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The Call of Jesus
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Welcome to this lesson where we are
going to talk about the call of Jesus.
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We are going to talk about
something very, very important,
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something people often skip over.
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In the last lesson we talked about
the person of peace.
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And we are going to talk much more
about that later, in this video series,
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and what a person of peace is.
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The person of peace is somebody
God is calling,
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somebody who's seeking God.
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And we need to know what that is.
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But we also need to know what to do
when we find that person of peace.
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These are some of the things we are
going to talk about in this video series
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and in the next lessons, before we will go back
and look even more on the person of peace.
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So, after talking about
finding the person of peace,
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Jesus continued saying this
in Luke 10:7.
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"Stay there, eating and drinking whatever
they give you,
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for a worker deserves his wages.
Do not move around from house to house."
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So, after Jesus sent us out,
sent His disciples out
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to find that person who is ready
to receive Jesus,
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find that person the Holy Spirit
is calling,
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finding that person who is seeking God,
then He said:
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"Eating and drinking
whatever they give to you."
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That is important.
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It's so, so important and we should not
skip over this.
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We should not skip over that Jesus
has called us to eat and drink
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together with that person of peace.
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Why?
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I can come with so many examples
why it's so important.
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You know, when you are out...
let's say you are out on the street
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or on your workplace, or you go around
and meet people,
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and you there talk with somebody
who is open for God,
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it is not always easy still,
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because people are still a little skeptic,
and a little distant,
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and you are not so relaxed when you
stand up there like...
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maybe on the street and people are
walking by you.
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You are not so relaxed.
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But if you can say to that person:
Hey, there is a restaurant.
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Can we sit down and take something
to eat and drink?
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Yes. We can do that.
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As soon as you sit down with that person
and have food on the table,
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or a cake and coffee - everything changes.
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Everything changes.
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Food, coffee, drink can change
everything.
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Suddenly it becomes so much more
relaxed.
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Suddenly, instead of one-way communication
it becomes more a dialog,
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where you are talking,
and you are relaxing,
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and you start to build a relationship.
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You don't build a relationship the same way
when you stand up and talk with somebody.
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No, food changes everything.
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It makes everything so much more
relaxed.
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It changes the way we are speaking.
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It changes everything.
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We as Christians, especially in churches,
we are often so tight.
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We are so like... oh...
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I remember some years ago
I went to a church
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and I talked with a pastor,
and he was a very nice guy.
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We were talking and having a normal,
natural conversation.
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But then he went up behind the pulpit...
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and suddenly he changed.
It was like...
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HALLELUJAH! HALLELUJAH!
WELCOME TO THE HOUSE OF GOD TODAY!
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HALLELUJAH!
And suddenly he changed.
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And he became weird.
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And I thought, when I saw him:
What happened there?
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I was talking with him five minutes before
and he was so relaxed.
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But now he just changed and became
so religious.
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And this is what we see in churches.
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And this is what we see sometimes
out side churches.
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We need to be relaxed.
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We need to have fun.
We need to eat food. We need to...
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...calm down.
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We need to start to do what Jesus
has said:
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Go out, find the person of peace,
and out there, sit down with them,
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eat and drink.
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Share the gospel. Heal the sick.
Cast out demons.
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Do what Jesus has said.
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Many years ago,
I did not do what Jesus was saying.
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When I found the person of peace,
instead of sitting down with them
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out there, eating and drinking,
sharing the gospel, healing the sick,
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I did a mistake many people did.
I invited them to church.
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When I found somebody who was
open, I said: Hey, you are open,
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come with me,
Come with me to church!
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And do you know what?
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Most people didn't come.
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Why? Because it's one thing to be open
out there, on Monday and Tuesday,
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but it's another thing to go to church
on Sunday.
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If they are open out there on Monday
and you have a good conversation,
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and you say: "Hey, let's see you
in church on Sunday!" -
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there are many days for Satan
to put fear in them.
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There are many days Satan can come
with excuses
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why they should not go to church.
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So, I met many, many persons of peace
out there...
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who were open,
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and I invited them to church...
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and most people did not come.
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If I had just done
what Jesus has called me to.
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If I had just there sat down with them,
ate and drank and shared the gospel with them...
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I would have seen so much more fruit.
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But I remember one time
I got somebody with me to church.
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And that was an eye-opener.
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It was a hard experience.
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Because I took a person with me
to church and I was so excited:
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Are you ready to hear the gospel?
Yeah!
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But then the meeting started.
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In my church, at that time, there was like
45 minutes worship.
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And I was just worshiping God.
I was not thinking of it.
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I was used to it.
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But then I looked at that girl with me.
She was not worshiping God.
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She was standing like this.
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Just looking at people.
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Because she was not used to worshiping.
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And I saw everything through her eyes.
And I saw...
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Okay. Hey, hey, it's going to be good.
Just relax.
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Soon the worship is over.
Come on. Hurry up. Hurry up.
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After 45 minutes worship
there was a lot of information,
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information, information.
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And then they talked about money
and tithing.
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Give money, give money, give money.
You have to give.
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I looked at her. Her eyes became
bigger, and bigger and bigger.
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I was like: No, no, no, no, no.
No, no. It's not only about money.
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And I was like: Be quiet.
Don't talk like that.
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And after: money, money, money,
and talk, and information,
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there was more worship.
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And I was like:
Please, come to the gospel.
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Please, come to the gospel.
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And then finally they came to the gospel.
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Where the pastor was talking about
how Abraham took a knife
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and wanted to offer Isaac, and...
It was just a mess.
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And at the end of that meeting
he asked:
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Anyone wants Jesus?
Lift up your hands.
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There was no gospel,
there was no repentance,
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there was no baptism,
there was no Holy Spirit.
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There was nothing of that.
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I stopped inviting people to church.
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Why?
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Because Jesus has never called us to do it.
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Try to imagine this.
Try to imagine...
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If you invite somebody to McDonald's:
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Hey, do you want to sit down with me
on McDonald's?
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Okay, let's sit down.
And you sit down. And you suddenly:
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HALLELUJAH!
WELCOME TO MCDONALD'S!
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HALLELUJAH!
IT'S SO GOOD TO SEE YOU IN MCDONALD'S!
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TODAY WE ARE GOING TO HAVE BIG MAC!
HALLELUJAH!
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AND WE ARE GOING TO HAVE ICE CREAM
AFTERWARD AND A MILKSHAKE!
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HALLELUJAH!
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And you talk non-stop 45 minutes
and say: Amen! Amen!
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Are you going to do that in McDonald's?
No, you are not.
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Or you are crazy.
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No, what do you do in McDonald's,
or Burger King, or any other place,
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you sit down and you are relaxed.
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You don't change your way of speaking.
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And you talk and you communicate.
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And there, when you sit down with somebody,
and eat and drink...
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you don't need to have 45 minutes worship,
you don't need to take up an offer,
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you don't need to come with a lot of
information.
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You can go directly to the gospel.
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You can go directly to the gospel
and give that person what he/she needs.
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And then you can lead that person
to Christ and baptize them in water
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and Holy Spirit. And you will have
a natural relationship with them
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and can follow up on them,
instead of taking them to the church
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and get the pastor to do it, who doesn't
have any more time to follow up on people.
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We need to change the way
we are doing it,
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from our way to Jesus' way.
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When I, many years ago,
stopped inviting people to church,
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and instead started to invite them
to a cafe or go to their house,
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or my house, and sit down,
and build a relationship with them,
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talk with them, communicate with them,
giving good time to share the gospel with them,
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and then I baptized them in water and
the Holy Spirit,
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heal the sick, cast out demons -
everything changed.
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We started to see so many, many, many,
many, many, many, many, many
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people come to Christ.
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And people we shared this to,
they started to see so many, many, many,
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many people come to Christ.
Why?
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Because the problem is not the harvest.
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The problem is the workers.
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They are few,
or they don't know what to do.
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They don't know what to do.
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They are standing and shouting
for the harvest to come in.
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Or they go out to the harvest
and invite them in.
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No. When you find a person of peace,
do what Jesus is calling you to.
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Sit down with them.
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Sit down with them.
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Go to their house.
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Sit down with them.
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Take some food.
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Take some coffee.
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Create a relaxed atmosphere.
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Get to know them: Hey, who are you?
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Tell me more about you.
Where are you working?
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Have you met God before?
Is it new for you? Is not not new for you?
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Have you come to faith?
Have you come to repentance?
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Are you baptized in water?
Oh, not yet. Okay.
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Do you know about speaking in tongues
and the Holy Spirit? Oh, you don't.
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You talk with them and then you find out
who that person is you are sitting in front of.
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And then you give that person
what that person needs.
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It's so much more effective then
just invite them to a church.
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Where they don't understand
half of what is happening.
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Yes, I know when I'm saying this
that people will think:
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Oh, this is too difficult.
I've never done that before.
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I've never led anyone to Christ.
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I've only invited people to the church
and let the pastor do it.
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Firs I want to say:
Yes, all the beginnings are difficult.
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But I also want to say:
It becomes easier, and easier, and easier
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every time you do it.
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But, can I challenge you?
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If you have been a Christian
for 5, 10, 15, 20 years,
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and still don't know how to lead
somebody to Christ...
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Don't you think you need to change
something?
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If you don't know how to do it now,
don't keep doing
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what you have been doing
the last 5, 10 years.
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Don't be deceived.
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Jesus has called you
to be fishers of men.
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He has called you to obey Him.
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He has not called you to just
come into a church
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and look at other people do it.
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Repent. Turn away for your
disobedience.
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Repent and start to obey Jesus.
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Start to obey the call He has given you.
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And there I want to say that His call
is not to stand on a platform only.
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It's not to just stand with a mike
in a hand.
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Jesus' call is something you can do it.
It's something everyone can do.
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Yes, it's not everyone who can stand
on a platform with 10,000 people
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and a mike in a hand.
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But everyone can sit down
with a person...
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and eat and drink.
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Everyone can sit down with a person
and learn to share the gospel
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over a coffee table.
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Everyone can learn to do what
Jesus has called us to do.
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And later, we are going to,
in this video series
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and in my book "The Call of Jesus"
give you many more tools
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of how do you then share the gospel
when you find the person of peace,
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what does Jesus says about
not moving from house to house,
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how do you build them up.
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In the rest of the book we are
going to give you tools, and tools,
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and tools, and tools,
not only how do you find the person of peace,
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but what you do
when you find that person of peace.
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So, you are equipped and ready for it.
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And to be honest,
if I look at my own life,
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I've been walking with God
for 25 years now,
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I started to talk about Jesus
when I came to faith 25 years ago,
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but I'm sad.
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I'm sad when I think
of all of those people,
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the first 7, 8, 9 years of my
Christian walk,
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I met, who were, actually,
a person of peace,
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but where I did not know what to do
when I met them.
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Where I did that mistake that most times
I just invited them to the church.
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And they came in,
and they went out again.
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I'm so sad of so many people
I met out there during the week.
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Instead of taking that moment,
instead of taking that opportunity God gave,
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and sit down with them
and do what Jesus has said...
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I just let it go pass.
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I just invited them to the church.
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Most people did not show up
and those who came,
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most people did not get the gospel.
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If I had done it Jesus' way,
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if I had just known what I'm sharing
to you now,
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I would have seen so many more
lives changed.
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Because, as I said before,
it's one thing to be open out there,
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it's one thing to be open when
you meet people on your workplace,
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or in your school,
or when you're out shopping,
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and have a good conversation.
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It's something else to go to church.
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Many people don't want to go to church.
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They are done with the church.
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Don't give them church.
Give them Jesus.
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If you invite them to church,
Satan has so many, many, many
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days to put fear into them,
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and to give them so many reasons why
they should not go to church.
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Don't give them church.
Give them Jesus.
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Sit down with them.
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And when you have then led them to God,
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if you want to take them with you
to a fellowship, then do that.
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Or start a new fellowship
in their home.
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It's something we are going to
talk much more about later.
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So, I really, really hope you'll take this
to you, listen to it and obey it.
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I want to read a little from my book
"The Call of Jesus".
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"As I said before, it is so sad to look back
and see how many people of peace
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we have lost because we did not follow
what Jesus said we should do.
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So I encourage you, when you do find
a person of peace, stay with them.
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Do not just invite them to church
next Sunday.
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You know Satan will have a lot of time
to create fear in them
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and tell them many reasons
they should not go.
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And if they do go, you never know
what they will get there.
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Instead, do what Jesus has called you to.
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When you find a person of peace,
sit down and eat and drink with them.
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Get to know them over some food.
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Build a relationship with them,
and then take the time to share the Gospel
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and heal the sick, like Jesus is saying.
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If we train Christians to do this simple thing
Jesus has called us to do,
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we will see thousands of people coming
to faith,
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and we will see a movement
we have never seen before."
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Hallelujah! And I will say:
this is so, so correct.
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And that's why I'm so, so excited
about this, because this is so simple.
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This is so simple, and something
we can all do.
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And therefore Satan fights so hard
against getting this out to people.
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He want us to just continue doing church
the way we are always doing,
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instead of stop doing it our way
and start to obey Jesus.
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So, I encourage you:
start to obey the call Jesus has given you.
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So, share this video.
Share this teaching.
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Share my book "The Call of Jesus".
Start to obey it. Share it.
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And let's see a move of God
we have never seen before.
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Let's see thousands and ten thousands
of people coming to faith.
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It's simple. It's just there.
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The harvest is ready.
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We just need to do
what Jesus has said.
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Next time we are going to talk
much more about
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some of things Jesus is saying,
when it comes to
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staying with them,
not moving from house to house.
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Later, we are also going to talk
about how do we then share
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the gospel, when we meet that person,
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we are going to look at how do we
heal the sick,
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how do we cast out demons,
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how do we build them up,
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how do we do this and this and this,
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and we will just build with you,
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so in the end of this video series,
in the end of the book,
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you are ready to go,
ready to obey the call of Jesus,
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ready to see, experience
what Jesus is saying.
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God bless you and see you next time!
Bye-bye!
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The Call of Jesus.