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If have a pen or a pencil, I'd like you to write down four numbers for me this morning.

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If you have a pen or pencil, write down four numbers.

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You can open up your Evangelism Simplified Guidebook just right on the front cover.

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Just write down four numbers this morning.

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I want to welcome you to our services.

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It's so good to see a good crowd of brethren with visitors.

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One preacher from Ayuka Church of Christ, our elders sent him here.

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His name is Sam.

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So good to see him with us this morning.

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We may have other visitors as well.

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Write down these four numbers for me too.

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Write down the number two somewhere on that front cover.

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Write down the number two.

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Second number I want you to write down as a zero.

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Write down the number zero somewhere on that front cover.

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And the third number I want you to write down as a six.

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Write down the number six.

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The last number I want you to write down as a nine.

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So you've written down the number two, zero, six, nine.

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And you say, preacher, why am I writing down the numbers 2069?

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Well, that is the year 2069.

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And if the losses we sustained pre-COVID continue post-COVID, by the year 2069, there
isn't gonna be a Church of Christ left.

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But did you realize that in 2016, one of our Christian universities did a study.

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What they wanted to do is find out where we're going, a projection.

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And they needed data.

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So the first piece of data that came back was the demographics.

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They went to 9,500 Christians, members of the Church of Christ only, and they wanted to
find out how old are we.

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So this is what the numbers said in 2016.

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It said in 2016, that's eight years ago, it said that the average age of the Church of
Christ, here it is, two thirds of our membership were over the age of 50.

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That was eight years ago.

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Two thirds of our membership is over the age of 50.

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It said that only

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13 % of our membership is under the age of 30.

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Now, brother, now I want you to put that together.

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So we have a demographic where 60 % of our church members are over the age of 50, only
13%, know, almost 1 10th is under the age of 30.

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What's going to happen to the church of Christ?

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I mean, what does our future look like?

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If we just internalize and rely upon, you know, Christians having children and Christians
moving from one church to another church, it's going to obvious what's going to happen.

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We're never going to make it.

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In fact, if your nation's citizenry was composed of the demographic that I just put up on
our chart, you're a dead nation.

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The only way your nation survives is population replacement.

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Let me explain what that means.

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So we have some European countries that are very close

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to this.

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What they have to do is they have to import people from other countries, younger people,
because they know if they don't do that, they're not going to survive.

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Because this is an ungetoverable, if I can use that word, graphic.

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You cannot survive, so you have to import.

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Well, let me explain what that means in the church.

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That means we have to evangelize.

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If we don't go outside of our churches and bring in people, we will not survive.

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This graphic alone is frightening.

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Do you realize, brethren, in the next 25 years, what's going to happen?

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mean, all you got to do is do math.

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We're going to lose 2 thirds of the church.

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of the church demographic.

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They're gonna fall off the map.

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They're gonna go into eternity.

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They're gonna receive their reward.

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We're gonna be left with what we have remaining.

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And if we don't turn this graphic, if we don't learn how to evangelize, we will fossilize.

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So there could not be a more important focus for the Lord's church.

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Now, I wanna focus this morning on the message of the gospel.

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because there isn't a better, more powerful tool in all the world than the gospel.

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And as our churches are looking for answers, and they are, and our churches are trying to
figure out, you know, how can we grow in a difficult field?

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How can we overcome the challenges that are facing the churches of Christ?

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Many of our churches have turned in a lot of directions to find that solution.

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I wanna show you the gospel solution.

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I wanna focus you on the power of the word of God, because there's something we have this
morning.

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There's something that we hold in our hand that has been the answer for 2000 years.

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And when churches endorse and embrace the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the church
can grow.

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We're never going to be the biggest.

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Jesus said, narrow is the way that leads to life, few there be that find it, but there'll
be a few.

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And brother, a few is better than none.

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And if you're having none, if that's what you look at at the end of the year, we had no
conversions.

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We had almost nobody obey the gospel from the community.

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We're not practicing Matthew seven, because Jesus says there are a few.

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And I promise as you look through Col.

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Gervir, there are a few out here.

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Our job is to find them.

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Our job is to reach them.

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Our job as a church is to bring them to the cross of Christ.

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And you will not bring them to the cross of

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sitting in the pew.

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I want you to look around church.

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Look at your building.

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Look carefully at your church building.

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They're not coming.

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If buildings could bring them, you'd be busting at the seams.

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If a location could bring them, you'd be full.

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If having a nice community upon which to worship could bring them, you would be full.

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Look around, church, it doesn't work.

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The power of growth is the Word of God.

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And this is how, this is the tool, this is the main tool.

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When people call and say, Rob, what can you offer us?

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Brother, if popcorn is what you give the community to bring them, then popcorn and candy
is what you gotta do to keep them.

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It's called popcorn evangelism and many of our churches are trying it.

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What I wanna suggest this morning is we use this book.

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because this is the drawing power of God and it always will be.

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And there are people that can be reached, there are souls that can be saved, and there's
nothing more powerful than the blood of Christ.

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I was standing behind my lectern getting ready for my Bible class one morning and...

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couple walk in, I'd never seen him before, and they made a beeline right at me.

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They got to the lector, he looked at me and said, you're the preacher here?

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I said, yes sir.

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He said, I said, my name's Rob Whitaker.

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said, my name's Richard Pratt, and this is my wife Daisy.

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I said, nice to meet you Mr.

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Pratt, Ms.

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Daisy, and they said, well, preacher, we got a question for you this morning.

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I said, okay.

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I said, what is it?

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They said, we want to know if you just preach the Bible.

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I said, well sir, that's all I preach.

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He said, good.

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He said, the church I stopped going to last week.

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hasn't done it years.

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He said, I'm looking for a church that preaches the Bible.

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I said, you found it.

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I said, I hope you'll enjoy the service.

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So they sat behind my wife and I, my wife and family, and I went through my Bible class,
and I added a few more verses just for them.

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And if a pin could have smoked, hers would have been on fire.

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She wrote down every verse.

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And they're turning their Bibles, trying to find out where I'm at.

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And it was good.

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Went through worship service, same thing.

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I just focus on scripture.

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That's what I always do when I preach.

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This is the center.

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piece of every sermon a gospel preacher should preach." And we finished the worship
service and everybody was very kind and hospitable and I waited my turn and as soon as I

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noticed I had a window I kind of moved in I said, Mr.

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Richard, yes preacher?

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I said, it's my turn now.

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And I said, I got a question for you.

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He said, what is it?

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I said, I want to know if I just preach the Bible.

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He said, man, that's all you preach.

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Haven't heard that much Bible in years.

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I said, I tell you what, I said, we got a little custom here at this church.

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We always take visitors out to eat.

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I said, our treat.

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We'd love to take you and your wife to dinner, get to know you.

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He said, oh man, I'm not going to turn down a free meal.

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Most people won't.

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And so, so any case, we went down the road, got a little cafe and sat around the table and
I'm going to begin.

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strategy.

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You want to know what it is?

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All right, write this down.

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I did not put this in the book because I want you to write it.

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This is what I do with every single person we meet.

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You want to know how I get Bible studies?

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My wife and I have had hundreds of baptisms, Bible studies.

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We've had six at Glencoe this year already.

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My wife and daughter are in a Bible study right now with a lady.

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My wife and I are in a study with two other people.

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All we do is, I love Bible studies.

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People want, how do you get Bible studies here?

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Here it is.

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You ask the introductory questions.

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You just ask your questions.

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You need to learn how to ask questions.

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Stop talking and ask questions.

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All right, question number one.

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I looked at Richard and Daisy.

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I said, Richard and Daisy, where you from?

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And they told me, we're from Vermont.

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I said, well, tell me about Vermont.

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They told me everything there was about Vermont.

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Now Vermont's just a little bit north of Boston.

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There you go.

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We got some folks here from north of Boston, Massachusetts.

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And so you guys know how cold it is in Vermont.

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It's the cheese state, the dairy state.

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Vermont's a little different than Boston.

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their own mind up there.

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He told me all about it.

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And my second question was, Richard and Daisy, what do you do for a living?

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He said, we're loggers.

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I said, loggers?

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I said, well you came to the right place.

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He said, preacher, don't you know that you're in the hardwood capital of the world here at
Macon County?

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He said, well I came down here to make a living.

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He said, I work for one of your elders.

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He said, I'm an independent logger.

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I said, I said, hey, preacher, do you know anything about logging?

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I said, not a lot.

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He said, I'll take you out there and show you how to do it.

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He actually did.

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and he took my whole family out and we learned how to log.

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And it was an educational trip.

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I homeschooled my children so they learned how to become loggers.

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And it took me to a senior in high school to talk my son out of it.

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And he loved it.

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so we were learning how to log.

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My third question I always ask people is what do you enjoy doing?

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I said I'm trying to find commonality.

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And they said we like the outdoors.

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We got horses.

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I said well my wife grew up with horses.

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I grew up with horses.

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I said well kind of horses you got some old paints.

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I said

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I said, they're beautiful horses.

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So we're connected in all the different places.

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And I'm looking, you know, I want a Bible study.

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And I don't start out by saying, do you want to study the Bible?

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Now that is a, that's a killer.

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It's never gonna happen.

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All right, so I start out by just getting to know people.

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And those are the three questions I commonly ask when I meet people.

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They're very, they're designed to get them to talk.

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Now, because Richard came to me and I didn't come to them, I can accelerate the process.

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Remember, they're looking.

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I just didn't find these, they're not random people.

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So I moved from my introductory questions to my transition questions.

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I got three of them.

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I asked the same questions every time.

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I said, hey Richard, I got a question for you.

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What did you think about the Willette Church of Christ this morning?

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He said, I liked it.

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He said, a really nice church.

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People were friendly, kind.

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He said, they made us feel welcome.

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He said, I sure like that Bible preaching.

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I said, I'm glad you liked it, Richard.

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I said, Richard, I said, do you know a lot about the Willette Church of Christ?

225
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He said, I don't know a lot.

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He said, never been to Church Cross before.

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had my first time.

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I said, okay.

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I said, Richard, would you like to know a little bit more about us?

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He said, you know, I really would.

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I said, you know, I just so happened to have, let me see if I have them.

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These are the booklets that are called Back to the Bible.

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And I said, if you have a little time, my wife and I, could maybe talk to you a little bit
about the church.

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He said, well, preacher, that's why I'm here.

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I said, okay, let's go to the house.

236
00:11:55,887 --> 00:11:57,627
We did it the same Sunday.

237
00:11:57,627 --> 00:12:01,467
We went over to the house, sat around the table, and we studied the word of

238
00:12:01,467 --> 00:12:04,108
And we started with back to the Bible, book one, John 832.

239
00:12:04,108 --> 00:12:07,330
You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.

240
00:12:07,330 --> 00:12:08,920
I said, Richard, what sets you free?

241
00:12:08,920 --> 00:12:09,531
said, the truth.

242
00:12:09,531 --> 00:12:10,991
said, put it in the blank.

243
00:12:10,991 --> 00:12:12,432
We're doing a Bible study.

244
00:12:12,432 --> 00:12:14,713
I do not ask for Bible studies.

245
00:12:15,083 --> 00:12:16,194
He asked me.

246
00:12:16,194 --> 00:12:18,475
He said, I want to know more about your church.

247
00:12:18,475 --> 00:12:21,537
Now if I would have asked him, would you like to study the Bible?

248
00:12:21,637 --> 00:12:26,320
And again, that is almost a definite no.

249
00:12:26,521 --> 00:12:28,882
You wait until they're ready.

250
00:12:28,882 --> 00:12:30,743
I ask my transition questions.

251
00:12:30,743 --> 00:12:32,344
They work extremely well.

252
00:12:32,344 --> 00:12:33,204
Now,

253
00:12:33,793 --> 00:12:36,315
We're doing this Bible study and Richard is enjoying it.

254
00:12:36,315 --> 00:12:37,476
Daisy, they're eating it up.

255
00:12:37,476 --> 00:12:39,698
I mean, they're they're talking about the scripture.

256
00:12:39,698 --> 00:12:43,301
They're answering their questions that you can tell they're grasping it.

257
00:12:43,301 --> 00:12:48,125
Daisy said, Richard, she says, I didn't know we weren't under the Old Testament.

258
00:12:48,125 --> 00:12:49,573
He said, I didn't either.

259
00:12:49,573 --> 00:12:51,568
I mean, it's you, the light bulb came on.

260
00:12:51,568 --> 00:12:53,409
We're at the end of the study.

261
00:12:53,409 --> 00:12:56,191
Richard said, preacher, he says, hmm.

262
00:12:56,191 --> 00:12:57,112
He says, I'm sold.

263
00:12:57,112 --> 00:12:58,393
Where do I sign?

264
00:12:58,993 --> 00:12:59,923
Where do you sign?

265
00:12:59,923 --> 00:13:00,534
Sign what?

266
00:13:00,534 --> 00:13:02,755
He said, preacher, where's the paperwork?

267
00:13:03,055 --> 00:13:04,296
The paperwork for what?

268
00:13:04,296 --> 00:13:06,256
He said, you join your church, I'm sold.

269
00:13:06,256 --> 00:13:07,637
Sign me up.

270
00:13:07,817 --> 00:13:10,208
And I said, well, Richard, it doesn't quite work like that.

271
00:13:10,208 --> 00:13:12,559
I said, what we need to do is a second Bible study.

272
00:13:12,559 --> 00:13:15,241
He said, preacher, don't you know when you're made to sell?

273
00:13:15,241 --> 00:13:17,162
He said, I don't need another Bible study.

274
00:13:17,162 --> 00:13:18,942
I just need to sign up.

275
00:13:18,942 --> 00:13:22,124
And I said, well, Richard, I think you do need another study.

276
00:13:22,124 --> 00:13:23,364
There's some things you don't know.

277
00:13:23,364 --> 00:13:28,877
He said, if you think I need another one of these studies, I enjoyed it.

278
00:13:28,877 --> 00:13:29,871
come back.

279
00:13:30,153 --> 00:13:31,853
I said, okay, so we made the appointment.

280
00:13:31,853 --> 00:13:34,914
They came back, we went through study number two, it's the blue booklet.

281
00:13:34,914 --> 00:13:37,895
We went through the Church of Christ, they loved it, they're eating it up.

282
00:13:37,895 --> 00:13:43,137
Daisy looked over at Richard, said, Daisy, Richard, I told you the church we were
attending wasn't right.

283
00:13:43,137 --> 00:13:47,117
In the Bible, you're supposed to have elders and beacons and we didn't have them.

284
00:13:47,138 --> 00:13:49,578
He said, in fact, we had women elders.

285
00:13:49,618 --> 00:13:53,149
And she said, I knew the Bible had a lot to say about that.

286
00:13:53,149 --> 00:13:57,260
They're learning, I don't say a word, we're just reading the Bible.

287
00:13:57,260 --> 00:14:00,149
And we finished the Bible study, Richard worked up,

288
00:14:00,149 --> 00:14:02,553
Daisy's all on board, couldn't be better.

289
00:14:02,553 --> 00:14:06,219
He gets out his pen, gets out his checkbook, he said, preacher, I'm sold.

290
00:14:06,219 --> 00:14:08,041
He said, how much will it cost me?

291
00:14:08,703 --> 00:14:11,548
I said, cost you for what, Richard?

292
00:14:11,548 --> 00:14:13,150
He said, to become a member of this church.

293
00:14:13,150 --> 00:14:14,732
How much money do you want?

294
00:14:14,951 --> 00:14:16,162
I said I want it all.

295
00:14:16,162 --> 00:14:17,802
No, did not say that church.

296
00:14:17,802 --> 00:14:19,163
I did not say that.

297
00:14:19,163 --> 00:14:20,534
said, no, keep your money.

298
00:14:20,534 --> 00:14:21,464
Keep your money.

299
00:14:21,464 --> 00:14:25,106
I said, Richard, said, what we need to do is a third study.

300
00:14:25,106 --> 00:14:26,867
A third study?

301
00:14:26,867 --> 00:14:30,568
He said, preacher, am I that bad a sinner that I need a third Bible study?

302
00:14:30,568 --> 00:14:32,789
I said, well, it's not about your sins.

303
00:14:32,909 --> 00:14:33,850
Actually, it is.

304
00:14:33,850 --> 00:14:36,131
I said, there's one more study we need to have.

305
00:14:36,131 --> 00:14:37,512
said, OK.

306
00:14:37,512 --> 00:14:39,533
So we scheduled a third study.

307
00:14:39,533 --> 00:14:40,733
So they come back.

308
00:14:40,733 --> 00:14:42,234
My wife fixes a meal.

309
00:14:42,234 --> 00:14:44,825
And my daughter dessert.

310
00:14:44,825 --> 00:14:49,318
So we eat our meal, sit around the table, we start the third study.

311
00:14:49,318 --> 00:14:50,359
I loved it.

312
00:14:50,359 --> 00:14:51,840
Couldn't have gone better.

313
00:14:52,021 --> 00:14:54,082
And I always couple a study with food.

314
00:14:54,082 --> 00:14:55,603
I'll talk more about that later.

315
00:14:55,603 --> 00:14:56,824
Food's important.

316
00:14:56,824 --> 00:14:58,806
People relax when they eat.

317
00:14:58,806 --> 00:15:02,769
And so we go through this third study, Richard's getting it.

318
00:15:02,769 --> 00:15:04,590
I mean, you could tell they're on point.

319
00:15:04,590 --> 00:15:07,191
Finally Richard said, preacher, that's enough study.

320
00:15:07,472 --> 00:15:08,283
I said, what's wrong?

321
00:15:08,283 --> 00:15:13,056
He says, Daisy and I need to be baptized, Rob.

322
00:15:13,056 --> 00:15:14,217
I said, I know.

323
00:15:14,485 --> 00:15:16,203
I said, let's go to the baptistry.

324
00:15:16,203 --> 00:15:19,505
We took him to the baptistry, baptized Richard, baptized Daisy into Christ.

325
00:15:19,505 --> 00:15:21,415
Today they're some of our best friends.

326
00:15:21,415 --> 00:15:26,818
In fact, if you'll get busy in evangelism, your family will grow beyond your
comprehension.

327
00:15:26,818 --> 00:15:36,137
In fact, in Thanksgiving and Christmas, our house is full of converts and we love it
because these people are people that have come to know Jesus.

328
00:15:36,137 --> 00:15:39,204
They've been part of our family and they're part of the family of God.

329
00:15:39,204 --> 00:15:46,127
And brethren, if you're not a part of bringing people to Christ, I promise you, you're
missing out on one of the greatest blessings God gives.

330
00:15:46,127 --> 00:15:50,632
I'm convinced one of the biggest mistakes we're making in evangelism is a lack of Bible
study.

331
00:15:50,632 --> 00:15:52,074
We're not studying the Bible.

332
00:15:52,074 --> 00:15:55,738
When's the last time you had a Bible study with anybody that's lost?

333
00:15:55,738 --> 00:15:59,301
A generation's risen in our pews that knows not Bible study.

334
00:15:59,301 --> 00:16:06,148
We literally have little boys growing up in homes and they're never going to see their
father do a Bible study, not once.

335
00:16:09,323 --> 00:16:10,674
Shame on you.

336
00:16:11,196 --> 00:16:13,439
You want to know why your son doesn't know how to do it?

337
00:16:13,439 --> 00:16:15,020
Because you didn't do it.

338
00:16:16,779 --> 00:16:19,250
because you were too busy with your toys.

339
00:16:19,370 --> 00:16:22,971
Because as men, sometimes we get distracted with our hobbies.

340
00:16:23,351 --> 00:16:25,812
And then sometimes our even mothers.

341
00:16:25,812 --> 00:16:30,993
We have little girls growing up and they'll never see their mother bring one person to
Christ.

342
00:16:31,513 --> 00:16:37,855
We have a generation now, two generations in our pews and we don't even know what a Bible
study looks like.

343
00:16:38,295 --> 00:16:40,556
Don't worry though, we've got programs.

344
00:16:40,556 --> 00:16:46,117
We've got more programs in our churches since the days of Peter and Paul.

345
00:16:46,411 --> 00:16:48,342
We have program to death.

346
00:16:48,342 --> 00:16:51,385
We've got more titles for preachers than we've ever had.

347
00:16:51,385 --> 00:16:54,367
We have ministries and programs and titles.

348
00:16:54,367 --> 00:16:56,728
We have the empty nesters program.

349
00:16:56,728 --> 00:17:01,232
So when your children go off to college and you get depressed, we've got a program for
you.

350
00:17:01,232 --> 00:17:03,103
And then we have the Silver Wings program.

351
00:17:03,103 --> 00:17:05,064
When you get to Silver Wings, sir, you need a program.

352
00:17:05,064 --> 00:17:06,535
We don't want to lose you.

353
00:17:06,695 --> 00:17:09,127
And those of you who have advanced A's, don't worry.

354
00:17:09,127 --> 00:17:12,459
We have the Golden Oldies program, the prime timers.

355
00:17:12,459 --> 00:17:14,881
We have Bible Bingo every Friday night.

356
00:17:17,387 --> 00:17:19,018
How's it working for you?

357
00:17:19,518 --> 00:17:20,418
How's it working?

358
00:17:20,418 --> 00:17:21,289
It's not working.

359
00:17:21,289 --> 00:17:22,800
It's not working at all.

360
00:17:22,800 --> 00:17:24,871
We're trying to compete with the community church.

361
00:17:24,871 --> 00:17:26,601
I've got news for you, Collierville.

362
00:17:26,601 --> 00:17:28,002
You're going to lose.

363
00:17:28,802 --> 00:17:30,663
You will never compete with those churches.

364
00:17:30,663 --> 00:17:33,124
They will always out program you.

365
00:17:33,124 --> 00:17:35,025
They have more money than you got.

366
00:17:35,025 --> 00:17:36,446
They have no boundaries.

367
00:17:36,446 --> 00:17:39,117
And they've been at it a lot longer.

368
00:17:39,117 --> 00:17:40,718
They're more experienced than you are.

369
00:17:40,718 --> 00:17:42,769
Let me give you the one thing you got.

370
00:17:42,997 --> 00:17:51,201
Here's the one thing we have, Christians, the one thing that God gave us that the most of
the religious world has abandoned completely.

371
00:17:51,542 --> 00:17:54,223
It's just nothing but window decoration.

372
00:17:54,543 --> 00:17:56,864
We have the power of scripture.

373
00:17:57,445 --> 00:18:02,267
I believe that one of the problems we're facing today is many of our churches have become
inward focused.

374
00:18:02,267 --> 00:18:03,688
It's all about us.

375
00:18:03,688 --> 00:18:05,633
We're always celebrating each other.

376
00:18:05,633 --> 00:18:12,219
We celebrate the youth group, then we celebrate the older group, then we celebrate the,
we're always celebrating people.

377
00:18:12,219 --> 00:18:15,081
And everything we do is on the inside of the building.

378
00:18:15,141 --> 00:18:19,205
But most people have not a clue who we are on the outside of the building.

379
00:18:19,205 --> 00:18:26,891
Most people don't know what we're doing, so we have become professionals at cleaning the
aquarium, and we're terrible fishing for men.

380
00:18:27,332 --> 00:18:28,892
We've got to fix that.

381
00:18:29,674 --> 00:18:30,564
So let me illustrate.

382
00:18:30,564 --> 00:18:33,677
How many Bible studies have you had in the last five years?

383
00:18:35,981 --> 00:18:39,101
Well, Humphreys wrote a book years ago.

384
00:18:39,101 --> 00:18:41,981
He a light in the fire in the Church of Christ, and he made an observation.

385
00:18:41,981 --> 00:18:48,701
The average member of the Church of Christ has sung 20,000 songs in their lifetime.

386
00:18:49,361 --> 00:18:50,001
Now, think about that.

387
00:18:50,001 --> 00:18:53,201
You're going to sing 20,000 songs for the average member of the Church.

388
00:18:53,201 --> 00:18:59,041
You're going to participate in 8,000 public prayers.

389
00:18:59,801 --> 00:19:03,281
You're going to hear 4,000 sermons.

390
00:19:04,331 --> 00:19:09,688
And the average member of the Church of Christ, here you go, will bring zero people to
Christ.

391
00:19:12,555 --> 00:19:16,887
the average member of the Church of Christ brings zero people to Christ.

392
00:19:16,887 --> 00:19:21,189
Brethren, with numbers like that, no wonder we look like we look today.

393
00:19:21,189 --> 00:19:29,932
No wonder, in an average year, three congregations, excuse me, one congregation closes
their door every three days.

394
00:19:30,093 --> 00:19:36,435
Do you realize that 111 churches of Christ close their doors every year?

395
00:19:36,876 --> 00:19:39,557
Did you know that on an average year,

396
00:19:39,681 --> 00:19:48,485
that we are losing 18,541 church members in the United States of How long do you think we
can keep this up?

397
00:19:49,006 --> 00:19:53,188
Brother, we used to number almost 3 million in this country.

398
00:19:53,188 --> 00:19:55,569
We don't even number a million anymore.

399
00:19:59,543 --> 00:20:02,570
So what I want to do this morning is put the Bible back into Bible study.

400
00:20:02,570 --> 00:20:04,444
I'm going to do it with three steps.

401
00:20:04,444 --> 00:20:05,026
You all ready?

402
00:20:05,026 --> 00:20:05,758
Write these down.

403
00:20:05,758 --> 00:20:07,170
Here's your three steps.

404
00:20:07,252 --> 00:20:09,836
Number one, we're going to learn how to...

405
00:20:09,921 --> 00:20:11,742
We gotta learn how to defer questions.

406
00:20:11,742 --> 00:20:13,303
You wanna have a Bible study?

407
00:20:13,303 --> 00:20:15,184
You wanna bring someone to Christ?

408
00:20:15,184 --> 00:20:19,305
You wanna help bring, maybe you don't do the study, but you bring a neighbor.

409
00:20:19,305 --> 00:20:20,496
You wanna learn how to do it?

410
00:20:20,496 --> 00:20:24,408
The first thing you gotta learn is stop answering their questions.

411
00:20:24,408 --> 00:20:26,689
Defer every question they ask.

412
00:20:26,689 --> 00:20:30,811
Those are traps, they're landmines, they're rabbits.

413
00:20:30,811 --> 00:20:33,552
And the more you chase the rabbit, the worse it gets.

414
00:20:33,552 --> 00:20:39,855
And so when your neighbor or your coworker or your friend or family member start asking
you Bible questions,

415
00:20:39,855 --> 00:20:42,129
Do not answer them!

416
00:20:42,741 --> 00:20:48,303
Because what's happening is that you're chasing a rabbit and you're never going to the
cross.

417
00:20:48,303 --> 00:20:49,924
You're going away from the cross.

418
00:20:49,924 --> 00:20:52,765
Stop answering all their questions on the tongue speaking.

419
00:20:52,765 --> 00:20:56,487
You don't bring people to Christ by answering questions on the tongue speaking.

420
00:20:56,487 --> 00:20:58,747
Stop answering their questions on the miracles.

421
00:20:58,747 --> 00:21:02,209
You don't bring people to Christ answering questions about the miracles.

422
00:21:02,209 --> 00:21:08,972
Stop answering questions about 666, Armageddon, the Battle of Magedda, the Thousand Year
Reign, the Book of Revelation.

423
00:21:08,972 --> 00:21:10,863
Brethren, you're chasing rabbits.

424
00:21:10,863 --> 00:21:11,853
Stop.

425
00:21:12,545 --> 00:21:14,246
That's not a Bible study.

426
00:21:14,256 --> 00:21:17,846
but Robin, 1 Peter 3.15, it says, be ready always to give an answer.

427
00:21:17,846 --> 00:21:20,108
It says to be ready to give an answer.

428
00:21:20,108 --> 00:21:21,829
It doesn't say to give it.

429
00:21:23,130 --> 00:21:24,671
Stop giving it.

430
00:21:24,671 --> 00:21:28,652
Because when we give it, what happens is there's no Bible study.

431
00:21:28,652 --> 00:21:31,454
I don't want to sit there and talk about the Battle of Megiddo.

432
00:21:31,454 --> 00:21:32,454
Do you?

433
00:21:32,674 --> 00:21:34,715
I want to talk about the cross.

434
00:21:34,715 --> 00:21:36,696
I want to talk about salvation.

435
00:21:36,696 --> 00:21:39,137
I want to talk about the Church of Christ.

436
00:21:39,595 --> 00:21:43,706
We're not talking about the Church of Christ, we're too busy talking about everything
else.

437
00:21:44,647 --> 00:21:47,377
So don't answer the questions, defer the questions.

438
00:21:47,377 --> 00:21:49,108
They're not asking you the right question.

439
00:21:49,108 --> 00:21:51,569
And by the way, they're not ready for the answer.

440
00:21:51,569 --> 00:21:57,450
John 16, 12, Jesus says, I have yet many things to say unto you, but you can't bear them
now.

441
00:21:57,471 --> 00:21:59,551
He said that to the disciples.

442
00:21:59,551 --> 00:22:05,723
If the disciples could not understand the answer, what about the people we're around?

443
00:22:07,725 --> 00:22:10,965
So I'm sitting in the living room of Jackie and Sheila Birdwell.

444
00:22:10,985 --> 00:22:16,365
And Sheila Birdwell looks at me and she says, well, preacher, I sure do have questions for
you.

445
00:22:16,365 --> 00:22:17,805
I said, ask anything you want.

446
00:22:17,805 --> 00:22:21,485
She said, well, I want to know why you guys don't believe in music.

447
00:22:22,485 --> 00:22:24,205
But that's a pretty good question.

448
00:22:24,545 --> 00:22:26,603
And I said, that's a common question.

449
00:22:26,603 --> 00:22:30,155
And I looked at Sheila, and I'm gonna practice my principle to fore-don't debate.

450
00:22:30,155 --> 00:22:32,296
First time in my life I've ever done this.

451
00:22:32,296 --> 00:22:35,667
I looked at Sheila, I said, Sheila, that's a good question you just asked.

452
00:22:35,667 --> 00:22:38,258
I said, I assume you guys have music in your church.

453
00:22:38,258 --> 00:22:39,719
Well, of course we do.

454
00:22:39,779 --> 00:22:40,720
I said, well.

455
00:22:40,720 --> 00:22:42,310
I said, what kind of music do you have?

456
00:22:42,310 --> 00:22:44,922
Well, we have a, sing and we have an organ.

457
00:22:44,922 --> 00:22:45,842
I said, you got a band?

458
00:22:45,842 --> 00:22:47,663
We don't believe in bands.

459
00:22:47,663 --> 00:22:48,643
I said, okay.

460
00:22:48,643 --> 00:22:49,864
I said, organ's fine.

461
00:22:49,864 --> 00:22:52,025
I said, tell me about you ever play nothing but the blood?

462
00:22:52,025 --> 00:22:54,386
Well, I guess, of course we play nothing but the blood.

463
00:22:54,386 --> 00:22:56,487
I said, you ever play Amazing Grace?

464
00:22:56,527 --> 00:22:58,348
Amazing grace, I said, I do too.

465
00:22:58,348 --> 00:23:00,149
I said, when y'all sing, does everybody sing?

466
00:23:00,149 --> 00:23:01,490
Well, we're supposed to.

467
00:23:01,490 --> 00:23:02,611
I said, would you got a choir?

468
00:23:02,611 --> 00:23:04,652
We don't believe in choirs.

469
00:23:05,093 --> 00:23:05,973
I said, okay.

470
00:23:05,973 --> 00:23:08,195
I said, how many songs y'all normally sing?

471
00:23:08,195 --> 00:23:09,815
Why do you sing?

472
00:23:10,216 --> 00:23:12,197
I'm not answering the question in mind.

473
00:23:12,598 --> 00:23:18,982
Brethren, I am not going to lead her to Christ getting into a debate over instrumental
music.

474
00:23:18,982 --> 00:23:20,963
It will not work.

475
00:23:20,963 --> 00:23:24,265
I will win the argument and I know how to win an argument.

476
00:23:24,337 --> 00:23:28,600
If I need to win an argument over instrumental music, I am perfectly capable of doing it.

477
00:23:28,600 --> 00:23:29,840
The Greek word is solo.

478
00:23:29,840 --> 00:23:31,231
You want to know what Reinacher says?

479
00:23:31,231 --> 00:23:32,042
Bauer says?

480
00:23:32,042 --> 00:23:32,732
Thayer says?

481
00:23:32,732 --> 00:23:33,883
I've got it memorized.

482
00:23:33,883 --> 00:23:37,235
I know all seven verses where the word is used in the New Testament.

483
00:23:37,235 --> 00:23:38,345
I've got to memorize.

484
00:23:38,345 --> 00:23:42,047
And if I need to make my syllogism and win the argument, I'll do it.

485
00:23:43,148 --> 00:23:44,949
I'll lose the Bible study.

486
00:23:45,741 --> 00:23:49,721
because you can win the argument and lose the soul and I've done it many times.

487
00:23:49,721 --> 00:23:52,301
Now let's find out how Jesus did it.

488
00:23:52,301 --> 00:23:54,101
Y'all like to know how he would do it?

489
00:23:54,101 --> 00:23:55,201
Let's go to Luke 10.

490
00:23:55,201 --> 00:23:56,701
Everybody go to Luke chapter 10.

491
00:23:56,701 --> 00:23:58,601
In Luke chapter 10.

492
00:23:58,601 --> 00:24:04,461
Luke chapter 10, so I want to be like Jesus and I know that arguing with people is not
working very well.

493
00:24:04,461 --> 00:24:09,221
And so I want to be more effective and so I'm gonna try to do what he would do.

494
00:24:09,221 --> 00:24:11,781
So let's go to Luke 10 and let's give an example.

495
00:24:11,781 --> 00:24:13,241
Luke 10, 25.

496
00:24:13,241 --> 00:24:15,935
And behold a certain lawyer stood up and tempted him

497
00:24:15,935 --> 00:24:20,381
tempted him saying, Master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?

498
00:24:20,381 --> 00:24:22,404
And that's a pretty good question.

499
00:24:22,404 --> 00:24:28,872
That's a pointed question, but the observation is, what did Jesus do with this question?

500
00:24:29,345 --> 00:24:30,165
Did he answer it?

501
00:24:30,165 --> 00:24:32,667
And the answer is no, he did not.

502
00:24:32,667 --> 00:24:42,571
And what I discovered as I learned and I dug into these Bible studies that Jesus did is
that Jesus does not answer questions.

503
00:24:42,591 --> 00:24:46,313
Now, I want to take you to another, we're gonna come back to Matthew Luke 10.

504
00:24:46,313 --> 00:24:47,604
That's gonna be our cortex.

505
00:24:47,604 --> 00:24:51,055
I'm just gonna introduce it, but I want to share with you some other passages.

506
00:24:51,055 --> 00:24:52,016
Go to Matthew 21.

507
00:24:52,016 --> 00:24:55,497
And let's look at why doesn't Jesus answer questions?

508
00:24:55,497 --> 00:24:56,998
Why doesn't he just give answers?

509
00:24:56,998 --> 00:24:57,778
Because he doesn't.

510
00:24:57,778 --> 00:24:59,779
He does not give answers to questions.

511
00:24:59,960 --> 00:25:01,681
Matthew 21 explains it.

512
00:25:01,681 --> 00:25:06,904
And when he was come into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came
to him as he was teaching.

513
00:25:06,904 --> 00:25:15,269
And they said, Jesus, by what authority doest thou these things who gave you this
authority?

514
00:25:15,650 --> 00:25:17,121
Pretty good question, right?

515
00:25:17,121 --> 00:25:18,272
I like that question.

516
00:25:18,272 --> 00:25:23,775
And Jesus noticed Jesus answered and said to them, hmm, I will also ask you one thing.

517
00:25:23,775 --> 00:25:26,437
If you answer my question, I'll answer yours.

518
00:25:28,289 --> 00:25:29,451
Did you hear that?

519
00:25:29,451 --> 00:25:31,172
I want you to look at what he did.

520
00:25:31,193 --> 00:25:32,875
He says, great question.

521
00:25:32,875 --> 00:25:35,938
He says, in fact, but I've got a question for you.

522
00:25:35,938 --> 00:25:38,400
If you answer my question, I'll answer yours.

523
00:25:38,581 --> 00:25:42,165
Now, the baptism of John, whence was it from heaven or men?

524
00:25:42,507 --> 00:25:43,907
and they reasoned among themselves.

525
00:25:43,907 --> 00:25:46,378
I'd circle that word reason, because that's what he wanted.

526
00:25:46,378 --> 00:25:47,659
He just wants them to think.

527
00:25:47,659 --> 00:25:50,239
He does not want them to regurgitate talking points.

528
00:25:50,239 --> 00:25:52,480
He does not want them to tell them what the pastor said.

529
00:25:52,480 --> 00:25:54,160
He doesn't want to give them their opinion.

530
00:25:54,160 --> 00:25:56,531
He wants them to think and their reasoning.

531
00:25:56,531 --> 00:25:57,581
And that's what we all want.

532
00:25:57,581 --> 00:25:59,022
We want people to think.

533
00:25:59,022 --> 00:26:03,063
Because if people will think about the scriptures, they'll find the truth.

534
00:26:03,103 --> 00:26:04,783
You got to get them thinking.

535
00:26:04,984 --> 00:26:08,535
And so the Bible says they reasoned among themselves.

536
00:26:08,535 --> 00:26:09,685
Say if we say,

537
00:26:10,325 --> 00:26:13,247
When we say of heaven, he'll say, why did you not believe then?

538
00:26:13,267 --> 00:26:19,392
If we say of men, we fear the people, they all hold John as a prophet, Jesus, we can't
tell you the answer to that question.

539
00:26:19,392 --> 00:26:23,695
And notice what Jesus says, and this is powerful stuff.

540
00:26:23,695 --> 00:26:29,239
Jesus said, neither do I tell you by what authority I do these things.

541
00:26:29,239 --> 00:26:31,531
I'm not answering your question.

542
00:26:31,531 --> 00:26:32,611
Wow.

543
00:26:32,611 --> 00:26:35,333
Let's be honest, church.

544
00:26:35,333 --> 00:26:37,665
Everybody here be honest.

545
00:26:37,717 --> 00:26:42,121
If someone came to you and asked you that religious question, would you have answered the
question?

546
00:26:42,302 --> 00:26:44,084
And the answer is I would have.

547
00:26:44,084 --> 00:26:46,346
I don't know about you brother, but I would have done it.

548
00:26:46,346 --> 00:26:49,149
I would have given him an answer because that's what I'm supposed to do.

549
00:26:49,149 --> 00:26:54,935
I give him Bible answers to Bible questions, I've heard that all my life, but Jesus didn't
do that.

550
00:26:54,935 --> 00:26:56,716
He doesn't give an answer.

551
00:26:57,983 --> 00:27:01,395
I started to think to myself, maybe there's something to this.

552
00:27:01,395 --> 00:27:03,716
So I did a little study, here's what I found out.

553
00:27:03,716 --> 00:27:07,538
Jesus was asked 183 questions in his life.

554
00:27:07,538 --> 00:27:08,758
Now I bet you didn't know that.

555
00:27:08,758 --> 00:27:12,340
That's how many total questions were asked to Jesus in his lifetime.

556
00:27:12,340 --> 00:27:18,702
Now I went a step further and then I asked this question, how many of those 183 questions
do think he answered?

557
00:27:20,684 --> 00:27:23,745
He answers three, just three, his entire life.

558
00:27:24,415 --> 00:27:29,270
And those are three very unique questions and answers.

559
00:27:29,270 --> 00:27:30,832
But he only answers three.

560
00:27:30,832 --> 00:27:32,432
That's something.

561
00:27:32,432 --> 00:27:35,706
Because when I look at my religious life, I answer all questions.

562
00:27:35,706 --> 00:27:37,779
I'm nowhere near Jesus here.

563
00:27:37,779 --> 00:27:40,185
But you know he asked 307?

564
00:27:41,085 --> 00:27:43,746
He has 307 questions in his lifetime.

565
00:27:43,746 --> 00:27:47,508
So started to tell me something about Jesus and how he teaches people.

566
00:27:47,508 --> 00:27:52,651
And then I thought to myself, I wonder if there's some consistency here in scripture.

567
00:27:52,651 --> 00:27:57,933
And let's go back to the beginning, Genesis chapter three, the very first question.

568
00:27:57,933 --> 00:28:02,035
And the Lord God called unto Adam and said, Adam, where are you?

569
00:28:02,075 --> 00:28:04,516
Do you think God had lost Adam, anybody?

570
00:28:05,317 --> 00:28:07,578
I don't know where Adam is, can't seem to find him.

571
00:28:07,578 --> 00:28:09,758
God knew exactly where Adam was.

572
00:28:10,669 --> 00:28:13,620
teach Adam and when you teach people what do you do?

573
00:28:13,620 --> 00:28:14,730
You ask questions.

574
00:28:14,730 --> 00:28:15,880
Let's go to chapter four.

575
00:28:15,880 --> 00:28:19,581
And the Lord God said to Cain, Cain where is Abel your brother?

576
00:28:19,581 --> 00:28:21,381
God knew exactly where Abel was.

577
00:28:21,381 --> 00:28:23,202
The blood of Abel cried from the ground.

578
00:28:23,202 --> 00:28:27,483
God knew exactly what had happened but he asks questions.

579
00:28:27,483 --> 00:28:28,983
That's how he teaches.

580
00:28:30,624 --> 00:28:32,224
Fascinating isn't it?

581
00:28:32,404 --> 00:28:33,534
I never realized that.

582
00:28:33,534 --> 00:28:37,025
You know what we call that in the, I don't know, scholastic world?

583
00:28:37,025 --> 00:28:40,932
There's a term for this if you're in the scholastic world.

584
00:28:40,932 --> 00:28:43,335
They call this the Socratic method.

585
00:28:43,335 --> 00:28:45,649
They claim that Socrates originated it.

586
00:28:45,649 --> 00:28:49,484
I would disagree because he got it from God.

587
00:28:49,761 --> 00:28:52,904
God has been teaching like this since creation.

588
00:28:52,904 --> 00:28:53,935
You want more evidence?

589
00:28:53,935 --> 00:28:55,767
Let's go here to Mark 10 and 17.

590
00:28:55,767 --> 00:29:03,914
When he was gone forth into the way, there came one running and wept to him and said, good
master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?

591
00:29:03,914 --> 00:29:07,296
I can't think of a better question than that, can you?

592
00:29:07,577 --> 00:29:09,578
What does Jesus do with that question?

593
00:29:10,440 --> 00:29:11,840
He doesn't answer it.

594
00:29:12,281 --> 00:29:14,463
He said, why'd you call me good?

595
00:29:16,065 --> 00:29:16,985
Wow.

596
00:29:17,355 --> 00:29:19,347
Now things started coming together for me.

597
00:29:19,347 --> 00:29:23,550
I said, you know, one of the mistakes I've been making is I've been answering all their
questions.

598
00:29:23,550 --> 00:29:25,091
I'm not going to do it anymore.

599
00:29:25,091 --> 00:29:29,794
So I sat in that living room and Sheila Bergwold said, Rob, I want to know why you believe
in music.

600
00:29:29,794 --> 00:29:31,115
I didn't answer it.

601
00:29:31,215 --> 00:29:32,776
I deferred the question.

602
00:29:32,896 --> 00:29:35,018
I took the question and became very conversational.

603
00:29:35,018 --> 00:29:36,159
I'm not rude.

604
00:29:36,159 --> 00:29:37,380
I didn't ignore her.

605
00:29:37,380 --> 00:29:40,462
I just had a conversation with her about the question.

606
00:29:40,462 --> 00:29:41,942
And she enjoyed it.

607
00:29:42,023 --> 00:29:45,045
She doesn't even realize I'm not answering the question.

608
00:29:45,165 --> 00:29:52,805
And so for years I would have set my syllogism up, got my Greek words out, and made my
debate, and I would have won.

609
00:29:53,725 --> 00:29:55,285
I'd have lost soul.

610
00:29:56,285 --> 00:29:57,405
Doesn't work.

611
00:29:57,725 --> 00:29:59,725
I need to be more like Jesus.

612
00:29:59,825 --> 00:30:02,125
Now, write this down.

613
00:30:02,125 --> 00:30:05,305
This is the theme or the conclusion of step one.

614
00:30:05,305 --> 00:30:07,685
Step one, here's your conclusion statement.

615
00:30:07,853 --> 00:30:11,775
All right, he who asks the question controls the study.

616
00:30:11,775 --> 00:30:13,136
That's what I've learned.

617
00:30:13,136 --> 00:30:16,478
If you're the one asking questions, you're in control of the study.

618
00:30:16,478 --> 00:30:20,800
If you're fielding the questions and answering the questions, they're in control.

619
00:30:20,800 --> 00:30:26,083
Why would you let someone who doesn't even know what they need to do to become a Christian
control the study?

620
00:30:26,083 --> 00:30:26,593
Why?

621
00:30:26,593 --> 00:30:30,125
Well, we should never allow that to happen.

622
00:30:30,125 --> 00:30:33,006
You should be the one asking the questions, not them.

623
00:30:34,427 --> 00:30:37,609
Mothers, how do you teach your children answer all the questions?

624
00:30:38,189 --> 00:30:39,729
No, you don't do that.

625
00:30:39,729 --> 00:30:45,989
So when they come to you, Eddie, and one of your little boys, years ago said, mama, in
this math sheet, what's two plus three?

626
00:30:45,989 --> 00:30:46,929
What do you say?

627
00:30:46,929 --> 00:30:47,589
That's five.

628
00:30:47,589 --> 00:30:49,049
Go back to your, no.

629
00:30:49,049 --> 00:30:50,629
You said bring the blocks.

630
00:30:50,629 --> 00:30:53,389
Put out a little pile of two, put a pile of three, put them together.

631
00:30:53,389 --> 00:30:54,449
How many blocks you got?

632
00:30:54,449 --> 00:30:55,959
I got five, mama.

633
00:30:55,959 --> 00:30:57,410
You're asking questions, aren't you?

634
00:30:57,410 --> 00:30:59,092
You're not telling them it's five.

635
00:30:59,092 --> 00:31:00,993
You're asking questions.

636
00:31:00,993 --> 00:31:02,084
Put the blocks together.

637
00:31:02,084 --> 00:31:02,935
Count your blocks.

638
00:31:02,935 --> 00:31:03,565
How many blocks?

639
00:31:03,565 --> 00:31:08,880
You're helping them develop reasoning skills so they can think through the process, right?

640
00:31:08,880 --> 00:31:10,441
That's what we're doing here.

641
00:31:10,441 --> 00:31:16,225
I don't know how we can get this with five-year-olds, but we can't get it in the church.

642
00:31:17,186 --> 00:31:19,508
Stop answering their questions.

643
00:31:19,788 --> 00:31:21,089
Make them think.

644
00:31:21,943 --> 00:31:25,391
Step number two, we've got to learn to show them and not tell them.

645
00:31:25,391 --> 00:31:27,765
Don't tell them the answers.

646
00:31:27,767 --> 00:31:28,968
Show them.

647
00:31:29,170 --> 00:31:30,472
Show them.

648
00:31:30,713 --> 00:31:37,018
Hi, and so when Sheila Birdwell, I was in the living room, she said, well, preacher, I do
have another question for you.

649
00:31:37,018 --> 00:31:37,918
I said, what is it?

650
00:31:37,918 --> 00:31:41,601
She says, aren't you that church that believes you're the only ones going to heaven?

651
00:31:41,601 --> 00:31:43,201
How many of you heard that before?

652
00:31:43,222 --> 00:31:44,483
That's a classic.

653
00:31:44,483 --> 00:31:46,593
I said, I looked at Sheila.

654
00:31:46,593 --> 00:31:48,696
said, now, Sheila, I said, that's a good question.

655
00:31:48,696 --> 00:31:53,749
I said, in fact, if I was in your shoes and I believed that about you, I'd ask it.

656
00:31:53,749 --> 00:31:59,125
I said, Sheila, I said, you know, it really doesn't make a whole lot of a...

657
00:31:59,125 --> 00:32:02,067
It doesn't make a lot of difference really what I think.

658
00:32:02,067 --> 00:32:04,930
I said, can I show you the answer?

659
00:32:04,930 --> 00:32:06,225
She said, show me.

660
00:32:06,225 --> 00:32:07,332
I said, what do mean?

661
00:32:07,332 --> 00:32:11,755
I said, well, I'd open the Bible, you'd read some passages, and you'd tell me the answer
to the question.

662
00:32:11,755 --> 00:32:14,297
Preacher, are you trying to do a Bible study with me?

663
00:32:14,297 --> 00:32:19,361
I said, you call it whatever you want to, Sheila, but I'm not gonna give you the answer,
because what I say don't matter.

664
00:32:21,473 --> 00:32:22,933
Luke 10.25, go back to your text.

665
00:32:22,933 --> 00:32:24,095
We're going to study this together.

666
00:32:24,095 --> 00:32:27,318
Luke 10.25, everything I'm going to give you, I get right out of the Bible.

667
00:32:27,318 --> 00:32:29,320
So I didn't read a self-help book.

668
00:32:29,320 --> 00:32:30,731
I didn't go down here and read Dr.

669
00:32:30,731 --> 00:32:31,342
Spock.

670
00:32:31,342 --> 00:32:33,223
I didn't go out here and read Dr.

671
00:32:33,223 --> 00:32:34,104
Phil.

672
00:32:34,104 --> 00:32:39,589
I'm going to go to the greatest doctor, the greatest counselor, the greatest evangelist,
whoever's lived.

673
00:32:39,589 --> 00:32:42,491
And I'm going to ask him, how did you do that?

674
00:32:42,512 --> 00:32:43,993
And I will mimic you.

675
00:32:44,321 --> 00:32:45,344
And here's what he did.

676
00:32:45,344 --> 00:32:51,120
And behold, a certain lawyer stood up tempting him, saying, Master, what shall I do to
inherit eternal life?

677
00:32:51,120 --> 00:32:53,269
And Jesus said, How?

678
00:32:53,269 --> 00:32:54,830
What is written?

679
00:32:54,830 --> 00:32:55,850
What's written?

680
00:32:55,850 --> 00:32:57,691
Just go to the book and read it.

681
00:32:58,231 --> 00:32:59,472
Jesus, give me the answer.

682
00:32:59,472 --> 00:33:00,993
says, no, I'll let you read it.

683
00:33:00,993 --> 00:33:02,613
What's written in the law?

684
00:33:02,613 --> 00:33:03,754
Go to the book.

685
00:33:03,754 --> 00:33:05,275
Go to the law of God.

686
00:33:05,275 --> 00:33:08,356
And whenever you find that law says, that's what I believe.

687
00:33:08,356 --> 00:33:10,197
He said, I want you to read it.

688
00:33:10,197 --> 00:33:11,658
How readest thou?

689
00:33:11,658 --> 00:33:13,679
Brethren, here's what people need today.

690
00:33:13,679 --> 00:33:16,280
We need people reading the word of God.

691
00:33:16,280 --> 00:33:19,421
If people will read the word of God, they'll be converted.

692
00:33:19,421 --> 00:33:21,042
Stop telling them the answer.

693
00:33:21,042 --> 00:33:23,183
You don't have the power, God does.

694
00:33:23,183 --> 00:33:26,425
You tell people what they need to do, it doesn't carry a lot of weight.

695
00:33:26,425 --> 00:33:32,689
But when they read the word of God, it doesn't sit as well.

696
00:33:32,689 --> 00:33:34,450
It stirs their spirit.

697
00:33:34,450 --> 00:33:36,211
They struggle to sleep.

698
00:33:36,211 --> 00:33:41,235
In fact, it causes you to have sleepless nights because you're wrestling with scripture.

699
00:33:41,235 --> 00:33:44,776
You won't wrestle long with God as Jacob you'll lose.

700
00:33:47,297 --> 00:33:49,342
You see, God will wear you down.

701
00:33:49,424 --> 00:33:51,049
God has power you don't have.

702
00:33:51,049 --> 00:33:55,251
And one of the mistakes we make is that we try to, you know, we try to, you know.

703
00:33:55,251 --> 00:33:59,343
have a greater will, a greater capacity for argumentation.

704
00:33:59,343 --> 00:34:04,425
We try to be more persuasive than they are and kind of get them into the baptistry.

705
00:34:04,425 --> 00:34:06,346
And it doesn't stick.

706
00:34:06,346 --> 00:34:07,386
It doesn't work.

707
00:34:07,386 --> 00:34:15,030
And what we need to do is use the power of the word of God because this book has power by
the words of the Lord where the heavens made by the breath of his mouth.

708
00:34:15,030 --> 00:34:18,671
Brethren, he spoke this world into existence.

709
00:34:18,671 --> 00:34:22,493
Don't you think he's got the power to convict the sinner?

710
00:34:27,361 --> 00:34:33,183
Psalm 119, 104, through thy precepts I gain understanding, therefore I hate every false
way.

711
00:34:33,444 --> 00:34:39,486
We don't need, brethren, let's just be honest this morning, let's have a conversation
here.

712
00:34:41,727 --> 00:34:44,488
We don't need any more coffee bars in the church.

713
00:34:45,649 --> 00:34:48,570
We don't need another Starbucks in our building.

714
00:34:48,930 --> 00:34:54,993
We do not need to put popcorn machines inside the church building to get them to come.

715
00:34:55,413 --> 00:34:59,475
We don't need to turn the church into some type of theatrical performance.

716
00:34:59,475 --> 00:35:03,756
We have preachers that are more like presenters and they're preachers.

717
00:35:03,837 --> 00:35:07,198
Song leaders that are showmen.

718
00:35:07,879 --> 00:35:10,820
We don't need to turn our churches into circuses.

719
00:35:11,140 --> 00:35:12,390
That's not how you grow.

720
00:35:12,390 --> 00:35:15,602
Through that precepts I get understanding.

721
00:35:15,602 --> 00:35:18,543
Therefore I hate every false way.

722
00:35:18,543 --> 00:35:22,625
We don't have to become the next community church to grow.

723
00:35:23,605 --> 00:35:29,028
Growth can happen by faithfulness to God because his word is the power to save.

724
00:35:29,028 --> 00:35:30,939
Last point I'm gonna make this morning, y'all ready?

725
00:35:30,939 --> 00:35:32,869
Last point, only have three.

726
00:35:32,870 --> 00:35:34,210
Plant don't pick.

727
00:35:34,210 --> 00:35:36,431
Stop picking, stop planting.

728
00:35:37,112 --> 00:35:39,153
How is the world's worst picker?

729
00:35:39,153 --> 00:35:41,825
Behold a certain lawyer stood up and tempted him.

730
00:35:41,825 --> 00:35:46,156
I mean this lawyer is, he's got a lot of nerve, doesn't he?

731
00:35:46,236 --> 00:35:48,237
He's tempting the son of God.

732
00:35:48,533 --> 00:35:54,256
I don't know about you, but that lawyer, mean, to come up to the Son of God and tempt him?

733
00:35:54,256 --> 00:36:01,000
And then this lawyer, he's arrogant, he's prideful.

734
00:36:01,540 --> 00:36:03,041
He thinks he's got all the answers.

735
00:36:03,041 --> 00:36:04,661
In fact, you might call him a ringer.

736
00:36:04,661 --> 00:36:07,904
They brought him here, they brought him in to show up the Lord.

737
00:36:07,904 --> 00:36:14,927
And he's willing to justify himself, to make himself look like something he wasn't, to
prop himself up.

738
00:36:15,268 --> 00:36:17,789
He looks at the Son of God and he says, well,

739
00:36:17,943 --> 00:36:19,233
Who is my neighbor?

740
00:36:19,593 --> 00:36:21,154
He thinks he's got him.

741
00:36:21,294 --> 00:36:24,593
He thinks, boy, I've got Jesus now, got him on the run.

742
00:36:26,275 --> 00:36:27,956
Jesus knew his heart.

743
00:36:27,956 --> 00:36:33,147
I don't know this man's heart, but Jesus did, and the heart is as rotten as an apple.

744
00:36:33,147 --> 00:36:34,538
It could be more rotten.

745
00:36:34,538 --> 00:36:40,759
And Jesus looks at, what does Jesus do with this man who has sinister motives?

746
00:36:41,559 --> 00:36:44,600
What does he do with him when he asks him this question?

747
00:36:45,180 --> 00:36:47,565
Does he dust his shoes off and go to the next one?

748
00:36:47,565 --> 00:36:48,605
Because that's what I did.

749
00:36:48,605 --> 00:36:51,405
I said, yeah, you can't reach people like this.

750
00:36:51,405 --> 00:36:53,225
Hey, you can't reach lawyers.

751
00:36:53,225 --> 00:36:54,885
This guy's not honest.

752
00:36:54,885 --> 00:36:56,184
You know what he did?

753
00:36:56,305 --> 00:36:59,725
Jesus taught him the parable of the Good Samaritan.

754
00:37:00,265 --> 00:37:02,465
And he asked him a lot of questions.

755
00:37:04,253 --> 00:37:11,521
I want to tell you something that happened when I was studying about how to be a better
evangelist and I read that, that cut me to my heart.

756
00:37:11,521 --> 00:37:12,362
You know why?

757
00:37:12,362 --> 00:37:14,324
Because I wouldn't have done what he did.

758
00:37:14,965 --> 00:37:16,927
I would never have tried to teach that man.

759
00:37:16,927 --> 00:37:17,928
I would have given up.

760
00:37:17,928 --> 00:37:19,420
I said, you can't reach them people.

761
00:37:19,420 --> 00:37:20,631
Just don't give it.

762
00:37:20,631 --> 00:37:22,272
Don't waste your time.

763
00:37:22,285 --> 00:37:25,245
I would have picked but Jesus planted.

764
00:37:25,345 --> 00:37:32,245
Luke 8 and 15, that on the good ground are they which have an honest and good heart,
having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth forth with patience.

765
00:37:32,265 --> 00:37:35,825
But we're supposed to be out there teaching and finding the good ground.

766
00:37:35,825 --> 00:37:37,905
How do you find the good ground?

767
00:37:38,785 --> 00:37:40,725
I'll tell you how I found that out.

768
00:37:41,151 --> 00:37:50,075
I was at a church, they'd ask me, I was still full-time preaching, and they said, Rob, can
you bring some people over and teach us how to do what you guys are doing?

769
00:37:50,075 --> 00:37:52,506
Y'all are growing, we want to grow too.

770
00:37:52,506 --> 00:37:53,767
I said, I'd be glad to.

771
00:37:53,767 --> 00:38:06,003
So I got together a group of brethren, and most of our youth group and parents, I went
over to this big church in East Tennessee, and got there, and the elder said, Rob, on into

772
00:38:06,003 --> 00:38:06,953
the meeting room.

773
00:38:06,953 --> 00:38:09,797
So I walked in, this is a deacon of evangelism.

774
00:38:09,797 --> 00:38:11,055
Well, I love deacons.

775
00:38:11,055 --> 00:38:12,036
I said, this is great.

776
00:38:12,036 --> 00:38:14,057
And the deacon brought out the map.

777
00:38:14,458 --> 00:38:16,179
He quadrant off the map.

778
00:38:16,179 --> 00:38:18,621
And he started talking about the community.

779
00:38:18,621 --> 00:38:21,223
He said, now, preacher, we're going to send you to quadrant one.

780
00:38:21,223 --> 00:38:22,474
I said, well, why quadrant?

781
00:38:22,474 --> 00:38:24,165
He said, those people are just like us.

782
00:38:24,165 --> 00:38:29,289
He said, if we could fill this building with quadrant one, this church would take off and
grow.

783
00:38:29,289 --> 00:38:30,980
Preacher, we really need quadrant.

784
00:38:30,980 --> 00:38:35,854
He said, preacher, we really think that your talents would be suited good for quadrant
one.

785
00:38:35,854 --> 00:38:39,076
I could not help myself because there's an X on quadrant four.

786
00:38:40,725 --> 00:38:41,466
Yes, preacher.

787
00:38:41,466 --> 00:38:43,888
He said, why is there an X on quadrant four?

788
00:38:43,888 --> 00:38:48,432
He said, not good candidates for the gospel there, Rob.

789
00:38:48,432 --> 00:38:49,593
He said, kind of heady.

790
00:38:49,593 --> 00:38:50,764
He said, over there, Rob.

791
00:38:50,764 --> 00:38:52,886
said, you know, it's just we don't need any more of that.

792
00:38:52,886 --> 00:38:55,158
He said, need quadrant one, Rob.

793
00:38:55,158 --> 00:38:57,280
He said, leave quadrant four alone.

794
00:38:57,280 --> 00:38:58,740
We don't want you there.

795
00:39:01,483 --> 00:39:02,394
He said, yes, Rob.

796
00:39:02,394 --> 00:39:05,155
I said, brother, take me to quadrant four.

797
00:39:05,155 --> 00:39:06,637
My family will go to quadrant four.

798
00:39:06,637 --> 00:39:09,198
He said, why in the world would you go to quadrant number four?

799
00:39:09,198 --> 00:39:12,641
I said, because if the Lord were standing there, that's exactly where he would go.

800
00:39:12,641 --> 00:39:16,643
Who gave you the right to determine who gets the gospel and who doesn't?

801
00:39:17,184 --> 00:39:18,804
Who gives you that right?

802
00:39:19,825 --> 00:39:25,579
And I began to realize that the reason I'm failing is because I'm picking and I'm not
planning.

803
00:39:27,373 --> 00:39:28,873
Let me demonstrate.

804
00:39:28,973 --> 00:39:30,913
You guys just brought Justin, right?

805
00:39:30,913 --> 00:39:33,033
Justin, you just brought Justin in here to help you.

806
00:39:33,033 --> 00:39:33,673
Y'all did.

807
00:39:33,673 --> 00:39:36,113
I'm glad you I think that was a smart, wise move, men.

808
00:39:36,113 --> 00:39:37,513
I think you did well.

809
00:39:38,013 --> 00:39:39,613
And she brought Justin and his wife here.

810
00:39:39,613 --> 00:39:41,913
They're going to serve as an evangelist for you.

811
00:39:41,973 --> 00:39:45,113
And let's say one of the members said, now, Justin, we need to talk.

812
00:39:45,113 --> 00:39:47,473
And Justin, I know you don't know this community.

813
00:39:47,473 --> 00:39:52,133
But Justin, now, right across the street over there, now, I know there's a house right
there.

814
00:39:52,273 --> 00:39:56,073
And Justin, we tried to knock on that door one day, and they cursed us.

815
00:39:56,073 --> 00:39:57,327
And we don't need you back.

816
00:39:57,327 --> 00:39:58,927
over there, just leave them alone.

817
00:39:58,927 --> 00:40:04,647
You know, over here, this over here person over here, they got beer cans in the yard every
Friday night, leave them alone.

818
00:40:04,647 --> 00:40:05,667
That's my neighbor.

819
00:40:05,667 --> 00:40:07,587
We don't need any of that.

820
00:40:07,587 --> 00:40:13,827
Now, Justin, over here on the other side over here, Justin, that person, there's two
women, they just moved here from California.

821
00:40:13,827 --> 00:40:14,587
You know what that means?

822
00:40:14,587 --> 00:40:16,827
We don't want any of that in the Church of Christ.

823
00:40:16,827 --> 00:40:18,567
Leave them alone.

824
00:40:19,449 --> 00:40:21,810
And over here on the other side, that's an atheist.

825
00:40:21,810 --> 00:40:23,491
They said they don't believe in God.

826
00:40:23,491 --> 00:40:25,232
You can't reach atheists.

827
00:40:25,232 --> 00:40:28,633
Over here on the other side, well that person's bitter against the church.

828
00:40:28,633 --> 00:40:30,174
They don't like the church anymore.

829
00:40:30,174 --> 00:40:31,155
So just leave them alone.

830
00:40:31,155 --> 00:40:32,835
We don't want to irritate them anymore.

831
00:40:32,835 --> 00:40:35,477
Over here on the other side, that's my best friend Jill.

832
00:40:35,477 --> 00:40:37,167
You can't convert best friends.

833
00:40:37,167 --> 00:40:38,868
You're wearing my friendship with Jill.

834
00:40:38,868 --> 00:40:40,279
Leave her alone.

835
00:40:40,279 --> 00:40:43,580
Now over here on the other side of the road, that's my coworker Bob.

836
00:40:43,580 --> 00:40:45,751
We don't want to have a hostile work environment.

837
00:40:45,751 --> 00:40:47,562
You can't convert anyone you work with.

838
00:40:47,562 --> 00:40:49,143
Leave them alone.

839
00:40:49,263 --> 00:40:51,004
Here on the other side, that's mama.

840
00:40:51,004 --> 00:40:52,645
You can't convert family.

841
00:40:52,645 --> 00:40:53,925
Leave them alone.

842
00:40:53,925 --> 00:40:58,107
By the time you're done eliminating everybody, there's no one left to teach.

843
00:40:59,628 --> 00:41:02,049
How many of us have eliminated all of our friends?

844
00:41:02,049 --> 00:41:03,880
We've eliminated all our coworkers.

845
00:41:03,880 --> 00:41:09,532
We've eliminated all our family because the devil has convinced us you can't convert
family.

846
00:41:09,532 --> 00:41:11,073
How good for him.

847
00:41:13,025 --> 00:41:16,527
And we sit in our pews and this is our response, well there's no one out there.

848
00:41:18,288 --> 00:41:21,149
Here's just no one to teach out there.

849
00:41:21,930 --> 00:41:28,013
Brethren, if that's where you are right now at Collierville, the devil's already won, your
building and just go somewhere else.

850
00:41:28,854 --> 00:41:31,215
Because you'll never survive.

851
00:41:31,495 --> 00:41:35,037
Because the devil has done his job and he has won the victory.

852
00:41:35,037 --> 00:41:39,940
There are people around this community who can be brought to Christ, a few.

853
00:41:39,940 --> 00:41:42,401
If you just have a few, you'll fill the building.

854
00:41:44,301 --> 00:41:52,001
Jesus was not in the picking business, he was in the planting business because the
scriptures divide the honest heart from the dishonest heart, not you.

855
00:41:52,161 --> 00:41:56,201
And so we defer, we don't debate, we show, we don't tell, we plant, we don't pick.

856
00:41:56,201 --> 00:41:58,381
I'm gonna build this throughout this seminar.

857
00:41:58,381 --> 00:42:03,301
That's why I need you to be back here at 1.30 and if I need to keep you to 1.30, I will.

858
00:42:04,161 --> 00:42:09,921
I don't want you to go home because we will not succeed at Collegerville without you.

859
00:42:09,921 --> 00:42:11,281
You're the answer.

860
00:42:11,381 --> 00:42:13,837
Aaron is not, you are.

861
00:42:13,837 --> 00:42:19,917
This church has the answer to growth and I've seen it all through the nation.

862
00:42:19,917 --> 00:42:23,297
There are 325 churches of Christ in our school.

863
00:42:23,777 --> 00:42:30,123
Brother, I have seen churches turn the corner over and over again, and I'm so glad to be
here with you.

864
00:42:30,123 --> 00:42:31,610
I was at a preaching conference.

865
00:42:31,610 --> 00:42:33,661
How many of you have heard of Polishing the Pulpit?

866
00:42:33,661 --> 00:42:34,787
Anybody hear of that before?

867
00:42:34,787 --> 00:42:36,198
You need to go if you've not.

868
00:42:36,198 --> 00:42:38,609
It's a life-changing experience.

869
00:42:39,110 --> 00:42:45,546
So I'm at Polishing the Pulpit, and one of the members, when I used to preach, walked up
to me, and he said, hey, preacher.

870
00:42:45,546 --> 00:42:47,327
He said, Rob, how you doing?

871
00:42:47,327 --> 00:42:48,178
I said, great.

872
00:42:48,178 --> 00:42:49,799
He said, Rob, we gotta talk.

873
00:42:49,799 --> 00:42:51,580
And so we started visiting.

874
00:42:52,075 --> 00:42:57,808
He said, Rob, the new preacher that replaced you, he said, Rob, he tells us that Bible
studies don't work.

875
00:42:58,329 --> 00:42:59,909
I said, really?

876
00:43:00,050 --> 00:43:01,950
I said, I want to hear about this.

877
00:43:01,971 --> 00:43:05,023
He says, you know, today you can't study the Bible with people.

878
00:43:05,023 --> 00:43:08,675
They just don't want to hear it, especially the young generation, the Zs.

879
00:43:08,675 --> 00:43:10,556
I said, the Zs, Zoomers.

880
00:43:10,556 --> 00:43:12,517
He said, they don't do Bible studies.

881
00:43:12,877 --> 00:43:14,397
I said, I didn't know any of this.

882
00:43:14,397 --> 00:43:15,558
And I said, well, tell me about it.

883
00:43:15,558 --> 00:43:17,097
How do you convert people then?

884
00:43:17,097 --> 00:43:18,889
He said, well, you just have chats with them.

885
00:43:18,889 --> 00:43:21,959
You have tea room talks, coffee side chats.

886
00:43:21,959 --> 00:43:24,550
You just, you you don't want to get, you know, do Bible studies.

887
00:43:24,550 --> 00:43:25,861
You'll run people off.

888
00:43:25,861 --> 00:43:27,201
I said, well, I said, okay.

889
00:43:27,201 --> 00:43:28,739
I said, well, how do you convert them?

890
00:43:28,739 --> 00:43:30,742
He said, well, you invite them to church, you know.

891
00:43:30,742 --> 00:43:33,393
And I said, when they get to church, can you have a Bible study?

892
00:43:33,393 --> 00:43:35,183
No, you'll run them off.

893
00:43:35,183 --> 00:43:36,917
I said, well, how do you become Christian?

894
00:43:36,917 --> 00:43:38,624
He said, well, they walk forward.

895
00:43:39,564 --> 00:43:42,625
I don't know about you, Aaron, but they're not coming forward.

896
00:43:43,917 --> 00:43:47,197
I asked him, said, brother, how many baptisms have y'all had since I left?

897
00:43:47,197 --> 00:43:48,337
He said, well, that's the problem.

898
00:43:48,337 --> 00:43:52,797
Well, when you were here, we went from 120, 130, 140, 150, 160, 170.

899
00:43:52,797 --> 00:43:55,477
We were baptizing people almost on a monthly basis.

900
00:43:55,477 --> 00:43:57,057
He said, the church was flourishing.

901
00:43:57,057 --> 00:44:01,357
He said, we haven't had a baptism since you left in two years.

902
00:44:01,817 --> 00:44:04,317
I was just at a church of 300.

903
00:44:04,317 --> 00:44:06,557
I asked him, how many baptisms have you had?

904
00:44:06,557 --> 00:44:09,017
300 Christians, three.

905
00:44:11,913 --> 00:44:15,668
unacceptable, completely unacceptable.

906
00:44:17,741 --> 00:44:22,421
The Bible says in Psalm 19, the law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul.

907
00:44:22,421 --> 00:44:25,561
And the testimonies of the Lord are sure making lives as simple.

908
00:44:25,561 --> 00:44:28,361
This is the power of conversion, brethren.

909
00:44:28,541 --> 00:44:32,281
And that doesn't stir your spirit this morning, you need a revival.

910
00:44:32,901 --> 00:44:35,741
Because God's word is the power of growth.

911
00:44:35,781 --> 00:44:37,481
No more gimmicks.

912
00:44:37,481 --> 00:44:40,801
We need members who believe in the power of the cross.

913
00:44:40,877 --> 00:44:42,919
and to believe it so much you can't contain it.

914
00:44:42,919 --> 00:44:44,900
You can't keep it in your church building.

915
00:44:44,900 --> 00:44:47,641
I'm gonna offer the invitation, so be ready.

916
00:44:49,363 --> 00:44:53,366
Man sat down with me one time and he said, Rob, I wanna talk to you about my conversion.

917
00:44:53,366 --> 00:44:55,347
I said, I'd be glad to hear it.

918
00:44:55,888 --> 00:44:59,350
So I got my, I actually wrote it down, he wrote it down for me.

919
00:44:59,350 --> 00:45:02,592
He said, Rob, he says, this is impactful, so listen carefully.

920
00:45:02,652 --> 00:45:06,075
He said, I grew up in a little town, little bitty town.

921
00:45:06,075 --> 00:45:09,261
He said, my family was a...

922
00:45:09,261 --> 00:45:11,321
Religious family, not a church family.

923
00:45:11,321 --> 00:45:15,341
We'd go to church, but it wasn't the main thing in our life.

924
00:45:15,481 --> 00:45:21,881
He says, as I was growing up, I got to about 19 years old, and I finally realized, I'm
missing something.

925
00:45:22,161 --> 00:45:24,181
I don't know what life's about.

926
00:45:24,321 --> 00:45:26,441
And I got to get out of here.

927
00:45:26,441 --> 00:45:28,381
I got to find life.

928
00:45:28,381 --> 00:45:29,621
And I said, well, how'd you do that?

929
00:45:29,621 --> 00:45:30,981
said, I joined the Navy.

930
00:45:31,001 --> 00:45:33,041
I said, well, that's good.

931
00:45:33,041 --> 00:45:37,741
He said, I went to boot camp, got deployed, went over to Vietnam, Thailand.

932
00:45:38,109 --> 00:45:41,951
And said, I went to the Philippines and I'm looking for the purpose of life.

933
00:45:41,951 --> 00:45:42,971
I said, well great.

934
00:45:42,971 --> 00:45:43,882
said, tell me about it.

935
00:45:43,882 --> 00:45:46,813
He said, got home, got back to Lexington Park, Maryland.

936
00:45:46,813 --> 00:45:48,494
And now I'm stateside.

937
00:45:48,494 --> 00:45:49,494
I said, well tell me what.

938
00:45:49,494 --> 00:45:51,735
I said, did you find the purpose of life?

939
00:45:51,735 --> 00:45:55,277
He said, Rob, I need you to know something about the US Navy.

940
00:45:55,277 --> 00:45:56,007
I said, what is it?

941
00:45:56,007 --> 00:45:59,199
The US Navy does not know the purpose of life.

942
00:45:59,199 --> 00:46:00,980
I said, I bet they don't.

943
00:46:00,980 --> 00:46:02,020
I said, what'd you do next?

944
00:46:02,020 --> 00:46:03,601
He said, well I tried church.

945
00:46:03,601 --> 00:46:07,983
So I went from one church to another church to another church and I'm looking for the
purpose of life.

946
00:46:07,983 --> 00:46:12,542
what bothers me, Rob, is I go to these churches and then the churches use the Bible.

947
00:46:13,103 --> 00:46:14,543
They like to tell stories.

948
00:46:15,443 --> 00:46:17,034
And he says, I was tired of that.

949
00:46:17,034 --> 00:46:18,234
And then finally I just kind of gave up.

950
00:46:18,234 --> 00:46:22,296
But I saw a sign there that said Lexington Park Church of Christ Meats Here.

951
00:46:22,296 --> 00:46:23,536
I said, take me to that church.

952
00:46:23,536 --> 00:46:25,118
One morning a taxi dropped me off.

953
00:46:25,118 --> 00:46:26,198
I walked inside.

954
00:46:26,198 --> 00:46:28,779
Church could not have been more hospitable.

955
00:46:28,779 --> 00:46:29,760
They loved me.

956
00:46:29,760 --> 00:46:31,200
They surrounded me.

957
00:46:31,200 --> 00:46:32,801
He said, gave me a Bible.

958
00:46:32,801 --> 00:46:38,604
And I went through the Bible class and the preacher used the Bible and the preacher
preached the Bible.

959
00:46:38,604 --> 00:46:41,585
And he said, then they asked me out to eat for lunch.

960
00:46:41,585 --> 00:46:42,736
And I went to eat with people.

961
00:46:42,736 --> 00:46:44,046
I never met them before.

962
00:46:44,046 --> 00:46:45,327
And they fed me.

963
00:46:45,327 --> 00:46:46,607
came for it.

964
00:46:46,767 --> 00:46:48,807
And they said, what are your plans this evening?

965
00:46:48,807 --> 00:46:50,087
I said, I really don't have any.

966
00:46:50,087 --> 00:46:51,407
They said, why don't you come back to church?

967
00:46:51,407 --> 00:46:52,407
He said, well, I'll take a cab.

968
00:46:52,407 --> 00:46:53,207
They said, no, you won't.

969
00:46:53,207 --> 00:46:54,887
You'll never take a cab again.

970
00:46:55,327 --> 00:46:56,407
And I never did.

971
00:46:56,407 --> 00:47:00,087
They picked me up at base every worship hour.

972
00:47:00,647 --> 00:47:03,147
And one day one of my fellow sailors saw me.

973
00:47:03,147 --> 00:47:04,687
I didn't know he was a member there.

974
00:47:04,687 --> 00:47:11,727
And he saw me across the auditorium, walked over to me and said, man, I didn't know you
were a member of the church of He said, no, I'm not.

975
00:47:12,807 --> 00:47:14,767
He said, well, I saw you take communion.

976
00:47:15,309 --> 00:47:16,629
He said, well, I'm not a member.

977
00:47:16,629 --> 00:47:18,189
said, why are you taking communion?

978
00:47:18,309 --> 00:47:19,629
He said, I don't know.

979
00:47:19,629 --> 00:47:24,349
The preacher came up to me after that and he said, hey, why don't you come over, you like
movies?

980
00:47:24,409 --> 00:47:25,485
He said, yeah.

981
00:47:25,485 --> 00:47:27,105
He said, you like to eat?

982
00:47:27,105 --> 00:47:27,745
Yeah.

983
00:47:27,745 --> 00:47:28,965
He said, why don't you come over to my house?

984
00:47:28,965 --> 00:47:31,285
My wife will make you a home cooked meal, we'll watch a movie.

985
00:47:31,285 --> 00:47:33,225
He said, well I'm there, I'm all in.

986
00:47:33,225 --> 00:47:37,745
And so anyway, I went over to that preacher's house, he got an old rod and reel projector.

987
00:47:37,745 --> 00:47:40,845
You see those rod and reel projectors, you know, at the round film?

988
00:47:40,845 --> 00:47:44,065
And he said, he lined it up with the, he said, we're gonna watch a movie.

989
00:47:44,065 --> 00:47:46,705
He said, you'll need a Bible for this movie, son.

990
00:47:49,099 --> 00:47:51,786
was the Jew Miller films trip, Bible study series.

991
00:47:51,786 --> 00:47:52,937
you heard of it?

992
00:47:54,423 --> 00:47:55,604
Jew Miller.

993
00:47:55,846 --> 00:47:58,932
We watched the Visualized Bible Study Series.

994
00:48:01,185 --> 00:48:05,888
He said, when I finished watching that Bible study series, Rob, I knew that I was in the
right place.

995
00:48:06,408 --> 00:48:09,910
And on May 16th, 1965, I was baptized.

996
00:48:10,471 --> 00:48:12,572
You wanna know why that's important to me?

997
00:48:13,493 --> 00:48:16,854
Because that man is Gary Riddicker, and he is my dad.

998
00:48:16,955 --> 00:48:20,597
And I want you to understand this morning what would have happened if my dad...

999
00:48:20,997 --> 00:48:23,329
Someone didn't have a Bible study with my dad.

1000
00:48:23,329 --> 00:48:27,823
My dad would not have gone home to Ohio and he's looking for a Christian wife.

1001
00:48:27,823 --> 00:48:30,385
And he goes from church to church looking for a wife.

1002
00:48:30,385 --> 00:48:36,970
And one day he walks into a church and he sees a cute girl, 17 years old, sitting on the
front pew.

1003
00:48:36,970 --> 00:48:39,021
And he decided to sit right next to her.

1004
00:48:39,021 --> 00:48:41,012
She's the preacher's daughter.

1005
00:48:42,797 --> 00:48:45,797
And the preacher said, would you like to come home for dinner?

1006
00:48:45,797 --> 00:48:47,237
He said, well sure.

1007
00:48:47,237 --> 00:48:49,437
And he said, I got rid of my little brother.

1008
00:48:49,717 --> 00:48:52,537
he said, I kept coming back, kept coming back.

1009
00:48:52,537 --> 00:48:57,297
And one day the preacher came up to me and said, what are your intentions with my
daughter?

1010
00:48:57,457 --> 00:48:59,857
And I said, we got married.

1011
00:49:00,277 --> 00:49:03,817
And Rob, after we got married three years later, we had you.

1012
00:49:04,317 --> 00:49:07,597
Because of that one Bible study on May 16th, 1965.

1013
00:49:08,257 --> 00:49:10,597
And because of that one Bible study,

1014
00:49:13,461 --> 00:49:16,044
I'm born and I grew up and become a Christian.

1015
00:49:16,044 --> 00:49:19,889
Because of that one Bible study, my sister, she's born and she becomes a Christian.

1016
00:49:19,889 --> 00:49:22,221
Because of that one Bible study, I'm gonna marry a Christian.

1017
00:49:22,221 --> 00:49:27,998
I couldn't find one in Texas, but my sister's roommate was Nicole and mama brought her
home for spring break.

1018
00:49:27,998 --> 00:49:29,539
You never argue with mama.

1019
00:49:29,539 --> 00:49:33,941
I married her because of that one Bible study May 16th, 1965.

1020
00:49:35,469 --> 00:49:38,109
And then, of course, my wife and I have two children.

1021
00:49:38,109 --> 00:49:41,469
Hannah's our oldest daughter, and she gets married and she becomes a Christian.

1022
00:49:41,469 --> 00:49:45,629
Our son, he grows up and becomes a Christian, May 16th, 1965.

1023
00:49:45,669 --> 00:49:51,309
And because of that Bible study, my sister marries Joey Barkley, and now they have two
children.

1024
00:49:51,309 --> 00:49:56,209
Michaela, she grows up and she becomes a Christian, May 16th, 1965.

1025
00:49:56,329 --> 00:50:02,229
Maddie, she grows up and she becomes a Christian, May 16th, 1965, because of one Bible
study.

1026
00:50:05,249 --> 00:50:07,119
Who did your Bible study, Justin?

1027
00:50:09,271 --> 00:50:11,142
Thank God for godly parents.

1028
00:50:12,522 --> 00:50:14,463
Who did your Bible study, brother?

1029
00:50:15,504 --> 00:50:16,434
Who studied with you?

1030
00:50:16,434 --> 00:50:18,005
Your wife, preacher?

1031
00:50:18,005 --> 00:50:19,325
Who taught you?

1032
00:50:20,046 --> 00:50:21,426
Thank God.

1033
00:50:21,686 --> 00:50:22,397
Thank God.

1034
00:50:22,397 --> 00:50:24,187
Who did your Bible study?

1035
00:50:25,248 --> 00:50:27,889
Thank God for your parents who raised you right.

1036
00:50:27,909 --> 00:50:29,710
Who did your Bible study?

1037
00:50:30,630 --> 00:50:33,331
Thank God for godly wives.

1038
00:50:34,732 --> 00:50:36,713
Who did your Bible study, brother?

1039
00:50:37,951 --> 00:50:40,413
sweet old ladies to name at Strickland Church of Christ.

1040
00:50:40,413 --> 00:50:42,419
Thank God for those sweet ladies.

1041
00:50:51,915 --> 00:50:53,845
When are you going to do your study?

1042
00:50:57,697 --> 00:50:59,521
When are you gonna do yours, church?

1043
00:51:00,266 --> 00:51:02,792
How long are we gonna sit in the pews and wait?

1044
00:51:05,357 --> 00:51:08,517
You wouldn't be here if someone didn't do a Bible study.

1045
00:51:09,577 --> 00:51:13,157
And we're riding on the coattails of the people that came before us.

1046
00:51:15,893 --> 00:51:19,294
If we don't learn how to do this, our churches will not survive.

1047
00:51:20,255 --> 00:51:22,016
Everybody here has a unique talent.

1048
00:51:22,016 --> 00:51:29,119
I'm not asking everybody to lead a Bible study, but everybody in this church has got to
have a part in bringing people to Christ.

1049
00:51:29,499 --> 00:51:34,061
And as a church, you're much more effective than you are individually.

1050
00:51:34,462 --> 00:51:40,244
The Collegereville Church of Christ, together, can reach people.

1051
00:51:40,544 --> 00:51:42,185
And that's why we're here.

1052
00:51:42,293 --> 00:51:43,734
and I beg you not to go home.

1053
00:51:43,734 --> 00:51:45,416
I beg you to be here at 1.30.

1054
00:51:45,416 --> 00:51:49,979
We're building something together and I can't build it if you're not here.

1055
00:51:49,979 --> 00:51:52,861
There isn't a message more important than this one.

1056
00:51:52,862 --> 00:52:00,393
I'm asking you this morning, if you're not a Christian, to consider your life and maybe
someone's taught you and you haven't obeyed.

1057
00:52:00,393 --> 00:52:03,781
All you gotta do is come forward, will baptize you into Christ?

1058
00:52:03,781 --> 00:52:08,214
You can be a member of the body of Christ and an army of soul winners.

1059
00:52:08,214 --> 00:52:11,116
What in life's more important than that?

1060
00:52:11,509 --> 00:52:15,191
Or maybe as a Christian you have failed to do what you should be doing.

1061
00:52:15,332 --> 00:52:20,295
You have failed to be an evangelist, a soul winner, to bring anyone to Christ.

1062
00:52:20,296 --> 00:52:21,776
God is watching.

1063
00:52:24,137 --> 00:52:26,358
One day we'll all stand before God.

1064
00:52:27,899 --> 00:52:33,022
We're given accounting, an accounting of what we've done.

1065
00:52:34,523 --> 00:52:38,445
If you need the Lord this morning, would you come as together we stand and as we sing.

1066
00:52:44,660 --> 00:52:46,351
I am

1067
00:53:09,261 --> 00:53:10,501
you

1068
00:53:28,237 --> 00:53:31,717
Just as I

1069
00:53:38,638 --> 00:53:46,503
to bring my soul of one

1070
00:53:49,517 --> 00:54:05,541
To thee whose luck can cleanse each vial and of God.

1071
00:54:14,093 --> 00:54:17,829
Just as I...

1072
00:54:24,871 --> 00:54:31,881
has broken every

1073
00:54:38,635 --> 00:54:41,335
Yer

1074
00:55:24,202 --> 00:55:25,352
I love.

1075
00:55:27,947 --> 00:55:29,642
Robin Nicole Whitaker.

1076
00:55:32,477 --> 00:55:34,244
One of the reasons I love them.

1077
00:55:36,373 --> 00:55:39,002
It's because they convict me.

1078
00:55:41,175 --> 00:55:43,742
to be what I know I ought to be.

1079
00:55:54,197 --> 00:55:59,352
we have not always prioritized evangelizing.

1080
00:56:05,537 --> 00:56:11,423
That's not an accusation, that's internal realization.

1081
00:56:16,961 --> 00:56:21,731
We all have things that we know we should do, and sometimes we do them.

1082
00:56:22,615 --> 00:56:24,076
And sometimes we don't.

1083
00:56:31,399 --> 00:56:33,869
in August 2017.

1084
00:56:37,225 --> 00:56:39,322
I visited this congregation.

1085
00:56:43,725 --> 00:56:49,365
Congregation that Sunday morning was about 30, 35 people.

1086
00:56:53,343 --> 00:57:04,416
And I visited because Steve Ulrich had talked to me at GPN as we were both working there.

1087
00:57:07,551 --> 00:57:09,631
And he said, Aaron.

1088
00:57:11,529 --> 00:57:13,876
I think Collierville needs help.

1089
00:57:16,255 --> 00:57:18,402
He wasn't in a position to do it.

1090
00:57:20,843 --> 00:57:26,115
So I came and I visited, and I love telling this story.

1091
00:57:26,216 --> 00:57:26,686
I really do.

1092
00:57:26,686 --> 00:57:30,918
Because it brings to mind faces that are no longer with us.

1093
00:57:32,259 --> 00:57:44,905
Services were over that Sunday morning, and that Sunday morning, one of the students that
you all supported at the time taught class, preached.

1094
00:57:46,667 --> 00:57:49,104
And I had talked with a few of the men.

1095
00:57:49,104 --> 00:57:51,008
We were just casually talking.

1096
00:57:53,985 --> 00:57:56,878
And Kim walked through the back door.

1097
00:57:58,955 --> 00:58:03,828
And she said, hey, y'all, the widows and I were going to Burger King.

1098
00:58:03,828 --> 00:58:07,591
Anybody who wants to come, you can come.

1099
00:58:09,072 --> 00:58:13,475
And I said to myself, I want to go.

1100
00:58:14,416 --> 00:58:22,281
Because if anyone knows the state of a congregation, it is the widows.

1101
00:58:24,991 --> 00:58:37,510
And so, I went to Burger King with Kim and four other ladies to find out where the
congregation was at, what could be done.

1102
00:58:39,092 --> 00:58:45,617
Most importantly, to find out, had the congregation already given up hope?

1103
00:58:49,331 --> 00:58:51,550
and I didn't give them any answers.

1104
00:58:51,550 --> 00:58:53,556
I asked a lot of questions.

1105
00:58:57,837 --> 00:59:00,743
through the course of the next few months.

1106
00:59:02,891 --> 00:59:05,236
The men talked to me about coming here.

1107
00:59:06,925 --> 00:59:09,685
And I said, I have a job, I'm not looking for a job.

1108
00:59:10,145 --> 00:59:12,065
And I wasn't looking for a job.

1109
00:59:12,845 --> 00:59:17,285
The second time they asked me to come, I said, I have a job, I'm not looking for a job.

1110
00:59:18,505 --> 00:59:23,265
But through the course of those conversations with Joe, with Jay, with Terry,

1111
00:59:25,225 --> 00:59:34,688
One of the things that I said to them is I'm not willing to chase down old members.

1112
00:59:36,727 --> 00:59:39,535
So the congregation's gonna grow, it's not gonna grow that way.

1113
00:59:41,313 --> 00:59:45,511
So if the congregation is going to grow, it's going to through evangelism.

1114
00:59:47,743 --> 00:59:57,061
And we've, from that time where we were 35, we've decreased in size with some of those
original numbers because people have passed away.

1115
00:59:58,162 --> 01:00:01,805
We weren't here for a year before we had some members pass away.

1116
01:00:04,237 --> 01:00:08,117
There's not 35 of those original 35 still here.

1117
01:00:10,177 --> 01:00:12,499
but the congregation has continued to grow.

1118
01:00:14,081 --> 01:00:23,449
It's grown because people have moved into the area and they have seen in this congregation
a heart and a love.

1119
01:00:25,931 --> 01:00:31,676
because this congregation cares about every single person who walks through that door.

1120
01:00:39,255 --> 01:00:41,418
but we've not yet.

1121
01:00:43,341 --> 01:00:46,888
fully mobilized ourselves to reach the lost.

1122
01:00:51,937 --> 01:01:08,991
There's a reason why I didn't ask Rob to come here year one, two, three, four, five, six,
or seven.

1123
01:01:13,396 --> 01:01:14,840
I've been waiting.

1124
01:01:17,429 --> 01:01:26,212
I've been waiting because I've been watching people mature spiritually in this
congregation.

1125
01:01:28,009 --> 01:01:39,425
Not because I didn't think you all would be willing to do this way back in year one, but
because just the same way as in a Bible study people aren't always ready to hear the

1126
01:01:39,425 --> 01:01:54,374
answer to a question, sometimes Christians aren't ready to put their hand to the plow and
work because they're still babes, because they haven't been taught, because they need to

1127
01:01:54,374 --> 01:01:56,665
fall in love.

1128
01:01:57,249 --> 01:01:58,635
with the Word of God.

1129
01:02:02,217 --> 01:02:13,011
Over in Revelation chapter 2, John writes to Ephesus, and he doesn't say, don't hold fast
to the Word of God.

1130
01:02:13,011 --> 01:02:14,512
No, he says you do.

1131
01:02:16,577 --> 01:02:21,792
He doesn't say you haven't pushed back against the false teachers because they had.

1132
01:02:24,833 --> 01:02:28,571
He said, you've left your first love.

1133
01:02:33,109 --> 01:02:37,931
and he calls on them to repent and to return.

1134
01:02:43,255 --> 01:02:45,885
when we realize.

1135
01:02:47,713 --> 01:02:58,701
that the only thing stopping us from converting the lost is our willingness to sit down
and study with the lost.

1136
01:03:01,293 --> 01:03:02,890
It's the only thing stopping us.

1137
01:03:05,313 --> 01:03:15,220
We are reminded that there was one qualification that Jesus put on a city that would
either be blessed or cursed in the nation of Israel.

1138
01:03:16,802 --> 01:03:17,602
One.

1139
01:03:18,984 --> 01:03:31,293
When Jesus sent out His disciples into all those cities in Israel, He said, you go in and
you find a household that will receive you, you don't leave the house.

1140
01:03:32,653 --> 01:03:38,475
You stay there and people will be brought to you and you will preach the kingdom of heaven
as a handle.

1141
01:03:40,577 --> 01:03:46,767
But if you go through that city and there's not one house that will receive you, what does
that mean?

1142
01:03:46,767 --> 01:03:53,716
It means they house you, they feed you, they take care of you, and they bring people to
you to teach.

1143
01:03:55,809 --> 01:04:04,452
Jesus said, there's not a house in that city that will do that, you shake the dust off
your feet and you pronounce a curse on that city.

1144
01:04:07,009 --> 01:04:07,873
Why?

1145
01:04:09,569 --> 01:04:12,219
because God's qualification.

1146
01:04:14,263 --> 01:04:21,320
for people to be right in his sight includes and demands.

1147
01:04:23,191 --> 01:04:28,585
that they want others to hear and obey God.

1148
01:04:30,046 --> 01:04:40,693
And if they will stand as an obstruction to those who hear God, God says there's a curse
for people who will do that.

1149
01:04:41,915 --> 01:04:50,401
But rather, if they will open their homes, use their home, their family, their resources
to help people here,

1150
01:04:51,927 --> 01:04:53,936
There's a blessing for those who do.

1151
01:04:56,459 --> 01:05:07,194
And we are primed and we are ready in this congregation to reach the lost.

1152
01:05:08,095 --> 01:05:11,917
The fields are light unto harvest.

1153
01:05:13,911 --> 01:05:15,786
But we have to choose to do it.

1154
01:05:16,611 --> 01:05:18,575
Now, Rob went a little long.

1155
01:05:20,779 --> 01:05:21,890
That's okay.

1156
01:05:22,091 --> 01:05:28,901
Because if you don't have time to go eat and be back here at 1 30 over here in this room,
there is food.

1157
01:05:29,664 --> 01:05:33,629
We will feed you and you won't miss 1 30.

1158
01:05:35,478 --> 01:05:36,913
Who has closing prayer?