Participants: Shelley Quinn (Host), Herb Larson Jr.
Series Code: IAA
Program Code: IAA000306
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00:31 Hello, I'm Shelley Quinn
00:32 and we welcome you back to "Issues and answers." 00:35 Today, the issue is going to be witnessing, 00:38 but it's gonna be a little bit different 00:39 than you've probably heard before 00:41 because of our very special guest. 00:43 Let me get straight to introducing him 00:44 then I want to share a scripture with you. 00:46 And I want to welcome back Herb Larson. 00:48 Herb, it's good to have you here. 00:50 Nice to be here. 00:51 And, you know, you are an international businessman 00:54 from Canada and the president of Imagine Life Media. 00:58 And you really have a unique ministry. 01:01 So I'm looking forward to talking with you today 01:04 and sharing with our audience 01:06 all that the Lord has taught you to do. 01:09 Now I'm gonna use the scripture for this 01:11 that you might find a little interesting 01:13 'cause I did as well. 01:14 Right before the program began 01:16 I thought, oops I don't have the scripture to start with 01:18 and as--I said, "Lord, what should I use?" 01:21 And what came to my mind 01:23 and I believe impressed by the Lord was Acts 5:31-32. 01:27 Let me share this. 01:28 It says that, "God exalted Him, Jesus, to His right hand 01:33 to be Prince and Leader and Savior 01:36 and Deliverer and Preserver 01:38 in order that He, Jesus, may grant repentance 01:43 and bestow forgiveness and release from sin." 01:46 And verse 32 says. 01:48 "And we are witnesses of these things 01:52 and the Holy Spirit is also 01:55 whom God gives to those who obey Him." 01:58 You know our whole purpose as Christians, 02:04 if we're going to fulfill the great commission 02:06 of going into all the world is to be a witness 02:11 by allowing the Holy Spirit to speak through us 02:13 to be a witness of the things that we have seen God do 02:17 in our lives and the lives of others. 02:19 So that is really when you think about it, 02:23 what God's called you to do, you witness to billionaires 02:28 that are total strangers often atheists, 02:31 you witness to people from Hollywood. 02:34 God's put you in a unique position 02:37 to meet some influential people who are empty on the inside. 02:42 And we want to know, how do you do it 02:45 because if you can do it with them, 02:47 surely we can do it with someone next to us in an airplane. 02:51 Well, see first of all, 02:53 it doesn't matter where God has put you, 02:55 we all have a responsibility. Yes. 02:57 We all have a job or if we don't have a job, 02:59 we have a sphere of social influence. Right. 03:02 God has put people in our pathway. 03:04 We are accountable for those people. 03:07 That's a heavy burden to bear, but really we are. 03:10 And the way Jesus works it, 03:11 He says, "If you are faithful of little things, 03:13 I'll make you ruler over bigger things." Right. 03:15 So if we can't be trusted with the social sphere 03:17 we have today, how can He expand that. 03:20 And that's where the joy is. 03:21 God takes you to places 03:23 you never dreamed of going in your life, 03:24 you know, I mean, and that's the way He works, 03:26 if you're faithful. 03:27 I want to just kind of-- you were here a week ago 03:30 talking about the last week's program 03:33 was talking about friendship and, you know, 03:37 we're assuming here that you understand 03:39 when we talk about sphere of influence, 03:41 it's got to be that you've got 03:42 a little bit more than being the church secretary 03:44 and only knowing people in your church. Good point. 03:46 It's got to be that you've got a sphere of influence, 03:49 and if you haven't got a sphere of influence 03:51 outside your own denomination, 03:53 outside of Christians in your life 03:55 that may not be of your own denomination. 03:57 But you've got to have that family, 04:00 the people outside who don't know the Lord 04:02 in order for you to witness to bring someone to Jesus. 04:07 Yeah, absolutely. And the thing is this. 04:09 So some people say, "Oh, yeah, 04:10 well, you get to witness to a billionaire whatever else." 04:14 True, but God didn't sent me to billionaire at the first time 04:17 I've ever witness either. Yeah. 04:18 I mean, the thing is this 04:20 'cause it's daunting in our minds 04:21 to think of the affluent of sharing with them. 04:23 But I want to tell you something. 04:24 The higher they go on the social ladder 04:26 in of affluence and accomplishment 04:28 and power and everything else the emptier they are. 04:30 Simply because they've tried 04:32 a lot more than you and I have tried 04:34 to fill the void, and once they get to there, 04:35 there is the fewer options left. 04:37 You know, you used an example 04:39 when you were just talking to me about Solomon 04:41 and having the greatest resume ever written with Solomon. 04:43 And at the end of it, he is going, 04:45 "Vanity, vanity,it's all empty. 04:47 Didn't bring me the satisfaction 04:49 that I thought it would." That's right. 04:50 And so that's the point is the higher they go, 04:53 the easier they are to share Christ with. Yes. 04:56 Because the difference is when you share with them, 05:00 you need to be a little more bold about it. 05:01 You know, if you along, well, I'm a Christian, 05:04 you've just blown it. 05:06 Simply because they're hyper-perceptive to, 05:08 are you real, aren't you? 05:10 And if you boldly declare what you have 05:11 and boldly declare how God has empowered you 05:14 because what is-- what do people want 05:15 in society after money? 05:17 This is common knowledge, they want power. 05:20 After you have money, next thing you want power. 05:21 Why do people run for the President of United States 05:23 or Prime Minister of a country or whatever else? 05:25 That's what the carnal man wants, the carnal mind. 05:27 That's right. They want power. 05:29 I have power, I didn't go earn it 05:32 and I didn't-- and it's not man's power, 05:35 but I have power. 05:37 When I wake up in the day, I go out boldly, 05:40 I have confidence, I've way more confidence 05:42 than the guys I do business with 05:44 because I've got God on my side. 05:45 And the power you have is Jesus Christ in you. 05:47 The hope of glory and the Holy Spirit who can do, 05:51 you know, God through the Holy Spirit 05:53 and you can do incredibly more than 05:54 we could ever think or imagine. Absolutely. 05:57 And that's--'cause I tried everything in my life. 05:59 I had every success I ever dreamed of 06:01 and way beyond that. 06:03 And that never brought me any power, 06:04 never brought me any satisfaction, 06:06 never brought me sense of relevance. 06:07 We all search relevance. But I have that now. 06:11 Am I perfect? No. 06:12 But I've just tasted the shimmering of a mirage 06:15 of what it's all about 06:17 and it's just so unbelievable to think 06:19 that God can use me to witness to other people. 06:22 He can use my life for His cause. 06:26 You know, President Bush 06:28 since he is the current president 06:30 invited me to go pass out Dixie Cups on the streets 06:32 and didn't tell me why. 06:34 I think I would do it. Not even knowing why. 06:38 Because the president wanted me to do it. 06:40 But when the King of Kings, Lord of Lords, 06:42 Creator of the universe asked me to do something, 06:46 that's a commission and He tells me why on top of it. 06:50 Wow. That's a good--good analogy. 06:51 Well, it's like, what would I rather do. 06:54 And so-- so the world sees power in me. 06:58 It's not me, they said in me. Now-- 07:00 Behind me, part of me. 07:01 But we're assuming here-- 07:03 and I've just got to set this up 07:04 because we've got people, you maybe sitting at home 07:07 and saying, "The world doesn't see power in me. 07:10 I've been going to church all of my life, 07:12 but I'm feeling defeated, 07:13 I'm feeling depressed, I'm feeling this." 07:16 So in order to really be an effective witness for Jesus. 07:22 Particularly, if you're witnessing 07:23 to the non-Christian which is what we're 07:24 talking about right now. 07:26 You've got to have that personal relationship with the Lord. 07:31 You got to have that power of the Holy Spirit 07:34 that is flowing through you, those rivers of living water 07:37 that are flowing through you in order to reach them. 07:40 If you're just there to talk about doctrinal truths 07:43 that you have in your mind and just spouting out. 07:46 You know, if you're coming up to somebody 07:48 and you want to witness to them, 07:49 you're gonna bang them over the head 07:51 with the Bible which I always say, 07:52 you cannot beat somebody over the head with the violent. 07:56 Convince them how beautiful the music is. 07:58 Why do we think we can beat them over the head 08:00 with the Bible to convince them 08:02 how wonderful God is? 08:03 So you are talking about starting one on one 08:07 with a personal relationship with the Lord. 08:08 Absolutely. A giant prerequisite. 08:11 If you don't have a relationship with Jesus, 08:13 number one, you really have no business witnessing 08:16 because what is a witness? 08:17 A witness is simply someone 08:19 who has been there and done that. Yeah. 08:21 You know, I can't represent the story my brother told me. 08:23 If he saw a car accident-- 08:25 you know, I got a good enough memory 08:26 where I could remember the details, 08:27 but if I went to court and the judge said, 08:31 "So, what happened?" I started telling this. 08:33 "By the way, were you there?" 08:34 "No, I wasn't, I just heard the story." 08:36 Who cares? 08:38 So just like, I know a lot about Princess Diana, never met her. 08:41 I know lot about her though 'cause the media was full of it. 08:43 So if some alien from another planet came over, 08:45 just let's use that analogy came here 08:47 and said, "Oh, tell me who was this Princess Diana?" 08:50 I can give him a lot of information, 08:51 but this is what, really what was she really like? 08:54 Well, I fall a flat on my face 08:56 on that one 'cause I've never met her. 08:57 Yeah. Same with Jesus. 08:59 By the way, we're not saying that we believe in aliens. 09:00 In case, we get a phone call here, 09:02 but-- No, exactly. But the points will taken 09:05 is that if you're out trying to just talk about Jesus 09:08 and you don't have that personal relationship, 09:10 it falls flat, it shows. Sure. 09:13 Absolutely, because-- 09:14 And it also usually comes across 09:16 as being very legalistic those people, right? 09:18 Right. Okay. 09:19 And then it goes on what I said last week. 09:21 The world doesn't care what we know. 09:25 The world only wants to know, what do we have? 09:27 See, there's a difference. 09:28 If you have some, you know, I know a lot about the Bible. 09:30 I knew lot about the Bible going to Christian schools. 09:34 I knew lot about it. 09:35 Never did me any good in terms of witnessing 09:37 'cause I was trying to use key text to win people. 09:39 I went to all these different "How to Witness" programs. 09:42 And I hate to say this. 09:44 And maybe it will cause a stir, 09:46 but most of those "How to Witness" programs, 09:48 you know, where they belong in the garbage 09:49 because they're teaching you something mechanical. 09:53 Witnessing is share what's happened to you. 09:56 You can't teach that 'cause 09:58 I'm just telling what happened to me. 09:59 That's the-- that's the crux-- 10:00 that's what the world wants to know. 10:02 What do you have? What's happened to you? 10:03 What drives you? And that's what Paul did. 10:05 When he went with King Agrippa, 10:06 he was sharing how Jesus, 10:08 you know, the Damascus road experience, 10:10 how he showed up and said, 10:12 "You know, not only am I now converting you, 10:15 you got-- I got your attention, 10:17 but now I'm gonna send you 10:18 to others to open their blind eyes 10:21 and turn them from darkness to light, 10:22 and from the power of Satan to God, 10:24 that they may receive in inheritance 10:26 and maybe receive in inheritance among those 10:28 who are sanctified by faith in Me." 10:30 So what He's saying 10:31 is he was sharing his personal story, 10:34 and that's what you do. Absolutely. 10:35 The power, the thing that God needs, 10:38 the God-- that God uses that Jesus 10:40 desperately needs is our story. 10:42 He's got the answers. 10:44 He has the Holy Spirit to guide our mouth. Okay. 10:46 What He needs is that starting point. 10:49 Are you a dedicated died in the world person to Jesus? 10:53 Like, have you given your life completely over to Him? 10:55 Is your prayer in the morning like this? 10:58 I stand before the universe 10:59 in declaration of who I choose as my master. Amen. 11:03 I have this God given choice. 11:05 Why 'cause Jesus died on Calvary. 11:07 He paid for every sin I ever committed and ever will. 11:10 It's already been, I claim the power in that 11:13 and I want to make sure the universe understands today 11:16 that I want Jesus to take my life and use it. Amen. 11:19 I want Him to me-- give me His eyes 11:21 to see into the lives of those that I meet today. 11:24 That's the commitment in the morning, 11:25 but if you don't have a relationship with Jesus, 11:27 how do you get a relationship with Jesus? 11:29 Okay, let's start there quick 11:30 'cause we're still talking 11:32 about this whole thing of witnessing. 11:33 If you can't spend an hour a day in the Bible 11:35 and in prayer, forget about it. 11:36 Well, you know what? 11:37 I have to say that that's a lot-- 11:39 Well, I mean, there's no other way. 11:40 I've tried everything else there is 11:42 and I've certainly witnessed 11:43 other people trying everything else. 11:44 If you can't spend an hour a day with Him, forget about it. 11:46 So that's where you start. 11:47 So if you don't have a burning desire 11:49 to lead people to Jesus, you don't know Him. 11:52 If your effectiveness 11:53 to witness is not going anywhere, 11:56 you don't know Him. 11:57 And that's pretty hard, okay, maybe I'm being judgmental. 11:59 But you know what? It's absolutely Biblical. 12:02 Because when you have Jesus in your heart, 12:05 when you're spending a serious amount of time 12:06 in the word, what comes out of that? 12:09 A natural desire to help, 12:10 to seek and to save that which is lost 12:12 'cause that's what Jesus came to do. 12:14 'Cause He puts His desires in you 12:16 and He's working for you. Absolutely. 12:17 His desires can become your desires, 12:19 if you turn your will over to Him, 12:21 not my will, but your will be done. 12:23 Very familiar thing we've heard before Jesus. 12:26 Not my will be done, but Your's Father. 12:28 As I and my father, my father and me, 12:29 so I and you and you and I. 12:31 We say not my will be done, but Yours. 12:34 One day I said, "Lord, 12:36 I'm willing to do Your will and I promise You." 12:38 It was not audible, but what I heard was, 12:41 "No, you are not." 12:42 And I said, my knees knocking, 12:44 I said, "Lord, at least, I'm willing to be made willing." 12:46 He said, "That's all I ask." 12:48 Because Philippians 2:13 says, 12:49 "It's God who works in us to will 12:51 and to act according to His good purpose." 12:53 Yeah, absolutely. 12:54 It's all about this surrender, okay. It is right. 12:57 So, if you want to have a personal relationship 13:00 with the Lord or more intimate relationship 13:02 with the Lord, have a more 13:03 intimate relationship with His word. 13:05 This is how you get to know Him. 13:07 And don't just come to the word to learn facts, 13:10 but come to the word to seek God's face 13:12 to get to know Him on an intimate level 13:15 to know who you are in Christ. 13:17 Spend time prayerfully communicating with Him 13:20 and then yield your life and what you're saying 13:22 is you're asking every morning for divine appointments. 13:25 Let me see people through Your eyes. 13:27 Show me, Lord, bring people across my path. 13:30 If you ask God for a divine appointment, 13:32 I guarantee you He's gonna give it to you. 13:34 And if you've lost your-- 13:35 let me say one more thought here to cap-- 13:37 encapsulate what you said. 13:39 If you've lost that burning desire 13:42 that zealous desire to see other souls won to the kingdom, 13:47 then you may be one of those ashes, 13:50 your flame maybe at 13:51 and you just maybe a smoldering ash, 13:53 but Jesus can by His breathe 13:57 bring you back to life where that becomes 14:00 a burning flame, okay. Absolutely. 14:02 And the pinnacle, the pinnacle of experience in life. 14:06 See, I started out on the business 14:08 because I wanted to land big deals. Yeah. 14:10 So you land the big deal and now what, 14:12 didn't bring me all that satisfaction. 14:14 And so I've tried all these things 14:15 in life to bring satisfaction. 14:17 The thing that gives me more satisfaction than anything 14:19 that I've ever experienced in my life 14:21 is leading the lost soul to Jesus. Amen. 14:23 It is the pinnacle of wow. It is the pinnacle of-- 14:28 "Man, I don't have that kind of course of-- 14:30 it was the Holy Spirit speaking through me. 14:32 I was reciting scriptural references. 14:34 When I finally gets to that point 14:35 then I never knew I could remember." 14:37 And so what do we get out of the deal? 14:39 Is it purely the job of drudgery and all? 14:42 Yeah, Well, I have to go serve God. 14:45 No, it's a joy, it's the ultimate, 14:47 it's the ultimate experience, 14:48 it only brings you relevance. Okay. 14:50 So let's back up here 14:51 'cause you said reciting scriptures that, 14:53 I mean, the Holy Spirit's bringing scriptures to you 14:55 remember that you didn't even know that you knew-- 14:58 But I qualify that as well. Okay. 14:59 But you qualify that, and that's what I wanted-- 15:01 You said, when it gets to that point, 15:03 how do you begin when you've got a total stranger before you? 15:06 How do you begin witnessing? 15:07 Because we're all afraid of that 15:10 or most of us are afraid of rejection 15:12 and it's like, "Oh, he's gonna think I'm a fanatic, 15:14 he's gonna think this or she's gonna think that." 15:17 How do you begin Start us like a-- 15:19 you've met me on an airplane. 15:21 How are you gonna begin with me? 15:23 Okay. Well, first of all, 15:25 there is two big fears we have in witnessing. 15:27 You just identified one of rejection. 15:30 That that is where, they might think I'm crazy 15:32 or they're gonna think I'm nuts or whatever. 15:34 Okay, so rejection is one. 15:35 The other one is I don't know the Bible well enough. 15:38 You know, we think, oh, I don't. 15:39 You know, I got to study more before I can do this. 15:41 Okay, well, I mean, get rid of that problem right now-- Okay. 15:44 By explaining how the whole thing works. 15:47 When you meet someone, say it's on an airplane, 15:49 say it's on the business meeting or whatever. 15:51 Well, the first things I do is this, 15:52 I say if I'm doing a business deal, 15:54 I said before I do business, 15:56 anybody could tell you where I'm coming from. 15:58 I'm a Christian which may mean nothing to you quite frankly. 16:01 I've been, you know, take an advantage 16:03 by more Christians than not. But you know what? 16:05 That's something what my life is. 16:06 And I begin sharing what God has done for me. 16:08 And I share only what God has done for me, 16:10 not once scriptural reference. 16:12 Okay. And I'm gonna stop 16:14 because I know that you jumped to step number two, 16:16 because actually what you do first 16:17 is find something in common to develop a friendship. 16:19 Oh, that's right. Exactly. 16:20 And then you go to your personal story. 16:22 Right. I by-passed the assumption, you know. 16:24 That's right. Right. 16:25 First thing you do is you find something 16:27 in common with the person. 16:28 You begin the conversation. 16:29 You begin common ground, 16:31 you get some common ground with that person. 16:32 This is what I call a common denominator. 16:34 Something you both share in common. 16:36 That's what--that's what allows you to get closer to the person. 16:39 That's what allows you to expose yourselves to each other, 16:42 you know, in essence so you can build a little bit of trust. 16:44 You don't have to do this a long time. 16:46 Now and in our last program you showed us a good way to do 16:48 that is to ask people questions about themselves. 16:53 You know what do you do? 16:54 What about your children? 16:56 Because everybody loves to talk about themselves. 16:59 I mean, that way once you've opened that up 17:01 then hopefully if you've been engaging, 17:04 they'll turn around and say, 17:06 "Well, what do you do for a living 17:07 or tell me about yourself?" 17:08 So now you get off into-- Very quickly. 17:11 If I say to you, what do you do for living? 17:14 Tell me, what you would answer? 17:15 Well, if you're the one witnessing to me and-- 17:18 Now I want you to witness to me and I've asked you, 17:21 what do you do for a living? 17:22 Well, I would go ahead and tell him. 17:23 You know, I owned industrial design firm, 17:25 we designed equipment 17:26 all over the world, blah, blah, blah, blah. 17:28 Tell him a little bit about that, 17:29 but I said, you know, 17:30 all that sounds cool and it all sounds great. 17:32 And yeah, you know, if I'm gonna work 17:33 I'd rather do that and anything else. 17:35 But I said that's not really what gives me 17:36 the biggest sense of relevance in my life. 17:40 I said because my whole life 17:41 has been basically chasing the dream, 17:43 the American dream, the money, the power, 17:46 the status, the success, all the accomplishments, 17:48 all this things, and it never lead me anywhere. 17:50 In fact, I was getting so disillusioned with life. 17:52 What I'm doing now is letting-- 17:53 I'm opening them up to what their problem is 17:57 'cause that's what my problem is. 17:59 Then I said, I finally got to a point where I got so disillusion 18:02 and I said I've always been a church goer in my life. 18:04 I said, you know, also here my worldly life 18:06 is not really that relevant neither was my church life, 18:10 so I let them know that. 18:12 And so I started, I finally came to kind of an apex in my life 18:14 where I was at a critical standpoint 18:16 where I was disillusioned with my church life 18:19 and my human accomplishments. 18:21 And I finally cut a deal with God and I tell Him, 18:23 I thought of tell Him. 18:25 I decided to spend an hour a day 18:26 in the Bible for two months, nothing happened. 18:28 I tell Him the whole story, the whole agonizing story. 18:30 In a two months I said, "God, I'm tired, I'm over. 18:33 I don't want You anymore." 18:34 And yet in the darkness there the Holy Spirit 18:36 let me to pick up my Bible one more time 18:38 after 60 days of an hour a day, nothing. 18:42 And I picked it up and for the first time skip my mind 18:44 and I tell Him about that 18:45 and I tell Him about the--the power, 18:47 the relevance has brought me since He has inhabited me. Amen. 18:50 And my life is totally relevant now. 18:53 And I go around the world speaking 18:56 and I don't get paid for that, 18:58 but I don't care because the joy, 19:02 it gives me and they're just begin to salivate. 19:05 Okay, now but you said you are picking up on-- 19:07 by opening this up, 19:08 you're picking up on what you know that 19:10 they probably have this intimacy inside of them. 19:13 What you do with a person, 19:14 and I don't mean to change horses here. 19:17 What do you do with the person 19:18 who may be feeling satisfied right now? 19:21 It's not like, 19:22 yeah, I've tasted all in heaven, go it, 19:24 but they've got this dream and they're going for it 19:27 and they don't feel dissatisfaction yet. Okay, but-- 19:31 'Cause there are some people who are at that place. 19:33 Yeah, but the thing is this-- Same thing. 19:35 They may feel satisfied, superficially, 19:37 but under everybody, underneath that 19:39 in the foundation of their souls so to speak, 19:41 there is a want of something. Okay. 19:43 I mean, the billionaire has everything. 19:46 But there's a want of something underneath there. 19:48 And so what I do by telling my previous story 19:50 is expose their life today. 19:52 I had successes. 19:54 You know, money come, 19:55 money comes and all that kind of stuff, 19:57 but the thing is this is during that time there's also this, 20:01 why am I never satisfied? 20:02 And I get into this. 20:04 I said, why is it that when you set a goal in you life? 20:05 This is what I talk about myself. 20:06 You set a goal and you reach the goal, 20:08 it's like, okay, I thought to be better than this. 20:10 So now I got to set another one higher than that, 20:12 so you go reach that one. 20:14 Well, I thought to be better than this. 20:15 Why does a billionaire need one more million? 20:18 I tell people I said, why would they need? 20:20 I mean, you couldn't spend a billion dollars 20:21 rest of your life if you just went on shopping spree. 20:23 So why do you need another million for? 20:26 I said because it's the same thing I had. 20:29 I said, we're all in this ladder of society 20:31 that's what I give it to them. 20:33 And I said as long as there's another rung 20:34 in front of your face, 20:35 you're gonna put your hand up there and take it. 20:37 But I said you know what? 20:39 I'm no longer on that ladder in terms of fulfillment. 20:43 My life is fulfilling, my life is relevant. 20:45 It's just, I finally have something that fills me 20:49 that makes me wake up in the morning and say, 20:51 my life is worth living, makes me go to bed 20:53 at night and I can say, wow, what a day? Okay. 20:55 Herb, you've been talking to me on an airplane 20:57 and you've got my attention 20:59 because now you're sharing something, 21:00 I'm thinking you've got something that I want. 21:03 That's human nature. We're coming close- 21:04 we're coming close to the end of this plane ride. 21:06 You don't have time to share scriptures with me 21:08 and probably if you had started of sharing scripture with me. 21:12 The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 2:14 that, 21:16 "These are spiritual words, they are spiritually discerned." 21:18 If you had just started off with doctrinal truths to me 21:21 and I'm a non-Christian. 21:23 I'm gonna be going, 'cause I don't understand it. 21:27 But by you telling me about this love of Jesus, 21:32 this relevance of power of Jesus. 21:34 Now you've got my attention, 21:36 I'm thinking you've got something that I want. 21:38 When do you introduce scripture to me? 21:40 I mean, you get me to that point 21:42 of where I'm ready to say, yeah, I want this. 21:45 How do you do a follow up 21:46 to where you get that point. Okay, what I do, 21:48 what I do at first is I never use scripture. 21:51 I don't use one scriptural reference 21:53 in my whole first meeting unless I-- 21:54 unless they're already there. 21:56 In other words, they're asking 21:57 a question about this. What about this? 21:59 Say, we got a bit of a spiritual influence 22:00 in their lives somewhere. Other than that I don't. 22:03 I get their email and everything else. 22:05 And then I send, and if I do challenge with this, 22:07 everybody I don't care who they are 22:09 I tell them the atheist, I tell them the same thing. 22:11 If you can't spend an hour a day 22:13 in your Bible reading this thing. 22:14 I say treat it as literature. Make the assumption God's will. 22:17 You only have to believe that He is real. 22:19 Just assume that He may be. 22:21 I said, I will guarantee your life will change. 22:24 And sometimes I even give my business cards 22:26 and say, I will pay you for your waste of time, 22:27 whatever you normally get paid, doesn't matter, send me a bill. 22:30 After 60 days, your life doesn't explode with relevance, 22:33 I will send you a check. And I said this isn't a gimmick. 22:35 For 60 hours of their time, okay. 22:37 Sure. No problem. 22:38 Because I know I'm not gonna get that kind of response. 22:40 So I challenge them to get in the Bible. 22:42 I'm not the one telling them what the answers are up front. 22:46 I'm telling them what they have to do to have what I have. 22:50 And see, so here's the process. 22:52 So I'm the person that has never witnessed before. 22:54 Okay, let's look in my head now 22:56 'cause that's where I've been most of my life. 22:58 I'm gonna have this fear of rejection. 23:01 There's two things to keep in mind 23:02 when you're leading people to Jesus. Two things only. 23:04 Number one, you're gonna share 23:06 nothing more than what you have, nothing more. 23:09 If you don't have anything, then go get it. Yes. 23:12 So you're gonna share nothing more. 23:14 And number two, and I don't mean this is 23:17 oh, I don't support denomination structure or anything else. 23:20 But it is not your job to lead someone 23:24 to some denomination affiliation. 23:26 It is your job to lead them to Jesus. So-- 23:28 It is the Holy Spirit's job to take them beyond that 23:31 and it will happen. Okay. 23:33 And I'm not gonna argue that point 23:35 what you're saying is that our job Jesus, 23:40 when Jesus was ministering to someone, 23:41 He didn't set them down and go through 23:45 like, if He's-- when He healed the demoniac, 23:48 the woman at the well, He sent them 23:51 and said, "Go tell what I've done." 23:53 Basically you're saying, 23:54 let them develop a relationship with Jesus, 23:57 introduce them to the Bible. Absolutely. 23:58 And you are praying for them. 24:00 And then as this relationship continues to grow, 24:04 if you're the one that's got them into the Bible, 24:06 imagine you're one that-- 24:09 that you're the one they're calling or emailing 24:10 for the answers to their questions. Absolutely. 24:12 So, what do you so then? I mean, do you send out? 24:15 Do you have some kind of a Bible study or something? 24:17 Yeah, I write on my own Bible studies 24:18 because I never want to tell somebody 24:20 what the answer is. Okay. 24:22 Because everybody is trying to tell them the answer. 24:25 I want people to find that out on their own. 24:26 So I write my own Bible study 24:28 such as there's not one opinion expressed. 24:30 It is just a scriptural reference 24:32 and then I grew with the Holy Spirit 24:33 hours writing down the questions about that, 24:36 so they can't, you know, so it led to a clear answer 24:38 to that scriptural reference. 24:40 And you probably still have somebody 24:41 try to argue to the point that you're-- 24:43 Yeah, I get this once in a while. 24:44 they say, "I don't agree with this." 24:45 So I said, "There is no opinion expressed." 24:47 But the point is when somebody comes to their-- 24:49 to, you know, oh, I get it, 24:51 on their own accord, it's there. 24:54 It's if you tell them what the answer is, 24:56 I mean, it'll-- they will be there as long as 24:57 until somebody else comes along with another answer for it 25:00 and somebody else with another answer 25:01 and people are all over the map. 25:03 Have you heard there is an old expression 25:04 in fact I can remember it. 25:06 An opinion expressed against its will 25:08 is of the same opinion still. 25:09 In other words, if you just kind of forcefully convince them 25:15 of what your opinions are 25:16 or what they believe are your opinions, 25:18 and if they're getting it from you, 25:19 they're gonna believe that 25:20 instead of getting them into the word and showing. 25:23 And I love it when you're asking questions 25:25 and showing the scriptural references, 25:26 so that they can look into that and see that answer. 25:29 Come to their own conclusions, but you're gonna be 25:30 the Holy Spirit leading them anyway. 25:32 See, if people are in the Bible, they are in the right hands 25:34 'cause Jesus said I will give you the comforter, 25:36 who is the Holy Spirit, who is gonna do what, 25:38 teach you all things. Right. 25:39 So if we expect the Holy Spirit to teach 25:41 them all things is our role to say no, no. 25:45 Quickly, quickly, now learn these things. 25:47 No, it's not our role to do that, but they're gonna be, 25:49 guess who they're gonna be asking the questions of. 25:51 See, here's the other thing. 25:52 There's two fears we talked about. 25:54 One is fear of rejection. 25:55 But here I want to disseminate that right now 25:57 because this is the point. 25:59 You are the preeminent authority on one thing 26:03 on this planet and so am I. 26:04 You're the story. Yeah. 26:06 If some second grade kid comes to me 26:08 and I'm a PhD in salamanders. 26:11 And he says, "I don't agree with you." 26:12 Am I gonna get worried? No. 26:14 Because I'm the preeminent authority on this. 26:16 So number one, you've nothing to fear. 26:17 Well, you're gonna share only what you have, 26:18 nobody can argue that. 26:20 I've never had anybody said 26:21 no, I don't agree with that. 26:23 Number two, when they do ask scriptural references, 26:24 it's not gonna be from a trick question perspective 26:25 'cause now the Holy Spirit is planting 26:27 that desire in their heart. 26:28 And so when they ask you, you could simply say, 26:30 you know, I remember studying that, 26:32 but I can't remember the exact, 26:33 I want to give you a proper answer. 26:35 Do you mind if I go refresh my memory 26:37 and I'll get back to you. 26:38 They're more than happy waiting, 26:40 so there is never a point where you have to worry. 26:41 I don't know enough about the Bible. 26:43 You know, our time is already out. 26:44 Now today we've been talking about-- 26:46 Fairly get started. 26:48 If--I know we're barely getting started. 26:49 We probably need to do another program in this 26:51 because we were talking about witnessing to non-Christians. 26:55 And it's a little bit different than 26:56 when you're witnessing to someone 26:58 who is of a different denomination. 27:00 Yeah, who already knows Jesus. 27:01 Who already knows Jesus, but you've got to begin. 27:04 Let's recap by developing that friendship 27:07 and it can be done in a short time, 27:08 just a common bond. 27:09 And then don't be worried about rejection, 27:12 share what God's doing in you, 27:14 but and if you don't have something to share 27:16 then you need to get in that Bible an hour a day, 27:19 spend an hour praying in the Word. 27:21 And then just let the Holy Spirit do the rest. 27:24 Absolutely, and the Holy Spirit does a wonderful job. Amen. 27:26 Herb, time's all gone. 27:28 Thank you so much for being here again today. 27:30 Nice meeting you. Thank you. 27:31 I hope that God has challenged you 27:34 at some level today to recognize one of two things. 27:37 Either you're falling short on the witnessing 27:40 or you're falling short on the experience, 27:42 and that's why you're not out witnessing. 27:44 Become a witness for the Lord Jesus Christ. 27:48 Now may God multiply His mercy, love and grace to you. 27:51 And I pray that you shine for Jesus. |
Revised 2014-12-17