Friday, April 21st | D.L. Moody

Welcome back, everyone. Today is Friday, April the 21st. I'm Ryan Hill.

I'm Jon Galantis. You're listening to Clearview Today with Dr. Abbadon Shaw, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. You can visit us online at ClearviewTodayShow.com. If you have any questions for Dr. Shaw or suggestions for new topics, send us a text at 252-582-5028, or you can send us an email at contact at ClearviewTodayShow.com.

That's right. You guys can help us keep this conversation going by supporting the show, sharing it online, leaving us a good review on iTunes or Spotify, anywhere you get your podcasting content from. We're going to leave a link in the description of this podcast so you can do just that. But right now, I think it's time for the word of the verse, I should say, of the day. The word of the day. My day is coming directly from the Lord. Do you want to read it, my friend? I would love to.

Let's do it. The verse of the day today comes from John 20, verse 19. Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst and said to them, peace be with you. Yeah, because this is their reaction of seeing a dead man come to life. I can imagine they're shaken to the core. Those first words from Jesus, peace be with you, just, hey, chill. It's all good.

Take a breath. Imagine someone raising up from the dead, someone you saw killed. That's already pretty traumatic to see someone killed. Maybe in the ancient world that wasn't the case, but I feel like that would still do something to you to see your best friend executed right in front of your eyes.

Yeah. We talk about this all the time. We live on this side of the resurrection. We know as we're reading the story that Jesus is coming back to life. The disciples heard that and they might have even believed that, but they had never seen that. They'd never seen somebody raise themselves of their own power. They'd seen Jesus bring people back to life, for sure, but somebody coming back on their own.

This was unprecedented. It also says that the doors were locked, and then Jesus came and stood in their midst. Yeah, just right through the wall. Just like, poof, here I am.

And then you feel his body, but it's somehow solid. Then Jesus' words are just like, relax, you're good. I literally can't relax.

Honestly, that would be my reaction to you. I think we need to hit the gripe vine real quick before we start this episode for the day. The gripe vine. We need to harvest a plucky gripe. Here's what I'm going to do right here.

I'm going to pluck this right. We talked about Mexican food yesterday, I'm not going to lie. It really got me in the mood for some Mexican food. So then I started thinking about all the times that I've gone out to Mexican food, like with my family or just with other people with friends and stuff. White people. And I hate to start anything like that.

I really hate to start a cycle like that. I know where you're going with this because I have a similar gripe about why do we order Mexican food with an accent? Why do we do that?

What are you trying to prove? Señor, can I get the steak empanadas? Can I get the quesadilla with the tapas and gazpachos?

What are you doing? It's like, before our meal, could we get an order of tortillas? Tortillas. I'm like, Britney, settle down. You know, you took two years of Spanish in high school.

I'm down. And they try to pass it off like it's normal for them. That's how the word is. Or you get the complete opposite problem where you get the Midwestern mom who's like, can I get two tacos on a corn tortilla? I would really love to have two tacos. Do you want a quesadilla, Billy? Billy, do you want a quesadilla? Yeah, we're going to have a quesadilla as well. That's all.

Neither one of those is good. No, no. Just be normal. Just be normal. I don't feel like that's too much to ask. Just kind of like take a breath, take it all in.

You don't have to prove anything to anybody. It's okay. You can even just point to the menu and be like, can I have this? That's all right.

I don't see it a lot, but I definitely see it sometimes where they're like, can I get the fajitas? Why are you doing that, mom? Stop. It's not cute.

I spin this over abroad and that's just how I say it now. No, you don't. No, you don't. Yeah. It's not.

It's not cute. Or just like people like me who just get tacos every single time and that's all I ever get. Or there's like nachos with beef and cheese and that's it. Cause I don't want to say all these fancy words. Yeah. I might want to order something else, but I'm scared I'm going to pronounce it wrong.

I'm scared to say it wrong. Yeah. It's like you said, I do that sometimes in restaurants where like I see it, but it's like, it's like got those, this isn't even in Mexican restaurants, but it's just like fancy titles where it's like got the Glamburger or like the, yeah, like something like that. Like the flaunt, the, you get like a flaunt tray instead of an entree, you got to flaunt it. I'm like, can I just have this? I just want that. I want that. Can I have that right there? And they try to make you say it.

They're like, I don't have my glasses. What does that say? I don't want to say it.

Here, I'll hold it closer. Can I, can I have a, can I have a Glam Wow Burger please? A what?

A Glam Wow Burger. Oh man. It's kind of two gripes in one. Yeah. Cause I also don't like when restaurants give like fancy, silly names that I got to say.

Write in and let us know if this is your gripe or if you are guilty of doing this. Love to hear some of your stories of things that you may have mispronounced. Love to hear that. Can I get the prosciutte or the bruschetta with a side of mozzarella. Oh my goodness. We've got a great episode playing for you guys today. We're continuing our discussion through Malachi. So we're going to get Dr. Sean in just a minute, but if you have questions or suggestions for new topics, send us a text at 252-582-5028 or visit us online at cleareadtodayshow.com. We'll be back after this. Hey there, listeners.

I'm John Galantis and I'm Ellie Galantis. And we just want to take a quick second and talk to you about Dr. Shah's and Nicole's book, 30 Days to a New Beginning, daily devotions to help you move forward. You know, this is actually the second book in the 30 days series. And the whole point of this devotional is to help us get unstuck from the ruts of life. And when it comes to running the race of life, it matters how you start, but a bad start doesn't ultimately determine how you finish the race. You can have a good finish even with a bad start. And that's where this book comes in. No matter who you are or where you are in life, you're going to get stuck.

Instead of going out and buying some gadget or some planner like I know I've done several times. I know that's right. 30 Days encourages you to find your fresh start in God's word. Life doesn't have a reset button, but our God is a God who does new things.

His mercies are new every day, which means every day is a new chance for you to start over. You can grab 30 Days to a New Beginning on Amazon.com. We're going to leave a link in the description box below. And if you already have the book, let us know what you think about it.

That's right. Send us a text 252-582-5028. Share what God has done in your life through this devotional. Hey, maybe we'll even read your story on the air. Ellie, you ready to get back to the show?

Let's do it. Welcome back to Clear View Today with Dr. Abbadon Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. You can visit us online at ClearViewTodayShow.com or if you have any questions or suggestions for new topics, send us a text at 252-582-5028. That's right. And if you're joining us for the very first time today, we want to welcome you to the show, let you know who's talking to you. Dr. Abbadon Shah is a PhD in New Testament textual criticism, professor at Carolina University, author, full-time pastor, and host of today's show.

You can find all of his work on his website at AbbadonShah.com. That's right. Dr. Shah, happy anniversary. Oh, for what? Is it not your anniversary? My anniversary? Is it your anniversary?

It's not my anniversary. No. Wait, hold on. Wait. That's, that's the... Oh, no, it's not my anniversary. Check. Quick. No. Today is... Three texts from my wife.

How dare you? Today is an anniversary, but it's none of our... None of ours. You cheeky little buzzard. I really thought it was somebody's anniversary. I was like, I know it's good and well.

It's not... You got to try to pull a fast one. There you go. Today is an anniversary. It is the anniversary of D.L.

Moody's conversion. Right. That is a significant date, a significant figure in Christian history who's had a profound impact on the way we approach ministry, the way we think about Christianity as a whole. April 21st, 1855.

He was born February 5th, 1837. So, in American context, his pre-Civil War, but his conversion also pre-Civil War, but then much of his ministry really took place after the Civil War, I would say. I did not know D.L. Moody was pre-Civil War.

Yeah, that's right. So, for the benefit of our listening audience who may or may not be as familiar with D.L. Moody and his life and his ministry, can you give us kind of just an overview of who he was, what he did, what was his life about? If I were to summarize his life, it was a life that was lived with focus. It was a life that was lived with a sense of urgency, and it was a life that greatly relied and had a sense of confidence in God's power, if you know what I mean. I mean, of course, his life was marked with a desire to see every man, woman, boy, girl, doesn't matter who they are, what they look like, come to know Jesus Christ. But if I were to say, how did he go about doing that?

It would be with focus, urgency, and with strong faith in God. It seems you can always tell the greats and the hallmarks of Christian leadership, because it's kind of hard to distill them down into one word, like, this man was a preacher. Yes, that's true, but is that who he was?

Was that his identity? I mean, it seems like there's so much more that he contributed to Christianity other than just preaching or just sermons. To know the hallmarks of his life and to know the core of his values means that he contributed much more than just preaching sermons. Well, in a sense, he was not a preacher.

Really? No, he was not seminary-trained or I'm-called-to-be-a-pastor type preacher or minister or whatever we call him nowadays. He was a businessman.

I mean, a shoe salesman, right? I mean, that's who he was. And in 1861, so pre-Civil War, right before the Civil War, he gave up his business to follow God. And he worked with, he was part of the YMCA. YMCA was just kind of really taking off. So 1863, he was working with the YMCA.

I'm on the board of YMCA here in town, so it's kind of cool to think about that. The connection there. His legacy there.

Yeah. And then from there on, there was, you know, here and there meetings were happening and he was doing things. But then in 1871, with the Great Chicago Fire, which destroyed Illinois Street Church and Moody's Home, it radically changed his perspective. And historians tell us that he experienced this sense of intensity and power from God that allowed him to do what he did. And his legacy continues to this day.

Wow. And, you know, I can't help but think, like, from a life like that of a man who, like you said, Jon, is so difficult to kind of distill into one word or one phrase or one sentence. He's had such tremendous impact and continues to, we continue to see that impact. There's got to be some lessons that we can derive from his life. Well, you know, we're living in crazy times, right? I mean, these are crazy times. We've been through so many crises since in the past 20 some years. I mean, start with 9-11. And then after that, the Iraq War, the Afghanistan War, the Great Recession that took place in 2007, 8, 9, followed by ISIS and all those horrific images and videos and pictures.

I mean, it's just terrible. And then just before, just when you think, oh, things are okay, all of a sudden, you know, school shootings and, you know, all the violence that went on in the streets of our country, you know, the hatred, the division among people, whether it's based on color or based on economic status or political views. I mean, just so much craziness has happened in our nation.

You know, violence, you know, the hate against police officers. And then of course, 2020 happened. And all of a sudden the world shut down and people are divided and still divided and living in fear.

And then the violence in our streets and destruction of businesses in 2020. I mean, this is all much we can say. And we tend to think this is it. This is the world in which we live. But think about the world in which D.L.

Moody began his ministry. Okay. So we just mentioned that the year 1861 pre-civil war, civil war. Our nation is divided into two halves. Yeah. We, we tend to think that it's, it's, it was all calm and farms and trains and the industrial revolution. Everything's just kind of booming, but yeah, we're literally at war with our own country.

We're shooting each other. Right. We're not like, you know, bad people in the streets or crazy terrorist or, you know, people with mental health. No, these are people.

Right. Americans. Americans killing each other. So imagine the world in which he began his ministry. That's mind blowing, isn't it? That is, that is, that is crazy to think about.

And then the president of the United States is assassinated. Okay. That's also happening right in Moody's ministry. Yeah.

Cause that wasn't history for him. That's just textbook. Yeah. That's textbook information for us, but like that's the president was just killed and assassinated.

It's something that he has to live through and lead his congregation and lead his followers through. Yeah. Right. And then, you know, let's just kind of, for time's sake, jump forward. You know, you're thinking about all the mass immigration that was happening in America. I mean, hundreds of thousands of people are coming who knows what they are, what they believe, who they are, all those kinds of things similar to what we're struggling with today.

They were struggling with that. And then followed by that came the gilded age, you know, this is the new industrial economy you know, with the railroads and telegraph. And, you know, if you ever heard the word robber barons, you know, you know, kind of, it's not, it's a negative term. Of course, those people had their problems, but they also, you know, there was a show on TV, you know, these are the men who built America, you know, so there's some positives there, but people don't remember those positives.

They only see the negatives of Vanderbilt's and Carnegie's. The rise of the billionaires. Yeah. The Morgans and, and you know, all these people, we just only see the negatives, but this is the age in which he's living. And, and economic recessions are happening and political divisions and liberal theology is really coming to the forefront.

We were really talking about that earlier today, like how, how denominations and how theology well, not maybe not theology, but how these thoughts, these schools have thought about that change over time and how it affects people's ministries. Right. I mean, Richard Niebuhr said this, he said at Yale, you know, he was at Yale, he summarized this this way.

He said, a God without wrath brought men without sin into a kingdom without judgment through the ministrations of a Christ without a cross. This is the world in which Moody was. Say it one more time. Sure. Say it one more time.

Okay. So Richard Niebuhr said, you know, this is this era of Protestant liberalism. It was an era of a God without wrath brought men without sin into a kingdom without judgment through the ministrations of a Christ without a cross. So yeah, we're living in some crazy times, but you know, in some ways I'm not going to say completely, I think, I think we're living in worse times today, but in some ways, you know, this was quite similar. His world wasn't a cakewalk. He had his work cut out for him.

Yeah. How do you, how do you think that affected his ministry? Like what was, what was his ministry even about? Well, it was about one thing in one thing, which was to seek and save that which was lost. So he was evangelistic full force.

Oh yes. And he was not the most eloquent person. He didn't have a dynamic pulpit personality. He was, you know, he was just him and nonetheless, his methods, his means of you know, staying focused and seeking God to help him and then preaching the gospel to hundreds of thousands of people. I mean, that was his way of reaching the world.

Wow. And he was in many ways even ahead of his time. I mean, we're talking about the 1870s, 1880s and all that. He made it very clear. I mean, he was going to have both black and white people in his audience, you know, which was, which at that time was not, was not, was unheard of.

And, and he was like, nope, that's how we're going to be. He embraced racial, you know, coming together and hearing the gospel of Jesus Christ because he felt that everybody needs to be saved. I think that's, I think that's significant because we see that a lot today in the, in the form of virtue signaling, where we're going to make sure that we have racial equality across our congregations. We're going to make sure that we give different people platforms in which to operate in a time where it's very, very, very safe to do that. You know what I mean?

There's no risk involved in that at all. And you kind of benefit by looking virtuous or looking inclusive in a world that's not, but really it is, but his world was not. Right, right. And, and people recognized it. You know, there were others who began to see that this, this is a man of God and he is, he is onto something. When he went to England, you know, his first visit to Great Britain, this is, I believe, 1867 or something like that. And he had the opportunity to meet C.H. Spurgeon, preach, preach.

I think he preached in his pulpit. Really? Oh yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. What an honor. And then some, you know, some British royalty and all that. But then he also met George Mueller and one day I would love to talk about George Mueller. George Mueller ran an orphanage in England and what a man of faith.

And I think we need that kind of sense of faith in God that, hey, God's work will not lack supplies. That's right. So anyway, this was D.L.

Moody and I'm a just amazing man. Yeah. You talked about him being evangelistic and focused and specifically him being focused and driven to his goal. How did he approach evangelism? Like what were his avenues? What did he, what opportunities did he seek out or what opportunities were given to him? Mass evangelism was big. Okay. And you know, what we saw later on through, let's say Billy Graham or Billy Sunday or you know, back up a little bit, Sam Jones, all these guys, they're pretty much in a sense, copying D.L.

Moody. Of course go further back. Then you have, you know, Finney, Charles Finney and then second grade awakening and first grade awakening. I mean, same principles. It's like get people together so a person can talk to them and convince them of the gospel of Jesus Christ. So he was kind of in that same line of bring a big crowd together and share the gospel with as many people as possible. Yeah. And he did that here in America and he of course did it in England as well.

Wow. You kind of mentioned earlier that, you know, cause I always assumed that he was a preacher first and foremost, but you mentioned that he, you know, he's not a preacher by trade. He was, he was a businessman that sort of gave everything up to follow God and that he wasn't particularly eloquent. You know, he wasn't that great of a speaker. He wasn't this big dynamic communicator or orator or whatever.

And so I'm just wondering like, like how do you get this? I mean, because nobody's perfect and we know D.L. Moody's not a perfect man.

Let me just say this. He was definitely far from perfect. He was, he would get frustrated and sometimes just angry about things. And then later he would apologize and say, I'm so sorry.

That was, that was just not acceptable. And he would publicly apologize. So he would, you know, he would lose his temper because he wanted things done this way.

We've got to do this way so we can have the results and people would, you know, forget like one time it was right. Like, like, just like where we are right now, this is Easter week. Pastors are busy. So he has a crusade. He has a big crusade.

They didn't call them crusades, I think. But anyways and so many of the pastors didn't respond to him because they were busy with the churches. He's like, okay, I'm shutting it down. He shut the whole thing down? Shut the whole thing down.

Or at least tried. And it was, it was horrible. And people were like, oh no, no, no, don't do that.

A lot of money and time has been spent on this. So, you know, he had a hot temper in that sense. So I have to remind myself too, you know, that's not a smart thing to do. Never is. So there's a place for being passionate and dealing with things, but not in the sense of just losing it. But it is interesting. I think that, you know, we, we do point out those flaws because we see those same flaws within us.

And so, I mean, I think it's a reminder for me that, you know, I struggled to be eloquent or to say something impactful or to say the right words in the right order to make the most impact. And a lot of times you see these men of God that weren't eloquent, you know, and they never claimed to be, and yet still God worked amazing way things through them. I mean, I could tell you stories, you know, my exposure to D.L. Moody actually came when I was in India.

Really? Because my dad really admired him because my dad did a lot of mass evangelism, you know, crusades, revival meetings, and he even worked as a translator for the Billy Graham crusade. So, you know, he had books by D.L.

Moody, Spiritual Power and all those kinds of books and, you know, just reading some of the stories. And this, this one guy who was really, his name was Joshua Summers. He was kind of an old civil litigation attorney, sort of made a lot of money, very skeptical of Moody and his tactics, you know, these, these, these charlatans, these people who try to dazzle the common people who cannot reason and understand the, you know, the scientific things. And so he went to listen to Moody.

This is in Philadelphia. And at first he was very skeptical until Moody began to speak. And when he began to speak, he was like, oh, this guy, just not really much of a charlatan because he's just like bumbling his way through. But he could sense the presence of God, you know, all of a sudden the sense of God's holiness and a sense that eternity could begin any moment. And he's, Moody is preaching and he's talking about how you don't have much time, you know, this is it. And, you know, Christ is knocking at the door of your heart. And this, before he knew it, this young man or 45-year-old man was out of front, giving his heart to Jesus Christ. It plays into the urgency you were talking about earlier. That was part of his character is that you really can't afford to wait. Jesus could come back at any moment. Yeah.

Yeah. Now there's another story where this, there's a little boy named Paul Rader. He was trying to get inside the tent to listen to Moody. And so he's like trying to find a way and he finally sees an opening, but then there's a man standing there. He's like, sir, I'm trying to get in to the tent.

He's like, why do you want to get into the tent? He said, because I want to hear Mr. Moody. I really want to hear Mr. Moody. And he's like, well, why do you want to hear Mr. Moody?

Because he's the best preacher ever in the world. I want to hear him. He's uh, it's tight in there.

Okay. Hang on to my coattails. And he said, we're going to go in and keep hanging on. You let go, you're going to, you're going to run over because there's a lot of people in there.

So this little boy hangs onto this man's coattails. He's walking, he's walking through the aisles, walking here, walking all the way up to the stage and sits down. It was D.L. Moody. Oh, wow. It was him that led him through?

Paul Rader got saved. Of course you're going to become the pastor of Moody, Moody church. Wow. That's cute.

That's awesome. I mean, here's how, here's how D.L. Moody is even impacting other than he's impacted my life. You know, I've read, I read on him and his book on spiritual power, which is an amazing book.

I want to, we have, I want on Wednesday nights, right? I don't know if we knew that, but because of Paul Rader's influence, Lance Latham and Art Rorham are the ones who started Awana. Wow. Really? I didn't know that. And his influence because of D.L. Moody.

Because of that little boy who grabbed onto his coattail later. The people who started Awana came to know the Lord. That's incredible. Are influenced by him. So it was Billy Sunday. That is a, that is a powerful legacy. So people are getting saved in that church today because of this shoe salesman whose father died at an early age and didn't have much money trying to survive until God saves him and he touches the world and still touching the world with a gospel. That just points back to his ministry, his impact has got to be a work of the Holy Spirit. I mean, just the idea of, of, of matching preaching with music, worship music. I mean, this is really starting with Moody in a sense.

I'm sure there were people here and there before that, but Ira Sankey, right? This was Moody's music man. And the whole idea of I'm going to preach, you sing and you invite people.

I mean, this, this, this combination, this, this tag team was Moody. It began with him. Wow. And even to this day, you're writing songs and you're writing songs, David in the back. I mean, where do we get this idea from?

Yeah, the pastor and his songwriting team and they go hand in hand, you know, worship and you've got preaching and they go together to make this. Wow. That's, that's interesting. I really didn't know that it came from there. Yeah.

Legacy that we're standing on. That's right. Wow. That's incredible. I mean, I just want to say this. I mean, his dependence on the Holy Spirit and without going crazy, without craziness, it's quite interesting. It's very powerful. And if there's one thing I learned from him and Ari Torrey was also influenced by, um, DL Moody, uh, it's is that as how do you surrender to the, to God and let the Holy Spirit work through you? Not in craziness, not emotionalism, not impulsive behavior, but the power behind it.

That to me is the greatest legacy. Wow. I hope you guys enjoyed today's episode. If you have questions or suggestions for new topics, send us a text to two five two five eight two five zero two eight. Or you can visit us online at clearviewtodayshow.com and talking about impacting people with the gospel. You can partner with us and help us do that very thing.

Click that donate button mark in that comment field that it's a gift for Clearview today. And we, uh, we thank you in advance for your partnership, your obedience to God's calling to spread the gospel to the nations. Amen. Dr. Shah, do you have a quote from Mr. Moody that you want to end on today? Well, I don't have a quote per se, but just to just a little section from his book, um, the book on the Holy Spirit, secret power is what it's called.

I mean, I would love to read the whole section, but I don't, I don't think we have time for that, but here's, here's his, his closing remarks on this. He says, uh, the Holy Spirit is closely identified with the words of the Lord Jesus. It is the spirit that quickened it.

The flesh profit at nothing. The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life. The gospel proclamation cannot be divorced from the Holy Spirit unless he attend the word in power.

Vain will be the attempt in preaching it. Human eloquence or persuasiveness of speech are the mere trappings of the dead. If the living spirit be absent, the prophet may preach to the bones in the Valley, but it must be the breath from heaven that will cause the slain to live. Christ was raised up from the grave by the same spirit and the power exercise to raise Christ's dead body must raise our dead souls and quicken them. Amen. You know, no power on earth can quicken a dead soul by the same power that raised the body of Jesus Christ out of Joseph. Wow. We can go on and on, but it's so powerful. That's beautiful. We love you guys. We'll see you next time on Clearview Today.