Speaker 1: Mark chapter number five, go in your Bible to Mark chapter five. If you don’t have a Bible, look on with the person sitting next to you. It’s good to be with you.

I’m going to take a few minutes here this afternoon and share with you my testimony. I know it’s after lunch. We’ve all had a lot of burritos and cheese and soda,

and then we went outside and shook it all up. And now maybe many of us feel like vomiting. Don’t do that unless it’s on the other team.

And if you can do that, that’d be fine. But just be careful there not to get any on your neighbor. So we appreciate that.

And if you’re one of those people that struggles with the smell of vomit, just run to the back when you’re done so we don’t have a real catastrophe on our hands. In the meantime, I’ll be preaching from God’s Word.

If you’ve got that, find that there. And welcome to the Cola Clash. Mark chapter number 5, verse number 1.

I want to show you a few things here today. I don’t know exactly how this is going to go. I’ll just be honest with you.

I’m burdened about you guys. We had a prayer meeting in our church on Wednesday night, and one of the ladies in our church, she’s an older lady,

And she just got burdened. She passed away. We’ve got to pray for these teenagers.

What kind of world are we going to have? What are they going to do with their lives? Why aren’t they in church?

What are we going to do? I said, well, we’re going to pray. And I’ll preach.

You pray. And I’ll preach. And then we’ll get out and talk to them.

And we’ll tell them about Jesus and the wonderful things he can do in their lives. Do you guys believe that Jesus can do miracles? I really hope you do.

Now, I heard a little bit of an amen there. But it’s after lunch, okay? And I understand, again, the whole shaking up, vomiting thing.

We don’t want to do that. But you can say amen. Okay, this is preaching.

This isn’t a library. Did you know that? Okay.

So let’s try the amen thing, okay. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Easy, cowboy.

Easy. On three. Ready?

One, two, three. All right, good. All right, here we are.

Mark chapter number five. We’ll look at verse number one. Let me read you a few verses here this afternoon.

And it says, And they came over into the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes.

And when he was come up out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit

who had his dwelling among the tombs. And no man could bind him, no, not with chains, because he had often been bound with fetters and chains,

and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces. Neither could any man tame him.

And always, night and day, he was in the mountains and in the tombs crying and cutting himself with stones. And when he saw Jesus afar off,

he ran and worshipped him and cried with a loud voice What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the Most High God? I adjure thee by God that thou torment me not.

I want to just again share my testimony with you from this passage of Scripture. I’ve got a message I’ve entitled, The Crazy Man, but I don’t know that we’re going to get to that message.

We’ll get to something a little different here this morning, afternoon, evening, wherever you are in your day. Here’s the reality.

We are living in one of the most fascinating days in the history of the world. I’m not a roller coaster fan, okay? I’m usually the person sitting on the sidelines watching the roller coasters go by

because I’d rather not get on those things because I hear too many stories about how they break or get stuck in the really bad positions, like upside down, okay? And I’m just not interested in that, okay?

I’d rather watch from the ground. But historically, my friends, you have to understand this. As Christians, we are literally in the front seat of a roller coaster ride.

And we get to see it all happening right in front of us. And what I’m talking about is God’s plan for the world. And we are sitting front seat in one of the most amazing times in the history of the world.

And as I talk to you at this very moment, what I’m talking to, and as Dr. Jim had mentioned about reaching the world earlier,

and this generation that sits before us has an amazing opportunity, I want to reinforce that by saying you don’t have an opportunity. You have one of the most amazing opportunities.

in all of the world. I wish I could go back to being a teenager again. Okay, I’m old now.

At least that’s what my kids tell me. And, you know, I’m right at 40, and that’s old. You know, I remember when I was 18, I thought,

40, oh, don’t you die right around 40? No, no, no, no. I didn’t grow up in a Christian home.

Young people, you’ve got to understand some things about the world and the way the world works, especially in regards to Christianity.

It doesn’t matter where you come from. It doesn’t matter the opportunities that you’ve had in life. Now, a good education is something, okay?

You’ve got to be able to read to read your Bible. But it doesn’t necessarily necessitate God’s hand on your life. You guys have an amazing opportunity.

I didn’t grow up in a Christian home. I didn’t have the Bible read to me every night. I didn’t have mother’s prayers for me, or even grandma’s for that matter.

my dad left when I was a kid he left me when I was little he left my whole family

I was the naive kid who would always ask questions when’s dad coming home oh that’s just Matt

he doesn’t know better he doesn’t know that dad left home never to come back

see my dad when he left he never came back he married another woman he had a whole other family

and left us all to ourselves. And I got angry. And I got bitter.

And I got sad. You know, many times in this message, I ask very pointed questions about you.

You know, do you know what it’s like to cry yourself to sleep at night? Do you know what it’s like to hurt on the inside?

I mean, the kind of hurt that hurts so bad, the only way to get that emotional release out of you is to maybe cut yourself with razor blades

or to stab yourself with things or to burn yourself with things. Do you know what I’m talking about?

Maybe some of you don’t, but maybe some of you do. I know what I’m talking about. And do you know what?

The crazy man knows what I’m talking about. You see, in my text of Scripture, it helps me to understand some things about life.

This man always, night and day, was crying and cutting himself with stones. You know what we call those today in our normal vernacular is cutters.

We were at the COLA class here in Shawna, Wisconsin, here just a few weeks ago, and after my testimony one night, one of the girls came up to me, Elizabeth, and she said to me, Pastor Weber, can I talk to you?

And I said, yeah, no problem. She pulled me aside. She says, I’ve got a rough background.

I don’t understand everything, but I need help. And I looked her in the eyes and I said, you’re a cutter. She put her head down and she said, yes.

what I’m telling you is you have a great opportunity you see many of us out in the world didn’t grow up in many of the environments that are represented here we come from dysfunctional homes

places that you hear about but you’ve never experienced at 12 years old I began to drink whiskey out of my mom’s cabinet I figured why not

It was there. She wasn’t home. I wanted to do it, so why not?

And whiskey led to smoking cigarettes, which then led to smoking marijuana. And in high school, we would get high in the locker room while the rest of the class was at gym. I left high school, moved to Phoenix, Arizona, and got hooked up on crystal meth, crack cocaine, ice, heroin.

Then I moved home, 145 pounds, and got hooked up on cocaine again, and then moved back to Phoenix, Arizona. Got hooked up on crystal meth again, moved back to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. And at the age of 25 years old, a friend of mine introduced me to a little pill called OxyContin.

It’s a fascinating reality in our world today, but you must understand this, that your generation and your peer group is not just experimenting with pharmaceuticals, but they are dying at the hands of pharmaceuticals at a rate unseen in our history.

In fact, I read an article the other day that says, your generation is 60% likelier to die on pharmaceuticals out of your mom and dad’s cabinets than on heroin and crystal meth together.

You have an amazing opportunity. You say, Pastor Weber, this does not sound like an amazing opportunity. Oh, my friends, this is an amazing opportunity.

See, at 25 years old, my friend introduced me to this little pill called Oxycontins. And he would show me how to do them. I won’t explain it to you for sake of time.

But the reality is this, that is in three years, three years, I was snorting 10 pills a day at $20 a pill. Now, if you’re good at math, which many of the homeschoolers are,

I went to public school, so we won’t talk about us. But anyway, you can understand that that gets really expensive. At 28 years old, I was $40,000 in debt.

$40,000. Homeschoolers, tell the public schoolers how many zeros that is. That’s a lot.

And I’m not talking about just debt to friends and family. I’m talking about debt to creditors, where I’d have a $10,000 loan at 28% interest. Okay, two numbers here, people.

I’m talking about serious problems. And you say, Pastor Weber, how did you become a pastor? We’re getting there.

Just relax. But let me explain this to you. At 28 years old, when I was having all these troubles,

there was times in my life where I would reflect back on my teenage years. And do you remember what I used to tell myself when I was a teenager? And you’re going to say, no, because we weren’t there.

Of course you weren’t. I was. And let me tell you, I want to be a police officer, just like my mom.

Did I forget to tell you that? My mom was one of the highest-ranking policewomen in Milwaukee County when I was going through all my troubles.

When I’d come home high on whatever it was I was on, I’d have to walk past a woman in uniform to get to my room. Huh.

Bitter, angry, and sad. And all I ever wanted to do was succeed in life. But the things in life began to consume me and consume my life and took me over.

And I ended up in a really bad place. Now again, some of you would say, Pastor Weber, that’s pretty amazing. That’s your story, not mine.

And that’s okay, but some of you know what I’m talking about. Some of you in this room know exactly what I’m talking about. See, because you understand that you make bad decisions in life

when there are certain people in your life that are there supposedly to help you when they turn their back on you. And they don’t help, they actually hurt you.

You know, like when a dad up and leaves and runs off and never comes back, you know, that doesn’t feel good. That hurts.

And that hurts bad. And if that’s never resolved, that can lead you to a pretty hard life. If you never deal with those things.

You see, I read in our text, and I read our text here today, because I want you to understand that there’s a man in the Bible who faced a lot of the problems that you and I,

and the generation that you’re called to reach, will and are facing. See, there’s a community out there, just like the community that this man grew up in. It says in the text, two times it gives a description about how they tried to help him.

They tried to bind him, and they tried to tame him. So you’re facing a generation that’s getting hooked on pharmaceuticals. I could take you right now to the house of two people right now

who are practically immobile because of psychotic medicine. An older gentleman and a younger man. And this is at the hands of a community that could not bind and could not tame.

See, because the problem that we’re facing in our community, just like this man was facing, is not a man problem. it’s a lack of God problem.

It says in the text, you can read it for yourself, and I’ll just point it out to you here. It says at the end of verse number three,

it says, No man could bind him, no not with chains, the end of verse number four,

and neither could any man tame him. You know what that tells me? It tells me that there’s a man out there,

and men out there, and people like Pastor Weber, that men cannot bind nor tame. Their problem isn’t solved in man’s solutions.

Is that helpful? Okay, let’s stop beating around the bush and jump on it, right? Medicine isn’t fixing problems.

Counseling programs are not fixing problems. If anything, they’re making them worse, like the woman with the issue of blood. We’re going to the doctors.

We’re not finding help. Our things are only getting worse, not better. I’m standing before you as a person who can testify to the reality of those things.

You’ll find here in the passage of Scripture that this man was not just a man that was beyond human help. He was a man that was hurting. And I mentioned it earlier, but let’s go back to it.

You’ll note there in verse number 5, it says that he was always night and day and in the mountains and in the tombs, crying and cutting himself with stones. Always night and day.

This is what in the Bible we would call a double emphasis. Do you know what always means, even in the Greek? Always.

Profound, isn’t it? you know what always means it’s really simple always it’s kind of like breathing you know my wife and i had this discussion the other day we thought what would it be like if you had to remind

yourself to breathe every breath you know what we had tested our bottom line was this that when you fell asleep you would die this man didn’t have to remind himself to be sad he was always sad

it was like as much as you breathe he was struggling with the needs and the hurts in his life always

night and day he woke up in the morning

and he was in pain I’m not talking about physical pain although that’s there

I’m talking about emotional pains and hurts I’m talking about real issues in your life the kind of things that when you wake up in the morning

they’re there, no matter what your circumstances are. Whether you live in Phoenix, Arizona, or Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Whether you live in Michigan or Minnesota.

No matter where you drive or where you travel, when you look in the mirror, there it is. In the morning and at night.

And what it caused this man to do, and many in our communities to do, look there, it says,

and always, night and day, he was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying and cutting himself with stones. This man had emotional needs.

You say, what are the emotional needs, or what happened to this man, Pastor Weber? Well, similar, what happened to me?

This man was out in the tombs. Why was he not in the community? Why was he not in his parents’ home?

Why was he not somewhere where people could help him? Because he was rejected. He was pushed away.

He was kicked out. People looked at him and they said, How can he be helped?

He’s beyond human help. We don’t know what to do with him. Get him out into the tombs.

Get him out into the country. Get rid of this guy. Because we don’t know what to do with him.

We tried the medicine. We tried the conditioning programs. We tried to get him through the system.

It just didn’t work. He won’t fit into the mold. So they put on their black clothes.

And they color their fingernails. And they stick barbs in their nose. And screw horns into their heads.

Because when you treat them like a devil, they’ll act like one. That’s what I did.

I turned on the Megadeth music. I turned on the Slipknot. I waited for somebody to say something to me

so I could haul off and jack them on. I wasn’t afraid of prison. I was facing 15 years.

I didn’t care anymore because I was hurting on the inside. Again, some of you know what I’m talking about.

Some of you don’t. But understand, this is the generation you’re called to reach. So you better start figuring out how to reach them.

We’ll get there. Just hang on. Notice in the passage of Scripture, this isn’t all doom and gloom, okay?

This isn’t doom and gloom. This is actual amazing reality. Because what I’m talking to you about right now and helping you to understand

is that you have an amazing opportunity. Look at the text. This man may have been without help, and he may have been a hurting man, but he was a searching man.

Note there, it says that immediately when he, and that’s Christ, had come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit. Look further down, verse 6,

And when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him. This man was looking for something. He was looking at the ports.

You know what the ports are like in our day? It was the place of commerce. It was the place where new things were happening.

It was a place where you would find the medicines, the remedies, the needs, the people when something new was coming into town and it came off the boat. Our reality is Facebook or email or internet.

We watch these things. We look for the ads. Some of us know what it’s like every time some new invention comes up on the TV

or your Facebook ads, you buy it right away because you’ve got to have that fancy little doodad, okay? Here’s the reality.

This man, if he would have had the internet, he would have been scoping the internet to figure out where he could get help. so he’s watching the ports and he sees Jesus isn’t that a wonderful thought and he runs up to Jesus

and he says oh Jesus have you come to torment me and I get thrown by that phrase sometimes I get thrown by it because it was just like that in my life I thought there’s no way I could get getting to get near God if I got near God he’s going to torment me you said pastor Weber why

would you think that? I mean, Christianity and Christ, and he came to help and to heal and to save and to do those wonderful things.

My friends, the world out there has a misconception of God for two reasons. Number one, Satan’s a liar, and he’s perverting the cause of Christ.

I don’t discount that. But number two, I want to be a help to you here today, friends.

Many of us in this room hurt the cause of Christ and disfigure the blessing of Jesus by our own testimony. You see, this man

thought Jesus was coming to torment him because that’s the way many of us respond to Christ. Jesus, if I surrender to you at the Cola Clash Plus, oh, you’re going to send me to a far distant land like Illinois, and I’ll have to plant churches there, and people are weird, and if I do that,

It’s going to ruin my life. Okay, maybe not Illinois. Maybe Michigan.

I don’t know. But what if he sends you to Africa? What if he sends you to Mexico?

What if he sends you to Iran? Saudi Arabia? Would you go?

And the reality is that, young people, listen to me. You’re sitting here and you’re thinking, there’s no possible way. I could never do those kinds of things.

I mean, Jesus would want me to change my music. He would want me to be godly. He would want me to be salt.

He would want me to be light. Well, what could Jesus do with you? and you wonder why people like this

out in the community say I don’t want your Christianity because all they hear is complaining

and whining and griping about what Jesus could do with you or why you’re not making these decisions

or why you’re so angry or why you’re so hurt instead of Jesus being the answer

on what’s healing your home and what’s healing your soul and who’s fixing your life

it doesn’t matter where you come from my friend the answer is always the same and we’re getting there just hang on a second but see this this man was he was beyond human hell nobody was going to fix his problems and he was hurting he was genuinely hurting

but he was genuinely seeking and i want you to know when you see those kids and your generation and they look like they’re a million miles away and they want nothing to do with God, I want you to know they’re watching the ports.

Because there is a generation looking for genuine help. I know, I’ve been there.

Look at verse 15. I’ll spare you the pastoral message here in the middle of this whole section about the casting out of demons.

I don’t think that’s where we’re at for today, but actually verse 14, and they that fed the swine. So Jesus cast the

demon out of this guy and hear the people in town. In verse 14, they that fed the swine told it in the city and in the country and they went out to see what it was that was done.

And they came to Jesus and see him that was possessed with a devil and had a legion sitting clothed in his right mind and they were afraid.

And they saw it and they told him how it befell him that was possessed with a devil and also concerning the swine. Keep going down in verse number 18.

And when he was coming to the ship, he that had possessed with the devil prayed him that he might be with him. And here’s what

happens. The people from town, they came out and they saw all these things that were going on. They

went back into town, got more people to come out and see what was happening. And what they saw was that Jesus did something amazing.

Here’s the answer, my friend. It’s Jesus. Isn’t it so wonderful?

It’s so simple. My children at four years old and going on three found the answer here recently.

My son in spring, and then my daughter, just a few weeks ago, both of them got delivered. It’s a wonderful

story. I love to listen to my daughter, you know, talk about how Jesus has washed away all her sins and she’s going to heaven.

I think it’s the most amazing thing in all the world. And you know what? I’ve got a wonderful story, and I’m telling you it right now, that on March 24, 2006, my sister

called me up. And this was a sister that brought so much conviction into my life because she actually was salt and light.

And I hated it because I wanted it so bad. And she calls me up when I’m in the lowest part of my life and I was just thinking the only way out is suicide.

And I was like this guy, self-mutilating, doing whatever it took to try to express the hurt and anguish and looking for anything to fill the help and the hope and the hopelessness in my life.

And she calls me up and tells me about Jesus. And in my heart, I’m thinking, this is exactly it.

This is exactly what I want. This is what I need. This is what I need.

But I just can’t. Not right now. I just can’t do it.

And on that day, March 24, 2006, the Spirit of God was so real to me that I didn’t have another choice. It was either Jesus or nothing.

And on that day, I chose Jesus. March 24, 2006. And I’ve got a story to tell, and so do you.

You said, Pastor Weber, I don’t have a story to tell. Are you kidding me? I mean, listen to that story.

That’s amazing. Years of drug abuse, and God totally delivered you. Yeah, I prayed two prayers that day.

Number one, ask Jesus to wash away all my sin. And you know how many sins Jesus washed away, my friend?

Every single one of them, past, present, and future, all of them gone. Gone under the blood.

They disappeared. I don’t know where they went. They’re gone.

I don’t care. I’ve got Jesus. And then I asked Jesus to do this, number two.

Jesus, if you’ve got the power to wash away all my sin and take me to heaven, then you’ve got the power to do anything, right? I didn’t have a Bible.

I didn’t know anything. I mean, it’s not like all of a sudden I became super Christian.

I was just a logical thinking person. Isn’t that what most of you attest to be?

Logical thinking people, at least some of you? So if Jesus can wash away your sin and take you to heaven, what can’t he do?

Ask Abraham and Sarah. He can do anything. So it made sense.

Well, Jesus, if you can do anything, then I’m going to ask you if you can take away my sin, then you can take away my drugs.

And if you can take away all my addictions, I’ll give you the rest of my life. They were all gone.

It was like somebody reached down from heaven and reached inside my soul and pulled a burden off of me that I have never experienced in my life.

I floated that day. I’m not charismatic, but I floated. My dog would tell you if he was alive,

he would tell you that I floated. I didn’t know what to do. I’d never experienced the world without that burden on me.

It’s like I could hear the birds sing, and the sun was really out. And all of a sudden, it was just like life.

I thought, wait a second, this is the most amazing thing that ever happened to me in the world. I just got saved from the eternal consequence of my sin, and now I got saved from the power of it?

I’m free. You say, Pastor Weber, that’s an amazing story. I don’t have a story like that.

Don’t you ever tell me that. I’m sick and tired of your generation giving me excuses why you can’t get out there and tell people the amazing things that Jesus has done for you.

don’t you think I would have loved to have grown up in a home like yours I would have loved to have a mom read me the Bible every night pray for me

tell me about Jesus when I was a kid so I didn’t have to go through all that garbage don’t tell me you don’t have a story to tell shame on you for not telling people about what Jesus can do for them

watching those crazy people walk by without even giving them a whisper of hope I shouldn’t have had to live 28 years like that. You should have reached me before then.

I’ve got brothers and sisters, and I’ve got moms out there, people we’re praying for, and maybe they’re going to come past you one day.

What are you going to tell them? What are you going to tell them? Because you’ve got an amazing story, no matter what your background is.

Because it’s all the same. You see, at the cross, at the ground of the cross, it’s all level, my friend. Jesus didn’t die on two crosses, one for people like me and one for people like you.

He died on one cross. We’re all in bad shape without Jesus. We may have come down different paths, but my friend, we’ve all got the same story.

Without Jesus, we’re in big trouble. And because of Jesus, we’ve got an amazing story! You’ve got an amazing story.

And today I spent all that time, and I want to end with this. These thoughts. Verse 18 then leads us to the reality of what you can be doing.

Look at this. And when he was come into the ship, this is Jesus. Now Jesus just did this miracle.

He gets into the ship, and here we have this man. He that had been possessed with the devil prayed him that he might be with him. Now hear this.

What can God do with you? And I’m going to give you two answers. One, nothing if you don’t let him.

Two, anything. Anything. Because God can do anything.

How can God take a man that was crazy, humanly speaking, out of his mind, cutting himself, socially rejected, worthless, and disposable by all human standards, and turn him around and turn him into a mighty man of God? You say, a mighty man of God, where is it?

Right there in the text, my friends. Right there it says, Jesus says, don’t come with me, go home. Tell your friends, tell those people that rejected you, that said you were worthless, that you were disposable.

Go home and tell them what I did for you. And don’t just go there, go all over. Decapolis isn’t a city.

It’s ten cities. You see, Jesus took a man that humanly was unreachable. But when God touched his life, he turned him into an itinerant preacher.

Isn’t that wonderful? that God took a man, lifted him right up out of the gutter, and put him on the top of the hill and put his hand on him.

You see, God can do anything. See, March 24, 2006, Jesus delivered me because my sister never lost hope in the fact that Jesus could do anything.

And I love my sister and am eternally grateful for her blessing, that blessing of that day. But I want to tell you, that day was more than just salvation.

It was a decision of surrender. We’re just exactly where I want to go, and we’re going to finish our time. Note this man who said, okay, Jesus, I don’t have anything.

Where you’re going, I’m going. Let’s go fishing, man. That’s the Greek.

And so they’re getting in the boat, and Jesus is like, whoa, wait a second. Actually, that’s not what it’s going to do. You’re not getting in the boat with me.

I’ve got other things to do. Okay, that’s my version. And I want you to go home, and I want you to do this other thing.

This is fascinating, you guys. you have to understand this. This man, this man right here

was willing to leave all to follow Jesus. He looked at Jesus and said, he looks back at his life and he says,

well, there’s nothing there but tombs and rocks and people who don’t like me. I’m out of here.

I’m coming with you. And Jesus says, no, not right now. But he was willing to leave everything.

I wish I could spend a lot of time with you here today talking to you about the reality that you’ve got nothing in this world.

and that it’s all going to burn up, my friends. And you have to see the relationships and the things of this world are finite compared to the eternal blessings of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And you need to stop clinging to these things like your little blankie sucking your thumb. These bring no security in your life.

I’ve got a little two-year-old girl who walks around the world with her little blankie in her hand, you know, stuck to the bottom of her hand, the tag sticking up and her thumb in her mouth.

And that’s her security. And many of you in this room walk around with your eye devices in your hands or your friends on Facebook

or the things of this world you cling to that you think are so important. And what I’m telling you today is that you’ve got to be willing to let those things go. Because God has something very amazing for you.

And the longer you cling to these things, the longer it takes for you to get to where God wants you to go. And I’m telling you today, today is the day for total surrender.

God’s Word here was something profoundly impacting on this man’s life. Remember, he’s talking to the living Word. Jesus says,

No, go home to your friends and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee and had compassion on thee. The very living Word of God spoke to this man face to face,

like happens to many of you at many preaching times, at many devotional times, the Word of God speaks to you.

Do you surrender to it? Is the Word of God to you more than your necessary food? When Jesus speaks to you,

are you willing to drop all and follow Him? I didn’t have anything. I think that’s one of the blessings of the life that I’ve come from.

I didn’t store up all these securities. I look back at my life and I told Jesus, I’ve got nothing. And if you take me, boy, you’re getting the short end of the stick

because there’s nothing here to offer. Jesus says, no, no, no, you’re exactly who I need because you realize what everybody else should.

None of this means anything. And outside of me, you’ve got nothing to offer. And this man fed on the Bible.

He followed Jesus’ word on where to go. He followed Jesus’ word on what to say. What if Jesus said to some of you seniors here today,

I want you to go to Baptist College of Ministry next year, and I’m going to train you through that ministry to go to some unreached people group. Would you drop your blankie and follow Jesus?

I mean, because what else do you have to live for? Are you going to spend your life with your thumb in your mouth, talking about God,

or are you going to drop it and walk with him? You have an amazing opportunity. The world is dark, darker than it’s ever been,

and it’s only getting darker, and it’s time to get those bushels off, right? Let me give you one more thought, and then we’ll be done here.

This man’s obedience had great impact. And my friend, your decision today for total surrender, total dependence, will have an amazing impact on this world.

No, this man, he didn’t have formal Bible training. They didn’t send him to Baptist College of Ministry or to whatever college education program that was out there.

All he had was him and Jesus. And he had Jesus’ word on what to say and Jesus’ word on where to go. And he just went and he obeyed.

found that if you simply obey God with what you have, that God can enable you to do amazing things. This man went back to all those people that rejected him, to all those people that hurt him, to all those people who said he was worthless, and he said, look what Jesus did to me.

Look what he did! Isn’t that wonderful? Let me tell you about Jesus.

And just imagine if some of you public schoolers would go back to your public school and stand on the corner there and gather your friends together that you’ve never told about Jesus, and said, let me tell you about

happened to me this weekend. Let me tell you about what happened to me at the cola clash when I got under the ministry of the word of God and I believed that Jesus could do amazing things with my life and

he is doing amazing things. And let me tell you about Jesus. There was a day and a time in my life

where I put my faith in Jesus Christ. And you begin to tell them the wonderful things that Jesus did. And you know what’s going to happen?

People are going to begin to marvel. I can’t tell you about the phone calls that I got within weeks of being saved.

You see, because I just figured, hey, you know what? I’m going to go to my pastor.

I’m going to go to this church. I’m going to get discipled. I’m going to ask people to be a help to me.

And I got underneath a church and some of you could be helped that way. If you’re not members of a local church, then you need to be a member of a

local church. It’s like the first decision I made after I got saved was to the church and they’re preaching the gospel.

I went to a revival meeting and I went there and I was there every night. And I listened to that preacher. And every time he spoke, I was at the altar making a decision.

You know what? Slipknot has got to go. You know what?

These clothes, they got to go. I was one week old in the Lord. My music and my wardrobe completely changed.

And my attitude towards my friends became very burdened. These were no longer friends. This was my mission field.

And you know what those friends who said they were going to be with me forever? Hey, man, we’ll never leave you. We’ll never forsake you, man.

Really, it’s just like the words of Jesus. You know what I found out? That when you open up the Bible and begin to tell them

that Jesus can wash away their sins, they run. like they never knew you. And every night I began to get more burdened

about the reality of the things that God was doing in my life. So at the end of that week,

I went to that pastor and I said, Pastor, I’m going to be coming to this church.

Will you disciple me? He took me on. Not just him,

but then the other pastor. I had two. And we went after it.

And you know what they told me? Matt, you need to go soul winning. Soul winning.

I don’t know what that is, but okay, what are we doing? Where are we going?

So I went out door knocking. The first door I ever went to with one of the pastors there, we knocked on the door.

Knock, knock, knock. The guy opens the door. Hi, we’re from Greenville Baptist.

Crash right in your face. Whoa, what is this? What are we doing?

Who cares? This is great. We’re serving God.

Who cares what the world thinks? I left that way back there. I’m not clinging to that stinky old blankie that’s falling apart

and smells like 5,000 meals. I’ve got Jesus and so do you

salt light you may not have my testimony

but you’ve got my Jesus you ain’t got my story but you’ve got your own

friends it all starts right here total surrender are you willing to submit to the word

God? Are you willing to forsake all and follow him? Throw away the things of the world.

They’re only going to come back to hurt you. I speak from experience.

Can we pray? Lord, we love you. We

thank you. Thank you for my friends and their wonderful attention here this afternoon. And I

thank you here that, Lord, you don’t see just a group of teenagers. You see a group of world changers, no matter what their background is, no matter where they come from, no matter what the

need is here today, Lord, thank you that you are the need meter and that you meet all the needs and that you love these young people more than even the parents could love them. And Lord, my prayer

right now is that you would call out these young people. And Lord, reveal yourself to them and show them, Lord, how much you love them and how much you want to use them.

Lord, show them that politics isn’t the answer, that you are. Show them that they’ll just put their trust in you right now for

the rest of the life that they have, that you will lead them to the wonderful blessing of following you and knowing your will and doing it. I pray for my friends here right now.

Our heads are bowed, our eyes are closed. Again, I just want to ask a couple of questions here and then we’ll be done.

You say, Pastor Weber, I’ve heard your testimony here today for the first time, and I’m here, and I don’t know for sure that, like you, I’ve made that personal decision to put my faith and trust in Jesus to wash away my sins.

I don’t have a definite decision in my life where I’ve put my faith and trust in Jesus to wash away my sins. I don’t know for sure that if I were to die today that I would go to heaven. And you would say, Pastor Weber, please pray for me.

I’ve heard your testimony, and I see a need in my own life. By the uplifted hand, you would say, pray for me, Pastor Weber. Is there anybody like that?

I would like to pray for you. I cannot save you, but I could pray for you. Yes, I see that hand.

You may put it down. Anyone else with this one here? Anyone else that would like to?

Our heads are bowed. Our eyes are closed. Yes.

Thank you. Yes. Amen.

Anyone else? There’s more. Maybe there’s more here that we need to.

You say, Pastor Weber, I’m identifying. I come from some real needs in my life. I’ve got some real needs in my life, Pastor Weber,

but the greatest need I have today is Jesus. I just need to get to Jesus. I need to find out where the real help is today.

Our heads are bowed, our eyes are closed, nobody’s looking around. These have raised their hand.

Is there anyone else? We will not take long, but we will take a minute. I do not want to pass you by.

Alrighty. Pastor Weber, God’s working in my heart about total surrender here today.

I’m hanging on to some things. God’s working in my heart about total surrender. I’ve got that security blankie I’m hanging on to.

I want to be like you, and I want to follow Jesus. I may come from a different background than you, but I realize today if God can use you, he can use me too.

Say, Pastor Weber, I want to drop the blankie. I want to run with Jesus. Uplifted hand, you’d say, pray for me, Pastor Weber.

Yes. On the right, yes. Mountain Dew, yes, I see those.

Coat, yes, I see those hands. Put your hands down. Anyone else?

I did not raise my hand but today is the day total surrender I’m making a decision I’m following Jesus dropping the blankie

yes and coke you may put that down I want to just give an opportunity here our heads are bowed our eyes are closed

nobody’s looking around if you’ve raised your hand and I’m going to pray for you here in just a second all of you

if you raised your hand and you said I did not know the Lord as my Savior and I need to get that settled today is the day of salvation

I just want to encourage you that we have some folks that can be a help to you here today, and they can talk you through what it means to know Jesus as your personal Savior.

And in a minute, I’m going to pray for you, and then I simply want to ask you while our heads are bowed and our eyes are closed just to go to the back, and somebody will be right there at the back

ready to meet you and talk to you about that. And today, if there’s something very specific, if you’re a Christian and you know the Lord,

and there’s something very specific you need to talk to somebody about about this total surrender issue, then we’ll give you an opportunity to respond as well.

Let me pray here and then we’ll go from there. Lord, we love you. We thank you for the opportunity this afternoon to hear from you.

I pray that you’d help, Lord, for these that need to get saved. I pray right now that you’d be convincing them that now is the time, like you did for me, that now is the time that they don’t have to wait,

that right now they can get saved and they don’t have to worry about that. They can take that off their plate. And, Lord, that they can have that relationship with you

and for my friends that need to deal with something very specific here about following you, dropping that security in their life, whatever that security is, and following you.

Lord, I pray for them that they would have that freedom as well.

Speaker 2: And we ask this in Jesus’ name.