What's up slackers? I wondered who was sleeping in. I found them. We've already got the early birds out of the way now We got the slackers in so welcome.
I'm glad you finally made it in all this snow. I'm almost a local I gotta be honest I'm ready to get out of here for real life. It's cold up here I came from an ice storm is what hit our city and we are not in any way prepared for the weather And so who would have thought that I had to escape the miserable weather of Louisiana by coming to central Minnesota But you guys have electricity so I was glad to be here. I packed in the dark with a flashlight and I said man And I kept looking at it.
I kept seeing this like the name cold is in the city I was like oh, this is gonna be so miserable and then who would have thought I was like get me out of West Monroe, Louisiana Yeah, it really was a bad ice storm that hit us and so the day I got here actually we got electricity back So my wife was was happy and it's good to be here. I talked to the men last night a lot of your guys I will say that it smells a lot better in here now that we got the smelly dudes out of here for sure So it is good to be here. It's great to to be in Minnesota. I love the state been here a lot actually believe it or not I've come up here over the years a lot.
You just have a partner federal ammunition that was in on Nolka And so I was here when the bridge failed believe it or not. I was here that day and got stuck Then I was trying to get out and the president came in and so I had a lot of Minnesota Memories being here and I was in Wilmer last year just up the road and and so voila here I am again So I did a question the pastor though about the timing of this event I was like I'm here and all about these wonderful summer months that y'all have but every time I get invited it is not anywhere near Pleasant and I figured out what it is y'all are bored Y'all needed some entertainment to come in here in January and so you keep bringing me back and so okay I'll come and entertain you for a little bit and get you out of the get you out of the cold and thank you for coming here Thank you pastor for inviting me to speak here on a Sunday morning I realized that not a lot of people get a chance to do this believe it or not. I when I was 18 I was in seminary. I was gonna be a preacher.
That's what I wanted to be I wanted to go share my faith and then and then I got a little complicated. I only finished half of seminary. So I know about half the Bible That may be evident this morning, but there was this girl who said she was going to college And I said well, I ain't going to college. I'm staying right here and if you want this you got to stay here so she went to college and I said bye, you know get you some of that about a week later called her.
How exactly do I get to this college? I think I'm thinking about going to college now and and that was Corey and that was 34 35 years ago That that happened and I followed her and when you know it that God had a plan and I've been able to preach to Millions and millions of people not being a preacher and so I saw love it I love not not being a pastor or preacher because I can get in places and people don't act You know the problem is past when you're a pastor everybody looks at oh, hey, brother So you know and everybody gets holy real quick, you know with me They don't so I get to see the real the real person to see what we're going after so it is an honor to be here This is my last talk. So if the if the gas gauge is a little low you understand why so and don't ever invite me back if I screw this But it's good to be here. I tell you what makes me mad growing up So growing up I was one of four boys and the way it was when we grew up We were all just referred to as one of feels boys.
No way to know our names I was like who is that one of feels boys who did that? I just want to feel boys and that kind of bothered me and I said dad come it one day one day I'm gonna do something something so great that people will know that my name is Willie Robertson And I want to feel boys and just about the time when really I was thinking I was pulling this off now I'm known as Sadie's dad the whole generation to skip me For one of feels boys and Sadie's dad, you know me girls come up to me going. Oh my gosh are you Sadie's dad I'm like I am Sadie's dad. So which I'll take that Sadie's a good one for me to be referred to as her dad I've been hanging out with Eric.
There's Eric over there. So this dude's talking to me and I don't know if y'all have an accent, okay It's pretty noticeable and but I'm hearing this guy talking I'm like hang on a second I said dude and I'm thinking I'm gonna tell him something's never heard for us and you sound just like Mike Rowe He was like I've heard it a thousand times and I said man Yeah, I mean we could play some fun tricks, you know with that voice and it got me to thinking like that's actually happened to me a lot Which actually cracks me up when it's not when people know who I am think they know or some version of that So I was in I was speaking about a year ago in Florence, Alabama and we had a Dil I speak as Tim Tebow and I and we go around a lot and speak use about every other week in different cities And so I show up to Florence, Alabama And I realized that I have not packed any underwear. I've forgotten one of the key items in my suitcase So I told my guys that hey we got to go get some underwear So we found ourselves at the local Walmart in Florence, Alabama and about underwear and I'm standing there in the underwear section And this dude looks at me. He goes.
Yep. You look just like him. We didn't even say who I said I do huh he goes. Oh, yeah, he goes buddy I hate to ask you this do you mind if I take a picture with you?
He said my son is never gonna believe that I took a picture with somebody who looks just like Willie Robertson I said go ahead man took a picture. He said he is not gonna believe it. He was it. I bet he won't he walked Walked right out the door the I was in Washington DC and there was a group of police officers there and They said oh my gosh, can we get a picture with you and I kind of forgot I'm a big deal and I said yeah Of course you can get everybody up here now.
I got there. They said we can't believe we're getting a picture with Zach Brown I said you just did it Now this one really cracked. Yeah, this was close to home So this was right in the middle of state Louisiana Columbia, Louisiana and I hunt I deer hunt really close to this spot And so I'd come out the deer saying I'm full camo face paint the whole shebang ran into the gas station real quick and Girl looks at my walked in she said god Lee you look just like one of them dusty guys I said, you know I hear that all the time she goes I bet you do wow you look just like them She goes well, I'm really good friends of one of them. I said oh who do you know?
She said Willie So I was leaving I thought I thought hang on a minute I said you don't get this opportunity too often in life to have this kind of situation I looked at her I said I got a question since you know him so well. What is he like? Now I don't know what the answer is gonna be alright, and she goes oh me's a nice guy he hunts right up for the road from here He's super cool guy, you know, I said so good to hear cuz sometimes that's not the case You know sometimes they're not like they're on TV and she goes like he's a real deal I said that is good to know see you wait walked out never told her that I was actually one of her really good friends So the pastor mentioned I was on mass singer I was on mass singer That thing is legit. It's real.
It ain't fake alright I thought it was gonna be fake and I thought you sang and recorded it and then you just went out now It's real like you got 90 seconds and whether you screw it up or do what it's really is one of the hardest things I've ever done and so they called me and they said We want you to come be on the show and you get to they said you can pick your costume And you can change you can change your voice you nobody knows who you are so you can do So I was thinking like oh what would I do and what will I be and I had some ideas of my costume? She said but we've made you a costume that we really hope you choose and I said well What is it and she said it's a duck and I'm like well god Lee That's kind of on the nose isn't it like I can't get away from this duck thing she goes just I think I hope you like it You know and so I see the costume and it is awesome. I'm like whoa, it's this beautiful wood duck And so I was nine feet six inches tall That's how tall the head was and which is kind of awkward cuz you're really top heavy when you're doing all this And so it's just beautiful costume and I said oh, yeah, I said I'll be alright I'll be duck and so they're real protective of they don't want you to know they don't want anybody to know who you are So they call you a name so my original name was duck and so when you get an email says to duck text message to duck hello Duck good morning duck duck we're meeting it, you know and if they ever call you by your real name They actually get fined they charge them like 20 bucks if they some accidentally says your name and so I'm gonna be the duck And that's the way for a couple weeks I was duck within there was a meeting and they've decided to change my name They don't want me to be duck now they want me to be mallard and I said that's great So we're in this meeting in Los Angeles and they said so you're gonna be mallard That's what we're gonna that's gonna be your show name and I said well hang on I gotta there may be a problem here They were like what's the problem you're not like now? That's fine, but I'm a wood duck not a mallard duck and there was this confused look Everybody in Los Angeles was looking around and she said there's a difference between ducks I Said yeah, there's a lot of different kind of ducks and she was like we didn't know that she said we don't think anybody will notice I said probably some people will and she goes well.
I said sure show I don't care I'll be mallard so I do the show I actually had to call my parents and say hey mom and dad Y'all may want to check out this show is called mass singer. What is that just watching you may recognize someone on there? So first night I do the show I'll call down there at the house mom answers. Hey, hey do I show ya?
Oh my gosh, well, you know you can sing like that. Oh good job She goes, but your father was a little concerned. I said oh what happened she goes you realize that sure a wood duck not a mallard I said yes, mom. I know they didn't know there was a difference between ducks.
She said well He just wanted to make sure you did I said I'm very aware she said okay, and your dad said that's the weirdest show He's ever seen in his life And he may not ever watch it again. I said okay fair enough at least you saw it once so I go all around the country or technically the world and I'm able to share with people stories and have fun But also share the story that impact has impacted my life the most which is the gospel story the good news And it's really affecting my life and I share with the man about how there was a time in our life in our family's life where There was no God. There was no faith. There was no belief in Jesus Christ And the what that led to was a disastrous marriage that had ended my father had kicked us out of the house It looked like it was almost hopeless.
We were destined to be just another statistic a split-up family And that's the way it was heading until the gospel message came in just the nick of time that was preached to my dad by another Man who's actually a pastor who drove to a bar the bar He was running and told him this wild story about God coming to earth dying for our sins and coming back to life My dad said that's almost too good to be true and that story that did not immediately accept that He just took it in the guy just planted that seed and it wasn't until that did even more disastrous things and was running from the police and Looked like everything was really really gonna end up tragic is when he finally remembered that story and came back to West Moraleousiana where mom had moved and said tell me more about that story that changes life He gave his life to to Jesus Christ and literally just became a completely different person from what he was mom forgave him The marriage stayed together and had it just affected our family and kept us together It would have been totally worth it but God had so much more in store for us and that's when he was able to do the business sell this dot-com the TV show comes along We ended up with hundreds of millions of people that followers have been in some way touched by the gospel Either through the prayer at the end of the show the podcast the books all the stuff said he does All that and I can trace all that back to one conversation that happened in a bar of all places where the good news was told And the reality show that came out of that You know, it's crazy when we when we were doing the the show like the the pitch and so the networks going okay Let me get this right there's gonna be a reality TV show about a family, which generally is a train wreck, right? There's gonna be no cursing no nudity no fighting and it's gonna end in a prayer Like yeah, that's what we were thinking they were like we don't know if this is gonna work And it comes out and not only does it work it is to this day and I don't think it'll probably ever be broken It is the most watched non-scripted show in the history of cable television everything is that not a steal So not only did it work it went all the way to the top You know what that told me you don't have to act like the world to be successful in the world All right, you don't have to because we start thinking oh, I guess we got to be a little like this or that You don't have to do that and there was a few hands of a raise for never seen the show welcome to America Why'd you finally got here? I did I was in that land airport a couple of weeks ago and I got on this I was taking some pictures and I got I actually got to ride on the low I wasn't injured but I wrote this guy took me on the little cart Which was kind of fun and I said oh but I feel important Yeah, and I looked at any and he was like wow the pictures and I was on that nasty and I thought he was gonna go Oh my gosh, you know, and he's never seen it and I said you've never won you've never heard of that nasty said nope And he goes I just got here it was from Nigeria or something else. Okay.
I'll give you a pass on that one that we weren't as big a Nigeria that I know of So My goal this morning for you is to move you try to get you to help move a little bit closer to where you actually Can share the good news of Jesus Which is gonna be difficult not because it's it is difficult it's difficult because I know how you great Midwestern people are You're kind of not you don't naturally do that or have that and so you kind of you kind of keep it close to the best And the idea of you trying to share with someone else and you're just like I don't know and actually that's widespread a lot of people You'll come with a lot of reasons why you can't or why you shouldn't or why it just it's hard You know how we make a lot of excuses for ourselves and why we can't probably one of the main ones is that's his job You know we pay a dude you do that he gets up here and talks and But it's actually all of our jobs So if I were selling a product here in Cold Spring if I wanted to sell something if I came to this area Would I have would I rather have one person stand here with a microphone and talk about my product? Or would I have everybody sitting in this room when you leave here? You go talk about the product I will take y'all every time I'm a business guy not a preacher So I would take that every time I would take the word of mouth because it's way more powerful even businesses know that The word of mouth when you say hey, and so that's where the power the power is right here and you guys can do that So you're thinking with it really I don't know there's just you know, I don't know where would you start? How would you what do you say a lot?
You know? I don't know the Bible that well I'm shy if you're kind of religious you'll say it's not my gift. I'm not gifted in that area And so if it's you know talking about the Lord Think about it like your think about like your marriage your spouse. What if you told your spouse?
You know what I've decided I'm not really comfortable talking about you to other people So I've decided I'm never gonna mention your name to anybody else that I know I'm not even gonna mention that we're married well your spouse would probably not think that's a great idea They'd probably say well No naturally you're gonna end up talking about your spouse if you have a great relationship It's just gonna come up because you're gonna talk about that I constantly refer to something I was telling my wife or something that she says because we have that relationship It's the same way with the Lord when you have a great relationship with the Lord You can't help but tell other people as to why it is that you have this so we're gonna try to move you a little bit closer today We're just gonna start okay. We're gonna start we're gonna see what happens because I know where the power is at I know the power is in the gospel power is not me It's power is not new but what you have and what you know is powerful I'm not ashamed of the gospel for it has the power of salvation. So we've got to pass it on I told the guys last night you got to go back to where it starts So first Corinthians 15 Paul it's a great the first like four or five verses is so great That's the anchor that's what I always show people Paul reminds the church there reminds them He said let me remind you of the gospel. He goes back to this is the most important thing He said it's a first important.
He said what I received I passed on to you And so that's the idea you've got it great But what about the next person who does it Phil Robertson was that next person who didn't have it and that preacher to get in his car And go talk to this crazy guy. He was passing that on it wasn't in his job description This is a guy who probably wouldn't come to his church. He didn't have any money I mean This was a guy just literally taking the charge to say I've got to go share with this guy because he needs the gospel and look at look What happened so I don't know what can happen here. I know I guarantee you you know somebody Somebody you know right now and you're thinking about them.
They're not here. They probably won't come here And you're thinking man. I wish they could hear the gospel and I wish their life would change It could change their marriage. It could change their kids.
Probably some in your family could be a kid Could be a parent could be somebody you work with you're like man I wish they and you have it you just got to figure out how to get there and so I wrote a book about this called goss speller That's a real word. It means someone who simply shares the gospel They were known it used to be used to be a common word where people are known for sharing the gospel not necessarily like a pastor It was just people who were good at sharing the gospel and they would do that in American You're up and they were called goss spellers They would go either do it publicly like I'm doing here or personally like sitting wherever you're at and talking to people And so I wrote the book cuz I was just full of stories of me talking to other people and kind of what happens Read the book of acts great. That's where the gospel is being preached and Most of the time if you think about it probably the hardest place to have a conversation It's probably sitting where you're sitting now we come to church and we're not really talking We're just sitting listen to someone else and so it's hard to have a conversation here So most of the sharing of the gospel, you know where I find it happens not here And not that this is a bad place, but it happens out there. It happened.
Yeah, I mean people I've talked to a deer camp great place. So your deer camp You're wherever you're at I mean for my father was at a bar So wherever people are because generally the people that need to hear it They're probably not sitting in here some some are but most of them are probably not here So you got to go to them Jesus said in the great commission. What do you tell them Matthew 28? Go you've got to go you've got it.
You've got to move to them in fact I probably would have told them at that point in time y'all better hide out and lay low like they just put me on a cross But Jesus said no, we're gonna go we're gonna go the make disciples of all nations So we was going everywhere. We're gonna baptize people. We're gonna teach people three things three things And we talked about this all weekend the mission make sure your mission is right and our mission is to go And it's about other people you have it great now where we're gonna go who are we gonna tell about this? Remember when Jesus called Peter, okay, it was so interesting remember the stories Peter's out there fishing He's a fisherman and he's like hey get something now.
What's that thing on the other side? You think? Throw it over there. Mmm.
All these fish come Peter knew right there. Uh-oh. Uh-oh There's something different about this one now. What did he tell Peter like hey?
Let's go to church and let's sit down and do a whole mm-hmm He said come follow me and I'm gonna teach you how to fish for people and Peter said sounds like a good deal to me And he drops everything he has it was interesting he called him to go after other people So I don't know when you came to the Lord I don't know if that was told to you didn't anybody tell you like all right now who else we going after and it's probably Just a mistake that we make as believers. We don't we don't put it on anybody for some of you guys that isn't excuse part You're like hey, I didn't know that was part of the deal I thought it was just for me to come and sit here and learn Which is important But it's way more important to go out there and share that with someone else who doesn't have that and so start getting that in your brain And thinking about that as the mission the mission and moving so There's three things that have to happen if you're gonna make disciples of anyone if you're gonna baptize people and if you're gonna teach people Every one of them involves a conversation you gotta have some sort of conversation like with your mouth Or keyboard I guess which got to have a conversation with other people like it just has to happen You're gonna have to talk to people well where would I start Jesus gives us a master class on how you can do this John chapter 4 The woman at a well, and I'm gonna give you the quick version of this there's a woman comes to a well Jesus looks at this woman. They're not even from the same tribe. They probably shouldn't even be talking to one another He looks up at her and he says hey, can I get a drink of water?
That's where it started so if you can ask someone for a glass of water you can share the gospel That's how we started with that one. Can I get a drink of water? So he says can I get a drink of water and she's like? Where's your where's the where's the pale and then she starts Jesus gets into this spiritual talk of living water She has no idea what he's talking about so don't be surprised when you talk someone if they have no idea what you're talking about Don't be surprised if they have no idea about God don't be surprised if they're terrible people they don't have God That's probably why they are he starts right there.
She goes gets a little gets a little wonky because he says yeah, go get your husband. We'll kick this around She's like actually about the husband and Jesus said I know the whole story and he just starts reading her mail right there What's amazing is when she goes back to her village and she says y'all have to meet this guy He told me everything I've ever done. Okay, that's what's weird about Jesus if one of you come up to me today And you start telling me everything I've ever done. I'm gonna tell everybody don't talk to that person Because I know everything I've done But it's weird about Jesus in that there was something freeing about that for her to where she was like y'all have to talk to him He knows everything I've done and then she witnessed it then about Jesus the Bible says in John 4 that they actually believe based on her Testimony then they meet Jesus and then they all become believers in Jesus the whole village becomes a believer in Jesus This woman with a shady past became one of the first people to ever teach the gospel to people and how did she start?
With a question Jesus that can I get a drink of water? It's it's way more simple than you think you don't have to be some scholar or theologian just a handful of verses is useful And you should read the Bible what I find is a lot of people. They don't read the Bible. They don't know what's in there You know I talked to people like you're church.
Oh, yeah, you know what's in the Bible Yeah, and then they don't and so just a little bit of knowledge is really helpful But sometimes you can just start with your story if you don't know anything else they start with your story You're like the blind guy they were hey who did the hell I don't know all I know is this I was blonde and now can see Testimony that was it and it was Jesus so you can start with your story that conversation starts with caring for people See Jesus said more about talking to her he knew she knew that he cared about her And I'm telling people in the world we live in today caring about people That's probably one of the biggest struggles we're having in the whole country We just don't care about each other and the more we know about each other the less we care about each other We're like oh can't stand these people we got to care for the people even the people we don't like even the people We don't like you know why because Jesus cares about him and we are ambassadors for Jesus and therefore we have to it's not Just the people sitting here that you like and you hang out with So we start the conversation these are start because you care about someone the conversation needs to have courage you guys have to be courageous I think about the Ethiopian In the book of acts It's funny I flew to Dallas and I flew on this plane I came in and it was like two in the morning I was getting an Uber driver and I was like I hope this guy's not sketchy You know it's two in the morning and then I thought about him pulling up like man I hope he thinks I'm sketchy guy and he sees me and he's like oh crap you know what am I getting you know I guess I'm homeless dude and Again this dude's car and he has a foreign accent and there's worship music playing I was like I don't think I've ever got an uber car with worship music So I look at this guy and I said are you a believer he just looks up in his mirror and he looked kind of nervous He goes yes, I said oh wow that's unbelievable. So am I I said where are you from? He said Ethiopia I said Ethiopia like the Ethiopian unique acts chapter 9 and he looked up he said chapter 8 I said of course you would know where that's at that's your country And we talked about his life, but the Ethiopian Philip the Holy Spirit moves Philip says go this chair That's a bold move right like this will ride by this chair yet. Holy Spirit said that's where I need you Well the dude had just been in Jerusalem worshiping God and now he's reading the book of Isaiah Well in my book that counts as a really fired up Christian Let me redneck this for you.
He just went to church and now he's got the street light and he's reading the Bible Well, I'm going hey brother And I probably would have missed the opportunity. I wouldn't have said anything because I thought well He's good kind of like if you ask somebody to go church and they say yes, you're not great and we don't follow up but Philip Ask even better question. He said do you understand what you're reading the guy says how can I let somebody explains this to me? Oh, he wasn't a believer He didn't know he was searching so you don't know how many people are searching for something and the Holy Spirit has you right there in front of them And sometimes we just ask terrible questions.
We like do you go to church? That's a it's not a bad It's just it doesn't mean anything if somebody says yes, and then we stop we go okay great You got to ask better questions. Do you understand what you're reading that takes courage to do that And the last one is probably the boldest is where Conversations are looking for change you're looking for perhaps there needs to be a change in someone's life And I know you're like oh, I want to do that. I want you just do you do you and I do me and we just like It's really it's kind of yucky But God we look we see would you just watch people's lives go down the toilet and you wouldn't say it weren't you wouldn't offer to help You wouldn't say hey man.
Let me looks like things aren't going right. I think about Zacchaeus Remember Zacchaeus you want to see Jesus? They're by hated this dude. He's just a little annoying guy tax collector Rich thief, but he wanted to see Jesus.
He was like I'm kind of interested in Jesus This cat's coming through there. He is now. Here's the move. Jesus did with this one.
Here's the move He invited himself over to his house. That's bold. He said I'm coming over your place. Oh, okay Let me get ready, you know, I don't know what happened in the conversation.
Whatever was said to him Zacchaeus started repenting like crazy I'm giving money back I'm gonna quit stealing money my whole life has changed and Jesus gave you a clue as to why he came he said This is why I came the seeking save those who are lost so he invited himself to his house one He asked a question. Can I get a drink of water one? He invites over his house These are the and they're all different just read through they're all different You don't have to have some certain method and sound like some robot just be normal Just ask questions ask the help choose to serve care about people be bold and look for change There's a guy named Bill. I'll write it by my book.
There's a good friend Bill was Bill's pretty rough. He's got hunted with all right super wealthy guy and I own a lot of property So I hunted down it's actually where I was hunting when the lady thought I was her best friend and um So Bill may just do cuss like whoo he could string them together son just every other word Drink like crazy smoke. You know and so I always try to get the gospel to him I said I gotta share the gospel this guy. I'd be a bit hunting camp.
There'd be people around I would I would start talking about faith. It's ah Wow Willie He who had not seen cast the first home. That's what he would say every time that was his only mercy new and then losing I don't want to hear what you're trying to tell me okay I get it but I kept trying because it's important because I care about him. I want to be courageous I need that I think this guy's life is not where it needs to be so I keep trying He keeps saying the same thing so finally we got in this business deal together.
We're in New York City We're driving. We're in a car. Just you know he's over smoking. He's talking about how much money we're gonna make I said Bill How do you 58 58?
I said I'm guessing you're gonna be dead in 14 years He said what I said. I don't know it's just a guess he goes Why would you say that? He said I've never thought about that. I said well you better start thinking about it like at some point You ain't gonna be here all this money you got your kids are gonna get it your house is gonna go up for sale All your stuff's gonna be you'll be going We pull up to the hotel.
You know what he didn't say He who had not seen and cast the first stone he got off that we made it past that Border he said well you kind of my room and tell me more about what you're talking about I said I will so I go to my room I got in his room. He's sitting in the window smoking still He said my you got me all flustered now Blankety blank, you know and I started right there and I just started I read him some scriptures about lives that had changed And I'm reading the word already first Corinthians 15 or in the gospel the story he'd heard it He'd never taken in said maybe maybe that's what I needed. Maybe that's what I'm searching for and He was still cussing too, which is funny. I would deal with the big things first We had the smaller thing second he stands out in the room because I'm getting baptized I said well golly.
I don't know where the water. I mean I'm in New York City. He said no no no not now I got to go tell everybody I know that this is fixing to happen Well the dude knew a lot of people he's a rich guy and so he emails everybody text everybody so about a month later I'll show to his house there's throngs of people there people I stand out they have no idea what they're doing They're like build open to come somebody somebody's getting baptized. We don't know people flew from New York LA Florida Bill get they'll say Willie he comes out.
He's a Willie tell him what you told me in that hotel room that night I said you got it and I started right there now in front of all these people started with a one-on-one in a car after many attempts Now I'm talking to tons of people bill gets in there But to bill comes out because anybody else and the first one started walking in out on number two number three 12 18 There ain't no clothes. There ain't no towels. This ain't some Senate This is in the middle of a lake in the Middle, Louisiana 24 people 24 people Just like that woman at that well what started with one conversation and now it's done led into more conversations that are happening We lost our electricity last weekend But bill was gonna speak at our gathering this past Sunday and he was his first time he's ever spoken ever And that was years ago and watching his whole his wife his son his other son other son took me That took me a couple years. He was on my hit list.
We finally got him last year the daughter grandson the in-laws the whole family all came they all came to the Lord one conversation one conversation that was a little Uncontrollable, but that's what it led to and I'm telling you guys it's that important It is that important not for you for them. I think that's what Jesus was trying to tell us the whole time It's not just for you. It's for someone else Paul says what I received I passed on to you Paul did it until the day his life was no longer there My father did it. We lost him this past summer.
He gave me a book in 2019 is a book he had written You know it is I got the book I didn't so it's after he passed my wife was cleaning out some things in the house and she brought me this book She said you may want to look at this and he had actually written in the front of the book And I never even opened the front cover to see that he had written and he said two wheel my third son who I loved dearly He just said convert them Exclamation point so I've got orders from Jesus Christ to go make disciples bad test people and teach people one of the last things I see my father wrote to me was convert them you get the get the jistier what it's all about I'm in cold spring, Minnesota in January You know why? Because I'm trying to do what Jesus said to do I want my life to look more like the book of acts not like my neighbor up the street Which is why I'm here because for some reason I care about you I don't even know you But that's what lives inside of me and that's what lives inside of you So you got to start breaking out where you can open your mouth and be able to talk about this it gets easier the more you do it It gets easier to work this in a conversation. It's like cooking. Okay.
No, I mean you cook by the way Y'all need to season your food more. Okay. I'm just saying like a Little more little bland up here, all right. I do all the cooking at my house.
I am the guy I'm my wife does not cook. I call my mom. I said mom Corey cannot cook. She said I told you about marrying a skinny girl I said well it happened But the more I cook the more when I watch Corey cooking.
It's like she's fighting the stove She turns it on wide open. It's like reading the back of a box. I just walk over as turn it down Yeah, there you go. That's gonna be a lot easier and that's the way it is with sharing your face It gets easier.
I can cook a meal have a conversation because I know I've done this so many times And so wherever it's at and then people start bringing people to you and they'll say well You can you talk to my cousin will he can you talk to my dad? I don't we just get them there then maybe they'll hear the good news. Maybe that life can change That's where the hope is that's why when I look at the problems in America I go there is one hope is that lies will change light will come in where the darkness is Death will be swallowed up with victory. It was the hope of the New Testament 2000 years ago.
Believe me It's way worse there than it is here That is where the hope is we've got to be lights. I'm telling you start that journey start saying yeah There is somebody I need to talk to you got a great place here You got a great place to start you got to go out there. You got to take it and you'll see revival You'll see things happen. You'll see things change hopefully things change in this community.
Hopefully in this state You all been in the news a little bit like I gotta go up there down Minneapolis But you know when I see people that you know some of my disagree with I still care about myself I mean they need the gospel that's what they need they need the God they need what we have we just got to be better at Tell them got to ask better questions got to care for people and I know you guys are such good-hearted people and you do care about people But let's make that next step now. Let's be a little bit bolder for that father. I pray for this group Just wonderful people father. I have been blessed by being here been blessed to be here in this great community I pray for the people that we will talk to I pray that conversations will start happening I pray that somebody here father.
Maybe I'll take a step towards faith I pray that someone here will actually open their mouth and talk to someone and get a conversation started about you I pray that we're bright lights in this community. I pray for this place father specifically. I know you have been working here I know there are expansions going on. I know there's miracles that have happened It is so wonderful to see that what you have and what you offer us actually works here on this earth And we cannot wait to be in heaven with you father.
Give us bonus I pray for this stay and I pray for this area father But help some things to start right here right here in this community Be with me as I go away and I pray to hear great news in the future from this place right here It helps me bright last year Jesus every day as though you would pray. Amen. Thank you guys so much You know this morning some of you Walk through these doors because someone's been saying hey, we just come check this out We just hear about this person named Jesus because he could change your life You can transform you he can meet you right in the middle of your situation I don't know where a lot of you are but I know that Jesus came to this earth I said this one and only son of this earth because he cared about you They love you so much so I'll come and pay the price for all of the decisions stupid decisions we make said came for you We're sitting around like to this morning and maybe you're the one that's been kind of pushing back on this thing Maybe you're the one that's been kind of I don't know if I want to do this I don't want to give my life to God. I don't know.
I'm happy. I've ever myself. I'm happy doing this thing my way and maybe this morning's Your morning. I got to say hey, would you just give me a chance?
I'll tell you what the walk into your situation and walk into your world and it'll bring change You'll bring life and bring hope to bring peace Give you freedom. I don't know. Maybe some other room. You need freedom is something Nice to ask for a moment every head about every I close in this place just for a moment and you're in this in this space And you're like you don't care about never giving my life to Jesus before Really got up here and talk about changes family and he talked about how change all these people in the Bible and talk about how Chances friends I was changed.
I was made impact on all of these people I talked to but you're in the room this morning. You know, you know, you need Jesus this morning You know, you've never given Jesus a chance. You never given him an opportunity. You're here today You say you know what?
You're right. I've never given Jesus a chance about this morning I want to just no one's looking around just you and me. I just want you to I'll pray for you this morning pray with you It's a hey, that's me. I'm ready this morning.
Yeah, anybody else anybody else anybody else anybody else anybody else anybody else? anybody else? Yeah back here back here up here back there in the back About 20 30 hands this morning Yeah How many say this second question I asked this last moment ask you say you know what as you speak and God was speaking me about Me going and sharing and reaching out to people even as you said here God be in the baby puts a people in your mind and you're hard You're like yeah, I just need to try to step out and be a little bit older with what God's asked me to do because he is It's not my job. It's all our job to reach people What if we all just go reach somebody the person that's in our world?
What would how would that change our community our family or you say hey? I just want to take the next step when it comes to share my faith and share the story that God will guys I'm gonna life you say that's me come on crossing you God help us this morning No, we want to do what you asked us to do to go share your story Gotta share what you've done in our lives. It's gonna pretty help us God I pray give us courage in this room pray give us strength in this room I pray you got you got you come alongside of us got you help us in those moments or we want to shrink back God I pray God I know there's stories that are in this place and I'm ready to be birthed that it's not just gonna be one person that comes to know you Because we some of us are just gonna have a trickle effect in our family in our communities in our neighborhoods in our business the place we work We're just gonna it's gonna just impact people's lives for cover for eternity, but it's also just gonna continue to spread So we gotta pray you give us bold. It's got help us got in there's those in the room They're just saying I need you.
No, please get everyone just to pray this prayer with me this morning Dear Heavenly Father I recognize today that you set your son Jesus to this earth to dine across For me, I realize I need that this morning. So God I ask you to come into my life Forgive me help me to live for you pray in Jesus name Amen Hey, we're so glad you made that decision if you made the decision for the first time or you made you did But you can't made that in a while and you haven't lived it out Hey, there's a blue book on the table that's out there since it's now what what do I do with my faith that you're walking out the door You can find it now what but grab that and walk you through what you should you know? I'm a church we love to have you be a part of ours if you have another church and you attend on a regular Sunday Go be a part of that and make it the best that you could make it grow in your faith Learn how to learn about Jesus and how you'll sit transform your life and then let them do it Let them change the others around you. Hey, thanks for coming to be a part Hope you have a great weekend drive safe on your way out this morning You could just turn right at the highway.
I know there's an accident on my granite company earlier because people trying to cross Do you just get out and go right it helps everybody that's flown through this morning? Thanks for being a part