In this sermon, the speaker shares a powerful story of a young lady who boldly preached about Jesus Christ for 55 minutes in her college class. The speaker challenges the audience to consider if they would be able to do the same if given the opportunity. He emphasizes the importance of being bold and standing for Christ, as lukewarm faith is not acceptable. The speaker also shares a personal experience of witnessing someone who had a near-death experience and saw the reality of hell, urging the audience to consider the eternal consequences of their choices.

Okay, young people, sit up nice and straight in your seats for me, please. Young people, sit up nice and straight in your seats for me, please. Okay? No talking when I speak. I will ask you for some verbal responses at a few points. I expect you to speak at those points, okay? No heads on the back of your seats for me, okay? It's not an option to pay attention when the Word of God is preached. Is that correct? It's not an option to pay attention when the Word of God is preached. Is that correct? That is correct, okay? I'm expecting God to change some lives in just a few short minutes up here, okay? Let's pray. Father, you're so kind. You're so gracious. That you give us your Word. And Father God, the truth of your Word, when it's preached, it can change lives. We ask a very simple thing, Father God, as we'll talk about the lukewarm church this morning. Father God, change individual lives this morning, period. By the power of your Holy Spirit, nothing else. That when they walk out these doors this morning, that there are young people and adults in this room that will never be the same again because your Holy Spirit changed their heart. Father, you are so kind. We ask it in the great name of your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen. Okay? Hold your Bible in your hand for me. Okay, hold your Bible up for me if you have it. Okay, now. Okay, now we're about to open this thing. Okay, now watch this. Alright, listen to me now. If you don't have your Bible, we'll put the verses up here for you. Watch this. When you open up this book, do not open this book up like a textbook at school. Do not open up this book like a fiction book. Do not open this book up like a magazine. Young people and adults, this is the Word of Almighty God. Is that correct? Is that correct? That is correct. When you open up this book, God can take a word, one single word, and change your life. Is that right? That is right. He can take a phrase and change your life. He can take a sentence and change your life. Every single time I open up this book, I have expectations. I expect God to do big things. Why? I serve a big God. And He gave me His Word to read, study, and obey in the days to come. Right? Right. Expect big things this morning when you open up this book. Okay? We're going to open up to the book of Revelations. Okay, so let's open up to the book of Revelations. For you people that maybe haven't opened up a Bible, got saved last night, it's going to be the last book in the Bible. Okay, so let's go to the book of Revelations and go to chapter 3. Make sure there's enough light in the crowd for the people to be able to read their Bibles, please. Who's ever doing the lights, okay? Now, the first time I ever opened up a Bible, I was in college. Never opened up one in my high school years. The first time you open up a Bible, don't you feel a little bit uncomfortable? Yes or no? You feel very uncomfortable. Trust me, okay? If this is the first time you open up a Bible, don't feel uncomfortable, okay? Help someone next to you find books in the Bible. Look at the table of contents in the front, okay? Watch God work you through that book to do that, okay? So go to Revelations. We're going to go to chapter 3. And we're going to talk about the lukewarm church, okay? Make sure I've got enough lights out there so people can read their Bibles, okay? Who's ever working the lights? We're going to put it up here for you also, but I want you to look in your Bibles. Do you know why? Because when persecution and tribulation come to the church of Jesus Christ in America and you can't meet inside your churches, you're going to meet inside your houses, you're not going to have PowerPoint presentations to get you through the next lesson. Is that correct? That is correct. You need to know how to go through your Bible. That's right. You can clap there because those days are coming, okay? You need to know how to go through that Bible, okay? So that's why you've got to practice. It's just a lot of practice. I'm glad I keep practicing, okay? Go to Revelations chapter 3, okay? Going to go to verse 14. Now watch what happens when we talk to the church at Laodicea. And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans, right, there's something right there. Every other church, it's writing to seven churches, it's the angel of the church of Philadelphia, the angel of the church of Sardis. This is the only one that writes to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans, the individuals in the church. The only one that does that. That is very interesting. I wonder why. Let's find out why, okay? These things saith the Amen, the faithful and the true witness, the beginning of the creation of God. If you have a red-letter Bible, that's written in red. Who's speaking? Jesus Christ is speaking. Let me ask you a question. When Jesus Christ speaks, should you be listening? Oh, it is time to listen. It is time to hear what He has to say. Watch what He says, okay? These things saith the Amen, faithful. He was faithful to His Father. Not my will, but Your will be done. Don't you want the same thing in your life? I'm sick and tired of living the will of Mark Hale, the will of the Father in my life. That's your choice, just like Jesus made that choice to follow His Father. True witness. He was a true witness, a true follower. If you want truth, you go after the way, the truth in the life. He's about to speak truth. Let's find out what He's got to say. Go to verse 15. I know thy works. You cannot hide anything from the Lord Jesus Christ. You may hide it from your parents. You may hide it from your youth leaders. You may hide it from your pastor. You hide nothing from the eyes of Almighty God. Is that correct? That is correct. Watch what it says. I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot. I wish that we're cold or hot. Okay? I wish we're either cold or hot. You're in this middle. Okay? And the word there is lukewarm, that's in this middle. Okay? This is what He's saying. You're not a zero. Someone just living in pagan sin, sinning every single day. Those friends of yours at school just living a total pagan lifestyle. It's all about me, me, me. I, I, I. But you're also not a ten. You're not reading your Bibles and obeying what you read. You're not worshiping the Lord Jesus Christ with your whole heart and soul. Okay? You're not a giver of your money to the Lord's work. You're not a giver of your time to the Lord's work. Okay? You're, you're not an evangelist. You don't share your faith with friends in school. You're not a ten. You're right here in the middle. You're a four, five, or six. And He's gonna tell us there's a problem with four, five, or six. There's a problem with lukewarm, correct? Correct. Any of you at the, um, not the clarion, anyone at the hotel this morning that I was at that had no hot water? Any of y'all? Raise your hand if you were at that one. Yeah, okay. You smell great this morning. And, um, there was no hot water. Something broke in the place, okay? And I kept turning that hot water on and I just kept putting my hand underneath it and I just kept, you know how you wait for it to get hot? It never got hot. I was not happy, okay? And I'm thinking, I'm about to give a talk on the lukewarm church and all I can feel is what? Lukewarm water. I was not happy, okay? See, it wasn't ice cold where I knew, just forget it, it's never gonna get hot. See, I thought it was gonna get hot, okay? And it never did. It was that nasty, middle, lukewarm. Laodicea was a church, a city that was far away from the hot springs. They used to pipe hot water to the city. But when it got to the city, what was the temperature of the water? It was lukewarm. It wasn't hot anymore, okay? And so they had to make decisions here, okay? Watch what happens in verse 16. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth. I will vomit you out of my mouth. Let me ask you a question. Can the Christian life of a Christian make Jesus Christ sick to his stomach? Can it, yes or no? Listen to me. Listen to what he's saying here. He's talking about a violent reaction. I will spew you out of my mouth. I will vomit you out of my mouth. This is nasty and sick and putrid. I hate this as the son of God. I've had food poisoning twice where I've wound up in hospitals, okay? And you know you really have it. You know you really got food poisoning when you're actually praying for God to kill you and take you to heaven. That's when you actually know you have it, okay? It's happened twice in my life, okay, where I've wound up in hospitals, okay? And all of a sudden, when this poison takes a hold of your body, you have these violent eruptions where you're just throwing up and nothing can stop it. And you're just getting sick. Everything in your body, every fluid in your body, you're just throwing up. It is just violent where your stomach begins to hurt, okay? Until you get the dry heaves, there's nothing left and your body's still trying to react. It was just gross. It was sick to my system. And I wondered what God was saying here. Are we sick to his system? We make him sick. See, the zero hasn't fooled anybody, okay? God can still prick the heart of the zero. The five is the one that's fooled everybody, okay? You've fooled everybody. The number five has. See, the zero will listen when you talk to them. The five won't listen. They're self-deluded. They think everything is okay, okay? Think about that. I just talked to a teenager four days ago in Atlanta witnessing at a mall. In the malls, in the Christmas season, I go to the malls to go witnessing. We have 18 major malls in Atlanta. I try to hit the malls during the holiday season because sinners love buying gifts and I love talking to them. It's a great combination, okay? So I go to the malls all the time and I was talking with this 17-year-old man. As I began to witness to him, he was living in so much sin, but his eyes kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger as we were witnessing to him, okay? And all of a sudden, he was a zero that was beginning to get some understanding. The problem is the five, their pride won't let them hear the truth. You don't hear the truth when pride's speaking because you have self-perception. But many times, the Savior's perception is different than your perception. Is that correct? Is that correct? See, you think you're one way. Jesus says you're just another way. Think about that. I was at a music festival a couple years ago. I'm witnessing to these two guys giving me all the right answers about Jesus Christ. They had a beer in one hand, a cigarette in the other hand, and they had hats on. They said, all-American drinking team. That is gross. That is nasty. That is lukewarm. God does not play that game. You may try to play that game. God will not play that game. I just was in Atlanta for a big youth pastor's convention at this Atlanta thing. All these youth pastors came. Well, I went down there because my speaking agency was there. So a couple of ladies that booked my events, we went out and had dinner. We're having dinner right across from the event. I begin to witness to the waiter, okay? He's busy as all get-out because these youth pastors have been there for three days, all this stuff. He's just working hard. We start talking. He stops everything and begins to listen. We ask questions. He's got answers. We're going at it for about 20 minutes. All of a sudden, I ask him, let me ask you a question. You've been here for three days. There's a big youth pastor convention. You've been serving these people? He said, yeah. I said, how many of those youth pastors have ever taken the time to share with you about Jesus Christ in these last three days? This waiter looked at me and said, I have never had anybody in all of my years of waiting ever take the time to share with me Jesus Christ. I've been serving other people. Young people, that's called lukewarm. You don't get extra credit in heaven because you're a youth pastor. You get credit in heaven because you serve the Lord Jesus Christ wherever you go. Is that correct? He doesn't allow you to come to a Joshua conference, allow you to come to a youth pastor's conference, and keep Jesus Christ to yourself. That's what the lukewarm church does. He says, I will spew you out of my mouth. A violent eruption. One of you Joshua kids just told me you were in Nashville for a big conference. You left the main building and you went out to separate events on the side. But they told you as you walked back to the main building, walk back in silence and don't talk with anybody. And the young man told me as he walked back, he kept seeing this homeless person, that person at the bus stop, that person that he wanted to talk to and share what? Jesus Christ. But the event told you be quiet in silence and walk back. Young people, adults, we have been silent long enough. We have been silent long enough. It is not time to shut up. It's time to speak up. If you believe this to be true, it is time to get out of that lukewarm state and do something about that, okay? If someone gives you advice like that, that is not biblical advice. You have to obey almighty God. You are not here to please men. You are here to please God. Is that correct? That is correct. Why is it when we look at the bulletins at your churches many times, on the front of your bulletins, you see the picture of the building. Because sometimes we are more proud of the building than we are of the people in the building. What's wrong with this picture? I just spoke at a church in this one city, the largest church in the city I spoke at. They just built a $7 million building. Okay? Beautiful seats. Nice up and arise. Beautiful podium. I can plug my PowerPoint right into the podium. Cushy little seats. Little cup holders for your drinks and everything. I walked up there to preach, and this is what I said. I said, Church, if you just spent $7 million to build this church so your backsides feel good when you come here every single Sunday morning and you don't go out these doors and reach this city of yours for Jesus Christ, remember these words I'm about to tell you. You just wasted $7 million. That's exactly what you just wasted. Do you know how many Bibles for China we could buy? Track links we could buy. Missionaries we could support. Think about that for a second. Okay? Well, guess what? They've never invited me back. I wonder why. But that's okay. Okay? I don't go places to get a pat on the back. I go to the challenge and serve the Lord Jesus Christ wherever I go. Think about that. Okay? There's a book out there called Journey to Jerusalem. The Chinese church. Their goal, the underground church, their goal is to take the gospel of Jesus Christ through China and walk it right into Jerusalem. One small problem. They're going to walk through all these Islamic countries to get there, if you ever look at a map. They know there's going to be heavy, heavy, heavy persecution. Could even mean death. But they said, Hey, what's the big deal? We're already getting arrested for our faith now. We're being persecuted now. What's just a little bit more persecution? Is that the correct attitude? That's the correct attitude. They said this. They have said this now. Every dollar you give them, every dollar goes straight for Bibles and evangelism. They said, why? We will spend no money on church buildings. Why? They don't have any. It's an underground church. Every nickel goes to the God's work. We run these programs that raise seven million dollars for this and this and all these big building programs and we haven't built the kingdom of God. What is wrong with these people? See, that is a lukewarm status to do that. Question is, do you want to stay in that lukewarm church or do you want to change it in the days to come? That's your church. Think about that. One of the most famous men in all of Christianity right now, they walked up to a friend of mine ten years ago, walked up to him at this book conference and said, see this man right here? He said, yeah. This man right here is about to change the way we do church. Excuse me. It is not our job to change the way we do church. You read your Bible and you do church the way God says to do church. Is that correct? Let me tell you something. If someone's telling you we're going to change the way we do church, you need to run as far away from those people as you possibly can. That is deception of the highest regard. Same exact guy. Wrote the most best-selling book in Christianity in the last two years. Same exact guy. Page 88 of his book says, quote, from some new translation, quote, He, God, is in you and God is in everything. God is in you and God is in everything. Let me ask you a question. Anyone know what that's called? That's called pantheism. Panentheism. That's what New Agers believe. God is in you. God is in the tree. God is in the rocks. God is in the dirt. God is in the sun, moon, and the stars. God is in those mountains and He's in you. Is that what the Bible says? Absolutely not. That's a completely different God of the Bible. At that moment, that book belongs in a trash can. It belongs in a trash can at that moment. But yet I can tell people who have read that book and they never even catch it why we're not discerners. We are lukewarm and we love being lukewarm. There's only a small problem. God hates lukewarmness. You might be comfortable there. God is not comfortable there. Think about that. Let me tell you something. Walked into a church the other day in Dallas, Texas. Walked in and all there were were video games. Foosball. Pool tables. Okay? Let me tell you something. If you want to play video games, stay home and play video games. Stay home and play video games. Since when did we ever need a video game to draw people to the Lord Jesus Christ? If that cross isn't good enough, nothing's good enough. If you need all that, trust me, you're not preaching the word. And if people leave your youth group because you preach the word, let them leave. Let them leave. Okay? Get your core people trained up, ready to take your town and city for Jesus Christ and worry about the core. That's what Jesus Christ did when he had his 12 and got them ready to go. I walked in that church and preached. It was amazing how lukewarm that church was. It was nasty. How are young people going to ever learn to have conversation with people if we're always flipping with little dials in front of us all the time and playing games? Get rid of that stuff. Get your Bibles out and start reading. Harvey Carey will tell you some stories about last year he was telling you about things his youth group did. He'll tell you some more stories here this week what their youth group did because they got rid of all the games and started getting serious about Jesus Christ. Pizza, yo-yos, and Six Flags are killing these kids. Killing them. Church I worked with in Columbus, Georgia, these kids I had left, they got so sick and tired of all the games, they would never let their youth pastor take them to Six Flags, take them to the bowling alley unless it was a witnessing trip to Six Flags. A witnessing trip to the bowling alley. They went to the bowling alley one time, witnessed that every single soul in that place gave out track boogers and then they bowled and talked to people on their way out. These kids had more fun. Okay? Because they were doing the Lord's work everywhere they went. See, what type of church is it that you've got? Is it that lukewarm church? But watch where this goes. Go to verse 17. Because thou sayest, here's the problem, you sayest, I sayest, whose opinion are we talking about? Mine. This is what I think. Can you be wrong sometimes? Can you be wrong sometimes? And usually we're very wrong when all of a sudden we look at our lives and compare it to the word of God. Watch what God did as he compared the Laodicean church to his word. Watch what happens here. Because thou sayest, I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing. And knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. Watch what he said. Miserable, wretched, poor, and blind, and naked. Did they see themselves that way? Did they see themselves that way? Absolutely not. See, they had righteous works. They're righteous acts. What's your Bible saying, Isaiah? Your righteous acts are like filthy rags. If you're going to walk your righteous acts and give them to Jesus Christ and say, here I am, you cannot go through the gates into heaven. You have one sacrifice and one sacrifice alone to give the Lord and that's Jesus Christ himself. There is no other sacrifice acceptable on that day. Your righteous acts, lukewarm church, are like filthy rags. Think of that. We have need of nothing. They just said they have need of nothing. That means my pride has taken over. It's a closed system. I can do it. We can do it without help. If you have a glass of iced tea and it sits on your table at your restaurant and it just sits there, it turns into what temperature? Lukewarm. You have to keep replenishing it with the tea to keep it cold. If you have coffee sitting there, hot tea sitting there, and you just let it sit there, what temperature does it become? Lukewarm. You have to replenish it with the coffee. You have to put back in it. If you don't replenish, you will turn lukewarm. Jesus Christ said in John 15, Without me you can do nothing. You can do nothing without the Lord Jesus Christ. Young people and adults. Nothing. Okay? If you think you can do without the Lord, you are on the danger path of being lukewarm and God gave his opinion on that. You must be replenished by the power of the Spirit, by the cross of Jesus Christ, the life of Jesus Christ. You said they were wealthy. He said you were poor. Laodicea is one of the wealthiest cities in that part of the world at that time. He said you're blind. Guess what? They were known as a place that had eye salve. They took rocks. They crushed these rocks up. They would put it on people's eyes to heal their eyes. Okay? That's what they were known for back then. And Jesus Christ said, You think you can solve people's eye problems? You are blind, people. He said you're naked. The city was known for the clothing industry. Watch what's interesting, though. What they were most famous for was these black wool garments they would make. People would come from all over to buy this black wool that people would dress in. He said you have the finest clothes. You are naked because you don't see with spiritual eyes. You see with human eyes. But Jesus said, I'm not done. Watch where he goes. Verse 18. I counsel thee. Let me tell you something. If Jesus Christ gives you counsel, is it time to listen? I think it's time to pay attention. Watch what he just said. I counsel thee to buy me gold tried in the fire. Okay? Gold tried in the fire. Thou mayest be rich with white raiment. Okay? And thou mayest be clothed that thou shame of thy nakedness do not appear and anoint thine eyes with iseth that thou mayest seest is what he's saying. Okay? I counsel thee, heed the vice of the all-knowing God. Watch where he goes. Okay? Gold tried by fire. Real riches. Real wealth. One of the malls I went to in Atlanta, Georgia, is called Phipps Plaza. It's the wealthiest mall out there. It's one of the wealthiest malls in the world. You can't even buy a stick of gum at this place. I hate this place. Okay? But I go there to witness because I already know when I walk in the place, most people, their God is what? Is what? Money. Okay? Because that's what they've got. That's my God. Let's go serve. The busiest store in the mall when I was there, okay, for four hours witnessing, five hours witnessing, the busiest store in the mall was a place called Tiffany's. Okay? You ever been to Tiffany's? You ever been to Tiffany's? It scares you just to look at the price tag, let alone buy anything. Okay? People were buying this and that and this $9,000 bracelets and things like that. All I could think of, wait a minute, how many Bibles for China could we buy? How many track books could we buy? How many missionaries could we send across the world for $9,000? But yet we have a different God that we serve. Okay? Think about that. What is your God? Young people, can you serve the God of money at your age? Can you serve the God of money at your age? One of my students, when I taught school, went to LSU. He was 20 years old. He called me up in Atlanta after I had moved away. He said, Mr. Cahill, I started my own lawn care business. I said, great, Josh. I said, how did it go? He said, well, this year I bought three new mowers with cash. I bought a brand new truck with cash, brought my dad a motorcycle with cash, and at the end of the year, I have $20,000 in cash left at the end of the year. I said, Josh, that's fantastic. He said, no, Mr. Cahill, it is not. I said, Josh, why is that? He said, Mr. Cahill, all I want is more, and more, and more. I said, Josh, that's what you call greed. He was 20 years old. He was getting greedy about money. He wants more of this because he thinks it's going to satisfy him, and the more that you have, trust me, it's less satisfaction because now you worry more about it. Think about that for a second. What are you chasing after? He said, white raiment. See, they had black clothing. Come to me. I'll give you white raiment. What does the book of Revelation say? White raiment is like the righteous acts of the saints. Think about that, okay? He says, you can't see. I'll give you real eyesight, okay? Jesus wants you to see spiritually. Watch this. I went back to my five-year high school reunion. Went to a public school in Atlanta, Georgia. When you go back to your high school reunions, what you're going to do is you're going to pull out your yearbooks, okay? And when you pull out your yearbooks, you're looking for a picture. What's the pictures you're looking for? Okay, is it your picture? No, no, you're not looking for your picture. You know what you look like, okay? You really don't want to see that picture again, correct? Okay, seriously. I had a big fro. It was hot. And I had this big fro and everything. I know what I look like, okay? What you do when you go to reunions, you look back at your yearbook. And when you look back, you're looking for faces and names is what you're doing, okay? Because when you go to a reunion, you don't want to have to look at everyone's name tag the entire time. That's what you don't want to do. You want to try to remember names and faces. Now, I was the tallest kid in the class. Most people are going to remember me and stuff like that. So, I decided I didn't want to have to be always looking down, oh, hey, how you doing? And look at their name tags. So, I decided to study names and faces, names and faces. So, I started studying this in my high school class, 300 people back in Atlanta. Started studying names and faces. Then the most interesting thing happened. I got to the end of the senior section. I got to the end of this section. All of a sudden, there was a senior directory here. I'm like, what is this? Let me read this real quick. And it had all these accomplishments, the letters you got, and different things you did. But all of a sudden, all these seniors got to put a senior quote. So, I started reading all these quotes. Some were funny. Some were intellectual. Some were sexual. All these different ones. All of a sudden, I got my highlighter out. I started highlighting all these different names and the quote they put. All these different ones, okay? And you know what these people quoted? They put a quote out of one book or about one person, okay? And that book was called the what? It was the Bible. And I started looking at every single name that put those quotes in there. And all of a sudden, something hit me. Out of every single person who said their favorite quote was from the Bible, okay? Do you know what not one of those persons did with me one time in high school? What did you never do with me? Not one time did one person in high school ever witness to me, ever share Jesus Christ with me. Why didn't you do that? You saw me drunk every single weekend at the parties and stuff like that. You Christians would hang out at the same party. You wouldn't drink, but you'd hang out at the same party I was at. Seventeen years old. Head on car accident where I ate the windshield. The kind you'd die from. Literally got up and walked out of the car. Didn't realize God had a hand on me at that point. Okay? Didn't realize it, okay? But watch this. You want to know why you wouldn't talk to me in high school? It's a very simple thing because you wanted to be me. Me was the big man on campus. Me was the straight A student. Me was the basketball star. And me was going straight to hell and you just didn't care, did you? You lukewarm teenagers. Lukewarm adults who work with teenagers. Just didn't care, did you? Well, I went to Auburn University on a basketball scholarship. Okay? And during my time there, some people began to witness to me. Okay? I began to think when these college people began to talk with me. Okay? Went back to my ten-year high school reunion. By the time I got there, some guy had found me and his name was the Lord Jesus Christ and I had gotten saved. I walked back into this reunion. I walked back in this reunion. I began witnessing to my friends one-on-one. Okay? Got the addresses for 220 people at this reunion. Wrote a letter to every single person in my graduating class and shared what with them? What the Lord Jesus Christ can do for your soul. Okay? I sent track booklets another time. Sent a third letter. Sent my first book to them. In the next two months, three months, my second book will be going to them. I'm going to send out over 1,000 pieces of mail to every single person in my graduating class because trust me, there is not a soul in my circle of life when they take their last breath, have not said that Mark Hale did not tell them what it took to be right with the God of this universe when it was said and done. I am not playing that lukewarm church. Young people, listen to me. This is your yearbook coming up, you kids. You have a yearbook. But how many kids at your school could say the exact same thing I just said? Where were you talking? Don't you care about my soul? And the truth of the matter is, you didn't. And I always wondered why you wouldn't do that. But you know what? I decided there was nothing that was ever going to hold me back from boldly going for it for the Lord Jesus Christ. Nothing. We had a girl at Summit Ministries, she went to Purdue. There's a camp I speak at in the summers. This girl goes to Purdue University. A professor walks in and gives this assignment to 300 students sitting up in a theater type setting. He gives this assignment and he says, we have this boat and this boat is beginning to sink. There's 40 people on this boat. There's tall people, there's short people, there's normal people, there's mentally retarded people, whatever that means. There's whites and blacks, Hispanics, Asians, okay? There's Jews and Christians and Buddhists and Hindus and Muslims, okay? Atheists. All this mix. And there's a life raft with 10 people. You have to decide which of those 40 people get on the life raft and are saved. Okay? Raise your hand if you've ever done this assignment before or something like that. Raise your hand up. Okay? Yeah, a bunch of us have, okay? This is called situational ethics. They're trying to teach you that your ethics are determined by situations. Is that correct? Are your ethics determined by situations? Absolutely not. Lying is either right or it's wrong. Rape is either right or it's wrong. Murder is either right or it's wrong, okay? They're trying to break down absolute truth. It's called moral relativism. They're trying to break down absolute truth, okay? Well, wait a minute. Who is the one group of people that teach absolute truth? Who are those? Who are they? Born again, evangelical, Bible-believing Christians because your book teaches absolute truth. They try to break it down and teach you differently. Well, one of our girls was sitting there. She figured out what was going on. Watch what happened. She raised her hand up. Professor said, Yes, ma'am. She said, I cannot do this assignment. He said, Why do you think you cannot do this assignment? She said, Because of my belief in God, every single person in that boat has the exact same value. Is that correct? Oh, that's correct. They're all made in the image of God. She said, I cannot do this assignment. That professor said, Young lady, if you cannot do this assignment, he said, you can stand up right now and get out of this classroom. What did she do? She stood up. She started walking down the middle. She starts walking out the side door. As she walks out the side door, Professor looks at her and says, Don't you ever come back to this classroom again. That was a Monday, Wednesday, Friday class. That was Monday. Welcome to your new week. Okay? Well, when Wednesday rolled around, there was a big buzz in the classroom. What are they looking for? Will she show back up? She come back? She came back. She sat back in her seat. Professor walked in that room and he stood behind his pulpit. They call it a podium, but it's a pulpit, correct? Yes, they are. They're preaching doctrine. They're preaching what they believe. And young people, remember, just because Dr. So-and-so says something doesn't mean they know what they're talking about. Just because someone has a D-R period in front of their name doesn't mean they know what they're talking about. It means they went to a lot more school than the rest of us. That's what it means, okay? And you do not trust Dr. So-and-so more than Mom and Daddy So-and-so. Why? They don't care about you the same way. Do not be deceived like that. Right now, there's a study out there that 50% of young kids who go to college with a belief in Jesus Christ, 50% of you walk away from Jesus Christ by your senior year in college. 50% of you walk away just because you hit a college campus, Christian schools, and secular schools. Because you don't know what you believe. Because the promise, pizza, yo-yos, and six flags does not cut it on a high school campus, and you're rest assured it does not cut it on a college campus. You're in trouble in the days to come if you sit in that lukewarm state. Watch what happened. He walked in the room. He saw the lady sitting up there. He said, excuse me. He said, did I not tell you not to come back to this class? She said, I need this class to graduate. He said, let me ask you a question. Your name is So-and-so, is it not? She said, yes, it is. He said, you're a junior here at Purdue University, are you not? She said, yes, I am. He said, I've been studying you ever since Monday. By the way, if you stand up for Jesus Christ, will people study you at your campus? Eyes wide open. They're checking you out. And remember this from a lost person's perspective. I didn't get saved to 25, okay? We don't expect you to be perfect. We expect you to strive for perfection. Just like the Bible says. Will you mess up around your friends? Will you? Around your family, will you? Welcome to life. Do two things. Repent vertically to almighty God. Get it straight with God. Go back to that person. Last week, we were talking. And man, I said something. I had a couple words come out of my mouth that shouldn't have came out of my mouth. I hope you'll forgive me for that. I've already asked God to forgive me for it. But I hope you'll forgive me for that so you'll keep listening to this other stuff. I have to tell you, you just humbled yourself. But our pride gets in the way. We can't humble ourselves. Be humble. Let me tell you, God will do amazing things. He said, you're a junior here at Purdue University. Are you not? She said, yes, I am. He said, you have a 4.0 here at Purdue University. Do you not? She said, yes, I do. He said, you're up for this huge scholarship and if you don't pass this class, you're not going to get this scholarship. She said, no. And he said, you're willing to risk all of that, all of that for this God you believe in? She said, yes, I am. He said, well, let me tell you something. Anybody. Anybody. That believes in their God that strongly, we need to hear from. You will walk down here right now. You will stand behind this podium right here and you're going to teach this class for the next 55 minutes about this God that you believe in. This young lady. This young lady walked down forward. She dropped her backpack down and reached down there and pulled out her what? She dropped her Bible down there. She taught that class for the next 55 minutes about the Lord Jesus Christ. Question for you. Okay? If God gave you 55 minutes at school in a couple weeks to preach the good news of Jesus Christ, if God gave you 55 minutes at the workplace the next week to preach Jesus Christ, question for you. Verbal response. Could you do it? Could you do it? Remember these words. You will never know until you get put in that situation. You will never know. You can say yes all day. You will never know. Remember this. Wednesday never happens unless she's bold on Monday. Monday opened up the door for Wednesday. This girl decided I cannot. I absolutely cannot go to my college and be lukewarm. I gotta stand. And sometimes, you know what, back at your school, there's only one that makes a stand. Is that correct? There's only one sometimes. But can't God use one? He can use one all the time. You must decide that. Just read an article in this Christian magazine. And he said, do not witness the people next to you on plane flights. Do not do that. It'd be better off if you don't do that. Listen to me. That's one of the worst piece of advice you could ever get in your entire life. That's your conscience saying, that's a soul I need to talk to. That's your conscience saying, okay, I need to talk to that person in high school. That is a whore. That was in a major Christian magazine in the last month. Okay? I was at the Atlanta airport the other day. I'm talking with this guy. Real quick witness to him. I gave him the new book I wrote. He said, I really like that. Signed it. I gave it to him. I walk on the plane. This guy's sitting on the plane going to Omaha. He said, Mark, don't forget. I said, what, 10 out of 10? 10 out of 10. Right in the beginning of the book, I put 10 out of 10 people die. Okay? Make sure you know where you're going. Okay? I go sit on the plane. I sit next to a guy. I start talking to him. He used to live in New York City working two blocks down from the World Trade Center when it fell that day back in September 11, 2001. He went home that day. Told his wife, said, honey, let's get out of here. She said, okay. They moved to Ocean Springs, Mississippi, right on the coast of Mississippi. Okay? I looked at him and said, sir, what did you lose during Katrina? He said, we lost everything. He meant everything was gone. Okay? I began to talk to this guy. He's a Jewish gentleman. Okay? We're talking. He said, one of the great things about Judaism is that, you know, there's only a heaven when you die. Is that a true statement? Is that a true statement? I reached up there. I pulled my Bible out out of the thing above me. I opened it up. I showed him Psalm 139. If I ascend into heaven, oh, God, you are there. If I descend into depths, oh, God, you are there also. Daniel 12. You either raise the everlasting righteous or everlasting contempt. I said, sir, how many places did the Jewish scripture say? He said two. I said two. I said, sir, which place are you going to? He said, well, I'm going to go to heaven. I said, well, why is that? Because I'm what type of person? A good person. How many of y'all heard last year? Heard Ray Comfort speak last year. Okay? Heard Ray. All you do is use the Ten Commandments. Sir, you ever told a lie before? He said, yep. What you make? He said, a liar. Ever stole something? He said, yep. Makes you a thief. Ever been angry with somebody? He said, yeah. Jesus said the same as committing adultery. He said, sir, if you're a liar, a thief, an adulterer, a murderer, okay, would you be guilty or not guilty on judgment day? He said, guilty. I said, would that mean heaven or hell? He said, hell. He said, but wait a minute. On the day of atonement, we fast on that day, okay, to get forgiveness. I said, no, no. What did you do in the Old Testament forgiveness? You brought the sacrifice of the lamb. You put your hands on the lamb. By faith, your sin would transfer to the lamb. When you cut the throat, the shedding of the blood, your sin was remissed and gone. I said, sir, do you still do that? He said, no. I said, why? He said, the temple's not up. I said, sir, let me tell you about someone by the name of Jesus who's called the perfect sacrifice, okay. The lamb, the lamb that taketh away the sins of the world, okay. I began to witness this guy. Halfway through the flight, the other guy, the lawyer guy I met earlier, he stands up and points to the book and he just points, he's 10 rows in front, he points to the book and he said, thumbs up. He was into this book. I don't know what's going on. I witness to this guy, okay. I finish. I give him my new book that explains all this out, okay. He shakes my hand. He said, thank you so much for this conversation. Not witness to the people next to us? We must be kidding. I walk off the plane. The other guy's out there, okay. He's standing out there, this other guy. He was waiting for me. He said, come here, Mark. I said, what? He said, your book. I said, what? He said, I'm a lawyer. He said, a lawyer needs evidence to prove their case. I love the evidence in this book. It is making me think, okay. Watch what we did. Watch what we did. In the book, we started really wide. We said, can you even prove there's a God? I had a 13-year-old girl tell me the other day, this book is so easy to read. We looked at heavy stuff but made it easy to read. Then the second chapter, creation, evolution. How do you know which one of those is true? Just had a 17-year-old boy email me. I just wrote a paper at my high school about creation versus evolution. I made all these quotes out of chapter two of your book. Thank you so much. Matter of fact, my teacher's not a believer. When I finished, I gave her this book to make sure she has the evidence to know this is all real. Third chapter is, what can you, can you prove the Bible is true? Very easy to do. Fourth chapter, okay, it says there's a heaven or hell. All these near-death experience stories, white lights and tunnels that people saw. Four or five, just the opposite. Had a woman walk up to me at a conference. She had a patient go code red, flatline. Doctors came over, paddled this guy. He came to, he starts screaming. He said, the heat, the heat, flatline, paddle him. Again, he came to, he starts screaming. He said, the flames, the flames, flatline four different times. Heat the flames, heat the flames, heat the flames. Fourth one, he flatlined and he died. That nurse told me they stood there for three or four minutes staring at this guy because they know exactly where he went. Where'd he go? He was screaming hell before I get out of here. Trust me, hell is not lukewarm. Hell is very hot. A friend of mine died. The story's in the book for you. He ended up seeing a lake of fire you could feel the heat from. This is no game, young people. There's people in this room choosing to go to hell when you die. You're letting your friends go there when they take their last breath and die. Okay, think about that. Benny Prophet, he speaks here almost every single year up here at Joshua Revolution. He sat down, read this book in one sitting. Call me in Atlanta. Mark, this book is the best book I have read on how to share Jesus Christ with somebody. He said, Mark, I'm putting together duffel bags. We're going to put a duffel bag together. We're giving it free to all the teenagers returning to New Orleans, Gulfport, Mississippi, Biloxi. We're returning it to them to bless all the people coming back from Katrina. He said, Mark, I want this book in every single teenager's hand and every single teenager's family's hands at this Christmas time. Mark, what can I do to get 5,000 copies of this book? We sent him 5,000 copies. They just walked into those hands of those people just like that. Okay, watch this, okay? Same as always, okay? This book is not in the bookstores, okay? It doesn't even come out till March, okay? It's in the Power Store for you, okay? If you want it, there is no price tag. Donation only. Whatever you feel led by the Lord to give is what it is, okay? It's going to be $15 in the bookstore. That's the ballpark. You give whatever you want. It's yours. If you're lost in this room, you take that book. You walk down and say, Mark said I could have a free one. If you're lost, it's my gift to you. Only stipulation is that you read it. Watch this. I'm going to make you a promise. Every dollar you give for that, I'm going to give 100% of that away. What I'm going to do is I work with a group. We buy newspaper ads in Islamic newspapers around the world. And we share the gospel in Islamic newspapers in Arabic, okay? And then people write in. People write in for Arabic New Testament, Arabic Bibles and stuff like that, okay? And they're seeing all these souls get saved. See, I'm going to tell you I'm not going to be lukewarm. I'm not going to be lukewarm with my money, with my time. I'm going to give every dollar away that you give in. You know what that's going to cost me? That's going to cost me I sent 2,000 books for you all up here, okay? So I got enough for every one of you, every other one of you to get one, okay? It's going to cost me every cost of that book plus all the shipping. That's going to be a lot of money. By the way, do you lose when you give to Jesus Christ? Absolutely not, man. I can't wait to see what the Lord's going to do with those books up here in the Northeast and what he's going to do with those newspaper ads. Why? Because that's the great God that we serve. You ready for this? When I got the next day at the airport to fly back to Atlanta, Eric, the Jewish guy, was on the same flight with me. Walked right up to me. He was on a cell phone and said, excuse me, put the purse in a hole, walk up, shook my hand and said, I want to thank you. I have so much respect for you for what you shared with me yesterday on that airplane flight. Listen to me, y'all. Luke Warm says don't share your faith. God says boldly stand for Jesus Christ, okay? Now watch what happens. We're going to close it right here for you, okay? Thanks for your attention today, okay? Watch. Go to verse 19. Oh, watch what he said. As many as I love, even when you're Luke Warm, he still loves you. He still cares about you. Listen to this. This is not conditional love. This is unconditional love, okay? I rebuke, chasten, be zealous, therefore, and what? Repent. Repent. Turn from your wicked, evil ways. Change your mind. Decide you are not going to be Luke Warm anymore, okay? Then we'll close it here with 20. Watch what 20 says. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and open up the door, I will come into him and will sup with him and he with me. He will eat with you. He will have dinner with you. I stand at the door and knock. Raise your hand if you've ever heard that verse used during a salvation message before. We almost all have. Guess what? That's not where it's coming from. He's saying, I am knocking at the door of the church, okay? I'm about to make a statement. I'm going to say the word Luke Warm. And if you're sick and tired, okay, of the Luke Warm status, okay, of America, of the churches today, of youth groups, your verbal response back to me is going to be no more, okay? I'm going to say Luke Warm. If you're sick and tired of Luke Warm, your verbal response is no more. Do you understand what I'm going to say? Yes or no. Got it? Okay. Your response, Luke Warm. Watch what he said though. Behold, I stand at the door and knock if any man, if any individual hears me. Watch. He's not knocking at the door of the Joshua Conference. He's not knocking at the door of your church. He's not knocking at the door door of your youth group, he's knocking at your door. He's looking for an individual. He's looking for one. Any man, any woman that will repent. Listen to me. If you're waiting for your whole youth group to get fired up by Jesus Christ, you're wasting your time. If you're waiting for your whole church to get fired up by Jesus Christ, you're wasting your time. Okay? All we can deal with today is the man or woman you see in the mirror, correct? Correct. That's it. That's it. He's looking for one. He's looking for somebody who says, I am so sick, so tired of this lukewarmness. I am getting out of it today. I'm repenting of it today. This nastiness is gross. You know how it is. If you live in lukewarm, nod your head, isn't it nasty? It's nasty. You know there's so much more God has for you. You're choosing to be different. You're not being different. Life is either a battleground or a playground. People who share their faith look at life as a battleground. Read about a ninth grade boy who led the principal's high school to Jesus Christ. Why? The principal made a mistake and had an open door policy. Kid walked in, knocked on his door, sir, can I ask you some questions? Witness to him, led him to Christ, heard it from the principal. The principal ended up saying, I didn't even know the kid's name. The school was so big. Young 15 year old boy led him to Christ, senior in high school, sent a birthday card to every single person in his graduating class, shared the gospel to every single person in there. A youth group in Minnesota put poster boards along the wall after they heard this at a conference. Poster boards along the wall listed every single teacher in the public school, listed every single student under every teacher, listed a separate page for all the administration. Within three months, every single student, every single teacher, every single administrator had a one-on-one conversation about the Lord Jesus Christ. They'd come back to Wednesday night service. They would not play games. They would pray for the people they'd witnessed to. They'd check them off. They'd say, who you witnessed to this week? When people got saved, they plugged them into that youth group and that church. Why? Because they were doing something for the Lord Jesus Christ. Luke 1 was not an option for the kids at that church. Is it an option for you? It can't be an option for you. Okay? You can get a chance to repent of your sins in one moment. I want to read one thing to you and then I'm done. This is in the book for you. Watch what this man said. This is the words. No need to be walking around. We're about to close here. Okay? This is the words of an African martyr before he died. Watch what he said. Fellowship of the unashamed. I am part of the fellowship of the unashamed. The die has been cast. I have stepped over the line. The decision has been made. I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. I won't look up. I won't look back. Let up. Slow down. Back away or be still. My past is redeemed. My present makes sense and my future is secure. I'm finished and done with low living. Sight walking, small planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tame visions, mundane walking, cheap giving, dwarfed goals. My pace is set. My gait is fast. My goal is heaven. My road is narrow. Is that not true? My way is rough. My companions few. Careful sold out Christians. You have few companions sometimes. But Jesus Christ is enough of a companion all the time. Few. My guide reliable. My mission clear. I won't give up. Back up. Let up. Shut up. Until I've preached up. Prayed up. Paid up. Stored up. Stayed up for the cause of Christ. I must go until he returns. Give until I drop. Preach until all know. Work until he comes. And when he comes to get his own, he will have no problem recognizing me. My colors will be clear for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Young people, very simple. If you're lukewarm, there's sin holding you back. It's that simple. It's easy to figure out. Choice today. Do you want to repent of your sin? Lay it at that cross for the blood of Jesus Christ to wash that away. Your choice. Okay? Nice and quietly. We've been sitting long enough. Nice and quietly. Everybody stand up for me. No talking, please. This is what I want you to do. Okay? If there is sin in your life that's holding you back from being radically bold for Lord Jesus Christ, I want you to do one of two things. I want you to either kneel down at your seat and pray and get that junk out of your life and repent of it, or I want you to walk forward up to this altar here and do that. One of two. Listen to me. You don't walk up here as a Joshua Conference. You do not walk up here as a youth group. You walk up here as a what? Individual. That's how you live life as an individual, amongst fellowship with others. Okay? Bow your head. Think. Let the Spirit of God speak to you. What's that nasty, evil thing inside of it? Jesus, I'm going to spew out of my mouth. I'm going to vomit it out of my mouth. What do you need to repent of? Kneel down at your seat. Walk up here and kneel down. Get rid of it today. Do not walk out into this lunchtime hour with any lukewarmness left in you. If there's something in you you want to pray with someone about, there's counselors up here. Walk up. If you want someone to lay hands on you and pray, walk up here and ask them to do that. If you're scared of being lukewarm in the days to come, I hear that from a lot of people. Well, I'm going to get serious, but I might get scared, you know, if I really go for it. If you have fear, the Bible calls an overcomer one who comes to the Lord Jesus Christ. If you have any fear holding you back, repent of that today. The love of God trumps fear. Ask someone to pray for you. Lay hands on you and say, that's it. I am not walking out of here afraid. Lukewarm lets a boyfriend, a girlfriend get in the way. Money get in the way. Grade point averages get in the way. Listen to me, parents. God does not check grade point averages when they stand in front of the throne. Do not push your kids harder for a grade point average than you do to radically boldly live for the Lord Jesus Christ. Peter had to repent when he denied Jesus Christ three times, but we'll hear about Peter for all of eternity because he went from lukewarm to radical boldness, no matter what the cost was going to be. Young people, what's holding you back? Adults what's holding you back? Adults, when these kids look at you, do they see a radical, bold man or woman of God? Do they see it? If not, repent or you'll regret it on judgment day. I will spew you out of my mouth. Either lose yourself in Jesus Christ or deny Jesus Christ. No middle ground. One or the other. If Jesus is worth anything, he is worth everything, everything. Every fiber of your soul he is worth. Those who do not forsake all cannot be my disciple. Luke chapter 14, all forsake it. Repent of it. Either take up your cross daily or lay down your cross and serve the world. Friendship with the world is hatred towards God. Your Bible says one or the other choice is yours. Don't even be lukewarm at your hotels. Father, thank you for that stewardess. I got to meet last night when I went back to the hotel from JetBlue who was so intrigued with that new book. Father God, one heartbeat away why she's a stewardess and how many stewardesses died on September 11th. She gave the book to her friend as he came up and wanted to know how he could get a copy. Tyrone, just back at a hotel, Father, don't let these people be lukewarm. Touch those two hearts and draw them to you today as they're flying, Father God. Father, Holy Spirit, work deep within their soul and their conscience that they're going to make the decision they'll be lukewarm no more. Father, raise up a Peter or Paul inside every youth group, male or female, that they know they answer to you and they will never be ashamed of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, that it will never be an option in their life. Father, today is the day. Father, Spirit, work on their hearts. Whatever's deep within them, maybe it's a divorce they're going through and they've seen their earthly father leave them and they wonder if their heavenly father's going to leave them too. Man, how many people have I heard that from? Heal that inside them, Father God, that they don't have to be lukewarm. Father, anyone in here dealing with abortion, let them know that your healing hand can heal whatever part that is, if they had one or if they paid for one, if they know somebody with that. That lady I met the other day in Atlanta, 30 years ago, Father, had an abortion and she doesn't think God can forgive her of it. Oh my gosh, Moses was a murderer, but when he got right with you, Father, called the most humble man on planet earth, King David, an adulterer and a murderer. Got right with you, called a man after God's own heart. Father, let these kids know there's nothing in their life that can't be forgiven. Let them know that right now. Nothing they can't repent of. Father, work your wonders. Father, don't send Joshua Conference out these doors. Don't send youth groups out these doors. Don't send individuals out these doors. They have their focus on the cross. And when they take up that cross daily, where it's going to lead them.