SPEAKER_01: Light and darkness.
SPEAKER_01: Did you know that really there's no such thing as darkness?
SPEAKER_01: Darkness is simply light.
SPEAKER_01: The absence of light.
SPEAKER_01: When there is no light, darkness will prevail.
SPEAKER_01: And culture will take God culture that is only darkness.
SPEAKER_01: When you believe that evil and darkness, how do we all of this?
SPEAKER_01: It has to do with now.
SPEAKER_01: How do we go?
SPEAKER_01: How do we be the kind of instrument in our culture that really makes a difference?
SPEAKER_00: At the road, our vision is to raise up wholehearted disciples of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: For more information on the road, visit theroad.org.
SPEAKER_00: We hope you are encouraged by today's message.
SPEAKER_01: They asked me to consider coming on board as one of your pastors beginning in September, and uh I was a little concerned about that because I my my sense was that most of you folks are normal, you know.
SPEAKER_01: But um now that I've been here for a month and had a chance to meet many of you, I feel right at home.
SPEAKER_01: Uh you're not normal.
SPEAKER_01: But the guys are away.
SPEAKER_01: Pastor Steve and a bunch of the guys are out in the woods chasing Bambi right now, so you can be praying for them.
SPEAKER_01: Hopefully, they're not realizing a tremendous amount of bad weather.
SPEAKER_01: But uh years ago, when we were at church on the way, Pastor Jack Hayford had a theory about what the end times would look like.
SPEAKER_01: Now, I know how many of you have said this before, boy, we're sure getting close.
SPEAKER_01: It looks like we're getting close to the end times.
SPEAKER_01: If you watch the news, you come away sometimes with those kind of ideas.
SPEAKER_01: But there are some theories about what it would look like in the end times.
SPEAKER_01: One theory is that the church will be bright and victorious, and the light will really take over the darkness, and Jesus will come for a mighty, victorious bride.
SPEAKER_01: Not a lot of uh biblical support for that extreme, but some people think that.
SPEAKER_01: Other people think the other side would be true, that their darkness will prevail and Jesus will come and uh bring the light of his kingdom and just destroy the darkness.
SPEAKER_01: Again, not a lot of biblical support for that extreme theory, but Pastor Hayford would say that both of those are true.
SPEAKER_01: He would say that he would call it the opposing stream theory.
SPEAKER_01: The opposing stream theory says this that all throughout human history there have been two streams going in opposite directions, the stream of good and the stream of evil, the stream of light and the stream of darkness.
SPEAKER_01: And they have been running in opposite directions at a relatively slow enough speed so that it's possible for you to have a foot in both of them.
SPEAKER_01: But he says in the end times, the darkness is gonna get a lot darker, and the light is gonna get a lot brighter.
SPEAKER_01: And those streams are gonna be going in opposite directions so fast that if you try to have a foot in both of them, it will rip you apart.
SPEAKER_01: You better make a decision.
SPEAKER_01: What stream do you want to be in?
SPEAKER_01: Guys, I want to tell you, I believe we're seeing that happen in our culture today.
SPEAKER_01: You can no longer be on the sidelines, guys.
SPEAKER_01: When I was with Every Home for Christ, years ago, we developed a model of a man, and one arm it says, pray ye, and the other arm says, go ye.
SPEAKER_01: How many of you know that the Bible talks about both?
SPEAKER_01: It's not just about prayer, and it's not just about our strategic plans and programs, it's about the need for both.
SPEAKER_01: On the pray ye side, uh, I just want to cover that very quickly because I really want to talk about the go ye, because I think this is an area where many of us Christians are awkward in how we approach our world.
SPEAKER_01: How we actually allow God's light to shine on us, why?
SPEAKER_01: So that ultimately his light can shine through us.
SPEAKER_01: That's what this song is all about, for his kingdom to come.
SPEAKER_01: In our last prayer, 24-hour prayer, we had uh banners uh up front here indicating how to pray for the seven cultural mountains.
SPEAKER_01: Many of you who joined us were able to see and read those and pray over them.
SPEAKER_01: I decided to um have uh Anna uh take that information and make it into a little brochure.
SPEAKER_01: You were probably handed one of these as you walked in today.
SPEAKER_01: Uh go ahead and just wave it at me.
SPEAKER_01: Pick it up and just go ahead and wave it at me.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to take a look at what this uh little brochure is is is trying to suggest that we do.
SPEAKER_01: If we want to have an impact in our culture, the first thing we need to do is pray, and I think everybody would understand that.
SPEAKER_01: So, what we've done is we've produced this little brochure that's a resource that you can tuck in your Bible and an encouragement for you to pray over these seven mountains every single day.
SPEAKER_01: There's seven mountains of culture, and there are seven days in a week.
SPEAKER_01: And what we want to encourage you to do is to pray in this way over these seven different spheres of our culture.
SPEAKER_01: Can you imagine, guys, what it would be like if every Christian in our culture were to do something like this every day?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I can't even imagine what could happen as a result of that.
SPEAKER_01: So, this is a resource we want you to have for you to be able to do that and to do that in a strategic way.
SPEAKER_01: The other thing we're gonna do, uh, and I'm gonna be talking to Steve about this, is we're also gonna, on the go-yee side, we're also gonna be trying to discover how many of you already work in these uh mountains, like the mountain of government, the mountain of the church, certainly, education, all of these different areas.
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna try to find out who you are, gather us together over the mountains and be able to encourage one another, pray with one another, and actually discover ways that we can have a greater impact within those mountains.
SPEAKER_01: So we're gonna be looking at doing that later down the road.
SPEAKER_01: But this is a good start.
SPEAKER_01: Pray ye, pray over these mountains.
SPEAKER_01: And then the other thing, how many of you know we're going into an election season right now, and this is a very, very critical time.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, as part of the go ye, we're also called to be citizens.
SPEAKER_01: We're citizens of heaven, but we're also citizens of this country.
SPEAKER_01: So I want to encourage you to vote, to get out and vote.
SPEAKER_01: And by the way, I have a brand new voter's guide here that some of you may not have received or have, but here it is.
SPEAKER_01: You don't need anything else to make a decision than this.
SPEAKER_01: When you vote, what you do is you say, listen, if I'm a child of God and if I'm in the kingdom of God, you come on, guys, you've already heard me use that theological word.
SPEAKER_01: What's the theological word I use all the time?
SPEAKER_01: Stupid.
SPEAKER_01: There's a difference between ignorance and stupidity.
SPEAKER_01: Ignorance is when you don't know any better.
SPEAKER_01: Stupid is when you know better and you don't do it anyway.
SPEAKER_01: You follow what other people in your family did.
SPEAKER_01: You follow the news media, you follow all these other people's opinions.
SPEAKER_01: No, guys, this is your voter's guide.
SPEAKER_01: When you go to vote, all you need is this book, and then you ask God by his Holy Spirit to help you understand who are the people that I should be voting for that will help usher in your kingdom, God, not the world's kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: So pray and then be responsible and go and vote.
SPEAKER_01: Now, light and darkness.
SPEAKER_01: Did you know that really there's no such thing as darkness?
SPEAKER_01: Darkness is simply what?
SPEAKER_01: The absence of light.
SPEAKER_01: Where there is no light, darkness will prevail.
SPEAKER_01: In culture, when you take God out of culture, there's only darkness left.
SPEAKER_01: When God leaves, that's what fills the vacuum.
SPEAKER_01: Evil and darkness.
SPEAKER_01: And so, how do we impact all of this?
SPEAKER_01: It has to do with now how do we go?
SPEAKER_01: How do we be the kind of instrument in our culture that really makes a difference?
SPEAKER_01: Now let me pause here for just a second and mention to those of you who came this morning, because I advertised this to a lot of our friends, that you were coming to hear my story or my personal testimony.
SPEAKER_01: I will do that at another time.
SPEAKER_01: The reason I've changed and I wanted to talk about this is because the convergence of two things that are happening, uh, one in our culture and one in our church.
SPEAKER_01: In our culture, we're actually we're at we're headed for a very, very important election season.
SPEAKER_01: But in our church, going all the way back to when Liz got that vision of the fire coming down.
SPEAKER_01: You guys remember that?
SPEAKER_01: And as a result of that fire coming down and the whole purging process, Pastor uh changed his last two or three weeks of teaching to kind of focus on the cleansing fire and the things that God's trying to do in us.
SPEAKER_01: And I believe, by the way, guys, that that whole flow is prophetic.
SPEAKER_01: It's God trying to say, you better prepare people.
SPEAKER_01: My people are not prepared.
SPEAKER_01: Prepare my people, get them cleansed, get them fit for the battle yet to come.
SPEAKER_01: I believe that's what God is doing.
SPEAKER_01: So, what I want to share with you this morning is just some ideas for you to consider.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, when you're approaching your culture, if you find yourself yelling at the television screen, getting mad at all the things that are going on, I want to challenge you to stop doing that and become a part of the solution.
SPEAKER_01: Stop doing that.
SPEAKER_01: Whining about that stuff isn't gonna change anything because the world without God is always gonna go in this direction.
SPEAKER_01: It should surprise no one.
SPEAKER_01: Now, I'm gonna read some Bible verses, rapid fire here.
SPEAKER_01: And here's the rule when I say get it, you're supposed to say, got it.
SPEAKER_01: You ready?
SPEAKER_01: Let's practice.
SPEAKER_01: Get it?
SPEAKER_01: All right, hey, you guys are pretty good.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, here we go.
SPEAKER_01: You're gonna have to listen closely.
SPEAKER_01: Galatians 6, 7 to 10 says, Do not be deceived.
SPEAKER_01: God cannot be mocked.
SPEAKER_01: A man reaps what he sows.
SPEAKER_01: The one who sows to please a sinful nature from that nature will reap destruction.
SPEAKER_01: The one who sows to please the spirit from the spirit will reap eternal life.
SPEAKER_01: So it says, Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all peoples.
SPEAKER_01: Titus 2, 11 to 14 says that we should live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope, the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness.
SPEAKER_01: From how much wickedness?
SPEAKER_01: All, and to purify himself, to purify himself, you and I, a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.
SPEAKER_01: Ephesians 2 10.
SPEAKER_01: We are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works.
SPEAKER_01: Philippians 2, 3 and 4 says, To do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain consents, uh, or vain uh do uh of vain conceit, but in humility, consider others better than yourselves.
SPEAKER_01: John 4, 31 to 34, Jesus himself says, My food, Jesus said, is to do the will of him who sent me.
SPEAKER_01: Proverbs 21, 3 says, To do what is right and just is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.
SPEAKER_01: Get it?
SPEAKER_01: Matthew 21, 19, Jesus seeing a fig tree by the road.
SPEAKER_01: You all know the story.
SPEAKER_01: He goes up to it.
SPEAKER_01: From a distance, the tree looked fruitful, it looked abnormal.
SPEAKER_01: But as he got up close to the tree, there was no fruit.
SPEAKER_01: He cursed it and it withered and died.
SPEAKER_01: And many theologians believe that's a picture that Jesus was painting of the church and the world.
SPEAKER_01: We look good from a distance, we look good, we sound good, but when we get up and close and personal, where's the fruit?
SPEAKER_01: Religion without substance is what they're talking about.
SPEAKER_01: Our ministry is to be Jesus to a dying world.
SPEAKER_01: Now, quickly, three principles.
SPEAKER_01: Principle number one is to a lot adopt behavior.
SPEAKER_01: Everybody say behavior.
SPEAKER_01: Behavior that lights up.
SPEAKER_01: I remember one time back again at church on the way, Pastor Hafer got up one time in the auditorium, and it was a very big auditorium, and he had ever all the lights were turned out.
SPEAKER_01: We could do it here, uh, actually, and it would be completely blackened out the whole room.
SPEAKER_01: But all the lights were out, and he stood up on the platform and he had a little birthday candle, and he lit it, and he said this.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Now, there's no one in this room, in the most remote corner of this room, that can't see me.
SPEAKER_01: But I can't see you.
SPEAKER_01: I don't even know if you're still here, but you all can see me.
SPEAKER_01: And it was an illustration of how the world is when it comes to viewing our lives and viewing what God's doing us.
SPEAKER_01: We're called to be that little candle, even though we may not see everyone else.
SPEAKER_01: How many of you know everyone else is seeing you?
SPEAKER_01: What kind of a light are you?
SPEAKER_01: Matthew 5, 14, it says, You are the light of the world.
SPEAKER_01: A city on a hill cannot be hidden.
SPEAKER_01: Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl.
SPEAKER_01: Instead, they put it on its stand and it gives light to everyone in the house.
SPEAKER_01: In the same way, shine your light on men.
SPEAKER_01: Is that what it says?
SPEAKER_01: Come on, all you theologians.
SPEAKER_01: Is that what it says?
SPEAKER_01: Does it say shine your light on men?
SPEAKER_01: What does it say?
SPEAKER_01: Let your light shine before men.
SPEAKER_01: Guys, please hear me.
SPEAKER_01: There is a big difference.
SPEAKER_01: Listen to me.
SPEAKER_01: When you shine it, all they see is the glare.
SPEAKER_01: When you're comfortable to just let your light shine, that's when they can see Jesus in you.
SPEAKER_01: We got to be comfortable letting our light shine.
SPEAKER_01: Philippians 2.15, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault, in a crooked and depraved generation.
SPEAKER_01: Is that the generation we live in, guys?
SPEAKER_01: Yes, it is.
SPEAKER_01: It says, in which you shine like stars in the universe.
SPEAKER_01: First Peter 2.12 says, Keep your behavior, your behavior excellent among the Gentiles.
SPEAKER_01: So that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, and they will, they may, on account of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.
SPEAKER_01: Saint Francis has a great quote.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Go out and witness to people, and if necessary, use words.
SPEAKER_01: Why is this important?
SPEAKER_01: Colossians 4, 5, and 6 says, To be wise in the way you act toward outsiders.
SPEAKER_01: Make the most of every opportunity.
SPEAKER_01: Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.
SPEAKER_01: In John 12, 47, Jesus says this.
SPEAKER_01: I did not come to judge the world.
SPEAKER_01: I sent you to do that.
SPEAKER_01: What?
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't say that.
SPEAKER_01: NIV, new Italian version.
SPEAKER_01: I gotta get rid of this thing.
SPEAKER_01: Is that not what it says?
SPEAKER_01: What does it say?
SPEAKER_01: I did not come to judge the world.
SPEAKER_01: No, he came to save the world.
SPEAKER_01: If it doesn't say, I sent you to do that, then let me ask you a question.
SPEAKER_01: Why is that what you're doing?
SPEAKER_01: Listen, guys, it's not our job to judge the world.
SPEAKER_01: It's not.
SPEAKER_01: John 16, 8 says, when he comes, in this context, who is he?
SPEAKER_01: In this context, it's talking about the Holy Spirit, which by the way, you and I have.
SPEAKER_01: When the Holy Spirit comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment.
SPEAKER_01: Please hear me, Christian.
SPEAKER_01: It is not your job.
SPEAKER_01: It is his job.
SPEAKER_01: Are you imposing your faith?
SPEAKER_01: Are you exposing your faith?
SPEAKER_01: Are you shining your light or are you just letting it shine?
SPEAKER_01: To illustrate this point a little further, I I've uh I asked for someone who had a pack of cigarettes to come up and help me do an illustration.
SPEAKER_01: Where is Christian?
SPEAKER_01: Christian, come on up here real quick.
SPEAKER_01: Christian has agreed to come up and help me.
SPEAKER_01: Come on up, buddy.
SPEAKER_01: Now, Christian wanted me to remind you that he actually doesn't smoke, but he borrowed a pack of cigarettes from somebody who does.
SPEAKER_01: And so for the purpose of this illustration, we're gonna do we're gonna do that, okay?
SPEAKER_01: What are you doing way up there?
SPEAKER_01: That's a bit better.
SPEAKER_01: Do you have to do cigarettes with you?
SPEAKER_01: Okay, now this actually happened.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna uh share with you an illustration that actually happened.
SPEAKER_01: I didn't plan it this way, but it was perfect.
SPEAKER_01: I was teaching a bunch of uh management folks one time how to train their employees.
SPEAKER_01: This is way back in the business world.
SPEAKER_01: And so I needed a smoker for an illustration.
SPEAKER_01: So I got this guy up on stage, you know, like Christian here, and I said, Hey, uh, Christian, I don't know how to smoke.
SPEAKER_01: Teach me how to smoke.
SPEAKER_01: So here's exactly what the guy did.
SPEAKER_01: Go ahead and give me a cigarette.
SPEAKER_01: And so the guy gives me a cigarette, and this is what he says.
SPEAKER_01: He said, I said, okay, uh, what do I do?
SPEAKER_01: So the guy says, the first thing you do is you put it in your mouth.
SPEAKER_01: So man, Christian, this is terrible.
SPEAKER_01: If that's smoking, he's and the guy says, That's not smoking, you idiot.
SPEAKER_01: What are you doing?
SPEAKER_01: I said, I'm doing exactly what you told me to do.
SPEAKER_01: And give me another cigarette.
SPEAKER_01: Like I said, it'll be okay.
SPEAKER_01: So, so so he gives me another cigarette.
SPEAKER_01: And then this is what he says.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Now listen, I want you to watch really close.
SPEAKER_01: Watch this.
SPEAKER_01: He says, see that part right there?
SPEAKER_01: I said, Yeah, he says, that's the filter, the brown part.
SPEAKER_01: I said, Okay, that's good to know.
SPEAKER_01: He says, now the part underneath, that's the white part is the back goes in there.
SPEAKER_01: And so he says, I want you to put the filter end only in your mouth.
SPEAKER_01: So I pop it on and I put my mouth that he says, and the guy's looking at me like, what are you doing?
SPEAKER_01: I'm doing exactly what you told me to do.
SPEAKER_01: Give me a so that's okay.
SPEAKER_01: It'll be all right.
SPEAKER_01: So anyway, so uh so anyway, so we got to the point where, I mean, the audience is hysterical, and we're going, and we I mean, I'm almost through a whole pack of cigarettes.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, they're all over the floor, man.
SPEAKER_01: And this guy, everybody's laughing except this one guy, young guy, comes down the main aisle and he's headed right for for Christian and I, you know.
SPEAKER_01: And we were down on the floor and he's headed for us.
SPEAKER_01: He looks like he's gonna do bodily harm, you know, and we didn't know what was happening.
SPEAKER_01: And he comes up and he and he and he grabs the cigarettes, he grabs a lighter, he pushes Christian aside, and he does, he says, Stop! Just like that.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, every we we we were we were frozen.
SPEAKER_01: This is what he did.
SPEAKER_01: Watch me.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, everybody put your hand on your shin.
SPEAKER_01: Everybody look around.
SPEAKER_01: How many people actually have their hand on their chin?
SPEAKER_01: Get it?
SPEAKER_01: I said get it! Thank you.
SPEAKER_01: Hey, uh, you know, I I know you don't smoke, but whoever you got those from, you should tell them to quit.
SPEAKER_01: It's a filthy habit.
SPEAKER_01: Anyway, uh so people need to see it.
SPEAKER_01: Don't curse the darkness, guys.
SPEAKER_01: Just be a candle.
SPEAKER_01: Don't be preoccupied with reaping, just allow the Holy Spirit to help you.
SPEAKER_01: So people need to see Jesus in you, not hear you yelling at them, which gets into the second part, which is a part that I've failed miserably.
SPEAKER_01: And that the second part is to develop a healthy attitude toward others.
SPEAKER_01: In psychology, there's something called a pygmalion effect.
SPEAKER_01: But the pygmalion effect suggests that our attitude and assumptions about people, places, and things can actually be the reason why they are the way they are.
SPEAKER_01: In order to test a theory, they took a class of students back about 50 years ago, eighth-grade students, they tested them.
SPEAKER_01: There were 20 children, and they discovered that five of these children were gifted learners.
SPEAKER_01: They didn't have a gifted learner program back then, but they were gifted.
SPEAKER_01: They were off the charts really smart.
SPEAKER_01: They identified these children to the teacher, pointed out the five kids that were gifted, and they gave her the class for the entire year.
SPEAKER_01: At the end of the year, they brought all the children back and tested them to determine how much of the material during that year they had actually learned.
SPEAKER_01: And they discovered, in fact, that those five children learned 30% at least more than all the other kids.
SPEAKER_01: They were off the charts.
SPEAKER_01: It validated the first test, they were truly gifted students.
SPEAKER_01: Then they broke the news to the teacher.
SPEAKER_01: You see, they never tested any of the children the first time, they simply picked five kids at random and told the teacher they were gifted.
SPEAKER_01: Gee.
SPEAKER_01: But in reality, what God's calling us to do is to see other people through his lens, through his eyes.
SPEAKER_01: That's the whole thing we did last time I was here, guys.
SPEAKER_01: Putting God between you and your circumstances and other people and the situations you encounter in life so that you see them through his eye.
SPEAKER_01: Develop a healthy attitude.
SPEAKER_01: I did not have a healthy attitude.
SPEAKER_01: For most of my even Christian life, I would argue, yell at people, try to embarrass them.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you who are here, I recognize, like Jeremy Melchizedek knew me back in the early days of the 90s when uh Mayor Bob, you remember Mayor Bob was a mayor here when we first moved to town.
SPEAKER_01: He asked me if I would serve.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, sure, I'll serve.
SPEAKER_01: So he he asked me to serve on what is called the Human Relations Commission.
SPEAKER_01: So I said, okay, I didn't know what the Human Relations Commission was, you know, but it was back then that my friend uh Will Perkins had just uh brought forth this thing called Amendment 2.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if any of you guys remember that, but amendment two was this no special rights for homosexual, uh the homosexual community, and there was a big firestorm that went up to the Supreme Court and got defeated.
SPEAKER_01: You guys remember some of that?
SPEAKER_01: So anyway, the Human Relations Commission back in those days, there were like um uh 14 very liberal people and me.
SPEAKER_01: They didn't have a chance and they didn't they didn't know it.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, so anyway, just me.
SPEAKER_01: And one other person, Amy Stevens.
SPEAKER_01: Some of uh Jerry, remember Amy?
SPEAKER_01: She was the head of public policy at Focus and the Family.
SPEAKER_01: So here I am on this commission with Amy.
SPEAKER_01: We're the only two conservatives, and there's 14 liberals.
SPEAKER_01: And man, the meetings were ugly.
SPEAKER_01: They had me on the front uh page of the page.
SPEAKER_01: They blame me for blowing up the commission.
SPEAKER_01: They actually disbanded the commission because of me, because I would come in and ask questions that they they couldn't answer.
SPEAKER_01: You know, uh I often say liberal ideology cannot exist in an atmosphere of accountability, but that's another area we won't go into.
SPEAKER_01: But anyway, so anyway, so I'm arguing and mean and everything.
SPEAKER_01: And so one day there was this guy on the commission, it was a lawyer guy, uh kind of a little guy, and he was kind of like always angry and mean, you know, and he's on the commission, very liberal, and he's speaking with Amy, and my his back is to me, and so he's he says to Amy, he says, Where do you work?
SPEAKER_01: She says, I work at Focus on the Family.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Huh, the most un-American organization in this country.
SPEAKER_01: He said that in front of me.
SPEAKER_01: In those days, that's the equivalent of bleeding in front of a shark.
SPEAKER_01: So I said, Excuse me.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Yes.
SPEAKER_01: I said, You're a lawyer, right?
SPEAKER_01: Uh yes.
SPEAKER_01: Could you tell me, help me, with the body of evidence that you have uncovered that would lead you to make such an incredible statement?
SPEAKER_01: Just give me one example.
SPEAKER_01: And so he looked at me and his lips started to quiver.
SPEAKER_01: He couldn't think of anything.
SPEAKER_01: You know, he's getting angry.
SPEAKER_01: You know, yeah, I just want one thing.
SPEAKER_01: Just give me one thing.
SPEAKER_01: And finally he says, Yes, I can think of one thing.
SPEAKER_01: I said, What is it?
SPEAKER_01: It's their position on prayer in the public school.
SPEAKER_01: I said, Really?
SPEAKER_01: Tell me, what is their position on prayer in the public school?
SPEAKER_01: He had no clue.
SPEAKER_01: And I proceeded to tear this man apart verbally, limb from limb.
SPEAKER_01: I said, You call yourself a lawyer?
SPEAKER_01: You are pathetic.
SPEAKER_01: Who in the world would ever hire you as a lawyer?
SPEAKER_01: How kind of flimsy evidence is that?
SPEAKER_01: And I just tore into this guy and I did many such things, and I really liked it.
SPEAKER_01: I understand the guy left that experience and went and said, Boy, I can't wait to go to that guy's church and hear more about Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: What do you think?
SPEAKER_01: Is that light?
SPEAKER_01: I can't tell you how many times I've done that, guys.
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't get us anywhere.
SPEAKER_01: What should you have done, Vince?
SPEAKER_01: Well, do you think that guy formed his worldview overnight?
SPEAKER_01: No.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, I had a worldview not much different than his before I became a Christian.
SPEAKER_01: And I certainly didn't become a Christian by someone doing that to me.
SPEAKER_01: I should have probably been kind to him, got to know him, maybe went and had lunch with him.
SPEAKER_01: That's what I probably should have done.
SPEAKER_01: Prayed for him, certainly.
SPEAKER_01: Years ago, I was traveling to the South to speak at a pastor's conference for a bunch of cities where pastors came together in a region of the South.
SPEAKER_01: I don't remember exactly where it was, but it was a little community, and one of the pastors picked me up at the um airport, and we're driving out to the event, and he said, Have you heard about the firestorm that's happening in our community?
SPEAKER_01: I said, No, what's going on?
SPEAKER_01: He says, Well, all the Christian leaders are battling it out in the oped section of the newspaper with all the government leaders, and there's a big argument going on because the Christian leaders in our in our city believe that the government paid a painter to come in and paint a fresco on the wall of a public building that's evil.
SPEAKER_01: I said, Really?
SPEAKER_01: He said, Yep.
SPEAKER_01: I said, Well, where is this painting?
SPEAKER_01: And he told me, I said, Do we have time to go see it?
SPEAKER_01: So he said, Okay.
SPEAKER_01: So we went over to this building.
SPEAKER_01: It's a big building, and it turns out it was a big library kind of building, and that it was huge.
SPEAKER_01: And imagine the wall, the wall inside, if you looked at that wall over there, double the width of those two walls together, double and double the height.
SPEAKER_01: That's how big this wall is.
SPEAKER_01: And they hired a painter to come in and depict the history of the region.
SPEAKER_01: So we started with way back hundreds of years ago, with what it looked like, all the way over here to the progression into modern buildings and modern culture.
SPEAKER_01: And so I'm looking at this and I said, you know, I'm not the most spiritually discerning guy in the world, but can you show me where the evil is?
SPEAKER_01: And he said, Yes, and he pointed to a pig up in the top corner, a black pig with a bone in his mouth.
SPEAKER_01: He said, That's the evil.
SPEAKER_01: I said, Really?
SPEAKER_01: He said, Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: Well, what why is that evil?
SPEAKER_01: He gave me the history back in the early days, you know, black magic and what this stood for and everything else.
SPEAKER_01: So I thought, wow.
SPEAKER_01: So I go to the meeting, and the pastors all know that I did this.
SPEAKER_01: I went to see the so they said, What do you think?
SPEAKER_01: I didn't really didn't know what to tell them, so this is what I said.
SPEAKER_01: I I said, I I'm not sure I know what to think, but I I looked at that and they told me the the history and all that about the pig and everything.
SPEAKER_01: Is that a hill that you guys want to die on?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, really, is that where you want to hang everything on?
SPEAKER_01: That that hill?
SPEAKER_01: Where most people don't even understand what that stands for?
SPEAKER_01: And I said, I'm not gonna tell you what I would do, but I'm gonna give you a question.
SPEAKER_01: And by the way, this question I believe is for all of us, myself included.
SPEAKER_01: Here's the question that we don't ask often enough.
SPEAKER_01: Is what I am about to do or say more likely to draw people toward Jesus or push them further away?
SPEAKER_01: And I just left them with that.
SPEAKER_01: If whatever it is you decide to do can stand the test of that question, by all means, you're spiritual leaders in this community, you go ahead and and do that.
SPEAKER_01: I encourage you to ask that question.
SPEAKER_01: Guys, how many of you know we'd get in a lot less trouble if more of us did ask that question?
SPEAKER_01: What is my motive?
SPEAKER_01: What is really behind this?
SPEAKER_01: What are people gonna say?
SPEAKER_01: By the way, it was back in that day that I heard that there was a story here in Colorado Springs of a bunch of Christian leaders that got together and decided that driving an F SUV was a sin.
SPEAKER_01: Now, again, I I don't know if it's a sin.
SPEAKER_01: I I had an SUV at the time.
SPEAKER_01: I I repented right away, you know.
SPEAKER_01: But anyway, it had to do with the planet and the ecology.
SPEAKER_01: And again, I asked the question what kind of messaging is that to people who don't know Jesus?
SPEAKER_01: To people who just want to see Jesus being lived out.
SPEAKER_01: Luke 6.27 says, I tell you who hear me, love your enemies.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus would not have called us to love our enemies if we were never going to have any.
SPEAKER_01: 1 Corinthians 2.14.
SPEAKER_01: Why is this important, guys?
SPEAKER_01: Listen to me.
SPEAKER_01: The man without the Spirit does not understand or accept the things that come from the Spirit of God.
SPEAKER_01: They don't understand it.
SPEAKER_01: They're foolishness to him.
SPEAKER_01: He cannot understand them.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because they are spiritually discerned.
SPEAKER_01: Do you guys remember the story of Paul and Silas in prison all night long?
SPEAKER_01: They're singing, praising God, singing spiritual hymns, and the jailer's listening.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, you know the story.
SPEAKER_01: The jailer hears them all night long.
SPEAKER_01: The next morning there's an earthquake, the prison doors fly open, the jailer goes and grabs his sword and gets ready to kill himself.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Why would he go to kill himself?
SPEAKER_01: Because he assumed Paul and Silas left.
SPEAKER_01: A normal person would have.
SPEAKER_01: Well, people say, well, why didn't he just wait?
SPEAKER_01: Well, because in that culture, had they left, he would have been killed certainly, but he would have been tortured first.
SPEAKER_01: So he's saying, I'm just going to get it over with.
SPEAKER_01: But what happens?
SPEAKER_01: Paul and Silas figure out what's going on.
SPEAKER_01: They say, Hang on, don't harm yourself.
SPEAKER_01: We're all here.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible says the jailer calls for lights.
SPEAKER_01: He goes running in, falls at the feet of Paul and Silas, and he says, and I quote, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Why did he do that?
SPEAKER_01: Because, listen, he saw something in Paul and Silas that confounded him.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, guys, you and I are called to live a life that demands an explanation.
SPEAKER_01: We are not called to be normal.
SPEAKER_01: That's how people are going, and we know the rest of that story, by the way, is that that guy's entire family came to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Didn't they?
SPEAKER_01: The whole family, as a result of Paul and Silas doing something kind of out of the box.
SPEAKER_01: The third area is to be diligent and get out of your comfort zone.
SPEAKER_01: I don't always share this story, but I can't help myself.
SPEAKER_01: I gotta share a story.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you have heard of the lawn chair pilot.
SPEAKER_01: This is a true story.
SPEAKER_01: His name was Larry Walters.
SPEAKER_01: I actually knew a Larry Walters in this community.
SPEAKER_01: This is a different Larry Walters.
SPEAKER_01: This guy is passed on now.
SPEAKER_01: He passed on many years ago, but back in the, I guess it was in the 70s, Larry Walters was a frustrated pilot.
SPEAKER_01: He could not get a pilot license because he couldn't see well.
SPEAKER_01: So he decided one day to go out and buy 40 helium balloons.
SPEAKER_01: This is a picture of that's Larry.
SPEAKER_01: And the balloons were arrayed like way up into the sky, hundreds of feet, 40 of them, helium balloons.
SPEAKER_01: And he decided to sit in his lawn chair in the backyard and blow up these helium balloons, and he'd be sitting in the chair with a BB gun.
SPEAKER_01: And then he would release the lawn chair and float up in the sky, and he would control his ascent by shooting out the balloons if he got too high.
SPEAKER_01: You know, I guess when you're a frustrated pilot, this is a fun thing to do.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
SPEAKER_01: So anyway, he he Larry's sitting in his lawn chair, and so he he releases the lawn chair.
SPEAKER_01: But Larry grossly underestimated the power of these 40 helium balloons, man.
SPEAKER_01: And before he knew it, boom, he's floating at 16,000 feet above the skyline in Los Angeles, frozen in his chair with a gun, with a PB gun.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, this is a true story.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, they got it, it's all recorded.
SPEAKER_01: So along comes a TWA pilot on approach to Los Angeles International Airport.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, and he sees Larry.
SPEAKER_01: And he radios the tower.
SPEAKER_01: They have the recording.
SPEAKER_01: They said, You guys aren't gonna believe this.
SPEAKER_01: They said, What?
SPEAKER_01: There's a guy up here at 16,000 feet in a chair with a gun.
SPEAKER_01: And they said, What?
SPEAKER_01: They said, Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: And so they got the helicopters out.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know how they did this, but they finally got the helicopters above them, you know, and they were able to get some of the balloons to go out, and they floated him down.
SPEAKER_01: They finally got them on the ground.
SPEAKER_01: That night I'm watching the news, they handcuffed him, they're taking them away.
SPEAKER_01: And so they're interviewing this guy.
SPEAKER_01: They said, Uh, were you scared?
SPEAKER_01: He said, Yes.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Would you ever do that again?
SPEAKER_01: He said, No.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Well, whatever possessed you to do that in the first place?
SPEAKER_01: Listen to what he says.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes you can't just sit around.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: Now, I do not suggest that that's how you get out of your comfort zone.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: But look at this.
SPEAKER_01: In Numbers 32, 1 to 7, watch this.
SPEAKER_01: The Reubenites and Gadites, who had very large herds and flocks, saw that the lands of Jazer and Gilead were suitable for livestock.
SPEAKER_01: So they came to Moses and Eliazar, the priests, and to the leaders of the community, and they said, Hey, all you guys, it doesn't say that, but I can't pronounce those names, so that's my interpretation.
SPEAKER_01: The land the Lord subdued before the people of Israel.
SPEAKER_01: Now watch the logic here.
SPEAKER_01: They're suitable for livestock.
SPEAKER_01: And after all, we have livestock.
SPEAKER_01: So if we found favor in your eyes, they said, Let this land be given to your servants.
SPEAKER_01: Do not make us cross the Jordan.
SPEAKER_01: They were comfortable with where they are.
SPEAKER_01: Are we comfortable with where we are?
SPEAKER_01: Are we afraid to step out?
SPEAKER_01: You guys remember the story of Jesus and the feeding of the 5,000 with a little boy with only a few loaves and fishes?
SPEAKER_01: Well, we all know how that story went.
SPEAKER_01: But let me act out for you how that story might have gone were it to happen today.
SPEAKER_01: Uh Jesus?
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: It's getting late, and there's about 5,000 people here, and we have no food for them.
SPEAKER_01: What do you what do you think we should do?
SPEAKER_01: There's no McDonald's, there's nothing.
SPEAKER_01: Chick-fil-A, nothing.
SPEAKER_01: Well, uh, son, what do you got there in that little basket?
SPEAKER_01: He says, uh, well, I got these few loaves and fishes.
SPEAKER_01: He says, okay, son, I'll tell you what, I'll just bless those and you go ahead and give them give them those.
SPEAKER_01: That's that's pretty funny, pretty funny, Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Look, uh, I obviously don't have enough to get this job done, Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: So, do you have a plan B?
SPEAKER_01: No, son.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, you don't understand.
SPEAKER_01: I don't have a plan B.
SPEAKER_01: You are my plan.
SPEAKER_01: And I'll tell you again, I'll just bless that and you go, and it will be enough.
SPEAKER_01: Uh no, Jesus, you don't seem to understand.
SPEAKER_01: I am not gonna go out there and being made to look like a fool, you're gonna have to pick somebody else.
SPEAKER_01: What do you think?
SPEAKER_01: It didn't go that way, but I wonder for many of us whether it would go that way if it were to happen today.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, guys, let me say something to you.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is not looking for your ability.
SPEAKER_01: Because I got news for you.
SPEAKER_01: You ain't able.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is looking for your obedience.
SPEAKER_01: The more you obey, Oswald Chambers says, the more God will reveal Himself to you, the more you take control of your life, the more you let the garbage out, the more you allow God to purge you, the more you can go with confidence and not get stuck in your safe zone.
SPEAKER_01: Years ago, you know, uh, oh, before I get to that, I was talking to Cindy the other day and she said this.
SPEAKER_01: She said uh in reference to people that are afraid to step out, she said she would say, What are you afraid of?
SPEAKER_01: Do you know, listen guys, do you realize the kingdom of God is in you?
SPEAKER_01: He's in you.
SPEAKER_01: Should we be afraid of anything?
SPEAKER_01: No.
SPEAKER_01: We just need to be obedient and step out.
SPEAKER_01: Because people are watching us.
SPEAKER_01: Years ago, I was on the teaching team at Woodman Valley.
SPEAKER_01: This was back.
SPEAKER_01: Actually, it was just not long after 9-11 happened, so that was 18 years ago or whatever.
SPEAKER_01: Um I'd spoken at Woodman Valley on a on that Sunday and uh that Monday I was flying out to go speak somewhere else, and I went to Colorado Springs Airport and I went through the security, and in those days they had not turned up the security far enough so that you could still walk through with your shoes on.
SPEAKER_01: They hadn't turned it up yet, so we could still walk through with our shoes on, but sometimes your shoes would uh set off the alarm.
SPEAKER_01: So I'm walking through the security and the alarm goes off.
SPEAKER_01: And this tall, gray-haired guy pulls me aside and tells me to put my arms out and starts wanding me down.
SPEAKER_01: Rough looking guy.
SPEAKER_01: He wouldn't smile, no smile, just all business man.
SPEAKER_01: Come on, put your arms out.
SPEAKER_01: So I'm standing there with my arms out, and I'm thinking to myself, now, now the old Vince, uh, I probably wouldn't have said anything to this guy, but my behavior would have been obvious.
SPEAKER_01: It would have been, I mean, do I look like a terrorist to you?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, maybe I did, I don't know.
SPEAKER_01: But I mean, I that would have been my attitude toward this guy.
SPEAKER_01: But it didn't occur to me because it was back then that the Lord was trying to teach me to see other people through his eyes.
SPEAKER_01: So I'm looking into his eyes, and he's being put your hands up, and I'll put my hands up, and he's wanting me down.
SPEAKER_01: Never smiled.
SPEAKER_01: I'm trying to crack him up, you know, I told him a few, you know, Italian jokes and stuff, nothing.
SPEAKER_01: Not just business.
SPEAKER_01: And so we get all done, and I never was able to get a smile, nothing out of the guy.
SPEAKER_01: He didn't say anything.
SPEAKER_01: He left.
SPEAKER_01: So the next thing I experience is I'm sitting there and I've got my shoes, and I'm tying my shoelaces, and the next thing I notice is there's two feet standing next to me in front of me, and I look up, and it's this guy.
SPEAKER_01: He'd gone over to the conveyor belt, he got all my stuff, and he's standing there holding my stuff.
SPEAKER_01: So I stood up, and as our as I stood up and our eyes met, I want to I want to show you what he did and what he said to me.
SPEAKER_01: Now I'm the guy and I'm holding Vince's stuff.
SPEAKER_01: Vince stands up.
SPEAKER_01: By the way, Vince, great sermon yesterday.
SPEAKER_01: I get emotional now, but I got emotional then.
SPEAKER_01: I thanked him and I turned and I walked away.
SPEAKER_01: And I thought, how close I came to blowing that guy off.
SPEAKER_01: What was that guy doing?
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, he was doing his job.
SPEAKER_01: What else was he doing?
SPEAKER_01: Let me tell you what he was doing.
SPEAKER_01: He wanted to know if what he heard and experienced from that platform on Sunday works on Monday.
SPEAKER_01: That's what he was doing.
SPEAKER_01: And shame on us, guys, if we're not letting that happen in our life.
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