Pastor Rob Pacienza on Living the Joy of Faith Sharing

You wake up every day and you say I have divine purpose. I don't care whether I'm a businessman or a school teacher, a doctor, a lawyer, an entrepreneur. I believe just like you Barry, there's no such thing as retirement. I can't find it in the Bible. We might retire from different functions and jobs and tasks, but we never retire. God has created us to work. He's created us for divine purpose. That's why I can't understand churches that don't equip their people to do the work of ministry. Welcome to the Ignite with Barry Maguire Podcast, where Barry's book and passion for spreading God's love are guaranteed to ignite your life. Now listen in and prepare to have your life ignited. Hi everybody. Welcome back to Ignite America, this podcast, dealing, interviewing, spending time with one of my most favorite pastors in the world, from a church that I can almost say has impacted my life as much as any church in the world, that being core rich, pressuritarian church, and the pastor, DJ James Kennedy, being the great man that he was in the creator of evangelism, explosion, and we are early ciders up back in the 70s when we listened to this great man of God, every Sunday morning before we went to church. We were preached up well, good, very well because of Dr. James Kennedy. Before we went to church, and we've been ignited and sharing our faith ever since, but this great pastor now, and if he didn't catch the early, you need to go back to our earlier podcast where he talked about the background, we can't take time to repeat it now, but it's a great, it gives the miracle story of Pastor Rob's life, it's just, it's just amazing. Off camera, you were talking about setting 100, did you say 100,000 kids? Tell me, tell me, I saw us. Yeah, this summer, we're spending hundreds of students overseas, trained in the evangelism explosion, to be able to go from our church that are going out, these are high school students, teenagers, and I think what's so encouraging about these hundreds of students that are being sent out from our church, trained in evangelism, explosion, we hear so much negativity about the next generation, but here's an example of students that caught the fire, they caught the passion for sharing their faith, they're being trained, and now they're going to other nations in the world to train other pastors. So you have, imagine that's a 15-year-old training a pastor on how to share the gospel, and how to train others to share the gospel. I mean, there's just some of the stories that this is not something that starts when we're in our 20s and 30s, these are 14-year-old, 15-year-olds that are going and sharing the gospel, it's so encouraging, and it's what gives me hope for the next generation. Or a 14-year-old, like you were at Corridged Presbyterian Church, when you walked in there, unsafe without a Christian family and heard the message, you know. I think the hope for America is our next generation, and we're hearing they're hungry for truth, they don't know what truth is necessarily, they're hungry for it when you help them understand God is the author of truth, and you can have purpose in your life, actually have purpose in your life every day when you take his truth and you share it with the people. Next to you, we're seeing the response from Jen's ears over the top, and our ministry team have talked about how we say to the older audience at the end of talking to a thousand people, have 10 people come up out of the remnant, you know. And they're all tyrion and they're all in, and the rest have just walked away. But when you talk to Jen's ears, they all say, they're not on their phones, they actually want to know who God is and how they can represent, how can they have purpose in their life. So instead of thinking of Mark, you're placing you and John or placing these kids' hearts when they go off in the field and actually even mentoring pastors. God has a sense of humor. Absolutely, my 15-year-old son will be one of them. I mean, he's de-straveling across the world to go inspire other pastors. I mean, that's what's exciting about when you have a church that is on fire for Christ and sharing the gospel and equipping others, it's the it is the it is our hope and it is the answer for the next generation. And it just doesn't start with our high school students. We have we have children as young as eight years old and nine that are going into our preschool ministry and our preschool across the street at our Christian day school and they're going out and they're sharing the gospel with preschoolers. I mean, this is something that anyone, I don't care whether you're five or whether you're 95, if you go on to Jesus Christ, you are called to go and make disciples. And we are all called and and one of the excuse we hear often, I said this in the earlier podcast where the excuse we hear often is, well, I'm not trained, them taking time to sit through a class of evangelism, explosion, or any other. And so we ignite, we see ourselves as faith sharing for dummies. You don't have to be trained. Folks, the scriptures don't say go into the world, all you are trained. If you know Jesus Christ, he just comes out, you know, whatever you love, you talk about. If you're not talking about God, then he's not your first love. I'm sorry, but he's not self-test for you. I have to talk about how I love my wife. Man, I talk about my wife every day, the lucky scum, a lucky dog. I love my wife, but I tell her about everybody knows that. And I spend time with her. You know, if we love God, we're going to spend time with him. We're going to be in church on Sunday. And then the rest of we will tell people about him. And you know, if you do that, ignite your life, that's the whole point of it. And so when you come to church and Sunday, where you'll come and dragging in, hoping the church can lift you up with worship wrong and get you going again. And now you got to face another week. No, that's not God's plan. When you have these just individual conversations, unexpected conversations, several times a day, everyone, you walk away, you're ignited. I wrote a book on it, ignite your life. It does. When you do it, ignite your life. And you're in the word and you're praying and you're loving and everything. All the works are flowing through you and you're alive. I mean, this is what God intends for you. Unfortunately, most churches are not giving me this message. So we're doing this podcast, right? We love the champions, Pastor Rob, a Core Ridge Presbyterian church. And in Fort Laudano, Florida is leading the charge for all of us. Thank you, Pastor Rob, for doing that. So let me guess you this question. I know if you have some other things you want to say, please jump in. But why are most pastors not giving the instruction? They may be saying go, but they're not saying how? Why? Where is the church gone wrong today? Because it has in large cases. I think pastors are forgetting where the power comes from. The power doesn't come from in flashy new programs or innovative techniques. The same gospel that turned the world upside down two thousand years ago is the same gospel that turns the world upside down today. This is where the power is. And so the gospel isn't clear. And the implications of the gospel are not being made known to the congregation. If you, as you just said, if you love Christ, you want to make them known. If you've been transformed by the gospel, why would you not want to tell the whole world about it? And I think it really does begin with an exhortation and a calling from the pulpits in here in America that this is the power. This is how we're going to transform culture and transform culture can only happen through transformed lives. And so we need to be calling our congregations. I shared this illustration with our congregation a couple of months ago. I said, if I told you this morning that underneath your seat is the cure for cancer, you would take that cure and you would not go out into the streets of Fort Lauderdale going, well, I just don't want to offend anybody with the message. I don't want to inconvenience anyone or I don't know if I have enough time for this. No, you would go running up and down the streets of Fort Lauderdale and beyond saying, I've got the cure. We need to remember that our world is suffering from something far greater than cancer. It's called sin. But we have the cure. We have the ultimate answer for the greatest problem this world faces. And it's the gospel of Jesus Christ. God's given it to us. We do have the answer. So why should we not be the men and women of God that are running up and down the streets looking for every opportunity? Not worrying about whether it's going to offend somebody or not, not worrying whether it's going to turn somebody off or not. It's the one message that has the power to transform them and to save their soul and to for them to be able to spend eternity with God in heaven. Why would we not want to tell everybody about this? It's the greatest message the world's ever heard. It is. And it's fun, folks. I mean, it's not this 20 palms of scratchy throat. Oh, I got to. If you love God, you don't need to love God. I mean, if you love your wife, you're not having 20 palms trying to tell someone, I love my wife. Come on. We love God. And he gives. He sent us his agents. It's our reason he works to the world through us. We would reconcile to God by Jesus Christ. And he's given us you and I, the ministry of reconciliation. He's put that in our hands. And when we do it, our lives come alive. I mean, it's just, it's just nothing like it. And yet most of us are not doing it. Let's talk about that for a moment. Why is it that most of us, most Christians are not even thinking about sharing their faith every day? They may be going, let's start with specifically, the ones who are going to church. There's probably 30, 35 meters actually going to church three or more times a month. The serious, but never, never, maybe on rare occasion, but certainly not intentionally. Think about moving everybody every day because of Jesus. Why is that out on their mind? I think we're too apathetic and I think we're too self-consumed. We live in a self-consumed culture that is even crept into the church. And so we go, it's going to, it's somebody else's problem. It's somebody else's obligation. Somebody else will share the gospel. I don't need to be that person. That is a self-consume. Thank, thank the Lord that my next neighbor when I was 14, didn't say somebody else will invite them to church. Somebody else will get Rob into a gospel believing Bible preaching church. Thank God that my neighbor said, you know what? If I don't, maybe nobody else will. That's the type of mentality we have to have. If I don't share it, they might never hear the message of Jesus Christ. And so I think if we don't have a burden, we don't have a fire and we just assume somebody else is going to do it. And that is no way. One of the marks of that you are growing in a relationship with Jesus Christ is you want to tell everybody about them that you don't hide, you don't hide behind anything that you are coming out and in a loving way, sharing about the greatest message that they could ever hear. That's the type of burden and passion that we have. And the biggest part of it is you folks, do you understand this? The God, once you compel you, challenge you, give me the great commission. He shouted from Genesis, Genesis to the revelation for claiming the good news. He wants you to do the second early to win the loss. That might be a surprise to you. But the second early to win the loss, his primary focus is on you. That's his focus on you. And I say it 43, 10. He actually explained it. He says, you know why? I want you to share your faith. He says, that's the Lord. I point you as my witness so that you will believe. If I was God, I'd say so that they believe. No, he knows that's when you believe because when you're out there and you're sharing God's spirit, Holy Spirit speaking through you, give you words to say, that's intimacy with God's. You know, you're right where God wants you to be. How I'm asking you know, I'm right here. God knows that he put me here. He inspired this conversation. What a many this day. And he's giving me the words to say and the person in front of you is being changed. Hallelujah. And you can have that conversation, those types of conversations every day. I mean, why would you miss out on this? It's it's not only not only developing a burden, but I don't know if Christians understand the joy that comes from sharing your faith, from to see somebody convert, to see somebody put their faith in trust in Jesus Christ. I think of all the writings of the apostles and the New Testament. How many times do they say I consider it a pure joy as I'm living out this mission as I'm doing the work of an evangelist. When the apostle writers like Paul write to other churches that are growing and sharing their faith, he rejoices in what God is doing in their life. Why? Because when we live for Christ and we make him known, it is the greatest joy for us when we get to see others doing it, when we get to do it ourselves, we only understood the joy and the encouragement that this brings to us. I think we would never shy away. We would never refrain from telling others about the good news of Christ. May I add particularly in the bad times, particularly in the bad times, the times when you're tempted to see, where are you God? I just found out I got cancer. Where are you God? I thought you loved me. I just got a flat turn. I got an important appointment. Oh, thanks God. Where were you when I needed you? I mean, it goes on and on and on. He's right there. Well, at the end of the great commission, what does he say? He says, I will be with you to the very end of the age. Christ is with us. He does the work. We're just the vessels. We're the broken vessels that are just being asked to open our mouths. God gives us the words. God is present with us. He's the one that actually does the converting. Well, I mean, that should give us all the confidence in the world. I just have to be obedient. I have to be humble. I have to just wait on the Lord and he will provide everything I need in that moment. He's with us till the very end. He's the one that's doing the saving. He's the one that's doing the converting. I just have to be obedient, humble, and diligent in this calling of being an evangelist. When you bear fruit, the last pair where Jesus gave the pair with the the fig tree and the garden, he says, when you bear fruit, ah, that's when you're by disciple. And then this great promise. I think it's one of the greatest promises to be because we've been talking about joy. He says, that's when my joy made with you and your joy were made full. I mean, we've had that. Karen, I've had that since 1976. We got that message. Wow. But particularly folks, if I go back just for a moment, in the worst of times when things are going bad, God's there. Romans 8, 28 says all things. And he means that. We all in the scripture, we don't believe it or it's for somebody else. I don't know what he's saying to you right now. All things work together for good. When you do two things, you got to read the whole scripture, folks. When you love me, it bears when he's, they ask you to teach you what's the most important commandment. And he said, love me and love your neighbor as yourself. If you love your neighbors, yourself, you're concerned for their salvation as you are your own. And then you're, you're straightened up your life and you realize everything I'm doing, I need to do everything I can to get that person to to heaven. So it's not about legalism. It's about pure joy of living, allowing God's transformational love to flow through us and everything we do, even in our actions, particularly in the bad times when people are watching us and they're expecting stress and pain and they're expecting foul words and cursing and whatever. And you said there was joy and you testify, no God said it. He's going to, he's going to solve this problem. And that is so powerful. Don't shake your fist when things are going wrong. If you honor God, you realize that he's, at that moment, he's going to give you people to talk to you would not have reached any other way. And then when you're speaking and you see the life stage, how many times have you and I walked away and said, thank God, I was responsive. What would happen to that person if I didn't respond and love of them that would have been lost? Absolutely. And you're, you're, you're so, so right when it comes to being able to exhibit joy, regardless of the circumstances. And only the Christian can have that hope. Only the Christian can have that joy that even in the midst of tears, we can have hope. I remember one, my wife and I, we lost our sweet Lillianne, our three-year-old daughter about eight years ago. And I remember our congregation. I remember my unsafe family members watching Jen and I walk through the greatest tragedy that a parent can experience. And not that there were not immense tears, not as if there was not immense brokenness. But to see us respond with a spirit of joy and hope in the midst of the darkness was the greatest testimony we could have given our church, the greatest testimony we could have given our community, the greatest testimony we could have given our other two children. God used that tragedy to bring our other two children to know Jesus Christ as a Lord and Savior. Because in that moment, all the theology, all the Bible knowledge, we all had to ask the question, is it all real? We were able to say, yes, it is real. It's more than just a sermon. It's more than just something that we talk about. It's something that we believe to our core. The joy that Christ has given us through his salvation is something that grounds us not just in the good times, but it grounds us in our worst moments. On our worst day, only because of Christ and his work, can we smile in the midst of the tears and have hope in the midst of tragedy. You and I have talked about this because we both lost a child. We lost a 49-year-old daughter. There's a prolific face share. Had lots of problems in her life and struggled, but use those struggles to share faith. And a thousand people came to her funeral and they saw me cry. I think a lot of them over half of them were not saved. They were car guys, but newbie and we saw me always when I was thinking, was he going to smile now? And I did. I balled and I balled today grieving and the more you love, the more you grieve. But I never robbed my joy. At the end, we had an altar call and we taped it. We put it on YouTube. It's on YouTube now. Nicole McGuire's celebration of life. And guess what? 23... Karen just checked this. 23,000 people have watched a video of a funeral. And how many hundreds of people have come to the Lord because of Nicole's passing in the funeral we held to put it all together. And at the end of the funeral, we served hamburgers. I had a 50s man singing about Jesus and we had a car show and it was celebration time. I still hold her picture on my phone every day smiling and I think, you know what? It's smiling happy as you were then. You're a lot happier now. And if you're happy, why should I not be happy? And they often say that through tears. The grieving continues, but you and I both know the joy the Lord never stops. No matter what because we're living for God's purpose. Absolutely. And I think that's one of the beauties of what God does through a church that faithfully proclaims the gospel, then equips their people to go out and share it. You wake up every day and you say, I have divine purpose. I don't care whether I'm a businessman or a school teacher, a doctor, a lawyer, an entrepreneur. I believe just like you, Barry, there's no such thing as retirement. I can't find it in the Bible. We might retire from different functions and jobs and tasks, but we never retire. God has created us to work. He's created us for divine purpose. That's why I can't understand churches that don't equip their people to do the work of ministry. I go, what are you talking about? How are you spending your time as a church? What are you doing as a pastor? Mobilize the church. I remember talking to people that have been at this church from from its beginning. And they said single-handedly, the greatest thing that happened to this church is when the pastor, D. James Kennedy, stood up and said, I'm not going to be the only person preaching the gospel in this church, but I'm going to equip you to preach the gospel. And everybody looked at themselves. And then he said, together, as a church, we can change the world. And God did that through Courage, Presbyterian Church because the people sitting in the pews are not just spectators. They weren't just there watching a spectator sport on Sunday morning. They were being mobilized and readyed and prepared to go out into the world to be witnesses. It was the most energizing thing that could have happened to this church. And that is the reason. It wasn't just the great preaching of D. James Kennedy. It was mobilizing his people to go and make a difference by being different. Thank you, pastor. Pastor's Lazy News, when you hear that message, you would ignite your church at the end of all the conversations that you weren't even expecting. At the end of the conversation, we have a website called SeekingGod.org. And these are on cards you can hand them out. And you see the people, it's not like you'd like to know more about God. They'll always say yes. And when they say yes, I have a website for you, SeekingGod.org. If you're watching this right now, we're at this downstairs and you're not a Christian, go to SeekingGod.org and tell you everything you need to know how much God loves you. Has a path for you to get to heaven. And these are cards you can get free of charge. And I think Pastor, you're even going to start handing out at your church pretty soon. Are you not? Easter Sunday. We're ready to go. Wow. Wow. Well, we are partners in this Father God. Thank you for Pastor Rob. From the beginning, from the from the foundation of the world, you had his name as you had all of our names. You had plans for him, that you had plans for all of us. And you set him in this place at this moment in time, the greatest moment in human history to ignite everybody he can to go out and share their faith. We can ignite America revival. Father God, we know that. But it's up to us. Each one of us listening to this. Those of us that are laymen, yes, pastors, you too, send us. Your role is to equip us and send us and lay people listed right now. We need to get this gift and we need to go for it. Nothing compares. Nothing else in life as a eternal. I think of the lives you can impact today for eternity. Don't be apathetic. Allow God's amazing, unstoppable love to flow through you and everything you do and everything you say. For the moment you get up in the morning to the morning, going to bed, may you bring glory to God in Jesus name. Hallelujah. Amen. Thank you, Pastor. We'll have to do this again. I love, I love your heart. You have the heart. You really do have the heart of a pastor. The essence of what needs to be a pastor to equip the saints. Keep it going. You know, I'm here for you anytime I can do anything for you. Thanks, Eric. Appreciate you. All right. God bless you everybody. See you next time. Night your faith. See you next time on the Ignite with Barry McGuire podcast.