Have You Witnessed To Your Family?

Hi, this is Nikita Kolov from the Q&A with Kolov Podcast, where you, the listener, get to ask me the questions, where you get a personal phone call from the Russian nightmare. Your chosen Truth Network Podcast is starting in just a moment. Sit back, enjoy it, share it, but most of all, thank you for choosing the Truth Podcast Network. Welcome to Truth Talk Live. All right, let's talk. A daily program powered by the Truth Network.

This is kind of a great thing, and I'll tell you why. Where pop culture, current events, and theology all come together. Speak your mind. And now, here's today's Truth Talk Live host. Welcome to Truth Talk Live. I am Duane Carson with Date the Word Ministry, and it is my joy to host the Wednesday in the Word edition of Truth Talk Live.

Here's the big question. Do you have a story of leading someone in your family to the Lord? Do you have a story of leading someone in your family to the Lord? If you do, we want to hear your story, and you can share your story by calling 1-866-348-7884.

1-866-344-TRUTH. Maybe your story is a family member led you to the Lord, and we would love to hear that story as well. The reason we want to hear stories of leading someone in your family to the Lord is so our listeners, who today may have lost family members, will be encouraged to continue to witness to be a light in their home and with their family. You know, it's been suggested that one of the hardest places to be a witness for the Lord is with your own family. Well, in our Wednesday in the Word edition of Truth Talk Live, we're going to look at a time when Jesus returned to his hometown, the town of Nazareth, and to say the least, he did not receive the warmest of receptions.

Instead of offering him the keys to the city, they sought to kill him. Instead of opening their hearts to his teaching, they were outraged and offended by what he said. The negative reaction to Jesus sometimes, many times, is the same reaction from our own family and friends. So today, if you've got a story of leading a family member to the Lord, call in and share that story. Let's encourage one another that even when there have been these difficult moments with a family member who resisted and rejected, ridiculed our faith, they then came to know the Lord.

We want to hear those stories. Now, for Wednesday in the Word study, it comes today from Mark chapter 6. We've been working through Mark in our Wednesday in the Word studies, and today we're starting in verse 1, this new chapter, and we're going to go down to verse 6. Mark 1, uh, Mark 6, starting at verse 1.

Then he went out from there. Now, this is that continuation of what Jesus has been doing, so we got to quickly just be reminded, he had been in numerous cities around the Sea of Galilee. Namely, he has been in Capernaum, and that's where he's coming from, and it says, and he came to his own country. That means he came to Nazareth, to the place he had grown up. He wasn't born in Nazareth, but he was, he was raised in Nazareth. He was born in Bethlehem, and it says, and his disciples followed him.

He had called these guys to follow, and now they're with him, and wherever he's going, they are going, so the disciples come there. Now, verse 2. And when the Sabbath had come, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many, hearing him, were astonished, saying, Where did this man get these things? And what wisdom is this which is given to him, that such mighty works are performed by his hand? Now, you got to be reading verse 2 a little sarcastic.

They were astonished, astonished to the point where they don't understand how he can do these things. Verse 3. Is this not the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James, and Jose, and Judas, and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?

So they were offended at him. But Jesus said to them, A prophet is not without honor, except in his own country, among his own relatives, and in his own house. Now he could do no mighty works there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people, and healed them. Verse 6. And he marveled because of their unbelief, and then he went about the villages in a circuit, teaching. Mark chapter 6. This is God's Word.

It's a light unto our feet, a light lay upon our path, and it's going to guide us. And we look at this chapter, we look at these verses about Jesus coming home, and the first verse does beg to ask, What had Jesus been doing before coming home? And to say the least, he had been busy. He had been teaching. He had been healing. His fame was spread as one miracle after another miracle was being accomplished. There were people with all types of diseases that he had been healing, some of the worst, like leprosy. His power was on display, time after time, handling diseases, casting out demons, calming storms, even the waves and the winds obeyed him. And he raised the dead back to life.

That's the end of chapter 5, Jairus' daughter. His teaching had brought about an astonishment as he taught with authority. Now, here's Jesus with all of these great things taking place, coming home, and one would think, Nick, that there would be a ticker tape parade for him. Our homegrown boy is returning, and he is turning things upside down. Phenomenal teaching, making a difference in so many people's lives with his healing, the casting out of demons.

He should have received the keys to the city. These lives are being changed, and the life changer you think would have been celebrated. Yet here's a guy that's now come home, and he's greeted with confusion, rejection, unbelief.

Maybe after you became a Christian, those closest to you were not thrilled to see you. But you have a story, a story that while they were not first receptive to the gospel, they had a change of heart that would lead to a true change of heart. If you have a story of leading someone in your family, someone close to you, leading them to the Lord, call us and tell us that story.

1-866-348-7884. And we want to hear that story when we come back. This is Truth Talk Live, the Wednesday in the Word edition. You're listening to the Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com.

Well, welcome back to Truth Talk Live. I'm Dwayne Carson with Date the Word Ministries, and just before we continue with our Wednesday in the Word edition, a study of Mark 6 verses one through six, you might be asking, what is Date the Word? Well, simply put, Date the Word is where I have a verse for every date. Today is March 6, March 6, or 3-6. So I look at all the verses in the Bible that are 3-6, looking at all the third chapters and then all the six verses in those third chapters, and I pick out a few of them to be a verse to date, to get to know.

For instance, today is March 6, 3-6. We went with Ecclesiastes 3-6. Ecclesiastes 3-6, it says, a time to gain and a time to lose, a time to keep and a time to throw away.

So I picked that verse out. I'll write a devotion on that, on this, and we think about the importance of evaluating our lives and that there are things that we need to get into our lives and there are things we need to get out of our lives. And by the way, it says there is a time to lose, and so I'm just going to give a quick reminder. Guess what's going to happen this Saturday night going into Sunday morning? We spring forward. Yes, spring forward one hour. It means we lose one hour.

You're going to lose the hour of sleep, and we don't want you to be late to church, so make sure you spring forward Saturday night, and so you'll be on time. But there's a time to lose, so we use Ecclesiastes 3-6. We could have gone with Galatians 3-6, just as Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness.

We could have gone with a very familiar one. Proverbs 3-6, in all your ways acknowledge him and he will direct your path. 1 Thessalonians 3-6 says, but we command you brethren in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ that you withdraw from every brother who walks disorderly and not according to the traditions which he received from us. In other words, there's different verses that we can go with, and so I do different verses for the date, and to get these verses, we now have a Date the Word app. You can go to your app store and search for Date the Word, download it, and if you want to know your birthday verse or you need a verse for a certain day, we have a section on that app called Verses for Any Date, and we also have on this new app a section called A March to Remember. We're now in the month of March, we're headed toward Easter because Easter this year is March the 31st, and Jesus several times over the last days talked to his disciples about remembering, and Easter should be a time of remembering. We need to remember what Christ did for us at Calvary. We need to remember that he rose again, and so we have in this March to Remember a verse for every day of the month of March and a couple chapters to read each day that helps us to remember our Savior this Easter.

So that's a little bit about Date the Word, and I hope you'll go get the app and and follow with us, but back to our question of the day. Have you led someone to the Lord in your family? And I hope you've got a story of leading someone to the Lord, but today, more specifically, looking for some testimonies that you had the opportunity to lead someone to the Lord, because many times our family members are the hardest to reach. And I think if you'd share your story, how you want someone in your family to the Lord, it would help others to stay fervent and steadfast, to keep witnessing to their family members. Now we're looking at how Jesus in Mark 6 was not welcomed into his own hometown. While so many lives were being changed, the people in his hometown, wow, they don't want to have anything to do with him. We go to verse two, and it says, And when the Sabbath have come, he began to teach in their synagogue. So as a visiting, if you will, rabbi, hey, they get him up there, they say, teach Jesus. And so he starts teaching, and they were astonished.

They were blown away. They were like, how in the world did this man get these things? We didn't teach him this. When he was growing up, we didn't think he was all that smart.

And the wisdom is this which was given to him. Where did that come from? And how is he performing such miracles by his hand? They're blown away here. They don't understand how he got to do the things that he's doing.

And then they get real personal. They said, Is this not the carpenter's son? They're remembering what Jesus was like when he was growing up, and all they saw from Jesus was just a carpenter's son.

They didn't think any more of him. And sometimes, folks, when we're looking at people, we're being reminded of what they were in the past so much we can't see what they're doing in the present and what their potential is for the future. And the people of Nazareth, all they can see about Jesus is this just as a carpenter's son. Now, I've got to run a quick rabbit trail and tell you something about him being a carpenter's son. We shared this this morning at Wednesday in the Word.

I think this is so great. You know, Jesus could have been born, Nick, in any different type of home with a father with all kind of different vocational trades. But God had him born in a carpenter's home.

Why? Well, I've wondered that. Why was he born in a carpenter's home? He was born in a carpenter's home because when he got back to heaven, you know what his occupation is in heaven? One of his great roles is being a carpenter because every time someone gets saved, he gets a blueprint out and he starts building us a home.

John 14. And right now, Jesus is working on your home in heaven. He's a carpenter building.

Now, that's a side note, but I just think it's pretty cool. Jesus was born in a carpenter's home and now when he's back in heaven, he's still serving as a carpenter. Now, the people of Nazareth are going to get really nasty.

Sometimes people who are lost will get nasty with us. And it's going to be interesting how they get nasty with Jesus. They're going to attack his mom. They will say, is this not the carpenter's son, the son of Mary?

That's a critical statement there. They are attacking Mary because, see, the folks in Nazareth, they don't believe the story of the virgin birth. They don't believe that he's the son of God. They think he's born of fornication and he's not to be taken serious. Now, just a quick note here to remember that if Jesus was born of fornication and Nazareth was known for its loose living, I call Nazareth the Las Vegas of Israel. If Jesus was born of fornication, he's not our Messiah. Deuteronomy chapter 23 verse 2 eliminates one of illegitimate birth from being in any type of leadership. So Jesus can't be our Messiah if he was born of if he was illegitimately born. Now, these people of Nazareth are attacking Jesus.

They're being nasty. And sometimes when you're trying to be a witness to your family and friends, they will attack you. Well, we can learn more about how Jesus responded when we come back in just a few moments at Truth Talk Live. You're listening to the Truth Network and truthnetwork.com. Welcome back to Truth Talk Live. I'm Duane Carson, your host today. We have a ministry called Date the Word.

And before we dive back into our Wednesday in the Word Bible study of Mark 6, I want to give a big shout out to a group of people who we don't always appreciate. Today is a very special National Day. And you go to that calendar, you Google, what's the day, what's something to be celebrated today?

Well, it's, are you ready? National Dentist Day. And that word dentist. Oh, oh, my word to go to the dentist.

That's not something we've ever really looked forward to. But I got to tell you, I have some wonderful dentists here in Winston-Salem. And on National Dentist Day, we celebrate them. And that's March the 6th, every year, you celebrate your dentist, you thank them for the help they give you to maintain your dental health.

So it's not too late yet to make a call to your dentist office and just say thank you. Now, tomorrow is another very special day. Now, it's not going to make the calendar yet.

But this is going to be one of those that Date the Word wants to get established. Tomorrow is March the 7th. Three, seven, and we've got a great verse out there, that's going to give us something that ought to be part of our national heritage, something that we men listen husbands do on three, seven. I'm calling March the 7th, three, seven, husbands honor their wife day. Nick, husbands honor their wife day.

Why? Because first Peter three, seven, husbands, likewise, dwell with them in understanding, giving honor to the wife as to the weaker vessel as to being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers not be hindered. And I just want to say, we as husbands should be honoring our wife. And I love my wife.

She's absolutely incredible. I am blessed beyond measure. Now, tomorrow, husbands, you've got your assignment, honor in a very special way your wife based on the scripture first Peter three, seven. Now, do you have a story of leading a family member to the Lord?

We would love to hear it. I was pastoring a church in Amherst, Virginia, and we were doing a revival. And this mom is not going to be leading her son to the Lord. But when she showed up that night for the revival, this lady came to me, and she was weeping as she spoke to me. Pastor, my son is not saved.

I have been praying for the past year that he would come to know the Lord. And I have just been so burdened today. And she was weeping.

And she tells me this. I so want to see my son saved tonight. Well, I looked at her and I saw those tears. And I said, I have to believe God is going to honor those tears, those who so in tears will reap in joy. And folks, sure enough, that night, her son came and gave his heart to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, she didn't, quote, lead him to the Lord.

But as a mom, she was heartbroken over him. And she made sure he was at a place where he could hear the gospel. And he came to know the Lord.

I'm just curious, do you have a story of leading someone to the Lord in your family? Jesus has shown up at home, and you would have thought it had been a great reception. But instead, as he comes home, he's finding people who are against him. They don't want to have anything to do with him. Matter of fact, they begin to attack him.

They become nasty. They say, is this not the son of Mary? That's a very disparaging statement on Jesus. You got to wonder how that may have hurt Jesus, to hear people talk about his mom, knowing that she had obeyed what God had called her to do. And yet, there are people here who think he's born of fornication, which means she is a very loose, do we use the word, some would say she was nothing more than a whore. What a horrible thought about Mary, the mother of Jesus. But that's what they're doing. They are saying horrible things about her because of who Jesus is. They don't want to follow him.

Maybe you've experienced that kind of nastiness. But you know, Jesus would still go to the cross for even the people at Nazareth. He would even go to the cross with the fact that his own family members, we have their names here, and by the way, that does tell us something, doesn't it?

Mary and Joseph did have children after Jesus was born. And many of his brothers, after the resurrection, would come to know him as Savior. James would get saved. Jesus appeared to him.

The Bible tells us that in 1 Corinthians 15, 7. And he appeared to him, and James then became one of the pillars of the church. But when James writes his letter, Stu Everson brought this up this morning, interesting about James, he didn't write the half-brother Jesus. He didn't write about how he was a pillar in the church, that he was a pastor of the church in Jerusalem.

He wrote he was a bond servant. Now, Jesus could have said, you know what, my family is so against my family, and I against me. My friends are so against me.

Why am I doing all this? But he kept focus and he went to the cross because he loved his friends, his family from his own hometown who are having a hard time believing and following him. He still loved them. And I want you to know with family members right now, as they look at you and they're saying, I don't want to have anything to do with Jesus. I don't want to have anything to do with Christ. You keep faithful and you keep sharing God's love and being loving to them. And I just believe surely at some point, their hearts will soften and they'll come to that place where they will receive Jesus as their savior. If you've got a story, 1-866-348-7884, give us a call. Tell us your story of how you led a family member to the Lord. And if it's a story that has a time where they were antagonistic toward you, even the better. But call in, let's encourage one another that we can be faithful in our witness, even to those who are against us, who don't want to have anything to do with us. I do want you to know, as Jesus goes back home and faces this, he is not going to be deterred from doing what he came to do to fulfill his father's role, his father's business to go to that cross and die for us. So today I'm inviting you to share a story.

As I wait, I'll share another with you. Nick, I had the opportunity to lead my sister to the Lord. Now, I didn't get saved until I was 22. I grew up religious. And as I'm growing up, going to church, I'm hearing religious things, but I've never heard you needed to be born again. I never heard that message that you have to become one that has a new relationship with God.

I knew God as God, but I did not know God as Father. I got saved. So now at 22, I get to come back home, go to my home church that I had grown up in. They asked me to do a revival, and I preached there. And one of the great joys of that revival was my sister, when I gave the invitation, she stepped out, she came forward, and she gave her heart to the Lord. And now my sister becomes my sister in the faith.

It was one of the great joys that I had. And you may have a story like that, that you had the opportunity to lead a sister, a brother to the Lord. I'm going to tell you another story when we come back about one that I heard this morning of how a man got saved, but his family was so against him, did not want to have anything to do with him. And when he kept loving on them and witnessing to them, I will tell you that story when we come back. And then I'm going to talk to you about how you can be doing evangelism with your family. And that last statement that's in Mark chapter six, verse six, I want us to ponder for a few moments because we're going to see how Jesus marveled, and he marveled at something we don't want him marveling at.

We don't want him marveling at this aspect of our lives. So when we come back in just a couple of moments at Truth Talk Live here, we're going to wrap this up with how we can be a believer that Jesus can turn unbelievers into believers. This is Truth Talk Live. Truth Talk Live!

You're listening to the Truth Network and truthnetwork.com. Welcome back to Truth Talk Live on March the sixth. This is Ecclesiastes three-sixth day. It's also National Dentist Day.

Make sure you let your dentist know how much you appreciate them. And tomorrow will be Husbands Honor Their Wife Day from First Peter three-seven. And you can see more verses for the date by going to the Date the Word app.

I'm Duane Carson. It's a joy to be the host today here at Truth Talk Live on Wednesday in the Word. And Wednesday in the Word is a ministry that takes place in the various darios around Winston-Salem, North Carolina here, where men come together on Wednesday mornings to get in the Word. And we today got into Mark chapter six, where we were able to think about how Jesus, who was doing incredible things, his fame was growing. But when he came home and he goes into the synagogue and he teaches, there are people there that just got so upset with him, they wanted to kill him. But it wasn't his time.

Luke chapter four tells about how they let him out to a precipice and they wanted to just throw him off that precipice to kill him. But he walked through it because it wasn't his time yet. But here's Jesus in his hometown and he's being ridiculed, he's being maligned, and yet this is the one who will still go to a cross. Even though he's being rejected and ridiculed, he's going to give his life for those very people. Today as we discussed this with a group of men, we heard a testimony. And the testimony came from a gentleman who, after he got saved, he became an evangelist. But he was the only person in his family that was saved. And his brothers and his parents, they didn't want to have anything to do with him.

And yet he tried to show him love, yet he just got repelled, pushed back. But he stood today before us and told how that his brother at one point finally softened, understood the gospel, came to know the Lord as his savior, and now his brother is in the ministry. And on top of all of this, while the first one to get saved couldn't reach his parents, his brother, who he did reach, was the one who won his parents to the Lord. And he told the story how his mom and dad got saved. Now they have passed on, they're in heaven, and as he told the story, tears were coming down his cheek because of the fact that he had led his brother to the Lord, who then led his parents to the Lord. And folks, that's that domino effect.

All it takes is one. When I was going to the Criswell Bible College in Dallas, Texas, I had a professor, Dr. Alan Street, who taught evangelism. And Dr. Street would take us street preaching. Street preaching was street. And he would talk to us about how to develop a game plan for reaching people.

And it started with your family. He said, that's your Jerusalem. And he wanted us to write down every one of our family members' names, and then from that, identify, do they know the Lord, not know the Lord? And if they don't know the Lord, start praying for them. And he gave us two prayer requests.

And I want to share those two prayer requests with you because you may have a lost family member. How do you get them to come to the Lord? Well, number one, Dr. Street said, you got to have someone go to them. Now that may be you, but they got to have someone go to them. They've got to hear the gospel, the death barrel and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. They got to hear this message of love.

Someone's got to go to them. But secondly, Dr. Street taught us to pray that their eyes would be open to the glorious gospel. Now that was a new teaching for me. He showed us in second Corinthians chapter four, verse four, how that the God of this world had blinded those who are lost.

And he talked about our own story. And I remember how the gospel didn't make any sense to me before I was saved. I just thought that was foolishness.

It's something who would want to be a part of it. But I've been blinded. And Dr. Street said, pray that the blindness will be taken away, that they would see and understand the glorious gospel. And so that's what we started praying for family members. That's what I prayed for my sister, that she would see what Jesus Christ had done for her. So I want to challenge you to be praying fervently for family members that are not saved.

But may I take it a step further? When I was at Liberty University, I had a man by the name of Dr. Elmer Towns teach evangelism. And he taught us a thing that's called Frangelism. Nick, have you ever heard of Frangelism?

Well, Frangelism is evangelism with your friends, with your relatives, with your associates, and with your neighbors. Now, as you think about those four areas, we have friends, do they know the Lord? We have relatives, do they know the Lord? Do the people we're working with, our associates, do they know the Lord? And neighbors, do they know the Lord?

And Dr. Towns said again, come up with that list of people who don't know the Lord so that you can begin a plan to witness to them, to share with them this glorious gospel that you and I have received and had our lives changed and we'll have our eternity changed. So think of Frangelism, think about those friends, those relatives, those associates, those neighbors that you can be reaching out to.

Now, how do we make this practical? Well, one of the ways to make it practical is March the 31st is Easter, and now's the time, my friends, to start thinking about who am I going to invite to come with me to church on Easter Sunday morning? Who am I going to be inviting to go with me so that I, so they can hear the glorious gospel, hear this great message of love, of redemption, of reconciliation, and how they can be saved?

Now, I want you to get that list. It starts off with friends, relatives, associates, and neighbors. Who are you going to be inviting to your local church on Easter Sunday? Okay, I saw some stats not long ago, Nick, that said that people attend church primarily because, are you ready? A friend invited them.

Now, we spend a lot of money on advertisement and we'll put ads on Facebook and we'll put up ads on bulletin boards and we'll have them signs out on the road, but here's what statistics have shown us. When people ask, why did you go to church, they will say, because a friend invited me. I had a 12-year-old girl, I was 20, a 12-year-old girl invited me to church.

She had some kind of boldness and because she was nice, I was able to curtail my meanness. I didn't say anything nasty to her, but I did tell her when she invited me to come to church, I said, I just want you to know, Tammy, I don't want to have anything to do with church. Church doesn't want to have anything to do with me. I can tell you, I don't want to have anything to do with God, and I'm telling you right now, I don't believe God wants to have anything to do with me. And that sweet 12-year-old girl said, Dwayne, all I can tell you is I love you and God does love you and I'd wish you'd come to church.

Here I am 63, my journey now with the Lord started because a 12-year-old invited me to come to church. Now, when we get back to this passage in Mark chapter 6, there is an astonishing statement in Mark chapter 6 verse 6 that says, and Jesus marveled. What's that mean? That means he got really excited about something. Now, sometimes you can get excited about something in a negative way, he marveled. He marveled at their unbelief. He marveled at their unbelief. Now, there was another time when Jesus marveled and there was a story about this Roman centurion.

He has a son that's paralyzed. He wants Jesus to heal him and Jesus marveled at this man's faith, his belief. But here we have Jesus in this chapter when he looks at the town people of Nazareth and he marveled at their unbelief. And it makes me wonder when Jesus is looking at us right now, is he marveling at our unbelief? Is he astonished?

Is he taken back with, I can't believe how little faith they have. I just challenge you to witness to your friends, to witness to a relative, to witness to an associate, to witness to a neighbor. Do you have the belief that Jesus can save them? Do you believe that if you'll witness their lives and their eternity can be changed? Does Jesus look and go, Ben, they don't have any faith.

They're not believing. Today, let's have a mindset of, I believe Jesus can save them. And let's take and share the gospel with our friends, our family, our neighbors, our associates. Let's be praying. Let's reach out to those closest to us with this beautiful message that we have.

I do hope you'll take a moment and check out the Date the Word app. Learn more about the March to Remember because as we move toward Easter, when I survey the wondrous cross, I hope it'll bring you that place where you will say, it does demand my soul, my life, my all. Thanks for being with us today. This has been Truth Talk Live. Duane Carson with Date the Word has been your host. It's been a joy, blessings as you move forward with your day in the Lord. Truth Talk Live! Another program powered by the Truth Network.