Join us at Freedom Night in America at Dream City Church in Phoenix, Arizona as we celebrate the election of President Donald Trump and the incredible things he has done in office so far. God bless you and God bless America.
00:00:48.000His 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.
00:02:10.000I 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.
00:02:21.000I 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.
00:02:33.000You know, we have not gathered since what happened in November and, of course, a couple weeks ago.
00:02:39.000And I want all of you to just kind of take a moment and rejoice and say, you know what?
00:02:44.000You played a role in taking back this country and saving this country for your kids and your grandkids.
00:02:51.000In fact, Arizona, best-performing swing state of all the seven swing states.
00:03:01.000Biggest improvement of any state, 2020 versus 2024, five and a half point victory.
00:03:08.000And 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?
00:03:56.000Signed executive orders saying no more funding of DEI or CRT in our schools.
00:04:04.000Declared that there is only male and female.
00:04:07.000There are no more genders besides that.
00:04:14.000National 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.
00:04:23.000Mobilizing the military to help with that assistance.
00:04:26.000Also dropping all the federal charges around the whistleblowers that blew the whistle on all the chemical castration.
00:04:33.000And 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.
00:04:43.000We're going to put that in the rearview mirror.
00:05:26.000But especially, let this be a teaching moment to anyone that might be a Christian in your life that either did not vote...
00:05:32.000Or they were skeptical about President Trump.
00:05:35.000You can go back and say, which is it God's purpose or plan for America?
00:05:38.000Is it that kids get butchered in clinics or that it's outlawed?
00:05:42.000That 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?
00:05:50.000All of you can now rest easy and say, you know what?
00:06:13.000Because 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.
00:06:22.000We wanted a restoration of the power going back to the American people.
00:06:26.000Now, let me close with two thoughts, and then I want to introduce our amazing guests here tonight.
00:06:31.000The 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.
00:06:41.000A 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.
00:07:02.000We could not get most pastors or most churches to care about speaking out against it.
00:07:08.000I see so many people here in the audience tonight.
00:07:11.000Pastor Luke in Dream City were amazing.
00:07:15.000And so many other people spoke out against 139.
00:07:18.000But 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?
00:07:33.000So let this be, yes, a celebration, but also motivation that we're going to continue to do this work.
00:07:39.000And the work will start with the most important demographic that moved to the right so significantly.
00:07:46.000You know baby boomers moved two points to the left, while younger voters moved 15 points to the right?
00:07:56.000And 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.
00:08:08.000Because conservatism can lead you towards Christianity.
00:08:10.000And the church is just waiting, hopefully, to do something to bring these young people that are curious about ultimate topics and ultimate purposes.
00:08:44.000The most depressed, suicidal, anxious, alcohol-addicted, and drug-addicted generation history.
00:08:49.000When I show up to campuses, we're drawing 5,000, 6,000 students that are interested in these things.
00:08:55.000But they're not hearing from the local church near enough on this.
00:08:58.000However, our guests tonight are two incredible people that are reaching Gen Z. And I can tell you right now...
00:09:05.000I know what it takes to reach the next generation.
00:09:07.000They 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.
00:09:18.000And 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.
00:09:31.000They do a similar version of what I do.
00:09:33.000How many of you have seen me go to these campuses and debate these kids?
00:09:35.000Now, I do it on all topics, politics and religion.
00:09:40.000But they go there, first and foremost, primarily for Jesus.
00:09:44.000And they'll do it for three, four days in a row.
00:09:47.000That's why they're here in town at Arizona State University.
00:09:49.000And they'll film it, and these videos will go bonkers on TikTok, and they'll go viral on Instagram.
00:09:54.000And 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?
00:10:02.000Holding court, taking questions, trying to say, what do you believe?
00:10:19.000But 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.
00:10:31.000Not just vote the right way, which obviously we care about, but that is only a means to an ultimate end.
00:10:37.000So join me in welcoming Cliff and Stuart Connectely, everybody.
00:10:41.000That's an impressive move, isn't it? isn't it?
00:12:31.000If 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.
00:12:37.000And 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.
00:12:44.000And with each step, I got more and more intimidated.
00:12:48.000And I finally got to the bar door, and I walked right past that bar door.
00:13:00.000So 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?
00:13:12.000I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Samson, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, and the prophets.
00:13:17.000Who by faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised.
00:13:22.000Who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword.
00:13:27.000Whose weakness was turned into strength.
00:13:30.000And it became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies.
00:13:33.000Women received back their dead, raised to life again.
00:14:40.000And money can't give you life after death.
00:14:42.000It takes a supernatural God to do that.
00:14:44.000Well, he'd heard enough, so he came around the bar, grabbed my elbow, and escorted me out.
00:14:50.000I 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.
00:15:03.000And you've been doing this for how long?
00:15:05.000That's a very personal question, brother.
00:15:21.000You were doing this well before you were able to easily film them.
00:15:24.000Before there was an internet to spread them.
00:15:26.000At 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?
00:15:38.000I still don't even know how to turn this stuff on to watch it.
00:15:41.000It'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.
00:15:53.000I still believe that the gifts are active, whether that's tongue speaking or prophecy.
00:15:57.000I do not claim to have the gift of prophecy, though, myself.
00:16:01.000But 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.
00:16:13.000And so guys on his board even tried BET, Black Entertainment, to give me an answer on Black Entertainment.
00:16:19.000That did not work so well, and many other avenues they tried.
00:16:23.000But I knew that there was something about TikTok.
00:16:26.000And 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.
00:19:41.000So when you visit these campuses, you encounter different, counterfeit religions.
00:19:47.000And there's the religion of earth worshipping, you know, the religion of the cult of diversity, manifest in certain ways.
00:19:55.000The 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.
00:20:04.000Is that the predominant worldview that is now monopolizing the minds of college students and young people in America?
00:20:35.000The 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...
00:21:09.000And suddenly she steps out of the crowd and says, well, I know this guy who's speaking pretty well.
00:21:14.000And I know he doesn't want to offend you guys, but let me tell you why I don't believe in Muhammad.
00:21:19.000And she began to outline some of Muhammad's sexual practices.
00:21:24.000Well, I mean, there was one father of a Muslim student in the crowd who went ballistic.
00:21:32.000And his son had to drag him off, he was so angry.
00:21:36.000And it ended well, but it was intense.
00:21:42.000Sharon, 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.
00:23:58.000Jesus Christ says, no, that's your fleshly side.
00:24:01.000Walk in the spirit, which is love other people, even love your enemy.
00:24:06.000and that's how you try to truly find your true self.
00:24:09.000I would add that Jenner's authentic self, his name Bruce, But that's a separate issue.
00:24:23.000So I do want to get to some Q&A. Let's talk about all the ways that this manifests, though.
00:24:29.000Because the ultimate form of self-expression...
00:24:33.000Or 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.
00:24:43.000Would 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.
00:25:16.000And 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.
00:25:28.000So 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.
00:25:37.000If you don't focus on something outside of yourself, especially the God who created you, things are going to fall apart.
00:25:45.000In 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.
00:26:00.000And that is the birth of moral relativism.
00:26:02.000Would you agree that that is one of the top objections that you see on the college campus?
00:26:46.000You 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.
00:26:56.000Because 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.
00:27:34.000And 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.
00:27:45.000If my wife is mean to me, if I am mean to my wife, We will use the word should and ought.
00:27:51.000And 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.
00:28:41.000If 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.
00:28:54.000And that's the challenge, which I like Thomas Jefferson more than Benny Franklin because of that.
00:28:59.000And to go a step further, that's exactly what the prophet Isaiah would say.
00:29:03.000Man, woe to those who would call evil good or good evil.
00:29:07.000Because at some point you need objective definitions of these things.
00:29:12.000Second point on that, and then we'll wrap and go to questions.
00:29:15.000Moral 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.
00:29:29.000It is the gateway drug towards a dictatorship, which is the plan, by the way.
00:29:35.000How do you then prevent against the dictatorship?
00:29:37.000Well, just look at the nation of Israel.
00:30:16.000It 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.
00:30:25.000And 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.
00:30:29.000And so the framework of our government...
00:30:35.000Well, 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.
00:31:00.000And he gives me a big hug and he starts crying his eyes out.
00:31:03.000What 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.
00:31:21.000And with tears coming down her cheeks, she says, come on, help me.
00:31:26.000So we talk about the evidence for the reliability of the New Testament Gospels.
00:31:30.000And she begins to realize it's not mythology.
00:31:42.000There's no support, no evidence to support Santa Claus coming down your chimney every Christmas Eve.
00:31:50.000And if you do have some evidence, I would love to hear it afterwards.
00:31:54.000There's a boatload of evidence that God exists, that he's real.
00:31:58.000The 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.
00:32:19.000there's got to be an intelligent mind behind it all.
00:32:23.000I'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.
00:33:21.000I see a lot of students in the audience, way more than we usually.
00:33:25.000So sorry, boomers, this tonight is not your night.
00:33:28.000Secondly, though, they get so mad when I say that, but please.
00:33:34.000Secondly, 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.
00:33:47.000We want to try to move you up in line.
00:33:51.000We're going to keep on doing these Freedom Nights throughout the year.
00:33:54.000But if you're here questioning or wrestling with something that our two amazing guests can help with, let's use this platform here tonight.
00:34:01.000I think you guys would agree that's the best use of our time tonight.
00:34:04.000So let's go to the young man in the blue shirt, and then we'll go to the young lady here.
00:34:11.000I'm a vice president at our high school for the Turning Point chapter of Gravel Degree.
00:34:20.000My 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?
00:34:43.000When 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.
00:35:01.000Because right from the get-go, that professor is not going to be totally objective.
00:35:06.000Now, there are a few exceptions to that, but the majority of professors who I talk to are not totally objective.
00:35:35.000So 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.
00:36:19.000So, 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.
00:36:29.000Your character matters way more than your GPA. Your character.
00:36:33.000And so if you're going to be graded down for proclaiming Christ, blessed are you who are persecuted in the name of Jesus.
00:36:46.000I 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.
00:36:56.000If 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?
00:37:10.000You have a very strong group of Christian friends.
00:37:14.000And 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.
00:37:25.000To grow in the fruits of the spirit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
00:37:31.000And as you do that, then God reveals his purpose through that.
00:37:37.000So don't go directly to, oh gosh, what is God doing here?
00:37:44.000And the more you grow in wisdom through those four steps that I was giving, now you'll understand, no, this is definitely God.
00:37:51.000But remember, Paul at Troas, And at other places, had open and closed doors.
00:37:59.000Well, look, sister, if Paul had closed doors, you and I are probably going to have some closed doors.
00:38:04.000And 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.
00:38:12.000And 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.
00:38:24.000I encourage you to read the book Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt.
00:38:28.000If you read that, you would say that we should not allow any young lady to have social media on their phone.
00:38:33.000The psychological damage that it is doing.
00:38:36.000And so I encourage you to do one thing.
00:38:38.000I'm not going to tell you to stop using it.
00:38:40.000Find out and track every day how much time did I spend on social media apps.
00:38:45.000If it is more than 20 minutes collectively, then...
00:38:48.000The 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.
00:38:57.000So I hope that's somewhat helpful because it actually might be a source of a lot of the issue.
00:39:43.000When 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.
00:40:12.000Do 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?
00:41:17.000I 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.
00:41:29.000Now let's talk about the demographic in the world.
00:41:34.000What has the highest percentage of followers of Jesus?
00:41:54.000Because 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.
00:42:04.000There is a God who is willing to suffer.
00:42:08.000And enters this world filled with suffering.
00:42:11.000And on my behalf, he sacrifices his life on a cross.
00:42:16.000You see, ma'am, when I stand before a statue of Buddha, it's incredible.
00:43:33.000Hi, 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?
00:43:49.000So 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%.
00:43:59.000I 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.
00:44:13.000And so when it comes to your giving, make sure it's out of that joy rather than a type of obligation.
00:44:21.000Because so often Christians will focus on, I just gotta tithe.
00:44:24.000And they feel guilty if they can't hit the 10% or 12% or 15%.
00:44:28.000But 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.
00:44:37.000So 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.
00:44:45.000And that's not just monetarily, by the way.
00:44:47.000I would also look at that relationally.
00:44:49.000How quickly are you able to forgive somebody because of what Jesus did for you?
00:44:55.000So 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?
00:45:04.000how 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?
00:45:24.000Not 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?
00:47:22.000I want my perfectionistic thinking to say, Oh Cliff, you're a great guy.
00:47:26.000So 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.
00:47:39.000See, that's wrong, because the approval of God is far more important than the approval of my perfectionism.
00:48:21.000I have a buddy that's living a 50-50 life, basically.
00:48:26.000He'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.
00:48:45.000So 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.
00:48:56.000And they said all the other teammates were doing it as well, but calling themselves Christians.
00:49:04.000They said when they started, I'm thinking one specifically, when he started dedicating his life more so to Christ, they just followed.
00:49:12.000And so what's going to speak loudest to your friend is how you live.
00:49:18.000You know, it's preach Christ, use words if necessary.
00:49:26.000So 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.
00:49:44.000He's going to finally find, wow, the light is way more attractive than the darkness.
00:49:49.000Even 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.
00:49:56.000Eventually, the light is always more attractive than the darkness.
00:50:01.000So just hold out hope, correct when you can, but ultimately support him and love him.
00:50:06.000that's going to be more attractive for his own change than just trying to change him by berating him.
00:50:11.000I'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?
00:50:41.000Thanks for your vulnerability and honesty.
00:51:41.000But 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?
00:51:53.000Because 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?
00:52:00.000Why continue to eat three meals a day?
00:52:06.000And David Hume, the great Scottish philosopher, pointed out, do you know that the universe, Doesn't think you matter any more than an oyster.
00:53:44.000Now why on earth are you doing that, Cliff?
00:53:46.000Because I know they're going to go to school at some point.
00:53:49.000And I know they're going to get the snot kicked out of them.
00:53:52.000Because 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.
00:54:00.000And 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.
00:54:51.000You 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.
00:54:59.000The moment that train flips off the tracks, is that a flip to freedom?
00:55:29.000I want to live a life of purpose, the purpose he created me for.
00:55:33.000I 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.
00:55:43.000What do you say to a newly born Christian?
00:58:28.000But there's something about Scripture when it's in your blood.
00:58:30.000blood, 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.
00:58:37.000Firstly, I love y'all I've spent so many nights listening to the wisdom you guys speak.
00:58:48.000And 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.
01:00:26.000He was a post-doc student from England.
01:00:28.000And 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?
01:01:14.000Well, you wouldn't be a student at this school.
01:01:16.000If you weren't living for anything, you were motivated.
01:01:20.000So 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.
01:02:11.000What's the evidence that what you are living for is true.
01:02:13.000I 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.
01:03:11.000You've been really huge for me, especially in the election cycle.
01:03:14.000And I just wanted to ask a question from my non-Christian friend.
01:03:18.000He couldn't be here today, but I'll just quote what he said.
01:03:21.000If 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?
01:04:27.000See, 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.
01:04:38.000No, we're going to be able to recognize each other and it's going to be relational connection.
01:04:43.000We're actually going to be able to have relationships there.
01:04:46.000That's why you were created to love and to be loved.
01:05:44.000I'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?
01:05:57.000If they're standing and feeling a little secure and okay, and if they're obnoxious enough, I like to go after them. .
01:06:09.000And the way I'm most recently going after them is the following.
01:07:43.000And 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.
01:07:58.000And 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.
01:09:10.000My 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.
01:09:46.000You probably just haven't been sleeping enough.
01:09:52.000Or it could be your own neurochemicals in a different way.
01:09:57.000It could be any number of reasons, or it could be the devil tempting you in some sort of way.
01:10:02.000But 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.
01:11:15.000You're not allowed to have that voice.
01:11:17.000But no, Jesus slowly brought Thomas along and then said, stop doubting.
01:11:23.000So allow that voice to ask questions about faith, about Christ.
01:11:28.000For that way, it's going to grow you in the faith.
01:11:30.000But 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.
01:11:51.000Hey 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.
01:12:00.000So, 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.
01:12:15.000So I just wanted to see what you guys thought about, like, how confident we can be.
01:12:19.000As Christians, any scriptures that we do have.
01:12:22.000If anybody ever asks you, why do you trust the Bible to be the Word of God, I wouldn't answer that question.
01:12:27.000I said, I'm not asking you to believe the Bible is the Word of God.
01:12:30.000I could never show you that any book is the Word of God.
01:12:32.000But I can give you evidence that the Gospels are historically reliable.
01:12:36.000I have four tests that I use to determine historicity of any book.
01:12:40.000If you don't like my test, no problem.
01:12:42.000But 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.
01:12:49.000My four tests are internal consistency.
01:12:51.000Are there contradictions within the text?
01:13:57.000No, it's not the way we have the Gospels today.
01:13:59.000The 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.
01:14:11.000Have I shown you the Bible's a word of God?
01:14:19.000Therefore, 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?
01:14:38.000Does the evidence point to him being a quack or the truth?
01:14:56.000I 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.
01:15:06.000And we basically came up with this deal where I go to his church, he goes to my church.
01:15:36.000Go to the parties and understand that there's an ultimate wedding feast waiting for us.
01:15:42.000But 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.
01:15:48.000And so, yes, enter into all of those difficult, awkward situations, environments, and share truth.
01:15:56.000And be willing to put it all on the line for Christ.