1 00:00:16,131 --> 00:00:18,251 My mother was converted when she was 2 00:00:18,251 --> 00:00:20,590 about twelve years old 3 00:00:20,590 --> 00:00:22,463 from a Croatian family. 4 00:00:22,463 --> 00:00:24,987 Her parents had come through Ellis Island. 5 00:00:24,987 --> 00:00:28,251 My grandmother on my mother's side 6 00:00:28,251 --> 00:00:31,735 was oftentimes persecuted for her faith 7 00:00:31,735 --> 00:00:36,529 because being Croatian and Catholic 8 00:00:36,529 --> 00:00:38,505 were almost synonymous. 9 00:00:38,505 --> 00:00:39,850 You're almost a traitor 10 00:00:39,850 --> 00:00:43,040 if you leave Catholicism. 11 00:00:43,040 --> 00:00:44,709 Plus, the only evangelical church 12 00:00:44,709 --> 00:00:46,686 she could go to was Serbian, 13 00:00:46,686 --> 00:00:48,440 and the Catholics and the Serbians 14 00:00:48,440 --> 00:00:49,837 are constantly at war, 15 00:00:49,837 --> 00:00:52,754 so for my grandmother to leave Catholicism 16 00:00:52,754 --> 00:00:55,067 and then fellowship with Serbians 17 00:00:55,067 --> 00:00:58,265 was oftentimes very looked down upon. 18 00:00:58,265 --> 00:01:00,253 She suffered. 19 00:01:00,253 --> 00:01:04,202 My mother was over at her girlfriend's house 20 00:01:04,202 --> 00:01:05,859 when she was twelve years old 21 00:01:05,859 --> 00:01:07,458 and they happened to be Baptist. 22 00:01:07,458 --> 00:01:09,336 And she was playing with dolls 23 00:01:09,336 --> 00:01:12,026 up on the 2nd floor. 24 00:01:12,026 --> 00:01:15,608 And the family was gathered around the piano 25 00:01:15,608 --> 00:01:17,534 and started singing hymns. 26 00:01:17,534 --> 00:01:20,422 And my mother said she heard the hymns, 27 00:01:20,422 --> 00:01:23,235 but all of a sudden, such a great remorse 28 00:01:23,235 --> 00:01:27,284 and weeping of sin came over her 29 00:01:27,284 --> 00:01:29,211 that she started weeping so hysterically 30 00:01:29,211 --> 00:01:30,784 that they stopped playing piano. 31 00:01:30,784 --> 00:01:33,071 They ran upstairs thinking she was injured. 32 00:01:33,071 --> 00:01:35,240 They shared the Gospel with her 33 00:01:35,240 --> 00:01:39,854 with regard to her sin and she was converted. 34 00:01:39,854 --> 00:01:45,969 My mother eventually married my father. 35 00:01:45,969 --> 00:01:49,045 Both his parents - my grandparents - 36 00:01:49,045 --> 00:01:51,715 were some of the first Baptist missionaries 37 00:01:51,715 --> 00:01:54,338 to Brazil in Manaus back in, I think, 38 00:01:54,338 --> 00:01:57,732 the '20's and '30's. 39 00:01:57,732 --> 00:02:01,327 But my father was never converted 40 00:02:01,327 --> 00:02:03,078 that I know of. 41 00:02:03,078 --> 00:02:04,936 When I was 17, 42 00:02:04,936 --> 00:02:06,940 we were out building a fence, 43 00:02:06,940 --> 00:02:09,327 and he yelled and I grabbed him. 44 00:02:09,327 --> 00:02:13,145 We fell to the ground and he was dead. 45 00:02:13,145 --> 00:02:19,802 I had never known him to profess faith in Christ. 46 00:02:19,802 --> 00:02:25,215 At that point, basketball season was beginning and such, 47 00:02:25,215 --> 00:02:29,440 and I was one of the captains on the team. 48 00:02:29,440 --> 00:02:34,832 I was president of the Beta Club or Honor Society. 49 00:02:34,832 --> 00:02:36,078 Within just a few months, 50 00:02:36,078 --> 00:02:38,476 I digressed to finally getting kicked off the team 51 00:02:38,476 --> 00:02:40,961 and getting kicked out of the honor society. 52 00:02:40,961 --> 00:02:44,133 And I drank a lot. 53 00:02:44,133 --> 00:02:48,297 People said that the trauma of my father's death 54 00:02:48,297 --> 00:02:52,203 lead to all that - in fact, that's what I said. 55 00:02:52,203 --> 00:02:55,167 When in fact, what I'd soon come to understand, 56 00:02:55,167 --> 00:02:58,740 after I was a Christian was that my father's death 57 00:02:58,740 --> 00:03:01,826 gave my flesh a wonderful opportunity 58 00:03:01,826 --> 00:03:09,301 to do everything it had ever wanted to do. 59 00:03:09,301 --> 00:03:11,970 It just manifested what I really was. 60 00:03:11,970 --> 00:03:18,010 I was a liar - the best. 61 00:03:18,010 --> 00:03:19,607 I don't know how to describe me 62 00:03:19,607 --> 00:03:21,704 except look up "jerk" in the dictionary, 63 00:03:21,704 --> 00:03:24,021 and it had my picture there. 64 00:03:24,021 --> 00:03:28,417 Conceited, self-absorbed, jerk. 65 00:03:28,417 --> 00:03:30,203 And I went to Murray State University 66 00:03:30,203 --> 00:03:31,792 for a few years and then decided 67 00:03:31,792 --> 00:03:33,840 that I wanted to be an oil and gas lawyer. 68 00:03:33,840 --> 00:03:36,374 Wherever that idea popped into my head I don't know. 69 00:03:36,374 --> 00:03:39,319 Maybe it was because of the program "Dallas" or something. 70 00:03:39,319 --> 00:03:40,761 And the only place to do that 71 00:03:40,761 --> 00:03:42,643 was either Oklahoma or Texas, 72 00:03:42,643 --> 00:03:45,621 and I enrolled at the University of Texas. 73 00:03:45,621 --> 00:03:48,182 While I was there, I thought to myself, 74 00:03:48,182 --> 00:03:51,088 I can change my life 75 00:03:51,088 --> 00:03:52,468 and not be such a jerk, 76 00:03:52,468 --> 00:03:53,787 not be so self-absorbed, 77 00:03:53,787 --> 00:03:55,814 not be such a liar. 78 00:03:55,814 --> 00:03:59,189 And nothing changed. 79 00:03:59,189 --> 00:04:01,666 Within a few months, I found myself 80 00:04:01,666 --> 00:04:05,111 right back into the same place I'd always been. 81 00:04:05,111 --> 00:04:08,484 And I moved into a place called Plaza 25 82 00:04:08,484 --> 00:04:10,237 there at the University of Texas, 83 00:04:10,237 --> 00:04:12,378 and I noticed there was a group of guys there 84 00:04:12,378 --> 00:04:13,901 that just seemed different. 85 00:04:13,901 --> 00:04:15,451 They just seemed very different. 86 00:04:15,451 --> 00:04:18,236 After a while, I came to understand they were Christians, 87 00:04:18,236 --> 00:04:20,964 and they would have Bible studies and things like that. 88 00:04:20,964 --> 00:04:22,942 And I didn't pay much attention to them. 89 00:04:22,942 --> 00:04:27,443 And then one night in February, 90 00:04:27,443 --> 00:04:29,550 after I'd spent a semester there, 91 00:04:29,550 --> 00:04:32,110 and just messed up my life altogether, 92 00:04:32,110 --> 00:04:34,072 I was sitting on the edge of my bed. 93 00:04:34,072 --> 00:04:36,155 It was like 1 in the morning. 94 00:04:36,155 --> 00:04:38,545 And I was on steroids really heavy. 95 00:04:38,545 --> 00:04:41,582 I lifted weights all the time. 96 00:04:41,582 --> 00:04:44,756 I wasn't any good at it, but I lifted weights all the time. 97 00:04:44,756 --> 00:04:49,029 And I remember crying. 98 00:04:49,029 --> 00:04:52,957 I hadn't cried, and I just kept saying to myself, 99 00:04:52,957 --> 00:04:54,957 I am so miserable. 100 00:04:54,957 --> 00:04:56,492 I am so miserable. 101 00:04:56,492 --> 00:04:58,537 And I looked down and I had some steroids 102 00:04:58,537 --> 00:05:00,987 and I thought if only these were some kind of pill 103 00:05:00,987 --> 00:05:03,570 that I could just take and die. 104 00:05:03,570 --> 00:05:06,002 But I knew enough from my mom - 105 00:05:06,002 --> 00:05:08,138 I believe that there was something, 106 00:05:08,138 --> 00:05:10,826 you know, you didn't do that. 107 00:05:10,826 --> 00:05:13,108 And I just kept saying over and over, 108 00:05:13,108 --> 00:05:15,586 I'm so miserable. I'm so miserable. 109 00:05:15,586 --> 00:05:18,481 And it was like 1 or 1:30 in the morning 110 00:05:18,481 --> 00:05:21,061 and someone knocked at my door. 111 00:05:21,061 --> 00:05:24,584 And I thought, who's that? 112 00:05:24,584 --> 00:05:26,053 So I opened the door 113 00:05:26,053 --> 00:05:27,446 and here's this freshman. 114 00:05:27,446 --> 00:05:29,021 His name was Mike Moore. 115 00:05:29,021 --> 00:05:30,215 He was standing there - 116 00:05:30,215 --> 00:05:33,779 not a very tall guy, maybe 5"8' or 5"9' or something. 117 00:05:33,779 --> 00:05:36,732 He's standing there and he was kind of scared. 118 00:05:36,732 --> 00:05:39,656 I looked at him like... what? 119 00:05:39,656 --> 00:05:43,268 And he said, "You're probably going to beat me up." 120 00:05:43,268 --> 00:05:47,614 I thought, "Yeah, you're probably right." 121 00:05:47,614 --> 00:05:49,983 He said, "I've got to talk to you." 122 00:05:49,983 --> 00:05:52,472 And although I knew him; I knew he was a nice guy, 123 00:05:52,472 --> 00:05:54,863 I didn't really know him. 124 00:05:54,863 --> 00:05:58,020 I said, "Well, what do you want to talk to me about?" 125 00:05:58,020 --> 00:06:01,233 He said, "Look, God has been dealing with me for two weeks 126 00:06:01,233 --> 00:06:03,655 and I need to come over here and talk to you. 127 00:06:03,655 --> 00:06:06,168 I've been scared. I can't take it any longer. 128 00:06:06,168 --> 00:06:08,170 I've got to talk to you." 129 00:06:08,170 --> 00:06:09,379 And I said, "Well, what?" 130 00:06:09,379 --> 00:06:12,994 He goes, "I just feel like God wants me to tell you something." 131 00:06:12,994 --> 00:06:15,303 Now I'm thinking this is really strange. 132 00:06:15,303 --> 00:06:18,007 This guy's coming over with a word from God. 133 00:06:18,007 --> 00:06:21,247 I said, "Okay, well, what?" 134 00:06:21,247 --> 00:06:25,518 He goes, "You're just miserable 135 00:06:25,518 --> 00:06:28,056 and you're going to keep being miserable 136 00:06:28,056 --> 00:06:32,619 until you surrender your life to Jesus Christ." 137 00:06:32,619 --> 00:06:36,505 And we talked till like 4 or 5 in the morning. 138 00:06:36,505 --> 00:06:38,609 And it really impacted me. 139 00:06:38,609 --> 00:06:41,832 And then, I was reading - 140 00:06:41,832 --> 00:06:43,423 my mom had given me a Bible 141 00:06:43,423 --> 00:06:45,350 and I found it and I started reading it, 142 00:06:45,350 --> 00:06:47,255 and I came to Psalm 103. 143 00:06:47,255 --> 00:06:50,341 It says that man's days are like grass, 144 00:06:50,341 --> 00:06:52,745 as the flower of the field, so he flourishes; 145 00:06:52,745 --> 00:06:54,821 when the wind passes over him, he is no more 146 00:06:54,821 --> 00:06:56,773 and the place acknowledges him no more. 147 00:06:56,773 --> 00:07:00,692 And that made me angry because that's exactly what I knew. 148 00:07:00,692 --> 00:07:02,691 I remember going to my dad's funeral, 149 00:07:02,691 --> 00:07:04,599 and he was a very brilliant man. 150 00:07:04,599 --> 00:07:07,321 He was a powerful man in his own right. 151 00:07:07,321 --> 00:07:08,874 Just many things about him, 152 00:07:08,874 --> 00:07:10,735 but at his funeral, people were talking 153 00:07:10,735 --> 00:07:12,830 about other things like the weather, 154 00:07:12,830 --> 00:07:16,561 sports, what's going on in a company. 155 00:07:16,561 --> 00:07:18,868 It was like this man just died. 156 00:07:18,868 --> 00:07:22,497 Shouldn't everybody just be quiet or something for awhile? 157 00:07:22,497 --> 00:07:24,048 Shouldn't they think about him? 158 00:07:24,048 --> 00:07:25,855 And that verse where it says the wind 159 00:07:25,855 --> 00:07:27,349 passes over it and it's no more 160 00:07:27,349 --> 00:07:29,529 and the place acknowledges it no more. 161 00:07:29,529 --> 00:07:31,316 It's like he never even existed. 162 00:07:31,316 --> 00:07:33,404 I got angry and I kind of threw the Bible 163 00:07:33,404 --> 00:07:34,729 down on the bed. 164 00:07:34,729 --> 00:07:36,972 Then I walked over and I picked it up again. 165 00:07:36,972 --> 00:07:39,755 And it said, "but the love of the Lord is everlasting 166 00:07:39,755 --> 00:07:41,723 on those who fear Him." 167 00:07:41,723 --> 00:07:44,753 And that word "everlasting." 168 00:07:44,753 --> 00:07:47,365 And then, I think maybe a couple times, 169 00:07:47,365 --> 00:07:48,970 somebody visited me or something. 170 00:07:48,970 --> 00:07:50,718 And one day I was at the library - 171 00:07:50,718 --> 00:07:53,912 the undergraduate library at the University of Texas - 172 00:07:53,912 --> 00:07:59,980 and we were competing against other oil companies supposedly, 173 00:07:59,980 --> 00:08:01,699 other students, 174 00:08:01,699 --> 00:08:04,437 and we were running off some oil surveys 175 00:08:04,437 --> 00:08:06,369 and the girl on our team came up to me 176 00:08:06,369 --> 00:08:08,300 and she said I'm going to have a party - 177 00:08:08,300 --> 00:08:10,351 I think it was tomorrow night, she said. 178 00:08:10,351 --> 00:08:11,773 Why don't you come to it? 179 00:08:11,773 --> 00:08:13,646 And I had kind of gotten to the point 180 00:08:13,646 --> 00:08:15,796 where I used to really party and things, 181 00:08:15,796 --> 00:08:17,535 and I had gotten to the point 182 00:08:17,535 --> 00:08:20,201 where I didn't do that anymore. 183 00:08:20,201 --> 00:08:23,463 I would just sit in a bar all by myself and drink. 184 00:08:23,463 --> 00:08:25,839 And so I looked at her and I said, 185 00:08:25,839 --> 00:08:28,928 "no, I'm not coming to your party." 186 00:08:28,928 --> 00:08:30,860 And she said "why not?" 187 00:08:30,860 --> 00:08:32,440 She goes, "you never do anything. 188 00:08:32,440 --> 00:08:34,815 Why don't you come? Why not?" 189 00:08:34,815 --> 00:08:38,488 And really this is what happened. 190 00:08:38,488 --> 00:08:41,379 I didn't think about my answer. 191 00:08:41,379 --> 00:08:44,099 I didn't design it. 192 00:08:44,099 --> 00:08:46,366 Just all of a sudden it came out of my mouth 193 00:08:46,366 --> 00:08:49,325 and it shocked me as much as it did anybody else in the room. 194 00:08:49,325 --> 00:08:51,143 I said, "I'm not going to your party 195 00:08:51,143 --> 00:08:54,487 because I'm a Christian now and I'm going to follow Jesus." 196 00:08:54,487 --> 00:08:55,939 And I looked at the guys. 197 00:08:55,939 --> 00:08:58,276 They all kind of turned around and looked at me 198 00:08:58,276 --> 00:09:00,774 because they knew what I was. 199 00:09:00,774 --> 00:09:04,901 I drank, lied... 200 00:09:04,901 --> 00:09:07,424 And they looked at me. And when they looked at me, 201 00:09:07,424 --> 00:09:09,771 it's like all of a sudden I realized what I said. 202 00:09:09,771 --> 00:09:14,264 And it's like light just (went on). 203 00:09:14,264 --> 00:09:16,376 It wasn't a literal light. 204 00:09:16,376 --> 00:09:20,108 No, don't criticize me for that statement. 205 00:09:20,108 --> 00:09:21,616 It's a metaphor. 206 00:09:21,616 --> 00:09:24,987 It was just like all of a sudden, 207 00:09:24,987 --> 00:09:31,190 it was like, that's exactly what I'm going to do. 208 00:09:31,190 --> 00:09:34,226 I believe in Jesus. 209 00:09:34,226 --> 00:09:36,939 I do. I believe. 210 00:09:36,939 --> 00:09:39,080 I'm sitting there in front of these guys 211 00:09:39,080 --> 00:09:46,012 going, yeah, I believe in Jesus. 212 00:09:46,012 --> 00:09:48,547 I really do believe in Jesus. 213 00:09:48,547 --> 00:09:50,970 And I just walked out 214 00:09:50,970 --> 00:09:52,927 and then I started walking quicker 215 00:09:52,927 --> 00:09:56,761 because I was just like what has happened to me? 216 00:09:56,761 --> 00:09:59,065 I mean, what has happened? 217 00:09:59,065 --> 00:10:02,223 I felt like I was just new. 218 00:10:02,223 --> 00:10:04,522 And I remember getting to the library doors - 219 00:10:04,522 --> 00:10:05,631 the outside doors - 220 00:10:05,631 --> 00:10:06,734 and I opened them up 221 00:10:06,734 --> 00:10:08,219 and there was a girl coming in 222 00:10:08,219 --> 00:10:10,310 who was in the same dorm. 223 00:10:10,310 --> 00:10:11,407 And I didn't know this, 224 00:10:11,407 --> 00:10:13,931 but a whole group of people had been praying for me 225 00:10:13,931 --> 00:10:15,876 since when I first moved into the dorm 226 00:10:15,876 --> 00:10:17,355 like several months prior, 227 00:10:17,355 --> 00:10:19,687 had been praying for me. She was one of the girls. 228 00:10:19,687 --> 00:10:21,490 When I opened up the door she goes, 229 00:10:21,490 --> 00:10:24,311 "Paul! What's happened to you?" 230 00:10:24,311 --> 00:10:25,893 And then I got scared. 231 00:10:25,893 --> 00:10:27,659 I got real scared. 232 00:10:27,659 --> 00:10:30,073 I was like, "I don't know." 233 00:10:30,073 --> 00:10:31,699 And I just took off running. 234 00:10:31,699 --> 00:10:35,104 I walked/ran as fast as I could 235 00:10:35,104 --> 00:10:38,164 back to the apartment and I found that guy 236 00:10:38,164 --> 00:10:40,148 and I said, "Mike, Mike, 237 00:10:40,148 --> 00:10:41,661 I'm really scared. 238 00:10:41,661 --> 00:10:44,944 Something happened to me in the library. 239 00:10:44,944 --> 00:10:47,256 All I know is 240 00:10:47,256 --> 00:10:51,184 I believe in Jesus and I am new." 241 00:10:51,184 --> 00:10:53,566 He said, "You look new." 242 00:10:53,566 --> 00:10:55,626 And so he took me down to the guy 243 00:10:55,626 --> 00:10:57,439 who was like the RA 244 00:10:57,439 --> 00:10:59,188 who had been leading a Bible study 245 00:10:59,188 --> 00:11:01,383 named Mike Martin. 246 00:11:01,383 --> 00:11:05,749 And all these guys, Mike Martin, 247 00:11:05,749 --> 00:11:07,493 Stuart Depena, Mike Moore, 248 00:11:07,493 --> 00:11:08,954 and all these different guys 249 00:11:08,954 --> 00:11:10,993 that had been studying the Bible together 250 00:11:10,993 --> 00:11:12,966 and were kind of leaders, you could say, 251 00:11:12,966 --> 00:11:15,051 of like Campus Crusade and things. 252 00:11:15,051 --> 00:11:18,096 I sat down and I started telling them everything that happened. 253 00:11:18,096 --> 00:11:20,246 I'll never forget, one of them goes, 254 00:11:20,246 --> 00:11:22,405 "You've been born again!" 255 00:11:22,405 --> 00:11:24,890 I was like, "What's that?" 256 00:11:24,890 --> 00:11:30,999 And then here's something. 257 00:11:30,999 --> 00:11:37,846 I had the filthiest mouth and it stopped. 258 00:11:37,846 --> 00:11:40,721 It just stopped. 259 00:11:40,721 --> 00:11:43,545 But I'll tell you what didn't stop. 260 00:11:43,545 --> 00:11:46,835 Lying. 261 00:11:46,835 --> 00:11:50,906 And after the joy of that day, 262 00:11:50,906 --> 00:11:52,633 I began to think about 263 00:11:52,633 --> 00:11:55,042 I had lied to people. 264 00:11:55,042 --> 00:11:59,448 And then, so many things in my life changed, 265 00:11:59,448 --> 00:12:01,574 but then I would be talking 266 00:12:01,574 --> 00:12:05,317 and something would pop out that wasn't true. 267 00:12:05,317 --> 00:12:08,564 And before, it didn't bother me. 268 00:12:08,564 --> 00:12:12,547 I was proud of my lying. 269 00:12:12,547 --> 00:12:15,389 I could make anybody believe anything. 270 00:12:15,389 --> 00:12:18,171 And I would be so struck down 271 00:12:18,171 --> 00:12:19,799 by the Holy Spirit 272 00:12:19,799 --> 00:12:21,091 and so ashamed, 273 00:12:21,091 --> 00:12:22,759 that I would have to go back 274 00:12:22,759 --> 00:12:25,678 and say, "I lied. I lied." 275 00:12:25,678 --> 00:12:27,529 And it went on. 276 00:12:27,529 --> 00:12:29,523 It's amazing, some things - 277 00:12:29,523 --> 00:12:33,226 drinking and cussing just stopped, 278 00:12:33,226 --> 00:12:35,026 but other things were like this thing 279 00:12:35,026 --> 00:12:36,530 that constantly broke me; 280 00:12:36,530 --> 00:12:37,868 constantly broke me. 281 00:12:37,868 --> 00:12:42,357 And the Lord then gave me victory over it. 282 00:12:42,357 --> 00:12:46,052 And now, it's like one exaggeration... 283 00:12:46,052 --> 00:12:49,312 my wife says that I speak in superlatives. 284 00:12:49,312 --> 00:12:51,395 She says everything is the greatest to you. 285 00:12:51,395 --> 00:12:52,978 Everything is the biggest to you. 286 00:12:52,978 --> 00:12:55,477 And that's true, but even in that sometimes, 287 00:12:55,477 --> 00:13:01,258 the Lord just gets me. 288 00:13:01,258 --> 00:13:03,713 So that's why when some of you guys 289 00:13:03,713 --> 00:13:05,774 get real fired up for the Lord, 290 00:13:05,774 --> 00:13:07,073 and you see someone else 291 00:13:07,073 --> 00:13:08,859 that maybe comes into your circles, 292 00:13:08,859 --> 00:13:10,977 and yeah, it seems like God's done a work, 293 00:13:10,977 --> 00:13:12,359 but in one area of his life, 294 00:13:12,359 --> 00:13:14,021 he's really struggling for change, 295 00:13:14,021 --> 00:13:16,640 don't discount him or think he's unconverted. 296 00:13:16,640 --> 00:13:18,926 Sometimes the Lord will remove so many things, 297 00:13:18,926 --> 00:13:21,427 but other things, we just deal with 298 00:13:21,427 --> 00:13:23,404 throughout our life. 299 00:13:23,404 --> 00:13:28,713 And then, so the next day, 300 00:13:28,713 --> 00:13:31,138 this study group that was there 301 00:13:31,138 --> 00:13:32,875 got together and they bought me 302 00:13:32,875 --> 00:13:35,393 a big old Ryrie Study Bible. 303 00:13:35,393 --> 00:13:38,256 New American Standard Ryrie Study Bible. 304 00:13:38,256 --> 00:13:40,271 And I carried that thing to class. 305 00:13:40,271 --> 00:13:45,805 (incomplete thought) 306 00:13:45,805 --> 00:13:48,331 I remember my second day as a Christian, 307 00:13:48,331 --> 00:13:51,131 I'm walking back though the student mall there, 308 00:13:51,131 --> 00:13:53,055 and I hear a bunch of people over here 309 00:13:53,055 --> 00:13:54,397 and I go over there to look 310 00:13:54,397 --> 00:13:56,091 and there's this guy talking. 311 00:13:56,091 --> 00:13:57,705 And I thought is he preaching? 312 00:13:57,705 --> 00:13:59,146 This guy isn't preaching. 313 00:13:59,146 --> 00:14:05,799 He was sharing about why sex is good 314 00:14:05,799 --> 00:14:09,830 and marriage is just an artificial institution 315 00:14:09,830 --> 00:14:12,668 and promoting wickedness. 316 00:14:12,668 --> 00:14:15,128 And I'll never forget, all of a sudden 317 00:14:15,128 --> 00:14:23,047 I just got so... and I just went through the crowd. 318 00:14:23,047 --> 00:14:25,188 "You're lying!" 319 00:14:25,188 --> 00:14:26,491 "You're a liar!" 320 00:14:26,491 --> 00:14:28,522 "That's not true!" 321 00:14:28,522 --> 00:14:29,929 So that was the beginning 322 00:14:29,929 --> 00:14:32,035 of my street preaching. 323 00:14:32,035 --> 00:14:34,265 My ministry was defined. 324 00:14:34,265 --> 00:14:41,147 Another thing, when I was a boy, 325 00:14:41,147 --> 00:14:42,630 14 or 15, 326 00:14:42,630 --> 00:14:44,446 I would have dreams all the time. 327 00:14:44,446 --> 00:14:46,958 Well, not all the time, but frequently. 328 00:14:46,958 --> 00:14:49,417 I would have dreams of me preaching. 329 00:14:49,417 --> 00:14:52,892 And I would wake up crying 330 00:14:52,892 --> 00:14:56,073 and telling God, 331 00:14:56,073 --> 00:14:58,984 I'll get saved if you promise me 332 00:14:58,984 --> 00:15:01,403 I don't have to preach. 333 00:15:01,403 --> 00:15:03,256 And so when I became a Christian, 334 00:15:03,256 --> 00:15:06,139 I also knew basically 335 00:15:06,139 --> 00:15:07,706 that I was going to preach. 336 00:15:07,706 --> 00:15:10,908 And I started going out 337 00:15:10,908 --> 00:15:12,932 like at the student mall there 338 00:15:12,932 --> 00:15:15,378 and handing out tracts and everything. 339 00:15:15,378 --> 00:15:16,957 And it was a real change for me 340 00:15:16,957 --> 00:15:20,119 because it went from being 341 00:15:20,119 --> 00:15:23,194 a cool guy with a really nice car 342 00:15:23,194 --> 00:15:26,216 to people taking your tracts - girls - 343 00:15:26,216 --> 00:15:27,690 and laughing at you 344 00:15:27,690 --> 00:15:29,176 and throwing them back at you. 345 00:15:29,176 --> 00:15:35,459 And it was a time of killing the flesh. 346 00:15:35,459 --> 00:15:39,214 But God has been faithful. 347 00:15:39,214 --> 00:15:42,057 God's been faithful.