Do You Have a Sense of Urgency for the Gospel?

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Seek your mind. And now, here's today's Truth Talk Live host. Do you have a sense of urgency about getting the gospel of Jesus Christ out to the nations? Do you have a sense of urgency for the gospel? This is Michael Zwick.

I want your calls at 866-34TRUTH, 866-348-7884. What kind of an urgency has the Lord given you for getting his word out? And as we start off today, I'm going to start off with Psalm 139. And it says, O Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know my downsitting and my uprising.

You understand my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all of my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me.

It is high. I cannot attain unto it. Whither shall I go from thy spirit? Or whither shall I flee? from thy presence.

If I ascend to heaven, You are there. If I make my bed in hell. Behold, you are there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say surely the darkness Shall cover me, even the night.

shall be light around me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee. But the night shineth. as the day. The darkness and the light are the Are both alike to thee, for thou hast possessed.

My reins, thou hast covered me in my mother's wombs. In my mother's womb, I will praise thee, for I am fearfully. and wonderfully made. Marvelous are Thy works. And that my soul knoweth right well.

And I'm going to stop right there. Because if you're listening today, you were created by the Lord of the whole earth. And you are fearfully and wonderfully made. And God has made you with a purpose. And the number one purpose that we have in life as Christians.

is to stay close to the Lord and then share the Word of God. Share the truth of the Word of God with others. But I want to know what gives you your sense of urgency, or do you have a sense of urgency? And I've got a Carrie out of Texas right now. Are you there, Carrie?

Yes, brother, I am here, my friend. Good deal. I see you out of Dallas, Texas, man. Is it hot down there today? Yeah, we're in the hundreds.

We're in the three digits for sure. It's Stephy sweats as you walk outside.

Well, Jesus will be your shade, brother. Jesus will be your shade. Let me ask you this. Do you have a sense of urgency for the gospel of Jesus Christ? Not just the gospel of Jesus Christ, but the mindset.

And I think if we. just get back to the basics of the foundation of the faith that we adhere to. recognizing, taking the whole of Scripture, That we are not promised tomorrow, brothers and sisters. All we have is today. Today is the only day that we are promised.

So we should live with eternity in mind. We should not live with gloom and doom, but we should also know that all we have is today, so we should love a little bit more. We should absolutely In our sphere of influence, in our family and our friends, we should love them, we should represent the body. The Bible. Christ Jesus, our Lord and our Savior.

And that's a given, but we take that for granted because we think we got forever. And we don't we don't seriously pray for those like Just an honest question, rhetorical question to all of you listening. Um and even to myself, I talk to myself as much. Are we, as in Hebrews, praying for those in bonds as if we're in bonds with them? Are we helping out our brothers and sisters around the world who need help?

who the ministry is. Can we even pray? Can we even do that? And then I'm going to add in this. Just for the icing on the cake.

I am fully convinced, Brother Mike, that we are the generation that will see the return of Christ. We will be here throughout the tribulation as a witness and a testimony for the glory of God, either being faithful unto death as Smyrna or being preserved to endure the trial of the tribulation as Philadelphia for the glory of God. But we are here and we are not ready because we are too comfortable. We are repeating history over again. And I think the verse that I think we need to remember, and hopefully we could just get back to the basics, whether you agree with me or not, is realize all as we have is today.

Daniel. Daniel chapter 9. Daniel realizes that is coming to the end of the seventy years of captivity. What does Daniel do from verse one to verse fourteen? He is praying.

He is confessing the sins of him and his people. He's confessing that they have forsaken God. And it's because of our sin. And that's where we need to be for us as believers of Jesus Christ, recognizing the day and time in which we live him. My brothers and sisters, Jonah chapter 4.

The unbeliever, no matter how convincing the argument is, does not know their left hand from the right hand. It is only God, salvation is of the Lord and of the Lord alone.

So it starts with us as the body of Christ. the body of Christ, even to take it further than that, Brother Mike, the urgency for us Is we complain about the presidents, Democrat, Republican, whatever it may be. Do you understand? In 2 Samuel, the people wanted the king like the rest of the countries. Our people that are in office are nothing more than a reflection of us as a people.

And we, as the body of Christ, are fast asleep. We are too fat and happy and comfortable. And because of the blessings God has forgiven us, and we are doing what the children of Israel did in the Old Testament. We are forsaking God. We have left God.

We have taken Him for granted. And it's time for us to repent. That's my sense of urgency and being intentional and being purposeful But also enjoying the blessings at the same time that God has given us. And thank you so much for the call, Carrie. And one of the things, when you were talking about that, when I read Psalm 139, one of the things that it says is Psalm 139, it says that I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

And that's why we stand up for the unborn here in America. That's why we pray outside of abortion clinics. And when we pray, God moves. We've been praying over in, we were praying over in Greensboro for the abortion clinic to shut down. And March 31st was their last abortion.

Praise the Lord. We've got a Cody out of Prospect Hill. Are you there, Cody? Hey Mike, how are you? I'm doing just fine.

I hope you are. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Thank you for having me today. Absolutely.

And I tell you what, when we pray, Cody, God's hand moves, and you just prayed and something miraculous happened. Is that right? Yes, sir. It's Sir Jordan. What happened?

Oh The ground shook. No, I'm just kidding. I actually ran a call and there was a lady that was deceased. Um She had passed away, I don't know. I later heard that she had been she had been gone at least five minutes before anybody found her, according to their cameras.

And We have done CPR probably eight rounds of CPR. Um Someone suspected that maybe it was a possible overdose, gave her a shot in Arcane and an AED. CPR continued. The AED actually shocked. CPR continued another I don't know.

probably four rounds of CPR and then we were rotating back and forth as volunteers doing the compressions and uh I just felt the Holy Spirit just really pressing on me to pray over, and I was going for pressing to finished up my few rounds and I went to get up and the next person switched and Um As they was doing CPR, she gasped. Mm. And um Anyways, they check their vitals and AED went to, you know, not advising the shock and strong pulse came back. She never did come completely Two at the end like talking, standing upright, but she did came come back and the last I heard, uh, She was at the hospital and she was awake. She woke up last night.

Oh.

So I'm Still waiting to see what the final outcome of that is, but praise the Lord she got the breath back in her lungs and was breathing and. Oh had a heartbeat on her own without, you know, some sort of form of life support. Yeah, and I'm going to hold you right there, but the phone number is 866-34TRUTH, 866-348-7884. And when we come back, we want your calls. This is Michael Zwick, but we want to let Cody finish the story, and then we've got a Bucksman coming in out of Dayton, Ohio.

We'll be back. We'll be right back after this break. This is Michael Zwick with Truth Talk Live. You're listening to the Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com. All right, guys, we are back in the studio, and we had a surprise guest just walk in, Jamal Womble, who takes care of the show several days a week.

But Cody was in the middle of his message, but I wanted to make sure that I understood what Cody was saying. And from what I understood, Cody is a volunteer firefighter, and he went out and he took a call. He they kept this lady dead for about 10 or 15 minutes, and they did CPR, CPR, CPR, and they saw nothing. And then, Cody, you started to pray, and then God moved. Is that right, Cody?

Oh yes, sir. Yep. Yeah, I mean that's a That's the only thing you know of That's the only explanation that I have. I've I've been a volunteer for eight eight or nine years now and done CPR on numerous people and You know, CPR is great. I mean, that's a go-to tool, but there's The sad thing is is If you look at the statistics on how many people Um, actually come back.

you know, if they need CPR and somebody does it. Oh, I mean it near about has to be immediately. Uh You know, you've seen the person fall over because within so many minutes, you know, people are brain dead from lack of oxygen. Oh.

And I mean, I honestly have no other explanation. All praise, glory, and honor goes to the Lord. Um but on the flip side of that is, you know, what usually keeps us from From stepping out of that comfort zone and praying. You know, I remember sitting there looking death in the eyes like this. Ah This lady's eyes were were dried open, like they were they were dried out.

They had no apparent moisture to them. And You know, we all say, well, we have faith, and even James folks said, you know, faith without works is dead. I remember praying it, but and having these little slithers of doubt, like. And like I I just over there, Lord, I'm I'm trusting in you because this This surely isn't in my hands, you know, the whole time I'm going for freshness. Yeah.

I have no faith in myself. I I have to I'm going to sit here and I'm going to do the thing that I've been taught to do by a man. But in all reality, I'm putting 100% of my faith and trust in you at this moment. Yeah, and I think sometimes we all deal with that, Cody. And I know I was actually praying for a guy earlier today, and Jesus healed us hit.

But when I was praying, I was like, oh, gosh, this guy's not going to want to listen to me. This isn't going to work, whatever. But I've learned that when I act. When I walk in the ways of the Lord, then the Lord does big things. And we've got a Bucksman out of Dayton, Ohio.

Are you there, Bucksman? I am here, Michael. It's good to hear you, my friend. It's good to hear you. It's been a while, man.

Yeah, yeah.

Well, I actually, I hope Jamal's an ear shot. I called Jamal yesterday and I told Nick, our producer, I said, this is awesome that we have a two. Two-day talk on Truth Talk Live about getting the gospel to people. That is so, so important, gentlemen. Yes, I'm here, Bucksman.

How are you doing, brother? Good to hear from you. It's really good to hear from you, Jamal, and thank you for heading up the conversation you had yesterday, brother, on Truth Talk. And if you missed it, everybody, go to Truth Talk Network, Truth Network, and download yesterday's episode of Truth Talk Live. And Jamal was.

Having the same conversation. And what it reminded me of, brothers, was this. Whenever you see something exactly the same in Scripture, I'm thinking of Proverbs 14:12 and 16:25. Proverbs 14:12 and 16:25 are exactly the same letters, verses, commas, everything. And I've looked it up in several different translations.

And what that kind of speaks to me, gentlemen, is whenever God does something in twos. You listen. He wants to make a point. I remember when he called out Mary's name twice. Mary was running around, you know, trying to make sure this was happening, trying to make sure that was happening.

Or I'm sorry, it was Martha, not Mary. Mary was the obedient one sitting at the Lord's feet. But Martha was running around, you know, and trying to make sure this. And anyway, Jesus goes, Martha. And if you look at the scriptures, guys, He calls her name again.

Marsaw. Same with Saul. Saul. Saul Why are you persecuting me? It's almost as if God Almighty from his heavenly throne wants to get Our attention.

So I lead that in, brothers, and say thank you for this twofer. Yesterday we talked about soul waning. Today we're talking about the importance of the church Actually, doing the gospel. And I will leave on this question, gentlemen. I would love to hear the discussion from the panel and anybody else calling in.

And hey, Truth Talk Mike there in Dayton, call in. Because I know he's very fervent about getting the word out here in the Dayton area. And the question is: this. Why is the American church not Evangelizing. And you'll say, Bossman, what do you mean?

When was the last time, gentlemen, you were approached by a Christian saying, hey, would you like to know about Jesus Christ?

Well, I'll go ahead and jump on that. I'll leave you yeah, I'll stay on if you want, guys.

Well, I'll leave that to Zwick. He's in control right now. But it's been a while that anybody has approached me personally from the church and said, Hey, why don't you do X, Y, and Z?

Now, I've been to a Bible study. And you know, of course, you're going to get a little bit of a kind of overlapping in your Bible study. Pastors, preachers, yeah, you have evangelists.

So from a Bible study, I have been invited to this, that, and the third from those people, but just a random encounter at a grocery store, a barber shop, or a basketball court, it's very rare.

So the urgency, I think, could be greater. And sometimes we have to be brought to our knees as a people, as a church, in order to have a sense of urgency. Look what happened at 9-11. Um, you know, we were attacked, towers came down, uh, over 2,000 people killed, and the day after, all the churches were filled up.

So we were brought to our knees as a nation, but the day after, we were also brought to church.

So, hopefully, we won't have to go through the same kind of situations where we're brought to our knees before we have a sense of urgency of getting back to Christ, spreading the word out. But that is one thing that can happen. I pray it doesn't. Hopefully, we can go out and spread the word as a sense of urgency during a time of peace and not just during a time of conflict. Yeah, that's a great point.

And Buckman, to answer your question as well. I mean, I don't. I mean, I can't think of the last time ever. I mean, I just don't know when this ever happened. When somebody comes up to me.

Now, I've had plenty of Jehovah's Witnesses come to my door. I've had plenty of Mormons. I've even hear about what are they now? The. Muslims are going out and doing evangelism in their own way.

So, but you know, when I hear you saying that, Buxman, one of the things that I think that stops people from doing this is fear. And one of the acronyms that I've heard for fear is false evidence appearing real. And so, so many times, you know, it's like I think sometimes we think it's going to be so bad when we hand that Bible out to somebody at Walmart. We think it's going to be so hard when we pray for that person in the aisle who needs prayer. We think it's going to be so hard to give somebody food, but not just give them food who need it, tell them about Jesus.

But then I realize that people want to know the good news. There's bad news on TV all the time, Bucksman. There's bad news on Fox. There's bad news on CNN. I'm going to tell you something.

The good news doesn't sell, Bucksman. They used to tell us when we were in college, they said, if it bleeds, it leads.

So people are used to hearing about bad stuff. Why not share with them some good news? And when I think about the fear that kind of stops people, it stops me too sometimes. I mean, we're all human, right? The moment before I hand somebody a Bible, the moment before I tell somebody that Jesus loves them, it's like all of a sudden there's this voice in my head.

Don't do that. They're not going to want to listen to you. But I'm reminded of a story of a young boy who was a gymnast and he had been practicing and practicing and practicing. And it was finally the day of his first time to go out and show what he had. And before he did, he told his coach, he said, coach, I'm sorry, but I just can't do this.

I'm just too scared. And the coach said to him, he said, throw your heart over the bar and your body will follow. If you're afraid to go out and pray for that person who needs prayer, throw your heart over the bar and your body will follow. If you're afraid to tell that stranger or that neighbor about Jesus, throw your heart over the bar and your body will follow. Just take that first step.

So 866. 866-34TRUTH 866-348-7884. We would love your calls and Bucksman. We'll be right back. We've got Jamal Womble in the studio, the man, the myth, the legend.

And this is Michael Zwick. We'll be right back. Truth talk line. You're listening to the Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com. All right, guys, we are back.

What gives you a sense of urgency for getting the gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ out there? And Buckman, you asked us the question before the break, but I want to ask you, what gives you a sense of urgency to get up and to get out there and to do the work of the Lord? That's an excellent question. I was just a nominal Christian for so many years, Michael, Jamal, Truth Talk. And then something happened where I realized I've got a job to do.

Call it an inspiration, call it the Holy Spirit. I think it was obviously. But there was, you absolutely named it, brother. There was an urgency. I'm sitting in Dayton, Ohio right now, and I'm looking at every face.

And believe it or not, gentlemen, I'm wondering: is that man going to heaven? Is that woman going to heaven? Or worse, this comes over me. Is that woman going to hell? Is that man going to hell?

And I I have to go and at least Engage. Start with a small chit chat. whatever I can do and lead them into a conversation about God. And once that happens, it's just like you said in your analogy, Michael. Once you throw your heart into it, your body will follow and God will empower you.

He will use every bit of Bible knowledge that you have up to that point. And I always say, get into the Bible and get even more of that information in you.

so that he can use even more. But he will use every ounce of scripture that you know to get that person saved. The Bible is very clear. First Timothy It says it right there. And I want to say chapter 2, verses 3 to 5.

It says, God wants all men to be saved. and come to a knowledge of the truth. And then when we jump over to other Paul writings, he says, how will they know? Without a preacher.

Well, ladies and gentlemen, if you go to church faithfully every Sunday, You're the preacher. You're the preacher at Menard's. You're the preacher at Kroger's. You're the preacher at Publix. You're the preacher at Walmart and Walgreens.

You have the gift of God in you, and that person needs it. You may not know it yet, but as soon as you engage them in conversation, you find out. And I'll leave you with this because I don't want to dominate the conversation. I was going in and having dinner at a local cracker barrel. when this United States Air Force retiree Comments me on my cross.

This guy just evangelized me. And I just hugged him because there it was. I said, Bussman. Here's a saint. He took the chance to see a man's garb, you know, a piece of jewelry, and proceed with the Christ message about it.

And his name is George. And if George, you're out there. I love you, brother. It was such a great conversation. But he found out that I had already known Christ, and we just ended up fellowshipping.

But, George. was an evangelist. He didn't care what I looked like, what I smelled like, what I you know could have been in his mind. He threw his heart and his body followed. That's right.

That's right for saints like that. And just to jump in off of your comment there, Buckman, I would like to add on: you don't have to just wait for somebody to go to hell. Or wait for that to be your motivation. If there's some kind of trouble that somebody's going through, depression, isolation, if there's crime going on in that area or crime in that person's life. Then, why not use that opportunity to bless them and get them out of that situation?

We don't have to just wait for somebody to be condemned to hell. Amen. Why not change people's hearts and minds and behavior while we're here on this earth?

So. We have, in my opinion, I could be wrong, but we have kind of lost that. Patriotic spirit. We've kind of lost that good neighbor spirit.

Now, we just celebrated 250 years of this country being on this earth. That's great. And I'm glad we did that. But could it have been a lot bigger? Could it have been every nation, not every nation, every city, every neighborhood, throwing up fireworks, throwing up flags, having some kind of celebration, some kind of parade?

So, and not just for the 250 America, but. Celebrating Jesus Christ. Are we on fire for this nation or for Jesus Christ like we are for this nation? Are we on fire for Jesus Christ like we are for our football team? For our favorite hangout, or what have you.

So, Can we change hearts and minds? Can we change spirits and behaviors before somebody goes to hell? You know, you might have somebody that says they're a Christian and they go to church on Sunday, and then go home. They're not really plugged into everything else. They might not be on fire for Jesus.

I was that same person, but somebody brought me out of my belts, and now I'm on fire. I'm going to every. Event that I can. My spirit has changed.

So, yes, my heavenly destination. Or my afterlife destination has changed, but I want my behavior while I'm on this earth to change as well. Think about that as Michael's. I love it. And, Bucksman, I want to thank you for the call.

We got some other people waiting.

So, thanks for calling in. I've got Emmanuel out of Burlington, North Carolina. But, what did you ask me, Jamal? Oh, I was just saying, what do you think about that statement that I was saying about changing your behavior? You know, for well, we do, and it's kind of like we were talking about before.

It's like Nike said, just do it. Just do it. You know, one of the things that I actually heard this morning by a guy named Jerry, and he said, Mike, he said, there was this boxer who was an excellent boxer. He was in great shape. He did this, that, and the other.

And they asked him, They said, Well, how are you? How do you, how do you do all of this? You must be really motivated. And he said, That motivation has very little to do with it, it's discipline. I discipline myself.

And we've all heard that it takes three weeks to form a habit. And we get into the habit of doing something, and then we start sharing the gospel, we start praying, and after a while, it's easy. But we've got Manuel out of Burlington, North Carolina. And Manuel, what gives you a sense of urgency for getting the gospel of Jesus Christ out there? The urgency immediately comes the fact that if God gives you a command, you go and do it.

When it comes to God commanding us to do anything, part of being a child of God, an image-bearer of God, is to fulfill. What it means to be human, and that's to fulfill the dominion mandate, of taking dominion of this world. And then the additional addition to that is people around you are dying and going to hell. And with that reality before us, We are Told and commanded, and given that sense of love and compassion for those around us.

So we want to give them the gospel. And so I think when it comes to us understanding the universe in that way, that there is a world that needs Christ. And we're I think the other part is when it comes to evangelism, it's not just to say we were trying to give everybody hell insurance. We're not the insurance salesman going around saying, Hey, this is the best thing you'll ever get before you die. Like, no, w we're called to give them a reality check of they can have eternal life right now.

That's right. And we're spreading the kingdom of God to them and through their life they're spreading the kingdom of God to others as the kingdom of God helps and changes the world around us. Yeah, and so we can be the hands and feet of Jesus.

Now, we're not Jesus, we're not God or anything like that, but He has given us authority. And he has given it, you know, I actually went around today, Jamal, and I was in Winston-Salem, and I started to pray for Winston-Salem that there would be revival here. And we were just talking about this in the book of James. It says that the effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. If I'm going around and praying, if I don't believe it's going to happen, according to the book of James, I might as well not even pray.

You've got to have faith. And so, a lot of the faith that we have, we could sit at home and have faith and say, I'm believing for big things. But man, well, what you guys do is you're with a group called Cross Exchange, and you guys are actually going out there and reaching people at Elon University. Is that right? Absolutely.

One of the things about our ministry, about being cross-exchange, is that we want to empower the church and others on Not only how to evangelize, but with the desire. We want to show them where that desire is first from the gospel. She go and evangelize. And it's and there's a right and wrong way to do it too. But the simple part I think is important.

We come to Elon University and the Elon culture and the college area, you have the nations coming to us instead of us going to see the nations and giving them the gospel. If you got people from all around North America and beyond coming to your location, and you're able to meet them where they're at, with people that are hungry for knowledge, want to learn more, prepare for the future. that is ripe fruit for people that want to engage and want to have these conversations about the gospel. And I think that's one of the greatest joys about learning how to have cross dialogue across different cultures, different people groups, different religions. And it's been very, very enlightening and beautiful.

Hey, Emmanuel, this is Jamal. Tell me your age, and I have a follow-up question after that, sir. I am twenty-six years old. And you're an apologist, you're a theologian, I'm going to go ahead and call you that. And you're out there doing the Lord's work, you're doing tough work.

To anybody that wants to get to your level, but that is scared, they don't think they have the skills, how would you instruct them to get started on having those conversations? Absolutely. So when it comes to the idea of being an apologist, 1 Peter three immediately calls us to that fact. Every time we're a Christian, we're going to be sharing our faith. We're called to understand our faith.

And before diving into understanding different cultures, different world views, those are all helpful for able to start different dialogue with different people. But I think the way I heard it once is for someone to know what a counterfeit is, they don't master different types of counterfeits. They master the real article. And so I call anyone to read their Bible. That's where it begins.

If you don't know your own faith, You have nothing to share. You have no message. And so the first step in every context is to know your Bible. Study it, read it, read it again and again and again. Familiarize yourself with all the books of the Bible.

And then as you grow in those things and you start Sharing your faith. You're going to find that different people have different ways of understanding what you're telling them. And so as you talk to them, you get better at it. It may be awkward the first time. It may not be helpful, it may be kind of strange the first time.

But one thing you cannot do is just Hide it in your own heart. You've got to share it and speak it verbally to other people. And honestly, if an experiment is someone's like brand, brand new to it. Just see how they respond. Just see how they're reacting.

Don't purposely try to insult them or bring them down, but earnestly show them your heart that I have a message of eternal life. that will change that have changed my life and will change yours. And from that, you just get better and better and better at it. That's good. Yeah, and I heard somebody say one time, man.

Well, they said that you don't have to be great to get started, but you have to get started to become great. And so I think, you know, I heard this years ago. I said there was an expression, and they said, the big problem. Problem that a lot of us have is that we get something called paralysis from analysis. And if you're not doing anything right now, I would just take the first step, just read the Bible, just pray, whatever.

You know, and there's times where I haven't gone out and done evangelism in a while or whatever. I'll just hand out Bibles. I'll hand out tracks or I'll put out tracks on people's windshields when I go to the grocery store. And it's like when I start to do something, the Lord will give me a desire to do even more. And so, if people want to check out or even support financially what you're doing, it's crossxchange.org.

Is that right, Manuel? Absolutely. Crossexchange.org. We are on Instagram, Facebook, and just the general and online presence.

So come check us out. Check you out. And we'll be right back. 866-34TRUTH, 866-348-7884. This is Michael Zwick.

We'll be right back. You're listening to the Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com. All right, guys, we are back. What gives you a sense of urgency to get the gospel of Jesus Christ out? And as I think about this, we all have to have a purpose, Jamal.

And we've got a Jerry out of Poftown, North Carolina, who's called in. But one of the stories that I'm reminded of was a young man who was a high school football player. He was a quarterback for two years, and he always played, but he was nothing more than mediocre. But his last game of his senior year. He absolutely did terrific.

He threw for over 400 yards. He threw for five touchdowns. I mean, they took him off on their shoulders. I mean, it was just, it was amazing. They said, what happened?

What got into you? And the young man said, well, he said, my dad would always come to the games. He said, but my dad was blind and he could never see. He said, but this week my dad died. And now my dad's in heaven, and he got to see me play.

He said, so I played for my dad. But but Jerry out of Pop Town, what gives you a sense of urgency to get the gospel of Jesus Christ out?

Well, I would say current events as an example.

Solomon said life is like a vapor. I've shared Christ with a number of people over time. And there's been at least five that I'm aware of that have died suddenly from heart attack, being hit by a car. Plane crashed, shot through the heart. Uh etc.

So, you never know how long someone has on this planet. We're not guaranteed. single day. the world of this that we have is an example in Deuteronomy 28. Many of the curses that God has declared in that, you know, in Deuteronomy 28.

We celebrate today, like Gay Pride is an example: men marrying men and women marrying women, things of that nature. Matthew twenty four talks about roars and rumors of wars that have been At least a million people killed over in Ukraine right now. The Gulf War situation. Um The whole world basically has oil reserves and they're running out because of this blockade that's going on right now. Then we have national debt during the time.

of President Reagan We owed a lot of money. And I want to stop you right there because what I hear you saying, Jerry, is that what gives you a sense of urgency is that tomorrow is not promised. As it says in the book of James, that our life is like a vapor. We appear for a moment and then we're gone. And so.

Tomorrow's not, people are dying all over the world. And for me, when I look in my Bible, Jamal, I see that, hold on. I mean, I'm seeing all this stuff, the wars, the rumors of wars, the volcanoes, everything that's happening. Could Jesus Christ? Be coming back soon because once we know this, that once Jesus Christ comes back, that's it.

There's no second chance. And even if we live beyond that, our life, we're not promised tomorrow. I meet people all the time. I said, somebody just died. I had an insurance client of mine who died in their 60s.

I said they were so young. And I want to thank you for the call, Jerry. We've got a Mike out of Dayton, Ohio. Are you there, Mike? Yeah, I'm here.

Can you hear me okay? Man, I can hear you great. I haven't heard from you in a while. Jamal's over there dancing. I'm jumping up and down.

I mean, you know, but what gives Mike from Dayton, Ohio, a sense of urgency about getting the gospel of Jesus Christ out there?

Well, you know, I do. I sense an urgency. And Um I've been debating, I've been putting it off. I've been wanting to go to the prison ministry with fellow people in my church. And I've been putting it off and this uh program has said Go do this, Mike.

And um, yeah, I need you guys to pray for me so I can um. Get get there, you know what I mean? And um and I I feel inadequate, I feel not responsible enough, I feel like I don't know the Bible enough, and it's scary. And uh These guys know a fake when they see one. And I'm not a fake, but Man, I want to know my stuff.

Well, let me just go there. Let me just jump in there, Mike from Dayton. I've done prison ministry for a little bit, and I spoke to somebody that used to be in prison, but they are out now there in our Bible study. And I asked him for advice because I said, Well, I want to make a connection with these guys because, like you said, Mike, they can spot a fake.

So I said, How can you help me to be genuine, to be real? And he said, Brother Jamal, just go there and have a conversation. Know their name. Be real. You don't have to come with a sermon.

Just have a conversation.

Now, you do want to infuse scripture with your conversation. Just have a conversation.

These guys just want that.

So, Mike from Dayton, just do that.

So, this is direct experience talking to you on what you can do. And these guys, these are some of the less than. Jesus said, What you do to the least of these, you're doing to me.

Some of these guys feel this way. We don't want to leave anybody behind. God left the 99 to go. Chase after the one. These guys are the ones.

Sorry. I don't want to step on anybody's toes here. I know we're running out of time, but I just want to encourage you to go do that passion because we don't want to leave anybody behind any orphanages, any prison people. We don't want to leave anybody behind. So go do what's in your heart.

And that's right, Mike. And we've got the owner of the Truth Network. We've got Stu Epperson on the phone. And I know, Stu, you've got a sense of urgency for the gospel. Is that right?

Well, Mike, the the clock is ticking. And we don't know how much time we have on this earth. And not only could Christ return at any time, But we could go to heaven at any time. We're not promised tomorrow. And so there's something.

There's something that's dismissive. The enemy wants us to be passive, dismissive, Oh, we can worry about that tomorrow. Oh, I'll kind of wait and I'll kind of sow some wild oats now, and then later on, I'll kind of sow gruff.

Well, you may not have later on, and that's the beauty. Of the gospel. That's the beauty of why Jesus came. And just as God sent Jesus Jesus sends us. John 20, 21.

As the Father sent me, So I send you. And so he sent us to intentionally ambitiously Share the gospel. And so the at the end of the day Mike and Jamal the that we have the greatest CEO We have the greatest mission. And we have the greatest product that transforms lives. What's broken is the distribution system.

You and I are the distributors. And only one out of thirty of us is actually telling people this amazing news. What are we waiting for? People are dying and going to hell today. And we have the answer of heaven.

to share with them.

So it's time that we, I can't worry about the other 29 out of 30. All I can worry about is myself. And heed the master's call. and be sober and be vigilant. Because the enemy is prowling about, trying to take the seed, trying to distract.

us from the real issue and that is Christ.

So, this is, there's an urgency, and I'm so glad you're doing this topic. I just love this topic. This show has been wonderful.

Well, and I appreciate you sharing that. You know, one of the things that I thought about, and I heard this today, Stu. There was a guy named Jay John. I don't know if you ever heard of him. I recently saw him on the internet.

But he said this: he said, There's two reasons. Why are people not Christians? And he says, number one reason, because they've never met a Christian. He said, the number two reason they're not a Christian is because they've met a Christian. And so, so, so, so, yes, we've got to go out there and we've got to share the good news of Jesus Christ.

But when people see us, it's almost like they've got to see a reflection of Jesus. They've got to see the love that we have in our hearts. They've got to see that, yes, we know a lot, you know, and they don't care how much we know, though, until they know how much we care. And when they see that we're loving and we're kind, and that, yes, we're sharing the gospel, the most important thing, but that they see that our lifestyle is a lifestyle that is like Jesus Christ, not perfect. Not perfect by any means, but that we're living a Christian life.

And they say, you know what? I want what he has. I want what she has. What do you think, Stu? I think 100%.

And one pastor said it this way: he said, either evangelize. or you will fossilize.

So we we're gonna die. We're gonna you know, we're gonna you know, churches I tell you, the churches that are dying, the churches that are that are about to have Ichabod set over them are churches that are just in their holy huddle. Self-absorbed. And narcissistic, and they're not missions-driven, and they're not taking the gospel, they're not inviting new people in, they're not reaching the youth. And they are fossilizing.

They're turning into monuments instead of movements. God has called us. to be fishers of men, not keepers of the aquarium. And so that's from another pastor I heard say that.

So listen. We've got to go. The first two letters in the word gospel are go.

So Christ called us to go.

So that's everywhere. we're going. In fact, the Great Commission, the the word in the Greek Where he says, go into all the world. The world is actually the word go there. is actually an active participle That is a a a verb.

That is literally, it literally reads in the Greek: as you are going.

So I'm walking into a YMCA today. A lady mistakens me for someone else. She sees my truth network. And I said, Well, if you want to hear a good radio station, I hope this is a blessing to you. She says, Oh, no, I don't believe in God anymore.

I had a real bad experience with the Catholic Church. That sparked about a 10-minute delightful conversation. with this lady. And all of a sudden... I had just had lunch, I was having brain fog, all of a sudden I was in a battle.

All of a sudden, my whole day found new purpose, Mike, because I was able to point someone who was in darkness to the light. And I'm praying this lady will trust Christ. I gave her all kinds of stuff. And I encouraged her, and it was a good conversation, but every single person out there. Was born Is made in the image of God.

And needs to be reborn. And you might be the only Bible they ever read. You might be the only Jesus they ever see or hear.

So let's go and let's give them Jesus. And let's not waste any opportunity. Every opportunity, every appointment is a divine appointment.

Well, Stu, I want to thank you for coming on the show today, the owner. I want to thank Jamal for coming on. My show, If Not For God, with Mike Zwick, will be on this Saturday at noon on the Truth Network. And I plan on being back here at my normal time this Friday at 4 p.m.

So we'll see you soon, and we'll see you on Truth Talk Live tomorrow. God bless you guys, and have a great hump day. Bye. No, no. There we go.