Conversation on Evangelism

Father, we love you.

We thank you that we can have this opportunity, Lord, to exalt you.

And I pray that our conversation, Lord God, is edifying and that it's an encouragement

to you, Lord God.

We want to live our lives, Lord God, in a way that glorifies your name, Lord God.

Let our words today, Lord, be an encouragement to those that either

watch this, Lord God, or have heard about it, Lord.

We pray that maybe there's some Timothys out there, Lord God, that need encouragement to go share their faith.

Or maybe there's someone, Lord, that has never thought about sharing their faith and they've

just been convicted of you, Lord, to go tell the world about this good news, Lord.

So I pray that our conversation will be one, Lord, that does just that, Lord.

Thank you for my brother, Tony, for taking the time to be here.

And thank you, Karim, for putting this together, Lord God, with Brother Ken and Brother Matt.

So we just want to rejoice in knowing you and trusting you and being able to go tell the world this

good news.

In Jesus Christ's name we pray.

Amen and amen.

My name is Tony Miano.

I am an open -air preacher.

I served 20 years as a deputy sheriff with the County of Los Angeles in California.

I've served as a church planter.

I've also served with a ministry called Living Waters for four and a half years, teaching others how to do

evangelism.

And I also served for a time as a chaplain with the L .A. County Sheriff's Department.

And now I'm out on the streets full time, preaching the gospel in the open air, going to college

campuses and other places to bring the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ to others.

And I'm Sean Holes, and I have a ministry called Luke 10 .2 Ministries.

It's a family ministry, primarily sharing good news on college campuses around the country.

Street corners will definitely share the good news in even churches to encourage the saints.

And I've been a Christian for about 10 years, and in the process of getting saved, I just had a burden for sharing

the gospel with people.

So that's what we are now, is just a family that desires to see God's name be glorified and see

souls be one.

So what Matt has asked us to do tonight is basically have a conversation about open air preaching.

Why we do it, how we do it, when we do it, who should do it, maybe who should not

do it.

And it's really just going to be a conversation between two brothers who are out there on the streets.

And this will go until we're done.

So what is one of the most common questions you get asked

about open air preaching from someone who doesn't do it?

Well, for someone that doesn't do it is they would want to know why we're doing it.

And so it's a difficult question really to answer in some ways, because I think our passion is to bring glory to God,

to exalt the name of Jesus Christ.

But they'll want to know more of that.

They'll want to know some more details.

So I think that it's important to explain to them that we love them.

We're out there, we're doing this because we love them.

And we do want to see souls get saved, Tony.

I mean, it is important that people get saved, right?

We're soul winners.

That's why the church is still here.

The church is still here because there are people God still intends to save.

That's why the church is still here on earth.

For me, open air preaching, in the end, is an act of worship.

Ultimately, I'm preaching to an audience of one.

At first, I was really wrapped up in the size of the crowd and how many

people can hear me, how far does my voice carry.

And the more I've been out there on the streets, and I don't know about you, but I spend more time out on the streets by

myself than I do with teams or groups of people.

That's just the way it works out.

Oftentimes, it's just me and the Lord out there.

Ultimately, I'm preaching to an audience of one.

I want people to hear.

I want people to come to repentance and faith.

But I try to keep my mindset one of, God's hearing what I'm doing.

Am I doing this to glorify Him?

Am I doing this because it's a fun hobby for me and I don't want to do anything else?

Whose name, ultimately, do I want people to remember?

Mine or God's.

If I keep the mindset of this is an act of worship, some of that superfluous

stuff just seems to drift away.

One of the questions I'm often asked is, hey, is this effective?

Is this really effective in reaching the lost with the gospel?

I'm sure you've heard that question a lot.

I've heard it a few times.

How would you answer that?

Depends on who I'm talking to.

Sometimes I'll answer that it's not effective at all.

But we're not pragmatists.

We're really not.

I'll say, well, I'm not really trying to be effective.

On the other hand, I want to be as Christ -like as possible.

I want to be honoring my Lord as much as possible.

In terms of effectiveness, yeah, we're preaching to an audience of one.

Is it effective?

Yeah.

God's hearing it.

It's lifting up that name of Christ.

Tony, I think that the gospel, at least in America, has become so watered down and so compromised, at least

from what I'm seeing, that effectiveness is just exalting the name of

Jesus Christ.

But it's hard to convince people of that.

It really is.

Especially here in America, where so much of the American church is pragmatic in what we

do, what are the end results?

How many people have come to church?

How many people have raised their hands?

And unfortunately, a lot of churches will compromise the message, water it down, like you said, because they're certainly going to get more

decisions if the message is palatable to the masses.

I like to tell people that the only time we fail in evangelism is when we fail to

evangelize.

If we're doing it biblically, if we're doing it with a right heart attitude, loving God and loving

people, the only time we fail is when we don't do it.

People have often asked me, well, how many people have you led to the Lord?

And I've started answering, everyone.

And they get a funny look.

Everybody you've talked to?

Yeah, I bring everybody right to the foot of the cross, and I trust in the sovereignty of God to either save or not

save that person, either at that time or later on.

How many decisions did you get today?

Everyone decided today.

That's right.

Everyone made a decision.

They either decided to repent and believe, or they decided to walk away and continue in their hatred of God.

It's a serious, it's a very, you know, it's a privilege to go share the gospel, whether it be

one -on -one or whether we're out singing in the streets or handing out gospel tracts or publicly proclaiming the

message as an open -air preacher.

It's humbling, and it's, I think it's just such an honor to be able to do that.

And so it's so serious, and it's so sobering.

You know, you get these people that you talk to, and you want to see them at least somehow grasp what you're talking about, but there's no way they can

grasp it.

They're blind.

They've not been born again.

That's right.

So it's hard to make it make sense.

Yeah.

I have just a couple verses here.

Paul, you know, when he was writing to Timothy, he said he wanted to encourage him.

It was his last letter he wrote, 2 Timothy.

And Paul's dying.

He sees this young man coming up in the ranks and wants to encourage him.

He says in 2 Timothy 4, starting in 2, it says, Preach the word.

He didn't say go out and live your life in a way that people will be enticed to your religious views.

Or live in such a way that people ask you why.

He didn't say that.

He said preach the word.

He said be instant, in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering.

Those are very serious, encouraging words.

Reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering.

He's giving him a great commission, isn't he?

Christ said go.

Go.

So he's saying that to him.

Then he says,

I love hearing that.

When Paul was writing to Timothy, he says, Here's Paul dying.

He didn't say make sure that you're making lots of money or that you've got a bunch of people listening to

you.

He's just saying go out there and do the work of an evangelist.

Then he says, Isn't that encouraging?

I know that Paul would take the time.

I think of this man that knows his days are numbered and tells Timothy to

go do this.

Like I said, a privilege to share the gospel.

Oftentimes one of the questions is,.

Is what you're doing really biblical?

I think you really have to look at the pages of Scripture with your eyes half closed to not see open air preaching

throughout the Bible.

Noah.

Noah was probably the first open air preacher as he's calling people to repent, to turn toward God.

All of the prophets.

All of the prophets were open air preachers.

Jesus was an open air preacher.

The disciples were open air preachers.

Yes, it's biblical.

Why?

Because we see it throughout the Bible.

Then we also know that it's been supported throughout history.

Open air preaching didn't stop with the Bible.

It continued throughout all of history.

This is not something new that has come on the scene.

There has always been open air preaching.

Amen.

But things have changed, we're told.

The culture is very strongly taught in our churches.

As you know, Tony, we run into these people that are all about the culture, and then really what it comes down to is they're really not believing the Bible.

Then it's a different discussion now because we're having to talk about the inerrancy of God's Word and that it can be

trusted and that it's double -edged and it's inspired by the Holy Ghost.

So a couple of discussions now are going on, but really it comes down to them not wanting to trust the Word of God.

The culture is what's being taught.

You're going to reach more people with the right pair of jeans and the right haircut and, I

guess, the right pizza party.

And this idea that open air preaching is not culturally relevant, it's never

been culturally relevant.

Ever.

The Gospel has never been culturally relevant.

The Gospel wasn't culturally relevant when Jesus was walking the earth.

They killed him over it because it was so against the culture of that day, the religious culture of that day.

Yeah, it really is.

I think this idea of being culturally relevant, and they often go to where Paul says, be all

things to all people and twist that around, take that out of context.

But I think this idea of being culturally relevant is more often than not just an excuse for not sharing

the Gospel.

I think Christians have a very easy time of finding excuses for not

sharing the Gospel.

Absolutely.

And then they see us out on the streets, and maybe it's something they've never seen before.

Yeah.

And I think a lot of Christians are convicted when they see open air preaching.

I know that to be true.

I'm sure you've experienced this, where Christians have come up to me.

Not all of them say, hey, you shouldn't be doing this, I'm a Christian.

But I've had many Christians come up to me and say, people actually do this.

When did you start?

I need to be part of this.

How do I become part of this?

We've had Christians come up and tell us those things.

You know, when I started out, Tony, I would generally, I just love talking to young people.

I love encouraging young people.

And I mean, if a 50 -year -old guy comes up and he's asking questions or he wants some type of encouragement, I

love talking to them as well.

We're not singling people out because of their age.

But the young people come out, and I just want to say, you know, when I first started talking to them, maybe five years

ago, I'd say, not everyone is called to be an open -air preacher, or not everyone is called to do what I'm doing right here.

And more recently, brother, I've been thinking, you know, we really shouldn't even be planting that seed of making them wonder if this

is just something for some people.

Not that we would expect everyone to get up and stand on a street corner and preach their guts out.

But why give them a way out if God's calling them to do it?

Exactly.

Let's encourage them.

Let's just say, hey, listen, you know, if you're called to sing a song in the streets or hand a gospel tract out or maybe you're

even called to stand up and preach, then so be it.

But if the Lord is convicting you, and more recently, too, I've been saying, you know, I think the Lord's probably already been

talking to you about this.

Isn't that the way it always is?

Because they'll say, you know, I was just thinking this, or I just dreamt something, or I just read this verse,

and then it's begun to occur to me that God's trying to talk to you.

He's just using me to confirm what He's already been speaking to you in your prayer time and in your time in the Word.

So don't discount this, you know.

We're all called to share our faith.

And hopefully there's even men out there listening to us now, young men that are a little Timothy or,

you know, a person that, hey, even when someone goes and they go out and buy groceries, shouldn't they be evangelizing

or do the fast food?

They should be sharing their faith.

I love what Ray Comfort says.

He says, you know, I used to go to the store to buy milk and maybe share the Gospel with someone.

Now he goes to share the Gospel.

Now he goes to share the Gospel, and while he's there he picks up some milk.

So a complete change in mindset.

So, Sean, how long have you been doing this?

How long have you been an open -ended preacher?

You know, Tony, right when I got saved I started sharing my faith, and I didn't know how to do it.

I really was uncertain of even what the Gospel was.

All I knew was who had saved me and what I'd gotten saved from.

So in terms of training -wise, in terms of, you know, background, in terms of experience, I guess

since the day I got saved, I wanted to tell people, I got saved.

You know, you remember that woman that Christ talked to, and she was at that well, and she went out and told the whole city?

I mean, that's the way I was.

I was like, let's go tell people.

Come and see the man who told me everything about me.

Amen.

So that was kind of my testimony in regards to sharing my faith.

But then over time, you know, I got involved with, you know, different ministries that were good at teaching, you know, men

how to evangelize.

And, you know, from there it's just been get your feet wet, make lots of mistakes, you

know, be humbled every day in what we do.

You know, I don't think I've met the guy that's perfect at it yet.

No.

But I've met a lot of men that the Lord's using, and praise God that he is using men still.

And so, you know, I would say full -time five years, full -time.

What was your first open air like?

What was it like getting up there on the box or the bench or the stool for the very first time?

I stood up, got off, got up, got down, got up, drove home.

Drove two hours to go preach.

Drove home.

Went there the next time.

Did the same thing two hours there.

Got up, got down, got up, got down.

Drove home again.

Third time.

The guy I was with, I said, listen, this is getting a little silly.

We got to at least do what we came here to do.

And I think I preached for about 45 seconds and then got down and wanted to hide under a

rock.

And, you know, that was the very absolute very first time.

So how about you?

Well, it's amazing how similar our stories are.

For me, I think now it's been about seven years, six and a half, seven years.

And I had been handing out tracts.

The light bulb went off for me later.

I came to Faith in Christ in 1988.

And I didn't start sharing the gospel biblically with strangers, probably until

about 2004.

But I didn't start open -air preaching until a little after that.

And I finally determined, okay, I know I have to do this.

I'm in sin if I don't do this.

I know this is the right thing to do, and if I do not do it, I'm in sin.

But I wasn't going to do it in my hometown.

I wasn't going to do it at a place.

Where a patrol car is going to drive up with one of my former partners.

You were a sheriff, right?

Tony, yeah.

Tony, yeah, you have lost it.

So I drove 50 miles, 60 miles from home to a beach community.

I took my wife, Maria, my youngest daughter, Amanda, who was probably 10, 11 years old at

the time.

And we took an EZ -Up.

We took a table.

We had Bibles.

It took me about an hour to set things up.

And it took me about another hour to get the courage to tell my wife to take

our daughter and go down to the beach and tell people I was going to give money away for answering trivia questions.

And she looked at me like, no, no, no, we're here for support.

Maria is like the total wallflower.

Wants to be behind the scenes all the time.

And that's where she serves best.

And I had so little courage and so little faith that I pushed her out to go do this.

And I remember watching her walk over the rise from this park to the beach just like her and my

daughter were walking away and they were never coming back.

And within 10 minutes, I see like ants to a picnic.

About 30, 40 kids, teenagers, almost in a run

coming towards me.

And I'll tell you what, I would have been more comfortable in that moment being in a darkened alley with armed

gangbangers down at the other end than seeing those kids running towards me.

And unbeknownst to me at the time, Maria and Amanda had totally disrupted a Sweet 16

party on the beach saying, hey, there's a guy over here who's giving away money.

It's the only thing they could get out.

And so money and teenagers.

And they're just sprinting at you.

And this still happens to me today.

I got my right foot, and I still have the box that I used that first time.

I got my right foot up on the box and the gravitational pull was so extremely

strong on my left foot it was like it would not come off the ground.

And I stalled and I delayed like I was praying.

But I was just scared to death.

I finally got my left foot back onto the box.

And then I picked the smallest looking kid in the group, the kid I thought I could take if things went

south.

And then I was doing the good person test at that time.

So I took him through that, and I shared the law and the gospel with the crowd.

And I was done.

Mine was maybe, I don't know, five, six minutes, something like that.

And I remember looking at these kids' faces, and they wouldn't leave.

And I actually, I remember saying to them, that's all I got.

I'm done.

You can go now.

I got no more money.

I got no more In -N -Out gift cards.

I said what I'm going to say, and I really want to go home.

You can go.

But they had questions.

Some of them wanted Bibles.

And I remember weeping on the way home, repenting for all those years

that I hadn't been out there.

And I knew at that moment, somehow, someway, this was going to be the way I spent the rest of my life, was being out on the streets

proclaiming the gospel.

It's an encouragement in our faith.

It strengthens our faith to share the good news.

And people's responses isn't really necessarily what we can base that encouragement

from.

It's just such an honor.

You know, as I said, I've learned over the years, and I've definitely,

I've fallen flat on my face sharing the gospel.

It's just so many changes over the last five years.

But one thing that has remained the same, it's bringing people to the cross

and bringing people to the realization that they are undeserving of God's mercy.

They aren't deserving of forgiveness, that He loves them.

Well, the Bible says that He committed His love in this, and that while we were sinners, Christ died for us, that He knew we were going to

sin.

We're sinners saved by the most amazing God, the only God of the world

that loved us enough to sacrifice Himself.

When we tell people that God took on flesh to come to this earth and die for sinners,

resurrect from the grave, for us in our unworthiness, it's just

like we've got to tell people about the cross.

If all we did is get up and tell them about the cross, it'd be great.

And oftentimes we have.

We can preach the grace of God all day long.

We can preach the blood all day long.

I tell people who are new to open air preaching that you should preach the law loud,

preach grace and the cross louder.

Right?

And it's interesting.

Many people think, well, if you use the law in evangelism, you're just going to turn people away.

But my experience has been, preaching in the open air, that it's the law that draws the crowd.

It's that tension, the voyeuristic nature of people, wanting to see if a fight's going

to break out or an argument's going to break out.

People are very attentive, curious, and engaging during that

part.

When people start to flee and when the crowds dissipate is when you mention the name of Jesus Christ.

Because they justify themselves by the law.

They think they're good people.

They think they merit God's grace and forgiveness.

And soon as you mention the name of Christ, they flee like cockroaches when you turn on the light.

And sometimes what I'll do to try to mitigate that is before I transition into the gospel,

I'll say something like, look, I'm about to mention a name that most of you hate.

In fact, you hate this name and this person so much, as soon as I mention his name,

some of you are going to leave.

Now look to your right, look to your left, because some of these people are going to be here in just a moment.

And what that does is two things.

One, the person who does hate Christ, if they

do walk away, they're going to know exactly why they're walking away.

The prideful person who hates Christ and says to themselves, I'm not going to let this open

air preacher get the best of me, they're going to stay and they're going to hear the gospel.

And so while that doesn't always, certainly keep a crowd or draw a crowd,

I think that brings a level of conviction to people because it is, and Jesus said, they will hate you, men will hate you

because of me.

And if everybody likes what we're saying when we're talking about Jesus, then we're not talking about the real Jesus.

We're not sharing the gospel.

Here's what Paul said.

He said to the church in Rome, he said, and this is in Romans chapter 10, starting

in 14, he says, how then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed?

And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?

And how shall they hear without a preacher?

And how shall they preach except they be sent as it is written, how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of

peace and bring glad tidings of good things.

You know this, well, two more verses it says, but they have not all obeyed the gospel for Isaiah saith,

Lord, who hath believed our report?

Remember when Isaiah was saying that?

And then he says, so then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.

Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.

Well, we're out there preaching the word of God.

We've preached so many times to people and their response is, why are you preaching hate?

Why are you preaching hate?

How much more loving could it be than for a savior to come to this world and redeem you?

That's pretty much love, isn't it?

And what I'll tell people during some of my open airs is like, if you do not hear this as a message of

love, it is because you love your sin more than you love God.

It's because you love yourself more than you love God and whether consciously or subconsciously, on some level, you

actually think you are God.

That's why you hear this as a message of hate.

That hurts, though.

That hurts, but remember we're reading and we're supposed to reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering?

I think that would be pretty much all those things.

Yeah, and I think this passage is so important.

Again, the emphasis is that how will they hear without a preacher?

The gospel is a spoken message.

It can be communicated in writing, certainly, and it was through letters during the early church,

but it is a communicated message.

And this false notion that so many Christians have, especially in the American church, that somehow

people will see Jesus in them and will be drawn to Christ by what they see in them

ignores what the Bible says about human nature.

People are dead in their trespasses and sins.

They're spiritually blind.

They cannot discern that which is spiritual.

And none of us being perfect, there are many times when we look just like the world and nothing like

Jesus Christ.

Isn't it proud to think that.

People would literally be drawn to Christ by seeing Christ in us?

It's as if people are saying, Christians are saying the gospel needs our help.

That somehow the gospel is insufficient.

People aren't simply going to turn from their sin and put their trust in Christ if all they hear is the gospel.

We've got to feed them.

We've got to clothe them.

We've got to be kind to them.

We've got to invite them to barbecues.

We've got to do all these things.

And I really liken that, and some may think this is too strong, but I really liken that to

blasphemy.

You are basically saying that the gospel of Jesus Christ is insufficient

to change a human heart.

That somehow God needs you.

To accomplish His work.

Here's what Paul said to the church in Corinth.

He says it in chapter 1.

It's starting in 18.

People can read this stuff for themselves.

This isn't like, thus saith Tony Mion.

This is just Bible.

So it says, this is in verse 18.

It says, So the preaching of the cross,

we're preaching the cross.

It's foolishness to those that are what?

They're perishing.

It says it pretty plainly here.

Where is the wise?

Where is the scribe?

Where is the disputer of this world?

Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?

I love that verse.

Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?

For after that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God.

It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.

So it's foolishness.

But God uses it to save people that believe.

In fact, Paul would later say that to those who are perishing, the preaching of the gospel will

be an aroma of death.

And to those who are being saved, an aroma of life.

I think it's important that those of us who are out on the streets preaching, and I think this adds a level of sobriety to what we're doing,

if representing Christ isn't enough already.

And it is.

But God may use the communication of the gospel that day

to be an aroma of death to those who are going to perish in their sin and spend eternity in hell.

And I think as preachers, that should break our heart.

There may be some who are hearing the preaching of the gospel who God may in fact save, cause to be born

again, and extend to them the gifts of repentance and faith.

And there may be others for whom the preaching of the gospel that day is a form of God's judgment

upon them.

I think there needs to be a maturation in the open air preaching community.

You're actually out there in a wider sense more often than I am.

You've been to more places around the world and around the United States than I have preaching.

You've been with a lot of open air preachers.

I know you spend much of your time with real solid folk, experienced men who are preaching the gospel.

But as I listen to people open air preach, maybe those who are newer at this discipline than others,

it seems like it is the pendulum has swung so far to making sure that we use the law of

evangelism for so many years.

American evangelicalism didn't.

But it's gotten to the point now where for some it's 90 % law and 10 % grace.

It's almost as if the cross and the gospel is simply the cherry on top of this

large law cake that they've put together.

They don't spend nearly enough time talking about the person of Christ, the deity of

Christ, the sacrifice of Christ.

What exactly does his shed blood on the cross mean?

The resurrection of Christ, which apart from the resurrection, we're most to be pitied

by men.

And I think in open air preaching we need to spend as much time, even more time,

making much about our Savior, making much about the cross,

and of course preach the law, but we need to spend a lot more time talking about Jesus.

There are so many different Jesuses in the world today.

There are so many different Jesuses in the American church today.

And I think especially here in the United States there's this assumption that when you mention the name of Jesus, they know who you're talking

about.

But we've got the Mormon Jesus, and the Jehovah's Witness Jesus, and the Muslim Jesus, and Oprah's Jesus, and

Rob Bell's Jesus, and the health, wealth, and prosperity Jesus, and all these other Jesuses.

We have to make sure that people understand who it is we represent.

I agree.

But we're not preaching hate, brother.

They would think that that's hateful to say that this Jesus, this biblical Jesus,

is the one that died, was buried, and resurrected for our sins.

And they would think that that's hateful to say, well, we're believing in a different Jesus.

How many conversations have you had with people, and you've explained the differences that we might have with them in terms of who they view Jesus as?

And then after using 10 Bible verses, and spending lots of time doing

apologetics, and even giving personal testimony, pouring into them, maybe even praying at some

point to just seek the Lord, and all this, they say, well, we agree.

We agree.

How can we agree?

You know, the Jesus that I'm telling... If you agree with me, and you attend the LDS Church, then you're not a Mormon.

Exactly.

Run for your life.

You can't agree with me and be a Mormon.

No, we don't agree.

And so we've got to make sure that we're preaching this Jesus Christ of the Bible.

And so, yeah, I agree.

But that's one of the nice things lately that's been great in terms of the way the Lord has blessed me, is to be around other men that

are able to be out witnessing while I'm preaching, or vice versa.

Because for so many months, and even years, I went out alone, and there's nobody that'll go out, and suddenly

it's almost like there's plenty.

But while we're out, we can encourage each other.

I know one man the other day that I was preaching with on a campus, he's an excellent preacher, and I said,

same message, different tone of voice.

And later on, he said, you're right, man.

I was just coming across as being hard.

You know, when we were preaching one day, another guy was bringing up, he was preaching to the

unbelievers as though they were believers.

I said, brother, you've got to be careful, man.

I mean, it's not the same message.

The saints, they've been saved by the grace of God.

They're going to understand these things.

Their eyes have been opened.

The unbeliever has no concept where you're coming from.

And what you're preaching doesn't apply to them.

It just simply doesn't apply to them.

So it's been a blessing to have that along in my own life, brother, because we can encourage each other along, and

give each other feedback, and make sure that we are pointing, we've got to point these people to the real

Jesus Christ of the Bible.

And we've got to make sure that, like you said, with all the media pushing this whole,

you know, I'm Mormon.

Even if you do websites or Internet searches or whatever, and you look for a term,

Christianity, Mormonism is jumping up on the Internet.

Are you kidding me?

It's not even close to Christianity.

It's not even apples to apples.

So, yeah, we've got to preach that Jesus Christ of the Bible, make sure that they understand who we're telling Jesus is.

I like something you mentioned there about.

Being called on preaching hard.

I've experienced that recently.

In fact, it was my sister who listens to all the audios and all that, and comes

out with me from time to time when she can, and she told me not long ago, she said, Tony, I don't know what it

is, but you're just sounding more angry.

You're just...

It's righteous anger.

Right, and that's the easy fallback position.

It's righteous indignation, but there is such a fine line between righteous indignation and

sinful anger, and so I really needed to evaluate that in my own preaching.

And just this last weekend when I was out at our area subway station,

North Hollywood subway station, I got into a conversation with one of the vendors who was out there every

Saturday.

And he looked me in the eye, unsaved guy, looked me in the eye, and he said, you know what?

You always seem mad at people.

You always seem mad when you're up there preaching.

And we spent about a half hour talking, and by the end of the conversation, his name's Rick, he said, he

said, now, Tony, I know you.

I know you.

I've talked with you, and while I may not agree with what you're saying, I don't think you're a jerk anymore.

But that really caused me to take a step back.

Is that really how I'm sounding?

Now, granted, I could speak the truth and love and say I love you and I care about you, and I tell people, you

know, I'm raising my voice so you can hear me.

I'm not angry with you, but because they so hate the message, that's all they hear.

They just hear it.

But, I'm a sinful man.

I'm a prideful man.

I can be an arrogant man.

And while the gospel should be offensive, and it is to those who are perishing, my demeanor

shouldn't be.

My rhetoric shouldn't be.

And I think that's something everyone who's out on the streets preaching the gospel should check in themselves

and have that kind of accountability of people who are not just coming to see Sean the Baptist preach.

Ah, he's coming to my campus.

I want to go hear Sean the Baptist preach.

But people who love you enough to say same message, different

tone of voice.

And so I appreciate that.

I appreciate that I have people in my life who will love me enough to say that.

I hope that when we're.

Talking, though, people aren't thinking that it's complicated, because it's not.

This is really basic.

That's why I say to people, listen, go sing a song.

Go grab your church whatever song book, if that's what you call it, and go out and

rejoice.

Or make up your own gospel track.

You don't like the ones I hand out or you don't like the ones you can get on the Internet?

Make up your own.

Maybe print something off on your own computer and just go hand them out.

Or go witness to somebody.

And I find nothing wrong with, hey, if...

And I enjoy doing this.

I especially like doing this in New York City, brother, is helping people out with meals, or getting them

something that they need.

Maybe they need to wear some different type of clothing or something and you get that for them, but in the process of doing that, you share the gospel.

So there's all kinds of ways to do this.

This is what it says in Proverbs 14, and this is from

one of the wisest guys ever.

So Solomon writes this.

He says in 14 .12, he says, there's a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of

death.

There's things that men think is right.

A man, from their perspective, in their sinful ways, is going to think that what we're doing is wrong no matter how we do it.

And we really can't win that argument with people to justify the public proclamation of the gospel or any other

means of sharing the good news.

Because men are blinded, brother.

They can't understand.

They don't even think of it as good news.

We can tell them it's good news all day long.

I really, at least recently, I'm really convicted

that the same thing that you're saying is that it's a way of worship.

That it's a way of just going out and glorifying God.

And there's times when we'll weep as we're sharing.

There's a time when we may be singing as we share.

There may be a time when we're just lifting up our arms and just rejoicing in the grace of God.

There's other times when we preach our guts out, preaching the law.

And just saying, you know.

No gospel for you.

They're blaspheming God.

They're mocking.

They don't want Jesus.

They love their sin.

The other day when we were on a campus, just last week, we were traveling and praise God I'm home for a few days here.

Trying to make it not sound complicated, but in terms of the battle is won, brother.

I believe this more and more.

The battle is won in prayer.

The battle is won before we go out.

Maybe somebody when they start out, they want a big crowd.

They want to get big results.

They want somehow to be seeing what they've seen on some YouTube video and they want to be that guy.

Well, first of all, I say don't try to emulate Tony or Sean.

Do what the Lord is calling you to do.

The battle in terms of going out and being in the Lord's will, the Lord's prayer.

Thy will be done.

Thy will be done.

Let's pray that.

Let's see it happen.

We've got to be in prayer for this before we go out.

The other day when I was out, I was thinking, we're plowing today.

No one's stopping.

I'm sorry, we're sharing today.

No one's stopping, but the Lord has really convicted me that I need to keep plowing.

The Lord has convicted me that I need to go out and I need to just keep presenting this Gospel.

Maybe, by the way, you want to share what is the Gospel?

Let me talk about what is the Gospel.

The Lord was really convicting me, keep plowing, keep plowing, keep plowing.

As I just kept preaching and plowing, guess what?

The Lord was right.

The Lord knew exactly what I needed to do and praise God, I obeyed.

I just kept preaching and the crowd came.

Within, I would say, maybe an hour, there were 150 -200 students there and they're listening to.

The Gospel.

What is the Gospel?

The Gospel is that God the Father sent His Son to earth in the person of Jesus Christ, fully God,

fully man, without sin, lived a perfect sinless life, voluntarily went

to the cross to suffer not for crimes that He committed, but on behalf of sinners like us who

have sinned against God, shed His innocent blood on that cross for the remission of sins.

Three days later, forever defeated sin and death when He rose from the grave.

There is no better news.

I think we should be serving people.

I think we should be feeding people.

I think we should be clothing people.

I think we should be housing people.

I think we should be doing all of that.

But that is not evangelism.

That's right.

It's not.

Nothing is evangelism without the Gospel.

But don't people have to be baptized and don't people have to be good enough?

No, because you can't be saved by a Gospel you do not know.

If you're a born again follower of Jesus Christ, you're equipped not to answer every question asked, but you're

equipped to go testify to what God has done in your life.

You're fully equipped.

You know the Gospel.

Jesus Christ saved you.

People just can't seem to grasp this.

We're not probably going to change people's minds, but God can.

And that is that they don't have to be baptized to be saved.

But wouldn't you go get baptized once God does.

Save you?

Well, God commands us to.

God commands us in His Word that, yes, if you're a follower of Jesus Christ, you should be

baptized as a testimony of your faith in Christ and what Christ has done for you.

In fact, in 1 Timothy chapter 6, Timothy had some timidity.

Paul told him, the Spirit of God has not given you a spirit of timidity, but of love

and power and self -control.

Timothy was a bit anxious.

Paul tells him, drink a little wine.

Settle your stomach.

And in 1 Timothy 6, 11 and 12, first he tells him to flee from sin, to

pursue six different characteristics of Christ's likeness.

And then he commands him to fight the good fight of faith.

And in doing that, he calls Timothy to look back to the day in which he made

the testimony in front of many witnesses.

He was calling Timothy back to remember that day when he was baptized

and testified publicly to his salvation in Jesus Christ.

And unlike today, where you have a cooling off period, you wait for the Jones's Pool to get heated, you mail out

doily invitations so all the family can be there with their video camera, they were getting baptized in mud

puddles.

They were getting baptized in lakes and streams knowing that that public proclamation could cost them

everything, even their very life.

And yes, we should be telling people, especially those who come to repentance of faith

in Christ, obviously, that they need to be baptized as a

public confession of what God has done in their heart.

But making sure they understand that that is not necessary for salvation.

It is not a work we add to the gospel.

You are not baptized in order to be saved, but you baptize as a

testimony to the grace that God has given to you.

Amen.

I think it's good to clarify that to people.

I really do.

Because I think people get confused about what we can add to that blood.

I think people get confused about, you know, don't I have to somehow contribute to this.

Good news?

But we don't.

We don't.

Salvation is by the grace of God alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone.

Now, I post videos and audios of open air preaching and things like that.

I do it for instruction.

I do it to get the gospel out to other people.

But sometimes people come to me and they'll say, well, I can't do that.

I can't rattle off all those verses like Sean does.

I don't have that much scripture memorized.

I can't come up with an answer off the top of my head to all these questions.

The Bible doesn't say that you have to.

And we have the best tool, the best weapon God has given us,

and that's the sword of the spirit.

If you're worried about how much scripture you know, take your Bible.

I don't ever preach without my Bible in my hand.

Because I don't have all of the word of God memorized.

And there are times where I know what I want to say.

I know where the verse is, and I have a vapor lock, and I can't find it, and there's nothing embarrassing about, give

me a second, I'm going to find it for you.

Give me a second, I'm going to turn to the word of God and speak directly from the authority of God's word.

You don't have to be the best apologist.

You don't have to have the most amount of scripture memorized.

You don't have to be the most eloquent.

Paul, how many times did Paul say that he wasn't eloquent?

He didn't come with words of eloquent speech.

He came to preach Christ crucified, to preach the cross.

Yeah, there's.

A great brother that I was just traveling, not great, I mean, God is great.

You love him.

I do love him.

I just love him so much.

He doesn't necessarily preach that much.

You know, he's out in the trenches.

And he's even said to me, listen, if you get a question that you think people could be referred to me to

answer, send him my way.

He loves that, behind the scenes, in the trenches, you know.

One of the greatest joys of evangelizing and sharing our faith, I think, is to go out with a group of people.

You know, it's great because you get people that are younger, they may associate more with

some of the young people.

People that are older might have some more testimony, a little bit of experience, a little wisdom to go share.

You know, you may even get people going out to pray with us.

But in terms of knowing the whole Bible or knowing what to say, grab the Brainiac scholar, grab the

pastor from the church.

Bring that guy.

Out there.

Bring the shepherd out.

I'll be the sheepdog up in the box.

As you're licking your wounds, go over to the shepherd.

The shepherd will answer some of your questions.

Pastors love that role.

And like you said, we may not know every verse in the Bible, but we've got that sword right with us.

Bring our swords, be prepared.

And hey, if you don't know the answer, guess what we get to tell people.

I don't know.

That is the best answer.

Because people are sophisticated, alright?

People are sharp.

They know when you're winging it.

They know when you don't know what you're talking about or when you don't believe what you're saying.

People know that.

And the worst thing we can do in representing Christ is to stand up and talk

about something we're not sure about and misquote Scripture, misrepresent Christ in that way.

The most humble answer to those questions is, I don't know.

And oftentimes people are asking questions, not because they're looking for answers, but they're looking

to justify their unbelief at your expense.

And I won't allow people to blaspheme God that way.

I won't play their game.

And I'll tell them that.

You're not looking for answers.

You're looking to justify your unbelief at my expense.

And I'm not going to play God's defense attorney in your blasphemous courtroom.

Sometimes people will ask, well, what are some of the good verses?

What are some verses I should memorize or try to memorize or at least know where I can find them quickly in

the Word of God if I'm open air preaching or doing evangelism?

What would you suggest?

Good verses?

Yeah.

Oh, I mean, it's rather, well, first of all, I wanted to say this earlier that some of the biggest

opposition that I run into, and I'm not speaking for you, but some of the biggest opposition that I run into is

the professed Christian.

They're the angriest seculars.

They are.

And that saddens me.

So in terms of like what verses to use, I mean to the person that's professing Christ, you know,

and I've grown way past the thought that this guy's probably not saved.

You know what I'm saying?

I mean I can't really make that judgment right there.

I mean if they're walking like a duck and talking like a duck and they look like a duck, they're

probably a duck, right?

But at the same time, I want to give them the benefit of the doubt, and I want to encourage them in their faith and in their walk, you know, and

yet I, verses for that person may be something from one of the epistles or even like

1 John would be a great place, those types of verses to preach, those types of verses to go to.

You know, to the non -believer, you know, bring them, like we're talking about through the law, you know, those 10 commandments, those

verses that are just like we've got to know that law, and I remember, you know, Ray Comfort came up with those little images

that, you know, you can remember each one from, so I mean you

know, it's Exodus 20.

So you go to Exodus 20 and learn those laws, you know, learn those 10 laws, and so those would be good verses to

learn.

You know, to the person that's atheistic, you know, verses

that would talk about, you know, creation and Romans 1.

I was just going to I was going to go 116.

Well, I mean, I was going to say 116.

Well, Romans 1 in terms of saying that they have the they worship the creation more than the creator.

Yeah.

Amen.

I mean, that's right where I was turning to.

So yeah, we got Romans 1 and just say this is what the Bible says about a guy like you.

You're not an atheist.

No. There's no excuse.

You're a sinner who merely suppresses the truth by your.

Unrighteousness.

How can you say, we were just talking about Ken being from Oregon, and, you know, how can you sit on the Oregon

coast and look out at the ocean and not believe in a creator?

It's absurdity.

It is.

And illogical.

Psalm 14, 1 -3, the fool is said in his heart.

There is no God.

I think I think taking a person to Philippians 2,

those who doubt that Jesus Christ is God where it talks

about how he humbled himself to the point of taking on human

flesh.

Colossians 1, which talks about how all things were created by him and

through him and for him.

Hebrews 1 and 2 where it talks about Jesus as the exact

representation of God.

Which makes it clear that he is God.

John 8, where Jesus is having that back and forth with

the Jews, and at the end of that conversation he says, before Abraham

was, I am.

He wasn't using bad grammar.

He didn't mean to say, I was, or I used to be, or I existed.

They knew exactly what he was saying.

Their most loved prophet, Moses, met God on that mountain at the burning

bush and Moses said, who shall I say sent me?

I am that I am.

And so when Jesus said, before Abraham was, I am, their immediate response was to pick up stones.

Why?

For bad grammar?

No.

He claimed to be God.

And so you want to find those verses that focus on the deity of Christ.

Obviously you want to find those verses.

2 Corinthians 5, 521 God the Father made him who knew no sin to be sin

on our behalf so that through him we might become, we might receive the righteousness of God.

Colossians 2, the great exchange where our sin was nailed to the

cross.

And passages about the propitiation of Christ in 1 John and

Romans 3 and I believe there's a third time propitiation is mentioned somewhere in Hebrews.

Verses like that.

And verses that talk...

What if you mess up?

Like what happens when you...

And what is messing up I guess?

And then what do we do when we do mess up?

I think that when I've gone out and I've...

I don't think there's any time when I don't feel seriously like just sprinting.

You know, getting out of there.

Like okay I just did what the Lord told me to do and now I'm ready to just like become invisible

man.

But we do mess up.

And we have messed up.

I think most importantly for me is that I don't try to cover it up.

I just want to...

I mean it might not even surface right then.

It might not.

Well and the crowds are looking for that.

The crowds are waiting for you to mess up.

They're...

But what is a mess up?

Well I mean we can define it.

In a lot of ways.

Well responding angrily.

Responding in kind.

That's one way to mess up.

Calling somebody...

You know as opposed to saying the fool has said in his heart there is no God.

And quoting scripture saying you're a fool.

Okay.

And violating what the word of God says.

So we can mess up in that way.

We can mess up by quoting the wrong verse or by

citing some type of scientific principle that maybe we haven't really studied out.

And we misquote a term or something.

There's nothing wrong with messing up.

What's wrong with messing up is trying to cover it up with your pride.

You know I think of messing up though too bro is like when I've been on Ocampus and we're traveling.

And you're just day in and day out.

You're just traveling, traveling, traveling.

You're not eating the food you want to eat.

You're not getting the kind of sleep you want to get.

You're not reading as much as you want to read.

You're not praying as much as you want to pray.

And messing up too could be you know not being prepared to go out and preach.

So I mean there's lots of different mess ups that you could do.

Not only saying something or responding or reacting.

But in preparation.

Preparation you know and I've had that happen where at the end of the day I just think Lord you really I totally messed up today

you know.

Ken and I messed up today.

Ken and I messed up today.

We got back to the car.

We're clicking our heels.

And I say hey man let's pray.

After evangelizing at Boise State.

And I said hey Ken let's pray.

And before we prayed Ken said we probably should have done that before we started too.

Right?

We messed up.

We went out there basically in our own strain.

The Lord redeemed the time.

The Lord protected us from that error.

But yeah that's a way to mess up.

But in that open air setting when you do something or say something that gives the

unbelieving crowd that aha moment.

I admit to it.

Alright I was wrong.

You know what?

I apologize.

I shouldn't have said.

I shouldn't have talked to you that way.

That was not a good representation of Christ.

But I follow it with this.

Not as a yeah but.

You know to try to somehow mitigate or justify what I did, my sin.

I'll look at them and I'll say but is that going to be your defense when you stand before Almighty God?

That you trampled under the foot under your feet the blood of Jesus Christ and denied him

because you saw sin in Tony?

You'll perish and you'll spend eternity in hell.

You will not be able to use me or any other sinful Christian human being

as your defense for not repenting and putting your trust in Christ.

So yeah I blew it.

I made a mistake.

I was wrong.

But that doesn't change God and that doesn't change what he demands of you.

Amen.

Well it's been a good conversation.

It has been a good conversation.

Should everybody do this?

Should everybody open air preach?

You know I don't want to discourage anybody from not doing it.

I'd love to see more pastors out preaching because they're preaching anyway.

They're just doing it somewhere besides in their churches.

And young guys.

When you get a little older and you've done it for a while you start thinking I really hope some Timothys are coming along that can

take this torch and run with it for a while.

You know the commission and people don't even want to use that anymore.

The American homogenized watered down compromised

Christian doesn't even want to use the great commission anymore.

And the great commission brother is to go.

It's not to stay.

It's to go into all the world and to preach the gospel.

And yeah we are supposed to make disciples.

Amen.

It's God's word.

Amen.

But how are they going to hear unless a preacher is sent?

It says it right in God's word.

I just read that.

And Paul here in Romans 1 .16 he says,

We shouldn't be ashamed of it.

So the commission is to go.

Let's tell people to go.

And you know what?

They might go do it once and say you know what?

I believe my gift or my calling is to yes share the gospel and evangelize.

But you're probably going to find me in a Bible study teaching a lot more readily.

Praise God.

Praise God.

Before we go I think it's important that we just briefly touch on a couple more

things.

The first one being the importance for those of us who are out there preaching to

be part of a local assembly of believers.

Talk about that for a second.

Now you're traveling all over the place.

You're traveling a lot more than I am.

But we still have to stay grounded with a pastor and elders who will hold us accountable and love us.

A church family who will pray for us.

A church family whom we will serve as well.

I would ask someone if they're first of all willing to come underneath someone's authority.

Meaning your elder's authority or your pastor's authority or the church's authority.

Are you willing to do that?

You know even before that I would ask are you willing to go to church and worship God?

Or are you the guy that you know you're just you come in and nobody's doing it right.

Nobody in the church that you go to on a Sunday.

So then you stop going.

I think it starts with us brother.

I think at least I can testify in terms of that in my own life is it starts with us when the Lord has convicted

us that we need to go worship Him in spirit and in truth.

We should go find a place to do it.

Yeah at home.

Yeah everywhere we go.

Amen, amen, amen.

But really we've got to find a body of believers.

In 1 John you know I don't know the verse right off hand but I think it's like 1 is

it 1 .9 or so?

Excuse me.

You see that verse?

1 John 1 .7

Yeah 1 .7 says but if we walk in the light as He is in the light we have fellowship with one another.

We have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sins.

So we're going to have fellowship with one another if we're walking in the light.

And in Hebrews we're told not to forsake the gathering together one with another.

So let's go to church.

I think it starts with us.

Can I worship God?

Can I glorify Him?

Am I ready to go there and just learn?

Am I willing to go to church and become a part of a church really and be under the

elders authority or the pastors authority or the churches authority?

I'm telling you when I've had to do that it just brings me to the point of realizing

they're the ones that I'm accountable to.

I'm representing Christ but I'm also representing my church.

If I go out locally I'm thinking oh I'm not just representing Sean the Baptist anymore.

Guess who I'm getting to represent?

Oh I'm not just representing Jesus Christ anymore.

I'm representing my local church.

I try to make it a point to start my open airs by introducing myself and saying hi.

My name is Tony Miano.

I attend Faith Community Church in Santa Clarita, California.

I'm here with the prayerful support of my elders and my pastors and my

church family is praying for me.

And that does a couple of things.

One it lets the people know that I'm not living this nomadic existence.

That I am attached to a body of believers.

And it's a reminder to me that I'm attached to a body of believers.

And that I'm not only representing my church and my pastor and my elders but I'm representing my entire

church family.

Isn't it great?

I mean I can only say this and maybe you're going to disagree with me but hopefully not.

If the two or three people that watch this video.

But isn't it great going to church and learning and being taught?

Why would I disagree with that?

That's where our fight's going to be.

That you would think that I would disagree with that.

I love going to church and learning.

More and more.

The open airs I preach during the week in one way or another come from what I learned on Sunday

morning.

I'm preaching the same at some point I'm preaching maybe the same passage my.

Pastor went through.

But somebody's going to know because they were at church and heard the pastor and then they're going to hear you in the street preaching the same thing.

You're like praise God.

Yeah absolutely.

Alright so last thing before we wrap up.

Getting started.

How did someone get started in open air preaching?

I think one of the easiest ways is to simply go out, open your Bible and

read the Word of God in public.

I challenge people to do that a few years ago.

Something I started called Project Ezra.

I had this idea I'm going to go read for Good Friday.

I'm going to go read Matthew 26 through 28.

You know the account of the death burial resurrection of Jesus Christ.

And why that seemed novel to me I don't know but it did.

And I suggested on Facebook hey you know I'm going to do this.

Why don't some of you do it?

And what I have found over the last several years is that a number of open air preachers have been born

raised up who started simply going out and reading the Bible out loud.

Realizing that they can open their mouth in public and they don't have to worry about having a paused

sermon.

There is no better sermon than the Word of God.

Nothing preaches the Word of God better than the Word of God.

Go out and read the Gospel of John.

Go out and read 1 John.

Go out and read your favorite chapter in the Bible.

Or your favorite passage in the Bible.

And then get down.

Or what a lot of people find is they'll stand up to read the Word of God and they all of a

sudden feel compelled to say something about what they just read.

And before they know it they're communicating the Gospel in the open air.

What do you think would be some easy ways for someone who's never done it before to get started?

Just start.

That's why I say people want to watch YouTube videos and emulate themselves after

some other preacher they've seen.

And I keep telling them, don't do it.

Just be in the Word and be in prayer and go share your faith and pretty soon people are going to be watching videos of you preaching.

You're going to be the YouTube guy that everyone's watching.

Not the person that you're watching.

So do what the Lord's calling you to do and do it in the way in which He's calling you to do it.

There was a preacher in Fort Collins this fall and I went

out with a group down there and we were doing a bar scene after the campus.

Tim Glass?

Tim was down there.

And so there was this young man and he was up preaching reading from the Word and he was expositing and I just

thought, you know, he needs to be encouraged.

I don't want to discourage him but I just was telling him, just get a little bit closer to the crowd.

He doesn't have to separate himself so far back.

So he must have just thought, what you're saying, go read the Word of God and he was expositing.

He was great.

This guy was a good preacher.

He was young.

I love it.

Boy, I can't wait to see what the Lord does with him.

But he needed to be told to get closer because they really couldn't hear him that well and if they did need to interact

he was really separating himself by too many benches.

So I thought, get closer and when you get a little bit of input like that, and by the way, I was going to say that once

you are led to go out and do it in the way the Lord's calling you to do it, it's like attorneys hang out with attorneys, right?

Moms hang out with other moms.

Soccer moms hang out with soccer moms.

I mean, guess what?

Preachers get to hang out with preachers.

It just happens that way.

It does.

And they are going to.

Give you...

We're constantly communicating with one another.

Right.

And they're going to give you feedback.

Yeah.

If they love you.

Well, amen.

It's okay.

Yeah.

It's fun to get feedback.

So they may give you some feedback that would actually, you know, help you in being, you know,

doing it in a way that would maybe meet your style a little bit better.

Or meet your audience a little bit better.

You know, I think if you're preaching to a club scene, you know, in a club district, you might want to get a little further

away from the crowd, you know.

Don't get so.

Close.

Yeah, where you're in bottle range.

Exactly.

Versus, you know, on a college campus, you know, on a university, interact with the kids and get up close at times and then back up and realize when

the crowd is growing you're going to get feedback from people.

And some of it comes with experience but some of it also comes from people that you're with.

Yeah.

And they will give you that feedback.

I'm telling you, it's just precious.

Yeah.

You know.

Absolutely.

I would say the Great Commission is the way to do it.

Go.

It's one word, two letters.

Pretty basic.

Yeah.

And because we have that commission, we shouldn't be sitting around waiting for the leading, per se, of the

Holy Spirit to go and do what God has already commanded.

God has already commanded us to share the gospel with every creature.

So go.

Is open air preaching the only way?

No.

But it's most definitely a biblical way that we see throughout Scripture.

We see it throughout church history.

And is it effective?

Yes.

The gospel is going forth.

How many times from a church or from family or from brothers have you been

attempted to talk you out of your calling?

Yeah.

Often.

There you go.

If anybody ever watches this and they start actually sharing their faith publicly like this, they're going to be told,

oh, you'll cool off after a while.

I don't know how many times I've heard from Christians saying, I used to do that in college.

I used to do that in college.

What's happened to you?

Or because you're doing it, they'll associate with some just way off group that doesn't even preach Christ and the blood and

sacrifice and atonement and propitiation and resurrection.

They just preach like.

Whatever.

If you're thinking about it, if you're nervous about doing it, you just need to go out and do it.

You need to count the cost.

Matt and Ken and I were talking about this earlier today in the car that part of our gospel proclamation should

include counting the cost.

A missionary in China, American who's in China, training up

the Chinese to go across the border into North Korea because they had free, Chinese have free access between

the two borders to go into North Korea to share the gospel.

One of the things North Korean evangelists, Christians in general, share with

people in North Korea when they share the gospel is if you turn from your sin and put your trust in Jesus

Christ, you'll likely be dead in a year.

Are you ready to count that cost?

That's sobering.

Yeah, it is.

We as Christians here in the United States where it's so easy to be a Christian, there's very little counting of the cost.

One way to actually go out and count the cost is to go out in the streets and preach the gospel of Jesus Christ.

So count the cost.

Deny yourself, take up your cross, follow Christ.

It's not man that's putting this on your heart because if it was left up to me,.

I would never go out.

Where do you think you'd be right now?

You'd probably be with your wife right now.

Well, yeah, I'd be with my wife right now.

I might very well still be a deputy sheriff.

Oh, you'd be working in law enforcement.

Yeah, I'd still be working in law enforcement.

Why not, right?

With a great salary and a huge pension and great benefits.

But God humbled me, God broke me to realize that

I was to be serving Him with every ounce of my being by proclaiming His gospel,

by making His name known.

He saved me.

How can I not go out and proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, whether

it's handing out a tract or in a one -to -one conversation or standing up and proclaiming the gospel

in the open air?

How much do I really love Jesus if I'm not

wanting, not only willing, but wanting to talk about Him every day of my life?

But then people are going to hear you say that, brother,.

And they're going to think that they're either not hot enough for Christ or they're not even a Christian.

Because you're saying, how can I not?

As soon as we start saying, how can I not?

And immediately they're going to think, well, you're assuming that I'm not doing.

What I'm supposed to do?

Well, I said I because how can I not?

But I have to ask the question though.

If you don't have a desire to see lost people saved, if you don't

have a desire to speak often about Jesus, how much do you really

love Him?

Your kids, my kids, how quick were we to show people their pictures when they were born?

Right?

Well, we got the ring.

We got married.

How much do we talk about our wives?

My first car.

1968 Javelin.

White with a black vinyl top.

Only seven of the eight cylinders working.

It was the best car on the planet.

And I couldn't wait to drive it to school.

And I couldn't wait for everybody to see the car.

But yet, so many people say they love Jesus.

But they're embarrassed or even ashamed to talk about it.

I'm not questioning your faith.

But shouldn't if you're like that, if you don't want to talk about Jesus, shouldn't we follow, shouldn't you

follow Paul's admonition to examine yourself, test yourself to see if you're in the

faith?

I had to do that.

I had to look in the mirror seven years ago and say, Lord, do I really love you enough to go out and do this?

Or do I love myself so much that I won't risk anything to go preach your

gospel?

Those were issues I had to come to terms with in my life.

And I thank God that he brought me.

To that place in my life.

Amen. Praise the Lord. Amen.

I love you.

I love you brother.

I love you very much.

Amen.

It was great just having this conversation with you.