Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - May 28, 2024


Ep 1009 ｜ Willie Robertson on Sharing the Gospel ｜ Guest： Willie Robertson


Episode Stats

Length

48 minutes

Words per Minute

207.9003

Word Count

10,142

Sentence Count

651

Misogynist Sentences

4

Hate Speech Sentences

10


Summary


Transcript

00:00:00.840 You know the name Willie Robertson from Duck Dynasty, but he is also a New York Times bestselling
00:00:07.760 author. He is an evangelist, and he just wrote a new book called Gospeller about sharing the gospel
00:00:15.140 with the people that we interact with every day. It's a very powerful book. He has such an
00:00:20.060 encouraging message for us today. I learned a lot about what God's Word says about how we can share
00:00:26.220 truth with the people in our lives. You are going to love this. This episode is brought to you by our
00:00:31.580 friends at Good Ranchers. Go to GoodRanchers.com. Use code Allie at checkout. That's GoodRanchers.com.
00:00:36.560 Code Allie.
00:00:47.080 Willie, thanks so much for taking the time to join us. I really appreciate you being here.
00:00:50.940 It's great to be here.
00:00:51.760 Yeah. Okay, so you wrote this new book, which I'm so excited about, Gospeller. I've been a Christian
00:00:58.280 for a long time, and I've never heard this down before. Can you tell me what Gospeller means?
00:01:04.540 Well, I've been a Christian, I'm assuming, longer than you, and I'd never heard of it either.
00:01:09.500 So I was writing the book about sharing your faith. I had a title that I thought I was going to use,
00:01:16.160 and then my wife came in, and she said, hey, she was studying the title I had and was looking at
00:01:22.720 other words, and she found the word. And she said, I found this word, I think it's gospeller.
00:01:29.000 I'm no linguist, but like when I press the button on the computer, and that's how the lady pronounced it.
00:01:33.900 But I think it's either way, and yeah, it just means somebody who shares the gospel.
00:01:40.460 And so it's an old word, obviously a couple of hundred years old, that it used to be very common.
00:01:45.440 And so people were, they were called known gospellers, and not necessarily pastoral, more like not people
00:01:51.340 who worked for a church. It was like people who just always shared, and it kind of went away and became a dinosaur,
00:01:57.360 which I thought was interesting because I felt like, oh, this is kind of like,
00:02:00.940 yeah, I think even people that share their faith, it's kind of seems like that's gone away in some
00:02:06.420 ways as well. And so, yeah, I thought it was the perfect word, and I'd never heard it either.
00:02:10.780 But if you look through literature, and you see even one of my friends found a law that said,
00:02:16.120 you know, no one can stop a priest or known gospeller from sharing their faith on the street
00:02:21.400 corner. So yeah, it was like, it was common.
00:02:23.020 Okay, see, I thought that you just made this word up yourself.
00:02:25.780 I did not.
00:02:26.360 I thought it was a you creation. So this is something that's been
00:02:29.680 around for a long time. You're resurrecting it, you're giving further significance and meaning to
00:02:35.760 it by talking about what it means to be a gospeller. So why did you write this book about
00:02:41.920 sharing the gospel?
00:02:43.440 Well, I felt like there was a lot of genesis from me actually writing it. But one was just I felt like
00:02:50.900 I've talked to a lot of people who just really don't know how to, they want to share the gospel,
00:02:55.320 they just don't know really how to do that. And so this was kind of a COVID creation. The book,
00:03:01.660 I mean, all the things had, it was my whole life of been doing this. But during COVID,
00:03:07.280 something interesting happened. One, I had spoken at an event, and I had heard Lee Strobel,
00:03:13.560 and I didn't know who Lee Strobel was, believe it or not. And he was talking about
00:03:18.340 specific ministries and churches that for sharing the gospel. And he said, you know,
00:03:26.420 churches have a lot of ministries and you know, we have youth and college and all this. And he said,
00:03:30.160 but very rarely does a church actually have a ministry that that teaches people how to share
00:03:34.620 the gospel, which and he was like, so when you go back to your church, ask them who's in charge of
00:03:39.400 that ministry. And he said, I bet here's what's going to happen. They're going to say, I guess the
00:03:42.280 pastor. And so I went home to the church I was at and I asked and they were like, well,
00:03:49.120 nobody really. So about a month later, I get a call from the pastors and they said,
00:03:53.380 hey, do you want to start that ministry? And COVID had happened. So I wasn't traveling. I wasn't
00:03:57.660 speaking at all. And I said, yeah. And so I started writing curriculum of how to teach. And so it was from
00:04:03.940 doing that, that I was able to kind of gather all this data from people who were saying, well, I don't,
00:04:10.100 you know, it's not my gift and I don't know the Bible well enough. And so I started hearing a lot of
00:04:14.360 excuses where people basically excuse themselves from actually doing it. One of the main things was,
00:04:19.340 I don't know where to start. Like, I don't know how to start this. And so, so I was writing all this
00:04:24.120 stuff down and I had a friend who I was, then I was at another conference and a friend said,
00:04:30.220 what you up to? And I told him and I showed him how I do it. And he goes, I've never quite seen it
00:04:35.700 like that. And he said, you should put that in a book. And, uh, and that's where the idea of the
00:04:39.620 book came. And I said, maybe I should write this all down in the book. And I, the, the first chapter,
00:04:44.320 I start with mom and dad story, which we made the movie about last year called the blind. And, um,
00:04:49.820 and it just, it, when I thought about like, what if that hadn't happened? Like, what if Phil had not
00:04:55.680 changed his life, their marriage was over, my whole life would be completely different. Even
00:05:01.020 speaking to you now, uh, it's almost like every day is like something is more fruit coming from that,
00:05:07.220 uh, conversion. And I just thought about that. And I thought, so I was appreciative of looking
00:05:10.720 back in the past, but also thought looking to the future, who, who could I talk to that could
00:05:16.500 literally change their life, change their marriage, change their children's lives, their
00:05:20.480 grandchildren. Uh, cause that certainly happened with us. I mean, I mean, if that doesn't happen,
00:05:25.040 there's no duck commander, there's no duck dynasty, there's no TV show. Um, I probably don't meet
00:05:31.200 Corey because I met her at a church camp, which was part of this new thing we were doing, you know,
00:05:35.220 which was church and church camps. And so that's where I met her. Um, and so everything would have
00:05:40.700 been different. And so just, I just thought, wow, you know, I caught the, the gospel genealogy,
00:05:45.540 you know, uh, just thinking about how you go back and how I could trace that back to really mom and dad
00:05:51.240 and, and also mom coming to the Lord and then forgiving dad and seeing the, you know, that and,
00:05:57.100 um, that, so that's kind of where it all, you know, kind of came from and where, where that kind
00:06:01.740 of started and putting it down on paper. And it's really simple. It's, you know, my approach is, um,
00:06:07.040 I have seven passages that I generally go over with people. And, um, so I think people pick up a Bible
00:06:12.780 and they're like, how do you ever, you know, yeah, it's a lot. And it's so intimidating. And so then I
00:06:18.760 kind of break it down. I'm like, well, could you learn maybe seven kind of ideas? And so,
00:06:23.340 and I really focus in on that, especially that transitionary period, um, in the new Testament,
00:06:28.760 you know, you have the four gospels and which is Jesus, but it's a little different because the
00:06:33.360 gospel hadn't fully happened because Jesus hadn't died and he hadn't come back from the dead. So I
00:06:38.480 was really interested in once Jesus left, like what did they say to people? How did they start those
00:06:43.220 conversations? Uh, some we can get from Jesus, um, uh, obviously. Um, but, but I really studied
00:06:49.860 those. And so those are the ones I pretty much go through, especially Acts probably one through nine.
00:06:55.120 I go through those cause that's when the church was starting and they're in the same boat that we
00:06:58.300 are today. Uh, 2000 years later, we're still, Jesus has left. He's been resurrected. And so how do you
00:07:05.120 talk to people and, and, and how do those conversations start? And so, so I share a lot of those stories
00:07:09.600 as well with people that I've talked to, uh, some have worked, some don't, you know, or we say
00:07:14.660 don't, who knows, you know, you're planting a seed and you don't know whether, yeah, sometimes this
00:07:19.320 conversation happens in 20 minutes. Sometimes it's two hours. Sometimes it's 20 years. I've been
00:07:24.940 talking to people for 20 years about this and you know, they haven't believed in Jesus, but I'm still
00:07:29.600 there and I'm still, you know, coming at them and asking questions.
00:07:39.600 You alluded to your dad's testimony and a lot of people, like you said, know it, they've heard it.
00:07:49.340 They saw the movie or they're going to read it in this book because you talk about this preacher
00:07:54.960 who just preached the simple truth to your dad. And that kind of served as part of the inspiration
00:08:02.040 for you as you've thought about, okay, the importance, the significance, the compound effect
00:08:07.880 of sharing the gospel with someone, how that can have this ripple effect on their lives,
00:08:13.120 generations to come. Um, what was that simple gospel that was shared with your dad way back when?
00:08:20.700 Uh, yeah, the story was so, um, remarkable. Obviously we were able to build a movie kind of around
00:08:27.380 that, you know, I mean, that wasn't the whole movie obviously, but, uh, but just the way that it
00:08:32.100 happened. Uh, and I, and I knew this guy for the rest of my, for the rest of his life, I guess,
00:08:37.540 uh, cause we ended up at the church that he was at. Um, but he was kind of a fiery guy and he was,
00:08:42.540 he was in West Monroe. Uh, dad and mom were living in Junction City. Well, I guess technically,
00:08:47.700 uh, dad had kicked us out of the house. And the only person that was really pulling for dad was
00:08:52.700 his sister, uh, Jan, uh, my aunt Jan who's passed away, uh, as well. And, um, Jan was so fiery and
00:08:59.840 she would go up there and pass out bravo tracks, you know, and the fields bar that he was running
00:09:04.600 and, and Phil couldn't stand any of it. And, uh, and she begs this guy like, will you please go up
00:09:09.900 there? And, you know, and she said, my aunt said, if you convert Phil Robertson, he'll convert a
00:09:14.500 thousand. And to this day, I just, I don't know how she saw that because this guy was so bad,
00:09:20.780 you know, uh, my father, um, it was such a bad guy, like how she could see that and had the
00:09:25.580 vision, which was true. Um, which is way more than a thousand that he, he was able to do that
00:09:30.280 too. And, but I thought about this guy walking into a bar and I kind of write, I put that in
00:09:35.960 the book cause this is where I kind of thought about how did this conversation go and what was
00:09:39.980 he thinking? You know, like, um, cause I'm sure if you like, I guess I'm thinking about pastors
00:09:45.560 today is like, if I went to a pastor and say, Hey, will you talk to this guy? And it's like,
00:09:49.240 yeah, tell him to come to church. And, you know, I'll meet him after now. He's not going
00:09:53.000 to come to church, you know? Okay. Well, uh, where could we meet? Well, he's at a bar,
00:09:57.460 you know? Yeah. And even if you get to that point, it's like, I can't imagine a preacher
00:10:01.300 David busting in a bar to go, you know, uh, and like which one in town is like, it's not
00:10:06.480 even in our town. It's not even in the state. Like you have to drive across state lines and
00:10:11.560 this guy did it. Um, so it wasn't that he was trying to recruit Phil for his money. I mean,
00:10:16.580 they had no money. They had no, obviously no fame, no, no anything. It was just purely
00:10:20.180 to share with the, with another person because someone else had asked his sister. And so he
00:10:25.140 goes in there and then, and I was able to talk to the preacher later. And he said, I walked
00:10:28.600 in, he said, your dad's sitting there in his bar with, uh, he has a giant Budweiser in
00:10:32.640 front of him. He's got a pistol in his belt. And he looks up at him and says, uh, what you
00:10:36.480 selling preacher? And dad's this big, hairy, you know, scary kind of guy. And, uh, the guy
00:10:41.440 sits down and he just simply shares with him the death, the burial and the resurrection
00:10:45.500 of Jesus Christ and goes through, uh, the gospel and the responses to it, which is exactly the
00:10:51.320 same. Uh, the message stays the same. You know, the methods can be different. You know,
00:10:56.460 that guy went to a bar. It can be all kinds of things, uh, ways that you can do it. And
00:11:00.220 this is not the only way it's, but it may spark someone to go, ah, you know, there's a way
00:11:04.660 I can do it. You know, there's a way I can do it online. There's a way I can do it,
00:11:07.340 you know, and it's not always just stranger stuff. Like, you know, I think some people
00:11:11.320 are thinking like, Oh, now I have to go talk to some, have some awkward conversation with
00:11:15.100 someone on the, you know, on the, on the airplane or something. Uh, it can be, uh, but it can
00:11:21.160 start at home. You know, I think, I think some of the people we look over, some of the people
00:11:24.980 that are closest to us, you know, that we just assume, well, I guess our kids will figure
00:11:29.640 it out because they go to church, you know, or whatever, but that's not always the case.
00:11:33.360 You know, um, I've shared this with people as simple as it is. And I've had
00:11:37.320 you know, uh, I baptized a guy, I think he was 94. And one time, and he was like, I've
00:11:43.580 never heard that. And these are people who've been to church. Yeah. And they're just, you
00:11:47.240 think everyone in America at least has heard it because you don't, you know, you can sit
00:11:51.600 through, I've sat through a lot of church services and, um, well, you don't actually hear the gospel.
00:11:56.380 You hear good things, but you don't necessarily hear, you know, the gospel, what that is. And
00:12:00.460 so, yeah, it's true. I remember I had a friend in college who had never, and she was raised
00:12:06.120 going to church. She had never heard John 3.16, had never heard John 3.16. And we think,
00:12:11.020 well, everyone at least has heard John 3.16. And she didn't know that there was a possibility
00:12:16.220 to have a relationship with Christ. It was just kind of this abstract thing. As long as
00:12:21.600 you don't do really bad things and really hurt people, then it's fine. And a lot of people
00:12:27.920 in America, probably in close proximity to us, have that idea about Christianity, about God,
00:12:34.060 as long as I don't mess up too bad, then everything is fine. They don't even know what
00:12:39.460 it means to be redeemed and to be free from your sin. And that's really good news.
00:12:44.540 So what happens is that becomes people's mission, something like that. So the mission, what I
00:12:49.540 find is people will live by this mission. Try to go to church as much as I can, try to be
00:12:55.880 a good person, you know, and that's their mission. But if you read the New Testament, that's not
00:13:00.580 the mission. That was never even, that was not said. So when Jesus left, and I make a big deal
00:13:07.080 about this, because when Jesus comes back, I'm really interested when he comes back from the
00:13:11.400 dead, what does he say? What does he tell people to do? And so there we found the great commission
00:13:16.000 at the end of Matthew 28. And think about commission, that's where this mission is going
00:13:20.960 to come from. And Jesus said, go make disciples of all nations, baptize people, and teach people.
00:13:26.980 So those are three specific things. Making disciples, baptizing people, and teaching
00:13:32.200 people. A lot of people that are Christians that I know, they're nowhere near those three
00:13:38.220 things in their life. They're not making disciples, they're not baptizing people, and they're not
00:13:42.320 teaching people. And so they're maybe trying to go to church. And so you're living on the
00:13:48.140 wrong mission. So it doesn't surprise me when things get hard or life takes these turns,
00:13:54.200 and then it's like, ah, then they feel lost. And they're like, ah, because they've been on
00:13:58.520 the wrong mission. They haven't even been on the right mission. And a lot of people that
00:14:02.720 even come to faith, I felt like people will say, well, nobody ever told me that was part
00:14:07.660 of the deal. And I kind of make the argument, what if it's the whole deal? The whole deal is
00:14:12.700 it's not just for you to get it. That's great. But it's then for you to share this with someone
00:14:16.840 else. I think Jesus gave us that clue when he went to Zacchaeus' house. And remember,
00:14:23.060 he just goes to his house, and we don't know exactly what they talked about, but Zacchaeus
00:14:26.320 just starts saying, I'm changing everything. Now we're seeing some repentance, right? And
00:14:30.600 so it's not just conversations. It's conversations that are actually looking for change. We're
00:14:35.020 looking for change if it needs to happen. And then Jesus says, this is why I came to seek
00:14:40.380 and save what was lost. That's why he said he came to earth, was to seek and save what was
00:14:45.280 lost. And so I feel like sometimes as Christians, we get really inward. Everything's pointing
00:14:50.780 towards us, and we want to hear stuff like, make my life better. Help me to make myself
00:14:55.100 better. I need to have my time, my study time. And these aren't bad things, but man, Jesus
00:15:01.280 was not about himself or being inward. It's outward. You're supposed to go out and care about
00:15:05.980 other people.
00:15:17.920 You know, you talk about in the book, bumps in your faith. Even after you became a Christian
00:15:22.460 through the success of Duck Dynasty, the book says that you allowed your priorities to shift
00:15:29.280 and faith and family were no longer at the top. You know, some people have this idea, especially
00:15:35.240 those outside of Christianity, that Christians think they're perfect or they have to act like
00:15:40.620 they're perfect or self-righteous or whatever. But the fact of the matter is, is that sanctification
00:15:44.780 is not this straight line from A to B. It's sometimes backtracking. It's sometimes being
00:15:52.080 wrong and realizing that you need to repent. And so talk about this era of kind of struggling
00:15:58.400 and wrestling with your faith.
00:16:00.060 Yeah. That chapter is called Broke Propeller. It's all my titles rhyme with the gospel or
00:16:06.140 broke propeller.
00:16:07.460 Yes, they do. I love that.
00:16:08.260 That was Swamp Dweller. That was Phil. Yeah. So this is huge. That's one of the reasons that
00:16:14.840 a lot of people will disqualify themselves from telling anyone else about their faith is because
00:16:21.160 they feel like, I haven't figured it out either. I'm the last person to be telling someone about
00:16:26.940 anything about positivity because look at myself. And so I start out there with, I always go to the
00:16:35.840 New Testament. I always just go to the Word and what does it say? One of the main people there
00:16:40.360 is Peter. And Peter played such a crucial role. In fact, all the way to where when I said Jesus came
00:16:46.540 back, he gave them the Great Commission. Peter was obviously a part of that. But also we found this
00:16:51.180 part where Jesus goes back to the Sea of Galilee and he finds Peter there and others and actually
00:16:58.140 has a talk with him and says, look, you know, now Peter is the one who initially when Jesus sees him,
00:17:05.980 he calls him. In fact, the only thing he told him when he called him was said, come follow me.
00:17:11.440 I'll make you fishers of people. And so it had to be vitally important because it's the only thing
00:17:18.760 he said to Peter. And Peter said, yeah. And Peter drops everything he does. And so I feel like
00:17:22.380 it, I feel like that a lot where I'm like, Hey man, I'm, I'm all in, you know? And then we get to
00:17:27.800 this part where Jesus is going to die. And Jesus says, you're going to even deny even knowing who I
00:17:32.620 am, which seems so absurd. Peter obviously says, no, I'd never do that. And what happens? He does
00:17:37.620 that. And I think Peter had went back to fishing because I think he was done. I think he thought
00:17:43.420 I blew it. You know, I mean, here I was, I had, you know, I've been following this guy for three
00:17:47.880 years, all in, I'd seen all the things. And I think he had, he was just going to go back and
00:17:52.480 probably tell a sad story about, I was there, you know, I was one of the ones. Jesus specifically
00:17:57.800 goes back to him and says, Hey, I have a job for you. I need you to do something and care for my
00:18:04.020 sheep, feed my sheep. And so, and then we find in the book of Acts, which is right after the gospels,
00:18:09.220 Acts chapter one, who's standing up trying to figure out who's going to replace Judas,
00:18:14.240 Peter. Acts chapter two, who's the first person to get up and preach the gospel message to this
00:18:19.040 big group of people, Peter. And so he didn't wallow around. And I think a lot of us will just
00:18:24.460 disqualify ourselves and spend tons of our life just on the sidelines going, I'm out. You know,
00:18:29.040 I can't, I mean, Peter, what an inspiration for us to get up and get back going. And so, and I felt
00:18:34.880 that in my life as well. I felt that at many times in my life. Um, and, and part of the responses to
00:18:40.740 the gospel, like when I go through the responses, how do people respond? Um, I think sometimes we
00:18:46.100 think like, uh, cause Peter actually there in Acts two and 38, where he says, uh, repent. Okay. And we
00:18:51.680 think that's a, that's a one-time thing. It's not a one-time thing. It's like, we do need to change.
00:18:56.460 Obviously repentance is huge. John the Baptist, his whole ministry was on repentance just to get ready
00:19:01.120 for Jesus. But repentance is a constant thing. In fact, you don't really see repentance until you
00:19:06.640 see someone's changed their life. You know, you can say it, you know, but it's really when you
00:19:11.580 start seeing change in your life and that happens over and over and all throughout our lives, you
00:19:16.340 know, uh, that we have to do that. And I, I talk about that where I, you know, what, where you don't
00:19:20.780 wake up and kind of my point was, I didn't wake up going, you know what, I'm sick of this. You know,
00:19:25.440 I'm just, I think I'm going to be like the world and it doesn't happen like that. At least it didn't
00:19:29.400 for me. It was, it was more just a slow, gradual thing. And I'm, you know, you just kind of veer
00:19:33.920 off this path and you look around and you're like, what am I doing? You know, where have I ended up?
00:19:38.860 What have I gotten pulled to? And the pressures and, you know, uh, uh, for me, it would, you know,
00:19:44.760 the fame and the pressure of all this stuff, there's no playbook for that. There's no,
00:19:48.500 it's not like I call a buddy going, Hey, what do you do? And, you know, I mean, most people that live
00:19:53.020 up and down my road, you know, have never experienced anything like that. And so, uh, uh, sin is still sin and
00:19:59.060 it's, yeah, it's, it's the same for everybody. And mine was certainly no different. Um, but I
00:20:04.760 thought it was true. It was what I was doing was when I'm telling you my story and my struggles,
00:20:09.420 when I'm talking to someone else about their life, that's usually where I'm going to start
00:20:13.640 with them. Yeah. Tell me your story. And so what's your story. And so I'm going to gather
00:20:19.080 that story. Uh, Jesus did that in John chapter four, like a masterclass of gathering story with
00:20:24.640 the woman at the well. And, and I think if we're thinking like, how do we start these
00:20:29.720 conversations? Well, Jesus started that one by saying, can I get a drink of water? That's how
00:20:35.500 it started. And it ended up with the whole village coming to know Jesus. And she was the one and he
00:20:41.780 gets into her story and, and he even presses father. Remember he says, uh, uh, go get your
00:20:47.340 husband. I'll tell you all about it. Uh, I don't have a husband, which was not completely,
00:20:52.080 it wasn't a lie. It just wasn't the whole story. It was part of the story. But how many of us tell
00:20:56.840 you a part of the story? I ain't going to tell you the whole story. Yeah. And which makes sense.
00:21:00.340 She just met the guy. I mean, it's not like, but why did Jesus keep going? No, no, we're going to
00:21:04.440 have to deal with the story because he knew she was going to have to deal with her story. I'm going
00:21:08.060 to have to deal with my story. Everybody's going to have to deal with their story. That's the beauty
00:21:12.300 of Christianity is he can fix all these messes, just like Kay and Phil, whose marriage was
00:21:18.060 obliterated and his life was a mess and there was redemption. There was something
00:21:22.280 it can change. And that's why I love Christianity. And even when you fall down and you get back
00:21:27.740 up like Peter did, when you blow it seemingly, like that's it, you blew it. There's no way
00:21:33.140 now you can still, you know? So Peter is not known by what he did wrong. Peter is known by
00:21:38.640 what he did right, you know, and all the things that he did. Um, and I think that can be our story
00:21:43.980 as well, but I did want to share that because I was like, don't be thinking I'm perfect.
00:21:48.200 And, but it caused me to think, am I the one to write this book? You know, maybe some pastor
00:21:53.400 can write, you know, I'm not, I've screwed up too. And I've got, but that, no, that's
00:21:57.840 not, you know, if we're all like that, then we'll all sit on the sidelines and the evil
00:22:02.580 one will just go good. I've got all you guys where I need y'all thinking that you're not
00:22:07.340 redeemed, saved, changed. And he is the accuser. I mean, that's what the Bible calls him.
00:22:11.420 He's an accuser. He's a liar, but, and he has since the garden used a bit of truth to
00:22:17.060 tell you a lie. Did God really say, and in the case of, you know, shame inhibiting you
00:22:23.240 from sharing the gospel, he uses the truth that you are a sinner, that you have made bad
00:22:28.300 mistakes. And, but then he introduces the lie within that truth to say, because you have
00:22:34.680 sinned, because you have made those bad mistakes, you are disqualified from sharing the gospel.
00:22:39.820 And I think that we have to do what Jesus did when he was tempted by Satan. He used,
00:22:46.020 Satan used a bit of truth from God's word to tempt Jesus. And Jesus responds with scripture,
00:22:52.540 with the truth. And I'm remembering the scripture that you referenced earlier, go and make disciples
00:22:59.760 of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
00:23:04.220 Okay. So that means that the creator of the heavens and the earth, who knew every single bad
00:23:09.060 thing I would ever do. He right there in Matthew 28 gave me both the right and the responsibility
00:23:14.080 to go make disciples. He didn't say, if you become perfect, if you never sin, if you qualify yourself
00:23:20.900 and earn your way to this position of being a disciple maker, it's his authority and his
00:23:25.820 perfection and his righteousness that gives us the ability to do that, not our own perfection.
00:23:31.880 So it's not, that's a great point. It's not, because I think when people think,
00:23:35.600 well, I can't do this, well, you have something living in you that sure can.
00:23:40.000 Right. Exactly.
00:23:40.620 Like when you have the Holy Spirit in you, now you may not have the Holy Spirit,
00:23:45.320 so that could be a problem. And I've run into people and that's, that's, and, and I may suggest
00:23:49.700 that I may think, well, maybe you don't have the Holy Spirit. Maybe that's why you've never been able
00:23:53.320 to figure this out because you don't even have the Holy Spirit. You're trying to do it on your own
00:23:56.920 accord, but you don't actually have that spirit that's guiding you. That's such a fascinating story.
00:24:01.200 When Jesus was tempted, um, one, we have to know the word, uh, because Satan knew the word. Jesus
00:24:09.020 obviously knew the word. And you hear that from them where they know the word. Now I found that
00:24:13.100 when I was teaching my class, a lot of people didn't want to really know the word. They didn't
00:24:19.740 care to read it. I had one guy tell me, he said, I don't have the gift of reading scripture. I said,
00:24:23.680 that's not a gift, but that's where he was trying to use the language like, Oh, that's not my gift
00:24:29.180 of. Cause he didn't want to read the word. And so, uh, my whole approach is like, when you read
00:24:35.760 the book, it's not my opinion on it. I'm just connecting you to the word. I'm just showing
00:24:40.880 people. Yeah. Here it is. I'm not judging. I'm, I don't, a lot of people I talk to, I don't even
00:24:46.820 know it. Like, I don't know you. And so I'm not judging you. What are you saying? I'm not going
00:24:50.180 to heaven. I have no idea. If I knew that I'd probably be doing something completely different
00:24:54.240 if I knew who I was going. Um, and so I'm just connecting to the word. Cause if I never talk to
00:24:59.660 you again, at least I've connected you to the word, you can read it for yourself and you can
00:25:03.620 make your own decisions. And so, but what I find is a lot of people rarely ever read the Bible.
00:25:08.640 They don't really know it. They, they, they may sit in a church and they'll listen to somebody else's
00:25:12.680 opinion, but they don't read it for themselves and dig in there. And I think that's, that's where it
00:25:16.860 starts is loving the word reading and then connecting people there. Uh, also Jesus, when he, uh,
00:25:23.580 there was something interesting about that too, is that he, when he was tempted by, uh,
00:25:29.560 Satan and I always looked at the wrong way, like I was thinking he was so weak cause he
00:25:32.620 had been fasting and I was like, man, he's going in there limping, right? Like, like he
00:25:36.600 should, uh, that's how much he knew he had to prepare in dealing with evil, how much he
00:25:42.820 had to rely on God. So I always thought the fasting, I always thought it was kind of a mistake.
00:25:47.180 Yeah. I taught a lesson on this one time and I thought, yeah, it was more of the spirit
00:25:52.100 and more of gearing up. And I feel like probably when I wrote my chapter, broke propeller up,
00:25:58.840 I should have prepared more like Jesus prepared. Like I'm going in against this. And I think we
00:26:03.940 don't prepare that much. We're like, Oh, I got this. And then you walk in, just fall flat on your
00:26:08.560 face. And I mean, Jesus went in there and I was like, I was thinking he was weakened, but actually
00:26:12.820 he was strengthened. Right. Well, it's like that passage that God's power is perfected in our
00:26:19.420 weakness. And I've never thought of that. The story of Jesus being led into the wilderness
00:26:24.420 to be tempted as that, as Jesus purposely fasting to prepare himself to face that temptation.
00:26:31.260 To rely on God, right? To rely on the spirit, to rely on, you know, basically get everything
00:26:34.260 going. What is most important? What is, you know?
00:26:37.440 Yeah.
00:26:37.760 And so without all the distractions that he had. And so, uh, yeah.
00:26:42.000 And that's a good lesson for us. If Jesus was preparing in that way, I mean, the God,
00:26:46.780 the creator of the universe gives us an example that we prepare throughout our lives for those
00:26:53.620 same kinds of opportunities and temptations. And like you said, it's really not about us.
00:26:58.820 It's about the spirit inside of us. And that takes a lot of pressure off when I realized it's
00:27:04.260 not really about me, my strength, what I bring to the table, how eloquent I am. It's really
00:27:10.200 just God's word working through me. And I can trust that his word doesn't return void.
00:27:14.680 Right. And that frees me of a lot of pressure.
00:27:17.680 With some preparation.
00:27:19.080 Yeah.
00:27:19.760 You know, cause I do think we're, we're like, Oh, I got the Holy Spirit in me. So I can,
00:27:23.800 I don't have to do, I don't have to study. I don't have to, you know, prepare and do all this.
00:27:27.700 I mean, uh, and that's where I'd be like, well, that wouldn't be the best way to, to do this,
00:27:32.200 you know? And so I want to read like, cause one of my favorite stories is, uh, uh,
00:27:36.560 Philip in the Ethiopian where the, the spirit leads Philip to go talk to this Ethiopian
00:27:40.820 and, uh, who's, who had just been in Jerusalem. He had been worshiping. Now he's on his way,
00:27:45.200 uh, back home and he's reading the book of Isaiah. And I would have missed that like completely.
00:27:51.560 Like, I don't know that I would have even said anything to him. So in modern day, this is a dude
00:27:56.480 who just went to church and now he's at the stoplight reading his Bible. I'm going to look
00:28:00.400 at him going, what's up brother. I'm just assuming he's doing it all right. Philip asked him a great
00:28:06.660 question, which was, do you understand what you're reading? And he says, no, how can I,
00:28:11.880 unless someone explains it? So we have a guy who just went to worship God, reading the Bible
00:28:17.100 and still doesn't understand Jesus. And I think there's probably a lot of people that sit in
00:28:21.860 churches who they don't really know Jesus. They're there and they may even read the Bible.
00:28:27.160 So he starts with that very passage of Isaiah and all it says is he tells him the good news of Jesus.
00:28:32.460 Jesus. So it was interesting. What if, what if Philip didn't know the book of Isaiah? What if he,
00:28:37.780 what if he's like, Oh, shucks. Uh, what does it say there? You know? And I feel like sometimes
00:28:42.360 we're in there where like, we may, we may be cautious about starting a conversation because
00:28:47.700 we don't really know exactly. We don't know what to say. We're like, I don't know what that says.
00:28:52.380 And so you, you may look a little foolish whenever somebody starts, you know, bombing questions
00:28:58.340 at you and you're like, I have no idea. And so that should push me, uh, to know the word better
00:29:03.900 and to give better answers, you know, and stuff that I'm really into and enjoy, man, I read up on
00:29:10.040 those, you know, like, like if you were talking about the outdoors with me or you're talking about
00:29:14.520 some sort of hunting or I like to cook. And so, um, so I can sit there and cook. I could cook a whole
00:29:21.680 meal right now and still have this conversation with you. I've done it with people because I've done it
00:29:26.560 so much. I know, you know, now my wife, when she's trying it impossible, you can't have a
00:29:31.160 conversation with her when she's cooking, she's reading a box, smoke's pouring up. She's fighting
00:29:35.360 this fire. She doesn't do it enough to know, you know, so she can't have this. There's no way she
00:29:40.420 could have a conversation. So when you know something and when you know it really well,
00:29:44.100 uh, think about like a quarterback, like a, like a first time quarterback, he's trying to look at the
00:29:48.540 place. He's trying to, you know, it's, it's also fast. And then you get a guy that's like a
00:29:52.740 veteran. He walks out and he's going, he knows the place. He's done this so many times. Now he's
00:29:58.440 just looking for, uh, let's see one little weakness here. So, uh, in the conversations
00:30:03.500 that you have with people, that's how good you can get with, you have the Holy Spirit,
00:30:09.840 you have, uh, uh, you have God's spirit living in you now. How much more could I add to that with
00:30:16.840 like how many more stories? How many? Yeah. And then the experience will help you. And so like we're
00:30:21.920 cooking, like I'm cooking something, I'm going, ah, yeah, I've had this happen. Yeah. Sometimes
00:30:25.940 this does this and Oh, Oh shoot. I don't have this one ingredient, but I can, you can use this
00:30:30.380 and you can make up. And that's the way when I'm talking to people in their stories, man, I've heard
00:30:34.200 so much. You start becoming different aspects. I feel like of Jesus, like Jesus as a counselor,
00:30:40.560 uh, Jesus as the great physician. Yeah. Cause sometimes it feels like that, like a,
00:30:45.540 like a diagnosis according to what the story is. You know, I've had a guy come in and just say,
00:30:49.000 I just got a DWI. I got thrown in jail for the night. My wife kicked me out of the house.
00:30:54.840 Can you help me? Yeah. So that guy's probably going to be open to repentance and changing some
00:30:59.780 things about his life. And then, uh, and boom, we can give him a deal, which at the end of the day,
00:31:04.240 it's like, it is like a doctor to where you're going, you know, like a doctor knows all this
00:31:09.520 knowledge, like words that are this long. He knows all this, but at the end of the day, someone comes in,
00:31:15.520 there's a diagnosis and he's sitting there across from Billy and goes, Billy, it's bad.
00:31:21.700 We're going to try this. Do you want to sign up or not? Do you want to try it or not?
00:31:26.020 I ain't going to give you the technical terms. I'm just going to say, yeah, that's as simple as it
00:31:29.940 goes. And Billy and his wife say, let's go. And so boom. And they try to, to fix that. Now,
00:31:35.860 one year later, Billy will know more about whatever that diagnosis. He will be very versed in what it is.
00:31:41.720 He's probably going to go online and find out more about it. He's going to talk to other people
00:31:45.840 who have had that. He's going to read their stories. And to me, that's like Christianity.
00:31:49.320 It's like initially you get in and then you've got your whole life to figure out what exactly,
00:31:53.880 all the nuances of the scripture and the old Testament, the new Testament, how it all comes
00:31:57.980 together. That's why I try to keep it really simple at the beginning, because I don't want to
00:32:02.840 give to it's, it's, it's too much. It's like, you know, is there a problem? If there is,
00:32:07.460 here's the gospel, here's some responses to it. I want them to know, uh, what they mean,
00:32:12.540 like terms like baptism and repentance and confessing Jesus's name, you know, confessing
00:32:18.160 sins to one another. I think we assume everybody knows this. If you're religious, they don't.
00:32:23.100 Like we have our own language that people have no idea what you're talking about. They're like,
00:32:27.080 what are you talking about? And it's intimidating. And they're like, I don't really know, you know,
00:32:32.500 and then it's scary to them. They see people raising their hands and closing their eyes and
00:32:37.040 singing and it's getting me awkward, you know? And for a lot of people, so it's like the question,
00:32:41.320 do we ask the right questions? So we may ask people, Hey, do you go to church? And it's not
00:32:45.560 the worst question in the world, but I always, uh, it, one, it doesn't make sense because you don't
00:32:50.260 go to a church. You, you, you, we are the church, so you don't go somewhere. And if I go somewhere,
00:32:54.620 I feel like now I'm leaving. So now, so I may be there. I'm one way and home of a different way.
00:33:00.380 And that, that can be a problematic, but if they say yes, we go, Oh, great. And we usually just,
00:33:05.660 it stops there. Yeah. If they say no, then we invite them to ours and we're like, sit here and
00:33:11.000 maybe you'll get this. But I don't know that they do. Like, like, I don't know that, you know,
00:33:16.020 if I sell insurance and I'm like, you should come to our insurance convention. It's unbelievable.
00:33:21.120 And then I go with you and they're talking about rates and all this. I'm going, I don't get it.
00:33:25.580 Like, I understand what insurance is, but I don't understand. Like you're really excited,
00:33:30.040 but this is your business. And so I feel like sometimes people may be like that when they sit
00:33:33.720 with us. So what I'm looking for is the conversations that can happen. Yeah. Probably
00:33:38.080 not at a church. Cause that's probably the worst place to have a conversation because normally we
00:33:42.020 just sit there and listen. Yeah. We show up, we sit there, we listen, we leave. So it's probably not
00:33:45.700 the best conversation. So man, when this starts happening on Tuesdays and Friday nights and
00:33:51.080 conversations with your friends at work, you know, uh, these are the conversations that,
00:33:55.660 that I'm trying to help people to be able to have in a better way to point them to Jesus.
00:34:00.540 Not that churches are wrong. It's just, it may not be the best place to convert people.
00:34:04.640 I love what you said about the importance of preparedness and practice. And yes, we have
00:34:21.920 the spirit of God living in us, but as you gave that example, and as we see in the example of Jesus
00:34:27.020 relying on the word of God, of course, in Ephesians six, we read about the full armor of God
00:34:32.040 and it's command to put on the full armor of God, the shoes of readiness, the belt of truth,
00:34:36.920 the sword of the spirit, all of that. Um, and so that is a part of gearing up for this and
00:34:43.300 practice also gives us a lot of confidence in sharing the gospel. As you said, the more you do
00:34:50.740 it and the more you learn how to navigate the different nuances of the conversation, it's like
00:34:56.880 people ask me, I had our third baby nine months ago and people ask me, okay, what's the transition
00:35:03.380 like from two to three? Obviously it's more difficult in some ways, but I also say I'm so
00:35:08.340 much more confident as a mom because I've done it before and I see the bumps and I don't freak out
00:35:14.620 every time they get sick. I know they're going to be okay. We've, my husband and I have gained a lot
00:35:19.180 of confidence as parents that makes it easier this time. And the same, it's true as you said,
00:35:24.320 for so many things, even the things that you can't foresee, when you come up to them, you have
00:35:31.640 all of the experience and the knowledge in your belt to be able to face it in a way that is effective
00:35:39.180 and makes sense. And so I think people can be encouraged by that, that it's going to get easier
00:35:45.280 in a lot of ways. You're going to get better. Um, and you don't have to be the perfect evangelist
00:35:51.460 to start evangelizing. Right. Did you know when you had your first child, did you know everything
00:35:57.740 you needed to know? Yeah, no, of course not. Of course not. Of course not. You know what I'm
00:36:02.160 saying? It didn't stop you from, you know, it was going to happen and then it happened. Now you know
00:36:08.000 so much more. And, and so now you can talk to other people. You'll be talking to your children
00:36:13.640 at some point about, you know, uh, which I've gotten to see that, uh, happen in my own life.
00:36:18.840 And so, and then you can even, you know, like for us, we throw, like we've had your same experience.
00:36:24.460 We've had experience adopting children, which is a completely different deal. Adopting someone else's,
00:36:29.760 uh, babies, even older kids. And so, yeah, you just, you, you can get more like that.
00:36:35.500 Paul was also, so tell me this, why was Paul praying? He said, pray for me that the mystery of the
00:36:41.280 gospel can come out of my mouth more clearly. Yeah. Paul knew the gospel better than anyone,
00:36:47.660 but he's still asking for people to pray for him that the mystery of the gospel can come out.
00:36:53.340 Uh, and so just think about it. I just think about that. Like, why was he asking for that?
00:36:57.620 Because this is not science. It's more like an art. It's more like an art of sharing your faith.
00:37:03.060 So I could tell you one thing. I could tell this person the same thing. You may fall to your knees
00:37:07.880 and say, I'm in, that person says, no way I'm out. Uh, also different stories hit different people
00:37:13.140 in different ways. Like for one person, I might say, man, you could be part of a church or a
00:37:17.600 community of believers. And somebody can say, that's exactly what I've been looking for. I need
00:37:22.700 that. Another person can say, never, because I was hurt by a group of believers. And so the last,
00:37:29.940 you know, so it, so the idea of a church is negative, not positive. So you're like, ah,
00:37:34.160 you know, and so these are the conversations. They're all different. You know, they're just
00:37:38.360 different. They're different with people, according to what their background is, according to what
00:37:42.300 their damage is, according to, you know, what sin has done to them or other people or, um, or God
00:37:48.040 forbid what Christians have done to them or said to them, you know? And so these are all according
00:37:52.460 to what culture you're in, you know? Uh, that's why I'm so, you know, I think in America we're like,
00:37:57.360 man, if you do this, your life's going to be a little bit better. You're going to, you know,
00:38:01.420 he's going to help you with all these things. Well, that, that, that, that doesn't work in
00:38:06.200 Somalia. Right. That doesn't work in North Korea. Right. You know, like you couldn't even say that
00:38:11.680 to people. And so, um, or China, you know, it'd be a, it just, you got to watch what you tell people.
00:38:17.700 And again, back to the word, I just pretty much tell them what it says. And this is what it says.
00:38:22.920 This is how it applies your life. This is what it's done in my life. You can't argue with that.
00:38:26.320 But it, this is what it did for my parents and changed their entire life. You can't argue with
00:38:30.780 that. And, um, and yeah, and I think the more, if you, if you're someone who is ready to share your
00:38:37.740 faith, here's the other things that can help you. Like you were talking about being prepared with the
00:38:41.560 armor of God. It helps you to study the word because you want to be, you want to have, you know,
00:38:47.960 know what to tell people. So it helps me to do that. It helps me not to be inward. It helps me not
00:38:52.960 just to think about myself, my own problems, which could be the biggest problem we all have is just,
00:38:57.420 we just get so consumed with ourselves, um, that we can't think about other people. Last thing I
00:39:02.700 need to do is think about you and your problems because I got a whole slew of myself. And then
00:39:07.740 we'd look at people and it's like, Oh God, you know, these people have screwed their lives up. And,
00:39:11.880 and now I, you know, I've done everything right. Now we're kind of, we sound like kind of the
00:39:15.880 prodigal son, right? It was like the brother who's like, now I've got to mess with your stuff,
00:39:20.380 you know? And so, uh, and then we remember now that's why we did that. Cause that's why
00:39:25.040 Jesus came. Jesus didn't have to come and do any of this, but these are some of the aspects that
00:39:29.880 they can help you, you know, helps you to be hospitable. Cause you, you know, you're looking
00:39:34.240 for, you're, you're asking for people, helps you to be kind, hopefully to people and not be rude to
00:39:39.400 people. Because if I'm rude to someone, they're probably never going to listen to anything I have
00:39:44.200 to say, you know, like, like I've, I've, I've seen like people were in my class and then I would
00:39:49.280 see them in, you know, at the airport and they would be so ugly to people. And I'd be like,
00:39:55.160 well, good luck, share the gospel with that person. Cause they're going to be like, Oh,
00:39:58.640 I can't stand this person. So man, you know, if you're the person who's so ugly to people at the
00:40:03.860 restaurant and everything else, nobody's going to listen to what you guys say. Just like the woman at
00:40:07.740 the well, when Jesus talked to her, I think he, he preached her sermon before he even started
00:40:12.740 opening his mouth because he was so, he, he was talking to this woman who he probably shouldn't
00:40:17.400 have been talking to. They weren't from the same regions, but he cared about, he showed that he
00:40:21.480 cared about her. And I think it starts with that. We have to care about people because in this
00:40:25.840 country, I mean, how many stories, how many videos we got to see of like somebody dying on a street
00:40:30.800 corner and like people just stepping over them and with their, you know, earbuds on walking to work
00:40:36.120 and like that we just don't care. We're like, I don't care if you live or die. It's like with the
00:40:41.260 internet, it's like we, we, the more we know about people, the more, the more we know we don't care
00:40:46.040 about them. We're like, I can't stand these people. You know, it's like, um, and man, that's what,
00:40:51.200 that's what Jesus does to us. Hopefully if you follow him, is it changes your thinking where you're
00:40:56.760 like, I have to care about those people too, you know? Right. Because in many ways I was the same
00:41:01.720 way, you know, in his eyes to, you know, so we have to care and we have to keep getting the message
00:41:06.420 out. I think the book coming out now, you know, with this so much chaos is like, man, we need to
00:41:12.300 have some answers from people. Um, cause we don't know where we're, you know, stuff is so dark, you
00:41:17.640 know, and there's, there's evangelism going on for sure from the dark side, you know? Right. Uh, and
00:41:23.040 here's the deal. They're converting your kids and virtual grandkids. Oh, they're going to suck them
00:41:27.920 into that. They're making their own disciples. I got it. Someone sent me a hat the other day that said
00:41:32.680 raising disciples, which I absolutely love. Um, but I started thinking, I was like, well,
00:41:37.320 everyone is making disciples. Everyone's making disciples. It's a disciples of whom. And that is
00:41:43.380 the, that's the distinction. Everybody's proselytizing, trying to make people, you know? Right. Oh, you see
00:41:47.760 the, you know, the world has done this long play things like decade, you know, we're going to start
00:41:52.740 here and we're going to, I mean, they'll, they'll bring people to change thinking and, uh, change minds
00:41:58.480 and change hearts. And, and, and why is it that, why is it that Christians are, uh, you
00:42:03.280 know, that most people that are converted or converted by someone who has just come to
00:42:08.580 faith themselves, like within the first year, most people that come to the Lord are told
00:42:13.400 by someone who just came to the Lord. Why is it that the longer we're in this, the less
00:42:17.260 likely we are to tell others about it. Isn't that weird? Isn't that such a strange, uh, yeah.
00:42:21.400 Right. But we all kind of get in our little buildings, our little clubs, you know, we're
00:42:25.360 like, okay, we, you know, and then we just try, we just kind of set up the, the, you
00:42:29.560 know, the wagons that we just try to protect and we're just trying to keep the word. Let's
00:42:33.140 just keep the world out. But Jesus didn't say Jesus, like, I probably would have said,
00:42:38.960 look, guys, they just killed me. I came back from the dead. Y'all need to go hide out.
00:42:44.380 Like, wait for this thing, calm down. You know, what do we tell people when they leave? Be
00:42:48.000 safe, be careful, be, Jesus said, go, go into the world. And they went in and almost,
00:42:54.720 I mean, all these people died, you know, they, they lost their life for sharing their
00:42:58.840 faith. And so, uh, which they, when you think about us today, it was like, I'm not quite
00:43:03.760 comfortable sharing that, you know, because we kind of believe in that lie. Like I thought
00:43:08.200 we just supposed to keep that to ourselves. Well, that's a great plan. If I'm the evil
00:43:12.220 one going, how about let's make it like this? Yeah. You just keep your little personal
00:43:15.880 thing to yourself. It's like the parable of the talents. Well, I just buried it. Cause I was
00:43:19.400 too afraid. That's it. You mentioned the early church sharing the gospel to the point of death.
00:43:35.680 It's important for us to remember that it's not always going to yield the results that we want
00:43:41.140 immediately. If you think about Stephen full of grace and truth, full of grace and power. I mean,
00:43:47.500 he preached to the gospel and then he was stoned. And so we can't measure the effectiveness of our
00:43:55.820 message or our obedience by how people react to us. Of course, their response is important,
00:44:01.180 but first and foremost, we're obeying God and that's our priority. Even if the world rejects us,
00:44:06.840 you're going to live for the world or you're going to live for what's beyond. That's really the,
00:44:10.480 that's what it basically comes down to. However, I will say this, when you're a part,
00:44:15.280 when you can see life change and when you see people's stories, like you imagine that that
00:44:21.360 preacher and even my aunt who were so influential in changing my mom and dad's life, what that grew
00:44:30.120 into. Cause they saw most of this, you know, uh, where the family stayed together. We all got married.
00:44:36.280 We had these kids, like my kids are like, Sadie speaks all over the world. Like, I mean,
00:44:40.560 it had to be this, it's, there's a joy there that you're like, wow, I remember. And so I've had that
00:44:46.160 with people as well, where I've, I've literally witnessed their whole life change and it was so
00:44:50.700 dark. And so like, you know, like so off the path. And now I see this complete life change and
00:44:56.500 it can, it, it, it's, uh, it can be addicting cause you're like, Oh, this is so awesome. And if the
00:45:02.640 only thing holding me back is me just starting a conversation, then I'm going to get in those
00:45:06.720 conversations and I may get rejected and I may get made fun of or whatever that is, but man,
00:45:12.140 if that gospel goes through and you see that whole life change and that whole, the whole,
00:45:16.740 you know, picture of where they're going and, uh, change their whole attitude in life. That,
00:45:20.900 that's, that's awesome. You know, that can be so inspiring to people, uh, uh, to see that,
00:45:25.660 witness that. And heaven's going to be amazing to be able to see the full picture of the constellation
00:45:30.620 of everyone's testimonies and how all of these mundane moments that we thought were useless,
00:45:36.400 actually turn into something. Okay. Really quick. Cause I got to let you go. Um, can you
00:45:40.980 share the gospel with us in 30 seconds? Well, uh, that would be kind of impossible. Yeah. I mean,
00:45:52.920 what I probably do is just ask about your story. Hey, where are you at? How you feel about this?
00:45:57.120 Do you have a, you have some sort of relationship with Jesus or where are we at on that? Uh, then I'll,
00:46:02.000 I'll listen to that. Uh, generally where I go, I start in Galatians chapter five, uh, the acts of
00:46:06.960 sinful nature versus the fruit of the spirit. It's a very clear line there. Uh, and I'll go there.
00:46:12.100 Then I'll go to what the gospel is first Corinthians 15 from there. We'll go to the first time it was
00:46:16.620 laid out like that, which was Acts chapter two. Uh, and then I'll walk you through, uh, once I share
00:46:22.160 with the gospel from first Corinthians 15, that's where he just says, Jesus died and was buried and was
00:46:25.920 raised. And then we'll go through some of the responses. And so, uh, what that means to actually
00:46:31.020 respond? Well, what would that look like? And so, uh, yeah, and I just take people down that path.
00:46:36.280 And, uh, if they need to know more, if any more time we'll keep talking and we'll keep going through
00:46:41.100 it, but that's kind of where I start and where I go. Awesome. Well, thank you so much. Everyone go out
00:46:45.720 and get Gus Speller. Amazing. It's already out, right? It's out. It's out. So everyone can go get it.
00:46:51.320 Awesome. Thank you so much, Willie. Awesome.
00:46:55.920 All right, guys. Thanks so much for listening tomorrow. We will be back covering current
00:47:03.000 events. We haven't had a good monologue episode in a while talking about all the craziness that's
00:47:08.340 going on. Uh, just a couple of reminders. If you love this podcast, if it's meant anything to you,
00:47:13.060 if you could leave us a five-star review on Apple podcasts, that means so much. Also a reminder about
00:47:18.400 the share the arrows event that is September 28th. This is a women's event. Rosaria Butterfield,
00:47:23.740 Lisa Childers, Abby Halberstadt, Francesca Battistelli. They are all going to be there
00:47:29.100 speaking. Francesca, of course, will be singing. It's going to be such an incredible edifying event
00:47:35.900 for Christian women as we come together and we look at the chaos and the craziness of this world,
00:47:41.560 especially in the election year. It's time for us to come together and to remind each other of what
00:47:47.000 is good and right and true to fellowship with like-minded, believing women. It's going to be
00:47:52.300 an amazing event. It's in Dallas, Texas. Go to share the arrows.com, share the arrows.com.
00:47:59.280 Come on by yourself, bring friends, bring family. It's going to be amazing. And I hope to see you
00:48:04.920 there. All right. That's all we got time for today. See you guys back here tomorrow.
00:48:17.000 Thank you.