WEBVTT - Fasting that Pleases God 0:00:00.440 --> 0:00:04.360 Coming to you from the Morning Star Mission sponsored studio. 0:00:04.720 --> 0:00:08.080 This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio. 0:00:08.560 --> 0:00:12.320 Well, if there's some things that I think universally bother 0:00:12.320 --> 0:00:17.000 people we can't agree on much. Especially not right now. 0:00:17.480 --> 0:00:18.280 No. Certainly not. 0:00:18.320 --> 0:00:21.919 You're you're you're dancing around hand grenades, trying to find 0:00:21.920 --> 0:00:23.639 what you can talk to people about. 0:00:24.560 --> 0:00:27.560 Oh, goodness. Yeah. Wow. It's like, okay, what's not gonna 0:00:27.600 --> 0:00:32.240 make anybody mad? I don't know if there is something. 0:00:32.280 --> 0:00:37.160 But you know what is pretty universally hated? Blatant hypocrisy. 0:00:37.200 --> 0:00:38.519 Oh, yeah. Absolutely. 0:00:38.560 --> 0:00:41.760 People don't like it. You know, I saw a commercial, 0:00:42.520 --> 0:00:45.440 and it was for a, uh, it was a helpline 0:00:45.440 --> 0:00:49.440 for people who were struggling with sports betting, online gambling, 0:00:49.440 --> 0:00:52.840 which has become rampant, apparently a huge problem. 0:00:52.880 --> 0:00:54.120 Oh, yeah. Goodness. Yeah. 0:00:54.160 --> 0:00:57.840 Ease that. People can bet on games. I don't know 0:00:57.840 --> 0:01:00.620 a lot about this industry. Yeah, but I know that 0:01:00.620 --> 0:01:02.060 it's become a real problem. 0:01:02.100 --> 0:01:05.860 Well, there's a reason. So we we broadcast out of 0:01:05.860 --> 0:01:09.740 here in Chicago. There's a reason that Wrigley Field has 0:01:09.780 --> 0:01:13.820 added a whole addition to the stadium that is specifically 0:01:13.819 --> 0:01:16.820 for sports betting. I saw that there's, you know, and 0:01:16.819 --> 0:01:18.940 and it's they're not the only stadium around the country 0:01:18.940 --> 0:01:21.220 that does this. There's a lot of stadiums that do this. 0:01:21.220 --> 0:01:25.340 And there's a reason that there's not two sports betting companies. 0:01:25.340 --> 0:01:27.900 There's about 50 of them that are all really well 0:01:27.940 --> 0:01:29.380 known and highly used. 0:01:29.420 --> 0:01:38.459 And newsflash, gambling destroys people, is addictive. It's addictive. And 0:01:38.459 --> 0:01:43.140 it becomes very problematic for people. So when I saw this. Yes, 0:01:43.180 --> 0:01:46.420 for families, for people's finances, there's a lot of secrecy. 0:01:46.620 --> 0:01:49.700 There's a lot of shame associated with because people just 0:01:49.700 --> 0:01:52.260 one more and then the just one more ends up 0:01:52.260 --> 0:01:55.500 being you losing a lot more than you had bargained for. 0:01:55.980 --> 0:01:59.670 So when I saw this commercial, I was intrigued. Help. 0:01:59.670 --> 0:02:03.190 For people who have an online or sports betting problem, 0:02:03.670 --> 0:02:07.630 here was the problem that I had. Though the company 0:02:07.630 --> 0:02:11.550 that was putting out this message was an online gambling 0:02:11.550 --> 0:02:16.270 sports betting company saying if you need help, if gambling 0:02:16.270 --> 0:02:20.030 has become problematic in your life, call this number. And 0:02:20.030 --> 0:02:22.989 it was like, hey, that's a great message, but how 0:02:22.990 --> 0:02:28.270 about you stop offering up on a platter? The thing 0:02:28.270 --> 0:02:30.950 that's causing people problems. Oh yeah. Does anyone else have 0:02:30.950 --> 0:02:31.790 a problem with that? 0:02:31.830 --> 0:02:36.190 Oh, absolutely. It's, uh, you know, the. So gambling companies 0:02:36.190 --> 0:02:38.790 are required by law to to have that in there. 0:02:38.830 --> 0:02:40.270 They did not know that until this morning. 0:02:40.310 --> 0:02:42.510 Yeah. They have to put that in. But it's like, uh, 0:02:42.510 --> 0:02:45.950 it's like a cigarette, you know, or a vape or 0:02:45.950 --> 0:02:49.950 whatever that says, you know, this this product contains nicotine, 0:02:49.950 --> 0:02:52.790 which is an addictive substance. And it's like, hey, I'm 0:02:52.790 --> 0:02:54.190 selling this to you, and I'm telling you how good 0:02:54.190 --> 0:02:56.369 it is. But at the end, okay, I gotta tell you. 0:02:56.410 --> 0:02:57.609 Help. Quitting smoking. 0:02:57.650 --> 0:02:58.010 Yeah. 0:02:58.770 --> 0:02:59.290 It's like. 0:02:59.530 --> 0:03:01.250 But after you smoke the next pack. 0:03:02.370 --> 0:03:06.089 There's a problem. When you see a real disconnect between 0:03:06.090 --> 0:03:09.650 the message that's being put forth, which may be right 0:03:10.130 --> 0:03:13.250 and the actions behind it that don't line up. I 0:03:13.250 --> 0:03:16.769 think people spot hypocrisy from a mile away. This is 0:03:16.770 --> 0:03:20.010 what a lot of people turns people off to politics. 0:03:20.010 --> 0:03:22.730 And I'm talking about politics in general. I'm not talking 0:03:22.730 --> 0:03:26.370 about any party or any person. But people get really 0:03:26.370 --> 0:03:31.890 tired of hearing somebody say something and then their actions 0:03:31.889 --> 0:03:33.169 are so far from it. 0:03:33.169 --> 0:03:38.330 There's a reason that, uh, the, the two most distrusted 0:03:38.330 --> 0:03:43.290 things are, I think, Congress and the news and which 0:03:43.290 --> 0:03:46.369 is crazy. Uh, but and it's not again, they're not 0:03:46.370 --> 0:03:51.490 talking about one specific party, but they sense hypocrisy. Yes. 0:03:51.530 --> 0:03:55.060 Across across all boards, all people. Is you say all 0:03:55.060 --> 0:03:58.780 these things and you don't do them, and that's really hard. 0:03:59.260 --> 0:04:03.180 So we've been talking about fasting this week and fasting. 0:04:03.220 --> 0:04:06.780 There is absolutely a reward attached to it. And it's 0:04:06.780 --> 0:04:10.620 okay to desire that your father, who sees you in secret, 0:04:10.620 --> 0:04:15.020 will reward you in secret. But what about when your 0:04:15.020 --> 0:04:18.580 motives are way off, when you're using fasting or some 0:04:18.580 --> 0:04:22.979 other spiritual discipline for that matter, to avoid dealing with 0:04:22.980 --> 0:04:25.380 something else in your life? I'm going to take you 0:04:25.380 --> 0:04:27.860 to a passage of Scripture in the book of Isaiah 0:04:27.860 --> 0:04:31.219 coming up hypocrisy. We can spot it from a mile away. 0:04:31.740 --> 0:04:34.820 God does not like it either. I'll explain more coming up. 0:04:35.140 --> 0:04:39.700 She's a choreographer extraordinaire and everything is Greek to her. 0:04:40.140 --> 0:04:43.860 Super di is in the crew. It's Carl and crew 0:04:43.900 --> 0:04:45.140 on Moody Radio. 0:04:45.140 --> 0:04:48.659 So doing the right thing for the wrong reasons. Does 0:04:48.660 --> 0:04:51.740 it cease to become the right thing? Let's go to Isaiah. 0:04:51.839 --> 0:04:55.120 Isaiah 58. Now in in my Bible, this one has 0:04:55.120 --> 0:04:58.840 the heading of true and false fasting. So yeah, there's 0:04:58.880 --> 0:05:01.000 a there's a true way of fasting and there's a 0:05:01.000 --> 0:05:04.360 false way of fasting. And Isaiah has given the charge 0:05:04.360 --> 0:05:07.799 of confronting the people who were fasting in the wrong way. 0:05:08.040 --> 0:05:10.680 And interestingly enough, they were kind of like, God, don't 0:05:10.680 --> 0:05:14.040 you see that we're fasting? This is Isaiah 58, starting 0:05:14.040 --> 0:05:16.719 with verse three. Why have we fasted and you see 0:05:16.760 --> 0:05:20.159 it not? Why have we humbled ourselves and you take 0:05:20.160 --> 0:05:25.799 no knowledge of it? Just that question is kind of funny. Like, hey, 0:05:26.120 --> 0:05:27.760 we're fasting. Don't you see that? 0:05:27.800 --> 0:05:29.000 You see how humble I be? 0:05:29.040 --> 0:05:30.760 See how much we've humbled ourselves. 0:05:30.800 --> 0:05:33.920 Jumping up and down. Hey, hey, you see what we're 0:05:33.920 --> 0:05:35.080 doing over here? 0:05:35.120 --> 0:05:37.600 Let me continue reading out of this passage of Scripture, 0:05:37.600 --> 0:05:40.320 Isaiah 58, picking it up in the second half of 0:05:40.320 --> 0:05:43.400 verse three. Behold, in the day of your fast you 0:05:43.440 --> 0:05:47.640 seek your own pleasure and oppress all your workers. Behold, 0:05:47.640 --> 0:05:50.500 you fast only to quarrel and to fight, and to 0:05:50.500 --> 0:05:54.020 hit with a wicked fist. Fasting like yours this day 0:05:54.020 --> 0:05:57.140 will not make your voice to be heard on high. 0:05:57.380 --> 0:06:02.020 God's people were trying to use fasting to circumvent obedience 0:06:02.020 --> 0:06:03.140 to God's Word. 0:06:03.339 --> 0:06:05.580 Like I'm not doing what I should be doing, but 0:06:05.580 --> 0:06:07.460 if I just fast, it'll all be okay. 0:06:07.500 --> 0:06:10.820 Don't you see that we're fasting? Meanwhile, they're seeking their 0:06:10.820 --> 0:06:15.860 own pleasure. Oppressing their. The people. They're workers. They're quarreling, 0:06:15.860 --> 0:06:18.859 they're fighting. They're acting wickedly. And then they want to 0:06:18.900 --> 0:06:23.620 know why God doesn't seem to be pleased by their fasting. Yeah. 0:06:23.700 --> 0:06:27.060 And I find this to be an interesting illustration here 0:06:27.060 --> 0:06:31.100 because I don't we've talked all week about fasting and 0:06:31.100 --> 0:06:34.260 how there's rewards that come with fasting. Yeah, which is 0:06:34.260 --> 0:06:38.180 absolutely true. We've been looking at Matthew six all week, 0:06:38.180 --> 0:06:42.220 Matthew 616 through 18, that when we fast not to 0:06:42.220 --> 0:06:44.460 be seen by others, but by our father who is 0:06:44.460 --> 0:06:47.059 in secret, and your father who sees in secret will 0:06:47.060 --> 0:06:50.590 reward you. So there's a reward that comes with fasting. 0:06:50.589 --> 0:06:54.030 But like fasting, like anything else, we never want to 0:06:54.070 --> 0:06:57.710 use with the motive of trying to manipulate God know, 0:06:57.990 --> 0:07:02.549 or trying to circumvent obedience. God has shown us what 0:07:02.589 --> 0:07:06.550 to do. And instead of doing what he says to do, 0:07:06.589 --> 0:07:10.190 I'm going to fast instead. And you know, and I 0:07:10.230 --> 0:07:13.150 think and I'm going to be tread very, very carefully 0:07:13.150 --> 0:07:15.470 here because this is a can of worms that I 0:07:15.470 --> 0:07:18.830 don't necessarily want to want to open, and especially without 0:07:18.830 --> 0:07:26.110 Carl here. But I think sometimes religious tradition can encourage 0:07:26.110 --> 0:07:30.270 you to adopt a posture of sort of giving up 0:07:30.390 --> 0:07:32.750 something to get something. 0:07:32.790 --> 0:07:33.150 Yeah. 0:07:33.670 --> 0:07:36.230 And I think we have to be careful that we 0:07:36.230 --> 0:07:41.510 that we don't miss God's heart in that. Yeah. Does 0:07:41.510 --> 0:07:42.190 that make sense? 0:07:42.230 --> 0:07:44.510 Yeah. Very much. It does. We have to be so careful. 0:07:44.550 --> 0:07:47.250 I you know, when we go into prayer or fasting. 0:07:47.250 --> 0:07:50.130 We absolutely want to tell. Thing. Tell God the things 0:07:50.130 --> 0:07:52.370 that our hearts desire, you know. So if I'm going 0:07:52.410 --> 0:07:54.130 to pray and I want to pray about this specific thing, 0:07:54.130 --> 0:07:57.050 maybe I want to pray for someone to be healed. 0:07:57.490 --> 0:07:59.410 Of course I'm going to let him know. God, I 0:07:59.450 --> 0:08:02.570 desire for this person to be healed. Would you heal them? 0:08:02.570 --> 0:08:06.130 But I also have to come to that prayer humble 0:08:06.130 --> 0:08:10.090 enough to say, God, if he doesn't heal this person, 0:08:10.090 --> 0:08:13.850 I still trust him. I'm still okay because me meeting 0:08:13.850 --> 0:08:17.850 him in prayer aligns my heart with him, not my 0:08:17.850 --> 0:08:19.850 prayer is going to convince him to do what I 0:08:19.850 --> 0:08:20.650 want him to do. 0:08:20.690 --> 0:08:23.250 Yeah, and just a great question that came in by 0:08:23.250 --> 0:08:26.850 text message. Um, it says define the wrong reason. Oh 0:08:26.890 --> 0:08:30.210 good question. Wrong reason for fasting. I'm going to just 0:08:30.210 --> 0:08:32.689 go point you straight back to the Word of God here, 0:08:32.690 --> 0:08:36.970 the principle here. They were fasting, wanting to be heard 0:08:36.970 --> 0:08:42.450 by God while they were rampantly sinning against him. And 0:08:42.450 --> 0:08:47.110 so the the wrong kind of fasting is the kind 0:08:47.110 --> 0:08:50.750 of fasting that ignores what God's already told you to do, 0:08:50.910 --> 0:08:53.350 and tries to use the fast to still get what 0:08:53.350 --> 0:08:55.990 you want from God. So what does that look like? 0:08:55.990 --> 0:08:57.870 In practical terms? I'm not even going to try to 0:08:57.870 --> 0:09:00.510 define it, because I'm going to let the Holy Spirit 0:09:00.510 --> 0:09:04.270 work on that one. And I mean, I don't know 0:09:04.270 --> 0:09:08.550 that this is super common because I think that fasting 0:09:08.550 --> 0:09:12.270 is still not a discipline that many people adopt. No, 0:09:12.309 --> 0:09:17.110 but I think that it's it's very easy to adopt 0:09:17.110 --> 0:09:21.030 a heart posture where we try to do something to 0:09:21.070 --> 0:09:22.429 get something from God. 0:09:22.470 --> 0:09:26.910 Absolutely, absolutely. And and to not get something almost, but 0:09:26.910 --> 0:09:30.790 to expect it. You know, the people are shouting, saying, God, 0:09:30.790 --> 0:09:32.709 don't you see us over here? Don't you see all 0:09:32.710 --> 0:09:35.790 that I'm doing? Why won't you give me what I want? Yeah. 0:09:35.830 --> 0:09:39.829 You know, and and so there's a sense of going 0:09:39.870 --> 0:09:43.920 to going to fasting or prayer to see God's hand 0:09:44.120 --> 0:09:48.000 is good. Going to say, yeah, I'm going to do 0:09:48.000 --> 0:09:50.440 this so that God gives me what I want. And 0:09:50.440 --> 0:09:51.840 if he doesn't give me what I want, I'm going 0:09:51.840 --> 0:09:52.760 to be mad at him. 0:09:52.920 --> 0:09:55.120 And I'm going to keep reading this because this is 0:09:55.120 --> 0:09:57.559 I want you to hear more from the Word of God. 0:09:57.559 --> 0:09:59.760 And I don't I don't want you to hear my 0:09:59.760 --> 0:10:02.120 opinions on this. I want you to hear from God. 0:10:02.480 --> 0:10:05.000 So I'm going to pick it up now in verse six. 0:10:05.000 --> 0:10:07.600 Isaiah 58 verse six says, is not this the fast 0:10:07.600 --> 0:10:10.760 that I choose to loose the bonds of wickedness, to 0:10:10.800 --> 0:10:13.319 undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed 0:10:13.360 --> 0:10:15.960 go free and to break every yoke? Is it not 0:10:15.960 --> 0:10:18.000 to share your bread with the hungry, and to bring 0:10:18.000 --> 0:10:21.040 the homeless poor into your house? When you see the naked, 0:10:21.040 --> 0:10:23.560 to cover him and not to hide yourself from your 0:10:23.600 --> 0:10:27.120 own flesh, then shall your light break forth like the dawn, 0:10:27.120 --> 0:10:30.400 and your healing shall spring up speedily. Your righteousness shall 0:10:30.400 --> 0:10:33.079 go before you. The glory of the Lord shall be 0:10:33.080 --> 0:10:35.800 your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the Lord 0:10:35.800 --> 0:10:38.680 will answer. You shall cry, and he will say, here 0:10:38.679 --> 0:10:42.500 I am. So in this specific instance. He was really 0:10:42.500 --> 0:10:45.780 confronting their hypocrisy as it as it pertained to them 0:10:45.780 --> 0:10:51.740 the oppression of people, the mistreatment of people. He was saying, 0:10:52.380 --> 0:10:56.980 let's deal with this. The wickedness, the oppression, the way 0:10:56.980 --> 0:11:01.219 that you're keeping people down, the way that you're overlooking 0:11:01.220 --> 0:11:05.900 the poor among you. Let's talk about this. And, you know, 0:11:05.900 --> 0:11:07.900 I think we can all think of a time where 0:11:07.900 --> 0:11:09.860 we didn't want to talk about the thing we knew 0:11:09.900 --> 0:11:12.220 God wanted to deal with us on. It was easier 0:11:12.220 --> 0:11:15.260 to focus on other things. Yes. Like, can we just 0:11:15.300 --> 0:11:19.020 ignore this over here? And that's not how God works. 0:11:19.340 --> 0:11:22.420 And so the right and wrong way of fasting, if 0:11:22.460 --> 0:11:26.699 you any confusion on that, ask God to search your heart. 0:11:26.740 --> 0:11:29.260 I mean, that's the Karl quotes this one off and 0:11:29.260 --> 0:11:32.900 look up the exact passage of. Search me, know me. 0:11:34.100 --> 0:11:36.740 That's out of Psalm, but I don't know the exact passage, 0:11:36.740 --> 0:11:38.219 so Jonathan's going to look it up. But I think 0:11:38.220 --> 0:11:39.950 when we go to the Lord with the posture to 0:11:39.990 --> 0:11:42.790 ask him to search our motives. We confess, I'm not 0:11:42.790 --> 0:11:44.750 even sure if my motives are right here, but I'm 0:11:44.790 --> 0:11:46.429 asking you to help me even with that. 0:11:46.470 --> 0:11:49.750 It's Psalm 139, 23, and 24. Search me, O God, 0:11:49.750 --> 0:11:52.350 and know my heart. Test me and know my anxious thoughts. 0:11:52.390 --> 0:11:54.790 See if there is any offensive way in me. And 0:11:54.790 --> 0:11:56.030 lead me in the way everlasting. 0:11:56.070 --> 0:11:59.189 Yeah, that's a good prayer to pray in so many instances, 0:11:59.190 --> 0:12:02.550 and there are definitely times when I have questioned my 0:12:02.550 --> 0:12:05.309 own motive in something. Yeah, like, God, there's this thing 0:12:05.309 --> 0:12:08.790 that I, I want to do it, but I'm not 0:12:08.790 --> 0:12:11.550 sure if my motive is right. So can you search 0:12:11.590 --> 0:12:14.709 me and help me even discern my own motives? Because 0:12:14.710 --> 0:12:18.189 we don't even sometimes we think we know ourselves pretty well, 0:12:18.590 --> 0:12:20.110 but we actually don't. 0:12:20.270 --> 0:12:22.110 No, no, no, we do not. 0:12:23.270 --> 0:12:25.990 So just a little bit of a hopefully a help 0:12:25.990 --> 0:12:28.710 for you today. If there's something in your life, there's 0:12:28.710 --> 0:12:32.230 some area in your life that you've been ignoring truth. 0:12:32.750 --> 0:12:34.470 Let's deal with that first. 0:12:35.190 --> 0:12:38.250 He was sharing the gospel on the radio and then 0:12:38.290 --> 0:12:42.610 he got saved. Young thunders in the crew. It's Carl 0:12:42.610 --> 0:12:44.410 and crew on Moody Radio. 0:12:44.450 --> 0:12:47.850 Where were you when you heard the gospel? Maybe not 0:12:47.850 --> 0:12:51.770 for the very first time, but for the time that 0:12:51.770 --> 0:12:56.690 it was pretty significant for you. Were you inside of 0:12:56.690 --> 0:13:03.530 a church? Many people heard the gospel in church. But 0:13:03.530 --> 0:13:06.050 today we're looking for your story. If you heard the 0:13:06.090 --> 0:13:09.890 gospel outside of church, it was shared to you by 0:13:09.929 --> 0:13:13.449 maybe a friend or a neighbor or a stranger, maybe 0:13:13.450 --> 0:13:17.929 over the radio. You heard the gospel, but it wasn't 0:13:17.929 --> 0:13:20.850 in church. Looking for your story. On this Freedom Friday, 0:13:20.850 --> 0:13:25.930 we're going to open the phone lines. 800 555 7898. 0:13:25.929 --> 0:13:29.089 This is your opportunity to share your story. You heard 0:13:29.090 --> 0:13:34.890 the gospel outside of the walls of a church. (800) 555-7898 0:13:34.929 --> 0:13:38.190 now there are some nuances to this because, Jonathan, you 0:13:38.429 --> 0:13:40.710 heard the gospel from a young age. 0:13:40.750 --> 0:13:41.110 Yeah. 0:13:41.150 --> 0:13:43.230 Your father was a pastor, so he was in the 0:13:43.230 --> 0:13:47.790 context of church life. Yeah. But you heard the gospel 0:13:47.950 --> 0:13:49.950 when it penetrated your heart. 0:13:49.990 --> 0:13:50.510 Yes. 0:13:50.550 --> 0:13:51.830 Later in life? 0:13:51.870 --> 0:13:52.429 Yes. 0:13:52.590 --> 0:13:53.309 Not in church. 0:13:53.350 --> 0:13:55.390 That's correct. Yeah. I grew up in church, and I 0:13:55.390 --> 0:13:58.190 lived in church for a long time. But it wasn't 0:13:58.190 --> 0:14:02.190 until I was in my early 20s that I heard 0:14:02.190 --> 0:14:06.110 the gospel on the radio here, and it cut me 0:14:06.110 --> 0:14:08.429 in a way that it hadn't ever before. And I 0:14:08.429 --> 0:14:11.710 realized that I wasn't saved. I thought I was that 0:14:11.710 --> 0:14:14.910 whole time kind of leading up to it, but God 0:14:14.910 --> 0:14:17.950 used that gospel presentation to show me that I wasn't 0:14:17.950 --> 0:14:19.390 and to get me there. 0:14:19.430 --> 0:14:22.070 Yeah. And I'm so curious about this because when we 0:14:22.070 --> 0:14:27.750 talk about evangelism, evangelism often happens in the context of relationship. 0:14:27.790 --> 0:14:28.190 Yeah. 0:14:28.670 --> 0:14:32.430 Someone tells you about Jesus, maybe not a formal gospel presentation. 0:14:32.430 --> 0:14:36.160 Maybe they don't walk you through. What is it? Romans. Romans? That. 0:14:36.680 --> 0:14:38.720 Maybe it's not that. But you were going through a 0:14:38.720 --> 0:14:42.400 tough time and someone shared with you their the hope 0:14:42.400 --> 0:14:45.080 that they have in Christ. So I want to hear 0:14:45.080 --> 0:14:46.880 from you if you've heard the gospel. But it was 0:14:46.880 --> 0:14:52.200 not in church. 805 55 7898 we know that incredible 0:14:52.200 --> 0:14:55.760 ministry happens inside the church and we are all about 0:14:55.760 --> 0:14:58.280 the local church, but I think we want to be 0:14:58.280 --> 0:15:01.880 reminded that each of us, because we have the hope 0:15:01.880 --> 0:15:04.880 of Christ, because we have the power of the Holy Spirit. 0:15:05.320 --> 0:15:10.640 Wherever we go, we have opportunities to share Christ with people. 0:15:10.920 --> 0:15:13.520 And we're going to give you some practical coaching on 0:15:13.560 --> 0:15:16.120 that coming up in the next half hour. But let's 0:15:16.120 --> 0:15:20.760 start with this. Your story. 805 55 7898. 0:15:21.120 --> 0:15:25.680 A basketball mom who's mastered the dad joke, Ali is 0:15:25.680 --> 0:15:29.360 in the crew. It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio. 0:15:29.720 --> 0:15:35.260 Sometimes we our outreach efforts become about getting people to church. 0:15:35.540 --> 0:15:38.260 You know, I love when churches host big events and 0:15:38.260 --> 0:15:40.820 you can pass out a card and invite a friend 0:15:40.820 --> 0:15:43.860 to come to church with you. That's awesome. But what 0:15:43.860 --> 0:15:47.740 if God wants to use you, not your pastor, but you, 0:15:47.740 --> 0:15:51.700 to share the gospel with someone? Is that an intimidating 0:15:51.740 --> 0:15:54.700 thought to set up a guest we have coming up 0:15:54.700 --> 0:15:56.500 in this next half hour? I wanted to hear stories 0:15:56.500 --> 0:15:59.100 from those of you who heard the gospel, but it 0:15:59.100 --> 0:16:05.780 wasn't in church. 800 555 7898 let's go to Roberta 0:16:05.820 --> 0:16:08.820 calling in this morning from Illinois. Roberta, where did you 0:16:08.860 --> 0:16:10.580 hear the gospel? It wasn't in church. 0:16:11.220 --> 0:16:13.620 No. We had neighbors down the street and a husband 0:16:13.620 --> 0:16:16.940 and wife. And his mother. She used to teach Bible study. 0:16:17.020 --> 0:16:20.660 Her name was Dorothy Lord. And I actually have a 0:16:20.660 --> 0:16:23.180 I'm 84. I have a picture of sitting on the 0:16:23.180 --> 0:16:25.780 bed when I'm eight years old in 1948, you know, 0:16:25.780 --> 0:16:27.860 and they didn't take photos that much in those days. 0:16:27.860 --> 0:16:30.260 Their husband had a camera. And I'm sitting there listening 0:16:30.300 --> 0:16:33.790 to her read the Bible and that was the first awareness. 0:16:33.790 --> 0:16:36.350 Although my family would talk about blessings and we'd go 0:16:36.350 --> 0:16:39.350 to church sometimes. But this was the first, you know, 0:16:39.390 --> 0:16:43.910 real inclination of just how Jesus was in my life. 0:16:43.950 --> 0:16:47.390 And from that day forward, I think I in retrospect, 0:16:47.390 --> 0:16:50.350 looking back on that, Jesus has been in my life 0:16:50.350 --> 0:16:52.910 for my whole life. And I think it really started 0:16:52.910 --> 0:16:56.470 there because I now have that photograph to look at. 0:16:56.950 --> 0:17:01.350 Wow. Roberta, thank you so much from Chicago. Cool story. 0:17:01.390 --> 0:17:05.950 A neighbor's mother in law shared the gospel. Let's go 0:17:05.950 --> 0:17:09.430 to Kim. First time caller from Illinois. Kim, you heard 0:17:09.430 --> 0:17:11.270 the gospel, but it wasn't in church. 0:17:12.670 --> 0:17:16.310 No, we were pretty much sisters when I was growing up. 0:17:16.430 --> 0:17:19.550 So you went to church on Christmas and Easter, right? 0:17:20.070 --> 0:17:25.990 Exactly, exactly. And. But after an Easter, there was a 0:17:26.030 --> 0:17:29.170 Billy Graham. I think it was a pre crusade. I 0:17:29.170 --> 0:17:33.370 was a young teenager back in the 70s and I 0:17:33.410 --> 0:17:37.570 remember Nicky Cruz. I don't know if you're familiar with him. 0:17:37.570 --> 0:17:42.610 He was a former gang member in New York and 0:17:43.010 --> 0:17:46.690 he helped me see that I was a sinner and 0:17:46.690 --> 0:17:50.530 that I needed Jesus. And I have been walking with 0:17:50.530 --> 0:17:51.730 him ever since. 0:17:52.090 --> 0:17:55.450 Awesome. Thank you. Kim. First time caller from Illinois. I 0:17:55.690 --> 0:17:58.290 love this. The question I've asked you this morning, you 0:17:58.330 --> 0:18:01.129 heard the gospel, but it wasn't in church. Was that 0:18:01.130 --> 0:18:06.689 your story? 805 55, 7898. Willie from Chicago. Willie, I 0:18:06.730 --> 0:18:08.010 got to hear it. Tell me. 0:18:09.609 --> 0:18:14.649 Yes, I knew about church, and I was kind of 0:18:14.690 --> 0:18:18.410 like the young man. I heard about church. My grandparents, them. 0:18:18.450 --> 0:18:22.530 They was always in church. But what happened? Somebody invited 0:18:22.530 --> 0:18:26.909 me to a prayer meeting or. And I received Receive 0:18:26.950 --> 0:18:30.150 Christ from beating a drug habit. And I was on 0:18:30.150 --> 0:18:33.310 the Eisenhower Expressway, and I had to pull over to 0:18:33.350 --> 0:18:36.710 the side, and I knew that it was something happening 0:18:36.750 --> 0:18:41.790 to me different then so that I, I saw it, 0:18:42.350 --> 0:18:45.109 I saw it, and I and I never received that 0:18:45.109 --> 0:18:48.110 feeling in the church. I wish I received it on 0:18:48.109 --> 0:18:50.310 the side of the Eisenhower Expressway. 0:18:50.550 --> 0:18:53.310 So you so the Lord revealed himself to you while 0:18:53.310 --> 0:18:55.510 you were, while you were on the expressway? Is that 0:18:55.510 --> 0:18:57.350 what you're saying, Willie? The Lord. That's when you really 0:18:57.350 --> 0:18:59.310 felt like the Lord revealed himself to you. 0:19:00.550 --> 0:19:03.869 He revealed himself to me on the Eisenhower Expressway. I 0:19:03.869 --> 0:19:06.590 had to pull over. I pulled my pickup truck over, 0:19:06.590 --> 0:19:09.190 and I got the misty eye. I was crying and 0:19:09.190 --> 0:19:12.670 couldn't control what was taking place. That's how I knew it. 0:19:12.670 --> 0:19:14.469 That was. It was God. 0:19:14.510 --> 0:19:14.910 Wow. 0:19:14.950 --> 0:19:17.790 Willie from Chicago. Thank you so much. Haven't heard from 0:19:17.790 --> 0:19:20.430 Willie in a while. Great to hear your voice. Let's 0:19:20.430 --> 0:19:23.830 go to John. First time caller from Illinois. You heard 0:19:23.830 --> 0:19:26.960 the gospel in a on an airplane. Is that right? 0:19:28.000 --> 0:19:30.720 That's right. I was traveling on business. A young, young 0:19:30.720 --> 0:19:34.440 guy at the time, 40 years ago now. And, um, 0:19:34.520 --> 0:19:36.000 a guy sitting next to me, I saw he was 0:19:36.000 --> 0:19:38.000 reading his Bible. He turns to me and says, so 0:19:38.000 --> 0:19:41.840 what are you doing in 100 years? And he and 0:19:41.840 --> 0:19:44.800 I had a conversation. Um, I got back to my 0:19:44.800 --> 0:19:48.200 apartment that night, and I could hear the Lord saying 0:19:48.200 --> 0:19:50.160 to me, do you believe anything you told this guy? 0:19:50.200 --> 0:19:51.520 Or are you just a hypocrite? 0:19:51.560 --> 0:19:52.000 Wow. 0:19:52.119 --> 0:19:55.000 And there, alone in my apartment, I gave my life 0:19:55.000 --> 0:19:55.680 to the Lord. 0:19:56.040 --> 0:19:56.480 Wow. 0:19:57.920 --> 0:20:01.880 It's. It's been a heck of a ride since then. 0:20:01.920 --> 0:20:04.480 Lord has just blessed me in so many ways. But 0:20:04.520 --> 0:20:07.560 I always keep this guy in my heart because he 0:20:07.560 --> 0:20:10.760 has no idea of the influence that he's had on 0:20:10.760 --> 0:20:13.760 my life, and of the other lives that he's touched 0:20:13.760 --> 0:20:14.399 through me. 0:20:14.640 --> 0:20:15.040 Wow. 0:20:15.240 --> 0:20:18.200 The Lord has touched through me. John, it's it's John. 0:20:18.200 --> 0:20:20.200 Let me let me interrupt you just for a second. 0:20:20.200 --> 0:20:22.800 I want to get some clarification here. So you. So 0:20:22.800 --> 0:20:24.860 he asked you that question, where do you know where 0:20:24.859 --> 0:20:26.940 you're going to be in 100 years? What was your 0:20:26.980 --> 0:20:28.260 what did you answer him? 0:20:29.300 --> 0:20:31.699 Well, I saw that he had been reading his Bible, 0:20:31.700 --> 0:20:33.659 and I was raised as a Roman Catholic, and I 0:20:33.660 --> 0:20:38.500 actually I unusually, I had read the Bible thoroughly through 0:20:38.500 --> 0:20:41.660 several times, actually. So I knew how to give him 0:20:41.660 --> 0:20:43.700 his answers, but I knew he didn't believe them. 0:20:43.740 --> 0:20:47.820 Yes. Okay. That was the part. Yeah. Wow. So you 0:20:47.820 --> 0:20:50.500 got home that night thinking. Do I actually believe what 0:20:50.500 --> 0:20:51.820 I said I do? 0:20:52.820 --> 0:20:53.340 Yeah. 0:20:53.619 --> 0:20:56.780 Wow. John. Awesome. First time caller. Thank you so much 0:20:56.780 --> 0:20:59.940 for sharing that story. Let's go to Cheryl calling in 0:20:59.940 --> 0:21:02.820 this morning from Illinois. You heard the gospel, but it 0:21:02.820 --> 0:21:04.700 wasn't in church. Tell me about it. 0:21:06.180 --> 0:21:09.619 Yes, I was at a slumber party in sixth grade 0:21:09.900 --> 0:21:14.660 and a friend shared the gospel with me, and I responded. 0:21:14.980 --> 0:21:20.300 And then fast forward 40 years. She passed away. Um, 0:21:20.420 --> 0:21:24.600 in October. November. Sorry. This past November. And I was 0:21:24.600 --> 0:21:28.280 able to thank you. I was able to talk at 0:21:28.280 --> 0:21:32.959 her funeral and share the gospel there, so that everyone 0:21:32.960 --> 0:21:36.119 else could hear the impact she had on my life. 0:21:36.920 --> 0:21:41.439 Wow. Cheryl. So 40 years after you still that had 0:21:41.480 --> 0:21:44.120 that moment had still made an impact in your life. 0:21:44.160 --> 0:21:47.040 Do you do you believe you you you got saved 0:21:47.040 --> 0:21:51.040 as a result of of her, her gospel influence? 0:21:51.840 --> 0:21:55.879 Definitely, yes. Wow. Yeah. And because it was such a 0:21:55.880 --> 0:21:59.560 young age when I did that in sixth grade, um, 0:21:59.600 --> 0:22:01.600 you know, I don't have one of those stories that 0:22:01.600 --> 0:22:05.240 was this dramatic change in my life. But God has 0:22:05.240 --> 0:22:08.359 walked with me all of my life and through very 0:22:08.359 --> 0:22:12.120 difficult circumstances. And I know that, um, you know, that 0:22:12.119 --> 0:22:15.600 he's been with me and he's allowed me to to 0:22:15.640 --> 0:22:18.080 share the gospel with people throughout my life. 0:22:18.119 --> 0:22:21.210 Yeah. Cheryl, thank you so much for that story. You know, 0:22:21.530 --> 0:22:24.090 for those of you who came to genuine faith in 0:22:24.090 --> 0:22:27.209 Christ at an at an early age, don't you think? 0:22:27.250 --> 0:22:29.690 Don't think for a second. And I know Cheryl would 0:22:29.690 --> 0:22:32.970 agree with me on this, that your testimony is somehow 0:22:33.410 --> 0:22:37.690 less important or because it doesn't have maybe some dramatic 0:22:37.690 --> 0:22:42.609 drugs to Jesus. I mean, any person who turns from 0:22:42.609 --> 0:22:48.010 death to life, from darkness to light, your testimony is radical. 0:22:48.130 --> 0:22:52.730 It's radical. And be so grateful and celebrate and joy 0:22:52.730 --> 0:22:58.970 and be joyful that that God grabbed you up so early. Yeah, 0:22:59.010 --> 0:23:01.970 he grabbed you up maybe before some other things could 0:23:02.010 --> 0:23:02.649 set in. 0:23:02.650 --> 0:23:07.210 That is an important testimony. Boy, I love hearing about 0:23:07.210 --> 0:23:10.370 how you heard the gospel, but it wasn't in church. 0:23:11.410 --> 0:23:14.090 You can take him out of Alaska, but you can't 0:23:14.130 --> 0:23:18.010 take Alaska out of him. Carl is in the crew. 0:23:18.230 --> 0:23:20.750 It's Karl and crew on Moody Radio. 0:23:21.310 --> 0:23:24.710 Sidewalk prophets saved my life. You know, listening to the 0:23:24.710 --> 0:23:27.390 lyrics to those songs, that song. And I've heard that 0:23:27.390 --> 0:23:29.830 one quite a few times, but heard it a little 0:23:29.830 --> 0:23:34.070 bit differently today. That especially that last part. Right now, 0:23:34.070 --> 0:23:36.070 I need a little hope. I need to know that 0:23:36.070 --> 0:23:39.310 I'm not alone. I can hear you calling me tonight. 0:23:40.030 --> 0:23:43.790 Only Jesus, only you can save my life. Maybe you 0:23:43.790 --> 0:23:48.350 feel that this morning that you need hope. You're short 0:23:48.350 --> 0:23:51.790 on hope. You need to know that you're not alone. 0:23:52.869 --> 0:23:56.110 I got to tell you, the only hope that you're 0:23:56.109 --> 0:24:01.150 going to find is in Jesus. Full stop. You can 0:24:01.150 --> 0:24:03.030 go and search for a lot of different things. You 0:24:03.030 --> 0:24:05.190 can try to find a new job. You can try 0:24:05.190 --> 0:24:07.750 to find a new partner. You can try to find 0:24:07.750 --> 0:24:12.590 a new life. But unless you find your life in Christ, 0:24:13.310 --> 0:24:16.109 that hope, that peace that you've been looking for is 0:24:16.109 --> 0:24:20.159 going to continue to be elusive. And I want to 0:24:20.160 --> 0:24:23.800 tell you that today, because that's the heart of Christ, 0:24:23.800 --> 0:24:27.960 is that we would, in all of our searching, that 0:24:27.960 --> 0:24:31.000 we would reach out for him because he's as close 0:24:31.000 --> 0:24:34.000 as the mention of his name. And so I want 0:24:34.000 --> 0:24:37.160 you to know that today, the hard truth is that 0:24:37.160 --> 0:24:41.320 you're a sinner. We're born into sin. We're born with 0:24:41.320 --> 0:24:44.040 our back to God. We are not born. Even if 0:24:44.080 --> 0:24:46.320 you were raised in a good Christian family, I was 0:24:46.320 --> 0:24:49.119 raised in a good Christian family too. That didn't make 0:24:49.119 --> 0:24:52.280 me a Christian. I was still a sinner and I 0:24:52.280 --> 0:24:55.320 needed a Savior. And I spent a lot of years 0:24:55.320 --> 0:24:58.840 trying to perform and trying to be good enough and 0:24:59.200 --> 0:25:03.960 trying to have do good things and impress people and 0:25:04.480 --> 0:25:07.480 live a well ordered life. And you know what it was? 0:25:07.480 --> 0:25:10.639 It was still empty. And that piece that you're looking 0:25:10.640 --> 0:25:14.040 for is found in Jesus. So today, if you want 0:25:14.080 --> 0:25:16.580 to know Jesus. It's. You don't have to be in 0:25:16.580 --> 0:25:18.340 a church. You don't have to be in the presence 0:25:18.340 --> 0:25:21.180 of a pastor. This is a conversation with you and 0:25:21.180 --> 0:25:23.620 God where you admit that you are a sinner, that 0:25:23.619 --> 0:25:27.940 you have missed the mark. Full stop. You cannot save yourself. 0:25:28.140 --> 0:25:32.700 And because of your sin, you deserve death. We all do. 0:25:32.900 --> 0:25:35.859 But the good news, and it is indeed good news, 0:25:35.859 --> 0:25:39.780 is that Jesus Christ died for our sins, and he 0:25:39.780 --> 0:25:42.220 rose from the grave so that we could have new 0:25:42.220 --> 0:25:44.940 life in him. We're going to be celebrating Easter here 0:25:44.940 --> 0:25:47.580 in a couple of weeks. Resurrection Sunday. That's what it's 0:25:47.580 --> 0:25:51.060 all about. It's a celebration of the life of Christ 0:25:51.060 --> 0:25:53.540 and the new life that we have because of his 0:25:53.540 --> 0:25:57.060 death and resurrection. So today, you can put your trust 0:25:57.060 --> 0:26:00.859 in Jesus as your Savior. You're going to turn and 0:26:00.859 --> 0:26:02.780 you're going to go a new way. And this is 0:26:02.780 --> 0:26:07.260 an inward transformation that's happening that I can't fully explain 0:26:07.260 --> 0:26:09.140 to you, except for that it's the best thing that 0:26:09.140 --> 0:26:12.340 could ever happen to you, because literally you will go 0:26:12.340 --> 0:26:18.040 from death to life, from darkness to light. You will 0:26:18.040 --> 0:26:20.960 be a new person today when you put your trust 0:26:20.960 --> 0:26:24.720 in him. So if that's you and you're ready, and 0:26:24.720 --> 0:26:26.679 by the power of the Holy Spirit, this is making 0:26:26.680 --> 0:26:29.520 sense to you. And in fact, it's exactly what you 0:26:29.520 --> 0:26:31.520 needed to hear, even though you didn't know you needed 0:26:31.520 --> 0:26:36.120 to hear it. I want you to pray and acknowledge, Lord, 0:26:36.119 --> 0:26:41.080 I am a sinner. I deserve death, but I thank 0:26:41.080 --> 0:26:44.280 you that you went to the cross for my sin, 0:26:45.080 --> 0:26:47.840 so that I didn't have to face the wrath of God. 0:26:48.160 --> 0:26:51.240 Your death and your resurrection means today I can have 0:26:51.240 --> 0:26:54.560 peace with God. So today I accept the free gift 0:26:54.560 --> 0:26:58.560 of salvation, and today I put my faith in you. 0:26:59.480 --> 0:27:01.600 It's okay if you didn't get all the words right. 0:27:01.600 --> 0:27:04.000 It's not about the words. It's the posture of your 0:27:04.000 --> 0:27:08.320 heart that says, Today I'm a follower of Christ. And 0:27:08.320 --> 0:27:10.520 if that's you, I want you to text the word 0:27:10.650 --> 0:27:18.570 new to 805, five, five, 7898, 805 five, five 7898. 0:27:18.570 --> 0:27:21.129 Just text the word new. We want to send you 0:27:21.130 --> 0:27:23.370 some materials that are just going to encourage you and 0:27:23.369 --> 0:27:27.689 give you some next steps. Text new to 805 55 0:27:27.930 --> 0:27:32.490 7898 maybe for one person today. And if it was 0:27:32.490 --> 0:27:34.890 just for you, I promise you this is exactly what 0:27:34.930 --> 0:27:38.130 God wanted us to pause and do so that you 0:27:38.130 --> 0:27:41.010 could have a new life in him today. Coming up, 0:27:41.010 --> 0:27:43.410 as we've been talking about evangelism, I want to give 0:27:43.410 --> 0:27:47.450 you some practical coaching. You want to share Jesus with people, 0:27:47.450 --> 0:27:50.730 but sometimes you get stuck and don't know how. Help 0:27:50.730 --> 0:27:52.889 is on the way. Coming up here on Carl and 0:27:52.890 --> 0:27:53.530 crew mornings. 0:27:53.970 --> 0:27:56.690 Your shot of hope to help you through the day. 0:27:56.970 --> 0:28:00.010 This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio. 0:28:00.609 --> 0:28:04.050 So you want to tell people about Jesus? You want 0:28:04.090 --> 0:28:07.369 to share the gospel? It's not just a worthy goal. 0:28:07.570 --> 0:28:11.870 Scripture actually Commands it. And yet so many of us 0:28:11.869 --> 0:28:15.910 find ourselves sort of stuck with this desire to share 0:28:15.910 --> 0:28:20.670 our faith, but somewhat hesitant and even fearful to actually 0:28:20.710 --> 0:28:23.390 take that step. I've got a special guest who's going 0:28:23.390 --> 0:28:27.630 to give us some good insight today. Andrew Steyer joins us. 0:28:27.670 --> 0:28:29.590 You ever had a place in your life where you 0:28:29.590 --> 0:28:31.510 were timid to share the gospel? 0:28:31.670 --> 0:28:33.590 Absolutely. All the time. 0:28:34.350 --> 0:28:36.550 Give me a little bit about your background. I know 0:28:36.550 --> 0:28:42.310 you were a pastor's kid, Bible college student, a professional Christian, 0:28:42.310 --> 0:28:43.110 a little bit. 0:28:43.390 --> 0:28:46.070 Yeah. I like to say that I was born and 0:28:46.070 --> 0:28:48.670 raised in the guts of the church. I'm from North 0:28:48.670 --> 0:28:53.070 Dakota and so small town churches up there, but really 0:28:53.070 --> 0:28:56.470 just grew up. And faith was always something that I 0:28:56.510 --> 0:29:01.030 saw people do professionally pastors, ministers, things like that. And 0:29:01.030 --> 0:29:03.670 so as I, as I aged, as I grew up, 0:29:03.670 --> 0:29:05.670 as I met the Lord and went to Bible college, 0:29:05.670 --> 0:29:09.480 became a youth pastor, Faster. This was so wrapped up 0:29:09.480 --> 0:29:12.960 in my identity about like what I do, and the 0:29:12.960 --> 0:29:15.000 Lord really had to do a lot of work on 0:29:15.000 --> 0:29:17.080 me for me to realize that my faith is actually 0:29:17.120 --> 0:29:19.600 like who I am, not just what I do. So 0:29:19.600 --> 0:29:22.680 when you say professional Christian, that's exactly it. I've had 0:29:22.680 --> 0:29:26.400 to relearn how to go back to the basics, even 0:29:26.400 --> 0:29:29.440 after working in churches and ministries over the years. 0:29:29.720 --> 0:29:32.240 Andrew Stier with us right now, he's the director of 0:29:32.240 --> 0:29:36.640 Always Going. Always Going believes evangelism is not an event. 0:29:36.880 --> 0:29:40.520 It's an overflow. You want to help people with the book, 0:29:40.520 --> 0:29:43.520 with the website, there is a free course that people 0:29:43.520 --> 0:29:47.000 can take. You want to help people overcome this sense 0:29:47.000 --> 0:29:51.400 of duty and obligation that can often drive us. When 0:29:51.400 --> 0:29:54.600 it comes to evangelism. Why are we often wrong even 0:29:54.640 --> 0:29:56.160 in how we approach it? 0:29:56.360 --> 0:29:58.760 Yeah, I think that a lot of people see this 0:29:58.760 --> 0:30:01.640 great commission and they go, oh, God told me that 0:30:01.640 --> 0:30:04.840 I have to go and do this thing. Therefore he 0:30:04.840 --> 0:30:07.660 will only be proud of me. He will only love me. 0:30:07.660 --> 0:30:11.380 I will only make him happy if I do that thing. 0:30:11.700 --> 0:30:15.100 And then because it's scary and because it's difficult and 0:30:15.100 --> 0:30:19.420 because we are timid, sometimes we don't do that. And 0:30:19.420 --> 0:30:22.460 it colors our view of how God sees us. It 0:30:22.460 --> 0:30:24.900 colors our relationship with God. And so when I talk 0:30:24.940 --> 0:30:29.540 about evangelism, being an event or an obligation, that's the 0:30:29.540 --> 0:30:32.260 mindset that I think a lot of people are trapped in. 0:30:32.260 --> 0:30:35.340 But really, it should be an overflow of our loving 0:30:35.340 --> 0:30:39.900 relationship with God. He invites us to run with him, 0:30:39.900 --> 0:30:43.459 and as he advances the gospel and uses us to 0:30:43.500 --> 0:30:45.540 do that, we get to be a part of that 0:30:45.540 --> 0:30:49.340 mission instead of it resting solely on our shoulders like 0:30:49.340 --> 0:30:51.180 our worth was tied up in it. 0:30:51.460 --> 0:30:54.500 You know, when we talk about the overflow of something, 0:30:54.500 --> 0:30:57.620 that means there's something inside that's flowing out. You know, 0:30:57.660 --> 0:31:01.740 I remember specifically a time in my early 20s where 0:31:02.020 --> 0:31:04.720 I was honestly pretty far from God, but I still 0:31:04.720 --> 0:31:09.520 felt a sense of duty or obligation to share about Jesus. 0:31:09.520 --> 0:31:12.200 And I remember one time telling somebody that I was 0:31:12.200 --> 0:31:15.080 going to pray for this specific situation, because that's what 0:31:15.080 --> 0:31:18.160 I knew to do. I knew to pray as a Christian, 0:31:18.160 --> 0:31:20.360 and I could feel as the words came out of 0:31:20.360 --> 0:31:25.120 my mouth that they felt so hollow and so powerless, 0:31:25.160 --> 0:31:28.640 because what I was saying didn't really match what was 0:31:28.680 --> 0:31:30.880 actually going on in my heart. So talk more about 0:31:30.880 --> 0:31:33.480 the overflow. It has to be kind of an inside 0:31:33.480 --> 0:31:36.560 out approach. We have to start on the inside first. 0:31:36.800 --> 0:31:38.760 Yeah, absolutely. I think when a lot of us think 0:31:38.760 --> 0:31:41.200 of evangelism, we think of the Great Commission, the end 0:31:41.200 --> 0:31:43.520 of the book of Matthew, but we forget that it 0:31:43.520 --> 0:31:46.520 was in Matthew chapter four where Jesus called the disciples 0:31:46.520 --> 0:31:48.800 and said, follow me, and I will make you fishers 0:31:48.800 --> 0:31:53.280 of men. We just think of evangelism as go make disciples, 0:31:53.280 --> 0:31:56.680 not follow Jesus, and he will make me a fisher 0:31:56.680 --> 0:31:59.360 of men. The Great Commission was at the end of 0:31:59.400 --> 0:32:01.600 their time with him, not at the beginning. And so 0:32:01.600 --> 0:32:04.650 for a lot of us, as we think about how 0:32:04.650 --> 0:32:07.730 we are going to begin sharing the gospel, it has 0:32:07.730 --> 0:32:10.090 a lot more to do with our relationship with God 0:32:10.090 --> 0:32:12.530 than it does just this cold obedience to go out 0:32:12.530 --> 0:32:16.450 there and obey, or Jesus great commandment, right? Love the 0:32:16.450 --> 0:32:18.410 Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, strength. 0:32:18.410 --> 0:32:22.650 Love your neighbor as yourself. It starts by loving him. 0:32:22.650 --> 0:32:25.450 And that's where we fill, and that's where we go 0:32:25.450 --> 0:32:27.690 to abide with him. And that's where we go to 0:32:27.730 --> 0:32:31.130 to experience all the goodness of God so that it 0:32:31.130 --> 0:32:33.969 just spills out as we love our neighbor and to 0:32:33.970 --> 0:32:36.930 make disciples. And that's really how it has to be. 0:32:37.090 --> 0:32:39.250 Because if I go and try to love my neighbor, 0:32:39.250 --> 0:32:41.729 and I'm not full of everything that God has for me, 0:32:41.730 --> 0:32:44.010 if I'm not pursuing him, but I'm still trying to 0:32:44.050 --> 0:32:46.850 obey him, they're not going to see him. What's going 0:32:46.890 --> 0:32:49.130 to be pouring out of me and overflowing from me 0:32:49.130 --> 0:32:53.490 is just me. And nobody wants that. They want Jesus. 0:32:54.290 --> 0:32:56.489 Now, I'm curious about a survey you did at a 0:32:56.490 --> 0:33:00.790 local church in Florida. What did you find when you 0:33:00.830 --> 0:33:02.510 surveyed this congregation? 0:33:02.510 --> 0:33:06.150 I asked the question, how many of you feel confident 0:33:06.150 --> 0:33:09.150 that you could share the basics of the gospel message? 0:33:09.150 --> 0:33:12.670 Just just the basics. And these were all professing Christians. Um, 0:33:12.710 --> 0:33:15.590 60 plus professing Christians. They were at an eight hour 0:33:15.630 --> 0:33:19.550 evangelism workshop that they signed up for on a Saturday. 0:33:19.550 --> 0:33:21.790 And I just asked this question before the workshop just 0:33:21.790 --> 0:33:24.990 to float it out there. It was something like 25% 0:33:24.990 --> 0:33:28.030 of them said that they felt confident they could share 0:33:28.030 --> 0:33:31.190 the basics of the gospel and like, just let that 0:33:31.190 --> 0:33:35.790 sink in for a second. 75% of them could not, 0:33:35.830 --> 0:33:39.710 like they did not have an adequate answer, could not 0:33:39.710 --> 0:33:43.830 communicate an adequate answer for where they would spend eternity. 0:33:43.950 --> 0:33:46.630 And that was shocking to me. And I realized that 0:33:46.630 --> 0:33:48.910 there are a lot of Christians sitting in church who 0:33:48.910 --> 0:33:52.270 desperately love the Lord, but the reason they don't participate 0:33:52.270 --> 0:33:54.230 in his mission is because they don't know how to 0:33:54.230 --> 0:33:57.190 communicate the things that they believe. They don't know how 0:33:57.190 --> 0:33:59.610 to take what they believe and put it into words 0:33:59.610 --> 0:34:03.130 to tell anyone else, and that that'll stop you right quick. 0:34:03.490 --> 0:34:06.210 So let's talk about this ministry and the book that 0:34:06.210 --> 0:34:09.890 you've written, because your your mission is to help kind 0:34:09.930 --> 0:34:13.730 of close this gap where people who love Jesus can 0:34:13.770 --> 0:34:17.930 more freely and naturally talk about him. But it's not 0:34:17.930 --> 0:34:21.089 tips and tricks and methods. So what is it that 0:34:21.090 --> 0:34:22.010 can help us? 0:34:22.450 --> 0:34:25.930 So we actually walk people through eight foundational questions that 0:34:25.930 --> 0:34:28.370 must be asked in order. We call them the eight 0:34:28.370 --> 0:34:31.610 elements of an outward focus, faith or a faith that 0:34:31.650 --> 0:34:35.089 overflows into others. And so when I talk to people 0:34:35.090 --> 0:34:37.930 about our ministry, they typically think, oh, you're the evangelism guy. 0:34:37.930 --> 0:34:40.890 And I said, actually, about 80% of what I do 0:34:40.930 --> 0:34:43.850 has more to do with discipleship and what's going on 0:34:43.850 --> 0:34:47.290 in my heart and mind than it does actually sharing 0:34:47.290 --> 0:34:51.170 the gospel. Because if I believe that evangelism is an overflow, 0:34:51.450 --> 0:34:53.730 then we need to talk about what's filling us up, 0:34:53.770 --> 0:34:56.650 like you just said. And so as we help people 0:34:56.820 --> 0:35:00.300 navigate through this. We ask them to really focus on 0:35:00.340 --> 0:35:01.460 eight questions. 0:35:01.500 --> 0:35:02.900 Go through four of them for us. 0:35:02.940 --> 0:35:06.220 Yeah. So the first one is really, really important. That's 0:35:06.219 --> 0:35:08.940 am I rooted in the gospel? You know, that survey 0:35:08.940 --> 0:35:13.260 revealed to us that people don't really know how to 0:35:13.300 --> 0:35:15.980 share the gospel, and we might know tricks. We might 0:35:15.980 --> 0:35:18.580 know the Romans Road or the Three circles, or, you know, 0:35:18.620 --> 0:35:21.419 the ABCs or one two threes. But what we teach 0:35:21.460 --> 0:35:24.140 is that we really need to be rooted in the message, 0:35:24.140 --> 0:35:28.180 not just know a method, because the gospel is really 0:35:28.180 --> 0:35:32.260 about taking the message of Scripture and communicating it in 0:35:32.300 --> 0:35:35.620 the right way to people. So not everyone's going to 0:35:35.620 --> 0:35:37.460 respond the same way to the Romans Road. So can 0:35:37.500 --> 0:35:40.980 we speak the gospel fluently? Can we keep it simple? 0:35:40.980 --> 0:35:43.180 So am I rooted in the gospel? Is one of them. 0:35:43.219 --> 0:35:45.860 Another one is does my life reflect what I claim 0:35:45.860 --> 0:35:49.259 to believe? Basically, am I a good ambassador? Am I 0:35:49.300 --> 0:35:54.580 convincing or unconvincing ambassador of Christ? And does my lifestyle 0:35:54.580 --> 0:35:58.319 Style confirm or contradict the gospel message. One of the 0:35:58.320 --> 0:36:01.040 other questions is am I hesitant to share the gospel? 0:36:01.040 --> 0:36:04.440 We talk through seven gospel gaps. I call them the 0:36:04.440 --> 0:36:07.760 top seven reasons that people don't share their faith, and 0:36:07.800 --> 0:36:11.400 a biblical a biblical walk through each one of those. 0:36:11.440 --> 0:36:14.520 Kind of like myth busting them a little bit and 0:36:14.560 --> 0:36:17.359 showing believers that they don't really have any teeth and 0:36:17.360 --> 0:36:19.960 can't stop us. And then I'll share one more. The 0:36:19.960 --> 0:36:23.040 very last question we ask is, am I celebrating every 0:36:23.040 --> 0:36:26.520 gospel conversation? The ones where I see the fruit, the 0:36:26.520 --> 0:36:29.960 ones where someone professes faith in Christ or recommits their life, 0:36:30.280 --> 0:36:33.320 and the ones where someone spits on me and walks away. 0:36:33.320 --> 0:36:35.719 Because if I truly believe that God is the one 0:36:35.719 --> 0:36:40.440 who changes hearts and he measures success by faithful conversations, 0:36:40.440 --> 0:36:44.760 not immediate conversions, and he's doing things behind the scenes, 0:36:44.760 --> 0:36:48.120 I just play a role planting, watering, harvesting. I can 0:36:48.120 --> 0:36:50.800 celebrate every time the gospel comes out of my mouth. 0:36:50.840 --> 0:36:53.410 Good stuff. Andrew steer with us right now. Director of 0:36:53.410 --> 0:36:56.330 Always Going. And we've got a resource that we want 0:36:56.370 --> 0:37:00.410 to offer to you. This is an overflow evangelism crash course. 0:37:00.450 --> 0:37:02.450 This takes what, just a couple of days to go 0:37:02.450 --> 0:37:03.890 through this. Is that right, Andrew? 0:37:03.969 --> 0:37:06.969 Yeah. It's five days, five emails that will come to 0:37:06.969 --> 0:37:09.570 your inbox once a day to take about five minutes 0:37:09.570 --> 0:37:12.210 to read. And it will give you the basics, the 0:37:12.210 --> 0:37:15.970 tools that you need to start engaging in overflow evangelism. 0:37:16.130 --> 0:37:21.650 We've got it for you. Text overflow to 800 555 7898. 0:37:21.690 --> 0:37:28.690 Text overflow. Just one word overflow to 800 555 7898. Andrew, 0:37:28.690 --> 0:37:31.210 appreciate your time this morning. I'm excited about what this 0:37:31.210 --> 0:37:32.970 is going to do for our listeners. 0:37:33.010 --> 0:37:35.569 My favorite part of working in this ministry is just 0:37:35.570 --> 0:37:39.450 seeing believers set free. Set free from obligations. Set free 0:37:39.450 --> 0:37:43.650 from burden. Reframing how God wants to use them in 0:37:43.650 --> 0:37:47.250 his mission, and just watching them step into evangelism with joy, 0:37:47.290 --> 0:37:48.170 not fear. 0:37:48.210 --> 0:37:52.330 Text overflow to 855 five 7898.