Kids Ministry Tools

Welcome to Truth Talk Live. All right, let's talk. A daily program powered by the Truth Network. This is kind of a great thing and I'll tell you why. Where pop culture, current events, and theology all come together.

Speak your mind. And now here's today's Truth Talk Live host. Hey, this is Michael Zwick with another show of Truth Talk Live.

We have a treat for you today. We've got a guy named Josh Wells who has one of the largest Christian YouTube channels in the world. The name of it is called Kids Ministry Tools and right now they've got 286,000 subscribers on their channel. And we are going to be talking about today, Reaching the Youth for Christ. Reaching the Youth for Christ. Josh, are you there? Hey, it's Joshua here.

Hey, brother. Well, I've got a Bible verse today and it's Proverbs 22 verse 6 and it says to train up a child in the way that he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it. And Josh, you have one of the largest Christian YouTube channels in the world, but when you were growing up, I guess in a small town, it kind of, you had some small beginnings. Is that right? Well, a little bit.

My dad was an evangelist for 13 years and so, but we traveled a lot from church to church. But yes, sir. Absolutely, man. And so you've kind of done your thing. You know, I meet some people, they get caught up into drugs and alcohol and they get all of these vices and then later on they come to the Lord, but you kind of came to Christ at a very young age. Is that right?

That is right. I mean, well, I made a profession of faith when I was really little, but I don't remember ever after that doing it. So I got it settled when I was 15 years old. I was laying on my bed and I just knew if I had died that I was lost. And so I got settled when I was 15 November 19, 2004.

Wow. You know it to the exact date. Mine was in July of 2005. And so when you got it settled in your heart and when you decided to follow Jesus fullheartedly, what changed in your life or what happened after that? Well, I grew up in church. I mean, my dad was a pastor for multiple years. He was a youth pastor for 10. Then we went to evangelism. Now he's a pastor. So growing up in the ministry, you hear it all the time. You see it all the time. I mean, the year I got saved until that November, I had already witnessed to literally thousands of people that year.

I mean, we traveled everywhere and that's what we did. But literally there was times I was telling people it. And then in my heart, I'm like, I don't even have this piece. And so I was laying on my bed about, I went to bed about 10. Then finally about one o'clock, I just said, I'm sorry, I got, I got to talk to my dad.

So I went knocked on the door, which is a dangerous thing to do at one 15 in the morning. But it went in there and he took me through the Bible. He said, Hey, you know what?

Well, I want to hear it anyhow. And so he went through the whole thing, plan of salvation and through the Romans road. And I accepted Christ as my savior then. And it was almost like, you know, there's a lot of people today that try and ride on the coattail of the faith of the parents, but until God is real to you, he'll never be real important.

Amen to that brother. And so you've, you know, I think your, your dad is still the pastor, right? That is correct. Yes, sir. And so what is your job at the church now? I'm the children's director as well as the bus director. We have a bus ministry here. I'm also over, I oversee the media department at the church. So before you got into this, before you started this wildly successful Christian YouTube channel, you said you kind of, I mean, you weren't planning on having 286,000 subscribers.

What, what made you start? So, uh, back at COVID hit our children needed something, um, here at our church. And so there wasn't a lot of things I could point them to, especially for like what was the void. The void was Sunday school, uh, junior church, um, personal discipleship for children. A lot of that was missing as well as, uh, I use the term probably a little bit too lightly, but entertainment for kids, there wasn't, you know, you would teach them, Hey, there's certain music. That's okay.

Let's do the certain that's not, but there wasn't something as much that I can point them to. So we were trying to fill the void for our own kids and just given, and YouTube was a simple outlet because it was free to upload things to, and you didn't have to pay for storage or anything like that. And so since it was free, I mean, that's the best option for a territory. And so, uh, that's the direction we went and then, uh, a whole bunch of people started reaching out to us saying, Hey, we love your stuff. And do you mind if we share it? I'm like, I'm sure whatever, that's fine.

And then it just grew from there. And I mean, we're astonished at what the Lord has done. Well, you know, one of the things that I've heard, Josh, is that a lot of people, we, when we go out witnessing, we go to the bus station here in Winston Salem and a lot of these people in their twenties or even fifties and sixties and above. Uh, but you said on one of your channels that are one of your shows, you said that most people actually come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ at what ages?

Uh, usually, well, it's about 85, 80 to 85% of the people that receive the Lord before they're a teenager. And so it's a lot easier for a child. The Bible even says, since you come as the face of a child. And so you've got to have the faith because a child has very easy, very easy faith because, okay, they're provided, they're, uh, they're relying on their parents for the food. So there's a dependency there and understanding of reliance on their parents. Well, to transfer that reliance on God, to get them to a place that otherwise they can't get to faith of a child is a lot simpler faith. We compromise our compromise. We complicate our faith as we get older.

We, you know, when we question God and we question, which is. You know, a dangerous zone to be in, but yet at the same time, that's what the way of the world is, isn't it? Isn't that what the devil did? Absolutely. God said.

Absolutely. And so you, you know, people may be listening and they say, well, okay, that's great. This guy has one of the largest YouTube channels in the world. But even before you ever started this YouTube channel, you said you were witnessing to people and you were also in the kids ministry, I'm assuming. So if there's somebody out there today and they just work a regular nine to five job and then they come home, how would you recommend that they could reach the youth for Christ?

Well, you start with where you are. You've got neighbors, you've got family members. He said to the Jew first and also to the Greek, but also you have to back up even further when the Lord of the house sent forth his servant and he went first to those that were bade to come, he went to people that they were already acquainted with. He went to people with a stature of things that, you know, hey, they've already had an invitation to the supper. And so he went there and they all gave excuse.

Remember? One said I had married a wife, therefore I cannot come and I have two yoke of oxen and the other I think was a field and but they gave excuse. And then he said, okay, well, go to the streets and the lanes. So that's people that are nearby, you know, your street and the lane over here. And he said, go to the hall, the lane, the blind. He said go find people that otherwise don't have a way to get to church themselves.

Go find people otherwise that really nobody else is loving and caring for. And then after that, he said to go to the highways and hedges and compel them to come in. And so after you've successfully done the best that you can to reach those around you, starting with those that you know, and then branching out further to those that are in the streets and lanes down your street, down the next street over.

Then you go after folks that, you know, they're doing without, you know, or they don't have the firmities or something like that. And then he said, go to the highways and hedges. What does the highway do? A highway connects cities together. So you might need to go to the next city. And then he says the hedges, that's the boondocks, you know, that's the way out in the country and reach people as much as you can.

Absolutely. And so, you know, there was I heard somebody recently and they said that they were trying to become successful. They wanted to be a successful businessman. And he said one day he said there the guru came out and he brought him. He said, I want you to meet me in the ocean at the ocean. And he went out to the ocean and he said, keep walking, keep walking, keep walking, keep walking. And he finally got him out to the point where he he couldn't even stand up. And so the guru was holding this guy down. He was holding him down under the water just to the point where he was about to pass out.

And he said he he got him up out of the water and he was gasping for breath and he was barely alive. And the guru looked at the guy and he said, when you want to be successful, as bad as you want to breathe, then you'll be successful. And so what I see in the children's ministry is that when you want to reach the youth for Christ is as bad as you want to breathe.

When you want to do evangelism as bad as you want to breathe, the how will kind of work itself out when you have the desire to want to do it bad enough. And Josh, I see that you are absolutely out there and doing it. And when you come back, we're going to go into kind of some of the details of what you do with your videos, how to reach the people, how to reach the youth for Christ. We'll be back in just a minute. Thank you, Josh. You're listening to the Truth Network and truthnetwork.com.

Well, hey, this is Mike Zwick. I'm back with Josh Wells from Kids Ministry Tools and over the break, Josh, I was looking at this. It's Matthew 19, verse 13, and it says, Then there were brought unto him little children that he should put his hands on them and pray and the disciples rebuke them. But Jesus said, Suffer little children and forbid them not to come unto me, for of such is the kingdom of heaven.

Another verse actually talks about having child-like faith. And I've seen in my own life, Josh, where when I'm speaking to adults, sometimes it's really tough. But sometimes when you talk to kids, man, they're really open.

Do you know what I'm talking about? Yeah, for sure. Definitely. Kids, they want somebody to love them. And to hear Jesus loves them, they want to hear more about him.

Absolutely. And so, you know, a few years ago, I was over at a church in Mebane, North Carolina, where we live, and the pastor actually came up there. And he said there was a time, he said, where if I wanted to tell you that God is good, he said that I would actually have to walk up to you and say that God is good. He said, but now immediately we can make a post on Facebook or make a quick video or whatever it is, and then immediately hundreds, thousands, even millions of people can see that same message.

And Josh, you've capitalized on social media, man. How have you done it? Well, you just keep on doing it.

You just tell everybody you possibly can and just keep on posting. Consistency is key, but a lot of it is you have to turn some things off. There's a lot of negative online, a ton of it. And so one of my college professors said, you treat criticism and you treat compliments the same. You ignore them both.

And so sometimes, I mean, I know there's constructive criticism, but at the same token, one could get you really discouraged and you want to quit and the other gets you a big head. And then God says, oh, you think you're good at that? All right, go ahead. Try. And he lets his hand go. And then you have to do it all yourself.

Then you fall on your face, you know, and we've had some things do that direction. But the honest truth is the Lord has blessed it. The Lord has blessed it.

Absolutely. And if you guys have a question for Josh, it's 866-34-TRUTH. And Josh, so you've been consistent, but you mentioned something about criticism. Now, you haven't received any criticism about your YouTube channel, have you? Oh, every day.

I mean, every day. So there is a way to block cuss words to show up in the comments and stuff like that. But since it's gotten so big, people don't just find us on YouTube, they'll find us on Facebook or, or whatever, just like I think you found my number even through there and whatnot. But still, long story short on that, we get some really neat stories from missionaries of, you know, encouraging us of, hey, thank you, this gives an outlet for my kids. But then you get the opposite of, you know, you're brainwashing kids. Yeah, we aren't brainwashing kids.

We're trying to wash their brain from the filth that the world is teaching them. And so if that's the way you want to look at it. Well, you know, Josh, one of the things that I've noticed is that people may say that I'm closed minded, but my mind is very open. My mind is open all the way from Genesis to the book of Revelation. After that, my mind shuts down, man.

How about you? Well, I know this, if God said it, that settles it. I don't even have to believe it. It doesn't matter if a person believes it or not. God said it, that settled it. And so the Bible says, let God be true and every man a liar. One day, every knee should bow and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, the glory of God, the Father, there's going to come a day where everybody's going to realize either I was right, or thank, you know, thank the Lord I was right, or wow, man, I was way off. Absolutely. And you said you have received some encouraging stories, you said from missionaries.

Can you give me an example? Sure, there was a missionary in the Philippines that reached out to us about a month ago, and he started showing his kids or sending them home with different links and stuff like that. And we've had kids get saved through that, through the gospel films that we've done and helped with. And then we've had other, not just missionaries, we've had some people even like, about a year ago in Mexico, a lady sent me a video. And I mean, I couldn't understand how to use the translator, but she sent me a video of her granddaughter praying and asking Jesus Christ to come into her heart. And in the video, you see our video, and it was because of the gospel witness over the film that she got saved. And I've saved that video and it's in my files, but it's just precious to see that. Absolutely, brother. And one of the things that I thought about is there are people out there who don't want to post a video on social media, or they feel silly. And I can understand in a sense. I remember the first time that I felt the Lord was calling me to post videos online, and I did my first video when I was scared to death. I did it at five o'clock in the morning.

And then just the response was overwhelmingly amazing. And of course, I've had some criticism just like you have, but I thought about it in another way as well. You know, the Apostle Paul, the disciples, the people in the early church, they had to go out and talk to people face to face, which by the way, I believe is the best way to reach people. But I'm thinking about it this way as well. If they would have had the tools at their disposal that we have today, I'm sure they would have taken advantage of it as well.

What do you think? Oh, for sure. Because one of the things that needs to happen is everybody needs to hear about Jesus. And so in order for that to happen, technology has got to go a little bit further, because there's a lot of countries that are either illiterate or whatever the kitchen be, and they still haven't heard about Jesus. And so, well, I mean, what better way and doesn't the Bible talk about with the two witnesses one day after the rapture and when the seven years tribulation happens and whatnot, that they're that the world's going to see the whole world's going to see the two witnesses there. So how else is that going to happen except for the media that is going out?

So while it's a tool that's readily and freely, by the way, freely available, I mean, it's free to upload a video, it doesn't cost you. I mean, you know, it may cost you gas to go across town and tell somebody about Jesus, not that I'm against that. But how many more people can you reach on now?

I'm a big guy. It's one of my biggest things of saying, don't just let your video be your only witness. You know, ought to be a personal witness all the time, telling everybody about the Lord that I possibly can. And so when you go to the store, pass the gospel tract out. When you go to the restaurant, pass the gospel tract out.

When you go to get gas, go ahead and give it to the person that's beside you at the pump. And so, anywho, there's got to be a way that everybody can hear, and we've got to be that witness. God could have chose rocks, but he chose us. Yeah, and if we don't witness, he said the rocks will cry out.

So I don't think that's going to happen where you are in Texas, brother, and I'm not going to let it happen here in Winston-Salem. But one of the things that Jesus said, he said that if somebody is not faithful in the smaller things, that he will not give them true riches. He will not give them favor in the greater things. He says, but if somebody is faithful in the smaller things, they'll be faithful in the larger things. And so what I see is that even before this YouTube channel was even in your mind, you were out there witnessing, I think you said to thousands of people. Is that right? Yes, sir, definitely.

I've been to 14 countries, and the Lord has opened different doors for us to be able to talk to folks. One way to put it is God's will done God's way will never lack God's supply. And so God takes care of it. Yes, sir. Absolutely. And so how do you feel? You've started this channel. I think you said you've started another one recently as well. Is that right? Yes, sir. It's Bible stories for kids.

Well, actually, it's for everybody. We animate and we use the tools available to us. To me, AI is just a tool, just like a video editor is a tool. They're all tools. I'm a graphic artist, but I'm also I do a lot of video editing.

And so when I found different ways to speed up my workflow, well, then that's what I'm going to do. So we started it's called Bible Brick Stories as well. And we started that about 80 days ago. And it's already up. It's got 2800 subscribers, I believe.

2900. Okay, but yeah, it's growing a little bit. And so mostly just from posting. Mostly just from posting. But what you did was you started small. And when you started small and you kept you were consistent.

The Lord blessed you with the bigger thing. So Josh, we'll be right back in a minute. I think we have Deborah from Burlington, North Carolina, who may have a question for you. So stay right around and we're going to talk about what you can do specifically to reach the youth for Christ. We'll be right back. Stay with us.

You're listening to the Truth Network and truthnetwork.com. All right, this is Michaels Wick. I am back with Josh Wells. And I believe we've got a Deborah on the line. They're letting her in right now.

But Deborah, are you there? I am. Thank you.

You're very welcome. So what do you have to say about reaching the youth for Christ? Well, I was listening and thinking about when I grew up. Really, a lot of people that I knew, my friends, neighbors, we were brought up in church. But today, that's not the case for many, many families and their children. You know, the parents are not attending church worshiping anywhere.

And may not have as a child themselves. So how are they going to go back to do something they've never experienced? And, you know, back in the days that I was growing up, you know, we were involved in youth choir and youth groups. And the church was really like the center of the community. And things have changed so much with transportation and people relocating and different things. And I'm finding this very interesting conversation with Josh regarding reaching the youth, you know, through the social media because that's where the kids are going now.

That's gym, sports, things like that. And do you have any suggestions for, you know, reaching children today that, you know, their parents have never been to church and they've never experienced that? Well, thank you, Deborah, for the call.

Josh, what do you think? Well, there's a lot of small churches that we try to help and they have absolutely nothing for kids. And so one thing that I've suggested to a lot of them is to start where the kids are.

And that would be actually where they live. You could do a Bible club and just do an exciting little time with them. We've done that with birthday parties. We did a birthday party, invite everybody to come.

We have bounce house out there. But before we have the party, there's something that we need to talk about. A second birthday that you can have and that is to be born again.

And then explain what that means, obviously, is to receive the Lord as your personal savior. And so we've done all sorts of different outlets to try to win people to the Lord other than just social media. Although that is one of the largest things, like you said, that's one of the things that they're running to right now. It's on every single one of their devices.

I mean, even on kitchen counters nowadays. Absolutely. And Josh, there's a quote by, I believe it's Thomas Jefferson, and he said, I'm a great believer in luck. And he said, I believe the harder that I work, the more I have of it. And so I'm reminded is that the more that we share Christ with the kids, the more that we try to come up with ideas, the more we do things on social media, the more we're going to be able to reach people. So I'm with you on this.

I mean, it's funny. I've sent my show out to people. I've sent, you know, I make a real share in Christ out with people.

And, you know, I think, oh, people aren't going to want to listen to this or whatever it is. But then I send it out and I've had people tell me, oh, my gosh, I was doubting my faith and now I'm coming back to my faith. So social media is absolutely a way to reach people. And like you said, you're getting the stories in all the time.

Definitely. I mean, you're going to face people that are like really mean about it, but that would be no matter what you do, if you do it openly and out while you're out and about, even if you go door to door knocking, you're going to face some people that are not exactly kosher or kind. Well, social media, it's like they're emboldened, you know, they have their own platform or they have their own people following them and they feel like that with that following they're emboldened or strengthened or they have a backing. But in so doing, there's still somebody that needs what you're doing. There's still somebody that needs to hear an encouraging word. Somebody needs to hear a simple plan of salvation. Somebody just needs to hear Jesus loves them. Absolutely. And Josh, you know, I've heard somebody say one time, they said that people don't know, don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. And I'm sure that you see that when you show love to people, even if they disagree with you, somehow the Lord just takes that guard down.

Have you seen that? Definitely. Especially with the bus route, with our outreach here, we reach into a bunch of different communities here with the buses and try and get people to come to church. And with my bus route specifically, the more I actually show up to a birthday party where I'm there with them when they're in the hospital or whatever the case may be, that speaks volumes.

It really does. Yeah, man. And one of the things that I'm reminded of is when I sold books door to door for a couple of summers when I was in college and we all wanted to know how to be successful. And there was this one kid who really wasn't slick, he wasn't smart. I mean, there was nothing special about this guy. We said, how is this guy selling all of these books? And so the leader of the group, he actually came to us and he said, you're right, there's nothing special about this guy. They said, but the thing with this guy is he really wants it.

He wants it really bad. He's willing to put in the effort that other people aren't willing to put in. And one of the things that I've heard you say, Josh, is, yeah, people see the final product and it looks good. They see all the subscribers and it looks good, but they don't see all the effort that you're putting in behind the scenes.

Is that right? Definitely. They want an easy way in. And there are some easy ways, but that's not the godly way, you know. It's easy to draw a crowd with sin. It's not as easy to draw a crowd with godliness.

Yeah. So what is, you know, if you were to take some first steps and somebody says, well, I just have a Facebook page or I just have a YouTube channel and, you know, they may not have all the editing capabilities that you do. They may not have people who can help them out.

How would you suggest that they start? Well, if they're a perfectionist, I would say done is better than perfect. Having it done and completed and just uploaded is a lot better than being a perfectionist and just trying to, well, it's got to be just right. And then it takes you six more months to actually finally upload it until you're pleased with it. But I will say this, no matter what video you put up, there's going to be a mistake.

I've never posted a perfect video. So there's going to be a mistake. Understanding you're human. Hey, you're going to make mistakes. I've misquoted scripture.

I've done all sorts of boo-boos, tycos, you name it. But I'm doing it not for me. I'm not doing it to build, hey, look at Josh, you know, trying to build it to, hey, look at Jesus. And if you have the right motive behind what you're doing, if you're doing it to make money, I will say this.

Uh, anything video wise made for kids, um, there might be other platforms that pay you better, but YouTube's not the way to go. Uh, you're going to have to have, you're going to have to be big, like Cocomelon and something like that in order to have all these millions and millions of views, uh, to get any kind of really lucrative money coming in. But if you're doing it for the right reason of just trying to please the Lord and love people, uh, it'll grow. And if you're doing it for others, hey, just do it for others. Absolutely. And so if you have the, if you have a heart for the Lord, the Lord will, the Lord will show that, hey, I'm going to, I'm going to, I'm going to, I'm going to help you out because you have a heart for me.

In the Old Testament, it says that man looks at the outward appearance, but God searches the heart. And Josh, as I've gotten to know you, I've seen that, hey, you're not, you're definitely not in it for the money because that's, you know, you're not really making a lot of money doing this, but you have a heart for children. You have, you have how many children yourself, Josh? Well, Tuesday, my wife will deliver baby number six. And so Obadiah will be here on Tuesday. So you've got six kids.

So they're, they're obviously very important to you. Um, and if you're listening as well and you say, hey, you know, Josh is big, he's successful, he does all of these things right or whatever. I'm reminded of a story about a young man. He was, he was going to be a gymnast. And so he kept practicing and practicing and practicing and practicing. And finally it came the day of the competition and he walked up to his coach right before the event and he said, coach, he said, I can't do this. He said, I'm too scared. I'm too ashamed. He said, I don't want to look stupid. And the coach looked at him and he said, throw your heart over the bar and your body will follow.

Throw your heart over the bar and your body will follow. So if you just go at it, if you start to try, if you start to, if you really, you're doing it for the right reasons and you try, I do believe that the Lord will reward you for that. What do you think? Oh, definitely. Definitely. If he finds you faithful, isn't that what we want to be? May the Lord find us faithful. I want him to say, well done, thou good and faithful servant.

100%. And so you're, you're putting the work in and, and it's not easy, but it's funny. I mean, because here you got this YouTube channel, you're, you're a youth pastor at the church, but you said you could see yourself if the Lord gave you the opportunity, you would love to be a missionary.

Is that right? Oh, my heart is, and the Lord knows this. My, I work for my dad at the church. He pastors, he knows this.

My wife knows this. Our kids know this, that if the Lord called us to be missionaries, we'd be packing tonight, leaving tomorrow. Um, you know, it's, that's our heart is just to do whatever the Lord wants us to do.

Yeah, 100%. That's something that was instilled too by my dad. My dad's the same way. That's his heart. And, uh, the people at our church know that too. He makes, my dad makes missionaries. As a matter of fact, he's leaving on the 14th. He'll be in the Philippines preaching at the Bible Baptist Church in Cebu, uh, for their youth Congress.

Uh, he'll be there, uh, next, yeah, next week. Absolutely. And so, you know, in first Samuel 15, 22, he says, and Samuel said, hath the Lord is great delight in birth off burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord. Behold to obey is better than to sacrifice and to harken better than the fat of Rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry, but thou has rejected the word of the Lord.

He hath also rejected thee from being King. And you know, Josh, I'm sure the listeners today, they would say, I would never go here and I would never get a Ouija board. I would never practice witchcraft. I would never become a Satanist. But right there, according to that verse, it says, if the Lord is telling you to do something, and if you're listening today, if the Lord is telling you to do something and you're saying no to the Lord, according to that verse, it's as bad as witchcraft. That's pretty serious.

Definitely. And righteousness is not the absence of evil. It's the doing of good. Just because you're not doing something bad doesn't make you righteous.

I tell my kids that all the time. Just because you didn't do something bad doesn't mean you did something good. Absolutely. Doing good is what makes it righteous.

Absolutely. And so, to whom much is given, much is required. And so, yes, you've been given this huge YouTube channel. You've been given the opportunity to be able to reach children for Christ all over the world. And by the way, subscribe to the channel.

It's Kids Ministry Tools. But at the same time, the fact that you've been given this huge platform, you also have a huge responsibility. And I think some people, they want the big platform. They want the excitement.

They want the views and all of that, but they don't realize the responsibility that actually comes with that. Yes, sir. And we try to be careful with that at the same time of, you know, hey, just put another one up, just put another one up. And now we're trying to be a little bit more careful of what we put, because how many more people are going to see it?

Absolutely. But you guys are doing a great job and my kids are listening to the show right now and they're excited about it. Josh, we'll be right back to close this segment out, brother.

And I want you to tell people what they can do just to start some quick tips. We'll be right back. All right, this is Mike Zwick. I'm back with Josh Wells for the final 12 minutes of our segment, brother. And I couldn't believe this. And Josh has got Kids Ministry Tools on his YouTube channel. But when I heard this, I was amazed that up to 40 percent of the people who listen to this Christian radio station are not Christians. And so, Josh, I know that you share the gospel on the YouTube channels and it's amazing and kids are getting saved right and left.

And that is amazing. But let me ask you this. What would you say to the people who are listening who have not surrendered their lives to Jesus Christ? No matter where you are, no matter what you've done, there's nothing you can correct that would earn the grace of God. It's given freely.

There's no amount of effort that you could put forth, no matter how much work you try to do to merit it. It's just not going to work that way because grace is free from God. He wants to forgive and his forgiveness has no strings attached. He wants to forgive so much so that he gave his only son for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever. That means anybody no strings attached that whosoever believed in him should not perish, but have ever lasting life. And that life is in his son so that he that has a son has not he that has a son has life and he that has not the son of God shall not see life.

But the wrath of God abideth on him. Hey, I'm not, I'm not going to tell you whether you know for sure that if you die, you go to heaven, that's on you. But I will tell you this, when you do trust the Lord as your personal Savior, and you understand that your sin and its final destination would be death in the place called hell, and that Jesus loves you enough to pay for that sin debt in full, and you accept what he paid for on the cross. The Bible says he gives a peace that passes all understanding.

If you're struggling with sleep at night, then there might be something going on in your heart, and you need to talk to the Lord about it. If you do not know for sure if you die, you go to heaven. There's a peace that you could have. And you can go to bed at night, thankful that you have Jesus, and he died so that you could have eternal life. And if you would be willing to accept him, he's willing to accept you. No matter where you come from, no matter what you've done, there's no sin so great that God cannot forgive, because his son paid the final penalty for all of it, for all of my sin. The past sin, the present sin, and even the sin that I'm going to do, because when I get Jesus, it doesn't make me perfect, it makes me perfect and God dies, but the real doing is it pays for the final penalty for my sin.

It is paid in full. And not just mine only, but yours too. And if you'd be willing to accept him, like I said, he's willing to accept you, and he loves you very much.

Absolutely. And you can do that right now. Just ask the Lord Jesus Christ, say, Lord Jesus, forgive me of my sins. I surrender my life to you. I turn away from my sin, Lord, and I give my life to you. And just say, thank you, Jesus, for saving me.

If you pray that prayer, and you surrender your life to Jesus, that when you die, you can know today for 100% sure that you are going to heaven, just by surrendering your life to him. And Josh, man, it's an amazing gift that God gave us, but it wasn't free for Jesus. He had to suffer on that cross. He was made fun of. He was tortured. I mean, did you hear about some of the things that Jesus had to go through, Josh?

Oh, definitely. They ripped his beard out of his face. They spit on him. They ridiculed him. They scourged him.

Have you ever looked up what scourging was? Oh my goodness, they scourged him. They beat him beyond recognition. They even nailed him to a cross. And he let them do it.

That's the biggest thing. And I would be swinging, I'd be screaming, I'd be yelling, but they let him do it. He let them do it, because I believe I was on his mind. And you were on his mind, too, because he knew who he was dying for, not just why.

Absolutely. And so, you know, I tell you real quick, when I grew up and I heard some, you know, we went to church sometimes and I heard some stuff, and I guess it kind of stayed with me, but I never really got saved. And I remember when I was in college, Josh, it was one of the darkest moments and the darkest times of my life. I didn't know where I was going when I was going to die. And one of the things that I would always think about, I would always think about death. And I realized that no matter how good things got in life, if this was it, and even the Bible says that, if this life is all that we have hope for, then we Christians are to be pitied above everybody else. But the truth is, Josh, is that this life is not all that we have hope for, because Jesus not only died on that cross, He not only was whipped, He not only was beaten, He suffered the pain, and He did it for us, but when He was in the grave, He was buried, but then He rose from the grave.

And so that just by believing in Him, we have eternal life, just by believing in Him, because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And brother, I can tell you what, I had that depression in college. When I was 14 years old, I took two bottles of pills. I tried to kill myself. But I don't have that depression anymore, because I have a hope, and I have a faith in Jesus Christ that I know that no matter how bad things get in this world, that when I die, I'm going to be with, I'm going to heaven, and I'm going to be with Jesus forever. And brother, Josh, it gives me hope. How about you?

Definitely. And like we said a minute ago, not just a peace that passes all understanding, but now it gives me a confidence that I can tell other people about it. Someone like being in a building that's on fire, you're not just going to walk out. No, you're going to tell everybody on your way out, there's a fire. There's a fire. Get out.

Hello? With that zeal and with that urgency, that ought to be the same that we have to tell others about the Lord, because there is a fire. There is a place called hell. And that every day that challenges me and it pushes me to know that, hey, my neighbor needs the Lord, my, my, the person I meet down at the grocery store, and the people listening on our YouTube stuff or whatever the case may be.

And if you're a Christian, please show your faith. Don't just, don't just hide it. Don't be a light that's under a bushel. Tell somebody about Jesus. If not right this moment, then, you know, when we get up, when you get off the radio, just don't tell somebody.

It's not going to hurt you. Text a friend. Text a friend. Can you imagine that if everybody in your contacts heard the full plan of salvation, just something simple is find a video that gives a clearer presentation of the gospel, send it to him, share it with them.

If you're afraid to post it yourself, maybe forward it or repost or whatever the case may be, do something. Absolutely. The Bible says, Jesus said this in Matthew 5 16. He said, Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father, which is in heaven. And in Ephesians 2 verses 8 and 9, it says that we're saved. We're saved by grace through faith. So just by trusting in Jesus that we're saved. But it says in verse 10, Ephesians 2 10, it says that we were saved for good works. We were saved so that we can tell other people about Jesus.

Josh, if I had a cure for cancer, if I had a cure where I could suddenly I could just help save half the world who is dying of cancer and it would help them and I knew it would save them. If I decided that I didn't want to say anything about that because maybe it was uncomfortable or I was afraid that people would laugh at me or people wouldn't trust me, how selfish would that be? And one of the things that you said, Josh, is you said, yes, there is a place called heaven, but there's also a place called hell and that if people do not give their lives to Jesus, that they will be an eternal, conscious torment.

So if you have the truth, if you have the truth of Jesus Christ, the truth of the gospel, how selfish do you have to be not to want to share that good news with somebody else? What do you think? Most definitely, most definitely. And I think that one of the biggest fallacies, the concept of receiving Christ as your savior is, well, I've got to change. I've got to correct everything. I've got to go to church now. I've got to read my Bible now.

Well, here's the thing. When you accept Jesus Christ as your savior, he gives you a new desire. And the closer you get to him, the desire is stronger to want to please him. It doesn't come naturally. He gives that desire. When you have Jesus in your heart and then you accept him as your personal savior, not only does it give you eternal life, not only does it give you peace, but he also can give you a new desire to do something.

Because the Bible says, as babes desire the sincere milk of the word. And one day, one day, as you grow in the Lord, you'll see, hey, I'm doing this for a different reason now. I'm not doing this because I have to. I'm doing this because I love the Lord. I don't have to go to church to go to heaven.

I do it because, well, he loves me and I want to show him that I love him too. Amen, brother. And so as we do it, you know, I've always found this. If my reason why, if I have a big enough why to do something that even when it gets tough, I know it's important enough for me to share it that I've got that why.

So Ray Comfort, I interviewed him one time. I don't know if you know who he is, but he, one of the things that he said, he said, if somebody knew that, hey, we're going to be, I'm going to be ejected in the middle of the plane flight. And they said that the only thing that's going to save me is this parachute, but you got to put the parachute on and you may look silly in front of people. I don't care how silly I look. I'm going to put that parachute on because I know that mid flight, I'm going to be out of here.

And the only way for me to live is having that parachute on. If we know that if people don't give their lives to Jesus, that they are going to hell, then at that point, then we say, OK, I don't care if I'm rejected. I don't care if I feel silly. My why is big enough. I want to see people saved and I want to see them go to heaven, man.

Most definitely. And there's a big, big, big, big love from God for every single person listening. It's not I don't know how to explain it other than this. If you were the only person on earth, he loves you enough that he would have also sent his son just for you. That's how much he loves you. The Bible says greater love has no man than this than a man laid down his life for his friends. And God loves you.

God loves you and trust in him today. Guys, subscribe to Kids Ministry Tools. Share it with your kids. Share it with your grandkids.

It is reaching the world for Christ. And Josh, I want to thank you again for coming on the show today, brother. God bless you. Thanks for the time. And I hope to see you again.