All right, well, good morning. It is wonderful, really wonderful to see everybody and be back and see some new faces, which is great. And we, I've been, as you know, out at Lakewood Baptist Church in Wisconsin and was able to take the role that, a role that really focused on evangelism and outreach and I've been able to pour my time and life into that. So when Pastor Nathan and I were talking about me being able to share with you all on this Sunday, being back in town for a conference, came up and seemed like an obvious topic for me to cover. So, evangelism is really a vital aspect of our life, right, as believers. We would believe that the Bible presents the Great Commission as not something just for the disciples or the apostles Jesus gave, but that it extends to who? Are we all awake? There you go. To everybody, right? To everybody, and including us, that the followers of Jesus are called to bring other people along in what? In following Jesus. To go and make disciples, and that is the Great Commission. And we know, very simply, in order to make disciples, what do we have to do? The very basic, generic answer. Share the gospel, right? Yeah, absolutely. Now, within that, All we have to understand is that we live in a different culture than they did. We live, you all live in a different culture than I live in, in Wisconsin, right? We recognize when missionaries, and we'll talk a little more about this in the main service, but when missionaries go overseas, right, so let's say I decided to move to Africa, what would be the first thing that I would need to do? Need to learn their what? their language and their culture. Why? In order to communicate, right? Now, why is that important? Well, we understand that we don't preach a different message. The same gospel that I preach in Wisconsin or the gospel that I preach in Wisconsin is going to be the gospel that I preach in Africa or that I preach in Long Island. But I have to recognize what? That they live in a different culture. They have a different language. They have a different means of communication, the style in which they communicate. They have different world views than people in Long Island or Wisconsin. And so I don't change the message, but I might change the wrapping paper, you could say. Does that make sense? So it's the same exact gift. The gift and the contents never change. But the way in which it's presented, the way in which it's wrapped, changes. Does that make sense? All right, so let me give one very clear example. Don Richardson, raise your hand if you've ever heard about him. Okay, two people, awesome. All right, so Don Richardson, missionary to Papua New Guinea. We used to support the Richard family there, right? They, he goes into Papua New Guinea, he goes and gets into the jungles, and he actually infiltrates and joins, like joins a tribe in Papua New Guinea, and they're cannibals. And he starts getting to know them. He starts learning their language, he starts learning their culture, and he's reaching out to them. And he begins, he finally gets to the point where he felt like he could communicate the gospel to them. And he shares the gospel with them, and he finishes the story, and they all are excited about, not Jesus, but Judas. And you go, what? Well, their culture, their culture glorified betrayal. What they would do, and this is, I'm sorry to share this, but it gets the point across, their practice was something called fattening with friendship. And what they would do is their goal would be to befriend somebody and earn their trust, and sometimes even over years, and then they would turn around and kill them and eat them. And the longer and the better of a friend you became to this person, it was like a more glorified ability. befriended somebody for two years and they trusted him so much and then he was able to trick it. It was all a trick. And that was what impressed, they impressed each other that way. Now, do you think that caused Don Richardson to sit back and go, okay, now how am I going to share the gospel with these people, right? Not share a different message. but how to actually present the gospel clearly for them to understand. And so what he did, eventually God allowed him to learn of something they called a peace child, and that's his book. If you ever wanna read about him, it's called Peace Child by Don Richardson. And their culture had this idea where if two villages, so if this village and this village each gave a child to the other village, then during that time that those children were alive, even into adulthood, as long as those children were alive, there would not be betrayal or killing. And so he was able to come and say, listen, God has given a what? He's given a peace child to us and he died, but he rose again and he forever lives. And so we can actually have peace with God, same gospel wrapped very differently. Right? So all that to say, We need to be wise, right? Scripture says to be gentle as doves, but wise as serpents, all right? As we're sharing the gospel, we're told to be ready to give an account for what we believe, right? Be able to communicate what we believe. And so what I want to first start talking about, we're going to talk about three main things this morning in this. But number one will be what we call starting points. All right, starting points, find a starting point. And so I want some interaction here. We have in the gospel, and yes, I am terrible at writing, so I apologize. This is why I always did PowerPoint, or do PowerPoint when I can. All right, those are numbers, just so you know, one, two, three, four, and five, all right? So there are five main things that somebody must understand in order to believe on Jesus as Lord and Savior. Let's have some interaction, what are they? These are building foundation blocks. Okay, they know they're a sinner. So, that would be number three. And I'd put on here the punishment of sin, the punishment of that sin, right? All right, what else? One God, there you go. So, God's, we'll go God's existence. And within that point of God's existence is that he is one, he is also who? The creator, right? Yeah, that was smooth. All right, what else? Jane looks very thoughtful over there. A Savior. Okay, so introduction of the Savior. So we'd say, who is the Savior? Heaven. Well, further. Which person of God? Jesus, all right? So the Son, we have Jesus, the Son. Do we just need to know who he is or what he did? Both, right? So Mark, Gospel of Mark. Mark 1-8, you have extreme emphasis on Jesus doing miracles, or what we would call signs. He's doing the signs and he's showing his disciples who he is, who he is, who he is. In Mark 8, then you have this story, right, of a blind man. And it's very unique, it's very interesting because the blind man is brought to Jesus in the city and Jesus takes him outside of the city and he puts some mud, I believe it's mud, this is the account where he spits in the dirt and he makes some mud and he puts it on his eyes and then he says, open your eyes, can you see? And the man says, well, I can see, but I don't see clearly. I see men walking as trees. Now, obviously, Jesus didn't spit enough in the dirt, right? No, what's going on here? Could Jesus have healed him the first try? Don't overthink it. Absolutely, right? So Jesus purposely didn't heal him on the first try. There's a reason. So he does it a second time. And then he says, now I see clearly. And he says, don't go tell anybody about this. He turns to his disciples. He says, disciples, who do people say that I am? They say, well, some people say Elijah. Some say John the Baptist. Some say the prophet. He says, who do you say I am? Peter says, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. He says, great. Don't tell anybody. And then it says, Jesus began to explain to them that he would be crucified and rise from the third day. And it's the famous account, right, where Peter says what? Absolutely not. And he says, get behind me, say it. So the disciples are seeing, but they're not seeing what? Clearly. And so in chapter 8, it says Jesus explains that he's going to be crucified and risen from the dead. Chapter 9, Jesus explains that he's going to be crucified and rise from the dead. Chapter 10, Jesus explains that he's going to be crucified and rise from the dead. And over and over again, it's like the disciples aren't getting it. In fact, I think it's in chapter 10, where after one of the accounts of him saying, I'm going to be crucified and rise from the dead, the two brothers, James and John, are like, hey, Jesus, by the way, can we sit on your right hand and left hand in your kingdom? And we're like, he just said he's going to be crucified. And now they're asking, can we sit at your right hand and your left hand? Even the disciples, so all that to say, Mark points out, the disciples are beginning to understand his identity, but then it also takes them time to learn his what? His mission, right? What he actually came to do. Not just that he's the son of God, the Christ, but what the Christ actually came to do, which is what? Jesus the son did what? We break it down to three things. He lived a, what's that? Yeah, so he brings more abundant life, So he lived a perfect life. So he's sinless, right? As the sinless one, he became a sacrifice and he rose from the dead. So Jesus, the son of God, is sinless. He made the sacrifice and he rose from the dead. All right, we're still missing two. What else are there? This one is subtle, and it's the bridge between these two, so I'll just fill it in. We need a relationship with God? Okay, so you're going back to Genesis 1.1. Yeah, yeah, which is yes, and that does fill it, that's connected to number two, and that's what I just said, that we have accountability. He is creator, we are what? If he's creator, we are creation. So we are creation and we have accountability to the judge. Yeah, this is why I don't write. All right. To God. That's what makes number three understandable, right? If we don't know that we are his creation and are accountable to him and have been given laws by him and we're created with a purpose, then what does sin even mean, right? Now, what's number five? This is a softball. To worship, good, yeah, yeah. Let's keep building that out. Believe, so it's the response, all right? Like, how do you respond to this news? Can you share one through four with somebody and they just walk away and go, oh, that's nice, right? Just sharing one through four doesn't mean somebody gets saved. They need to do what? They need to respond. And the proper response to the gospel message, Romans 10, is what? Believe in your heart, confess with your mouth. Okay, so believe and confess. All right, so these are your starting points. Now, you may be going, I don't this is just what we need to get through for sharing the gospel. Let me explain starting points. 20 years ago when I was in, I'm aging myself, roughly 20 years ago when I was in high school, I just said that, all right, and I would go out doing street evangelism on Saturdays, all right, and I'd start talking to people about the gospel. Their understanding already had some of these included. Somebody take a guess. Where do you think I normally would have to start with people 20 years ago? And I'll answer it. Right here. Right here. You could go around and talk to people, and general cultural consensus was that, yeah, there's probably a creator out there. And I understand that I am a creation of that creator. And there is also a general cultural consensus that people were what? Sinners. That there was a right and wrong. So when I'd be sharing the gospel with somebody, they're already accepting this. They're already accepting this. And they're accepting of this, but not yet understanding it, right? That there's punishment for their sins. Eternal punishment. So when you're sharing the gospel with somebody like that, you're starting here. All right, that was general culture, just people you'd meet on the street, people that wouldn't even consider themselves Christians or Bible believers. Now, here, can you guys even see over there? There we go. All right, there we go. So now when you're walking down the street and you meet somebody random, you meet a neighbor, you meet somebody at the coffee shop, where are they probably starting? Number one. Benny's got it. He's sharp. I've always liked Benny. All right. Back at God's existence. So, all this to say, when you are sharing the gospel with somebody, what's really the first step in being able to communicate clearly the gospel with them? Find the starting point. If you don't know the starting point, then how can you really lay out a plan in sharing the gospel with them? So if I have somebody who denies God's existence, believes we were evolved from nothing, and there's no creator, there's no God, then I start talking to them about sin and the punishment of it, what's that doing for them? Nothing. They're like, I don't care about sin. I don't care about accountability to a creator because there is no creator. I've just come from nothing. Right? But if, so that person needs to be rewound, and we need to start talking about the existence of a creator, arguments for a creator, and our accountability to them, and so on. Now, there are different groups within our culture, and in Long Island, in Port Washington in particular, We've got a strong group of people, right, that are Jewish. And within the Jewish people, right, there's definitely varying understandings. You have the reformed, you have the liberal, you have the conservative, you have the Hasidic. We don't really have Hasidic here in Port Washington, right? But they're all going to have different starting points. But some of them are already going to accept what? Existence of God some of them already understand the law and that they're sinners Right. So then starting point is number three. What about Catholics? Catholics do they? recognize existence of God Recognize sin. Yeah now they need to know the seriousness of their sin, but overall our whole culture has shifted back and we need to recognize that and include that in our evangelism, so All that to say, you need to be prepared to be able to do that. 20 years ago, somebody maybe could have gotten by with only being able to explain Romans 3.23, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Romans 6.23, the wages of sin is death. Jesus, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus, our Lord. Who is Jesus? Well, he's the son of God who died on the cross. God commended his love toward us and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And Romans 10, 9, and 10, believe in your heart, confess with your mouth, Christ Jesus is Lord, and that God raised him from the dead. Is that the gospel? Absolutely. But if somebody only has that, and they're talking with an atheist, they can't get anywhere. So now, you need to be equipped to be able to start up here. You need to be equipped to transition from up here to here. And then you need to be equipped to transition from here to here and actually go through the entire gospel. So, starting points. Being able to recognize where is this person that I'm trying to share the gospel with and make a actual plan of getting to step number five, right? Could these all happen in separate conversations? Yeah. In fact, I would submit it would be really, really hard to get from number one to number five in one brief conversation. And that's actually what we're gonna bring up next is this. In our evangelism, we don't just need to recognize starting points, that's really helpful, but number two, we need to build relationships. And let me just real quick help us see this. This is not like an unbiblical idea. And we'll talk a little bit about 1 Corinthians 9, chapter 9, in the main service. But in 1 Corinthians 9, are we all familiar, Paul says, to the Jew I became Jew, to the Greek I became Greek, that I might win some to Christ. He's saying, in other words, I'm reading the culture in which I'm trying to reach, and I'm adapting myself to be able to reach the gospel. He's not saying I'm changing the gospel, he's not saying I'm being seeker-sensitive, and again, we'll talk more about this in the service, but what he's saying is I'm recognizing the context in which I'm sharing the gospel, and I am adapting myself to that context, to that culture. So this is exactly what Paul did, and that would even have further implications that we'll talk about in that. Find the starting points Paul shared the same gospel differently with Jews than he did with Gentiles, right? So secondly is build Relationships build relationships and this is vital here in Port Washington How many of you? have gone to share the gospel, or gone doing door-to-door, I know I've done lots of door-to-door with Stephen, doing door hangers and stuff, where somebody comes to the door and you say, hey, I'm from the Bible, and as soon as you start saying Bible, they say I'm what? I'm Jewish, and they shut the door, or very strongly in Port Washington, I'm Catholic, and they shut the door. And I always, whenever people ask me about ministry in Port Washington, I say it's hard because it's roughly 50% Jewish, 50% Catholic, and 100% wealthy, and nobody wants to talk to you, right? So, wow, you are tall. All right. So, we have to build relationships. Now, I never got to have a meaningful gospel conversation with a strong Catholic or with a strong Jew that I just met on the street. But you know who I did have good gospel conversations with? My neighbors, who were strong Jews, but I built a relationship with them. And I showed them that I cared about them. And I showed them that I'm a normal person. Well, somewhat normal, right? But a normal person and not crazy. And as time went on and they actually got to know me, then that opened up doors for me to do what? To be able to have these conversations with them. And again, what's the chance of you walking into the same person on the street twice? Not very strong, right? So as we meet people in the community and we understand that God is sovereign, and he's placed us in our neighborhood for a reason, and in our workplace for a reason, and on a sports team that we play on for a reason, or in our class for a reason, and we start looking at the people around us as a missions field. and people that we can develop a relationship with, with the goal of sharing the gospel, it changes the way we think about life, right? So we need to stop thinking about sharing the gospel one single time with someone, and then all of a sudden our job is done. Just because you shared the gospel with somebody once, it doesn't mean your job is done. Really what it is, it's just begun, right? Evangelism is a marathon. It keeps taking place. In Acts chapter 17 it says Paul went in and day after day or week after week for multiple times he's reasoning the gospel in the synagogue. He's reasoning the gospel with people over and over and over again. He doesn't just go in once and nobody believes and he says, well, Guess nobody there is gonna become a Christian and walks away, right? That wasn't Paul's style. No, he would go in and he would reason. So let's think about it. When one is indoctrinated by atheistic evolution, do you think that they'll change their whole worldview through a two-minute conversation with someone that they don't even, by talking with somebody that they don't even know? No, right? They've been sitting through class after class after class being taught atheism, right? And you think you're gonna change their mind in two minutes? It's not how life works, right? When one has been taught their whole lives that Christians are heartless haters of sinners, do you think walking up to them on the street and having a two-minute conversation will convince them otherwise? They've literally been taught, listen, Christians hate people. And that's what they've been told their whole life. and you're just gonna waltz into their life and be like, hey, actually, I don't hate people, I'm a really nice person, and they're gonna be like, oh, okay, sweet, right? No, that's not how life works. When one has been taught all their lies, that all paths lead to heaven, and everybody gets grace, and God is just love, do you think it will take more than a two-minute conversation to convince them that there's only one way to heaven? and that all the people who don't accept that one way are headed to hell for eternity, it's gonna take a lot more than a two-minute conversation, don't you think? So, all this to say, just look to build relationships. And number one is the very obvious one, all right? Your neighbors. God has placed you in the neighborhood that he has placed you in, in his sovereignty, with the neighbors around you, in his sovereignty, that you might be a light to your neighbors. In your workplace, God has placed you in your workplace. Whether you work in an office with coworkers, or you go out and you service customers, and you have interaction with customers, whatever it may be, or even Zoom meetings, right? A lot of people work remotely now. but recognizing that those people that God puts you into contact with are the people that you're responsible for. Once you've exhausted those relationships, and of course, don't forget family, right? Your relatives, your immediate family, your kids, your parents, your brothers or sisters who are not believers, but then also your extended family, your uncles, your grandparents, and so on. But once you've exhausted those, go build other relationships. Like, go join a soccer team if you're too old for soccer like me and you hurt yourself, right? Go do an exercise class. Go do bingo. Go do whatever. Join a book club. If you like coffee, just go to the same coffee shop a couple times a week, where you might start interacting with the same people, because they go to the coffee shop every Monday at that time. And start developing more relationships with this goal in mind to do what? To share the gospel with them. All right? And I'll get into this. I didn't have it originally in my notes because I didn't think we'd have time, but we're moving pretty well. So within that, building relationships, also focus on team evangelism, team evangelism. And it's this, do it as a church family. Do it as a church family. And I'll just give one quick illustration of how we're doing it out in Wisconsin. There's an app called Meetup. It sounds a little sketchy, but it's not, all right? So there's an app called Meetup, and what it is is you create a profile, you put in your interests, so let's say soccer or basketball or underwater basket weaving or knitting or whatever it may be, right? Or even like a specific sports team, right? So you put in the things that you're interested in, and then it notifies you of groups of people who also have that interest, and you get together. So, and I use that actually here in New York to meet people here. Maybe some of you didn't even know about it. But I use that as a means to get to know people through soccer when I still lived in Port Washington. And so, out in Wisconsin, our church actually made a meetup group. And we didn't name it Lakewood Baptist Church or anything. It's Waukesha Area Sports Club. And we do basketball and soccer and volleyball and flag football. And about 100 people from our church are in the group. And now over 200 people from the community are in that group. And we schedule weekly events. So for example, last Saturday, I played soccer and volleyball in a gym that we rented. And at soccer, we had four guys from church and like eight guys from the community. And at volleyball, we had like six people from church and six people from the community. Now, why is this important? Well, again, maybe these people have been taught their whole lives what? Christians, hate. Just hate people, hate sinners. Anybody that doesn't believe like they do, they hate them. Or Christians are just really weird. They're like a cult, and they don't have any fun, right? Or, yeah, I mean, or they just have heard the gospel before, and it sounds ludicrous to them. Think about it. We're going around and telling people that, hey, 2,000 years ago, a god, the god, became a man He went through a 33-year life without sinning a single time. He died on the cross. He rose from the dead. And now he offers forgiveness for your sins. And all you have to do is believe on him, and you won't go to an eternal place called hell that you've never seen before, and you will go to an eternal place called heaven that you've never seen before. Can we take a moment and actually recognize how crazy that would sound to the world? And I'm not trying to demean the gospel. In 1 Corinthians 1, that's the point of Paul. He says what? To the world, the gospel is foolishness. So if I go and meet somebody at volleyball, and I'm like, hey, by the way, I'm a pastor. And of course, they're like, yeah, of course, you're a pastor. And of course, you're going to tell me this stuff. And I think, this guy is kind of a nut, right? But then this other guy who plays volleyball with him or soccer with him, seems like a really cool guy, and has fun, and is normal, and grabs coffee after soccer, and he shares the gospel with him too. Now all of a sudden, it's not just one crazy pastor who shared the gospel with him, it's also a friend of his. And then a third guy goes and grabs lunch with him afterwards, and shares that same message with him. Now what's happening in this guy's life? There's some validity to the message. And his world view of Christians are hateful people, Christians are crazy people, Christians are a cult, those born again people, right, are just some cults. All of a sudden their whole world view about that is being what? It's being changed, it's being transformed. So for example, let me give, does this move? Is it just like super tight? There we go, okay. There we go, just weak apparently. All right. So I'm waiting down here this morning for church, and I was told it was supposed to start at 10, and nobody's here. And then Pastor Nathan walks in and he's like, oh, you wouldn't believe it. Last night, there was a light outside my window, and Anna and I got transported to space, and we were abducted by aliens. And we just got back 10 minutes ago, and we rushed to church. What's going through my mind? He's crazy, just like I always thought, right? So I'm thinking, no, that's crazy, right? But then Kevin comes in five minutes late, too. He's like, oh, I'm sorry, I slept awful. I kept hearing crazy noises outside. some screams, and it just was a really weird night. I don't know what was going on. There were bright flashes that woke me up. And I'm thinking, he's crazy. And yeah, Nathan and Kevin talk to each other, and they're playing some prank on me. But then somebody reliable that's not as much of a jokester like Victor comes in maybe. And he's late too, Linda and Victor are late. And they're like, hey, Pastor Kevin, so sorry we were late. We were on our way coming down through the neighborhood, but there was some sort of crash. and there's like FBI, and the whole block, like the whole neighborhood is blocked off, and I don't know what it is, but there's something crazy that happened in the neighborhood last night. And then Evan shows up late too, and he gives a similar story. Now all of a sudden, I don't believe in aliens, and even if this happened, I'd still be like, you all are just pulling my leg, because aliens aren't in the Bible, but all of a sudden, what's happening to my worldview? Something is going on here. Why? Because there's multiple people telling the same story. That is one of the main ways that we can reach the lost. And don't get me wrong, I'm not saying there's not power in the gospel, all right? Like, can you walk up to somebody on the street, share the gospel with them, and God change their heart and save them? Absolutely. I'm not ashamed of the gospel for it's the power of God unto salvation. Absolutely. But we can also be wise as serpents and recognize the culture and the day and age in which we live and recognize how the Lord could use serious, thought-out tactics, right, to reach people with the gospel. Does that make sense? So, let me give the fruit of that. Just this past Saturday, I finished volleyball. Two of the men from the community that played volleyball with us said, hey, let's grab lunch. So three of us go out for lunch and I'm able to have a 45 minute conversation with them on the gospel of Jesus Christ. Two completely lost men. And as I'm talking with them, they're making mention of like Steve and Dan. and Chris, and Pete, and all of these men that they're mentioning in our conversation are men who are believers and members of my church, who have befriended them through the same means, through basketball, volleyball, and soccer. They're mentioning, yeah, they mentioned the church to me too, or yeah, he's so nice. He's such a good friend. And all of a sudden, it's not just me sharing the gospel with them, it's all of us. Even when they weren't present with me, in a sense, testifying of the goodness of Jesus Christ that he changes lives. He transforms lives. He provides forgiveness of sins. And so work as a church. Like teens, be a team in your school together. Work together. Team up with other Christians and target like one kid that you think is gonna be open to the gospel and pour your lives into that one kid. And then see that kid get saved. And then now there's five of you. And the five of you target two more kids. And then they get saved. And now there's seven of you. And three of you go to this kid and four of you go to that kid. And you start to see the gospel take root in people's lives and multiply. So instead of just you going and joining a volleyball team by yourself, get somebody else in the church and the two of you go together and work together. So build meaningful relationships, develop meaningful relationships. And I'm not knocking on or saying don't do like street evangelism. I think there's a place for it. I'm not saying if you're at the gym, and I do this all the time, I'm at the gym, I meet somebody that I've never met before, but we're able to have an interaction, and we have a conversation, and in five to 10 minutes of talking with them, I share the gospel with them. Do that. Absolutely. Like, I'm not taking away from that, but I'm saying ideally, you're sharing the gospel with relationships that God has placed in your life. Right? So don't get the idea that if you go and knock on doors on Saturday morning for one hour, boom, my evangelism is done. I've completed my mission. That's not the way that evangelism is put in scripture at all. It's part of your life. It's part of your lifestyle as a Christian, as a follower of Christ. All right, lastly, think tactically. And that was just somewhat introduced. But if you get a chance, and I know I'm almost positive Pastor Nathan has read this, assuming maybe Kevin has, Tactics by Greg Kalkal. Okay, write that down, read it. Extremely helpful book, Tactics by Greg Kalkal. So this is not original with me, but quite simply, one of his major points is ask questions. All right, when you're having a conversation with somebody, Have you ever had this happen? I had this happen this week where you meet somebody and you go to talk with them and 25 minutes later, they've only talked at you and you've not had an actual conversation, right? How does that make you feel? Well, it's not a conversation, number one. Have you really listened to anything they've said? Probably not, right? So we need to think about it this way. If you just go up and you talk with somebody and you're like, hi, what's your name? My name's Benny. Great, Benny, let me tell you about Jesus. And for the next 25 minutes you talk, is that how any meaningful conversation happens? Ever. No. So let's not do that, right? Sharing the gospel. Now, if somebody comes to you and says, Benny, I've noticed you're a Christian and you live differently. Can you share with me what makes you different? Well, then yeah, there's a place for that. But I'm talking about normal conversation. So ask questions. What is the power of questions? Well, number one, it's how a conversation happens. It also allows you to find a what? A starting point, if you never ask questions to get to know the person, how could you ever figure out a what? Their starting point. You don't know what their old view is. You don't know what they believe. You don't know what to share with them. Okay, so ask questions. What also happens? Well, when you talk with somebody and you ask them questions, they do what? They respond, which means then if they've talked five minutes in a natural conversation, what does it mean for you? you get to talk for five minutes. So unbeknownst to them, as they're talking and answering a question for five minutes, it's opening the door for you to be able to talk for five minutes and share the gospel with them. Or to start with God's existence, for example. And our starting points. It's also how Jesus taught. Jesus gives us an example. How many times was, were there people trying to corner Jesus, like the Pharisees or the Sadducees show up, and they're trying to corner Jesus, and Jesus responds by asking a what? By asking a question. And Jesus did it sometimes to just be wise in turning away the crowds from arresting him prematurely, right? Or, you know, he was biding his time until it was time to be crucified. But he also used it very often to show faulty thinking. And so not only is it just how a normal conversation happens, but it can show people where they're thinking wrongly. All right, so somebody, let's interact here for a minute. Somebody give me, you're trying to share the gospel with somebody and they make a claim and they think it's like their checkmate. Ha, you're not gonna be able to answer this. What might it be? What's one that you've heard? Oh, all right, go ahead, Kevin. Yeah, so if God is all powerful, and loving, why do bad things happen? Pastor Nathan, what's a question that we can respond with? Yeah. How can we show that's faulty thinking? And I'm gonna put you on the spot, I apologize. Yeah, so good. So there's a step he's working towards what? If there is good and evil, then there must be a what? There must be a God who created. Right? What's another question? Or they'll make a statement, hey, there's just so many contradictions in the Bible. Ha, I've got you. What's a really, really easy question to ask them in response? Can you show me these supposed contradictions? And 99% of the time, what's their response going to be? Well, I mean, I don't know of any, but I mean, I know there are, right? So can you go and find some and bring them back to me? Maybe they'll be the 1% of people that will actually show you something like, oh, in this account, it says there were 957 soldiers. And in this account, it says there were 1,000 soldiers. OK, how do we answer that? That's an easy one. The 1,000 is a round number. And the 957 is a specific number. Easy. All right? But you were able to get to that answer by asking a question. All right? Well, you guys, you just don't believe in loving people. And you don't believe in the reproductive, the rights of women for health care. Because you're pro-life, maybe. Well, so can you tell me, how is killing one person healthcare for another person? I've asked a question and all of a sudden, what's happened? There's a pebble in their shoe, as Greg Kalko puts it. Now they're thinking, wait a second, maybe just by asking that one caring question, thoughtful question, all of a sudden, their worldview is starting to be tweaked. And they're realizing, wait, maybe Christians aren't just haters, right? Maybe they've actually thought through things and we're helping them see that. Just, again, thinking under tactically, not just asking questions, but also don't take upon yourself the burden of proof. I think this is important. In the last maybe 30 years of evangelism, we've gained this idea somehow as Christians that when we're sharing the gospel, we have all the burden of proof. All right? So for example, we go to share the gospel with somebody and they bring up, oh, the Bible is full of contradictions. And now all of a sudden, we automatically think what? We need to defend against that statement. But where does the burden of proof lie on the person who makes the statement? So don't all of a sudden become defensive and be like, oh no, I don't know how to answer this. I mean, how do you defend that the Bible doesn't have contradictions when it doesn't have contradictions? It's almost impossible, right? Like, hey, the Bible is full of contradictions. No, it isn't. Let me give you an example. Well, there are no examples because it doesn't have any contradictions, right? So, like, where does the, turn it back on them? Say, okay, you just made a claim. You need to back it up. And I'll wrap up right now. But quite simply, make them give an account for their belief. Oh, creation is just a hoax that there's this God who created the earth. I believe in science, there's much more evidence than say what? Okay, give me evidence. And what you're doing is you're able to see where their thinking is faulty and then you're able to answer well and able to speak into their lives and point them to Christ. Our time is short. I know there's much more, and that was fast, like maybe hopefully drinking from a fire hose, but hopefully that helps us in understanding our culture and how to share the gospel with it in some effective ways and sharpening us. Lord, we thank you for your goodness. Thank you for the opportunity to talk about this, and I pray that you would be glorified in our lives, that even this week, we would have opportunities to share the gospel with those around us. We pray in Christ's name, amen.