Skip to content How do I Share My Faith?: Sharing your story and His || Pastor Diego Mesa Jul 20 · 56 min ...more
How do I Share My Faith?: Sharing your story and His || Pastor Diego Mesa
July 20, 2025 · 56 min
Series Patria Sermons July 20, 2025 · 56 min · Patria Sermons
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Adam Mesa is Lead Pastor of Patria Church and speaks to a congregation of 12,000 about how the gospel of Jesus Christ brings purpose to every life. Patria
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0:00 Amen. Well, it's so wonderful to see everyone tonight in our Saturday night service. I believe our Saturday night is the best service. That's0:11 great. You you you guys look good for the end of a day. You I mean, I met I can't even imagine what you look like when you woke up this morning. If you look so good at the end of the day, you0:23 are looking amazing this morning. But hey, we're in our our questions of life, questions that you wanted to challenge our pastorial staff. And so our0:35 amazing senior lead pastor Adam challenged us, the communicators every week with the subject matter. And today, we are going to be talking about this. So listen to the questions as they0:47 came in.0:48 I'm curious and wondering about how to I can navigate relationships in the faith and also relationships with people who0:59 aren't necessarily believers or Christians yet who are in my family. How can I bring the gospel to the marketplace as a business owner?1:08 How can we reach more nonbelievers in the most positive way? How do you help 1 of your parents see the light when you're already on your journey?1:20 How do you continue to support them even though they're not, you know, on the same journey now, but, you know, you want that that light for them?1:29 Alright. I want you to stand for the reading of God's word. It's our way of being unified as we hear and reverence the word of God and the portion of scripture we're gonna1:41 preach from today and launch from. It's 2 scriptures. It's 1 is from Matthew. It says this, go therefore and make disciples of all nations. This is Jesus speaking. Baptizing1:53 them in the name of the father the father, son, and the holy spirit. Then we go over here to Mark. And Mark is very similar, but it says a few things different. Then he2:05 said to them, go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. You may be seated. You know, there The amazing thing about2:16 pastors is that you communicate on every subject found in the Bible from Genesis to Revelations, from finances to relationship to to sin2:28 to the workplace to raising children. And there to be honest with you as a as a pastor that I've been doing this this past June for 40 years, there's some things that2:40 I have mastered. There's some things where, you know what, I'm like a professional. And I bore a lot of fruit in those areas. Then to be honest with you, there's some areas where I think2:51 I'm still an amateur and I'm very much a novice. Today is 1 of those subjects if I could be transparent with you. It's something that almost a day that doesn't go3:03 by where I do not think and challenge myself. That I need to grow in this area. I need to do better in this area and challenge the issues that3:15 sometimes can be blockades to me not being effective in this thought. Let me share with you what I mean. In 19 78,3:25 that's probably before some of you were even born. But in 19 78, I was still in high school. And me and a fellow friend and there's3:37 young kids here do not do what Diego did. Okay? So, I'm warning to you. I ditched school with a guy and we were gonna go pick up girls at Huntington3:49 Beach. Okay? This is BC before Christ. I wasn't a Christian and didn't know him. And we saw some hotties out there swimming and so we4:01 just decided to go after them and talk to them out there. And the next thing you know, they came in and so we decided to swim as far as we could and it became a competition. So we swam4:13 out toward the ocean. Well, the coast guard was making its routine and you could imagine how far we are for a coast guard to come. And he said, you guys need to go4:25 back. We're experiencing or going to be expecting severe riptides and you need to go back. Well, know, we kind of blew him off. Like what what does he know? We we're great swimmers. But4:36 my friend took him a little bit more seriously and he said, are you going in? No, I'm gonna play out here a little longer. Well, I'm going in. So he started to swim and he was probably a good 30 feet in front of4:48 me heading toward the shore. And I just decided to stay there. The next thing I know I got hit by a 10 foot wave that was a riptide and it took5:00 me under. Now, don't know. I'm sure you can reflect on being in a swimming pool or the ocean where you're holding your breath and then you can't take it no more so you come up5:12 or maybe you have experienced drowning to some point and that's what happened. I was like a a piece of clothing in a dryer tumbling tumbling. I didn't5:24 hit the back ground and I couldn't come up and that's what a riptide does. It goes like this and throws you around. And I I got to the point where I was blacking out. My last thought I said5:36 was this, if there's a God, I sure need him now. I shot up out of the water like a torpedo. How do I know this? Because the lifeguard saw me get hit.5:47 He was already jumping in to look for me. Coastguard saw me get hit. He was jumping in. They rescued me and drug me out the same way you saw it on Baywatch. Anybody5:59 see Baywatch? But it was a couple dudes. It wasn't hotties bringing me out. And they and they brought me out and they brought me back and everything like that.6:11 I thank God for that lifeguard. Let me tell you what the lifeguard did, didn't do. He didn't interview me when I was in the ocean and said, it's your fault that you got hit by the6:23 riptide. Are you an idiot? Are you stupid? Were you trying to kill yourself? He didn't discriminate you aren't the skin color that I normally6:35 rescue. He just was being a lifeguard and rescued. Here's what I know in this life. You are either going to wear this6:46 uniform, this is called an umpire uniform. You know what umpires do? They call you in and they call you out. They fine you and6:58 they throw you out of the game. And sometimes, in our zeal to serve God, we become umpires to people that don't measure up to our standards. You're out of my7:10 life. You're going to hell. Who do you think you are? I'm fining you. I'm damning you. I'm shunning you. I'm ignoring you. I'm judging you.7:19 Alright. Yes. That's true. That's7:22 good, Sonson. And you sometimes can wear this purposefully or unconsciously. Or you and I could take the premise that I'm gonna wear this, which is a7:33 lifeguard. And whether I'm on work or at a Starbucks or at home or at church or at a ball game, I wanna be more of a person7:45 here that doesn't discriminate. That doesn't mean I don't challenge. Please understand me. Confront. It doesn't mean that I don't talk about sin. But I'm not here to judge7:57 you. Amen. I'm trying to give life to you. I'm trying to give answers to you. I'm trying to give hope to you. I'm trying to rescue you. I'm trying to save you through the gospel and the saving8:09 knowledge of Jesus Christ.8:10 I8:12 want a relationship with you no matter how far away you are. No matter how offensive you are. I consider it an honor and a privilege just that you would talk to8:23 me, that you would include me, that you would share your your your your offenses why you don't like church and Christians and why you don't believe in God. I'm honored by that.8:36 But most people don't see it that way when they're wearing this. They sometimes elevate themselves above that person because I accepted the Lord and I'm a person of faith8:48 and I'm going to heaven and I'm so much better than you. But if you're like me, I haven't been saved all my life. Only 3 of you. The rest of you are liars9:00 or you're gonna get saved tonight. And so today I wanna talk a little bit of what the of what we're preaching today. But I'm gonna go back and I'm gonna give you a little bit of what we just read and9:12 break it down because these are Jesus's last words which ought to be our first priority, but we don't view it that way. These are the last words that Jesus spoke to his disciples,9:24 which ought to be the first priority for us in our lives. Notice what he said. He said, go. Go is an action word. It means to engage. It means to approach.9:35 It doesn't mean to stay safe, sit down, inactive, and ignore. But most of us do that. It Go. A movement towards somebody. Make9:47 birth, create, assemble, produce. Invest in somebody. And the third word he says here oh, excuse me. Don't don't means don't overlook, forget,9:59 drop, or abandon them. Next word, please. Disciples. Disciples are people that act like Jesus, think like Jesus,10:11 emulate Jesus, mimic Jesus. Disciples are people that love Jesus more than they love their mama, their job or anyone else. That's a disciple. Not a convert. Converts10:23 are all over the place. People that wear crosses around their neck and say they're a Christian but don't have the mannerism, the lifestyle in their life. They're a dime a dozen. Jesus never said go make Christians.10:35 Go make converts. He said go make disciples. People that act like me, talk like me, think like me, believe that my word is true and want the scriptures to be lived out in their10:47 life that love me more than they love anyone else. That's what a disciple is. And we have to apologize to our community and our world that we've not been that sometimes.10:58 So we don't be the convert and the observer. Then we go over here now, please. Next 1. To Mark. He says, go. There it is. Go11:10 with activity and movement. Go at least attempting. You you you won't win them all the time. You're gonna feel like a failure like I really messed up. I meant, I talked about the11:22 Dodgers. I talked about the weather but I Why didn't I talk about Jesus? They shared that they're in need right now. They're in hurt right now. They're depressed. What a wonderful opportunity for me to have prayed with11:33 them or share my testimony of how I overcame that but I didn't do it. We're all guilty of that but at least I tried. Then he says go into11:45 this world. What is this world he's talking about? This world number 1 is every man's world. Go into go into the sports world. Go into the athletic11:56 world. Go into the entertainment world. Go into the business world. Go into the finance world. Go into the med. Whatever world you're living in, go to that world. Amen. That's your world. This world, the12:08 world of brokenness, the world of confusion, the world of sin, go into that world. And then he says, preach. Preach. Preach by your lifestyle. Preach12:20 by words. Proclaim and tell them the story. And then it lastly, is there 1 more? The gospel. This is what we preach. The good news of salvation.12:33 The good news of listen, you could be saved if you want to. You could be forgiven of your sins if you want to. You can change and be transformed through repentance if you want to. You can12:45 walk in an element of freedom of guilt and condemnation if you want to. And you can have an internal intimate relationship with your heavenly father, your creator called God.12:56 That is the gospel. The gospel is this, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten13:08 son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send his son into this world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved. John 3 16 and13:20 17. The gospel is second Corinthians 5 21. For he made him to be sin. That's Jesus who knew no sin. He became your sin13:32 so that you could become righteous before God. He was your sacrifice. He was your substitution. He was your ransom. That's the gospel that people need to see.13:44 That's the gospel that people need to hear. That's the gospel that I heard in 19 78. When I was a Catholic, 8 years of Catholic school.13:56 Done my confirmation and everything like that. Wanted to even think about becoming a priest but I had a relationship with religion. I did not have a relationship with Jesus Christ. My lifestyle did not14:08 fit a Christian lifestyle. If I would have died at that time, I would have split hell wide open though I was very very ritualistic and very very religious.14:20 And so you and I need to know what the gospel is. Romans 3 23, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. I don't care if it's mother Teresa. I don't care if it's the pope.14:32 I don't care if it's pastor Diego. I don't care who the most holy religious ritualistic person. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And the wages of sin, Romans 614:44 23, is death. The penalty for all mankind is death, spiritual death splitting hell wide open with judgment, punishment, and damnation.14:56 But in Romans 10 9 and 10, if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus Christ and believe in thy heart that God has raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.15:08 And verse 13, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. That's the gospel. That's the gospel. That's called the 3 minute15:20 elevator testimony that every 1 of you should know how to do. Who is Jesus? What is the gospel? What does it mean to be a Christian? I just told you right there. I15:32 just told you right there. And it's now telling my story of what I was like before I came to Christ. How I actually got introduced to Christ, to these 46, 7 years of what15:44 my relationship with Christ has been like. You could do that on a ball field. You could do that at a break at a work. It's called 3 minute, your 3 minute testimony or story. His story15:55 and your story. That's the gospel. Could you give the Lord a clap offering? And we're gonna turn over to16:07 Luke 15 and we'll land there for the next remainder of our times. But the reality is is George Barna Research, which is a Christian research organization, said that only 5 percent of16:19 Christians have ever shared their faith or won 1 soul to the kingdom of God. Hold on. That means 95 percent of the people in this room have never experienced leading someone to the16:31 Lord. That that's that's what we gotta do better church. We're fishermen, but we don't fish.16:44 We're ambassadors, but we have no location in country we're going to. These are all terminology. We have salt. We're called salt, but we season nobody.16:57 These are things that you and I need to do better and I hope you can. So here we go in Luke and this is called the trilogy of the lost. So now you're gonna get bible now. How many of you like your17:09 bible? Anybody like your bible? Only 3 of you? Okay. Well, I'm gonna That's all I know. That's all I wanna know. So I'm gonna preach the bible to you right now. I wanna preach the bible to you right now. Here's Luke 15.17:20 It says this, and the tax collectors and sinners. Now listen what it's saying. Tax collectors and sinners. So they're almost synonymous. It's just showing maybe where this sinner lived out his sin.17:31 Being a tax collector, a thief, a robber, a conniver, a chiseler. He says here, tax collector sinners were approaching and listening to him. Sinners were listening to17:43 Jesus. I Hey, wait a minute. How many sinners wanna listen to me? How many sinners say they wanna listen to you? Okay. Let's move on. And the Pharisees and the scribes17:55 were complaining, this man welcomes. He's approachable. He's available to sinners. He's accessible to sinners.18:07 He doesn't spend his life avoiding sinners. He doesn't live in a Christian commune and and just I don't wanna be around those sinners. He remembers that he was once a sinner.18:19 So it says, so he told them this parable. He said, what man among you who has 100 sheep18:31 loses 1? Just say that word with me. 1. 1. Okay? That's 1 percent. That's 1 percent. 1 of 100 is 1 percent. He does not leave the 99.18:43 Leave. Leave the 99 in the open field and go after, pursue the lost 1 until he gets18:54 discouraged. No, until he finds it. Goes on, please. When he found it, he joyfully19:06 puts it puts it on his shoulder. The celebration. And coming home, he calls his friends and his neighbors together saying to them rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.19:20 God help me. I'm not there. I'm not there. You may not be there. Many of our many of our beautiful Christians in this church don't19:31 stay to the end of the altar call because they don't celebrate. They don't value a lost person. They value getting to their parking lot or going to lunch or going to the next place instead of waiting to the very19:43 end of the benediction. It'd be like me fishing and you're moving around splashing the water. I'm gonna say stop it. You're spooking my fish. An altar calls our fishing19:55 moments where the Holy Spirit is moving on the heart of somebody, convicting them. I tell you in the same way, there will be more joy20:07 in heaven over 1 sinner who repents than 99 righteous people who don't need no repentance. That's story number 1. Watch this. He transitions now. Story number 2. Or what20:19 woman who has 10 silver coins if she loses 1 coin? She loses 1 coin. So, excuse me, the first 1 was 1 percent. The second 1 now is20:30 10 percent. Does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it. Very similar wording here. And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors20:42 together saying rejoice with me because I found the silver coin I lost. I tell you the same way. There is joy in the presence of God's angels over 120:54 sinner who repents. And then we get this last verse 11. He also said, the trilogy, the third story, a man had 2 sons. This is the story of the prodigal21:06 and there are many verses so I didn't want to go into that. I just want you to see that we see the trilogy here of the lost.21:14 Yes, sir.21:15 You see here a lost sheep and a lost coin and a lost son. So let's talk about it. What are the similarities in all 3 of these stories21:27 that you and I can learn from when it comes to sharing our faith with others? Or how to live a godly life and and win people over that are on the athletic21:39 fields of our life or in our schools or or on our jobs or wherever they might be. The first thing I I highlighted was this,21:51 you and I have to be comfortable around sinners. Notice what he said. Say how quiet it got because I guess you didn't like that. So let It says he was22:03 comfortable around sinners. It didn't say this. He was comfortable around sin. That's where you and I get messed up.22:14 I am to be comfortable around the person. I am not to be comfortable around the lifestyle. Jesus is not condoning the lifestyle. He22:26 is condoning the person, the value of that person. And there's a difference that sometimes that's where we get confused with these22:37 jerseys. These people are wayward, these people are ugly, these people are nasty. All the it says all kinds of sinners. He hung around22:49 all them. Don't you tell tell me he didn't know what they were doing and what they did. Amen. And notice it says here, watch this. He ate with them. That's23:01 a whole another level of relationship. Because how many of you know you got associates, you got friends, but you don't eat with them? You're never gonna eat with them. But how many of you know it's broken to a23:13 whole another level of relationship when you eat with somebody? Because the real you comes out in a meal. It does. You ever seen these people who23:25 like, you know what, they say, oh, I I don't eat that much. I'm just salads. But put some ribs in front of them and they'll tear your hand off. I just love To eat a meal takes23:37 takes money. To eat a meal takes time. It's it's a conversation to keep that going over an hour or 2 hours kind of thing. And when you go and travel in Europe and all that, there23:49 there's no half an hour, 45 minute meals there. 2 or 3 hours and this is where you're living in in Eastern culture now. He felt so absolute I'm honored. I'm honored that you24:01 wanna listen to me, that you wanna hang around me. I'm learning how to do that as I'm a sheriff chaplain. That's why I became a sheriff chaplain. Because I wanted to hang around24:13 rank sinners. And I wanted to challenge myself to be the best Matthew 5 version of salt that I could be. I24:25 am the salt. And I've gotta recognize I'm not to keep the plastic on me. Neither should I do this. Neither should I just24:37 just overwhelm them. You go to church? You believe in Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and savior? You have a bible? You drink too much? What kind of lifestyle are you in? You dating? You24:49 shacking? What you doing over there? You're going to hell. You better get right. You better get right. Better repent. I'll see you next week, Chaplain Diego. See you. I'll never be able to ride in that car again.25:00 I've gotta know when the opportunity comes how to go like that. Just make him a little thirsty. I know what it is about that chaplain25:12 guy. I just kinda like him. Uh-uh. I wanna they do. They just ask me another question the next week or another question the next week. I I don't wanna preach too much to them. Just make them a little25:23 thirsty. And that's what you and I have to learn how to do Yes. As we navigate through this world and through this life. So the first point is this. Here's the first point that you and I have25:35 to understand. The people people are lost and and some people don't even know they're lost. Did that did that coin know he was lost? I don't know. Did that25:47 sheep know he was lost? He he was probably lollagagging all over the countryside and eating all the berries and the hay and oh, look at the mountain. Didn't even know he was lost.25:59 Didn't know that maybe a wolf was tracking him or a coyote was track. And there's a lot of people lost, but they don't know they're lost. They're having fun while being lost. Don't act like and don't tell your children,26:10 it's not fun to sin. It's fun to sin. It's the consequences of sin that are heartbreaking. Come on, I haven't been saved all26:22 my life. That was kinda fun out there. But there was consequences to that. It destroyed my life. It broke my life. It offered me the world and then it emptied my26:34 life. So you guys have to realize and we have to understand that we are dealing with lost people. And lost people have lifestyles26:45 and some people don't even know they're lost. You know, and so that's who we're looking for. We're looking for the lost. And so let me define this for a few moments26:57 if you allow me to. You know, we live in a world where everybody you know, how many of you heard this? Save the whales. Save the polar ice caps. Save the27:09 forest. Save the beaches. Who's watching? Who's shouting? Save the sinners. Save the lost. Save the perverts, the homosexuals. Who27:20 different lifestyles, the incarcerate, the drunkard, the ones that hurt us the most, offend us the most. Nobody nobody wants to do that. Nobody wants to do that.27:34 There there was a man and and they'll show you they'll show you the the picture of him, Martin Cohan. Martin Cohan no, that's Enzo. Martin Cohan is the baby 1. This is27:46 Martin. In the early 19 hundreds, he recognized when he he'd go to state fairs about chickens, baby little hatchlings that were put27:57 in incubators. And he he noticed that the medical industry discarded premature babies. They gave them no effort to live. If you did not28:09 live all by yourself premature baby then you were deemed worthless. And this man who was not even a doctor said, if these premature little28:20 chickens can live through an incubator then why cannot premature babies live if put in an incubator? And this man in his lifetime saved 700028:32 babies and lives by introducing state fair after state fair until the medical industry backed it and saw what he was doing. He saved28:43 7007 thousand. That's what you and I are called to do. When the world says they aren't worth saving, we've got to believe that they are absolutely28:55 worth saving no no matter who they are. See, here's the reality that I want you to know. Let me give him some quotes. We lost a a spiritual hero this week, and so I wanted to quote him. This is John29:07 MacArthur's quote, and I wanted to just quote him if you'd let me quote him. Maybe no quote. No. We don't get John MacArthur's quote. I29:19 have a friend his name is Keith. Thank you. Satan continues his effort to make sin less offensive, heaven less appealing, hell less horrific,29:31 and the gospel less urgent. That's the way of the world today. It's the way of society today. They're lost. They're absolutely lost. I have a friend his name29:43 is Keith Wheeler. He is carrying a a 16 foot wooden cross in 75 countries. And and he calls sinners kidnap royalty.29:55 That's his way of looking at them. And he says, Diego, whenever I meet up, no matter who they are, and when I called him a couple weeks ago, so every once in a while, I call him and he'll tell me some30:07 exotic place he's at where he's carrying a cross. And he said, Diego, can I can I call you back? And I said, sure. You could call me back. And then he called me back a few minutes later and he said, thanks. I I I was30:18 talking to a a transvestite about the gospel. He said, didn't they didn't accept it. I said, tell me. Tell me what tell tell me what you learned. Tell teach me right now. He said,30:30 here's what I do. I always remember their name. I asked them what their name is and I used their name repeatedly when I talked to them. I always look them in the eyes so I always remember the color of their eyes30:42 and I smile really big when I'm talking to them. That's how you and I have to learn how to deal with the loss sometimes than our frowns that we wear with our umpire outfits.30:54 So you and I have to recognize that people are lost. And let me just give you a few scriptures because the bible talks about that there will be an everlasting punishment and eternal destruction. An eternal fire, darkness31:06 reserved forever, weeping and gnashing of teeth, tormented by fire and brimstone, an unquenchable fire. These are all biblical terms talked about when it talks about why31:18 people are lost in the state of where they'll live for eternity because of their lostness. But here's what the Bible says as it describes a few scriptures that deal with this section, please.31:31 It says about sin because they did not believe. See, people are lost not because of their lifestyle. They are lost because they reject their savior. Yep. Because they reject31:43 the sacrifice for their sin. Because they reject the ransom that's paid for them. The sin of man kind that sends people to hell is rejecting Jesus Christ as31:55 their personal Lord and Savior. Now, the punishment of rejecting Christ is based upon the lifestyle that's lived which will determine the level of torment,32:06 damnation, and punishment. Lifestyle does come to play, but the original sin is the rejection of Jesus Christ. Lost. Next scripture, please.32:22 Again, we we we said this, so let's move on to the next 1, please. But the 1 who has the son has life. The 1 who does not have the son does not have32:34 life. That's the lost. If you have Jesus in your life, have eternal life. If you reject Jesus Christ, you don't have eternal life. Next scripture, please. Then he32:45 also will say to those left, depart from me, you who are cursed into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. That's the future of32:57 the lost. No matter if they're good, no matter if they're moral, no matter if they're nice. Because a lot of nice people can split hell wide open.33:09 How do you how do you judge nice? Who who is who is the judge of nice? Hitler was nice.33:21 He just wasn't nice to everybody. But but but he was nice. Charles Manson was nice,33:33 but he was also evil. So should we be rewarded by not going to hell and going to heaven? Because we have some niceties about us. And ask God to33:44 reject the sin in our life, not of just rejecting Jesus, but the lifestyle we live. So I always tell people this, why I don't accept Jesus Christ and I don't want33:56 God. Why? Because because he sends people to hell. Said, wait, wait, wait, wait, Who told you that? He doesn't send people to hell. The reality is you're already going to hell. He's trying to save you from34:08 hell. The sin of rejecting of Christ is your sentence to hell and he stands in the way of that your entire life sending you messengers,34:20 laborers, consciousness, conviction, saying repent, don't go the way of hell. It's like you seeing someone crossing Foothill Boulevard when there's a lot of traffic. You you you don't see you see34:31 them, they don't see the car. You yell out at the top of your voice, turn around, there's a car coming at you. Stop. Run. Or would you just say that, stupid idiot. Chill. Catch you later. I'm on my way to get34:43 me some ice cream. It's a couple perspectives that have have to be looked at, but the reality, oh my god. Where did time go?34:56 Time is over. It looks like you don't care. But anyways, yes, this is a tough audience today, really. Really, really tough. It's risky business to go because you're gonna be35:07 mocked, rejected, ridiculed, and ostracized. But that's why the Bible says, blessed are those that are persecuted for my sake. That's a good thing. We need to be persecuted a lot. We35:19 we need to be ostracized. We need to be unpopular. We need to be mocked and ridiculed because then we're in the we're we're in the section where Jesus is. There are people that are found. The Bible says, go into the35:31 hedges and highways and compel them. Go. Compel them means to urge them. So now we get to the people that are found. When people are found, notice in this story it took effort.35:43 It took diligence. This was not they casually found the coin of the sheep. It took a lot of effort and we sometimes have to recognize it's gonna take a lot of work.35:55 Time spent with somebody. We have to earn the right. I I I have no problem with someone standing on a street corner with an a sign or a blow horn. But to me that's not the best way to win souls. I I don't know who you36:06 are. And that may have worked for a former generation but our our gen z's and alphas, they don't even see the sign. And I don't wanna make36:18 fun of you out there 8 hours a day in the sun but the reality Did you see it? I didn't see nothing. See, you think it's causing conviction and repentance maybe for a36:30 former generation that had a grandmama, had a teacher, knew the wording on that sign, it meant something. The best way to win somebody over to the Lord is relationship. You36:41 have to earn the right to speak into my life. I can't go into that deputy's car and start preaching to him. He's gotta hear me week in and week out, see me week in and week out, see that I'm faithful to a woman for36:53 42 years. I've raised children, I have 7 grandchildren. I'm living the best lifestyle that I can. Righteous, holy, and integral. Okay. Now I'll listen to your Jesus stuff. We just wanna37:05 shove it down people's throat and we've not earned the right by building a relationship. Do you really care about me? Do really listen to me? I finished on Friday yesterday and I saw37:17 an officer driving up and I I don't want to get into the particulars because it's very private, my relationships. But I I I was packing my stuff and I I saw him in the squad car,37:28 go coming out of the station. I walked on over there and I just he saw me and I how are you today? And and I don't wanna say too much but I just want you to be not saved. And37:40 when I say that, I mean that. And he opened up to me the last time I drove with him. And he told me and I thought, woah. Dude, you don't even know me.37:53 And you're sharing your guts with me. I am honored and overwhelmed that you trust me by sharing your And he he told me in that38:04 conversation that went on, I am My dog is sick and I'm just really depressed about it. So I walked over there and said, how's your dog? How's your dog? He lit up like a a light bulb.38:16 Oh, thanks for asking me about my dog. I'm earning the right Yes. To speak into his life by relationship. Jesus doesn't seem toShow more
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