Looking for the Lost - Former Twins Chaplain & Author David McIver with Paul Allen

Episode Transcript

(00:06):
Faith and Goal. Here's the hostof Faith and Goal, the voice of
the Minnesota Vikings, Paul Allen.Generally, when somebody causes you to be
late to dinner, it's not agood thing. Stomach may be grumbling.

(00:28):
If it's a dinner date, somebodymay be like, hello, Hello,
you're late. Or in the caseof when I met a man named David
mcgiver April nineteenth, year of OurLord, twenty twenty four, at the
uncommon dinner the night before a powerfulevent called Arise with the guys, we
chatted for fifteen minutes outside a ballroomat a country club. By the time

(00:52):
we were finished getting to know eachother in truncated fashion, the salads were
being devoured, people were wondering wherewe had been, and Hall of Fame
football coach Tony Dunee was preparing tospeak. Vikings coach Kevin O'Connell whisked by
Dave and I and said something like, better, hurry, you guys are
going to miss the meal. Daveand I looked at each other and without

(01:14):
a word spoken, recognized, true, we are missing part of a meal,
but we are focused on a feast. The feast was filling our hearts
and minds with stories from the Bible, Dave's days as a chaplain for the
Minnesota Twins his excellent book. Weare going to discuss at what it's like
for me praying with Minnesota Vikings players, coaches, and staff members on the

(01:37):
sidelines before games. I thank Godfrequently during prayer. He put Dave mcgiver
in my life, and I'm excitedto see where he takes the friendship.
And Step one with his dots ofdivinity was chatting in a hallway and skipping
a salad. Step two is thisfocusing on Dave's book Looking for the One

(02:00):
stories of seeing the lost, lonelyand broken through the eyes of Jesus.
That's the play today on faith andgoal. Now, many a day I
walk with my head down, feelingshameful. God has blessed me with abundance,
yet I won't or can't eliminate certainsins. Do you ever feel that

(02:20):
way? As Christians and disciples ofJesus Christ, pining for opportunities to share
what matters most the Gospel writings ofJesus of Nazareth being the absolute only route
to Heaven after we die. Iknow we are not to walk in shame
due to our sins, because that'sexactly what the devil wants. Yet this

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sheep still spends much of many dayslost and absolutely in need of a shepherd.
Despite spending all my life believing inGod in the last five years voraciously
learning the Bible. I and weare that lost sheepep in need of daily
communion with God through prayer and remindingourselves we have a shepherd in Jesus Christ

(03:08):
and what he did for all ofus on that cross and three days later
when he returned. And even thoughI know, as the Bible teaches,
this divine equation truly is about howmuch He loves us and not the other
way around. Still, I andwe can feel lost and lonely and broken.

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So what do we do? Wedo as the Bible commands and think
of others first and do our verybest to live a thy not I existence.
We share why we believe the Bibleand that salvation is found in the
life, teachings, and sacrifice ofJesus Christ. We as Christians are called

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to share all, share to allthroughout the Bible. One example is the
Gospel of Mark chapter sixteen, versefifteen and Jesus said to them, go
into all the world and preach theGospel to all creation. The Bible is
called those dedicated to God and disciplesof Jesus Christ to share what matters more

(04:12):
than every single thing in the world, living for eternity and awaiting the honors
God provides, to share the Gospelof God and the good news of the
New Testament that despite, as itis written, the wages for sin is
death, God is man. JesusChrist sacrificed and paid that debt for all

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of us. If we just believe, sharing Christology and the teachings of the
Bible can be awkward and hard formany a Christian? What are some keys
if organically God presents us the honorto discuss our faith with other people.

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Let's learn with chaplain and author Davidmcgiver. It's faith in gol and it
starts now faith and gold. Thebook is beautiful. What inspired you to
write it? Paul? About twentyyears ago a friend of mine, a

(05:14):
guy named Tim. He's having theseincredible experiences each day. He works in
contracting, he does excavating work,and he's having all these God appointments.
And he tells me how he askedJesus to give him one a day.
By God, I surrender my schedule. I'm asking you for one to day.
And I prayed that twenty years ago. And Paul, it is a

(05:35):
prayer. It's life changing to say, Jesus, I'm here. I am.
Send me and show me the singlemom who's my server as a waitress.
Or or show me the guy standingup with his with his sign saying
he's hungry he needs food for hisfamily. How do I touch his life?
Or show me the professional athlete whohas all the applause but none of

(05:59):
the peace with God. Now,with what I've read so far, Dave,
Psalm twenty three from the Old Testamentkeeps coming to mind for yours truly,
when King David wrote in verses oneto three, this is Psalm twenty
three, Old Testament. The Lordis my shepherd. I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in greenpastures. He leads me beside still

(06:24):
waters. He restores my soul.He leads me in paths of righteousness for
his name's sake. And what's interestinghere, and what keeps resonating with me
with the parts of the book I'veread so far, is the Lord truly
has to make people, has tomake us lie down, slow down,

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settle down in these metaphorical green pastures, and then we are led beside still
waters. So there's an abundance ofmetaphor and symbolism and stuff like that in
the Bible, and they're still pertinentin twenty twenty four. So don't you
feel before we seek lost sheep andshare the life altering teachings of the Gospels

(07:10):
of Jesus Christ, we need topray about like our schedules and the tedium
and frustration life can bring. Pauland I introduced the book to a group
of people, maybe it's a men'sgroup, maybe it's at a church.
I'll start off by saying, Lookingfor the One is not a book about
evangelism. This is a book aboutwalking with Jesus. And if you're not

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walking with him, if you're notspending time in his word, if you're
not in prayer, if you're notaware of him, then he's not going
to lead you to the one he'slooking for. Jesus said, I'm the
vine, you're the branches. Whoeverabides in me and I in him,
he it is that bears much fruitfor apart from me, you can do
nothing. So I'm listening to BillyGraham the other day and he's speaking to

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this amazing meeting. It's at MoodyBible Institute and it's one hundred year anniversary
in Chicago. Yeah, and sohe stops part way through the gathering and
he says, he says, youjust need to know I'm in two conversations
at once, and the Lord justspoke to me. There are people here
who don't know him. And thisis at a Bible institute. They're celebrating
their hundredth anniversary. And it's BillyGraham saying that even as I'm preaching,

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I'm aware of Jesus. As Pauljust read, I'm experiencing Psalm twenty three,
I'm with the Good Shepherd. Evenas I'm talking about what it means
to know him. You're walking inthat kind of an awareness. And when
you do that, then Jesus said, my sheep, hear my voice,
and he tells us where to go, what to do. If you're walking
in an awareness of Jesus, youwalk in a room of one hundred people

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and you know who it is.I hadn't experienced years ago. I walked
into the Twins locker room and I'masking I have five minutes this particular day,
it's one of the first days ofspring training, so it's jam packed,
it's chaos. All the minor leagueguys are in the building. And
I look around the room. Iknow I have time to talk to one
person, and across the room Isee Rod cru and Rod and I we've
said hello. We don't know eachother very well, but I walked straight

(09:05):
across through him. I come upto Rod and he says, how did
you know? I said, whatdo you mean? How did I know?
He said, seconds ago, Jesusspoke to me and told me that
I'm to give my testimony to thisteam. And he said how would I
How would I do that? AndI said, well, this Sunday,
if mister Rod Crewe wants to comeand speak at Chapel, We're going to

(09:26):
We're going to clear the decks.And that was the beginning of an incredible
friendship. And by the way,I wish there was audio of what Rod
said that day, as he said, you can have all of the Hall
of Fame MVPs bad entitles, youcan have it all, amen. But
he said he said I was missingJesus, and then rod through the years,
he talked about the day when itstruck him that someone had to give

(09:48):
his life, someone had to losehis life for him to have a new
heart, and he said it dawnedon me that wasn't the first time that
happened for me, that Jesus wasthe first to give his life that I
could have a new heart. Andthat story also is in the book that
we are discussing, David mcgiver's bookcalled Looking for the One. That story

(10:09):
is in the book. I rememberreading it maybe a week ago or so.
But you mentioned the name Billy Graham, and I'm really glad you did
because I know you and with PraiseLive where you're the executive director. I
know in the mid nineties, likenineteen ninety six. This is also in
the book. Billy Graham had acrusade at the Metrodome in Minneapolis. A

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man named Ben Gesling who's a frequentcontributor to Faith and Goal, and he
also covers the Minnesota vikings for theStar Tribune. And Ben and I have
known each other for the better partof a decade, but really haven't known
each other until the last three yearswhen we have unified our discussions and unified
the sharpening of the metaphorical iron orthe Bible, Christ, God and led

(10:56):
by the Holy Spirit. Well,that event that you I wrote about at
Metrodome, the Billy Graham Crusade,that's the day Ben as a college student
at the University of Minnesota, hewas there and that was the day he
came to Christ. Oh my,So that really, when I read that
in the book, it caused meto hearken and do many things a that

(11:18):
with Ben. But secondly, it'sI would contend, along with the likes
of course Jesus Christ and the Sermonon the Mount, the greatest speech ever
given in the history of the world. And like Martin Luther King and some
other great speakers over the annals oftime, Billy Graham arguably is the greatest

(11:39):
human speaker outside of Christ that I'veever heard. And why I say that
is because in the fifties and sixtiesand seventies he's sharing, he's evangelizing and
sharing the Gospel and sharing the Bibleto thirty forty fifty sixty thousand people in
football incredible with no teleprompter, No, he's walking around he's away from the

(12:03):
pulpit, so he ain't on hiscards, and the Holy Spirit just has
it flowing powerfully. God rest hissoul. Billy Graham. I have so
much respect, reverence and love forhim. I wish one day I got
the chance to meet him. AndI know you did well. One quick
story from the book about Billy Graham. I'm on a flight from the Twin

(12:24):
Cities to Fort Myers. I'm flyingdown in the spring to spend some time
with the twins and be a partof baseball chapel, and I look for
the one so I pray about myseating assignment. I literally pray as I'm
looking at all the seats available,Jesus, where do you want me to
sit on this plane? Because someone'seternity is hanging in the balance. So
on this flight I help pat withher bag. She's elderly. And then

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I, after praying that, Ispend the entire three hour flight on my
computer and I ignore her other thanintroducing myself briefly mentioning as someone who works
in ministry. And then I ignoreher. So at the end of the
day, I'm asking Jesus about myday. I love to pray this,
Jesus, just anything to repent of. Did I mess up anything, anything

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that brought a smile to you?And this still small voice said, I
moved heaven and earth for Pat tosit next to you. Wow. Today,
literally her heart was ready to receiveme. So I repent, and
as I'm falling asleep, I whisperthis prayer, Jesus, would you please
give me a second chance, helpme see Pat somewhere? Somehow ridiculous prayer.

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Next day, I go to HammondStadium, eight thousand plus people,
beautiful, gorgeous, sunny skies.I take one step into the mezzanine,
and three feet away from me,I look up and Pat and I are
face to face. Wow. AndI said, I want to apologize for
being such poor company. And shesaid, well, she said, I
had this question. I've been waitingfifty years to ask this question. But

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I could see you were busy,and I'm doing the what question have you
been wondering about for fifty years?And she said, well, I'm a
young girl. I go to hearBilly Graham. He gives the invitation,
and so somehow she misses that salvation'sa gift. She's very young. She
thinks that you have to do things. Good works get you to heaven.
Right. So, Paul, shesays to me, I've been waiting fifty

(14:18):
years for someone to tell me.Is that how it works? Which broke
my heart that she's waiting decades.And so I walked her through what Billy
Graham said that day, which iswe're saved by grace. It's not by
works. That it's Salvation's a gift, and that's what the Bible teaches.
That's not our opinion, that's it. It's God's word. And so she
hears this and she bows her headand Jesus forgive me. I received the

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gift of salvation. You died forme, and I repent of my sins,
and I give my life to you. And as she's praying this,
her son walks up and she says, I have to tell you what just
happened. And in that moment theystart to walk away. Said Pat,
just two seconds you mentioned Billy Grahmtwo years ago sharing the gospel with you.
Are you aware of what's taking placeat this second? She has no

(15:03):
idea. I said, Billy Grahampassed away a few days ago. You
just gave your life to Christ duringhis funeral, as people are remembering him,
they're honoring him. Jesus chose thismoment. He gave me a second
chance. He gave you a secondchance. And they're walking away and I'm
Paul, I'm rejoicing, and thenI'm still broken hearted that we're so busy

(15:28):
as followers of Jesus that someone hasto wait fifty years to answer that question.
And it's okay to be broken heart, as the Bible would cheach,
it's okay to be broken hearted overthat. Like the Book of Philippians,
Chapter four, verses six and seven, we are not to be anxious,
instead give thanksgiving and supplication to theLord, which translated for those who don't
like me, know what's supplication means? It like there's a pastor named sm

(15:52):
Lockrich, and when I speak,I will have as a slide some things
he said about prayer. And youknow it's paraphrasing, like instead of praying
about the bruises, a pray aboutthe beautiful things that are happening in life.
And what I'm getting at here isright, It's okay to be broken
hearted, for sure. I meanthat that is a natural quality of man,

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unless you become prisoner to it.So in Philippians four six and seven,
I believe through the Apostle Paul,the teaching via the Holy Spirit is,
Yeah, you're gonna be You're gonnahave anxiety, you're going to be
depressed, you're going to have sorrow, you're going to have a broken heart.
Don't become prisoner to it. It'slike what I said in the opening
before you, before you joined.I mean, you know, there are

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some sins in my life and otherpeople's lives where I'll walk with my head
down. It's just for whatever thereason, I can't. I don't feel
like looking at anybody because I don't. I feel shame. And to to
to walk that walk repeatedly, dayafter day, week after week, it's
exactly what the devil wants. Youknow. What I'm saying here is it's
okay to be broken hearted, butwe're on God schedule, you know.

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So that's exactly when she was supposedto find Christ and find salvation. And
I just find that to be beautiful. It was. It was her moment,
and if you can relate to Paulin this moment, then it's no
accident you're listening to this podcast paulas in me or the apostle. This
is the paul is in you.Yeah, because I'm happy we missed that
salad. So we became friends exactly. But there's something, there's an issue,

(17:25):
there's an area that it's like youfeel guilty over having repented of something
over and over and over. Right. I just a quick story. There
was a one as a chaplain workingwith the Twins Major League Baseball. So
on a Sunday morning, you doa separate service for the Twins, separate
service for their opponent, and thena separate service for the umpires. And
by the way, that's awesome.A quick aside. It has changed my

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life meeting with umpires. The firstfew years it was fourteen seasons with Chapel.
The first few years, the guys, you know, hey, pray
for us. But after five orsix years, the guys that get to
know you start telling you what it'slike. They hear everything you say.
They they watch the replays in HD, they make real time calls, and
they're and they're they're critiqued in HDslow motion and and pray for these these

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guys to schedule what happens to theirfamilies. But anyway, we have the
visitor's chapel. Everyone leaves, andone of the guys visiting team says,
I'm having trouble with my computer.And Paul you you were guys, we
know what that means. He's nothaving trouble with something technical. And so
we have this conversation about pornography.And it's been over ten fifteen years,
and his wife doesn't know, andhe's and he's just so sick of it.

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And I'm so when you're looking forthe one, you're in two conversations
at once. So he's telling meabout pornography, but I'm praying, Jesus,
what would unlock his heart. He'sprayed, He's tried accountability, he's
tried filters on his computer and hisphone, he's tried everything. And this
this is why we read God's word. This phrase came to me from So
I'm thirty seven. Delight in theLord, and He'll give you your heart's

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desire. And so I asked thisguy, would you be willing to answer
a question? Is pornography at thecenter of your walk with Jesus? He
goes, That's all I can thinkabout when I've been free for a few
days. It's all I can thinkabout, I'm keeping score of how many
days I've been away. When Icome back, I don't even dare repent

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anymore, because like, really,God wants to hear me repent of this
for the one millionth time. Hewas just so yeah and add in some
colorful language like this is a man'sman saying I love Jesus, but I
am I'm a wretch. And weprayed this beautiful man he accepted an invitation
to no longer have pornography as thecenter of his walk with Jesus. It's

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not how he keeps score anymore.And I said, from now on,
I'm going to ask you to actuallydelight in the Lord. And he's like,
He's like, that's impossible. Hecould never delight in me. I
could never delight in him. SoI shared with him that while we were
yet sinners, Christ came for us, and that in Zephy and Iiah three
it says that He actually sings overus. So I said, I'm going

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to pray that you have the courageto begin to enjoy Jesus, and the
next time that you slip in thisarea, instead of just repenting, go
actually talk to him, ask himto show your heart, have a conversation
his heart pressed against your heart.But let delight replace pornography. Let his
delight be greater than that addiction.And I shared with him that John Piper

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years ago said that we worship ourway into pornography, and we worship our
way out of pornography. It's justan idol, and so a few it's
a small G from the Old Testament. It is a lowercase G when it's
God. That's a lowercase G.That's a small G. It is.
And it's of course the older menwill say, you young guys, man,

(20:56):
our hearts go out to you.We had to walk into a place
and by a magazine and you allyou know, it's just pick up your
phone and it's incoming. And soa few months later, his his team
comes back to target field and Iran down to the visitor's locker room,
and I'm like, could he reallyhave had any kind of breakthrough with that?
Such a simple word, take thelight in the Lord. And so

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I walk into the locker room andhe's on the other side of the locker
room. He sees me, andhe starts running. And it's either going
to be good or bad. Yeah, And so we meet in the middle
and he picks me up and he'sliterally lifts me off off the ground,
and he says quietly, but hesays for me to hear, he says,
it worked. It worked, hesaid, I am free. I'm

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free. And if and if you'refighting something like the guilt over the divorce,
or something in your finances, wheresomething you can't forgive yourself, a
child who won't even look at you, then then no longer allow that to
be the center of your walk withJesus. Ask the Lord Jesus that to
give you a delight in Him andrepent of the divorce or the finances,

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or the big the big hidden mistake, the thing you're most ashamed of,
no longer gets to be the centerof your walk with Christ. And when
you do that, and you takedelight in the Lord, he will give
you the desire of your heart asan aside to some other questions coming your
way. David, you've mentioned,as have many other people, and you
know from somebody who five years agodidn't know Christ was God on earth,

(22:32):
had never read a word in theBible, and could not quick twitch quote
Philippians four six seven. Yes,it's so through the walk he has me
on. You know, I'll hearpeople say and Jesus said to me,
and I heard Jesus say yes,and I heard God say, unpack that
for me. I mean, isit? Is it? I don't believe

(22:53):
it to be actually audible? Correct? Okay, so explain it. So
when Jesus said, my sheep,hear my voice, there is a witness
as you're walking with Christ and inone area, as you're let's say you're
sitting there with the remote control andyou're flashing through the channels, and all
of a sudden, there's something onthat is it's evil. It's there to

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tempt you. It's there, asJesus said, to steal, kill and
destroy. You won't hear a voicein this moment. But inside of you,
if you when you invite Jesus tosave you, he adopts you,
and he comes and lives within youby his spirit. And so the Holy
Spirit in this in this moment,just whispers change the channel, and more
importantly, the Holy Spirit would whisper, I'm so much better. Don't accept

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a substitute. There's nothing compares withme. Gaze upon my beauty instead of
a false beauty. And so thisstill small voice, my wife Sherry is
amazing. We were moving in twothousand and eight, and so we hire
movers to come to our home.And there's a list of people online that
have moving companies and Sherry, I'mwatching her. She's going down this list

(24:06):
of fifteen twenty companies, none ofwhat she's heard of, and she's praying.
She's asking Jesus which one is it? And she feels prompted. It's
this company from Saint Paul. Andthese three young people come out from Saint
Paul. Moving days, you know, is chaos, and they're cleaning our
home. They're out. Lastly,they're cleaning our garage and all three of
them bow their heads and accept Jesusas Savior and Lord in my garage on

(24:30):
moving day because my wife Sherry tooktwo seconds and just said, Jesus,
would you just draw my attention toone of these companies. And the more
you walk with Jesus, the moreyou are in tune with his gentle,
still small voice. And it's notweird. It's your good shepherd saying no,
no, it's here. Yeah,you know it, you know it's
the discernment He has given you.It is well and golfer and Austin,

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Minnesota native Tom Lehman endorses Dave's book, and he wrote, quote, it
is time for courage and boldness.We are all called to say here I
am, send me end quote.That's exactly what that means. What you
just shared with Sherry and the moversin the garage. Correct. It is
Ian Thomas. Many of us havenot heard of him. World famous evangelists

(25:18):
from the nineteen forties and fifties,and for seven years he's trying to win
people to Christ. He's going outholding meetings, he's doing one on ones
and Paul in seven years there's zerodecisions for Christ. So he does what
you and I would do. Hequits. He's like, God, is
this doesn't make sense. He's mad, and the still small voice of the
Holy Spirit said to him, it'sabout time you quit. You think you

(25:42):
can win someone to me, youthink you can open their eyes. You
think you're at the center of thegospel, right, But you're not.
And if you'd like to tomorrow seewhat I can do through you, then
say here I am send me.Yeah. But Isaiah saw the Lord and
what Tom Layman is referring to twois that when we are sent by the
Lord, it's no longer us asthe center of the gospel. So Ian

(26:04):
Thomas the next day he goes upto one hundred young boys, He shares
the gospel, and he prays beforehe begins speaking, Jesus, you speak
through me. I can't open theireyes. And thirty young boys came forward
accepted Christ. And that's the heartof this book, is that we're asking
Jesus to do this through us becausehe's the one looking for the lost.

(26:26):
He knows where they are and heknows what would open up their hearts.
Well off that, given we areon God's schedule and not ours, how
do we know when it's time todiscuss Jesus in the Bible. You've given
a couple of examples, but bemore detailed if you can, Like,
how have you seen God shows us? Hey, with that whisper, it's

(26:47):
time to open the hearts and helppeople through what the Bible teaches and implores.
All right, Paul, this isgonna be hard for some of our
audience to receive. But I'm drivingthrough Wisconsin packer country, all right,
Can God work and pack her country? Well? Yeah, that just proves
spiritual warfare is real. So I'mdriving along. It's late at night,

(27:07):
you know, it's nearing sundown,and I get asked all the time,
so how do you know who itis? How do you know what God
is saying? And so I'm stoppingat a quick trip for you know,
some fuel, something quick to sipon, and I walk in and here's
how you know who the one isthat is the God appointment for you.
It's because you notice them. SoI walk into this store and there's for

(27:30):
that time of night, there's actuallya lot of people getting groceries. And
I noticed this dear woman I'm gettingI mean easily over eighty years old and
less than five feet tall, andshe's standing with her shopping cart looking up
at the dairy section and she's staringup at this gallon of milk, which
is outside of her reach. AndI'm watching her. And here's the second
way that you know someone is theappointment for you. I just had compassion

(27:53):
on her. It's like I sawher. Yeah, because because what we're
asking Jesus to do is help mesee people both through your eyes. Because
it says in God's word that whenJesus saw people, he saw they were
harassed and helpless like sheep about ashepherd. He saw their hearts, he
saw their needs, He saw thingsthat his disciples didn't see. So when
I went and asked her, canI help you, she said, yeah,

(28:15):
I need help getting that gallon ofmilk, And so I help her
with the milk and I step away. We'd talked for two seconds, and
I'm watching her going around the storeand she's picking up items, but I'm
watching her because I have compassion forher. And so then all of a
sudden, she's very still for amoment. She has her head down,
and then she starts going back andshe's taking things out of her shopping cart

(28:37):
and putting them back on the shelves. And so this is where it is
such a natural thing to walk upand just say can I help you again?
I notice you're putting some things backand she says I'm fine, And
I said, I just want toknow is there something going on, like
why are things going back? Andshe said, well, my family coming

(29:00):
to see me, and I haven'tseen him in about three years, and
it's my chance, my first chancein three years to make a big dinner.
And I really wanted something special,but she said, I can't afford
all this, and so she said, I'm putting it back. So I,
pallly, did what you would do. I said, you're not putting
anything back. We're gonna, we'regonna, We're gonna go get those items.

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And is there anything else that you'dlike for dessert? I mean,
we're like, we're this is goingto be a meal to remember. And
so we go up and all ofour money belongs to Jesus. He gives
us every breath, so it's justhis money, so to pay for that
meal. And we're standing outside byher car loading the groceries into her little
red Ford Taurus and the sun issetting, and I just said, could

(29:44):
I pray for you and for yourgathering? And so she said yes,
and we get done praying and I'mholding her by the hands, and then
I just asked this really simple question, would you like your own relationship with
Jesus? And she said, well, I've gone church, she said,
his little girl, I went andI attended some services and went to some
classes at my church. And becauseshe's felt the love of Jesus, I

(30:07):
don't need to enter into an argumentor discussion with her about her childhood or
was confirmation what she needed. Isimply asked again, I'm so glad for
your your heritage and that your familytook you to church. But here's what
your relationship with Jesus looks like.He died for you. I prayed before
going in the grocery store that hewould show me one that he was looking

(30:30):
for, because he says, I'llleave the ninety nine lambs and go look
for one. And I said,I believe he's looking for you when he
wants to know you. And Paulthe minute she heard that, she just
said I'd like to know him,and so I lead her through this prayer.
She bows her head and we hadchurch in a parking lot in beautiful,

(30:51):
beautiful Wisconsin. So how long wereyou chaplain for the Minnesota Twins.
I started in twenty and eight,so fourteen seasons? Okay, fourteen season.
Now A majority of players from saythe Dominican in Mexico and other places
around around the world are let's say, of the religion based variety. So

(31:12):
how did you or do you conveythe Bible teaches we cannot pray or earn.
We cannot pray enough, like say, five times a day, and
that's the edict, that's the mandate, or earn our way to heaven and
do so respectfully. You know,when someone shares their background, and if

(31:33):
we just discard it, oh,you know that denomination, all that background.
But when you ask somebody what werethe best parts about your faith growing
up? What are the parts thatreally made sense? Was there anything that
didn't work? And I would sharewith them here's some of the parts of
my background where I was raised ina fairly small church, a good church,
but I was raised in a church. They would tell me something like

(31:56):
don't be anxious, but they wouldnever tell me how. And I kept
waiting for someone to stand up ona Sunday morning and say, I'm going
to equip you. I'm going towalk you through how to do this.
And so I would share some ofthe pain points for my background, and
within literally within minutes, somebody ispouring their heart out. Or like Kurt
Suzuki had never been to a chapelservice, and his story is in this

(32:21):
book, so I can share thisone. But Kurt came up to me
one Sunday morning and we've never spoken. His opening words to me, how
do I become the spiritual leader formy family and I since it was a
direct question, I said to Kurt, then you're the one who models what
it looks like to surrender to Jesus. You follow him even though you mess

(32:44):
up, you don't do it perfectly, but you're the first to follow.
And so then I said, sowhy are you asking that question? And
he said, well, your wife, Sherry, because his wife was attending
the Bible studies that my wife wouldlead at the target field, and my
wife felt prompted that his daughter wasto have her own bible, a children's
bible. So Kurt says, wheneverI walk in the door, whether it's

(33:06):
a home game, whether it's late, whether it's early, could be middle
of the night, my daughter walksup to me with this children's Bible and
says, Daddy, read this tome. So he said, I've been
reading. I've been reading the Gospelsto myself. So now I want to
know how am I the spiritual leader. So Kurt gave his life to Christ.

(33:27):
We held a baptism service at hishome and it was it was amazing,
and the little girl who was giventhe bible. Kurt rented a little
one of these little pools to standin. It's tiny, little children's pool.
Yeah, but enough water to getthe job done. And his daughter
comes up and just leans over andjust watches her daddy as he confesses,

(33:47):
Jesus, you're my savior, You'remy only hope, You're my life.
And we baptized him, and amen, and his daughter's in the front row.
And guys, by the way,there's a great study done by promise
keepers. If you, as ahusband and father, if you're the first
to say, let's follow Jesus,the data shows ninety three percent of your

(34:07):
family will follow you spiritually. Threepercent. David, you mentioned the word
equip and it reflect equip and discussare common threads throughout David's book, looking
for the ones stories of seeing theloss, lonely and broken through the eyes
of Jesus. And when I readhere or see the word equip, I

(34:31):
immediately think of the Book of Ephesianswritten by the apostle Paul, Chapter six,
verse ten, where we are equippedwith the whole armor of God and
Ephesians, where Paul is preaching tothe Church of Ephesus from prison or Roman
prison. It's the first three chapterslay the foundation of theology to the church

(34:53):
as to what he's preaching and whythen chapters four through six tocality as to
how then and even now in twentytwenty four, with the whole armor of
God, we can take that outinto the world or that has become our
identity and our lives. But firstyou need the foundation and you hit it.

(35:15):
I mean you hit it many timesin the parts that I've read so
far of the book, reflect equippedand discussed, and those common threads unpack
that for us. Please, whydid you chose choose those words plus some
others prayer and stuff, to bethe common thread? It was really eye
opening to me to ask the guysin Major League Baseball did you at some

(35:37):
point try church? Yes? Didyou know what they were talking about?
I had no idea. Did anyoneever tell you how when someone says,
you know, be pure, stayclear of pornography, like in church,
typically typically what many of us grewup in is is because it's in God's
word, it's his standard, andthat's it. No one ever says,

(35:59):
here's a practical equipping way to dothat. And so I found that when
we walk someone through literally here's ifsomeone says, for instance, that anxiety
is in professional sports. Anxiety isit's the hidden epidemic. It is so
many that will open up to youand say, yes, sir, I'm

(36:20):
losing the battle for the calm andthe piece. And I remember one of
the best conversations I had about anxietywas with James Rawson, who is currently
the hitting coach for a team calledthe Yankees, and James Rolson when he
came to serve with the Twins.He told me that what changed his life
was working with young men to understandtheir identity and their purpose so that they're

(36:45):
standing at the plate, not asperformers, not as baseball players, but
understanding their identity. Yes, sir, now, of course he's gonna be
careful who we can talk to inthe terms of the spiritual side of that.
But when someone wants to to gothere, James Rawson as a follower
of Jesus. What an amazing,amazing guy. And and even so we're

(37:07):
we're talking today after a Yankees defeatof the Twins. I can't shoot against
James Rawson because because I know he'she's equipping you. Here's how you take
all the information, And as hesaid to me, there's more information every
year more data points in professional sportsand more opportunities to be to be anxious.

(37:28):
Yeah, yeah, that's that's beautiful. Yeah right, and in all
sports too, because it used tobe just like analytics and batting average of
balls in play and war and andFIP fielding independent whatever. Yeah it was
baseball. Now it's all over theplace, which means anxiety, potential for
anxiety all over the place because you'reseeing more data. That was I've never

(37:50):
heard it that way. All right, A couple more here. What is
praiselive dot org And what's your role? So I've been honored and blessed to
be a part of Praise Live forthirty eight years. Wow. We started
in western Minnesota, beautiful Osakas,Minnesota, started with a radio station with
a cornfield on one side and agravel road on the other. And years

(38:13):
ago I asked Jesus, this isa great prayer, by the way,
instead of God, here's my needs, like all the things I need from
you. I asked him one time, Jesus, what's on your heart?
And I received I was awakened duringthe night and I spent hours and we
talked a few minutes ago that whenit's God's Spirit speaking to you. You
don't have to wonder. And inthis case, it was an invitation to

(38:34):
begin broadcasting across Africa. Wow,and to change our format to worship.
So like satellite broadcasting, they canpick up raislive dot org. Yes,
that's beautiful. We're on one satellitethat is in forty million homes and we're
on sixty five FM signals across Africa. We're on a station in Beirut,
that's awesome. And we're on astation in Ghana that they told us we

(38:55):
have an emergency meeting with you becausesomething's happened since we put Praise Live on
the air in Ghana. And theemergency was that ever since this worship and
this prayer and this word on thisChristian station, they said, we have
twenty five volunteers here at the station. We can't keep up with the people
coming to the station. This isnot in a Christian community, Christians.

(39:16):
This is a community where Christianity isbelow five percent, right, and they're
streaming to this station saying what mustI do to be saved? Or I've
just heard how to be saved,now walk me through it. So Praise
Live. You can listen at Praiselivedot org. There's a Twin Cities signal
ninety five point three FM, andwe're honored and blessed to be a part

(39:36):
of what God is doing through Christianradio and our format is literally to point
people to Christ. Well save fora second time, I'm really happy we
skip that Salid and I'm really happyGod put us together as friends. And
like I said you know earlier,is I give thanks to God that he
put you in my life and yourbook in my life to learn from you.
And you know, i'd like todo I have another question, but

(39:59):
I'd like to do the again andtalk extensively about prayer because you've mentioned it
repeatedly. I recently spoke at FriendshipChurch in Prior Lake and I dubbed it
think before we speak, you know, do we think before we speak with
God? And then involved prayer andthe Lord's prayer where the only two places

(40:21):
in the Bible. Prayer is taughtextensively the Gospels of Matthew and Luke.
And it was when the apostle Petersaid, Rabbi teacher teach us to pray.
So in essence, you have topray, to pray to learn how
to pray. Yes, and it'sbeautiful. It's as Essm. Lockward said,
it's it's paradoxical. But that's whenJesus in essence was like, I

(40:43):
thought, you'd never ask do itthis way. Our Father art in heaven
Hell, it would be thy name. I'd like to go down that road
with you, maybe in a coupleof weeks with faith and call and talk
extensively about prayer, because I wouldbe honored encouraging people to pray to God
in the name of Jesus. Itsounds, it's sounds good and easy and
righteous in the right way, andit is. But a lot of people

(41:05):
won't concede a they don't pray becausethey don't know how to pray, and
they feel weird. And I justI think that's at the precipice of a
lot of things when it comes todeveloping a relationship with the Bible, recognizing
the Bible is written for us andnot to us. But when you have

(41:25):
a one on one relationship with theBible, that's your one on one relationship
with God. And the parables andmetaphors and symbolism and imagery it puts things.
The Holy Spirit puts things in yourheart that you did not see coming,
and those individual things may not beten of ten in somebody else's heart.
That's the one on one relationship forsomething that is not written to us,

(41:46):
it is written for us. Andprayer is that the precipice. I
truly believe of all of it.So we can unpack that some other time.
But finally, what's the best wayfor those interested in learning the Bible
the unpacking? Where to start andthe importance of handling metaphor and symbolism and

(42:07):
imagery. So first of all,there's so many different translations, and I
encourage you there there's one called TheNew Living, which is it's great in
terms of today's language n L,T and LT. But but I encourage
you there are translations like The NewKing James that have that have a richness,
and I encourage you to have bothof those. So you're buying two

(42:29):
books ones at New King James andor es v uh So or New Living.
And as you're reading God's Word,there are commentaries. And this is
not a commercial, but there's onecalled Enduring Word with David Guzik that has
such amazing insights and he'll he'll quotefrom someone like Spurgeon, who you may
have never heard of, but trustme when you when you if you lived

(42:51):
in the Spurgeon, yeah, ifyou lived years ago, he was He
was the best known preacher on earth. And he had a heart and he
had a way of communicating. Soso having that commentary, and then there's
times you you take the Psalms outand it's not study, it's you're just
you're just reading Psalm twenty seven wherewhere David says, you know, there's
only one thing I want, andthat's just a gaze upon the beauty of
the Lord to inquire in his temple. And and and so you take times

(43:15):
where you simply enjoy God's word.It's not always study, otherwise it begins
to feel academic. And by theway, I'm going to just jump in
here and say something. When you'rereading God's Word, understand who the center
is. You're not the center ofthat book. Amen, and and Paul.
When I listen to you describing aVikings game, this this is that,

(43:37):
this is that, this is atrue analogy. There are announcers,
because I'm I coach broadcasters, thereare announcers who make themselves the center,
even of sporting events. Like theywant to be the center of that and
you have, you have a godgiven gift of taking all of us in
and enjoying it together. And andyou're saying, come and see the view

(43:59):
from here. And there's a humilityabout that because you there's times when you're
you're you're undone by a field goalthat goes just left. I'm not gonna
name, I'm not gonna name whatwhat game it went right, but anyway,
whatever it is. Yeah, Andand there's just something about about seeing
the story together, and that's howyou approach God's word. You're not the

(44:19):
center of it, and you findpeople to read it with you, and
you go on the journey together.And there's rapids that you go through,
there's there's still waters and so twentythree. But it's the greatest love story
ever written. And you you justbegin to read it and and God's Word
never returns empty. It transformed you. You. Thank you for the comp
thank you for the flattering words.That was very kind of you. But

(44:43):
you mentioned translations of Bible. Okay, the original two Bibles were written in
Hebrew and Greek. Yes, okay, So for those of you not familiar
with the story of the Thief onthe Cross. Well, you know we
can I can do. We cando a faith and goal on it,
you know, sometime soon, becauseit's it's a unbelievable story of redemption and
salvation and heaven or paradise out ofnowhere. But it stop smiling place,

(45:09):
because I'm going to try to makeyou smile here or God is through the
Bible. Okay. The first twoBibles written in Hebrew and Greek, so
therefore translation is important. And Iwould imagine you have a high level of
reverence for the Garden of Eden beforethe Serpent came in and Sin entered the
world. Amend to that. Okay, So the Garden of Eden was created

(45:31):
as perfection. It truly was paradise. And you know there was no sin.
Adam and Eve were immortal until Sincame in. So the Garden of
Eden is unbelievably perfect. So nowconsider the story of the Thief on the
Cross. Okay. The Hebrew translationfor the word paradise is enclosed area.

(45:54):
The Greek translation for the word paradiseis garden. Oh my, there's the
smile I feel that inside you.I mean, when Pastor Wes, my
number one teacher, taught me thisa few weeks ago when the thief on
the cross repents and I'm not worthyto be next to you, and Jesus

(46:16):
says to him, truly, Itell you with me today you will be
in Paradise. Truly, I tellyou, with me today, you will
be in the garden. And thegarden of Eden is Heaven is part of
Heaven. Who knows that really movedme when I learned that one about you.
Maybe you knew it already. I'mhearing it for the first time.

(46:37):
Yeah, so was I. It'sso powerful. I mean, I mean,
when you get goosebumps when a sportsguy's talking scripture to you, you
know it's good. Right. I'ma sports guy in the secular and blessed
and give thanks frequently for the abundanceof blessings out of nowhere God gave me.

(46:58):
But they're all walk in shame.And nevertheless, I'll repent of sins,
you know, and I pray alot and I talk to God a
lot. Heavenly Father, thank youvery much for this beautiful day getting the
car drive none of it out ofobligation. But yeah, I'm the sports
guy. That's not my identity,My identity is as a disciple of Jesus
Christ reading this book, this wonderfulbook, I'll look for the one that

(47:22):
you have written to learn how tohandle organic honors God puts in front of
me and us to share the gospelof Jesus Christ. Being this is the
only way to heaven, and gettingto heaven means more than the quick fire
pleasures you mentioned pornography earlier. Thequick fire pleasures we have here, and
just doing it the right way,or learning enough to do it the right

(47:45):
way while recognizing how much God lovesus is the a topic, not how
much we love him. So,as the apostle Paul teaches in the Bible
one of the epistles, if Godgives you that opportunity to share his gospel,
the gospel of a son, takeit. And even if you flell
up a passage, even if yousay something the wrong way, do it,

(48:09):
because the Holy Spirit will take overfrom there. And it's not us
we are just fortunate enough to bethe conduit or the catalyst. It's it's
the Holy Spirit and he'll fill inall the blanks. So that's my identity,
and yeah, it's it's the mostimportant thing to me in my life.
And I'm really really glad we satdown and chatted today. But most

(48:30):
importantly, I'm really glad we skippedthat salad and and looking for the one
your book. Thank you for autographingit for me and giving it to me,
and I look forward to the nexttime we get the opportunity to chat.
The book is available on Amazon lookingfor the one dot Org, Looking
for the one dot org, workingfor the one or hobby Lobby Nationwide hobby

(48:52):
Lobby. If if you have agroup that wants to go through this together,
because the stories take five or sixminutes, forty short stories, yep.
At looking for the one dot Org. They're shocking the numbers forty up
to fifty percent discounts. So yourgroup, can you know, not pay
the retail We want to equip you. And and just if you have a

(49:14):
notepad where you pray. We're notgoing to go into a lot of detail
right now, but this morning Iget I get a note from Mike and
he has a dear dear friend who'sin prison maximum security, facing life in
prison Jesus, who doesn't know Jesus, and and Mike has been telling him
that it's not too late in thatGod still sees him, and he's been
telling him about this book. Andso this morning, this this guy facing

(49:37):
life in prison, said I wantto read that because he loves sports,
and so would you pray because I'mI'm writing a note to him in the
front page of his book, andI have no idea what to write to
a guy named John who at thispoint is today sitting in solitary confinement no
chance of parole. And I'm I'mpraying that the Lord Jesus gives me a

(49:58):
verse because I'm gonna I'm going toshare something that Jesus said to him right
way better than something for me.So Looking for the One, by the
way, this is this is thisisn't the fine print. When you go
look for the One, each dayyou become like the One. Yeah,
you become like Jesus. That's whathappens. Even incrementally, you become like
Jesus. Thank you. David mcgiver'sbook is Looking for the One and is

(50:22):
available all over the place, includingLooking for the One dot Org. We
thank producer Eric Nordquist and I'm PaulAllen. Keep your palms to the sky,
and thanks as always for listening.To faith and Paul