I Threw a Book at a Sleeping Woman

0:00 Maybe you're wondering why my Bible is so big. So let's get the elephant out of the room. As you get older, your eyes tend to go a little, so this is one of those large print Bibles. Here's Genesis chapter 1. I was just thinking, what a nice introduction from Pastor Jack and how a television program has gone right around the world for many years, so I'm kind of used to people wanting to do selfies and I don't mind accommodating them. I was in Huntington Beach about four or five years ago, standing by a wall that's got names on it and I was looking at my emails and an Asian gentleman came up and very politely, as Asians are, said, can I take a picture? And I said, sure, go ahead.

0:54 He said, well, get out of the way. Yeah, it's funny. Someone introduced me years ago in Texas when I was new to the States. He stood out of the pulpit and said, Billy Graham said of Ray Comfort, who's Ray Comfort? And then he sat down.

1:25 That's one of my favorite introductions. Open your Bible at Ephesians 6, verse 18, if you would. My wife and I have been married for 110 years. That's 55 each.

1:53 The applause is for my wife. Anyway, I said to her recently, I said, I mean, do you remember when we were younger, teenage years, that we were in the back of a movie theater, and we had a piece of licorice, and I started on one end, and you started on the other, and we met in the middle? And she says, that wasn't me.

2:17 It's the weather like today. So Ephesians 6, verse 18, the title of this message is, I threw a book at a sleeping woman, which is an interesting title.

2:39 The Apostle Paul in Ephesians 6, verse 18 says,

3:24 You and I have a moral obligation to share our faith. Let me share an analogy I share often with unsaved people. I say, I've got a question for you. You look up and you see a wooden house, two stories. You know there's a guy on the second floor, a night shift worker. He's always asleep in the afternoons. You look down the basement, you see fire beginning to consume that building. Smoke building out, flames leaping out. You know that guy's going to be burned to death within about three or four minutes. So you take a rock and you throw it at the window. He comes to the window, opens it up and says, what are you doing? You say, your place is on fire. He says, get out of here before I call the police. And he closes the window. What are you going to do? This is a test of your character. Do you just say, oh, burn, buddy, I don't care. Or do you take another walk and throw out of the window again? More walks, bang on his door, scream, get out of this place.

4:21 And that's the dilemma we have with the ungodly. They're asleep in a burning building. And we want to not only awaken them, we want to alarm them. And there's certain things you and I can do to awaken sinners. You know, the Bible likens us to firefighters. It says others having compassion, making a difference, pulling them from the fire, hating them with a garment, spotted by the flesh. And just as you and I would have a moral obligation to awaken someone who's in a building asleep, so we have an obligation to the ungodly to warn every man and may present every man perfect in Christ. I remember years ago I was sitting on a plane and there was a woman sitting next to me and I thought I should witness to this woman. But then I consoled myself with the fact that I had preached to 500 young people the night before.

5:16 And I thought God doesn't expect me to do one to one. And then my conscience began to consume me with thoughts of, imagine if this woman was a Christian. And she couldn't be bothered or was too fearful to warn me that I was on my way to hell and didn't know it. And so I turned to witness that woman and noticed she'd gone to sleep. And I said, Psst, Lord, she's gone to sleep. I can't waken her. And I carried on reading Pilgrim's Progress, drinking orange juice, care of the airline, within five seconds, but not exaggerating, in a modern jetliner, the armrest on the seat in front fell down and hit me on the foot. The tray table fell down and hit me on the knee. I choked on a piece of ice. The scripture, despise not the chasing of the Lord, came to mind. So I took Pilgrim's progress and threw it at her foot. She woke up and I said, oh, sorry about that. Have you ever read this book she had in Sunday school?

6:10 And she can just thank God I wasn't reading my normal foot-breaking Bible. So if you have a problem sharing your faith, if you're fearful, as I am, and let me just share something about the whole fear aspect. I've been on about 2,000 flights, and I've never failed to witness to the person sitting next to me on the plane.

6:39 That's not a boast. I mean, how could I not? How could I sit there and read a book knowing someone could be going to hell? But I've got to share something with you. It's very personal. I have always prayed. Sometimes there's an empty seat, and this is what I pray. There's an empty seat next to me, and this is my prayer, a subconscious prayer. Oh, God, I pray for this person who's going to sit there that they won't show up. I'm not kidding. That's what I'm thinking. Please, Lord, don't let them show up because I don't want to get in the awkward position of having to share the gospel with a stranger. I mean, how do you bring the subject up?

7:19 Hey, nice flight. See those clouds? Guess who made the clouds? God. I mean, how do you bring it up smoothly? And I figured out how to do it after all these years. Probably 30 years ago, I figured out something that worked wonderfully. And that is this. Just ask the person, do you think there's an afterlife? Never go into detail. You don't have to know their name. Just find their name and say, look, do you think there's life after death? Not mentioning God, Jesus, heaven, hell, the Bible, sin, righteousness, and judgment. You are just asking a question, do you think there's life after death? One thing that's helped me is our 10 commandment coin. We've got a coin with the 10 commandments on one side. It's aluminum. It's got perceived value. And the gospel on the other side. And I have to give chat GPT glory for this. I typed in what are some good questions to ask people about the Ten Commandments. And number three threw me against the wall.

8:14 Slight exaggeration, but it was. It just blew me away. It was this. Which is the hardest of the Ten Commandments to keep? I thought, wow, that's powerful. So I went to Huntington Beach. I go there each Saturday with my camera crew. Guy comes up on camera. I says, here's a coin with the Ten Commandments on it. Which is the hardest commandment to keep? He looks at me and he says, adultery. I said, so you've been committing adultery? He says, yes. And he was penitent. He was ready for the gospel. And I've found people immediately confess their secret sins when they're asked that question, which is the hardest commandment to keep? People say, oh, it's lying. So you lie a lot? Yeah.

8:59 It's just wonderful to get into the heart with that question. So remember that. An act of courage, someone once said, isn't necessarily done by those who feel brave when they do it. True courage is he who feels fear and does it anyway. An act of courage isn't necessarily done by those who feel brave when they do it. True courage is he who feels fear and yet does it anyway.

9:26 Turn to 1 Corinthians 2, verses 1 through to 4, and we're going to look at four necessary characteristics that Christians should have in their life before they open the mouth of the kingdom of God. If you don't have these, I suggest you don't open your mouth. 1 Corinthians 2, verses 1-4, or 3. And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God, for I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. So hear what the apostle Paul said. See if you qualify. He said, when I came to you, I didn't come with excellency of speech. I came in weakness, fear, and much trembling.

10:21 Not ordinary trembling, but much knee-knocking trembling. Do you qualify? Do you say to yourself, I just don't know what I'd say to strangers. I just don't have the words. I'm in weakness, fear, and much trembling. Well, you've just qualified yourself for being a witness of Christ. And see, my consolation is that in my weakness, I'm strong. When I realize I don't have eloquence of speech, I'm in weakness and fear and much trembling, that drives me to my knees, and that's the safest place for a Christian. When I'm weak, then I'm strong because I put my trust in God.

11:00 But the key to being released from the fear of man and the fear of woman, which is just as bad, is Paul said, I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and I'm crucified. Just determined. Say, Lord, I don't know what to say. I'm weak and fearful and trembling. But determined to be a true and faithful witness. And you're halfway there. Heard a barber once who said, I've not been a true and faithful witness. I am going to witness to the next person who comes to my barbershop. Big guy comes in. He says, take this beard off with you. He says, okay, sit up there. He turned around with his back to him, got the cutthroat razor, sharpened it up, and then turned around and said, friend, are you ready to die? Now, he lost his customer, but he opened his mouth for the kingdom of God. The word enthusiasm comes from two Greek words, entheos, in God. If you're in God and God is in you, then you'll have an enthusiasm, a zeal that will drive you to do as well.

11:56 I'm going to share my testimony with you if you don't mind. I've probably shared it before. When you get to my age, you tend to forget what you've said in the past. I've got short and long-term memory loss. Have I told you that? Yeah. And if you're my age and you've heard this testimony before, it'll be fresh to you.

12:17 I was brought up in a Jewish family. My mum was Jewish. She married a Gentile and she was ostracized by a family. And so I wasn't given any Christian instruction whatsoever. They just put Methodist on my birth certificate because they didn't want another Holocaust taking me. And so I was brought up, no Christian instruction. An aunt taught me the Lord's Prayer when I was about 10. I rattled it off as a kind of sleeping pill for 10 years. But I had no understanding of the gospel.

12:46 But at the age of about 20, I had an epiphany. It was a Solomon experience. I didn't have the wisdom of Solomon, the riches of Solomon, or the wives of Solomon. I had one wife at a house, I had my own business. If someone said, what do you do for a job? I'd say, I mind my own business, what do you do? It was a surf shop. And I was incredibly happy as a non-Christian. You say, how can that be? Well, I was enjoying the pleasures of sin for a season. The man who said as miserable as sin was probably the same guy who said crime doesn't pay. Crime does pay right up until judgment day. And sin is not miserable. According to scripture, it's pleasurable. Moses chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God that enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. But I could see my happiness bubble was going to be burst by the sharp pin of reality.

13:42 I realized that's part of the ultimate statistic. Ten out of ten die. And so my whole life, happy though it was, became futile. I said with Solomon, it's like chasing the wind. I looked at my wife and she could die. During the night I have nothing to live for with all my material possessions. So I was driven to a quiet despair. And one night as I looked at my wife who had gone to sleep, we'd been married for about six months, I wept at the thought of her death. I wept at the futility of life. Tears rolled down my cheeks and I cried out, Why? Why? I didn't think I was praying, but God did. Six months later, he answered my prayer. I was on a surfing trip with a buddy, and he had an open Bible, and I read it. I read the words of Jesus.

14:35 You've heard it said by them of old, you shall not commit adultery. And I thought, if it's a heaven, I'll make it there. I've never committed adultery. But then I read the words of Jesus. But I say to you, whoever looks upon a woman to lust for her has committed adultery already within his heart. It was like an arrow hit my chest. I thought I'm undone. If God see my thought life, I'm in big trouble on judgment day. And it was then that I understood the cross. No one is going to appreciate a cure if they don't realize they've got the disease. And until we understand our sin, we won't see our need of a savior. So I came back from that surfing trip like a man on fire. I cannot tell you the joy that filled my heart to know that God had taken me out of death and given me everlasting life as a free gift. And so I began giving out gospel tracts to everyone I met.

15:26 I began sharing my testimony, sharing the gospel with strangers. I purchased a 34-seater great big bus and a 14-inch professional sign writing, put the gift of God as eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. On the other side, Jesus said, I'm going to weigh the truth of life. I sign wrote on my car. I put a billboard outside my house with scripture on it. I got a printing press and put it inside my house and began printing gospel tracks. On the front window of my business, I put John chapter 3 verses 1 to 16 in 3-inch professional sign writing. I got a soapbox, put it in the heart of our city, a city of 350,000 people, and began preaching the gospel and did that almost every day for 12 years. If anyone could have been considered a religious nut in those days, it was me. Nowadays, I'm much worse. but I cannot express to you the gratitude that is bursting in my heart 50 years ago when I came to Christ and even today much more so for the cross for the salvation that Jesus Christ gives a dying sinner and that gratitude is a high octane fuel that drives me to do the will of God unceasingly Thank you.

16:46 I shared before how I've not failed to witness to people on planes. I've also never lost my zeal for God, not for a moment. You say you're boasting. No. If I said to you, I've been married for 55 years and I've never lost my zeal for my wife, the compliment is to her, it's not to me. and my zeal and gratitude to God brings glory to his name because he's worthy. We love him because he first loved us. And so, as a brand new Christian, one day, a 91-year-old Presbyterian minister walked into my surf shop and I realized I did not look like this. This is reasonably well-tasted clothes. I was a surfer.

17:38 I think the idea with surfers is you try and look as much like seaweed as you can. And I had a ride. I had hair down on my shoulders. Sunbleached. Turquoise shirt. Orange pants. White flowers. Looked like something a cat had dragged in. And that's why I was surprised when this 91-year-old Presbyterian minister walked into my surf shop. And he says, I hear you've become a Christian. I've come to congratulate you. Reached out his hand, shook it, and left $10 in my hand. I like that man from the moment I met him. So George, Reverend George Dempsey and myself had this friendship for two years. We were so close. I was counterculture and he was establishment. It was just amazing how close we were. One day his wife called and said, George is about to die. Would you come and be with us at this time? She says, okay. So I drove around. She was on the phone. The phone had a loud ring because George was partly deaf.

18:32 I went in and George was lying in bed. I sat next to him. He says, is that you, Ray? And I says, yes, George, I've come to be with you this time. He says, I'm going to be with Jesus. And I thought, what a privilege I have of being present when a saint goes marching through to glory. A saint isn't someone who has fat babies with wings and things around their head, flying shoulder height. A saint is anyone who's repented and put their trust in Jesus. Don't believe it? The saints are at Philippi. The saints are at Colossus. Read the epistles, how they begin addressed to the saints, the living saints. And I was there to be present when a saint went marching through to glory. And I began to say, oh, how will he go, Lord? How will he go? After 20 minutes, suddenly George raised his hand to the sky, pointed to the heavens, and said, Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

19:29 Ah. I thought, whoa, what a way to go. suddenly the phone rang, he sat up and I was the one that just about died. He lasted another two years. But when he did go, we sung that great hymn to God be the glory, great things he had done so loved he the world that he gave us his son who yielded his life in atonement for sin and opened the life gate that all may go in. Oh, what a wonderful, glorious gospel we have that Jesus Christ has, past tense, abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. So I was saying the word enthusiasm, which we should all have for the gospel, comes from two Greek words, entheos, in God. If God is in you and you're in God, you should have an enthusiasm, a gratitude, a burning fire.

20:25 John Wesley said, get on fire for God and people will come to watch you burn. And it's true. God wants to make his ministers a flame of fire. So what we're going to do very briefly, which means nothing from a pulpit, is look at how to get on fire for God. And saints, these simple principles do work. So open your Bibles, if you would, at Romans 15, verse 13. I'll go ahead of you for the sake of time. Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Spirit. Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing. The first key we're going to look at is the key of faith. Now when a preacher says we're going to look at faith today often the spirit of nausea falls upon the congregation because so often preachers talk about faith.

21:20 I trust today this is from a slightly different angle. Many years ago back in 1970 about 1970 I embarked, no, 78, I embarked upon the making of a 16mm documentary film called My Friends Are Dying based on the fact that I'd lost five friends in the surfing scene to drugs. They'd died.

21:43 I'd applied for the trust for a certain amount of money and it hadn't come. I hadn't heard from them for six whole months. Not a peep. I was sitting in my office as an associate pastor and I thought to myself on a Friday afternoon, I was kind of tired, I thought, patience. has had her perfect work. I'm going to call and say if you've got the money. Got through long distance. The guy says, yeah, the money's yours. We'll get it to you as soon as possible. I put the phone down and said, yes. I ran down the church hall, into the auditorium, ran down the pews, jumped in the air and screamed, I got it. I got it. This was thousands of dollars. Now let's just ask, what did I have? Nothing really. Just a promise from a man, hundreds of miles away, a man I didn't know, but I had believed his promise, and my faith had produced joy, and joy produced a physical energy.

22:34 Let me make it more real for you. Imagine if I said to you a few months ago, I bought one of those mega lottery tickets, and I backslid, and I feel terrible. I won the thing, and there's hundreds of millions of dollars. So as you leave here tonight, each year you're going to get $500,000 and your hot little hand as a gift. so I don't feel so guilty. If you really believed, I mean you really believed you're going to get $500 in about 30 minutes, wouldn't you have joy? Wouldn't you say, yes, now I can get a jacuzzi in my prayer room. If you really believed, you would have instant joy in your heart. And God has given us exceeding great and precious promises that are more to be desired than gold and much fine gold. And if we believe God's exceeding great and precious promises, we should have instant joy. Joy unspeakable, and the joy of the Lord should give us strength, or be our strength. A young man once came to me, and he said, Ray, because that's my name. He said, Ray, I have trouble believing some of the things written in the Bible. I said, what's your name? He said, Paul. I said, I don't believe that.

23:43 I said, where do you live? He said, I live down at such and such a tree. I said, I don't believe that either. I said, how do you feel? He said, I'm pretty insulted. I said, of course you are. Because if I don't have faith in your word, it means I think you're a liar, you're devious, you're not worth trusting. I said, if you and me a man are insulted by my lack of faith in your word, how much more do you think you insult a holy God by a lack of faith in his word? The Bible says, let none of you depart from the living God through an evil heart of unbelief. He that believes not God has made him a liar. And if you're a joyless Christian, it shows you've got no faith in God's promises. And if you've got no faith in God's promises, how can you call yourself a Christian? The Bible says, without faith, it is impossible to please him. Faith holds our society together. We fly on a plane, we exercise faith in a pilot, an unseen pilot. You say to your boss, I've got no faith in you. You're out of a job. You say to your spouse, I don't trust you.

24:40 Your marriage has gone down the tubes. And so we have faith in man. So how much more should We have faith in a holy God. And the Bible says he cannot lie. He's without sin. So the first key to getting on fire for God is faith. Faith produces joy. Joy produces a physical energy. And if we're Christians and believe the exceeding great and precious promises of God, which are more to be desired than gold, then we should have the joy of the Lord as our strength. We should have joy that's unspeakable. The second key is in Acts chapter 20. If you'd like to turn there, you're welcome to join me in Acts chapter 20. It's just after Acts chapter 19. No, it's true.

25:28 It's the motivating force of love for God. Acts 20, verse 22, Paul says,

26:07 How could Paul despise such sufferings? He's a man of like passions like you and me. He felt pain. Well, he'd seen the cross. And the Bible says, we love him because he first loved us. Once you see the love of God on that cross, the Bible says perfect love will cast out all fear. You see, when I'm fearful, I look to the cross, and I see that God commanded his love towards a sinner such as me. And instead of giving me hell, he gave me heaven. And instead of giving me justice, he extended his mercy. He took death off me and gave me the gift of everlasting life. And I say, oh God, as I see that cross, If you do that for me, I'll do anything for you. Perfect, mature love casts out all fear.

26:59 Years ago, we had a visiting speaker at our church. I was the associate pastor. And while he was speaking, there was a rumpus in the lobby. It sounded like a fight. So I stood up. Not that that makes too much difference. And I said, I'll deal with this. So I walked down to the lobby. There's a guy about six feet was frizzed up here. I walked up to him and said, yes.

27:22 He says, get me Maria. I said, get Maria. Now, I didn't realize it, but Maria and this guy had been living in a fornicative relationship. She had become a Christian. And as fruit of repentance, she got all his clothes, put them at the front door and said, it's all over, buddy. And he was there to deal with the situation. Maria walked out into the lobby. She's about five foot three, very slight build. As she approached him, he got his big fists and hit her in the top of the chest. She hit the deck. me not knowing what I was doing, jump between him and Maria when he pulled back his fist to rearrange this wonderful creation of God.

27:59 When my wife, who was 4'11", who walked into that lobby, saw his fist pulled back, she said, Don't you touch my husband! He didn't know how to handle that. He turned around and went into the wall. That was meant for my face. And then like the incredible Hulk, he turned around, went through the lobby, stepped through the double doors of the church. I slammed the doors and clicked the lock and looked down. There was a little notice. It says, please don't click the lock on the inside. When the lock's clicked on the inside, people on the outside can't get in. I thought, praise God for that. I turned to my wife. Her face was pale and her knees were knocking. Like castanets. She says, my knees are knocking. You know what had happened? Her perfect love for me. And can you blame her? her perfect love for me had cast out all fear it was David and Goliath all over again and when the Goliath of the fear of man seeks to torment us and hold us in our tracks look to the cross love him because he first loved you and let that perfect love cast out all fear I've got professional hand clappers sitting over there.

29:17 And the final key is in Revelation 20 verse 11. and it's the key of compassion the word compassion comes from two Greek words calm with, passy, suffer let's read this frightening portion of scripture Acts 20 verse 11

30:20 Oh, what a fearful thing. Do you ever meditate on hell? I do. I think about it a lot. I'm horrified daily. Not only the thought that sinners are fearful of death, but wait till they get on the other side and find a holy God and a law they're violated. Oh, what a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Paul said, Wherefore, knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men, and if anything will keep your superglue to the pew, it's idolatry. It's a wrong understanding of God's character and nature. Think to yourself, God is sweet and nice and loving and kind. I was an idolater before I was a Christian. I'd shaped a God to suit myself. I prayed to a God every night, a God of my imagination, my imagery. My God was not a God of justice and truth and righteousness.

31:14 My God never said, oh, by no means clear the guilty. My God didn't say that he stored up wrath and it would be revealed on the day of judgment. My God was a sweet, cuddly, nice God, kind of a teddy bear that I felt comfortable with. And that's what will stop you sharing your faith. You won't say with Paul, wherefore, knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. But once you fear God, it'll motivate you.

31:40 One of the prime motivations for me sharing my faith is guilt. You say, that's not a good motive. Well, think about it. If you're walking through a field and there's starving children each side of you and you have baskets full of fresh bread and you don't feed them, should you feel guilty? Oh, yes. You're guilty of a crime and not feeding those children. And we have the bread of life and every day sinners are sinking into hell. And we should feel guilty if we're not sharing the gospel with zeal and having a concern for the lost.

32:14 You're walking along and you see this new building they're opening. It's probably 40, 50 stories high. And you say, man, they're going to open it soon because they're testing the elevator. And you see that coming down 25th, 23rd, 22nd. And you look at the bottom of the elevator. Two kids have crawled into the pit of sand in the bottom of the elevator and they're playing with their toys. And you say, those kids are going to be crushed to death any moment. So with every ounce of energy, you run to them and you reach in and say, oh no, they seem to be enjoying their toys.

32:48 Or you say, don't even know those kids, complete strangers. What ludicrous thoughts. And yet God says in his word, the fist of eternal wrath will come upon sinners. Jesus warned, it will grind to powder. When you grind something to powder, you do a thorough job. And God's justice on judgment day will grind to powder. There'll be nothing left. no such thing as a secret. The eye of the Lord is in every place beholding the evil and the good. God will bring to work every secret thing whether it's good or evil on the day of judgment. And God's justice will be so thorough it will judge right down to the thoughts and intents of the heart.

33:32 Every idle word a man speaks he'll give an account thereof on the day of judgment. But we don't warn sinners because they're just happy as they are. They're playing with their toys. They wouldn't be interested in what I've got in Jesus. That's because you've got the wrong gospel. You've got the Jesus will make you happy gospel when the true gospel is that Jesus will make you righteous. That's the true gospel. Even Jesus, who saves from the wrath to come. That's why Jesus came, to save us from the wrath that's to come. So the guy that led me to Christ the whole weekend, and we're driving back from the surfing trip, he said again and again, Ray Comfort, a Christian, I just don't believe it. He kept saying that. In his ignorance, for want of a better word, he thought because I was happy materially, I wouldn't be interested in the message of everlasting life.

34:27 Isn't that strange? The happier a sinner is, the more he'll want to hold on to his life. But if you've got the Jesus will make you happy gospel, that won't be for people who are already happy. You'd never go door to door at Beverly Hills when they've gone in the Mercedes in the driveway, swimming pool, because you're making the issue of happiness rather than righteousness. And when you get the true gospel, you can see it doesn't matter if someone's rich or poor, happy or sad, tall, short, fat, skinny, black, white, everyone needs the righteousness of Christ to be saved from wrath that's to come. or we don't warn sinners because they're strangers. How can I approach a stranger? I shared before how you can do it by asking that question. Let me share a testimony, if I may. I've got time.

35:18 I live in a good neighborhood. This side of me, there's Catholics. This side, Jehovah's Witnesses. Other side, Hindus. It's kind of an interesting neighborhood. The Hindus have been open to the gospel, very loving people, get on really good with the Jehovah's Witnesses. We give them eggs from our chickens, chickens' legs. And this side, Catholics. And I witness to the Catholic, a little bit over the fence, and we've given them all sorts of things, eggs from our chickens and we've got 22 chickens and by the way side issue I've learned how to make our chickens lay eggs this is really good if you've got chickens this really works squirrel I lean in in the mornings and say what's for dinner tonight ladies eggs or chicken and they pump them out So something weird happened just recently.

36:15 There's a knock on our door, and we see it's our Catholic neighbor. And I had this twinge of conscience over the years as I backed out the car and put in the trash bin and waved to him that I hadn't been earnest in my sharing the gospel with him. I hadn't pleaded with him to awaken and flee from the burning house. there's this knock on the door open it up and it's Romolo and he's got a box of candy for us it's Valentine's Day which is kind of weird so I said come in it's not his Valentine perhaps his wife was on a diet and he just didn't know what to do with it so he took it to the neighbors I says come in and as he's chatting away he said I've just recently had two heart attacks and that was like a slap in my face it was like it gave me a heart attack so I said Romulo, I said, you could die in your sleep tonight.

37:09 And after death, the judgment. Let's go through the commandments, see how you're going to do on judgment day. Ever look with lust, have sex, out of marriage? Ever hated someone and committed murder in your heart and lied and stolen? Blasphemed God's name. And then I took him through into grace and shared the cross with him. Ended up praying with him. I didn't lead him in a sinner's prayer. I just prayed for him and gave him our new evidence study Bible. It's just come out in leather, which is very exciting. Which is the this is the mother of the evidence study Bible. This is pregnant with apologetical argument and it gave birth to the evidence study Bible. And there is that Ten Commandment coin I was looking for for something that I was looking for. Yeah.

37:55 So it was a real slap in my face that I hadn't been earnest with him. And he was so excited to look through that Bible. He had never, as a Catholic, he had never seen a Bible with illustrations and anecdotes and quotes and a running commentary running through it. And as he left, I thought, oh, how slack and lukewarm I am. There are neighbors of mine sitting in the shadow of death. Remember, that's what the scriptures describe us. to them that sat in the shadow of death. They're not going anywhere.

38:26 A light has sprung up, and you and I have got light to take to sinners that are sitting in the shadow of death. So let them accuse you of being a friend of sinners. Jesus was a friend of sinners. Make friends with sinners. Go out of your way to give them gifts, and then ask them what they think happens after we die. We're called to be in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation among whom we shine as lights in the world. In the midst, among whom, in the world, not in a little cozy clique of Christianity, a monastery without walls where monks walk around with a vow of silence. No, no, we need to be like the apostles who said we cannot but speak that which we've seen and heard. I'd like to close with this thought. That's ridiculous.

39:32 You haven't got a clue what I'm thinking. So I'll speak it. Someone over there has been gifted with the discernment of quality humor. Many years ago, I saw this in a little evangelistic paper. It said, if you're going to be given $1,000 every time you witness to someone, would you be more zealous in your evangelism? I gave that some thought. Let me repeat it. If you're going to be given $1,000 every time you witness to someone, would you be more zealous in your evangelism? I gave that some thought for about three seconds and thought, you bet your life I would. Imagine that. If you and I were going to be given $1,000 every time we shared our faith with a non-Christian, we would become involved in 4 a.m.

40:26 flashlight evangelism. I'm in a flashlight. Where's my calculator? 8 o'clock. 11 sinners. Calculator. Think about it. $1,000 every time you witness to someone, could you deal with your fears? Could you deal with your fear of man for the love of money when you can't deal with it for the love of God? Isn't that a sobering thought? Let me repeat it for the men. Could you deal with your fear of man problem for the love of money when you can't deal with it for the love of God? And often that thought motivates me. I've got an electric bike, My dog sits on my bike. She's got sunglasses. I wear sunglasses. And often, I zoom into the local college twice a day and share my face. Students come up and say, oh, I love your dog.

41:20 I say, it's a YouTube channel. 1.6 million subscribers. Would you like to go on? So that dog is the best bait I've ever had when fishing for men. But many a time, I have driven on my electric bike, which I love, straight past someone who's standing on the side of the road and thought to myself, I should go back and witness to that person.

41:42 And I don't. I keep on writing. And then I have a thought that horrifies me. And this is the thought. And it's not God speaking to me, but it's as though he is speaking to me. I get this thought as though it's the voice of the Lord saying, there was a time that I could trust you. Oh, that hits me. There was a time when you were a true and faithful witness, and it always causes me to do a complete U-turn, go back and say, hi, how you doing? Do you think there's life after death? And many a time I've had a divine encounter because of that sort of scenario. So tonight we've looked at three keys to getting on fire for God. The first is faith. Faith produces joy. Joy produces a physical energy. For we truly believe the exceeding great and precious promises of God, which are more to be desired than gold, than much fine gold. we will have a joy of the Lord, a joy that's unspeakable, and the joy of the Lord will be our strength.

42:36 The second motivating force is love for God. If we've truly seen the cross, that God commended his love toward us, that perfect love will cast out all fear. And finally, the key of compassion. When we see that the wrath of God abides upon sinners, that they're storing up wrath, that he'll be revealed on the day of wrath, that compassion, that calm, worth, passive, suffer, that empathy will grip us to a point where we'll open our mouth and speak boldly as I ought to speak. Let's pray and then I just want to mention something that's on the back in the lobby. Father, thank you for the wonderful liberty that we have in this country to open the word of God and without fear of persecution expound your word to humanity.

43:31 Thank you for the privilege I have of standing in this pulpit, for the trust placed upon me. I pray that those who have heard your word tonight or this day will be challenged and that you'll help them deal with their fears and help me deal with my fears and there will be true and faithful witnesses until that day when we hear your wonderful words. Well done, you're good.