In this video, the speaker, Paul Washer, emphasizes the importance of preaching the gospel with the power of the Holy Spirit. He highlights the ineffectiveness of relying on worldly methods to manipulate people into the kingdom of God. Instead, he advocates for a simple approach of a faithful believer armed with a Bible, preaching the truth until someone is converted or they face opposition. Washer shares a powerful story of a young boy who was willing to die for his faith, illustrating the urgency and commitment required in sharing the gospel.

Well, we're kind of excited about this today on Way of the Master Radio. This evening I get to be on a TV on the Praise the Lord program with a Kirk Cameron, our little growing pain, and we're going to be on with another fellow that we just got introduced to about three or, no, July 3rd is what happened. July 3rd, a bunch of people started sending us an email to say, oh, you've got to listen to this guy's sermon. You've got to listen to this guy's sermon. Well, we did. His name is Paul Washer. He's from heartcrimemissionary.com, and we're thrilled to pieces. We played that sermon on July 3rd and have become more familiar with his ministry. He's going to be on the TVN program with us tonight, and he happens to be in studio with us to boot. So now that we can, well, we can breathe in here without Aaron in here. Ray, this is Paul Washer. You've never met Paul Washer, correct, sir? Yeah, I met him at the door about half an hour ago. We're good buddies. We've got the same father. Amen. Amen. Boy, did I, boy. Oh, Todd. Six, seven, eight. I wasn't thinking on the spiritual level there. I really miss that one. I'll be in the repentance corner. Paul Washer from heartcrimemissionary.com. All right, Paul, you've got to step up to the microphone so we can hear you. Before we get into some tales of being out in the mission field, because you have got some stories of what it's like overseas, third world places, what the gospel is, why people are willing to die for the gospel, because it's such a wake-up call for us here in the States to remember what the gospel truly is. Before we get to that, heartcrimemissionary.com, you're not opposed to western missionaries going overseas. That's fine. But tell everybody why you prefer, at least for your ministry, to find indigenous folks to be pastors, to be missionaries overseas. Well, part of it is simply just the calling. There are some absolutely wonderful cross-cultural missionaries that come out of the West. They're worth their weight in gold, and we need thousands more. But as I was working in Peru starting in 1988, I began to see something quite unusual. I began to see men who lived on $50, $100 a month, who had planted 50, 20, 30, sometimes up to 75 churches, one man comes to mind, Angel Colmenades in the northern mountain regions of Peru. And I saw that they worked with absolutely no tools, very little scripture, Bibles, training material. There was a genuine people movement going on, a genuine work of God. And as you know, whenever you start evangelizing the lost, the cults start evangelizing you. And I got involved, first of all, to help them theologically. And then as I began to see the need and just a magnificent manifestation of the power of God, it started entering into my mind, why is it that we just use Western funds for Western missionaries? And I began to step out on faith and began to help some of the brothers, and the work simply exploded. So if it takes, give or take, $3,000 to $4,000 per month to fund a Western missionary family to go overseas, average in a place like Romania, or Bulgaria, or Ukraine perhaps, or Africa, for an indigenous missionary is, per month, how much? Well, for example, in Peru in the mountains it could be $50. In some of the countries in Africa it could be $50. And that would put them level with the average income. In other places, for example, in Israel it could be $1,500. In Africa it could be, in Zambia for example, in the rural areas it could be $500. In Romania it could be anywhere from $300 to $400. And then sometimes you have indigenous missionaries who do not need full support, but if they had partial support they would be able to increase their work. If nothing else, it's just a good deal. Yes, sir. Okay, so with that, you have traveled the places that you've been, Peru, Bulgaria, Romania, right? Because you've got a, am I right, Croatian background? Do I remember reading that? No, my mother's Croatian. Okay, got it. Alright, so if you would be so kind, sir, this is Paul Washer from HardCryMissionary.com. Stories, people, things that you've seen that might be like a wake-up call to those of us who are living rather comfortably in the United States. Well, go back to Peru and the place that I know best. And such stories of conversion and of the power of God and of the suffering of God's servants, some of them I wouldn't even feel free sharing over the air because they would seem too fantastic. But let me give you, for example, Ángel Colmenares, a dear friend of mine who's now in his early 60s. When he was a young man, his father found a New Testament somewhere in a garbage can. And Ángel, as a young boy, read it through several times thinking it was the only book of God in the whole area and had it rebound. And then one day, after a few years of just reading through the New Testament, he came across a missionary who witnessed to him the full counsel of God and he was saved. That day he received a box load of tracts and they were empty before he got home. He began to work, he began to study, he began to preach. And first of all, one church was planted and then another. And then when I met him back in, I guess it was 89, there were 75 churches. And now the movement has gone from the coast of Peru over the Andes Mountains and the Continental Divide into what we call Ceja de Selva, our high jungle, and even into the tribal areas. Now there's a movement of about 650 churches. And the testimonies that come out of there are absolutely fantastic. Men who have suffered terrible persecution, humiliation, and put their life in danger to thieves and to robbers and murderers and everything for the cause of the gospel. There's a town by the name of Pacaypampa in the north, right on the Continental Divide. And some dear friends of mine went up there and began to preach. They were first, of course, insulted, yelled at, and then they were caned. And then goat urine was gathered together somehow, I don't know how, and was poured over their heads. And they just kept preaching. And they kept preaching until finally the men who were persecuting them just got tired and sat down. And now there's a church of about 120 strong adults in that town today. Okay, so we hear about that. And it begs the question, why would they do that? Well, they do that because the supernatural work of God has occurred in their heart. God has revealed to them the person of Jesus Christ. And they have been irresistibly drawn to His beauty and His grace and His power. And they know the work that has been done in them. They know the liberation that's come to them, the freedom in Jesus Christ. And they're impulsed by the Holy Spirit to lay everything down. We have to keep remembering, this is not something you can contrive or manipulate. It's a work of God. And when He begins a work, He will finish it. Down through the history of missions, there are things that men try to fabricate in their own power and methodology. And then God comes through. And literally, it's like planting a seed and turning away from it and not paying any more attention to it. And then one day you go out and there's a full stalk of corn. And it is just simply a supernatural work of God. So when you see that, Paul Washer, heartcrymissionary.com, contrast what they're willing to do, why they're willing to do that, what they preach versus what is being preached in the U.S. today. Well, one of my greatest fears is someone... I work now in Europe and Africa and Asia and South America. One of my greatest fears, for example, I was with a fellow the other day talking about Cuba. He'd been there several times. And we said our greatest fear is that the wall would fall and American Christianity would enter into Cuba. We have taken the gospel of Jesus Christ, I call it a reductionism, and we have squeezed every drop of life out of it. And we've done it in quite a, maybe a well-meaning fashion. We say that the truth is always the same, but the packaging is different. And that is not true. The truth comes from Scripture, and the packaging or the way it's communicated should also come from Scripture. And we've got to get around this idea in America that we can somehow present the gospel without it being a scandal and an offense to carnal men. When you take away the scandal and you take away the offense, you've also taken away the power of the gospel. When you say, though, that the packaging shouldn't change, just flesh that out a little bit. Someone asked me one time when I was working with the Aguaruna tribe in Condalconque in Peru. They said, how do you preach the gospel to tribal people? And make it relevant. Right. And I said, I don't preach the gospel to tribal people. I preach the gospel to men. We are so careful about being culturally sensitive that we're no longer biblically sensitive. What we have to realize is that men are depraved, that the only way men are going to be saved is through a supernatural work of God. And God has promised to save men through the preaching of the gospel. So we go into these places and we seek to be biblically sensitive and proclaim a message that to anyone, no matter what culture, is going to be foolishness. It's going to be a scandal. But therein lies the power of God. Just the word itself. The word itself. Because when you go overseas, when you're in a place like Peru, I'm guessing you've got big screens and lots of PowerPoint and a thumping sound system. No. Give me one man who believes the gospel standing out in the middle of a plaza with an open Bible proclaiming, Thus saith the Lord. That's it? That's it. And does it work? Well, here's a big issue here. I really don't care if it works. It's biblical. One of the things that's hurt American Christianity is instead of following Jonathan Edwards, we followed Benjamin Franklin. We're concerned about whether something works rather than whether or not it's true. But when the truth is preached, men are converted, and they're soundly converted. You may preach your heart out and have six people converted, as opposed to some American evangelist who would have 60,000 converted. But you can bet that those six will be in church, no matter what the persecution or the cost. Yeah, otherwise it's just pragmatism. All right, the voice you are hearing, the gentle voice. You preach like a maniac, though, I'm telling you. You're a different guy. We'll pick this up. Aaron, the actor is out in the street. Paul Washer is in studio tonight. We're on TBN, and this is Way of the Master Radio. This is Way of the Master Radio, in studio with Ray and Paul Washer from HeartCryMissionary.com. All right, dude, before we get to our 29 Reasons to Sin and Aaron, who's out in the street, I got to ask you, how tall are you, first of all? Get it close to that microphone. 6'2". Yeah, what do you weigh in at? 215. Yeah, you're a thick fellow, right? You're a pretty big guy. In some areas. Yeah, yeah, and when you preach, you've got like a Jeremiah fire in your bones. You just are, listen to me! Listen to me! And you're sitting... Well, yes, I've been to Peru before, and I've seen some people who are... What's the deal? I guess some people say I just kind of change. You what? I just kind of change when I get in a pulpit. You know what? Actually, the sermon that you delivered to, I think it was 5,000 youth at some youth conference, that you said that I'm going to hold on to. Because sometimes we can forget, this might be the last time that I will be in a pulpit. You said something like that, right? I'm going to preach to you like this is the last time I'm ever going to preach. I'm going to remember that. Because sometimes we can think, well, you know, I don't need to be passionate about this. Well, it's worth being passionate about. And if it is indeed the last, if the Lord comes back, what would you say to people? You would plead with them to get right with Him. Right. So that was a good thing for me. By the way, if you get a chance, that sermon is at heartcrymissionary.com. We've also got it on our website. It's kind of a... a scalder is what it is. It's just a real pleading with young people to get saved. Now, Paul, they're at a youth conference. Of course they're Christians. Well, that's one of the greatest fallacies in America today because of our gospel reductionism. The fact that really this country is not gospel hardened. This country is gospel ignorant. And it's primarily because of the preaching that's done in evangelical churches. And so many people in our churches today believe themselves saved because one time they prayed a prayer. And therefore they've been pronounced saved by ecclesiastical authorities. And salvation, the basis of it, is a true preaching of the gospel. A genuine repentance and faith that works itself out. The proof of that is in the enduring fruit. Yeah, and so to announce somebody through whatever method, whatever system, even just a straightforward preaching of repentance and faith, to announce and say, congratulations, you're now saved, it's all over, it just isn't wise nor biblical. Wait and see if the fruit, in keeping with repentance, starts to be produced. We have the authority to declare to men how to be saved. We do not have the authority to declare them saved. That is the work of the Holy Spirit and it manifests itself in a changed life. You know, some people call it the ministry of the keys. That's exactly it. We can proclaim the method of salvation, what has been done, but to proclaim, congratulations, I now pronounce you saved. The results of that, you see them, Ray, that's, well, I would say that a lot of this ministry is founded on that very concern. Correct? Absolutely. Yeah, just keep nodding your head. It plays great on radio. Here I am in the background. Yeah, sure. Well, don't be in the background. Get up here. There you go. I'm in the foreground. Alright. So with that, please make sure you announce forgiveness, but don't announce that they are automatically in the kingdom. Just let time. Why do you suppose that we have gotten to that point, that we are so quick to do that, sir? Well, because there was a great awakening in this country and there were people being saved, and it went from a manifestation of the power of God to nothing more than a hollow methodology. And I'll give you an example of how it works. The basic evangelism in America is, do you know you're a sinner? If the person says yes, they go, do you want to go to heaven? If the person says yes, they say, would you like to pray this prayer? If they pray the prayer, they ask then, are you saved? If the person says, I don't know, they say, of course you are. You prayed the prayer. And here's the way it would have been done in a more ancient time, a more biblical time. The question is not, do you know you're a sinner? The devil knows he's a sinner. The question is, on hearing the gospel preached, has God done such a work in your heart that you now hate the sin that you once loved? And then next, it is not, do you want to go to heaven? Again, the devil wants to go to heaven. Everyone in America wants to go to heaven. They just don't want God to be there when they get there. The question is, the God that you have hated, the God that you have ignored, has he done such a work in your heart through the preaching of the gospel that you now esteem him as worthy of seeking and you desire him with a full heart? Okay, hold on. First of all, sir, the description that you gave, that the preacher will say, do you understand you're a sinner? Yes. Okay, then say this prayer. That is actually pretty good. Compared to a lot of the stuff that I hear, because it usually has nothing to do with sin. Second, I shouldn't call it modern, because it's been going on for at least 50 years, maybe even closer to 70 years. Even the big seminaries in our country, an individual cannot do what you described. So this whole repentance thing, which is what you're hinting at here, that can happen. That comes later. No. There are different manifestations when God is working in the life of the person. We see this in conversion. We see this in history. We even see this in scripture. One man may be overwhelmed with his guilt, and the spirit is working in that way and brought to almost a terrifying repentance. Another man might be simply enveloped in the love of God as the love of God is shed abroad in his heart. But even though initially there can be different manifestations of God's working in the conversion of a man, eventually you will always see this growing into greater repentance and growing into greater trust in Christ. Those will always be essential elements. Okay, so a definitive sanctification and a progressive sanctification. Yes. Again, because most people in evangelical Christianity, and it's right, we do progress in holiness. That is correct. But this definitive part is a little bit shocking to a lot of people. Again, we go back to this. In philosophy, we call it ontology. In America, we've got this idea that salvation is simply jumping out of the line going to hell in order to jump into the line going to heaven, and we do not realize that if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. It's the doctrine of regeneration that's basically been replaced with an idea of just make a decision. God must regenerate a heart, and in doing that, the person actually becomes a new creature with a new nature, and they're going to manifest a different way of life, albeit at first like an infant, but they are going to grow into maturity. All right, when you said that we're going to be a new creature, the question is now begged, how new is new? You know, here's what we have to look at, first of all. We have Scripture. For example, the entire book of 1 John was written that we might take a person, a professor, someone who professes Christ, we might take him through that book, and through the written word, the Spirit would bear witness with him. Also, we have 2 Peter. Also, we have even the Beatitudes were used by the Puritans to help a person see whether or not they had truly come to conversion. So in the Scripture, we don't have to go to another methodology. We don't have to second-guess ourselves. We take them through the Scripture, show them what a Christian is, show them what biblical doctrine is. I want to get specific because people are listening right now, and they're going, okay, wait a second, they're talking about me. I'm not so sure that I'm really a Christian, if you're talking about it being that radical of a change. 1 John, in 5 chapters, there's more, but let's say that there's 10 tests, 10 points that John gives to say that if you're acting like this, you're saved. If you're acting like this, you're of the devil. So it's things like fellowshipping with the brethren, loving the brethren, confessing that we're a sinner, loving the Word, keeping His commandments, proclaiming Jesus. Our Christology needs to be correct. There's seven of them. Okay, so give or take. Do I need to get 100? What does my score need to be? Well, first of all, again, we're going back to the idea that we think we've got to help men come to this. Never forget, assurance is ultimately a supernatural work of God where God grants assurance to a believer through His Word whether anyone's helping them or not. Another thing that is very important is the present tense that John uses all throughout that epistle and that one who is walking in the light, walking around in the light. It does not mean he's not referring to perfectionism or that the true Christian automatically becomes mature. What he's saying is when you look at the general style of life of a genuine believer, you're going to see certain things, albeit at different levels according to their levels of maturity. What is impossible? An illustration I always use is if I showed up late to this studio and you wondered why and I arrive here and my clothes in order and everything and you're angry with me because I'm late and I say, listen, I'm late because I was run over by a Mack truck. You're not going to believe it because a man cannot have an encounter with a Mack truck and not be changed. But we seem to think people can have an encounter with God and not be changed at all. Yeah, that kind of does the job right there, doesn't it? But that is so radical. So, somebody is listening right now and they're going, well, I've got to be real honest with you. My clothes have been pretty tidy ever since I made that decision. They've always been. What should they be doing then now? Well, first of all, even though God has given teachers and preachers and evangelists to the church and such, and they are very, very helpful, I would tell that person to get into Scripture, primarily the book of 1 John, and to examine themselves, as Paul says to the church in Corinth, to examine themselves, to test themselves, to see if they are in the faith, to pray over this matter. It may take months. See, we have this instantaneous idea in Christianity that we can just lead somebody through something and automatically they're going to be saved. I have had people come to me after preaching that were literally regenerated and saved while the preaching was going on, and yet I've met other people that have literally trembled under conviction for months. And we cannot rush these things. It is a work of God. Yeah. Give it some time and let's see what happens. You are listening to the voice of Paul Washer, albeit a rather soft voice of Paul Washer, from heartcrymissionary.com. Somebody just pop a little switch in the back of your head. You get up in the pulpit and you just rail at everybody. Again, if you haven't heard that sermon, in fact what we'll do is, apparently Aaron the actor got arrested on his way over to the university. We don't know where he is right now. But guys, back in the studio, if you would... Joey, that four-minute clip of Paul preaching, if you would be kind enough to have that ready. If you haven't had your eyebrows scalded in a while, you'll hear what I'm talking about with Paul Washer. He'll be with me and Kirk Cameron tonight on TBN. All right, gentlemen. Ray, did you want to say anything to Paul? Any questions? Or are you just sitting there hoping that I'll get to the 29 reasons not to sin? I'm hoping you'll get to it tonight. I'm just so softly spoken myself, I dare not open my mouth. Yeah. It's time for The Way of the Master Radio with Kirk Cameron, Ray Comfort and Todd Frio. Todd, could we please have a little conviction and guilt? Well, okay. This is Way of the Master Radio. Last hour, I don't know if you're just joining us for the first hour and the second hour, but in the first hour of the two hours, we tried to get to 29 reasons to not sin. Only got to nine. Well, that's hardly enough conviction for One Way of the Master Radio program. So instead, what we'd like to do for you now is invite you to brace yourself. This is a scalder. This is the fellow that I will have the privilege of being on TBN tonight with. Oopsie, I just ended a sentence with a preposition. With Paul Washer from heartcrimemissionary.com. We've played this entire sermon once before. This is just a powerful couple of minutes. And if you've been perhaps needing a little something to get you sharing your faith, witnessing, preaching, serving, passing out gospel tracts, well, this might just be the ticket. Let's listen to a few moments from Paul Washer. Fire away, Joey. I have spent my life in jungles. I have spent my life freezing in the Andes Mountains. I have seen people die. A little boy, Andrew Myman, the Muslims shot him five times through the stomach and left him on a sidewalk simply because he cried out, I am so afraid, but I cannot deny Jesus Christ. Please don't kill me, but I will not deny Him. And he died in a pool of blood. And you talk about being a radical Christian because you wear a T-shirt. Because you go to a conference. I'm talking about holiness. I'm talking about godliness. I wish you knew what a move of God would be in this place if all of you came under conviction, if I myself came under conviction of the Holy Spirit, we fell down on our faces and weeped because we watch the things that God hates, because we wear the things that God hates, because we act like the world, look like the world, smell like the world, because we do the very things, and we know not that we do these things because we do not know the Word of God. Because even though we claim as a denomination that the Scriptures are the infallible Word of God, basically all we get is illustration stories and quaint little novels. Oh, that God would blow on this place, that we would turn away from our sin, that we would renounce the things that are displeasing to God, and then that we would run to Him, and we would relish Him, and we would love Him. Oh, that God would raise up missionaries. I don't wish the same things your parents want for you. They want for you security and insurance and nice homes. They want for you cars and respect. I want for you the same thing I want for my son, that one day he takes a banner, and the banner of Jesus Christ, and he places it on a hill where no one has ever placed a banner before, and he cries out, Jesus Christ is Lord, even if it costs my son his life. Or when he's 18 years old, if he says to me the same thing I said when I was a young man, I'm going into the mountains, I'm going into the jungle, and they say, you can't go there. You're insane. It's a war. You're going to die. I'm going. When that little boy puts on that backpack, I'm going to pray over him and say, Go. Go. God be with you. And if you die, my son, I'll see you over there, and I'll honor your death. Oh, my God. Let's pray. Let's pray. Oh, God. Oh, God. I don't care about reputation. I don't care what men think. I want you to be honored. I want these young people to be saved. I want those that are saved to stop looking around them at a cultural Christianity that you hate and will spew out of your mouth, and that they will look at the Word of God and say, I will follow Jesus. Oh, God. I pray for youth ministers and pastors, and I pray that you fill them with a spirit of wisdom and love and boldness and discernment. And, dear God, whatever the cost, I pray that you would raise up missionaries. I can't help but look at these kids and think of my own little boy. Oh, God, that you would save Ian and that you would raise him up and send him into the worst part of the battle. Oh, dear God, raise up missionaries here. Raise up missionaries. Raise up preachers and pastors and reachers and evangelists. And know the Word of God. Oh, God, work in this place. Please work in this place, dear God. Please. Please. Well, that ought to tide you over for a while. Okay, Paul, just say hello to everybody. Hello to everyone out there. That's a different... You're not Paul Washer. Who are you? Who are you? We sent for Paul Washer. Where is that? When we first started this sermon, I was like, I wanted to get saved again, and I'm certain I'm saved. And I was like, oh, I want to repent and trust all over again. And the first time I talked to you on the phone, oh, you're the most soft-spoken fellow I think I've ever met in my entire life. And you're such a fiery preacher. Now, I can't even get you to say anything. All right, tonight, TBN, you're going to share some stories about what it's like to be out on the field and to go into the worst part of the battle and why we are willing to go into the worst part of the battle. That's right. All right, sir, looking forward to it tonight. You just calm down out there. Go eat your sandwich. Relifting that happens on the way of the master radio. Todd, you introduced me to a sermon by a missionary named Paul Washer. Oh, yeah. And I listened to this in the car ride up to Santa Barbara on a trip with my wife. The both of us were speechless because of the truth that was being spoken in this. And I want you to introduce and tell me a little bit about this missionary. Well, you know how it is. People send you an email and they say, listen to this, listen to this, and they want you to hear it. Well, I listened to this guy preaching and a line that captured my attention. He was talking about a little boy named Andrew Myman in some foreign place who on the street had some people holding guns to him. And he said, please don't kill me, please don't kill me. I'm afraid to die, but I can't deny Jesus Christ. And they shot him in the stomach five times and he died in a pool of blood. And the preacher said, and you call yourself a bold Christian because you wear a T-shirt. Or you put a fish on the back of your car. And it just made me feel like, oh, I'm such a coward. What am I doing? Paul Washer was so inspirational to me that we invited him on the program tonight. Thank you, Paul, for being here. Paul, the name of the ministry that you founded is called HeartCry Missionary Society. Can you tell me a little bit about it? Well, in 1988, I went to be a missionary in Peru. And as I was working there alone, I began to see national Peruvian pastors and missionaries who lived on $50, $75 a month, who lived in places that most Christians in America wouldn't keep their cattle, and suffered greatly at the hands of unbelievers, persecution. And yet these men, uneducated, without any political or economic resources, were literally conquering a mountainside. Recall one man by the name of Angel Colmenades that I met, and he had started 75 churches. And what happened was I began to think, Lord, how could you use me and the American, or the believers in the West, to help these men? And it seemed like the Lord kept impressing upon my heart to begin to, instead of sending missionaries from the United States to foreign countries, to support missionaries in those foreign countries. Right. So what you're doing is, instead of spending all of the resources trying to send people to a foreign country to learn the language, to assimilate into the culture, build up the people who are already there, and know the people, know the language, know the culture. Yes. And one of the things that we forget is we have a type of arrogance to us in the West, that we think that, well, we've really got this Christianity thing down. When the fact of the matter is, if I could take you, or you could look through the eyes, my own eyes, and see what I have seen, you would see some of the greatest works of God and some of the greatest preachers who've ever lived. And yet, like I said, they may live in huts, they preach in dirt floor buildings with roofs made out of banana leaves. I recall J.I. Packer one time, a great theologian, someone asked him, who's the greatest preacher alive today? That's what they asked him, and he said, you don't know him, because he's probably preaching in a village somewhere, some isolated place in a world far away. You say things in your conferences that are difficult for some people to hear. I heard you say things like, so many look like Christians, but they don't act like Christians. Right. And, in fact, they act more like the world, they smell more like the world, they do things like the world, and that they may not be Christians at all. Do you think that America fundamentally has a different concept of Christianity than people in other countries where there's persecution and difficulties? One Scottish theologian one time was speaking with me down in Peru, and he said, you Americans, he said, your theology is 3,000 miles wide and a half inch deep. And it's true. America is not gospel hardened. America is ignorant to the true gospel of Jesus Christ. We have taken the gospel and reduced it down to five things God may want you to know. Let me give you an example. We will say, do you know you're a sinner? If someone says yes, we say, would you like to go to heaven? If they say yes, we say, well, would you like to pray this prayer after me? If they say yes, we get them to pray a prayer and then we declare them to be saved. Who wouldn't want to get in on that? Right. But the true gospel is not, do you recognize you're a sinner? The true gospel is, since you have heard gospel preaching, has God done such a supernatural work in your heart through the Holy Spirit that now you hate the sin you once loved? And the question is not, do you want to go to heaven? The devil wants to go to heaven. I mean, everybody wants to go to heaven. They just don't want God to be there when they get there. So the question is not, do you want to go to heaven? The question is, since you have heard gospel preaching, again, has God done such a supernatural work of conversion, regeneration in your heart that the God you have hated and ignored, you now esteem, love, and seek? And then finally, it's not, do you want to pray a prayer? Jesus never walked up to anybody and says, you know, the time is fulfilled. The kingdom of God is at hand. Now, would you like to open up your heart and receive me? No. He comes to men in the same way John came to men. John came to Israel preaching repentance. Jesus, the first words out of his mouth, repent. Peter, on the day of Pentecost, when he finally comes to admonish the people, he says, repent. But what we also have to recognize is this, in America, we think we can manipulate a move of God, that we can coerce people into being saved. That's absolutely impossible. You see, man is a spiritually dead, God-hating enemy of God. And in order for that spiritually dead man to respond to the gospel call, it's going to take a lot more than human manipulation. It is going to take the supernatural, recreating, regenerating work of the Holy Spirit. I know that God, that Jesus Christ is our Savior and He is our King. He is worthy of our worship because of who He is and because of what He's done. So many people though, and myself included, when I was an atheist, think, ah, I don't need God. Even some people figure, well, I don't think I need God, but you know what, it wouldn't hurt to add Him to the list of things I have. Kind of like He's a cherry on top of their world. Right. But I've heard you say that Jesus isn't just a cherry on top of your world, that without Jesus, your life is nothing more than a dunghill to God. That's right. How can you say that? Well, because it's true. The one thing that we've got to realize is this. We live in a country that absorbs things like truth, redefines it, and has its own version, but in that you lose the truth of the Gospel. The fact of the matter is we are never going to advance the Kingdom of God by being politically correct. And if we love people, we're going to tell them the truth even if they hate us. When I hear a preacher tell a group of yuppies that you've got a wonderful house, you've got a fine job, you've got a beautiful wife, you've got 1.5 kids, you've got it all, you just lack one thing. You need Jesus. That makes me sick. Because the fact of the matter is if you don't have Jesus, you have absolutely nothing. Absolutely nothing. I want to dig a little bit deeper there. For the person who happens to be channel surfing and watching this and they're not a Christian and they say, what do you mean? I love my wife. I love my 1.5 children, my Mercedes-Benz and my house in Yorba Linda. My life is not a dunghill. How can you say that all that amounts to nothing? In whose eyes? In God's eyes. There are a few different types of people you have to deal with. One is a man who is actually that deluded that he doesn't feel his misery. But then there's the man who says, I have all these things, I'm absolutely miserable. What is the answer? I was on the plane this morning with a guy and he was talking about the absolute misery of his life. And I said, do you not recognize that that is a blessing from God? And he said, in what way? I said, that misery is God screaming out at you that all these things are worthless and you need Christ. Just quickly, sum up for me. When you were out on the mission field, why should a native in the Sudan or why should a person in a difficult environment become a Christian? What will they get out of it other than maybe their head cut off? They'll get the same thing an American Christian ought to hear. When I'm preaching in the United States or I'm preaching it to the Aguaduna tribe, it's the same. Someone asked me, how do you preach to an Aguaduna tribe? I said, I don't preach to an Aguaduna tribe. I preach to men and all men are the same. And when we invite men to come to Christ, we're inviting them. God's only promised us two things. He's promised us eternal life and a cross. And they go together. But to the true believer, that is a blessed thing. Now another thing, when you walk in to a group of people who know absolutely nothing about the gospel, you stand there as a man absolutely helpless. Or you stand there as a man armed with armaments of the flesh. You know, we think we can put up a media screen and do all kinds of things and have a few movies and we can somehow emotionally manipulate people into the kingdom. That is not true. And when we try to do that, we're no longer going to see the power of the Holy Spirit. What we have to do, and I always teach my men this on the field, I say, give me one man who believes God with a Bible in his hand, stick him in the middle of the town square, and let him preach until he is stoned to death or until someone's converted. Because God will bless that type of preaching. Well, all righty then. There you have it.