Breaking Chains of Sin with Karl Clauson

What if the concept of sin isn't outdated, but rather a critical element missing from modern Christian living? Join us as we engage with Karl Clauson who challenges you to confront and eradicate the sins that may be hindering your spiritual growth. Karl and I delve into society's tendency to embrace personal truth and self-acceptance, often deflecting blame onto external factors instead of directly addressing our own sinfulness. Through this conversation, we offer a path toward liberation from the chains of sin, urging listeners to bring hidden struggles into the light and break free through Christ's power.

Our discussion reveals the profound transformation that occurs when we move from self-deception to breakthrough, particularly in the context of relationships and personal failures. With Karl's guidance, we explore the courage it takes to recognize and confess sins, rather than rationalizing them away. This journey isn't just about admitting our faults but understanding the difference between surface sins and deeper spiritual disconnects. By addressing underlying issues, such as pride and laziness, we can realign ourselves with God's wisdom and experience genuine change, leading to deeper, more fulfilling relationships.

As we wrap up this episode, Karl shares powerful testimonies of transformation and the joy of his personal milestones, like becoming a grandparent. The conversation underlines the importance of shifting our approach to scripture, focusing on transformation rather than mere information. Karl's book, "Killing Sin," serves as a valuable resource for anyone seeking to conquer sin and live an empowered life. We invite you to embark on this transformative journey, armed with the insights and tools shared in this episode, and wish you a blessed path towards overcoming personal struggles.

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If you are a Christian woman seeking to know God deeper, study Scriptures, pray with and for others, strengthen your faith, and support other in doing the same, this is the place for you! 

Chapters

• 0:04 Conquering Sin
• 13:34 Battling Sin With Humility
• 30:17 Finding Freedom Through Killing Sin
• 43:55 Empowering Believers to Overcome Sin

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:04

At the Coffee and Bible Time podcast. Our goal is to help you delight in God's Word and thrive in Christian living. Each week we talk to subject matter experts who broaden your biblical understanding, encourage you in hard times and provide life-building tips to enhance your Christian walk. We are so glad you have joined us. Welcome back to the Coffee and Bible Time podcast. This is Ellen, your host.

Speaker 1: 0:34

You know, sin doesn't seem to be something that people really worry much about anymore, and many people seem to think it's even an outdated concept that has been replaced by personal truth and self-acceptance. And instead of confronting our wrongdoings, we blame our past or our circumstances or other people. But shifting the blame doesn't free us. Other people, but shifting the blame doesn't free us. It actually traps us and it keeps us stuck in cycles of guilt, regret and frustration.

Speaker 1: 1:13

Well, my guest today, carl Clausen, author of Killing Sin, conquer that One. Thing that Is Defeating you offers a different way. Thing that is defeating you offers a different way. He challenges us to stop excusing sin and start dealing with it head on. He believes victory starts with one bold step identifying and eliminating the sin that's holding us back. And actually, when we ignore sin, it doesn't go away, the grip just tightens and we keep making the same mistakes, hurting ourselves and those around us, and over time we just become numb to the things that are wrecking our lives.

Speaker 1: 1:57

And so today, let's take an honest look at our hearts. Honest look at our hearts. What's the one thing that keeps tripping us up? And you're really going to be challenging yourself today with that. I know I will be myself as well. But when we start doing that, we can free us up and we can kill it for good. Well, carl Clausen is the host of Moody Radio's Carl and Crew, a nationally syndicated radio program heard nationwide, and the lead pastor of 180 Chicago Church. His mission is to inspire a spiritual revolution in the church that reaches the world, in the church that reaches the world. Carl and his bride, junan, have been married for 37 years and have two adult children and one grandchild, new granddaughter yes, I'm a grandpa.

Speaker 1: 2:59

That's so amazing. And in addition to his new book, he also is the author of the Seven Resolutions when Self-Help Ends and Good God's Power Begins, and we will put a link to that interview that I had the joy of talking with Carl before on that, so please welcome Carl. Thanks for being back.

Speaker 2: 3:17

Thank you, ellen. Thank you for having me in today, Appreciate it.

Speaker 1: 3:22

Yes, I had an opportunity to read your book Front to Back, quite some time ago actually, and I knew right away that this book is something we all desperately need. Yeah, sin is something that's just not one and done in life. Right, when one battle ends, it comes at us from another direction, so I love that you want to equip people to conquer sin, one battle at a time. So tell us about sin in people's lives. Are people real about their sin or do you think that they've become desensitized to it?

Speaker 2: 4:08

I think it's a little bit of both, but it leads more toward the latter. There's a push in the Western church today that creates such a performance mentality that when we find ourselves falling short, we can hide, we can try to deny, we can attempt to minimize or blame or rationalize away sin in our life. And sin is just. It's from the great Greco-Roman word hamartia, which is to miss the mark. It was actually used as a term for spear throwing and bow and arrow competitions that the distance from the bullseye to wherever your spear or arrow was landing was the measurement called sin. And we all have sinned, we've all missed the mark and fallen short of the glory of God. And the beautiful thing about the power of Christ is that he came to break the chains of sin. And yet, although sin has been paid for, it has not been fully eradicated. And so the goal of killing sin is not sinless perfection, it's to get off that madness wheel, this horrific cycle of sin shame, repent and repeat. And there is so much hope here Because if you have the courage to bring what's been in the shadows into the light of truth, god has the power to bring what's been in the shadows into the light of truth God has. God has the power to give us freedom, so clearly stated.

Speaker 2: 5:53

I would give it 80-20. I would say 80% of the people that are in the Western church today haven't been a pastor for goodness sakes, over three decades. I would say 80% of the people that I shepherd, pastor, disciple, lead, probably know the one thing that is defeating them and out of a hopeless sense of I don't think I'm ever going to get a victory here, we kind of push it to the shadows and just hope and pray. Oh God, let the 80% of me that's pretty well-ordered, 90% of me that's pretty well-ordered, let that kind of exceed my failings, as it were. The problem with that notion, ellen, is that it's never hidden and it clouds every aspect of our lives. But God wants to give us freedom.

Speaker 1: 6:48

Yeah, yeah, he absolutely does. You know our, our sinful nature. We just want to do what we want to do and oftentimes we're we're blinded by the impact that the sin is having on people around us as well. And Carl.

Speaker 2: 7:05

I thought the sin is having on people around us as well. Yeah, that's a big one, ellen. That's worth lingering on for a moment because oftentimes we think well, whatever it is whether it's a habitual gossip, habitual story, stretching, which is a fancy way of saying lies you start sipping wine pretty quick. Wine is sipping you. I see that a lot in the church today. We see a lot of young people that are hooked on Adderall. That's a legalized speed today.

Speaker 2: 7:38

Marijuana, with its legalization on a lot of fronts in a lot of states, it's got a lot of Christians in a moment of hurt and weakness. A lot of young people, a lot of young people. We have a lot of people, 20-somethings, in our church family on both campuses in Chicago, many of whom have been honest with me and said I bought the lie, I started using marijuana and I'm now hooked, and now it's messing with my head. The amount of psychotic breaks that are happening because of the highly, not only addictive chemicals in this modern day marijuana, but its effect on our psyche, on our psyche. Nurses and doctors are saying that emergency wards are being overloaded with people that are struggling with that. So, no matter what it may be, god wants to bring it into the light, and food is big. Pornography is significant, Believe it or not.

Speaker 2: 8:45

I've interviewed and asked for responses from thousands of people and one of the biggest responses, ellen, is I'm lazy, I don't redeem time well, I watch too many videos, I binge watch, Netflix, and so the dilemma, as you said it, is that we find ourselves in this horrible cycle where we say I'm not going to do this anymore, I'm going to string together a few days, and sometimes, by sheer grit, we can get a day or a week or maybe a month, but inevitably, if we are not allowing these things in our lives that are missing the mark to be eradicated by the power of God and his grace, we're going to find ourselves right back in the soup again, man, or playing spiritual whack-a-mole. We trade one sin for another. But God has hope, man, he has hope and he's got a plan.

Speaker 1: 9:40

He does. You know, carl, one of the things I read in your book that really caught my attention. You said that God can only flex his strength within us when we I've got something in my life that is a reoccurring issue.

Speaker 2: 10:09

And so many people feel like this, and I've spoken with my son and daughter Most particularly. I've got a 36-year-old son who is a committed Jesus follower, year old son who is a committed Jesus follower, and the attempt to work in our own strength to get these things dealt with is utterly futile. But by God's strength, in weakness, as you said. You know the interesting thing about God's economy the way up is down. You want to go to the front of the line, go to the back of the line. I mean, that's been said over and over again, but the. But the greatest commodity in the, in the abundant life in Christ, is the celebration of weakness. You find Paul saying that in second Corinthians 12, a whole chapter committed to it. In my weakness he is strong and that seems so crazy at first blush, but then, if you start digging below the surface a little bit, you go yeah, that's right, it's just. Like you know, I am a granddad. So here comes a granddad metaphor brand new granddad 20,. A little over 24 hours, this little one's been born. But you know that kid is totally helpless, right? I mean, little baby Kate. She can't do anything for herself. She needs help.

Speaker 2: 11:33

And isn't it amazing that the word for children, when Jesus said let the children come to me. The original Greek word there not that I'm into, I'm not a Greek scholar, but I know enough to get me out of the mud the word there is nepios and it means without words. And he said Jesus said, unless you come to me as a little child, a little nepios, you're not fit for the kingdom of heaven. And what he's saying here is that if you come to me like a little child, what's a little child? Bring to the table Nothing, nothing. All you do is raise your hands and maybe can utter dada, mom. And that's it. And the Greek word there, nepios, is one without words.

Speaker 2: 12:25

And I think we've tried to sophisticate our faith so much that we've sophisticated ourself out of the orbit of God's power. We've gotten to the point where we think I've got to do this, and the secret sauce of the abundant life in Christ is embracing our weakness, embracing the fact that we can't put our sin to death, which we're called to do Romans 8, 13,. Jesus himself said it. Which we're called to do Romans 8, 13,. Jesus himself said it, but that he can. You know that, full stop. That's where the Christian life begins and ends in weakness and embracing weakness if, look, I know probably all ages and stages of life, listen to your podcast, youtube channel, whatever. But here's the truth If you can learn this in your twenties, if you can learn this in your thirties, you're going to save yourself a ton of grief. Embracing weakness is the secret sauce of the abundant life in Christ.

Speaker 1: 13:34

And those are the people that are finding breakthrough as opposed to staying stuck.

Speaker 2: 13:43

Yeah, those are the ones that find breakthrough.

Speaker 1: 13:50

It's over and over in scripture. People up just in this whole process of getting to the point of being willing to release. Release, you know and recognize. What you need to let go of is self-deception and rationalizing sin.

Speaker 2: 14:08

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 14:09

And I know even for myself, like sometimes I'll think about confessing a sin and then all of a sudden my mind wants to go to well, but you know this, that or the other thing, right? Yes?

Speaker 2: 16:26

Yeah, I mean, it's family of origin, it's. You know, I was confronted by my bride. I put this in the book. Talk about a self-effacing story by my bride. I put this in the book. Talk about a self-effacing story.

Speaker 2: 16:43

Seven years into our marriage and I was walking through the home and I was walking past my bride. She's sitting on the edge of the bed. She was doing something. I didn't even say anything to her. We're just going about our day. I was walking past her. She reached out and grabbed my wrist and I looked down and her chin's quivering and I'm like, oh no, in a nanosecond everything goes to your mind. A parent died, someone's hurt, something's going on. I said what's going on? And her chin's quivering and she said I'm scared to death. I said why she goes? I don't love you. And I said what do you mean? You don't love me. You need to know something, ellen.

Speaker 2: 17:25

We're up to our knees in powerful ministry. We were talking about it. We were loving it, it was great. Got two little kids at home, two teeny little kids, and from the outside we're cooking. We could pass the. We got a rock in marriage test. Yeah, we can pass that.

Speaker 2: 17:43

But we weren't, and it's because I wasn't loving her as Christ loved the church. And I had a big why on the road right there that I had to face, and that was am I going to own this for what it is or am I going to rationalize it? And I went around the corner. I looked in the mirror of our vanity, of the restroom that we had, and I said two sinker man, we were really big time even back in the day two sink vanity. I looked up over that mirror and before me was this battle raging. Everything that came into my mind was all the stuff that she was doing wrong in our marriage and she would have gladly owned those things. But the Lord grabbed me by his grace, and it was his grace alone that said, carl, I want you to take a long look at your life. And it was in that moment that the Lord showed me no, I'm not loving my wife as Christ loved the church. And it was humbling because I'm Mr Alaska. I was born and raised up there in the 1,100-mile dog sled race across Alaska. So I was born. You can build it, you can fix it, you can do it. And I couldn't do it, but I, you can build it, you can fix it, you can do it and I couldn't do it but I had to own it and I think that process of owning what's missing the mark in our life I don't care if it's laziness or drinking or smoking dope or popping Adderall or lying or gossiping in the lobby.

Speaker 2: 19:13

Friend of mine said he was raised in a home where he took the pastor to lunch every Sunday. I'm like, really Every Sunday. He said, yeah, we'd get in the car and we'd rip our pastor up one side and down the other, we ate him up. And he said that was the tradition I was raised in. And he said I had to break that critical spirit, that sin of critical spirit spirit, that sin of critical spirit, and I think the courage that it takes is the grace of God to even own it. But when you can own it look out, ellen, it can change everything. And for me, now I've been married 37 years, guess what? My bride's my best buddy and she feels loved because she is.

Speaker 1: 19:58

Yeah, god is so good, like you said, when we really do, he wants to help us. Right, he wants to get through this period. One thing that you also mentioned is the difference between the overarching sin and the underlying sin, and that it's so important to recognize that. The outward symptom might be one thing, but what is really going on? Can you explain that? A?

Speaker 2: 20:30

little bit more. Yeah, it's so funny that you mentioned that. Would you believe I had my book open to that page?

Speaker 1: 20:36

Really.

Speaker 2: 20:37

To that page and I don't know why Spirit of God must have been prepping me here. So if an overarching sin is pride, the underarching sin is higher. The underlying, the real sin is what we're driving at is highest authority is not God Gluttony, that's kind of the presenting sin. The real sin is satisfaction apart from God. If you got greed, the real problem is disconnect with the generosity of God. Hoarding is security not found in God. Lust is gratification apart from God. Envy is contentment not found in God. Cowardice is fear of man more than God and laziness is. This requires a little bit of explanation and this is a big one.

Speaker 2: 21:24

Laziness or not, redeeming time is huge. It's lacking the wisdom of God. And what's interesting about wisdom and how that relates to even time redemption and busting free from a lazy spirit which, by the way, is one of the things that God has been conquering in me. And you might think, how does this happen? Because from a time, sheer time, production standpoint, I feel like I'm one of the most productive guys going. I mean, I have got a lot on my plate. We've got two church campuses, I'm an author, I happen to be a radio host for a four-hour show five days a week from Chicago, so you might go. How in the world can you struggle with laziness? 24 hours is a lot of time, and I'm not talking about becoming a workaholic, I'm talking about redeeming time.

Speaker 2: 22:13

Redeeming time. You can take a nap to the glory of God. Some of you are going. Yes, you can hug a grandbaby and rock them to the glory of God. It's not about being busy, it's about redeeming it. But when you feel like time's being frittered away, you got to go. What's going on now? Here's what's interesting. In Psalm 90, the only song that Moses apparently wrote maybe he wasn't a good writer, so only one landed in the book of Psalms. But if he wasn't a good writer, that's okay. But in the 90th Psalm he said teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom. What's interesting is time. Redemption produces wisdom. A lot of us would think, oh, wise people redeem time. No, when you redeem time, you grow wise. What a unique thing. So, yeah, all of these presenting sins or overarching sins have an underlying issue, and those that have the courage to face it will find freedom.

Speaker 1: 23:16

Well, let's jump into how to kill sin and just maybe some overarching principles that you have, and I know, if you're listening to this, you're definitely going to want to pick up Carl's book, because you go into so much more into depth, into all these things that we're talking about here. But let's talk about the three ingredients. That you say is the list for killing sin in our lives.

Speaker 2: 23:41

Yeah, the place of power is where I want to begin, because if you wade into trying to kill sin in your own strength, let's just say pick one, let's just go for, let's go after. Let's go after wine. Let's say you started sipping wine and now wine's sipping you, let's just go there. You can pick any number Pornography, overeating, you name it, whatever it is gossip. We've got to get positioned for power, and the place of positioning for power is humility. God resists the proud, but he gives grace to the humble. There's no gray zone in that. We know that in 1 Peter 5, we find that if you humble yourself under God's mighty hand, he will lift you up. What a picture. You humble yourself under God's mighty hand, he will lift you up. In other words, if you put yourself in the palm of God's hand, he's going to lift you. And this isn't a self-elevation thing or an aspiration to be lifted high by God. So people can see I get an image of me being tucked into the hand of God and peeking out through his fingers, so to speak, and looking out and going, wow, look at what God can do with me. Humility, andrew Murray says, is the one virtue that gives birth to every other virtue. Now, that's a big statement. And he also said Andrew Murray is one of the, I think, the greatest author on humility. He also said the absence of humility is explanation enough for every character defect in every person, which is a bold statement, but I think it's true. So humility is the thing that keeps us close to God. This is why the pride of Satan himself caused him to fall from the presence of God, and we know that in our own lives. So humility is job one. Secondly is proximity to Jesus, rather than focusing on performance. I love Jesus's words to the disciples. He's walking on the way to the cross. Actually, in those couple of days it's not certain if it was 48 hours, 24 hours before he went to the cross, but right in that window of time he takes his disciples into a vineyard and he says boys, look down here. And he grabs a big old fistful of grape leaves, pick them up, looks down. He would have looked at a bunch of grapes in high season. And he said look at that, that's what I want your life to be. And everyone listening goes yeah, that's what I want my life to be. I want to bear much fruit. And he said it's to my father's glory that you bear much fruit. In other words, god is glorified by us bearing fruit. So we look at that. We got a choice and Jesus said, to clarify what the choice would be, he said I am the vine, you're the branch, you abide in me and I in you. You will bear much fruit, for apart from me, you can do nothing.

Speaker 2: 26:41

And I think a lot of us in the Western church today, because of the absence of a lot of real stark persecution we have slight persecution but stark persecution and because we've also got a very flawed approach about spiritual growth. About spiritual growth, we've thought I need to produce fruit in my life. That is a flawed assumption. We don't need to produce fruit in our life. We need to have proximity to Jesus and out of proximity to Jesus he produces the fruit in our life. I'm the vine, you're the branch, you abide in me. And so every time we focus on fruit production, you're the branch, you abide in me. And so every time we focus on fruit production, here's what happens we don't see it because we're wrote, we're focused the wrong direction, and then we feel like oh no, I don't have love, I don't have joy, I don't have peace. I gotta paste that on me. And we paste on fake fruit and everybody can tell it that are closest to us. You walk up From a distance, a banana, a plastic banana, looks maybe edible, but you get up close it's not.

Speaker 2: 27:42

And I think one of the coolest things about the fruit of the Spirit that we find in Galatians 5 is that one of the fruits of the Spirit is self-control and proximity to Jesus, staying close to Him, and that's through Bible reading and prayer and conversation, and I mean conversation. That's through Bible reading and prayer and conversation, and I mean conversation. The Spirit of God then will illuminate the truth of God's Word as we have it hidden in our heart. Remind us of that. We raise the sails of our soul and the Spirit of God can carry that truth along in us and we begin to bear fruit in our life. So proximity to Jesus and then raising the sails of our soul by the Holy Spirit will remind us of those truths. I mean, if you can camp out on three things humility before God, proximity to Jesus and raising the sails of your soul, so that the Holy Spirit, you can be attentive to what the Holy Spirit's reminding you of the most robust teaching on the power of the Holy Spirit. I call him my lost God. I totally neglected it. It's John 14 and John 16. That's the most robust teaching on the power of the Holy Spirit.

Speaker 2: 28:52

Anything in Corinthians is really corrective in nature. Because they were going crazy, man. They thought it was all about jumping over pews, you know, and going nutso. That wasn't it at all. In fact, paul warned him. He says oh, come on, man, don't be so crazy that when lost people walk in they think you've lost your ever-loving mind. But the real crux of spirit filling is that the Spirit of God will take the Word of God, as we've been abiding in Christ, and supercharge it with reminders of what he wants us to do with that word and how we apply it to our life. And so humility, proximity and let the spirit of God do what the spirit of God came to do and we're going to be then we will have the fuel to do this. All this other stuff, all these attempts Look, I've got a day planner that has goals in it and stuff like that.

Speaker 2: 29:44

But my goals, I quit goal setting about 20 years ago. I quit it, gave it up, because my goals were usually short of what God had for me and they created a sense of oh, I got to get this done. Now. I'm not saying that you don't have a goal to get a sin out of your life, but don't let that goal turn into works of self, because there's no hope there. It's only Christ. It all comes back to the foot of the cross, doesn't it? Ellen?

Speaker 1: 30:15

Yeah, it sure does, Carl. What would you say to someone who, let's say, this person that's dealing with their issue with wine or drinking and they feel like they are in this cycle, but at the same time, we always want instant gratification, right?

Speaker 2: 30:42

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 30:54

This relationship that you're talking about being in God's an in-depth experience, like a continuing growing saturating ourselves in Christ and who he is and what he can do for us. But how would you encourage someone who is maybe feeling like, well, I am doing this, but it's taking so long to get the results that I want?

Speaker 2: 31:20

You know this is going to sound crazy, but it's not. It's taking so long to get the results that I want. You know this is going to sound crazy, but it's not. It's biblical. I think we set people out and I know you're big on Bible and that's right on and we need to get there. But oftentimes we head to the Bible with the wrong motivation or the wrong posture.

Speaker 2: 31:39

I'm a big believer and I'm a big fan of spiritual formation. I'm a big believer that we have erred greatly by telling people get in the Bible, get on your knees and pray. I believe all that. So don't call me a heretic. Yet Let me explain. Ellen wouldn't call me a heretic, but you may watch him.

Speaker 2: 32:01

I think those are secondary disciplines after the most important disciplines, which is quiet introspection. Search me, know me, try me. It's the back end of Psalm 139. Oh God, search me, know me, try me. He made it into a song See if there would be any hurtful way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.

Speaker 2: 32:21

There is something so revolutionary about quiet introspection because it's in that quiet place. I'm telling you five minutes alone with God or you're asking him to search you, see what's missing the mark and take me a new way that will revolutionize Bible reading, because now you won't go to the Bible as information, you'll look at the Bible for the sake of transformation, and that's huge. See, scripture was meant to be transformational. We've made it informational in the Western culture and so we've got all these Bible studies, all these podcasts, all these resources, all these commentaries I've got shelves of commentaries sitting next to me here but if that information doesn't turn it into application, we're toast.

Speaker 2: 33:09

I mean what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount man two different guys trying to build a house and both have the same real estate, both the same storms coming their way. One survives storms, the other one doesn't. They both had the same real estate, both the same storms coming their way. One survives storms, the other one doesn't. They both had the same information coming in. One guy did one thing a little bit differently, or one gal did one thing a little bit differently. And it's one simple thing. One person heard it and applied it and the other one didn't. And it's the difference between building your life on the sand and building it on the rock.

Speaker 1: 33:41

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 33:42

And I know that's in your wheelhouse, Ellen.

Speaker 1: 33:47

So true, Carl. Well, as we wrap things up here, tell our audience just a little bit more about Killing Sin, your book, and really what your hope is for them if they choose to read it.

Speaker 2: 34:05

I know that if you apply these truths, you are going to get freedom. I know that, I've seen it. I've got a great assistant who, five years she has sustained. This is a significant story. But the cliff notes are she needed weight loss, she was morbidly obese, she was off the index charts, off the charts, body mass index off the charts. And she couldn't do a sleep study because she was stressed out, stressed out, couldn't have someone observing her because of some abuse in her childhood. And the doctor told her if I can't do a sleep study on you, I can't do bypass surgery and you're going to die. And she cried out to God and said God, what do I do? And she was just broken and weak enough where she was at a level of honesty with God that was profoundly different. And she heard the Holy Spirit said own what you can own. And she said OK, here's the deal, God, I feel like my full switch is broken, but I know I struggle with gluttony, but my full switch is broken, Could you fix it? And he did and she said I feel like I am sedentary and I know your spirit's told me to move, but I can't move, but I'm going to cling to you each day and she started taking baby steps. Five years later she's got 190 pounds. That has been off for five years. She's now off five medications that she was on for everything from high blood pressure to you name it, and God's given her victory and now she's flourishing mightily.

Speaker 2: 35:45

In the book Killing Sin we didn't even get into how to kill it. We talked about power and how to identify it and those kind of things. But what I do is take a very fine tooth combed biblical approach to all right. Jesus said if your eye caused you to sin, gouge it out. That's pretty serious talk. Paul says in Romans 8.13, if you sow to the flesh, you're going to reap death. But if, by the power of the Spirit, by the way, ding, ding, ding, capital S. Spirit power you put to death the deeds of the flesh, you're going to live. Spirit power you put to death the deeds of the flesh, you're going to live.

Speaker 2: 36:24

So what I would say is no matter what you're struggling with, don't let shame beat you down. Drag it into the light, Confess it, Own it, Even get a little bit angry about it. Not about you, but about that sin, Because you can only cling to what is good when you hate what is killing you, but then go to work and ask God how do you want me to put this to death? And there may need to be boundaries that you put on sin.

Speaker 2: 36:53

I've seen men that turn smartphones into dumb phones For those that are struggling with wine. You got to bring that into the light of confession with trusted people that won't use that confession as a sword in your back tomorrow, and then, through prayer, you begin to strategize how am I going to put this thing to death and what I tried outlining killing sin is a very strategic, clear, simple plan for how to do that, and I have seen untold hundreds of people walk in victory over things that they thought for years was just going to be a part of their life, and it doesn't have to be.

Speaker 1: 37:43

God has the power to put to death. I just want to encourage our listeners that today's the very beginning. Sin isn't once and done but, this also gives you tools in your tool belt experience of how God conquers one thing that will help you with the next, and so I just want to encourage anyone who's feeling hopeless or just struggling that through God's grace, you can be free. Yeah, carl, how can people find out more information about you in the book?

Speaker 2: 38:33

You know, what's really cool is there was a guy that had the website, the URL for what we now have, and I called him up. I told him I was writing this book and I said I know you've used this for some blogging a little bit. But I said, would you, is there any way you would sell me your URL? And I gave him the vision for the book and he goes I'm not going to sell it to you, I'm going to give it to you, will you let me? Will you let me do some writing on there from time to time? So we formed a bit of a tribe and it's growing.

Speaker 2: 39:00

So you go to killsincom and you can find a link to the book and just killsincom. There's no way I could have gotten that. It's too short a URL, but this man was gracious enough to give it to us. And then you're going to find a lot of resources in killing sin. You're going to find QR lot of resources in Killing Sin. You're going to find QR codes throughout the book that will help you do deeper dives on things that you maybe need to go a little bit deeper on. It's a short book by intention and we just hope it blesses you big time Killsincom. Check it out, and you can get Killing Sin wherever Moody Publishers or, most easily, on Amazon. I think it'll set you back nine bucks right now, so it's pretty affordable. A big two cups of expensive coffee and you've got yourself a resource that is going to set you free.

Speaker 1: 39:55

Yes, yes, and it's one of those resources I think that I'll always want to keep. And it's one of those resources I think that I'll always want to keep. You know, it's like it's on that bookshelf of good long-term resources. All right, carl, before we go, I do have to ask you some of our favorite Bible study tool question what Bible is your go-to Bible and what translation is it?

Speaker 2: 40:16

Yeah, it's the ESV. My good friend, wayne Grudem was the general editor and after he got done with it he sent me two leather-bound study Bibles of ESV. So since he's my good friend and I respect him so much theologically, I'm like I got to check this out and I fell in love with it immediately. So, yeah, I've been all over the place Started New American Standard, went into NIV, now I'm ESV, but I'm ESV until God takes me out of here. I love that translation.

Speaker 1: 40:45

Awesome. Yeah, that's the one we use also at our church. Okay, do you have any favorite journaling supplies that you like to use?

Speaker 2: 40:54

I do. I have it here close by this. Is it right here? This is it. This may sound super funny, but it's called the Mr Pen Sleek. I know there's a lot of highlighters that a lot of you use highlighters. Let me tell you why I like Mr Pen Sleek. Mr Pen Sleek does not bleed through the pages and it is so smooth it's it's like a gel, so it's not like a normal fluorescent highlighter. I tell people all the time get Mr Pen Sleek and I use four different colors and I kind of had a color-coded approach to highlighting. Sometimes I find myself needing to go back and reference things and it's a great tool, so that's pretty practical. Now I'm getting down to brand names, Ellen.

Speaker 1: 41:48

Okay, well, we'll put a link for our listeners on that. That's a great tip, all right, lastly, what's your favorite app or website for Bible study tools?

Speaker 2: 41:59

Bible study tools website for Bible study tools. Bible study tools. You know it's very interesting, but this this one might surprise you. I am now using AI for the first time and I'm finding that and I've checked it. So I would be careful with some of the AI generators. I'm not going to tell you which ones, but be careful with some because they probably veer away from how do I say this truth, encounters with God's word and stuff. Most are pretty fair, but on a couple of these AI generators I did a study on cessationism versus continuationism, which is just whether or not the miraculous spiritual gifts and sign gifts are still operating today, and I was wanting to brush up on actually what Wayne Grudem says in his I've got it right here systematic theology, and so I just asked him a question.

Speaker 2: 42:53

I find that good AI is scouring the internet for good content and if you focus the question rightly, you'll get good responses. Double check, make sure you got some good content there. But I've found phenomenal content as a resource, quick resource, for AI. Don't be afraid of AI. You just got to run it through the grid and the filter. Back in the day, when the printing press came out, a lot of Christians thought oh no, we can't use the printing press. And then a guy named CH Spurgeon decided no, let's use this and let's print it. And he started sending pallet loads of his messages all around the globe. And so God can use things that are being used in a bad way for good. So don't be afraid of it, just double check it.

Speaker 1: 43:39

Yeah, yeah, absolutely, and I know the one that I use occasionally has a place where you can see what sources.

Speaker 2: 43:47

Oh no, mine has sources too.

Speaker 1: 43:49

Yeah, yes, so that's pretty cool then, so you can really validate, which is awesome. Well, carl, thank you so much for joining us today. Thank you, ellen. Well, carl, thank you so much for joining us today.

Speaker 2: 43:59

Thank you, Ellen.

Speaker 1: 44:00

Congratulations on your new book, your new grandbaby.

Speaker 2: 44:03

Yeah, it's great.

Speaker 1: 44:04

Exciting things, and, listeners, this is going to be a wonderful resource for you that reinforces that we don't have to keep making excuses or letting sin define our lives. We can conquer sin, starting right now and today. So thank you so much for joining us. Be sure and grab a copy of Carl's book Killing Sin. We will have all the links in our show notes. We love you all. Have a blessed day.