SPEAKER_00: Hello, everybody.
SPEAKER_00: Last week, last week when we were here, uh, people still getting situated here, we passed out these sheets of paper telling you how to join the online Love Worth Finding Evangelism Explosion teaching tool.
SPEAKER_00: And that was last Wednesday.
SPEAKER_00: I did not know it, but six hours after that meeting, somebody at a computer decided to make a lot of changes to the data that was there.
SPEAKER_00: And as a result, we had some people who signed up and your information was saved, and others of you signed up and your information was condemned.
SPEAKER_00: And so what we have is we have a handful of people whose information was not saved in the love worth finding computer.
SPEAKER_00: So we're passing around a little black book.
SPEAKER_00: Who's got the black book right now?
SPEAKER_00: Okay, Brother Jake's got it over there.
SPEAKER_00: And we're asking you to write down your name and your email address.
SPEAKER_00: I am going to go into the Love Worth Finding computer, and if your information is not there, I'm going to put it there for you and send you an email with a link for you to click so that you'll be right up to speed with everyone else.
SPEAKER_00: We apologize for this.
SPEAKER_00: It's computers.
SPEAKER_00: Computers are great, and computers are awful at the same time.
SPEAKER_00: So for those of you who got your information in and everything's working fine, keep work, keep doing the work, keep being fine with everything.
SPEAKER_00: For the rest of you, we're going to get you added, and you will be getting an email before the weekend, okay?
SPEAKER_00: Thanks a lot.
SPEAKER_03: Hey, I'm glad today Pastor was going to be gone for a little bit, but he walked in the room and he leaned over and he said, Can you go ahead and do your part?
SPEAKER_03: So I I guess I'll we'll no, I'm just teasing, we're prepared.
SPEAKER_03: So uh hey, glad you're here.
SPEAKER_03: I do want to, real quick, we keep talking about the love worth finding.
SPEAKER_03: Someone asked me, is this something we do daily?
SPEAKER_03: What does it look like?
SPEAKER_03: When Dave sets you up, you get this email, you click on it, you set up yourself, and here's what it does.
SPEAKER_03: On there, there'll be seven different groups of things.
SPEAKER_03: Here's the title of those seven things.
SPEAKER_03: The first one is called just getting started.
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
SPEAKER_03: Then there'll be one that says your story.
SPEAKER_03: Obviously, that's where you're going to start working on your testimony.
SPEAKER_03: Then it's uh the diagnostic questions.
SPEAKER_03: It's like questions people might give you.
SPEAKER_03: Okay, so it's walking you through what it looks like to share the gospel.
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
SPEAKER_03: Then it's uh number four, the deal is sharing the gospel.
SPEAKER_03: Number five is uh transferring trust.
SPEAKER_03: Number six is uh leading commitment, and then number seven is beginning discipleship.
SPEAKER_03: Now, on each seven, on each seven, there are four steps.
SPEAKER_03: Okay, so the first one, I went ahead and did the first two today just so I could come in there and say, okay, I've done it, look at it.
SPEAKER_03: Okay, there's some others that have done it all as well.
SPEAKER_03: You'll see on there who's done it.
SPEAKER_03: There they're little names on there, so you'll be a part of it.
SPEAKER_03: Okay, then there's four parts to one, all these seven.
SPEAKER_03: Okay, for instance, getting started, there's a read.
SPEAKER_03: Okay, it gives you a it's a Bible story, asks you a few questions.
SPEAKER_03: There's a watch, there's a video.
SPEAKER_03: This one here was a boy playing basketball, and he used that time to ask his friend a question.
SPEAKER_03: Okay, so that's just something that they you get to watch a video and then you take a quiz, and the quiz is super easy, it's just to get you thinking.
SPEAKER_03: And then the last one is to do an action step.
SPEAKER_03: Now, this one was important to me.
SPEAKER_03: A lot of people come to me and say, I don't know how to get it started.
SPEAKER_03: How do I I know how to share the gospel, but how do you go without just blasting them?
SPEAKER_03: How do you get the gospel started in your conversation?
SPEAKER_03: Well, this particular one, in getting started, if you when you when you get to the to-do action step, there's a deal that says, click on this and it'll tell you.
SPEAKER_03: And it's called um Spiritual Conversation Starters.
SPEAKER_03: And you click on it, there's like nine or ten different audio conversations of how to get started with the gospel.
SPEAKER_03: Just and it's not even none of them are perfect.
SPEAKER_03: It's just to get you thinking, man, I could easily do that.
SPEAKER_03: I I could so that's why this we're doing this.
SPEAKER_03: There's seven of them we're encouraged.
SPEAKER_03: This is what pastor's talking.
SPEAKER_03: If you complete these seven, we're gonna we we we value it so much that we're gonna have a banquet, celebrate and everyone did it, because if you do it, now here's where I had to stop.
SPEAKER_03: I was just gonna do them all and come in and told you I'll do them all.
SPEAKER_03: But when I did the uh your story and was writing my testimony, all that, it says, okay, stop here and go share your testimony with three to five people.
SPEAKER_03: Well, I could not do that in my office, so I had to pause it to go share my testimony.
SPEAKER_03: You see what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_03: So it's gonna give you some tests to make you, and the very first one getting started, I thought it was cool.
SPEAKER_03: It said, go tell someone in your family.
SPEAKER_03: So it's making you practice.
SPEAKER_03: So that's what we're doing.
SPEAKER_03: Okay, so that's and if you if you cannot figure that out, don't come talk to me, go talk to Dave, okay?
SPEAKER_03: If you can't get in, we want you in it, okay?
SPEAKER_03: We want you a part of it, and we're excited about that.
SPEAKER_03: Okay, and then today, I just as we start today, I this morning, it's funny how the Lord does certain things in your path when you need it at that time.
SPEAKER_03: Um for about two and a half, three months, I've had a dirt pile beside my house.
SPEAKER_03: I was gonna I was gonna get after it.
SPEAKER_03: I thought with a wheelbarrow I could have it whipped out.
SPEAKER_03: My neighbors are getting irritated.
SPEAKER_03: I had a tarp over it.
SPEAKER_03: It's just been there forever.
SPEAKER_03: And it actually, when I would pull into my driveway, just a guilt and just a you know what, the feeling of I gotta get this done, and I'm exhausted and I I live on a hill.
SPEAKER_03: It's just everything about it.
SPEAKER_03: So my neighbor calls me the other day and says, hey, I got a a uh front-end loader deal, it can help.
SPEAKER_03: And so last night I get home, I get changed, I finally get it completely level.
SPEAKER_03: But my dirt, the dirt that I bought stinks.
SPEAKER_03: Okay, don't tell my dirt guy that, but it's like boulders, and it's just I mean, you can't I could step on it, it wouldn't crush.
SPEAKER_03: It was just awful.
SPEAKER_03: And um, but the good thing about this dirt is if you hose it down, then you come back, it breaks up good.
SPEAKER_03: So I spread it all out, I got all these clots last night.
SPEAKER_03: I'm thinking, do I put a sprinkler on it?
SPEAKER_03: It's dark now, and it's like, you know what, God, you know, I just I left it.
SPEAKER_03: And this morning, as I was having my quiet time, I'm looking out the window, the trees, and it is just a nice gentle rain.
SPEAKER_03: Not washing it away, just the gentle rain.
SPEAKER_03: And you know what?
SPEAKER_03: At times you need those kind of things, and I'll just tell you this morning, my quiet time was different.
SPEAKER_03: Again, God is good if it doesn't rain or it doesn't, you know what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_03: But just sitting there today, my quiet time, as we were talking, as I was talking about all the evil kings and how big God is, my quiet time today was like, Lord, thank you for being good.
SPEAKER_03: And again, it wasn't about the water, it just reminded me of all the good things God had done in my life.
SPEAKER_03: And so when I my first question, and we're gonna pray before we really get going today.
SPEAKER_03: I I gotta I w I want to ask you this question.
SPEAKER_03: Think about this question just for a second.
SPEAKER_03: Who is God to you?
SPEAKER_03: We're talking about sharing the gospel.
SPEAKER_03: But I think an important question that comes with sharing the gospel is who is God to you?
SPEAKER_03: Because if God's not that important to you, then why would we be excited about even sharing the gospel?
SPEAKER_03: And then and we're gonna stop for here and pray because I want to take a time of just preparing our hearts to be challenged.
SPEAKER_03: I hope tonight is almost like honestly a pepper alley.
SPEAKER_03: You know, I remember in high school we'd have those pepperys, and I just tell you, I was ready to run through a wall when the peppery is over, but then three hours later, when the game started, it was like, what we should have done the game right when the pepper rally ended.
SPEAKER_03: You know, so but we want to be fired up.
SPEAKER_03: I want you to be excited about things.
SPEAKER_03: But my next question, we're gonna stop and pray.
SPEAKER_03: The first question is, who is God to you?
SPEAKER_03: And the second question is, what is salvation to you?
SPEAKER_03: You know, I think sometimes as a Christian, we look at salvation as this salvation gets me out of hell, which don't get me wrong, that's a blessing in itself.
SPEAKER_03: But we forget about who we were before Christ.
SPEAKER_03: And I want to challenge you today as we as we pray, and just as I was sitting there watching the sprinkling and realizing how big God is just on all the leading little small things.
SPEAKER_03: But when it comes down to salvation, I think sometimes we get so quickly just in the religious movement of church that we forget about Matt Passmore was heading in a direction he couldn't fix.
SPEAKER_03: I was a sinner trying to impress everybody around me when the Lord finally said, You can't be good enough.
SPEAKER_03: It's all about what I've done for you.
SPEAKER_03: And when you really think about your salvation story, it should that alone should fire us up about sharing the gospel.
SPEAKER_03: So let's pray for just a second.
SPEAKER_03: Think about those two statements, and then I think that springs us forward into why is it important to share the gospel?
SPEAKER_03: Will you pray with me?
SPEAKER_03: They're gotta come before you now.
SPEAKER_03: Lord, as I just said in my recliner reading this morning, seeing your reign, just knowing the care that you have for each one of us, and just the care of the love that you have, knowing that my sin truly, honestly separates me from you being perfect.
SPEAKER_03: And you still love me enough, you loved us enough to send your son Jesus to die for us, to give us that grace and mercy.
SPEAKER_03: Lord, help us never take that for granted.
SPEAKER_03: As we talk about evangelism, as we talk about sharing the gospel, Lord, I ask you to give us a burden, give us a uh a uh just an obedience because it's what you called us to do, to be about what you've told your followers years ago.
SPEAKER_03: And that is to go make disciples.
SPEAKER_03: Help us be people that do that, a church that does that, and a church that gets excited about that.
SPEAKER_03: In Jesus' name I pray, amen.
SPEAKER_03: Now, as thinking about that and excited, Adam, I will you come here just Adam, the other day we're kind of uh, I would just tell you, Adam's as becoming a better and better or friend.
SPEAKER_03: He's all he's always been a good friend, but I will get a text every now and then from Adam and says, Hey, I'm so excited, I got to share the gospel.
SPEAKER_03: Now, if you don't know Adam, he is a highway patrolman.
SPEAKER_03: Okay, so he gets a little one-on-one time with people, but a lot of time his one-on-one time is uh a little different than our one-on-one.
SPEAKER_03: They're uh getting a ticket or they're getting pulled over or they're getting, but Adam has used that, and just about two weeks ago he told me a story of just sharing the gospel.
SPEAKER_03: So I would like to just kind of take some time real quick and ask Adam a few questions so that he can um just tell me some things that is going on in his own life as he's doing this.
SPEAKER_03: So, Adam, uh in your particular job, which what is your strategy to when you can sharing the gospel?
SPEAKER_01: I have a captive audience is uh a big bonus for me.
SPEAKER_01: They have to stay there as long as I say they can until they can leave.
SPEAKER_01: So that's that's my fishing hole.
SPEAKER_01: Uh you had to first kind of find a fishing hole in a in an inn.
SPEAKER_01: Uh Steve Gaddis will probably talk about it in a little bit, but he said that he found a new fishing hole at the Casey's convenience store.
SPEAKER_01: Uh apparently there's uh folks asking for uh uh maybe some money or uh buy them a cold drink or something, but he said that that may start being his new fishing hole.
SPEAKER_01: But uh in my situation, in my experience, I wait for the prompting.
SPEAKER_01: If you ask God to send you somebody, he will send you somebody.
SPEAKER_01: It might be that day, it might be in two weeks, but if you're faithful and ask, he will send you somebody.
SPEAKER_01: Because guess what?
SPEAKER_01: He wants people to be saved more than you do because he knows the cost and the penalty.
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
SPEAKER_01: Um when he sends you somebody, don't chicken out.
SPEAKER_01: This is what you've asked for, okay?
SPEAKER_01: So I know that it's uh it can be maybe intimidating the first time, less the second time, and then it's kind of second nature, and I will tell you, and I may be jumping ahead of what you want me to talk about, but the times that I'm in the book, in the word, when I'm with my brothers, it's easier because I know I have accountability with them, and I don't let Matt know that.
SPEAKER_01: Certainly to brag on me, I'm nobody to brag.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not.
SPEAKER_01: Well, we learned a lot about Jonah this week.
SPEAKER_01: I don't want to be a Jonah.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: I'm not trying to get swallowed by a fish for not doing the will of God.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not trying to do that.
SPEAKER_03: Okay, okay.
SPEAKER_03: To go with that, Adam, would you say, though, sharing the gospel is easier when you're right with your walk with the Lord and having it consistently?
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
SPEAKER_03: And why would you say that's we know that, but speak into that.
SPEAKER_01: Well, if you're right with God, you're more in tune to listen to the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: You're not uh as congested in your mind and you're not as busy in your mind, you're looking for opportunities because you've been praying for them.
SPEAKER_01: I don't, however, if you are not daily reading like we all should be, if you're not there, please don't overlook opportunities in the meantime to share your uh to share your faith.
SPEAKER_03: So if for some reason that morning you weren't able to have a quiet time, you could still share Jesus with someone?
SPEAKER_01: Yes, it still works.
SPEAKER_01: It still works because your testimony doesn't change.
SPEAKER_01: Your story is your story, and that's kind of what we we want to share.
SPEAKER_03: Okay, so as you talk to someone, do you think there's a difference between religious questions and then the gospel?
SPEAKER_01: Oh, 100%.
SPEAKER_01: It's easy to ask if you can pray for somebody without sharing the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: I might I might build a rapport with you over 25, 30 minutes if I don't know you.
SPEAKER_01: I might say, Man, you you're kind of different.
SPEAKER_01: Where do you go to church?
SPEAKER_01: Oh, I used to go to church.
SPEAKER_01: They might say, Well, you need to get back in church.
SPEAKER_01: Are you a praying man?
SPEAKER_01: Can I pray for you?
SPEAKER_01: I might pray that they know who Jesus is, who Jesus actually is, but to actually share the gospel, it's a different thing.
SPEAKER_03: So in sharing the gospel, does it take you a does it take you some time?
SPEAKER_03: I know you're just pull or you're just at a moment, sometimes you don't even know who you're talking to, but do you do you try to take time to get to know them a little bit to share the gospel?
SPEAKER_01: Yes, that's the building of the rapport that I talked about earlier.
SPEAKER_01: It's just a quick relationship.
SPEAKER_01: Find some common ground.
SPEAKER_01: Um it could be anything.
SPEAKER_01: Just slow down and get to know the person.
SPEAKER_01: You can't you can't be going to the next thing in your mind.
SPEAKER_01: We're all busy.
SPEAKER_01: You can't do that.
SPEAKER_01: You have to slow down and purposely talk to the person because they're a soul, they're not just some random person.
SPEAKER_01: They have a soul and they're going somewhere for eternity.
SPEAKER_01: Slow down, they're worth it.
SPEAKER_03: Okay, would would uh what would you tell me or tell us?
SPEAKER_03: What is your, and I don't know a better word to say this, but your success rate of the people you've shared the gospel with, would you say 85% of them get on their knees and pray and give the life to the Lord?
SPEAKER_01: That's hard to say because again, I'm not I'm not an expert.
SPEAKER_01: I don't share the gospel with everybody, I don't pray with everybody.
SPEAKER_01: I pray with a lot more people than I share the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: But if you get to the point where you're actually sharing Jesus for eternity with somebody, Holy Spirit put them there.
SPEAKER_01: And they put me there too.
SPEAKER_01: And despite my redneck, hick, uh hillbilly accent and ways, that speaks to them.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's not me.
SPEAKER_03: And that's what I was going with.
SPEAKER_03: And you told you as we talked, you told me that it's really there's not a number of how many I save, it's just the opportunity of being faithful to the Lord, and the Lord's the one that saves them anyway.
SPEAKER_03: And so you we've talked about it.
SPEAKER_03: Tell tell us a a couple weeks ago you were sharing one with me of of the Lord stirring and told you I need to share.
SPEAKER_03: Tell tell us a testimony of sharing the gospel of someone.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, so I do DOT inspections, Department of Transportation on semi-trucks.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, I pull a semi-truck over, we look at the brakes, the lights, the paperwork, the whatever, the whole thing.
SPEAKER_01: So that one of these particular times, um, clean cut, well put together, young black man.
SPEAKER_01: And I was just billing a report with him, and I told him, I said, you are more than a truck driver.
SPEAKER_01: You are much more.
SPEAKER_01: What why are you driving a truck?
SPEAKER_01: So you're way more than this.
SPEAKER_01: Trying to not flattery, it was an honest assessment.
SPEAKER_01: Like you you should be doing more than what you're doing now.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Funny you say that.
SPEAKER_01: I was thinking about uh owning my own trucking company.
SPEAKER_01: So we go along and I'm complimenting him on being on point.
SPEAKER_01: And kind of at the end, we we signed the paperwork, he did beautifully, no violations.
SPEAKER_01: So I made after that I made a consensual encounter, is what we call it.
SPEAKER_01: I said, Hey, business is over.
SPEAKER_01: Do you have a couple more minutes?
SPEAKER_01: I'd like to ask you a question.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely, because I I have that relationship with him now.
SPEAKER_01: It's not a big deal.
SPEAKER_01: He would spend an hour with me at this point, just talking.
SPEAKER_01: So I go into do you go to church somewhere?
SPEAKER_01: Because you you seem kind of uh set apart.
SPEAKER_01: Are you are you a Christian man?
SPEAKER_01: He said, Well, used to be.
SPEAKER_01: Used to go to church, he said.
SPEAKER_01: Don't go anymore.
SPEAKER_01: Somebody died, he blamed God.
SPEAKER_01: You've heard the stories.
SPEAKER_01: And uh we we just went along and talked about God and you know some of his promises.
SPEAKER_01: Hey, can I pray for you?
SPEAKER_01: So I prayed, prayed with him, prayed over his family that he knows who Jesus is.
SPEAKER_01: Kind of a standard, standard thing at this point.
SPEAKER_01: Said amen.
SPEAKER_01: He's just standing there.
SPEAKER_01: He's looking at me like, what's next?
SPEAKER_01: Is there more?
SPEAKER_01: He's not saying a word.
SPEAKER_01: He's smiling and he's just looking at me.
SPEAKER_01: I said, Do you have a few more minutes?
SPEAKER_01: Because I think we need, I think we need to go a little deeper here.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01: I said, come have a seat.
SPEAKER_01: I could forget his name.
SPEAKER_01: I said, has there ever been a time in your life where you can pinpoint that you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior?
SPEAKER_01: Because we'd already talked about the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Can you pinpoint a time?
SPEAKER_01: Are you a child of God?
SPEAKER_01: I said, man, I don't think so.
SPEAKER_01: I do not think so.
SPEAKER_01: I I don't have a moment like that.
SPEAKER_01: I've always gone to church, like when I was a kid.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, Brother, today is your day.
SPEAKER_01: Would you like to accept Jesus now and forever into your life?
SPEAKER_01: He said, I'd like to do that.
SPEAKER_01: So we prayed.
SPEAKER_01: All good, I'll see him again someday.
SPEAKER_01: But it's as it's it's not hard, guys.
SPEAKER_01: It's not hard.
SPEAKER_01: Many of you have led people to the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: You know it's not a hard thing.
SPEAKER_01: It's not difficult.
SPEAKER_01: We all know the answers.
SPEAKER_01: And I'll say that anytime somebody has asked me a tough question, a scripture or a saying or something has come to my mind to answer the question.
SPEAKER_01: I've never been lacking a response.
SPEAKER_01: That's the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: That's not me.
SPEAKER_01: I don't have that good a memory.
SPEAKER_01: So thank you, Adam.
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, thank you.
SPEAKER_03: Um, and that reminds me of uh Friday, I Friday.
SPEAKER_03: I um I I helped, I drove one of the buses back from camp.
SPEAKER_03: And so Steve Gaddis is the other bus driver.
SPEAKER_03: And so we have a van ride up to Salon to come back.
SPEAKER_03: And so we're driving, and Steve is just he's excited, he's just telling me all the things the Lord is doing in his life, and then he says, Hey, listen to this story.
SPEAKER_03: He said, um Thursday, yesterday, that was last Friday, I went into work, and they told me this lady that works at the place that I work is retiring.
SPEAKER_03: Or, no, she's going to find another job, and she, this is her last week at work.
SPEAKER_03: And he said, So I go off and do my job, and it was like all I could think about was the stuff that Pastor was telling me last Wednesday about just being faithful and just sharing the gospel and let the Lord do it.
SPEAKER_03: And he said, I was sitting in there, he said, he does something with paper.
SPEAKER_03: I don't exactly I don't get it.
SPEAKER_03: And he said, I'm in here working with the paper, and it's like I'm arguing myself.
SPEAKER_03: No, today's not a good day.
SPEAKER_03: Yes, Pastor said I need to do it today.
SPEAKER_03: And you you've been there before, and he said, and he said he finally said, because of what we talked about on Wednesday, and we're going to commit to doing this, and we're going to commit to sharing the gospel.
SPEAKER_03: I walked into this lady's office, and um he said, You know, I care about you.
SPEAKER_03: I know you're about to leave.
SPEAKER_03: And he said, I I I got to ask you a question.
SPEAKER_03: Has there ever come a time in your life that you've asked Jesus to be Lord of your life?
SPEAKER_03: And she just looked at him and she said, You know, I used to go to church.
SPEAKER_03: And just like what we talked about last week, Steve goes, Well, I'm glad you used to go to church, but is there and he kept just going to the question.
SPEAKER_03: And she goes, You know, I don't know if I know the and she just wasn't ready, but Steve did it.
SPEAKER_03: And then Steve said this, and I thought this was funny.
SPEAKER_03: He said, I wanted to say this to you because friends don't let friends go to hell.
SPEAKER_03: And she just looked at him with tears in her eyes and was like, Thank you.
SPEAKER_03: You know, he planted the seed, did what he was supposed to do.
SPEAKER_03: Now God's the one that's going to take care of the rest.
SPEAKER_03: But I that's really honestly, there are there are hundreds of different ways to share.
SPEAKER_03: There's only one gospel.
SPEAKER_03: I want to be careful what I'm saying.
SPEAKER_03: But there's different ways to lead to.
SPEAKER_03: There's your testimony, different things.
SPEAKER_03: And here's the thing: most of us know two or three different styles of using the Bible to share the gospel.
SPEAKER_03: What we'll challenge the church to do is do it.
SPEAKER_03: And I'm going to tell you what, myself included, um, there's many times I I go from church to home, and I I'm I'm praying with you, I'm praying with Steve Gaddis because I told Steve to hold me accountable that the Lord, when I go into Walmart, will let me see a mission field versus just going and get my stuff and coming out.
SPEAKER_03: Um, because if I'm not careful, I'm just and then Dave and I both have committed when someone comes in and wants something, before we talk about anything, we're sharing the gospel.
SPEAKER_03: He just did it the other day to the last guy that came in.
SPEAKER_03: So the I what we're wanting to be is intentional with the gospel.
SPEAKER_03: Um it was the last story that I'm gonna pass over to I'm just trying.
SPEAKER_03: The other day I went into uh Dillard's.
SPEAKER_03: I needed some pants.
SPEAKER_03: Uh uh Lisa was with me, and so I go in, and the guy's like, what do you need these pants for?
SPEAKER_03: And I'm like, Well, one, it's none of your business.
SPEAKER_03: You know, I'm I'm I'm like, I just need the pants.
SPEAKER_03: And the guy, I said, Well, I'm preaching, and I my pants are I need a pair of pants.
SPEAKER_03: He goes, Oh, what church do you go to?
SPEAKER_03: You see, and you know, I'm just like, I got we're in a hurry, and I I'm almost embarrassed to say this.
SPEAKER_03: I really didn't say anything.
SPEAKER_03: I got the pants, got in the car, and we get in the car, and Lisa goes, You know, he was wanting to come to church.
SPEAKER_03: I'm like, You think he was?
SPEAKER_03: You know, you you see what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_03: And I'm like, I couldn't even sleep that night.
SPEAKER_03: I mean, I was just so out of touch.
SPEAKER_03: So I prayed, Lord, please let him be at Dillard's.
SPEAKER_03: So at lunch here, I ran to Dillard's praying, which I've never seen the same guy at Dillard's twice.
SPEAKER_03: You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_03: It's like he was at the counter.
SPEAKER_03: And I said, you know what?
SPEAKER_03: Yesterday, I think you were asking about church.
SPEAKER_03: I am so sorry.
SPEAKER_03: What what the reason I'm thinking I'm even telling you this is myself included, we need to be on the other side ready to share, versus my wife having to nudge me.
SPEAKER_03: I it was my chance.
SPEAKER_03: And I was able to go in and share.
SPEAKER_03: He came to church for a couple weeks, he brought his mom.
SPEAKER_03: And the other day I was at the uh, this is funny, I went, I was at the uh Bash Pro Shop, and he's trying to sell me a weekend getaway there, and I said, I know you from somewhere.
SPEAKER_03: He goes, You're the one that invited me to church and told me about Jesus.
SPEAKER_03: And I forgot who you do.
SPEAKER_03: But my what my prayer, and this is really pastor came in and was like, we we I will say this when First Baptist Church was rocking and rolling, I think a lot of it was the EE sharing the gospel.
SPEAKER_03: And Greg even said that, and that's a part of our history and the idea that's why we're going back to it's a little different than EE because you don't go to people's door anymore, but we can still be on the front side of going into Walmart, going to the grocery store, praying, Lord, who can I share the gospel with?
SPEAKER_03: So, Pastor, if you you want to come up close out.
SPEAKER_02: Let me uh one thing that we talked about, you heard come up a couple of times, um is how do you get into the conversation?
SPEAKER_02: And then when Matt was running through the list of topics, you know, and so what you do, it's it's very simple to do.
SPEAKER_02: You do the first one and you do the little four things, and then it prompts you to go to the second one, right?
SPEAKER_02: And then you do it easy.
SPEAKER_02: One of those he said was the diagnostic questions.
SPEAKER_02: And so one of the tools that EE uses as a training program is simply there, a simple thing to help you with that, how you get into it.
SPEAKER_02: Uh I appreciated very much the testimony uh Adam gave about um you got to have more than a spiritual conversation.
SPEAKER_02: That's a good thing, but that's not sharing the gospel.
SPEAKER_02: And so the question is how do you get to the gospel?
SPEAKER_02: And I do appreciate that Adam has a captive audience.
SPEAKER_02: I don't have a captive audience.
SPEAKER_02: Y'all get up and leave all the time when I'm preaching.
SPEAKER_02: So it's, you know.
SPEAKER_02: But um, but here's what they are.
SPEAKER_02: Here's the two things.
SPEAKER_02: And this is the version that I learned.
SPEAKER_02: There's a little bit softer version on this new training, but this is basically what it is.
SPEAKER_02: Um if if you were to die today or pass away today, uh, do you know where you would spend eternity?
SPEAKER_02: And so it's just a gentle way to get into it rather than, you know, if you don't know Jesus, you're gonna go to hell.
SPEAKER_02: You know, it's a little off-putting sometimes for some of us to get into.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, and so it's that's an easy kind of a thing, and you get all kinds of incredible answers.
SPEAKER_02: It's called a diagnostic question because it helps you diagnose where they are in their walk.
SPEAKER_02: That's why they use that term.
SPEAKER_02: And so, if you were to die today, if you were to pass away today, do you know where you'd spend eternity?
SPEAKER_02: And they'll go, yeah, you know, I'll go to heaven or I hope I lived a good enough life or, you know, something like that.
SPEAKER_02: And so then that leads you to the second question, which gets you to the gospel.
SPEAKER_02: Well, if you were standing before Jesus at the door to heaven, uh, what would you tell him to get in?
SPEAKER_02: Why are you allowed to get in?
SPEAKER_02: Or sometimes you say, Jesus is there, and he says, Why should I let you into heaven?
SPEAKER_02: And then you have to answer.
SPEAKER_02: And so the only answer is I recognize that I was a sinner and I place my faith in Jesus and his death on the cross to pay the price for my sins.
SPEAKER_02: And if they give you any other answer than that, then you know this is an opportunity.
SPEAKER_02: Would you mind if I share with you how to get to heaven the right way?
SPEAKER_02: Because Jesus told us what the answer really is.
SPEAKER_02: And so that's what those two questions are, and they are designed to help us shift that conversation when you have an open door like the ones that we are talking about.
SPEAKER_02: Does that make sense?
SPEAKER_02: Questions about that?
SPEAKER_02: Now, as you walk through those videos, Matt talked about the little the two guys on the basketball court.
SPEAKER_02: What they're doing is they're walking you through a scenario where these two young men build this relationship and one young man turns it to the opportunity to share the gospel to the other, and it walks you through in a very simple process how you meet someone and how you engage in that process.
SPEAKER_02: And so that's what those diagnostic questions are, and they're very good.
SPEAKER_02: And so I would encourage you to really study through those because they really are helpful and they're very effective, they're not offensive.
SPEAKER_02: People will tell you stuff.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, it's kind of amazing, and it's amazing how much people want to talk to you.
SPEAKER_02: Um, this morning I had breakfast at Panera with one of the young guys at our Chaffee campus.
SPEAKER_02: And so we had just sat down with our bagels, and we're hanging out, and he was asking me something in the news, political question, we got something to whatever.
SPEAKER_02: And uh all of a sudden, this man comes walking over into our table and he just dives in and proceeds to tell us how everything happens in America and how it all is.
SPEAKER_02: Just bold as you can be.
SPEAKER_02: And I'm thinking, uh, and this is kind of how my conversation goes.
SPEAKER_02: You guys have got a lot of easier stuff.
SPEAKER_02: He said, What do you do?
SPEAKER_02: I said, I'm the pastor at First Baptist Church.
SPEAKER_02: Okay, well, the conversation ended then.
SPEAKER_02: I'm the ultimate wet blanket almost every conversation.
SPEAKER_02: But um, you know, there's just a boldness to that, and our opportunities that created that, and not everyone responds.
SPEAKER_02: It was very clear he was not gonna talk to me anymore.
SPEAKER_02: Uh and you know, you get that sometimes, but other times you get an openness or you get an opportunity, and if you can walk in with some version of that conversation, like a tool, like those diagnostic questions, it helps you get into that.
SPEAKER_02: Now, let me give you another kind of a thing here.
SPEAKER_02: Um, we we hopefully what we're gonna do is get lots of questions and answer questions in here.
SPEAKER_02: So we've had a great question uh that we've had several times, and people often ask this question.
SPEAKER_02: It all revolves various versions of the gift of evangelism, and what does the gift of evangelism do?
SPEAKER_02: And is there a gift of evangelism?
SPEAKER_02: And uh, if isn't that somebody who has that gift to do that, and I have a different gift, is it my thing to do that gift and all?
SPEAKER_02: Does that make sense?
SPEAKER_02: So you get this question revolving around the gift of evangelism.
SPEAKER_02: So let me kind of use that to walk into why we do personal evangelism training.
SPEAKER_02: You with me?
SPEAKER_02: Alright, so here's the deal.
SPEAKER_02: When we use the term spiritual gift, that is a generic, sort of a general term, and here's what we're usually talking about.
SPEAKER_02: We're usually talking about what the Bible teaches, that when you are saved, there are several things that happen.
SPEAKER_02: 2 Corinthians tells you if any man is in Christ, he is a new creation, old things have passed away, all things have become new.
SPEAKER_02: And so we are reborn, we are changed, we are made into the image of Christ.
SPEAKER_02: The beginning process of that.
SPEAKER_02: We are born alive spiritually.
SPEAKER_02: The next thing that happens is the presence of the Holy Spirit begins to indwell us in our lives, right?
SPEAKER_02: So the Bible says, know you not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_02: And the Holy Spirit does a number of things.
SPEAKER_02: Adam mentioned one of those.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus told us what the Holy Spirit would do.
SPEAKER_02: He had convict us of sin, he'd lead us into all truth, he would remind us of the words that Jesus says.
SPEAKER_02: That's where those phrases and things come back to mind that I hadn't thought about forever, but all of a sudden God promised it in my life.
SPEAKER_02: The Holy Spirit is doing all that.
SPEAKER_02: There's a third thing that the Holy Spirit does, and he births in us supernaturally a new giftedness or ability that we did not have before.
SPEAKER_02: And he creates in us this giftedness that is this new skill set or skill or heart or thing that I can do, that all of a sudden I'm interested in doing supernaturally that I wasn't before, that gives me a place in the body of Christ to serve the body of Christ.
SPEAKER_02: That's what the spirit is what a spiritual gift is.
SPEAKER_02: So, for example, the spiritual gift of mercy.
SPEAKER_02: All of a sudden, I have birthed in me this thing, and I'm feeling these mercy things, and I'm reaching out to people and I'm encaring in ways that I haven't before.
SPEAKER_02: It is a giftedness, a gift that the Holy Spirit birthed in me that is new, that enhances my walk, and it gives me a place in the body to serve the body with this new thing.
SPEAKER_02: Does that make sense?
SPEAKER_02: Question so far.
SPEAKER_02: All right.
SPEAKER_02: Those are described in about three places in Scripture for the most part.
SPEAKER_02: Romans chapter 12, 1 Corinthians chapter 12.
SPEAKER_02: In both of those, there is a list.
SPEAKER_02: Those lists are similar, and it says something like this the Holy Spirit passes out these gifts.
SPEAKER_02: You have a gift.
SPEAKER_02: Everybody has a different gift.
SPEAKER_02: You don't have all the gifts, you have one gift, and they have one gift, and all of us together become a body.
SPEAKER_02: A body is lesser than if it doesn't have a foot, a hand, an ear, and a nose.
SPEAKER_02: It needs all the parts, and it often uses that description.
SPEAKER_02: And so all of those parts bring us together to become a body.
SPEAKER_02: It's one of the reasons that you're not allowed to skip church.
SPEAKER_02: You're not.
SPEAKER_02: Because if you're not here, we're missing a hand.
SPEAKER_02: And if you're not here, you don't have anywhere to use the hand that the Holy Spirit birthed in you when you got saved.
SPEAKER_02: It's one of the reasons that we know there's no such thing as a Lone Ranger Christian.
SPEAKER_02: It is impossible to be a walking Christian without being engaged and invested in the body of Christ.
SPEAKER_02: It is by definition created in the moment of your salvation.
SPEAKER_02: There's a third list.
SPEAKER_02: Ephesians chapter 4.
SPEAKER_02: Now, this list is written differently than the others.
SPEAKER_02: The others are all things that we do.
SPEAKER_02: In Ephesians chapter 4, the Bible says he gave gifts to the body, to the church.
SPEAKER_02: And then the list goes like this apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers.
SPEAKER_02: Those are all people or roles in the church that people do.
SPEAKER_02: That's different than the other list, abilities.
SPEAKER_02: And then it says, for the equipping of the saints, for the work of ministry to building the body of Christ.
SPEAKER_02: And then it goes on, you can't quit doing this until everybody looks like Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: And then next verse says, nobody is tossed around by the trickeries of men and all of that.
SPEAKER_02: And then it uses the body illustration again.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus is the head, everybody's a part of the body, we're all knit together as one.
SPEAKER_02: When the nose does what the nose does, and the hand what the hand does, and the leg doesn't skip church, and the leg shows up, and we can walk like we're supposed to because all the parts are there.
SPEAKER_02: So there is a debate that's a gentle, loving debate that goes on in church life.
SPEAKER_02: Is there such a thing as the spiritual gift of evangelism?
SPEAKER_02: And it goes like this.
SPEAKER_02: Some people will say no.
SPEAKER_02: That is a description of a role in the church in Ephesians chapter 4.
SPEAKER_02: And that's a person, that's an office, that's different.
SPEAKER_02: The other group will say, no, it uses the same body illustration and it uses the same word gift.
SPEAKER_02: And so it really doesn't matter.
SPEAKER_02: It's not that big a deal.
SPEAKER_02: It's not something that we wouldn't have coffee over and have fun and then go get a hamburger together.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, it's not something that should divide us.
SPEAKER_02: We have people in our church that think the evangelist thing it's talking about is an office in the church, and we have people in our church that think it's a spiritual gift.
SPEAKER_02: It's not that big a difference.
SPEAKER_02: Does that make sense?
SPEAKER_02: All right.
SPEAKER_02: Now, here's the next thing that happens from that.
SPEAKER_02: Whether it is an office or a gift doesn't change the fact that all of us have the individual responsibility of evangelism.
SPEAKER_02: 2 Timothy chapter 4.
SPEAKER_02: Here's what the Bible says.
SPEAKER_02: Paul is writing a letter to Timothy, obviously, that's why it's called 2 Timothy, and he is teaching him how to be a pastor.
SPEAKER_02: And so in this, he is giving them, giving him these instructions that he is doing as a pastor.
SPEAKER_02: He tells them not to be ashamed of the gospel.
SPEAKER_02: It tells him to hold fast to the gift that he has of his calling to be a pastor.
SPEAKER_02: And then he says in chapter 2, he begins to talk about what you're supposed to do.
SPEAKER_02: And he says, for example, verse 2, what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, commit to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.
SPEAKER_02: So now he's beginning to shift into what you're doing is you're teaching all these things to your people, and you're equipping them to do all of this ministry.
SPEAKER_02: And then you get to chapter 4, and here's what it says.
SPEAKER_02: I solemnly charge you.
SPEAKER_02: Now that's a that's a pretty serious statement.
SPEAKER_02: That's not really found anywhere else, or very rarely something of that effect.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, he's like looking at them in the eye and going, look at me, son.
SPEAKER_02: I solemnly charge you, and then this gets even bigger, before God and Jesus Christ, who is going to judge the living and the dead.
SPEAKER_02: Okay, how's that for serious?
SPEAKER_02: I solemnly charge you before Jesus, who's going to judge you, whether you did this or not.
SPEAKER_02: And then he says, and because of his appearing in his kingdom, preach the word, be ready in season and out of season, rebuke, correct, and encourage with great patience and teaching.
SPEAKER_02: That's what he's doing with his church.
SPEAKER_02: He's encouraging them to do the church, he's teaching them to be the church, he's rebuking them when they're not the church.
SPEAKER_02: Your role as a pastor is to teach and equip all these things.
SPEAKER_02: He says, for the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine, but according to their own desires will multiply teachers for themselves because they have an itch to hear what they want to hear.
SPEAKER_02: They will turn away from the truth and turn aside to myths.
SPEAKER_02: And so all this chaos and all these bad teachers, and you're living in a culture that's bad and all of that, and then you know what he says.
SPEAKER_02: But, but don't really care that you live in a time when it's tough and nobody wants to hear what you have to say.
SPEAKER_02: Don't really care because I've charged you before Jesus who will judge the living and the dead, that you're supposed to do this.
SPEAKER_02: He says, Exercise self-control and everything, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
SPEAKER_02: Your ministry as a pastor.
SPEAKER_02: And so what he's telling there in teaching, rebuking, fulfilling your ministry, do the work of an evangelist.
SPEAKER_02: He's not telling Timothy that you are to be the evangelist.
SPEAKER_02: He is telling him in your pastoral role, you are supposed to do the work of evangelists, which means you're supposed to be teaching your people how to share Jesus and how to evangelize as a part of fulfilling your ministry and preaching and teaching and rebuking and encouraging and all of that.
SPEAKER_02: It's all in that context.
SPEAKER_02: And doing the work of an evangelist as a pastor is this.
SPEAKER_02: It's evangelism training, it's encouraging the body, it's every one of us to be sharing Jesus in the way we've talked about.
SPEAKER_02: And so there is a role, I think, for of an evangelist.
SPEAKER_02: There are missionaries, there are pastors that are net drawers and all that.
SPEAKER_02: There are people who are gifted in evangelism.
SPEAKER_02: I'm still not sure if that's a spiritual gift or not, but I have friends that I sit down with them and they lead people to Jesus in the restaurant, and I don't know how to do that.
SPEAKER_02: And they just do it all the time.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, they just got it going on all the time.
SPEAKER_02: And so there are people who are certainly gifted in that supernaturally.
SPEAKER_02: But everyone is responsible to share Jesus and to be a soul winner at some base fundamental level.
SPEAKER_02: Again, fulfill your ministry if you go to the Great Commission.
SPEAKER_02: There's no indication that that doesn't apply to everyone, it applies to everyone.
SPEAKER_02: And he says, What you're to do is, under the authority of Jesus, you are to go baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe whatever I've commanded and what has he commanded us to share the gospel.
SPEAKER_02: Right?
SPEAKER_02: And so, how in the world can we observe everything God Jesus commanded to us if we're not sharing the gospel, everyone, and if that is the command on everyone, and Timothy is a pastor and he's to do the work of evangelists, the only way to do that is teaching people how to share Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: And so, whatever, however that lands, everyone at a fundamental level is sharing the gospel.
SPEAKER_02: That is as good a theological explanation of personal soul winning from everyone in the church as I can get to.
SPEAKER_02: Does that make sense?
SPEAKER_02: And those are those are great questions because number one, it doesn't happen enough, and number two, it is a real question that goes on, and how does That work and how does it function and how does it do all that?
SPEAKER_02: So I think it's a great, I think it's a great question, a great discussion.
SPEAKER_02: All right, let me stop.
SPEAKER_02: See if you have questions.
SPEAKER_02: Man, you know what hell looks like?
SPEAKER_02: No, I'm kidding.
SPEAKER_02: Let me tell you about it.
SPEAKER_02: Y'all don't have to tell them they're going to hell.
SPEAKER_02: Just bring them to church and I'll tell them they're going to hell.
SPEAKER_02: Okay?
SPEAKER_02: I'll take that off your plate.
SPEAKER_02: No, I think that's a great question.
SPEAKER_02: What do you do if they got nothing?
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
SPEAKER_02: You don't, you can't win people with an unloving spirit.
SPEAKER_02: Right?
SPEAKER_02: So I use this example a lot because I've seen people do this a lot.
SPEAKER_02: Y'all seen those little tracks where you get and they're designed to leave your tip in the restaurant to your server, you know, and you put the tip inside the okay.
SPEAKER_02: You can't be ugly to your server the entire meal and then hand them a$2 tip inside a track that tells them that you love them and Jesus loves them.
SPEAKER_02: It ain't gonna work.
SPEAKER_02: It's just not gonna work, right?
SPEAKER_02: And so you have to keep in mind the relationship part that we've mentioned, that kind of a deal.
SPEAKER_02: We are showing the love of Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: We are being gracious, right?
SPEAKER_02: Even here he tells Timothy, um, rebuke, correct, and encourage with great patience and teaching.
SPEAKER_02: So I think that's a good example since we were just in that scripture of what that looks like.
SPEAKER_02: So you're you're you're opening the door, you ask them that question, they go, nah, I don't want any part of that.
SPEAKER_02: You know, had that this morning, right?
SPEAKER_02: And so you just, if it's clear it's a shut door, it's a shut door.
SPEAKER_02: And you just, you know, be gracious and say something else nice about them and encourage them and end with a good taste in their mouth.
SPEAKER_02: I think that's how you do that.
SPEAKER_02: Um, if you get started down that road and they want to argue with you, um several places.
SPEAKER_02: Once here in 2 Timothy, another in I think 1 Timothy, it says, avoid vain and foolish arguments or disputations is one word.
SPEAKER_02: It doesn't help to argue.
SPEAKER_02: You can't argue someone into heaven.
SPEAKER_02: And that's what we are really caught up in, especially with all the culture wars that go on around us.
SPEAKER_02: We're always trying to defend our position and argue why stuff is wrong and all of that, and nobody's getting saved from that.
SPEAKER_02: Right?
SPEAKER_02: So I think what we've got to think through is I have to get to the gospel lovingly, and I can't undo what seeds I sowed if I dig up the ground and pull them out.
SPEAKER_02: Right?
SPEAKER_02: And so I think you're gracious, you move into that.
SPEAKER_02: If they lock you out, you just accept that.
SPEAKER_02: Just accept that.
SPEAKER_02: You still sowed what you sowed, you still modeled Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: Um don't assume they're gonna lock you out.
SPEAKER_02: Keep going until they do, and then when they do, you graciously move forward.
SPEAKER_02: Yes, you can do it anywhere.
SPEAKER_02: You have to be sensitive to the spot they're in, but yes, you can.
SPEAKER_02: And I've sat there lots of times and been with a friend who led someone to Christ, and I've done it before.
SPEAKER_02: Um I was at a restaurant around our church where I grew up, and our pastor was very much a personal evangelist and all that.
SPEAKER_02: And so I started off in a restaurant.
SPEAKER_02: A good way to start off is hey, we're about to bless our food.
SPEAKER_02: Can I, is there anything I can pray for you for?
SPEAKER_02: That's a that's a very gentle serving way.
SPEAKER_02: And sometimes they'll give you something and you pray about it, and then you can ask them, do you have a church or do you know Jesus?
SPEAKER_02: Can I can I share with you whatever?
SPEAKER_02: And they'll either get in or out, but it's a great place to start in a restaurant.
SPEAKER_02: So I had a guy said, I said, hey, do you do you mind if I'd love to pray for you, about to pray for food?
SPEAKER_02: And he goes, Oh man, you're praying for my food.
SPEAKER_02: You guys must go to the church over there.
SPEAKER_02: I said, Yeah, I go to church over there.
SPEAKER_02: And he goes, Oh, I love your pastor.
SPEAKER_02: He led me to Jesus in a conversation just like this.
SPEAKER_02: Okay, that's awesome.
SPEAKER_02: So, yeah, you can do that.
SPEAKER_02: You do have to be sensitive about their job responsibility and that kind of thing.
SPEAKER_02: But I think anywhere is open ground if God has opened the door.
SPEAKER_02: And you don't know that God's opened the door unless you try.
SPEAKER_02: There's a couple of things uh that we can do in that.
SPEAKER_02: First of all, when you're dealing with a family member and a long-term relationship like that, I think prayer is the most important thing.
SPEAKER_02: You really got to soften that in prayer.
SPEAKER_02: There's a reason that we pray for things.
SPEAKER_02: We gave you last week the scripture in uh Colossians where Paul says, pray for an effective open door for the gospel, and then pray for me that I would share it boldly and properly.
SPEAKER_02: And so I think that prayer in a family member, especially or a close friend, is really important.
SPEAKER_02: And you just cover that in prayer.
SPEAKER_02: There's a reason that we pray over stuff, right?
SPEAKER_02: So that's the first thing that you do.
SPEAKER_02: I think the second thing with a family member is you don't want to not share because you're worried about the family relationship.
SPEAKER_02: The other side of that, you don't beat them over the head constantly.
SPEAKER_02: You have to build the family relationship, but then use the family relationship in times that you can pick your shot and share Jesus there.
SPEAKER_02: Does that make sense?
SPEAKER_02: And so you're gonna run them off and not get a chance if you beat them over the head all the time.
SPEAKER_02: But what good is it to have that relationship and protect it if you don't ever use the opportunity to share Jesus with them, right?
SPEAKER_02: So that'd be the next thing I would say about family deals.
SPEAKER_02: Now let's talk about LDS.
SPEAKER_02: Yes, they are not Christians.
SPEAKER_02: I'm not trying to be ugly, I'm not trying to be critical, I'm not slamming the other deal.
SPEAKER_02: Theologically, they do not believe in the gospel.
SPEAKER_02: Okay, we talked about last week, this is the gospel.
SPEAKER_02: And you're right, their Jesus is not the same Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: We believe that Jesus is God, part of the Trinity, expressed as the Son of God, but the Bible says very clearly, John 1.1, for example, in the beginning was the word.
SPEAKER_02: That is John's word for Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: He says him as word.
SPEAKER_02: He said he uses that in the apostle John, in the epistle of John, he uses that in 1 John, the Word.
SPEAKER_02: And so the Word was God and the Word was with God, and by all things we're created.
SPEAKER_02: Colossians says all things were created by him and for him and through him, and all things consist by him.
SPEAKER_02: Mormons, in essence, believe that Jesus was a God over our planet.
SPEAKER_02: He's not the God, he's not the Son of God, and so he's doing this deal.
SPEAKER_02: And if you do their thing and follow their deal, and you do it well enough and good enough, and you and your wife get married in holy underwear in the tabernacle, you will become a God, you will be gifted a planet, and you will make babies for eternity and populate your planet.
SPEAKER_02: I'm not making that up.
SPEAKER_02: That's accurate, okay?
SPEAKER_02: So Jesus is definitely not our Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: Um, and so I think in that moment, what you want to do is your personal testimony is really good there.
SPEAKER_02: Not a theological argument.
SPEAKER_02: Start with your testimony, and that you trusted Jesus as the Son of the living God who died on, who stepped out of heaven, you know, Ephesians, uh, Philippians chapter 2, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but humble himself to the point of death, even death on the cross, and that's you placed your faith in Jesus as Savior.
SPEAKER_02: Um, and he rose again, conquering death and sin.
SPEAKER_02: And I think you focus back on the gospel and your personal experience of that because they cannot argue away your personal experience.
SPEAKER_02: They can give you that nonsense about, well, that's not my experience, and whatever.
SPEAKER_02: I whatever.
SPEAKER_02: You have convicted them at that point because you have given them in a gospel in a way that doesn't create an argument, and the Holy Spirit has a weapon to deal with.
SPEAKER_02: Does that make sense?
SPEAKER_02: And I think that's where I would start.
SPEAKER_02: And then I think you have to use scripture if they get you, if you get an opportunity to talk about Jesus and the difference of Jesus, it is only scripture that is living and powerful and sharper than a two-edged sword, to the viting of sun or the soul and spirit, the bones of marrow, discern of the thoughts and tents of the heart.
SPEAKER_02: Hebrews chapter 4.
SPEAKER_02: So you have to give scripture like Philippians 2 so that the scripture can speak to them, and you're not battling through that.
SPEAKER_02: Now, I've been in those conversations pointing out all the historical anomalies and the falsehoods in the Book of Mormon and all that.
SPEAKER_02: That's not gonna work.
SPEAKER_02: It's not effective, right?
SPEAKER_02: It's it's not effective.
SPEAKER_02: It wasn't effective two weeks ago with the Jehovah's Witness when they knocked on my door.
SPEAKER_02: It wasn't effective, right?
SPEAKER_02: So I think if you can give the personal and build on that relationship, and I think you say, I love you, I want you to hear my testimony, and I think that would be the approach I would give to that.
SPEAKER_02: That that's a great question.
SPEAKER_02: Again, part of that was family members, part of that was people who are well-meaning or just, you know, God is good, and you know, we're making the world a better place, and that kind of stuff.
SPEAKER_02: You know, how do you get past all that?
SPEAKER_02: Um, Dr.
SPEAKER_02: Rogers taught us as a staff this, and this may help in that.
SPEAKER_02: Um, people generally who are talking about the positive sort of ephemeral, nice spiritual, you know, that kind of business, they talk about God.
SPEAKER_02: They use God.
SPEAKER_02: Now in the beginning, God created heaven and earth.
SPEAKER_02: There's nothing wrong with using God.
SPEAKER_02: We like that word theologically, God, right?
SPEAKER_02: But here's what happens the Bible says that the cross is a stumbling block.
SPEAKER_02: The Bible describes Jesus as the cornerstone that was cast away, and then it says people trip and stumble over the cornerstone.
SPEAKER_02: The Bible says that we as Christians uses the illustration of incense in the temple or the tabernacle, that we are a sweet smelling aroma to the Lord.
SPEAKER_02: And in that incense illustration, it says to the people around us, we are the aroma of life leading to life.
SPEAKER_02: And to those who are perishing, those who are going to be lost, the Bible says, we Christians are the aroma of death leading to death.
SPEAKER_02: Right?
SPEAKER_02: So the cross is a stumbling block.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus is the cornerstone that was rejected and people stumble over.
SPEAKER_02: And as Christians, to lost people, we are the aroma of death leading to death.
SPEAKER_02: Okay?
SPEAKER_02: Jesus is the turning point of that.
SPEAKER_02: And so if people are talking about God, God, God, God, God, God, you need to only use the word Jesus, period.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: In the Old Testament stories, don't use the word God.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, because Jesus was there in the Old Testament.
SPEAKER_02: We've seen multiple times when he showed up and he talked to Joshua and he talked to, you know, all these people, and he was there in creation.
SPEAKER_02: And the for God, you know, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
SPEAKER_02: That word God is the word Elohim, it's the plural name of God, and it's the picture of the fullness of the Trinity of God.
SPEAKER_02: He was there.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus was there in the Old Testament.
SPEAKER_02: He's all there, right?
SPEAKER_02: Nothing wrong with saying Jesus in the Old Testament instead of God.
SPEAKER_02: So you say Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: Because now we are off of that mush God, false sort of cotton candy spirituality, and things are good and people are nice, and God loves people, and you know, God wouldn't ever see anybody to hell and all sorts kind of stuff.
SPEAKER_02: That's just wrong, right?
SPEAKER_02: Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: Now, God, again, go back to scripture.
SPEAKER_02: It's so important that you have certain basic scriptures that you know.
SPEAKER_02: You don't have to know 47, but you need to know a couple.
SPEAKER_02: For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, and you can say Jesus, because that's his only son.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus is the stumbling block.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus is the point of separation.
SPEAKER_02: Even people that don't know much about it, if you say Jesus, they're going, oh, there you go in that cross business.
SPEAKER_02: It is the separator, it is the gospel.
SPEAKER_02: For God so loved the Lord, He gave His only Son that whosoever believes in Him, whoever believes in Jesus, will never perish, but of everlasting life.
SPEAKER_02: For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world because the world was condemned already.
SPEAKER_02: It is sin that sends us to hell.
SPEAKER_02: Right?
SPEAKER_02: But that the world through Jesus might be saved.
SPEAKER_02: God so loved the world that he gave his son to pay the price for our sin that condemned us to hell because Jesus came to save us from hell.
SPEAKER_02: But you have clearly included in that sin and the price of sin and that separation.
SPEAKER_02: And so if you'll hear me preach, when you listen, there are certain things if you'll pick up on.
SPEAKER_02: Not because I think it's bad, but because we are preaching the gospel and Jesus presents the gospel.
SPEAKER_02: Does that make sense what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_02: In a positive way, Jesus presents the gospel.
SPEAKER_02: In fact, my preaching philosophy, it's not very good, but this is what I do in it.
SPEAKER_02: If I stick with the Bible verses and I read enough Bible verses and I say the name of Jesus as many times as I can possibly say it, then the Holy Spirit has plenty to work with.
SPEAKER_02: And that's literally how I write a sermon.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, that's that's it.
SPEAKER_02: What else is there, you know?
SPEAKER_02: And you're taking Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: So I think in those conversations, it's important to insert Jesus, stick with Jesus, because Jesus gets us to the cross.
SPEAKER_02: And sin is real and hell is real, but Jesus did everything he could possibly do as the creator God of the universe to keep us out of hell.
SPEAKER_02: That's how much he loves us.
SPEAKER_02: And I think in those conversations, there's a lot of separation you create when you stick with Jesus and don't let them do the God thing.
SPEAKER_02: Y'all with me?
SPEAKER_02: I didn't say anything bad about God.
SPEAKER_02: Y'all understand that, right?
SPEAKER_02: Like, you get that point.
SPEAKER_02: And there's scriptures we go through, but I don't want to be preaching all the time.
SPEAKER_02: So, but if if you get that point, it's important.
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's true.
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, a lot of people don't know enough about God.
SPEAKER_02: And so it that's a great point.
SPEAKER_02: What he said is they'll say about their God and then whatever, and he's like, I don't recognize the God you're talking about, I don't believe in him either.
SPEAKER_02: It's like the Mormon Jesus or the Jehovah's Witness Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: I think it's a good thing to ask them to define who God is in just a gentle way.
SPEAKER_02: And it's saying it's like a diagnostic question again.
SPEAKER_02: So who is God to you?
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, right.
SPEAKER_02: Call him Jesus arrogant.
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
SPEAKER_02: It is.
SPEAKER_02: That's exactly right.
SPEAKER_02: She was saying that a lot of people believe in God.
SPEAKER_02: Many people reject the person of Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: And so that, you know, Jesus gets you to, I am the way, the truth, and life.
SPEAKER_02: No one comes to the Father but by me, Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: And so Jesus gets you to that.
SPEAKER_02: And so you can ask them, who is God?
SPEAKER_02: And who is Jesus?
SPEAKER_02: Now it's a different deal in a normal conversation.
SPEAKER_02: If you get in a conversation with some Jehovah's Witness person or a Mormon person, they're going to be trying to run laps around you and some other thing, and they're playing all these word games and all this nonsense.
SPEAKER_02: So yeah, that these apply to normal conversations, not one of those.
SPEAKER_02: Does that make sense?
SPEAKER_02: But even there, what you're doing is you're pinning them down on the person of Jesus, right?
SPEAKER_02: So the Jehovah's Witnesses knocked on my door a couple weeks ago.
SPEAKER_02: I I had the same battle of the Holy Spirit and the conviction.
SPEAKER_02: I'm, you know, I can see them through the little window lights, and they're, you know, and they stick the thing in the door, and I'm like, they didn't know I was home, and the Holy Spirit's going.
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, really?
SPEAKER_02: Really?
SPEAKER_02: You know, and uh, and so I open the door and they come back and they say hi and whatever, and we want to talk to you about Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: And I fantastic.
SPEAKER_02: I look at their form, they're Jehovah's Witness, and so I'm just not gonna get into the argument with them because it doesn't do any good, right?
SPEAKER_02: Um, and so what I say, I listen to them politely and I say, listen, I I respect you and I respect your passion to try to help people spiritually, and I very much appreciate that.
SPEAKER_02: I don't want to be rude or disrespectful in any way, but I just want you to know I am a I am a New Testament Bible-believing Christian.
SPEAKER_02: I believe that Jesus is part of the Trinity, Jesus is the Son of the living God, he was the promised Messiah, he stepped out of heaven, died on the cross, paid the price for our sins, rose again, he's the only way to heaven.
SPEAKER_02: And they said, we believe that too.
SPEAKER_02: And I just said, you don't.
SPEAKER_02: I know what your theology is, and that's not what you believe.
SPEAKER_02: No, it is, no, it is.
SPEAKER_02: I know you don't believe that.
SPEAKER_02: And I know you don't believe in heaven and hell, and Jesus is the way.
SPEAKER_02: You know, so here's what my prayer is for you after you leave.
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna I want you to know I'm gonna pray for you by name because I care about you.
SPEAKER_02: And my prayer for you will be that through this spiritual journey that you have, that you will meet the Jesus who is the Son of the Living God, and who died and rose again to offer us life and eternity, and eternity spent with him.
SPEAKER_02: And so those are different than the normal friend people we meet conversations that we have.
SPEAKER_02: Is that good?
SPEAKER_02: Man, you guys did great.
SPEAKER_02: Those are great questions.
SPEAKER_02: Keep asking, send them to us during the week, whatever.
SPEAKER_02: Those are great.
SPEAKER_02: That's part of why this is a good setting.
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, that's exactly right.
SPEAKER_02: So when she's telling me no, I say that's not what you believe.
SPEAKER_02: No, that's right.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus separates everything, y'all.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, it you Jesus separates everything.
SPEAKER_02: And that's incredible because he says in red letters, I, Jesus, am the way, the truth, and life.
SPEAKER_02: No one comes with the Father but by me.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus says, he says, red letters, I, Jesus, and the resurrection and the life.
SPEAKER_02: Right?
SPEAKER_02: And so it is all through Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: There's a reason we sing, Jesus paid it all, and all to him I owe.
SPEAKER_02: When sin had left a crimson thing, Jesus washed it white as snow.
SPEAKER_02: And so if you will lean into that Jesus, you will always get a reaction.
SPEAKER_02: You will get a reaction.
SPEAKER_02: And that's good because if you're listening, paying attention, that helps you diagnose kind of where they are, where the conversation needs to go.
SPEAKER_02: It gives the Holy Spirit an open door to kind of share with you what you're doing and what you need to say next.
SPEAKER_02: And but if but we need to really stick to Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: And the other thing I'd tell you, just while we're on the topic, if you're listening to people on the internet and all that kind of stuff, don't listen to preachers or Bible teachers who don't talk about Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: Don't listen to God preachers, listen to Jesus preachers for the reasons we just talked about.
SPEAKER_02: Not trying to be critical of anybody, but you just you know that's where that is.
SPEAKER_02: The second thing I would say is anybody who is trying to redefine Jesus, you need to turn that off as quickly as you can.
SPEAKER_02: Right?
SPEAKER_02: The only definition of who Jesus is right here.
SPEAKER_02: Right?
SPEAKER_02: There's no other, there's no other answer.
SPEAKER_02: It's all right here who Jesus is.
SPEAKER_02: And so you want to really stick to that.
SPEAKER_02: So that's good.
SPEAKER_02: You guys are doing great.
SPEAKER_02: Awesome.
SPEAKER_02: You excited?
SPEAKER_02: You good?
SPEAKER_02: Are we thrilled?
SPEAKER_02: Are we good?
SPEAKER_02: Matt's pepper alley.
SPEAKER_02: All right.
SPEAKER_02: Let me pray for us our love list.
SPEAKER_02: Yes, ma'am.
SPEAKER_02: Question.
SPEAKER_02: Go ahead.
SPEAKER_02: One more.
SPEAKER_02: Yep.
SPEAKER_02: No, that's right.
SPEAKER_02: It's a great word.
SPEAKER_02: Thank you for sharing that testimony.
SPEAKER_02: That's right.
SPEAKER_02: No, that's exactly right.
SPEAKER_02: Lots and lots of ministers get saved, ministers' wives get saved.
SPEAKER_02: And you know, we share the gospel in our Sunday school classes and all.
SPEAKER_02: That.
SPEAKER_02: Um, I had a friend uh who had been a youth pastor, I'll close with this been a youth pastor.
SPEAKER_02: I may have told a story, forgive me if I did, but he was a youth pastor uh in Arkansas and he moved to Memphis, and I was a singles pastor in Arkansas, and he came in, his name was John, and we were friends, and he started teaching Sunday school with us, and he was a great teacher because he'd been, he'd preached, he was a youth guy.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, he was like a real guy, he was awesome, and he was doing whatever.
SPEAKER_02: And he had Tourette's.
SPEAKER_02: And so he was one of those guys that would use that.
SPEAKER_02: Oh, Tourette's is awesome.
SPEAKER_02: I can say whatever I want to say and blame it on Tourette.
SPEAKER_02: I'd walk past Sunday school, you know, checking on my Sunday school, single dose Sunday school classes, and I walked by there one time, and I swear I saw him in a chair, and he's standing up and he's waving a shoe at everybody.
SPEAKER_02: I don't really, I'm gonna move on down the hall.
SPEAKER_02: But he was great, man.
SPEAKER_02: He's bold, he was great, he was awesome, right?
SPEAKER_02: And Junior Hill, how many of you know Junior Hill is?
SPEAKER_02: Junior Hill, Junior Hill.
SPEAKER_02: He's a famous, famous evangelist preacher.
SPEAKER_02: He would be in that evangelist role guy.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, just draw the net, it's incredible.
SPEAKER_02: Just big old gracious, kind of Jerry Clower sort of, you know, guy or whatever.
SPEAKER_02: But I mean, like he would show up and people would get saved in droves.
SPEAKER_02: It was unbelievable.
SPEAKER_02: So here we are, Junior Hill's preaching, people are getting saved.
SPEAKER_02: You know, I'm standing on this aisle, my I was assigned an aisle, and so I'm here, our deacons are behind us, and I just happened to look across the congregation, and basically equivalent of where Pastor Dave is sitting.
SPEAKER_02: John was there in the invitation, and we're standing here, and I just happened to catch his eye, and he is white knuckling the pew in front of him.
SPEAKER_02: He's a Sunday school teacher in our church, he's an ordained student pastor, and he's white knuckling this pew.
SPEAKER_02: And uh, and I happen to look over there and I'm seeing what he's going on, and this is John got Tourette's, and he'll do anything anywhere, anytime, right?
SPEAKER_02: And so, whatever.
SPEAKER_02: And then I happen to look over again, and he's staring at me.
SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, what?
SPEAKER_02: You know, we're in the middle of the invitation.
SPEAKER_02: There's 6,000 people in the room.
SPEAKER_02: All this stuff going on, people come down the aisle, and John's over there going, and you're holding on that pew.
SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, what in the world?
SPEAKER_02: And we get in the next verse, and all of a sudden he steps out of that aisle, he comes making a beeline for me, and I thought, he's gonna tackle me.
SPEAKER_02: We're gonna like tackle tackle drill right here.
SPEAKER_02: We called it Oklahoma drill, where I was, you know, reach like that, you know.
SPEAKER_02: The guys get it, right?
SPEAKER_02: Something, and here we go.
SPEAKER_02: And he walks up to me and he says, The Holy Spirit has just told me he is tired of me faking this, and this is my last opportunity.
SPEAKER_02: And if I don't give my life to Jesus right now and I don't confess my sin, then I'm gonna die and go to hell.
SPEAKER_02: And I don't want to go to hell.
SPEAKER_02: And right there he prayed to give his life to Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: It happens.
SPEAKER_02: So that's why we share the gospel in Sunday school, we share the gospel in church, we all the time, we never not sharing the gospel because you never know who's gonna get saved.
SPEAKER_02: And, you know, as Matt said a minute ago, uh Jesus is the Lord of the harvest, and people are getting saved, and he's opening doors, and you have no idea.
SPEAKER_02: And but you get to be there when people are giving their life to Christ.
SPEAKER_02: Isn't that incredible?
SPEAKER_02: All right, let me pray for you.
SPEAKER_02: If you ask some other questions, I'll hang around.
SPEAKER_02: Lord, we want to lift our love lists up to you right now.
SPEAKER_02: Everybody here has one or is working on one, that's why they're here.
SPEAKER_02: Lord, we're lifting those up collectively to you right now.
SPEAKER_02: Uh Adam gave testimony.
SPEAKER_02: You pray that prayer, God's gonna answer that prayer.
SPEAKER_02: And so we're praying that prayer, believing you're gonna open these doors.
SPEAKER_02: Steve shared a testimony where he last week, right after Wednesday, he stepped in and started sharing.
SPEAKER_02: And you opened a door.
SPEAKER_02: And so, Father, we're praying over those love lists and we're praying that you open a door.
SPEAKER_02: This Sunday, we're doing the Lord's Supper.
SPEAKER_02: There's no more powerful picture of the gospel than that.
SPEAKER_02: So I pray on those love lists that those invitations to church on Sunday would find fertile ground, and we would see some from our love lists actually come to church with our folks on Sunday to see this beautiful picture of the Lord's Supper and this incredibly powerful, tangible picture of how Jesus stepped out of heaven as the creator God of the universe, the living word, the resurrection and the life.
SPEAKER_02: He stepped out of heaven, lived a sinless life, there sacrificed his life for us to pay the price for our sins, and rose again, conquering death and sin.
SPEAKER_02: And so I pray, Father, for people to come.
SPEAKER_02: I pray for visitors to come, I pray for loveless people to come.
SPEAKER_02: I pray for our people here tonight that you'll encourage them and strengthen them.
SPEAKER_02: I I thank you so much for them being here, the conversations and the questions and the opportunities it opens up to teach.
SPEAKER_02: Um it's just so exciting to be here with a bunch of people who want to learn how to better share Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: So I pray you'll bless them for that.
SPEAKER_02: Make them excited, as Matt said, encouraged.
SPEAKER_02: Steve's testimony, Matt's testimony, uh, Adam's testimony.
SPEAKER_02: Just we just thank you for all that.
SPEAKER_02: And I pray to encourage folks to step into those doors that you open.
SPEAKER_02: We thank you beyond what words can say of our gratefulness that Jesus loved us so much to be our Savior.
SPEAKER_02: It's in his name we pray.
SPEAKER_02: And everybody said, Amen.
SPEAKER_03: Matt.
SPEAKER_03: Do me a favor though.
SPEAKER_03: When you share the gospel, tell someone you did it.
SPEAKER_03: I will say this when I hear someone else do it, it fires me up.
SPEAKER_03: Come tell me as well.
SPEAKER_03: You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_03: It's just it's it's it'd be cool if we came in the last week and we just told diff testimonies of sharing the gospel.
SPEAKER_03: Tell someone what you did so we can encourage each other.
SPEAKER_03: Thank you for being here.