joining us today for our first speaker is someone who may not need an introduction you may know him already Jeff Cavins Jeff Cavins was born and raised Catholic in his young adulthood however he and his own words said he sat at mass one day and became frustrated because he felt like he was surrounded by dead people Jeff left the Catholic Church and became a Protestant a pastor but 12 years later he returned home to the Catholic Church and with him he brought an incredible great adventure Bible study series have you heard of the great adventure Bible study yes I have to share with you my own personal experience with the Bible study back in my former parish in Florida in three years we introduced the Bible studies and in three years over five hundred parishioners went through at least one of those studies and what I saw was a conversion I saw people falling in love with Christ with the church with the mass with the sacraments with Scripture they were hungry for more the church is blessed because of Jeff's just faithful service to the church with these Bible studies and presentations and podcasts in pilgrimages today we are honored to have him join us if you please join me in welcoming mr. Jeff Cavins good morning it's good to be with you this morning and I have anticipated this morning for quite some time and I am honored to be invited by Archbishop Coakley who was in the Twin Cities just a few years ago and he was able to share at our convocation and he was I think voted number one speaker so you people really really enjoyed it so thank you so much it's gonna be a great day today and I'm honored to share with you the opening talk on discipleship and I want to open up in prayer myself and ask God to bless our time together and then I'll give you a little rundown as to where we're going as far as this talk would you join me in prayer in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit Lord Jesus we thank you today for giving us this opportunity to come together to come together under the umbrella of a tremendous vision for discipleship and evangelization Lord what you have to say to us this weekend is so important as it relates to the future of Oklahoma City Oklahoma the world and we know Lord that you did a tremendous work with 12 followers and what you put into those 12 followers changed the world and we're asking you Lord today to do something in our lives that we too would change the world by the power of the Holy Spirit for this that you have called us to is a way of life to become disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ we pray this in your name amen name of the father and the Son and the Holy Spirit amen well what I'd like to do this morning to share with you is I would like to talk a little bit about the rut that some of us can get into in our walk with the Lord because if you're like me you have something deep down inside of you that really really wants to walk with Christ the way the early disciples walked Christ how many of you if you had a choice how many of you had walked with Jesus the way those disciples did 2,000 years ago how many quite a few of you 20 of you I am the same way and I have that desire to walk with Christ but I know as someone who is very very interested in my walk with Jesus there are ruts that I can get into that will keep me from becoming that disciple that the Lord has called me to become and then I want to do something a little bit different I want to take you back 2,000 years and I'd like to show you how you actually become a disciple how do you actually become a disciple is it your choice or is it something that you're invited to and if you're called to be a disciple of Jesus what does it mean for you in their schedule your day what does the life of a disciple look like are we people who just simply believe certain things or are we people who are doing what our great rabbi and teacher and master the king of the universe has taught us to do and then I want to challenge you this morning to be that disciple that brings the Word of God and the life of God out to other people one of the problems that we face is modern-day Catholics is that often times we do get into the rut of feeling like we don't really share Christ with other people that's somebody else's gift that's somebody else's job but that's something that we're all called to do is to share Christ with the people that we meet in our life but let me tell you a little bit about the rut that we can get into now you're here on a Saturday morning I am very aware that Oklahoma is going to be playing for a championship I know who's gonna win but I'm not gonna tell you Oklahoma's in a championship I also know there's a big high school championship today too right but you're here you're weird you are different than the rest of society you are what I would call uber Catholics an uber Catholic is somebody who comes to a convention center to hear people talk about God when Oklahoma is playing for the championship you're different you are called now as an uber Catholic I consider myself an uber Catholic - really excited about all of this stuff how many of you are excited about about learning about the faith pretty excited I am - I am - but there's a rope that we can get into as uber Catholics there's a rut that we can get into as people who are faithful but we don't see our lives being similar to the early disciples lives of walking with Christ now I consider myself an uber Catholic as well so if you ask me if you ask me Jeff are are you Catholic so I'm going to go ahead ask me I'm so glad you asked me am i Catholic hello have you seen my library I've had over 4,000 books in my library I've got all these CDs from lighthouse media I watch EWTN I listen to Christian radio and I got a fish on my bumper sticker and my Catholic hello now when you ask me I'm Catholic if I'm Catholic and I respond to you I did not respond to you with with anything it has to do with following anybody or a mission that I'm called - all I told you was what I consume I'm a consumer you say are you Catholic are you a Christian absolutely and this is what I consume I can't get enough of it now there's nothing wrong with a good Bible study right and I know of when you can go to there's nothing wrong with a good Bible study there's nothing wrong with listening to a CD there's nothing wrong with the conference but the rough that we can get into that I have found myself in from time to time is that my faith becomes my hobby what do I mean by that I'm more thrilled with consuming the faith and learning about it than actually doing it and so you have you have two different sets of people you have people who are in the stands watching and you have those players on the field today Oklahoma is going to play Baylor there will be certain players on the field and then there will be a lot of people watching but it's not the people watching that are going to win the game it's going to be the players on the field they're the ones that are going to win the game those are the ones that are engaged in the game and so I have found in my own life that sometimes it's like my faith becomes my my hobby now let me give you a real practical example of this this is true totally true you can email my wife a number of years ago I got into painting and I really enjoy painting I did my thesis on the spiritual dimensions of Vincent van Gogh and so I got into painting I really enjoyed it but then I did landscape you know still life but then there came a point where I I didn't have time anymore and I had to give it up and about 10 years ago I said to my wife you know what I just need to get back into something creative how many of you know what I'm talking about you want to do something creative right so I had options what will I do well I I can do macrame it's just an option I didn't say did that I can do sculpting I can do painting I can do photography poetry whatever it might be so I thought you know what I think I'm gonna look into photography now maybe some of you are like me I get intense on learning something anybody out there like that I mean you get on to something you're on Google YouTube you're looking up everything about it and so I thought I'm gonna get into photography so I went to Barnes & Noble and they have this magazine rack that is like the Library of Congress for hobbies every hobby you can imagine Barnes and Noble has a magazine are you into wine they have a magazine you into running magazine walking magazine cars magazine trucks motorcycles of cigars whatever it might be they have a magazine so I went to the photography section and there were about 20 magazines on photography so I bought ten of them I brought him home and I put them on the end table in the in the in the family room picked it up had a notebook there started reading about photography I couldn't get enough of it I'm reading reading first one's done next magazine black-and-white photography oh this is so good but that don't outdoor photography and I'm reading and reading and taking notes I'm starting to learn the vocabulary I'm starting to learn about some of the equipment when I was done with the ten magazines guess what praise the Lord every month they come out again I went back up but I got 10 more and I came home and I started reading those 10 and then the next month 10 more and my magazine stack is growing and my knowledge of photography is growing in fact I started going to the local photography club and the local photography club was filled with professionals journalists artists created design people and I'm talking with him and then I'm talking to all my relatives about photography and you know about these f-stops did you know what you can do with the remote do you know what you can do with Photoshop da da da da da da and after the 4th month I'm reading my magazines and my wife walks in and she looks at me and she says honey and I'm reading said yes she said why don't you buy a camera I will I will sweetheart listen this is serious stuff we're not talking about your your cute little iPhone you know we're talking serious we're talking serious so I went up to Barnes and Noble and they had two magazines that reviewed all the equipment I bought them both I brought him home I reviewed all the equipment I'll tell you what I bought and I don't expect you to get this because I'm a photographer I ended up with a Canon d7 Google it I'm not getting into it I got two lenses I got an 8200 2.8 L lens Canon Google it is image stabilization that's what that is to us image stabilization have you ever been part of an organization that uses a lot of acronyms I bought a 50 millimeter normal for portraiture and then I bought a remote I got a tripod and a lighting kit and I put it all up in the family room and I went back to my fifth month of magazines so I'm getting this knowledge I've got the equipment and I'm reading and reading and it's a fifth month my wife says to me sweetheart I said yes why don't you take a picture now pause in that fifth month I'm telling you the photography club that I had been going to and talking to invited me to be the keynote speaker at their gala they invited me to be the keynote at their gala and one of our relatives called us and asked if I would shoot their daughter's wedding I told them I would pray about it and the Lord said no yeah because the Lord loves that girl very much right now I say all that to say this if I can get invited to give the keynote to a photography gala and I can be invited to shoot the beautiful wedding of a young lady and I haven't taken a shot is there a chance that we can learn all about Catholicism all about vatican ii all about scripture all about the Catechism the lives of the saints and not take a shot and the answer is yes that's possible it's possible to also take a few shots or more than you normally would but the point is this is that it's not what we know it's not the equipment that we have it's putting it all together into a life a life that is dynamic a life that emulates Christ a life that gets out there beyond where we are normally going to go a life that even will walk on water if called to and deep down inside you're here today because there's something that's drawing you there's something that's drawing you to a life that is beyond where you have been and you can realize that you can have it it's called the life of a disciple and a disciple is something in a whole different order then simply someone who believes all this stuff or has the equipment or can converse a disciple is someone quite different and I want to share with you what a disciple is and how you become a disciple because if you're like me you might wake up one day and say you know what I am Catholic I am a believer I think I have strong faith but I don't see myself as a disciple and it's when you see yourself as a disciple that your whole life can change and maybe right now in your life in your marriage you need that change maybe you need that change when it comes to the teenagers that are coming up in your family or you got teens now and you're thinking I need more I need wisdom I need to walk with God as I'm a parent maybe you've lost someone very important in your family this last year and you need more you need that that intimacy with Christ that you are longing for that's where we're going now what I like to do is take you back 2000 years for a moment and very quickly I want to I want to show you how you actually became a disciple 2000 years ago because Jesus was a rabbi rabbi means migrated one Laura Bonet migrated one and the rabbi's 2000 years ago were pretty unique they were sages they were wise they were there were people who had students or disciples following them and it was a very close relationship for many years they would be together all day long and the disciples would follow the life of the rabbi but how did you become a disciple there was a process and the process is right there in the scriptures in the Gospels so let's go back 2,000 years put your your time your time glasses on and we'll go back go back with me a 2,000 years ago there were rabbis the rabbis were itinerant Jesus was a rabbi he was a rabbi who taught as a rabbi he was with his disciples the same way other rabbis were with their disciples but there was one major difference between Jesus and the other rabbis and that was Jesus is God big difference here you say my rabbi really knows this and this you could say well my rabbis God okay big difference now how many how many average disciples do you think a rabbi had 2,000 years ago five you listen to my CD five you're right five the average number of disciples was five right there was five but how did you become one of those five was it up to you did you get a CD somewhere and say wow I really like that that rabbi I'm gonna be his disciple no it was actually the opposite but growing up as a young boy as a child 2,000 years ago Jesus and the disciples all went through the same process let me let me run by it run you run you through it real quickly every child started off between the ages of seven and ten in a school called the bait safe fair the house of the book and during that time from seven to ten years old you would learn Torah you would learn scripture you would memorize great amounts of Scripture you were taught by local teachers and the great rabbis would come through town and they would start to catch wind as to who the young students were that were catching on to this in fact the kids would learn so much scripture between seven and ten that st. Jerome said in Bethlehem he said I have rarely run into a young Jewish child who doesn't have massive amounts of Scripture memorized so from seven to ten you would learn the Torah in fact they had a little trick and little trick was that they would take a piece of slate and they would take honey the teacher would take honey and the teacher would spell out the words with three consonants and the kids when they memorized that word and they could say that word they got to lick the honey from the slate so they started to associate learning scripture with sweetness well after that from 10 to 14 years of age they entered their second phase of their education in the second phase of education they studied more scripture and the oral tradition and they also began to study their father's trade because the odds are of most of these young men that are growing up they're probably not going to be selected to be the follower of a great rabbi but they're probably going to do what their father did which has dignity and it's wonderful and so in the morning you would learn Torah you had learned about the ways of God in the afternoon your father taught you how to fish how to mend nets how to make boats your father if he was a carpenter showed you how to build with integrity wonderful homes if your father made sandals he taught you how to make sandals and it was during this time from 10 to 14 years of age that they entered into what could be called QA learning and is kind of interesting because the rabbi's would teach back in Jesus day they would teach by asking questions and the students the disciples the young people they would answer with questions so for example the teacher would say Andrew what's two plus two well Andrew is not going to say what he's not going to say four because if teacher says what's two plus two and Andrew says four all of his classmates will say duh which duh in Hebrew means duh okay it's just a little quick Hebrew lesson right there no you wouldn't say four you would say rabbi what's eight minus four what's at seven minus three excellent Peter what is two plus two what's the square root of sixteen rabbi and that's how they would learn what do we see Jesus doing at 12 years old we see him in the temple teaching and asking questions and so Jesus was completely a part of this but then at about 14 years of age it's time now 13 to 14 years of age it's time now to make a choice what are you going to do with your life but the great rabbis who have been coming through Bethlehem and Capernaum in bits Ida and all these towns they may have two slots available to choose a disciple and so when the great rabbis would come by they would interview the young young kids that are gonna go into their father's trade or follow that great rabbi and so they would say one of two things to the young kids they would talk to them and say Andrew stand up at Andrew stand up what's your father do my father is a carpenter and he taught you well yes he did you're gonna be a good carpenter too now what did I just say to him I just said to him you're gonna be a good carpenter but I'm not going to be choosing you to become one of my disciples but then the rabbi might say to another young boy Peter stand up what does your father do my father's a fisherman and the rabbi would say left a Hirai in Hebrew let a Hirai means come follow me come follow me now what do we see in the Gospels do you remember what Jesus said he said to these fishermen let a hurry come follow me that is a is a rabbinic formula for a rabbi to say to prospective disciples want you to become my disciple I am inviting you and so you have to remember what Jesus said What did he say he said you didn't choose me but I chose you you didn't choose me I chose you and so one of the first things that we understand about discipleship is that discipleship is not something that is initiated by us we're not the ones who say I heard this great CD I'm a disciple of so-and-so no I didn't choose you Lord you chose me and so one of the first things we realize about discipleship is we are chosen people I want to just encourage you for a moment in this room every individual you are chosen you are chosen to become like him and you know what the number one criteria was for choosing someone to be a disciple in Jesus day it didn't matter where you came from it didn't matter how much money you have it doesn't matter what your last name is it didn't matter what school you went to or what part of town you grew up in or what what football team you were on you are chosen one criteria does the rabbi believe that you can become like him that's the criteria do I believe that you can become like me because if I don't believe that you can become like me and I'm a rabbi I am not about to invite you to be with me for the next five years 24/7 but if I think you can become like me I will extend an invitation left after I come follow me become my disciple ladies your chosen ladies some things might have gone wrong when you were growing up maybe you didn't get to be the homecoming queen maybe you didn't get that guy that you really loved maybe you didn't go to the school that you really wanted to all of us understand what it's not what it's like to not be chosen I remember playing in the neighborhood growing up and they would say let's play kickball let's come up with teams or whatever it is and we always knew who the captains were there were the Zimmermann brothers that's the way they wanted it and what do you they what do they do I'll take Brad I got Tom I got Steven I'll take Larry I got Susan I got I got Joan there's me standing well Jeff come on over here everybody knows what it is to not be chosen ladies you are beautiful in God's eyes you are a daughter of God and he has chosen you to become his disciple and to become like him you see the goal of discipleship is to become like Christ and not only to become like Christ but to pick up his mission and to walk in that mission and to do things that you never thought you would do what you know men same thing you are God's sons you are chosen men you're chosen to be different than Society you're chosen to be on a mission that is fantastic an unbelievable mission we're called to more than simply going to church and acquiring knowledge we are called to mission as disciples I remember just last week my best friend in Minneapolis his son was going into the military and he sent me a picture of his son walking into the building for the first time and his son the night before couldn't sleep nervous nervous I don't know what that's gonna be like they're gonna ask me to do things I've never done before they're gonna they're gonna put me through workouts that I never imagined that I could do I'm gonna start listening to someone that I've never met before nervous do you remember what Jesus said Jesus said more than any other statement he said don't be afraid why would he say that because he is about to ask you to become his disciple and to follow him and he's going to take you to places that you never thought you would go he's gonna have you meet people that you never thought you would meet you're gonna say things that you never thought you would ever say and this is the adventure this is how the world has changed when God takes people like me and you and he empowers them to do what he does this is where the thrill of it is and it is scary at times but deep down inside don't all of you want to go to the next level don't all of you want to step out of the of the mundane and say I want to follow you Jesus you can do that so Jesus says let occur I come follow me come follow me discipleship is a matter of being chosen just say that one time to yourself out loud just one time just say I'm chosen go ahead show us your chosen chosen to do what what are you chosen to do well one is to become like Christ right and that's why Jesus went on and he said the second thing that all rabbis said in the first century to their disciples he said in Matthew 11:28 and 29 come to me all who are weary and heavy-laden and I will give you rest and then he said in verse 29 he said he said take my yoke upon you learn from me for I am gentle and humble now what does it mean when a rabbi says take my yoke upon you a yoke for a rabbi in the first century mint his worldview his worldview his way of life the way he treats women the way he raises children the way he deals with finances the the orphan the widow social justice the way that wrongs are righted take on my worldview and so when you and I say yes which today today I believe you're gonna have a choice to make a decision about taking that next step with Jesus to step into the role of a disciple which means you're gonna become like him but it also means you're gonna pick up his mission his worldview and I got to tell you and you guys know I know you know we're competing with other worldviews aren't we anybody aware of that all you gotta do is turn on CNN and Fox two worldviews competing battling it out arguing rhetoric debate two worldviews but there's actually more isn't there but the disciple of Christ has adopted and taken on fully the worldview of Jesus I am NOT fox or CNN I am of Jesus and taking on his worldview that means that I may be contrary to society from time to time like the Apostle Paul who went on the scene and he was confronting a Roman world that worshipped Caesar who was considered the god man Caesar Augustus the god man the Prince of Peace who brought Puck's Rama Romana the Peace of Rome and in a slab in Corinth and archaeologists found the inscription that never before not now nor never in the future will anyone eclipse the glory of Caesar Augustus who is the god man the Prince of Peace and the one who uttered in the UN DeLeon what's that that is the good news that's what the world was worshipping a god man who's considered the Prince of Peace and has the good news for the world and Paul steps into the arena and tells them the truth in the worldview of Jesus Christ that's discipleship that's an evangelist so we are called to take upon his worldview and what are some of the other worldviews that we have to combat all the time too that we don't necessarily agree with but we're not in a debate and putting people down well one may be Oprah Winfrey Oprah Winfrey might have a lot of wonderful things to say but that's not my world view that's not what I've adopted dr. Phil if you're a fan of dr. Phil how's that working out for you you see there's a lot of good pop for mater's out there there's a lot of world views there's a lot of options of what you can become and your family can become as a man as a woman there's an employer and employee but the one that we have actually been invited to is the worldview of Jesus now that means two things so far one we are called to become like him because we're chosen to become like him we're called to pick up his mission and to become like him means one thing for us we must be in close proximity in order to really know him and his voice and what he does standing in a Starbucks line we must come to know him we must come to know his voice prayer study scripture study adoration an understanding of the saints a sacramental life to become a disciple of Jesus in the modern era means that number one we we are aware that we're called we're aware that we're chosen we have said yes Lord to your call we want to become like you we want to pick up on your mission in the world today that means a lot of nose to other things and focusing now on that relationship and it means something very important for every single one of us it means this it means that the shape of your day should reflect the love of your life the shape of your day what does it look like what is the shape of your day the shape of our day typically reflects the love of our life or an extreme boredom you know what I mean click click click click click ohh Oklahoma game I'll stay there but you know what I mean click click click click click the shape of your day reflects the love of your life my wife and I we've been married for 42 years both of us 42 years and I know what you're thinking did you get married when you were 6 we were married for 42 years my wife is the love of my life we've got three children we've got three grandchildren but when we were engaged the shape of my day changed I was single before that the shape of my day was so flexible but then I fell in love and the shape of my day started to take on a different shape and then when we got married the shape of my day started to take on a completely different shape I was used to staying up till 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning at a restaurant Perkins restaurant studying scripture and reading and witnessing and I got married and Emily very quickly and for me that the shape of your day is gonna change you're gonna be home with me and I am you see the shape of your day changes and it reflects the love of your life and when you give your time to the love of your life you become like that person and so prayer becomes so important for us right prayer becomes important to become a modern-day disciple or is what my latest book I entitled the activated disciple the activated disciple if you're gonna become an activated disciple and you're chosen by Jesus then it's a matter of priority to start and if you have to start small that's okay even ten minutes in the morning opening up the Bible listening to the gospel of the day you can get the gospel of the day at the USC the USCCB their website my wife and I every day we go to the website the Bishop's website we get the scripture of the day every day and we meditate on that doing Lexi o Divina you see if Jesus came here in the flesh right now and walked up and down the aisle and he pointed right at you and he looked right at you and said come follow me how many of you at that would point would say let me look at my Google Calendar here I got everything in here it's really you know it's a mess I mean you're God you know this but I am open on Tuesdays in the morning how many of you would do that if Jesus came in here and looked you right in the face and said left author I come follow me you know what you do all irate you hungry arrange my my schedule if your Bishop called you and said we'd like to come over to your house and have dinner and talk to your family about an opportunity you said well Bishop we're you'd say you look and say we can arrange our calendar you see you arrange your calendar oftentimes based on the respect and the love you have for the one who wants to be a part of your calendar we don't make room for Jesus we move everything out for Jesus and give him the center the center stage in our life and that's what a disciple does and so as a disciple prays a disciple studies and a regular basis but you must be within close proximity of Jesus to come to know his heart in his mind because you're out there as the body of Christ you are the heart you are the mind of Christ in society and the mouth and the arms and the hands you know let's just imagine for a moment that I have this tremendous gift I have a gift where I can discern my wife's voice in a group of 10,000 women I actually do it's an amazing gift I have CNN has done stories on it Fox has done stories on it and I'm going to come to Oklahoma and there's going to be 2,000 women here and my wife is somewhere out there and I'm gonna demonstrate this gift and so one by one women come walking up here at they'll stand and they I blindfolded totally blindfolded and and they'll say one phrase good morning honey and I with my skill set will pick out that one woman let's do it and so CNN's covering it Fox's over here MSNBC all is all the chatter about this amazing gift that I have 2,000 women first one comes up good morning honey no second one good morning honey no third one no 110 no 230 no 280 no 476 no 1371 no 1723 no 1896 good morning honey that's her and I take off the blindfold crowd goes crazy thank you thank you thank you now you would say Jeff how did you do that how did you that is amazing how did you pick out the one and I would answer with you know what I have been well I could say it's just a gift I've been married to her for 42 years my wife and I every single day we get up every day that I'm there I get up I make her tea we sit on an oval table by the back door we open up the Bible to where the the bit we go to the USCCB site we look at the scripture of the day we opened it up and every morning my wife and I spend an hour to an hour and a half together every morning talking praying and doing Lexi o Divina every morning that starts my day the shape of my day is determined by the love of my life we spend that with Christ the truth of the matter is I've heard my voice my wife's voice when she was which she had the flu I've heard my wife's voice when she couldn't stop laughing I've heard my voice when my wife was worried about the kids I've heard my wife's voice when she was excited about going to an event I've heard her voice when she's dead tired in the morning because she didn't sleep all night I know her voice when she's worried and wants to talk to me about something the bottom line is this I have spent massive massive amounts of time with Emily you can put five hundred thousand women out there and my wife can fake like she's my wife and I'll get it good morning honey that's Emily faking me out and it all comes down to we had spent massive amounts of times together and if we want to know the heart of Christ we want to know what our mission is we have to spend time with Jesus start off small you gets more and more interesting as you walk with him and he gives you some things to do now as you start to know his heart and you know his mind through Scripture study the Catechism the sacramental life you're gonna start to notice opportunities to share Christ with other people you're gonna start noticing you're gonna start noticing opportunities to help those who need help and the disciple is the one who gets out of the boat and walks on water is this you Lord is this an opportunity for the poor is this an opportunity for the hungry is this an opportunity for me to work as an our CIA director do you want me to work with the youth how about my musical skills you'll only know is that Lord Lord is that you you'll only know when you get out of the boat because Jesus will say like Peter said Lord is that you walking on the water and Peter starts it you know getting ready to do it himself and Jesus says come he says come and Peter's all excited so he's got that one leg up and the you know in the boat the other disciples are saying Peter stop it it's just a teaching just a teaching okay don't go overboard and he gets out one leg up and over and he gets the other leg up Peter's the only one in the boat that knew that's the Lord you see we can talk about ideas and talk about opportunities but it's those who get out of the boat that look at their own skillset and say I don't have that much and God does amazing things with it this is the life of a disciple mother Teresa Mother Angelica you go on and on with people in the modern era that turned the world upside down who if you looked at their skillset you would say I don't even know if they could lead studies or anything in a church but they turned the world upside upside down now one of the things that we're all called to to do is this and I want to this is what I really want to share with you is that every one of us here is called to share the good news of Jesus with others you know what we call this we call it the charisma is it how many of you have ever heard that word before kerygma the corinna it's in the Catechism the charisma is the proclamation of the gospel it's the proclamation of the gospel it is what the disciples proclaim now this is interesting because I used to be a Protestant pastor for 12 years and for a lot of my Protestant friends that came became sort of natural to share Christ with other people but then I started to notice when I came back to the Catholic Church that it wasn't as natural for my Catholic brothers and sisters to share Christ with others and I started to look into this and ask why is that why is it hard for us to share the good news with people and I think there's a number of reasons you know one is that we're afraid people are gonna ask us question right they're gonna ask us questions about scandal or scriptures on Mary or where did you come up with the papacy in the Bible why do you have so much art in Rome actually had a lady asked me that that was her big objection we have art in Rome so I I knew that wasn't her problem we we automatically think that we cannot do it but I want to share with you how easy this is the charisma the charisma is basically seven points for the proclamation of the gospel the seven points to the charisma are these I'll give them to you slow they're so simple and as I give these seven points to you simply I'm going to predict right now what you're gonna think as I'm giving him to you because as a disciple you've got opportunities to share with people at Starbucks and other stores work family neighborhood but as I share these with you here's what you're gonna think you're gonna think yourself there is no way in purgatory that I'm going to share that with anybody that's what you're going to say because it's not natural and that's the point it isn't natural it's super natural what we have to share number one God loves you and has an amazing plan for your life God loves you and he has an amazing a-plant plan for your life number two sin has rectus plan sin has rectus plan in our lives that's the truth that's number two again I know what you're thinking right now I'm not talking to my neighbor about sin and I'm certainly not talking about the the fourth point the third the first is God loves you and has a plan for your life number two sin has completely scrambled scrambled this you can find your own Greek words for this scrambled ruined wreck made a mess of the plan that God has for our right in our relationship with God number three there's good news and the good news is that Jesus Christ has come to die for your sins he's died for your sins he loves you so much he loves you so are you with me so far number one God loves you and has a plan for your life number two sin has interrupted this plan number three good news Jesus Christ has died for our sins number four he expects a response called repentance now I know and I'm sort of with y'all now and I know you're not gonna say that to your neighbor neighbor you need to repent you know that's not going to happen right but there's another way to put it that the Catechism uses and I love it and the Catechism says into the under the topic of repentance it says a radical reorientation of your life to Christ that I like actually using that a radical reorientation of your life to Christ number one God loves you and has a plan for your life number two sin is interrupted this plan number three Jesus Christ has died for your sins number four he asks us to reorient our lives totally around him number four number five be baptized and receive the power of the Holy Spirit why to live this amazing plan first catechu first paragraph from the Catechism says that God has a plan of sheer goodness that he goes in search for you and for me and he adopts us he raises us up to the level of adopted sons and share his life with us he's got a plan in order to live that plan we need to be baptized and receive the power to live that plan that's what confirmation is all about to be courageous witnesses for Jesus it's not just a step in life it's just not a passage to adulthood it's an equip to be authentic witnesses to Jesus and then number six we are to do what we are to live this life within the the family of the church the sacramental life we're here to live as a family a hospital for the broken and seven you're gonna make disciples so you see the end of being chosen is that you are going to be the instrument for God choosing other people you're gonna make disciples my wife and I sat a few years ago on the Easter Vigil and in the Easter Vigil we had three thousand families in our church and there on the Easter Vigil and praise God for him there were four people who came into the church out of 3000 families four people came into the church three got married into the church one read of Scott Hahn book we call this church growth we're losing buildings we're losing priests we're losing people but there's something special happening in the middle of it but God is stirring up good men and women like yourselves to take it to a new level we don't go to the Easter Vigil to see what has God been doing this last year we go there to participate knowing that we have been a part of it we have shared Christ with others and so the charisma becomes really important let's just get to the bottom of this kerygma you're not gonna remember that word but you will remember this word how many of you have a Keurig machine how many you got just raise your hand don't be afraid you got a Keurig machine everyone say Keurig and then think about the Blessed Mother she's the queen of the evangelists okay MA now put them together Keurig MA now your job is to brew up a cup of good news for the people that you meet that's your job brew up a cup now this is actually very easy everyone who I talked to I'll give you a quick little story I talked to a lady she came up to me at a hotel in the we had 15 people from our publishing company sitting there we had a big meeting we're all sitting there for the evening people came from around the country this lady I'm aware and a disciple is situationally aware we're aware of facial expressions we're aware of what people say when we talk to them we ask questions you're gonna get a marvelous workshop today about asking questions it's gonna be good and Andre is gonna be talking about this some what we're very aware so I'm sitting there talking to the people I work with and I'm aware there's two ladies about three or four chairs down and they're listening and then they came and they sat right next to me and I'm continuing to talk and there was a pause and the one lady said she said um what do you guys do what do you what are you here for and I said well we're here as we're Catholic publishers and I teach a Bible study to people and and show them how to read the Bible first words out of her mouth I got a problem with you Catholics and I'm thinking God loves you and has an amazing plan for your no I'd I think well what was your name and this is how she's leading and she started to tell me about scandal and about money and about that we invented the papacy and so forth that is not what's really in here with her that's what she's saying but we have a responsibility to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ which is the charisma I got I listened to her for a few minutes and then I I got to talking to her and and I looked at her and I said and this is the beautiful thing about the kerygma I looked at her and said you know what God loves you and has an amazing plan for your life everything changed when I said that and you know why because I want to answer the big fear question you have your biggest fear and I know that because I've been there your biggest fear is that if I engage someone in saying that God loves you and has an amazing plan for your life that they're gonna ask difficult questions that you can't answer I'd rather not even get into this okay but here's that here's the kicker three times in the New Testament says the Holy Spirit confirmed the message what's the message the message is that God loves you and has an amazing plan for your life that's the message and the truth is sin has wrecked our lives to some lesser degree some to a greater degree it has made a mess of our lives that's truth my friends as disciples in Oklahoma City we have an obligation to lovingly tell the truth to people that we're talking to and I said that to her and all of a sudden everything changed we got into a conversation and I kept talking to about her relationship with God and it towards about an hour later I looked at her and I'll call her Betty I said Betty answer this question if you could ask God for anything in your life tonight anything what would it be she got quiet and she said I just want to be happy she started crying I was able to talk to her in the next the next day she came into the lobby with another guy and she said to the guy pointing to me that's the guy that told me about Jesus and she sat down she said are you all getting together again today and I said yes and she ended up going back to Minnesota which I didn't know she was from Minnesota I was in Philadelphia and going to church it all started with I got a problem with you but the message is God loves you and has a plan for your life now let me let me kind of conclude my introduction I want to show you a little bit about the power of the charisma God loves you and has a plan for your life sin is interrupt to the plan Jesus Christ has died for you he expects us to completely reorient our lives to him repent turn from what is hurting us be baptized to receive the power of the Holy Spirit join his amazing family and then us we make disciples the spirit confirms the message now what I'm suggesting is not that you stand in a Starbucks line and just go through that what I'm suggesting is is that you make that part of your discussion you weave it in your way to talk to people about their lives there was one man in America and I'll conclude with this one man in America that everybody knows who for 70 years all he did was the charisma which is in the Catechism this isn't Catholic or Protestant this is the the message that we proclaim and he won over 2 million people to Christ you know who I'm talking about anyone Billy Graham you all know this you all know this simple man who simply proclaimed the message and the Spirit seemed to confirm it and there were incredible results and so have you ever wondered what a Catholic Billy Graham might have sounded like think about what he said he stood up in front of 50,000 people in Anaheim 45,000 people in Pittsburgh and he stood there and just told them the truth and it cut through everything there were lawyers doctors teachers engineers homemakers there were all kinds of wonderful people there seeking like we are and he stood up there and What did he say very simple God loves you and God has a plan for your life but sin has interrupted the plan destroyed families and marriages but thanks be to the Lord Jesus Christ he's come to die for your sins and your sins and your sins and he's going to ask you to repent tonight and I'm gonna ask you to come forward this evening and give your life to Christ and to repent and to be baptized and receive the Holy Spirit and what did he do he gave a call and eight thousand people came forward after the Holy Spirit confirmed the message you see people are dying to hear the truth they're listening to television reading desperately looking for answers the answer is simpler than we have made it it's easier than we have made it to look people in the eye and to love them it was just two weeks ago I was in Huntsville Texas where I got to go to Ferguson prison and there I went one on one two guys in solitary confinement I had to be dressed with puncture proof clothing my eyes covered and I brought them the Eucharist with a deacon and there we were able to look to them one on one and say God loves you and has an amazing plan for your life my friends as we continue on today I encourage you to be open to the change in your own life the change you want to see in the church begins with the change in our own lives and you say why is this so hard for the church to change it begins with us and say Lord bring me to that next level of being a dynamic disciple and someone who is so engaged with you that the shape of my day has changed and I really want to follow me I want to be like you and I want to pick up on your mission in the Oklahoma City use me Lord let's pray the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit Jesus I thank you that you have chosen us we didn't choose you you chose us we say yes yes we want to be with you we want to become like you want to think like you we want your heart we want to deal with the vices in our life and and develop virtue we want to be the husbands and wives mothers and fathers that deep down inside and we know we've been called - we want the boldness that we wish we wish we had we can all be found in you I thank you Lord for for giving me this opportunity today to take that next step in Jesus name Amen name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit amen you [Music]
