0:01 finish this sentence the greatest tragedy in life is
0:06 when I think in the past I would have
0:08 said the greatest tragedy of life is
0:10 when a parent loses a child or or when a
0:12 young child loses their parents but a
0:15 few years ago my brother said the
0:17 greatest tragedy in life is when we stop talking to God
0:20 now what he meant was is
0:23 for the Christian the greatest tragedy
0:26 in life is when we stop talking to God
0:30 I had never heard anyone say that before
0:31 but the more I thought about it the more it made sense
0:33 this is Brad Bright
0:36 welcome to the God is the issue podcast where I
0:38 show how God is the issue in every issue
0:42 if you're a Christian what would
0:44 you say was the greatest moment in your life
0:46 getting married having your first child
0:49 or becoming a child of God
0:52 now let me ask you three more related questions
0:54 what happens when you
0:56 stop talking to your spouse or your
0:58 spouse stops talking to you the
1:00 relationship dies right what happens
1:02 when you stop talking to your child or
1:04 your child stops talking to you again
1:07 the relationship dies
1:08 so what happens when you stop
1:11 talking to God the relationship dies now
1:15 folks I'm not talking about your salvation
1:17 I'm talking about experiencing
1:19 the joy and peace of your salvation I'm
1:22 talking about how to make the Christian Life
1:25 work folks if you're not talking with
1:27 God throughout the day I already know
1:29 the Christian Life life is not working
1:30 for you because the Christian Life is
1:32 simply a relationship with the Living
1:34 God and good relationships require good
1:38 communication so if the most important
1:40 relationship in your life is your
1:42 relationship with God and if it is true
1:45 that if you stop talking to God your
1:47 relationship with him will die then
1:49 what's the greatest tragedy for a
1:50 Christian it's when we stop talking to
1:53 God you see God created us for
1:55 relationship with him so the more you
1:58 talk with God the more your relationship
2:00 goes the less you talk with God the more
2:03 your relationship dies so that's a great
2:05 reason to talk with God isn't it that's
2:08 how you make the Christian Life work
2:10 however there are many other good
2:11 reasons to talk with God let me ask you
2:14 who's more powerful you or God is there
2:17 power in prayer no there's not prayer is
2:20 simply talking with God the power is in
2:23 the one to whom we pray you see God can
2:25 do more in the blink of an eye than you
2:27 or I can do in an entire lifetime
2:30 my mom and dad launched Campus Crusade for Christ
2:32 on the UCLA campus in 1951 that spring
2:35 they tried to launch it twice and twice they failed miserably
2:40 no one responded to the gospel
2:42 after a lot of soul searching
2:44 that dawned on them that they had been
2:46 working hard but not praying just as
2:49 hard so they organized a 24-hour prayer
2:51 train they got everyone praying and that
2:53 fall my dad went and spoke in one of the
2:55 leading sororities on campus the women
2:57 responded overwhelmingly the next night
2:59 the same same thing happened that fall
3:01 campus Crusade for Christ exploded onto
3:04 the campus scene folks that's why we
3:08 should pray that's just another reason
3:11 that the greatest tragedy in life is
3:12 when we stop talking to God not just
3:14 because the relationship dies but
3:16 because we can accomplish very little of
3:18 real value on our own see God's a lot
3:21 more powerful than we
3:23 are but what's another reason to talk to
3:25 God well let me ask you who's smarter
3:27 you or God do you remember the story of
3:31 the Israelites in Joshua chapter 9 God
3:34 had commanded the Israelites to wipe out
3:36 the inhabitants of the land because of
3:37 their sin however the
3:42 Gibeonites who were nearby
3:44 Joshua and the leader swore an oath to the
3:47 Gibeonites guaranteeing they would not
3:49 wipe them out three days later they
3:51 found out they'd been conned but it was
3:53 too late the Gibeonites
3:56 Joshua the leader of God's people if Joshua
4:00 had just talked with God first he would
4:03 not have been duped have you ever been
4:05 fooled can you think of anything in your
4:07 life that might be different today if
4:09 you had talked with God
4:10 first well my my wife's little sister
4:13 Paula hit her years she went wild she
4:15 would sneak out she would lie like a pro
4:18 finally her mom who was a new believer
4:21 asked God to show her every time Paula
4:24 lied or snuck out from that day forward
4:28 Paula would get caught every time time
4:30 and often in very unexpected ways
4:33 finally Paula went to her mom and said I
4:36 give up I can't fight against you and
4:40 God have you ever been fooled I'm
4:44 guessing you didn't talk to God about it
4:45 first I've been guilty of that James 1:15
4:48 says if any of you lacks wisdom you
4:50 should ask God and it will be given to
4:53 you can you think of pain you might have
4:56 avoided if you had talked with God about
4:57 it first you see the greatest tragedy in
4:59 life is when we stop talking to
5:02 God now here's another reason to talk
5:04 with God who knows the future you or God
5:07 what happens when you fire before you aim
5:09 what happens when you act before you
5:12 pray which is do you think is wiser to
5:14 pray and then plan or the plan and then
5:16 pray you see if God knows the future and
5:19 you don't why would you act without
5:21 praying first once again the greatest
5:24 tragedy in life is when we stop talking
5:26 to God and here's one more reason to
5:28 talk with God
5:30 if you succeed without God's help who
5:33 gets the
5:35 glory I remember a number of years ago I
5:37 was trying to launch a new project I
5:38 tried three times and each time it
5:40 failed it failed miserably it fell flat
5:42 finally one evening I got down on my
5:44 knees beside my bed and poured out my
5:46 frustration to God and then I started
5:49 listening and here's what God said he
5:53 said Brad you've been working really
5:55 hard to get this launched haven't you
5:56 and I said responded Yes Lord I have and
5:59 again he asked you've been working
6:01 really really really hard to get this
6:03 launched haven't you and again I
6:04 responded Yes Lord I
6:06 have and then he asked the clincher
6:10 he said if you had succeeded who would have
6:12 gotten the credits me or
6:16 you and folks then it dawned on me I'd
6:19 been working hard but I hadn't been
6:21 praying hard I would have gotten the
6:23 credit you see God loves me but he does
6:26 not share his glory with me you know
6:28 likewise if my dad had succeed and
6:29 launching Campus Crusade for Christ
6:31 without really praying about it first
6:34 who would have gotten the
6:35 credit you see if you act without
6:38 praying aren't you in effect saying God
6:41 I've got this I don't really need you is
6:45 that really what you want to communicate to
6:48 God the greatest tragedy in life is when
6:52 we stop talking to God but here is what
6:55 I know and I know it's often true most
6:58 people don't pray because either they
7:00 don't have confidence that God will
7:01 answer or they feel like they don't know
7:04 how to pray if either of those describe
7:06 you please go to brightmedia.org and
7:08 download your free copy of how you can
7:10 pray with confidence my dad wrote it a
7:12 number of years
7:14 ago but now let's move on from the
7:16 personal application of the of why we
7:17 should pray to the cultural application
7:19 if the greatest tragedy in life in the
7:22 life of a Christian is when you we stop
7:24 praying don't you think the same would
7:26 be true for our nation you know you can
7:28 only blame the secular progresses for
7:30 America's problems if you think they are
7:32 more powerful than God otherwise the
7:35 buck buck stops with us let me ask you
7:38 when was the last time you asked God to
7:39 bring Spiritual Awakening to
7:41 America if we're serious shouldn't we be
7:44 asking him every day over 40 years ago
7:47 my dad wrote a booklet called your five
7:49 duties as a Christian citizen we updated
7:51 it a few years ago and renamed it your
7:52 seven duties as a Christian citizen it's
7:54 a very practical guide to cultural and
7:56 political engagement for a Christian
7:58 Living in America it talks about getting
8:00 informed voting helping to elect godly
8:02 people but do you know what the first duty
8:05 is to pray pray that God will bring
8:09 Spiritual Awakening to
8:12 America what's the core problem in
8:14 America today is it the economy
8:16 inflationary spending foreign policy
8:18 climate change immigration immorality
8:20 abortion homosexuality transgenders
8:22 broken families dads
8:25 racism no the core problem is our view
8:28 of God we can trace all our societal
8:31 problems to our view of God as a nation
8:34 I challenge you to start asking this one
8:36 question if we had a Biblical view of
8:38 God how would it affect how we view
8:41 inflationary spending racism illegal
8:43 immigration abortion and fatherhood and
8:46 the list goes on if our view of God is
8:48 our core problem then Spiritual
8:51 Awakening is the only solution can can
8:53 you bring Spiritual Awakening to America
8:56 I can't but God can so if you're you're
8:59 trying to fix America without talking to
9:01 God about America how successful do you
9:04 think you will be you can't even fix
9:06 yourself so how on Earth are you do you
9:08 think you can fix America without
9:09 without asking God to act folks before
9:12 you ever Vote or volunteer or contact
9:15 your Senator or write a check your first
9:17 duty is to pray ask God for Wisdom ask
9:20 God to act in the 1980s I work for US senator
9:24 Bill Armstrong of Colorado and in
9:26 private here is what he said as a US
9:28 senator can't turn America around I
9:31 can't even stop the slide the best I can
9:33 do is slow it down think about that a
9:37 God-fearing United States Senator said
9:40 that do you want to win or lose the
9:42 culture War I assure you if you're not
9:45 praying you're losing you're not smart
9:47 enough to fix America you're not
9:48 powerful enough to fix America and
9:50 neither am I and despite popular opinion
9:53 folks not even Donald Trump is powerful
9:56 enough to fix America the only solution
9:58 is for God to intervene so we need to
10:01 ask and not ask just once but ask every
10:03 day for our country our economy our
10:05 culture our leaders our churches for our
10:08 families for our neighbors and for
10:12 ourselves by the way on May 22nd we will
10:15 be celebrating the National Day of
10:16 Prayer I encourage you to participate go
10:19 to the National Day of Prayer website to
10:20 find out how you can join in prayer with
10:22 other Christians who are concerned about
10:24 the future of America 1 Thessalonians 5:17 says
10:29 pray without ceasing how do you do
10:33 that may I make a suggestion ask
10:35 yourself the following question 30 times
10:38 every day for the next month here's the
10:41 question have I prayed about this yet
10:44 make a sign that says have I prayed
10:45 about this yet put it on your desk on
10:47 your kitchen caner tape it to your
10:48 bathroom mirror or to your dashboard you
10:50 see the greatest tragedy in life is when
10:53 we stop talking with God so as Mark
10:55 Wahlberg says stay prayed up see God is
10:59 the issue in every issue especially
11:01 prayer because prayer is nothing more
11:05 than talking with God
11:06 himself this is Brad Bright thanks for
11:09 joining me today if you found this
11:10 podcast helpful please like subscribe or
11:13 share God bless and stay prayed up
Season 3 Episode 13: The Greatest Tragedy in Life
What do you think the greatest tragedy for the follower of Jesus is? Several years ago, my brother gave his surprising answer to this question. I have never forgotten what he said.
11 Min 25 Sec