Welcome to Anchored by Truth brought to you by Crystal Sea Books. In John 14:6, Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” The goal of Anchored by Truth is to encourage everyone to grow in the Christian faith by anchoring themselves to the secure truth found in the inspired, inerrant, and infallible word of God.

Script:

Today is a holy day for the Lord. … the joy you have in the LORD is your strength."

Nehemiah, chapter 8, verse 10, God’s Word Translation

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VK: Hello! I’m Victoria K. Welcome to Anchored by Truth brought to you by Crystal Sea Books. We want to thank you for joining us as today we conclude a series we began several weeks ago on Anchored by Truth. We entitled this series “Why am I here?” We wanted to do this series because a lot of Christians today are troubled by what they see going on around them. And a lot of people, especially younger people, today are starting to experience what one of our listeners called “malaise and lack of direction in life.” In our last time on Anchored by Truth we spent some time on what we have termed a believer’s “calling.” One way of looking at why we Christians are here is to see what the Bible has to say about our characters, careers, and callings. So, in previous shows we had discussed characters and careers so last time we focused more on callings. And one of the points we made is that every Christian has a calling – every single one of us. Since we spent so much time on the fact that all Christians have a calling it would be reasonable for someone to ask us, Crystal Sea – what is our calling? Today, we want to answer that question – or at least give our listeners the answer as God has revealed it to us at this time. So, today our guest in the studio will be – US. Or more properly today we want to share with our listeners samples of various products that Crystal Sea has developed or is developing – along with a brief explanation of why we see that product as part of us fulfilling our calling. You see – we see Crystal Sea’s calling as trying to help other believers fulfill their callings – especially to provide help in specific areas that we have found many, if not most, struggle.

For instance, a lot of Christians have not spent very much time learning what the Bible has to say about the creation of the universe. Yet, this is a critical area for us to understand in a world where the Bible’s description of creation is often under attack. So, to help believers begin to think more deeply about God’s creative activity one of our upcoming audio products will be called The Genesis Saga. Here is an excerpt from part 1 of The Genesis Saga which we call Seven Days of Wonder.

---- SEVEN DAYS OF WONDER SAMPLE [1]

VK: Did you notice in that sample how the creative activity on those days was described in rhyme along with some supporting music and sound effects. People, especially kids, absorb information far more readily when it’s engaging and rhythmic. If we were to ask most people “what day did God create plants” the most common answer we would probably get would be the first or second day. But the accurate answer to the question is “day three.” That’s one of the benefits of pairing Biblical truth with rhyme. It helps people think about the information more and notice things they hadn’t noticed before. So, with that in mind, listen to this sample from part three of The Genesis Saga – which we call The Serpent’s Poison.

---- THE SERPENT’S POISON SAMPLE [2]

VK: There are some parts of that sample that are downright creepy, aren’t there. They are meant to be – because evil is creepy – and Satan is creepy. Satan was the one that brought evil to our earth and universe. Christians know that but how often do we think about that moment in the Garden of Eden when evil actually entered a creation that God had pronounced “very good.” What a devastating moment for our first parents – and for us. And how that moment changed creation and forever altered how we would answer the question “why am I here.” So, as people and believers, if we don’t understand that moment we can’t really understand the grand saga of creation, fall, and redemption. If that moment hadn’t occurred there would never have been a need for us to do this series on Anchored by Truth. But it did occur and we must all now deal with the continuing effects. The voice actor who played the part of Satan, who goes by Fitz, did a great job of bringing the evil that had already characterized Satan to life. And by doing so he helps us all think more carefully about how gracious God was that God didn’t let that first evil act in creation doom us all forever. That’s why we would rather celebrate God’s goodness rather than simply lament our first parents’ foolishness. Well, part of God’s plan of redemption that began immediately after the fall was for God’s only begotten Son to come to earth and pay the price for Adam and Eve’s – and our – sin. But Jesus’ arrival on this earth didn’t occur in a vacuum. There was an entire plan and history of redemption. And one of the most important figures in that history was the messenger that God sent right before Jesus arrived on the scene. Let’s listen to this.

---- BAPTIZER JOHN [3]

VK: Baptizer John only lasts about 3 minutes. But did you see how anyone – kids, parents, grandparents – anyone can learn about a very important part of the plan of redemption in just those 3 little minutes. That piece even contains the detail about John the Baptist’s father, Zechariah, not being able to speak after he received his vision that, despite their advanced ages, he and his wife would have a son. That comes from the Gospel of Luke, chapter 1, verses 11 through 25. Our song contains a condensed version of the entire life of John the Baptist but when we tell these songs we try to be sure that we are being faithful to the actual Bible story. Again, that’s what we see as our calling – to help people know the Bible more thoroughly and also be encouraged to study it more carefully for themselves. The Genesis Saga and Baptizer John are two example of how we do that. But one of the other areas where we know people sometimes struggle is with prayer. So, we prepare recorded prayers supported by inspirational music to help people get started with prayer or to share with friends. Here is one of our favorite prayers – a prayer of Adoration for the Father.

---- PRAYER OF ADORATION FOR THE FATHER [4]

VK: And here is a short sample of a prayer for a common need people experience – a prayer for someone about to have surgery.

---- PRAYER FOR MEDICAL PROCEDURE [5]

VK: And another area where we know people sometimes struggle is with what we call “beginning the conversation” – that’s when you have that friend that you have wanted to reach with the truth of the Gospel but you don’t know how to begin the conversation. Can you do that with humor? We think so. For instance, one question a lot of people have about the story of Noah and the flood is how could all the animals fit on the ark? Well, it was a really big boat. Here is a sample from one of our Life Lessons with a Laugh series that makes that point.

---- NOAH LIFE LESSON SAMPLE [6]

VK: And here’s a sample from our upcoming audio series based on our fictional book The Doors of Destiny. This sample is all about a hero coming back to life. Have you even heard about that anywhere?

---- DOORS OF DESTINY SAMPLE [7]

You could give a copy of just about any of our Life Lessons or a copy of Doors of Destiny to just about anyone as a “conversation starter.” If they became curious and asked you more about some of what they learned it can help you “ease in” to a conversation about your faith very naturally. As we have said – our calling is to try to help you with yours. And we are all called to testify about our faith in Jesus. Sometimes it’s easy. Sometimes it’s not. But if it’s not we can help you begin the conversation.

In this “why am I here” series one of the big points we’ve wanted to help everyone understand is that God loves and values all of us. That’s fundamental to our knowing why we are here. But God expects us to carry His love forward – not to just hold it for ourselves. And part of us doing that is by fulfilling the calling that God has for us individually. For some of us that calling may be directly linked to our career – such as pastors or ministry leaders – but for many of us it won’t be. For instance, we know of doctors leading Sunday School classes, stay-at-home moms serving as counselors in crisis pregnancy centers, mechanics cooking in the church kitchen, and airline employees serving as part time pastors. All of us have a kingdom calling. And while the Bible may not tell us individually what that calling is, it gives us some clear principles for us to follow in discovering our calling for ourselves.

[FLEX MATERIAL] The first principle we must follow is to check the calling we think we’ve gotten and be sure that it is scripturally sound. The second is to recognize that our calling may be singular or plural. Often we will be alongside others who have been called but if God calls us alone we must be prepared to stand alone. A third principle we must recognize is that our calling may be continuous or it may be episodic. We may be called at specific times for specific reasons or our initial calling may last a lifetime. And a fourth principle is that our calling or the circumstances of our call may change over time. This does not mean we have been unfaithful or failed. It simply means a sovereign God knows better about what He wants and when He wants it than we can. Our role is to respond prayerfully and faithfully when we can discern what He wants. And one more principle about our calling is that there may be seasons in our life when we may not be actively involved in a specific calling. During those seasons God is preparing us for what is next. There will never be a time in our life when God does not want us to be serving Him. But there are seasons of life that are similar to the seasons that God designed in the natural world. Sometimes we are to be actively serving and other times we may be resting and preparing for the next season of activity. It takes wisdom to know and follow God’s leading but if we follow His lead He will give us rest when we need it and work to do when we need that.

Usually, we close with one of our prayers but we’ve already given you a lot to think about today. So, we will close by praying that each and every one of the listeners to Anchored by Truth is truly and wonderfully blessed. We count it a privilege to serve the cause of Christ and we hope we can help you experience that joy and power also. Blessings to you all from all of us at Crystal Sea Books. Always remember as we heard in our opening scripture “the joy of the Lord is our strength.”

VK: Before we close we’d like to remind our audience that a lot of our radio episodes are linked together in series of topics so if they missed any episodes in this series or if they just want to hear one again, all of these episodes are available on your favorite podcast app. To find them just search on “Anchored by Truth by Crystal Sea Books.”

If you’d like to hear more, try out crystalseabooks.com where “We’re not perfect but our Boss is!”

(Bible Quote from the God’s Word Translation)

2 Chronicles, chapter 20, verse 15, God’s Word Translation