Ravi Zacharias and Tim Tebow | Face To Face

good evening everyone I'm Vince Battaglia I'm coming to you from the Zechariah's Institute in Atlanta and tonight it is my privilege to be hosting a face-to-face conversation between Ravi Zacharias and Tim Tebow let me ask you a question when did you last have a face-to-face conversation I'm not talking about just a passing hello just a bit of banter just an exchange of text messages not just a transaction but when did you last have an extended deep authentic vulnerable face-to-face conversation an exploration into another person and yourself unaware of where it might lead hoping that there might be opportunities to learn to encourage to challenge hoping that there might be some treasures to be on earth when's the last time that you left a conversation truly inspired again the question when is the last time that you had a real conversation as a ministry @rz I am we find that very often the most meaningful things happen when you get face to face after the talk is over after the Q&A is over and then someone approaches you and they look you in the eye and they share something significant and you spend the next few hours wrestling through it with them true face to face conversation I was once a much more common experience today it's very rare we've stopped talking to each other and once you stop talking to each other then you can't understand each other and then there's distance between people and eventually relationships begin to break down we need to recapture the art of conversation and that is what tonight is all about our first conversation partner this evening is someone who has been inviting conversation on the deepest questions of life for 50 years on scores of university campuses in the halls of government and the boardrooms of top businesses at maximum-security prisons with whoever is sitting next to him on a plane he's the author of more than two dozen books including his most recent the logic of God he's the founder and president of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries a ministry that has grown to a team of 100 speakers ministering all across the globe recently I heard someone speaking about Ravi and I thought that they encapsulated his entire ministry so well in one sentence they said Ravi is able to reach people's minds because he cares more about their hearts please welcome warmly Ravi Zacharias Robbie's conversation partner for tonight was born in the Philippines two parents who were missionaries after moving to Florida he became an incredible athlete known not only for his ability but also for his determination one time thinking that he had just a bad cramp he actually played the entire second half of a high school football game with a broken fibula and during it rushed for a 29-yard touchdown tim won two national championships with the University of Florida he was the first underclassmen ever to win the Heisman Trophy Award when he did it as a sophomore in 2007 as an NFL player he led the Denver Broncos to their first playoff win in six years and following his retirement from football he began a second career as a professional baseball player and he's currently playing for the triple-a affiliate of the New York Mets some of Tim's most important work has occurred through the Tim Tebow foundation which exists to bring faith hope and love to those needing a brighter day in their darkest hour of need and they've done incredible work supporting people with special needs with life-threatening illnesses or fins and they've even built a Children's Hospital in the Philippines where Tim was born tim has also authored several books including his latest this is the day reclaim your dream ignite your passion live your purpose please welcome Tim Tebow I gotta tell you um first of all you're really good at doing these intros that was really solid but I got to be so honest I am so excited advance not just to be with you because you were really good and amazing what you do but I gotta tell you Ravi has been one of my heroes one of the heroes of the faith I remember one time I was traveling to the Philippines and we were getting ready for the longest flight which was from Detroit to Nagoya and and is just back then they didn't have all the TVs on the screens and you didn't have iPads so you would have the one little flip DVD player that would work for three hours till it ran out of battery and then after that yeah you were it was tough and I remember I had a an iPod and I had so many of your talks on there and me and one of my brothers we split the headphones he got half I got half and we listened to you for the entire talk and that was one of the first times I got to listen to you and ever since then you've been such a hero of the faith for so many reasons for how you live your life for your ability to be able to communicate articulately to be able to handle the tough questions but I also think because how much you love people you know there's a lot of smart people out there but there's very few I feel like can articulate in such a way but also care about the need and the heart of people that can never do anything for them and I think that is something that you do so well and it's I think it's one reason I was so drawn to you and and love listening to you and hearing you and you give us so many good nuggets and teachable moments but it's also because you care about people so much and so so grateful to be here with you well said no in my line of work you should never say I don't know what to say but in what what you have just said I'd say Tamara you've been an amazing example to I've saved two say millions because god platform and our friendship goes back or something years and I never wanted to ever bother you to bring you here you've got so many more important things to do but my colleague sands just kept saying we'll bring him just ask him just ask him and so he did that for me I love you as a friend and as a colleague in Christ and immensely proud of the courage you have shown for all these years so I just want to say a heartfelt thank you I'm not worthy of those commendations but very grateful that that's how God uses us without us even knowing it and that's probably the best way yeah absolutely and I remember when I got the first chance to meet him we were at an event together and and I was talking with my brother and we were facing it and I think actually Pastor Louie was speaking that's grand and so we're watching from side of the stage and so I'm into it like what he's saying and I get a tap on the shoulder and I'm kind of like oh man I'm trying to listen to Louie real quick and so I turned around and I was like Robby what's up man I gave him a huge hug you know I feel like by probably squeeze him a little too much you know and I I've I've had the chance to meet a lot of really really cool people in my life and I'm so grateful for that but I have to say like that was up there with everyone I bet I was just so excited and then and then we went in sat down and talked and then we were late for our events because we were talking so long but when Tim gives you a hug your bones remember it I very well my spine still recalls you with fond memories thank you you know he's got this bronzed build and my muscles are like gold they are hard to find so I've got the bronze of the gold out here we're just happy to be together nice to be here thank you all for being here we're honored to have you here but it's really up thank you wonderful well already wish we had more time together it's so excited to hear from you guys on so many different topics but just to set the scene a bit I always love hearing people's story you both have amazing stories so maybe just help us situate initially by telling us a bit about your story how it unfolded and in particular how personal faith came to be so important to you both well you kind of threw that right down the middle were you directing at this mayor that way you guys you guys are in charge you're our guest please go yeah well for me I was so lucky I was born into such an amazing family an amazing family with an amazing mom and an amazing dad and for me I got to see the gospel before I got to hear the gospel and that makes such an impact on a young kid's life to be able to see a dad every morning that he was at our home that he wasn't off preaching somewhere every morning the Bible was open he was reading it when I would get up for breakfast and it made such an impact on my life because then we would get two parts about giving and helping and why it's important why it's important to be able to go out there and serve I could see it match up with everything he did and I would think yeah dad you do that all the time you literally help people non-stop that can never do anything for you and for my mom it was to be able to see it would always say to us sweetness of speech increases persuasiveness and she would say when you get upset and you want to talk back to someone it's not gonna help you so learn to be nice and kind to him because not only is that the right thing to do but you're also gonna go what you want more and and I got to see these two examples in front of me every day and I went to church over and over and over again and they would take us we were that family would go Sunday morning Sunday night Wednesday night there might even be something in between you know the revival meeting or whatever I mean we were we were going to church but honestly that didn't have that big of an effect on me it was something a lot of other people do and I saw it and you kind of turn off and now I get bored start reading the hymnal or something but what made it what made an effect on me was watching my dad everyday was then hearing the gospel and my parents that night would would bring me over to my dad's my dad's big chair and I get to sit on my dad and then we read the Bible and he would say tell me is it something that you want now and over and over again I'd say no data no no no no no I can't I'm not gonna make this choice yet and then one of those nights I was in my bed and I couldn't sleep and I was so scared because I finally truly realize the gravity of my own sin as a boy and it hit me I mean I'm a sinner and I need a Savior because I've done a lot of wrong and so that next morning I got a bed so early and I ran to go see my mom because my dad was out dealing with the the chickens and the cows and stuff with my two older brothers and I grabbed my mom and I said I got asked Jesus to come into my heart right now and she's like can I go get your dad I said no I don't have time wah wah and so we went to the couch and I got on my knees and I asked Jesus to come into my heart and I totally believed at that moment I went from darkness to light I was adopted into the family of God my eternity was sealed as a child of God and have a home in heaven and then we got to go bring data and celebrate and obviously he was crying everybody is so exciting it's excited and then we went to Epcot to celebrate and you know what brought me to Jesus it was not all the times that I went to church it was all the times I got to see the gospel and my parents life and eventually I said I don't have that I want it I need it and the only person that can give it to me is Jesus how old were you at that time six years old Wow you remember it so clearly it's amazing you know when a child desert of course that's what the Lord tells us he asked us to be like little children for us such as the kingdom of heaven they didn't take a philosopher or a sophisticated convert II took a child and place them in the midst you know my experience tim was so different and of course you know Asia well now because you're part and parcel that culture so often I hear you talk about it I'm an Asian in my heart I'm an Indian in really my soul is an Indian soul and India produced more religions than any other nation on the face of the earth Hinduism is from there Buddhism is from there Sikhism is from there Jainism is from there and as I've often said of India and Pakistan had not separated it will be the largest Islamic nation in the world as well although Islam was born more in the Middle East but to me I saw so fascinating you say that about going to church and all of that when you're a skeptic and not in tune even the best words just go over your head you're not interested in listening and I was part going to a high church which was even more elusive to my understanding the Old English the King James English and I was in love with cricket so my goal was on Sunday morning is the only day of the week we could play our matches for school or whatever I just wait to get on the cricket field and play but the Lord was on my trail he knew what I needed more than anything else and at the age of 17 when I tried to take my own life many of you know my story it was literally on that bed of suicide you're lying on your back and staring at the ceiling and recognizing what a mess you have made of everything living and even dying and I loved my mother very dearly because if it weren't for her I would not even have made it that far and to know your mother is by your bedside and grieving why you have reached the stage was incomprehensible to me then but the Hound of heaven pursued me and a Bible was brought to me the Word of God is sharper than any two-edged sword it penetrates to what seems impenetrable divides what seems indivisible and between my own search and the answers of God with nobody there to explain it to me just think about that but the verse of scripture Jesus saying because I live you also shall live at that moment I made my commitment to Jesus Christ 17:56 years ago and little dreaming and love wondering you know what God would have me do with my life if you told me then that one day I'd be preaching the gospel and one day I'd be dialoguing with skeptics out of live really wanted to have you admitted somewhere because that was the farthest thing from my mind but that's the pattern God has doesn't he he brings you to places you never dreamed of actually Ravi I was at a shelter maybe like three weeks ago and I'll leave it unnamed but it's a there's a lot of men and women who have either tried to commit suicide or have overdosed or have been going through really tough time and the shelter brings him in and loves them helps bring him back to society and I had a chance to get up and share and one of the things I shared was your story because so many of them could relate to what you went through and I get I first I didn't use your name but I was sharing about your story and then I was sharing about the guy that dropped off the Bible so that you had a Bible to read and I was saying no matter where you are in your life or the things that that you've been going through or where it God's taken you you know this was someone and I mentioned your name that in a bed of suicide you know he would have never thought that God would would use him to be able to do this and you might not think that God could use me because I'm inadequate I can't do that I tried to commit suicide I did this how can God use me well the coolest thing is that God uses flawed people that have messed up and if we look at the Bible most of the heroes are flawed people that messed up in big ways but one of the things that's so cool is God uses flawed people because he gets the glory he gets the glory when he uses someone that has messed up and then also he uses those mess ups in our life to strengthen us to give us perseverance to give us determination to let us know where we've come from and where we're going and in that sanctification process and to be able to share your story that you know and maybe you might feel like I don't know how to articulate the gospel well guess what that guy that dropped off the Bible he might have felt the same way but he found something to do and there's something you can do there's a ministry you can do there is something you can do it and make a difference that could be the guy dropping off the Bible or it could be the guy that's going to be the next great evangelist but either way there's something you can do it was so fun being able to share your story because every single person in that room could relate they had been in that bed they had been in that place they had been in that that place of despair where they thought there's no hope there's nothing I can do why am I even here and then they find out that God does have a purpose and a plan for their life and they're not an accident but there's a reason that they're still here and I'm so grateful for your story and the way that you tell it and so then I can piggy back and tell it well your point just to mention once again if you go through the book of Genesis basically three major characters other than Isaac was really a sandwiched in there but you got Abraham Jacob and Joseph all of them were dysfunctional families they gave dysfunctional enorm everything seemed so if you read the life of Joseph everything could have gone wrong in his life from a sister being raped from mass murder almost wiping old group of people out to being abandoned and sold by his brothers who wanted to kill him and then he's here he is taking a stand for the truth he stood for his convictions and he ends up in prison this man had every reason not to believe in God and say nothing of what you tell me about your presence is true and yet he became the deliverer and the one all that people had meant for evil God meant it for good I think when we get into the presence of God we will be very surprised at who we see there mainly and most of all very surprised that we're there because of all that God has done through these broken vessels and you know to me that's so encouraging it's so encouraging that God uses messed up flawed people you know because if not then he couldn't use me you know and it's it's so encouraging and it's so encouraging to really - when you read the Bible to go I can understand those men's flaws to then see where God takes them and how he uses that in their life to be able to to develop them and encourage them and a lot of times in the Bible when I when I look at it I see one of the characters and most of the time they're wounded deeply before he uses them greatly and it's so encouraging to see because you feel like man why am I going through these sucky moments and these stupid times but God knows and in those moments I don't know what the future holds but I know who holds my future and I get to trust the character of my god because the character my god is the god that gave his best gave his son for me so if you would give his son for me is he gonna try to punish me for no reason no but there is some plan or purpose for it that he wrote a long time ago so when I can trust the character my god I can understand in those moments you know what I don't like this but I don't have to like it but I can try to find what God's doing in that moment in in that time good I'm glad that you shared that Tim because sometimes people you know feel once I accept Christ if I accept Christ just as good God now everything should be good everything should be smooth sailing I'm not gonna have any problem but you guys you've walked the road of faith and you know that that's not true even after you become a Christian it might be deep struggles maybe you each could speak to a struggle that you've dealt with after you became a Christian I'll throw this to you Robby first kitchen told me I got to throw my passes to someone so I'm gonna throw this one I can throw this one - Ravi first to maybe speak about a struggle after you became a Christian yes in fact I'm trying to remember you know you cover so much ground every week in fact I hope Tim will get a chance to tell you just what he's done today he was in Atlanta in the morning flew back to Knoxville for the afternoon returned here to do this and flying back to Knoxville and doing a more show tomorrow another football game and so on he's he's young but I'll tell you it's still tiring you just when you wake up you wonder whether you're in the body or out of the body in his case it's a pretty big question the body or out of the body but we do so much and I think you know your question actually Vince's far more complex than people who realize you do of course for face that because you're especially when your life is at a fast pace and you're not taking the discipline to do the most important things in your life everyday things suddenly come at you like a headwind and you say how did I end up in this situation how did I make such and such a choice why did I do such an why did I say such and such to this person why was I so impatient with the person at the desk of the airline and so on but the fact of the matter is you know what Tim was talking about I think Taunton Wilder the author said in love service wounded soldiers served the best in loves service wounded soldiers served the best and whom God will use greatly somebody once said he will also hurt deeply that's not an intentional hurt to inflict pain but that's because through your wounds you will be able to minister to a society in a way that's not possible sometimes without you feeling the pain my younger brother is a pain management doctor in Toronto is the chairman of pain pain management department at McMaster University a very prestigious position because it's a great School of Medicine he's lived with a lot of pain my younger brother a lot of pain physical pain emotional pain relational pain and I've often wondered why he is so kind and why he's so good with his patients at any hour of the night he will respond if I call him for anything off on behalf of anybody here and he'll just say give them my number I'll help I'll be ready to help and I think the reason is he knows what pain feels like and he knows what it is when you find the answer so GK Chesterton's comment holds true the problem with Christianity is not that it's been tried and found wanting but that has been found difficult and left on right and I believe with all my heart that the Christian faith is a very very difficult to walk it's not easy you don't gravitate to it because of its ease you gravitate to it because of its truth and your very implicit need but I've lived through a lot of physical pain a lot of emotional pain and when I lost my mom in my 20s that was very hard for me she was the one who was son of the bulwark in my life and I was my 20 she was in her 50s I didn't expect her to go so soon so God takes you through those journeys and through those valleys he himself was wounded for our transgressions bruised for our iniquities and by His stripes were healed pain is nothing that we find attractive about but it is the way God shapes your soul and it is not in spite of that pain it is through that pain so the Christian faith is absolutely not easy I'm sure you found it struggling with all the critiques that you faced as a football player why your faith was so important at UT that journey you know you were talking about pain and one of the one of my one of the best people that I know is my oldest sister Christy and she's been a missionary overseas for many years now with her family and they've had to go through a lot of hard times sicknesses deaths with people they work with the the culture and the society there does not always treat people the way they should so a lot of bad stuff can happen to people around him and it's really hard and and the one thing that she would always say to me to encourage me is God will never waste your pain when it's given to him he'll never waste your pain when it's given to him but what is our call in that our call is to give it to him you know cast your burdens up on Jesus because he cares for you but we have a decision to make we have a choice I can hold on to my pain I can be bitter I can be frustrated I can be angry or I can say you know what God you've taken me through this for a reason I'm gonna give you my pain do something with it use it in some way use it in my life using the people around me use it through me somehow use my pain but when we give it to him I totally believe that he's never gonna waste it he's gonna use it in our life it's gonna turn that test into a testimony and it's gonna be something that is going to be so valuable and it's gonna be something that's going to help more people than the best times of your life you know I'm so grateful for some of the highs that I've been blessed to go through and winning championships and some and a Heisman and being able to be a first-round draft pick and some of those really cool moments but guess what very few people can relate to him but most of the world could relate when I got cut or traded or the or most of the country said you're not good enough you can't you won't you shouldn't but you know he gave me so much more of an ability to relate to relate to people that I wrote a book called shaken and in a publisher's and so many people were like no no no no youyou mean unshaken right they were like when I see when I came I was walking like at 2 o'clock in the morning and I was just you know speaking verbally into my phone and record it because I'm not a writer I just recorded to my phone or something when I'm trying to for books and stuff and English was brought to my head shaken and so then I told my ghostwriter and then we told my book agents and then we told the publishers in every step of the way they're like no you mean unshaken right no cuz guess what as a Christian you're gonna be shaken there's gonna be times in your life it feels like everything around you including your faith is being shaken but in the midst of being shaken who are we whose are we what do we have to hold on to so that when we feel like everything's being shaken I get to hold on to God's truth I get to hold on to God's promises because John 16:33 you know one of my favorite verses we can take heart but that's also a choice we have to make when everything's going bad is haywire it feels like everything shakin guess what I get to choose to hold on to God's promises I get to choose to give him my pain I get to choose to take heart to take it I'm litter I'm gonna take God's promises I'm gonna hold on to them I'm gonna say it over and over and over again I'm going into a tough situation I'm gonna say the same thing Oh over and over and over again I would do that sometimes in games I remember one game I was playing I promoted proverbs not stop trusted lower with all your heart do not lean on your own understanding but in all your ways acknowledge him and he will direct your path but I tweaked it trust and Lord in all your ways but do not lean on your own athletic ability and all your ways acknowledge him and he'll direct your paths I kept saying over and over and over even teammates would come up in back we do what are you quoting but I kept saying it because you know for me there was so much pressure or so much stress it was so much on you that you know what I was calling out to God I was just trying to take heart I was just trying to hold on to his promises that I wasn't alone God's not like oh you and guess what I'm with you and the good times but hey I'll see you later when you get into the bad no he's there he's there and you know I was I was in prison yesterday sharing with inmates and and one of the cool things that I was sharing with them is they feel like you know they're in these tough times these hopeless times and you to be able to bring hope into a prison and sharing within that God's not on the out just on the outside like God can enter the prison too he can enter the prison and yeah you're here for murder you're here for rape you're here for all these bad things but God can enter your life he's not outside the cell he wants to come in just like he wants to come into your heart and he wants to come into your life and he wants to be able to take those those heartaches those bad times even those bad decisions but we serve a God that turns bad and bad people in bad choices into testimonies into Hope into opportunities to share with other people so when you feel like man I hate these bad decisions I don't know what I can do I don't know who I can help we serve a God that is a big God he can do big things and watch what he can do with the tough times in your life tell them how many came to know the Lord is not prison when they gave the invitation um I was probably a little over 200 trusted Christ yesterday in the prison so it's really cool you know I would strongly recommend if you haven't picked up Tim's book shaken get a hold of it that first chapter tells the story as to why the book is called what it is and boy when you're reading it your emotions are being carried by him as he's telling his story but what does me deeply in that chapter Tim was not just what you'd been through but there was not one harsh word you used with any one of the decision-makers that determined your fate at that moment you gave everyone the benefit of the doubt and all you were doing was struggling to find out what next and where is God gonna take me and those of you followed his career that chapter and by the way the closing chapter to it at that book saw masterpiece you want to say something that well you just reminded me about not trying to say bad things about him because if I was trying to write bad things about those people I really don't believe that I could truly have faith and bitterness at the same time I just don't think that they can coexist at that moment like I can't have faith in God's plan for my life and be bitter at where I am for my life if I have faith for why I'm here for what I'm doing here then I'm gonna trust God for why I'm here but then I can't say god I'm bitter about being here now you can talk to God about it and I've done it many times god I thought we were gonna win like seven Super Bowls and you know what happened to that playing God you didn't write that one before creation you know I thought we were gonna write that one you don't saw talked to God about it and I agonize with God about it but I can't be bitter truly bitter about where I am and be trusting God's plan for my life you got to choose one or the other and sometimes we're in between and that's okay yeah but even those moments when I want to be better then that's we go back take heart God's promises I know you I know you did it for a reason and you know what they thought they were in control but really you were in control that's great I've also got Ritchie Brown here who's a linebacker for the Atlanta Falcons he's been sidelined with an injury he's here with his wife Erin there you are Richie he's suffering a I think it was a concussion hit or something like that and must be hard sitting on the sidelines and watching the game go on but I'm sure God is working in your life he's another amazing athlete for Christ's sake so thank you for being here tonight with you thank you I want to talk a bit about disagreement and I think that perspective you just shared speaks to it as well but a couple weeks ago you Tim and Steven Naismith you disagreed on first take about some of you will know about the fare paid that way everyone's ever disagree no I never disagreed on that it was not unusual I was actually so encouraged by it I mean I thought you spoke so well I thought you both engaged passionately but respectfully and then afterwards the way that Steven vigorously defended you in light of some criticism that you received now Ravi you know in some ways you disagree for a living you know you stand up Medved you're you're willing to let anybody speak of you that's different than your own and then engaging them we live in a culture where I mean just agreement just almost always disintegrates into everything you don't want to see you to have seemed to found it will find a way to disagree constructively how how have you done that well I think if you talk long enough with almost anyone in this world you're gonna disagree about something I mean my dad's my biggest hero and if we talk long enough we're gonna disagree about something you're gonna disagree we don't have to see the world the same way we don't have to see everything the same way but I think what's important is that you understand you want to be able to try to understand where they're coming from but more importantly you want to be able to value who it's coming from and even if I don't agree with them I value that person not because even I naturally respect them or I even like them but they were created in the image of God and because of that God says that you need to love them so I don't have to like someone but I'm going to try to choose to love them anyways and when you're choosing to love them then you're going to try to understand them to hear where they're coming from that doesn't mean I have to condone some of the things they do or what they say but I'm gonna try to value that person for who they are and who God's created them to be and I starts I think it starts with that value valuing God's creation valuing them because God values them because they were created an image of God because they are fearfully and wonderfully made because they were created in love by love and for love and God has a plan for their life and so I'm gonna value them because God values them and he asked me to do the same and it starts there and when we value people our actions will start to change but a lot of times I just don't think we see people as people we see them as an object or something that I want or we don't even see them we're on social media where it's just a name and a blue checkmark but when we see people and we value people and we realize that life matters that soul matters that person has significance on their life God died for that person when I value people that way and every person that way it changes the way you act towards people and then you can truly try to listen to people but I think it starts with valuing them well I think he's an evangelist what fashion yeah I think that's the first time I've heard somebody describe me as using disagreement for a living good light to remember Vince you know I think I'd like to remember that people asked me on the plane what do you do I was at Michigan State University along with Abdul Maria Abdul went to University of Michigan and we done the first night University of Michigan next night forum at Michigan State about 9,000 out for that open forum it is a snowy night and we had a fantastic forum the students were courteous they were very gracious and the way they asked and we were there probably for three hours for the evening and a lot of wonderful things happened after that forum which I won't go into but I remember meeting the vice president of the university afterwards a lovely african-american woman highly qualified in her educational background and spoke at such excellent terms of their goals of Education and all of that and I said I just want to say something to you your students were remarkable ma'am the way they treated us with courtesy and respect through the whole evening she said this um it got me completely by surprise she said you two men set the tone when you spoke and they were just reciprocating and responding to the tone that you'd said and boy that that was wise caution to us from a very fine scholar herself you set the tone what's happening in Washington today who sets the tone what's happened to the tone even if they were to agree on something they won't because they disagree with the person so much leave alone the ideas and I think this is the lost art of true dialogue in our time and we have lost civility because nobody is there to set the tone anymore and say let us talk in the terms that I think we need to understand with each other one congressman wrote to me after a recent forum we did in DC called at the table and he's been in Congress for many years he wrote to me and he said Ravi years ago when President Reagan was shot Tip O'Neill went to the hospital sat by Reagan's bedside and prayed with them that night before he left President Reagan with that bullet wound in his body they were opponents ideologically on the floor but when one of them was wounded the other went to the bedside to pray and tell him how much he was so sorry to see this happen do you think that'll happen today it might never happen today and I wish it were it could happen today at least in civility but here's what I want to say the tone is often set by the one who claims to be a follower of Christ if you start off with a polemical stance and I know better than you stunts so you have no idea what you're talking about approach then you will get that kind of response from the other person you have to be look at Jesus how did he handle the woman at the the one of the well that's one of the most incredible stories in the Word of God he knew everything about her more than she had ever imagined but he took her brokenness and her wounds and made her the first evangelist to the Samaritan people how did he do that he took her from where she was to bring her to where he was conversation with dignity and respect is indispensable to effective evangelism and when people turn against evangelism often it's not the message it's the messenger that is miss used an approach and the recipient just finds a message unattractive because of the manner in which they bend over we don't always succeed oftentimes I'll go back to my room and I'll just bang myself on the knee and I'll say I didn't answer that question the way I should have I got irritated too quickly and that was not wise that was not right and you desperately want to connect with the person and say I'm awfully sorry for the way I handled the question that's why it is so important to pray hard for a forum of the for a conversation so that out of the overflow of God's presence whatever you're overflowing with will spill out when you're bumped and that's exactly what will happen when they bump up against you whatever you're overflowing with will will come to the fore at that time being well known both of you you have had to deal with some public criticism at times how do you deal with that and if I if I gave you the floor here to speak to your critics what would you say I wouldn't say anything I don't think you have to speak to your critics I don't think that you have to address them I don't think you you need to I don't think why you know for me this has been a really tough subject and it's always been really hard because you know for my first memories I've been such a people-pleaser I just this way God made me I like making people laugh smile I like make people having fun around me I like joyful people I want to make other people's life better that's just my nature I like it and so I want everybody to like me but then really what God put on my heart but you know this was a long process of this but what I come to realize is what and I rather have people respect me then like me there's a lot of things that we could do or people are gonna like you cuz you're fun and you're the life of the event and the Barty but man it's just gonna be so much more impactful if they respect me and one of my favorite quotes from Winston Churchill on butcher it buzz is something like if you have enemies good it means you stood for something at least once in your life and you know he wrote that in a really tough time where he had a lot of criticism and and for me it was I want to stand up for what's right I want to stand up for good things I want to stand up for Jesus I want to stand up for life I want to stand up for all these good things but man I hate being I hate when people say bad things about me and then a lot of times you'll say but that's not even true what they say and it'll consume you and if we let it critics will consume us and then if we let it will let critics change our decisions I'm not gonna do this because I'm afraid of what they're gonna say I'm not gonna write a book because of the people that are gonna criticize what I've said I'm not gonna get up and speak because the people that are gonna say well you're not very articulate and so we change what we're gonna do and we let them define our life and so many times when I talk to young people is we can't give them the right to define your life only God has the right to define your life but we give critics the right to define us because we're so scared of what they're gonna say we're so scared of having people not like us and you know I still deal with this I still have to deal with this from a couple weeks ago you just mentioned about the first take thing and I just shared my honest opinion about my love for the game and about how I would want to support student athletes and it became the number one trending thing in the world for a little while and you know what people instantly people were were bashing me about it and I even had death threats people saying put a bullet in him over me just trying to illustrate my love for college football and how I thought we should take care of student athletes it had nothing to do with anything else and you know I just for a few days it totally zapped my joy it totally zapped my joy and I would ask God over and over again god please give me my joy back don't let this consume my thoughts in my heart and and I would think gosh but if they just knew my heart if they knew where I was coming from and then in my head I would try to explain it like they were listening you know if they knew where I was coming from because I wanted them to like me and you know that that can totally consume you your critics can consume you but we can't give them the right only God has the right and so you know it's another time I just got to give it to the Lord and I can't let them define me well said and I know you have faced the brunt of it Tim and you have you done it very very well let me try and dissect it a bit of the way we as speakers have to face this I have differentiate between an attack visa via criticism if somebody attacks you a personal attack a vicious attack that actually tells you more about the person than it does about the one they are attacking and one of the things I learned from observing Billy Graham for years is he never ever responded to personal attacks and he faced a lot of personal attacks if you then go back and start reading things that was said when he went to England in the 50s and the way they started attacking his intellect that he was unfit to be defending this guy and they challenged him with all kinds of sophisticated philosophers and he said I'm not a philosopher I don't want to get a no the newspaper's railed against him and all kinds of personal attacks so you have to differentiate between a personal attack and the criticism and personal attacks we just speakers we learn never to respond because you you you just realize that the Bible tells you not to answer a fool according to his folly you know and you leave that criticism as a speaker is a bit tough because you want to know for sure whether the criticism is legitimate or not and so I divide that again into two categories if I know the person and I respect the person then I take that criticism very seriously because it could be a doctrinal issue it could be what you're preaching on what you're saying is not right and they are criticizing what you've said then you have to just push back for a moment and not take it personally and start evaluating what this criticism is about so here's here is as Tim knows this very well I've learned over the years not to take either praise or critique too seriously if you take praise very seriously you are walking into a trap you start to exalt in that praise and think of yourself as better than you are I'm grateful for the praise I'm grateful for the encouragement but I never take it too seriously because I know my frailties I know where the risks are to stumble I know that even my voice every day I can never take for granted it's not a strong voice and now especially as the years go by in the morning when I wake up I'm not quite sure I'll have voice strong enough to speak so if there's nothing in me that warrants what God has called me I have a weak back I have a weak voice two things that I need to travel the globe and to defend the faith and God has chosen not to give me strength in either of those two areas so I just find that I have to think through carefully when praise comes my way and I just say Lord I'm grateful for this person who has taken the time to encourage me and that's all I want to do with those good words be encouraged that you are ministering to people and that you're touching somebody's life tim has an incredible story in the last chapter of his book shaken maybe before the evening is over if you would share that about the woman who came and held up a child almost moving stories I've ever read but I just take praise with a desire to be encouraged nothing more than that because God can take the gift away with choose just say be encouraged that somebody's life has been touched by yours as for criticism I take criticism very seriously if I know the person well and respect them for example if my wama I think my wife may be here I hope she's not listening too carefully but if she if she says something you know I had to say well you know she doesn't hate me she wants me to listen to this very very carefully so you know you have that kind of struggle as a speaker and I critic critics you will always have you always have them what is Frank Rizzo vult said the critic is always there but generally oftentimes they come from number somebody has never been in the battle never been in the thick of it I used a little illustration for this month being honorary of Honor by the pastor month type of focus for October the story is told of a veteran in the war and a young a man standing next to him saw the veterans shaking with a weapon in his hand and he said you're afraid aren't you he said to the older man and he said yes son and if you were half as afraid as I am you would have left a long time ago and what he was trying to say is it's not that I am afraid I'm still here and I'm gonna keep battling it out even though these fears may come and stalk so if somebody loves you somebody cares for you and respectfully shares something then one has to take it seriously Oh bellwether type you know why I don't like this guy so I'm gonna criticizes some and criticizes illustration there always there so my advice is don't take either your praise or your criticism too seriously give the praise to God and put the criticism down to a weak DNA and some day you can if you give most people nowadays a platform and say what would you say to your critics if you get a really different response and people are excited to jump at the chance to be critical in return that's a really encouraging don't do explanations that's right I want to invite you guys to ask a question of each other maybe maybe you can kick us off Tim by asking Ravi a question of your oh and put me on the spot that's really good I would say Ravi huh you've flown all over the world and you've been at so many big events and you've shared with in in so many awesome arenas where you know so many people are watching would there ever be a time where you know you're going into an event where you know it's big and you know that God could use it to affect so many people but you don't feel right spiritually or emotionally leading up to it and you've just got in a it would never happen to you but a fight with your wife or your family or something's going on and then you're trying to take that block it out and then walk onstage and try to tell other people about how amazing the Lord is you know and and then how do you balance that when you're dealing with certain things that you want to be honest and vulnerable but then you don't want to be able to also say certain things about you know too much personal stuff and how would you buy how would you battle that and then how would you try to cope to still try to share Jesus with people that's a great question and all just be comes from an experienced man who has that kind of two things I was talking to a group of rock musicians once I look like a rock musician they like me but I am very honored that they do and I looked at them and I said what do you do with your life the morning after a great concert and they just looked at me the three or four guys sitting we were in New York and they looked they said man oh man nobody's ever asked us that question before he said and we know why you're asking it because that adrenaline stops getting pumped the morning after and you just feel like you're you've been body slammed and the night is over the event was great but you're left sort of empty and we all know that feeling and we had a great conversation after that so what I felt Tim is people don't realize how real what you have asked is actually part of our lives I was in a country two weeks ago I won't name which country but my interpreter was a very well-known person and he had interpreted for kings and for leaders when they came to his land and I'd gone through the whole message with him they say he's brilliant in his interpretation as he was that night so I finished and I said let's pray for the message he said before you do that please pray for me he said I'm not up to it tonight I said I'm really hurting I'm really hurting deep inside and I'm going through a very tough time in my life right now I can't tell you what it is mr. Zakaria as he said will you please pray for me and so I reached out held his arm and I was praying for him is he was shaking as I was praying for him and I just thought I don't know what he's going through but what he had to do is get on top of that platform and deliver with unction and anointing because it's his calling he had to set aside his private pain and so we go through that some you know you're you don't feel you're up to the task on that particular day so all I say to the Lord when I do that is this battle is yours and I don't know why I've chosen such an unfit instrument tonight of all nights but I cannot allow the truth of this message to be overridden by myself issues right now you have the power to override it will you just give me the right words and the right attitude because it's not their fault as to what I'm feeling like today I want you to win this one Lord for your name's sake and it happens very often too much more than we'd like to but I just feel the calling is so high and so real and the message is so valuable that you simply cannot allow the moment to steal that thunder and so that would be my answer and I think I just leave it entirely in God's hand do it does it always work out the way you'd like it to no but more often than not it does when it doesn't work out it's when they are overconfident yourself and you say I feel great tonight you know this is so great to talk that we've put together here I've walked away from that saying what on earth today you know I thought I had it all together so it's better to be limping than to think you're for blood it's strong for the event rally in 2007 I was blessed when the Heisman Trophy and right after our season ended about five or five weeks later I had the chance to fly to Thailand and a missionary organization was having their conference and they were flying all their missionaries from all over the world to Thailand and they invited me to come speak to them and so I think I was maybe just 20 at the time and I'm flying to speak to these missionaries and my sister and her husband being two of the missionaries there and who were heroes of mine and all these other heroes that are putting their life on the line for the sake of the gospel all over the world in so many tough places and I'm flying there and I'm like I have no freaking idea what I'm gonna say to these people like yeah I won the heisman so they're inviting me I don't know what to say to them yeah I got what the heck am i I'm just a boy I'm speaking these missionaries that are living out the faith so courageously all over the world and and I truly felt so inadequate a little ashamed because I knew in my head in my heart I didn't have the right thoughts at the moment didn't have the right goals at the moment I you know sometimes you're like man I feel on fire for the Lord and sometimes they're like I just totally don't right now and this was one time I was like I totally don't and then I I mean literally the whole flight there and you know how long that fight is couldn't think of anything to say is like oh shoot this is a guys suck and the next day they're taking me around meeting everybody and I'm still nothing comes to my mind I'm agonizing over praying about it and then God brings to my mind one of the verses that my parents made me memorize when I was a boy and I started playing t-ball and I was really pretty good at it t-ball but no no one cared but I did and so I want to brag about how good I was at t-ball to everyone that I saw and so before I was allowed to play another game they made me memorize different scripture verses but especially one of them their greatest among you will be a servant whoever humbles himself will be exalted ever exhausts himself will be humbled and so this is literally I'm sitting at the table you know and they're getting ready to introduce me and so I walk onstage and I didn't have a lot to tell these missionaries I just respected them too much to think that I could speak to them so what I did was I just shared that verse the greatest among you'll be a servant whoever exalts himself will be humbled whoever humbles himself will be exalted and I just want you to know as missionaries all over the world the world doesn't exhaust you they just exalted me and gave me a Heisman Trophy but if the world could see you through God's eyes you would be the ones winning the Heisman Trophy not me for what you're doing and you're the greatest not me you're the greatest because you chose to serve and you know when I left that I just felt like manic God gave me something to encourage them with you know a nugget and I had no I no idea what to say and I just felt so stupid going into it like what am I gonna tell these guys and and and and it was just such a cool reminder that you know you I will give you something to do it will give you some would have an encouragement he there's some and it was just so encouraging in that moment when I felt like I'm not on fire for the Lord I don't know what to tell him but it was like how God gave me something to come through for them and I was just so encouraging in those moments how God can come through for you and the times like that as well well I've watched you from a distance over the years I used to watch a lot of sports my young days and then traveling and speaking in different time zones I just followed their charts and the results more and if you travel with the younger guys they'll tell you the scores anyhow so they keep me informed but I always admired how you never flinched from your primary love you know that was incredible what the things that you were known for very few of us would have had that kind of courage and would have rationalized the opportunities away you never seem to flinch of that you knew what you were doing you knew why you were doing it you know Tim before I went into the ministry I used to work in the hospitality industry I worked in hotels and I was training for a career in hotels I still live in hotels but on the right side of it now but I noticed the life in a hotel at night when I was working at it so more I was only 20 years old when I started I was not even supposed to be in a licensed area because I had to be 21 in Canada so waited and then got my job there at night I found many things that made me terribly uncomfortable and I thought to myself how am I gonna weather all this stuff I lead in with that and a baseball player in town whom I know well I won't name him he played for only two teams in his life and the second team he played for he lasted just one year he left he said the locker room stuff was so horrible for me to hear and I was coming to the end of my career anyway and I said I'm done you know and he was ready to hang up his mitt at that point how has it been for you and I know Richie is there too must be a tough world in which to keep the jarring kinds of conversation we hear about all the things that are talked about and it's not exactly the King's English that is used most of the time you know and linguistic strains that come in all the time it's like watching a movie and the military is second I really sit through this movie or not how did you manage that that's a really good question you know I think I think a little bit goes back to what I was sharing about trying to be respected and earn that respect from my teammates and I tried so hard for that especially right right when I got to the University of Florida I was gonna do anything possible to earn their respect because so they wouldn't look at me as this Oh hotshot quarterback that's five-star that's coming in that you know when you go to classes everyone's asking your autographs and you just got there but what about the 340 pound defensive lineman that could literally crush me but no one's asking for his autograph and I have to earn his respect in front of all these people asking for my autograph and I haven't played it down and he's played in the biggest moments you know and so it was so important to try to to earn his respect and I would literally do that in any way possible first one there the last one to leave even when we get in the cold tub and everybody would get in the cold tub and they were back oh it's so cold and I would literally jump in the cold tub up to my neck try not to even make a facial expression and then I would do that long enough and they'd be like dang Teemo is crazy I got dudes really crazy like that white dude is off his rocker you know like and I would do those little things to to try to earn respect and and I started to get that over and over and over again every day plugging away plugging away plugging away and and then eventually you have the opportunity to to share with them eventually they would ask why do you do that you know and one of the things that I've always been so passionate about is every day we share the gospel but every now and then we use words you know you really share the gospel mostly with your actions how you treat people how you care about people how much you care and whatever it is that you do and my dad told me when I was 8 years old he said to me if you love what you do you're passionate about it and you're willing to sacrifice you will be different than everybody else you would be special you will be unique and people want to be around you because not many people do that every now and then they do if you watch a highlight video people get excited motivated and hype but what happens when they get hit in the mouth they lose their passion you know my dad would keep reminding me do you really love what you do are you passionate about it and are you willing to sacrifice and I would think about those things when it got to those really hard moments when we're running 40 40 s running every step in the stadium are you're doing all those things to remember that this is going to affect my testimony with every one of my teammates it's not just what I say afterwards or when I go to FCA or Campus Crusade or those times know what's right now it's in the dog days it's in the hardest moments because when as a football team one things I love is you get broken down they literally our goal with our strength coach Miki Marathi was to break you down as much as you could be broken so that you could be build back stronger and as a team we would be broken now so we do things as hard as we could as much as we could so you get broken down and you know I had one teammate that that came in and after me and and he was a super strong Christian he went to every Campus Crusade every FC a and he was very vocal about it but the thing about it was he was one of the softest guys on our team so we would have to do tin put pull-ups he would do six coach would say how many did you do he cited tin eats I just counted you did six and say run 40 yards he would run 35 and then kind of pull up for the last five say why did you pull up why didn't you give it your all my hamstring was sort of hurting it was over and over and this dude was talented I mean like talented talented and it just it's so bothered to me Ravi it's so bothered me and one day we have to to get to the stadium a 555 in the morning and this was our run started and we had to start in one corner of the endzone and we had to snake the entire stadium meaning we had to run up and down every part of the stadium over 90,000 seats in the swamp we had to run the whole thing and then we had to do it again it was Bill it was a discipline for us and it was built to break us so what I would try to do was I wouldn't start first in in first because they would say you started first so for me I would try to start last in in trata in first because if I started last and I ended first you can't say anything so that would be how my mentality of how I would try to earn the respect from the guys and so I start last and I start passing some of the guys and then I would get halfway through and I passed this young man I was just telling you about and I say his name and I say dude what are you doing is what do you mean I said let's go he said no no no he said God told me to stay back here and run with this other gentleman who was severely overweight big old boy and I couldn't run real fast and I just kind of looked at him puzzled I said I and I kept going kept going finished finished first we finished as a team we go to the 50-yard line of the swamp and we break it down and everybody leaves I call him over say his name and he comes over everybody leaves because I would never try to embarrass anyone in front of the rest of the team and I said so so tell me what happened he said yeah God God told me I need to stay back and encourage this young gentleman and run with him I said okay I said listen up I can't tell you what God put on your heart what God told you I can't say anything to that that's between you and God but I'll tell you something else I know one thing God did tell you is that you're supposed to respect your authorities your coaches right now they're your authorities they say to give everything you have and you never do they say run 40 yards and you don't they say do 10 pull-ups and you don't but you know it frustrates me even more as that you do it as one of the most outspoken Christians on the team on the team you make me helping the rest of the guys hard you make having a ministry hard because they're gonna look at you and they're gonna say why are you so freaking soft you make trying to share the love of Jesus with people hard and I said until that changes until that changes you're not gonna play with me because you know what I'm the leader of the team and coach Meyer is gonna listen to me and when you change when you become part of this team meaning you work with us you sweat with us you bleed with us then we're gonna trust you but right now we don't that goes for everyone and until you do 10 pull-ups when we say did 10 pull-ups you're not gonna play and you know what he never really did because it wasn't worth it to him to care about what he was doing but every Tuesday he was at FCA every Thursday he was at Campus Crusade every time there's a praise and worship song is the hands were the first one up and you know I get that this is kind of a controversial story to tell but it's true and it drove me nuts I even had one of the coaches come up to me and they say hey let me ask you a question this is a dude that was so far from faith you just like as far as anyone's away from faith and it goes what more Christians work like or like you and you know it was just so frustrating to me because not only was he so gift it's so talented and he knew the truth and he knew Jesus but it didn't mean enough for him to give it his all it didn't mean enough for him to give it his all and we're told whatever our hand finds to do do with all our might and everything we do we are sharing what we believe and then when we get a chance to say it with our mouths and those to match up now people are gonna have a chance to listen to us and I'm not saying that I was always the hardest worker that was the best worker I'm not trying to share that but gosh dang it did I try really hard to do that to try to give it my all so that people could see something in it deeper than that it wasn't just I'm not just doing this because I want to be a great football player I want to do this because I wanted to be every area of my life because I want my life to matter I want when people see me they see that I love what I do I'm passionate about it I'm willing to sacrifice not just because I want to have success on a football field but because I want to say thank you God for what you've given me and when I don't work towards it I'm really saying God you know what I'm not very grateful because I'm not gonna take advantage of it I don't really care about the talents you gave me because if I did I would multiply them or I can just bury it like the parable and to me I thought he was burying it cause that note Wow I wouldn't I would never fit into the team in that yeah yes you would have now unbelievable you would have just been our chaplain how the waterboy honored to be but you know what Tim has said is is the unbalanced except unspoken demands are in our lives and I travel with my travel associates who have had several of them three for years at a time and then it's most almost all of them are still in the team here and I'll tell you what the temptation to be lazy is constant especially in an itinerant life you can be softened up by good hospitality and nice accommodations and people are being very kind to you and those who travel with me will tell you you have to have some disciplines I just keep myself in my room all day I don't go out of my room I don't turn on the television because if I start watching some game that I get interested in it'll take another two and a half to three hours of my time I cannot afford that luxury anymore when I'm preparing so when you think of praying for us just pray that we will be we were set our hands to the plow that we won't look back that that discipline is a daily thing my family members are here they'll tell you when I come back from the road I don't go out anywhere I just want to be with them I want to be home I just want to eat with my family because I've been gone from them for so long and I've been giving my time to several others as I travel so when you're praying for us and just pray that we will have the discipline to do what everyday demands of us it's easy to lose sight you know as fast as you can't repeat yourself too often somebody will come up to you and tell you I heard the same thing two weeks ago they've got something new but as itinerants you can because you've got a new audience and that can prompt laziness in you so I never repeat the message the same way I either introduce some new stories or some new thoughts in the outline so even if it's a message we've done 100 or 200 times it's still going to be fresh for me the way I try to deal with it because the truth is everlasting and the audience has the right to get it in a fresh way so what you've said I on that note I think I just think we have to we need people's prayers to a card that what it is that God's called us to you know I'm getting a sermon ready on the Apostle Paul that's I think it's like 20 X 20 when he's tells the disciples and my latest that they're probably not gonna see him anymore he was going on to Rome and all the Holy spirt told him was that persecution and death waited for him as he was going on I think the most moving line in that whole talk to me is the opening line you know what manner of life I have lived amongst you from the first day until now the man who wrote one third of the New Testament can look at the potentially greatest critics and say to them you know how I've lived amongst you from the first day till now and I've not withheld the gospel from either the Jew or the Greek and I've proclaimed the whole Council of God what an amazing conversion story not just on the Damascus Road but on every road that he stepped on after that so if we all took that calling so seriously and if I could look at my team and say to them you know what manner of life have lived from amongst you from the first day till now I will feel my legacy is fulfilled if I can't say that I would just have to apologize to them for whatever way I failed them because our calling is to be before it is to do and in that sense that's really what Tim is talking about here you're talking about all of your faith here but you're not being the person that your teammates are expecting you to be take life seriously in what it means we are human beings not human doings we have to be first before we do well said we're going to move into a time of your questions so if you have a question you're here in the audience you can form a line right here in the front in front of me if you're watching online instructions will come up on the screen and you can submit your questions as well as we make this transition I have I have one more question Ravi you've been married for many years tim is engaged so he needs some serious help so what would you share with Tim on that front as we get ourselves ready for the questions to come tape to cars to church does not that is not original with me when I was about to get married Mara Margie are you here I don't want to when she was taking care of the grandkids tonight but she said she was gonna do her best to be here but just before we were married I know we were sitting around a campfire and an older gentleman said give this young couple some advice and he gave me that you take two cars to church no clue what he was talking about all we didn't have two cars and secondly why I found out because everybody doesn't live by the same clock Mikey won't mind me saying that I've always said when the Lord returns he's gonna ask for 10 minutes more she just needed that times she likes that relaxed we have life rather than by pop now best advice I would probably just say proud of you the way you've managed your life so far and to you and your bride-to-be I just pray that you will run the race just the way you have been running it and finished the course with joy he's gonna give you the greatest joy of your life and that and we wish you both all the best is January right yeah all the best and it'll be in Cape Town yeah Cape Town so we just applaud it yeah excellent well our first question has come in online and this question guys is from Jerry and Jerry asks he says so I'm new to the Christian faith and struggle with temptation a lot what's the best way to face it so it doesn't become active sin first I watch these a lot on YouTube and I got an answer the first one really so I've always been an offensive guy I've always played offense and I like being on offense and you know I mentioned earlier how much that we would be going to church growing up and going to church not we got the chance to go to some good churches so I'm not trying to bash Church but so many times at church for me it was don't do this don't do this don't do this don't do this don't do this and dang it every time they would say it okay why I want to try that I'll try that you know and it would I just didn't feel like it really resonated with me and for me I would encourage Jerry that don't worry as much about what you're running away from is what you're running towards and for me when I'm running towards Jesus when I'm in love with Jesus when I'm in the word and I'm talking to Jesus and I remember what he's done for me and I'm holding on to God's promises then everything else falls away and I'm not thinking I can't do that I'm thinking I get to do this I get to walk with Jesus I get to be in love with him I get to talk about him and it's amazing how the temptations that supernaturally it just it helps so much rather than making a list of things that I don't want to do I'm gonna make make a list of okay I'm gonna get in the word I want to pray about this I want to go be able to help people and it's amazing when you get involved in ministry helping other people how it is so fulfilling it is so such an incredible feeling that I don't think about what I what I can't do what I don't want to do what I don't get to do as a Christian I don't get to do that yeah no no I don't even worry about that because this is so fulfilling when I'm running after Jesus and I think that the Christian life should be more offense than defense it's more of what I get to do it's more of running this race because this race is incredible I get to talk to the god of this universe every day I get to fall more in love with him I get to help people I get to love people I get to do all these things versus I don't get to do this and I can't do this and I would encourage Jerry to make a list of all you get to do and how love you are with Jesus and how thankful you are for every day and let's be aggressive let's be aggressive on offense and when you start doing the amazing things helping people it's so contagious that you just fall more in love with it rather than saying I can't do this I can't do this so I would that's how I encourage you Jerry I wouldn't add anything resist the devil and he will flee from you he does the fleeing we don't need to do the fling because we can play offense love that we'll go to a live question here well and please say your name as well my name is Omari Hodge appreciate will be remiss to say there's been three big influences in my life up to this point the first one has been a man that I met here when I moved to Georgia Rader and the second one was Martin Luther King and the third one was Ravi Zacharias so it's really I don't say that to make you feel proud it's just a fact and so I really appreciate being here today the question is this growing up in Brooklyn New York moving down here to Atlanta Georgia I understood very quickly that the way you see life is changed by the experiences that you have in the people around you taking that to the mission field which my job took me to do that I was in Lebanon and I was talking with a Christian and we were doing some ministry work down there and we were some kind of way we got on the topic topic of Hezbollah and and my traditional American mindset III may have said something disparaging that I assumed that they would agree and jump in with me on not it's not in a sense to necessarily bash them but it was just I thought it was fact quickly the person who is a believer stopped me and said hey be careful how you talk about individuals regardless of what you think about them because I know a lot of people who have taken up that side from a different mindset and my job as a Christian has got to leave myself in a position to where I can reach them so my question to you is this particularly in light of the interview that you did with Steven Naismith because I totally disagree with you but I still respected you and I appreciate it I really did I really did how do you both of you got both you gentlemen how do you reach people in terms of the things that you believe and know to be true also understanding that there are different filters and different experiences that color the way they may understand or interpret what you are saying how can you speak especially in today's time where it's so divisive whether it's politics racially motivated issues how do you speak in such a way that people can hear regardless of what filter there's a really good question you know my my mother thank you so much you're talking about real Lebanon as in Lebanon you were out there where were you Beirut or well we flew into Beirut but then we went to the south I could see the border of Israel it was a team of doctors that we were doing medical thank you just want to know the context I appreciate that thanks for what you do it's it's true what the man said if you start if you start discussing various groups in the Middle East the Middle Eastern mind is very very political and no matter what you say there's somebody in the audience and in the Middle East history never dies history is always alive and when you think of what's going on there has been going on going on there for 5000 years as were the division that took place with our family that we are facing right up to today so you have to be very cautious and very sensitive and not put people into a box or we tend to do that here too we talk about a particular very tall man Republican or Democrat you know we immediately box them in so now we moved from that we moved from right to left and I always say no move away from that to go to up and down you know what what your eternal calling is over against your temporal way of living so when you're discussing with people what I have found to be I'm sure Tim will have more to add to this to what I have found in the task of apologetics of doing the defense of the Christian faith and making the truth planes clear the truth claims clear which is what we are called to do it's very important that I understand the person to whom I'm talking very important that I understand them you know what we do when we bring a speaker we introduce the speaker to the audience I think it's more important to introduce the audience to the speaker because he's the one who's going to be talking to the audience and yet we just want the audience know who he is we've not told him how the people are how they think my research on him I mean is my research assistant is here and Danielle she's been with me for 25 years whenever I go to any university she'll have a whole folder for me on the faculty members who teach there what their philosophies are what the books are that they have written what the prevailing worldview is what are the issues being debated on the campus at that point what happened to the previous speakers and all of these things she'll give me a big folder when I arrive there her goal is to help me understand my audience and if I understand them I will then find a way to try my best to navigate through that minefield of issues in a very in a way that would be very winsome my mother used to say once you've cut off a person's nose there's no point giving them a rose to smell you know it's fascinating to me Tim to hear you describe your sister and brother-in-law's journey we had the privilege of having breakfast with them since you didn't choose to mention the country where they were I won't either but we heard breakfast to them in that particular country I would never have known what you had just said you know that they'd come through a lot of pain a lot of struggles and not agree because her entire focus was really to make us feel welcome and tell us the kind of audience we were going to face that night and how we asked your brother-in-law in fact what I should address what even though he was American and I was visiting this Asian country he briefed me on how he had done it and so forth critical to understand your audience so if you know what their sensitivities are you will not in a lump sum brand all of them in that category as they say any stigma can lick a good dogma and I made a mistake once in Syria once I just named the prior president and that's not the present one by the way it was a few presidents ago and the lady and a lady in the audience just school absolutely livid with me you really believe in this president of yours and so on and I said I know believed anything I just told you what his view was on one particular thing that we were talking about so I learned a hard lesson there and they'll tell you don't meddle with politics so that's the first mistake and the moment you say has beloved ruse or Hamas or whatever they're gonna go after you so what Tim said before is great face in the right direction tell them why you love Jesus and why you're there and what you are there to teach about Christ the more they find the attractiveness of Christ the more they will be drawn to him you can do that without trying to dismantle themselves from underneath with their respect when I go to the Middle East I do nothing about politics none whatsoever and even in India I still way out of it I just say I'm here to talk to you about the message that Christ would like me to deliver to you from his word so that way you win them over and point them to the to the Lord he'll tell them whether the group they belong to is a good one or a bad one I don't need to do that that's such a good answer for me I'm so grateful I've been in so many different places so many different countries to see so many different perspectives and you know if you try to go at someone's perspective it is so hard to change yeah it is so hard to try to say no don't see the world that way see the world this way so to be honest I don't even try to go at someone's perspective on life and I try to first let them know why I'm there because I don't want anything I don't want anything from you I just want to share something for you and and there we don't all speak the same languages and I've been in a lot of countries where I couldn't speak their language I don't have an interpreter but there are some themes in languages that are speak so much deeper than English or the other language that they speak and people can always see your perspective but they do understand overarching themes like love like evil and like sacrifice no matter where you're from you've seen those things you've seen those things you know what love is you know what evil is you've seen it done and especially around the world it's way more prevalent than a lot of times it is here you so you see that and then you understand sacrifice and then you can tear share those weave those themes together to share the gospel and in one of the first ways that that really hit me was when I was 15 years old and we were in the Philippines and we go into a prison and it was me and and one of my brothers Peter and we go into this prison and it's not like the prison I was in yesterday it is a room a little bit bigger than this and they just packed dudes in there and so my brother walks in first and I'm like shoot you know that can't be a wimp I gotta walk into you know I'm so scared though and I walk in he walks to the back of the cell and all the dudes are just standing there and before he walked in it's literally rape homicide homicide rape murder murder I mean it's the list of what everybody has done so Hugh he walks to the back and he was preaching I was so nervous I flipped over a bucket i sat on the bucket I was like okay here we go you know let's go and he starts preaching he starts preaching and then he gets to the cross and he says it looks at all these inmates who have done all these bad things and he says I want you to know that I nailed Jesus to the cross and I'm like what are you talking about if anyone did they did you know no you did it you're pretty decent dude I mean you make me mad sometimes but and then started to hit me and I started to tear up and get so emotional because yes I did right we look at them and I say you've done worse than me I've been better than you that's not true we're sinners all of us saved by grace and when you understand the gravity of your sin you understand the weight of it then we can understand the grace in the gospel and what Jesus did on the cross and we get to tie those themes of love sacrifice and evil together when they understand wow I am evil I have done wrong not because you say you've done wrong God does that in their heart and then you get to share the love of you know I nailed Jesus to the cross but we've all done wrong and then you'll see everyone yeah yeah we've done it I've done wrong I've had bad thoughts I've said bad words I've had bad actions everyone you see there even in the best of places in the worst of places they agree yeah yeah and then I get to share but you know I couldn't do anything about it because I'm not good enough and people realize then yeah they're not good enough either but you know I know someone who was and is and will always be and you get to share God's love with them Jesus is love for us that he chose our best interest and he acted on our behalf by coming down to this earth on a rescue mission for us and then how he sacrificed for us and so much around the word they understand sacrifice but how much he loved them to do it for them so that they wouldn't have to pay he did it in their place he was the perpetuation for their sin he took their sin he took my sin and so even though we don't speak the same languages and your background is different than mine we might never see the world the same way but God can touch our hearts in very similar fashions to let us know that Yama's sinner I understand the weight in the gravity of my sin I know what God did for me he sacrificed he gave himself so that I can know the god of this universe and that speaks so much louder than any language or any background any perception that we can have our perspective that we can have because God does something supernatural in those moments when we understand those those overarching themes and I think that's how I try to go about it that is a really good question thank you yeah wonderful wonderful thank you we'll go to another online question and I'm really glad this one came in because we're all you mother was a teacher for children with special needs and your heart for wellspring International or humanitarian arm and Tim I know your foundation just so much for those with special needs so the question is this October is Down syndrome Awareness Month you both seem to have a heart for those with special needs can you share about how you developed this burden yeah I'll be glad to lead off on that Tim's family has done a lot in that field both here and overseas and I'm sure he'll share that with you so let me just say this whenever I have been with a family that has had to face a situation like this the one thing we always hear is how much they have learned about love and loving from that particular child who came in with special needs my colleagues ang and I were in San Antonio Texas recently and the gentleman and his wife picked us up at the airport lovely couple and we were driving and Sanj asked him about their family they said they had a son and then they said but he's a special needs son and they described the particular syndrome with which he was born and he was now 37 years old and pretty sad case of what it was that had happened at birth to him and now here in his third decade of life no speech ability to speak at all but comprehends a fair bit and sews and said to them do you mind if we come and meet your son before we leave on Sunday night they said no we'd love to have you both come so we went over and it is amazing what happened in those few minutes as we walked in they were there they may even be listening to this program there they love this work and they had some friends come there to meet us too and the boy here in his thirties they are not very tall because of the syndrome he had and he just walked over towards me couldn't say anything do you know what he did to me when he walked over to me he went led this and gave me a heart he made the sign of the Cross on my forehead and my chest and shoulders and gave me a hug and then stood there so that we could take pictures with him you know in some ways we are all a special need oh we have who here along a continuum of several syndromes most of which is we're all this special need because of our sin and the Savior came to forgive us and to restore us and to heal us my mother was a wee woman not very tall and she used to teach hygiene and physiology in high school in Delhi but when she came to Canada she developed a real burden for special needs so she got her second degree at that stage in that stage of her life picking up or sorry HUP little above her ankles trudging through the snow night after night to go and take night glasses and then she developed a real burden to teach special-needs children at her funeral to see their faces was something I will never ever forget the tears let me give you one illustration I just love watching hockey you can't escape watching hockey in Canada you're culturally a misfit if you don't like hockey in Canada it's Wednesday night and Saturday nights is Hockey Night in Canada I was a great follower of the Maple Leafs and they've kept me humble ever since I started following them but my mother one day sat me down and said will you explain this game to me I said mom it's no fun watching it and explaining it she said I want you to explain this game to me so she sat for the entire three periods till I could explain who these players were what they were trying to do what the red line was what the blue line was who the forwards were who the defenseman were explaining all of this she hadn't I don't think it was like I may as well have been talking to her about space you know but then she said now tell me who scored the goals tonight so I wrote down Davy Kia on an almond and all of these names next day she went to school there was a little boy in her class who never spoke never said a word but if you started talking about hockey his face would light up so she walked up to him and said what did he think of Davy Qian's goal last night she got that boy talking in class because she took the trouble out of love and sacrifice to understand the game to talk to this little guy who could only have his mind for hockey that kind of commitment to draw out a person is what I grew up under watching a mother who turned lives around because she cared so much for them in their situation I think when we stand before the Lord amongst the teachers that'll be the most rewarding in the presence of our Lord those who cared for the weakest amongst us and those that we considered somehow less than what we had but God had poured more of his love into their hearts then sometimes we will see in very normal people it's a world of love in the world of need we all have needs some are special but God calls us to meet those needs because we love the person for who they are not for what they can or cannot do that would be my your question was how did you develop this burden by watching a mother who had that kind of life and she died when she was only 57 but the funeral that her and her students found out that mrs. Zacharias had died unforgettable to see the emotion in their faces that they were not going to see her again they knew her love even albeit in their very limited way this little guy this guy so tall tall at age 37 knew how to make the sign of the Cross on me because I had seen some of my podcasts and he knew what it was that I did for a living and he looked at his parents and pointed to me and then went by this you know how beautiful I love it so much what a great example you know I also agree that God has a special love for people with special needs I think he has a special heart for him I really do and God really opened up my eyes pretty drastically when I was 15 years old I was in the Philippines and the Philippines is made up of thousands of islands so we travel to one of the most remote islands of the Philippines with a small group of us and we get there and there are no vehicles at the bottom of the island it's remote remote so we have to hike up to where they're actually jeeps we get in a jeep we drive to the top of the mountain and there was the village with all the villagers everyone is in this little village and they're all together and so we get out and we walk in and it was it was so cool and fun to see and Filipinos are always excited to see you always they're so friendly such amazing people but we could tell it was different when we walked in this village and come to find out we were the first villager visitors that most of these people had ever seen in their entire life so they literally put down whatever they were doing and ran to us I'm not kidding you like sprinting like crazy like wow this is amazing sir coming up just hugging us just without notice grabbing your face your cheeks you know and grabbing you and a couple of the girls had blonde hair and they could that blew their mind I was like this is incredible the blond hair you know they would literally touch it like non-stop and it was so cool it was so fun and we gathered the the entire village at the local high school but it's just like a half of a roof and then a big field it's just a big yard and all 1,200 people in the village were there and it was my turn to stand up and share the good news of the gospel and so I stand up and I begin to share and literally ro1 is like on my feet that's how close they are ro7 I can touch you know like I mean they are packed in and I began to to share and then I see three boys in the back right corner turn and walk away and I was blown away I mean people are fighting to get as close to us as possible I'm not exaggerating they are pushing and shoving to try to get as close to us as possible why would three middle school age boys leave I mean no one was leaving no one would no one was leaving is the biggest thing I've ever taken place there so the whole time I'm sharing I can't get these boys out of my out of my brain and honestly I off of my heart and we share the gospel and give the gospel presentation so many people trust Christ and they're hugging us and hugging us and hugging us I was literally like pulling kids off of me because I had to go see about these boys I had to go see where where do they go why did they leave they were just on my art and so I walk around to the back of the school and I can't find him anywhere and then I see this bamboo hut about 200 yards away one of the boys crawls from underneath the bamboo hut and he starts walking towards me so I walked towards him I meet him halfway and he says nothing to me I tried to say hello he says nothing but he grabs me by two of my fingers and he pulls me back to the bamboo hut and we get to the hut and he crawls in so I was like I'll crawl in too so I crawl in behind him and then I see the other two boys are in there and one of them is laying on a bamboo cot and the other one is holding his hand rubbing it like this and it looked like everything was fine but then I looked at the boy on the bamboo cot and I got to his legs and I saw that his legs were on backwards and it was the first time that I've ever seen anything like this in person so you're kind of getting a little bit emotional I'm sort of holding back tears cuz it just hits you and it's fast and it's sudden and you're like whoa but then I kind of control myself and I get on my knees and I start talking to these three boys and and we're having an amazing conversation and I'm getting to share the good news of the gospel how God loves them so much and has a great plan for their life but the entire time we're talking about ten or twelve minutes I just had to ask I had to ask him why did you leave sherwin was a boy on the bamboo cotton sherwin looks at me and he says our principal she really really wanted to impress the Americans and she told me that I'm not very impressive and so instantly I knew why I'm here I mean God's just tugging at my heart and now you're really having to try to fight back tears but I knew I was here to see these three boys and and after a couple more minutes of talking the rest of our team is been looking for me for like twenty minutes and so they finally knew this bamboo hut and and they're like Timmy we gotta go and I'm like no I'm never leaving I guess you argue and so I'm getting ready to walk out of the bamboo hut and sherwin looks at me says what Timmy wait would you carry me I should go to the Jeep before you leave I said of course so I pick up Sherwin and we walk out of the bamboo hut and right when I pick him up one of his friends grabs his hand and the other one grabs one of his feet and we walk out of the bamboo hut and then all the Filipinos were there because they had followed the Americans and they're gonna follow in kind of wherever they went until they left the island and so um I'm carrying sherwin and I take a step and everybody backs up I take another step and then everybody backs away again and I take another step in the back away again and what I realize is that they weren't backing away from me they were backing away from sherwin because they believed and they had been told because he was born with his feet on backwards that he was cursed that he was less than that he was insignificant and they even believed the more you touch him the higher the chance was that you would be cursed but then they you have to also realize that they also just heard for the first time the good news of the gospel that God loves everyone and he created everyone unique different but he knows you and he loves you and so as I'm caring sure when you can see it going through all these people's brains in their mind if they're like well this is what we've always known but this is what we just heard in the gospel and you can see God working in their heart and finally after about 10 or 12 steps carrying sherwin and everyone backing away one of the elders of the village comes walking up to us and she taps sure went on the shoulder as to say you're finally welcome here and we take another couple of steps and another one of the elders comes and taps sure went on the shoulder to also say you're welcome here and then another one and another one and now it's popular so everyone's kind of doing and kind of tapping sherwin but to be honest I was so pissed the whole time so mad at them finally we get away from everyone come on pull it together man it's not typical apologetic language I'm just kidding you I'm kidding you it could be being trained here disagreement so finally we get we get by everyone we get to the Jeep and I gotta go I gotta get in this Jeep and so I set sure went down and he can't even really support himself his feet are literally on backwards and and so I put his his arms around his two friends and I get on my knees and I pray with these these three boys to put their faith in Jesus and they pray with me and afterwards I look at them and I say guys I don't know if I'm ever gonna see you again in the Philippines or if you're ever gonna see me in America but I totally believe one day I'm gonna get to see you in heaven and sure when looks at me and he says Kuya Timmy which means brother I can't wait to run with you in heaven and it totally blew my mind we never talked about what Heaven's gonna be like we never talked about what his body would be like why would that be the first thing he would say I don't know but my guess was this somehow God put it in him now I can't wait to run with you in heaven and now I'm just like ugly crying laughter he tells me this you know this is ugly and and so then I'm like really I'm not leaving they're like yes you are get in the Jeep so they're literally putting me in the Jeep and I'm driving down that mountain trying to wipe off all the tears but God totally put it on my heart Sherwin sure wins the least the lasts and the lost and and drive it driving up that mountain I knew that I wanted to be the best athlete I could be and I knew that that I had gifts in it and I wanted to be either baseball basketball or football player they'd know I was gonna try to of them I knew I was gonna try at least one but driving down that mountain thought yeah you know maybe I'll try a sport for a career for a little bit but I knew what I wanted to do with the rest of my life and that was fight for people like sherwin fight for people like Sherwin and and then coming up with the mission statement for for our foundation to bring faith hope and love did those needing a brighter day in their darkest hour of need that was so easy you know why because I just thought of Sherwin and I wrote the first thing that came to my mind and we did it for sure wins and you know everything that we do around the world is for sure once it's for those who have been thrown away neglected the curse the least the last and the lost orphans girls that have been in sex slavery whatever it is people that that that most of the world has gotten rid of but God hadn't gotten rid of them hmm and he asked us to fight for them and so if you could sum up what I want to do for the rest of my life or what we're trying to do right now it's a for people that can't fight for themselves because they're worth it because they are worth it and that's how God gave me a heart for some people with special needs you know Tim when we were in the Philippines the last time the sons will remember there's a very prominent businessman there said to me if you and Tim Tebow will come here together we will rent a twenty thousand seater stadium and they'd get money Pacquiao also the fighter the boxer to come and share his testimony and we both share the gospel out there I know the Philippines is on your heart this one the presence of many witnesses will get you to commit to saying we'll do this together one this sounds good that's beautiful what you shared Tim thank you and III just had to think of Sherwin's face in heaven one day when he sees the stadium's you're gonna make them run we have time for one last question we'll take we'll take that question live please tell us your name as well that's a fantastic shirt you wear in case you didn't know that's the Florida Gators wow if you send me one I'll wear it they don't like they don't like that in Georgia though thank you sir well thank you gentlemen for your time this evening I appreciate you sharing your words with us and that's such an encouragement but before I ask this question I'm gonna rewind real quick and I'll make it quick because I know we're short on time but three weeks ago we were a small group in church and we had a question posed to us if there was three individuals living or deceased who would you interview and I thought long and hard and there's five or six of us and it went around the room and it got to my wife over there and she says well Tim Tebow's one of the answers and I was like dang it like there goes one of them but anyway so it got around to me and ravi zacharias tim tebow and Johnny Cash we're my story [Applause] yeah I hear the trainer coming I love it so unbeknownst to me a week later my brother calls me he's like hey I got this thing for Ravi Zacharias and Tim Tebow is gonna be there would you like to go and I'm like heck yeah now sitting over there in LA questions like is anybody got any questions and I'm like I just said I wanted to interview these two guys and I can't even think of anything without being said in all seriousness I would like to know what you three are two gentlemen living or deceased who would you like to sit down and they're gonna interview two or three individuals that you may like to interview well I'll tell you what I really like Johnny Cash but he probably won't be the first one I would choose first one's easy for me that would be my Savior no doubt I think it would be really cool to interview King David as well and then maybe Paul probably the first fear comes to my mind how do you beat that understand whether if it was like a biblical question ourselves like 20 cash you know what reminded me of when you started speaking sir is Larry King was asked that question once during the heydays of his interviewing career he said if you had one person you would have the chance to interview who would it be and he said I would like to interview Jesus and they said what would you ask him said I my only question for him was would be are you indeed virgin-born and the interview was quiet he said the answer to that question would define all of history for me and I think Larry King was spot-on I think who Jesus is is really the ultimate question but if I had one person at this time across history that I would like to interview my goodness I have to think that through very very carefully because there'd be in numerous others that I feel I would be ignoring in the process I would probably pick between now and the past living or deceased I'd like to interview Muhammad I have several questions [Applause] now I may not be here tomorrow but I would like to interview him you know and ask him a lot of questions because he's influenced billions of people and therefore I think my questions would be very pertinent I would do it with utmost of respect and great dialogue I think great interest and intensity of curiosity in that I would have some very real questions that I would never want to do it with respect and cordiality that would be my answer for you yeah that kind of goes but what you said I really about disagreeing about who about being disagreeing with for a living yeah yeah probably but I think it could be an interesting dialogue if they were respect in the process real question I would like to ask yeah wonderful well you guys have modeled that tonight Robbie Tim thank you both so much for for being here with us for sharing your stories your life your hard for challenging us encouraging us inspiring us let's thank Ravi and Tim [Music] just wonderful guys I'm gonna ask Robbie to to pray for us to close and in just a minute and if you wanted to share any final thought feel free to as well Robbie but just a final question for me that question we started with when's the last time you had a real conversation and and one of my hopes is that the conversation that's taking place tonight Spurs us onto some of the conversations we need to have in our lives and maybe there's a conversation that you need to have maybe with someone you spend a lot of time with what you don't really know maybe it's with someone that you disagree with maybe it's with someone that you used to know quite well maybe even a family member maybe even a spouse someone who you used to know really well but you've stopped talking to each other and you don't know that person the way that you should let's take tonight as the beginning of conversation not just here on stage but in each of our lives and if you have those conversations I trust God will do something amazing and when he does write in to us we want to hear about it we want to rejoice with you we want to encourage you and we would love to be praying for you as a team thank you so much for being with us tonight and Robbie I'll let you have the final word in prayer do you have a closing statement do you want to say a few words before I close whatever you want me to do please do some closing thoughts for the folks here you know I would just encourage all of you here or watching around the world that God loves you so much and he has such an amazing plan for you and when we understand how much God loves us it just totally changes everything and then I'm like I shared earlier where we understand how much God loves us we can understand how much God loves you because he loves you the same way and so it changes the way that I treat you because I know that love and I know that value and if you imagine if we lived that way with people with all people people from different backgrounds people of different colors people of different beliefs if we understood their value their worth to God their meaning to God it would change the way we treat them and it would also change our actions on how we get to place just to treat him this this past year I just was on my heart and we sat down the leadership team of the Tim Tebow foundation and I just really I really wanted to do this I wanted to sit down and not talk about what we do but talk about who we are who are we as an organization who are we as people what are our non-negotiables at the core of who we are in the core of Who I am what is that going to be and so we we came up with with four non-negotiables the first non-negotiable is were believers we're believers in God we're believers in a big God we're believers that that Jesus is our Savior we're believers in people we are believers everything we do we want to be believers we're believed is that we can create change we want to be believers number two is everyone matters everyone matters even if you don't like them they matter even if you don't like them you have to choose to love them even when we disagree every single person matters even that inmate and death row that has been horrible things to people he still matters everyone matters number three cause we're on a rescue mission why do we say rescue mission why don't we just say mission because when we say rescue mission it puts a timeline it puts a sense of urgency we're not just living trying to do good it's not a non-profit it's not an organization it's not like oh we're just hanging out trying to do some good things for some good people no it's a rescue mission because you know what I believe the church is it's a hospital for the it's a hospital for the broken not a museum for good people and so we're on a rescue mission for people that are hurting and bleeding out we're on a rescue mission because it's not our timeline it's their timeline it's the kids that are around the world that are bleeding out that are getting thrown away that are dying all of these things happen to him we're on a rescue mission for them it's not our timeline it's not your timeline it's their timeline and also we don't know how much time we have we don't know how many days we have that means we better use this one on purpose this one better matter this better be the day because I don't know what tomorrow holds but I better use this one this day on purpose as a rescue mission it puts a timeline on it and number four is that there is power when we come together and that's why rooms like this are so encouraging because when we come together as believers it's amazing to see what God can and will do when we choose to come together when it's not about denominations it's not about the flag iFly of this denominator the nomination or this denomination but it's Jesus it's love it's sacrifice and it's how much we care for people when that is the banner we fly watch the change that happens but when it's about me when it's about us when it's about my pride when it's about the name of the organization and it's not about people the change just isn't there but when it's about people and God's love for them when we come together for that then change really happens and so those were our four non-negotiables but I wanted to share with you because hopefully that's encouraging hopefully it's something that will encourage you but that's how I want to live because we don't know how much time we have but gosh man I tell you what I want to make all of my life matter and I hope your life matters because you know what success success is about you significance us about other people so you could have a life of success but your life might not matter you have a life of significance you have a life that matters because you changed a lot of people's life in the process and could you imagine if all of us tried to have a life of significance and if we got all the believers to have a life of significance to not just go to a building on Sunday but actually be the church every day we could totally change the world and why can't we why can't we put down the banner of our denomination or our differences because even if me and Ravi talked long enough we're gonna disagree on something he'll probably be right but man could you imagine if we agreed on the first two to love the Lord your God with all your heart soul mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself if we did that as believers just in the u.s. could you imagine how fast we would change the world I believe we can do it oh shoot he just stood up I gotta take notes I'm gonna phone out but you've gotta back test as weak as mine standing up is easier because I'm gonna lead you in prayer - hey Tim thanks so much for coming you know I mean that buddy really you've had a long day and you've gone back and forth and you're not home yet you've got to go back to Knoxville work tomorrow before you at home so on behalf of this whole audience and all of those listening and thanks so much for coming I really appreciate you love you my brother and the other thing I want to say is you know it's so easy to get discouraged and wonder how dark the world is isn't it great to know that there are lights like this shining out there in place that maybe you and I will never ever get to and they are watching your life I'm sure and Ritchie to you as well you have our prayers I pray that you will get well soon you know one of the first sports casters in CNN was he passed away some years ago remember is named icon Nick Charles here Nick was a good friend of mine at 873 I have to pause and remember some names but Nick Charles was the first sportscaster at CNN and he was used to be the reporter he not had a beautiful mapo hair on his head handsome guy first time I met him II told him he'd really messed up his life because of his looks and I said my goodness are you serious and he said yeah and then he told me a whole tale of woe and then he straightened out his life gave his life to the Lord we'd had the privilege of praying together then he asked me to officiate at his wedding which I did Cory was his wife and then they had a child and zapped with cancer like that and he passed away and asked if I would come and speak at his funeral I was in Singapore I couldn't make it but I taped video taped a message and send it but I wanted wanted want to say was this one of the producers of CNN phoned me when I was in Singapore and asked what I thought of Nick Charles and I said why do you ask and he told me a certain story about his encounter with Christ Nick Charles's encounter with Christ I said where you stand he said I'm an atheist I said then why you asking me this question about Nick and we talked I said before I answer your question can you answer mine what did you think of Nick Charles and he said the man was for real he was for real that was the one word with she described him and you know that is the greatest compliment you can pay somebody if you can say they're for real and I think Tim you you come across that way to us you're for real money and your life is gonna make that dramatic turn as you get married I pray that may a tribe increase may the Lord Provost to be distributed in the world and take pictures of you but I'm honored to be called a friend and I hope we can do this together again yesterday I was speaking at catalyst conference here and there was a lineup to sign books and I love to hear what people have to say and the tall handsome guy came up to me and he gave me three things that changed his life first were the prayers of his mother second he said your messages and then he named a third I think is one of our books that we had written or something like that five minutes later his mother came up to me and she said I just want to thank you for changing my son's life I said that's not what he told me I said the first thing he told me was that your prayers had changed his life then he named the messages and the books and her eyes just filled with tears and she started wiping those tears away what a beautiful testimonial of not even being aware of the impact of your life but taking time to go and thank somebody else for the role that they have played so with all that goes on in our busy lives I want to thank you folks because your prayers your support for ministries wherever you're supporting them I don't know what all ministries you do but I have no doubt that you do and I want to thank you for taking those steps to support those ministries because without your prayers and without those supports really we couldn't even do any other things that we are doing I've got a very busy life ahead of me now two more I'm on to Brooklyn terrific at Brooklyn Tabernacle straight from there to speak at Liberty University from Liberty University on to Birmingham in England to speak at a conference for evangelist straight from Birmingham England on to Seoul Korea to speak at a conference there at the Inori Church five days straight from Seoul Korea to Miami Beach did you are found as we can between now and Christmas I'm hardly gonna be home but we are busy and some very very important meetings this man has sports so many miles and just today and he was telling me all that lies ahead of him so the best thing you can do for us pray for us that we will not get weary in well-doing it's very easy to get weary in well-doing and you know what he talked about those behind the scenes we have a team of 93 speakers at our zi m and nearly 300 full-time staff around the globe that support this ministry this whole building is about three years old for us we purchased I was telling Tim as we came here the first 8 million to buy this building came from Chinese Christians from overseas when they thanked us for coming and giving all that time to that part of the world so this is a story that's still being written so we need to be faithful or we can blow it big time ask God in your prayers to keep us faithful keep us strong and keep this man protected because as we well know for years many have tried to derail had come in his way and people were even willing to pay to see this man stumble that's how powerful a witness he has been and so thank you Thank You Richie thank those of you who are in the sporting world it's a tough world but it's a world of icons and you all worship of the Living God and don't take any of that praise for yourself let us pray and thank you so much I don't know who I'll put this together Vince but this is an amazing guy we just have to thank you loyal friend yeah yeah great great you know he gave up a tutor ship at Oxford to come and work here and do this yeah nobody will be very credential rich by saying you was the director of the zaccharas Institute in Atlanta Georgia but a tutor at Oxford Wow big deal so thanks for coming along with his wife Joe and leading this work here will you please pray with me father what an evening this has been in your eternal annals this is just another blink of a moment you look at the eternal view of the vast topography of history its ups and downs its ins and outs and somehow in your grace you find it the right thing to bless ordinary people here tonight and Alpharetta Georgia in the small auditorium to say I will bless you if you will honor me and my name I thank you for those who prepared this event organized all the logistics behind the scenes I thank you for the men and women with the sound booth that made it possible for us to be heard not only here but who knows in what parts of the world people have been watching only because of the hard work of people who are willing to work in the shadows so that you may be seen in the light and the beauty of who you are I pray your benediction upon all of us Lord I don't know what each one is struggling with but you know and you are able to lighten every load and sustain every fiber within our being to bear any burden as we have been reminded tonight will be well worth it'll be well worth our while to follow you and not to think of what we are giving up but who it is we are pursuing for you are the light and the blessing in the shadow will follow us because we are facing you the light of the world thank you for this gift of being in this building for those who made it possible bless every family present here tonight take them back safely Lord but most importantly you've told us to think on things that are pure and beautiful and lovely if there be any virtue and if there be any praise to think on those things purify our minds so that we will be men and women who think on things like that bless us and receive our worship tonight with gratitude in our hearts I pray for Tim and Stacey as they fly back tonight thank you for giving him the companionship of Stacey walking with him in lockstep to be with him as he travels get them back to Knoxville tonight and a great day tomorrow in Jesus name Amen god bless you thank you so much

Channel: RZIM HQ

Views: 468,819

Rating: 4.8797889 out of 5

Keywords: RZIM, Ravi, Ravi Zacharias, Ravi Zacharias International Ministries, apologetics, evangelism, Jesus, Jesus Christ, Christ, Christianity, Christian, Christian Apologetics, philosophy, God, truth, Bible, gospel, Lord, salvation, Tim Tebow, Tebow Foundation, Tim Tebow and Ravi Zacharias, Ravi and Tim Tebow, Face To Face, Tim Tebow Christian, Tim Tebow God

Id: dlg1CcJCSoQ

Length: 136min 51sec (8211 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 04 2019