Always Be Listening

Welcome back to Ignite. We're here with Jim Rice, the lead singer and guitarist and banjo man and steel guitarist and whatever. For brush arbor this great band that is just exploring the scene back in the good old days. Yeah, back in the 70s. Back when our hair were black. Yes, back when our hair was black. And I was trying to think of the word but you just continued on in different iterations and keep seeing even to this day and have blessed so much with your music. But we're here to talk about sharing faith and you have so many stories. Can we take in just the next few moments and just give me some, not necessarily rapid fire, but just some examples of how how do you share your faith spontaneously in areas where we're just never would be common to all of us. This is what happens and it happens automatically. It does. It does. It does. No, I I was an interim pastor for a while and I thought God was once I got done with that, I thought, okay, God's done with me in that in that role. And I got a dog. Most people have a dog. Okay. And and I you know, training a dog when they're puppies is broke and I got a little jack Russell Terrier. Okay. That's has more energy than both of us put together. So I bought this little dog and I've taken to the dog park and people would walk up and say, well, that's the cutest little thing I've ever seen. So we're going to meet people and I'd say, well, thank you, man. How do you like my dog? But anyway, people say, well, what what kind of dog is it and where did you get it and all that kind of thing? And I start telling them my my story and how God got a hold of me when I was younger and how that this happened and that happened. And they go, what do you mean God got a hold of you? And I share what that means. And it doesn't mean I got a hold of God. He got a hold of me. Yeah. So I've been able to have a ministry in the dog park. And I've got people that I've I've given these little tracks that I give out. I give those out and I and I tell them the same thing. If I pray for you, well, you read this and I've never had anybody turn me down. Okay. This is this is all wonderful. But I'm going to go back something that you said just matter factly. Just threw it off. I know I don't lose it. You enter you engage in a conversation and you'll find out they give you a gift. They give you a question that you can answer with the God story. They do. It's if you're just on your toes, it happens all the time. They'll say, well, how did that happen? You know, it's a crazy thing. God just since you can you what really happened? You don't you're not making it up. But when they give you the opportunity, you say, oh, you can just do a simple or you can you can come back and say it was amazing. I can't explain it. But God moved from me and gave me that impulse. Well, people ask me how did why did you get that dog? And where did you get it? I got out and that where did you get it? Why did you get it? Yeah. I said, well, I prayed about it. And this is where God led me. And I go, what do you mean? God led you. And I share with him what that means. In fact, when I went to get my dog, this is a true story. I said, I want a black tail on my dog. Number one, that's one thing has got to happen. I said number two, I want him to be something where God shows me that it's my dog. Somehow, he's got to show me. It says my dog or I'm not getting it. And I wanted a male dog. Anyway, I go out to this lady and I looked sure enough it had a black tail. And she says, well, do you want the dog or not? And I said, well, I don't know. I said, I prayed that God would show me that's my dog or not. And so far, he hasn't shown me. She says, well, I said, well, when was the dog born? She says December one. I looked at the dog and I said, that's my dog. She says, how's that your dog? I said, I only have one daughter. And my daughter was was born on December one. That's my dog. So I tell people to park how God you look for God to show you things. And he will show you things. And they go, well, he hasn't shown me anything. And I go, well, if you ask him to, have you asked him to, and they go, well, actually, I don't know. And so they're not. God wants to direct you. Exactly. God wants to direct you just like he's no respecter of persons. He loves you just as much as he loves me. And he wants to lead you and guide you. But he's going to show you something and you have to say, yes, conversations. He can go a million ways. Oh my God. It's not the typical share in your faith. You need to get on your knees and pray. You'll get there. But first off, they got to figure out is God real? And they're looking 80% of the unchurchar looking for God right now. So when they hear somebody actually mentions it, they tend to ask more questions. And then you can go all over the place, give them examples. Well, and I was sharing with you earlier that a lot of times I share my story of my faith and God and what he's done. And afterwards, I realized that did that. And I go, oh, that was so good. I wish I'd have taped it because I'd never done it. But that was the Holy Spirit speaking through me to somebody that needed to know. And they'll say, man, I didn't know. As soon as you said something about horses. And I go, I've never shared horses in my faith before. But because I shared horses, that was assigned to them. I didn't know it was assigned to them. But God said it up. What we don't understand is a lot of times, God's already prepared somebody to hear what he's going to speak through you. So if when I meet somebody, I don't realize it till after it's over, I realize God prepared them to hear what I was going to share. And I didn't even know what I was going to share. So he prepared them in advance. He prepared me. And I spoke it and God accomplished something. And I got to be a part of it. This is so important, folks. The steps of the righteous are directed by the Lord. But he doesn't stop there. He directs their steps. And he brings them right to your doorstep. Now, if you're sensitive to it, you realize the moment and you seize it. So often we miss that opportunity. And we're thinking about something else. We have to be intentional. We have to be looking around. And with this thought of, move everybody. I know it's getting to be a trite stable neighbor, but it's true. Move everybody every day close to Jesus. Everybody ran just lost. 80% of people run, you're lost. And you're looking for that next opportunity. And you never know when it's going to happen. You don't know. And I've had friends that I just, I say, Hey, you know, God's had me for whatever reason praying for you. And they go, All right, they make a joke about, I don't know. They do something. And I say, he's got me praying for you. So you got a decision to make. And they go, What do you mean? I go, Well, if he's going to draw you closer to him, you've either got to say yes or no. So you got a decision to make. You might be thinking about that way. Then it's like, What? Then they want to know how that works. So I've had several friends come to the Lord. But you wouldn't say that to just anybody. God has the prize. God has to inspire you. Well, yeah, to know when to say those kind of things. It's not what I'm saying is when we talk about this over lunch, it's not a road. No, where you're just saying to say, Everybody, you're not going to go around and say that same thing then everybody has to speak through you and give you an inspiration to say those particular words. That's where it becomes personal. And you have intimacy with God when you literally talk about having what's it like to have God? You know God is speaking through you to another person. What's that? What's that experience like for you? Well, for me, it's just exciting. I was sharing Christ with a guy in a restaurant once. And I gave him my booklet and he told me that he had prayed the prayer in the booklet. And I said, So what does that mean to you, you know, to accept Christ? He says, Well, I guess I've accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior. I reached out and shook his hand. I said, Welcome to the kingdom of God. And he goes, Whoa, what was that? And I said, the Bible says that you believe in your heart, which you did when you prayed the prayer. And he says, Confess with your mouth. You just confessed the Holy Spirit just dropped in you. That's what you felt. He was so excited. You know, so sometimes it happens, happens so quickly that people haven't grasped the magnitude of what they've just known. And I don't think I've ever shared Christ the same way twice in my life. Yeah. Yeah. It just, it just happens because it usually comes out of their need more than it comes out of. Oh, absolutely. Of something I remember. Or of them pulling it out of you, you set the stage. You give the opportunity. You're loving on them. But then it just comes. I remember just very quickly. I led a guy to the Lord who was dying. And I said to him, because he prayed the prayer and I said, Let's pray it again. I want to make sure you really get this who prayed again. He got it. I said, Do you realize we're going to spend eternity together? He says, What? I said, We're going to spend eternity. What do you mean? I said, You just said it into the family for eternity. We're going to spend eternity together. He's Oh my goodness. That's amazing. That's the same thing. He hadn't realized the magnitude to what he just did. He realized he was saved with the comprehension that it's forever. And the comprehension that most of the people around us are going to be forever in hell. How can we not tell them? Well, and I think for me, the biggest part is I realized that God, we're predestined to spend eternity with him. And God could call them. He could write it in the sky. Come to me or I'm going to pound you with a hammer. He could do that. But he chooses to do it through me and give me the excitement of sharing that. And once you share with somebody Christ and they move from eternal damnation into eternal bliss with our father in heaven from now on, the excitement of giving somebody being a part of that. Just to be a part of it is more exciting than anything I've ever done in my life. I say, you know, we get, you know, 13 truckloads of product being ordered for retailers. That's a lot of little bottles. You know, I get really excited about that. You know, it pales. As much as I love my business and all that, it pales, getting one person knowing they're going to spend eternity in heaven. And the angels are shouting at that moment, right? You all right? It's a very exciting thing. You know, we could go on and on. In 60 seconds. Give me a spontaneous, give me a fun, spontaneous, that unexpected experience where you just bump into somebody in it. Well, for me, the best part is showing kids of anything. It's just teaching kids to listen to God. Yeah. And as you know, I did rodeo for a long time, and I had a horse 60 seconds, a horse that could move right. And you couldn't tell how I'm moving the horse because the horse had his ears painted toward me. Yeah. And I'm teaching these kids how we need to listen to God the way this horse that I was writing listens to me. And so I've been trying teaching kids to listen to God beginning when they're young is pivotal. And the older I get, the more I try to listen to hear the voice of God. You're taking a basic life lesson and turning into a gospel message to these young kids. They'll never forget that. No, don't ever forget that. It's a, it's a, it's a picture that they can, they can follow. It is. It is. Emulate in their whole lives. It is. It is. It lives. You can say something that could be really mundane and you're turning into something that's so spiritual. If you ever be praying, mark kids' lives forever. Everything is spiritually significant when you're walking in the light. And it's true. And it's true. Turn it all to him. You're walking in the light. Everything is spiritual. A lot of fun hanging out. We have a thread more time. Yeah. Thank you, Jim Rice. God bless you. He's doing what you do. And because of rush hour, all the singing and all the face sharing. You're a man of God. Hey, guess what? What? We're going to spend a turn to you. Hope you enjoyed this. What have we had? Jim Rice, rush hour. Okay. Thank you. And we'll see you next time.