Transcript

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Dr. Jessica Peck: We would like to take a moment to thank our sponsor, PreBorn. When a mother meets her baby on ultrasound and hears their heartbeat, it's a divine connection. And the majority of the time she will choose life. But they can't do it without our help. Preborn needs us, the pro life community, to come alongside them. One ultrasound is just $28. To donate, dial pound 250 and say the keyword BABY or visit preborn.com/AFR hello. And welcome to the Dr. Nurse Mama. Show, prescribing Hope for healthy Families here on American Family Radio. Here's your host, professor, pediatric nurse practitioner and mom of four, Dr. Jessica Peck.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, hey there, friends, and welcome to my favorite time of the day, getting to spend time with you, prescribing Hope for Healthy Families. And today, my friends, is Worldview Wednesday. Yes, we, we are talking about biblical worldview. And as we step into a brand new year, there are a lot of families who are making resolutions. Let's be honest, there's a lot of families who are breaking resolutions already, but they're thinking about new habits. And I do hope that you're thinking about new healthy habits, about your health, about your schedules, about your screen time, about so many other things. But what if the most important resolution that you could make or just decision that you could make this year isn't about what your family does, but how your family sees the world? Every child is forming answers to life's biggest questions. Right now, even as we're talking, they're thinking about things like, where did I come from? Why am I here? Does my life matter? And today we're starting at the very beginning, at the beginning of the year. We are going to the beginning of the Bible and the beginning of the gospel story, the best story ever told told. And we're talking about creation because what your child believes about the origin of the world will shape what they believe about God and how he made it and truth and their own identity and their own worth. And we are joined by my Worldview Wednesday CO host here, Dr. Josh Mulvihill Hill, to help families build a biblical worldview from the ground up. And we're starting with this powerful truth. God made the world and he made it good. Of course, this is all coming from Dr. Mulvihill's book, which, ah, is Biblical worldview. And Josh, welcome back. So glad to have you here.

Dr. Josh Mulvihill: It is good to be back. It's great to see you again in this new year, Jessica.

Dr. Jessica Peck: It is really great. And you have a, a, new year. And let's talk about new connections. Let's make sure that our listeners can connect to you. Where can they get a copy of your book? Find out more about your ministry. Let's remind everybody how they can connect with you.

Dr. Josh Mulvihill: Yeah, you can find us at renewanation.org and the, Biblical Worldview book, which we've been talking a lot about over the, the last half a year, is found there on Amazon, of course. And all things Josh Mulvihill are at.

Dr. Jessica Peck: gospelshapedfamily.com gospelshapedfamily.com and I love that. I appreciate that so much.

Let's talk about worldview starting with creation

And as we're starting a new year, Josh, I do think this is really important for families to think about. And let's talk about worldview, starting with creation. Because so often when we think about even the gospel story, there's a lot of times that I don't see people going back all the way to creation. And even when people or families are thinking about their worldview, they may think about morals, they may even think about a mission, a vision, none of which are inherently bad. But why is it so important to go back to the beginning? Which I can't say that without hearing my son tell me a baseball joke a million times. Like the baseball. Baseball's in the Bible because. Exactly. I'm sorry, I just have to say it every time because my son is living rent free in my head here. But why is it so important? Why do we go back to creation, Josh?

Dr. Josh Mulvihill: Well, it's the foundation of everything. And if, if we go, go off a little bit or completely wrong on creation at the beginning, it sends you down a whole bunch of different paths that lead you towards wrong ends and wrong conclusions and wrong ideas. So you know, the gospel is it's, you know, the seeds of that. We see obviously the need for the gospel in the creation story with the fall of Adam and Eve, but also the promise that God would send a savior, right, right at the beginning there in, in Genesis, that the the serpent's head would be crushed and the seeds of the woman would provide. Obviously that was fulfilled through Jesus Christ way, you know, m. Many thousands of years later, what we see that fulfilled in the NewSong Testament. But you know, a good way of thinking about Old and NewSong Testament is in the Old Testament we have promise and in the NewSong Testament we have fulfillment. And so even in the very beginning of Genesis we get these seeds of promise, which you know, things went bad pretty quick there from, you know, from our understanding of Scripture and Then even in that, we get. We get promises, of a savior. So it's great.

 Kids today are getting all kinds of messaging about creation

Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, you know, I think families today, and especially kids today, are getting all kinds of messaging about the creation of the world and all kinds of theories that, frankly, are just implausible. When we think about creation, you know, we hear a lot of argument about saying, well, that seems implausible. Well, the alternative theories seem even more implausible. And when we look at the world, when we look. For me, of course, you know, as a healthcare professional, I look at the miraculous complexity of the human body and how we are just now starting to learn. I mean, I think, how many years have humans existed and how many thousands of years did it take us to map DNA that was already designed and that was already there. That didn't even happen till after I graduated from nurse practitioner school, Josh. That's how long it has taken. But I think in a world today where, you know, we're told that things are random or accident, and the world is just chaotic, I mean, it seems like we're just one perpetual dumpster fire, why is it so important to go back to that design, God's design for the world, how he designed the world on purpose? How does that change the way that kids view the world and themselves and their own salvation story, how they're created in the image of God?

Dr. Josh Mulvihill: Well, if there's a, if there's a creator and a designer, then we have a purpose. And we're not autonomous. We live to serve that creator. Of course, God, and he gives us hope and meaning and, it gives us direction in life. And that's so different from kind of a naturalistic evolutionary perspective of life. If there is no creator, then, what is the purpose of life? It's our own happiness, our own, self fulfillment. And that's what you'll hear. Self autonomy and, self actualization. Those are kind of the main pushes of the public school system. and what you get out of that is a lot of aimlessness, a lot of confusion, a lot of hopelessness. And when we look at the world around us today, that is honestly what we see with this worldview played out is we have a generation of young people who are some of the most hopeless. suicide statistics are through the roof. a lot of the mental health issues, they're not all caused by this, but some of them could be traced back to, if we have understanding of what our origins are, why we're here, and the hope that we have within, through Christ, because of this purpose that God has given, that, you know, that will answer a lot of that confusion. And that purposelessness that this generation has doesn't erase a lot of some of those issues. you know, we're not. Jesus isn't the, great eraser of everything. and I think sometimes, honestly, we can do people a disservice. If we say, if you come to Jesus, all your problems will be fixed, and then you come to Jesus, then we still have problems. But, he is our refuge in time of need. He is our strength. When we are weak, he promises to be with us, to support us. So I want to make sure we essentially don't give up a gospel promise that we can't deliver on. The God who delivers, is also the God who sustains, but he's not the God that always eliminates pain and suffering in our life, because sometimes he uses that to drive us to him and increase our faith. but you can just see those different paths worked out in just the origin, you know, what we believe about who created the world and where that takes us and in so many different areas of life. Absolutely critical.

One of the things you and I have talked about is not giving kids toxic messages

Dr. Jessica Peck: I'm so glad you brought that up, because when we look back at the creation story, we see God creating the world and saying, it's good, it's good, it's good. That is repeated, you know, just repeatedly in the creation story. And I think, think that we look at the world right now and especially for younger generations. One of the things you and I have talked about before that I'm really passionate about is not giving, the, the new generation of kids the message that, hey, the world is bad, it is awful, everything is terrible. Like, the best hope you can have is self realization, self actualization, like, help yourself, follow your heart. All of these toxic messages in the shadow of a broken world. How do we balance the fact that we know the world broken, we know that the world is cursed by sin and groaning for a time, when God will make all things new. How do we balance that with the fact that God did create the world and it is good and there is good in it. And how does that reflect to how kids see their identity? Because I still think, Josh, that just like you said, this identity crisis, the world is having an identity crisis because they're trying to create their own image to really, it's called image crafting on social media. And I feel like the image that we're creating of ourselves, of that goodness of being made in the image of God, it's such a Pitiful reflection, when we try to create it on our own of what God created. So how do we balance that tension? How do we communicate that to our families?

Dr. Josh Mulvihill: Who we are absolutely flows out of what we believe, who God is. And again, if there's no God, then we can create our own version of ourself and we're not meant to handle that weight and we see people breaking under it. but you're very accurate in the view of the world. we all know that there are major problems that are occurring in our world today. We can list many and talk about and lament about and pray about all of those problems. the question becomes, why are they there? We have the answer in Genesis because sin entered the world. The world's distorted and broken because of sin. but there is a solution. And that's the big difference is when we understand where that problem came from because of sin, we know that there is a solution in Christ. And that deals with the sin problem in our own heart. it won't restore the world fully, but it does restore the world in part. And of course the long term solution, we see the answer to that in Revelation as it plays all the way out. you know this, the beautiful picture we get in Revelation of no more tears, no more pain, no more death, no more sorrow. I mean that's literally like the cry of all of our heart is that, you know, that and that day will come. And that kind of world is possible through Jesus Christ only in part now, but in future and eternity, when we get, if we trust in Christ as our Lord and Savior, that's our experience in heaven. And that's such a beautiful a, beautiful possibility. And for those who know Christ, this world is, you know, I, you know, we can walk through the brokenness of this world in a different way. The Bible tells us we don't grieve the same. we still grieve, but we grieve with a future hope, knowing that this is just momentary. For those who aren't in Christ, this world becomes the best that there ever will be. This is essentially heaven on earth for them. ah, but it doesn't need to be. It doesn't need, we don't need, you know, we don't need to have this be the best we will ever experience. because there is no eternity in Christ. That's why it would end up being the best. but I think man, I don't even know how I would walk through this world without Christ, you know, we've had, but I'm sure you have as well. and many who are listening. You know, we've had significant death in our family with, parents and grandparents. And, you know, we have a, I have a nephew with down syndrome. That's been really difficult for our family to navigate. Just incredible medical needs. and God has been sustaining in that. You know, the impact that that has on a family and a marriage is very difficult to navigate. we have blended family with our family. You know, we could, all of us could list these kind of the impacts of, ah, a broken world on our family and our life and our home and m. You know, the hurt that is present even in ourselves. The good thing is there's a solution and an answer to that, and it is ultimately found in Jesus Christ. And, he, you know, as I said, he doesn't, he doesn't eliminate all of that, but he does provide, you know, he provides the care and the comfort and, and the future hope that a better day is coming. And so, so Genesis, the very beginning, you know, the very beginning of the story, gives us kind of the seeds, gives us the answers for where that came from. And you know what the important thing we could talk to our kids about this. What, what we see in the Bible matches what we look at with the rest of the world. And you know, when I look at the brokenness of the world, I'm like the best answer for why that is. that aligns with what we read in, in the beginning of Genesis and throughout the Bible, of course, of where sin came from and the impacts of sin on our life. And it builds trust in God's word.

Dr. Jessica Peck: It does. And that's exactly where we're going to go in this next segment. We're going to talk about sin and the impact of sin and how do we live in a broken world. But here as we are starting this new year, in the beginning of this year, think about going back to the beginning of the Bible. We'll talk more about how to talk to your families about this and cultivating a biblical worldview. More with Josh Mulvihill on the other side of this break.

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Because He Lives (Amen) by Matt Maher: I believe in the Son I believe in the risen one. I believe I overcome by the power of his blood. Amen. amen. I'm alive. I'm alive because he lives. Amen. Amen. Let my song join the One that never ends. Because he lives.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Friends, that is because he lives. Amen. By Matt Maher and that's exactly what we're talking about today, is what we believe and what we can believe because of the redemptive work of Christ. We are talking about the gospel story from beginning to end. It is Worldview Wednesday. I'm talking with Dr. Josh Mulvihill about helping your family develop a biblical worldview. And as we are starting towards the middle of January, can you believe that already most resolutions, if you've even made them, have already started to fall off the wagon? Because we realize that that something is deeper than just, oh, I want to have these habits. I want to be more fit. I want to be more nutritious. I want to do all of those things or get control of your technology. The really deeper issue is that something isn't right in the world. And if we're honest, something is broken within us. When you turn on the news, when you scroll your phone, when you listen to your kids talking about their very real fears that they are having you hear the aches and pains of a broken world. And so where did it all go wrong? Well, we are talking about the fall. And in. We were talking to Dr. Mulvihill about. Talk to our kids honestly. How do we talk to our kids honestly about rebellion and sin and why the world doesn't work the way it should? These are not simple things to talk about. And it's really about clarity. Because when kids understand what's broken, they understand why they need a savior.

Josh: Where can families start talking about creation with their kids

And Josh, in the first segment, we talked a lot about creation, and I want to wrap that up here. Can you do a little role modeling for us? Just give a simple message of creation if you're starting to talk about it. Because I think there are families maybe who want to have these kinds of conversations, but maybe it just doesn't feel natural, like over dinner, you know, over, like, pass the peas. And by the way, tell me about the fall of creation. You know, so how. How can we just give us a really basic, short start? Like, where can families start if they're not in the habit of saying this? What. What are the highlights they need to hit?

Dr. Josh Mulvihill: Well, I think the best thing to do is just to open up the Bible and read Genesis 1, 2, and even 3 with your family probably broken up in little parts, rather than all in one settings. There's so much in those couple chapters. And you can emphasize things like in Genesis 1, it says six times that what God created is good. And then, you know, morning and evening, it was good. And then it comes to man, and we're very good. so there's, you know, they're kind of the crown of God's creation and talks about our value. And then, you know, marriage is in there. In chapter two, verse 18, you just get so many foundational things, you know, we like to talk about with our kids. This is obviously a great place to talk about creation versus evolution. And you talked about origins and purpose and meaning. And, you can build that into some conversation there. and then, of course, in chapters three, we get the fall of man, which we're talking about now. And, you know, there's so many opportunities as you're reading God's word, but just as you're watching any television shows, naturalism and evolution is just baked into everything. I mean, it is everything. so there's good opportunities, if you're paying attention, to just pause or have a conversation. We don't need to sermonize it. But just what does that teach us about what they believe about origins? When you see. Talks about millions or billions of years, and, you know, within driving range for us is the Creation Museum. And that's how. If you've never been there with your kids, it is totally worth a family vacation, long weekend, or even flying if you're far away. it is such a good teaching piece on the creation account and the huge implications for this. So if this. Or. And as grandparents, if you're listening, I have friends that when their grandchild turns 10, they take a special trip to the creation museum with their, with each of their 10 year old grandchildren and they get to have these conversations. But this is, so this is such an important topic on, you know, if there's, if there, you know, Genesis begins just with the assumption that God exists, the world begins with the opposite assumption that he doesn't. And in the whole ramifications that come out. So build it into Bible reading, build it into conversations with media, maybe take a special trip to a creation museum. All applications out of that.

Dr. Jessica Peck: I appreciate that practical application because I do think it's, it's sometimes hard. But you know, when I started talking about this with my family, like now it is, it is very, very natural to have these kinds of conversations. And, and sometimes we don't even have to have words if we're out, you know, at a museum or seeing a movie like you, like you were talking about. When they start talking and giving that evolutionist view, like, I just feel these like little sets of eyes, you know, coming towards me saying like, we know mom, we know, we know. And that is really gratifying to know because I want them to know what they believe about the Bible and to be confident in that worldview. And just like you said, I mean, I think that, you know, there's probably, that's probably not a common point of conversation. We know that God called creation good, but that he called us as humans very good. That is an encouraging message to give to kids who are really struggling with identity, who are really struggling with self image, who are struggling with a world that is on display in social media where image crafting is everything and going back to who God is, that's who, what informs them, who they are. They can't know who they are until they know who God is. And that starts in the, in the very beginning. And I think in today's world, Josh and I know you and I probably feel the same way, that we don't want our kids to feel pain, we don't want them to experience trial, we don't want to them to experience the brokenness of the world, but it is there. And so how do we talk, to our kids about sin without being fearful, making them afraid of the sin that's in the world, or completely ashamed and defeated of the sin that's within themselves?

Dr. Josh Mulvihill: I think a great question is simply to ask them where they think sin came from, or maybe even not even using that to start. But where did the problems and brokenness of our world come from? And how do we understand why that's happening and what's the solution to it? And that, obviously we can get to scripture as the answer at some point, but it's helpful to hear where they're coming from. and we want to have clarity in our own head about this topic. So subjects like, ah, sin are not popular topics to talk about. No. And, and we need to have clarity. What scripture teaches on the problem of evil. What is sin? who is Satan? You know, there's a lot of worldview studies that show people don't believe in that. Satan's a real person, he's a made up kind of fairy tale. we want our kids to understand that Satan is a real person. He hates us. He wants us to believe lies. And you know, his statement in the beginning of Genesis, did God really say, is the same thing he's doing today. He wants us to believe errors. And the Bible tells us who Satan is, that he's a fallen angel, he's created perfect. And his first sin was pride. He wanted to be God. And that's the first instance we have in the Bible of the occurrence of sin, that it originated in his heart. The Bible tells us that God cast Satan out of heaven and one third of the angels came with him and he cast them to the earth.

The Bible tells us that we fight a spiritual battle today

Where apparently the Bible also tells us that, we fight a spiritual battle today. And so, I don't know, I can't pull back the curtain to see how all that works. But there's an active battle raging. And so Ephesians 6, which talks about the battle of, you know, the armor of the Lord with, you know, the sword of the you know, Bible's our sword. And the rest is all defensive stuff. The, you know, the helmet, the belt, the, you know, all, all of that. It's all defensive except, the Bible is our one offense. It's And so we are playing a defense. We know that by God's word. And and what is sin? you know, sin is a, it's an archer's term. It literally means to miss the mark. And so just like if we were shooting an arrow at a target and we got the bullseye, the bullseye in the Bible would be perfection according to God's standard of, of righteousness. And we're aiming at that, but, you know, instead of hitting the target, we hit way over. You know, we're not even close. Close, it's not even in the ballpark of close. We are so far from God's Standard of perfection. And that's sin. it's rebellion, it's disobedience. It's. We're, you know, with young kids, sometimes those. That concept is concrete and they're, you know, they're not in their thinking. So, you know, a way to talk about this with kids is, you know, we. We want to be king. We want to be king of our own life. There is a king of this universe. It's God through Christ. And, essentially we tried to take the throne from him. It's been treason, rebellion against that king. And if you were the king and somebody had treason against you, what would you do? that's essentially the situation. But instead of, that king, deciding he was going to execute us, he sent his son to die for us to, deal with our sin problem and gives us an opportunity to live in his kingdom, and to be his children, his adopted children. And, you know, it turns, you know, we're starting to get into the gospel message when we get into that. But, that's how, you know that for young kids, that's helpful because it's concrete terms and ideas. It's like, okay, I can get that. but sin's a serious issue. Our world hates that idea. the world tells us that our kids, they come into this world as, at worst, they're a blank slate kind of this tabula Rosa idea. And then, you know, who they become and, what they believe gets shaped, of course, by their environment. and at worst, they're just fully good. They're little angels. And, of course, I don't. You know, you could probably tell some stories, Jessica, but.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Oh, yes, I could.

Dr. Josh Mulvihill: I didn't have to teach my kids to rebel, to lie, to steal. I think about one time when, I was putting one of my kids down for a nap, and he was, you know, he wasn't even a year old yet. And trying to put him in the crib, in the back arches and screaming, and he was not, at this point, even under a year old. He was not. He did not want to obey his father. And I didn't teach him that. He just. He wanted to be the king of his own life. And, you know, we had to train, even from those young, young years, we had to train our children to come under obedience, authority. Of course, that ultimately is the Lord that we're training them to obey. but there is a set of standards and rules in this world. Where did they come from? Why do. Why does all human beings have written on our hearts, just this sense of justice. Why do all humans on our heart have just kind of built in? Love is a good thing. Kindness to others is a good thing. Where did that come from? Like where, you know, we generally, I would think 99.9% of people listening would say murder is wrong. Where did that come from, that universal idea? Well, we have, we have those laws written on our heart because we have a law giver and we have a sense of, of justice. When the law, when right is not done, we have a sense of injustice. Now, of course, we have to understand what those laws are to have so that our justice doesn't become an injustice in how we apply that law. And that's really what justice is. Justice is largely the good application of God's law in ensuring that that can. Gets played out through good laws in our country and through the punishment of wicked and evildoers and through kindness and goodness to people who are in need. So that doesn't become oppression. All these are built into this idea of there's a standard of right and wrong. And who determines it? Is it us as humans, or does that come from external. And that's what our kids are, are really, man, they're being told in our world today that, morality largely comes from community consensus or their own preference. And so we have to work to help them understand what the Bible says that God gave us that standard. And we see that again right in Genesis, you know, don't eat this fruit of this one tree. That was it. That was the only, that was the only law to begin with. And then, of course, God gives the ten Commandments and the, you know, the full, the full law, as we see expounded in the Bible as God's word goes on. but man, what the Bible teaches us is that to live according to that law truly is a blessing. And it's wonderful. And GK Chesterton once said, God gives us rules so that good things can run wild. Like freedom within, boundaries is a good thing, but there are boundaries. And so, there's a lot there that I just threw out, Jessica. But that kind gets at kind of the essence of what we're really dealing with, with our kids on this topic.

Dr. Jessica Peck: It is a lot of ground to cover, Josh. But I can tell you as a mom and as someone who's worked in Pediatrics for 30 years, that some of the first words that toddlers most confidently say are no and mine. I mean, and those are really not reflective of, the character traits that we usually want them to have. We have to teach them, you know. No, you have to obey and you have to share.

Josh: Truth by community consensus can change on a daily basis

And we use our words, not our hand. All of those things. We see that in the fall. And I think that, you know, one of the things that you just said with the terms that you used was really interesting to me, Josh, in looking at truth by community consensus, I've never heard that exactly referred to that way, but I think you're absolutely right, because it's all about your truth. But that community consensus, it changes sometimes on a daily basis. And what's celebrated today is canceled tomorrow. And that's why we have to help our kids to build their biblical worldview on the unshakable foundation of the word of God. That starts with the story of creation. God created the world. It is good. Sin entered the world, and the world is fallen and broken. But. And it's the most powerful, message ever. But. But God sent his son to save us, which differentiates us from every other world religion that is there. We'll have more on Worldview Wednesday when we come back.

Dr. Al Mohler: Here's Dr. Al Mohler from the American Family Studios documentary. The God who speaks Jesus in the Gospel of John continually points to the scriptures. And as he says famously, these are they that testify of me. If you knew Abraham from the scriptures, you would know me. Jesus himself refused to allow that division between his own authority and the authority of scripture. He never set scripture aside. What he did was to make very clear that he perfectly fulfilled scripture. And of course, he went beyond even the Old Testament law. In the Sermon on the Mount, saying, you've heard it said, you shall not commit adultery. I will tell you that if you've lusted in your heart, you have already committed adultery. So Jesus Christ himself drives us back to the authority of scripture. And evidently, that's exactly where he wants his church to be. Visit thegodwhospeaks.org.

Love Of God by Brandon Lake and Phil Wickham: It's so good. I almost can't believe. Far beyond what hearts could ever dream the God who set the galaxies in motion would descend to give his life for me. For what could make perfection bleed for sinners What leads a  king to pay so great a cost all my life my heart will sing the answer only the love of, God. welcome back, friends.

Dr. Jessica Peck: That is the Love of God by Brandon Lake and Phil Wickham. Oh, how great is the love of God that is the message that we are giving today. Friend, if you are listening today, it is not by accident. God loves you and cares deeply for you. And nothing is a coincidence. God loves you. God created the world. God created man. That's what we're talking about today on this Worldview Wednesday. Where did the world come from in the creation? God made the world and it is good. But we have rebellion and reality of sin. What is wrong with the world? Well, sin is making the world groan. But we have hope and salvation through Jesus Christ and eternal life with God and restoration where God will make all things new. The answer for our sin is always and only Jesus. Jesus Christ paid the penalty for sin and conquered death and the grave forever. And how does the story end? Well, we know it. God will make all things new. And if this new year has given you hope for a fresh start, maybe that 2026 will be a better year. Let me tell you something. The gospel gives you something far, far better. It gives you a brand new life, a brand new eternal life, a hope that doesn't disappoint. And the world story doesn't end in failure and fear and frustration. It ends in redemption. And I'm talking today to Dr. Josh Mulvihill who is helping us, to show us how to help our families understand the most beautiful part of the biblical worldview that Jesus stepped into our brokenness. He came in the middle of our messiness. And one day he is going to make all things new. He has rescued us. He has redeemed us. And it's not just theology for Sundays. This is the story that your family needs deeply embedded in their hearts. They need to carry it with them everywhere they go. They need to carry it with them to, to their community, to their church, to bed with them at night, to wake up within the morning and through their friendships, through times of suffering, through every ordinary day of the year. And if you want your kids to live with courage and hope and purpose, this is really where it all comes together. And so Josh, I just, my heart just squeezes a little to think about the impact of having a biblical worldview, to think about the hope that is found in Jesus Christ. And you know, Josh, for me as a professor, I have a privilege of being around a lot of really, really smart people. I mean very, very intelligent people. And it makes my heart ache a little bit to see so many people trying to find so much hope in their own intellect or their own ability to save themselves. And a lot of self things that we've talked about before. But the answer to the brokenness of the world is actually remarkably simple. And that is a demonstration of the grace of God. What do you want to say about that message of redemption. What do we need to be telling our families about that?

Dr. Josh Mulvihill: Well, I'm just going to read Romans 10:9 because it's summarized beautifully in this verse. And so if you're listening and you've never placed your faith in Christ. Christ, this might be a prayer. You want to pray right now. And if that's something you've already done, this is certainly a truth we need to be sharing with our children and grandchildren. So Romans 10:9, says it like this. If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. And so it's as simple as that. Very simple. Like you just said, Jessica, but there is, it's a, you know, the, the problem is we need a new heart. It's not about all the external stuff. And and, and this is an invitation for the Lord to come and transform our heart to do what we can never do on our own. Only he can. He gives us a new heart. The Bible literally talks about how, the, the blind will see, the dead will come to life. That Jesus comes and transforms us into a brand new person, like dead. And we literally are. It's a new life. The Bible talks about being born again. Like if you just prayed that prayer, you're literally, it's like a, a whole second, start to life. And that's, that's so beautiful. And you know, with that we can understand things in light of Christ that just didn't make sense previously. And and, and as you mentioned, Jessica, that is the difference between Christianity and every other single religion that's in the world. And we want to help our kids know this, that you know, every other religion largely is summarized down there. It's a works based approach to salvation. And every religion is different. They all have their own, you know, steps and ideas of what, those, that, what that entails. And so we could talk through Islam, we could talk through Hinduism, we could talk through all the different Judaism, the different major religions, they all have their different ideas of what works are necessary. But Christianity, it's not what we need to do. It's what Christ has already done for us by living a perfect life by dying on the cross, by raising from the dead three days later, by ascending into heaven where he sits at the Father's right hand, meaning his work is done. he is, he is, he is alive today and he will come back again in the future. and that's the part we haven't seen yet. Everything else has already happened. It is, it is done. the reality is all of us are people of faith. It's just a matter of what we're putting our faith in. And so are we putting our faith in ourself? Are we putting our faith in some other God or in Christ? And you know, I would encourage you as parents and grandparents, this idea of the gospel, we need to not rely on other people to communicate that to our kids, kids, and our grandkids. Of course. That's wonderful when that happens. but it also means it's critical that we are communicating the gospel regularly in our home, both through our example and also through the things that we read and talk about. there are so many opportunities on a regular basis. anytime we need to discipline a child as a parent, that's a gospel opportunity. We can talk about sin, the problem of, of that's happening. And the, the ultimate solution is Christ. Of course, through the Bible. Literally the whole Bible is centered on Jesus. Everything you know, points to him and then is fulfilled in him. And so there are ample opportunities. Spurgeon, Charles Spurgeon talked about how when we read the Bible, one of the things we need to do is make a beeline for the cross. So we want our kids to see how, how the Bible points to Jesus. And we, you know, we, you know, whether it's Noah and the ark, obviously the door is an example on the ark. All the, you know, the eight people in Noah's family coming on the ark is a, is an example. It's a type of salvation, in Christ. like Jesus is the door. We read in the NewSong Testament, we could do this with all kinds of passages in, in the Bible that truly are pointing towards towards Christ. And we want our kids to see that. but they're, you know, the gospel, you know, those of us that are Christians, we need to have clarity on what that is so that we can communicate it. And there's a really good, there's a lot of great gospel resources out there. I, I have really appreciated. There's a book by a gentleman named Greg Gilbert. It's called what is the Gospel? And it's ah, it's a really good summary. 3. He has a four word outline. God, man, Jesus response. And I, I remember as, I remember that outline and I can think through, okay, talk about who God is, his, his character, his perfection. He doesn't Sweep sin away. He's a holy God. He's a just God, man. We're, you know, we talked through this one. We already talked through the first two around the third one, you know, man is sinful. and the third one, who is Jesus, and what has he done through the cross? You know, our world will present Jesus as a good man, a helpful teacher, kind of almost like a, superhuman, but still human. the world's fine with Jesus as long as he's a human. but the moment he becomes deity, the moment he becomes God, we've got a big issue. But ultimately this is the crux of Christianity. Did the resurrection happen or not? And if that didn't happen, everything else goes out the window with it. if it did happen, that's the most important day in the history of this world. And of course the Bible teaches that it did happen and it, it was the most consequential event. And so Jesus isn't just some souped up superhuman. He is truly God and man, 100% God, 100% man, 100% of the time. Time, that breaks our head thinking about, you know, 100% plus 100%. we don't that, that math equation, makes our head hurt. But it is what the Bible teaches and we believe that is true. And and so it's just the greatest blessing that we can give our children and our grandchildren. And so we want to communicate that regularly. We want to create, communicate that clearly. And you. There's plenty of great passages in the Bible. John 3:16 is probably the best known one. for God so loved the world that he gave his only son that no man should perish. And it's funny, the further our world gets away from, a Christian perspective of life, there's plenty of people now today that haven't heard that message, don't know that verse, have never read a Bible, haven't stepped in a church. Church and need to hear that, need to see that. So don't assume that just because we, you know, that everybody knows those truths. Don't assume because our kids grew up in a Christian home or go to a great church that they're going to embrace Christ. Ah, we, we really, you know, there Jesus is, He's on, you know, he's on the like the he's. Our kids are fighting and wondering in their heart if it's true. And we just not need to not assume they're going to all believe that. And so we need to do our best to help them that, that Christ is who he said he is in in, in the Bible.

Dr. Jessica Peck: You know, Josh, when we have conversations like this, I'm reminded just recently I was on a college visit with one of my, with my son. And you know, they asked at the end if there were any questions about the college and kids were predictably asking about the cafeteria, the food, you know, the, the dorms, the living situation and, and logistical things like that. And my son asked, when they said, do you have a question? He said, what is this college's view of? I think it definitely got the tour guide off guard, but those are kinds of conversations that we have all the time. And even as you're laying out, you know, the Roman road, I think about, even I've shared with you before, Josh, the, even my first date with my husband and him saying what does it mean to be a Christian? And saying okay, starting with the Roman road and that just being such a transformational moment. And Josh, I've seen it in his life, I've seen it in his family's life, I've seen, seen it in so many people that the gospel is so transformational, transformational unlike any self help book I've ever seen, unlike any journey that other people take where you know, they're on a self actualization journey or you know, all of those things that ultimately lead to disappointment. But I have seen people who have been radically transformed by the gospel and who have lived, lived both ways, who have lived and not knowing Christ and who live knowing Christ and they will say to know Christ is better. And that is so encouraging to me.

One of the great ironies is the way Christianity is portrayed in the world

And I think one of the great ironies is the way that Christianity is portrayed in the world. And we talked early on, Josh, about Satan being the father of lies and being a master manipulator. Really just that slight little twist. And did God really say. And we see Christianity portrayed today as judgmental, as you know, restrictive, as backwards, as you know, apply all of those negative adjectives to describe it. When Christianity is literally the only world religion by which salvation is a free gift of God available to anyone who asks for it, as contrasted with a works based salvation. Well, Josh, we, I feel like I'm again in that we're in the middle of a conversation. There will be many more conversations to come. We're already at the end of our time together. But just in one minute.

What would you give as a wrap up message as an encouragement to families starting off the year?

What would you give as a wrap up message as an encouragement to families who are starting off the year?

Dr. Josh Mulvihill: Well, I would encourage you to teach the whole scripture, the whole gospel. we didn't touch on restoration, but it's creation, rebellion, salvation, restoration. And so in, you know, a lot of us kind of do part of that. Our kids need all of it. And they're getting counterfeit messages, messages in the whole of origins and purpose and meaning and morality and, salvation. And then what's the solution? To restore all the problems. and, and so give them that whole truth. you know, the whole Bible matters. And as we read those. Where are your kids at today? What's, what is most helpful for them? Are they at the creation questions? Are they at the rebellion, the salvation? Are they looking at the, you know, how do we. How do we fix a broken world through Christ? Kinds of things? That's our vocation, that's our ministry that he calls us to. And, those are all real helpful in thinking how we give kids a biblical worldview.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, I appreciate that so much, Josh, and so much more to talk about. These are conversations that you could have endlessly. And we'll talk more about restoration because I've learned in the last years few Christmas season more than ever, we're in between two Advents. We are waiting on Christ to make all things new. And he will. And I pray that as that day. We're waiting for that day, the Lord will bless you and keep you. Make his face to shine upon you. I'll see you here next time.

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Jeff Chamblee: Opinions expressed in this broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of the American Family association or American Family Radio.