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Okay. This talk is entitled Watchmen on the Wall, all right? Let’s pray. Father, wake us up. Father, wake us up. There’s a world dying and going to hell, and some of us are more concerned about seeing some band play music, more concerned at our schools about our GPA, our sports team, will Alabama or Texas win a national title, and Father, when it’s all said and done, none of it matters. But, yet, Father, you tell us in the scriptures that you call us to be watchmen, watchmen who care about souls everywhere we go. But, Father, very obvious, the church of America in 2009 is not being that church, but, Father, today’s a new day. We can get back on track and start being those young men, young ladies, youth pastors, mom and dads that you called us to be. Holy Spirit, grab some hearts just like you did in the first session, people saying they’re not going to be the same again. Father, grab some hearts that we’re going to walk out of here and start living the way your book says to live. And, Father, let that begin tonight with many of us, and we thank you for it, and we do. We ask it in the great name of your son, the Lord Jesus Christ, amen. Amen.

Okay. Grab your Bibles. Going to go to the book of Ezekiel. So grab your Bibles, please. Ezekiel, Old Testament. Take your Bible, open up in the middle. You’ll hit the Book of Psalms. Go to your right. You’re going to hit Isaiah, a bunch of big books, Isaiah, Jeremiah. Then right after that, you’re going to hit a big book called Ezekiel. Go to Ezekiel 33 is what you’re looking for, Ezekiel 33. If you don’t have your Bible and you’re taking notes, just go ahead and write that down, Ezekiel 33, 1 through 11. You can look it up when you get back home this evening and do that, okay?

Young people, everybody sit up in your seats for me, please. No heads on your backs of your seats. Sit up for me nice and straight, please. Young people, sit up nice and straight in your seats for me, please. Okay. I’m going to speak for about 45 minutes here, and I need you to pay attention, okay? There’s no resting when I speak. You didn’t rest when a band played. You don’t rest when the word of God is being preached. Is that correct?

That is correct. Okay? Plus I used to teach in all boys schools, so I can get your attention if I need to, but I don’t want to, and you don’t want to miss what we’re going to talk about anyways.

Ezekiel 33. Let’s go to Verse 1. Now watch what this says, okay? “Again, the word of the Lord came unto me saying” – let’s be honest. How many of us would like to hear the audible voice Lord? Say yes if you’d like to hear it. We all want to hear the audible voice of the Lord. Had a teenage friend who’s now a 20-year-old friend. Met him at a camp one time. Mark and I stayed in touch through the years. He called me on the phone one day, said, “Mark, wouldn’t you like to hear the audible voice of the Lord?” I said, “Sure, Mark, I’d love to hear that.” He said, “Then, Mark, why don’t you just take your Bible and read it out loud.” Ouch. He was correct, wasn’t he? He was correct, wasn’t he? Yes or no? This is the word of God. I mean, I wanted to punch the kid, but you can’t do it biblically, so I couldn’t, but, I mean, this is the word of God. If you want to hear the audible voice, read it out loud, but how would you know if you heard the audible voice of the Lord if it was actually the Lord if you didn’t filter it back through what his book already says? Are there other voices in our world today? Well, there’s the voices of Satan. The Bible says the antichrist will do miracles, which will pull some of you away from the true Jesus Christ in the coming days. Oh, yes, but, see, every time I see a miracle, I have to ask one more question, what’s the power source behind it? Was it Almighty God or was it Lucifer was the power source?

I remember this story of Exodus and the plagues. The Egyptian magicians threw their staffs, and what did they become? Snakes. Moses threw his staff, and what did it become? A snake. Same miracle, two different power sources did the miracle. You test the scriptures. You test the prophets. You test teachings, okay? Let’s see what it says in Ezekiel 33. Watch what Verse 2 says, “Son of man, speak to the children of thy people and say unto them when I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man of their coasts and set them for their watchman” – key word tonight is watchman, all right? “If when he seeth the sword come upon the land, he blows the trumpet and warns the people that whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet and taketh not warning, if the sword come and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head.”

But watch where it goes in Verse 5. “He heard the sound of the trumpet and took not warning. His blood shall be upon him, but he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul.” Now watch what 6 says. “But if the watchman sees the sword come and blows not the trumpet and the people be not warned, if the sword come and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity but his blood I will require at the watchman’s hand.”

Here’s the point. Back in the day, they didn’t have CNN. They didn’t have Fox News. They didn’t have satellites, okay? So what you did was you build a wall around your city. As you built this wall around your city, you had to choose watchmen that would stand on the wall, and their whole job was to look in the distance, look in the distance. And if they saw a big dust cloud rising up in the distance, that would mean a bunch of horses and armies was coming. They would blow the trumpet to warn the people in the city, get ready. Battle’s coming. If they saw an army come to the rise of the hill, they would blow the trumpet to get everyone in town, get ready. Trouble’s coming.

Now, was it the watchman’s job to go down in the city and put the armor on everybody, get them ready for battle? Yes or no? Absolutely not. That’s your job, but the trumpet -- when he saw trouble coming, it was his job to blow the trumpet and warn everybody, trouble’s coming. All right.

Now, shout out a couple of answers. What’s a certain character quality you would really want to have that watchman to have? What would be one? Alert. You want someone paying attention. What else? Okay. Not lazy. Courage, that’s exactly right. Not worrying what people think about you but making a stand and doing the right thing ‘cause it’s the right thing to do. What’s something else? A boldness, okay. You want someone who’s going to make a bold stand for what’s to do right and not worry what other people think about you. One of the main reasons some of you will walk away from Jesus Christ, you will try to please men with your life instead of pleasing God with your life. We see it all the time with adults and with teenagers.

What’s something else? Someone who’s focused, okay, who’s focused. Someone with good eyesight they said in the last one, okay? You said honesty ‘cause you don’t want someone blowing the trumpet when there’s trouble not coming, right, ‘cause if they did it once or twice when the real deal would come, then you wouldn’t what? You wouldn’t get ready. You’d think it’s another false alarm.

Now, watch what happens. Watch where we go in Verse 7. “So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel. Therefore you shall hear the word at my mouth and warn them from me. When I say unto the wicked, oh, wicked man, thou shall surely die if thou does not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood will I require at your hand. Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it and he does not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity, but thou has delivered thy soul.”

Now, watch what happens in 10 and 11. “Therefore, O, thou son of man, speak unto the house of Israel. Thus you speak saying, if our transgressions and our sins be upon us and we pine away, we rot away in these sins, how should we, then, live.” Now, watch at 11. “Say unto them as I live, sayeth the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways. Why will you die, oh, house of Israel? Say unto them as I live, sayeth the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked.”

Once you become born again, when you take your choice as God draws you and you say yes to Jesus Christ and repent and believe as the Bible says and you become born again, your job now from this day forward is to be a watchman everywhere you go. Come follow me, Jesus said, and I’ll make you a great student in your high school. Come follow me and I’ll make you a great athlete. Come follow me and you’ll get a 4.0. Hey, come follow me and a million dollars awaits you. Jesus never said it. Jesus said come follow me and I’ll make you what, fishers of men. Why? It’s the highest call in life. There is no higher call in life than to fish for souls for the Lord Jesus Christ, to be the watchman that blows the trumpet and warns the wicked if you die in your sins, you will rot in hell for all of eternity. But I care so much about your soul, I’m going to give you the truth about the crucified Lord Jesus Christ, the resurrected Christ and what he did for you. That’s your job. The question is, are you doing that job or not?

I was in Fort Meyers, Florida speaking recently, and I went to go to this restaurant. I always pray to go to the right restaurant to meet the right people. I’m walking up to this restaurant, and there’s a gentleman sitting outside this other business next to – on the table there eating and drinking and stuff like that. So I said, “Hey, how you doing,” walked over to him. I said, “What do you do?” He said, “I’m Dr. Constantine.” I said, “What kind of doctor?” “I’m a health doctor. I own this little health place in here.” I said, “Really?” I said, “You got a power plate machine,” and I always wanted to try one of these things. He said yes. Said, “Can I have a free run at your machine?” He’s like, “Come on in.”

So I went into his business, and I got a free trial, and so I’m doing this machine. So I begin to witness to Dr. Constantine. He’s Greek Orthodox. He tells me during the conversation, he says, “Mark,” he said, “The only true churches are apostolic,” meaning they come from the apostles. So the only true churches are the Greek Orthodox Church, the Russian Orthodox Church, and the Roman Catholic Church. So he sat there in his office and told me that I was what? I was wrong about eternity. Exactly right. So I reversed it and warned this man what it took to be right with God, how to repent and believe. And he looked at me and said one time, “Man, you’re very strong about what you believe.” I said, “Yes, sir, I am, okay, and that’s not going to change, all right?” But then we’ve been emailing back and forth, me and Dr. Constantine, okay, ‘cause I care about his soul, but my job is to warn him, to blow the trumpet. Is it my job to put his armor on? Is it my job to make his decision? No, that’s his job, but if I care about somebody, I’ll warn them what’s going to happen when they take their last breath.

Well, I walked out of his restaurant – I’m sorry, walked out of his doctor – because I went to the restaurant next door where I was going, ate there, witnessed to people there and stuff. I get ready to walk out, and there’s a gentleman that’s coming to the door. So I held the door for him, just being a nice young man, and so I held the door for him. And so I always have tracts in my pockets, and I always use tracts all the time. So when you hand someone a tract, don’t say, “Hey, would you like one of these?” Too easy to say what? No. Say, “Did you get one of these?” Then they always usually say what? “No, I didn’t,” and they take it right out of your hand. Hey did you get one of these? No, I didn’t. They just take it right out of your hand.

So he’s standing there at the door. I said, “Hey, did you get one of these,” and he said, “No, thank you,” and just zoomed right on by. I was like, “That’s not what I planned.” So I followed him out the door, and so as I walked to his car, I said, “Excuse me, sir.” I said, “Before you walk away,” I said, “Can I ask you an interesting question? What do usually about 95 percent of the people say when you ask that? Can I ask you an interesting question? Most people say what, sure, what have you got?” I said, “Sir,” I said, “If you died tonight, are you 100 percent assured you’d go to heaven?” He said, “Yes, I am.” I said, “Sir, how do you know that to be true?” He said, “Cause I’m a very what, good person.”

Have you heard this argument before? You heard this argument, and as soon as you hear the good argument, go right to the Ten Commandments, all right? Both of my books show you how to use the law of God so they can see their sin, okay? I said, “Sir, have you ever told a lie before?” He said, “Yeah.” I said, “Well, if you tell a lie, what does that make you?” He said, “A liar.” I said, “Okay.” I said, “Have you ever stolen something before?” He said, “Yes.” I said, “What does that make you?” He said, “A thief.” I said, “Sir, liars and thieves can’t go to heaven,” I said, “Sir, but forgiven liars and thieves can go to heaven and that’s what happens when you repent and become born again and he washed you clean of sin and Jesus Christ crucified for your sins that you can be going to heaven if you’re forgiven of that.”

And he said, “Sir, I’m going to forgive you for forcing your faith down my throat,” is what he said to me, okay? Now, I share my faith all the time. I know when it’s forced. I know when it’s not, okay, so I didn’t receive that. Just ‘cause people tell you stuff do you have to receive it? No, I don’t have to receive that. I do this for a living, okay? I know what I do. I know when I’m doing it unlovingly. I know when I’m doing it lovingly. I said, “Sir, the only reason I’ve talked to you ‘cause I care about your soul and I care where your soul’s going to spend eternity.” Is that a good thing to say to somebody? I say it all the time. You can see people’s countenance change, but my job is to do what in this man’s life, is to what? Warn him. That’s exactly right. It’s his choice if he ever decides to search this out, but he’s not going to forget the man that crossed his path that day and shared with him.

I meet people all the time out and about traveling America, “Hey, you talked to me at, you witnessed to me at.” They don’t forget you. They don’t forget when you have boldness like that because they appreciate it ‘cause it shows you care about their soul.

The other day I was down by Georgia Tech in Atlanta. I live in Atlanta, and there was a Barnes and Noble there. So I went across the street to Barnes and Noble to go talk to people in this Barnes and Noble. When I was in the Barnes and Noble, I talked with a man from Pakistan that was a Muslim guy. One of my books is _______, The Local Language of Pakistan. Got to talk with a student from Georgia Tech from Dubai, but he was from India, and he was a Hindu, and I got to talk to a Roman Catholic from Poland all in this one Barnes and Noble just about two weeks ago. It was heaven on earth for me. Trust me, I was having a good old time, okay, because I went in there to do what, warn some people, judgment day is coming, and it can come a lot quicker than you think. Yes or no?

How many people in here have had someone die at your high school? Look at that. Look at that. I taught high school for four years, had a 15-year-old student die, a 14-year-old student die. Teenagers walk out of here. The question’s when you walk out of here, where you going? Remember, the world tries to tell you death means over with. Michael Jackson’s dead. Paul Newman is dead. Peter Jennings is dead, over with. No, no, no. That’s not what the Bible means. Death means just the beginning. It’s just the beginning in a place called heaven or just the beginning in a place called hell. So always remember that, the people you go to a funeral, they’re not dead. They’re alive. The question’s where are they and who warned them? Who spoke truth into their life and do that?

I was just speaking in Kansas, and a Catholic gentleman walked up to me afterwards. He said, “You mentioned in your talk in Catholicism that Catholics teach that you must be part of the Catholic Church to go to heaven.” I said, “Yes, that’s what I said.” He said, “Catholics don’t believe that.” I said, “Sir, Catholics do believe that.” He said, “I’m a Catholic.” I said, “Sir, I’m a former Catholic. I spent 26 years in Catholicism. I taught two years religion at all-boys Catholic school. I know the faith pretty well.” I said, “Sir, I will guarantee you that’s what the Catholic Church teaches.” I said, “Give me your email,” so he sent me an email. So I emailed the man back.

Paragraph 846 from the Catholic Catechism, the official teachings of the Catholic Church, 1994, quote, “The church, a pilgrim now on earth is necessary for salvation.” Necessary. Catholics believe it is necessary you belong to the Catholic Church for salvation or else they could not be saved. Knowing that the Catholic Church was founded is necessary by God through Christ would refuse to enter it or remain in it. If you believed it was the only way to go to heaven, if you don’t join it, you will not go to heaven when you die. Is that biblical, yes or no? Not even close, not even remotely close, okay, but because the traditions of men creep in, all right, and you don’t know what you believe and you haven’t warned somebody. You see, that’s why many of you will pull away from God in the coming years. Yeah, I said that. A Southern Baptist Convention did a study on the Southern Baptist youth. Ninety percent – 88 percent of Southern Baptist youth will ditch their faith in Jesus Christ by your senior year in college. Nine out of ten of you are hitting the road sometime soon in your life when it comes to Jesus Christ.

There’s a book out there right now called Already Gone. The premise of the book is that most of you have already left Jesus Christ. Your bodies still sit here at youth conferences, at youth groups. You’ve still got your Bible on your shelf collecting dust, okay, yet, your heart’s already gone. And some of you will tell me how many movies you’ve watched since you’ve been out of school and you can tell me how many people you’ve witnessed to about Jesus Christ since you’ve been out of school.

One youth pastor in Florida, a friend of mine, said, “Mark, I am stunned at how many movies my youth watch,” and every time you go in there and give your $10.00 to Hollywood, Satan gets in your mind with some false teaching and hooks you and just starts dragging you away. And that’s why many of you are already gone. No, no, no. You don’t have to be already gone unless you’re going to let Satan play that game in your life, but that will be your choice. I don’t like being messed with, okay? I don’t like being messed with, and I’m not going to let the enemy of God mess with me like that.

Grab your Bibles. Go to Luke Chapter 3. Go to Luke 3. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. Go to Luke Chapter 3, and you’re looking for Verse 7. Watch what it says. Luke 3, Verse 7, “Then he said to the multitude that came forth to be baptized in him, ‘Oh, generation of vipers. Who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?’” Who has warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

Let me ask you a question. I need an answer, is the wrath of God coming, yes or no? It’s coming. It’s coming hard, and it is very sure going to come hard on America. This great country living in this wicked, evil sin of this country. It’s going to come hard at America, okay, but the wrath of God comes hard if you die without Jesus Christ, yes or no? Yes, and I don’t want anyone to experience that, no one to experience that. I told one of my brothers one time, I said, “You can go to hell over my dead body,” I told one of my brothers. My brothers aren’t saved, okay, but I care about the souls of my brother, and sometimes a good, hard statement speaks truth to people. And I told them I’m praying for them. Whatever it takes to get your attention, God will get your attention ‘cause your attention’s important to God, is it not? Yes, he takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked, none. It’s not a good day for God when a wicked person does not repent and goes to hell for all of eternity and do that.

Two weeks ago I was speaking to the Atlanta Falcons Football Team. I was doing the chapel service for them on Saturday evening before they played the Saints on Sunday. So I was speaking to these 30, 35 guys. The head coach was in there, just a really – a very good sized group for a chapel service for a pro team. I looked at the men, and one of the first things I said was, I said, “Fellas,” I said, “A hundred years from now,” and I just stopped. Everyone in the room, think a hundred years from now. In your head, think a hundred years from now. A hundred years from now everyone in this room will be what? You’ll be dead in an earthly sense, but you’ll be what? You’ll be alive. That’s exactly right. You’ll be alive. I looked at those men. I said, “A hundred years from now, it will not matter if you beat the Saints and stopped their undefeated string.” I said, “Fellas, a hundred years from now it’s not going to matter if you were black, you were white, you were Hispanic, you were Asian. Not going to matter if you’re a millionaire or a pauper. All that’s going to matter is the same thing Jesus said to Peter, ‘Who do you say that I am and then, what did you do for Jesus Christ?’ Life is very simple. Satan complicates it. Don’t let the world complicate your life. Keep it simple. Who do you say I am, Jesus said? Then what did you do for Jesus Christ?”

Then I asked the men, “You stay at this hotel every single Saturday evening before a home game. Let me ask you a question. How many of you guys have witnessed to the doorman that was waiting at the front door that helps you with your stuff that came into this hotel every single Saturday night? How many of you men have witnessed to this man?” What was the answer? Speak to me. What was the answer? None. I said, “His name is Ramon. He’s from Nepal. He’s involved in three different types of religions.” We had this most fascinating talk about God, fascinating, all right, but, yet, my job was to do what with Ramon? Warn him. His choice what he wants to do with that warning, but if I love this man enough, I will warn him. And I spoke very strong at these big, huge men and stuff like that, and I wanted it to convict them. You can’t just play football on TV on Sunday and not care about that man that stands right there.

Christians, we care about what, every soul. Every person that we meet, we care about. I was in Wichita, Kansas a month or so ago. I’m standing at my hotel room door. I do this everywhere when I travel. I do it at my house in Atlanta. I stand at the front door. Wherever I’m walking out, I stand before I cross the threshold. I put my hands in the air. I said, “God the Father, I’m all yours today. Use me any way you want to. When I cross this threshold into this crazy world, Father,” I said, “give me boldness. Open up these lips. Don’t let me be a wimp for Jesus Christ. Order my steps, Father. Move these steps. Move these feet. Move me to the right. Move me to the left, Father. You move me how you want to move me, and if you allow me to put my head on a pillow back in Atlanta, wherever I’m going to, Father, show me why I was alive today.” And then I did. I said, “Father, please use me before I leave this hotel.” That’s what I said.

I walked out the door. Go down to check out at the front desk. There’s a man standing next to the front desk outside. He’s got a really neat accent. I said, “Hey, man. Where’s your accent from?” He said, “Jordan.” I’m like, “Amman, Jordan Jordan, like way over there in the Middle East?” He said, “Yeah.” I said, “What are you doing here in Wichita, Kansas?” “Well, I’m a pilot. I came here for pilot stuff,” and Wichita, Kansas, Cessna, all that stuff, there’s a lot of pilot people come into Wichita. And I said, “Really?” He said, “Yeah, I’m with that group over there.” Well, I look over, and there’s a whole bunch of pilot people over there, all Jordanian type people, so what did I do? I walked over there. Man, this has got to be fun to me, so I walked over there.

“Hey, how y’all guys doing,” and they said good. I said, “You’re from Jordan?” They said yeah. I said, “So, Muslims?” He said, “Yeah, all but this guy. He’s a Christian.” I’m like, “No, from Jordan? Don’t try me like that.” I said seriously. Bingo, we went at it. We talked and talked about who the real Jesus was, and all of a sudden this American guy pops up, says, “Hey.” He said, “I’m a Christian.” I said, “Really?” He said, “Yeah, my brother’s a pastor in Atlanta, Georgia,” da da da. I said, “Interesting, okay.” So we’re talking. Gave the guys some books I wrote and everything, One Heartbeat Away, geared it for lost people, gave it to some of these Muslim guys. Bought them all lunch. It’s fun to bless people. Bought them all lunch, okay.

Said, “Hey, I’ve got to go. I’ve got another ____,” so I walked out the hotel. I’m at my car, keys in the car. All of a sudden a guy walks out, taps me on the shoulder. It’s one of the pilots. He said, “Hey, can I say something to you?” I said yeah. His name is Yazine. I said, “What can I do for you, Yazine?” He said, “I want to tell you something.” He said, “One of the reasons I came to America was not just pilot stuff. One of the main reasons I came to America is I wanted to talk to somebody about” what? Jesus Christ. “It’s one of the main reasons I came here.” He said, “I’ve been here for two weeks” – excuse me. “I’ve been here for two weeks.” He said, “Today is my last day. I get on a plane today and fly back to Amman, eight or nine hours. I will read this book on the plane flight. Thank you so much for talking with me today before you walked out of this hotel.” Folks, don’t we serve a great god? We serve a great god. When you pray for these divine appointments –

-- they will be there all the time, and he said, “I will be in touch with you.” But, see, my job to Yazine was to warn him, trouble’s coming. Are you ready when it comes?

Go to Acts Chapter 20. Go forward a couple of books. If you’re taking notes, write down Acts 20, Verses 30 through 32. Acts 20, 30 to 32, and watch what it says, “Also of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them.” Listen to me, “In the end of days people will arise to draw you after false teachings.” Thirty one, “Therefore watch and remember that by the space of three years I cease not to warn everyone night and day with tears, and now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of his grace which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all them that are sanctified.” He warned them with tears day and night. Have you ever cried, shed a tear over a lost person on your sports team, a lost person in your family, a lost person at your high school that’s not going to spend eternity with you in heaven with the Lord Jesus Christ? Ever shed a tear over that?

Got an email from a youth pastor in Alabama, a friend of mine, Eric. He went to the mall just to go witnessing for a few hours. He ran into one of his chums, one of his good buddies, rock solid man of God. Last time he saw him was ten years ago. Was he still a rock solid man of God? Ditched the whole thing. Went bankrupt, got divorced, ditched everything. Eric emailed me, said, “Mark, I got home that night. I couldn’t sleep.” He said, “I cried all night over the soul of this man.” Could not believe how he had walked away from the Lord Jesus Christ. It stunned him.

You ever shed a tear over someone that hates your savior? The next Sunday -- that gentleman was with Eric in church that next Sunday ‘cause Eric’s invested in his life trying to get this man to start turning the right direction back, come back to God. But his job was be the watchman, to speak strong into people’s lives and where the chips fall is where they fall is all that happens, okay?

I was on a plane flight. I was witnessing to the guy next to me. He as a Christian man, so I was ____ ____ man of God. Then I looked at him and I said, “Excuse me, sir. At what point during this flight were you going to tell me about Jesus Christ?” What was his answer? He said, “Well, if you would have brought it up, I would have talked about it.” Is that the correct answer to the question I just asked? You remember the story of the woman at the well in the scriptures? Who brought up the topic? Jesus Christ did. Anyone glad he brought up the topic with that young lady? Oh, what a fascinating story it is to this day, but he didn’t care what she thought. He didn’t care what the other Jews thought. He saw a soul of a woman that needs the Lord, so he opened up the conversation.

So I said, “Well, I’m going to show him how to do it.” So my flight attendant came walking down. I said, “Hey, Ms. Flight Attendant. How you doing,” great great. “Hey, come over here a second. Hey, can I ask you an interesting question?” Here’s a real good one. I love this one. I said, “When you were younger as a kid” – I use it all the time – “When you were younger as a kid, did you grow up in any religious faith or belief or tradition?” About 90 to 95 percent of people say what? Sure, yeah. People grow up in stuff, okay? Now that you’re older, is that more important to you or less important to you? Now about 85 to 90 percent say what? Less important. Well, hey, why do you think it became less important? Oh, I got busy with kids, job. Wait, what did you grow up in? Oh, I grew up Methodist. So do you think there’s a heaven or hell? See, it’s a very easy conversational way.

So I’m talking with this lady, the flight attendant. She grew up, oh, I’m a Christian. I’m born again. I love the Lord, but things aren’t going good right now. I said, “What do you mean?” It was a Wednesday. She said, “On Monday, three of my relatives died on Monday, three. Not one car accident, three separate,” okay? Two people died. She’d get a phone call. She was traveling. She said then she heard Patrick Swayze died on that day, so she was happy ‘cause that was – she said things come in, what, threes, okay? That was the third death.

She gets a phone message later that night that her 37-year-old English – her husband’s English nephew, cousin, whatever, committed suicide that evening. She said, “As soon as I get home tonight, I leave tomorrow for England to go to the funeral over in England.” She looked at me and said, “How can I witness to these people on the English side? They’re Atheists. They’re not into God. Now, how can I witness to them?” I turned it right around. I said, “Ma’am, it’s not how can you witness to them. How can you what? How can you not witness to them? How can you not warn them where they’re going to go without Jesus Christ. Death is an open door. Run through it. Run through it when people die. They might have an open heart at this time. Your job is to warn them.” Gave her one of my books to give out to her family, said we’ll do anything we can to help you, but our job is to warn people. Their choice what they do with the warning that we give them.

If you’re in high school, raise your hand up. If you’re in high school, raise your hand up. Hands down. When I was 17, I had a head-on car accident, ate a windshield, the kind you die from. I got up and walked out the car. Just got up and walked out of the car after hitting my head on the windshield. Had kids like you going to youth conferences and youth things. Four years of high school. How many times did someone witness to me in four years of high school, how many times? Zero. So Christian kids, Christian conference kids, youth group kids, may I ask a simple question? What are you waiting on? Are you waiting on Columbine at your school? Are you waiting to come to my funeral to talk to me when it’s too late? What are you waiting on?

I thank God to this day that I got a basketball scholarship to Auburn University ‘cause I went to Auburn University to chase my god of basketball, but little did I know when I hit that campus, God had four young men waiting on me, two football players, John Gibbons and Bishop Reeves, a guy from FCA, Rob Smith, manager on the basketball team, Kim Carter. Four different people waiting on me, and they pulled me aside and told me about who? Jesus Christ. One guy gave me a Bible, John did. I never owned a Bible. I was a Catholic kid, never owned one, never opened up, never. Handed it, began to read, began to study. God hooked me, began to draw me. And at 25, I repented my sins and became born again, and that’s one reason I stand here today. Those people witnessed to me, ready for this, 25 years ago, that’s when they told me about Jesus Christ, all right? They didn’t care what this man thought. My opinion doesn’t matter. They knew they needed to warn this guy ‘cause this guy was trouble, and if this guy did not have Jesus Christ, he was going to rot in hell for it, but they cared about me. Everyone that ever witnessed to me, I look back and say they cared about my soul, but they warned me.

Young people, are you warning anybody? Are you warning anybody? There’s a policeman standing right out front there, okay? Anyone know his name? His name is Philip, okay? If you have witnessed to Philip about the Lord Jesus Christ, raise your hand up. Okay. I didn’t think so ‘cause I asked him earlier today how many of you young people have witnessed to him, and his answer was none. Let me ask you a question. Does his soul not matter to you? You walk past people every day. You walk past people like me every day in school, and when is it finally going to matter to you, I don’t care what that man thinks about me. I don’t care. I care about that soul. I’m going to walk into his life.

Some of you are staying at the same hotel I’m staying at. I witnessed to people behind the counter when I checked in today, then I asked them the question, how many people from this conference have talked to you about Jesus Christ since this conference has started? What was their answer? None. We’re not being the watchmen we’re called to be. Then I asked them, I said, “How many times have you ever been witnessed to at your workplace?” He said a couple, but he said it’s very, very rare. Both guys said the same thing, very rare. Philip’s born again. Philip loves the Lord Jesus Christ. Philip’s read my books. Philip gets my monthly newsletter I send out, your policeman back there. He just told me after the first session ‘cause I said the same thing. He said a pastor walked up to him and said, “I need to apologize to you. I’ve brought kids to this thing for a long time, and I’ve walked past you so many times and never talked to you about God and Jesus Christ.”

One day a hundred years from now, nothing else matters but who do you say that I am and what did you do for the Lord Jesus Christ. A trumpet doesn’t do any good in your pocket if there’s trouble coming, and there’s trouble coming for every wicked person, yes or no? Trouble coming. Trouble coming, but I love you enough I’m going to warn you to let you know what’s coming down the road, okay?

Hebrews 9 – don’t turn there – “As is appointed unto men once to die but after this comes the judgment.” Judgment day comes for everyone after they die, and are you ready?

December 24 I’m in a mall witnessing. I talked to a guy from Ghana, Ish something. I forgot his last name, Ish Kell was his name, and I started witnessing to him. And he tells me he grew up nondenominational Christian, but now he’s just spiritual, spiritual. Now, you’re going to get this a lot, okay? He said, “What I do is I’m trying to please men because if I please men, I know I’ll please God.” Is that correct? Galatians 1 says you need to please God and not even worry about pleasing men. He said, “If I get to know men,” he said, “I’ll get to know God.” I said, “Ish,” I said, “No way. If you get to know God, you’ll get to understand what, men and people.” He had it completely backwards. Everything he said was totally backwards, and I warned him about judgment day. I warned him, okay, who the real Jesus Christ is. It’s not my job to get him saved. That’s his job if he’s going to – he loves to read, so I gave him One Heartbeat Away. Plant the seed. Make them think and do that, okay?

Grab your Bibles. Go to Revelation, Chapter 21. Go to Revelation 21. Revelation 21, and go to Verse 6. Watch what this says, Revelation 21, Verse 6 says, “And he said unto me, it is done. I am alpha and omega, the beginning and the end. I will give him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit all things, and I will be his god, and he shall be my son.” Watch what it says, “But the fearful and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and whoremongers and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” All liars who are not forgiven will spend eternity in hell.

I walked offstage after the first session. A guy from the back here pulled me aside. He said, “Where is that verse that says fearful?” He wanted to know. It says the fearful will go to a lake of fire when they die. See, you try to put everyone into mass murderer category who goes to hell. No, the fearful will be in a lake of fire when they die. Liars go to a lake of fire when they die. I need to have every sin I’ve ever committed washed by the blood of Jesus Christ, yes or no? Yes, but that’s what he does. That’s what Christ crucified is all about, and that’s when you know you’re free, you’re free indeed when you get to live for Jesus Christ.

It’s a beautiful life to live for the Lord, but that’s what it says. People are going to this lake of fire, and do you care enough to do something about it? The last time I was in Gatlinburg I was leaving to go to Alabama to speak. Crazy, cold, rainy day, so I stopped at a Burger King out of here leaving town just to get some quick food. So I witnessed to the guy at the window, young teenage young man, real nice kid. Said he was born again, gave me all the right answers, so I gave him a book I wrote, and I said, “Wait a minute. How much is the people behind me?” He said it was like $4.00 and something. I said, “Let me buy their meal, and let me give you a book. Tell them a Christian man wanted to bless them, and I just bought their meal for them,” okay?

So I pulled out, and I went on. The next day I get an email from the car behind me. They emailed me. They said, “I’m the lady who was in the car behind you. What you didn’t know was when you bought that meal, okay, that I only purchase food for my son who is a 4-year-old in a car seat because I didn’t have enough money for the both of us,” okay. And when the young man handed me the book and said, “Hey, a Christian man just wanted to bless you,” the 4-year-old boy in the backseat said to his mother, “Momma, don’t you think that’s a sign from God we need to start going back to church, Mom,” okay?

It’s a true story, and she started going back to church. I got her address. I sent her some money to bless her and her family from the ministry and stuff like that, okay, all because I can’t worry about what someone thinks about me. I need to warn people as I walk through life and watch what God does through that when you warn people.

In the first session tonight -- there’s a youth group in the first session tonight, and I use this youth group in my talks all the time. I use the story of this youth group, and what they do is they line their youth building with poster board. They all go to the same high school in Thomasville, Alabama. They put every teacher up there. They list every student under every teacher, a separate sheet with the administration. Every year they witness to every single student at their high school, every year. They come in, they tell stories, they check the people off, they’re praying for the people. They go through their whole school every single year ‘cause their goal is every single graduation when someone walks across the stage to get their diploma, all right, they’ve heard the gospel at least four times from someone in their youth group, okay, as they graduate on their senior year. Is that a good idea, yes or no? Unbelievable. That whole group was sitting right here tonight, okay. They were sitting here tonight, and I tell this story all across the country ‘cause I just love what this one little youth group does ‘cause they know it’s their job to warn the wicked at their school. It’s the people’s choice what they do with that.

Psalm 127, a song of degrees for Solomon. It’s 127, Verse 1, if you’re taking notes. “Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.” The Lord keeps cities. We wake people up, but it’s all about God. It’s all about Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. That’s who you should want to glorify with your life, but we want to warn people and do that.

I was doing a conference in Panama City Beach, and I flew down there, had trouble with my flights all day. Got in way late. Had to speak in the morning. I get to the luggage carousel, and the thing won’t move. So I just began to pray, Father, can you get that luggage carousel thing going so I can get my bag, go get my rent a car, drive to my hotel, get into my bed, and get up tomorrow morning and give my talk tomorrow? Can you get this thing moving, please? Okay. What was the problem with that entire prayer? Yeah, my. It was all my. It was all about me. Did the thing start moving? Didn’t move at all. It’s like, okay, God. You want me to witness to somebody. I got it all figured out.

So I saw this man. I said, “Hey, how you doing? Hey, hey, nice to meet you, man. Did you get one of these? Hey, that’s for you and your family, man. Hey, take care of yourself. Have a good day,” and walked back over here. Started staring at the thing to see if it would start moving so I can get my back and start going, okay? I’m just staring at this and ready for it to go ‘cause I did my one thing. I was just tired. I was just edgy that night.

Was it moving? Didn’t move. All of a sudden, I get a tap on the shoulder. It was that guy. He said, “Hey, man.” He said, “I know you.” I was like, “Dude, you don’t know me. I’m waiting for my bag, okay, to get to my rent a car. I’m serious.” He said, “No, no. I know you.” I said, “How do you know me?” He said – this is Panama City Beach, Florida. He said, “Bon Jovi concert, Atlanta, Georgia.” I said, “Interesting.” He said, “Matter of fact, you handed me a tract. It’s called A Smart” – I said, “A Smart Card.” The man knew the exact tract we gave him five years earlier at a concert in Atlanta, Georgia. He had it on his refrigerator. He went in the concert, came back out of the concert, okay, to talk with us on the streets about Jesus Christ. Can a lot happen in five years? Yeah.

We had a fascinating talk, 30 minutes, and an unbelievable talk about God. Came over, got my back. I’m wheeling it outside to go out, and as I get outside the airport, there’s a young man standing there with a wrestling shirt on, and I saw him in the airport back talking his mother. I don’t play that game. I will say things to kids who back talk their parents. I butt into family business all the time. It’s kind of fun. Try it at home. So I don’t like people back talking their mother ‘cause I used to do that, and now that I’m an older man, I just know how wrong that is. I was such a wrong kid, but I didn’t say nothing. So I see him outside. I said, “Hey, how you doing?” He said good. “You a wrestler?” He said yeah. “What weight class?” We just started talking sports and stuff. All of a sudden his mother walked out. I said, “Excuse me.” I said, “Is that your mom?” I said, “I could have been wrong, but I could have sworn I saw you back talking that woman inside that airport.” The kid, 15-year-old boy said, “Well, she was wrong.” I said – I couldn’t believe this guy. I said, “Excuse me.” I said, “Does she cook for you?” He said yeah. I said, “Does she like wash those wrestling clothes?” He said yeah. I said, “Well, guess what?” He said what. I said, “She’s not wrong, okay? Get that one straight, okay?”

Then the mother says, “What are you doing here?” I said, “Actually, I’m here speaking at a Christian conference.” She said, “Can I ask you a question?” I said, “Yes, ma’am.” Said, “I’m Jewish. Can I be a good Jewish person and still go to heaven when I die or do I have to repent of my sins and become born again by the blood of Jesus Christ to go to heaven when I die? Can you please answer that for me?” Okay. This lady had been reading Christian books. She’d been watching Christian TV, and she had this unbelievable question about God all outside this airport, and all I want to do is get to my hotel and go to bed, and God had much better plans ‘cause our job is to warn people. And I pray he orders these steps that I meet the right people as I walk through life.

Are you living life that way? One youth group from here, Pigeon Forge. I did a conference here. They left. Their van, something, broke down. Couldn’t get it fixed for a whole day. They pooled their money together, went back to the hotel, bought hotel rooms, okay. They come back, stay at the hotel. The youth pastor’s wife emails me a couple of days later. They go back to the hotel. Within 30 minutes she had a phone call from the manager, “Excuse me. Ms. so and so, we’ve had a complaint.” Said, “Well, what’s the complaint?” She said, “A few of your students from youth group are riding the elevators up and down here in the hotel and talking to everybody about Jesus as they go up and down the elevators, okay?” So they were riding, “Hey, how you doing? What floor. Great. Hey, can I ask you a question, sir?” And they would just start witnessing to everybody up and down on the elevators, okay?

So I emailed the young lady back. I said, “Remember. That wasn’t a complaint. That was a compliment. That was a compliment that you got that your kids were so bold and so radical for Jesus Christ in doing that.”

Do you live the same way? Do you think the same way? That’s what we do as men and women of God. We make that bold stand for God. Okay. Think about that for a second, all right? Go to Jude 23, and we’ll close it for you, okay? Go back up one book to the book of Jude. There’s no chapters here, so let’s go to Verse 23. Okay. Go to Jude 23, if your speaker can find it. There it is, and go to Jude 23 and watch what it says. “And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment spotted by the flesh. Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. To the only wise God our Savior be glory and majesty and dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen.” Snatch people from the fire and do not let them go to hell. You snatch them back and don’t let them go there.

If you had a little kid running across the street, you’d grab that kid and say, “You’re not crossing that street.” As a matter of fact, that’s the most loving thing you can do, yes or no? Yeah, it’s loving. It’s caring. I care about you enough not to let you get hit by a car. I’ll pull you back. That’s loving. Mom and dads, when you set the standards in your house on what’s right and wrong, that’s loving to do that. Well, you do the exact same thing and snatch people from the fire.

Three weeks ago I’m speaking at the University of Georgia. I had 100 athletes at this event, got to challenge me ____ for Jesus Christ. I leave the event. I go to the student center, the Tate Center at Georgia just to witness for an hour or so before I drove back to Atlanta. Witnessed to some people, some great talks. I started talking to the maintenance lady cleaning stuff up, and so I just wanted to talk to her. Neat lady, Sara, so I gave her one of my books and stuff, and then she says, “I want to show you something.” And she pulls out her – she’s a grandmother, and she pulls out her cell phone. Don’t you love it when grandparents have cell phones, and she had all these pictures on there and stuff. “And I need to show you something.” I said what. Said, “Let me tell you the story first. My daughter’s house caught on fire. She had five kids. She runs out of the house, runs next door, ‘Call 911. The house is on fire. Call 911.’ She runs back to the house, and two of her kids are still in there. Two of the young ones are still in the house. Everyone else is out, fire everywhere.”

She’s a mother. What did she do? She went in. She ran in that place. She got those two kids, got them out of there. Then she shows me the cell phone of her daughter with second and third degree burns all over her body as she went in there and got her daughter. But, see, that’s a mama. That’s a mama and a mama’s kids, and you don’t mess with mama’s kids. And mama’s will always protect their kids. That’s what mamas do, okay? And mama went in to get her kids. No matter what it cost her, the burns, the pain, the disfiguring and everything, were the kids worth it? The kids were worth it, but let me tell you something, so is every soul at your high school. So is everybody back at your hotel. The first group, some of the groups are going out witnessing tonight because they haven’t warned anybody in Pigeon Forge or Sevierville or Gatlinburg. They haven’t warned anybody yet.

Young people, we need to blow the trumpet. We need to warn some people. God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. He takes none, okay? We need to stand up and be bold. A hundred years from now we’re all dead anyways, we’re all dead. Understand what matters. Souls matter to God, yes or no? It was proven on the cross 2,000 years ago.

Anyone glad someone witnessed to you? So glad those four guys were waiting for me at Auburn when I went there. They warned me. They blew the trumpet. I got dressed and got born again by the Lord Jesus Christ, okay? Your job is to warn people. It’s their choice what to do, but if you love somebody, trust me. You’ll blow the trumpet loud and long and hard, okay, and snatch them from the fire and do not let them take a last breath without the Lord Jesus Christ.

Father, I thank you so much, again, for Phil’s conferences. I loved coming here, always do, that we can stand bold for your son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Father, raise up an army of young people, males, females, some youth pastors, pastors, some parents, getting serious, Father God, because the time is now to be serious. Things are spinning quick in our culture, Father God, and they’re spinning very quickly, and we need to be the people that will be the watchmen in our schools, everywhere we go. But, Father, make sure there’s a watchman here in Tennessee ____ ___ ___. And, Father, we thank you for it, and we ask in the great name of your son, the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.

Okay, eyes up here. I’ve got one other thing for you, okay? To be a leader, young people, you have to be a reader. You need to be a reader to be a leader, okay? Don’t soak your mind with videogames and TV. You got to be a reader in the coming days, okay? I’ve written a book called One Thing You Can’t Do in Heaven. What’s the one thing you can’t do in heaven? What’s the one thing you can’t do in heaven? Can’t share to lost people because why? They won’t be there. If you’re every going to reach them, you got to reach them where? Here and when? Now.

Okay, that’s what the book is, all the basics on witnessing, how do you break through the fear of rejection, what are good questions to get started? Youth pastors, there’s a free study guide with it. Numerous youth groups take their whole youth group through the books then each week have them put it into practice. But each one of my books are full of stories people I witnessed to. In this book, I got to witness to Atheists. I got to witness to Satanists. Got to witness to -- Charles Barkley’s in this book. Alex Rodriguez is in this book. Michael Jordan’s in this book. Why? ‘Cause I met them, and if I meet you, I don’t ask for autographs. I don’t ask for pictures, okay? I warn you. I ask you a question instead, okay? So if you want more fire in sharing your faith in Jesus Christ, this book will help you out.

How many people have lost people you’re trying to reach for Jesus Christ, lost people? Okay. How many people have immediate family members that are lost, immediate family? Okay, I do, too. Someone said, “Would you write a book to lost people since you spend so much time with them.” So we wrote this book called One Heart Beat Away. We geared it for lost ____, but Christians love all the apologetics, how do you prove there’s a god? How do you prove the Bible true, okay, all the basics. We walk you through the Ten Commandments to see your sin, leave you right at the cross. We’ve had Atheists read this book, become born again. We’ve had Muslims read this book, become born again. A Catholic nun read this book, became born again.

The book is full of stories people I witnessed to. I got to witness to an Atheist. Vanilla Ice is in the book. Magic Johnson’s in the book. Terrell Owens is in the book. Tiger Woods is in the book, why I met him. When I met him, I asked him a question. We were walking on a golf course, and I said, “Tiger,” I said, “I always wanted to ask you a question. He said, “Go for it.” I said, “Tiger,” I said, “When you die, what do you think’s on the other side? What do you think’s out there when you walk out of here?” He literally stopped dead square in his tracks, stared at me and said, “I don’t know,” and it struck up a 10 to 12-minute conversation. It got cut off for a certain reason. Within one week, three different people who found out about the conversation witnessed to him and finished up the conversation. One was a young kid that I met at a retreat I did for his church. He went off to college, ran into Tiger in Atlanta at something and began to witness to him because the kid was a young kid who loved Jesus Christ, and Adam’s faith was much more important to him, okay, than getting some autograph from Tiger Wood. And he got to finish the whole story and do that.

Both books are on mp3, so if you like to listen, you can drop it on your iPod or listen on your mp3 players and do that. Then there’s three DVDs on the table. One is called Pride Goes Before Destruction, and you can watch me on the streets witnessing. We went out with video cameras, witnessed to people on the street. You can watch me talk with people. A talk called Lukewarm No More. It’s out of Revelation 3, the lukewarm church. If you don’t want to be lukewarm, watch that DVD. Some people say it wakes them up, and the third one is called Biblical Men Wanted Now. It’s what a biblical man is supposed to be. Men and young men watch that. Young ladies, watch that, okay? Watch that so the man you’re looking for in the coming days is a biblical man.

Mom and dad, should young ladies be very choosy who they ever say I do to? Yes or no? It’s the most important decision besides Jesus Christ. You’re not looking for some chump change boy to say I do to. You’re not looking for that, okay. Look for a biblical man, those DVDs for you. Now, when you walk out, there’s no charge for anything. I don’t charge for anything. Everything’s donational. You take what you want. You pay what you want. That’s how I do the ministry. That’s how I do the website. You take what you want. You pay what you want, okay? So it’s your choice what you give for the material out there.

This book’s 13. If you want to give 13 for it, great. If you don’t have that much and want to give less, that’s fine. It’s between you and the Lord. If you want to give more to help me do it around the country, that’s okay. If you don’t have the money, you want to take it and bring it tomorrow, that’s fine. There’s an address on the back. People send it in later. I got a check this year from a girl. Six years ago picked up a book at a youth conference. She had no money. Six years later she wrote me a letter. She said, “What you didn’t know was when I took the book was that I read the book.” They don’t sit on your shelf. You read these. You do stuff with them. She said, “I have shared my faith for six years. Every year in college, I was bold for Jesus Christ. I now have a job. Here’s a check for the book I took from you six years ago.”

Can you trust God, yes or no? You can trust God and do that, okay? So there’s three boxes on the table. You put your donation in there. You take what you want off the table and do that. I go one step further. If anyone in the room has a financial need, not a want, a need, you know the difference, okay? If you have a financial need, I allow you to reach in the box and take out what you need for your financial need, okay? It’s between you and the Lord. Do not come up and ask me for it. It’s between you and the Lord. You know if you have a need. I started doing this just about two years ago. We’ve had families with no food on the table with kids. Do they have food now, yes or no? Yes, they do. I did a youth conference. A young boy, middle school kid, his glasses were broken. Is that a need for a young person, yes or no? That’s a need. Come to find out, his family was dirt poor. Came back a couple of days later looking smooth with a new pair of glasses, okay?

One church I just did, they told me single mother after single mother after single mother walked back to the box, was taking money out of those boxes because what you don’t know, in a divorce, studies show in one year that the income of a divorced woman drops 90 percent in one year after a divorce. And usually she has the what? She has the children, okay. That’s one of many reasons when you say I do, you stick it out through thick or thin. You do not throw the towel in early on that.

Remember this in the coming days, Jesus Christ said it’s more blessed to give than what, receive. I take those words very seriously. There’s dark days ahead. There’s very dark days ahead, but you remember something. The darker it gets, the easier for your light to shine. It’s easier for your light to shine. Christians, we’re going to look smooth in the coming days if we’re ready to bless and take care of people ‘cause they’ll listen to the gospel as well when we do that, yes or no? Yes. Be givers in the coming days. Do not be hoarders. Get that trumpet out of your pocket. Blow that trumpet loud, okay? Warn the wicked. God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked, and neither should you and I, okay?

Gabe, you got it? Next up.