Yeah. Welcome to Passion for Christ, a ministry of Utah Partnerships for Christ. In Acts 26, 18, Jesus said, Paul's purpose was to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light. and from the power of Satan unto God. That they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.
We hope you'll join us for today's testimony of lives changed by the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Now let's begin today's episode. Imagine you're standing in a life. Size version. Over 500 feet long as described by Ray Flynn a moment ago. Noah's Ark?
Right? Especially as much rain as we've had here lately. You're looking for a rainbow. But the good news is the gospel is coming. We got Russ East and Ray Flynn right now on location.
But as you're processing all that, you can be thinking about, you know, when did God ask you to something, do something that just seemed to make absolutely no sense. Like he asked Noah, go out there and build a boat. You've never seen rain. But what you need right now is on right now. Yeah.
And Rusty's, he's on even though he doesn't know he's on. Yes, I'm on right now. Yeah. So, Russ, we got Russ and Ray on at the same time.
So, Russ, what do you want to say to Ray? Ray, this is so cool. This is just so close. I'm in front of the door. And this is I am the door.
Whoever enters through me will be saved. This is all this. You know, when God told Noah to build the ark to survive the flood, he would spend it upon an exceedingly wicked world. He instructed Noah to put one door in the side of the ark. There's a whole plaque here that talks about this door and how it relates to Christ.
And Jesus is the door, and I'm walking through this with my son, and it's just incredible. All the, it's kind of like you said, Ray, it's hard to put into words, but it's. It's a re repl a true replica of what this arc really was and how God preserved his people. and how he showed So much mercy. He was long-suffering.
The true story of Noah and the Ark is all about. Faith and obedience and judgment and future things to come. And it talks about how that. When Jesus returns, the world will be like in the days of Noah. You know, so there's so much going on here, Robbie and Ray.
I can't even hardly talk. I'm so. I'm so excited. I'm walking around here. Where am I right now?
I'm on deck two. I'm on deck two. We walked through deck one. We're on deck two, and they have all these like animatronic things, all these cages. Meet out the wood, you know, with the animals and stuff.
So, not real lions. Dinosaurs, man. No, but dinosaurs. They're not a little scary. They're a little scary.
They're a little scary. I have to be honest. I tell you, it's very realistic. And they go like the big water bottles and things, and all the details, like just how did they survive on the ark for all these days and so on. And the clean animals and the unclean animals and things like that.
Yeah, I think it's a good idea. It's really incredible. And just so much history that they map out for you.
So, if Truth Network listeners want to organize a group to come out here, I'll help you put it together. There's hotels nearby. And I'll help you with all the details.
So that's a possibility.
So, I think that's something we want to be praying about and talking to Ray about. And let's get a truth travel trip. to the arc.
So amazing place. Chris, I just want to drive this home. This is, at this very moment, your first experience with the Ark? Yes, it is. And for our listeners, I mean, I think they can tell, but this is what happens.
daily. When people arrive there, they're just blown away with how big, how massive, and then to think Noah had the faith to do what God called him to do. And then, what is God calling us to do? And if Noah could do this, all right, what can we do big for God? Exactly.
It's inspiring. That is so true.
So, pastors, don't give up. Don't give up, pastors. You're trying to give out a warning call. You're trying to share the gospel. Don't give up.
Noah did this for how many years? He was faithful. That's the key, right? 120 years are pretty. That's kind of been your experience for those people every day when they come in and they have that kind of excitement.
It's a great time to share the gospel, right? It's amazing. Yeah, we get to do that every single day. But I was listening to what you guys were talking about, and you're talking about having a vision and what has God done that was like that art type moment. You need to understand that whenever the art called me and said, hey, would Abraham Productions bring an event here?
We came up and met with them and we were talking to them about doing a three or four day event. Those meetings went great. And I left from here and I thought to myself, God, why is it that I just don't have a peace about this? And I got home. And I was driving down to the beach.
I live in Wilmington, North Carolina. And during that drive, I was thinking about everything that Russ is experiencing right now. I've walked through the ark. I thought about all the scripture about how all of that took place and how it rained 40 days and 40 nights. And during that period of time, wickedness had increased upon the face of the earth, and God's judgment was being poured out.
But today we live in a period of God's grace. And I thought, man, what would it be like if God was pouring out his blessings for forty days and forty nights at the Ark? And so I came back to him and I said, hey, I've got a vision here to do a forty days of Christian music. And so we stepped out. Listen to this, guys.
We stepped out in twenty twenty during a worldwide pandemic when they said there would not be any more mass gatherings, that you wouldn't see big sporting events, you wouldn't see big concerts, and we announced that we were going to do the largest Christian music festival in the world. And last year, the World Record Academy recognized this event as being the largest Christian music festival in the world. That's God. That's God. Yeah, absolutely huge.
And absolutely spectacular.
So, as you're thinking about that, you know. You've had something happen in your life that you've been. You know, it might have led two or three people, or one person to Christ just blew your mind, right? And so, you know, that one person may be the key to generations of something.
So, we would love your calls. 866-348-7884. We would love to hear from you. You know, you're. Know a moment what that may have felt like when again this rain started and all of a sudden, oh, look what's happening.
866-3487884. And so, Rusty, you Did you fly over there and how did you, where did you fly? No, we've been driving. My son, he's going to Liberty University and to go to Utah. Yeah, fifteen hundred miles away or so.
We've been driving through, and we wanted to stop here at the ARC. And enjoy this amazing time. And I did an interview with Dr. Perdum, who's speaking after the concert today. And she just shared about how, you know, how God cleansed the earth of sin through water, through the flood.
And I'm looking at this painting, an artist's rendition of it, and it's tragic, it's overwhelming the way this. Arthur has done this. But then she talked about how in the interview How that God is going to someday do another big judgment, and that's through fire. And it's mind-boggling, but. It's when we think about the grace of God that's there.
Boy, we just want people to hear about the gospel message, the good news. The bad news and the good news that completely eclipses the bad news, but you have to receive it. And so I just want to encourage, if you don't know Christ as your Savior, please talk to somebody at a good local church or call the truth network, call any of us and we'll help you. Understand how to put your faith in Christ alone. And so then you can.
be covered by The the perfect sacrifice the Lamb of God Jesus himself. Yeah, so when you would need Hear the name Noah, you may not think other than I know a guy, but I you know as Peter Rosenberger put it that sometimes my humor bar is a little bit low, but as he, you know, tried to set the whole thing like a You know, somewhere of a limbo competition. You know, he set the bar so low, I would just have to say that it was like a long worm, you know, that's down on the. But nonetheless, Noah, his name was that he would comfort his people, right? And it's an amazing thing when you think of the idea of grace.
You think of favor. And when somebody is your favorite, then they're getting great favor, right? And you know what it's like to be around somebody and they treat you like they're your favorite?
Well, they're having grace for you, they favor you.
Well, you think about it, Noah being the only person that family that got to live, obviously he was God's favorite. But it also said that Noah is the first person to find grace in God's eyes.
Well, his name backwards in Hebrew. is grace. No uh Spelled backwards in Hebrew spells grace, and he was the first to find it. Right, as he got saved through that arc, through that door that Ray's talking about, Russ. Again, we need to be praying for these 40 days.
We got 26 left. We'll be right back with a whole lot more arc encountering. We'll be right back for the rest of today's testimony. Please know we at Utah Partnerships for Christ have been planting seeds of the gospel in Utah for over 24 years. We welcome any questions you may have and invite you to visit our website to obtain a list of words and definitions that would help you understand how Mormons think and how to be able to better witness to your friends who belong to the Mormon Church.
That website is w dot upfc.org. That's upfc.org. We'll be right back. Welcome to Passion for Christ, a ministry of Utah Partnerships for Christ. In Acts 26:18, Jesus said, Paul's purpose was to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God.
that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. We hope you'll join us for today's testimony of lives changed by the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Now let's begin today's episode. Imagine standing inside a life-size replica of Noah's Ark, three decks hundreds of feet long towering over you. It's more than just a tour stop. It's a chance to step into the pages of Genesis to see how God preserved a family, his creation, throughout the greatest judgment the world has ever seen.
Well, today on Truth Talk Live, we're talking about this arc encounter. And actually, Unbelievably, over 800 people received the gospel there just recently through these. amazing events put on by Ray Flynn and so As you're thinking about that today, we would love your comments, your thoughts about. Right? How has God challenged you like that?
Like he challenged Noah to say he asked you to do something that seemed crazy at the time, but you stepped into it And it's amazing, you ended up with a rainbow. 866-348-7884. 866-348-7884. Welcome, Ray. Hey, brother, how are you doing?
Thank you so much for having me on. Oh, we're excited as we can be. You know, the harvest is. Is amazing out there. You actually have events going on today, from what I understand.
Actually, we just started day number fourteen of the forty, and the concert kicked off right at four o'clock.
So I opened up in prayer, got that started, and I ran down here because I wanted to talk to you. That's so awesome.
So awesome. And so I, you know, having been to the ark, and I know I'm here with my Dr. Date the word Carson, and he's been to the Ark. This is one of the most amazing things you could ever come to. And so it's, it, it's kind of those people standing there have to be in awe.
The fear of the Lord has to be kind of right present, right? It's amazing because people come into this place and they park out in the parking lot. Whenever they come in, it's almost built like Disney to give you the wow factor because you come through all these turns and then all of a sudden you come over a hill and there you see the life size Noah's Ark.
Now, for people that have never really studied that, that arc is 510 feet long, and it's almost Uh eighty-five Feed Ha. And so it's pretty massive. It's a massive, massive ship. And people come into the park, they walk through the ark, they read the different scriptures. And you look at all of God's handiwork, and then you come out of the ark, there's a big zoo out behind it, there's some virtual reality where you can go back in time and literally watch Noah and his sons building the ark.
And then at four o'clock. There's a big free concert. And the concert is for anybody who is in the park. I mean, once you have paid admission to come into the Ark Encounter, you can come into the concert for free.
So they have been absorbing God's Word all day long. They've just been seeing all of these things with the Bible coming to life. And then they think they're just going to come into a concert that's going to be fun and great with big names. And it is all of that. But then in the middle of every concert.
we stop and we will have a message from God's Word. And in just the first uh twelve days We've had eight hundred and thirty-four people follow Christ. Uh and save you. Yes. Wow, what an opportunity we all have is to pray into that if Yeah, you know I just it's it's more than amazing.
And you've still got obviously somewhere in the neighborhood of twenty-six days left. We do. We do. And we're looking forward to it because this event You think about how big the sounds just being in the first two weeks. But this event continues to build and the names of artists that are coming and the speakers that we have coming, that continues to build as well.
And so by the time that we get to the end, which is on September the sixth, It's like everybody has watched God do so many things. It is like a praise party for that last big concert. Russ, I know you're chomping at the bit. What else you got for us? And with Dr.
Perdum, would you mind sharing with us a little bit about your role at Answers and Genesis? Sure.
So I've been with Answers and Genesis for 19 years now, and I'm the Vice President of Educational Content and Director of Research.
So I wear a lot of different hats here at AIG. I speak, I write, direct research. I'm the editor-in-chief for our technical journal, Answers Research Journal. I oversee the magazine, educational programs, kind of a lot of stuff that has to do with the great content and resources that we produce here at Answers and Genesis. Super, and I'm here at the Ark right now in Kentucky, and just uh Just really, just so grateful for this amazing facility.
Would you share with our listeners, Dr. Perdham, as to the role that the ARC has in helping get the word of God into people's hearts and minds and lives, and just the importance of this particular? It's quite a place. It is. Yeah, it's an experience.
It's an encounter, the art encounter. Uh-huh. Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, one of the things we know that Genesis is one of the most questioned books of the Bible, right? It's where people really doubt what has happened there because we've just been indoctrinated through school, through TV, through the internet, all of these resources saying that evolution is true, millions of years is true, the ark never happened, you know, all of those things.
And so, but then that casts doubt, right, on the truthfulness and authority of God's word. And if we can't trust it at the beginning, why should we trust any of the rest of it, right? And what we want to help people do is see that the word of God is true from the very first verse to the very last verse. And not only that, but it really does matter, right? It really does matter to our faith.
It really does matter to the very gospel message itself. Because if we can't trust ourselves, Trust that first book of the Bible, then why should we trust anything else that's written in the Bible? And what we also need to realize is that Genesis is really foundational to the very gospel itself. Because why do we need a Savior?
Well, because of what happened in Genesis chapter 3, because Adam and Eve sinned, we all descend from them, therefore we're all sinners, right? And so that is why we need Jesus Christ.
So we really have, I always like to say we have the bad news in Genesis so we can have the good news of Jesus Christ. We get with the problem of sin in Genesis, we've got the solution to sin in Jesus Christ. And, you know, one of the things that I will be sharing this evening in my talk is really helping people see the connections between Noah's Ark and the gospel. Because just like the ark had one door in which Noah and his family and the animals went on to be saved, Jesus Christ is that one door by which we can go through the only way by which we can be saved. And I want them to see those connections, right?
It's really what we see with the Ark and Noah is sort of a shadow, right, of what is to come in the New Testament with Jesus Christ. And so it's just a great fulfillment of that. And we really want people to be strong in their faith, be confident in their faith, and be encouraged in it.
Well, amen to that. And if you were to share the website, what would be the website for Answers in Genesis? I'm sure they could just Google that, Answers in Genesis, but maybe would you want to share the website and how people can even contribute to support Answers in Genesis? Right.
So our main website is answersandgenesis.org.org. And then we also have websites for the Ark Encounter and the Creation Museum.
So archencounter.com, creationmuseum.com. You can go to those to get more information on that. And we always, you know, we are a non-profit ministry. And so we are supported by donations. And so those are really important to our ministry to be able, we see ourselves as an equipping ministry, right?
We want to equip the church with the answers of our age, whether it's about science or culture or whatever it may be. And we also want to challenge non-believers with the truth of God's word so that we might effectively lead them to the gospel.
So this This is ministry. This is why we do what we do. Yeah, this is all about discipleship, evangelism, equipping the church. And speaking of that, I think bringing a group out. Like, you think about your past memories of a family vacation and you think about some of the great memories that we've all had when we've been on a family vacation.
Imagine if the Truth Network family of listeners were to schedule a trip to the Ark Encounter. Would you guys be excited if we could do that? We would be very excited to do that. You know, that's what we're all about here. And it really is building memories that last a lifetime.
One of my favorite things to do is actually get on the bus that brings the guest up to the ark encounter. And I always love to see guests see the ark for the first time because we round a bend basically and you see the ark and they're like, whoa. Like you can just hear people gasp. I've seen people cry. Like they're just so.
So strengthened in their faith, right? To think this is real. This really happened. And the ark isn't too. I think we get this idea because, in a lot of even Christian materials, the ark is presented very cute, right?
And very small. And then you see it for real, you see it built in biblical proportions. You're like, whoa, you're confronted with that truth, right? Oh, yeah, that could last a worldwide flood that lasted a year. You know, that could house the animals and the people and their families.
And so I think it just brings that truth of God's word to life, right? That's what we're trying to do. I think there are so many layers of biblical Message behind the ark. There's faith, there's trust. There's obedience.
There's so many things. And doesn't it say that before Jesus comes back, that the world will be like it was in the days of Noah? I think I talks about it. Right, I'm going to talk about those verses actually later. That, you know, this is the, you know, we just like there was a judgment in Noah's day, there's going to be another judgment coming.
It won't be by water. It will be by fire. And God is long-suffering, right? He really wants, he wants everyone to come to know him. And so that is what we're all about: helping people know that gospel by helping them know that God's word is true.
I'm with Dr. Georgia Perdum with Answers in Genesis. It's been a pleasure to have this time with you, Dr. Perdum. And I just want to ask all of you out there to say a prayer because it'll get you in tune.
It'll have God get your heart in tune with His heart when you pray. And then, Pray about bringing a group out. Pastors, Sunday school teachers, moms, dads, grandpas, everybody listening out there, think about getting in contact with me, Russ East. And I'll help you put together the trip. Lord willing, we can do this with your church, with your school, with your university, Christian school.
This is a must. It really, really is. Before we sign off for today, please know that all of us here at Utah Partnerships for Christ appreciate your prayers and support. We are also available to do Zoom call workshops or personal coaching on reaching Mormons for Christ. Contact us today at upfc.org.
That's upfc.org. Thanks so much for joining us on another edition of Passion for Christ.
