SPIRIT School of Ministry
The Harvest | SPIRIT School of Ministry Podcast #102
Welcome to the Spirit School of Ministry podcast, where we discuss discipleship in your everyday life. Hey, everyone. Pastor David here with Pastor Bob Wilk. Howdy. And Jezzani Abuno. Also known, the artist formerly known as Jedi. He goes by Jedi. Okay. He's really known, not formal. He's joining us today because Jezzani loved to share the gospel and he has a lot of experience sharing the gospel. And we wanted to help you guys be equipped today as disciples to make disciples able to share. I thought we were gonna talk about his fast food fetish and yours. Oh, geez. Not doing that. Oh, yeah. That would be that would slow us down. That would be a great that's another podcast. All right, come back next time. That would be a that would be a weight that would hinder our race, especially those two big Carl's sitting in your stomach. Anyways, yeah, that would not help us. Jesus said, I have food to eat. You don't know about it. I'm gonna, I'm gonna fulfill get that harvest. So, yeah, we're talking about the harvest today, really the harvest of souls or lives and what we, another word for that would be evangelism. So what do we mean when we say evangelism? What comes to either of your guys minds on that? What does that mean? What does that mean to you? You're the expert here. Yeah. Evangelism to me just means, you know, sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with anybody and everybody. That's a pretty good way to do it. Yeah. All right. Yeah. What about you? I'm going with his definition. He's an expert. Yeah. Well, it's good. It's pretty simple. Yeah. So we're like, oh, it's actually the Greek word is a and I actually have a class on this. So, I'm the first center. So like you can, you can go into different nuances of it. But at the end of the day, it's something so simple that even a totally new Christian can evangelize. And those, a lot of times they do a much better job than some of the seasoned Christians. Have you ever noticed that Pastor Bob that the new believers are? They're much better. Well, they're excited about their newfound love. Yeah. And so they want to tell everybody, you know, like, you know, you fall in love with your, when you fell in love with your wife, you kind of wanted to share, hey, I got somebody at really love. Yeah. And so it's a great deal. I also think that with evangelism, it happens as much outside the church as inside the church. Or it should. It shouldn't be just allocated to, you know, street evangelism or church evangelism or, I don't know, Carl's Jr. evangelism, whatever you guys like to do there. But wherever you're at, like you said, wherever you're at, whoever you're with, I love that. That's, let's keep it really simple like that. Totally. Once you complicate it. But that's not going to work, though, is it? I can't just talk to a stranger and they're going to believe in Jesus. I mean, this is what we hear. I mean, I've been told this, I've actually tried to like think like, what's the most effective way of sharing the gospel? And sometimes people say, well, that's, that's just not going to work. Like, why would going out and handing out tracks or talking to people, that's not going to, that's not going to make disciples? Like, how would we respond? How would you respond to something like that? Well, I would say if someone's saying that, they're probably not doing that. It's a good excuse. Why would they? It's not going to work. You know, I think just in this new season that we're in of evangelism and just this, the Holy Spirit move across the earth, I think there's brand new ways to do it and bringing in some of the old ways to, you know, integrate both ways and, you know, you never know what's going to work until you get out there and just try stuff. Yeah. You know, and if you get out there one day and tracks isn't working, then have a backup plan, if you will, you know? Yeah. So, and then you find one day that tracks are working and you give, you know, the people, the card that says come to church and you have 20, 30, 40 people come to church, like the next Sunday, then that worked that day. Yeah. That's good. Well, I think, you know, you're a voice for the Lord and you have to see yourself as like you're voicing His appeal to somebody and everything else is really on the Lord and on those people. Like you, you know, I think a lot of people are either afraid to evangelize at any level because they're afraid to be disappointed or rejected and like they take it personal like I didn't do it right. I didn't do it perfect. I didn't do, you know, or well, it worked this way for Jess and I last week. Why doesn't it work that way for me? And you know what I mean? They lose the personal connection that Jesus wants to talk to somebody in that moment for them. Yeah. Not just for, you know, stamp, check the box. I did it exactly the way Jess and I have taught me to do it. Jess and I said, well, that's a good point. I mean, you can't wear somebody else's armor. You can't share the gospel like Todd White or, you know, whoever you want to choose, you know, Billy Graham, even someone like that to model yourself off, you have to be yourself. You have to be sincere because sometimes the way that we've taught people about evangelism is you go out, you're hyped up. You're like, hey, I want to talk to you about Jesus. He's so amazing or we're going to pray for you. You're going to get healed right now. And like, if you can't do that that day, let's say like the world's coming against you or you've got something that's bothering you or you just faced a trial, you might not be able to present that level of zeal, you know, that, that level of even joy sometimes, but you can be sincere. You can still follow the Holy Spirit. And if he points someone out, you can still say, hello. How are you doing today? And then what he is going to allow you to do is sincerely listen to the person and minister whatever he has for them. So on the day that you are at 100%, go 100%. On the day that you're not, you could still, you still don't really have an excuse to not obey if the Holy Spirit is pointing someone out, you know, absolutely. Yeah, I mean, I'm not going to lie, like, I try to do it every day. Just, you know, I try to pick at least one hour every day of just walking up and down Washington Street or, you know, Snug's parking lot or Walmart parking lot or Walmart. And I'm not going to lie, there is definitely days where I am just not feeling it. You know what I mean? And God still brings people to me that are in need. And sometimes I'm like, well, no, not today. And then there's sometimes we're like, okay, I guess I'll go talk to this person. So no flesh does get to glory. No, absolutely. It's really Jesus. No, not at all. That's great. And I think that's really important to have those fishing times, to have like times in your schedule. Just like, you know, somebody says, you know, I'm not an evangelist. Well, you wouldn't say I'm not a Bible reader. You wouldn't say I'm not an intercessor per person. You wouldn't say I don't give time to help the poor. I don't give time to give of myself and my money. I don't give time to volunteer at church. Those are all elements of discipleship. Right. And we, we spaced out time for them. Now, what if you spaced out, you have 15 extra minutes at your lunch break. And you say, well, I'm just going to walk around and pray for everybody I see silently. And if God really lights up somebody, I'm just going to go say hi to him and see what the Holy Spirit does. Then you are actually like, you're not a lopsided Christian. You're following the Great Commission daily. And that's what I would encourage everyone to set aside some time in your week to actually obey God, obey the Great Commission. Because I don't believe it's an optional thing for us. But I can imagine people listening to this. I mean, most are going to be like, well, Justin, how did you get past the fear or the, you know, not sure or maybe you have to get past that every day. I don't know. Right. And I mean, maybe it gets more normal for you. But at some point in time, I'm guessing a person wanting to go and try it. Just try it the first time. They have to deal with the factor of fear. And did you have that the first time? I still do. Still. Oh, wait, every time I get out. You're still professional at this. You know, when you get out there, there's always like that first encounter. Yeah. Yeah. Until you get to there, it's always like this. Oh, I wonder. And I don't know. And should I talk to them? You know what I mean? But then you just be obedient and you just get past it. Yeah. You talk to everybody you see or do you wait for most times? So what I've learned is a word of knowledge for someone can literally be just Jesus loves you. Yeah. And I've learned that that can really speak directly to somebody's heart, because it's such a personal thing. And sometimes, you know, people go, Oh, like, thank you. Or a lot of times, you know, it's all in the county, because there is a lot of, you know, believers in all the county people go, yes, like he really does. Like, thank you for reminding me. And that'll start a conversation. Or I've had people say like, really, does he though? And then that starts a conversation. I've heard people, you know, I'll say Jesus loves you. And they go, well, you know, I don't know. Yeah. And then that's like the perfect opportunity to just love me. Let me share it with you. Absolutely. So you can know for sure that he loves you. I love it. Well, I liked what you said also. It was like sometimes, you know, there's a lot of believers. And if you say it to a believer, it doesn't negate evangelism. Yeah, you are still evangelize. You're bringing good news to somebody like, you know, I don't know about you, but you probably need to hear Jesus loves you once in a while. You know, like maybe every day is like, Oh, yeah. Well, and also when you tell someone Jesus loves them and even if they like, Oh, thanks. And they keep on walking. Now they're thinking about Jesus. Jesus is on their mind now. And so whether they further that and try to figure that out more or or they just are reminded and it brings joy and peace to them and that, wow, Jesus really does love me. Yeah, you'll lift up the flag too, because you know, you'll activate Christians and they'll say, Oh, maybe I could do that. And also other Christians, if they're nearby and they hear you talking about Jesus, they'll come over and people that are against Jesus will come over. So you'll actually, you'll start to like draw some lines. And a lot of times I'll be sharing out at the store with someone and like a few other people show up and they start listening. And you actually are sharing, it's supposed to be normal Christianity. Well, as long as you're doing it in an honoring way, you're supposed to be witnessing everywhere. Well, if I recall correctly, all of us were enemies of the cross at one time, right? I mean, I was, we were all on that side, right? And we didn't like to see the evangelist person. Like, what right does that person have? Right. What does it? What does daily witnessing look like for you, Pastor Bob? Because we heard a little from jazz, we could probably hear more as well, but I wanted to put that I think I reached out to people that I come in contact with. Unfortunately, I live at a, I work at a church. So, you know, it's a little rough. Why do you do that? They're all, they're all saved or what do that is horrible. But for me, you know, getting out into, you know, I do stuff with the county and outside our county with you know, with the umpiring and sports and things. And I try to offer Jesus to whoever, yeah, just see if it see if they bite and many times you'll get something where someone would pray for them. And or they just, they come alive. Like you said, all of a sudden, they're like, Oh, thanks. I needed that. And it does open up a door. Like I said, evangelism cannot be dedicated just to non believers, although I believe that's obviously the big part of it. But, but to believers who might be struggling, because I believe evangelism is like you said, is bringing good news. And that's the good news that delivers that feels that strengthens. And so, to me, you know, a lot of the people I know, obviously, are now know Jesus or now, you know, have heard me at least speak to them about Jesus. And so there's a big open door there. And also with young people now, young people, you know, like especially in kids sports or something like that, you, you have to be more cognizant of, you know, you don't want to be messing around with some little kids brain. But, you know, I tried to encourage them, tell them God bless you. And, you know, hey, it was a good job. And so they kind of starts to open up that door. And over the years, I've seen some of those little guys grow up, the bigger people that I've actually got to talk to. Yeah, Jesus is really good. Yeah. So my, I mean, my take on is like, you know, last day of school, I just gave 40 kids, little kids, the gospel, and I just right up told them, like, Jesus loves you guys, you guys have amazing summer. Yeah. And when they were getting off the bus, they were all shouting at you, like, Hey, have a good summer. Jesus, I love it. I know. And I had it like a couple kids were like, I don't know if Jesus loves me. And I just gave them the full gospel. Right. You know what I mean? I just presented it to them. And whether they take that with them and decide one day or that day or whenever it is, you know, but yeah, we're seats later. Yeah, you never know how it's going to absolutely know how it's going to go. I told my wife and a couple other people about that. And some people's response was like, Oh, aren't you worried about losing your job? And I don't know, I was really thinking about that. And I was thinking about the scripture that says, if you're trying to find your life, you will lose it. But if you're willing to lose your life for my sake, you will surely find it. And I look at my job as an extension of my life. And so if I'm preaching the gospel at school, at my job, and I lose my job, I would be totally okay with that. First of all, I know for sure that God is so good. And he would provide me another job. Right. I just know that, you know what I mean? And second of all, it's like, why would I let those limits hinder me from the gospel going out? Right. You know what I mean? And also, I want to help people who are listening to this too. Because you actually do your job. I do. You don't actually stop the job, stop the bus, run all little kids off the bus in the middle of nowhere. Okay, now we're going to talk about Jesus here by this wrong. Nobody's getting off this bus. So people, people wonder about that. It's like, yeah, you know, really, because you're a man of integrity and you're steward of your life, you also take care of business. In other words, they're paying you to do what you do at the school. Yeah. And you do it in a good way. You're not like Chris Farley driving the bus beat red. You know, we went to a movie. You guys didn't have to educate me later. But it's true. I think it's really important for people to hear that. Because they, a lot of times, I believe there are people who are reluctant to do that. And they use as an excuse. Well, you know, I mean, I have a business and I had serious stuff. And you know, I, you know, I have to do what I'm paid for. Yes, you do. That's right. But that's, like you said, that's part of your life. Yeah. Yeah. And sharing the gospel of bearing witness, planting seeds, harvesting, it's not getting someone in a corner and making them do and do something. Right. It's sharing who you are, which is in Christ. It's being truthful and sincere, like I'm saying, and dropping Todd White calls it dropping the J bomb, you know, just like using the name of Jesus, like just saying, like, going to, going, taking some kids to Panda Express last night. There's a guy that's I'm talking to and the lady goes, are you guys together in the order? And I say, well, no, we're brothers in Christ, but he's paying for his own stuff, you know, but you know, you just, you kind of bring it in there so that they realize what's going on. And you're not, how are you going to lose business by being an authentic Christian? If you're being a cringe Christian, yeah, you'll lose business. If you're being somebody that's dishonoring others, that's like interrupting other people trying to do their job, that's coming up to families in the park, you need to listen to me, stop watching your kid. I need to tell you about Jesus. If you're completely denying him by your works at the same time that you're talking about him, you will suffer adverse stupidity consequences. Can I just throw in? We've actually done that. Anyone's I have made every mistake that I'm saying, we were witnessing to this one girl at Walmart and we we both thought she was on a break. She looked like she was on some kind of break. Yeah, and we were talking to her and like we were minister tears. She was totally receiving what you're saying. And then all of a sudden, I don't know where like this or boss manager was like, Hey, are you going to get back to work? We were like, Oh my God, you're at work? Now in our defense, she really didn't seem like a Walmart worker. Yeah, he was all like saying. But we wouldn't have done that. Yeah, totally. You know, we buy stuff when we go to witness places, we honor the establishment. I was reading the book by Chris Overstreet and he said the core value should be love and honor when you're sharing the gospel. If you're not doing those, you don't go into a restaurant order hot water and put ketchup in it and make it made a soup without paying anything. But that's not a man. That's like get him a counter counter even sounds like fast food. Yeah, pretty much. But yeah, no, but I think it's important that the consequences we suffer should be from people rejecting the Lord, not by our stupidity, not by our rudeness. You know, and that's what holds probably the biggest thing that holds me back. I mean, we're going to talk about rejection and we're going to talk about a little bit about fear holding us back. But for me, I just a lot of times I don't want to be an embarrassment to the others around me, you know, that are like connected to me and be like, oh, David's going at it. Like he's doing the gospel thing. He always does that. You know, when's it going to happen? Like that's like my fear is I don't want to be like that type of person. So I have to be normal. That's what I always tell everybody. It's a simple thing. Share Jesus and be normal and just allow the spirit to flow, like allow who you are to come out wherever that's going to come out with every person and don't be holding a lot of times you have to hold it back out of fear. You're like, oh, I would say something about Jesus. I would ask them how they're doing. I would see if they need prayer, but you know, I'm going to hold that back for whatever reason. Well, why hold it back? Just do it in a normal way. Yeah. I'd be like, I figure out how to do it normal. There's some people I don't want them to be normal. Yeah, don't be your true self. Some of you guys don't be your true self. I'm just kidding. But now I hope that made sense to somebody. I mean, that's kind of what I would deal with sometimes. You know, I want to be I want to be known as the guy in Sonora that just shares the gospel and praise for anybody and everybody. Like, I want that to be part of like my reputation. Yeah, more than a business owner, more than a bus driver, more than anything else. Like, I want people to know like, oh, I can go to him and actually he'll pray for me. I need to be encouraged. I see him walking on the street. I can go talk to him and he'll encourage me. You know what I mean? That's a godly concern for reputation. Yeah. It's the flip side of the ungodly. Oh, man, what are they going to think of me? Well, what if I want them to think a certain way about me? Yeah. And it's not I'm great. It's Jesus is great. It's funny when he just said that. Just the thought came to my mind. I think there's a Holy Spirit to it. It's just like, all of a sudden I could see you like a fountain. You know how people like when they're hot and there's they go to a fountain as a cool fountain as they can when you were saying that, it's like, Oh, I think you're going to get your desire. Like, that's going to happen for you. Like, you'll be a fountain for goodness and the refreshing of the Lord. What a great, what a great reputation to have. Yeah, you know, and even guess what? Even people that don't want Jesus go to the fountain. They would call me the cross guy and I love this because I had this big cross and then a four years later, they're like, Oh, that's the cross guy. They hated the first year they hated me, but before they're like, Oh, that's just the cross guy. You know, he's a weirdo. You know, yeah, he's the most normal weirdo we could imagine. Okay. Yeah. So I'll just ask you guys, I'll start with jazz again, but what is your personal why? Why do you evangelize? I evangelize because Jesus has changed my life. And I was, you know, well acquainted with depression, anxiety, sorrow, hurt, pain of many different kinds. And Jesus completely freed me. And so when I see somebody that's dealing with any of those things, I like put myself there and I go, I was there and I'm here now. And so I have to tell them there's hope there's a way out. Awesome. Yeah. About you, Pastor Baum. That's awesome, by the way. Yeah, it's really good actually. Well, I think we all, you know, have been forgiven much. So we love much. I mean, I think that's going to be the normal, that should be the normal testimony of anybody who's come to Jesus, I would think. But yeah, I, for me, if I'm given, I'm doing that, I'm motivated. If you want to know what I'm motivated by is just him. Like he, it's like, it's hard to explain this, but it's like, it's like hearing him go ahead. Yeah. It's one of you, you can try, you can try to smother that, you know, that little tap. But for me, he's like, always kind of there like that with people. And I'm like, you know, so there, and there's times when it's a, you know, it's interesting. I've had times in my life where like, I would not go into a Walmart or a large, any large store, for matter of fact, you can ask my wife, I'd like, I can't go in because like they're, you know, and I don't know if some of this has to do with, you know, maybe prophetic stuff and things, but I'd hear their hearts. I mean, I'd hear the crying and it was rough. Like I just couldn't go in there. It hurt too much. You know, and it was strange for a long time. I just wouldn't go. I mean, you know, I just wouldn't do it because it sounded too, or felt too hopeless, you know, like, wow, there's so much. And do you feel like you, what, I don't have enough to give, you know, and so I ran away. So, you know, I think I failed. I just ran away from all that. Yeah, we all have. Oh, yeah. Like, the magnitude of the magnitude of the lostness is huge. And that's something that can discourage you is, you know, what, what difference could I make at this? But I like that phrase, stop for the one, you know, and I love what you're saying just because when you said it's him, I totally knew what you're saying because my why is a who, you know, exactly. You know, so I'm like, I'm like, I get, I want people to know how great he is. I want people to meet him. And I'm like, you don't, you have such a wrong view of him. Like, let me, let me tell you about my best friend, about Jesus, you know, and I want him to encounter him because I know, you know, what he's done for me. And I know I can never be even close to where I'm at today. If he hadn't intervened, I'd probably be dead or, you know, locked in a basement somewhere playing video games and, you know, whatever, whatever else, you know, eating Carl's senior and Carl's junior. But you know, you want to actually just, I mean, it's for, there's also the compassion that you mentioned. Both you guys are very, you have the heart of God. I would just want to ask you guys to speak into what is God's heart towards people that are lost, like that you feel, I know you felt that going in Walmart and, you know, you're a man of intercession. And if you could put it, I don't know if you could even put it into words, but like, what is the heart of God to people that aren't in relationship with him? I can answer that in like one word, this yearning thing. That's all I get. But, and I don't know, I mean, I get that pretty much wherever I'm at. Yeah. Actually, for people who even are saved, it's, I feel that kind of yearning, wooing thing. I guess that's the way I would explain it. Yeah. I guess that, you know, it sometimes it feels like like sorrow, but I don't know that it's sorrow, more like just wanting. Yeah. I don't know. Does that make sense? Yeah. What I just said, I don't know. What about you, Jaz, what do you think? I've never thought about that. And that's, I don't know if I could like, I'd have to put some thought into that, you know, we got to be sick. Has God ever given, has God ever given you like a taste of his heart for for people? Oh, many, many, many times. Yes. How does that come out for you? Usually with weeping. Yeah. Yeah. Usually it's, yeah. I mean, there's been times when I've fallen to my face in the middle of street and wept for people, there's been, you know, times when I'm at conferences and run back to the church, just to weep. There's been times like kind of like what you were saying where you couldn't go to Walmart. We were doing a New Year's Day of Prayer Walk and we went to Summerville High School and there was like the portable and it was like the special ed like classroom for kids with like learning disabilities. And so we were just kind of touching every door and I, I went and I touched this door and it was like the same thing. Like I could hear, like I could audibly hear like crying and screaming and like these kids just like wanted to be accepted and wanted and loved and it like broke me. Yeah. Like, I mean, it just completely broke me. And I think times like that are so like crucial and important, you know, at least for me, because it's those times that I believe God's like, okay, you want to come into my heart and he's, he's hard is open, but at those times it's like, here come into like this secret, this like secret chamber, you know what I mean? And come and hang out in this like this dark back room, like with me, you know what I mean? That's just gave me a thought for someone who might be struggling on how to do something, you know, maybe the first time to take the ease, the pain offer you or ease the stress, the worry, the fear is why not go to some either public place or where there's people or whatever and just walk around and just ask God for his heart, nothing else. Yes. Nothing else that you don't have to perform. You don't have to give them the gospel. You don't, not this time. That's your, your assignment there is just go and get his heart. Yeah. Because I, you know, like I said, to me, it's, it's always a struggle because it's always you hearing them. It's you hear the cry, you hear the yearning. Sometimes the frustration, like people really want him, but because of what they're caught in, they just, yeah, they're stuck, you know, or they don't see how, yeah, or the enemies got them, you know, like he's, he's got them locked up and in a place that's so horrible that, you know, so you, if you put yourself in that place where you can just try to like experience some of that, you're, your heart gets affected. I don't care what anybody says. So I would say, you know, someone like listening to this and wanting a tool, like how to start maybe just at some small measure, if they're not willing to just go out and just say, Hey, Jesus loves you. Some random person that if they're not willing to do that, just go out and be in the public and see what happens. Yeah, especially if you're filled with the Holy Spirit, it's going to be a little hard to do need the Holy Spirit. You receive power and you'll be his, his witness. I think that's a great exercise. We actually teach that in our, our discipleship school is to just go on a prayer walk and pray for everybody. Because that'll pave the way you do that enough time is you're not going to be able to hold back. It's like, yeah, you know, you watch your friends at the gun range enough times. Pretty soon you're going to pick up that gun, you're going to want to shoot it, you know, but I'm sorry, sorry if that just, but it's true though. I mean, I mean, I think a good way is a lot of times I'll just, I will actually be praying for everybody around me, just be like, Lord, I'll look at that guy, like help them bless him. And then if I do feel, you know, if I do get a chance and I'm having a conversation, I'll say, Hey, you know, I was praying for you and I wondered, do you have any specific prayer needs? Or I was wondering if you knew Jesus or, or I'll say, Hey, you probably knew this, but Jesus loves you, you know, or Hey, has anyone ever told you today? Jesus loves you. So sometimes you can soften into it a little bit, like just sometimes you need an opening line. I find it just like offering prayer is a super easy thing. Yeah, good. I always just tell people like, Hey, can I share some good news with you? Yeah. People are like, Oh, good news. And then the bad news. Good news. They're like, you have a lot of ticket for me. But, um, yeah, I think, you know, in the, in the Bible, it says, um, anything you ask believing in the name of Jesus you shall receive. And so I think that if you ask Jesus to show you his heart and to break your heart for what breaks his heart and to give you compassion, he'll do it because he's faithful to do that because of his promise in the word. But to further that, I think that you have to make room for that. Because there's, you know, plenty of times in my life where I've asked him for that. And then he's like, okay, go wait for that person. And I'm like, well, like I've got other stuff to do or, you know what I mean? So sometimes you have to like make room to like, if it's three in the morning or whatever, whatever it is, you know what I mean? You have to like make room for him to actually share his heart so that you can understand and know what is breaking his heart. So then you can know, and then it breaks your heart and then that just fuels you and just pushes you out there. Yeah. Yeah, we say, Lord, just give me your compassion. He says, okay, let me show you something. And you go, I don't have time, you know, or we are, I can't notice it, you know, and, but if you actually see, that's when the compassion is triggered. Jesus would say over and over in the gospels, he saw the multitudes and he had compassion or he saw the sick man and he had compassion. Yeah, a lot of times it says he was moved with compassion, which is moved from where he was action word into something else. Yes. Yes. Action. Perfect. Yeah. I mean, that is so, so true. I was just teaching this morning on Ezekiel 16. And he says twice, when I passed by you, I saw you. Yeah. And he's talking about this baby that's abandoned by its mother and father left left for dead, a Gentile baby, by the way. And he says, when I passed by you, I saw you. And I said to you in your blood, live, and I picked you up and I cleaned you and I put clothes on you and I raised you. And it's like, he sees the people, like you're saying, like the Lord sees all the time. And he is always moved. And it just reminds me of the scripture where he said, who shall we send and who will go for us? And Isaiah said, here am I send me. And will we, will we answer God? When we see, he's going to say, who's going to go? We see that need, he's going to go. Well, who's going to meet that need? You say, I'll go. I think the busyness of our lives definitely comes into conflict, like you were saying. Absolutely. And that's, that's the deal is whether or not you're willing to take time out of your busy day. And maybe it's too busy. Maybe it's too busy about things that, you know, it's not they're not the essential things to actually do something like that, actually spend some time. That's that's a big thing. It is. Someone told me one time you make time for what you want to make time for. So I mean, ultimately, besides, you know, maybe having to be at a job for eight hours, like we control our schedules. You know what I mean? We I put things in my calendar, meaning I have control of that. You know, so why not put 15 minutes or an hour of the day in a calendar to just just see God, just pray. Yeah, just pray. Like Pastor Bob said, I mean, the other day I'm praying and the Lord shows me a place to go. And you know, this, you know, people come out of an establishment that I didn't even know was there. And he's like, it's them. Okay. And was able to pray for them. And you know, just just being open, like I'm not giving names. I'm not giving details, but it happens a lot. The Lord will just put, you know, an image in my mind. Oh, go there. You'll figure it out when you get there. And I have flexibility in my schedule, which is a blessing. So I could actually do that a lot of the time during the day. But within your context, I believe the Lord does want to open those doors. If we if we pray for that, if we don't want to, we shouldn't pray for it. You know, don't, oh, Lord, give me the opportunity. Please don't actually. It's called being being double minded, right? So it's, I think that brings us to some things that might interfere with that. Right. And so like you mentioned rejection was a big one. Oh, yeah. How do you think that operates? I mean, you're kind of a profit guy. Like you know about spirit of rejection. No, no, no, no. Things of that stuff. Like, how do you see that operating? I don't know. You mean, how does rejection work? Yeah, like, how is it afflicted? Maybe you or people you know, or where have you seen that? Like, well, I think everybody on a planet, if they're honest, nobody wants to be rejected. And everyone's experienced it on some level at some level. So they already felt the burn. They know what it feels like. Yeah. So it's like, Oh, that was brutal. And so that, you know, coming to someone with Jesus is a pretty, you know, it's a pretty good likelihood you might be rejected. And so it's like a, it's like a, my favorite game. It's like a baseball game, you know, you're going to be, if you're really, really good at it, you're going to be successful one third at the time. You know, and so, you know, and your average person's going to be successful a quarter of the time. And I guess if you're okay with that, if you look at it that way, like, okay, this is an, this is not going to be 100% of the time. And that they're really not rejecting you unless you do like, yeah, Pastor David said something stupid and, you know, act weird or do something crazy to somebody. They should be rejecting you. You're a mad man. You know what I mean? But if you're just, you know, but if you're just showing love and care for somebody's life, that's the other thing is I think you really have to have the heart of the Lord, because you, you know, it's one thing to say you love somebody, but you actually have to love them with Jesus, right? That's the deal, you know, or like, you know, I'm praying for you. Well, then you actually should pray for them before you forget you should for it. Yes. Maybe put it on a little calendar somewhere like praying for that person now. And so there's a, which is a, it's a real thing. And so I think rejection is something that you feel personally like you did something wrong. Yeah, your self worth is in there. It's like, okay, I guess I'm not worth, I'm not a very good Christian, or I don't tell people about Jesus good enough. You know, it's just like when you get up and preach on Sundays, like, oh, if I don't do this right, you know, it's like, guess what? You're probably not going to do it right. And if Jesus walked in, he would be rejected too in a lot of places, most places. If Jesus was, which he is through us, we know that. But if Jesus was walking down the street and walked up to someone said, Hey, I just want to let you know Jesus loves you. And they'd go, yeah, take Ike, buddy. You know, he's going to be rejected also. And so I think that's the, that's the interesting thing about rejection. We take it very personally. How do we deal with that? What do you, what do you think? How do you deal with that rejection? For me, I've just learned to just get over it, like just flat out. Just that simple. I really have. And you know, because like he's saying, once you start to dwell on it, then the, you know, and I just, I believe I have authority. And I believe God has given me authority. And so I just take that authority. And sometimes that looks like, Nope, get out of my head, you know, belong there. I'm not listening to those lies. And you just keep on moving forward. Yeah. So if you stop every time that the enemy comes in and says, Oh, you did that wrong. You'll never, you literally will move about this far in your entire life. Yeah. And he has a bit of a vested interest in making you stop. Right. You know, he doesn't want you taking back souls for the kingdom of God. So yeah, I think that's really important. I mean, it's fishing. Like you said, fishing isn't a hundred percent. Yeah. But if you want to fish, well, number one, you go where the fish are, I would think I've only been fishing like five times, but you need to have a rod. If they're not there, you don't know. You go to where the fish are and you put your bait in the water. Right. And if you don't do those, obviously you're not going to catch anything. Right. And a lot of times you won't catch anything. But does that necessarily mean you're doing something wrong? If if they aren't taking the bait, well, probably not, you know, and you move on, there's other fish in the sea. Right. Well, I think the enemy, you know, his big tactic with us is he can't have us, but he can convince us to pull back on everything, anything, not just evangelism on anything. Yes. And if he can convince you, like you said, if you don't take that into, you know, dominion to, you know, bring it into control by Holy Spirit, then he convinces the fishermen not to fish, a fully equipped fisherman with fish in the water. But he's convinced you not to go there, or go there and don't put your bait in the water. All right. Right. You know, I mean, that's a good way to help out like when the when the fish hits, don't reel it in. At least we blast him. At least he got healed. Let's let him let's let him go. Sorry. I'm just that's a few religious things, you know, where it's like, we're supposed to minister to the whole person, right? This is the gospel of salvation, which, like we mentioned, one of our latest podcasts is body, soul, and spirit. So the Lord may use you to bring salvation to the spirit of a person, or to the soul, or to the to the body, or all three. I mean, we met a young man last week that he received salvation, body, soul, and spirit. And we didn't do anything. Like it was just a wide open for that, you know, but I mean, that's just what God does is the salvation belongs to the Lord. You can't it's not by our skills. It's not by might or power, but by the spirit. Just being willing to say, Hey, let me talk to you for a minute. Like that could make all the difference in somebody's life. So yeah, I just I wanted to ask you, just what are some things that on your heart right now? On my heart, what would you what would you if you had just some young Christian right in front of you right there on the camera? Like, what would you tell them about evangelism? Like, what would you tell them about this? I think, you know, you just have to go do it. I mean, you just have to go do it. If you need help getting started, like, somehow come and find me. I will be more than happy to make time to go out with anybody and everybody. I will clear all my schedule to make that happen. And I'm, you know, I always like to leave that open for people. Just give me a call if you got my number. If you don't got my number, find somebody that does. Yeah, just get a hold of me. And I would love to just take you out. And you know, even if you don't say anything to anybody, just see how it's done. This this goes to a point where it's like the fivefold ministry and receiving from different members of the body, different, different gifts. So maybe you have a weird evangelist friend if you don't have jazz or myself in your life. Maybe you have a weird friend that always, you know, talks to people about Jesus. And you think, how do they do it? Well, maybe you should have coffee with that person and ask them. Yeah. And maybe while you're at coffee with them, they'll be sharing with people. And you'll learn, you'll catch it, you know, and so through the body of Christ, we can equip one another. You know, do you have any, any, uh, you guys just being on practical. Isn't this way? We're not being super smart. It's not some mystical thing that I've heard that some, you know, angel comes down and covers you with their wings. He blinds you. Yes. And then you go out and you hear this voice from heaven. You mean, you don't just know, hey, Jess, we're going somewhere. Yeah, let's go. Yeah. Yeah. If you have someone like that, like, uh, they'll probably lead and you'll be able to see that's exactly how Jesus taught people is he didn't make them do it the first time. They witnessed him for a long time. And then he said, Oh, now it's your, your guy's his turn. You're going to go in a pair and go fish and go every, every village. You know, I mean, some people say it's making disciples one, that means one-on-one ministry. Yeah. Let's, but first you need to proclaim the gospel everywhere. I could compile a list of scriptures where he says, go proclaim to the whole creation, go throughout all the land. The apostles proclaimed in all the villages of the Samaritans. Acts chapter eight, um, you know, they're sowing seed liberally. If you don't sow liberally, you probably will not reap liberally. So like you actually have to go try to make disciples in our disciples. If you don't get somebody saved, um, you can't disciple them. Can't you disciple somebody that's already been discipled for like 60 years? Sorry. I'm more sorry. No more sorry. It is hard. You know, I, I, I think evangelism is like change. Change is not change unless it's change. Yeah. And so evangelism is not evangelism unless you get out there and evangelize. You could talk about it. That's not evangelism. You could pray about it and you should. You know what I mean? But it, and that is how part of evangelism, you could think about it. You could have the intention to do it, but it's not evangelism unless you get out there and interact face-to-face with people. Yeah. Wherever you are. Exactly. Exactly. So it's so good. Um, yeah. I mean, I think that's just crucially important. Like you can't learn to fight UFC by watching YouTube videos. Yeah, you'll die. Even if you know, oh, that's, that's an armbar. Oh, that's a three-punch combination. Like you can identify it, but you can't until you actually get out there and get hit in the mouth. You're not, you're not learning anything. You're just not learning anything. UFC. Yeah. Just not learning anything. Right. We're getting super spiritual. Yeah. So I'll just, I'll come back down. I mean, just how, I mean, because I think this is good. Like how do people get into the harvest field? Like, I mean, you gave a good example earlier about just going out and praying. I mean, you, you said maybe contact somebody that's an evangelist to start doing it. Do you guys have any other thoughts of just someone on a real basic level? Where to begin? Because I think you should leave this podcast and go share the gospel with someone. Well, I like what Jez and I have said is that unless you, you know, at some point in time, you have to do what you're saying, so I think if you just walked out your door. Do you have any neighbors? Yeah. Find somebody. Just keep going until you run into somebody. That's a good way to start, I guess, you know, you know, or maybe you may have to start in your own house. There'll be somebody in there that needs. No, that's too hard. Don't tell my wife. Start with the law. Honey, come here. Hold their wives are pregnant. No, no, no, no. We'll wait until after they've delivered. Yeah, we'll wait on that. Yeah, we'll wait on that. That could be there. There is, there is times and seasons. It's so funny. No, it's, it's really true. I mean, you have to, you have to feel the call, I think. You have to realize Jesus has actually called me to do this. Yeah. This isn't some, you know, charismatic figure. It's not just up to, to my pastor or Billy Graham or, you know, someone like that to do. Be really hard because Billy Graham went to be with the Lord. So it'd be really hard for him to do it still. Okay. But actually I'm here on this earth and I still have some time to share the gospel. And, you know, the verse that made a big difference to me was in John 20. And Jesus said to the, the disciples, as the father sent me, I am sending you. I just, well, that applies to me. Yeah. That as the father sent Jesus, he sent me and he came to be a witness to the truth. And all I have to do is just tell people who Jesus is and who he is to me and that, and I could do that. I mean, I think a starting place is you probably have a friend that doesn't know the Lord or an acquaintance or somebody, maybe someone at the gym or just something, someone, whatever, someone you could even write a letter to. Yeah. Someone you could even pick up a phone and say, Hey, this was really on my heart. I love you so much. I didn't want to just take another day, let another day go by without telling you who Jesus is to me. What do you think about him? Like it is not that hard. It's just, I mean, it's hard, but it's simple. It's very simple. But you have to take an initiative and step out of the boat and put out into the depths for, for a catch, right? We could, we can make the sermons. I bet many of us listening could, could teach the message to Christians, but we have to do it. And that's hard for everybody. Like, I think you, you hit nail on the head, you always are the first one you speak to is always difficult. Could you speak about it? Does it get easier after you've broken through that? Yeah, it just becomes something that's just a natural. It's just, yeah, natural. And, you know, every time I go out and even with like the first person I talk to, I try to just like, when I, as soon as I get out of my car and watch the street, like I try to just encounter someone right away and just get that out of the way. Yeah. And then just roll with it. If I'm like, Oh, waiting and like, I wonder it's like, I'll walk around aimlessly for 10 minutes trying to like find someone with all these people are walking by me. Yeah. So I just try to like find the first person that I see and just go, Hey, can I just share some good news? Yeah, I just want to let you know Jesus loves you. He has an amazing plan for your life, you know, and sometimes, and then I'll just sit there and kind of like, you know, if they're listening, well, I'll just sit there and let them kind of process a couple seconds. And sometimes they'll respond and that'll start a conversation. You know what I mean? And then if they walk away, you know, just say, Hey, God, bless you. And if they say, yeah, like I, I believe it. And you just say, you're, you're actually his favorite person. Like he loves you so much. You know, I want you to call me up every day, just and I remember those girls. I was like, bless you. Jesus loves you. And the girls all sometimes you just you got to get out of the way like, okay, well, that does happen. You know, you just like you said, you just move on to the next one. And you know, it's pretty funny. But one thing I've seen you do, Pastor Bob, is you're great just having fun with people. Yeah, just making a good interpersonal connection. Humor is huge. I try to do this. You just joke around people are having a good conversation and things will just come up. I mean, you just share things. It doesn't have to be this Mysterio. No, weird. Well, I think there's you were asking, I think that you can also invite someone to your house, dinner, your barbecue with some of your friends. Yeah. You know, those things are very relationally oriented and they make somebody comfortable, you know, so, you know, there's not a total stranger maybe. So there's all flavors of evangelism also. Like you said, also in like a restaurant, being able to like just, you know, throw out some bait, see if it's, you know, obviously people are busy there, they're working, or maybe they're not at times. And I've had it where I prayed with people and, you know, the server or the cook or the, you know, and then they become, I've had a couple over there just become friends with you. I know, like, they just look to see you and like, you know, and they'll come to you, like with prayer requests too, like later, it's kind of weird. Yeah, build relationships. Great. Yeah, you build relationships. You share as much as it's available for you to share. And you, you don't always have to go from A to Z in every conversation. You know, it's whatever's open to you. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's, you know, restaurants, especially are like, it's so easy. For me, when the server brings me my food, I just say something like, Hey, we were just going to bless our food. Is there any way we can like include you in that blessing? Yeah. And if you weren't it like that, I'm telling you everyone wants a blessing. Right. Yeah. Everyone. I don't care if they're whatever they're into. Everyone is looking for some kind of blessing. That's a great one. You know, we were in Denny's one time in Manteca, like a long time ago, and there was a huge group of us, probably always open people. And I like said that to the server, you know, and she's handing out a lot of food. It's kind of chaotic in there. And I just said, Hey, we're going to bless our food. Can we include you in the blessing? And she was just like, you want to like me? And we're like, yeah, and she ended up breaking down. And like, by the end of the thing, we like led her to the Lord. Like, she was just like, ended up giving us this speech about how she was just going through all this hard times. And Jesus totally just brought us right to her. Yeah, yeah. And if I didn't say that, that probably she would have just kept on one about her day doing her job. Absolutely. Jesus encountered her life in such a powerful way, just because I asked if I could include her in our blessing that we were already doing. Yeah. I just invited somebody into what we were already doing. Right. I didn't make some spiritual spooky things. Right. Hey, right now, we're going to pray in the name of Jesus. Everybody. You know what I mean? One time we were at this. We're okay. Oh, we're doing story. No, I won't share this story. But yeah, I mean, so there's there's ways that can be done. I'll share with you guys. No, that's that's really, really good. That's a great one for people, people to use it to practical one. Yeah. A few other just real practical ones is you'll see somebody with a tattoo. And if you like the tattoo, tell them I like your tattoo. What is that? What's that mean to you? Yeah. And it usually means something. One time, a guy said what it means is I spent a lot of time in prison. Okay, well, let's talk about that. I'm like, all right, sweet. You know, but they're usually it means something. And also, a lot of people are wearing cross necklaces, cross tattoos, cross earrings. And you go, oh, you see, you have a cross. Does that mean something to you? Is that significant to you? Any religious symbol, really? Or if they have a shirt that they're wearing that says something, you say, oh, interesting. I like, you know, you talk about it. You make an observation and you just bring it up. If they wouldn't billboard it, they wouldn't billboard it if they didn't want people to take notice of it. And so what you'll just say is like, what is that significance to you? And then here's the magic you listen. Yeah. So like I would say this is what was the hardest lesson for me to learn was preaching the gospel isn't about preaching the gospel. It's about listening. It's about asking questions and listening and relating to people. And then once you've tried that door and it's open, you preach the gospel, you bring in, you bring in the sword. So a lot of times we pray, Lord, would you just open a door today for me? And we expect someone to come up and say, what must I do to be saved? Right. But actually, maybe the Lord is unlocking a door. And you're not going to know that it's unlocked unless you actually jiggle that handle a little bit and you go, Oh, okay, this is open unless you talk to that waitress, you're not going to know, unless you offer that blessing, you will not be trying that door. You don't know what doors are open. Also, I believe if you give someone the opportunity to speak, then just because of the way we're designed, their heart comes out. Oh, right. Their heart comes out. Absolutely. It must come out because that's the only that's the that's the way out. And so you get their heart. You don't get just, you know, and so you're opening a door for them, actually. Yeah, which is a great thing. Yeah, I can't tell you how many times for me and for my wife, I mean, like multiple times in a week where my wife will just call me and be like, that was so rad. I'm like, what happened? And she's like, well, I was out this listing and this lady just started like unloading her whole life on just sat there and listen, and she allowed me to pray for her. And like, you know what I mean, that happens to her all the time, right, you know, because she's willing to like not just go, Oh, I'm not I'm doing my business thing. And you know what I mean, she's willing to like do life with people, no matter who they are, you know what I mean? And she's if you know, there's someone that she knows needs to sit there and just listen her to listen for how long she'll sit down and just listen to them. Well, it's amazing. She's awesome. Because we have such a great evangelist society that is so caught up in their own life, that there's no room for someone to hear someone else's life. And so you have a bunch of people running around on this planet who are looking for a venue to speak. And right. And so sometimes they get in these weird unrestricted venues like Facebook where they start rattling off weird stuff. I'm not on any. You don't you don't read those. Those don't change your mind. I'm not on Facebook anymore. So I haven't been there for a year. Those don't make a difference. We don't have a warm religious mouth. Yeah, right. But it but it's strange because they have they're looking for a venue, a vehicle to speak. Yeah, they're just listening for someone that will listen to it. They want to be heard. Yeah. And so there's a perfect thing because you in the person of Jesus Christ is you're listening, you're hearing. And they're guess what? It's their confession that's going to actually bring them to Jesus is going to actually cause them to repent and actually come to him. It's not your. It's not you. It's them. It's their faith. It's you know. And so they're they're looking for a place. They're look, you know, everyone is looking for a place like that, especially in the society we're in now. You hear in America, they just they have no voice, you know, other than strange voices. Yeah, you know, anyway, whatever that's. No, that and that will if if you've listened to someone, you can say, oh, that's really, I love what you said. Do you mind if I share my thoughts on that? And then you just weave the Lord in and they'll listen to you. They have to. You already listened to them. They owe it to you, you know, I'm just kidding, but conversational etiquette. But there's there's an adventure out there. And I just want people to hear that Jesus is calling you. And he's saying the harvest is plentiful. The laborers are few. Pray the Lord of the harvest to send laborers and then go. The very next sentence in Matthew, he sends them into the harvest. And so if you want the adventure of your Christianity, and you want the encounters, you want the testimonies, you want to know the fullness of everything we've been called to, and you want the heart of God, go labor with him in his field, go work with your dad with the plow out in the field. And you'll not only see people get saved, you'll get to know God. Right. I've I've gotten to know God so much better through evangelism. A lot of times than in church, or even reading my Bible by myself, just going out, that's all vitally important. But going out and sharing, you learned so much about him. You get wild at him. Like it's what I found is that you go like, wow, how did that? How did you do that? Your your faith gets built, I believe in that process too. So I think sometimes you come away a lot more built up than the than you did. Yeah, the building you did sometimes. Absolutely. Do you remember the first person you led to Jesus? No names, but do you remember the first time? I do. You do? Yeah. Long time ago, I can believe it. Yeah. Yeah. You got me addicted. It got me. I was like, okay, Lord, this is what I'm going to do the rest of my life. I love it. You know, because that kid was was lost. He was didn't know. And I'm like, wow, he he came to the Lord. Yeah, like he surrendered his life to Jesus. And all I had to do was just listen to him and say a couple words and encourage him. And it could it would change his entire eternal destiny. Yeah. How could I not try that? How could I not do that more? That's, you know, that's the addiction we should have. You know, but I wanted to let Jez, if you want to have any closing prayer for people listening just to pray over them and activate them. Yeah. And just even, you know, whatever is on your heart to release. Thank you. Yeah, we'll be done. Yeah. Thank you. God, we thank you that you have given us the power in the authority, Lord, the same power and the same authority that Jesus had in his life. You have given to us as sons and as daughters of you, the Most High God, the creator of the universe. So I just pray right now, God, in the name of Jesus, that you would begin to stir us up, Father God, on the inner man, that you would begin to stir us in such mighty powerful ways that it moves us to act with our bodies. Yeah. In the name of Jesus, Lord, I pray that you will help us, Lord, to understand how our bodies and our souls and our spirits are connected. Yes. And when you speak to our spirit, it's so that our body and our soul will respond. Thank you. And so I just thank you. God, I pray, heart of compassion be unlocked and be opened in the name of Jesus. And Lord, right now also, I just pray for anybody that is in any kind of pain, whether it's body, soul, or spirit. And I take authority over that pain in the name of Jesus, and I say, be healed and pain be gone and be replaced with comfort and with joy. I pray, Lord, salvation and healing in the mighty name of Jesus. Thank you, my God. Bless you, my God. Yeah. So, Lord, amen. Who will we send? Will you go? Yeah. We'll see you next time. Thank you for joining us. Be sure to subscribe to get the latest episode. And for more information, visit spiritschoolofministry.com. (upbeat music)