, far away land just with magic pixie dust. Like I hope everything works out. Jesus said, listen, I'm gonna go away but I'm gonna send you a helper, the Holy Spirit, the comforter, the one that's called alongside to help you and he will never leave you nor forsake you. So today, sin me, no matter what we're going through, no matter what challenges, no matter what setbacks, no matter what hang ups, no matter what sin, the Holy Spirit is there to help us down deep on the inside. We want revival in the land. Let's start right here, baby. Yeah, you two are on fire. That's like, so I just have been so ministered to what both of you were just sharing about Holy Spirit being the interceptor about intercession for us. And one thing that I just, even when you both were just speaking, I just saw this like vision of just like, when is the last time that you bowed down before your father and you cast down your cares, that you laid down your burdens, that you took a good look at your heart and you said, Jesus, look at me. These are my sins. This is where I've fallen short. This is where I've messed up. Just pause for a moment. Have you taken a moment to look at your heart? Sometimes I feel it grease my heart so much as Christians that we're out calling all out the carap and the garbage of the world, but we don't look at us. We are so, we'll cast out judgment. We'll speak about this group and that group and look at them, but look at us, the plank in your own eye. And I am guilty of that. This past weekend, God had me so wrecked. I felt like I got delivered, set free and saved all over again at this woman's conference. I mean, it's not coming out my nose. I'm keeping it all the way real. It was not pretty, okay? Because I had to take a good look at myself and being like, oh my gosh. So maybe that's you today. And I feel that that's what God is doing in this season. We don't know the time or hour when Jesus is gonna come back, but you know the thing that scares me the most? In that scripture when he says, depart from me, I never knew you? Does Jesus do you know Jesus? Let him into your heart today. Don't back away from Jesus. This is not a game. Jesus paid the ultimate price. He laid it all down. He paid a price that we could not even afford. It's unimaginable. So if you feel right now is stirring in your heart, if you feel a conviction in your spirit, Jesus is saying, come. And I guarantee and I promise you when you lay it down before him and you just surrender at all, it'll be amazing the things that he begins to do, the deep work he does and the healing because he wants you to be. You know, the Lord told Carl in his car, are you done yet? Are you done yet running from me? Are you done yet trying to do this in your own ability? Are you done yet trying to fix this career problem yourself, your marriage problem yourself? Today is a great day to run to Jesus like fast, like quit like now. Don't wait another second because God has great plans for you and your family and he has hope for you today. On tomorrow's Hope Today, we're teaching our children to shine God's love on everyone. Author and pastor Daniel Darling helps children discover that the biggest best light is God's love and that walking in it protects them from sins, harmful shadows. That's tomorrow on Hope Today. Cornerstone Television wishes to thank all our faithful viewers whose consistent prayers and financial support have made this program possible.