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A Real Friend · Bible Tract Echoes Podcast

• 0:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: Hey, friend.
• 0:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: Welcome back to Bible Track Deckers.
• 0:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: My, my, my, my career, your host.
• 0:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I want to thank each and every one of you that have taken of your time to join me right now.
• 0:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: You realize, of course, this program plays on over 110 or so radio stations nationwide and internationally, but I'd like to speak to you as an individual.
• 0:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: And truly, that is the goal each and every time.
• 0:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: See this program was started by Dr. Paul Veen back in the late 1950s and one of the things I most appreciate.
• 0:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: About the stories I hear of our founder, Dr. Paul, I appreciate the fact that he always had time for individuals.
• 0:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yes, did he preach to large crowds?
• 0:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: Absolutely.
• 0:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: Were there thousands, tens of thousands saved during his lifetime of ministry?
• 0:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: Almost
• 0:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: But it always had time for people, individual people, that person, a singular, and I'd like to, if there's any attribute of Dr. Paul's, I'd like to emulate.
• 1:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: That is certainly one that I would highly prize and so thank you individually for joining me today.
• 1:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: We've been speaking this week about 21st century of angelism and that's where we are going to continue today.
• 1:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, there have been so many different ways to reach people.
• 1:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: to exclaim, to expound, to share.
• 1:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: The glorious gospel of Jesus Christ.
• 1:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think back on the multitude of methods, some of them still in use today, we could have backed up 100 plus years to those circuit riding preachers.
• 1:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: Maybe preaching in two, three, four, five different places on a Sunday, many different or rural communities that needed God's word, these intrepid people, almost explorers would take upon themselves to, on the back of a horse, maybe travel tens, 20, 30 miles or so to speak to people.
• 2:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: Of course, you could fast forward to the age of moody.
• 2:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: D.L.
• 2:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: Moody and a horse drawn wagon bringing people to sunny school young that children think of the bus routes of the 70s and even still so many good churches picking up folks from all over their area bringing them to church.
• 2:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think of going door to door.
• 2:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: Still have the opportunity to do that myself on occasion.
• 2:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm so thankful for the fact that we now have things like social media and all of these different avenues to reach people.
• 2:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: Now understand that when I talk about 21st century evangelism, reaching people in the present day, I am not saying
• 2:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: that we need to do away with all of the methods of Yesteryear absolutely not.
• 2:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: If something works, why fix it if it's a if it ain't broken?
• 3:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: So, we will continue for it.
• 3:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: But I do think that there are some tools.
• 3:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: Some opportunities, some things that were maybe not quite wrapping our heads around quite well enough in this damn speaking for myself.
• 3:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: Oftentimes, I find that I am not as soul
• 3:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: Conscious as I should be heard a man a god described as being on soul patrol the desire to Every time you leave your house to reach people for the cause of Christ.
• 3:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's an attitude.
• 3:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's a mind set shift and it's something I'd like you to consider as we go forward in this present day talking about 21st century of angelism Of course the desire of angelism to reach people to share the gospel, but why put that qualifier?
• 3:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: 21st century, well we've been describing that for the last little while, and we've come to the realization that in this day, the opportunities presented, the gossip was unchanged, but the opportunities presented have.
• 4:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: There have been some tweaks, there have been some modifications, there have been some whole cell changes that we should be aware of.
• 4:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: We have the opportunity to reach people, if I can give you a first point,
• 4:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: in a personal way, a very personal way, instead of being so focused on reaching the multitudes, I think we should limit our scope.
• 4:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: We should have big imaginations.
• 4:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: We should have big desires.
• 4:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: We should want to reach a lot of people, but I'd like to speak to you for just a few moments right now about being the personal.
• 4:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: There's something about building a relationship with people.
• 4:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: You say a whole lot of the moment, I thought when you were talking about 21st-century evangelism, you were just going to dive straight to social media advertising or evangelism as some people call it.
• 4:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: I thought you were going to just talk about how we should put Christ honoring things and verses on our Facebook feed.
• 4:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: Well, all those things may have to place and then maybe good.
• 5:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: But one of the things that most has been most impactful to me and I see,
• 5:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: being the most impactful, not just in my imagination, but actually seeing it is in this day.
• 5:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: When everyone truly becomes much more separated.
• 5:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: We have segregated ourselves to a degree into the echo chambers of social media.
• 5:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: We are living virtual lives and we are literally, and I'm not putting these things down.
• 5:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm pretty like I'm 31 years old from me to act like a
• 5:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: kids with their goggles and alternate realities and all those understand that's how I'm doing, but I'm telling you that we are literally living in the virtual world.
• 5:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: We're putting goggles on our faces and we're living in such a way that we don't have
• 5:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: personal relationships with people anymore.
• 5:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's a little bit of a all-inclusive statement, but please understand the thought, the heart behind it, we have it in opportunity, while the entirety of the rest of the world.
• 6:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: Technology and all the rest trend towards an
• 6:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: We are more disconnected than ever before.
• 6:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know as well as either those 1,000 to 1,500,000,000,000 people that are quote-unquote Facebook friends with you, you know for a fact that the vast majority of them are not your friends.
• 6:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: Not by the true sense of the word.
• 6:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: So that being in case, we have an opportunity.
• 6:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: to actually reach people in a personal way, unlike days past, because in the 1980s, in the 1980s, in the 1780s, you didn't have any choice.
• 6:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: Everything was personal.
• 6:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yes, you could write a note, then you could confer, you could converse with somebody from miles apart and you could do so with a telegraph with a telephone and all those types of things, but even some years ago,
• 7:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: When technology was maybe a little less rampant than there's now, we still had things like whether they be block-aparties.
• 7:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: Whether they be, we go to a library, we'd actually rub shoulders with people, we'd pass someone walking out of post office.
• 7:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: Friend, now, we live in a world where we are so quote-unquote connected through the internet whatnot, but we are so disconnected.
• 7:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: reading text off of a screen does not mean that you have a friend.
• 7:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's actions in the real world.
• 7:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: That means something.
• 7:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: This is not a sound.
• 7:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm not trying to come at you as a a lullite or as a neanderthal and tell you that all these things we have burned them all and get rid of your iPhone.
• 7:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm not saying that what I'm saying is we have an opportunity to reach people in a personal way today in the 21st century.
• 7:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: that we've ever had before.
• 7:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: You say, no, you just said we had this opportunity.
• 7:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yes, we've never had it where it's such a stark difference from the way people normally communicate.
• 8:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: You can order food on your phone.
• 8:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: You can order a taxi on your phone.
• 8:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: You can swipe through people you might want to date on your phone, but to be confronted in the real world.
• 8:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yes, you say, all people have more stand-offage today than they've ever been because they're unused to it.
• 8:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yes, you may be right.
• 8:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: But that is not to put down the fact that there is still a great opportunity for people to reach people by being a real friend to them.
• 8:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: Because I understand this friend that no virtual reality can compete with a personal, a true friend I ask him.
• 8:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: Is there someone that you haven't been as good a friend with as you should that you've let technological electronic communication you've let those types of things supersede?
• 8:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: Say yeah, but I'm like I work from home.
• 9:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: I order food to my home.
• 9:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: I don't have to leave my house.
• 9:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: I had Walmart to deliver my stuff friend as a Christian brother to you, my brother or sister.
• 9:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: Could I encourage you to consider how God might have you to interact with the real world to reach people personally?
• 9:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: I would hast to guess that if you ask the Holy Spirit to guide you, he will.
• 9:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: You say, but for the micah, the social media and technology, it's so very powerful.
• 9:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: And that's what we're going to get to next, absolutely.
• 9:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's so powerful, but partly because it's so powerful, it's far less personal.
• 9:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: Think about it.
• 9:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: If you got a megaphone in your hands right now.
• 9:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: And then we were sitting in the same room, maybe you, me and, just a few of your closest friends, if you tried to talk to us with a megaphone, how long do you think you would take before we snatched away from you and said, stop being so annoying?
• 10:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'll own it today before, like, stop that.
• 10:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: I can hear you.
• 10:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm right here.
• 10:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: Friend.
• 10:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: The power of social medium, the power of the tools of our day can make them very impersonal.
• 10:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: Megafone's great when you're talking to a crowd of 200 young people that need to pay attention.
• 10:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's wonderful.
• 10:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: But I wouldn't want to have a very personal, very private, very intimate conversation with somebody if they had a megaphone.
• 10:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: Even the questions they would ask would be too leading, would be too public, would be too embarrassing.
• 10:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: No, I'd want to lower my voice.
• 10:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: I don't want to sit in a busy cafe or something like that.
• 10:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: Where my voice is drowned out and said, hey, can you help me with this?
• 10:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm struggling.
• 10:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: Imagine someone.
• 10:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: Hey, I'm struggling with some feelings of pressure and anxiety and someone on the other end with a megaphone.
• 11:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: How does that make you feel, friend, personal?
• 11:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: We have an opportunity that 21st century to be personal.
• 11:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: instead of trying to reach people by screaming at them from the rooftop of Facebook by posting your opinions, political or otherwise even if I can say this even posting your stance on particular doctrines of Scripture.
• 11:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: Praise the Lord, I'm glad you have good stance on these things and glad you're biblical but the echo chamber that is Facebook is
• 11:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: may not be the place for it.
• 11:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: Maybe just maybe you'd see a better return on investment by being personal.
• 11:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: Instead of thinking you're speaking to 3500 friends at the same time, maybe you'd be better served speaking to one in person.
• 12:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: If you disagree, if you have maybe an agreement with what I've said,
• 12:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'd love to hear from you.
• 12:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: Whether you agree or disagree, I'd love you to reach out.
• 12:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: You can text me a 309, 316, 724, 0.
• 12:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's 309, 316, 724, 0.
• 12:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: We're going to continue on this discussion of 21st century of angelism.
• 12:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: in the coming days.
• 12:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you so very much for listening.
• 12:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: My prayer is always, is that you have a great day for His glory, and I hope you reach someone personally, today.
• 12:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: God bless.
• 13:10
  [UNKNOWN]: Thank you very much.
• 13:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for tuning in to Bible Tract Echoes, the radio ministry of Bible Tracts Incorporated.
• 13:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: Want to see our gospel tracks and other resources?
• 13:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: Visit us online at BibleTracksInk.org that's BibleTracksInk.org or follow us on social media to learn how you can partner with this ministry.
• 13:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: Thanks again for listening.
• 13:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: May the Lord richly bless you as you live for Him.