How Do You Share Christ?

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This is kind of a great thing, and I'll tell you what. Where pop culture, current events, and theology all come together. Speak your mind. And now, here's today's Truth Talk Live host. How here's a m amazing question.

Simple, but So hard, you know. Here's the question today on Truth Talk Live: How do you share Christ? How do you do that? I mean, what are the words that you use? What's your opening line?

Is there a strategy that's involved in it? Or is it that you're just so gifted that you can walk up to people and begin to enter into conversation and go with whatever comes your way? How do you do that? 866, the number to call in and share. And believe me, I would love, love, love to hear it.

866-348-7884, 866-348-7884, you know, in the car business. for forty years, I trained one of the things I did was train car salesmen, and I probably trained over a thousand of them. And one of the most difficult thing any salesman can do is that initial five or ten seconds of What we would call the meet and greet. And so we had this whole thing we taught, which was the road to the sale, where you try to find this. opening line or something to where You began to establish common ground and you began to, you know, have some type of a discussion that made sense.

How do you do that? So We are so blessed as always to have with us Dr. Date the word Carson and not only Dr. Date the word Carson today, but we have Dr. Date the word Jr., Clayton Carson.

Who recently had an opportunity to employ the now famous date the word share Christ strategy, which to me is just so. Cool and so amazing. But while you're listening to this, be dialing 866-348-7884.

So, Doc, this is really straightforward. How does it go?

Well As you said, you you need to have some way of getting that opening line going and date the word, we could net today's date to see God's word. Today is 11:6, for instance, and we went with Hebrews 11:6 that without faith it's impossible to please God. He who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a reward of those who diligently seek Him.

So we have that verse for every date, and then part of that is. one of the things we can do is we can ask people when is their birthday. And today we had lunch here. I'm down in Sarasota, Florida, and having lunch. Man named John.

I said, wow, what a great name, right from the Bible. When's your birthday? He said, one twenty three. And so we pulled up on the app The verses for 123 and Matthew 123. says that uh God sent His Son, and He will be called Emmanuel, God, with us.

And he just thought that was the greatest thing. Wow, what a great verse! My birthday. He wanted to know when my birthday was. I told him 1223.

He said, sounds like. My verse is better for you because it's a Christmas verse.

So we had a good little conversation there. Um but then We wanted to make this evangelistic, and any ministry ought to have a gospel center part of what they're doing, not just equipping saints, but evangelizing sinners. And So we got to thinking on it that we could follow up the question, when's your birthday with Do you have a date for your second birth? And If they don't know what that is, You immediately have the opportunity to share that Jesus said in John 3:3, you must be born again. And then you go from there to share the gospel.

And so. It's just a tool. That's how we look at it. It's just a tool to open up a gospel conversation. That's so cool.

And I so. You know, the whole idea is, and I'm sure that you listening, you know, have had a chance to share it, or you have some strategy that you were taught or that you use, and we would love to hear it. I mean, we just really would, and love to hear the fruit of that. 866-348-6. 7884-866-348-78844.

And really cool, as I said, we have Dr. Date the Word Jr. with us, who employed This, he's actually a pastor himself, Clayton Carson. And you got a chance, Clayton, to employ this during your trunk retreat at your church, from what I hear. Yes, absolutely.

I'm huge on evangelism. That comes from being raised by my dad. I can imagine. I learned it early and then I I'm at a seminary doing my PhD work at my MDiv. at MidAmerica, where we're required to evangelize 15 times a semester or we fail all our classes.

Wow. And so it's huge.

So when I started pastoring here at Range Hills, I went, all right, we need to be evangelizing. And a method is important like you're talking about. But what I encourage my people is, it's not about the method, it's about the outcome. If you share the gospel with someone, you've succeeded. That's the goal.

And so it was, all right, let's find a good method that I can teach simply to my people. It's not about just Clayton sharing the gospel. I want every single person in my church sharing the gospel.

So we adopted the Date the Word method because it was simple. We already had tracks developed with Date the Word, and so we used those. And with it, I had at our trunk retreat a brand new believer. He's been saved for about two months. Get to share the gospel with someone.

First time he shared the gospel with someone because it's such a simple method. And it's a it's guaranteed to get you to the gospel. And so that's what we did. We ended up getting to, in about a two-hour window, got to share the gospel 39 times. with five professions of faith.

Isn't that awesome? Yeah. Yeah, it's just and and so can you walk us through from your perspective, Clayton, kind of how those people employed that? Yes.

So one, what we did at our Trunk or Treat was we set up a specific table that we have a sign that says when's your birthday? And we're straightforward about one of the things if you're a pastor and you're listening, something I encourage you with is remember: evangelism doesn't just happen. You have to make it happen. And so that's what we did. We didn't just say, hey, if you have an opportunity, share the gospel.

We set up a table to share the gospel. And so, and I just kept bringing different people in. I love evangelism. I would describe it the way that it's like going fishing with my dad. My dad loves having all the lines in the water, and eventually he'll give you a poll, but he wants to be the first one to make a catch.

I'm kind of like that with a bangelist. I want to be the one sharing the gospel, and then I'll bring some other people in. And we just had table, and so we had about five different people at different times. My children's minister is probably one of the best children's ministers in America. I'm not going to tell you his name because a pastor on here might try and steal him from me.

I would. And he talks to all the kids. Um he was talking to anyone Seven and under, which it was a lot, he was doing the date the word evangelism with them, and he was so tactful and so wise in how to share that. But then having some young believers involved, my wife Ashley got involved as well. And it was just, we intended to share the gospel.

In the same way, they went around to our trunks to get candy, they came to get their birthday bursts. And we use that to share the gospel. That is p that is just awesome. Isn't that amazing? How God gives you wisdom in these particular prayers, but I'm guessing there was a lot of prayer that went into that as well, Clayton.

And I know that, you know, clearly God's The one that is going to change hearts. And so was there a prayer strategy that went along with it? We it's a lot of prayer. My context is Fraser, Memphis, and Frazier is. just a really beat up community.

And so honestly, I went in telling the people if no one even came to our trunk or treat. We would praise the Lord because we got it. We got to go to a break, Clayton. But we come back. We would love to hear how you do it.

How do you share Christ? 866-348-7884. We'll be right back. with more on how to share Christ. You're listening to the Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com.

Welcome back to Truth Talk Live today's question. And boy, would I love to hear. your call. 866-348-7884 is a number to begin to call if you. Or willing to share with us, how do you share?

What are the words that you use? What is this? Strategy, so to speak, or just something that you have in your back pocket to go, man, I would really love to share Christ. The Holy Spirit's telling me what do I say? You know, what are the words that come to mind?

And I, I. I I'll never forget that we were always looking for that in the car business. Ran across, uh, it was actually Royce Reynolds' nephew. His name was Phil Marlin, and he had the best opening line I ever saw. He would just simply ask people, he would go.

Where are you from? You know, and that's very, you know, it's very open. Like, anybody could answer, you know, where are you from? And then after they would tell him wherever he's from, he came back with this little. Originally?

And when he used the word originally, then the people would go where they were really from. And then, naturally, he lived or had somebody that lived every place in the country, and he would begin to dig into wherever it was that they were, you know, and again, it was just.

some way to enter into a conversation with people that doesn't as fear like you're trying to mess with them in some way. And that's the thing I like about what you guys are talking about, doctor Carson, that By just asking when your birthday is. It's totally You know, just Casual, right?

Okay. Dwight? It's just a casual Conversation. where where you're just able to Hey, when's your when's your birthday? And you know, like.

The flight attendant. Yeah. Um I do it with the Amazon people where they drop off stuff at their house. Hey, you got a quick minute? Hey, tell me when your birthday is.

And it's just an easy lead in, but you always have in the back of your mind based on how they respond when you give the verse, All right, what do I do next? Right. Are they excited about what they just read? They just saw, they just heard. Or is there a question mark like, I don't know, I I shared uh this with a person at a hotel in Montana, and I said now, I don't know if you read a Bible or not, but I've got a great Bible verse for you.

And she said, Sir, I've never read a Bible verse in my life. And for her birthday verse, Uh it was the first time she'd ever read a Bible verse. Yeah, that's so cool. Clayton, you were describing how you led into this event with your church for the trunk-or-treat and the prayer that was involved. And I loved what you were saying.

That you guys were saying, hey, if we don't get anybody to come to our trunk or treat and carry on with your thought there, I'm sorry we got you off. Mm. I was very worried that no one would show up, and I was encouraging my people. The Lord's pleased by just us showing up. But then the Lord provides so many people.

And beforehand, it was just I spent a lot of time in prayer. I was encouraging the people to pray. I have ministers who are more faithful than I am. They have more faith than I do in anything we do. And that's always exciting, and it was really encouraging.

But we started this. It wasn't trunk or treat. We started doing birthday birth evangelism back in March. of just going to a park and doing it. And so every time we do it, we pray about it, it is we've adopted as our official church method.

of when we're going out of angelizing, this is what we're gonna do. And it's really simple because if you have the date the word app, You have all the birthday verses. And so just praying about those things when people came by, the hard part is. A lot of the dates have multiple verses, and you're trying to figure out quickly which one to choose. And what I encouraged my people with is choose whichever one seems fitting.

and then just get to the next question. Because our conversation isn't, we don't want it to be about the birthday of verse necessarily. We want it to be about the gospel. And the birthday verse might just be the way into it. And sometimes you get a birthday verse that's great.

Other times you get a birthday birth that's That's gonna be taken very wrong if they don't understand what that means. and you just jump right into the gospel with it. That's beautiful. Absolutely wonderful. Her birthday verse is Hebrews.

9:27. Man is appointed once to die, and then comes the judgment.

So, when someone says September the 27th, um. uh nine twenty seven it might not be the best thing to tell them Hebrews nine twenty seven. Um That that that that might Scare them a little too much. Although, it's in truth. It's a little my wife, the needle.

Great conversation starter, Doc. I mean, I think that one's the perfect one. More so when it's a burst in Proverbs, is when I find difficulty because Proverbs will talk about finance, and every now and then, especially the context I'm in, there's so much prosperity gospel in Memphis. Every now and then you read Proverbs out of context, and Prosperity Gospel loves to take that. And so it's really important to when you're reading, you got to be on your toes a bit.

Okay, then I need to explain this better to then move to the gospel. Yeah, that's absolutely beautiful. We got Jamal. is in Winston Salem, and so, Jamal, what say you, my friend? How do you share Christ?

Yeah. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Could they um dil more into um Dr. Carson and Dr.

Carson Jr., good day to you as well. Thank you for taking my call as usual. Um the the way I uh share the gospel Or talk about Jesus. It's pretty simple. And I have to give credit to Stu Ederson because he gave me a good tagline.

He just said, ask him. What do you think about Jesus? Like, wow, that's that's that's great. That's easy. I could do that.

And that way it's not so much. Doctrine? I don't have to remember any kind of sermon or any notes or anything. I just can have a conversation. You know, kind of what you said about where you're from.

So what what do people say when you use that, Jamal? Usually, the responses have been pretty positive.

Some people will say, well, he's kind of okay, or now I'm rocking with Jesus.

So. Uh usually I have a nice conversation. after I asked that question, is not well, let me let me back up a little bit. I have never gotten a negative response or a nasty or a computational response.

Now I know it can exist, but I have not come in contact with that yet. That's that's awesome. And being that it comes from my boss, you know, it's even better. Like, hey. And there's one thing that Stu has, but people that know him realize that.

You know, he will, it doesn't matter where he is, if he's at the gas station or wherever in the world he is, I can assure you, if he stopped at a stoplight. Don't be one bit surprised if you're sitting with him in the car that the window on your side's rolling down and he's telling the people to roll down their window with his fingers. And he has, you know, I can't tell you the number of times I've sat there. This is a little awkward, Stu, just saying, but you know, it doesn't matter, man. He's got to be himself.

My passenger wants to tell you about Jason. Oh, yeah, he'll do that in a heartbeat. Oh, that's a little prank. That's a way to do it. Wait till you got Jamal in the right seat and then let him have it.

So, anyway. Right, right. Thank you, Jamal. You're quite welcome. I gotta go.

Just one last thing. Considering to the listener audience out there. considering how easy it can be, It can be conversational. Be encouraged to go out there and share Jesus. Um even if you have a negative uh response.

I almost guarantee you 99 of the responses will be positive.

So be encouraged, make it conversational. It'll be comfortable. It'll be easier each time you do it. Thank you guys. Take care and God bless.

Thank you. Thank you. And I I Couldn't agree. More with what Clayton was saying, what I know you believe, Dr. Carson, and what I know Jamal believes, is.

You know, the more you pray about this, the more God gives you the desire to do it. Yeah. Great. He opens up that opportunity, and even, you know, you're not necessarily a stew, and you're not. And it's interesting that He kind of puts you in that position that you can do it your way.

And just for the people that he has for you. And so we come back. We would love for you to call us. 866. We really would.

866-348-7884. Yeah. May have something that could change lives. You know, share it. 866-348-7884.

We'll be right back. You're listening to the Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com. How many of you have Do you. Share Christ. What a...

Some of the opening words that you feel comfortable sharing. Or maybe you have another idea along the lines of what's important, obviously. Prayer and those kind of things. But I would love to know, and again, I'm sure everybody listening would love to know something that you've employed that worked for you, or you got to see the fruit of it. And what a testimony to share on the air, like how it was that you got to see that happen.

We would love for you to call 866-348-7884-866-4666. three four eight seven eight eight four. And so as always, um Not as always, but for all often I get a chance to do this with my good friend, Dr. Dwayne, date the word Carson, and um this strategy that he and his son have Uh the table idea is genius. I'm just saying, was that your idea or was that his?

Dark. No, that was here's the idea. And he did start utilizing this. We go back to. march the sixteenth, resixteen Challenging pastors to preach John 3:16 on March the 16th.

The week before that, to invite people to come to church. They went to a um Uh Supermarket. And just they got permission and then set the table up there. And uh put that sign up. And you know, what a neat idea.

Hey, tell us your birthday, and we're going to give you a gift. And part of that gift would be you give them that birthday verse. And then from there comes that next question.

So you told me your physical birthday. Do you happen to have a date for your spiritual birth? And uh it just leads for IDM, whereas then based on how they give that answer, Uh, they may say, I don't know my spiritual birthday, but I've been born again. They know what that. Suck and birth means.

But they may not know the date. Others immediately, and I'll tell you that one of the reasons some of this started sparking with me was I had a man one time. Dan is the Billy Graham Library. I asked him when his birthday was. And he gave me 815 And I thought, man, 8:15, what a great birth date because that's Romans 8:15.

Where the Spirit of God causes us to cry out. Abba Father, because we've been adopted into the family of God. And he looked at me, he said, that really is a great verse for my birthday, because that's my second birthdate verse then. I was saved on 8:15. He didn't give me his physical birthday, he gave me his spiritual birthday.

And I guess he was looking to see if he could use that to witness to me. I don't know, but it was pretty cool. And that's how we got to thinking, ask someone, what do you have a date for your second birth? For me, I was February the 15th when I got saved, 1983. But my wife Danita, she doesn't remember the exact date that she was saved.

But she knows about being born again. She knows she asked the Lord to save her. That's amazing. And so cool, right? Um.

That that God gave you that And it really is given this opportunity for so many to employ this, especially if you get to date the word app. And it's just an easy way to. To use that and get the verses just like Clayton was describing.

Well, we got Mike is in Dayton, Ohio.

So, Mike, you're on Truth Talk Live. And I know it's something you do all the time, so I would love... Your strategy.

Well, I pray for police officers all the time. I I love doing that. I like going right up to them and having a conversation with them. I don't know why I get along with them so much, but uh or or have a respect for them, but I do, and I I if I see him sitting somewhere, I just go up there and start talking to him. That's what I do.

The other day, there was a young man at a gas station. I'm pumping my gas, and he's sitting there with a bunch of clothes and a bunch of. backpacks and I went up to him And I said, you know, wha what what's going on? Why are you all packed up? And what you know, how how c what why are you sitting here?

He says, I'm waiting on an Uber and I'm a little bit homeless and stuff like that. And I says, Wow, I says, I bet it's hard to be homeless. And he says, Yeah, I'm getting ready to go to a hotel and do this. And then I reach in my pocket and give him a 20. He says, No, no, you don't need to do that.

I says, I want to, man. I want to help you out. And that led for me to tell him that life is like a vapor, man. I can't believe I'm 60 years old already. And and you're a young man, and I'm telling you.

When you die, you want to know where you're going to go, don't you? He says, Yeah, I go to church. I said, Well, that's not the answer. I said, That's not the answer. The answer is, and you know, I gave him John 3:16.

And uh he was real re receptive. And the Uber driver, you know how the devil loves to get involved, the Uber driver pulls up and I looked at the Uber driver and I said, Sir, I'll pay you whatever it takes. I hold on, I need to keep conversation with this guy. And so I went back to the guy And uh and I had a longer conversation and I gave him some scripture verses, you know, like the Romans Road and um And he was very receptive. And uh and I Uh I I you know, and uh that was really cool.

Um You know, it's in your heart. You know, when it's in your heart and you pray in the morning and you say, God, lead me today. Guide me through this life, Lord. Show me what you want me to do today. Use me, Lord, in Jesus' name.

And you pray that every morning, and you pray that before you go to work, and you pray that before you go someplace. It's amazing how much God will use you because it's right there in your heart, and you just want to use your heart to. To witness to people, and they really are receptive because they see it in you. You know, they see the joy in you. And they see that you have this confidence of not in this world, but the next one.

Yeah, I have to I have to get my I've I've known several people in my life. Uh the one that comes to mind I actually wrote an article about him. Years ago, it was called Prayed Up, Packed Up, and Ready to Go. His name was Lester Cranfill. You know, he was a truck driver, it was his occupation.

And just a great big guy, and still running strong when he was in his 80s. Every morning he prayed Diligently. I mean, it was a very, very sincere prayer that he would pray, God. Give me somebody today that I can share my story with. And his story was very unique.

I give you the very reader's digest version of it: he was an alcoholic and known to mistreat his wife because of that. And one night he went to the bar and he ordered a drink. And when he picked it up, from his standpoint, he heard an audible voice of God say, This is your last chance. Put that down. And so Lester took it as like.

Okay, I will. As a result, You know, there was a church there in Davie County called Deadman Baptist. He went to that church, they led him to Christ, and he began to change his life a lot. And he became the nicest guy. I mean, he was one of the saints of saints I ever knew.

And There was rarely a day because I would see him most days. He ran cars for us at the dealership. There was rarely a day or that day that he wouldn't come up to me, Robbie. I ran into a guy today and he would tell me how he shared his story. It was because his heart was so sincere.

Like, man, that was his thing. He just, that was, he loved, he loved to pray that, and he loved for God to give him that opportunity. And because of that, he got him. I have too. I really have.

Go ahead, Dr. Carson. I'm sorry.

Well, you know, what you just said, Mike, and what you just said, Robbie. Mm a lot of times our lives are going to be hit every day with some kind of interruption.

something happens that interrupts Our day. And if you prayed like you talked about it there, Mike, and you talked told about this guy, Robbie, praying that way, you begin to anticipate not these horrible interruptions, but these divine appointments. And God begins to set up divine appointments. Paul said in Philippians 1:12, the things that have happened unto me. Have fallen out rather for the furtherance of the gospel.

Paul saw his situations as opening doors. And one of the situations he was in, he had become a prisoner that was chained to Roman soldiers, and he was using the opportunity to have a different soldier each day to share the gospel with.

So I love that mindset of every day I'm praying. Lord, bring somebody across my path. And for me right now, it's Somebody that'll come across my path that I can ask them when their birthday is so I can get to. Do you have a date for your second birth? That's so cool.

And I have to give you the end of the story because it touches me just to think about Lester because I happen to be there. Or I got the call that Lester had had a heart attack and I rushed to um or Forsyth Hospital. His wife was in transit from like Pennsylvania somewhere. She couldn't get there. I came with his son.

And at the time, they were rushing him into emergency heart surgery. And you can imagine the pain that he was in. It was the last moments of his life. And as he came down the hall, You know, the people said, I don't know that he'll be able to talk. He's in a lot of pain.

But he saw me and he saw his son. He put the biggest Lester Cranfield smile on his face he ever saw in his life. I mean, it was as big as all outdoors. And he looked at me and he said, Robbie, I'm prayed up, packed up and ready to go. There you go.

Those were his last words. I mean, they really were. And it was just like. You go, Lester. I mean, that was how he rolled, and he rolled, man.

I was one of those things that I got to see. But he lived his life that way. And I know there's a lot of people. That got a chance themselves to be prayed up, packed up, and ready to go because Lester shared with them. And the same with you, Mike.

And, you know, we got a lot of listeners out there that we would love to hear how you do it. 866-348-7884-866-348746. 7884.

So I'm very curious, Dr. Carson, because I know you walked with Jerry Falwell for so long. How did he do it? Um Um I go back to a word that Clayton used, intentional. Um Uh There are people who tell stories of him coming down to the supermarket Um And he would just stand there and, first off, hand out tracks.

But then he would engage people with So, uh where are you going to church? And um That's a big one. Yeah, wait, no, you heard that. But we also we need your call 866-348 7884 will be right back. Truth talk lie.

You're listening to the Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com. Welcome back to True Talk Live today. How do you share Jesus? How do you share Christ? I would love to know.

You know, how you do that, some of maybe an experience you've had with that, or maybe how it was done with you. You thought that was. Obviously miraculous, I'll bet, that you know, God came in through somebody or some strategy that they. That made you feel like, oh, hey, I hadn't thought of that. 8663487884 8663487884 And so thankful, Doctor Carson, for the Date the Word app and this opportunity to really engage people in a really fun way.

And I I've been with Doctor Carson Numerous times out to eat, and you can just count on it. Like you can count on the fact Stu's going to ask somebody to put their window down. You can count on the fact that Dr. Carson's going to ask a waitress when her birthday is, and then you get to see it all. Um you know, in living color, how it happens.

And what I have seen is so much more than just simply a Sharing Jesus' moment, it isn't that cut and dried, even close. It it's actual compassionate conversation About some of the things that's going on in that person's life, and an opportunity to actually wait on somebody that cares about them. Because Dr. Carson does. And, you know, I think about that time, it was your birthday.

And we went to that restaurant. And man, I That waitress was so excited, she went and shared it with several of the other people that were at other tables.

Next thing you knew, we were doing birthday verses all over the restaurant. Yeah. And you just never know how that door will open. It happened on a plane one time with a flight attendant, and she said. She she went back and told her friend and came up and said, Hey, my friend's birthday is 515, do you have a birthday verse for her?

I said, well, absolutely. And I gave it to her.

Next thing I know, that lady came up. And she said, the verse you gave me. is absolutely perfect. Would you pray for me?

Well, I said sure. No, would you pray for me right now? She wanted me. to stand up right there on the plane and pray for her as she was dealing with a difficult situation. It's like.

Uh oh. Way to go, God. I would have never been able to have any of that ministry. And be a blessing to this person. without having asked.

When's your birthday? And the date the word app is so easy to get. It's totally free. And all a person has to do is go onto their app store and type in date the word. And don't just type in date.

You might get yourself in trouble there. Date the word, not the world. And then on the app, you'll see versus for any date. And what I tell people to do, Rob, is always go to their birthday first. Go see what their birthday verses are.

Pick the one that they like. I like 1 Samuel 1223 for 1223. Um, but y and then you just stay available. Lord. Is there somebody you want me to ask today?

When's your birthday? And then you share that birth with them and then go from there to say, do you have a date for your second birth? And who knows the kind of fellowship you will have if they're Christians, and who knows the kind of reward you're going to have? If they're not, then you get to share the gospel with them. Yeah, it's it it it really is, and you get to share life with them.

Yeah. Yeah. You asked about Dr. Falwell, and in my soul winning file, I have a story. Uh It says in nineteen fifty eight, A young single pastor walked into a hotel lobby in downtown Lynchburg.

And he talked to my parents about attending his newly formed church congregation. His name was Jerry Falwell. He took time to befriend my deity, Who was an alcoholic and wanted nothing to do with church? Never giving up. They became great friends.

And they had gave up drinking, Got saved. and joined his church. Dr. Falwell then made him an usher, and we all started attending church. I then followed my day in.

I got saved. And if Jerry Falwell hadn't taken time with my dad, chances are I would have traveled down a very dark and destructive road. Instead, I got saved, married a beautiful Christian girl and had three awesome daughters who are all married to Christian men who are serving the Lord. How's that for a story? That's beautiful, right?

And it's still one-on-one, you know, whether your name's Jerry Falwell or game-friendly. Um What's happening with your wife? I've used the question Um before date the word. Um Have you thought about becoming a Christian. And I just Throw that question out there.

Have you thought about becoming a Christian? It's like with students. Question. What do you think about Jesus? But Jabal say it.

The key is have some kind of question that will get a conversation started in the direction but then you can share with them the best news ever. Right. Or I remember the famous Do you believe in Easter? Right. And you know, that there's a whole story that was written up on that.

It was absolutely beautiful. I'm trying to remember the name and author of it, but it had to do with a lady by the name of Edith Easter. Um You know, that was her deal. She would ask everybody that, and that wouldn't. lead to those conversations.

Because you know, for her, Easter Was the The day that made all the difference. And it really is. And so it's. And I was hoping that we'd have more, and we still have time to get one more in at least. And so you've got to call us, 866-3486.

7884-866-348. Seven eight eight four.

So you have that type of evangelism, undoubtedly, where you are. Um Meeting somebody that you Have never met before, and it's totally what you might call this time of year cold turkey, right, Doctor? Yep.

Sometimes you have cold turkey. But then you have all these other folks that you've met and you work with, and you're around them every single day. And it's not a cold conversation, but it's still. You've never had that moment. And I was visiting with a lady in our congregation, and she had her best friend.

She'd known her for 40 years. And she said, Ravi, I just don't know how to ask her that question. I said, hey. It's time to date the word. Is it simple enough?

You just ask her when her birthday is, or you know when your birthday is. And so if you know when her birthday is, just say, Hey, I've thought about your birthday and I got a birthday verse for you. And when she gives gives that, then say, How about your spiritual birthday? When was that? And that and You know, she says What you talking about, Willis?

Then then you'll know that man uh Houston, we might have a problem here. Or, you know, you have an opportunity to dig into what that means, and you must be born again. It's beautiful.

So the thing I love about it, it doesn't have to be in any way, shape, or form, something from somebody you never talked before. But you know all those people in your life, you really don't know where they stand. And you don't want to find out when you're in the hospital and they're in a coma that you don't know where they stand. And so, you know, what's a way to find out where they stand? Uh You know For years, I used the classic, you know, if you die today, do you know for sure which way you're going?

And a lot of people struggle with that. I remember hearing that question. Interestingly, when I was with a man He was going to witness to somebody else. And when he asked that question, I didn't know what the answer was. If you were to die right now, do you know for sure you're going to heaven?

And I like Uh well, I don't. And if you stood before Peter at St. Peter's Gate. And he asked me, Why should I let you into heaven? What would you say?

And again, I was dumbfounded. Right. Because I hadn't really, I was just trying to figure out this thing called Christianity. But that the evangelism explosion was one of the best ways of getting that opening question started. Yeah, 'cause I I had the unfortunate experience of somebody I loved and worked with for years that I did not know how they stood, and found out once they were in a comas, I asked his wife, Did Johnny know Jesus?

Oh, I don't think so, Robbie. Even best friend he'd know, I don't think so And there he was, right? And and it it it it it made me reevaluate my relationships to go, Man, Man, do I d I don't want anybody. to face a life without God, a life of torment, of Not one person that cares anything about you. Can you imagine not one kind word?

Not one drink of water. It it it's it's More than anybody. And so, when there's somebody that you've worked with and you love, or you've known all your life and you don't know where they stand, we got to have something. God help us. And prayer is.

At the heart of it, I really think Doc is just say, God, give me something. Romans 10, 1, the Apostle Paul Yeah. Um my heart's desire. and prayer. is that Israel would be saved.

Now he used The national component, Israel. I teach The Romans 10:1 principle, take out the word Israel. and put in that name of a person that you want to see saved. Beautiful. My heart's desire is to see a sister, a brother, and you put that name in and you start praying for them to be saved.

And then use the date-the word method. Oh. Amazing. Go to Date the Word and you can get the Date Word app. Pretty easy at the App Store.

Thanks so much for listening. We'll see you tomorrow.