Take Up Your Cross Daily

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. 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. What does it mean to take up your cross and follow Jesus? Eight six six three four Truth.

Eight six six three four eight seven eight eight four. What has it looked? Like in your life, and so the Bible verse that I've got is I've got Matthew sixteen twenty four where it says, "Then Jesus said to his disciples, 'Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.'" Another version says, "Take up your cross daily," but we've got the owner of the Truth Network on here as well. We've got Stu Epperson Jr. and Stu.

Today is a very special day for you. Happy birthday, brother!

Well, thank you so much for that. I'm making sure my mic is turned on here. Yeah, yeah.

So can anybody hear me? Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, I, I think you're good, man. But, but happy birthday, you! Happy 39th. I'm gonna say that's right. We're not gonna give specific dates or times or names, but hey, you know what?

Every day. Is a gift from God, and what we want to do is we want to invite people into the glorious adventure of knowing Christ, and so they can have a spiritual birthday. You know, so you know if you're if you're born only once, you're going to die twice. If you're born twice, then you'll only die once. That's right.

So it only gets better for the believer. Yeah, yeah, and so I know for me, there have been times in my life where I've had to deny my cross or deny myself—not deny the cross, but deny myself, take up the cross—and and I believe we've got a Patrick on the phone as well. Are you there, Patrick? Yeah, I'm here. Hey, buddy!

Welcome to the show, man. And I'm sure you want to, you know, we we're all wishing Stu, the owner, who's right here with us, a very happy birthday. But you and I had actually talked about this a little bit before the show, and and you said there's been some times, Patrick, where you've had to deny yourself and take up your cross. Is that right? Yeah, I think I like what you said when you referenced Luke nine.

I really like that passage in Luke nine because I like the way it puts daily on the end of it, because you can definitely see in the context with Matthew sixteen that he's getting ready to go to the cross, and so you can see this this context may may take his life, may end up having the ultimate cost. But I think for a lot of your listeners, I mean, I love the Truth Talk live show you have going. But for people looking for truth, I think for a lot of listeners, to deny yourself and take up your cross daily.

So, could this lead to martyrdom? Could this lead to our obedience even costing us our lives? Yes, but I think this is an idea of surrendering control of our priorities. Our possessions, our security—to follow him, even those those little things that happen daily. Yeah, and and and Patrick, you were you were actually you had a good job, and then all of a sudden, I know that you were living in your car with your wife because you decided you wanted to leave that behind and share Jesus with people.

But Stu, I mean, you know, you've kind of grown up, I guess, in the church. Is that right, Stu? Oh yeah, absolutely, all around it.

So, I mean, what does it look like for you to deny yourself?

Well. Ultimately, it's it's not a it's not you know Jesus is both Savior and He's Lord, and it's not a it's not a either or thing. It's either you're all in with Christ or you're not all in with Christ.

So this is this is the Christian life. You know, this is what this is what what what did He? Let me ask you, who was the ultimate? Cross bearer, how many are there? Go ahead, Patrick.

Did either one of you guys bear a cross on a hill called Calvary to die for the sins of mankind? No way. Could y'all do that? No. No.

How how much cross bearing can you do to make God like you? To make God accept you. To forgive your sins. Yeah, why don't you get on your knees with a cross on your back and crawl up Andes so the Holy, Holy Mother of Guatemala can like you. This is what people are.

People have bleeding knees in the Andes mountains right now because they think by taking up their cross that that's going to get them into heaven, and that's the absolute antithesis of what the cross stands for. That's not why Paul said I will boast only in the cross of Christ, because Jesus bore that cross.

So he could earn the favor with the Father that I could not earn. He lived the life I couldn't live. He bore a cross I couldn't bear, so that he could die in my place for my sin. And so, what does he call me to? He calls me to him, to the crucified life, which Paul is explicit about in two twenty of Galatians.

I am crucified with Christ. This is where the cross comes in. Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me. That's a great, great, mighty reformer, leader, pastor. They said, "Hey, are you afraid to die when you go to this unreached people group?

Are you afraid to, to, to, you know, to be put on your own cross and killed?" He said, "No, I died two thousand years ago on a cross called Calvary.

Okay, so I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live, I live by works." No, I live by faith in the Son of God. He's the object of my faith. He's the finisher of my faith. He's the author of my faith.

Hebrews twelve two, who loved me and gave himself for me.

So the gospel in the Christian life isn't what I'm doing for him. Do do do do do, work work work work. Get on a treadmill, throw a cross on your back, and show God. How much you're doing for him? No, it's focused on.

It's obsessing with what Jesus Christ has done for me. And when I go to that cross, the burden lifts. Like in Pilgrim's Progress, when Pilgrim went to that cross, that narrow way, and that burden rolled right off his back, and he bowed his knee before the one who gave everything for him, and he lived a life full of gratitude. That's fueled by grace. And so, really, cross bearing is identifying is living in union with Jesus Christ.

And if you don't have that life, you likely don't have the life of Christ in you. And it's time to say, Hey, have you ever been to that cross? You know, it's time to take people. It's time to take sinners who don't know Christ to the cross of Christ. We got to preach the cross.

That's what Paul said. I preach that. I preach Christ. I preach Him crucified. Why aren't we preaching that anymore?

Why have we gotten away from that message? Yeah, and and one of the things that you said before the show, Stu, we were talking outside, and you said there have been many false conversions of people who say, "Hey, I went," you know, we did a crusade down in South America, and ten thousand people got saved because they raised their hands. But Patrick, and I'm sure you probably know this as well, it's like it's a little bit more than raising your hand. It is, you know, at some, you know, and it has to begin somewhere, right? At some point, we have to, you know.

Surrender our lives to Jesus or say yes to Jesus, but you know there there does come a time where it's like you know you do deny yourself, and I think Stu you said before the show is that you know if you if you say hey I said a prayer and I raise my hand and you're still living the same way that you lived before, then Patrick you you were probably never saved to begin with, and and you need to check it there. But there are times as Christians, Patrick, where We do have to deny ourselves, and Patrick, you just got kicked off of Facebook, right? What was that? You said you, I said you just got kicked off of Facebook. Is that right?

Yeah, that's right. I got banned from Facebook. That's correct. Yeah.

So, I mean, what was that all about? Yeah, I don't think.

Well, yeah, you have to be, but you don't want to be as cowardly, right? If we look at the end of Revelation, you don't want to do that. You want to speak truth. Emboldeness, and unfortunately, there's yeah, there's obviously the enemy, the rule of this world, the power of the prince of the air, and a bunch of things that do not want truth to go on there. Whether that's us talking about you know defending the unborn.

Whether that's talking about these things that happened in the current geopolitical news cycle, whether that's towards the rise of anti-Semitism or global Islam around the globe, those things are going to be the enemy. Doesn't want any of those things.

So, if you're on social media trying to speak truth to people, you're going to take some resistance to those things. Yeah, and we will be right back, Patrick. If you can stay on the line, we'll be right back eight six six three four Truth. What does it look like to deny yourself and take up your cross daily? And and so you know, it's kind of a it's it's an interesting conversation.

But we've got Stu Epperson, the owner of the Truth Network, and we've got Patrick out of Illinois.

So we'll be right back. You're listening to the Truth Network and TruthNetwork dot com. Right guys, we are back. We've got Stu, we've got Patrick, and Patrick is Patrick did a movie, and it's called Witness to All Nations, and it was absolutely amazing. Patrick, did I get the name of the movie right?

No, we run a parachurch organization. We come alongside churches all around the globe.

So it's a parachurch organization called Witness to All the Nations. And the movie was the Gospel of the Kingdom. Oh wow! Amazing, amazing movie, and you can watch that for free, I believe, on YouTube. Is that right, Patrick?

That's right.

You can go to our YouTube channel for Witness All Nations, or watch it for free. Yeah, I think it may be on Vimeo too.

Okay. Yeah, you can go to our website. www.dot.witness to all the nations. What's the thirty-second spiel on the movie? Like, give us the give our listeners a little teaser, real quick.

Be be a live rolling like teaser, like the you know the little clips you see at the beginning of other movies. Tell us tell us real quick. Sure, the gospel of the kingdom is is related to Matthew twenty four fourteen when the apostles asked them, "Hey, what's going to be the signs of your coming in the end of the age?" And in the 14th verse, he says, "And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world, as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come." A lot of times, when we're raised up in the church, no fault to the the churches, but a lot of times they know a ton about the New Testament, but they don't know much about their Hebrew Bible. And Jesus is really a lot of people don't don't recognize that Jesus, when he's out here proclaiming the gospel, he's proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom. There's a kingdom coming here after this present evil age, and so we go into that Hebrew Bible, pull from the Hebrew Bible.

We look at at the book of Acts when they said, "How can we know what is this kingdom going to be like after this present evil age? After we get glorified bodies, resurrected from the dead, and we're here with Jesus ruling and reigning with Him here on earth, like it says in Revelation, how can we find out what that that is?" And if we look at the book of Acts, it Tells us those things have been written in the prophet books, so we explore that in the documentary. You know, twenty four fourteen is one of my favorite verses because there is three billion people who still haven't even heard the gospel.

So, anyone excited about advancing that message of Christ to the world, there is still languages that don't have the Bible in their own language interpreted.

So, God bless you, brother. For pushing that one, we got to do more of that. We do, and Stu. Speaking of pushing stuff, there is a book that I've been reading by used to, and it's called "Thanks Living: Embracing the Power of Gratitude Every Day" by Stu Epperson Jr. and And sometimes it feels like taking up your cross to to to be grateful to give gratitude because sometimes we have tough things in life.

But kind of like Patrick just gave his spiel or thirty second spiel for. His movie. Tell us why we need to pick up the books too.

Well, you have you have two things that the reformers and godlier and wiser men, even those guys, read the dead guys by the way, you'll benefit much from them. But the two things that they really said this, if you summarize the Christian life, the all of Scripture in two words, they are grace and gratitude. Grace is what God does for us and in us, and gratitude is what comes out of us. When grace flows in, gratitude flows out. That's right.

And it's gratitude that compels us to be cross-bearing. It's gratitude that compels us to to follow and love our Savior and walk with Him because He He's done everything for us. I can't best what He did. I can't die for people's sins. You're right.

I can't. But what I can do is I can say thank you, Jesus, and I can live a life of gratitude. Gratitude, abounding in gratitude, like it says in Colossians, like it says all over, a sign of being filled with the Spirit is being filled with you know gratitude.

So this is the Christian life is one big thank you, Jesus life. From the moment we're reborn to the moment we are glorified and face to face with Christ, we are living and we are to be living. We're to be act. You know that's why he says in everything give thanks. This is a this is a volitional choice to be grateful, recognizing from whence we came.

Recognizing what he's done for us. And recognizing that this message is too amazing to not share with the rest of the world, to not make movies about, to not have YouTube shots about, to not have you know be be loud and be be much for Jesus, and which is why I love what our guest is doing using the media to to spread the the good news of Christ everywhere. He is, and I I just I subscribe to the YouTube channel. You can go to the YouTube channel Witness to All the Nations. Subscribe.

You can watch the it's two hours. Ten minutes. The the movie on there got the Gospel of the Kingdom, and you can go to Amazon right now, Stu, and pick up your book. Is that right? That's right.

Just don't get too many of them because we don't want we don't want this gratitude to infect other people. Then folks gonna start talking about Jesus, and then who knows what could happen. It's very portable. Five things will happen after you read the book. One, you'll have a verse memorized, which is amazing.

Imagine the voice of God in your mind all the time. Can you imagine that? Yeah.

Number two, you'll have a verse to meditate on. That's right.

To study. Number three, you'll have a great resource for a small group to teach other people a verse. There's five A's, a five eighteen. The book takes you through these one verse, a whole book written on one verse. Imagine that, pastors.

You can preach one verse of the Bible and a whole sermon, and you won't even very barely scratch the surface.

Okay, that's this whole book is on one verse. Number four, you'll have a great tool to share with lost people. They don't know why they're given thanks. They're told by their secular psychologist, they're told by their shrink to give to have gratitude. They're told that, yeah, but they don't know why they're thankful because ultimately, at the end of the day.

Their soul isn't really been transformed by Jesus, and but when you have a soul that's been changed by Christ, you have the ultimate cause for gratitude, right? That's right.

And so, gratitude's always good. Keeping the Ten Commandments is a good thing, right? But if you don't know why they're there, who gave them to you, right? If you don't know the gospel, the law takes you to the gospel, right? If you don't know the the meaning, if you haven't ever been truly forgiven.

Then you have an experience what true gratitude is.

So this book kind of explains it. It's a great way to share the gospel with these folks. To say, here is why gratitude. Here is where it comes from. Right.

This is the source of gratitude. Yeah.

You know. And then finally, it's portable. It's a little. It's a little bitty book. Yeah.

And so I'm not the brightest. It's a quick read. I'm not the look. I'm not the brightest knife in the drawer. You know.

So I. Yeah.

I just wanted to put something simple. Kiss method. Keep it simple stew and put it in a little book form. And then you know you can get a bunch of these and give them out. I've got a pastor just ordered 200 for his church.

Oh wow. You know. For to bless his people, his church with to try to again engender and encourage a biblical foundation for why Thanksgiving should be thanks living. It takes us from a season to a. Daily heart and attitude of gratitude.

Yeah, and all you have to do is Google "thanks living," Stu Epperson Jr., and you can pick up the book. It's reasonably priced. You'll get the book pretty quick, and and I'm reading it right now. and And I tell you what, if you think about it, what is the opposite of complaining? The opposite of complaining is to give thanks.

Give thanks to God in all circumstances. You know, and and that when I wake up in the morning, we can say, you know, this is the day that the Lord has made. I'm going to rejoice, and I'm going to be glad in it. And and Patrick, if you're still there, there are some people Christians who are over in Nigeria, and I know they've got to be thankful right now to God because they're having some tough times. Is that right?

Oh, absolutely. And some of this, like you said, some of this. Taking up your cross daily does lead to the ultimate cross. You know the the Bible when it talks about you must share in his sufferings in order to share in his glory. But I agree with Stu that the the the the Christians in Nigeria, you know, they have a hope.

You know, like it talks about in First Thessalonians four. You know, and they actually have preeminence. Those who have fallen asleep will be there before us here, and so we love that. I liked what what Stu said too. You know, one of me and my wife's favorite verses is, "Him who is forgiven much loves much," and so we always felt like we always felt like we would tell our daughters.

We raised daughters. One of our daughters lives in Guatemala now. They live overseas. But we we told our daughters we said if you we had a sign up in our home that said if you want to find happiness find gratitude if you want to find happiness find gratitude and the name of the book you need to pick it up is Thanks Living by Stu Epperson Jr. Just Google it you can pick it up that way.

Stu, where were you going to say? Our our guests can confirm this.

Some of the most grateful people are people that are suffering so much. These believers, Nigeria. Like they put our gratitude to shame over there, you know.

So humble. I think of our mutual friend Fred, the Soul Wonder. He's been on their show. Yeah, Fred Hagee. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

His trailer. He couldn't find his trailer was completely. The tire was destroyed. It was a rare axle size. He couldn't find anyone to help him, and and he happened to a crew happened to be passing by that had the right.

Exact right tools to help him fix his trailer tire. An answer to prayer, but he was so upset and so frustrated that he couldn't find anyone. He was, you know, he couldn't get his stuff done. But then he started praying. He said, "Lord, I don't know what you're doing here, but I'm trusting you in everything to give thanks." Three guys stop by.

He led two of them to Christ on the spot. The third one, he still has his name, his number, and he's texting that guy and praying that that third one would come to Christ. He's like, "Lord, I've never been more thankful for a broken tire on a rare axle that only these guys had the tool to fix." Fred Higgy shared that, and God is working in things. God's in control. He hasn't changed.

How how am I trusting him and how am I grateful for what he's doing, refining me and opening doors for the gospel all around the world. That's right, and and we'll be right back, Patrick. You can stay on and Buxman. I think wants to wish to happy birthday. Is that right?

Thank you, brother. I think so. Yeah.

You're listening to the Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com. All right, guys, we are back, and you know what does it look like to take up your cross daily and follow the Lord Jesus Christ? And and so I've got Patrick, who's still on the line, and we've got a Bucksman and and Stu just left, and I know you wanted to wish him a happy birthday, but before I get you guys back on, I wanted to tell you guys how proud I am of my son, Michael Jr. Every single Saturday, we go out and we share the gospel.

Okay, every Saturday we go to Walmart, we go to a store, whatever. But what I always tell him is this: as I said, Michael, I said when we're done sharing the gospel, I said you can get some candy. And so every week he comes out and he says, "All right, where's my candy, Dad?" And this past Saturday, I kind of was spending some time with the Lord, and I said, Michael, I said you can come out with me and share the gospel and pray. For people, pass out tracks and do all of that. I said, but you're not going to get any candy today.

I said, you've got to do it because you want to do it. And Michael's right here. What did you say, Michael? I said I'll do it anyways. He said he'll do it anyways.

And I tell you what, my son is nine years old, but I am proud of him so much. And so I that that that's just a that's a dad moment for me. But Buxman, welcome to the show, brother. I guess you're gone, Patrick. Are you still there?

All right, I guess it's just me.

So, but anyways, but yeah, every day we've got to take up our cross. We've got to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. And I know in my own life, and I told told you guys this before, where there was an issue where you know somebody didn't like what I was posting on social media, kind of like Patrick. I don't I don't know if you guys can hear. Can you hear me, Pat?

Are you there, Patrick? I don't know. I guess something happened, but there there must be something going on where there are times in your life where it's difficult. And I was sharing the gospel, and I was probably putting some stuff out there that was controversial. But at the same time, there was a guy who said, "I'm going to publish your address because I don't like you, and I you know I hate you this, that, and the other, or whatever." And I guess you could say he doxxed me.

But at the end of the day. Hey, what I'm doing? I'm doing this for Jesus, and if Jesus, if it's my time to go home at any time, I'm ready to go home at every at any time. And so, can you hear me, Pat? Can you hear me, Buxman?

Buxman is on the line. Buxman is on the line. I know you had been on hold for a while, brother.

So I don't, I don't know what happened, and I know you wanted to wish Stu a happy birthday, right? I know you had wanted to wish Stu a happy birthday, but I know for you in your life you've had control to Stu Epperson. There you go. But there's been times in your life where you hear me, Stu. I don't know.

Can you hear me, Buxman? Ground control. Ground control. I guess not.

Well, we're just going to keep rolling with it. Yeah, he said he can't hear me. Can you hear me, Ben Patrick? Can you hear me? No, I guess not.

So the. But anyways, I do want to share this with you. Is that you know there are times in our in our lives where we have to take up our cross and follow the Lord. There's been times, you know, it's funny. My my son Michael Michael Jr.

He said he was going to come out with me this Saturday. Either way. He was going to come out with me this Saturday, whether he got candy or not. But I can tell you this much: there are times in my life where it's difficult to go out and share the gospel. I'm sure that there's times in the lives of others, like Buxman or or Patrick, whoever it is, where it's time.

It's hard for you to go out and do it, but you know that the ends justifies the means.

Sometimes the means can be tough.

Sometimes the means can be very difficult when you're trying to share your faith, when you're trying to do the right thing. I get it. There are times that are very, very difficult. But at the same time, we've got to press forward. The Bible says that I press on towards the mark for the higher calling in the Lord Jesus Christ, not the medium calling, not the average calling.

We've got to press on towards the mark. And so, yeah, it's tough. You know, but if it, I'm sure you guys have heard this. They said if it was easy, everybody would be doing it. And, and Buxman, can you hear me?

I guess not.

So, if it was easy, everybody would be doing it. But you know what? It's not easy, and that's why Jesus said you got to take up your cross daily and follow me. And I'm here to hear you on the radio, Michael. But I cannot hear you over the phone, sir.

Okay. Well, go ahead. Can you hear me now? Yeah, I tell you what. Go ahead, Buxman.

Go ahead and share, and I'll give you a minute. What has it been like to take up your cross?

Okay. I tell you what, the Lord Jesus Christ is here. He's coming back. Jesus Christ is coming back soon, and so every single day, I want to do everything that I can do to follow the Lord Jesus Christ, and I I want to give my very best for the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, you know, there was a time, and I and I heard this before, where Jimmy Carter was.

You know, he had worked hard. He had gone. He was in the Naval Academy. And he was he had gone through Georgia Tech and all of this stuff, but one of the things that that was his thing was he met with a guy named Admiral Rickover, and Rickover started asking him questions because he was going to try to join him in the Naval Academy, and Rickover asked question after question after question, and instead of giving Jimmy Carter praise, who later became president. He got.

He seemed to get more upset, and he wasn't pleased with anything that Jimmy Carter was saying. And finally, it was like at the end of the day. By the time the conversation was finished or through, he asked Jimmy Carter this. He said, "Did you always do your best?" And Jimmy Carter was just about to say yes. He was just about to say yes, but then he thought about it.

He said he remembered the times where he was at Georgia Tech and he didn't always give his best. He remembered that there were times when he was in the Naval Academy and he did not always do his best. And he said, "No, sir." He said, "I did not always do my best." And he said, after that, after he realized that he did not always do his best or give his best, Rick overlooked at him, and he said, "Why not?" And the meeting was over. But after that, Jimmy Carter said to himself. He said, "If I really believed that the Naval Academy was something that was important, he said, 'If I really believed that that that that serving the Lord, because he was a Christian at the time, he said, 'If I really believed that serving the Lord was a really good thing, why did I not always do my best?

If I really believed that Jesus Christ is the only way to get to heaven.'" If I really believe that there is no other way to go to heaven other than Jesus Christ, and I don't want to tell people, how much do you have to hate someone? How much do you have to hate someone if you can know the key to eternal life and not want to share it with them because you think it's socially awkward? Did you always do your best? You know there was a book that came out a long time ago, and it says that all you can do is all you can do, and all you can do is enough. And I want to tell you today, if you're doing everything that you can do for the Lord Jesus Christ, that's awesome.

Keep doing everything that you can do for the Lord Jesus Christ. Praise God. But at the same time, if you're not, it is not too late. I remember I was I was tutoring a lady when I was in college, and she was on the track team at Appalachian State. And I said, you know, I used to run track and whatever.

I said I was in high school, and I said, but yeah, but I I guess I can't do that anymore. I quit whatever. And she said, you know what? Why don't you start right now? Are you not sharing the gospel with your friends?

Are you not sharing the gospel with your family? You know, people love to have Bible studies. I like to have Bible studies. People love to go to a church and sit there for an hour and listen to the person preach, which is great. I do that as well.

Many Sundays I go out. I'll be there. I'll be at this Sunday. I'll be preaching at Christ Freedom Fellowship over McLeansville at ten thirty a.m. If you want to come out to the church, feel free to come on out.

But what I'm saying is, is that's not where it ends. That's where it begins. You've got to go out there into the streets, into the highways and the byways, like Jesus Christ said, and you've got to tell the people. You know, guess what? You've been inviting people to church your whole life, and they're not.

Many of them are not coming. Keep inviting them. Keep doing what you can do. But at the same time, if somebody's going to hear about Jesus, it may have to be in that Walmart. It may have to be in that a food lion or in the in the parking lot of the food lion or wherever you want to go.

But you've got to go out to see the people, and you know what? There was a time where if I wanted to tell you that God was good, I would actually have to come up to you, and I would walk up to you, and I would say, "God is good." But see, now we live in a time right now where if I want to tell you that God is good, immediately I can share the message like I'm doing it right now, and people—thousands of people—can hear it on the radio, or or hundreds, or dozens, or thousands of people can hear it on social. Media or wherever it is, so yes, we can do things the way that we've always done them. We go up to people, we share the gospel, we pray for people. I do that, but in addition to that, I also do it on social media because I want to share the good news of Jesus Christ.

That there's one way to heaven. There's not ten ways. There's not two ways. It's not Muhammad. It's not Buddha.

It's not Hinduism. Jesus Christ said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life," and He said that no. Nobody comes to the Father but by me, and let me tell you, I've had people laugh at me. I've had people make fun of me, and they say you're taking this Jesus thing a little too seriously. And Mikey used to be a whole lot more fun before you found Jesus.

Well, I tell you what, Jesus put it this way: He said, if somebody finds a pearl somewhere and it's of great price, it says that person goes out and they sell everything that they've got to buy that pearl. He said they sell everything that they've got to buy that pearl because they realize that everything else that they had was nothing in comparison to the pearl of great price. And I'm here to tell you, Jesus is worth a whole lot more than a pearl. Eternal life is worth whole a whole lot more than a pearl. And you can do something.

We can each actively go out there and share the good news of Jesus Christ with our lost relatives, with our with our friends, with our family. I tell you what, I want to share it with my worst enemy who is out there. Pendeglet said this before. He said, "If you don't want to share the gospel, if you don't want to tell people about heaven because you think that it's socially awkward," he said, "How much do you have to hate that person?" You know, and and people will do anything but share the gospel. They'll they'll do a Bible study.

They'll sit in their room and pray. I believe in praying. I pray for our country. They sit and read their Bible. I do that too.

I listen to my Bible. I do all that stuff, but it's not to the exclusion of the Great Commission. What is the Great Commission? Go throughout the whole world, teaching them and baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost. I tell you what, we go out there.

It's exciting, you know what? But sometimes I'm I'm just as human as everybody else is. Before before Michael Jr. and I and Christian go out there, and sometimes our daughter Ann even comes out there. She'll sit there and say, "Dada, we got to pass out some tracks." Dada, we got to pray for people.

What does it say in the Word of God? It says, "Out of the mouths of babes." And Jesus put it in one point. He says, "If these disciples will not tell you about Jesus Christ." I tell you the truth, the rocks are going to cry out, but we're not going to let that happen in Winston Salem. We're not going to let the rocks cry out because nobody is telling people about the good news of Jesus Christ. That Jesus saves, He heals, He delivers, and He's coming back again back soon.

And yes, we have to believe in Jesus, but we also have to deny ourselves, take up our cross daily, and follow the Lord Jesus Christ. What good is it to a man if he gains the whole world yet loses his soul? I'll be right back after the break. God bless you. You're listening to the Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com.

Jesus, but you know what? It's a whole lot more difficult not to follow Jesus, and I'm here to tell you today that yeah, there's been some tough times when I go out there and share the gospel. There's a cross that I've got to bear. There's a cross that Stu has had to bear. There's been a cross that Patrick has had to bear as well.

But at the same, and I'm sure Buxman as well. But at the same time, it is nothing in comparison to. The glory which shall be revealed within us. If you want to remember a Bible verse, remember Romans eight eighteen. For I consider that our present troubles are nothing compared to the glory which shall be revealed within us.

And I'll give you some examples. I, you know, we go out, we share the gospel. It's tough. This, that, the other. But this is what I'm also going to tell you: is this.

There are times of excitement. There are times of great joy. And I remember one of those times that I can think of is a. Woman named Jackie that I walked up to into a Walmart, and I started telling her about Jesus. And I had one of my kids with me, and she her mouth was wide open, and she said, "I'm an adult Christian." She said, "I've been going to church for my whole life," and she said, "I've never had anybody come out to me out in public and tell me about Jesus." And I sat there and I thought about it for a second, and I said, "That's sad." Jesus told us to go out in the whole world and preach the gospel.

You know, he when when Jesus would heal somebody, the first thing that he would tell them is, "He said, 'Look, I've healed you. Don't tell anybody about this.'" And they would go out and they would tell everybody about it. But then Jesus told us to go throughout the world and preach the gospel to all creation, and we don't want to tell anybody. Why is that? Why is that?

You know, the truth is, is that we can know the truth, and that the truth can set us free. But it's more than just us. It's more than it's more than just being about Mike Zwicky. It's more than just being about Todd Felkel from Christ Freedom Fellowship. But he's a pastor.

He comes out with us on Saturday mornings. Deborah Chandler, she comes out with us on Saturday mornings and preaches and shares the gospel and prays for the sick. He'll. The sick cast out demons freely. You have received freely.

Give. I tell you what; it's all a gift, anyways. It's all a gift from Jesus Christ. It's not about me. It's not even about the Truth Network.

It's not about any of that stuff. It's all about Jesus. And I tell you what; I love what John Wesley said. He said, "I set myself on fire," and he said that people come to watch me burn. Are you on fire for Jesus?

Are You doing everything that you can do to pray for the sick, to pray pray for revival. You know, there's some of you who may be at home. You can't get out of the house. You can pray for revival in the United States. There was somebody who had a vision years ago, and they saw these people right around the throne of God, and they said, "Oh, those must be the most famous Christians of all time, who everybody knew." And they said, "No, those are the grandmothers who were sitting, who were on their knees." Praying for the nations, they were the grandmothers who were praying for their children to be saved and their grandchildren to be saved.

You know, Jerry Fallwell, he said that his mother wasn't a great evangelist. He said, but his mother would always pray for her son to get saved. And not only did he get saved because of his mother's prayers, but he led many others to Jesus Christ. He started Liberty University because of a mother's prayers. Are you praying for your children?

Are you praying for your city? Are you praying for a revival in the area that you're in? If you're not doing it, then start today. Are you reading your Bible daily? Why?

I'm going to start reading it six hours. If you're not doing it at all right now, you're probably not going to do it for six hours. Why not start with 15 minutes, like Charles Stanley used to say? You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free. I'm going to give you another example.

I was out at the Walmart one Saturday morning, and and I went up to a lady, and I I started to tell her about Jesus Christ and that Jesus loved her, and she said, "I know that." She said, "But right before you came in, she said I started praying right before you came in, and she said I was praying that God would send somebody to me to share the. Of Jesus, just to send somebody to me because I was lonely right now. Her husband was dealing with some sickness. Her husband was dealing with some stuff, and she said, "God sent you." But guess what? We've got to answer the call.

Yes, God may have sent me. God may have sent you, but you've got to listen. You've got to heed the voice of the Lord. My people perish for lack of knowledge. Yes, we've got to have the knowledge of the Bible.

We've got to know our Bible when we're sharing it with other people. But at the same time, we've got to be willing. You know you can have the greatest maps in the world, the greatest GPS in the world, and all of that, but until you actually get in the car and start driving, nothing will happen. You've got to light that match. How do you do it?

By going up to that first person. You know what I do? I started off doing this myself. I just started off putting tracks on people's windshields outside of the grocery store because I was too afraid to talk to them.

Well, guess what? I saw people reading those tracks.

So the word of God was. Was getting out there. The Bible says that God's word will not return void. You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free. Yes, you you've got to know that.

But at the same time, there were a couple of young Christians, and they were out one one Saturday at outside of the Walmart or whatever. And I said, Jesus loves you. And one of those two girls said, Jesus loves you too. And we started talking, and we encouraged them, and they went on their way, and they were encouraged. You know, you could do anything.

You can do anything. You can pray. You can read your Bible. You can share the good news. You know, it's funny.

One time, a couple of years ago, whatever, I was sharing. You know, I telling people about Jesus while I was out doing my job, and I showed them. I said, "Look, you know, I do a show about the Lord Jesus every week, or whatever." And there was a young man who said, "I want to follow you," and this and that. And so he followed me. And I said, "Well, you know, I don't think these people ever listen or anything like that." But two years later.

I came to I came to his grandma's house and he said I watch all of your stuff I watch a lot of your stuff I'm sorry on social media about Jesus I tell you what and I've said this before there was a man who died in the year 2026 he went to heaven and he got to meet the apostle Paul and he said Oh my gosh you're the apostle Paul this is amazing he said What was it like to be around Jesus and the early disciples The apostle Paul said it was pretty Good. It was pretty exciting. There were a lot of good things happening, but then all of a sudden, the Apostle Paul realized that this man died in the year 2026, and he said, "Hold on." He said, "Did you die in the year 2026?" And the young man said, "Yes, I did." And he said, "What was it like to be at a time where you could just talk to people, and on the on social media, you could share it all over the world?" And the young man said, "This he says. I don't know. He said I just looked at videos of cats online." I'm here to tell you today.

Instead of looking at those, you can look at those videos of cats if you want to. But in addition to that, why not tell people that Jesus saves? Why not tell people that God is good? Why not tell people that Jesus Christ is coming back, and He's coming back again soon? You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.

But the Bible also says this. It says, "How can they hear without a preacher? How can they hear?" Without somebody preaching to them, and I'm here to tell you today that God's word will not return void, but you got to share it. You got to share it. At some point, you're going to have to get your feet dirty.

You're going to have to walk through the mud, walk through the grass a little bit. You may have to go through some tough times, but you're going to have some good times as well when you share the Lord Jesus Christ with your friends, your family, your worst enemy. I remember years ago I was talking to a lady about business, and all of a sudden I asked her, I said, "Are you saved?" She said no. I said, "Would you like to give your life to Jesus Christ today?" She said yes, and I baptized her right there. You know what?

You know how much work and how much effort it took to do that. Very little at all, but I had to open up my mouth. And Stu Epperson has said this before. Happy birthday to Stu! But he said this before.

He said there's one time where there was a eunuch, and the eunuch was reading from the book of Isaiah, and then one of the apostles, I think it was Philip, came. He was he was transferred to this man in the spirit, and and the eunuch and Philip asked this guy. He said, "What you know? Do you know what you're reading?" And the eunuch said, "How can I know unless somebody explains it to him?" Somebody explains it to me. Excuse me.

So, so Philip explained the gospel to this eunuch, and he he the eunuch got saved, and Philip baptized him, and and and and hell lost another one that day. But there's a there's a part in there that a lot of people miss, and the part is this: is that Philip opened up his mouth. Philip opened up his mouth at some point. At some point. At some place in your life, if people are going to hear the good news about Jesus Christ, you've got to open up your mouth.

It may be a little bit uncomfortable for you.

So what? There's a there's a runner, a guy who does long distance running, and he did. I think he did the most pull ups in the world at one time. Or whatever his first name is, David David Goggins. You guys may know him, but one day he said, "It's hot outside." So he said, "It's raining." So he said, "I am hurting." So, so what?

You keep going. I press on towards the mark for the higher calling in the Lord Jesus Christ. We don't quit, and I've said this before. There was a guy named Les Brown in the '80s, and he said that he was playing his son in a game, and he kept beating his son again and again and again and again, and finally said, "Okay, it is too late. It's too late.

We've got to go to bed." And his son said this. He said, "It's not over until I win." You've been praying for that lost loved one for a long time, but I'm here to tell you today, it's not over. They may not have bent the knee to Jesus, they may not have said yes to Jesus, but it is not over until Jesus wins. The Bible says that greater is He who is within you than He who is within the world.

Now, do we really believe that? Do we really believe that? If we really believe that, we would change. We would. We would.

Our life would change. Our life would change. And there's a poem. It's called "The Race," and it said, "Let's let's go over right now." It says the poem is is about a man. He says, "Quit, give up.

You're beaten." They shout out and plead. There's just too much against you now. This time you can't succeed. And as I start, I hung to hung my head. I looked at at failure's face.

My downward fall is broken by the memory of a race. And he said that this young man, he kept looking up, and he kept looking up. And every time he wanted to get give up, he looked to his father, and he said, "I can't quit. We have a heavenly father in heaven." And I'm telling you, don't quit. Don't quit.

Jesus loves you. Jesus saves, and Jesus Christ is coming back again soon. If you believe that, share it with somebody.