Tim Staples - Saturday Workshop 2 - Defending the Faith

let's begin in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit Heavenly Father as we continue to dive deeper into our faith we pray now that you would help us as our bodies may be growing weary help us to be alert quicken these bodies and open our minds that we might be receptive once again to your word and I pray Lord that you would challenge us that you would empower us to go forth from this place a changed people who will impact this world for you we ask this through Christ our Lord as we begin by praying our family prayer together our Father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil Holy Mary our hope seat of wisdom st. Joseph name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit amen how many of you know we are called to evangelize and it's not an option amen you know I think in this day and age I'm sort of reminded of the story of Colonel will then colonel chesty puller in the Korean War many of you I'm sure read or heard of the frozen Chosin right at the Choson reservoir was June 26th of 1950 when the North Koreans came over the 28th parallel about 3:30 4:00 a.m. in the morning and even though you know the signs were there we knew they were coming still took us by surprise and the fledgling UN forces and the small amount of forces we had were quickly overwhelmed and almost the whole Korean Peninsula was taken rapidly except for that small area there down at Pusan and you know Douglas MacArthur said that this was a Marine course finest hour although I would argue with the great general he needs to read a little more Marine Corps history we had a lot of finest hours but he called it the Marines finest hour when they called upon the Marines to come and do what was so unexpected that Koreans did not expect the Marines to land up north the the expectation was you had the Pusan Perimeter and we had some forces down there hanging on some of you are shaking your head you've read this history and so the expectation was a landing would come there to reinforce those few forces that we had that were hanging on but they did the unthinkable and land at Incheon way up north in what was considered to be an impossible impossible area to land and in so doing caught the enemy by surprise cut off their supplies and as we used to say in the Marines they took some names and ended up reestablishing the 38th parallel asked actually rescuing a number of our fallen brothers and even picking up the weapons of those who had lost their weapons in the retreat and it was a tremendous moment certainly in Marine Corps history and they weren't alone of course they had some I was at 7th army that was with the Marines there and a number of Koreans as well at any rate I didn't want to get into all those details but what I wanted to share with you is this they picked up the weapons of some of their fallen comrades who had been left behind with the rapidity of the retreat re-established that 38th parallel and then in good Marine Corps fashion went over the 38th parallel on an offensive to take back the north and it was there that the Marines got surrounded by an enormous number roughly eight to ten divisions of Chinese which was the fear you know in the United States that the Chinese would engage and they did they were surrounded and there's a great story there when the Marines it was a regiment of Marines under chesty polar at Choson that got themselves surrounded by all of these multiple divisions of Chinese and it was November near Thanksgiving it was frigid way below zero snowing the men were running out of ammunition running out of food they were literally freezing to death some of them suffering from frostbite and it looked hopeless chesty puller Colonel puller wires headquarters we need supplies we need replacements we need help and the wire comes back we're not going to be able to help you and folks you can imagine for those Marines this was a dark hour they were basically written off they're not going to make it and they couldn't get help to him I know it's amazing in moments like that and we talked about this last night where there seems to be nothing but darkness around you I think it was Mark's talk yesterday where he mentioned so profoundly true the greatest Saints fathers doctors have arisen in the darkest times in the history of the church the fourth century my friends the mid fourth century in my opinion there's been no darker time when in around 3 5 3 53 55 AD it's estimated 70 to 80 percent of Bishops were heretics you had the Emperor become a heretic it looked like the church was about to be snuffed out the Bishop of Rome was taken into exile and tortured for two years there's been dark times in our history well I would say for these Marines this was a dark time but it was Colonel chesty puller and isn't it amazing how in the dark times there's always a man that will stand and people look for a man who will stand now no offense to the ladies here okay but I warned you I'm going to focus on men a little bit who will stand up and act with boldness and confidence no matter how dark the darkness is Colonel puller famously and I've read several book on this and differing somewhat differing accounts I think there's some folklore that's arisen around what the good colonel said when he got the wire that we can't help you we can't send any reinforcements one that I read said he said words to the effect of I'm in Marine Corps heaven are you kidding me I am surrounded by the enemy anywhere I shoot I hit them they will not escape this time and you know we kind of say that tongue-in-cheek this is real but this man was able to rally those Marines and they did what seemed to be impossible not only did they survive but as I believe it was actually a two-star general who said they didn't retreat they just fought in a different direction you can't retreat when you're surrounded right but they fought their way back over the 38th parallel did not leave once I want you to remember this did not leave a single man behind remember that reestablish that 38th parallel they picked up every wound remember they picked up the weapons of their fallen comrades now they picked up their fallen comrades not a single left behind and again I flashback to the fourth century in what I argue was the darkest time in the history of the church where you had patriarchs that were heretics the only patriarch that never became a heretic was that one from Rome Pope liberius was the one I mentioned it was taken into exile for two years and was tortured they tried to get him to sign a heretical Creed which he would not never could get him to sign he signed one that was ambiguous but that wasn't good enough so the emperor tried to get him to sign a heretical Creed he would not he was beaten he was whipped but amazing thing happened something happened that I think is a parallel to what happened with those Marines at the Chosin Reservoir in roughly 355 AD the Emperor as I said before was also a heretic and he was bent on turning the church Arian it was the Emperor who had Pope liberius sent into exile for two years tortured and in what appeared to be the blow that would end the church and turn it from Christian to Aryan right denying the divinity of Christ basically Jehovah's Witness theology all right with with some chicken some differences it appeared to happen when the Emperor after having exiled the Pope and he's torturing him put a false Pope an anti Pope on the throne in Rome and on Christmas Day anti Pope Felix processes into the Cathedral in Rome and declares from the pulpit that Jesus Christ is not God and it appeared the devil had won no doubt the hordes of demons rejoiced but something happened kind of like them Marines there at the Chosin Reservoir something happened here what happened folks is the lay people the people in Rome arose and they beat anti Pope Felix half to death he had to flee for his life he had to flee Rome now I'm not recommending this I'm just stating the historical fact he had to flee for his life and the Emperor realized I'm going to be next that was the impetus for him to release Pope Liberia's and liberius within a few weeks would procession to process into that same Cathedral with whip marks still on his back and he proclaimed Jesus Christ is God in Rome amen see folks we need a few good men to stand up like Pope liberius we need a few good men to stand up like them Marines like chesty puller that stood up against all odds folks this is what evangelism is all about right now and I I'm going to argue here folks that we need men heaven knows the ladies have been doing their part over the last 56 years and I'll tell you how I know this I go to daily Mass yeah and it seems like I always see blue haired women there you ever heard the story of the young young boy that's being babysat by his grandma and so grandma takes him to daily Mass and he's sitting there you know with grandma and he's looking around and he sees lots of blue hair and he says the Grammy says why is everybody in here got gray hair and blue hair and stuff like that and she leaned over and said they're cramming for finals amen all right we need men to stand why because we are folks when we look at man and woman let's face it basics here woman we were talking about just before this talk with a couple of Marines up here that I was talking to the insanity of having women in combat insane and it angers me as a veteran marine it angers me why because now that they're putting women in combat the next war we have your women your daughters are going to be drafted is that what we want it's contre not Orem contrary to the nature of woman who is made to bring forth life to be forced to go and learn to kill men you and I are not made to kill but we're made to protect amen we've lost our collective minds but in the spiritual realm I would argue gentlemen men having it our women have an advantage over us amen ladies can you say Amen ladies why because you are the more pious of the sexes because you're made to receive Amen women are made to do what is necessary in order to get to heaven and that is received how many of you all know when you were baptized you got in over your head Amen you got in way over your head why because you're called to get to heaven and you need supernatural power to get there you can't get there by your own power Amen see ladies you are built in such a way that you know you need to receive in order to fulfill your calling amen you must receive the seed in order to bring forth life we men made to go out from the you know we'll keep this g-rated here but let's look at the conjugal act okay man pointed out word amen women receive man goes out from himself amen that's what we're made to do this is why by the way you ever notice men don't ask for directions amen this is why because ladies you can receive we have this terrible tendency we males to sing Frank Sinatra song amen I did it my way that's why we don't ask for questions and you ladies just patiently honey why don't you just ask I don't need directions two hours later I don't need directions see you're built to receive and that's what we must do in order to get to heaven we must receive grace power from outside of ourselves we're not good at that as men this is why ladies you need to help us men to learn what it means to be man and I mean man in the sense of mankind amen we need the Blessed Mother if you're a priest you don't have a relationship with the Blessed Mother you are headed for a danger zone amen we need the feminine and I could we could do the whole talk just on that but that's not what we're about here we also need men and I think in particular when it comes to evangelism this is why you know we're sitting in the office I remember talking with Karl Keating and apologizing and nut and we all noted how you never notice how the majority of apologists are men overwhelming majority why because it is a particular science to where we are constantly going out we're combating amen but only with the love of Jesus masculine evangelism very masculine as I mentioned in my brief little up there last night going out from ourselves sacrificing entering into combat if you will now this doesn't mean women don't do of course they do but it's men who are made that way amen we are made to go out from ourselves and to encounter the culture and to overcome as in the Marine Corps right improvise and overcome no matter the situation that you find yourself in we need men with that as my introduction I'd like to make six points here I'm being a little ambitious because we want to do some questions and answers too I want to make six points about evangelism and I'm going to be stealing from what I consider to be the most complete document I've ever read on evangelism evangelii none see on day of December 8 1975 Pope Paul the sixth apostolic exhortation after an extraordinary Synod of Bishops on evangelism and I think folks how many how many here loved Pope Francis I'm telling you I absolutely love Pope Francis he's keeping us hopping at Catholic Answers I'll guarantee you that but I love Pope Francis we had in Pope Saint John Paul the great the incredible philosopher theologian brilliant we had the image of Jesus Christ on the cross in front of us every day with the Holy Fathers suffering and clinging to his crucifix every day what a blessing we have lived in the presence of a saint amen and we saw Jesus as our Pope we have Pope emeritus Benedict the most brilliant theological mind perhaps of our time I would never forget the day when he was elected man there was shouting at Catholic Answers I'll guarantee cuz we all said oh man that's the dream pic Carteret but you know it's not gonna happen Holy Spirit said oh yeah but in Pope Francis I believe what we have is a Pope for such a time as this that is saying to us it's time to take the brilliant philosophy and theology of my predecessors and take it to the streets to the poor to those who are I'll use the popular disenfranchised take this to the streets each one of us take the gospel sometimes you got to get a crowbar to get Catholics out of the pew and into the streets but this is what Pope Francis I believe is saying to us and he is living it he's going to do it I mean the man drives a Ford Focus come on and you don't even drive it he's demonstrating to us let's get rid of what we need to get rid of and focus on the gospel of Jesus Christ and understand that we're in a war and we really do have people hemorrhaging that are wounded that have dropped their weapons all around us and they need for you and I to get out there and pick up their weapons and pick up their bodies and help them to get to the finish line this is what I believe evangelism is about but let me start here that was a long introduction in paragraph five Pope Paul the sixth and this will be my first point gives us a great definition of evangelism and I'm going to skip down to paragraph 13 and 14 listen to this such an referring to this apostolic exhortation he says such an exhortation seems to us to be of capital importance for the presentation the Gospel message is not an optional contribution for the church it is the duty incumbent on her by the command of the Lord Jesus Christ so that people can be leave and be saved the message is indeed necessary it is unique it cannot be replaced it does not permit either indifference syncretism or accommodation it is a question of people's salvation it is the beauty of the revelation it represents it brings with it a wisdom not of this world it is able to stir up by itself faith faith that rests on the power of God it is truth it merits having the Apostle consecrating to it all his time all his energies and to sacrifice for it if necessary his own life man that sounds like radical stuff doesn't it in term a you can read this stuff and uh yeah people can pass it did you hear what I just said I mean it's this this is the language of Colonel polar amen that where you're in combat you know what there's no room for syncretism and an indifferent ism and arguing among the the Marines when you're surrounded by ten divisions of Chinese amen I think Pope Paul the sixth even back in 1975 was calling us to understand the serious nature of what it is we are we are called to do as Christians by virtue of the sacraments of initiation we've received we are called ultimately to sacrifice if necessary our own lives for truth that's evangelization now listen in paragraph 13 and 14 he says those who have received the good news and who have been gathered by it into the community of salvation can and must spread it the church knows this she has a vivid awareness of the fact that the Savior's words I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom applying all truth to herself she willingly adds with st. Paul now he quotes first corinthians four where st. paul says woe be unto me if i preach not the gospel since a duty has been laid on me it is with joy and consolation that at the end of the great assembly of 1974 we heard these illuminating words we wish to confirm once more that the task of evangelizing all people constitutes the essential mission of the church it is a task and mission which the vast and profound changes a society make all the more urgent evangelizing is in fact the Grace and vocation proper to the church her deepest identity she exists in order to evangelize like the Catechism of the Catholic Church in paragraph 900 says that each one of us by virtue of the sacrum initiation have both the right and the duty to evangelize either individually or group together in associations and that right does not come from your bishop it comes directly from Jesus Christ of course the later in paragraph 60 this document will emphasize the ecclesial nature of our call of course we must do so in union with the bishops in union with the Pope but our calling comes directly from Jesus Christ and when we stand before God on Judgment Day we're not going to give an account to our Bishop amen we're going to give an account as to whether we have fulfilled the spiritual works of mercy to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ there is a good sort of beginning of the definition of evangelization but now my second point I want to emphasize here is that Pope Paul the sixth also masterfully dispels some myths surrounding evangelism especially in paragraphs 21 and 22 and I'm gonna make somebody mad at me right now I am but I don't care you're not going to be mad at me you got to be mad at the Pope in paragraph 21 Pope Paul the sixth emphasizes and heaven knows do we need this emphasis today he says when we're talking about evangelism above all the gospel must be proclaimed by witness take a Christian or a handful of Christians who in the midst of their own communities show their capacity for understanding and acceptance their sharing of life and destiny with other people their solidarity with the efforts of all for what is noble and good such a witness is already a silent proclamation of the good news and a very powerful and effective one here we have an initial what he called an initial act of evangelization is that not prophetic heaven knows you and I know today what is Pope Paul the sixth say he is saying that if your life does not live up to your message you will not be heard and with the priests candles we have endured heaven knows we know this is true folks you relent granted yes the media the culture took that thing and abused it and ran with it and all that's true but the bottom line is you and I need to earn the right once again to be heard in our culture let that I don't know if you realize this but the Catholic Church has become greatly irrelevant in the popular culture the media has masterfully orchestrated and used the priests candle and as if we would be surprised you all know the devil hate you amen any hate your message and he doesn't want people to hear the gospel of life well you and I my friends need to earn the right get back in the fray and what Pope Paul the sixth is saying is it has to come first with lives that are sold out to Jesus see you and I as Catholics need to be I want to see the day when we are the ones as Catholics that people see coming up the walk and they go oh man here come to me Catholics they're gonna be talking about Jesus let's get out of here and not just the boys on bicycles amen we're the ones that need to be known as the Jesus people we need to stop laughing about how we don't know our Bibles amen now come on everybody likes a good joke but I get sick of that one oh we don't know about let's change that amen if ignorance of Christ or the scripture is ignorance of Christ we need to change that we need to be known as the Bible people we got a lot of work to do amen because I was on the outside looking in at y'all it's not good we used to joke about we did oh man them Catholics you can tell them anything they'll believe it where is that in the Bible oh it's in Hezekiah chapter 4 by the way there is no Hezekiah don't look for it alright no joke I'm joking no it's in hesitations chapter 2 above all we must be before we can do we must be witnesses and that's what the Sacrament of Confirmation is all about we shall be imbued filled you shall receive power after the Holy Spirit has come upon you why so that you may be my what martyrs amen marta roy in greek my witnesses that's right we're called to be jehovah's witness oh no wait a second come on a little humor there somebody said you have very little humor Tim but now I'm going to get to the point where somebody's gonna get mad at me because folks and and can I say this we got a lot of Franciscans hanging around here so let me just say that stop abusing st. Francis stop it you say what how many of you've heard the Lund st. francis said to the brothers are going into a town preach the gospel use words when now how many of you all heard that one right francis never said that can y'all repeat that with me francis never said that that is a popular urban legend but you know what even if he did folks that's a poetic line i have no problem with the line except for people misuse it a poetic way of emphasizing what Pope Paul the sixth is saying here that in order to evangelize you must first be evangelized in order to witness you must be a witness we must begin on our knees begging God for His grace and His mercy please Lord here am I in the image of Isaiah six you me to reach my family member my friends my neighbors my neighborhood my parish amen but Pope Paul the sixth then says this for all those who have used senton don't raise your hand who have you saved Francis as an excuse not to evangelize don't look all innocent come on some of y'all have done it but don't raising it Pope Paul the sixth says this listen in paragraph 22 after he emphasizes the importance of a life lived for Christ he says above all yes the gospel must be proclaimed by witness but in paragraph 22 he says nevertheless this silent witness always remains insufficient because even the finest witness will prove ineffective in the long run if it is not explained justified what Peter called always having your answer ready he quotes an apologist favorite verse first Peter 3:15 sanctify the Lord God in your hearts always and be ready to give everyone a reason for the hope that lies within you with meekness and with respect it will always I think we should repeat that don't you the silent witness as imperative as it is as essential as it is according to the Pope that's why you can't get mad at me he said it will always be sufficient cannot hear you all say that it will always be sufficient does that mean sometimes it will always be insufficient by the way did I say sufficient slap me please right insufficient see folks we need and you know I remember reading not long ago an article where our Holy Father said something that surprised people can you imagine that they come often but our Holy Father appeared to some anyway to kind of put down apologetics right and so of course we get that question at Catholic Answers didn't the Pope just say apologetics is not necessary because he said we don't need apologists as bishops right he wasn't talking about apologetics he was talking about bishops who are out and you know being lobbyists for political ends rather than doing what they're called to do Shepherd the people got but anyway they said see the Holy Father is saying we don't need apologists that's not what he said in fact in evangelii gaudium paragraph 132 write that one down paragraph 132 our Holy Father said we need a creative apologetic today in order to provide a base of believability for the gospel of Jesus Christ a creative apologetic is what we need we know folks to dive in to come up new with new ways not in the sense that there's a new gospel but in the sense that we need new ways to present that which is old tried-and-true the gospel of Jesus Christ in a culture that is in desperate need amen that's what he was talking about and I think that's what Pope Paul the sixth is calling us to do here in paragraph 22 when he says the proclaim the good news proclaimed by the witness of life sooner or later has to be proclaimed by the word of life our Holy Father says the good news proclaimed by the witness of life has to be proclaimed by the word of life now again I already mentioned paragraph 60 else I'll skip over this is my third point the ecclesial nature of evangelism and I can do this briefly as we already mentioned it that of course all of our evangelistic efforts must be deep what he calls deeply ecclesial even if they are done as individuals he says it must be deeply ecclesial because we are not little independence running around here like Bob and Pete's Church of fun amen and then he goes on to say in paragraph 70 he focuses on lay people in evangelism and he says something very interesting he says lay people whose particular vocation places them in the midst of the world and in charge of the most varied temporal tasks must for this very reason exercise a very special form of evangelization their primary and immediate task is not I think I need to say that again their primary and immediate task is not to establish and develop the ecclesial community did you hear that as laypeople our primary task is not to establish and develop the ecclesial community this is the specific role of the pastors but to put to use every Christian and evangelical possibility latent but already present and active in the affairs of the world folks we as laypeople are not called to be extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion Oh what oh my gosh I people are going to throw rocks at me that's not our primary calling amen y'all know extraordinary should mean extraordinary the fact that we have extraordinary ministers Holy Communion should drive us to our knees and pray so that we don't need extraordinary ministers because we have so many ordinary ministers but unfortunately think what our Holy Father is saying here is that sometimes we can confuse things here in our modern era you know it used to be I'm told I'm too young and I was Protestant to know about this stuff 1920s 30s 40s we had Catholic communities long before we so emphasize the word community amen where you had the church was the center of town right churches used to be built yet when you go into a new town you find the highest hill and you put that church up so it'd be kind of like a city on a hill amen and folks look to that church and men everything happened at the church you had dances at the church even had bingo I love you Oh little old ladies getting addicted to bingo but you had bingo yeah dances you had everything folks went to the church and I think after the council we got this crazy idea that what else see were too busy now so we're gonna stuff everything into one hour on Sunday amen so you know everything but bingo you know the sign of peace became let me dance with you running all over the church hugging everybody we're trying to get everything shoehorned into one hour even but see that's not what we are to be as laypeople folks in a sense we are going to masa get on our knees pray to God get tanked up to go out and change the world that's what we need to be about amen that's what we're called to do not to see how many ministries I can do in the church look at me because really as an old Baptist preacher actually he was a black preacher years ago I heard he was a Baptist 'el and I'm gonna tell y'all nobody preaches like them black preachers but I remember years ago hearing this black Baptist 'el saying this you don't matter how high you jump on Sunday now for those of you didn't understand that it doesn't matter how high you jump on Sunday okay it don't matter haha you jump o Sunday what not us is do you walk straight on Monday in there's some wisdom in that line amen cuz really folks and I say that about this conference as well it don't matter we come and praise God that you're here but you know what what's more important than you being here today is what you're going to do tomorrow what's more important than what you're going to do tomorrow is what you're going to do on Monday morning amen are we going to take what we're getting here and understand we're not here to punch our ticket any more than we punch our ticket on Sunday but this is about what happens on Monday are we going to get back to that daily hear me now when's the last time you did your morning offering amen don't raise your hand am I trying to heap guilt on you oh absolutely when's the last time you made that morning offering are you making it every morning as my pastor said back home last weekend I've got the best pastor in the world he's a priest who's 30 years old this boy is on fire but he said he started his homily and he said we had a horrible thing happen in 1959 that has led to sloth that has has ebbed its way into the church and has plated the seeds for our destruction and you're going man what is that what are you 19 59 the snooze button it was created in 1959 does any good come from the snooze button you hit that thing and what good does it do nothing you think well I can get some more right no you can't in 10 minutes you ain't gonna get no better than you were ten minutes ago amen that's right or nine minutes or seven minutes whatever you set the thing for but on Monday morning when the alarm goes off we put our knees on the floor and we make that morning offering there we begin to implement what we're doing this weekend there on Monday morning is implementing what you received on Sunday amen we need to get back to ladies and gentlemen that daily rosary come on y'all some of you looking guilty back to that daily rosary how about praying with your kids amen this is all part of what we're talking about when we talk about evangelism you know with my kids I made a commitment a long time ago my kids will never put their head on the pillow til they see their dad at their bedside praying and reading Bible stories with them every night I take just a few weeks ago I got back from a conference plane was late I get back I collapsed on the floor it was right around bedtime and momma was upstairs praying with the kids my little rose five no she's six she just turned six she heard daddy come in she gets up out of that bed comes like a beeline to the top of the steps daddy I want you to read Bible stories and put holy water on my head like you always do please daddy and I'm like and I get up we made a commitment every single night what kind of commitments have you made amen and by the way i doused them with holy water sometimes so my son Timmy's like it's in my eyes dad are the devotions you need to get back to folks come on when's the last time you've been to confession this is a part of evangelism we must be before we can do and our task folks is not to be extraordinary ministers Holy Communion look at what I did look I'm doing all this here what we are called to do is to sanctify this world with our lives to bring fit I have a pastor who challenges us to bring somebody to mass next week man I ain't heard this since I was a Pentecostal of course a lot of parishes you don't want to bring somebody to that's the problem but mine you do go out and bring somebody next week he challenges us this is evangelization let me move forward number 4 truth and I'm going to jump all the way down to paragraph 78 Pope Paul the sixth says the gospel entrusted to us is also the word of truth a truth which liberates and which alone gives peace of heart is what people are looking for when we proclaim the good news to them the truth about God about man and his mysterious destiny about the world the difficult truth that we seek in the Word of God and of which we repeat we are neither the masters nor the owners but we are the depositories the heralds and the servants every evangelizer is expected to have a reverence for truth especially since the truth that he studies and communicates is none other than revealed truth and hence more than any other a sharing in the first truth which is God Himself the preacher of the gospel will therefore be a person who even at the price of personal renunciation and suffering always seeks the truth that he must transmit to others he never betrays or hides truth out of a desire to please men in order to astonish or to shock nor for the sake of originality or a desire to make an impression tell me Pope Paul the sixth was not a prophet he does not refuse truth he does not obscure revealed truth by being too idle to search for it or for the sake of his own comfort or out of fear he does not neglect to study it he serves it generously without making it serve him folks we need lovers of truth because what happens when you get truth in you folks one of my favorite verses my wife always laughs at me whenever I said one of my favorite verses and then my wife says Tim every verse is your favorite verse Romans chapter 1 verse 15 and 16 st. Paul says as much as it is in me I am prepared to preach the gospel to those who are at Rome for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation for all those who believe did you hear that as much as it is in me see think of this in me I'm prepared and I'm not ashamed a mint what happens if it ain't in you you're not prepared and you're ashamed see too many of us as Catholics have what I call the spirit of wimpiness that is birth out of an insecurity because we don't know our faith well am i right come on y'all know I'm talking about the family that says here comes some Mormons hide the kids shut the baby up maybe they'll go away you know what I'm talking about again don't raise her you know what when my wife I've got a wife that's five foot maybe one if she's on her tippy toes 100 pounds of pit bull that's my wife my wife sees a Mormon ride by on the bicycle she will chase him down eight months pregnant she'll still chase him down and I'm not kidding you you can invite them in how I think we have a big ex over our house now but see if it's in you you're prepared and your boat but if it's not what happens second Timothy 2:15 st. Paul says study to show yourselves approved to God a workman who needs not be ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth if you rightly divide the word of truth it breeds a boldness to where you will talk to anybody Amen come on brother let's sit down when we chase that moment come on in we'll have a cup of coffee oh no caffeine oh how about some orange juice amen let's talk see it must be in you and then that breeds st. Paul so talks about in 2nd Timothy chapter 1 verse 7 God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power love and a sound mind see too many of us are gripped by fear I don't know enough can i plea can y'all you know what if you don't hear anything else here this in fact those of you in the sleep asleep in the back wake up just for this one no I'm kidding I don't see anybody asleep because if I did I got an old Pentecostal trick that I use and I am warning you I will use it I don't know if I can if I'm allowed well I'm probably not allowed to go down so I won't but I just kind of sneak on down in the aisle there and if I see you sleeping sir I'll just kind of lower my voice a little bit like this and then I'm talking to my brother and I go how are you yeah I got her to jump right there oh you can get there but this far off the Pew I'm guaranteed so don't fall asleep on me but the bottom line is God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power and love and a sound mind and I've got to dispel another myth this isn't from Paul the sixth this is from Tim staples can y'all please stop with the nonsense that says I'm not ready to evangelize stop it just stop it I'm so tired of hearing with him I can't quote all them Bible verses like where where does it say you have to Amen Tim I don't know my faith well enough and I I just can't guess what you will never know your faith well the Pope has more to learn amen see what we've got to do is stop with that and get involved when I was in the seminary I was a spiritual director for the Legion of Mary and we would take college students as well as seminarians and I would teach them and then we would go door-to-door evangelizing and it is amazing how many times these guys what is it is it bred into you Catholics is it is it like as babies you're pumped with you can't do this you can't do this because how often do you hear I can't when my Bible says in Philippians 4:13 I can aim n I can do all things in Christ who strengthens me and somehow we're convinced we can't know we can't shut up just shut up stop and you know what's amazing is when you get involved get involved at your parish every parish needs a door-to-door evangelization team and you know what you do you just get the addresses of all the lapsed Catholics and you will be there the rest of your life the folks that are on the registry as my friend Deacon Alex Jones did it when he became director of evangelization in Detroit he took teams and they did exactly that folks lives are changed left and right you know how many folks are sitting in their houses waiting for you to come and knock on their door you mean a Catholics knocking on my door and all this just by getting there and saying hey would you come to Mass on Sunday BAM you've saved the soul amen I'll never forget when I was at the office and uh I get a call from my wife oh my gosh imagine this I'm preparing to do a radio show my wife calls here she is on the other line Tim Tim there's a fire and they're saying I got to evacuate click oh that was it so I said guys somebody else do the radio show I got to go man I'm driving I'm breaking every law there is down Mission gorge in San Diego to get to my house and I get up to where once you come over this hill I can see the area of my house and I see a big black bunch of smoke going up and I'm going oh my lord I'm praying oh my lord my house is on fire it's right where my house is I Drive up and they got the street blocked off and I'm going oh my lord my house has burned up where are my kids I'm panicking police stop me you can't go in here I said officer I'm going in there please please don't try to stop me because I don't want to go to jail my wife and kids are in there he said sir you go right through and you know what folks it turned out fire was behind our house but they had to evacuate I said honey please don't cut a conversation off like that again you almost caused me to have a heart attack but you know what happened folks is our neighbor right next door was standing out she had been evacuated as well and she's standing there and she was obviously shaken and I started talking to her I said Pat I got to tell you oh my gosh I just got the scare of my life I thought the house was burning down my kids my wife's I was about to lose it and she was shaking and I said praise God the opportunity to evangelize nothing like a person that's scared to death to evangelize amen and I said Pat are you Catholic yeah I'm Catholic when's the last time you've been to Mass oh my gosh it's been 20 years I said Pat you need to go to Mass you know what she was in Mass at Sunday she came to our parish in that amazing that's evangelism it's just a matter of being where God wants you to be go knock on the door go when there's a fire amen and talk to Pho see we got to rethink things as Catholics get our minds in tune with what the Holy Spirit wants to do you know what I'm convinced that if look Jesus took 12 knuckleheads come on let's be real right Jesus did not exactly go to the University of Jerusalem to get his apostles am i right come on my goodness you got a bunch of fishermen that never knew how to fish am i right I mean why is it in Luke chapter 5 when Jesus first meets them what are they doing Lord we've been fishing all night haven't caught a thing three years later in John 21 after the resurrection Lord we've been fishing all night haven't caught a thing amen this is the apostles at both times they need a carpenter to teach them how to fish come on I I say that I say that I say that kind of tongue-in-cheek but you know what I love that because the apostles are proof positive that there is help for me and there is hope for me and I got last night and I was honest with you and I said what am I doing here with all these giants all around you know what man them guys sitting over there so much smarter than me it's ridiculous but you know what I just get up and I say thank you Jesus use me and every once in a while I'll say something right amen see it's a matter of you and I understand it doesn't matter who you are it doesn't matter what you think you can't do knock it off Pope Paul the six said their souls on the line amen in paragraph five of Evangelion unci Hyundai their souls on the line my neighbor Pat her soul was on the line she hadn't been to Mass in 20 years we need to share with people amen this is what evangelism is all about it's got to be in you that breeds boldness and when you get that boldness you can't help it you're going to share folks I'm going to challenge you like my pastor challenges us every week with something I'm going to challenge you there are some people in here right now who you know God wants you to start something this isn't for everybody but it's for somebody I believe maybe it's an evangelization team at your parish you tell your pastor you know what we just want to go visit everybody on the parish registry folks that haven't been to mass can we do that amen some of you might already be doing that right this is one of the most simple ways to evangelize and you know what sometimes you get free food out of it they'll invite you in and have some free food all right let me move forward because I want to move to 0.5 we got a hurry so we can get to questions I might make all six points this is a miracle point number five I'm skipping down to paragraph 80 no excuses and a warning from our Holy Father now if I didn't make you mad before maybe I will now but don't you love it when you can just hide behind the Pope oh I love this no excuses in a warning and I think this is a powerful part of this apostolic exhortation from our Holy Father because he's going to give us the secret the secret cause for why Catholics don't evangelize y'all want to hear what it is oh I'm sorry I'm out of time all right paragraph 8 ER Peale here is inspired by the fervor of the greatest preachers and evangelizers whose lives were devoted to the Apostle among these we're glad we are glad to point out those whom we have proposed to the veneration of the faithful during the course of this holy year they have known how to overcome many obstacles to evangelization such obstacles are also present today and we shall limit ourselves to mentioning the lack of fervor it is all the more serious because it comes from within sloth listen to this it is manifested in fatigued disenchantment compromise lack of interest and above all a lack of joy and hope and I've got to tell you something I love this conference it's my first time and I want to just stay here because I see so much joy in this place it is it's beautiful the worship the singing y'all know how to praise God and I see so much joy anyway this lack of fervor is manifested by this lack of joy and hope we exhort all those who have the task of evangelizing by whatever title and at whatever level always to nourish spiritual fervor now this fervor demands first of all that we should know how to put aside the excuses which would impede evangelization the most insidious of these and we've all have ever heard of the spirit of Vatican 2 amen Pope Paul the sixth says this the most insidious of these excuses are certainly the ones which proclaim or claim to find support in such and such teachings from the council amen it was already going on in 1975 the spirit of the council don't you know we don't evangelize anymore amen cuz everybody saved right what in the world you can evangelize for if everybody's going to heaven Amen that was going on and Pope Paul the sixth right here folks listen thus one too frequently hears it said in various terms that to impose a truth be it that of the gospel or to impose a way be it that of salvation cannot be but a violation of religious liberty besides it is added why proclaimed the gospel when the whole world is saved by a brightness of heart we know likewise that the world in history are filled with seeds of the word is it not therefore know and illusion to claim to bring the gospel where it already exists in seed form and that the Lord Himself has sown Pope Paul the sixth dispels this myth and says anyone who takes the trouble to study the council's documents the questions upon which these excuses draw to superficially we'll find quite a different view when I first became Catholic I'll never forget I came in the best diocese oh my gosh the arlington diocese in virginia but i hadn't been in the church long before I sat down with I won't mention that he was a Franciscan oops he was a Franciscan please I sat down with him and for the first time see I was surrounded by orthodoxy in Arlington Virginia I thought all Catholic churches were like this man my pastor was on fire the RCIA program was unbelievable every week it was wow I couldn't wait it was Wow and then I meet this fella who by the way later left the priesthood thanks be to God because he was destroying Souls that's why I say thanks be to God hopefully he has repented I don't know but here's the point I started hearing the spirit of Vatican do you know what I did I got me them two volume Flannery and I read all sixteen documents and it was amazing I didn't find that spirit of Vatican 2 amen I found incredibly beautiful documents that were nourishment for my soul Pope Paul the sixth said it would certainly be an error to impose something on the conscience of our brethren but to propose there's a difference Pope Paul the sixth says between imposition and proposition but to propose to their conscience the truth of the gospel and salvation in Jesus Christ with complete clarity and a total respect for the free options which it presents without coercion or dishonorable or unworthy pressure far from being an attack on religious liberty is to fully respect that Liberty is it then a crime against others freedom to proclaim with joy a good news which one has come to know through the Lord's mercy why should only falsehood and error debasement and pornography have the right to be put before people and often unfortunately imposed on them by the destructive propaganda of the mass media why is it that they're the ones that get the airtime and we're the ones who are supposed to shut up now that was me not Pope Paul the sixth in fact it is the right of our fellow men to receive the proclamation of the good news yes God can accomplish this salvation in whom so ever he wishes by ways which he knows and he alone but right here in paragraph what is that number here the very end of paragraph 80 Pope Paul the sixth does man a switcheroo here first time I read it rocked my world remember Pope Paul the sixth has already talked about we read it in paragraph five the first paragraph we read that when we're talking about Vangelis ation souls are on the line amen you and I know I mean if you don't believe that souls are on the line it makes a mockery of the gospel it makes a mockery of the of the Bible I mean how many times do we read first Timothy 4:16 st. Paul said to Timothy a young Bishop that he himself had ordained Timothy take heed unto thyself and unto the preaching for or the teaching for in so doing you will both save yourself and them that hear they amen we saved souls by proclaiming the gospel and not only theirs but ours amen the Bible makes that plain say Pope Paul the sixth see I almost said st. their dinner getting ahead one day I hope I see it now the Pope says yes God can accomplish this salvation in ways known to him alone and yet if his son came it was precisely in order to reveal to us by his word and his life the ordinary paths of salvation which each man has a right to and he has commanded us to transmit this revelation to others with his own authority now it would be useful if every Christian and every evangelizer were to pray about this following thought ha once again I'm out of time you want to hear what Pope Paul the sixth said here every one of us needs to ponder this thought men can in fact gain salvation also in other ways by God's mercy even though we do not preach the gospel to them but the real question is as for us can we gain salvation if through negligence or fear or shame what st. Paul called being ashamed of the gospel we heard that earlier in Romans 1:16 amen or as a result of false ideas if we fail to preach it for that would be to betray the call of God Wow our Holy Father once again is repeating in most dramatic terms that Evangelization is not an option evangelization gets to the core of the mission of the church and to each one of our particular mission why you are here on this earth you are called you have been empowered to evangelize my last thought we are called this is my sixth and final point we're called to be all things to all men and I'll just run over this quickly Pope Paul the sixth beautifully in paragraph 53 we must evangelize those who have not heard 54 those who have heard be they in the church or our separated brethren 55 unbelievers skeptics 56 Catholics who didn't do not practice the faith 59 we must do so in small associations small groups as individuals we must and he quotes 1st Corinthians 9 11 be all things to all men that by all means we might save some amen see folks when we understand the seriousness of this calling in the midst of the combat that we find ourselves in today we are very much like those Marines back in 1950 and and thereafter in Korea surrett if you ever felt like you're surrounded by the enemy anybody or is it just me amen have you ever felt like you're sorry well guess what you are but I got good news for you you know what that means you're in marine corps heaven anywhere you shoot though you're not hitting the enemy you're hitting people with the love of Jesus Christ which is what every one of them needs we are in Catholic heaven on this earth amen it's only time for you and I to stand up to act like Catholics get out there and evangelize and you know what will happen when we get this this this burden that begins to come out of us it's like Jeremiah it's like fire shut up in my boat I can't even shut it up anymore and we begin to evangelize you know what you know what's going to happen and when we understand this is not an option it's a duty we start to do it and we're going to find ourselves going out and we're going to be picking up bodies we're going to be picking up the weapons of those who have dropped their weapons amen they have fallen into despair they've fallen away from the church we're going to pick them up and we're going to reestablish the 38th parallel amen and we're going to see evangelism like we've never seen before I believe the church is poised in this dark time as father Mitch Pacwa shared with me not long ago and I'm and I'm done we were in Dallas Texas we doing a conference together in afterward we were up in his hotel room the father pack was shared with me he said Tim I believe God is pouring out particular graces today that we have not seen in the church for hundreds of years in fact perhaps not since the days of the Apostles and I said pray tell because he's so often we look around we see all the negative stuff and I know I hit y'all with a lot of that in my first talk I said father please pray tell what are you talking about we have never seen before folks in the history of the church certainly in 1314 hundred years of Catholic Muslim relations do you realize that for the first time in history we have seen a nation an area go from over 90% Muslim to over 90% Christian did you know that you're not going to hear this on the news you all know where that is come on somebody help me East Timor memory used to be part of Indonesia East Timor used to be 90 plus percent that area Muslim it is today over 90 percent Christian and in fact the East Timor ins the Christians Catholics as well are going over the border into Indonesia the largest Muslim country in the world and it's reported that hundreds of thousands if not now I heard and serve three Imams talk about how they claim millions have converted we know hundreds of thousands of Muslims have converted and did you know father Pacwa shared with me I didn't even know it there have been several reported people raised from the dead and that's led to the conversions of hundreds of thousands but you didn't hear that on CNN did you this is what happens when folks start getting outside of themselves and doing what the Lord has called us to do and starting to evangelize you start walking with the Lord and you know the Bible says in mark 16:17 it says these signs shall follow Amen so I always tell my Catholic friends don't chase miracles please don't chase miracle miracles will chase you when you're serving God you're walking amen we've never seen this in history we've never seen look at what happened just with the Orthodox Catholic dialog that that prophet of God Pope Paul the sixth began in 1965 look what we have seen we had a whole a parky of the Assyrian Church of the East convert just a few years ago on Pentecost Sunday in San Jose California did y'all read about that what an unseen and was it we've seen the Assyrian Church of the East that split with us in 431 ad over Christological heresy we signed a Christological accord with them in 1994 what 1600 years of fighting ended amen now all we got to do is get them to see the Pope and they're in in 1984 we signed a christological chord with the Syrian Orthodox Church of Antioch you know who they are the monophysites who split with us in 451 ad they're not monophysites anymore and in fact you know what we realize is in the dialogue some of the problem was on our side because we had wax in our ears amen we weren't listening we weren't hearing do you understand what I'm talking the these are incredible things that are happening right now how about the Lutheran Catholic dialogue how about the methodist catholic dialogue how about this how many even know there's been a Pentecostal catholic dialogue I just talked to weeks ago amen it started in 1972 by David do places who was a hero of mine when I was in the seminar minister and Pope Paul the sixth and folks it's still going on two weeks ago I was introduced to weeks about three weeks ago I met in person and assembly god minister who is now in charge blew my mind it's been going on now for this long I read a paper by his predecessor where he chasta his predecessor and I talked to the the now leader of this thing about his predecessor in the paper I read online where he chastised his Pentecostal brethren you know why he said it is a scandal that we have Pentecostal ministers preaching from the pulpit errors about Catholicism that we know are errors and are false it's a scandal he said that many of my brother's pastors Pentecostals can't tell their congregations that they're going to Rome to dialogue with Vatican theologians you know what they do they have to go and say well the wife and I are going on vacation the associate pastor will be taken over and they're going to Rome folks we have pastors as a result of these things flooding in to the Catholic Church look at the Anglican or in Ordinariate look at what is going on all over the world we have so many pastors coming in the church talk to Marcus Grodi we don't know what to do with them all God is pouring out his grace but I believe what needs to happen is you and I we little we little guys need to catch ahold of the fervor and understand what father PAC was shared with me that God is pouring out Grace's right now and you and I need to be open to them open your hearts door and allow God to move in you and through you so that that loved one that left the sacraments all those years ago may came home folks be of good cheer God has called you he has empowered you it's time to go god bless you all I'm at a time I wish I had more time for questions I'm sorry I love y'all

Channel: Steubenville Conferences

Views: 41,712

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Keywords: Steubenville Conferences, Catholic, Franciscan University, Catholic Ministry, New Evangelization

Id: T0EM46Rp-Bk

Length: 75min 49sec (4549 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 19 2014