In this sermon, the speaker begins by encouraging the audience to actively participate and respond during the talk. He directs them to open their notebooks to page 13 in the leadership section, where they will find most of the information that will be presented on the overheads. The speaker then shares a true story about teenagers handing out track booklets at the World Trade Centers, emphasizing the brevity of life and the importance of sharing the truth of Jesus Christ. He mentions a video of a man who made the decision to jump from a burning building, as well as a lady who witnessed people jumping from the building on September 11th. The speaker also mentions a student who moved to New York City on September 10th and had a phone conversation with him after the events of September 11th, causing him to question and seek answers. The sermon concludes with the speaker sharing a story about teenagers in Mobile, Alabama, who would rejoice in rejection while witnessing because they saw it as an opportunity to accumulate rewards in heaven.

Okay, good morning. How's everybody? Good. Can you hear me okay? Now, there'll be times during the talk that I'll ask you to respond to something I'll say, so feel free to do that. Don't be scared of responding back to the speaker, okay? Open up your notebooks to page 13 and what section? Leadership. Which one? Leadership. Leadership section. So go to leadership section, page 13. There's going to be some notes in there for you. Now, what you're going to see as I get into this talk in just a second is that most of the information you're going to see on the overheads, on the PowerPoint, will be in your notebooks. You won't have to take much notes. Right at the beginning, I've added some new stuff, so you're going to have to take some notes at the beginning there, alright? And when you start taking notes, I'm going to use a lot of scripture verses. And as I use those scripture verses, make sure you just write down the heading of the verse, where you can find it at. You won't have time to write down the other stuff in there, okay? Does that make sense? Alright? Now, your job this morning is very simple. It's to make sure that you pay attention this morning, alright? And you make sure during this talk this morning that you do not waste your time listening for me, okay? But you spend your time this morning listening for God. Do you understand those are two different things? Do you understand those are two different things? Okay, those are two totally different things. I had a young man at Summit one time, he told me, he said, the first time I heard you speak at Summit, he said, I went home, I was passionate, I was fired up, I was sharing my faith, 30 days. And then I went right back to my old self again. He said, the second time I heard you speak, I heard God speak and I've never been the same since. Okay, do you understand those are two different things? Don't waste your time at Summit listening for speakers. Be careful listening to tapes on speakers all the time. You need to hear God. Because I can't help you once I go back to Atlanta, you go back to your world. But God can help you every single day for the rest of your life. Is that not true? That is true, okay? Next point, real simple. Think about this, okay? Every single second, seven people die. By the time you put your head on your pillow tonight, over 600,000 people will have walked off into eternity and headed out into heaven or hell. Over 600,000 people will die today. And I've got a very simple question for you, Summit. Do you care? I've got a much, much, much tougher question for you. Do you care enough to do something about it? And I will tell you today, that's the problem we've got in the American church, is that we swear to the high heavens we care where our next door neighbor, our friends at college are going to spend eternity, but we do not care enough to get into a conversation with that person. Bill Bright will say that 2% of all American Christians share their faith on a regular basis. Does that sound like the Book of Acts to you? Doesn't sound like the Book of Acts to me. They share with everybody they met. Every second, seven people die. What's it going to take for you to get out of your comfort zone? How many more United States soldiers do you need to see on television with a bullet hole in the back of their head after they were executed for you to finally get out of your comfort zone? What's it going to take? One of the things that did it for me a few years ago was I taught Bible at a Christian high school and I walked into a bathroom at 8.30 in the morning after a 15-year-old boy put a gun in his mouth and pulled the trigger. When you walk into a bathroom at 8.30 in the morning and you saw a kid who just committed suicide, let me tell you something, it will get you out of your comfort zone. You'll get out of your comfort zone. You'll want to start doing something against the enemy that takes people off planet Earth. What's it going to take for you to get out of your comfort zone? That's going to be the challenge this morning. Every second, seven people die. 600,000 people will walk off planet Earth today before you put your head back on your pillow. I've got a real simple question for you, Summit. Do you care? Much, much, much tougher question for you. Do you care enough to do something about it? And that's what we'll talk about this morning. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you so much for just the chance to be here one more time to speak about you, Father God. Father God, I ask that during this time we're going to glorify the name of your son Jesus Christ so much that we're going to want to stand for that with the rest of our lives, no matter what the cost. Father God, take your Holy Spirit and settle him down here in just a powerful way that these young people and myself, that none of us can walk out of here the same way we walked in, that we're going to be obedient to your word, obedient to you, Father God, and we're going to follow the lead of your Spirit with the rest of our lives, impacting this culture to the day we meet you face to face one day. Father God, have your way during this time. And we just thank you for it. And we ask it in the great, great name of your son Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen. First point. 1 Corinthians chapter 12 says this. Now, when you hear people talk about the gifts of the Spirit, they're usually talking about 1 Corinthians chapter 12. Watch what this says here. For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit, and to another faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, and to another the effecting of miracles, to another prophecy, and to another the distinguishing of spirits, and to another the various kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues. That's where you get that at. Now, if you look at verse 11 though, in verse 11 it says, but one in the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills. First point. Does the Spirit of God distribute the gifts just as He wills to different people? Is that a true statement? That's a true statement. Be very careful as you start running towards the return of Jesus Christ. It says in Matthew 24, beware of false Christs and false prophets. There is deception in the Christian community. Be very careful. Don't run after every little thing you see on TV sometimes. Run after God and pray that this Spirit, His Holy Spirit, are there other spirits in the world? Oh yes, there are. Be very careful. But the Spirit of God will give you the gifts just as He wills that you have. Now watch this. I was reading this one day. I was reading the Word and I started looking at the different gifts here. Faith and words of knowledge and miracles and prophecy and tongues, interpretation of tongues. And I was looking at that and I noticed something. I didn't see the gift of Bible reading in here. Do you see that in there anyway? I didn't see the gift of Bible reading because it hit me. You know, Bible reading is not a gift. It's an issue of obedience or disobedience. Does the Bible tell you to read the Bible? Does it tell you? Yes, it does. It says in the book of Joshua, do not let this law depart from your mouth. Meditate upon it day and night. If you're not reading the Word daily, you are going to be in trouble with your life. I will tell you that. You read the Word and you obey what you read. If you get on these high school and college campuses, you're not soaking up eternal Word, you're in trouble coming up very, very soon. We need to read the Word, obey what it says. But I started looking at this a little bit more and I noticed, did you see the gift of prayer anywhere in here? See, I didn't see the gift of prayer in there because it hit me. Prayer is not a gift. It's an issue of obedience or what? Disobedience. What does the Bible tell you to pray? Pray without ceasing. You need to walk through life and pray. It says watch and pray. Keep your eyes wide open. See a situation and pray for somebody or pray the enemy out of the way. That's your job at that point to do that. This afternoon when you go downtown, you're cleaning up trash down here. Last session we had more testimonies of young people. You came back with more stories just one afternoon down in this town here. What you all did in just one day, you pray as you walk and ask God to lead you where you're supposed to go. Now, I kept looking at this though and I kept noticing things. Do you see the gift of fasting in here anywhere? See, I didn't see the gift of fasting because you know what? It's not a gift. It's an issue of obedience or what? Disobedience. Does the Bible tell you to fast? There is fasting from beginning to end of that book. Forty day fast. Moses, Elijah, Jesus, different people. Isaiah 58, that's a good chapter to write down. Isaiah 58 has so much good information on fasting. What does Jesus say? Certain demons would only come out by prayer and what? Fasting. There is something powerful to fasting because when you fast, you find out very quickly you cannot trust your flesh because there's no strength in the flesh. You must trust the Spirit of God as you do that. Be careful when you fast, especially some young ladies. Fasting is not a weight loss technique. Is that correct? Be very careful. If you struggle with anorexia, bulimia, fasting is not your issue at the moment. Be careful. I started fasting a few years ago. A day here, a day there, a meal here, this, that, two days, seven days, 21 days last year. January, February, I did a 40 day fast this year. It was absolutely one of the most blessed times in my entire life. The last seven days of the fast, three days of speaking in Minnesota, three days of speaking in Indiana, and I flew home on day 40. There was no reason I could have that type of energy and preach like I did at those places unless it was the hand of God that did that. See, then He gets the glory because of that. Fasting is something you need to add to your repertoire of being a believer in Jesus Christ. But I kept looking at this. By the way, do you see the gift of tithing in here? See, I didn't see the gift of tithing because tithing is not a gift. It's an issue of obedience or what? Disobedience. If you do not tithe with your money now, why do you expect to tithe with your money later when you get more of it? And you probably won't. Because if you do not tithe, God says that's robbing, like robbing from God. You're stealing from the God who created you. Think about that for a second. I read a story, I listened to a story about John Wesley, the great preacher, Methodist preacher. He said one year he made 30 pounds. He was from England, so their money system being pounds. He made 30 pounds, and in that year he spent 28 on himself and gave 2 pounds to the work of the Lord. And at the end of the year he said that's not even a tithe. He said that's not right. The next year he made 60 pounds. He lived off 28, gave 32 to the work of the Lord. The next year he made 90 pounds, lived off 28, gave 62 to the work of the Lord. At the height of his ministry he was considered one of the wealthiest people in England. He made over 1400 pounds in one year. That year he lived off 28 and gave all the rest to the work of the Lord. Does your heart beat like that? See, I heard that story. My heart doesn't beat like that. But my heart needs to beat like that, that I am much more concerned about furthering God's kingdom than about getting me a new car, getting me a house back in Atlanta. I've got to be more concerned like that. Does your heart beat like that? I'll make a book available for you. When people donate money for this book that I just wrote, I take a huge chunk of that money and I give it to an organization in Chattanooga. And what they do with it is they buy newspaper advertisements in the Islamic world. Okay, so places we can't get missionaries in and we can't get Bibles in, they buy newspaper ads in these Islamic newspapers and Islamic magazines. They're a reading culture. We're a TV culture. We're a seeing culture, okay? So they love to read. So in the advertisement, they just share the Gospel. They just share it straight through the ad, just keep sharing it. And at the bottom, if you want more information, right here for Arabic New Testaments, Arabic Bibles. They get people writing it all the time. They've had so much an effect in the communities out there with just these advertisements. There are certain countries you cannot proselytize. You cannot share your faith. Isn't it nice to know we live in a country that we can share our faith? Isn't it nice to know that? But let me tell you something. If we live in a country that we can, why aren't we doing it? Why aren't we radically stepping out and doing that? In the last year of my life, I've been threatened with arrest eight different times in Atlanta, Georgia, out on the streets, witnessing and talking to people about Jesus Christ. Everything I was doing was 100% legal. But let me tell you something. If you do not understand what's happening in our country, we are losing our rights drastically for standing up for Jesus Christ. And it's time to stand. It's time to stand now for those rights, okay? Think about that. In certain countries, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, you cannot proselytize. So what they do, they're pretty smart people, they just put the whole same ad in there just like it is, but then on the bottom they put, for Christians only. Okay? So it's just for Christians. Okay? So it's not for anybody else. Well, what do Muslim people do? Hey, wait a minute. What do they get that we don't get? They write in and get Arabic New Testaments and Arabic Bibles. They're getting people who thought it was something else to get all of a sudden they're getting this information about Jesus Christ. See how that can work, okay? We must be taking our money and blessing God and furthering the kingdom with that, alright? Then all of a sudden it hit me one day. Watch this now. I was looking at this list. By the way, do you see the gift of sharing your faith in here or witnessing? Do you see it in there? You know what? It's not in there because you know what? It's not a gift. It's an issue of obedience or what? Disobedience. Make sure you understand this first point, okay? Does the Bible tell you to share your faith? It says go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature, okay? It's an issue of obedience or disobedience. Remember in the Bible there's two types of sins. Sins of commission that you commit and sins of what? Omission. James chapter 4 verse 17, okay? If you know the good that you ought to do and you don't do it, God calls that what? Sin. Now think about this for a second. I will tell you that one of the major sins that a Christian can commit, one of the major sins that you can commit is that you know people in your life need the Lord Jesus Christ and you don't tell them about it because that is a sin of omission and you knew it and you didn't give it to them. Think about that for a second. So you think major sin is if you get caught in adultery. Pornography. Stealing from the church or whatever it might be, okay? One of the greatest sins we can commit is we see a whole world that needs Jesus Christ and we will not tell them about that. I was speaking at a church in Wichita. I was given three hours of teaching on how to share your faith in Jesus Christ. Three hours. Got done with three hours. This lady walked up to me after about a 60 year old woman. She walked up to me. She pointed a finger in my chest and she said, young man, I've got one thing to say to you. Now I like that. She's about to get to the point. Okay? It may be good. It may be bad. I've heard all kinds. It just goes with the territory. I just wanted to hear what she had to say. She pointed. She said, I've got one thing to say to you. She said, the Bible says to go share your faith and you go do it. Thank you for your radical obedience to God. Shook my hand and turned and walked away. Because some of you are going to say, well, wait a minute. He's got a gift that I don't have. Or Billy Graham has this gift or Paul has this gift. Please understand, it's not a what? Gift. It's an issue of obedience or disobedience. That's the first point. Okay? Next point. Genesis 13. Okay? The story of Lot and Abram. A very interesting story. And Lot lifted up his eyes and saw all the plain of the Jordan that it was well watered everywhere. Okay? And it was well watered everywhere. Watch this now. Lot lifted up his eyes and saw all the plain of the Jordan that it was well watered everywhere. Lot lifted up his eyes. I've got a very simple question for you. Can your eyes lie to you? Can your eyes lie to you? Young people, be careful. Your eyes are lying to you left and right. You see that person that you want to be with and your eyes can lie to you. Okay? You might see that answer on a test sitting next to you in college. Your eyes are lying to you. The Bible says be careful of the lust of the what? Eyes. Your eyes can deceive you young people. Watch what happens. Lot didn't know this but what he was looking at the well watered land also included before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah included Sodom and Gomorrah like the garden of the Lord like the land of Egypt as you go towards Zohar. Then Lot chose for himself. If you make a himself or a herself choice what type of choice are you making? You're making a self-ish choice. Okay? Can Christians make self-ish choices? I will tell you we spend most of our time making self-ish choices and not self-less choices. Okay? And we've got to get back to the point that I am much more concerned about what God wants to happen and do things for my friends instead of what Mark Cahill needs and what you need. Okay? Be very careful. Okay? Because watch what happens if you decide to make self-ish choices. Are there consequences that come with self-ish choices? Watch the consequences. And all the plain of the Jordan and Lot journeyed east and they separated from each other. Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan and Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain and pitched his tent even as far as Sodom. But the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinful against the Lord. What his eyes saw but our Bible says we walk by faith not by what? Sight. His eyes lied to him because he did not know what this included. But watch what happened. All you do is go forward to Genesis 19. Now you're thinking we're going forward about six chapters but actually you just went forward about 20 years in time. So all we have to do is roll forward 20 years in time and can see that certain things that can happen. Watch what happened in Genesis 19. Very first statement, verse 1. Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. Watch the danger here. Some of you are going to walk out of here and you're going to sit in your classrooms in high school and college. You're going to sit at your coffee shops. You're going to sit at the mall. You're going to sit in the bar section of your town and you're just going to hang out and be taken up space but if you just sit there and don't interact and engage that culture there is danger that can happen to you. Watch the danger. Verse 32. His daughters say, Come let us make our father drink wine and we will lie with him that we may preserve the lineage of our father. Within 20 years his daughters decided it was an okay thing to do to get daddy drunk rape him in order to keep the lineage of our family going. Can you believe that? That's exactly what your Bible says and it's a true story. But you would say to me excuse me sir I can't believe you used that story when is the last time we heard of someone getting their daddy drunk and raping him. I got a question for you. How many times in the last 10 years have we read about or heard about on TV of a teenager killing one or both of their parents in the last 10 years? Come on y'all. Too often. Way too often. Okay? Because you know what and I will tell you that's a thousand times worse than this right here because now you just sentence somebody off into an eternity when you do that and you pull the trigger and you do something like that. Because watch the simple point you're going to want to write this down okay it's one of the mottos I've decided to live my life by and it's a very simple motto. If you do not engage the culture that culture will engage you. If you do not engage the culture around you that culture will engage you. Our job is not to sit in the classrooms it's not just to sit here in Manitou Springs we must engage interact that culture because if you do not just like Dr. Noble told you last night those stories of those people going off to college and they were not the same person after one year two years three years four years later because they did not engage the culture and that culture will engage you. Atlanta, Georgia every June throws the fifth largest gay and lesbian festival in America. It's coming up in a couple of weeks. I go down every single year last four or five years. Why do I go down there? Why? There is somebody who's talked about Jesus Christ there's 250,000 people hanging out over three days. I think there's someone you can get into a conversation with. Okay? So I go down I was down there last year I walk into the festival I am not lying to you I was in the festival for ten minutes. That's it. Ten minutes. I'm walking all of a sudden I see this guy I said, Javon he turned I said, Mark, how you doing? He came up shook my hand gave me a hug he's a 25 year old gay gentleman I met him three years ago at that festival I've seen him at two other events in downtown Atlanta we've talked on the phone a couple of times I've emailed him a couple of times okay? And I hadn't seen him in a while I said, Javon how's life going? He said, life is great. I said, what do you mean life is great? He said, I got saved four months ago and I am faithfully serving the Lord Jesus Christ at Andy Stanley's Church in Atlanta, Georgia. Think about that, y'all. Now just think about that statement for a second. We want to run away from those events instead of running what? To those events. Okay? He said, I just got my 60 day chip I have not drank alcohol for 60 days. He was so excited. He said, my boyfriend the guy I was going with for five years I broke up with him five days ago. Okay? I don't care who you go with for five years there's a huge emotional attachment when you walk away from situations like that. And you could tell he was having a tough go at it. And he looked at me and he said this he said, Mark I don't know if God's going to get me to the point okay, that I'm going to like women to the point that I'm going to want to marry one, okay but if God is calling me to a celibate lifestyle I want to live that lifestyle. Can you give me some information on how to get out of this gay lifestyle? That happened ten minutes into this festival. Think about that. Because I've decided I am going to engage that culture or that culture will begin to engage you and I. A little bit later that day I saw a guy sitting by himself so I went down and just sat down next to him. It's very interesting people sit by themselves. You ever notice that at school people sit by themselves during lunch and stuff like that? Isn't it interesting when you study the school shootings that one of the common denominators to the school shootings is that there were always loners that were pushed off by themselves to the side of society? Let me tell you that when someone gets pushed off to the side of Satan and says thank you then he starts messing with their mind. You know what? If you see someone pushed to the side why don't you walk into their life a little bit and invest a little bit in their life? When I speak at Christian high schools around the country and I'm sitting there having lunch usually sitting with teachers if I see a student sitting by themselves I will take my tray off the teacher's table it's not even my school and I'll walk over and I'll go sit with that student. I don't play that game because I know what Satan will do. He'll mess with your mind if that doesn't happen. So I sat down next to this guy and we began to talk. Twenty minutes into the conversation Alvaro looked at me and he said thirty days ago I just found out I was HIV positive. I said Alvaro I've got a question for you. He said what is it? I said what have you been thinking about for the last thirty days? He said oh I've only been thinking about one thing. What did he say? He said death. If you find out you're HIV positive you think about death and he told me about all his friends who had passed away and died and stuff like that. I said Alvaro let me tell you exactly why the God of this universe sent me to you today. We had a talk. At the thirty minute mark I decided to ask Alvaro a question. It's very interesting when you study different issues in life and the thing is about the homosexual is when you study it it's very interesting to find out that about 85% of gay men had no dad at home or their dad was always gone. So it's interesting when you really study the issue it's not really that they want to have sex with another man. The issue becomes the fact that they really want the loving positive touch of their who? Father that they never got. It's really that simple. When you study the Old Testament there was always a blessing that was passed down father to son but it was always a physical touch blessing. You always touched and held your sons like that. Let me tell you something in this room real quick. If some of you guys who decide to get married one day and you say I do to somebody I do first of all means for the rest of your life. Please understand that. It's not I try it for a while it's I do. Some of you know what I'm talking about when you come through situations where people said it was basically I try it. The second thing is when you decide to say I do and you become a dad and God allows you to be a father you need to be hugging and touching your kids period all the time. Because even if you study teenage girls who are promiscuous if you can study what happens back at their house if they're not getting positive loving touches from their who? Dad. Exactly. They'll go get it from some chump change dude at school. You see it all the time. It falls right back on fathers. The Bible talks much more about fathers and what we need to be doing. But isn't it interesting don't we see a lot more homosexuality in our world today than we even saw 10, 20 years ago? 30? It's amazing. But what started happening 10 or 20, 30 years ago in the families where dads started jetting out on their kids what's it called? The big D word what's it called? Divorce. And when you decided not to hold the biblical principles there's always a consequence to those actions. Think about that. So if you struggle with thoughts and we meet kids every session that struggle with thoughts along those lines it's not that you're gay or anything like that there's usually just an issue with your father it's usually just that simple. I was talking with Alvaro so I decided to ask him a question. I said Alvaro how's your relationship with your dad? He said oh it's really good. I'm like well they wrote my theory but it's not a theory. And then he said oh he said except I said except what? He said except from zero to 10 years old. Okay? He said I lived in Mexico City my father lived in Chicago he was a businessman I saw my father twice in the first 10 years of my life. If you could have seen the pain in this man's eyes and the pain in his heart his tears started welling up in his eyes. Okay? But let me tell you something I've decided I'm going to engage this culture because if I don't that culture will begin to engage me. Okay? Next point. Very something simple I just want to change your mindset on something. Okay? A lot of times we get to praise and worship time and all of a sudden we go oh my goodness I've got to praise and worship God. Well it's not that you've got to praise and worship God you've got the wrong vowels that you what? You get to. Okay? You get to praise and worship God. It's a simple mindset. Not that I've got to but it's a positive I get to. It's not in your notes you have to add it to the side. And then we'll all hit your notes in just a second. Okay? Now think about this. Last session I was here I did my open forum and I'm in here and a lady from down the street came into the open forum. I've talked with her a few times. She lives in a house down the street and she wanted me to pray for her because I've witnessed to her down there a very strong believer she wanted me to pray for her so she came for the open forum. Well, after open forum you come up and you do your praise and worship time so we're sitting on the porch down there and all of a sudden I look and there's a couple that's standing out on the street and they're just standing there looking up at the building. Okay? And they're just standing down there looking up at the building and so I end up walking this lady back to her house. As I'm walking this lady back to her house they start walking up the street and as they start walking up the street Okay? I stop, I engage and then I just throw a question. I'm going to teach you how to share your faith. I throw a question and we begin to talk. I said, I saw you all standing down here earlier. Why were you all standing there? They said, we don't live here. We're from Colorado Springs. We're only up here for an hour. But we stopped and all we could hear was this music coming from up there and these people singing and we didn't know what it was and they stood there and listened to session one sing and praise the Lord for about five or ten minutes standing right down there. See, you don't know what your praise can do. Your praise may stop. And he was Jewish. She was Catholic. We had a phenomenal conversation down there. Okay? And your song, it had no clue what song it was but I got to explain it to them because of that, because of your singing because you were praising the Lord. You weren't concerned what the person next to you thought about your voice. You were more concerned what God thought about your voice. Is that not correct? Isn't that not why you won't sing loud sometimes? You're concerned what their thought is, what they think about your voice? Their opinion of your voice does not matter. Galatians 1.10 says, I am not here to please men. I am here to please who? God. Walk out here in a vertical way to please God with your life and forget the horizontal stuff. You'll have one great life down here. Okay, the Pharisees are never going to like you anyway so why worry about it, okay? Stand up for what you believe, all right? But watch this, okay? See, some of you say, well, I've got to read my Bible. Well, it's not that you've got to but what? You've got to change your whole mindset, all right? It's all in the book. It'll explain it. Some of you are going to say, uh-oh, I've heard the tall, bald-headed guy speak. Oh, my goodness, I've got to share my faith. Well, I'm here to tell you it's not that you've got to but what? You've got to. It's an opportunity of a lifetime to share your faith in Jesus Christ, all right? All right, now, so when I die, I've got to go to heaven? Well, I don't know about you but when I die, I what? I get to, man. I'm the happiest dude in the universe when that day comes, okay? And then, when I die, I've got to bring people to hang out with for all of eternity? Well, no, when I die, I what? You get to bring anybody you want you to hang out for all of eternity. That's your choice. You want to make witnessing simple? Here's witnessing very simple. All your job is to is to invite people to come to heaven, okay? It's their choice what to do with the invitation. Think about that for a second. All you have to do is invite people to come to heaven but it's their choice what to do with the invitation. Is that not correct? That is correct, okay? One of you Summit kids from Atlanta, I had dinner with you a couple years ago in Atlanta before he went off to the University of North Carolina. We had dinner together and we were out having dinner and we began to witness to the waitress. Her name was Jill. She so got into this conversation she knelt down at the table. Recommended book I want to give. I gave her money for the book. Gave her a very good tip and I wrote my name down on something for her, okay? And we gave it to her. I said, Jill, all we're doing is inviting you to heaven. It's your choice what to do with the invitation. You can take it and throw it in a trash can or you can cash it in and come to this great place called heaven but it's your choice what you want to do with the invitation. That's true if you think about it. Is that not correct? That is true. So we finished up and we walked out and we're hanging out in the parking lot for a few minutes and we're hanging out there. All of a sudden five minutes later Jill walks outside the restaurant basically yells across the parking lot my name is Mark and she said, Mark I'm going to cash that invitation in. She said, I'll see you in heaven one of these days. Turn and walk back in that restaurant. I looked at that young man and I said, what just happened? I mean all we did was talk with that person but yet God can take seeds and make them grow can he not? Although he does it very well if we just plant them if you think about it. The same young man went to the University of North Carolina I just talked to him at Christmas. He was one of those bowed up 18 year olds I've ever seen in my entire life for Jesus Christ. Bowed up. Went to college was standing up for it a little bit. Then he began not to began to drink last semester. Not getting drunk but just starting to drink a little bit. So I asked him a question on the telephone over Christmas I called him up to see how he was doing and I asked him I said, by the way in the last semester have you drank more beer in the last semester or have you witnessed more lost people in the last semester? Let me tell you something that got so silent on that telephone and some of you will fall in the exact same category in just a couple years. You have the information the question is will you step out into obedience and do something with it? You must think about that. Next point. This will start being in your notes now. When you start sharing your faith in Jesus Christ there's only three possible things that can occur when you share your faith in Jesus Christ. The person can accept Jesus Christ plant a seed or you can get rejected. There is actually nothing else that can occur when you share your faith in Jesus Christ. Do you see that in your notes right there? Now I need you to bow your heads and close your eyes for just a quick second. Be honest with me. If you've ever just planted a seed talk to another human being about Jesus Christ. Just raise your hands up nice and high for me. Awesome. Hands down. If you've ever been there when someone has accepted Jesus Christ just raise your hand up nice and high. Cool. Hands down. If you've ever just been rejected called a Bible beater or a Jesus reader just kind of ripped to shreds by somebody just raise your hand up nice and high. Okay. Hands down. Heads up. Eyes open. Okay. Thanks for your honesty. Question for you. When I had you raise your hands up were there more hands up for a rejection plant a seed accepting Christ? Just yell out. Which one were there more hands up for? Just yell it out. Okay. Basically that's always the correct answer. It is plant a seed. It's not always what you hear but that's what it is. Please understand when you're out sharing your faith in Jesus you're going to spend most of your time planting seeds. Is that okay? Think about this. Now when you're out there witnessing you're talking about that man with the nail pierced hands and the nail pierced feet. Okay. By the way, what are you doing for all of eternity? Talking about that man with the nail pierced hands and the nail pierced feet. All you do is practice and getting ready for eternity. So don't get frustrated if you go witnessing today and the person doesn't drop to their knees and just start praising the Lord. You'll see it happen every now and then. I'll tell you it's a wild thing when it happens. But don't let that frustrate you. We have so many of you young people pick up these telephones back here starting today and start calling friends back home and sharing your faith. Talked to a girl last year. She stood up and just wept. She called back home and she got to share her faith with one of her friends for the very first time. Friends for years. Never shared. But her friend was dying and going to hell. And it really bothered her. We've had some of you see friends except Christ on these telephones back here. So remember you spend most of your time planting seeds. That's okay. I went to a place called South Beach in Miami one time. You ever heard of South Beach? South Beach is the wildest, nastiest party section of any bar section of any town in America. It is out of control wild. I love that place. There is no more fun place to go to for me. That place is so dark it's very easy for your what? Light to shine bright. Think about that now. Light only shines when you take it to what? Darkness. It doesn't shine when you hang out with other light. You need to think about that for a second. So I love going to the Buckheads in Atlanta, the South Beaches of Miami because it's just out of control sin but yet at the same point your light shines so very bright. I was down there for a two week period one time and in two weeks I got a chance to talk to right at 300 people about Jesus Christ. Now I'm not talking about speaking at things. I'm talking about walking up and talking to people one on one one on two one on three. We're going to show you how to do it in a second. During those two weeks I saw two people accept Christ and about five people reject me and planted about 295 seeds. Did I have a good couple of weeks? Did I have a good couple of weeks? Oh, out of control couple of weeks. They were two of the most fun weeks I've ever had in my entire life. I have more stories from those two weeks just because I would step out. So don't get frustrated if someone doesn't receive the word right in front of you today. Now, if you plant seeds though, you will see people accept Jesus Christ and if you've ever seen that happen wasn't that a good feeling when they accepted Jesus Christ? Let me tell you something. There is no feeling like that on planet Earth. I used to play college basketball at Auburn University in the Southeastern Conference. We used to go to the University of Kentucky and play basketball. When you go into Kentucky's Rupp Arena with 24,000 people in the stands and you go running into a gym with 24,000 people that is a kick and a half. That's a wild feeling. It doesn't even begin to compare what it feels like when a human being bows their heart and says yes to the God of this universe. There is no feeling like it but if you're not a seed planter you will never see people accept Jesus Christ. Does that make sense? Now, here's what's interesting. Always the smallest category is rejection but I will get people yelling out rejection is the biggest category. Why? Satan has some of us so focused on the fact that we go out there waiting to see if someone is going to body slam us like The Rock or something like that. They're just going to get rejected big time. That we're so scared to step out of our comfort zone and to see what's going to happen. Now watch what happened. I was teaching this to some kids at CannaCook. Anybody been to CannaCook before? I used to work out at K2 and stuff. I was teaching some kids in a cabin. This is what we talked about. Accepting Christ is a good situation. Planting a seed is a good situation. Rejection is just really bad because we hate those times when it happens. Accepting Christ is a winning situation. Planting a seed is a winning situation. Rejection is just really losing because we hate the times we get shot down like that. Now watch this. Do you understand that when you share your faith in Jesus Christ there's a 66% chance it's a winning situation? Aren't those pretty good odds? Those are pretty good odds. Two out of three times you share your faith in Jesus Christ it's a winning situation. Now watch this. The very next day I decide to open up and read my Bible. Is that a good thing to do? Listen to me. You better know this Word of God as time moves on. There is deception all around us. Can speakers deceive you? You better believe they can. But if you don't know the truth you cannot spot error when it shows up. You better know that Word of God better than any speaker you ever hear, better than any youth pastor you've got, better than any pastor you ever sit underneath. Do you understand me? That Word of God is going to be your foundation as you walk through the rest of this life. I decided the next day I was sitting on a dock in the middle of the bay in Branson, Missouri and I opened up my Bible and said the truth story. I opened up to 1 Peter and I read this verse and my life has never been the same since. I read 1 Peter chapter 4 and it says if you're ever rejected in the name of Christ blessed are you for the Spirit and glory of God rests upon you. If you're ever rejected in the name of Christ blessed are you for the Spirit and glory of God rests upon you. Now, if you could have the Spirit and glory of God rest upon you today would you take it? Would you take it? Give me two or three or four doses of that any day of the week. I'll take it. But one way the Bible says it can happen is if you're ever what? Rejected in the name of Jesus Christ. See, I didn't know what the Bible said. The Bible says if you in this room have surrendered your heart to Jesus Christ you are the most special thing walking planet earth. And if Satan even begins to think about one-upping you God says, I will take my Spirit and just rest it upon you and take care of you. See, I didn't know what the Word of God said. The Word of God also says if you could put in the hand of God nothing can what? Snatch you out of it. It also says right after if you could put in the hand of Jesus nothing can what? Snatch you out of it. See, I did not understand the value that a believer has in the hands of Almighty God but I had to learn. God wasn't done with me yet. Luke chapter 6 22 and 23 says this, Blessed are you when men hate you. That's an interesting statement. Blessed are you when men hate you. One of our problems is we walk out and we want everyone to what? Like us. Is everyone going to like you when you stand up for the things of the Lord Jesus Christ? It's not going to happen. I read about this guy one time who lived an absolutely perfect life. He loved people absolutely perfectly. And at the end of his life he still got nailed to the cross at the end of his life. Let me tell you something. If they're not going to love him perfectly they're not going to always love us either. Is that okay? Yes it is. Persecution comes to those who stand up for truth. But watch what this says. When they reject your name as evil because of the Son of Man rejoice in that day leap for joy for great is your reward in heaven. So when they hate you and reject you rejoice in that day leap for joy for great is your reward in heaven. When do you normally rejoice in life? When what? Something good happens. You score the last second shot in a basketball game you rejoice. You maybe pass a Bible exam. You rejoice. You rejoice when something good happens. The Bible says rejoice whenever you're rejected. Why? Because great is your reward in heaven. Do you understand because you stand up for truth and eternal truth God has a reward for you in heaven that's going to make anything in an earthly sense seem like chump change? Do you understand this? We taught this to some teenagers in Mobile, Alabama. Whenever they would go witnessing on the beaches or go into the malls and go witnessing if they would ever get rejected and it happens very rarely maybe once a day it just doesn't happen a whole lot because we live in kind of a crazy world do we not? It's a crazy world getting crazier. 9-11's Iraq wars people got questions. And don't we have answers? Aren't you glad you're at Summit? Glad you're here. You're going to learn more to give away to people as you walk out. We taught these people in Mobile so whenever they go out witnessing if they ever got rejected they would just go cha-ching they knew they were ringing up rewards in heaven they would high five and move on to the very next person. They decided it's not going to stop me because we're getting rich when we do this so it wasn't going to bother them that's what they decided. They just took it so literally it was pretty cool. But this is what happened the next day I went back to that group and this is what changed my life 8 years ago. Accepting Christ is a good situation planting of seeds is a good situation rejection if great is my reward in heaven what does that situation become? Accepting Christ is a winning situation planting of seeds is a winning situation rejection if great is my reward in heaven what does that situation become? Just like that in one afternoon 8 years ago summer 8 years ago 1995 God taught me that every single time I share my faith it's a winning situation I absolutely cannot lose and since that time I have begun to step up out of my comfort zone and just realize you know what I don't have to fear this because it's a winning situation every single time I share my faith in Jesus Christ. In May in Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta throws a big party called Music Midtown and they block off all these streets down in downtown Atlanta and set up all these stages and at these stages it's just a bunch of bands that come out and play and when they come out and play this year Godsmack was there Ben Harper was there Sheryl Crow was there Creed's been there Widespread Panic's been there you name it they've been there it's a wild party 2 to 300,000 people over 3 days every single year I go down every single year why do I go? There's got to be someone to talk to with 200,000 people come on now so I'm on there on Saturday I take the trains into downtown Atlanta so as we get off the trains you have to walk a little bit to the festival there's a college age a little bit older than a college age lady next to me so I just hand her a track book as we're walking in I said hey what is this thing? so I just began to talk we just began to talk she had all these questions so we're just talking we're just walking just walking towards the festival and we're getting close to it and I had to do something real quick so I said hey I just wrote a book I really want you to have this just email me your address I'll send you a free copy so I reached in my pocket and pulled out my business card I handed her my business card just email me right here and I'll send you a free copy she looked at my business card she went huh I said what? she said huh I said what? she said I know you I said you know me? I said how do you know me? I am not lying to you three years ago I was in church on a Sunday morning I was wearing a summit ministry shirt okay and two parents the parents came up to me mom and dad came up to me and said excuse me do you know anything about summit? I said yeah I speak out there can we talk to you real quick? I said sure their daughter started going to Emory University which is a very rich liberal university in Atlanta and their daughter grew up in church and she started walking we need to get our daughter there can we talk to you? so we started talking we tried to get her here she didn't want to come but she emailed me one time we emailed back and forth about six or seven times three years ago okay hooked her up with a Christian group at Emory okay and then we just lost I haven't seen in three three years later walking off this with thousands of people walking into this place and I happen to be standing right next to Karen do you know what a divine appointment is? when you start stepping out of your comfort zone you're going to have more divine appointments you know what to do I could not believe what happened that day okay later on that day I was just standing there I was talking with somebody some guy walked behind me and hit me with a forearm okay kind of in a friendly way not in a bad way and kind of hit me and I turned around he said do you remember me? I was like man dude was real clean cut and I was just man I don't know it's not coming he said I'm Barry Wiedemann I said Barry how you doing? he said Mark I have seen you five straight years at this festival think about this now five years he's seen me there I talked to him last year wrote him he said I still got that letter you wrote me I said Barry I just wrote a book I want you to have a copy he said here's my stuff email me or send me your new book I said okay and he said matter of fact this is what he said he said I just moved to Naples Florida I came back up just for this festival and one of my goals was to see you at this festival the dude's lost and dying and going to hell but he wanted to talk with the Christian guy one more time see because it's a winning situation you absolutely cannot lose step out of your comfort zone and go for it on the Sunday of that day I came there on Sunday it was about one o'clock in the afternoon I was walking down towards this one big stage and there was this younger guy about yea high came walking away from the port-a-potty he was walking away it was a beautiful Sunday he didn't have his shirt on and stuff and so I walked up to him and just began to talk and show him how to do that and all of a sudden I kind of looked and he had all these scars on his chest and his stomach and stuff I said hey man what are these scars man he said knives and bottles and stuff like that I said you in a gang he said yea I was in a gang for a while I said how old are you he said sixteen I said ok I said you ever been to jail he said yea I've been to jail once I said how long he said four years one fourth of his life has been spent I said what did you do he said grand theft auto at twelve stole a car at twelve ok I could barely shoot a basketball at twelve you know the dude was stealing and driving cars and stuff we began to talk began to witness to him and stuff we were talking and talking and all of a sudden he looked at me and said oh by the way I said what he said I went to church this morning for the first time in ages I said really I said why he said my grandmother keeps telling me ok that if I would get to church and get right with Jesus Christ my life would just be so much different if I'd walk away from this world that I live in think about this this boy went to church that morning he had a conversation with a dude two hours later that explained all what he needs about Jesus Christ ok then he said oh by the way I got to get back over to my friends over there he pointed to a whole group of people that was waiting on him he stood there and talked to me for fifteen minutes couldn't he have walked away at any point he could have walked away at any point but he wanted to talk because see every single time you share your fate is a winning situation you absolutely cannot lose I got on an airplane the other day in Kansas City when I got on the airplane I was walking back to my seat it was pretty full flight and I was really kind of hoping no one was next to me I was just really tired I just wanted to rest I've been traveling and speaking but God's great He doesn't put up with what I want it's what He wants so I go back there and I sit down I'm getting ready to sit down I put my bag on my seat and there's this lady sitting there she's got all black on she's got gold jewelry ok and just silver hair she's about a 60 year old woman just a beautiful contrast of the colors and stuff and I said hey how you doing and she said fine and she's just staring at me and I'm doing my stuff and she's just staring at me and I have that problem sometimes and she's just staring at me and so I put my stuff away and I put my stuff and I put my stuff and I sit down and she's just sitting there staring at me and I said hey how you doing and she said fine and I said what were you in Kansas City for she said I was at a funeral I said ok and my hopes got up and because trust me that's a time to talk about the things the Lord with people they're thinking they have questions at that point ok and I said ok I said who passed away she said my cousin I said ok I said how did he die she said I don't know if I should tell you I just met you I said well if you feel comfortable go ahead she said he committed suicide I said well I had a student of mine commit suicide a couple years ago I said how old was he he said 54 psychiatrist supposed to be helping other people out couple kids committed suicide and we began to talk I mentioned God very generically she mentioned spiritual one time we're just talking I am not lying to you 20 minutes later she looked at me and said I have a question for you I said ok what would that be she said I'm a Jewish lady why does someone like me need to receive Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of my sins why can't I just be a good Jewish lady who keeps the 10 commandments who's a nice lady and stuff like that and be right with God when I walk why do I need to receive Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of my sins it would be much easier for me she said because I would go from the minority to the majority why does someone like me need to receive Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of my sins my jaw hit the floor of that airplane I could not believe that I got up I pulled my Bible out from above me we started walking through the Jewish scriptures ok walking through showing her where Yeshua was Jesus was in the scriptures walking through twice she said you're not convincing me you're not convincing me I said Sheila it's not my job to convince you ok it's God's job I just have to plan just talk about it we're walking through we get to the end of the flight she wanted my book so I signed my book for her gave it to her and she looked at me and said I want to tell you something I said what she said I've been wanting to have this conversation for a long long time now she said I will never forget this conversation folks do you understand there's people in your life that want to have these conversations for a long long time and we're too scared to get into the conversation have you thought about that think about that for a second ok and so that's what happened with Sheila it was a winning situation there was no way I could lose why don't I step out and go for that ok TNT the TV station TNT they do a basketball show they have the NBA on their show so they do a studio show Ernie Johnson's the host of it well I was speaking at a Bible study and Ernie Johnson was at the Bible study I spoke at he really liked me so he invited me down one Wednesday so a couple Wednesdays ago I went down to the TNT taping while I was there Charles Barkley was there I played college basketball with him and Magic Johnson was there I got a chance to talk with Magic Johnson for 20 minutes about the things of the Lord we sat there for 20 minutes he didn't take his eyes off me for 20 minutes ok signed my book for me he really wanted I mean we just went at it for 20 minutes it was really cool ok later I found out I told Ernie Johnson I had a good talk with Magic he said oh I he said I know I said do you know I said how he said Magic came up and said hey I really like that friend that you brought tonight because see there was no way that I could lose ok if I want to see magic in heaven I better invite him to come but there's no way that I can lose because it's a winning situation every single time you step out and share your faith in Jesus Christ alright now watch this the rest of this talk won't make any sense unless you can answer this one simple question if it's a winning situation every single time when is the only time that you lose when it comes to sharing your faith when what? when you don't share ok if you decide to keep Jesus to yourself that's the only time you're going to lose every other single time it's a winning situation you absolutely cannot lose ok you want a heavy piece of truth summit here's a heavy piece of truth I can guarantee you one thing that you can't do in heaven that you can do down here ok you can worship God in heaven you can praise God in heaven you can sing songs to God in heaven you can read your Bible and the Bible says you can be in heaven but one thing you can't do in heaven that you can do down here is share your faith with a non-believer ok why? there's none there ok do you realize from the day you die to the end of eternity and there is no end of eternity you'll never ever ever be able to share your faith with a lost person again have you thought about that? when I take my last breath out of this body as a believer in Jesus Christ I will never talk to a lost person again for all of eternity have you thought about that? that's a heavy piece of truth to think about and that being true shouldn't that be one of the high callings of our life? if I can't witness out there and I can only witness down there shouldn't that be one of the high callings of our life is to reach out to all these lost people? have you thought about that? I say this in a true way I don't say this in a cocky way I got a four year college basketball scholarship to Auburn University for one very simple reason I can take that orange ball and I can put it in that goal I can shoot a ball pretty well ok why can I shoot a ball pretty well? hours upon hours upon hours of what? practice that's all I did as a kid was shoot hoops that's it ok and if you do it enough you get pretty good at it and it hit me one day I said wait a minute ok if I can't witness out there and I only can witness down here and it's an issue of obedience or disobedience the only way that I can ever get good at it is what? practicing ok is it time to start practicing again? it's time to practice again ok we need to practice as much as we can to get better when I was on my plane flights yesterday the first flight from Fort Lauderdale to Cincinnati was a 58 year old Jewish man that we got a chance to talk the whole time on the flight about this when I got on the flight from Cincinnati to Colorado Springs to Colorado Springs I sat next to a 13 year old boy who's been in 3 foster families the first 2 foster families the dad would get drunk and beat the crud out of this kid he was 13 years old ok we talked on that entire plane but this was one of the neatest young kids I've ever met in my life ok I could not believe he didn't have as much more anger than he did at life ok but he just got adopted by somebody he was out here and the people he was meeting ok are good friends of Kevin Bywater who's one of the speakers here at Summit Ministries there were all these little connections that happened yesterday that were just out of control but I have to practice to get better at that ok some of y'all heard me speak before? some of y'all heard me at Summit last time? ok since last year I've written a book since then it's called One Thing You Can't Do in Heaven ok it just came out a few months ago we are getting the craziest testimonies off this book ok because one it's not a textbook so don't fear it ok I have to always tell college kids that don't fear it ok it's got tons of stories in it people read it in one sitting they'll pick it up and can't put it down but we're getting people there was one lady my sister gave a book to in Charlotte, North Carolina she gave her a book the lady likes to walk around and read so she's walking around reading and she starts reading it and then she says she starts praying to God God, everything in this book is truth but I'm too shy to do it ok any of you think maybe you're too shy to do this? remember this remember a simple statement ok don't let Satan talk you out of something until God talks you into something don't let Satan talk you out of something until God talks you into something ok shy people in this room I will tell you the shy people you make the best witnesses on planet earth shy people because the one thing you won't do is you'll never take Jesus Christ and shove it down someone's throat you share your faith in such a kind hearted friendly, encouraging way don't let Satan talk you out of it just step out of your comfort zone and do it so this lady is walking around Charlotte and she just keeps reading so she put the book underneath her arm and she's walking around Charlotte that day four people walked up to her excuse me ma'am what are you reading tell me about it she got to witness to four people that day because God said you think you're too shy God said I'm bringing them right to you you're not walking away from this ok yeah it was really funny three months ago somebody took this book and handed it to President Bush it sits in his hands ok please pray that either him or Laura maybe his daughters will read this thing who knows he's over in Israel in Jordan right now he might wouldn't it be awesome if he was just sharing his faith with with Ariel Sharon and the different leaders around the country wouldn't it be powerful if he did that ok but it sits in his hand you heard of Kirk Cameron the actor I was speaking to something and Kirk Cameron came up and he said dude I love your book he said can I steal some stuff out of it I said Kirk I said thou shall not steal Kirk get your hands off my stuff Kirk and I said sure you can take it he's a real nice guy but he liked a lot of the questions we're going to teach you on how to get into conversations he hadn't thought about that so he really liked a lot of that stuff have you heard of Jeff Foxworthy the comedian be a redneck if I pick up the phone the other day Jeff Foxworthy called me I picked up the phone someone gave him my book he said dude I love your book I said what do you mean he said I was in Salt Lake City at a comedy gig I got to my hotel room at two o'clock in the morning I had six chapters left of your book I didn't go to bed until I finished I'm reading it a second time he said would you pray for me and he said how do I get a case of these to give my friends we're just getting insane testimonies off this book so this book will be for you down at the what am I trying to say not the bookstore front desk front desk thank you please edit that from the tape down at the front desk for you but you can already tell I dare to be different I dare to be different watch how different I'll be there is no price tag on this book I do books by donation only that's it this book will be $12 or $13 in a bookstore if you got it if you want to give $12 or $13 great if you don't have $12 or $13 and you want to give less than that that's fine that's between you and the Lord if you want to give more than that to help me do what I do around the country that's fine that's between you and God if you don't have any extra money with you and you want to take the book there's an address on the last page and mail me a check later for it that's fine I just got a check from some college girl from two months ago who had no money that day wanted the book took the book she just got a job and she just sent me some money for the book and she thanked me that I would actually just let her take it instead of worry about the money for it I'll even go this far if you do not have any extra money and you're kind of stuck and you just don't have enough for this or your family is in a tough economic situation and you don't have any extra money I will tell you you can walk back there you can take it it's free it's on me I'll give it to you I will do that and if you're in an economic situation and you don't have any extra money don't you feel guilty taking it for free I just told you you could take it for free why would I do that? because I'm crazy and hopefully I'm getting crazier I have one goal I want six billion people to know Jesus Christ and I know there are people who have picked up this book I have never met they're out there sharing their faith in Jesus Christ I will do that so you understand how to do that the other thing is most places I go to you can only get one book but I brought extras so if you want to get more than one for family members and stuff we have churches ordering cases we have whole youth groups going through the book as a study book and then going out and doing it so if you need any extras you can do that also now we all know we're supposed to share our faith but what's always the very next point is what? the question is what? how do we do it? how do we get into that conversation? let's teach you some very easy simple things that you can get into a conversation with anybody one of my favorite questions is where are you on your spiritual journey or what's happening spiritually in your life this is a very easy non-threatening question to get into a conversation now what you're going to see in these questions we'll very rarely use Jesus in the first question because if you use Jesus in the first question what happens to your conversation sometimes? it's over because isn't that a powerful word? that word is so powerful that every knee is going to bow to that word one day and what we'll show you later is Jesus to me in a conversation it's like your trump card in cards if you ever played cards do you play your trump card in the very first hand? you hold your trump card until you need your trump card Jesus is the exact same way in a conversation we'll show you how to do that in just a second so we'll start off with questions like this where are you in your spiritual journey? I was at one of my high school reunions and we were taking a class photo so where am I in the class photo? back row one more time and not only am I on the back row they put me on a chair in the back row why would you put me on a chair? I don't need no chair but I'm on a chair so standing next to me was Jim Bethune a big football player but it's like a captive audience he can't go anywhere and that's a great place to share your faith we do youth retreats we do ski retreats so we'll witness on the ski lifts what are they going to do? are they going to jump? they're not going to go anywhere are they going to ride? they will I told a guy on the plane you're not going anywhere they give you a flotation device not a parachute you're not going anywhere look for captive audiences so I'm standing in the back row with Jim Bethune a big old footballer from back in the day we're just chatting about life how life is so a little bit later I threw out a question Jim, so what's happening in spiritual life right now? he said Mark I just believe as long as you believe in your heart there's an okay thing to do then definitely it's an okay thing to do I said okay Jim as long as you believe it's an okay thing then it's an okay thing to do he said yeah what type of truth are we talking about here? absolute versus relative truth are you learning anything good here at Summit? okay because you're going to get this all the time this will be there until Jesus comes back this absolute versus relative truth so I looked at Jim and here's one of my responses I said Jim I said Adolf Hitler believed in his heart there's an okay thing to do to kill six million of God's chosen people so long as he believed there's an okay thing to do then Jim definitely was an okay thing for him to do wasn't it Jim? now do I have Jim at this point? yeah Jim's in trouble at this point okay I've only had I've only had three people say yes to that question and we actually have one guy on video he said yes on video but what happened was that he got caught in an argument he knew his argument didn't hold any water but he didn't want to admit he was wrong so he said yes and we go sometimes we've got witnesses with video cameras and we just talk with people people love being on video so it's really easy okay then we take them back and show the videos back in our youth groups and bible studies and things like that just to show you how to work a conversation it's a lot of fun okay so Jim looked at me and said you know what there must be some absolute truth and he turned and looked away okay now I never like to end on a negative and that's not a good thing so I just tapped him on the wrist I said Jim if you ever want to find that absolute truth I said you can find it where? what did I say? the bible the bible good seed planted? great seed planted okay I was watching the show Politically Incorrect one night and there was this wonderful Christian woman on there and this is what she said to stump the whole panel if you want a great question that works with anybody as far as absolute versus relative truth here's the one I use most of the time her question to the panel was in what situation is rape an okay thing to do? in what situation is rape an okay thing to do? can you think of one? can you think of one? I can't I can't think of one so if it's wrong for all people in all places at all times you'd call that what? absolute truth and if you can have one you can have two you can have three see how it works? real simple and it's a very simple way to do it alright last time heads bowed eyes closed I want to ask you a question just between me and you and the lord heads down eyes closed serious question I want you to be honest if you died today if you took your absolute last breath today are you 100% assured that you would go to heaven if you walked out here today? be honest if you are just raise your hand up and if you're not just go ahead and leave it down hands down heads up eyes open thanks for your honesty there's a lot of hands that didn't go up and that's not easy in a group like this but thanks for not just going along with people I appreciate that God appreciates honesty by the way question if you died tonight are you 100% assured you're going to heaven? is it possible the person you're chatting with could die today? is it possible? you better believe it okay the question is where is that person going to be spending eternity if they do die today? that's why it's a great question because it cuts right to the chase okay I was talking to two guys last summer at a big music festival in Atlanta and I asked them the question if they died tonight were they 100% assured they're going to heaven and they said nope you're talking to the wrong guys on this one I said why is that? I said our best friend just died in a car accident last night I said nope I am talking to the two right guys on this one okay because now they have to think about it because their buddy just walked off into eternity okay this is a true story there was a pastor he would travel around when he would meet people that were saved he would ask them how they got saved he met this businessman I said by the way how did you get saved? he said one time I was in Sydney, Australia and I was walking down George Street and this old silver haired man tiny dude walked up to me shook my hand and said excuse me sir if you die tonight are you 100% assured you're going to heaven? hand him a gospel track and was gone okay that businessman went back to the states went back up to his pastor said yeah I was in Australia and this idiot walked up to me and asked me the question if I die tonight am I 100% assured I'm going to heaven? I can't believe that guy asked me that question the pastor looked at him and said you know what I have never been assured of your salvation he said what? he said I've never been assured of your salvation are there people you hang with and you're not really sure of their salvation? the bible says you shall know them by their what? fruits if there's no fruit trust me you're not connected into the right vine trust me okay talked with him that day that businessman got saved he's faithfully serving the lord now because of that day what happened okay the pastor continued to travel he met the head of all the united states navy chaplains he said by the way how did you get saved? he said one time our ship was docked in the port of sydney australia and we were out one night partying and drinking and stuff and about 2 o'clock in the morning I was going back to the ship and I got off on the wrong street I got off on george street about 2 o'clock in the morning all of a sudden this silver haired old man walked up to me shook my hand said excuse me sailor if you die tonight you're 100% assured you'll go to heaven hand him a gospel track and was gone the sailor began to think went back to the ship woke up the chaplain chaplain man chaplain man come on now I'm dying to go to hell I need to get saved right now the chaplain said nope he said you go to bed you sleep your drunk off we'll talk tomorrow morning he went to bed he slept his drunk he said you still want to do it he said yes I do he got saved that day that dude is now the head of all the united states navy chaplains pastor continued to travel he met a missionary in india he said how did you get saved he said well he said my dad worked for the state department in india and one time we took a trip to sydney australia and my dad was working and so I was just walking around all of a sudden this old silver haired man walked up to me shook my hand said excuse me young man if you die tonight you're 100% assured you'll go to heaven hand him a gospel track and was gone he went home back to india walked up to his hindu priest he was a hindu went up to his hindu priest said hey this guy asked me the question if I die tonight can I be 100% assured I'm going to heaven he said can I know that the hindu priest said you're talking to the wrong person why don't you go to the end of the street and talk to the missionaries at the end of the street the kid walked out the door walked to the end of the street talked to the missionaries got saved that day he's now winning thousands of souls to jesus christ in india ok this pastor was so intrigued he got on a plane he flew to sydney australia he found george and he saw him walking and said any of y'all know this guy who does this he said yeah that's mr ganore he lives right in that apartment right above that shop right there so he walked up some steps knocked on the door and this old frail 82 year old man came and opened the little tiny guy opened up the door and he said excuse me are you the guy that asked people this question and stuff he said yeah i said can i talk he said sure i said come on so he sat down he said i have a question for you i said why do you do that he said real simple he said 40 years ago i got saved and i couldn't think of a better way to thank jesus christ for what he did for me on that cross all i could do on that cross was to walk up to 10 people a day and just ask them the question if they die tonight are they 100% sure they go to heaven some days i didn't quite get 10 because i didn't feel well or i was sick or whatever but i just tried to do 10 a day to do that if you do the math i encourage you that the thank you he got from the lord jesus christ was 1000 times better than the thank you he got from that pastor who do you want your thank yous from would you just be faithful i heard that tape over a year ago i stand up for my faith a lot but i felt like a wimp when i listened to that tape it challenged me so it's one of the techniques i try now i was in the airport the other day do you know who geraldo rivera is the tv announcer guy he was walking down the airport in atlanta the other day so i walked up to him shook his hand i said geraldo i said i've enjoyed watching you on tv i just want to encourage him i said but i've always wanted to ask you a question he said go for it i said geraldo if you died tonight are you 100% sure you'd go to heaven let me tell you something that man took the biggest gulp in his throat i've ever seen a human being take it stuck out to him it was out there it was wild he was just there i like to talk to people all of a sudden it got totally silent i just started walking with him 2 or 3 seconds of silence he said yeah i said i think i am i said geraldo how do you know that to be true and i'll never forget his answer he said because i haven't been all that evil right answer not even close to the right answer he's been married 4 times about to be married a 5th time during the dc sniper shootings he went to a hooters restaurant for lunch the waitresses wanted his autograph he was signing ladies chest signing ladies back sides but he hasn't been all that evil think about that for a second all of a sudden he made a beeline for the delta crown room club he made a beeline he was trying to get away from me as quick as he could which is ok because he was thinking i really enjoyed chatting with you i reached in my pocket cargo pants are great you keep the book you wrote on one side you keep your tracks on the other side it was really good i said geraldo i got a gift for you i handed him a track book and he was gone just like that but how do you not know that that might be the question that stirs inside his system and now do you think i pray for him more every time i see him on tv i pray for him your whole prayer life changes when you share your faith i just spoke in kentucky a 6th grade girl that walked up to me the second night i spoke she said can i tell you something i said sure she said 58 said yes 29 said no i said what are you talking about i didn't know what you were talking about i said what are you talking about she said well i went to school today and i walked up to every single teacher every single student in the 6th grade that i'm in and i asked every single person the question if they die tonight were they 100% sure they go to heaven she said 58 said yes 29 said no isn't it a sad day when we got little 6th graders being bolder than we are for jesus christ don't let 6th graders lead the way why don't we lead the way and do that ok now can you be 100% sure when you die you're going to heaven can you 1st john 5 says he who has the son has life he who does not have the son of god does not have life these things i have written to you who believe in the name of the son of god in order that you may what know that you have eternal life can you know you got eternal life you can know it and if you know it does it matter what anyone's going to say to you today when you stand up for your faith their opinion just doesn't matter because that's not who you answer to when it's all said and done ok so if you have that mindset ok it does not matter what they're going to say it just it doesn't matter if they pull out a gun and try to attempt to kill you it's not going to matter ok because you know when you take your next breath on the other side you know exactly where you're going to be at alright now one of my favorite questions to ask anybody is when you die what do you think is on the other side what is out there when you walk out of here ok when you die what do you think is on the other side what do you think is out there when you walk out of here that's my favorite question because it's a very open-ended question it doesn't assume anything it doesn't assume a heaven or a hell or anything like that alright but just what do you believe is out there alright and one of the techniques that we do that's very simple if you ever see me in a bar section of town or a college campus or a mall or whatever I'm going to have a little yellow stick pad in my hand ok and what I'm doing is a survey approach to get into a conversation ok but I just call it a project it's very simple so I'll walk up to people and say hey can you help me out I'm working on a project what's everybody say sure what you got well today I'm asking the question when you die what do you think is on the other side what do you think is out there I love that question I said ok what do you think so they give you an answer and you just mark their answer down heaven or hell nothing reincarnation unsure I've been getting aliens lately from college kids what are they teaching y'all so you just mark their answer down and you say hey why do you believe that bingo you're just into a conversation just like that and you're off and rolling ok simple I've had people ask me was that just to get me to talk about Jesus I said well I use data for talks but yeah basically it kind of was that's a really good idea it's a very simple easy approach so what you can do is give your youth group our goal is to talk with 10 people this week so you can do any strategy so if you walk up to somebody you're not I'm working on a project it's for my youth group and we're talking to 10 people so it's a very easy in with people you heard of Chuck Colson the great writer I know his grandson Charlie Colson and he's heard me speak a couple things he's a lost dude goes to the University of Georgia but he really likes me and he just heard me speak and he just kind of got into it but we keep in touch every now and then but I was at that big music festival last year I was getting on the train to go home one night and Charlie lost his all get out was on the train so he came and sat next to me we started talking and all of a sudden he looked at me about two o'clock in the morning one o'clock he said where's your yellow piece of paper at I pulled it out of my pocket I just showed it like that he said I knew you'd be down here witnessing wouldn't that be a nice testimony to have when people see you out they knew you'd be doing the Lord's work because you're that faithful in your faith you heard of Michael Jordan before he's a basketball player I got a chance to witness to Michael Jordan one time that's the question I asked Michael I said Michael when you die what do you think is on the other side what do you think is out there when you walk out of here cause that man to have to answer that question it's a pretty drawn out story what happened that night and I don't have enough time to tell you but I wrote the whole story out in the book for you that's a question that will make people think cause they have to deal with that issue you can use things around you why do you wear that cross necklaces jewelry tattoos piercing anything around you to get into a conversation I have people who wear cross necklaces why do you wear that cross number one answer is because it looks good is that the right answer no you're into a conversation just like that very simple easy technique I was up in Kentucky at something and I was walking into this church I was speaking at and I looked on the street and there was this dude walking down the street with tattoos and piercings and stuff so I put my bag down and said pastor can you watch my bag for a second and he said yeah cause I walked right to that guy I just wanted to find out who this dude was so I walked we started talking his name was Gavin and he had this tattoo on his forearm I said hey what's that tattoo he said it's a tribal symbol I said a tribal symbol I said are you in a tribe he said no me my buddies at school just make up different tribes and stuff like that and I said and you made a tattoo of it he said yeah I said okay I said you got any other tattoos he said yeah and he pulled up his shirt and he had a cross up here okay with something draped over it I said well what is that he said well that's for my grandfather my grandfather just died I said really he said yeah matter of fact I'm going to put R.I.P. up there I said really I said what does that stand for and I knew but I was trying to see if he knew and he said I said what does that stand for he said rest in peace I said really I said Gavin if you died today would you rest in peace he said I would if I believed in God I definitely would I said Gavin would you do me a favor he said yeah I said would you come hear me speak in this church tonight I'm the guy speaking here would you come over here and do that he said I'd love to do that and I was given a salvation talk this is an equipping talk a salvation talk is completely different at the end of that when I did an altar call to that want to take a wild guess who was the first person that popped up and came forward Gavin came forward got saved I got an email from one of his friends he said Gavin three days later he said I already can start seeing the changes in this young man think about that now I just used something around me to get into a conversation very easy to do now watch this when you're witnessing you have to talk about sin with people and you must talk about sin with them because be very careful there's a lot of deception going on in our world watch the deception I'm going to show you some editorial cartoons here's an editorial cartoon of Chris Farley this is Chris Farley saying this sure is better than a van down by the river that's what he's saying now you know that because that comes from his motivational speaker skit correct? he'd always recommend people to go to the van down by the river because what were they doing in the van down by the river to take care of their problems they were doing what? speak it what were they doing? you watched it speak it what were they doing? smoking weed because if you go down there and start smoking some weed down there it would take care of all your problems now watch this watch the assumption that's made here this is the light of who? God these are what? angels so the assumption is when he died where did he go? he went to heaven why would you assume that? he died at 33 years old in a hotel room in Chicago from a drug and alcohol overdose why would you assume he went to heaven? because the lie and the deception that comes out there is that he was a pretty what type of person? good person so he would go to that place like that be careful of deception now watch this I got a question and I asked you this question if you saw Chris Farley on TV if you have ever taken the time to pray for the salvation of his soul or to write him a letter that Jesus Christ sent to him one time be honest God knows if you are lying if you have ever done that before I want you to raise your hand up ok the same response everywhere goes zero let me ask you a question why are you wasting time watching these people on TV? because you will support their lifestyle by doing this make sure they have money in their pocket didn't you see his whole life spiral out of control that last year all that weight gain he just went crazy that last year ok was it not enough to pray that he was going to come to know the Lord Jesus Christ how do you know the letter you don't write to somebody is not the one that falls into their hands athletes every single day college and pro athletes you get letters in your locker famous people get a bunch the rookies sometimes get one but I've been in NBA locker rooms and different things and I see people sit there and they'll sit there after practice and read those letters man how do you not know that's not the letter that's going to get there if you want to see him in heaven you got to invite him to come watch for deception ok September 11 ok very emotional you have the tombstone you have a mom and a son and a wife ok laying the fireman's helmet down so in Daly his dad and her husband passed away that day ok emotional fire truck ladder where does it go so the assumption is all the firemen that day when they died where did they go is that a true statement it's not a true statement ok here's the gates of heaven New York City fire department we've reached the top they were trying to get the top of the building put the fire out there's the halos ok so the assumption is when all these people died where did they go see it's not true do you know who Dale Earnhardt is NASCAR if you don't know it's kind of a southern thing where they just drive cars in circles for about 500 miles so Dale Earnhardt died at the Daytona 500 about a year and a half ago the main race and he died ok and so we've got the gates of what the hand of who God getting Dale Earnhardt's autograph you could put a big B right there and that would stand for what blasphemy that's blasphemous God does not want your autograph you want his autograph in the lambs book of life that that's where you're going when you die that's blasphemous this guy who did this Mike Lukovich he's in Atlanta and he also had one like this for Princess Diana I emailed this dude and asked and said Mike when these people died do you assume everybody goes to heaven does not anyone go to hell Mike and what separates those two things who goes where he never emailed me back which is his choice ok but I wanted to plan to see what that guy to think about it all right George Harrison ok of the Beatles ok died and this is John Lennon and you pass the audition I see like it was a guitar audition to get to heaven in this place ok now what's interesting when you study this thing out John Lennon his famous statement was the Beatles are bigger than Jesus but yet he met him face to face the day he died and realized who was actually bigger on the day think about that ok George Harrison he went into a solo career and his big solo hit was my sweet Lord they kept playing it all the time when he died so I just got on the internet and looked up the lyrics for my sweet Lord my sweet Lord hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah means what praise to Yahweh study biblical term biblical term I don't know this is pretty cool started digging a little bit more then it went Hare Hare Hare Krishna then it started talking about the God Vishnu ok he was devout Hindu Hare Krishna ok when he died they took his ashes burned his ashes up and threw him over the into the Ganges river and stuff like that ok but the assumption is because he was a pretty what good guy he goes to heaven but watch the live there's the drum kit who's that for Ringo Starr there's the microphone in the middle who's that for Paul McCartney so the assumption is they all go there when they die how can we make this assumption see watch for deception ok Columbia space shuttle disaster Columbia you are cleared to land welcome home and this is either God or St. Peter however they look at it and so the assumption is when they died where did they all go heaven ok God or St. Peter again and you'll like this you don't need your EVA suits to fly up here and I looked on the internet the EVA suits protect them from a harsh environment so they won't need them because they're not going to be in a harsh environment ok so the assumption is they all went there ok the head the lead astronaut spoke at a Billy Graham crusade ok he actually preached at a Billy Graham crusade my question was that he preached to his co-workers on the same flight you can preach at all the crusades you want to ok but if you're not willing to share your faith with your friends you've missed the whole boat on Christianity ok I don't get away I don't get a pass by speaking at things and not talking to my two brothers that are lost about Jesus Christ I don't get a pass on that if I want to see them in heaven I better invite them to come ok now watch how we can break through this with people alright there's going to be some verses in your notes there right on page 17 ok it's going to start with Romans 3 20 right about there alright I'm going to throw in a couple extra verses ok so make sure you just write these down on the side if I mention Romans chapter 3 what's the very first verse that comes to mind is what Romans chapter 3 verse 23 which says for all have and ok that's the one we know so for all have sin and fall short of the glory of God well I'm a simple person I'm a very basic person when I share my faith I need some definition what does the word sin mean if you dig into the Greek it means missing the what mark it's like a bull's eye and you miss off to the side with the arrow well I'm still a simple person ok what's the mark what's the standard that God's looking for remember this very simple statement as you continue on in your journey let the Bible if you're looking for answers let the Bible interpret the Bible don't always go to speakers and stuff to get your let the Bible interpret the Bible your answers are usually just in there somewhere you just gotta dig and find it ok actually what's interesting is the answer is only three verses before watch what it says now we know that whatever the law says it says to those who are under the law that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God watch what verse 20 says and therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in his sight for by the law is the knowledge of sin so if I want to know the knowledge of sin all I have to do is know what the law is very simple God walking you right to it alright Psalm 19 7 says the law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul the law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul converting means to turn back to ok I want to find out what this law is now here's your huge clue Romans chapter 7 watch what it says what shall we say then is the law sin certainly not on the contrary I would not have known sin except through the law but I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said you shall not covet wait a minute if the law says you shall not cover where do you find you shall not covet in the Bible where it's the 10th of the Ten Commandments okay now remember there's there's well over 600 Jewish laws but we have 10 of them at least listed right there in the Ten Commandments so it shows you right there that it's talking about those Ten Commandments now think about this for a second okay the Ten Commandments shows up how many times in the first five books of the Bible they show up twice Exodus chapter 20 in Deuteronomy chapter 5 it shows up twice okay I'm a real simple person when my mom I used to have to say something twice she did it for a reason why you better not forget it young man okay you better know what mama said okay if God repeated something twice in the first five books there might be a reason why he did that all right think about that right do you know who Ted Koppel is he hosts ABC's Nightline you probably don't watch it because you're watching Saturday Night Live on the other channel okay and this is what Ted watch this statement from Ted Koppel this is an amazing statement we have actually convinced ourselves that slogans will save us shoot up if you must but use a clean needle or enjoy sex whenever and with whomever you wish but protect yourself know the answer is no not because it isn't cool or smart or because you might wind up in jail or dying in an AIDS ward but because it is wrong watch what he said what Moses brought down from Mount Sinai were not ten suggestions but ten commandments interesting I never knew what his religious belief was until I met someone in Canada a couple weeks ago who's actually talked with him and he's an agnostic okay but even as an agnostic he knows what God brought gave to Moses we're not suggesting that but ten commandments that came from the hand of Almighty God think about that for a second all right now watch them show you how to put this together James 2 says for whoever shall keep the whole law and yet stumble in one point he is guilty of all if you've broken one of the ten commandments just like you broke what all of them all right now watch how this comes together watch the Galatians 3 this very important verse it should be in your notes there therefore the law was your was our tutor your Bible might say schoolmaster a pedagogue to bring us to Christ that we might be justified by faith watch this the world wants to be justified by what works all right but if you use the law correctly it will carry you to Christ so that they will be justified by faith interesting how that works all right now show you two things and I'll tell you a story on how it works Romans chapter 2 says who show the work of the law written in their hearts their conscience con with science knowledge also bearing witness and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel think about that now okay the law is written on people's what so if you talk to an atheist and agnostic a Muslim or Hindu is the law still written on their heart yes okay now watch how this is going to work I'll show you one more thing I'll tell you a story I'll use a couple quotes from Charles Spurgeon okay just an amazing man of God watch what he said I do not believe that any man can preach the gospel who does not preach the law the law is the needle and you cannot draw the silken thread of the gospel through a man's heart unless you first in the needle of the law to make way for it what he was saying was the law prepares the way so people understand why they need the gospel all right another quote he had was the law stirs up the mud in someone's heart all right so they can realize how dirty they really are but then if you know you're dirty you want to be what cleansed of all that okay watch how it works I was leaving summit a couple years ago and I got on an airplane flight and I prayed that no one be next to me on the flight that would be what well what I want you call it what selfish okay be careful even I pray selfish things okay so I was praying no one be sitting well God's great there was no one next to me but there was a lady sitting next to the empty seat but she had put her stuff in between the seats so I looked at the stuff she had put there and she had a big huge sticker there on something and it said DMV on it okay what's DMV stand for Dave Matthews then good Christian band good Christian band then let me ask you a question if I went home and looked at your CD collection whether you bought it or download it off casa how many of you would have Dave Matthews stuff in your collection you don't have to raise your hand but I understand there's a lot of you because he's that popular okay well let me ask you a question if Dave Matthews is not glorify the Lord why are you putting that stuff into your system I'll tell you why you put it because your flesh likes it okay I came to the whole music scene your flesh likes it all right but think about this for a second there's a simple computer term it's called junk in junk out you can have a perfect computer program but if you put dad bad data in you'll get bad stuff out isn't that kind of how we work you can swear all day you love the Lord but if you keep putting bad music in bad TV and pornography in okay every fiction book on the planet except anything from the word of God you will get junk out of your life isn't that simple it's really that simple to do that all right why is it when I was at the Dave Matthews concert this year in Atlanta we were handing tracks out talking with people I can't tell you how many church kids I saw that I've spoken to before Mark how you doing what you doing down here I said you know what I'm doing down here my question to them was what are you doing down here okay interesting okay think about this there's some of you you'll walk out and it actually happened two years ago some of you are going to walk out and say I can't believe that man says something about Dave Matthews I can't believe one guy did it and he said he questioned me for 30 minutes out there but you know what's sad some of you will walk out of this room today and in the next two hours of your life you'll stand up more for Dave Matthews than you will the Lord Jesus Christ that's a sad thing to think about from a believer in Jesus Christ okay think about that for a second I just spoke at a college a young lady wrote me a letter she went back to her dorm room she took I can't remember it was I was saying it was $150 worth of CDs she found the nearest trash can and dropped them in there she just needs someone to challenge her on that issue I had to throw out over 100 CDs when God challenged me on the issue of music I had to toss it all okay because I had wasted all this money on I didn't want to start giving my money to the world I wanted to start giving my money to God and I was not doing it the right way okay so I saw that sitting there so I said well hey what is this they had all these autographs on it I said well wait what are the signatures she said well that's the autograph from the band I said you met the band she said yeah I went to their concert last night in Denver I said you met the band she said yeah I got to go backstage I said you got backstage how did you go backstage she said well I'm a DJ at a rock station in Baltimore I said oh cool so you got to go backstage and do all that stuff I said that's pretty neat okay hold that right there and I said you got to go backstage and meet the band I said that's pretty cool so we started talking about it and stuff like that and I said hey I got a question for you a little bit later can I ask you an interesting question she said sure that's a very easy transition I said when you die I said what do you think is on the other side what do you think is out there she said oh I love that question she said I grew up Lutheran so I believe there's a heaven and hell but I'm kind of into reincarnation at the moment and so I'm just kind of into that okay so I said well that's fine so we talked about reincarnation for about five and it only takes about five minutes to disprove reincarnation it's very simple to disprove we can show you how to do that tonight and we do that I said well actually because the Bible is true there is a heaven or hell when you die so if you die today which place would you go she said oh I'm definitely going to heaven I said okay I said how do you know that to be true she said because I'm a very what good person have you heard this before you will hear this the day you die okay I said really I said God gave us a standard on being good it's called the ten commandments let's see how you do she said alright like it was a game show like she's going to win a prize or something I said have you ever told a lie before she said yeah I said well what does that make you real arrogantly she stuck her head up she said a sinner I said no no I said more specifically what does that make you all of a sudden she dropped her head she said I don't want to say the laws written on your what heart I was into her heart within two questions okay I looked at her I said by the way you can say I said have you ever stole anything before she said yes I have I said what does that make you she said a thief I said have you ever lusted in your heart for someone before she said yes I have I said Jesus at the same as committing adultery because he checks your thoughts as well as your actions have you ever taken the Lord's name in vain she said yes I have I said blasphemy have you ever been angry at somebody she said most definitely interesting answer I said Jesus at the same as committing murder okay even if you've been angry and watch what you do I said by your own admission you just told me that you're a liar a thief a blasphemer an adulterer and a murderer I said would you be guilty or not guilty on judgment day what did you say guilty I said would that mean heaven or would that mean hell what did you say hell we went from good person to hell in about three to five minutes is all it takes okay now do you just leave them at that point and shake their hand and say have a nice day is that what you do don't leave them in hell okay what do you share at that point now do you see where Jesus Christ makes a thousand times more sense to them I was lost for many years you can come up to me all the time I was lost me all day and tell me I need to get saved my question is why but when you walk me through that law I walked a girl through the law the other day I walked her through all of them she looked at me and she got liar thief blasphemer adulterer murderer she looked at me and she said wow that's what she said she had no clue how bad she was compared to God's standard not the good standard that's thrown at you see how it works okay real simple alright watch what John Wesley said to a young evangelist preach ninety percent law and ten percent grace we normally preach ninety percent grace ten percent law okay see the difference is if you use the law they understand why they need the cross alright there's a whole chapter in the book on how to use the law and just some great quotes from men of God on why you use that okay alright now watch this I always tell people make sure you get them lost before you get them what saved or get them found okay make sure you get them lost before you get them saved we're trying to get them out there to say some prayer but that prayer doesn't necessarily save people is that correct that prayer is not even in the Bible anywhere that we want everyone to say that sinners prayer whatever I looked at a kid one day he said sir sir wait a minute I said what he said I've said that prayer thirteen times now think about see the deception there walk them through the sin get them lost before you get them saved if I stood up here and I went four four four you would say that dude's either crazy or he can't play golf okay one of the two okay some of you got that and but if I said you two plus two equals now doesn't four make a lot more sense see you have to walk them to why they need that cross and if you do that you'll be okay alright so remember when you're sharing your faith talk about sin talk about repentance talk about cross you just walk them right to it on why they need to do that alright sin repentance cross there will be some stuff in the book for you in there on how to do that alright alright let's do a couple things here remember when you're talking about Jesus you need to use the word the J word Jesus much more so than you need to use the word God okay because Jesus is very specific okay and he's the one that cleanses of that sin alright he's your what kind of card but if I walk him through the law doesn't that trump card make a lot more sense now see it makes a lot more sense than when you do that okay remember too when you share your faith use track booklets tracks are very effective when you share your faith so you just different types of tracks are very effective when you do that there's a whole chapter in the book on tracks we have a bunch at the front desk for you when you walk out and go downtown witnessing we have them free for you there you take them and you use them so what I do if I'm witnessing somebody I keep them in my pocket then at the end I say hey you get a gift for helping us out and I give them a gift okay of course it's about the greatest gift there is right Jesus Christ okay so we give them a gift if I'm just walking like walking through airports yesterday if I'm not talking to somebody I'll walk up say hey did you get one of these that's a great line did you get one of these say I feel like they're missing out on something okay did you get one of these okay how did I say no I haven't and he took it right out of my hand and took it okay it's so fun just to watch him read it out there so it's a real simple easy thing to do I was at a Jimmy Buffett concert earlier this year and I did well I did a retreat in Panama City Beach Florida and this young man walked with me 17 years old after I spoke the first night he walked me said excuse me sir were you at the Jimmy Buffett concert earlier this year I said yes I was he said you met me at that concert I said I did this kid came off the escalators he had a Parkview High School letter jacket I know some kids from that school and so I just talked to him for a second I hand him a track he said you gave me something I went back to my house that night with my parents I took that thing you gave me just threw it down on the side he said four months later I found that thing I read that thing I was so disturbed by what I read that I was not right with God I went to church that Sunday I got saved that Sunday I have been faithfully serving the Lord for four months now off a five cent piece of paper can God use a five cent piece of paper if it's got the right stuff on it he can use it okay very simple on how to do that I hate to grocery shop but I like to eat so I go to grocery stores and so what I do is I take a pack of these smart cars little tiny tracks so I take a pack of these and I walk into the grocery store I walk over to the beer section I slide them down in the twelve packs of beer like that I slide them into the cases of beer just like that I walk over to the coca-cola section they have twelve packs of coke they're really nice to put a slit right on the side you slide it right into the side right there on the cokes and stuff I figure Cracker Jacks can give you a surprise why can't I and I just put them right in there for you about a year and a half ago I was at the bank I walked out of the bank and there was some guys sitting in a van so I walked out hey did you get one of these did you get one of these and I went to the third guy did you get one of these he said whoa man whoa man whoa whoa I said what he said I've seen one of those I said you've seen one I just got to the bank I said how did you see one I said how did you see one he said man I bought an eighteen pack of ice house beer that thing that thing was slid right down inside that thing you'll be amazed at this God who used if you have enough guts to throw seed out there a friend of mine walked into a business the other day and there was a lady with a chick track those comic book tracks sitting on the corner of her desk he walked in he's a Christian guy said excuse me what is that she said this is booklet about Jesus he said really said yeah I said how did you get this she said I bought a twelve pack of beer the other day one week ago and that thing was in there and she said I have been thinking about it every single day for a week now can God use stuff like that be faithful and plant your seed watch God use it ok make a friend be a friend lead a friend to Christ ok that will be explained a real friend tells a friend about Jesus Christ ok I'll tell you a true story here you know who Charles Barkley is the famous basketball player we played at Auburn University together and Charles we've been friends for like twenty years we hang out and do different things together we're kind of going different directions at the moment because I'm going towards God and he doesn't want anything to do with it at the moment will that happen sometimes in friendships yeah it will that's ok ok my job is much more to be his friend than to be people down here's friend ok don't forget that ok friends will walk away sometimes right but I was visiting we just had a good time a couple weeks ago we hung out for a while and it looks like we might be hooking back up together and stuff so that's a good sign I was at his house a couple years ago and Charles and his younger brother Daryl were in the kitchen together Charles walked out and Daryl looked at me and this is what he said to me he said Mark you know I had a heart attack a couple months ago I said Daryl I heard that he said well I saw something I said you saw something what do you mean you saw something have you heard about near death experiences white lights and tunnels people see when they die ok not what he saw he flatlined his spirit rose up he could see the flatline on the table he took off to the waiting room he can tell you who was in the waiting room what they were saying what they were wearing he was clinically flatlined ok this can't be in his head this has to be external at this moment he took off on a journey all of a sudden he saw trees on fire ground smoldering around the trees he saw a lake of fire in front of him when he died I said Daryl what did you see he said I saw hell I said dude you saw hell he'll tell you to this day what he saw is more real than his podium is this room is he said your senses work to the nth degree he said you could feel the heat coming off that lake of fire ok you ought to see in his eyes as he retold me that story ok isn't that what the Bible says people will see if they don't know Jesus Christ the lake of fire for eternity let me tell you something I have met over ten people that got the hell experience not the heaven experience when they die simple question for you if you got a phone call today that one of your friends back home had died if you know for a fact you have friends that would see a lake of fire for eternity just be honest nod your head for me simple question though I said does it bother you but does it bother you enough to do something about it I wrote that story in the book Jeff Foxworthy told me that story so disturbed him because he knows hell is real but didn't know how real it was ok a real friend tells a friend about Jesus you do not let your friends go there ok Ephesians 4 says speaking the truth in love alright make sure when you walk out of here you don't shove Jesus Christ down someone's throat ok you love him so much they want to hear everything you got to say if you don't want to believe me believe what Jesus said and he said go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature alright go means do not stay means get up get out of here and preach the good news of Jesus Christ to every creature you meet the rest of your life alright think about that alright do a couple of things and we're going to close Jude 23 says snatch others from the fire and save them you snatch them back that they will not go anywhere near you when they die ok I looked at my brother Mike my older brother one day and both my brothers aren't saved and I looked at my brother Mike I said Mike you will die and go to hell over my dead body I told him ok now my brother Mike can choose to go to hell can he not sure he can but I can choose to love on my brother I can choose to witness to my brother I can choose to treat him better than I ever treated him before last Thanksgiving my two brothers went to my brother-in-law and told them said you know when Mark got this Jesus thing we just thought it was going to be this fad in his life but you know what Mark is very sincere about what he believes they told that to my brother-in-law last Thanksgiving when my brother Mike comes into town he's divorced from his wife he's got a 9 year old daughter I always volunteer to pick him up at the airport I always drive him back out if I can ok I hate being a servant I will just tell you that oh it's on the video and I hate being a servant I do because being a servant is not natural is it it's super natural that's the problem ok but I'm causing myself to be a servant in Mike's life because I want him to hear my voice and I want him to hear my words a thousand times more than he ever heard them before see when you're walking you're talking equal you become the most dangerous person walking on planet earth ok think about that ok snatch them back from that fire Proverbs 11 30 says he who wins souls is wise do you want wisdom don't you pray for wisdom the Bible says you pray for wisdom if you want wisdom be a soul winner for the Lord Jesus Christ and you'll have all the wisdom you need for the rest of your life I was going back to my 5 year high school reunion and when you go back to your reunion and you go back to your reunions you're going to get your yearbook out ok and you're going to look at your yearbook why do you want to look at your yearbook ok you don't want you want to look for your picture ok you're really trying to get as far away from that I had a huge fro I had this huge what y'all laughing at it looked good man it was really nice and so you go back a bit you want to look at the pictures ok because you want to get names and faces correct at reunions ok people are always going to remember me I was the tallest dude in the class so you want to be able to remember people without looking at name tags all the time so I pulled my yearbook out I was looking names and faces names and faces names and faces getting this straight names and faces all of a sudden I got to the end of the senior section and there was this senior directory and I noticed here in the senior directory that everyone got to put their favorite quote in there I said this is pretty cool so I decided to read it and there were some funny quotes some sexual quotes some intellectual quotes all of a sudden I got my highlighter I started highlighting and all these people stone mountain high school graduating class put all these quotes about one thing or from one book I'm going to take a while to guess what that book was it's called the bible and I looked at the names of every single person in there that put a quote from the bible your favorite quote alright and then I realized what was the one thing not one of those people ever did with me in high school what did you never do with me say it not one time in high school you ever took the time to share Jesus Christ with me why didn't you do that why didn't you do that it's a very simple reason why you didn't do that okay it's as simple as this because you wanted to be me he was the basketball star me was the straight-a student he was the big man on campus and me was going straight to hell and you just didn't care did you was it not enough of a giveaway when I was drunk about every single weekend was that enough of a giveaway for you or maybe at 17 when I had that head-on car accident where I ate the windshield the kind you die from was that not enough giveaway that someone needed to talk with this guy how about that born-again evangelical Christian on my basketball team for three straight years we hung out together but never took the time to share his faith with me in between that reunion and my 10th reunion I found somebody let's say he found me and what's his name his name was Jesus Christ okay I went back to that 10-year high school reunion sharing my faith with people in that graduating class okay I got addresses for 220 people in that graduating class I wrote a letter to every single person that graduating class sharing Jesus Christ with them I sent a second letter another time I sent trackbooks a third time I wrote over 660 pieces of mail to those people does that take some time and money to do that yes it will but it's not easy but I decided not one of my friends will stand in front of the throne of God never so and Mark Cahill found the right answer Mark Cahill did not tell me I just wrote this book I got addresses for over 200 people I sent one of these books to every single person my graduating class took time to sign each one wrote a wrote up almost a letter inside each one it took me a lot of time and money to do that I sent one to every single person my graduating class from 20 years ago because I want to see them in heaven but if I want to see them I better invite them to come I just got a phone call from a guy I have not seen in 22 years but he got that book Tommy mom's dying of cancer Cahill I thought I never thought I'd never remember who I was Tommy said I thought I never remember who he was Tommy I'm about to go have dinner in the next couple weeks okay so I want to see Tommy but I'm willing to do what it takes to make sure to go there you do not let your friends walk off in eternity without the truth your job is to give it to them all right I'm going to do a couple things in closing a couple quotes from Spurgeon just to make you think all right Spurgeon said these aren't in your notes but it'll be in the book for you I would sooner bring one sinner to Jesus Christ and then pick all the mysteries of the divine word for salvation is the one thing we are to live for that's an amazing statement okay I meet kids here at summit that you want to talk about predestination free will for three hours one kid raised the hand up one last year and he said no sir we'll talk about it six hours but then you can't tell me the last time you talked to a lost person about Jesus Christ and I'm telling you that's wrong read the Bible study the Bible talk about the Bible okay but make sure you give that truth away to somebody correct we are to live for that salvation to see six billion people lost people know the Lord Jesus Christ okay if you know anything about Spurgeon he probably knew the Bible better than anybody but he knew his job was to give it away to these lost people think about that okay Spurgeon said this if sinners will be damned at least let them leap to hell over our bodies and if they perish let them perish with their arms about their knees imploring them to stay if hell must be filled at least let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions and let not one go there unwarned and unprayed for what a statement you do not let one person walk off the cross you didn't tell them what's waiting for them when they walk out of here okay or unprayed for you didn't pray for God to break that heart and bring them to their knees that they would understand this truth and God would lift that veil before their eyes Spurgeon have you no wish for others to be saved then you are not saved yourself be sure of that what's he saying he's not saying because you go witnessing this afternoon that you're going to be saved but if you are saved you can't wait to tell some of the best news that's ever happened in your life correct if you are saved you don't have to tell one mama when they had that first baby that they need to tell people they just had that first baby you can't shut up a mama like that okay they will talk about it because they have some good news don't they by the way don't we have some great news we have some great news what he did for us on the cross 2,000 years ago and backed it up with a resurrection but the question is will I tell anybody the truth of that great news all right Wesley give me 100 preachers who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God I care not a straw whether they be clergymen or laymen such alone will shake the gates of hell instead of the kingdom of God upon earth Wesley said give me 100 people 100 people clergymen or laymen regular folk teenagers college kids youth pastor he doesn't care give me 100 people that hate nothing but sin and love nothing but God those 100 people will turn this world upside down for the Lord Jesus Christ think about that 100 you got 120 in this room what if session 2 decided that's it we're going to walk out into the passion of Lord Jesus Christ and so much radical obedience nothing's going to change we're going to we're going to we're going to walk through this town and walk through this country the rest of our lives letting our light shine before those people those lost people think about I wonder if any of those hundred people sit in this room I wonder if any of those hundred people that are going to be that radical sit in this room and what's funny is I never get anyone to raise their hand up I never I had one kid one time raise their hand I made him stand up from the class and I grilled him with questions for about 10 minutes if he was really going to stand no matter what type of persecution came he was strong dude let me tell you something if not one of you walk out of this room and share your faith in Jesus Christ it will not stop me I know what that book says I know what I'm supposed to do with my life I know I answer to God and nobody else let me tell you something I'm going this direction towards the kingdom and nothing's going to stop me do you have that same mindset if you have that same mindset trust me you're about to make a difference because the difference you can make is I got saved because there were four guys at Auburn University two football players one manager on a basketball team and one other guy from the FC that had enough guts to witness this guy and you witness to me and you loved on me and you shared truth with me and I didn't receive it until I was 25 but I am saved today because four of you college guys had enough guts to witness this man and look what God's done through that because you had the guts to do that have the guts to invite your friends to heaven and see what happens because of that okay we'll close with this this is a picture of the World Trade Center you're looking at the top 10 stories of the second building that got hit by a plane okay now you're looking at floors about a hundred to a hundred and ten and you're 82 or 83 when the plane hit the way the building was built the whole inside of the building is elevators that's where they're at in the middle of the building there's an elevator shaft that goes straight up the middle of it okay so when the fireball hit it just went straight up the middle of that building like this all right I found out later the picture you're looking at is 10 seconds before this building dropped to the ground so you're literally looking at people 10 seconds okay before they step off into eternity all right now I'm going to say a couple things number one number two nothing's meant to be funny I had someone laugh one time at something I said this isn't meant to be funny I'm very serious okay that gentleman right there do you think he's thinking at the moment or concerned about who he went to homecoming with in high school or went to prom with do you think that man right there is overly concerned who's going to win the NBA finals coming up down the road doesn't care one bit you think that man right there is concerned about how much money he's got in his bank account he gave every nickel he one more day 10 more minutes left on planet earth do you think that man's right there is overly concerned about what college he went to or what his GPA is it's not going to matter in 10 seconds do you think that man right there is thinking about a year ago when all those teenagers got into the foyer of the world trade centers and handed out thousands upon thousands of track booklets to these people who went in to work that one day it's a true story I wonder if that guy right there is thinking about his meeting with his boss coming up Friday that he's never going to make it to because he's off into eternity I wonder if that guy right there is thinking about the conversation he had last week with a co-worker that had enough guts to stand up for the truth of Jesus Christ what did your Bible say for what is your life it is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away your life is like a breath you're here for a moment and you're gone just like that okay your life is like a breath okay last picture I you're looking at a picture of a gentleman who made his decision okay because you can either stay and burn up or you can jump and go and this man made his decision to jump and go I saw a videotape of a lady that was on an apartment balcony taking a video of the building and she kept saying look at all the pieces of the plane that keep falling off the building it wasn't what she saw what did she see she saw people jumping they have video I saw a video of a guy flapping his arms trying to do anything anything not to die I went up to the that I taught in an all boys Catholic school moved to New York City on September 10th first day in New York was September 11th Greg called me a week later we had a three hour phone conversation he just called me before I left town we've been talking back and forth he's going to be saved before the end of the year I know it okay but this caused a lot of questions in his life what did your Bible say but truly as the Lord lives and as your soul lives there is but a step between me and death as truly as the Lord lives there is but a step between me and death last statement look at this guy right here I'll tell you a simple statement I use all the time that man right there he is either alive and well or he is alive in hell one of the two he is either alive and well in the arms of Jesus Christ or he is alive in hell because he rejected what Jesus Christ did for him on that cross okay think about it every second seven people die by the time you put your head on your pillow tonight y'all 600,000 people walked off into eternity heaven or hell as we speak I've got a very simple question for you Summit do you care much much much tougher question for you do you care enough to do something about it I'm going to ask you a question again if you feel comfortable respond if you don't don't respond okay every second seven people die 600,000 people are going to walk off into eternity by the time you put your head on your pillow tonight okay if you feel like responding do that okay do you care much tougher question though do you care enough to do something about it I hope and pray this will be a group that's going to care about that to the day you meet Jesus face to face let's pray heavenly father thank you so much for just a chance to be here father I just really felt like something special happened here in this time here father I take your Holy Spirit take the truth that was taught crystallize it in these hearts father God but let them walk out of here with so much radical obedience to you father that our heart is going to beat for the lost that we're going to want to see him in heaven as much as you do father there's people in this room that are not 100% sure they're going to heaven they can't give away what they don't have and if they're not sure heaven's their destination father let them talk with one of the adults here your small group leader get that hammered home and then father God let us walk out of here as a radical army that's going to answer to you we're going to hate sin and we're going to love you above all else father God and hope I pray father that this is going to be a group that one day every person not only will they be in heaven they're going to have a whole bunch of people with them and you'll look at them with those blazing burning eyes you guys that talks about revelation father and they will hear one day from you well done my good and faithful servant and we thank you so much for that and we do we ask in the great name of your son Jesus Christ amen amen