Evangelism With Robby

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This is the Truth Network. Darrell Bock Welcome to If Not For God, stories of hopelessness that turn to hope. Here is your host, Mike Zwick. Mike Zwick If Not For God with Mike Zwick, how good. I get to be back here in the studio with my good friend, and Mike, you got evangelism on your heart. Mike Zwick Got evangelism on my heart, man.

Yeah, I heard a story. There's a guy who wrote a book, and he talks about a fictional conversation between Jesus and the angel Gabriel. And it was after Jesus had already ascended into heaven, and so Gabriel asked Jesus. He said, Jesus, what is your plan for getting the Word of God, for getting the gospel out to the whole world? He said, and Jesus said to him, he says, well, I've told Peter, I've told James, I've told John and a few other people, know the good news that if you believe in me, that you'll have eternal life. And he said, I've entrusted it to those people to be able to get the gospel out to the whole world. And so Gabriel looks at him, and he said, well, what is your contingency plan? What is your plan B if this doesn't work out? And Jesus said to him, he said, there is no contingency plan.

There is no plan B. This is the plan for me to get the word out to the whole world. And so 2,000 years later, I believe that's still the truth. I've heard, we've talked about near-death experiences and where people have actually had encounters with angels and stuff like that. I heard a story one time about where an angel had actually come to somebody and they said, well, you know, you need to tell this person about the gospel.

And they actually took him to him. And the guy said, well, why don't you just tell him? He said, that's not our job. He said, it's the job, God has given the job to humans to share the gospel throughout the whole world. And so I got a few Bible verses pulled up on evangelism and it's 2 Corinthians 5.20 says, we are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God.

That's a good one. 2 Timothy 2.15, do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. 2 Timothy 4.5, but you keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry. Acts 2.38, Peter replied, Peter replied, repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

And then Acts 21.8, leaving the next day, we received Caesarea and stayed at the house of Philip, the evangelist, one of the seven. And so when I think about evangelism, you know, a couple of things. The first thing is that in 1 Corinthians 12, I believe in 1 Corinthians 14 as well, you can check out those two chapters, but specifically in 1 Corinthians 12, it talks about that there's different gifts who are given to people. Some are apostles, some have the gift of healing, some have the gift of... And in 1 Corinthians 14, it talks about prophesying, about how if somebody comes into your congregation, he says, if you're all speaking in tongues, he said, they're going to think you've lost your mind. He said, but if somebody prophesies and speaks into their life and they know that the Lord is speaking to them, that it's going to pierce their heart and that they're able to, then they'll be willing to listen to the gospel. But, you know, I do believe that all of those gifts actually go back to the gift of evangelism. And what we're trying to do is to share Jesus with a loss in a dying world because Jesus is the only one who saves. Now, that being said, I believe that healing, the gift of healing is a great tool to be able to share the gospel. If you pray for somebody and, you know, I've seen this happen before, seen this happen, talked to people who this happened before, a lady named Esther, who we have a prayer meeting with every Monday morning, and she prayed for a guy who was blind and he received his sight.

Well, guess what? He said, I want to follow this Jesus guy. There have been other people who have raised people from the dead. There's a guy actually in, I think he's in Burlington today, and today's Thursday, but he actually has the gift where he's raised 20-some people from the dead.

2019, when I started this, started getting on the radio, I ran into a guy over in Reedsville, North Carolina, and this guy wasn't selling, he wasn't selling books, he wasn't selling CDs, he wasn't doing any of that. He was in his 80s and he said, Mike, he says, I've got to tell you something. I said, what's that? He said, there was a time where I was driving my car and I was driving down the side of the road and he said that when I was driving there was a guy on the side of the road who was dead. I said he was dead. He said he was stone, he was stone dead. He said, I checked his pulse, he was dead. He said, but I prayed for this guy that God would raise him from the dead. And he said, and the guy all of a sudden woke up and he said, this guy looked at me and he, the first thing he said is, are you in hell too? And he said, no, he said, but God has given you a second chance. And so this guy had told the guy who had died and then come back to life. He had told this guy who had prayed for him and then he was raised from the dead.

He said that he had seen his friends who were in hell and he talked about how hot it was and stuff like that. And so if we really believe that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life, and we really believe in heaven and hell, then, you know, I think in some way, shape or form, we're going to want to share the gospel with people. But Robbie, you said something when I first started doing this show, you said that Jesus actually talked about making disciples.

Is that right? Matthew 28, right? The great commission, which of course was always very attractive to me as a salesman, the idea of a great commission always great commission is actually go ye therefore and make disciples of all nation, baptizing them in the name of the father and the son and teaching them right to obey everything I command you.

And I'll be with you even at the end of the age. It's a fascinating thing. And, you know, it's a wonderful, wonderful gift, right? To be able to share your faith with somebody.

And, you know, there's, there's lots of ways to look at doing that, but, you know, it's, it's fascinating to me. You'd mentioned the book of Acts and there you have a situation where obviously 3000 people at Peter's preaching that day came to Christ. But when you look at the events of what had happened just a few weeks before that, Peter had denied Christ just a few weeks before that it wasn't long. And he was turned from this obviously hurting, deeply broken person. You know, the day of Jesus is crucifixion to, you know, sharing the good news in such a way that 3000 people not only believed in Jesus, but got baptized and went on to be disciples because it says, and after that they didn't, you know, cease from breaking and bread and fellowship doctrine and prayer.

All those things happened as a result. So, you know, if you got an interest, I'll share with you something absolutely amazing that's in the Song of Solomon that you may not think of as an evangelical book or one that was going to lead to evangelism. But actually there's a sort of picture of what Peter went through to give you an idea of why he was so effective as an evangelist. So in the fifth chapter you have this sort of, let's go back to the Garden of Gethsemane for a minute, right, or let's go back to Last Supper. Peter had said, you know, I'm your guy, Jesus, you know, you know, everybody else may fall away, but I'm your guy.

And so when you think about that, and you know this from going to boot camp, that people have poses and they think that they're something that they're not. And so they wear a mask, and Peter's mask was, you know, I'm your guy, I'm going to handle this. And so Peter himself believed what his own press at that point in time, but it wasn't long thereafter that they were in the garden, and Jesus said, would you pray with me? And what happened to Peter? He was asleep at the wheel, and he was asleep at the wheel to ask that he not be, you know, led into temptation.

Just like Jesus said, you need to be praying, man, this is big. So in the Song of Solomon, it says, I slept, but my heart was awake. Chapter 5, verse 2. And it says, you know, my beloved, his voice, he called to me, he said, open to me, my head is filled with dew, my locks with the drops of the night.

Well, what does it sound like? What did Jesus's head do that night in the Garden of Gethsemane, right? He was asleep, but Peter's heart was awake, and then the beloved asked Peter to stay awake, and he didn't, right? Well, then interestingly, she says in the Song of Solomon, right, I can't get up. You know, I've taken off my coat. Must I put it back on again? She says that I've washed my feet.

Must I defile them? And it says that my beloved stuck his hand through the hole in the door, and my inside screamed for him, right? In other words, Jesus has the key to our heart, and that's what it's describing is this is the bride of Christ who was asleep, but now Jesus's hand comes through the door, and interestingly, it says my hands dripped with myrrh, my fingers with drops of sweet-smelling myrrh, and then it says I got up, but my beloved had gone.

I called for me, wouldn't answer. My soul failed when he spoke, and then it says, interestingly, and this is my favorite part, maybe of the book, maybe of the whole Scriptures, it says the watchmen on the wall, they found me, they beat me, they bruised me, they took away my veil, those watchmen on the walls. Well, think about Peter that night.

What happened? Right? He was walking around the walls, and those watchmen, they said, hey, weren't you the guy?

Yeah. Yeah, and he was like, no, no, no, no. Jesus, what? And when you think about what they actually did that night for Peter, which was one of the biggest services Peter ever had, was they beat him that night, and they bruised him, and they took away his mask, and Peter got to see who Peter was, which was a significant issue. Well, once Peter got a look at who he was, it wasn't very pretty, and he didn't have Jesus here to cover for him, right?

Because cock crowed three times, and next thing you know. Well, the way the Song of Solomon goes, the next thing that happens is she says, oh, daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you by the, you know, that if you see my love, tell him I'm sick with love. Well, when did you ever walk up to somebody and said, hey, if you see Jesus, hey, you know, just, daughters of Jerusalem, that's all the people in Jerusalem, which happened to be the people there at Pentecost, if you happen to see Jesus, tell him, hey, Peter, Robbie, I'm right here, I'm sick, I'm really sick, I'm in a bad place, and he was, right? And then they say something fascinating, that, by the way, if you really approach somebody with that question, like I just said, chances are they're going to say the same thing the daughters of Jerusalem said that day, in my opinion to Peter, is what is thy beloved more than any other beloved that you would make us promise to say you're sick with love?

What's your beloved that's more than any other beloved? So people are looking at your life, and they're asking that question, what is the big deal with Jesus in this guy's life? Or maybe they're not asking that, okay? But if you're really, really madly in love with Jesus, people see that in your eyes, and they're asking, what is the big deal with Jesus and this guy?

Why is this guy this way, right? And believe me, that day at Pentecost, all those people saw that in Peter's eyes. They just did. And so the bride, in the case of the Song of Solomon, then goes out and gives us 10 amazing descriptions of why Jesus is the best thing since sliced bread. I mean, essentially, it starts out, he's white and ruddy, and the fairest of our chief is among ten thousands, and goes through his head of gold, and ends up with, you know, lips that are, you know, dripping with myrrh, and he's altogether lovely.

Well, as cool and unbelievable as that, then she says, she says, this is my beloved, this is my friend. Oh, daughters of Jerusalem, what does it mean to be a friend of Jesus? Well, then what happens is you'll see the daughters in chapter 6 turn, and they say to him, to her, whatever the case may be, they say, where is this beloved? Where is he that we can find him?

You know, we want to seek him with you. You see, the fruit of Peter losing his veil, this is what I'm talking about. If we can get real with where we really are with Jesus, right, and sometimes we need the people to show us, call us on our masks, and who we think we are, so that we can get sick with love, right? Because Peter went from, and think about it, right, when Jesus was restoring Peter, he's pretty sick with love, right? Peter, do you love me? Yeah. Peter, do you love me?

Yeah. He went from this really lovesick person realizing he wasn't in Christ anywhere he thought he was, and I say all this to just put hope into all of us. Like, we have to actually find bottoms sometimes spiritually in order to really be usable.

We got to lose the mask. That, I mean, are you really, are we really, really, really so manly in love with Jesus? Do we really believe he's gonna handle the situations in our life? Do people see that peace in your life? Do people see that joy in your life?

That's right. Because if they did, they'd go, what is up, what is up with that Jesus in that guy's life? Yeah, yeah, there's a verse that says, always be ready for anybody who asks you for a reason for the hope that you have within you.

And so what I've heard people say is the problem is with many of us, we're talking about answering questions that nobody's asking, right? I mean, you know, the good thing when I hear him, when I hear him talking about sharing the gospel, and there's a verse, of course, we all know, it says, preach the gospel to all creation. Saint Francis of Assisi took that literally, and he would actually preach to the animals because it said, you know, preach creation. The, but you know, a verse, I think there's a couple, a verse, and then a passage that I think would all really encourage us. Sometimes we try to look at all of these deep things that are, God, what is the deeper meaning behind, or Lord, you know, it's not just enough, which you told us in Matthew chapter five, six, and seven.

I've got to find out the secret meaning of the universe and where, you know, maybe it's not whatever, post-millennialism, amillennialism, pre-trib, post-trib, and it's like, you could spend all of your time on that. And he's like, Jesus has told us some pretty simple stuff. Do one unto others as you shall have them do unto you.

Love your neighbor as yourself, you know, and give to the poor, help the needy, love other people, treat other people with kindness. The meek, he says, shall inherit the earth. And so sometimes I think we can be looking after all of these deeper things and so we forget to do the easy thing, the simple things that Jesus has taught us, right, told us to do right in front of our face. As a matter of fact, Jesus said, he says, take your, take my yoke, for it's easy and my burden is light.

But as far as evangelism, there is a passage in Matthew chapter 13 that I think is a very, very encouraging passage for all of us Christians who are in some way, shape, or form trying to share our faith. Here it is, Matthew chapter 13, verse 1. On the same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the sea and great multitudes were gathered together to him so that he got into a boat and sat and the whole multitude stood on the shore. Then he spoke many things to them in parables saying, behold, a sower went out to sow and as he sowed some seed fell by the way side and the birds came and devoured them. Some fell on stony places where they did not have much earth and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth.

But when the sun was up, they were scorched and because they had no root, they withered away and some fell among thorns and the thorns sprang up and choked them. But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears to hear, let him hear. Why do I say that's encouraging? Jesus has told us to share our faith. He didn't tell us that it's our responsibility what happens afterwards when we share our faith. I think so many times people come, well, how many people have you led to Christ? Well, you know, there's many people that I know who go out there and they're handing tracts out or they're saying, hey, Jesus loves you, or they'll do some nice things for people and maybe they haven't led so many people to Christ or whatever, but according to that parable, it's not up to us how they respond. It's just our job to share our faith, to do our job, and then the word of God says it's up to them. It's up to the Lord. I mean, you look at, you were talking about the book of Acts where 3,000 got saved. I mean, there was a part of Acts where all these people started speaking in tongues and this started happening, that started happening. Man, unless the Lord builds the house, the laborers labor in vain. Unless we pray and ask the Holy Spirit to help us out, you know, if it's up to us on our own, I don't know about you, but I'm going to have a tough time with that, Robbie.

Oh, absolutely. You know, it says no man comes to Christ except the Spirit lead him. And so, you know, one of the most wonderful things that we can do, you know, when we were in Christian Businessmen's Committee, we had a practice of what we call the 10 most wanted. We would list 10 people every week when we had our meetings, and in that time, you know, we would have 10 people on our list that we're praying because again, it is going to be the Lord that eventually, and so one of the most important things you might ever do for that person is pray because obviously it's going to be the Lord that leads them. So prayer is absolutely a huge, hugely, hugely vital issue. And when I think, you know, you've probably heard me tell the story of Joni Hendrix, my friend that was dying of cancer, that I had the opportunity, but it was the prayers from my standpoint that made all the difference in that situation. Not only did it make a difference in the fact that he was alive for the period of time I got to share Jesus with him, but also it was the prayers that Jesus then came to my heart and said, Robbie, this is how you share me with him.

In other words, it wasn't just Robbie figured it out. Oh, this is the right way to the key to his heart. You know, remember the little passage I said, the Song of Solomon says he stuck his hand through the hole in the door. Jesus has the key to everybody's heart.

That's right. And he knows how to do that. And so if he's using you, which I hope he is, right, then from my standpoint, everybody's a little bit different. And Jesus can give you, if you're staying in close communication with him, right, the words to use that particular person that you really are wanting to lead to Christ.

So there's no doubt in my mind that there's a critical aspect of the whole process. So somebody says, I led all these people to Christ, and I'm looking at him like, really? Because I'm pretty sure the way that parable reads, it says that Jesus is the sower in the story, right? If he's the sower, then, you know, we pretty much realize that, you know, yeah, we do our part. But, you know, and again, what he loves is just what you talked about earlier. He loves obedience. He loves that we love these people. He loves that we want them to, you know, we don't want them to go to hell. He loves that we're, you know, we're that concerned about it. But undoubtedly, you know, it's a partnership deal, because apart from me, you can do what, Mike?

Nothing at all. I think it says, what does it say? Obedience is better than sacrifice. Is that right? Yeah. Yeah.

I mean, you know, you go through chapter after chapter, verse after verse. And, you know, when I think about this, a couple of stories I'm reminded of is Richard Wurmbrand. There were people who were up in the mountains where Richard Wurmbrand, I think he went, he had tuberculosis really bad. Do you know the story?

He had tuberculosis really bad. And so they were, there was this Christian couple, older Christian couple, and they said that, you know, for years and years, we have been praying that we would lead a Jewish man to Christ, or that we, that God would bring a Jewish person, a Jewish guy up here, and we would be able to share the gospel with him. And so they, so this guy shared the gospel with Richard Wurmbrand. It was probably maybe the only person he had ever really shared Jesus with or whatever, but they had been praying for years, and then Richard Wurmbrand gave his life to Christ, and now he's, through voice of the martyrs, he's reached millions of people all over the world. Another story, Jerry Falwell, the famous, the preacher who started, was it Liberty University?

Right. Up in, was it Lynchburg, Virginia, and he said that his mother wasn't a great evangelist. He said that, you know, she, she wasn't great at speaking to people, he said, but his whole young life, his mother would, was praying that he would give his life to Christ, and look how many people that he's reached for the kingdom because of his mother's prayers. And, you know, one of the, it's great to be a great evangelist, it's great to be a great preacher, it's great to, you know, to do the work of an evangelist, although sometimes, you know, if you're really successful at something, especially in the Christian ministry, sometimes there could be a little bit of pride that could creep into that, and so maybe we need to watch out for that too.

I heard something really cool this week as Nikita Koloff was interviewing Perry Tuttle, who was a great run, split in for the Clemson Tigers for the national championship. Anyway, he had a a down syndrome brother, and was fascinating what his mother told his down system, brother was, when you go to school today, you know, and this is, his name was Eddie, I think she said, Eddie, I don't want you making fun of any of those kids because the way they look, okay, because they're not going to look like you, you know, and everybody can't be normal like you, so don't make fun of any of those kids. Now, she wasn't talking to Perry, right, she was talking to the down syndrome son, so every day, every day of his life he was told not to make fun of those other kids, so guess what he thought? He thought he was normal.

Right, right, he thought he was, and he thought, wow, I don't need to make fun of these other kids. I think that's, it's profound, and here's why, because, you know, we wouldn't know Christ any more than, because, I mean, we're special needs, I don't know if, or maybe you're not, I am, I'm telling you, I am special needs, and so, like, to make fun of any of those other people is crazy, because, you know, it's only by pure grace and love and all that stuff that I got this, and so how desperately do we need to pray, you know, for those that we know that we love, that they wouldn't spend an eternity? Can you imagine how horrible it would be to be without love?

Yeah. To be, you know, I mean, you know, if you're right there and you don't know Christ, but you remember what it was like to have your mother's love, or a grandmother's love, or a grandfather's love, maybe there's somebody, or can you imagine a whole world with no love, with no joy, and spend an eternity that way? That's right, yeah, I mean, it would be tough, and we're actually going to be part of a revival, Robbie, you're coming to this, where we're going to be sharing the gospel, and it's going to be November 4th, 5th, and 6th, November 4th at 6 p.m., November 5th at 5 p.m., and Sunday at 5 p.m. as well, and it's going to be at the Cox Toyota at the tent next to the Cox, in the field next to the Cox Toyota in Burlington, right? In Burlington, but this way we'll be face-to-face, and if you have any questions about faith or what it means to follow Jesus, we would love to talk to you.

Yeah, absolutely, but you don't have to wait till then, right? If you want to know Jesus right now, you want to know the reason for the hope that I have, is simply, you know, he has brought me this joy, he has brought me this peace, and he's brought me this strength to share him in so many different ways, and so we just ask right now that you would admit, you know, right now, Lord, I need you, I need a Savior, I believe that you are the Son of God, I believe you are who you said you were, that you could be my Savior if I just yielded my life right now to you. Admit and believe that you really are, and then confess that you're a sinner, ask for his blood to cover you and to redeem you, and then what?

Make him, right? Now that you know that and you accepted him, right? You got to go tell somebody, and one of the people you can tell is like, you can go to our websites here at, you know, If Not For God, Mike Zwick on Facebook, or wherever you can reach out to the Truth Network to find any of us, come tell us, right?

Confess that you have accepted him as your Savior, and we want to help you because we're all about what the Great Commission says, we want to help you develop a taste for the Word of God, so get up with us. Mike Absolutely, and you can call me or text me, 336-776-7456, or you can check out If Not For God with Mike Zwick and message me there, but thank you guys so much for listening. We really do appreciate it. It means a lot to us. Chris Yeah, because we'd be, you know, where would we be if not for God? All right, for my YouTube channel, If Not For God with Mike Zwick, just like, subscribe, and hit that notification bell, so you'll be alerted when we have our next video.