Ep. 383 - Why So Many Christians Feel Spiritually Numb Today

Apathy is a numbers. What's the question? It's a numbness about what? It's a numbness about

the fate of the lost. This is what I think. It's a bad fellow of discouragement. When you get

discouraged, you tend to become numb and apathetic about the Great Commission. Was it look like it?

Wakes up in the morning and thinks about itself. How can I make myself most happy today? It's

self-send, self-absorbed, and self-indulgent. But a life that's fueled by zeal for God's will

is a life of self-denial. Wakes up in the morning and says, how can I serve God today? From my

understanding of Scripture, to do that means to joyfully follow in the footsteps of Jesus,

who said he was here to seek and save that which has lost. So, nothing in this world matters for me.

It's transient, it's chasing the wind, but most importantly, it's evil. You know, we said,

oh, life has vented this world's vain, but no, it's evil in God's eyes. Everything about it is

like Lazarus after four days. It should stink in our nostrils, because we want to do God's will.

And so, the Christian says with Jesus, let the dead bury the dead, we have something

infinitely more important to do, and that's to seek and say that which is lost.

It's one thing to talk to yourself. It's one thing to laugh to yourself. It's one thing to snort

to yourself, but friends, when you do all three of those things at the same time, you know,

you've got something special going on. That happened with me this morning. Did it? Yeah.

I was in... Looked in the mirror? I was at the sink in my bathroom, and I think I finished

brushing my teeth. And I started... You think you'd finished brushing your teeth? I think, because I

do that a couple of times a year, brushing my teeth, I think it was that special moment.

And I started laughing because I remembered that I was just laughing the day before with Rachel

uncontrollably in the kitchen, and I started laughing over that, but couldn't remember what it was

we were laughing about. So I wake Rachel up, she's dead asleep. And she's what? Dead asleep. She died?

She couldn't remember. She actually thought I was asking her about a few weeks ago, but I was

asking her about really last night. And then I was so fresh I couldn't remember, but then I finally

remembered what was this. What did you ask, Chip? It probably knows, right? We talked about

other rhythms on a recent episode, yeah. But I finally remembered what it was, and we were just dying

belly, belly laughing. I went to cut something in the kitchen and realized we've had the same

knives for 30 years to work. Rickety, they're like, you don't have the wooden handles on them.

And, you know, they're just old. And they, and they don't, and it dawned on me. I'm like,

Hey, Rachel, have you ever thought about a buying new knives? Like the thought never occurred.

So is this one of those Christmas things you want? And you're just very subtly saying you want

these? Well, we just, I just hit us both with 30 years, and it never occurred to us to buy new

what I'm hearing is that it's been 30 years since the last time easy walked into the kitchen.

You know what? Pretty true. If you stop eating out. Oh, so anyway, she got new knives. And the

reason why we start laughing at is because I'm like, these are, I'm made like they cut, they actually

cut stuff, you know, you don't sharpen your knives. No, I know. Do you know how to sharpen a knife

easy? Wait, do you have a knife sharpener? I asked her about a knife sharpener. She said there,

there aren't any really good ones you can get. Are there what? What? What are you talking about?

Don't blame me. It's the woman he gave me. No, no, no, no. The man is supposed to sharpen the knife.

Oh, you're not the chef. It's not life in the 20s. I remember, you guys remember the old

can openers. I don't know if they still have those. Yeah, but they all used to have sharpeners on

the back, right? Oh, I don't know. I could teach you how to sharpen a knife. But Mark,

these are like old cheesy knives. They go on. He's got new knives. Anyway, the ones we got are so

cool. They're like keeping sharp. They're all it's a there's no division or would. It's all like

one thing. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, that's the most recent crevices. That's how you

look at your fingers and enjoy them at the moment. Do you know what the brand is that we got? Yeah,

should you start? I don't know, but they're really good. Is Gensu? You know, those are cheap.

Gensu? Why is that as a joke? I say cheap Gensu. Gensu, those those advertising.

Gensu. Gensu. What are good? Because look, there's this place called the kitchen. What is it?

Target? No, no chefs toys or something like that. Oh, yeah, chef's kitchen chef. Yeah,

toys. You know what I asked is because I was sick of our knives. And so I shot Lanza text.

Oh, yeah. And I was like, dude, give me a knife. Chef, I love chopping up chicken for tacos.

I, you know, and so he sent me a few options and I picked the one I could afford. And it's like,

the kids call it my samurai sword, because it can chop. No, these are expensive. Yeah,

there's not some cheap. Mark, you asked like, you're a connoisseur like you know, I'm not,

I'm not a connoisseur, but there are a few knife brands out there. It's an important tool. Yeah,

Dell Strong, DL, STRO and G Dell Strong makes some amazing, amazing knives that I would recommend.

Yeah, but these, I mean, I'm like, it's just so weird that like, it's like your window is never

cleaned for years. And you can't see through it. And you're saying, oh, this is a solid window

that you clean. It's like, what? These knives are glorious. Dude, I went on a, I binged. Dude,

I went down a YouTube rabbit hole because I washed my car recently and I get in and I can see

streaks on my window. And so then I'm like, how do I get rid of these streaks? I turned into easy,

dude. I went down a YouTube, I bought like this microfiber. They say news like a waffle,

no way. When I was a microfiber waffle towel and I bought this special spray and there's this

three-step process. And I did it. And I can, it doesn't even look like there's a window there.

And now every time a bug hits it, I'm like, like, it's back. Yeah. Yeah,

was that the inside and the outside? Yeah. Oh, and then on the outside, I put a ceramic coating

so that water just beads right off of it. Can you send me a link to what you got?

No, better. I'll do it to your car. Really? Next time.

Part of the car? Yeah, just so small enough. No, no, no, no, this is, this is the

slew's car. It's been driving a crazy. Really? Yeah, when the weekend, we just coming back from

the Christmas party. We had trouble seeing that could be our age. Oscar got a new car.

So now he's, he's not new to you. It's not the duct taped car. Yeah.

But I, I will, I, I will send you links and or I'd love to come and do it for her.

Well, yeah. So yeah, that's it. The most favorite is I've been in the flesh last few days because

my daughter borrowed my car. I won't say her name. So Kylie borrowed the car.

And she's cruising around with her friends. And one of her friends started started to write

on the inside of the window. And so now it's just every time, you know, it fogs up whatever I see

or I just try. I mean, that's, I haven't been able to go get the car clean. So anyway. Yeah,

that's a good stuff. All right. Time for a cool classy comment. This is from Matthew Nelson.

I would assume K and E L S E N. Hey, brothers, my name is Matthew from Wheatley, Ontario, Canada.

How boot that a guys, I appreciate your ministry. Sincerely, you guys have taught me so much to

your ministry and God has used you guys severely and creating a desire in me and many people I know

to reach the lost and giving us tools to do so. Our church started an evangelist ministry a couple

of years ago. I and some other guys are learning how to structure our nights and how to help and

equip the people in our church who come out with us to evangelize. I recently purchased your

evangelist training course. And first of all, thank you for making the PDF downloads to use to

help train us all. From a teaching perspective, what might be too much information to go through

in one sitting? We meet every Thursday and are planning on doing a teaching night once a month.

And if we did one lesson a month, that would be 101 months to go through this. LOL. Just looking

for some guidance or even how you guys structure your ambassador's academy. I'd like to be able to do

something similar. Eventually, with you guys being an experience as experienced as you are,

I'd really appreciate your input. Much love. Matthew. Matthew in Ontario, Canada, our brother,

Corey McKenna. Yeah, yeah. Is out in that region. You know, that reminded me, you know,

occasionally we have questions that are like submitted and stuff. Yeah. We should consider from time

the time starting off the podcast with answering a question. That's a good idea. Can we do that

instead of singing? No, we can't. We cannot. That's a good idea, Mark. What's a

Victorian monk? A Victorian monk from Gregoria. They used to sing. That's a good idea, Mark. So,

yeah, any thoughts on this guys? Had a structure to where it's not too much information and kind of

they could get through times of teaching? Well, let me say this. I think that we can get boggled

down with too much teaching and not going. All right, the fishless fisherman. See that

tundums fast. Tundums fast. Very good. And we don't go. So, I think a lot of times we can grow

as we go. I'm not saying that we need to remove the classroom. We need to study. But I think

that a lot of times you can never go in your only growing. Yeah. So make sure you go. Make sure

you go. Make sure you go. Well, I assume they're alluding to the 101, you know, the school

biblical evangelism, 101 lessons. I would say maybe something that'd be good to do is everyone reads

a lesson at home or goes through it at home on their own. And then you get together and you just

in a real succinct way, just share the points that struck you already for whatever. Yeah. Yeah.

So yeah, I remember hearing a guy. I just want to re-emphasize what you said. I remember hearing

a pasture one day point out, like imagine, imagine, you know, to study and come up with the idea of

theology, apologetics, evangelism, not do it. He said, imagine, I told my daughter go clean your

room. And she was like, okay, you know, and she leaves and she goes into her room and then he walks

in there and her daughter is sitting there with a five point presentation to all her friends about

how her father told her that she ought to clean her room. And she's doing this while her room is

still dirty. He's like, at some point, you have to just do the thing the Lord has called you to do.

And so to your point, that's exactly right. Go. Like I remember years ago, I won this racing

academy thing through my old job. And so we got to go and we sat in this huge warehouse and we

watched this video about car racing. And then we sat in a car while the other driver, a professional

race car driver race the car and you're sitting there with your helmet. He's telling you what to do.

And then the next step is he moves into the passenger seat and I move into the driver seat.

And now he's walking me through wind to shift and how to hit my access and things. And that's

a great model for evangelism. If you're going to host a conference, show them. Well, teach them,

then show them, then have them do it. That's the academy. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. And if you

haven't come out to one, Matthew, we'd love to have you. So sign up and come and you can see

firsthand how it's done. All right, podcast ranking shout out. Number 26 in Canada. Number 73 in

the US. We love the United States. Oh, yeah. This is, this is in on Apple and it's for the Christian

podcast category. But in Canada, that's number 26 for Christian, but number 36 in all religious

podcasts, 73 in the US for Christian 99 out of all religious, that means every religion you can

imagine. Do we know how many religious podcasts don't like that would have any religious podcasts

there? 32. So they skipped some. Yeah, there's got to be thousands, you know, millions. Yeah, so

good emailing trillions, quadrillions, quadrillions. All right. And now a radically revolutionary

resources podcast is brought to you by fittingly the School of Biblical Evangelism 101 Lessons. You

can get it an online version or form or the online book. Mark, the school has been around.

Oh, 2001. Was it really 2021? 25 years. It's going to be 25 years. We better have a celebration.

Wow. It's hard. The internet was going 2001. It wasn't. It was on the internet running.

But friends, check it out. As you heard from Matthew, it's had an impact on them and the thing I

love about the School of Biblical Evangelism is it doesn't just instruct you on what to do. It

gives you challenges. Like things you're supposed to go out and do and that holds you accountable.

So check it out. Finding. Yeah. What? Finding. I don't like it, can't it? Go over to the living

waters. No, no, going over to your neighbor and witnessing them. We came up with those wonderful

ideas for people to do. Great. Great. Can you imagine going to someone's house to try to witness

to them and they have a son named Lucifer? Can you imagine something like that? I remember that.

What did you do when you heard that, Ray? That's New Zealand, right? Yeah. They actually had a

son named Lucifer. The son named Lucifer and I was going to say, what are your other kids' names?

Judas, Jezebel. Adolf. Adolf. Adolf. Adolf. That's the last word.

Quatre. Yeah. So I had to witness to them. God, I felt so convicted because I was condescending when

I heard that towards them. Oh, God, how can anyone name this? I'm Lucifer and I felt the Lord

and speak to my heart, which, you know what I'm saying, go over and share the gospel with them.

I thought, no, no, I'll just stay here and pray and I had to go over there and share the gospel

and then I grabbed a book, the first book that my friends are dying, walked up their driveway and a

guy came out, pointed at me and said, very comforted, just finished reading a book, my friends are

dying and it was Lucifer's dad and so they invited me in, gave me food and I was able to witness

to them and that's, so it was a lesson to me not to pray without having legs to my prayers.

Amen. Yeah, the school blue evangelism book will teach you how to do that and don't forget to live

in Water's mug, the evidence study Bible, Living Water's TV, all at LivingWaters.com.

I just imagined for Halloween Lucifer dresses up as a snake in the back of your door.

Serpent, man. Just as if like an angel of the opposite. And friends, don't forget to subscribe to

the podcast YouTube channel, tens of thousands of subscribers. You'll see in here us.

Speaking of, I did a sermon on Revelation for Advent and the Big Red Dragon and I, I had this

great idea. We have like outside of our house, we have the Nativity scene for Christmas. I'm like,

babe, we should get a huge red blowup dragon to put behind the Nativity scene.

Can you imagine the conversation starter that would be for the neighbors? Be like, whoa,

what is that? That's Revelation. When they'd be cool. We're doing it. Are you doing it?

Are you going to do it? Oh, yeah. Oh, give us photos. Yeah, I will.

And all the neighbors that shoot, shoot.

All right, friends, today we're talking about why so many Christians feel spiritually numb.

I thought I said dumb. So what's the, the other thing underneath of the hidden apathy and

dullness taking over the modern church?

Throughout the years, the Ambassador's Academy has trained over 1,400 believers from around

the world to share the gospel biblically and boldly. Now it's your turn. Join us next summer

in Southern California for an intensive hands-on weekend of evangelism training in iconic locations

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Yeah, yeah, that's a note for us, right? And all we're talking about is you know,

things are happening. Well, that's where I'm going with this and I want a justification for it.

Yeah, go away. You've got the floor. Well, apathy is a camouflaged enemy and we should shoot it

down and it'll kill us. And we've got to kill it before it kills us. And one portion of scripture

that thrills me like 10,000 other portions of scripture is where Jesus cleared the temple.

The zeal of his house, eight, and up. What does that mean? It means that he was zealous to a point

of violence and is seeking for the father's glory. And if you can get that zeal, which is the

opposite of apathy, you'll do things that you wouldn't think possible in your life.

If you can get that zeal, just the other day I did something, it could have got me killed,

but I don't. Oh, again? Really? Yes. I was on my bike and this elderly lady was standing

on a street corner and she's a lady I see almost every day and I've witnessed her in giving

a book and she's very, very sweet, but I watch her day by day become more and more frail.

She carries a stick and she's going to die soon. My heart breaks for her and often stop and talk

to her and she even takes in and out cards, which is great. Anyway, this day I came up and there

was a car that had four exhausts. They're called twins, but it was double twins. And it was so loud,

it was vibrating my false teeth. No, I don't have false teeth. But seriously, it was a window shaker.

There are loud cars and this one was on steroids to a point where it would set off car alarms

as it went past. And she was standing on the corner with that car right by a 20, 30 feet away

and she was terrified by it because it sounded so and so I stopped and I turned to the guy that was

just getting out the car. I said, that noise is terrifying this lady and he got out and he had

big tattoos, big muscles and he turned to me and said, I'm sorry.

And I turned to the lady and I said, well, I didn't get shot. But that's if you let zeal

consume you because I was just so concerned for that woman. And if we can be like that about

the father's glory, we'll do things that we push out of fears, we won't think of the future.

And one criticism of me is I don't think of consequences, but sometimes that's good when you're

a zealous for God. Jesus didn't think of, Jesus didn't think of consequences. When he cleared

the temple, he knew what the consequences would be. They wanted his death. Straight after that,

they said, they conspired to kill him, but he didn't care because the zeal of God's house had

eaten him. I would call that courage, right? I mean, you know the consequences, but you still do

it because you know that it's right. We just, we just, everyone's been talking about obviously

that the crazy shooting that happened in Australia, Bondi. You guys say Bondi or Bondi, right?

It's Bondi. Bondi Beach. We were there, guys. I know. We were there. In that very area, you know,

along that street that happened. No, no, no. We were at Bondi Beach. Yeah, when we did our tour

for season 10. We witnessed there. We did open air evangelism there. It was just right. Yeah,

right in the area. So this has changed Australia forever because it's a safe, so-called country.

Yeah. It's not like America has, and I often get people from down under in Australia say to me,

America's got too many guns. That's your problem. Do something about it. So what are you supposed to

do about it? You know, the bad guys got the guns. You got to better protect yourself. Well,

in a country where, where guns are banned. Yeah, you know, I mean, banned probably for the public.

I think this guy had, maybe it was a hunting, they heard there were hunting guns or something. I don't

know, but it was two of them. Yeah, two of them. Father's son, right? Yeah. But the courage of that

shop owner that tackled the shooter, that's courage. You know, that's looking and caring. It's saying,

if this guy isn't stopped, more people are going to die. Yeah. And so he risked his own life,

and he ended up getting shot. I think it already be. No, I thought he took the gun away from him.

He did, but the other, the guy's son was up on the, on the, oh, I didn't. Yeah, on the bridge,

and he got shot. I heard. I thought he'd been shot before he tackled him, and he just ignored

the wounds in his leg and just went for the guy. There's video of chronology in the guy.

Is it wonderful? It's just, it's just wonderful to see him doing this. He courage in action.

So that's courage. So, so Ray, you said apathy. How do you define apathy? Well, the, the etymology

comes from the word ap pathetic. Does it really? Yeah, yeah. Actually, well, I just, I just

say apathy's pathetic. I have the etymology somewhere. It's completely gone, but it does

from the Latin word. It's ap. Yeah, and pathy. It means to be totally unconcerned about something.

Yeah. Couldn't kill less about something. Mark, doesn't that terrify you the thought of

getting to a place where we really just don't care? And how do, where does that come from?

Right. I mean, it's found it etymology. Apathy. Apathy.

Poor Mark. Ap A-T-H-E-S without emotion or passion. That's the etymology. Can I

rely on that? Maybe it's a slow drift. You know, we, we, we, we talk about slow drifting. Nobody,

somebody comes knocking on your door and it's a woman not fully clothed. You're not

answering the door. Right. It doesn't start like that. It doesn't work like that. You know,

if somebody offers you cocaine, you're never done drugs, you're never going to take cocaine.

Nobody, it doesn't start like that. Right. There, there's always this, this progression

downward of just avoiding certain things, avoiding certain people. Unfortunately, and sadly,

that slow drift is what we need to really be careful with where, hey, I'm going to skip a family

divo. I'm going to skip going to church on Sunday because my team is plain and they're on television

this week. I'm going to skip praying before a podcast. I'm going to slip praying. Yeah, we forgot.

What was the, how many podcasts have we done? 384. 382. 382. 382. So what was the, what was the

dreaded podcast that we forgot to bring? 382. 382. 382. I never forget that number ever. First

time in that we forgot to pray, but God was gracious. Wow. Shame on you guys.

I'm sorry, continue more. You know, so we think that, that fire, it, it once burned,

bright, and then it just begins to flicker before you realize that flickering becomes obnoxious.

Right. And so you don't fan it, what happens? It, it goes out and you'd much rather have it out

that have it begin to flicker. You, you want that commotion, that noise of the spirit,

and then we look at it like that, the spirit begins to just be noisy and nosy perhaps,

even inside of our lives. You know, just give me a break, give, give me a moment. And there's

this slow drift. And before we realize and recognize, um, we're apathetic, we're, we're numb to

conviction. Um, oh, there, there, there's only, there's only one F word inside there. I,

I could go with that in that movie. I could, well, I could, well, that doesn't, this doesn't need

angel or clear play. And then we begin to rationalize maybe two or three or whatever, and it just,

it's progressive. You must always be on your guard, always putting on the full armor of God,

always be alert, always be aware of your situation, your circumstance, having those bouncing

eyes as Steve Archerburn talks about bouncing eyes in the midst of our circumstance, always wanting

to say search me and try me, see if there's any wicked way in me, lead me in the way we're

lasting. Because if you don't, there is a danger attached to that. So rebellion isn't necessarily

completely outward. It's, there's just a drifting. Yeah. And I, I like the highlight of that

mark. It's not always overt. It's not always this, you know, expression of like, I don't care,

I don't, but that slow drift, little by little, and you just get to a place where you, you, you say,

how did I get here? It's, it's almost like this wonder, but small degrees. You resign, right? And

you resign from the idea of, I, I've seen in so many people's lives, right? We, we don't want to

major on the miners, but we still want to have conviction, right? We talk, we were quick to talk

about these tertiary is the secondary, not essential issues, but they're still an essential element

to these things. And we need to talk about these things agreeably, you know, we can disagree,

agreeably and cordially. But what happens when you start saying, you know what? Well, he has this

view, I have that view. And there's this theological triage happening. And we don't know which

what road to die on, what, what hill to die on. And, and, and we need to be careful with that.

It's okay to have an opinion, have an opinion. But when you begin to drift and you don't want to

have an opinion for anything because you don't want to offend, the gospel is offensive. So have

an opinion about certain things and be ready to discuss those tertiary issues. And I think that

we begin to throw main essential issues into tertiary issues, secondary, not essential issues.

It's good. Oscar, I love it. Mark, you said something earlier that reminded me of something

that I wanted to say and I forgot it, which is that you said this thing. That was me buying time.

What's going on? You can go to Oscar.

Something of like, you know, when, oh, I know what it was, when accusations come,

the search me and try me. And I think it also applies to accusations. If someone making

someone that you love, someone that you barely know, if anybody makes an accusation against you,

there's this tendency to become defensive. Or there's this opportunity to say, man, what if 10

percent of it was true? And if 10 percent of it is true, then I want to repent. I want to grow

in mature and wisdom and discernment. And so then have this search me and try me. Then have to,

to, you know, if an accusation comes from someone who you barely know, turn to someone that

knows you and say, hey, is this true? Is this true? Search me and try me. Tell me if this is true

because I want to repent of it. You know, I have two of my kids were, were budding heads over a

subject this week. And the one who got approached, who got rebuked and corrected, was being just

slightly offensive, offended to what was being said. So I stepped in and I said, time out for just

a moment. Listen, consider the source. And you don't necessarily have to consider the source.

Truth is just truth. But is what you're sibling sharing with you? Are you looking for an out?

I'm going to discount everything you're saying because this element is not true. Or are you

willing to go, you know what? I think that there may be an element of truth to what is being said.

Look for the element of truth to what is being said as opposed to looking for the out and trying

to discount and discard everything else that that's sibling is saying. And it caused a pause in the

midst of the conversation because and I said, look, I agree. This is how you act when this happens.

Yeah. You need to consider the source. Yeah. But just pause over arching truth. Go with it.

Yeah. Yeah. It's it's such an opportunity for us. I think so often that the legalistic side of us

the inner lawyer comes out and we want to defend and protect whatever idle we're trying to

defend it, whatever old habit we have. But if we are able to remember that we are on a journey

to become more like Christ and that accusations, whether true or false conflict interactions,

the ultimate goal of God is not to show you their right in your wrong or your right in their

wrong, the ultimate goal of God in those conflict situations is to make you more like Christ.

If you have that mindset, then you have the unashamed approach of where's the 10%.

Let me figure out the 10% so I can grow and mature in wisdom. Whether that's repentance from sin

or growing in wisdom, both both things ultimately grow you closer to be like Christ. But let me

shift the gears a little bit here and also say because we're talking about ultimately what we're

talking about is what revelation calls a lukewarmness. And lukewarmness is often misunderstood.

We think like when we hear it say, you know, it says you're a neither hot nor cold like certainly

the scriptures aren't saying you need to be absolutely emotionally on fire or freezing cold

don't care. What that lukewarmness means is not being fervorant or I'm sorry, it means this,

it means ineffective. You are ineffective for what God means to do through you in this world

because you have an apathy and as it pertains to the church that letter was written to,

their ineffectiveness in their apathy came from comfort. Oh thanks a lot.

From rain comfort. You do. From self-sufficiency. And I would just say like I just finished a study

through revelations on my own personal time and I was so convicted to just realize like we are

listened to all over the world. But let me just talk to the Americans in the digital room that we're

talking to here, which is as Americans, we can fall into comfort. Like we are that comfortable

city. If you have more than one pair of shoes, if your household has more than one car,

you are in the top 1% of the world in comfort will make you ineffective. It will grow your

apathy for the gospel when you are uncomfortable. When you are in deep need and deep pain,

your mission in life, your call, the great commission is so much more clear. And more importantly,

your dependency on God is so much more obvious. And that's the scary thing is that comfort

makes us feel self-sufficient. And when we forget our dependency on God, we grow apathetic to God's

will. Or that's really, really good. Because I was having similar thoughts, how can I bring this

back to evangelism? And you did it. Apathy is a number. What's the question? It's a numbness about

what? It's a numbness about the fate of the lost. This is what I think. It's a bad fellow of

discouragement. When you get discouraged, you tend to become numb and apathetic about the great

commission. And so what I've got to do is a Christian is say no matter what life throws at me,

I'm the lost or still lost. As soon as it's still going to hell. And so what we should be saying is

I have no rights as a Christian. I'm not my own. My commitment to the great commission is iron

clad. I've set my face as a flint toward Jerusalem. I'm stubborn for the gospel. I love that word

flint because a flint is such a hard stone. If you hit it, you get sparks. And that's the attitude

of mine. That's the attitude of mine that we should have to the great commission to the lost.

So what does it look like? Apathy's camouflage, I say that earlier, it's an enemy that comes

camouflaged. Was it look like it? Wakes up in the morning and thinks about itself. How can I

make myself most happy today? It's self-send, self-absorbed, and self-indulgent. But a life that's

fueled by zeal for God's will is a life of self-denial. A wake up in the morning and says how can I

serve God today? From my understanding in Scripture, to do that means to joyfully follow in the

footsteps of Jesus who said he was here to seek and say that which is lost. So nothing in this

world matters for me. It's transient, it's chasing the wind, but most importantly, it's evil.

You know, we said, oh, life has vented this world's vain, but no, it's evil in God's eyes.

Everything about it is like Lazarus after four days. It should stink in our nostrils because

we want to do God's will. And so the Christian says with Jesus, let the dead bury the dead, we have

something infinitely more important to do. And that's to seek and say that which is lost.

Oh, good. You know, I think one of the main causes of apathy and numbness is forgetfulness.

You know, you think about like one of the beautiful days we experienced here in California,

which is close to every day, right? That can't happen. Yeah. Ray and I are constantly harassing

Ken Ham was like in a frozen tundra right now. But, but you know, there are days where I'll walk outside

and I live in a very, very quiet neighborhood. It'll be like one of those clear blue sky days.

You can't hear any noise of cars, traffic. The weather is perfect. And there's a calmness.

It's so hard at that moment to remember that the wrath of God is burning hot against evil wicked

sinners. I mean, that's not on my mind at that moment, right? So if I see my neighbor, hey, Tom,

how you doing? Hey, good. I'm not thinking if he doesn't know the Lord, like he is a breath away

from sealing his fate to be consumed in the eternal lake of fire forever. And guys, look,

I can't tell you how many times I've praised God that I wrote something down on a sticky note

because it was massively important. I was about to walk out the door, whatever,

and I was going to take that thing with me or do that thing or whatever. And I'm like, oh, I'm so

lighter. It was a reminder. And I think what we need in our lives, our constant reminders

before our eyes, because we know we're prone to wander and forget the wrath of God is burning hot.

Sinners are on their way to hell. There are believers that need encouragement who are broken right

now and disheartened. One's the last time I picked up the phone and called that brother or sister

reached out to them. You know, there are people right now in convalescent homes rotting away with

no family members witness visiting them or anyone sharing the gospel with them. There are people

in prison right now that I could write to and reach. I mean, that's what I'm talking about. Like

being mindful of all that's happening when we're not aware that it's happening, but it's happening

constantly. The apostles, the disciples, they have the same sort of problem, didn't they?

When Jesus rebuked him and said, do you not remember how I fed over here and I did this? I did

that. Like, how was it that you are so quick to free? If only they had posted notes. If they had

posted notes, they would have remembered the miracle from yesterday. Yeah, we're supposed to

papyrus. Oh, papyrus and this is it sure someone had a business. But pyrus is using camels like

licking, but in the watch around what was sundials turned to sundial. But Ray, it was like with Peter

and Jesus, right? Like when Jesus was talking about going to the cross and Peter started

rebuking him. Yeah, you're not mindful of the things of God, but the things of man. Yeah,

the subtlety of apathy is that my flesh embraces it. It wants to embrace it. And I can see this

in action when I go to a store or something and I've got tracks in my pocket and that's exactly

where Satan wants to keep them. So I deliberately put him on my hand because I walked past someone

and said, I think I got away. I wasn't quick enough to get the tracks out of my pocket. That's my

flesh. That's apathy. And so I put my tracks in my hands that I'm very quick to the draw.

We watch guns make a lot. And you've got to be quick to the draw with tracks because the flesh

will say, no, no, you really wanted to do that, but you just didn't. How did you go back and give

somebody a track that you walked by and you feel that conviction? Yeah, I've done that a lot.

I seem to go around in circle and go back to yesterday back to a guy.

He looks like a little chicken out there.

Acts 28, Paul was collecting sticks for a fire. And out from the fire came a serpent. The fire

sent him out there and spastic to his hand. And the Bible says he shook it off into the fire.

And if you want God's house to eat you up, if you want to be on fire for God, you can be sure

you're going to stir up Satan with that fire to come and put his teeth in your hand that

place of outreach to the lost. What you got to do is shake it off into the fire. And that's

what you got to do continually to shake off that. And I'm not going to let it near me because it's

an enemy. It's camouflage. Yeah. And look consumed with reality, right? It says in second Peter

to he says, you know, these were not cunningly devised fables. We didn't follow cunningly,

devised fables when we made known to you the power coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. But we were

eyewitnesses of his majesty. We were there when we heard the divine voice, right? This is my beloved

son in Huma. Well, please. So it's being consumed with reality years ago, there was a sermon I used

to preach where I would I would give examples of all of these zealous, passionate, godly saints.

And what they did for the sake of the gospel, one of them in particular, he was his body was covered

with honey and he was put up in a tree to be killed by the things of wasps, right? And yet it was

because he wasn't willing to recant the faith. He knew he knew it would cost him. We're talking

about earlier courage, but but he still wasn't willing to deny the Lord. And so I asked in the sermon,

I would ask this question, by the way that you live, not by what you say, by the way that you live,

is it evident that God is as real to you as the flesh on your very bones? He hears every word you

utter sees every action you execute. And there's coming a day when you're going to stand before

him and give account for every moment of your life while being aware of his grace and that you're

saved by it, but yet really recognizing the reality of that accountability by the way that you live

is it evident that you believe that? And that's a conviction to me because there are times when I

can say, no, I'm not, I'm not conscious of that. It's not evident right now. And we need to figure

out how do we, how do we get there? Yeah, sorry, I'll ask you, you took a breath before I did, no,

you go, go with your breath. It's gone and bring it out. No, sir. Take my breath away, oh,

what have I done? You take my breath away. Ray, you're going to say something wise, hopefully.

Yeah, it sounds like a crisp advertisement. Oh, that'd be so good. Yeah, I'll take your breath away

with one brush of a bit of an idea. Yeah, how do we practice? You do what we're talking about,

you know, you don't want to get a local church with a weapon, get rid of them. I mean, money

change, you can do that. But how do you, not everyone can get a bike, electric bike, put a dog

on a sunglasses, a local college, it's not normal. But what you can do is continually carry tracks

with you on your purse or whatever on your hand. And when you go to the supermarket, when you go

to Amazon to order, that kills evangelism, isn't it? But yeah, just, just carry tracks with you,

especially your lunch hour, your lunch hour, don't call it a lunch hour, it's an evangelism hour,

where you're stuffed down some food. And then you've got another 50 minutes so you can see,

you can say that which is lost. So you go out deliberately to ignore your fears, say to a stranger,

how you're doing. Coming back from the Christmas party the other night,

soon I stepped in the elevator, nine floors, fast elevator, I thought I got to be quick with

this guy. Here's a, we're in a cowboy hat, it's about six foot two, and his girlfriend was dressed

inappropriately for some sort of, I don't know what it was, and I think they're hot pants. So I

looked her in the eyes, I had soon asked to me, and, and I looked at him and just says, how you

doing? Well, it's slightly deeper than what I normally speak. And he said, good, how are you?

And that's all I needed to know. He wasn't nasty. He was friendly. And I said, and I gave him a

tract and an outcard. And I'm so glad I did. I only had like eight seconds to do it, now the elevator,

but that was tapping into eternity. And it's a mindset. I'm not going to listen to my fears.

I'm just going to greet someone. And when they talk back to me, there's an opening for me.

Wow, that's good. I think another big problem too. And I talked about this at a recent

podcast, but another big problem too, is that we have a gift shop perspective of Christianity.

And that starts with the sentimentalization of Jesus. When I mean my gift shop Christianity,

I said this before, like, imagine you take somebody, someone you love and care about to a national

park for the very first time. But before you get into the park and you stop at the gift shop,

and they walk into the gift shop, and they see the key chains, they see the mugs, they see the

shirt, and they're like, wow, this place is amazing. They buy a shirt and they're like, okay,

ready to go home. You'd be like, what? Like, no, you haven't even seen the national park yet.

Like you had to walk past the national park or past the gift shop into the national park

to experience the real thing. And I think often we sentimentalize Jesus to become a gift shop

version of who he is. He is, he is sweet little baby Jesus. He is simply the Prince of Peace without

also being Lord of Lords in King of Kings. We ignore the parts of Scripture that says he rules

with an iron rod that his armies come with zeal. And I mean, if you think about that,

think about the reality that like when Jesus calls you to follow him, Jesus is not some YouTuber

that's like, I hope you'll like and subscribe. Like, he's not trying to build a following. He's not

asking you to leave a comment to tell you what he thinks. He is the Lord of Lords and he is the

King of Kings and he demands that you submit to his rule and his reign. That is a non-sentimental

non-gift shop Jesus. Love that. And he's the Jesus that we are told in Hebrews 11 that he is a

rewarder of those who diligently seek him, a rewarder. And I think when we understand what that reward

is, it will transform us. And I believe a big part of that reward is himself, more of him,

which every true Christian yearns and longs for. But there has to be that seeking. And then we

have to recognize what are the barriers that keep me from seeking him? What are the things that are

holding me back from going to the fountain of living waters to the one who is all in all the very

source of everything that I need. So there has to be this radical awakening, guys. It happens to us

where first I think it starts with knowledge. You go to second Peter one and he's talking there

about how we receive access to all these spiritual riches through the knowledge of him begins with

the knowledge of him. You access those things and it says, if these things are yours and a bound,

you'll be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

So you start with the understanding that every believer has at bare minimum. I need God

and I need his word. Then despite what you feel, you pursue God and his word and as you do that and

you stay consistent in that and you're bathed in what? What is the width, length, depth, and height,

to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

You cannot at that point help but being a zealous person because you're at that place where you

are going to receive what you need to and passion you to do that. You say receiving

what you need to and passion is a thing of lots of wife where Jesus said, remember lots of wife and

she has turned it a pillar of salt to remind us that the properties of salt, one of them is thirst.

I mean that seems to be, it brings out taste but thirst. You just put some salt in your mouth,

you're just going to want to thirst and if you can get salt in your heart, it's going to make you

thirst after God and seek Him with all your heart. You can need a horse. Yeah, you can need a horse.

But you can't force him to drink. You can't force him to drink. You can't salt his oats. Someone

rebuked me for that. They say, stop saying that. Why? I don't know. There's all sorts of people that

just say, shut up on the internet. Shut up, Ray. Yeah, I'm thinking of that. Yeah. Yeah, it's that

determination to be where he is. Mark, right? Be where you're going to be recharged.

You've got these AI robots now that the big Ray, Ray's been an AI robot all the time.

I don't idea as a guy. But they talk about how they recharged themselves.

Yeah, they get to a certain point where they're low and they just go and they just hook themselves

up to get charged. And then I like the way you did that. Man, at a box.

You know, I think that it'd be wise to pause for a moment and think through that we get addicted

to Christian noise. And what I mean by that is if you can't drive without listening to a Christian

podcast, great, listen to Christian podcast, listen to Christian music, go to Christian conferences.

I'm not saying don't do that. But when our default is that I have to feel that space with noise

in order to concentrate that there's an issue, right? Because the shepherd doesn't want to speak up.

He wants you to slow down, settle down the noise inside your life, right? Relax for just a moment.

And we have failed to recognize what it's like to rely upon the spirit of God. And now we're

relying more upon cute quotes in anecdotal sermenettes, right? Sermen, James, these 30 second to a minute

and a half, Instagram feeds. And that becomes now our our feed and other people's lives. Leonard

Ravenhill, he said, the Holy Spirit could be withdrawn from the church today. And 95% of what we do

would go on and no one would know the difference, right? And second Timothy, 35, he talks about the

appearance of godliness, but denying its power. So the volume inside of our lives, it's kind of

turned up, but the spiritual antennas are down. You know, we have to run to commotion instead of

running to Christ. You guys pause for a moment. Think about it. John leaned upon the press plate

of Jesus and he heard the heartbeat of deity. You know, what was it like? He just kind of he felt

that comfortability and just being close and being near. And and John knew that Jesus knew John,

right? John knew that Jesus really knew John and John was okay with that. That, well, I mean,

where am I going to go? Where else am I going to go? You alone hold the words to eternal life. And

there's something about finding that comfortability in silence. There's a comfortability and just knowing

that, you know, God knows me and I don't need to run to commotion anymore. I can run to Christ.

You know, the thing that I script you up to what you're saying, be still, know that I'm God. And

at least sing that a lot. Do you remember that song? Oh, yeah. It's beautiful. So how do you do that?

Well, secret prayer. That's get away from them. Every the noise in the haste and just get in a

secret prayer. And that's how to be still before the Lord. You know, a proper translation for that

verse. Be still, know that I'm God is ceased your striving. And let me show you that I'm God.

Well, and it was said at the at the base of, as I said, at the base of red sea. Oh, no, I can't

think. No, it was stand still and see the celebration of God is what God said. Yeah. I think

another thing too is to go back to the idea of self-sufficiency, which is Luther's view on the

gospel. And he pointed out that the gospel is not just the thing that keeps us. It's also, I'm

sorry, Luther pointed out that the gospel is not just the thing that saves us. It's also the

thing that keeps us. And I think we have a misunderstanding of when we talk about total depravity.

We think, okay, yeah, the gospel is for the lost. It's the door that gets me into Christianity.

That's what saved me. And now I move on from the gospel into some form of discipleship,

increased self-righteousness, whatever the case. But Luther's big argument was that the gospel,

like I said before, is not just the thing that saves me. It's also the thing that keeps me. And

actually our dependence on the gospel never changes. A right view of the gospel will actually

increase our understanding of our dependence on the gospel, which is you see that in Paul.

When Paul talks about himself, he's not like, yeah, I was a sinner and now I'm saved. And

like I sin less now. He's like, no, like I was the worst. And I, I mean, greater need now,

like he just talked as though his, his sin didn't increase. Matter of fact, you can probably say

from the man's perspective, his sin decreased, but his understanding of his dependence on the

gospel increase. And I think when we redeemed that perspective of the gospel, our tendency for

self-sufficiency will get buffered back and our dependence on God increases, which will prevent

our apathy. That's good. And I think to self-assessment is really important because we get into

these ruts and we get on autopilot. And so I like boiling things down to their bare minimum,

right? So it begins with knowledge, knowledge, like I mentioned earlier, who God is and what is

right and what's important and what's happening to the laws that's remembering. Okay, if we have a

problem remembering, then we need to ask ourselves, what are the mechanisms I'm going to put into

a place that is going to help me remember? There's like I said, sticky notes or as an example,

like we do that in practical things in life, right? You can't get up early, so set 5, 6, 7 alarms,

whatever, like you got to do stuff that's going to help you. And so as, as you begin to do that,

you might start realizing, okay, well, that's the thing. So it's about remembering. So what's

going to help me remember? Well, when I'm in God's word, when I'm in God's presence, that's

keeping me mindful of the spiritual and what's important. But okay, let's say I have that routine

and I'm a consistent or disciplined kind of person, I can do those things. But then I start realizing

my time and prayer is apathetic. So this is where we recalibrate and we say, okay, I need to read

some books on prayer. I need to listen to some sermons that are going to stir me up. I need to get

accountability from brothers are going to hit me up. Are you being passionate and prayer not just

praying? The word, okay, well, I need to be reminded. So I'm going to listen to some sermons on

how the word is living in act of sharper than each other. So I'm going to read books on the power

of the word, you know, I'm going to fellowship over it. So that's what I'm talking about. Like,

we know the things that cause us to drift, to get numb, to not have that passion. So put the things

in place that will help you to get activated. And that's realizing your vulnerability. Yeah.

When you realize your vulnerability to forget, that's when you make yourself remember with the

poster. Yeah. So seeing your weaknesses to make yourself strong. Amen. Right, you're always,

you're always so good at that. I mean, over the years, I've heard you say again, again,

someone will mention something, did you write that down? Yeah. Did you write that down? How many

times have you heard that? Oh, I said it to Tony already on because it shows, when you say to someone,

when you guys often say, I said, would you do such a, I'll just write that down. I think he

respects what I'm asking him to do. He's putting, he's making sure it's important to him. That is

so good. That's really good. Yeah. I'm writing it down right now. Yeah. Good. No, it's so

good. I mean, I get nervous anytime I tell someone, hey, can you do that? Yeah, I'll do it.

And I want to say, hey, can you just make a note? Please put a calendar reminder. What about like,

when a, when someone like is taking your order at a restaurant and they don't right now?

You guys know my pet peeve with that. Just what you have as a marker and said, I'd like to write,

what I want on your forehead. Well, they think they're being impressive and they're not.

They make him think the more we, we kind of put off the obedience, the quieter, perhaps his voice

becomes. Right. And I think that an example of that would be, would be, when I'm on social

media and I come across a really good workout post, right, for arms, for shoulders, whatever it is,

I have endless folders that I have never gotten to since the, the beginning, the genesis of

Instagram. I think I have folders filled with reels and posts. I, oh, that's so good. I got to

remember to do it. But I've never, except for some of pro life folder. I've never gone back and looked

at, you know, workout things and things that nature. In Hebrews through 15, it gives a sharp warning

and says, today, if you will hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. And I notice the timeline.

But it's not tomorrow. It's not the next day. Right. Today's the day's salvation. Today's the day to

prepare for that last day. You know, we're not granted tomorrow. I'm sharing with my dad today that,

you know, if you live each day, if it's your last one, you're going to be right. And I invited

him out for Christmas. And his response was, you know, I'm, I'm preparing for my death. That's

what he told, that was his response. I don't know him to die. I want to make sure everything is in

order. That's why I can't come out for Christmas. I said, Dad, come out for Christmas. You're coming

out for the holidays. You know, and, but today, there's no greater time. There's no greater

opportunity to heed God's voice right now. Yeah. Right now. James 122, go ahead, Ray, you want to say

something? Favorite word is now. Your favorite word is now. Get it down right now. Do it right now.

Be doers of the word and not here is only deceiving yourself. Your pauses look incredible.

46. What do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not do the things that I say? Mark, I love what you're

saying about. I love what you're saying about doing things now. You know, there are certain people

who, I've, it's just happened to me a lot, a lot over the course of my life, but I'll ask them,

hey, can you pray for me for this thing? Hey, let's pray right now. Yeah. You know, they'll do that.

And, and, you know, I thought about that. Like, it's almost like saying to someone, you know,

you're, you know, you've been lost in a desert. You haven't had to drop a water in days and you come

across. I'm when you go, oh, man, give me some water later. And they got like a big jug with

them. What are you talking about? Give it right now. You know, so I love that. But that, that, you

know, that whole thing of like, you know, being faithful and then recognizing that God is listening.

Yeah. Of course, we can pray for people later. Put them on a prayer list. But I love that urgency.

You know, I want to forget. Yeah. Yeah. I like what you said, Mark. I would say when, when it seems

like his voice is quiet, the voice of the Lord actually booms. Maybe you've just made it a noisy

room. You know, like when I remember recently we were at an event and my wife was like, we, you

know, we're going to need to leave at this particular time. And so I was attentive to her. I was

just like, let me know when you're ready. And I kept my eyes on her and across the room when she

was ready to go. She gave me a look. And I'm like, okay, time to go. I was ready to serve my wife

because I knew that she had asked that of me in that same way. In our lives, are we attentive

to God's calling? No matter what room we are in, no matter what situation are we in, are we listening

for the Lord's calling on our lives? Are we so busy and so distracted that we cannot hear his

booming voice? Or we don't want to hear it because we have our own agenda. Yeah. That terrifies me.

That actually reminds me. I was just listening to a sermon by G. K. Beale. And he used this analogy.

He said, he said, it's a true story that one day somebody, this guy got a microscope. It was like,

when the micro, the scientist got a microscope. When they first invented them, they came out and he

got one of the first ones and he's putting everything under this microscope. And one day he decided

to put his food under the microscope. And he saw all these micro organisms. Is that true? You

tried milk? No. Disgusting. So he saw all these micro organisms crawling around on his food. And he,

you know, he got so disgusted that he didn't want to eat anything anymore. And at that moment,

he's like, I'm getting rid of the microscope. I can't do this. G. K. Beale goes, we do that with the

Bible that it puts our sin under a microscope and then we stop reading it. But we need to go to

God's word or we grow an apathy to our sin. Yeah. You know, first John, if we walk in the light,

as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another in the blood of his son,

Jesus cleanses us from all sin. You know, the light reveals our sin to draw us to him, to lead us

to repentance. And so it's difficult to see those things in us. And I do honestly believe that

there are many. They won't go to church. They won't read the word. They won't be in prayer. They

won't fellowship because they know it's going to be conviction. And so, you know, we need to be

careful of that. Romans 12, 11, not lagging indiligence, fervent and spirit serving the Lord.

That's one of the most convicting verses, but encouraging verses like, hey, I want to, I don't

want to lag indiligence. I want to be a diligent person. I want to be fervent and spirit. Not just,

you know, okay, I've got some some passion, but fervent. And I want my aim and all these things

to be serving the Lord. Yeah. You know, what's that text again? Romans 12, 11.

Yeah, you know, I love that. And A.W. Toler said, the stiff and wooden quality about our religious

lives is a result of our lack of holy desire. Well, holy desire. You know, each day getting closer

to the Lord, each day getting closer to standing before the judgment seat of Christ.

But you think of how many people are holy zealous for things that don't really matter,

particularly sport or money and things like that. They're they're consumed with ambition

to be the best at that. And you know, it's all transient. Yeah. Yeah. That's it's so true. And

so guys, I know I've been encouraged today and determined again to just sit back and take

inventory. And and and again, as I'm taking that inventory, I'm doing it in in the shadow of the

gospel and in the shadow of the cross and in the shadow of the grace of God, meaning it's right

there next to me. I'm not doing it in this legalistic sort of, oh, I got to earn God's favor. It's

God. I love you. Time is short. Eternity is coming. I I want to honor you. I want to please you. I

want to touch people's lives and impact them. This isn't about like, okay, I'm cool. I'm saved. I

know the Lord. Okay, great. I'm saved by you. No, it's it's because I am. Lord, how can I how can

I leave a mark in this world for your glory? And I may fill up eternity. Amen. Amen.

New Zealand. New Zealand. New Zealand. And fire. Oh, that was something we did a long time ago.

New Zealand fire. Yes. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. All right, friends, there you have it. And

to help you stay passionate and not become apathetic and numb. The School of Angeloom 101 lessons.

Don't forget it online and book form. Don't forget to like, subscribe, share. Please share.

And don't forget podcasts. PodcastLivingWaters.com thoughts, questions, suggestions,

insults and questions because that's a good idea. Mark, we'll start asking them. I like that.

Thank you for joining us, friends. We'll see you here next time on the Living Waters Podcast.

Where Mark spends has a headache because of what I just did. Where we have no idea. What we're doing.