If have a pen or a pencil, I'd like you to write down four numbers for me this morning.
If you have a pen or pencil, write down four numbers.
You can open up your Evangelism Simplified Guidebook just right on the front cover.
Just write down four numbers this morning.
I want to welcome you to our services.
It's so good to see a good crowd of brethren with visitors.
One preacher from Ayuka Church of Christ, our elders sent him here.
His name is Sam.
So good to see him with us this morning.
We may have other visitors as well.
Write down these four numbers for me too.
Write down the number two somewhere on that front cover.
Write down the number two.
Second number I want you to write down as a zero.
Write down the number zero somewhere on that front cover.
And the third number I want you to write down as a six.
Write down the number six.
The last number I want you to write down as a nine.
So you've written down the number two, zero, six, nine.
And you say, preacher, why am I writing down the numbers 2069?
Well, that is the year 2069.
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.
But did you realize that in 2016, one of our Christian universities did a study.
What they wanted to do is find out where we're going, a projection.
And they needed data.
So the first piece of data that came back was the demographics.
They went to 9,500 Christians, members of the Church of Christ only, and they wanted to find out how old are we.
So this is what the numbers said in 2016.
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.
That was eight years ago.
Two thirds of our membership is over the age of 50.
It said that only
13 % of our membership is under the age of 30.
Now, brother, now I want you to put that together.
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.
What's going to happen to the church of Christ?
I mean, what does our future look like?
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.
We're never going to make it.
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.
The only way your nation survives is population replacement.
Let me explain what that means.
So we have some European countries that are very close
to this.
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.
Because this is an ungetoverable, if I can use that word, graphic.
You cannot survive, so you have to import.
Well, let me explain what that means in the church.
That means we have to evangelize.
If we don't go outside of our churches and bring in people, we will not survive.
This graphic alone is frightening.
Do you realize, brethren, in the next 25 years, what's going to happen?
mean, all you got to do is do math.
We're going to lose 2 thirds of the church.
of the church demographic.
They're gonna fall off the map.
They're gonna go into eternity.
They're gonna receive their reward.
We're gonna be left with what we have remaining.
And if we don't turn this graphic, if we don't learn how to evangelize, we will fossilize.
So there could not be a more important focus for the Lord's church.
Now, I wanna focus this morning on the message of the gospel.
because there isn't a better, more powerful tool in all the world than the gospel.
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?
How can we overcome the challenges that are facing the churches of Christ?
Many of our churches have turned in a lot of directions to find that solution.
I wanna show you the gospel solution.
I wanna focus you on the power of the word of God, because there's something we have this morning.
There's something that we hold in our hand that has been the answer for 2000 years.
And when churches endorse and embrace the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the church can grow.
We're never going to be the biggest.
Jesus said, narrow is the way that leads to life, few there be that find it, but there'll be a few.
And brother, a few is better than none.
And if you're having none, if that's what you look at at the end of the year, we had no conversions.
We had almost nobody obey the gospel from the community.
We're not practicing Matthew seven, because Jesus says there are a few.
And I promise as you look through Col.
Gervir, there are a few out here.
Our job is to find them.
Our job is to reach them.
Our job as a church is to bring them to the cross of Christ.
And you will not bring them to the cross of
sitting in the pew.
I want you to look around church.
Look at your building.
Look carefully at your church building.
They're not coming.
If buildings could bring them, you'd be busting at the seams.
If a location could bring them, you'd be full.
If having a nice community upon which to worship could bring them, you would be full.
Look around, church, it doesn't work.
The power of growth is the Word of God.
And this is how, this is the tool, this is the main tool.
When people call and say, Rob, what can you offer us?
Brother, if popcorn is what you give the community to bring them, then popcorn and candy is what you gotta do to keep them.
It's called popcorn evangelism and many of our churches are trying it.
What I wanna suggest this morning is we use this book.
because this is the drawing power of God and it always will be.
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.
I was standing behind my lectern getting ready for my Bible class one morning and...
couple walk in, I'd never seen him before, and they made a beeline right at me.
They got to the lector, he looked at me and said, you're the preacher here?
I said, yes sir.
He said, I said, my name's Rob Whitaker.
said, my name's Richard Pratt, and this is my wife Daisy.
I said, nice to meet you Mr.
Pratt, Ms.
Daisy, and they said, well, preacher, we got a question for you this morning.
I said, okay.
I said, what is it?
They said, we want to know if you just preach the Bible.
I said, well sir, that's all I preach.
He said, good.
He said, the church I stopped going to last week.
hasn't done it years.
He said, I'm looking for a church that preaches the Bible.
I said, you found it.
I said, I hope you'll enjoy the service.
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.
And if a pin could have smoked, hers would have been on fire.
She wrote down every verse.
And they're turning their Bibles, trying to find out where I'm at.
And it was good.
Went through worship service, same thing.
I just focus on scripture.
That's what I always do when I preach.
This is the center.
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
noticed I had a window I kind of moved in I said, Mr.
Richard, yes preacher?
I said, it's my turn now.
And I said, I got a question for you.
He said, what is it?
I said, I want to know if I just preach the Bible.
He said, man, that's all you preach.
Haven't heard that much Bible in years.
I said, I tell you what, I said, we got a little custom here at this church.
We always take visitors out to eat.
I said, our treat.
We'd love to take you and your wife to dinner, get to know you.
He said, oh man, I'm not going to turn down a free meal.
Most people won't.
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.
strategy.
You want to know what it is?
All right, write this down.
I did not put this in the book because I want you to write it.
This is what I do with every single person we meet.
You want to know how I get Bible studies?
My wife and I have had hundreds of baptisms, Bible studies.
We've had six at Glencoe this year already.
My wife and daughter are in a Bible study right now with a lady.
My wife and I are in a study with two other people.
All we do is, I love Bible studies.
People want, how do you get Bible studies here?
Here it is.
You ask the introductory questions.
You just ask your questions.
You need to learn how to ask questions.
Stop talking and ask questions.
All right, question number one.
I looked at Richard and Daisy.
I said, Richard and Daisy, where you from?
And they told me, we're from Vermont.
I said, well, tell me about Vermont.
They told me everything there was about Vermont.
Now Vermont's just a little bit north of Boston.
There you go.
We got some folks here from north of Boston, Massachusetts.
And so you guys know how cold it is in Vermont.
It's the cheese state, the dairy state.
Vermont's a little different than Boston.
their own mind up there.
He told me all about it.
And my second question was, Richard and Daisy, what do you do for a living?
He said, we're loggers.
I said, loggers?
I said, well you came to the right place.
He said, preacher, don't you know that you're in the hardwood capital of the world here at Macon County?
He said, well I came down here to make a living.
He said, I work for one of your elders.
He said, I'm an independent logger.
I said, I said, hey, preacher, do you know anything about logging?
I said, not a lot.
He said, I'll take you out there and show you how to do it.
He actually did.
and he took my whole family out and we learned how to log.
And it was an educational trip.
I homeschooled my children so they learned how to become loggers.
And it took me to a senior in high school to talk my son out of it.
And he loved it.
so we were learning how to log.
My third question I always ask people is what do you enjoy doing?
I said I'm trying to find commonality.
And they said we like the outdoors.
We got horses.
I said well my wife grew up with horses.
I grew up with horses.
I said well kind of horses you got some old paints.
I said
I said, they're beautiful horses.
So we're connected in all the different places.
And I'm looking, you know, I want a Bible study.
And I don't start out by saying, do you want to study the Bible?
Now that is a, that's a killer.
It's never gonna happen.
All right, so I start out by just getting to know people.
And those are the three questions I commonly ask when I meet people.
They're very, they're designed to get them to talk.
Now, because Richard came to me and I didn't come to them, I can accelerate the process.
Remember, they're looking.
I just didn't find these, they're not random people.
So I moved from my introductory questions to my transition questions.
I got three of them.
I asked the same questions every time.
I said, hey Richard, I got a question for you.
What did you think about the Willette Church of Christ this morning?
He said, I liked it.
He said, a really nice church.
People were friendly, kind.
He said, they made us feel welcome.
He said, I sure like that Bible preaching.
I said, I'm glad you liked it, Richard.
I said, Richard, I said, do you know a lot about the Willette Church of Christ?
He said, I don't know a lot.
He said, never been to Church Cross before.
had my first time.
I said, okay.
I said, Richard, would you like to know a little bit more about us?
He said, you know, I really would.
I said, you know, I just so happened to have, let me see if I have them.
These are the booklets that are called Back to the Bible.
And I said, if you have a little time, my wife and I, could maybe talk to you a little bit about the church.
He said, well, preacher, that's why I'm here.
I said, okay, let's go to the house.
We did it the same Sunday.
We went over to the house, sat around the table, and we studied the word of
And we started with back to the Bible, book one, John 832.
You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.
I said, Richard, what sets you free?
said, the truth.
said, put it in the blank.
We're doing a Bible study.
I do not ask for Bible studies.
He asked me.
He said, I want to know more about your church.
Now if I would have asked him, would you like to study the Bible?
And again, that is almost a definite no.
You wait until they're ready.
I ask my transition questions.
They work extremely well.
Now,
We're doing this Bible study and Richard is enjoying it.
Daisy, they're eating it up.
I mean, they're they're talking about the scripture.
They're answering their questions that you can tell they're grasping it.
Daisy said, Richard, she says, I didn't know we weren't under the Old Testament.
He said, I didn't either.
I mean, it's you, the light bulb came on.
We're at the end of the study.
Richard said, preacher, he says, hmm.
He says, I'm sold.
Where do I sign?
Where do you sign?
Sign what?
He said, preacher, where's the paperwork?
The paperwork for what?
He said, you join your church, I'm sold.
Sign me up.
And I said, well, Richard, it doesn't quite work like that.
I said, what we need to do is a second Bible study.
He said, preacher, don't you know when you're made to sell?
He said, I don't need another Bible study.
I just need to sign up.
And I said, well, Richard, I think you do need another study.
There's some things you don't know.
He said, if you think I need another one of these studies, I enjoyed it.
come back.
I said, okay, so we made the appointment.
They came back, we went through study number two, it's the blue booklet.
We went through the Church of Christ, they loved it, they're eating it up.
Daisy looked over at Richard, said, Daisy, Richard, I told you the church we were attending wasn't right.
In the Bible, you're supposed to have elders and beacons and we didn't have them.
He said, in fact, we had women elders.
And she said, I knew the Bible had a lot to say about that.
They're learning, I don't say a word, we're just reading the Bible.
And we finished the Bible study, Richard worked up,
Daisy's all on board, couldn't be better.
He gets out his pen, gets out his checkbook, he said, preacher, I'm sold.
He said, how much will it cost me?
I said, cost you for what, Richard?
He said, to become a member of this church.
How much money do you want?
I said I want it all.
No, did not say that church.
I did not say that.
said, no, keep your money.
Keep your money.
I said, Richard, said, what we need to do is a third study.
A third study?
He said, preacher, am I that bad a sinner that I need a third Bible study?
I said, well, it's not about your sins.
Actually, it is.
I said, there's one more study we need to have.
said, OK.
So we scheduled a third study.
So they come back.
My wife fixes a meal.
And my daughter dessert.
So we eat our meal, sit around the table, we start the third study.
I loved it.
Couldn't have gone better.
And I always couple a study with food.
I'll talk more about that later.
Food's important.
People relax when they eat.
And so we go through this third study, Richard's getting it.
I mean, you could tell they're on point.
Finally Richard said, preacher, that's enough study.
I said, what's wrong?
He says, Daisy and I need to be baptized, Rob.
I said, I know.
I said, let's go to the baptistry.
We took him to the baptistry, baptized Richard, baptized Daisy into Christ.
Today they're some of our best friends.
In fact, if you'll get busy in evangelism, your family will grow beyond your comprehension.
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.
They've been part of our family and they're part of the family of God.
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.
I'm convinced one of the biggest mistakes we're making in evangelism is a lack of Bible study.
We're not studying the Bible.
When's the last time you had a Bible study with anybody that's lost?
A generation's risen in our pews that knows not Bible study.
We literally have little boys growing up in homes and they're never going to see their father do a Bible study, not once.
Shame on you.
You want to know why your son doesn't know how to do it?
Because you didn't do it.
because you were too busy with your toys.
Because as men, sometimes we get distracted with our hobbies.
And then sometimes our even mothers.
We have little girls growing up and they'll never see their mother bring one person to Christ.
We have a generation now, two generations in our pews and we don't even know what a Bible study looks like.
Don't worry though, we've got programs.
We've got more programs in our churches since the days of Peter and Paul.
We have program to death.
We've got more titles for preachers than we've ever had.
We have ministries and programs and titles.
We have the empty nesters program.
So when your children go off to college and you get depressed, we've got a program for you.
And then we have the Silver Wings program.
When you get to Silver Wings, sir, you need a program.
We don't want to lose you.
And those of you who have advanced A's, don't worry.
We have the Golden Oldies program, the prime timers.
We have Bible Bingo every Friday night.
How's it working for you?
How's it working?
It's not working.
It's not working at all.
We're trying to compete with the community church.
I've got news for you, Collierville.
You're going to lose.
You will never compete with those churches.
They will always out program you.
They have more money than you got.
They have no boundaries.
And they've been at it a lot longer.
They're more experienced than you are.
Let me give you the one thing you got.
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.
It's just nothing but window decoration.
We have the power of scripture.
I believe that one of the problems we're facing today is many of our churches have become inward focused.
It's all about us.
We're always celebrating each other.
We celebrate the youth group, then we celebrate the older group, then we celebrate the, we're always celebrating people.
And everything we do is on the inside of the building.
But most people have not a clue who we are on the outside of the building.
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.
We've got to fix that.
So let me illustrate.
How many Bible studies have you had in the last five years?
Well, Humphreys wrote a book years ago.
He a light in the fire in the Church of Christ, and he made an observation.
The average member of the Church of Christ has sung 20,000 songs in their lifetime.
Now, think about that.
You're going to sing 20,000 songs for the average member of the Church.
You're going to participate in 8,000 public prayers.
You're going to hear 4,000 sermons.
And the average member of the Church of Christ, here you go, will bring zero people to Christ.
the average member of the Church of Christ brings zero people to Christ.
Brethren, with numbers like that, no wonder we look like we look today.
No wonder, in an average year, three congregations, excuse me, one congregation closes their door every three days.
Do you realize that 111 churches of Christ close their doors every year?
Did you know that on an average year,
that we are losing 18,541 church members in the United States of How long do you think we can keep this up?
Brother, we used to number almost 3 million in this country.
We don't even number a million anymore.
So what I want to do this morning is put the Bible back into Bible study.
I'm going to do it with three steps.
You all ready?
Write these down.
Here's your three steps.
Number one, we're going to learn how to...
We gotta learn how to defer questions.
You wanna have a Bible study?
You wanna bring someone to Christ?
You wanna help bring, maybe you don't do the study, but you bring a neighbor.
You wanna learn how to do it?
The first thing you gotta learn is stop answering their questions.
Defer every question they ask.
Those are traps, they're landmines, they're rabbits.
And the more you chase the rabbit, the worse it gets.
And so when your neighbor or your coworker or your friend or family member start asking you Bible questions,
Do not answer them!
Because what's happening is that you're chasing a rabbit and you're never going to the cross.
You're going away from the cross.
Stop answering all their questions on the tongue speaking.
You don't bring people to Christ by answering questions on the tongue speaking.
Stop answering their questions on the miracles.
You don't bring people to Christ answering questions about the miracles.
Stop answering questions about 666, Armageddon, the Battle of Magedda, the Thousand Year Reign, the Book of Revelation.
Brethren, you're chasing rabbits.
Stop.
That's not a Bible study.
but Robin, 1 Peter 3.15, it says, be ready always to give an answer.
It says to be ready to give an answer.
It doesn't say to give it.
Stop giving it.
Because when we give it, what happens is there's no Bible study.
I don't want to sit there and talk about the Battle of Megiddo.
Do you?
I want to talk about the cross.
I want to talk about salvation.
I want to talk about the Church of Christ.
We're not talking about the Church of Christ, we're too busy talking about everything else.
So don't answer the questions, defer the questions.
They're not asking you the right question.
And by the way, they're not ready for the answer.
John 16, 12, Jesus says, I have yet many things to say unto you, but you can't bear them now.
He said that to the disciples.
If the disciples could not understand the answer, what about the people we're around?
So I'm sitting in the living room of Jackie and Sheila Birdwell.
And Sheila Birdwell looks at me and she says, well, preacher, I sure do have questions for you.
I said, ask anything you want.
She said, well, I want to know why you guys don't believe in music.
But that's a pretty good question.
And I said, that's a common question.
And I looked at Sheila, and I'm gonna practice my principle to fore-don't debate.
First time in my life I've ever done this.
I looked at Sheila, I said, Sheila, that's a good question you just asked.
I said, I assume you guys have music in your church.
Well, of course we do.
I said, well.
I said, what kind of music do you have?
Well, we have a, sing and we have an organ.
I said, you got a band?
We don't believe in bands.
I said, okay.
I said, organ's fine.
I said, tell me about you ever play nothing but the blood?
Well, I guess, of course we play nothing but the blood.
I said, you ever play Amazing Grace?
Amazing grace, I said, I do too.
I said, when y'all sing, does everybody sing?
Well, we're supposed to.
I said, would you got a choir?
We don't believe in choirs.
I said, okay.
I said, how many songs y'all normally sing?
Why do you sing?
I'm not answering the question in mind.
Brethren, I am not going to lead her to Christ getting into a debate over instrumental music.
It will not work.
I will win the argument and I know how to win an argument.
If I need to win an argument over instrumental music, I am perfectly capable of doing it.
The Greek word is solo.
You want to know what Reinacher says?
Bauer says?
Thayer says?
I've got it memorized.
I know all seven verses where the word is used in the New Testament.
I've got to memorize.
And if I need to make my syllogism and win the argument, I'll do it.
I'll lose the Bible study.
because you can win the argument and lose the soul and I've done it many times.
Now let's find out how Jesus did it.
Y'all like to know how he would do it?
Let's go to Luke 10.
Everybody go to Luke chapter 10.
In Luke chapter 10.
Luke chapter 10, so I want to be like Jesus and I know that arguing with people is not working very well.
And so I want to be more effective and so I'm gonna try to do what he would do.
So let's go to Luke 10 and let's give an example.
Luke 10, 25.
And behold a certain lawyer stood up and tempted him
tempted him saying, Master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?
And that's a pretty good question.
That's a pointed question, but the observation is, what did Jesus do with this question?
Did he answer it?
And the answer is no, he did not.
And what I discovered as I learned and I dug into these Bible studies that Jesus did is that Jesus does not answer questions.
Now, I want to take you to another, we're gonna come back to Matthew Luke 10.
That's gonna be our cortex.
I'm just gonna introduce it, but I want to share with you some other passages.
Go to Matthew 21.
And let's look at why doesn't Jesus answer questions?
Why doesn't he just give answers?
Because he doesn't.
He does not give answers to questions.
Matthew 21 explains it.
And when he was come into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching.
And they said, Jesus, by what authority doest thou these things who gave you this authority?
Pretty good question, right?
I like that question.
And Jesus noticed Jesus answered and said to them, hmm, I will also ask you one thing.
If you answer my question, I'll answer yours.
Did you hear that?
I want you to look at what he did.
He says, great question.
He says, in fact, but I've got a question for you.
If you answer my question, I'll answer yours.
Now, the baptism of John, whence was it from heaven or men?
and they reasoned among themselves.
I'd circle that word reason, because that's what he wanted.
He just wants them to think.
He does not want them to regurgitate talking points.
He does not want them to tell them what the pastor said.
He doesn't want to give them their opinion.
He wants them to think and their reasoning.
And that's what we all want.
We want people to think.
Because if people will think about the scriptures, they'll find the truth.
You got to get them thinking.
And so the Bible says they reasoned among themselves.
Say if we say,
When we say of heaven, he'll say, why did you not believe then?
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.
And notice what Jesus says, and this is powerful stuff.
Jesus said, neither do I tell you by what authority I do these things.
I'm not answering your question.
Wow.
Let's be honest, church.
Everybody here be honest.
If someone came to you and asked you that religious question, would you have answered the question?
And the answer is I would have.
I don't know about you brother, but I would have done it.
I would have given him an answer because that's what I'm supposed to do.
I give him Bible answers to Bible questions, I've heard that all my life, but Jesus didn't do that.
He doesn't give an answer.
I started to think to myself, maybe there's something to this.
So I did a little study, here's what I found out.
Jesus was asked 183 questions in his life.
Now I bet you didn't know that.
That's how many total questions were asked to Jesus in his lifetime.
Now I went a step further and then I asked this question, how many of those 183 questions do think he answered?
He answers three, just three, his entire life.
And those are three very unique questions and answers.
But he only answers three.
That's something.
Because when I look at my religious life, I answer all questions.
I'm nowhere near Jesus here.
But you know he asked 307?
He has 307 questions in his lifetime.
So started to tell me something about Jesus and how he teaches people.
And then I thought to myself, I wonder if there's some consistency here in scripture.
And let's go back to the beginning, Genesis chapter three, the very first question.
And the Lord God called unto Adam and said, Adam, where are you?
Do you think God had lost Adam, anybody?
I don't know where Adam is, can't seem to find him.
God knew exactly where Adam was.
teach Adam and when you teach people what do you do?
You ask questions.
Let's go to chapter four.
And the Lord God said to Cain, Cain where is Abel your brother?
God knew exactly where Abel was.
The blood of Abel cried from the ground.
God knew exactly what had happened but he asks questions.
That's how he teaches.
Fascinating isn't it?
I never realized that.
You know what we call that in the, I don't know, scholastic world?
There's a term for this if you're in the scholastic world.
They call this the Socratic method.
They claim that Socrates originated it.
I would disagree because he got it from God.
God has been teaching like this since creation.
You want more evidence?
Let's go here to Mark 10 and 17.
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?
I can't think of a better question than that, can you?
What does Jesus do with that question?
He doesn't answer it.
He said, why'd you call me good?
Wow.
Now things started coming together for me.
I said, you know, one of the mistakes I've been making is I've been answering all their questions.
I'm not going to do it anymore.
So I sat in that living room and Sheila Bergwold said, Rob, I want to know why you believe in music.
I didn't answer it.
I deferred the question.
I took the question and became very conversational.
I'm not rude.
I didn't ignore her.
I just had a conversation with her about the question.
And she enjoyed it.
She doesn't even realize I'm not answering the question.
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.
I'd have lost soul.
Doesn't work.
I need to be more like Jesus.
Now, write this down.
This is the theme or the conclusion of step one.
Step one, here's your conclusion statement.
All right, he who asks the question controls the study.
That's what I've learned.
If you're the one asking questions, you're in control of the study.
If you're fielding the questions and answering the questions, they're in control.
Why would you let someone who doesn't even know what they need to do to become a Christian control the study?
Why?
Well, we should never allow that to happen.
You should be the one asking the questions, not them.
Mothers, how do you teach your children answer all the questions?
No, you don't do that.
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?
What do you say?
That's five.
Go back to your, no.
You said bring the blocks.
Put out a little pile of two, put a pile of three, put them together.
How many blocks you got?
I got five, mama.
You're asking questions, aren't you?
You're not telling them it's five.
You're asking questions.
Put the blocks together.
Count your blocks.
How many blocks?
You're helping them develop reasoning skills so they can think through the process, right?
That's what we're doing here.
I don't know how we can get this with five-year-olds, but we can't get it in the church.
Stop answering their questions.
Make them think.
Step number two, we've got to learn to show them and not tell them.
Don't tell them the answers.
Show them.
Hi, and so when Sheila Birdwell, I was in the living room, she said, well, preacher, I do have another question for you.
I said, what is it?
She says, aren't you that church that believes you're the only ones going to heaven?
How many of you heard that before?
That's a classic.
I said, I looked at Sheila.
said, now, Sheila, I said, that's a good question.
I said, in fact, if I was in your shoes and I believed that about you, I'd ask it.
I said, Sheila, I said, you know, it really doesn't make a whole lot of a...
It doesn't make a lot of difference really what I think.
I said, can I show you the answer?
She said, show me.
I said, what do mean?
I said, well, I'd open the Bible, you'd read some passages, and you'd tell me the answer to the question.
Preacher, are you trying to do a Bible study with me?
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.
Luke 10.25, go back to your text.
We're going to study this together.
Luke 10.25, everything I'm going to give you, I get right out of the Bible.
So I didn't read a self-help book.
I didn't go down here and read Dr.
Spock.
I didn't go out here and read Dr.
Phil.
I'm going to go to the greatest doctor, the greatest counselor, the greatest evangelist, whoever's lived.
And I'm going to ask him, how did you do that?
And I will mimic you.
And here's what he did.
And behold, a certain lawyer stood up tempting him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
And Jesus said, How?
What is written?
What's written?
Just go to the book and read it.
Jesus, give me the answer.
says, no, I'll let you read it.
What's written in the law?
Go to the book.
Go to the law of God.
And whenever you find that law says, that's what I believe.
He said, I want you to read it.
How readest thou?
Brethren, here's what people need today.
We need people reading the word of God.
If people will read the word of God, they'll be converted.
Stop telling them the answer.
You don't have the power, God does.
You tell people what they need to do, it doesn't carry a lot of weight.
But when they read the word of God, it doesn't sit as well.
It stirs their spirit.
They struggle to sleep.
In fact, it causes you to have sleepless nights because you're wrestling with scripture.
You won't wrestle long with God as Jacob you'll lose.
You see, God will wear you down.
God has power you don't have.
And one of the mistakes we make is that we try to, you know, we try to, you know.
have a greater will, a greater capacity for argumentation.
We try to be more persuasive than they are and kind of get them into the baptistry.
And it doesn't stick.
It doesn't work.
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.
Brethren, he spoke this world into existence.
Don't you think he's got the power to convict the sinner?
Psalm 119, 104, through thy precepts I gain understanding, therefore I hate every false way.
We don't need, brethren, let's just be honest this morning, let's have a conversation here.
We don't need any more coffee bars in the church.
We don't need another Starbucks in our building.
We do not need to put popcorn machines inside the church building to get them to come.
We don't need to turn the church into some type of theatrical performance.
We have preachers that are more like presenters and they're preachers.
Song leaders that are showmen.
We don't need to turn our churches into circuses.
That's not how you grow.
Through that precepts I get understanding.
Therefore I hate every false way.
We don't have to become the next community church to grow.
Growth can happen by faithfulness to God because his word is the power to save.
Last point I'm gonna make this morning, y'all ready?
Last point, only have three.
Plant don't pick.
Stop picking, stop planting.
How is the world's worst picker?
Behold a certain lawyer stood up and tempted him.
I mean this lawyer is, he's got a lot of nerve, doesn't he?
He's tempting the son of God.
I don't know about you, but that lawyer, mean, to come up to the Son of God and tempt him?
And then this lawyer, he's arrogant, he's prideful.
He thinks he's got all the answers.
In fact, you might call him a ringer.
They brought him here, they brought him in to show up the Lord.
And he's willing to justify himself, to make himself look like something he wasn't, to prop himself up.
He looks at the Son of God and he says, well,
Who is my neighbor?
He thinks he's got him.
He thinks, boy, I've got Jesus now, got him on the run.
Jesus knew his heart.
I don't know this man's heart, but Jesus did, and the heart is as rotten as an apple.
It could be more rotten.
And Jesus looks at, what does Jesus do with this man who has sinister motives?
What does he do with him when he asks him this question?
Does he dust his shoes off and go to the next one?
Because that's what I did.
I said, yeah, you can't reach people like this.
Hey, you can't reach lawyers.
This guy's not honest.
You know what he did?
Jesus taught him the parable of the Good Samaritan.
And he asked him a lot of questions.
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.
You know why?
Because I wouldn't have done what he did.
I would never have tried to teach that man.
I would have given up.
I said, you can't reach them people.
Just don't give it.
Don't waste your time.
I would have picked but Jesus planted.
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.
But we're supposed to be out there teaching and finding the good ground.
How do you find the good ground?
I'll tell you how I found that out.
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?
Y'all are growing, we want to grow too.
I said, I'd be glad to.
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
the meeting room.
So I walked in, this is a deacon of evangelism.
Well, I love deacons.
I said, this is great.
And the deacon brought out the map.
He quadrant off the map.
And he started talking about the community.
He said, now, preacher, we're going to send you to quadrant one.
I said, well, why quadrant?
He said, those people are just like us.
He said, if we could fill this building with quadrant one, this church would take off and grow.
Preacher, we really need quadrant.
He said, preacher, we really think that your talents would be suited good for quadrant one.
I could not help myself because there's an X on quadrant four.
Yes, preacher.
He said, why is there an X on quadrant four?
He said, not good candidates for the gospel there, Rob.
He said, kind of heady.
He said, over there, Rob.
said, you know, it's just we don't need any more of that.
He said, need quadrant one, Rob.
He said, leave quadrant four alone.
We don't want you there.
He said, yes, Rob.
I said, brother, take me to quadrant four.
My family will go to quadrant four.
He said, why in the world would you go to quadrant number four?
I said, because if the Lord were standing there, that's exactly where he would go.
Who gave you the right to determine who gets the gospel and who doesn't?
Who gives you that right?
And I began to realize that the reason I'm failing is because I'm picking and I'm not planning.
Let me demonstrate.
You guys just brought Justin, right?
Justin, you just brought Justin in here to help you.
Y'all did.
I'm glad you I think that was a smart, wise move, men.
I think you did well.
And she brought Justin and his wife here.
They're going to serve as an evangelist for you.
And let's say one of the members said, now, Justin, we need to talk.
And Justin, I know you don't know this community.
But Justin, now, right across the street over there, now, I know there's a house right there.
And Justin, we tried to knock on that door one day, and they cursed us.
And we don't need you back.
over there, just leave them alone.
You know, over here, this over here person over here, they got beer cans in the yard every Friday night, leave them alone.
That's my neighbor.
We don't need any of that.
Now, Justin, over here on the other side over here, Justin, that person, there's two women, they just moved here from California.
You know what that means?
We don't want any of that in the Church of Christ.
Leave them alone.
And over here on the other side, that's an atheist.
They said they don't believe in God.
You can't reach atheists.
Over here on the other side, well that person's bitter against the church.
They don't like the church anymore.
So just leave them alone.
We don't want to irritate them anymore.
Over here on the other side, that's my best friend Jill.
You can't convert best friends.
You're wearing my friendship with Jill.
Leave her alone.
Now over here on the other side of the road, that's my coworker Bob.
We don't want to have a hostile work environment.
You can't convert anyone you work with.
Leave them alone.
Here on the other side, that's mama.
You can't convert family.
Leave them alone.
By the time you're done eliminating everybody, there's no one left to teach.
How many of us have eliminated all of our friends?
We've eliminated all our coworkers.
We've eliminated all our family because the devil has convinced us you can't convert family.
How good for him.
And we sit in our pews and this is our response, well there's no one out there.
Here's just no one to teach out there.
Brethren, if that's where you are right now at Collierville, the devil's already won, your building and just go somewhere else.
Because you'll never survive.
Because the devil has done his job and he has won the victory.
There are people around this community who can be brought to Christ, a few.
If you just have a few, you'll fill the building.
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.
And so we defer, we don't debate, we show, we don't tell, we plant, we don't pick.
I'm gonna build this throughout this seminar.
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.
I don't want you to go home because we will not succeed at Collegerville without you.
You're the answer.
Aaron is not, you are.
This church has the answer to growth and I've seen it all through the nation.
There are 325 churches of Christ in our school.
Brother, I have seen churches turn the corner over and over again, and I'm so glad to be here with you.
I was at a preaching conference.
How many of you have heard of Polishing the Pulpit?
Anybody hear of that before?
You need to go if you've not.
It's a life-changing experience.
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.
He said, Rob, how you doing?
I said, great.
He said, Rob, we gotta talk.
And so we started visiting.
He said, Rob, the new preacher that replaced you, he said, Rob, he tells us that Bible studies don't work.
I said, really?
I said, I want to hear about this.
He says, you know, today you can't study the Bible with people.
They just don't want to hear it, especially the young generation, the Zs.
I said, the Zs, Zoomers.
He said, they don't do Bible studies.
I said, I didn't know any of this.
And I said, well, tell me about it.
How do you convert people then?
He said, well, you just have chats with them.
You have tea room talks, coffee side chats.
You just, you you don't want to get, you know, do Bible studies.
You'll run people off.
I said, well, I said, okay.
I said, well, how do you convert them?
He said, well, you invite them to church, you know.
And I said, when they get to church, can you have a Bible study?
No, you'll run them off.
I said, well, how do you become Christian?
He said, well, they walk forward.
I don't know about you, Aaron, but they're not coming forward.
I asked him, said, brother, how many baptisms have y'all had since I left?
He said, well, that's the problem.
Well, when you were here, we went from 120, 130, 140, 150, 160, 170.
We were baptizing people almost on a monthly basis.
He said, the church was flourishing.
He said, we haven't had a baptism since you left in two years.
I was just at a church of 300.
I asked him, how many baptisms have you had?
300 Christians, three.
unacceptable, completely unacceptable.
The Bible says in Psalm 19, the law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul.
And the testimonies of the Lord are sure making lives as simple.
This is the power of conversion, brethren.
And that doesn't stir your spirit this morning, you need a revival.
Because God's word is the power of growth.
No more gimmicks.
We need members who believe in the power of the cross.
and to believe it so much you can't contain it.
You can't keep it in your church building.
I'm gonna offer the invitation, so be ready.
Man sat down with me one time and he said, Rob, I wanna talk to you about my conversion.
I said, I'd be glad to hear it.
So I got my, I actually wrote it down, he wrote it down for me.
He said, Rob, he says, this is impactful, so listen carefully.
He said, I grew up in a little town, little bitty town.
He said, my family was a...
Religious family, not a church family.
We'd go to church, but it wasn't the main thing in our life.
He says, as I was growing up, I got to about 19 years old, and I finally realized, I'm missing something.
I don't know what life's about.
And I got to get out of here.
I got to find life.
And I said, well, how'd you do that?
said, I joined the Navy.
I said, well, that's good.
He said, I went to boot camp, got deployed, went over to Vietnam, Thailand.
And said, I went to the Philippines and I'm looking for the purpose of life.
I said, well great.
said, tell me about it.
He said, got home, got back to Lexington Park, Maryland.
And now I'm stateside.
I said, well tell me what.
I said, did you find the purpose of life?
He said, Rob, I need you to know something about the US Navy.
I said, what is it?
The US Navy does not know the purpose of life.
I said, I bet they don't.
I said, what'd you do next?
He said, well I tried church.
So I went from one church to another church to another church and I'm looking for the purpose of life.
what bothers me, Rob, is I go to these churches and then the churches use the Bible.
They like to tell stories.
And he says, I was tired of that.
And then finally I just kind of gave up.
But I saw a sign there that said Lexington Park Church of Christ Meats Here.
I said, take me to that church.
One morning a taxi dropped me off.
I walked inside.
Church could not have been more hospitable.
They loved me.
They surrounded me.
He said, gave me a Bible.
And I went through the Bible class and the preacher used the Bible and the preacher preached the Bible.
And he said, then they asked me out to eat for lunch.
And I went to eat with people.
I never met them before.
And they fed me.
came for it.
And they said, what are your plans this evening?
I said, I really don't have any.
They said, why don't you come back to church?
He said, well, I'll take a cab.
They said, no, you won't.
You'll never take a cab again.
And I never did.
They picked me up at base every worship hour.
And one day one of my fellow sailors saw me.
I didn't know he was a member there.
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.
He said, well, I saw you take communion.
He said, well, I'm not a member.
said, why are you taking communion?
He said, I don't know.
The preacher came up to me after that and he said, hey, why don't you come over, you like movies?
He said, yeah.
He said, you like to eat?
Yeah.
He said, why don't you come over to my house?
My wife will make you a home cooked meal, we'll watch a movie.
He said, well I'm there, I'm all in.
And so anyway, I went over to that preacher's house, he got an old rod and reel projector.
You see those rod and reel projectors, you know, at the round film?
And he said, he lined it up with the, he said, we're gonna watch a movie.
He said, you'll need a Bible for this movie, son.
was the Jew Miller films trip, Bible study series.
you heard of it?
Jew Miller.
We watched the Visualized Bible Study Series.
He said, when I finished watching that Bible study series, Rob, I knew that I was in the right place.
And on May 16th, 1965, I was baptized.
You wanna know why that's important to me?
Because that man is Gary Riddicker, and he is my dad.
And I want you to understand this morning what would have happened if my dad...
Someone didn't have a Bible study with my dad.
My dad would not have gone home to Ohio and he's looking for a Christian wife.
And he goes from church to church looking for a wife.
And one day he walks into a church and he sees a cute girl, 17 years old, sitting on the front pew.
And he decided to sit right next to her.
She's the preacher's daughter.
And the preacher said, would you like to come home for dinner?
He said, well sure.
And he said, I got rid of my little brother.
he said, I kept coming back, kept coming back.
And one day the preacher came up to me and said, what are your intentions with my daughter?
And I said, we got married.
And Rob, after we got married three years later, we had you.
Because of that one Bible study on May 16th, 1965.
And because of that one Bible study,
I'm born and I grew up and become a Christian.
Because of that one Bible study, my sister, she's born and she becomes a Christian.
Because of that one Bible study, I'm gonna marry a Christian.
I couldn't find one in Texas, but my sister's roommate was Nicole and mama brought her home for spring break.
You never argue with mama.
I married her because of that one Bible study May 16th, 1965.
And then, of course, my wife and I have two children.
Hannah's our oldest daughter, and she gets married and she becomes a Christian.
Our son, he grows up and becomes a Christian, May 16th, 1965.
And because of that Bible study, my sister marries Joey Barkley, and now they have two children.
Michaela, she grows up and she becomes a Christian, May 16th, 1965.
Maddie, she grows up and she becomes a Christian, May 16th, 1965, because of one Bible study.
Who did your Bible study, Justin?
Thank God for godly parents.
Who did your Bible study, brother?
Who studied with you?
Your wife, preacher?
Who taught you?
Thank God.
Who did your Bible study?
Thank God for your parents who raised you right.
Who did your Bible study?
Thank God for godly wives.
Who did your Bible study, brother?
sweet old ladies to name at Strickland Church of Christ.
Thank God for those sweet ladies.
When are you going to do your study?
When are you gonna do yours, church?
How long are we gonna sit in the pews and wait?
You wouldn't be here if someone didn't do a Bible study.
And we're riding on the coattails of the people that came before us.
If we don't learn how to do this, our churches will not survive.
Everybody here has a unique talent.
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.
And as a church, you're much more effective than you are individually.
The Collegereville Church of Christ, together, can reach people.
And that's why we're here.
and I beg you not to go home.
I beg you to be here at 1.30.
We're building something together and I can't build it if you're not here.
There isn't a message more important than this one.
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.
All you gotta do is come forward, will baptize you into Christ?
You can be a member of the body of Christ and an army of soul winners.
What in life's more important than that?
Or maybe as a Christian you have failed to do what you should be doing.
You have failed to be an evangelist, a soul winner, to bring anyone to Christ.
God is watching.
One day we'll all stand before God.
We're given accounting, an accounting of what we've done.
If you need the Lord this morning, would you come as together we stand and as we sing.
I am
you
Just as I
to bring my soul of one
To thee whose luck can cleanse each vial and of God.
Just as I...
has broken every
Yer
I love.
Robin Nicole Whitaker.
One of the reasons I love them.
It's because they convict me.
to be what I know I ought to be.
we have not always prioritized evangelizing.
That's not an accusation, that's internal realization.
We all have things that we know we should do, and sometimes we do them.
And sometimes we don't.
in August 2017.
I visited this congregation.
Congregation that Sunday morning was about 30, 35 people.
And I visited because Steve Ulrich had talked to me at GPN as we were both working there.
And he said, Aaron.
I think Collierville needs help.
He wasn't in a position to do it.
So I came and I visited, and I love telling this story.
I really do.
Because it brings to mind faces that are no longer with us.
Services were over that Sunday morning, and that Sunday morning, one of the students that you all supported at the time taught class, preached.
And I had talked with a few of the men.
We were just casually talking.
And Kim walked through the back door.
And she said, hey, y'all, the widows and I were going to Burger King.
Anybody who wants to come, you can come.
And I said to myself, I want to go.
Because if anyone knows the state of a congregation, it is the widows.
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.
Most importantly, to find out, had the congregation already given up hope?
and I didn't give them any answers.
I asked a lot of questions.
through the course of the next few months.
The men talked to me about coming here.
And I said, I have a job, I'm not looking for a job.
And I wasn't looking for a job.
The second time they asked me to come, I said, I have a job, I'm not looking for a job.
But through the course of those conversations with Joe, with Jay, with Terry,
One of the things that I said to them is I'm not willing to chase down old members.
So the congregation's gonna grow, it's not gonna grow that way.
So if the congregation is going to grow, it's going to through evangelism.
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.
We weren't here for a year before we had some members pass away.
There's not 35 of those original 35 still here.
but the congregation has continued to grow.
It's grown because people have moved into the area and they have seen in this congregation a heart and a love.
because this congregation cares about every single person who walks through that door.
but we've not yet.
fully mobilized ourselves to reach the lost.
There's a reason why I didn't ask Rob to come here year one, two, three, four, five, six, or seven.
I've been waiting.
I've been waiting because I've been watching people mature spiritually in this congregation.
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
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
fall in love.
with the Word of God.
Over in Revelation chapter 2, John writes to Ephesus, and he doesn't say, don't hold fast to the Word of God.
No, he says you do.
He doesn't say you haven't pushed back against the false teachers because they had.
He said, you've left your first love.
and he calls on them to repent and to return.
when we realize.
that the only thing stopping us from converting the lost is our willingness to sit down and study with the lost.
It's the only thing stopping us.
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.
One.
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.
You stay there and people will be brought to you and you will preach the kingdom of heaven as a handle.
But if you go through that city and there's not one house that will receive you, what does that mean?
It means they house you, they feed you, they take care of you, and they bring people to you to teach.
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.
Why?
because God's qualification.
for people to be right in his sight includes and demands.
that they want others to hear and obey God.
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.
But rather, if they will open their homes, use their home, their family, their resources to help people here,
There's a blessing for those who do.
And we are primed and we are ready in this congregation to reach the lost.
The fields are light unto harvest.
But we have to choose to do it.
Now, Rob went a little long.
That's okay.
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.
We will feed you and you won't miss 1 30.
Who has closing prayer?