The Charlie Kirk Show - “Your Future is Whether or Not You Know Christ” — Live with Cliffe and Stuart Knechtle at Freedom Night

00:00:00.000 Hey everybody, happy Sunday.

00:00:01.000 My conversation with Cliff and Stuart Connectly.

00:00:04.000 They're amazing ministers for the gospel.

00:00:07.000 We have it at Freedom Night in America at Dream City Church.

00:00:09.000 It was our largest ever attended Freedom Night in America.

00:00:13.000 You're going to love it.

00:00:14.000 And it was a phenomenal conversation.

00:00:16.000 So send me your questions you have.

00:00:18.000 Freedom at charliekirk.com.

00:00:20.000 That is freedom at charliekirk.com.

00:00:22.000 And subscribe to our podcast.

00:00:25.000 Open up your podcast application.

00:00:27.000 And type in Charlie Kirk Show.

00:00:30.000 Get involved with Turning Point USA at tpusa.com.

00:00:33.000 Buckle up, everybody.

00:00:34.000 Here we go.

00:00:35.000 Charlie, what you've done is incredible here.

00:00:37.000 Maybe Charlie Kirk is on the college campus.

00:00:39.000 I want you to know we are lucky to have Charlie Kirk.

00:00:42.000 Charlie Kirk's running the White House, folks.

00:00:46.000 I want to thank Charlie.

00:00:47.000 He's an incredible guy.

00:00:48.000 His spirit, his love of this country, he's done an amazing job building one of the most powerful youth organizations ever created, Turning Point USA. We will not embrace the ideas that have destroyed countries, destroyed lives, and we are going to fight for freedom on campuses across the country.

00:01:05.000 That's why we are here.

00:01:06.000 Thank you, guys.

00:01:35.000 Thank you.

00:01:35.000 Please take a seat.

00:01:36.000 I have to say, Luke, it feels good to have a president again, doesn't it?

00:01:42.000 I gotta tell you.

00:01:45.000 It's like a weight has been lifted off our shoulders.

00:01:48.000 I want to just say this night that we have here at Freedom Night in America is so important.

00:01:54.000 And we've been doing it.

00:01:55.000 It will be four years.

00:01:57.000 Four years in May.

00:02:00.000 And this has become...

00:02:01.000 And thank you to Dream City for continuing to host it and continuing to...

00:02:07.000 Make this so powerful.

00:02:10.000 I think it is one of the most, if not the most, powerful monthly gathering of Christians in the state, if not in the country, because this is broadcast all over the place.

00:02:21.000 I want to say thank you to all of you that tuned out the noise of the media this last year and a half, that went to work, that registered voters, that chased ballots.

00:02:32.000 That got your friends to go vote.

00:02:33.000 You know, we have not gathered since what happened in November and, of course, a couple weeks ago.

00:02:39.000 And I want all of you to just kind of take a moment and rejoice and say, you know what?

00:02:44.000 You played a role in taking back this country and saving this country for your kids and your grandkids.

00:02:51.000 In fact, Arizona, best-performing swing state of all the seven swing states.

00:03:01.000 Biggest improvement of any state, 2020 versus 2024, five and a half point victory.

00:03:08.000 And you look across the board, guys, it's also, it was President Donald Trump's best performance ever in the state of Arizona, 2016, 2020, 2024. And for those of you that maybe got some criticism in your local church, had some people say, oh, why are you getting involved in this?

00:03:27.000 Now you can say, well...

00:03:28.000 Let me kind of go through the list.

00:03:30.000 In just the last couple of weeks, we have a president that is doing so much that the left can't even remember all the reasons they're mad.

00:03:41.000 They can't keep up with him.

00:03:43.000 He's going at Trump speed.

00:03:45.000 Let's just go through the list.

00:03:47.000 Pardoned the pro-life warriors that prayed outside of abortion clinics.

00:03:53.000 Rescinded the Mexico City policy.

00:03:56.000 Signed executive orders saying no more funding of DEI or CRT in our schools.

00:04:04.000 Declared that there is only male and female.

00:04:07.000 There are no more genders besides that. 1.00

00:04:14.000 National emergency on the southern border saying we're no longer going to allow the drugs and the crime and the guns to come into our communities here in Arizona.

00:04:23.000 Mobilizing the military to help with that assistance.

00:04:26.000 Also dropping all the federal charges around the whistleblowers that blew the whistle on all the chemical castration.

00:04:33.000 And one of my favorites, President Donald Trump said in his executive order, we are no longer going to allow the butchery of our children under gender-affirming care. 1.00

00:04:43.000 We're going to put that in the rearview mirror.

00:04:47.000 A prohibition.

00:04:48.000 On this trans nonsense that has been sweeping our schools and going after our kids. 1.00

00:04:54.000 And that is just in the last two and a half weeks.

00:04:56.000 Today, President Donald Trump signed an executive order saying that men will not be allowed to compete in female sports.

00:05:04.000 And if you do that, you lose all of your funding.

00:05:09.000 Now, I know most people are surprised by this because what I have just listed off is just everything he said he was going to do.

00:05:18.000 We're not used to that.

00:05:20.000 We're used to saying one thing and then doing the other.

00:05:25.000 Promises made, promises kept.

00:05:26.000 But especially, let this be a teaching moment to anyone that might be a Christian in your life that either did not vote...

00:05:32.000 Or they were skeptical about President Trump.

00:05:35.000 You can go back and say, which is it God's purpose or plan for America?

00:05:38.000 Is it that kids get butchered in clinics or that it's outlawed?

00:05:42.000 That the pro-life community is stood alongside where we have J.D. Vance speak at the March for Life or that we have the most pro-abortion administration in history?

00:05:50.000 All of you can now rest easy and say, you know what?

00:05:53.000 All that work paid off.

00:05:55.000 That our country is improving.

00:05:57.000 We have a lot of work left to go, everybody.

00:05:58.000 There's a lot of work remaining.

00:06:01.000 But in these last two weeks, we see this rapid speed of which we are operating.

00:06:06.000 And not to mention, you've got Elon Musk doing Elon Musk stuff, just shutting down departments and deleting stuff.

00:06:11.000 You've got to kind of love it.

00:06:13.000 Because you guys did not work as hard as you worked, and we did not deliver this mandate just so that we could have more of the same.

00:06:22.000 We wanted a restoration of the power going back to the American people. 0.96

00:06:26.000 Now, let me close with two thoughts, and then I want to introduce our amazing guests here tonight.

00:06:31.000 The first thought is this, is that although we had this amazing victory presidentially, let's be honest, here in Arizona, we especially have a lot of work to do.

00:06:41.000 A little sad sub-note on this celebratory theme is that This state is now one of the most pro-abortion states in the country that passed Proposition 139. And it's not because of all of you, but the church here in Arizona was largely silent on trying to defeat Proposition 139.

00:07:02.000 We could not get most pastors or most churches to care about speaking out against it.

00:07:08.000 I see so many people here in the audience tonight.

00:07:11.000 Pastor Luke in Dream City were amazing.

00:07:12.000 Pastor Mark from Trinity was amazing.

00:07:15.000 And so many other people spoke out against 139.

00:07:18.000 But if we are honest about bringing people to ultimate purposes, not just them voting correctly, but bringing them to Jesus, which is the most important thing, then we must look honestly and say, why is it that not every church in Arizona spoke out against 139?

00:07:33.000 So let this be, yes, a celebration, but also motivation that we're going to continue to do this work.

00:07:39.000 And the work will start with the most important demographic that moved to the right so significantly.

00:07:46.000 You know baby boomers moved two points to the left, while younger voters moved 15 points to the right?

00:07:51.000 It's hard to believe, but it's true. 0.93

00:07:54.000 There is a harvest waiting to happen.

00:07:56.000 And the church needs to step up and stand up and realize that Gen Z is the most conservative generation in history, but they're not yet the most Christian generation in history. 0.63

00:08:06.000 But they can be.

00:08:08.000 Because conservatism can lead you towards Christianity.

00:08:10.000 And the church is just waiting, hopefully, to do something to bring these young people that are curious about ultimate topics and ultimate purposes.

00:08:18.000 They're asking the right questions.

00:08:20.000 By what moral code do you live by?

00:08:22.000 What is right?

00:08:23.000 What is wrong?

00:08:23.000 What is a man?

00:08:24.000 What is a woman? 1.00

00:08:25.000 What is holy?

00:08:26.000 What is profane?

00:08:27.000 By what standard do you operate?

00:08:29.000 What are the Ten Commandments?

00:08:30.000 Is it right to murder?

00:08:31.000 Is it okay to steal?

00:08:32.000 Because what they have been fed is a nonstop diet.

00:08:36.000 Of materialistic moral relativism.

00:08:38.000 That do whatever you want whenever you want to do it and just get as much stuff as you can.

00:08:42.000 And what is the result?

00:08:44.000 The most depressed, suicidal, anxious, alcohol-addicted, and drug-addicted generation history.

00:08:49.000 When I show up to campuses, we're drawing 5,000, 6,000 students that are interested in these things.

00:08:55.000 But they're not hearing from the local church near enough on this.

00:08:58.000 However, our guests tonight are two incredible people that are reaching Gen Z. And I can tell you right now...

00:09:05.000 I know what it takes to reach the next generation.

00:09:07.000 They are some of the most well-known, followed, and let's just say respected leaders in the Christian space that have been doing this for 40 years.

00:09:18.000 And what an amazing example, by the way, of just doing the right thing, not seeking internet stardom, not doing it just to be famous, and then one night all of a sudden you just kind of go super viral and it kind of cascades.

00:09:31.000 They do a similar version of what I do.

00:09:33.000 How many of you have seen me go to these campuses and debate these kids?

00:09:35.000 Now, I do it on all topics, politics and religion.

00:09:40.000 But they go there, first and foremost, primarily for Jesus.

00:09:43.000 And they'll just hold court.

00:09:44.000 And they'll do it for three, four days in a row.

00:09:47.000 That's why they're here in town at Arizona State University.

00:09:49.000 And they'll film it, and these videos will go bonkers on TikTok, and they'll go viral on Instagram.

00:09:54.000 And then I have the question is, why is not every pastor in America doing this on their local college campus in the open air the way Jesus used to?

00:10:02.000 Holding court, taking questions, trying to say, what do you believe?

00:10:07.000 Why do you believe it?

00:10:07.000 Let's go after the truth of the matter.

00:10:09.000 And so this father-son duo, I've got a chance to know over the last couple months.

00:10:14.000 I've seen their impact.

00:10:15.000 I see how they move the dial.

00:10:17.000 And they're very well known.

00:10:19.000 But they've never wanted to be well-known, which I think is a perfect example of two people that are servants for God's purposes, that have acted obediently, that want to see this country come back to Jesus.

00:10:31.000 Not just vote the right way, which obviously we care about, but that is only a means to an ultimate end.

00:10:37.000 So join me in welcoming Cliff and Stuart Connectely, everybody.

00:10:41.000 That's an impressive move, isn't it? isn't it?

00:11:02.000 One more time, everybody.

00:11:03.000 How great are these guys?

00:11:04.000 So we are going to do a short dialogue here and then extended question and answer.

00:11:19.000 Because I think they're known for it.

00:11:22.000 I've answered a couple questions in my life.

00:11:25.000 So, we're going to have some fun.

00:11:26.000 And so, Cliff and Stuart, as I mentioned, You guys go to these campuses.

00:11:30.000 You engage in these dialogues.

00:11:32.000 Why don't you quickly tell your story to someone who is not aware, doesn't follow you.

00:11:37.000 Who are you?

00:11:38.000 What do you believe?

00:11:39.000 Please, the floor is yours.

00:11:41.000 Stuart and I had the privilege of talking with Charlie on his podcast this afternoon, and Charlie embarrassed me royally.

00:11:47.000 He asked me a bit about my past and how I on earth got into doing this.

00:11:53.000 Well, when I was in seminary at Gordon-Conwell in Massachusetts, I got really bored.

00:12:01.000 Because everybody was a Christian at Gordon-Conwell. 0.98

00:12:05.000 And God has called me to reach non-Christians. 0.99

00:12:08.000 So I would leave seminary on Friday night and go down to inner city Boston.

00:12:13.000 And I would go into bars to share my faith.

00:12:16.000 And there would be the Boston Celtics or the Bruins playing on the TV screen in a corner.

00:12:23.000 And every time the Bruins or Celtics lost, some half-drunk guy would stand up and curse God at the top of his lungs.

00:12:29.000 So I figured equal time.

00:12:31.000 If you're going to stand up and curse God at the top of your lungs, I'm going to stand up and say something positive about God at the top of mine.

00:12:37.000 And so I picked out the bar I was going to preach in, in inner-city Boston, parked my car, and started walking towards the door.

00:12:44.000 And with each step, I got more and more intimidated.

00:12:48.000 And I finally got to the bar door, and I walked right past that bar door.

00:12:52.000 My knees were knocking.

00:12:53.000 I was so scared and intimidated.

00:12:56.000 And I walked around that block for about half an hour, and finally I said, Cliff, you're defeated.

00:12:59.000 You're scared.

00:13:00.000 So I went back to the car, and I was just about to open the door when the Holy Spirit brought to my mind the words of the writer of Hebrews in Hebrews chapter 11, verses 32 to 38, where he writes, And what more shall I say?

00:13:12.000 I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Samson, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, and the prophets.

00:13:17.000 Who by faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised.

00:13:22.000 Who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword.

00:13:27.000 Whose weakness was turned into strength.

00:13:30.000 And it became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies.

00:13:33.000 Women received back their dead, raised to life again. 1.00

00:13:37.000 And I'm saying, okay, bud.

00:13:39.000 That's what they did?

00:13:40.000 And you don't have the guts to walk into a bar in Boston.

00:13:47.000 And tell a bunch of men on vacation or looking for hookers that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.

00:13:53.000 So convicted of my lack of faith, I turned around, walked into the bar, stood up, and started.

00:13:59.000 Excuse me, guys.

00:14:01.000 John writes in 1 John 4.10.

00:14:03.000 This is love, not that we love God, but that God loved us and sent his son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

00:14:09.000 Bartender comes running down to bar. 1.00

00:14:12.000 I said, excuse me, sir, I'm just trying to tell these guys what it means most in life, knowing God as a personal friend.

00:14:18.000 He said, you want to know what God is?

00:14:19.000 God is the cash register.

00:14:22.000 And I said, man, thank you for putting it so bluntly.

00:14:26.000 And I'm convinced that God is not the cash register.

00:14:29.000 I'm convinced that's a hollow idol.

00:14:32.000 And God loves us because God's a personal God.

00:14:35.000 And money's not personal.

00:14:37.000 God is personal.

00:14:38.000 Money doesn't love you.

00:14:39.000 God loves you.

00:14:40.000 And money can't give you life after death.

00:14:42.000 It takes a supernatural God to do that.

00:14:44.000 Well, he'd heard enough, so he came around the bar, grabbed my elbow, and escorted me out.

00:14:50.000 I never knew that God was going to open the door to do open-air dialogues on university campuses, but that was one of the ways that God used me, Charlie, in my past to prepare me for standing up on university campuses and doing what we do.

00:15:03.000 And you've been doing this for how long?

00:15:05.000 That's a very personal question, brother.

00:15:08.000 Before you were born, Charlie.

00:15:10.000 I've been doing it for 44 years.

00:15:12.000 Well before I was born.

00:15:18.000 I want to ask.

00:15:21.000 You were doing this well before you were able to easily film them.

00:15:24.000 Before there was an internet to spread them.

00:15:26.000 At what point did you realize the wrinkle that these videos can go viral and reach millions of people outside of the dialogues on these campuses?

00:15:35.000 I never realized that.

00:15:38.000 I still don't even know how to turn this stuff on to watch it.

00:15:41.000 It's this guy right here, who God used to put it all on these social media platforms, and I still don't know how to use my cell phone very well, and he helps me.

00:15:53.000 I still believe that the gifts are active, whether that's tongue speaking or prophecy.

00:15:57.000 I do not claim to have the gift of prophecy, though, myself.

00:16:01.000 But the one potential time I had it was 10 years ago, I said to my dad, That eventually, this is going to get way past those who just show up.

00:16:11.000 Way past.

00:16:12.000 I don't know how.

00:16:13.000 And so guys on his board even tried BET, Black Entertainment, to give me an answer on Black Entertainment.

00:16:19.000 That did not work so well, and many other avenues they tried.

00:16:23.000 But I knew that there was something about TikTok.

00:16:26.000 And other social media platforms that had the potential to reach many, many more college students and that there's that tremendous hunger, that God-shaped hole that needs for every single person to be filled if they don't want to be depressed, if they don't want to be alcoholics, if they don't want to buy into a type of self-narcissism where they walk away from their marriages.

00:16:48.000 And sure enough, they've really grabbed onto that.

00:16:52.000 And they want to be honest truth seekers.

00:16:54.000 And they chase after somebody called Jesus Christ, oftentimes.

00:16:58.000 So walk us through to someone who's not aware.

00:17:00.000 How does this work?

00:17:01.000 You show up.

00:17:02.000 You'll take questions.

00:17:03.000 It's kind of an open-air circle.

00:17:05.000 How does this look in practice?

00:17:09.000 Well, it's really embarrassing to start.

00:17:13.000 That's why usually I have my dad.

00:17:14.000 He's not narcissistic, masochistic.

00:17:17.000 Thank you.

00:17:18.000 And he'll start and he'll say, Stuart, here we go.

00:17:23.000 Because of social media, it doesn't happen the same way anymore.

00:17:26.000 But before social media, we would go out and there would be three people standing there watching us.

00:17:31.000 And so Cliff would stand up and he would say, I've been invited by this small organization to speak.

00:17:35.000 And he'll start speaking to me and three other people.

00:17:38.000 And we'd just look at them and feel embarrassed ourselves.

00:17:41.000 But surely enough, people would start to gather and the debate would begin.

00:17:45.000 But now we show up, thanks to social media, and there's already a few hundred people there in Arizona.

00:17:50.000 There were already...

00:17:51.000 I think 500 students waiting when we showed up.

00:17:53.000 So that is a total godsend because of social media.

00:18:00.000 And your pastor introduced me to his wife.

00:18:02.000 She's called Angel, I think.

00:18:05.000 Well, I'm married to an angel also.

00:18:07.000 Let me tell you why.

00:18:09.000 Rutgers University, they invite me to speak there and nobody showed up.

00:18:13.000 Nobody.

00:18:15.000 So I said, okay, love, it's you and me.

00:18:18.000 So she stood about...

00:18:20.000 The edge of this platform here.

00:18:22.000 And I started preaching.

00:18:24.000 Speaking.

00:18:25.000 Do you know how dumb I felt?

00:18:27.000 Speaking to one person?

00:18:29.000 And she stood there and nodded her head and shrugged her shoulders.

00:18:35.000 And all of a sudden, the doors of the cafeteria opened.

00:18:38.000 And all these Rutgers University students came out of the cafeteria after having eaten lunch.

00:18:44.000 And they all began to pile up.

00:18:46.000 And they all began to fire questions.

00:18:49.000 So...

00:18:49.000 I got an angel also, brother.

00:18:51.000 And she's been amazing.

00:18:54.000 We were at UC Santa Barbara and she would mingle in the crowd and talk with the students about Jesus.

00:18:59.000 And UC Santa Barbara, she's walking up to one woman who's sitting at the bottom of a tree. 0.98

00:19:04.000 And the woman looks at my wife, my angel, my Sharon, and says, if you're coming to talk to me about Jesus, I don't want to get lost.

00:19:10.000 And she sort of swallows her tongue and turns around and walks away. 0.69

00:19:14.000 So it's not like everybody puts out the red carpet for us, needless to say.

00:19:19.000 But we're called to be faithful.

00:19:22.000 And no, we're not successful as America defines success.

00:19:26.000 As our culture defines success, we're not successful.

00:19:29.000 But as Jesus defines success, which is faithfulness, he who's faithful in little will be faithful in much.

00:19:34.000 And he who's unfaithful in little will be unfaithful in much.

00:19:37.000 And so that's what we try to do.

00:19:39.000 We try to be faithful.

00:19:41.000 So when you visit these campuses, you encounter different, counterfeit religions. 1.00

00:19:47.000 And there's the religion of earth worshipping, you know, the religion of the cult of diversity, manifest in certain ways.

00:19:55.000 The one that you've really pinpointed is narcissism is of self, as it says in the book of Judges, man will do whatever is right in his own eyes.

00:20:04.000 Is that the predominant worldview that is now monopolizing the minds of college students and young people in America?

00:20:14.000 Absolutely, yes.

00:20:16.000 But because we're here in the great state of Arizona, and because I just got to talk about my angel, we were at the University of Arizona.

00:20:25.000 University of Arizona in Tucson.

00:20:27.000 The wrong university here in Arizona, right?

00:20:30.000 The wrong one.

00:20:32.000 All right.

00:20:34.000 Not a fan of Tucson.

00:20:35.000 The crowd was kind of small, but a very thoughtful, more liberal Muslim student stepped out of the crowd and said, Cliff, I'm really struggling with...

00:20:46.000 Islam and Jesus Christ.

00:20:48.000 What do you think?

00:20:49.000 And I started answering his question when suddenly a more devout Muslim student behind me said, that's wrong.

00:20:57.000 Jesus is not God.

00:20:59.000 So don't believe that.

00:21:02.000 And I tried to explain to him why I thought Muhammad was wrong. 0.99

00:21:06.000 Well, my wife was there, my angel.

00:21:09.000 And suddenly she steps out of the crowd and says, well, I know this guy who's speaking pretty well.

00:21:14.000 And I know he doesn't want to offend you guys, but let me tell you why I don't believe in Muhammad. 1.00

00:21:19.000 And she began to outline some of Muhammad's sexual practices. 0.89

00:21:24.000 Well, I mean, there was one father of a Muslim student in the crowd who went ballistic.

00:21:32.000 And his son had to drag him off, he was so angry.

00:21:36.000 And it ended well, but it was intense.

00:21:42.000 Sharon, my wife, began to understand, Cliff, the reason you don't go after Muhammad directly is because you want to try and show philosophically why Muhammad made a huge mistake in denying the deity of Christ because Muhammad was born in 570 A.D., lived to about 632 A.D., which means he obviously never met Jesus.

00:22:01.000 And he says Jesus is not God.

00:22:03.000 But the eyewitnesses who saw Jesus, who heard him, they insisted Jesus claimed to be God.

00:22:09.000 Now, who are you going to trust when you want to find out about an historical person?

00:22:12.000 A guy who lived over 500 years after him, never met him?

00:22:15.000 Or the eyewitnesses?

00:22:18.000 That's a no-brainer, guys.

00:22:19.000 You're going to trust the eyewitnesses.

00:22:22.000 Sure, so individualism is growing.

00:22:25.000 The individualistic nature of man and woman, it's all about self-improvement.

00:22:30.000 So get a life coach and improve yourself.

00:22:32.000 Some of that's great, some of it's not so good.

00:22:34.000 And so the culture of narcissism, that was actually a book.

00:22:38.000 That came out a few decades ago is more relevant now than ever.

00:22:42.000 There's something called client-centered therapy, which is if you're having a tough marriage, turn to pornography.

00:22:48.000 If you're having a tough marriage where, you know, your wife is really, really getting in the way too much, just divorce her.

00:22:54.000 And so these people come to me sobbing because a spouse left, because their therapist said to leave, because it's all about you.

00:23:01.000 It's client-centered, so it's just about the client.

00:23:03.000 So they come to church, and they're wondering what in the world happened.

00:23:07.000 Well, Jesus Christ says the opposite.

00:23:09.000 Jesus Christ says it's not about self.

00:23:11.000 It's about the other.

00:23:13.000 And we see when that occurs, well, now you're going to have an incredible connection with your spouse, with your friendships.

00:23:20.000 Those relationships will remain resilient.

00:23:22.000 They will remain sticky.

00:23:23.000 You're not just going to depart and just leave whenever you want because it's all about the focus on the self.

00:23:29.000 That's the challenge when you have a Caitlyn Jenner say, in order to get through the pearly gates, you have to find yourself.

00:23:37.000 Caitlin, I don't really know what you mean by that.

00:23:40.000 Find myself.

00:23:41.000 Yes, you have to find your authentic self.

00:23:43.000 Okay, well, my authentic self is to skimp on my taxes.

00:23:47.000 My authentic self is to throw way more elbows and haymakers on the basketball court when you tick me off.

00:23:53.000 My authentic self is to live selfishly.

00:23:56.000 That's my authentic self, Caitlin.

00:23:58.000 Jesus Christ says, no, that's your fleshly side.

00:24:01.000 Walk in the spirit, which is love other people, even love your enemy.

00:24:06.000 and that's how you try to truly find your true self.

00:24:09.000 I would add that Jenner's authentic self, his name Bruce, But that's a separate issue.

00:24:23.000 So I do want to get to some Q&A. Let's talk about all the ways that this manifests, though.

00:24:29.000 Because the ultimate form of self-expression...

00:24:33.000 Or narcissism, and this will sound provocative, but I think you'd appreciate this with your psychological background, is self-indulgence, then self-harm, and then suicide.

00:24:43.000 Would you agree that eventually, if you only think about yourself and not about serving others, then you could extrapolate how you get to be the most medicated, the most alcohol addicted, the most depressed, the most self-centered, and then yes, the most suicidal generation in the history of the species.

00:25:00.000 Absolutely.

00:25:01.000 The book Meditation of Hope by Andrew Delbanco, that incredible sociologist at NYU. Just chart the history of our country.

00:25:08.000 First we were living for God.

00:25:10.000 Then it switched more so to patriotism and living for a nation.

00:25:13.000 That was the focus.

00:25:14.000 And now it's focused on self.

00:25:16.000 And so that self-indulgence, you look at any country and the countries that have more material wealth and comfort, those are the countries that have higher percentage of suicides and depression.

00:25:28.000 So when that self-indulgence begins, now all of a sudden you have that focus on me, myself, and I. And we know Jesus was exactly right.

00:25:37.000 If you don't focus on something outside of yourself, especially the God who created you, things are going to fall apart.

00:25:45.000 In modernity, it goes even a step further, though, that if you are to ever claim that there is an objective right or wrong or an objective path for a person, then you are a hater and that you shall stop.

00:26:00.000 And that is the birth of moral relativism.

00:26:02.000 Would you agree that that is one of the top objections that you see on the college campus?

00:26:06.000 Absolutely, yes.

00:26:08.000 But then you think of the irony.

00:26:10.000 The professor stands up in the morning and says, We're all beasts.

00:26:14.000 There's no God.

00:26:16.000 It's all evolution.

00:26:18.000 He says that to his students in the morning.

00:26:20.000 And morality is relative.

00:26:22.000 But then the professor goes home at night.

00:26:24.000 Turns on the news and oh blast of all.

00:26:29.000 Stinking Hamas and Hezbollah and Israel. 1.00

00:26:34.000 Wow.

00:26:35.000 What a bunch of evil people.

00:26:37.000 Excuse me?

00:26:40.000 We're all just beasts, professor.

00:26:41.000 That's what you said in the morning.

00:26:43.000 But you can't live that out.

00:26:46.000 You go home, you watch what Hamas and Hezbollah do to some Jews and all of a sudden you're realizing It's not all relative.

00:26:56.000 Because my blood is boiling, because my conscience has kicked into gear, my rational mind has kicked into gear, and what they're doing, murdering each other, slaughtering each other, attacking each other, is really evil.

00:27:08.000 Oh no!

00:27:09.000 I've got a violent contradiction in my life.

00:27:11.000 I taught a bunch of university students this morning that it's all relative.

00:27:15.000 They're all just animals evolved to a higher order.

00:27:18.000 But I cannot live that out.

00:27:21.000 Because my conscience kicks into gear when I'm confronted by grotesque evil.

00:27:25.000 I don't care if it's in Ukraine or in the promised land or wherever it is.

00:27:30.000 My home, my backyard.

00:27:32.000 Evil is real.

00:27:34.000 And that's why I don't look into my wife's face and say, well, from my perspective, when you were mean to me, it didn't really matter because it's all relative.

00:27:43.000 I can't live that way.

00:27:45.000 If my wife is mean to me, if I am mean to my wife, We will use the word should and ought.

00:27:51.000 And when we use those words should and ought, we're appealing to a standard outside of ourselves and we're saying you should not have been mean like that.

00:27:59.000 You should be loving and kind.

00:28:01.000 So we can talk all we want about how relative morality is.

00:28:05.000 It's impossible to live it out.

00:28:08.000 So I think moral relativism, you can go back to the Declaration of Independence.

00:28:12.000 When Thomas Jefferson originally penned, it was not self-evident that all men are created equal.

00:28:18.000 Sacred.

00:28:19.000 It was the sacred nature that all men are created equal.

00:28:24.000 And then Benny Franklin comes in and says, no, let's make it self-evident.

00:28:28.000 And so now there's the opportunity for moral relativism and subjectivism to come in and say, well, yeah, it's obviously self-evident.

00:28:36.000 We can just come from our rationale that you and I are created equal.

00:28:39.000 No.

00:28:40.000 Where do you get that from?

00:28:41.000 If there is no God, if you're not created in the image of God with indelible amounts of worth and value, Then there's no reason why I can't say, I have more money than you, so I'm more valuable than you are.

00:28:54.000 And that's the challenge, which I like Thomas Jefferson more than Benny Franklin because of that.

00:28:59.000 I agree.

00:28:59.000 And to go a step further, that's exactly what the prophet Isaiah would say.

00:29:03.000 Man, woe to those who would call evil good or good evil.

00:29:07.000 Because at some point you need objective definitions of these things.

00:29:12.000 Second point on that, and then we'll wrap and go to questions.

00:29:15.000 Moral relativism is inherently tyrannical because if you're teaching an entire generation that there is no right or wrong, then eventually a strong man will rise up and say that I am right and this is wrong.

00:29:29.000 It is the gateway drug towards a dictatorship, which is the plan, by the way.

00:29:35.000 How do you then prevent against the dictatorship?

00:29:37.000 Well, just look at the nation of Israel.

00:29:39.000 They had no king.

00:29:40.000 They had no government.

00:29:42.000 They had no police force or a standing army for 400 years.

00:29:45.000 Why?

00:29:45.000 Because everyone knew the law in their heart and they self-policed it.

00:29:49.000 So, again, that's an extreme example.

00:29:51.000 However, look at the context of which our country was founded.

00:29:55.000 It was a virtuous and religious citizenry.

00:29:57.000 In fact, Adams wrote that the Constitution was written wholly for a moral religious people.

00:30:02.000 It's wholly inadequate for the people of any other. 0.98

00:30:04.000 And the reason why we are now entering a post-constitutional moment and we're trying to bring it back...

00:30:09.000 It's because our country is not moral and religious.

00:30:12.000 Therefore, the Constitution is inadequate.

00:30:15.000 It doesn't fit.

00:30:16.000 It is the great problem of our time because, well, you can't trust people that own guns because they're not moral and religious, or you have to spy on them all the time because they're not moral and religious.

00:30:25.000 And we can't have you say whatever you want to say whenever you want to say it, because it's the First Amendment, because you're not moral and religious.

00:30:29.000 And so the framework of our government...

00:30:35.000 Well, the most hope is the student who comes up to me last night in the dark and says, I came to faith in Christ within the past year, and he's from India, and I've come here to ASU to study, and I just want to thank you.

00:31:00.000 And he gives me a big hug and he starts crying his eyes out.

00:31:03.000 What gives me the most hope is, last fall at the University of Mississippi, a young woman steps out of the crowd and says, my professor this morning told me that God is like Santa Claus and the Bible is a good fairy tale.

00:31:21.000 And with tears coming down her cheeks, she says, come on, help me.

00:31:26.000 So we talk about the evidence for the reliability of the New Testament Gospels.

00:31:30.000 And she begins to realize it's not mythology.

00:31:32.000 It's not a fairy tale.

00:31:33.000 It's historically accurate. 0.84

00:31:35.000 Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

00:31:37.000 And there's evidence that God is alive and well.

00:31:40.000 God is not Santa Claus.

00:31:42.000 There's no support, no evidence to support Santa Claus coming down your chimney every Christmas Eve.

00:31:50.000 And if you do have some evidence, I would love to hear it afterwards.

00:31:54.000 There's a boatload of evidence that God exists, that he's real.

00:31:58.000 The psalmist puts it to poetry in Psalm 19, the heavens declare the glory of God, the skies proclaim the work of his hands, day after day they pour forth speech, night after night they display knowledge, which is simply a poetic way of saying this universe is too finely tuned for it to be the result of chaos, an accident.

00:32:19.000 there's got to be an intelligent mind behind it all.

00:32:23.000 I'm just really excited about how serious these kids are taking their faith, how they want to break out of habitual cycles of sin, how they want to break out of something like pornography, which is rampant on college campuses, how they want to break out of something like pornography, which is rampant on college campuses, how they want to be salt and light in obviously, Senator Bass said, the only thing that politics can't heal is loneliness.

00:32:49.000 That's where faith comes into play.

00:32:50.000 And so when we are salt and light, salt gets into other people's painful issues.

00:32:57.000 And that's what these students want to do with each other as they grow in faith.

00:32:59.000 We have others who come up to us sobbing, many of them saying that what you shared with the gospel has actually saved our lives.

00:33:06.000 We wanted to take our lives, but because of this gospel and what Jesus did for us, we now have a foundation, a real reason to live.

00:33:16.000 Okay, so we want to get to the open mic.

00:33:20.000 A couple things.

00:33:21.000 I see a lot of students in the audience, way more than we usually.

00:33:25.000 So sorry, boomers, this tonight is not your night. 1.00

00:33:28.000 Secondly, though, they get so mad when I say that, but please.

00:33:34.000 Secondly, we do not want to turn this, obviously, into a debate, but if you are searching or have serious challenging questions for you personally or someone you care about, please try to tell our question ushers.

00:33:47.000 We want to try to move you up in line.

00:33:49.000 I see a lot of familiar faces.

00:33:51.000 That's great.

00:33:51.000 We're going to keep on doing these Freedom Nights throughout the year.

00:33:54.000 But if you're here questioning or wrestling with something that our two amazing guests can help with, let's use this platform here tonight.

00:34:01.000 I think you guys would agree that's the best use of our time tonight.

00:34:04.000 So let's go to the young man in the blue shirt, and then we'll go to the young lady here.

00:34:09.000 All right.

00:34:09.000 My name is Joey.

00:34:11.000 I'm a vice president at our high school for the Turning Point chapter of Gravel Degree.

00:34:20.000 My question is, when we have teachers preaching to us something that we don't believe in politically and religion, how do we counteract that since everything is based on a GPA point and that's how our future is with us writing something like an essay and we get a bad grade based on that?

00:34:40.000 Alright, I got bad news for you, sir.

00:34:43.000 When you have a professor who is against God, against Christ, I think it's great that you write a paper why you do believe that God exists, why you do believe in Jesus Christ, but I can promise you, sir, you're going to have to study harder to pull that kind of paper off.

00:35:01.000 Because right from the get-go, that professor is not going to be totally objective.

00:35:06.000 Now, there are a few exceptions to that, but the majority of professors who I talk to are not totally objective.

00:35:12.000 It's called the myth of objectivity.

00:35:14.000 I'm totally open-minded.

00:35:15.000 I'm totally objective.

00:35:17.000 Really?

00:35:18.000 I'm not.

00:35:18.000 I doubt you are.

00:35:20.000 We all have our prejudices, beginning with me.

00:35:23.000 We all have our biases, beginning with me.

00:35:26.000 So, yes, objectivity is something I strive for.

00:35:30.000 And it's good to be objective.

00:35:32.000 And I want to be objective.

00:35:33.000 But come on, I've got my own biases.

00:35:35.000 So because of that, you're going to have to study harder, work harder, think harder, and write that paper better in order to get a good grade on that.

00:35:44.000 But I think you should do it.

00:35:46.000 Because that's the way you learn.

00:35:48.000 And that's the way I learned.

00:35:49.000 I got blown out of the water by my teachers in high school.

00:35:52.000 I got blown out of water by my professors at Davidson in North Carolina.

00:35:56.000 They were far more intelligent than I will ever be.

00:35:59.000 But you see, they forced me to think.

00:36:02.000 They forced me to work through these issues and come up with better answers.

00:36:06.000 I would just add, you said something that I'm going to challenge.

00:36:09.000 You said, well, our future is your GPA. Your future is not your GPA. Your future is whether or not you know Christ and your character.

00:36:16.000 Your grades mean nothing, actually.

00:36:17.000 They don't mean anything.

00:36:19.000 So, I just encourage everyone in the audience, if your parents are telling you your grades matter most, your parents are not doing a good job raising you.

00:36:29.000 Your character matters way more than your GPA. Your character.

00:36:33.000 And so if you're going to be graded down for proclaiming Christ, blessed are you who are persecuted in the name of Jesus.

00:36:39.000 So keep fighting.

00:36:42.000 Hi, my name's Kaylee.

00:36:44.000 I'm from Tennessee originally.

00:36:46.000 I just was wondering, I've been going through some personal issues lately, and I was thinking, I was having a battle with myself the other night.

00:36:53.000 How am I able to tell...

00:36:56.000 If what I'm going through is God, you know, strengthening me and teaching me a lesson, how can I tell if it's that or if it's just the devil trying to reach me?

00:37:05.000 You have a strong devotional life.

00:37:07.000 You're tethered to the Word.

00:37:10.000 You have a very strong group of Christian friends.

00:37:14.000 And then you understand what is God's real purpose for your life, and that's directly out of 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, to be sanctified, which is character.

00:37:25.000 To grow in the fruits of the spirit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

00:37:31.000 And as you do that, then God reveals his purpose through that.

00:37:37.000 So don't go directly to, oh gosh, what is God doing here?

00:37:40.000 Or is this the devil?

00:37:41.000 No.

00:37:42.000 Grow in wisdom.

00:37:44.000 And the more you grow in wisdom through those four steps that I was giving, now you'll understand, no, this is definitely God.

00:37:51.000 But remember, Paul at Troas, And at other places, had open and closed doors.

00:37:59.000 Well, look, sister, if Paul had closed doors, you and I are probably going to have some closed doors.

00:38:04.000 And so some will be open, and we'll know that that's God's purpose, but then at other times they'll close, but know that he's going to have a purpose beyond those closed doors.

00:38:12.000 And I'll just add one thing that is far more technical, which is, I'm not going to put you on the spot, but I imagine you're on social media and you use social media.

00:38:19.000 We dramatically underestimate.

00:38:24.000 I encourage you to read the book Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt.

00:38:28.000 If you read that, you would say that we should not allow any young lady to have social media on their phone. 0.93

00:38:33.000 The psychological damage that it is doing.

00:38:36.000 And so I encourage you to do one thing.

00:38:38.000 I'm not going to tell you to stop using it.

00:38:40.000 Find out and track every day how much time did I spend on social media apps.

00:38:45.000 If it is more than 20 minutes collectively, then...

00:38:48.000 The studies show that you're going to be much more in places of self-doubt and depression, and also you're living more through a screen than in real life.

00:38:57.000 So I hope that's somewhat helpful because it actually might be a source of a lot of the issue.

00:39:02.000 So thank you.

00:39:03.000 Hello.

00:39:09.000 So what do you think about churches that preach the prosperity gospel?

00:39:15.000 Are you familiar with preachers like Joel Osteen?

00:39:18.000 If so, do you agree or disagree with their teachings?

00:39:21.000 How would you approach preaching to those who follow them?

00:39:24.000 And how would you teach about the concept of long-suffering and contrast?

00:39:29.000 I make it a real clear point in my life not to critique other preachers.

00:39:35.000 So I'm not going to say anything.

00:39:41.000 And I'll tell you why.

00:39:42.000 I'll tell you one of the reasons.

00:39:43.000 When I started doing open air on college campuses, there were hellfire brimstone preachers who went out there and told everybody they were going to hell in a handcart.

00:39:50.000 And Christians were in shock.

00:39:53.000 And I didn't agree with their approach.

00:39:55.000 But I met people who came to faith in Christ through those hellfire brimstone guys.

00:40:01.000 So therefore I learned God uses a lot of different people a lot of different ways.

00:40:05.000 And I am not going to put myself in a position of superiority.

00:40:10.000 And judge others.

00:40:11.000 Second point.

00:40:12.000 Do I have some very real strong disagreements with a lot of ministers, with the majority of religion professors on campuses, every state university campus in the United States?

00:40:23.000 Absolutely.

00:40:24.000 If I want a hard debate, I don't go to the science department.

00:40:27.000 If I want a hard debate, I go to the religion department.

00:40:30.000 And I debated a religion professor at Columbia University in New York City who was an atheist.

00:40:35.000 And it was an intense debate.

00:40:38.000 I hope you caught the irony.

00:40:39.000 Religion professor who's an atheist.

00:40:43.000 Okay, so...

00:40:45.000 Now, the prosperity gospel I have no problem addressing.

00:40:49.000 It's really, really sad that Jesus didn't have enough faith.

00:40:56.000 It's really sad that Jesus died such a horribly painful death.

00:41:02.000 You know, Jesus, if you just would have believed a little more deeply, God would have saved you from the cross.

00:41:09.000 Guys, that's ludicrous.

00:41:13.000 Totally ludicrous.

00:41:15.000 Let's be real clear.

00:41:17.000 I worship a suffering God who became man in Jesus Christ and he got the snot kicked out of him and he was nailed to a cross and he died one of the most miserable deaths possible.

00:41:29.000 Now let's talk about the demographic in the world.

00:41:34.000 What has the highest percentage of followers of Jesus?

00:41:39.000 Women of color.

00:41:41.000 Now let's talk about the demographic in the United States that has the highest percentage of followers of Jesus.

00:41:49.000 African American women.

00:41:52.000 Why?

00:41:54.000 Because it's amazing how when you're getting a snot kicked out of you and you look at a suffering servant, Jesus Christ, and all of a sudden the lights begin to go on.

00:42:04.000 There is a God who is willing to suffer.

00:42:08.000 And enters this world filled with suffering.

00:42:11.000 And on my behalf, he sacrifices his life on a cross.

00:42:16.000 You see, ma'am, when I stand before a statue of Buddha, it's incredible.

00:42:22.000 There he is.

00:42:24.000 A little smile across the face.

00:42:26.000 Arms folded, legs crossed.

00:42:29.000 And we're supposed to say, oh, wow.

00:42:33.000 But then I stand before the cross.

00:42:36.000 And I see a God who became a human being and got the snot kicked out of him.

00:42:43.000 He sacrifices his life.

00:42:45.000 And he goes through the hell of the cross.

00:42:47.000 So I don't have to go to hell.

00:42:49.000 Instead, I can go to heaven.

00:42:50.000 And I can promise you, my knees begin to shake.

00:42:55.000 And then I read the Negro spirituals.

00:42:57.000 Were you there?

00:42:59.000 Were you there when they crucified my Lord?

00:43:01.000 Were you there when they crucified my Lord?

00:43:04.000 Ah, sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.

00:43:08.000 Were you there when they crucified my Lord?

00:43:12.000 Now, I don't know what kind of life you live, but I can promise you my life has a lot of good in it.

00:43:17.000 Thank you, Lord.

00:43:18.000 And it's got a boatload of suffering in it.

00:43:21.000 And I can connect with a suffering Savior, Jesus Christ.

00:43:29.000 Thank you.

00:43:30.000 How we doing, man?

00:43:33.000 Hi, my name is Micah, and I just had a question about tithing, because in the Bible it says give 10%, but back in the olden days, that also covered your taxes and your charity, so would it be different for now?

00:43:49.000 So the Levites, for their good work in the Old Testament, the tithe was supposed to be 23%, but I wouldn't get too caught up on 10% or 23%.

00:43:59.000 I would look at the woman with the two might, and that she gave out of her poverty, not out of her wealth, that she was willing to make that kind of sacrifice because of the joy of knowing Jesus.

00:44:13.000 And so when it comes to your giving, make sure it's out of that joy rather than a type of obligation.

00:44:21.000 Because so often Christians will focus on, I just gotta tithe. 0.86

00:44:24.000 And they feel guilty if they can't hit the 10% or 12% or 15%.

00:44:28.000 But understand, if Jesus went through the hell of the cross, if he really did that for us, then a natural heart response should be, wow, I want to give, and I want to keep giving.

00:44:37.000 So it's a great way to figure out, are you maturing in the faith or not, with how quickly you joyfully are able to give.

00:44:45.000 And that's not just monetarily, by the way.

00:44:47.000 I would also look at that relationally.

00:44:49.000 How quickly are you able to forgive somebody because of what Jesus did for you?

00:44:55.000 So I always look at, monetarily as well as relationally, how quick are you able to joyfully respond to somebody who criticized you, who bullied you at school?

00:45:04.000 how quickly are you able to give despite it even hurting at times applause applause applause Cliff, Stuart thank you for coming um My question is, how does one escape the cycle of shame and guilt when you slip up?

00:45:24.000 Not to say that we shouldn't learn from experience because it is inevitable that we all do sin, but rather instead of starting from rock bottom like a lot of people tend to think and subject themselves to, how can we pick ourselves back up from where we left off and continue our spiritual journey?

00:45:41.000 Great question.

00:45:42.000 First point.

00:45:44.000 Oh man, you're into self-degradation.

00:45:46.000 You're into repenting.

00:45:49.000 No.

00:45:50.000 No.

00:45:50.000 I'm into understanding.

00:45:52.000 That when God created us, he did a beautiful job.

00:45:56.000 We have been created in the image, in the likeness of God.

00:45:59.000 And we have horribly defaced that image.

00:46:03.000 When I repent, I'm saying, I am not perfect.

00:46:07.000 I blew it.

00:46:09.000 I did wrong.

00:46:10.000 My guilt convicts me of that.

00:46:13.000 And because I'm responsible for what I did, I am asking God to forgive me.

00:46:19.000 I'm asking you to forgive me for the dastardly thing I did to you.

00:46:22.000 That is an emphasis on the value of my life, the value of your life.

00:46:27.000 And it's an emphasis on how God created us for a purpose.

00:46:32.000 And sin is violating that purpose.

00:46:34.000 And I want to get back into the purpose for which God created me.

00:46:40.000 Second point.

00:46:41.000 After repenting, I have to accept the forgiveness of God.

00:46:45.000 And to be honest with you, at times that's difficult for me.

00:46:49.000 The reason it's difficult for me is because I can be a bit of a perfectionist.

00:46:54.000 And I can say, oh no.

00:46:57.000 I can't believe what I did yesterday.

00:47:01.000 I never thought I would do that.

00:47:04.000 I am a total loser.

00:47:06.000 I'm a total hypocrite.

00:47:08.000 And it goes down from there.

00:47:09.000 It ain't pretty.

00:47:11.000 But notice what I'm doing.

00:47:14.000 I am elevating the approval of my perfectionistic approach to life.

00:47:19.000 Above the approval of God.

00:47:22.000 I want my perfectionistic thinking to say, Oh Cliff, you're a great guy.

00:47:26.000 So I'm going to go through the depths of shredding myself, which is really false guilt, because I want the approval of my perfectionistic standard that I have created.

00:47:39.000 See, that's wrong, because the approval of God is far more important than the approval of my perfectionism.

00:47:45.000 Or the approval of my family.

00:47:48.000 Or the approval of my culture.

00:47:50.000 Or the approval of my society.

00:47:52.000 It is the approval of God that I need to value most highly.

00:47:58.000 And Jesus communicates, you repent of your sin and I forgive you.

00:48:04.000 And I've got to accept that forgiveness.

00:48:06.000 Rejoice in that forgiveness.

00:48:08.000 Turn away from the sin.

00:48:10.000 And by God's grace, live a different way.

00:48:15.000 Thank you.

00:48:19.000 Hi there.

00:48:21.000 I have a buddy that's living a 50-50 life, basically.

00:48:26.000 He's going to church and saying he's a Christian, but also when you see him on non-Sundays any other day, he's out vaping, drinking, and just living a non-Christian life. 0.78

00:48:39.000 I was just asking for the best.

00:48:43.000 Advice you can give them.

00:48:45.000 So we talked to a few different quarterbacks who were recently in the playoffs, the college level, and they were talking about how they were living that lifestyle.

00:48:56.000 And they said all the other teammates were doing it as well, but calling themselves Christians.

00:49:01.000 So it's cultural Christianity.

00:49:04.000 They said when they started, I'm thinking one specifically, when he started dedicating his life more so to Christ, they just followed.

00:49:12.000 And so what's going to speak loudest to your friend is how you live.

00:49:18.000 You know, it's preach Christ, use words if necessary.

00:49:26.000 So man, if you are living in a way where you're dedicated to Christ, wanting to grow in him, especially if your buddy sees when you hit really downfalls in your life, when you suffer, and he sees that you have a type of buoyancy about you, a type of joy despite the suffering, He's going to want to start living a more consistent life.

00:49:44.000 He's going to finally find, wow, the light is way more attractive than the darkness.

00:49:49.000 Even if it's kind of cool right now to mess around, even if it's kind of cool right now to drink, underage drink, whatever it might be.

00:49:56.000 Eventually, the light is always more attractive than the darkness.

00:50:01.000 So just hold out hope, correct when you can, but ultimately support him and love him.

00:50:06.000 that's going to be more attractive for his own change than just trying to change him by berating him.

00:50:11.000 I've been a believer for a few years now, and I've started to become more lukewarm, even though I know Christianity is the truth and have Christian friends around me, which makes me want to be more faithful, even though I know Christianity is the truth and have Christian friends around me, which makes How can I and others who have become lukewarm get off the fence and gain the motivation and discipline to become more in line with the Christian that I want to be?

00:50:41.000 Thanks for your vulnerability and honesty.

00:50:43.000 I respect that highly.

00:50:45.000 First point, think.

00:50:48.000 Think hard.

00:50:50.000 Albert Camus, the great atheistic existentialist philosopher, wrote a book called Lettranger in French, The Stranger.

00:50:58.000 The first lines of that book are the words of a young teenage boy who says, Yesterday mother died.

00:51:03.000 Or was it today?

00:51:06.000 Life is meaningless.

00:51:08.000 There is no God.

00:51:10.000 Your birth is an accident.

00:51:12.000 Your death is an accident.

00:51:13.000 And the only thing that lies between those two accidents is another accident.

00:51:17.000 Your life.

00:51:18.000 My life.

00:51:21.000 Jesus Christ says no.

00:51:23.000 Jesus Christ says you're not an accident.

00:51:26.000 You're a human being created by God for a purpose.

00:51:30.000 And so what you've got to do is you've got to think.

00:51:32.000 If Jesus is telling the truth, then my life is not meaningless.

00:51:37.000 I was made for a purpose.

00:51:39.000 I better not waste my life.

00:51:41.000 But if Jesus is not the truth, Then I better do exactly what Albert Camus said when he said, the only question modern man must answer is, why not commit suicide?

00:51:53.000 Because if it's true that you're just an accident, if it's true that your life is ultimately meaningless, why continue to suck wind?

00:52:00.000 Why continue to eat three meals a day?

00:52:02.000 It's all a colossal joke.

00:52:06.000 And David Hume, the great Scottish philosopher, pointed out, do you know that the universe, Doesn't think you matter any more than an oyster.

00:52:18.000 And he's correct in his atheism.

00:52:20.000 If there is no God, it really doesn't matter whether I step on you or an oyster.

00:52:27.000 You both are meaningless.

00:52:29.000 And you know you can't live that out.

00:52:31.000 So it's that type of thinking that has helped me think through the issue.

00:52:36.000 Secondly, emotionally.

00:52:39.000 You think about love.

00:52:41.000 You think about the ability to care.

00:52:44.000 And if you come from a home where mom and dad didn't love each other and they didn't love you, I'm really sorry.

00:52:49.000 I know that hurt.

00:52:51.000 But I can promise you, there's a God at the center of the cosmos who really does love you.

00:52:57.000 And when you begin to watch people who really sacrifice for each other and who really love each other, that is incredibly powerful.

00:53:06.000 And the reason that I'm excited about Jesus is because he loves me so much.

00:53:11.000 And so when I get to hold his little daughters in my arms, his little babies, and walk up and down the driveway, I sing to him.

00:53:18.000 Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.

00:53:26.000 Little ones to him belong, they are weak, but he is strong.

00:53:32.000 Yes, Jesus loves me.

00:53:36.000 Yes, Jesus loves me.

00:53:42.000 The Bible tells me so.

00:53:44.000 Now why on earth are you doing that, Cliff?

00:53:46.000 Because I know they're going to go to school at some point.

00:53:49.000 And I know they're going to get the snot kicked out of them. 1.00

00:53:52.000 Because they're not pretty enough, or they're not smart enough, or they're not athletic enough, or they're not artistic enough, or they're not a good enough ballet dancer, or whatever.

00:54:00.000 And they've got to have as the bedrock of their life the fact that there's a God at the center of the cosmos who really loves them.

00:54:09.000 And if they have that...

00:54:10.000 They got the most valuable thing in the world.

00:54:13.000 Well, think about your life.

00:54:14.000 What is the most important thing in your life?

00:54:17.000 It's your friends.

00:54:18.000 It's your family who loves you.

00:54:20.000 And if there is a God who really loves you, gosh, you can't be lukewarm.

00:54:25.000 You've got to love him passionately because that's the most important thing.

00:54:29.000 And then thirdly, the way you get out of lukewarmness is not just by thinking.

00:54:33.000 It's not just by working through emotions.

00:54:35.000 It's also through your will.

00:54:38.000 You've got to learn to submit.

00:54:40.000 Submitting to God's will.

00:54:42.000 Oh, that's dirty.

00:54:44.000 Submitting to God's will.

00:54:46.000 No, it's not dirty.

00:54:48.000 It's the path to freedom.

00:54:51.000 You see, if a train is running along two tracks, and the train says, I find this existence very limiting, two metal tracks, and I've got to stay right here.

00:54:59.000 The moment that train flips off the tracks, is that a flip to freedom?

00:55:04.000 Nope.

00:55:05.000 That's a flip to destruction.

00:55:08.000 You and I were created to run along the tracks of God's will.

00:55:11.000 To flip off the tracks of God's will onto the land of self-centeredness is not a flip to freedom.

00:55:17.000 It might be thrilling, but it ultimately leads to destruction.

00:55:23.000 God is good, and because he's good, I want to do his will.

00:55:27.000 I want to surrender to him.

00:55:29.000 I want to live a life of purpose, the purpose he created me for.

00:55:33.000 I think those three things will help you move out of lukewarmness as you think, as you get in touch with your emotions, and as you handle your will wisely.

00:55:43.000 What do you say to a newly born Christian?

00:55:53.000 Amen.

00:55:55.000 Keep growing.

00:55:57.000 Keep growing and going.

00:55:59.000 And for a newly born Christian, it's important To let him or her know not to get caught on the ecstasy wheel.

00:56:10.000 The emotional high.

00:56:12.000 Because there are too many newly born Christians who all of a sudden, I got baptized. 1.00

00:56:17.000 I got baptized, Cliff and Stuart.

00:56:18.000 This is the most amazing thing.

00:56:20.000 Three weeks later, well, I don't feel it anymore.

00:56:24.000 So I don't know if God even exists.

00:56:26.000 So firstly, help that person understand it's not just about this emotional high.

00:56:31.000 We want to grow in the joy of the Lord as our strength.

00:56:34.000 That is crucial.

00:56:35.000 That is the bedrock.

00:56:36.000 But our emotions come and go.

00:56:38.000 They fade.

00:56:39.000 And that's why David throughout the Psalms, when he prays, Why are you downcast, O my soul?

00:56:44.000 Why so disturbed within me?

00:56:45.000 Put your hope in God for you.

00:56:47.000 Praise him, my Savior and my Lord.

00:56:50.000 Praise the Lord, O my soul.

00:56:51.000 All my inmost being, praise his holy name.

00:56:53.000 See, his emotions were dying because his son was trying to kill him.

00:56:57.000 His boss was trying to kill him.

00:56:58.000 He went through an adulterous relationship.

00:57:00.000 He had a lot of reasons emotionally to take off and leave God.

00:57:04.000 So help your friend understand it's not about the emotional high.

00:57:07.000 You want to be happy in Christ for sure.

00:57:09.000 Don't get me wrong on that.

00:57:10.000 But at times you're going to feel distant from God and just rely on his promises.

00:57:15.000 Rely on the evidence of something like the resurrection and how that occurred rather than it's always just going to be nice flowers.

00:57:23.000 So start there and then move to help him know that Christianity It's all about relationships and community.

00:57:30.000 It's all about what's going on right here, right now.

00:57:33.000 It's not a lone wolf trip.

00:57:34.000 If it turns into a lone wolf trip, that's how the devil gets to you.

00:57:39.000 After Jesus' baptism, what happens?

00:57:40.000 He is immediately led by the devil, by the spirit, even into the wilderness.

00:57:46.000 He is by himself.

00:57:48.000 The devil wants to get you when you're by yourself.

00:57:51.000 He wants to tempt you, and he wants to accuse you.

00:57:55.000 And then he wants to ultimately get you to disbelieve.

00:57:58.000 And yet Jesus conquered that by what?

00:58:00.000 Quoting scripture at the devil.

00:58:02.000 So that would be the last one.

00:58:03.000 Get your buddy to memorize scripture.

00:58:05.000 He did it with me.

00:58:06.000 I hated it early on, but I couldn't be more grateful now.

00:58:10.000 And my grandma died with scripture on her lips.

00:58:13.000 The only thing she could say was memorizing the scripture that she had learned.

00:58:17.000 Oddly enough, a little fun factoid, Friedrich Nietzsche, the king of atheism, died quoting scripture, oddly enough, talking to God.

00:58:26.000 He didn't want to.

00:58:28.000 But there's something about Scripture when it's in your blood.

00:58:30.000 blood, it automatically will come out of you and will chart your life in such a way where you will remain in the faith if you honor God with it.

00:58:37.000 Firstly, I love y'all I've spent so many nights listening to the wisdom you guys speak.

00:58:48.000 And I just want to ask, I have a lot of friends who used to be really close to Christ and are now turning away and or have fully turned away.

00:58:58.000 I still care for them.

00:58:59.000 And I go to ASU and I have to work with and be around people who have interesting views on life with God.

00:59:06.000 So I just want to ask, how do you respond to someone who says that they don't need God to live a moral and fulfilling life?

00:59:15.000 You don't need God in order to define your own purpose in life.

00:59:20.000 You can create your own purpose, your own meaning.

00:59:23.000 But what you have to acknowledge is, it's just a taste.

00:59:28.000 Like, I prefer broccoli to asparagus.

00:59:32.000 I prefer loving people to hating people today.

00:59:36.000 But tomorrow, if I choose to prefer hating people to loving people, that's cool.

00:59:41.000 One is not right, the other is not wrong.

00:59:42.000 It's all just a cosmic crapshoot.

00:59:46.000 So to try and take people what they say seriously.

00:59:50.000 And then take what they say to its logical conclusion.

00:59:54.000 And a world without God logically leads to despair, meaninglessness, hopelessness, yes, even suicide.

01:00:04.000 And so once again, I'm trying to rattle people's cage to explain, what do I believe?

01:00:12.000 Why do I believe it?

01:00:14.000 I was invited after doing Open Air Columbia in New York City to join a class.

01:00:19.000 And it was a fascinating class at Columbia on the difference between Zwingli and Calvin's view of war.

01:00:25.000 And the teacher was brilliant.

01:00:26.000 He was a post-doc student from England.

01:00:28.000 And after the class, I walked with him down the stairs out of this building there, Columbia, and I said, excuse me, sir, can I ask you one question?

01:00:35.000 He said, sure, fire.

01:00:36.000 I said, what are you living for?

01:00:40.000 And what's the evidence?

01:00:41.000 Because that was an amazing class you just led in there, and I'm very impressed with you, sir.

01:00:46.000 And this young...

01:00:47.000 The gentleman said, I'm not a good person to ask that of.

01:00:52.000 Well, that's scary.

01:00:54.000 That's called an unexamined life.

01:00:58.000 What are you living for?

01:01:00.000 And please don't tell me, oh, I'm agnostic.

01:01:01.000 I'm not living for anything.

01:01:02.000 Oh, no, no, no, no.

01:01:03.000 Look how you're dressed.

01:01:04.000 Look how you articulate.

01:01:06.000 You are living for something or someone.

01:01:08.000 You're highly motivated.

01:01:09.000 So please don't give me this line.

01:01:11.000 Oh, I'm not living for anything.

01:01:12.000 I'm just agnostic.

01:01:13.000 I don't know anything.

01:01:14.000 Well, you wouldn't be a student at this school.

01:01:16.000 If you weren't living for anything, you were motivated.

01:01:20.000 So the challenge for me is, and I think for you as well, to ask hard questions and then to listen, to feel around the rim of a life, come to the crack, which is exactly what Jesus did with a woman outside the town of Sychar in John chapter 4. And he basically finds out and tells her, you know, ma'am, you've been trying to fill that God-shaped vacuum at the center of your being with the deepest human relationship possible, the sexual relationship.

01:01:45.000 It's failed five times.

01:01:46.000 You're on your sixth man.

01:01:48.000 How does it feel?

01:01:50.000 Pretty empty.

01:01:53.000 Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again.

01:01:56.000 But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst.

01:02:00.000 Indeed, the water I give him will become a spring of water, welling up to everlasting life.

01:02:06.000 All right.

01:02:07.000 Let's think together.

01:02:09.000 What are you living for?

01:02:11.000 What's the evidence that what you are living for is true.

01:02:13.000 I live for Jesus Christ because the evidence of his life, teachings, death, and resurrection, the evidence of his sinless life, ethical genius as expressed in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5, 6, and 7, evidence of the way he died, nailed to a wooden cross beam, instead of cursing his enemies the way I would, he prays, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.

01:02:33.000 And the evidence of his resurrection.

01:02:35.000 Clearly points to his trustworthiness, his credibility in a way that no other option is supported.

01:02:43.000 You're going to live for something.

01:02:45.000 You're going to have motive.

01:02:46.000 You're going to define your life.

01:02:48.000 Go ahead, define it.

01:02:49.000 But you've got to consider Jesus Christ because the evidence is he's more reliable.

01:02:55.000 He's more trustworthy.

01:02:57.000 He's more credible than any of the options.

01:03:03.000 Thank you.

01:03:05.000 I just wanted to say real quick, thank you for all three of you guys for what you've done.

01:03:09.000 Charlie, thank you specifically.

01:03:11.000 You've been really huge for me, especially in the election cycle.

01:03:14.000 And I just wanted to ask a question from my non-Christian friend.

01:03:18.000 He couldn't be here today, but I'll just quote what he said.

01:03:21.000 If you are able to ask him a question, which is just all three of you guys, ask him one for me about whether heaven is a real physical place you live in, like paradise, or is it more of like a figure of speech and there isn't a place that you literally see and are?

01:03:34.000 Excuse me, in our end.

01:03:36.000 If I can borrow one of his lines, I do not know.

01:03:41.000 And I don't think anybody can give you a specific picture of heaven.

01:03:46.000 The Bible's pretty quiet about it.

01:03:48.000 And yet I love when Jesus talks about, in John 14, in my Father's house there are many rooms.

01:03:55.000 And I go and I prepare a place for you.

01:03:59.000 Okay, I love that.

01:04:00.000 I don't know if there's literally going to be a house with rooms, but I believe that that's a very beautiful picture.

01:04:06.000 So that's one, very metaphorical terminology.

01:04:10.000 Two, heaven is not going to be some type of floating ethereal dimension out there.

01:04:14.000 No, heaven is going to be this earth redeemed, changed, and made new again.

01:04:20.000 Thirdly, it's going to be relational.

01:04:27.000 See, a lot of these atheists out there love showing up and saying, oh yeah, you believe in this little kind of ethereal existence after you die where we're all going to be strumming little hearts on clouds and we're all going to be babies.

01:04:38.000 No, we're going to be able to recognize each other and it's going to be relational connection.

01:04:43.000 We're actually going to be able to have relationships there.

01:04:46.000 That's why you were created to love and to be loved.

01:04:49.000 And that love would last forever.

01:04:51.000 Well, you can't have love if you don't have physical bodies and relationships like we do.

01:04:56.000 So there's a reason why Jesus created us as such.

01:05:00.000 Lastly, and this is more so for you, just remember Philippians 3.20.

01:05:04.000 Our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.

01:05:11.000 Bro, you've got to remember that one.

01:05:13.000 Because for me, too often I think my citizenship is here.

01:05:16.000 Too often I am like the disciples who went out and cast out demons and then came back and they were all pumping their chests.

01:05:22.000 But Jesus said, rejoice not that you're able to do so.

01:05:24.000 Rejoice that your names are written in the book of life.

01:05:27.000 Your citizenship is ultimately in heaven.

01:05:29.000 and if you know that to the bottom of your heart, that will always give you an identity that is secure in Christ and can face anything.

01:05:37.000 Hi, I'm Addie.

01:05:44.000 I'm 13 years old and I wanted to ask, how do you deal with students who try to disregard your religion or how to learn how to back up your faith and represent yourself as a Christian?

01:05:57.000 If they're standing and feeling a little secure and okay, and if they're obnoxious enough, I like to go after them. .

01:06:09.000 And the way I'm most recently going after them is the following.

01:06:12.000 You want peace?

01:06:14.000 And I want peace.

01:06:16.000 Inside and outside.

01:06:20.000 The peace that's offered in a secular world is don't think about your death.

01:06:30.000 Instead, party, party, party.

01:06:34.000 Have sex with as many people as you can. 0.79

01:06:38.000 Go on as many expensive vacations as you can.

01:06:42.000 And don't think.

01:06:45.000 Jesus Christ says no.

01:06:47.000 Jesus says you've got to think.

01:06:49.000 Because life can be very good and life can be very painful.

01:06:53.000 Peace I leave with you.

01:06:54.000 My peace I give to you.

01:06:55.000 I do not give to you as the world gives.

01:06:58.000 Do not let your hearts be troubled.

01:07:00.000 Do not be afraid.

01:07:02.000 Now why are you and I afraid?

01:07:05.000 Because we made the mistake of thinking we don't need God.

01:07:09.000 Because we made the mistake of thinking we're tough.

01:07:11.000 We can handle anything.

01:07:13.000 We're autonomous.

01:07:14.000 We're all American.

01:07:16.000 But all of a sudden, we're confronted by our finiteness.

01:07:20.000 We're finite.

01:07:21.000 We've got a date with death.

01:07:24.000 The elasticity is leaving my legs.

01:07:26.000 I used to be able to jump higher and run faster.

01:07:30.000 I'm decomposing.

01:07:33.000 I'm still moving some dirt around, but one day the dirt will be moving me around.

01:07:38.000 Like it or not.

01:07:40.000 I'm very finite.

01:07:41.000 I'm very temporal.

01:07:43.000 And when you grapple with your finiteness, with the fact you do have a date with death, all of a sudden you begin to realize, oh shoot, I can't ultimately control it.

01:07:58.000 And all of a sudden you've got to go back and you've got to ask, do I need God or don't I? And you begin to realize, oh gosh, I really do need God.

01:08:10.000 I really do need Christ.

01:08:12.000 Because I'm very finite.

01:08:14.000 And if there's an eternal, all-powerful God who's faithful and just, who really loves me, then I need to know him.

01:08:23.000 And I need to rest in his love, in his hope for eternity in heaven, as Stuart was just talking about.

01:08:31.000 And that is where peace is found.

01:08:34.000 So it's ironic that peace in our culture is, do not think.

01:08:40.000 Versus Jesus who says, think.

01:08:44.000 Think about reality, which is, you are finite.

01:08:48.000 God is the infinite, eternal God.

01:08:51.000 Build your life with Him as your foundation.

01:08:54.000 for that is where real peace is found.

01:08:59.000 Hey, my name is Powell.

01:09:07.000 I'm a big fan.

01:09:10.000 My question was, so, like, sometimes I'm praying, and I'm like, dear God, but then, like, in the back of my head, there's, like, a voice that says, like, God ain't real.

01:09:23.000 And I'm like, is that my fault?

01:09:26.000 Or, like, and if it is, could I, like, is there a way I could help with that?

01:09:33.000 Well, that's the class of 3,000, 2,035, Stuart.

01:09:37.000 Go to it.

01:09:39.000 Thank you, sir.

01:09:42.000 I get that same thing, and I'm a pastor.

01:09:45.000 So don't worry, buddy.

01:09:46.000 You probably just haven't been sleeping enough.

01:09:52.000 Or it could be your own neurochemicals in a different way.

01:09:57.000 It could be any number of reasons, or it could be the devil tempting you in some sort of way.

01:10:02.000 But oftentimes, when I get up on a stage to speak or a Sunday morning to preach, I'll have a voice in my head saying, you don't deserve to be up here.

01:10:11.000 You can't preach.

01:10:12.000 You don't believe this stuff.

01:10:14.000 So that's the voice I have.

01:10:16.000 So I am totally with you when it comes to this voice of doubt that's nagging.

01:10:21.000 Look, if we believe that God is real, you gotta believe that the devil is real.

01:10:25.000 The devil comes up quite a bit in the Bible.

01:10:27.000 And so the devil's gonna be tempting you.

01:10:29.000 He's gonna be messing with you.

01:10:30.000 But also take that voice, which is some doubt.

01:10:33.000 There's probably some intellectual side of that.

01:10:34.000 You seem like a smart kid.

01:10:35.000 There's an intellectual side of that, which is you're doubting your faith.

01:10:39.000 And don't let that doubt gnaw at you in such a way where you beat up on yourself.

01:10:44.000 Let that doubt push you like it pushed doubting Thomas.

01:10:49.000 Thomas doubted at first.

01:10:51.000 He doubted what his friends were telling him about the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

01:10:55.000 And then he obviously doubted Jesus himself.

01:10:58.000 But then Jesus shows up right in front of him and physically presents his body to him and says, check out these nail prints in my hand.

01:11:04.000 Check out this wound, the spear wound in my side.

01:11:06.000 Stop doubting and believe.

01:11:08.000 But Thomas wasn't scolded for his doubt.

01:11:11.000 See, your atheist buddies sometimes will say, oh, see, doubting Thomas.

01:11:14.000 You're not allowed to doubt.

01:11:15.000 You're not allowed to have that voice.

01:11:17.000 But no, Jesus slowly brought Thomas along and then said, stop doubting.

01:11:23.000 So allow that voice to ask questions about faith, about Christ.

01:11:28.000 For that way, it's going to grow you in the faith.

01:11:30.000 But don't ever let that voice just remain that voice in terms of doubting to the point of saying, oh, I can't believe this anymore because this voice is here.

01:11:41.000 Thank you.

01:11:41.000 We're going to do two more and then would you be willing to help lead maybe an altar call?

01:11:46.000 There's a lot of guests here and maybe Luke can come up as well.

01:11:49.000 So let's do two more and then we'll do that.

01:11:50.000 Yes.

01:11:51.000 Hey guys, so I actually was at ASU the other day, so I might not be one of your favorite students because you didn't pick on me, but this is my attempt to ask you guys a question.

01:12:00.000 So, yeah, I just wanted to see if you guys could talk about how confident you were in, like, the Bibles that we use every day, just because there's, even in our historical findings, like the Dead Sea Scrolls or Codex Sinaiticus, they don't really contain, like, the Book of Revelation or Esther, for example.

01:12:15.000 So I just wanted to see what you guys thought about, like, how confident we can be.

01:12:19.000 As Christians, any scriptures that we do have.

01:12:22.000 If anybody ever asks you, why do you trust the Bible to be the Word of God, I wouldn't answer that question.

01:12:27.000 I said, I'm not asking you to believe the Bible is the Word of God.

01:12:30.000 I could never show you that any book is the Word of God.

01:12:32.000 But I can give you evidence that the Gospels are historically reliable.

01:12:36.000 I have four tests that I use to determine historicity of any book.

01:12:40.000 If you don't like my test, no problem.

01:12:42.000 But you better come up with your own test to determine whether any book, the Bible, the Koran, U.S. history, African history, whether the text is reliable.

01:12:49.000 My four tests are internal consistency.

01:12:51.000 Are there contradictions within the text?

01:12:53.000 No.

01:12:54.000 No contradictions in the Gospels.

01:12:56.000 Different perspectives, you bet.

01:12:57.000 Two angels at an empty tomb, one angel at an empty tomb.

01:13:00.000 Different perspective.

01:13:01.000 The dude is not saying, there was only one angel at the empty tomb.

01:13:05.000 And the other guy says, no, there were two.

01:13:06.000 No.

01:13:07.000 There was an angel.

01:13:08.000 And there were two angels.

01:13:10.000 Different perspective.

01:13:11.000 We want that.

01:13:11.000 Second test, literary style.

01:13:13.000 Once upon a time in the land of Nod, Wink and Blink and Nod took a boat ride.

01:13:16.000 Yeah, that's sweet.

01:13:18.000 Sweet fairy tale.

01:13:20.000 That's not the way the Gospels are written.

01:13:21.000 The Gospels are written at this time, in this place, with these people around.

01:13:25.000 Jesus said this and did that.

01:13:26.000 It clearly reads like reportage.

01:13:29.000 Historical narrative is the literary style.

01:13:31.000 Third test, archaeology.

01:13:32.000 Are we talking about the island of Atlantis out in the ocean that none of us can verify?

01:13:36.000 No!

01:13:36.000 We're talking about Bethlehem, Nazareth, Jerusalem, Rome, archaeologically verifiable places, and people, Tiberius, Caesar, Pontius Pilate.

01:13:43.000 Fourth test, oh, but come on, man.

01:13:46.000 Come on.

01:13:46.000 You played the game telephone.

01:13:48.000 You know, you whisper the secret in the ear of the person next to you.

01:13:50.000 They whisper it in the ear of the person next to them.

01:13:52.000 And by the time the secret reaches the end of the circle, it's totally perverted.

01:13:55.000 Yes, I played that game.

01:13:57.000 No, it's not the way we have the Gospels today.

01:13:59.000 The Gospels that we have in English today are based on over 5,800 Greek manuscripts or pieces of manuscript dated from the 2nd through the 10th century AD, all agreeing to an infinitesimal degree.

01:14:11.000 Have I shown you the Bible's a word of God?

01:14:13.000 No, I have not.

01:14:14.000 Have I shown you that the...

01:14:15.000 Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are reliable.

01:14:18.000 Yes, I have.

01:14:19.000 Therefore, simply read the Gospels as history and ask yourself, does the historical evidence of the way Jesus lived his life, the content of his ethical teaching, the way he died loving and forgiving his enemies, and the way he rose from the dead point to him being trustworthy or does it not?

01:14:38.000 Does the evidence point to him being a quack or the truth?

01:14:41.000 It's a no-brainer.

01:14:43.000 You die and rise from the dead?

01:14:45.000 I promise to listen very carefully to everything you have to say.

01:14:50.000 Last question.

01:14:54.000 Hi guys, thank you for coming.

01:14:56.000 I just wanted to ask, I have this Mormon friend and we get into a lot, we debate, and it's kind of hard because they already consider themselves a Christian.

01:15:06.000 And we basically came up with this deal where I go to his church, he goes to my church.

01:15:12.000 And I was going to ask, is that okay?

01:15:14.000 Like, am I going about this right?

01:15:16.000 Is there another way that I can show them the light without necessarily going to church?

01:15:21.000 Is that a bad thing?

01:15:22.000 I was in a Hindu temple not too long ago.

01:15:25.000 So, no, I don't believe it's a bad thing.

01:15:27.000 I think it's a great way to witness and start a healthy discussion.

01:15:30.000 Get on his turf.

01:15:32.000 Be all things to all people.

01:15:33.000 Be in the world but not of the world.

01:15:35.000 Be like Jesus.

01:15:36.000 Go to the parties and understand that there's an ultimate wedding feast waiting for us.

01:15:42.000 But that a lot of these parties here are going to be experiencing at ASU are not those ultimate, that ultimate party, which is the wedding feast.

01:15:48.000 And so, yes, enter into all of those difficult, awkward situations, environments, and share truth.

01:15:56.000 And be willing to put it all on the line for Christ.

01:16:00.000 Awesome.

01:16:01.000 Thank you.

01:16:02.000 Can you lead us in a...

01:16:03.000 Possibly you're here tonight, and maybe...

01:16:09.000 This bit about Jesus is making more sense than ever before to you.

01:16:14.000 And possibly the Holy Spirit is tugging on your heart for you to make your own decision to put your faith in Christ.

01:16:21.000 I'm going to lead in a very short, simple prayer.

01:16:23.000 It's not a magical formula, obviously.

01:16:26.000 But it is a genuine heart cry to ask Christ for forgiveness and to accept that forgiveness.

01:16:33.000 To put your faith and trust in him that he really did die on a cross for you, for me.

01:16:38.000 To pay the penalty for your wrongdoing.

01:16:41.000 And you're going to trust him for heaven.

01:16:43.000 And thirdly, I'm going to lead in a prayer for you to say, all right, Lord, please help me.

01:16:50.000 Fill me with your Holy Spirit.

01:16:52.000 Give me the power to become the beautiful person you created me to be.

01:16:58.000 And if you're at the point in your life where such a decision would be appropriate, I would encourage you to pray silently after me.

01:17:05.000 This is between you and Christ. 0.50

01:17:07.000 And nobody else.

01:17:09.000 Let's bow and pray together.

01:17:11.000 Lord Jesus, my conscience has informed me that times I've done wrong.

01:17:21.000 I am genuinely sorry.

01:17:24.000 Please forgive me.

01:17:27.000 Thank you that you promised to.

01:17:30.000 I want to accept that forgiveness.

01:17:34.000 Lord Jesus, I trust.

01:17:37.000 That when you bled and died on that cross, you did it for me, for everyone, to pay the penalty for my wrongdoing.

01:17:49.000 I trust you, Jesus, for the gift of eternal life.

01:17:55.000 Thank you.

01:17:57.000 From the bottom of my heart, that I matter so much to you.

01:18:05.000 That you want me to spend eternity with you.

01:18:09.000 And now, Lord, I've got some bad habits, some addictions.

01:18:15.000 I need your help.

01:18:18.000 Please put your Holy Spirit in me.

01:18:22.000 Transform me from one degree of glory to another into your image, the image you created me to be.

01:18:32.000 Thank you.

01:18:33.000 That you promised to.

01:18:36.000 In Jesus' name I pray.

01:18:39.000 Amen.

01:18:41.000 Thanks so much for listening, everybody.

01:18:42.000 Email us, as always, freedom at charliekirk.com.

The Charlie Kirk Show - February 09, 2025

“Your Future is Whether or Not You Know Christ” — Live with Cliffe and Stuart Knechtle at Freedom Night

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