Roger Marsh: Hello and welcome to Dr. James Dobson's Family Talk. I'm Roger Marsh. Thanks for joining us and thank you for making us a part of your day. Family Talk, of course, is not possible without your prayers and your continuing, faithful financial support. By the way, if you'd like to learn more about how to make a gift in support of the ministry, go to drjamesdobson.org. Well today, you'll hear the conclusion of a powerhouse presentation from our guest speaker and friend of the ministry. His name is Pastor Clayton King. Clayton is an evangelist and the founder and president of Clayton King Ministries, Crossroads Summer Camps, and Crossroads Missions. He also serves as the teaching pastor at New Spring Church in Anderson, South Carolina. Clayton King is the author of 14 books, including, Reborn, a book he published a couple of years ago. Also, Overcome, True Love Project and Dying to Live.
Clayton and his wife Sherry have two sons, Joseph and Jacob, and they make their home in South Carolina. Now today, we're going to hear part two of a presentation that Clayton gave at the Men's Ignite Conference, which was held this past spring. He'll continue to frame the extremely challenging and chaotic world that we live in and point out that men, in particular, have the responsibility to step up and step in. We're calling this presentation, "Don't Miss Your Moment," because that is what Clayton King is exhorting Christian men to do. He's truly an incredible speaker. You are going to love the way he uses humor and passion along with biblical truth to get his message across. So here now is pastor and author Clayton King on today's edition of Family Talk.
Clayton King: Men, I don't want you to miss this. This is not just a Bible study. I want to impart something to you today. I don't know what kind of dad you had, or if you even had a dad at home. I don't know if your dad is alive or dead. I don't know if he was emotionally vulnerable with you, or if he never even spoke a kind word to you, but I'm telling you that no matter how you related or did not relate to your dad growing up or what your relationship is like with your daddy right now, there is a Heavenly Father who gave His son Jesus for you because He loved you and He still loves you today. And Jesus chased down Cleopas and his wife, because he knew they were frustrated. He knew that they were confused. He knew that they had some questions that needed to be answered, but when Jesus appears, they don't know who He is.
That's what's happening right here. Jesus is right there with them and they don't know it's Jesus. Cleopas and his friend are literally talking about Jesus and boom, there's Jesus. The story gets so much better, guys. I love the Bible. Verse 18, "Then one of them named Cleopas answered Jesus." This is hilarious. "Excuse me, are you only a visitor in Jerusalem who doesn't know the things that have happened there in these days?" And Jesus goes... Sorry, I snort sometimes. "What things? What things?" Jesus acts like you… This is the ultimate pump fake. Talk about poker face. "What things have happened here in Jerusalem?" So they said to him, "The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth. He was a prophet powerful in word and deed before God and all the people and how our chief priest and leaders handed Him over to be sentenced to death and they crucified Him. But we were hoping that He was the one that was going to redeem Israel."
"And besides all of this, today is the third day since these things have happened. And on top of all of that, some women from our group astounded us. They arrived early at the tomb and when they didn't find his body, they came and reported all they had seen in the vision of angels, who said that Jesus was alive. Some of those were with us and they went to the tomb and found the tomb empty just like the women said." These guys have no idea what they're doing. They are preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ to Jesus Christ. And ironically enough, I know this is a men's conference, but the first people to ever proclaim the resurrection were women. Women went to the tomb. The men are hiding out in the Upper Room, afraid Rome's going to come and get them too. The women are like, "No, I'm nosy, I want to see what's going on. I want to see it for myself and then I'm going to tell everybody about it and call it a prayer request."
Oh, y'all married to one too? Okay. I love the fact that women were bold enough to go to the tomb. Women were bold enough to risk their safety. Women went back and reported to everybody, Jesus is really alive. And now Cleopas and his companion, probably his wife, are walking along with Jesus and then listen to how Jesus responds to them before the story wraps up. Jesus said to them, "How foolish and slow you are to believe all the things that have been spoken. Wasn't it necessary for the Messiah to suffer these things and enter into His glory? And then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, Jesus interpreted for them, all the things concerning Him written in the Scriptures." Okay, so this morning I'm standing out there at my book table. I'm an author.
I just turned in my 18th book this past week. I've got my 17th book here with me today called, Reborn. And a guy walks up to my table, picks up my book. I'm standing back there. I was texting my wife. He picks it up and he goes, "Is this book and any good?" I'm like, "Sure is." He goes, "Huh, can you tell me about it?" And I'm like, I told him a few things. He goes, "Huh, who is Clayton King?" I'm like, "Well, he's the author." He goes, "I've heard of him. Is he any good?" I'm like, "Nope, he's terrible." So then he pays me. He gives me $20 for the book and I'm like, "You want me to sign it?" He goes, "Why would I want you to sign it?" I'm like, "I wrote it." He goes, "Are you Clayton King?" "All my life. Want to fight about it?" That happened right out there.
These guys have no idea. This is the ultimate Jesus juke. This is the ultimate. They get a Bible study from the man that wrote the Bible. He shows Him all the Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah and this is where the story gets really good and this is where I want you men to really key in, because they'd been walking together all day. And it says in verse 28, "They came near the village where they were going and Jesus gave the impression that He was going to go farther, but they asked Him, they urged Him, stay with us because it's almost evening and now the day is almost over. So Jesus went in to stay with them."
"It was at this time that Jesus reclined at the table along with them and He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Jesus, but He disappeared from their sight. And they said to each other, 'Were not our hearts burning within us while He talked to us along the road and explained the Scriptures.' That very hour, they got up and walked back to Jerusalem and they found the 11 disciples and those that were with Him gathered together and they said the Lord has truly been raised from the dead and He's appeared to Simon and then they described what had happened to them on the road and how Jesus was made known to them when He broke the bread." What was it about Jesus going into their home and breaking bread that opened up their eyes?
I mean, I don't know about you all, but I was raised in church. My dad was my Sunday school teacher. I memorized catechisms and Bible verses in my Christian school. When I was seven, I got baptized in a Baptist church because I did not want to go to Hell when I died. I did not know Jesus. I knew facts about Jesus in my head. I did not know Jesus in my heart. I was playing a game. I was going through the motions. I was a little religious kid. I was showing up to church doing the religious stuff. But when I was 14 years old, my eyes were opened just like Cleopas and his friend. When I was 14 in the eighth grade, I was on my knees at an altar in a small little church in Greer, South Carolina, praying to receive Christ as my Savior.
When at the same exact moment my eyes open to my sin, open to the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead, open to the fact that I had to ask Him to come in if I wanted to be saved and while I am praying the sinner's prayer inviting Jesus to come in and save me, I felt God call me to preach the gospel. And I had no idea what that meant. I simply put my yes on the table and said, "Sure, I'll do it." I had no idea what I was agreeing to. I still don't think I understand it. It's the hardest thing I've ever done. It's the most fun I've ever had and I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world, but your eyes have to be opened before you get to experience Jesus like that. And your heart can't be opened until your eyes are opened.
So, I want to show you, just point out one thing to you. Jesus is standing outside the door of their house. It's dark. They know that He shouldn't keep going by Himself because of bandits and thieves and robbers and so they say, "Hey, come on in and eat with us. Spend the night with us. It's dark." They invite Jesus in and brothers, look at me, He came in when He was invited. I don't care how many drugs you've done, how many women you've slept with, how much money you've lost, how long you've struggled with porn. I don't care what kind of emotional scars you carry from abuse and neglect, what kind of insecurity you wrestle with, I know I do too. Some of you may be full of anxiety and depression and discouragement right now. The thing that you need most of all is for Jesus to come into your life in a real way. And if you want Jesus to come in, you just have to ask.
Just invite Him in. Invite Him into your marriage. Invite Him into your parenting. Invite Him into your home. Invite Him into your business. Invite Him into your job. Spend a little less time on social media and a little more time in the word inviting His wisdom into you. Spend a little less time on Facebook getting upset and angry about people who don't agree with your politics and spend a little more time in prayer early in the morning before the sun comes up with a cup of black coffee in a dark room. "Jesus, I need you today. I ask you to fill me with your Holy Spirit today." Jesus always comes where He's invited boys. He never ever says no when you invite Him in, ever, ever.
Roger Marsh: Roger Marsh here reminding you that you are listening to Dr. James Dobson's Family Talk and part two of a presentation from Pastor Clayton King that was recently given at this spring's Men's Ignite Conference. To listen to part one of this presentation, by the way, all you have to do is go to drjamesdobson.org. And now, let's jump back into today's presentation here on Family Talk.
Clayton King: What was it? I mean, He's been walking with them all day long, four or five, six hours, maybe. They didn't recognize Him. He goes in their house and now they see, "Oh, this is Jesus. All day we've been with Him." What was it about that moment? So as a writer, I published over a million words of my book I just turned in last week. This is the book that just came out. It's called, Reborn. It's a story of 12 people in the Bible that Jesus met face to face in the four gospels and Stephen, the martyr, first Christian martyr, in the book of Acts. My first story that really catalyzed the vision for this book was a story that I'm preaching from right now, Luke 24, Cleopas and his wife.
And as I'm studying this message before the book ever became a reality, I'm sitting at my desk one morning, reading the story from my Bible and I was like, what was it about Jesus coming in their house? They'd been with Him all day long. It was sunlight, middle of the day. They're in their house now. It's dark outside. Why can they see Jesus now and not see Him before that? And this is what I feel like the Holy Spirit revealed to me. And men, this is going to be the moment for some of you where you see Jesus for who He really is, because in about three minutes, I believe some of you are going to get saved. I believe we're going to see religious men throw their religion down and pick up a real relationship with the Son of the living God. I believe we're going to see some broken men get put back together by the healer. I believe we're going to see some men whose lives have been filled with chaos meet the Prince of Peace, not rededicate, not recommit, I'm talking about getting saved.
I'm talking about being born again. The moment where your eyes are open and your heart is open and you see Jesus for who He really is, but you've got to see what He did for you before you can really have your eyes opened. And that's what these men saw. Imagine yourself, and I'm going to read to you from the book. Imagine yourself sitting at this table with Jesus. Jesus breaks the bread. He reaches toward you. He turns His hands palm up to hand you broken pieces of bread and He exposes His wrists for you to see undeniable holes in the flesh testify that this was no mere mortal man in their home. No one had ever survived a crucifixion. Everyone nailed to a cross died. Nobody walked around with scars on their wrist from a crucifixion. It was the scars that opened their eyes and their hearts.
Jesus had been with them all day, but they didn't know it was Him until He showed them the proof. The Bread of Life sat at their table and broke bread and served that bread with nail scarred hands that had been nailed to a tree just three days earlier for their salvation. They knew it was Jesus because their heart had been burning inside of them all day. They knew this was not a mere man. This was the God man. And I want you brothers to know the same Jesus that walked that road with them today, has been walking the road of your life with you every step of the way. And that same Jesus that went after two random people on the biggest day of His life, has been chasing you down, not because He's mad at you, but because He loves you every moment of your life.
And that same Jesus that spent time with them when they invited Him in, He said, yes. If some of you men right now will invite Jesus into your heart, He has already said, yes. He said it with the crucifixion. And He said it with the resurrection and I am believing in the same way Jesus broke that bread and offered them that free gift, exposing His scars, that story opened their hearts. I believe some of you men have had your hearts open by the Holy Spirit while this message has hit your head, your heart, and your soul. And so here's how I want to close it. I want you men to ask yourself right now, do I need to give my life to Jesus? And for some of you, the answer is yes and you know it. And I want to let you off the hook and make it as easy as I can. You just have to ask. So I'm going to ask you to close your eyes and open your hearts. I'm going to ask you to be still, as still as you can for the next few minutes.
I know what it's like to be religious, but not have a relationship. And I know what it's like to doubt whether or not you're going to Heaven or Hell when you die. I know what it's like to be a religious person, but not know Christ at all and I'm inviting you to repent of your sins and ask Jesus into your heart right now. Romans 10:13 says, "If anyone calls on the name of the Lord, they will be saved." So I'm going to ask you right now with your eyes closed but your heart's open, if you do not know for sure that you are a born again child of God, I want you to pray to Jesus right now and ask Him to save you. And He'll do it because He's good, not because you are. Because He's perfect and you need Him.
So, if you want to be saved, pray this to Jesus right where you sit brothers and this will be the moment, the biggest moment of your life. Don't miss this moment. Pray this to Him if you want to be saved. "Jesus, I need you." Pray it to Him in your heart. He's listening. He's in this room. You can feel Him. "Jesus, I need you to save me. Would you please forgive me? I repent and I give you my heart. Rescue me Jesus right now. I give you my past, my questions, my shame. I give you my soul. I'm all yours, Jesus and I'm all in." Now, with your eyes closed and your heart's open, I'm not going to ask anyone to get up and move, but I'm going to ask you to do one thing. If you just asked Jesus to come in and you meant it, and you prayed that prayer, I ask you to do one simple thing with boldness.
Would you raise your hand right now straight up above your head if you just prayed that prayer to Jesus and I want you to keep it up? Straighten your elbow all the way out. I want you to keep it up as high as you can. If you just prayed that prayer to receive Christ, keep your hand up please. Keep it up. This is going to take about a minute, but you're not going to believe this. Just keep your eyes closed and your hands up if you just gave your life to Jesus. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87. Keep them up. 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79. Now the balcony. 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 200. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51. You can put your hands down. Hey, 251 men just prayed to receive Christ right here in this room to the glory of God, because of Jesus and because you put your faith in Christ. Can we give God glory? Wow. That is unreal.
I want you to sit down. If you are one of the 251 men that just gave your life to Jesus, welcome to the family of God. You are a son of God now, because of God's grace. Now, I want to just mention two things to you since we're not going to have you come forward. I want you to tell a man that you came with to Ignite before you go to lunch that you got saved. Tell them. Don't be a sissy and chicken out. Tell them. They're your brothers. We want to hear from you. So tell one of the men that you came with and then tomorrow morning at your local church when the invitation's given, I hope you go to a church that gives invitations. If they don't, find the pastor and say, "I got saved yesterday. I want to be baptized." That's your first step of obedience as a Christian.
Roger Marsh: You've been listening to Dr. James Dobson's Family Talk. I'm Roger Marsh and that was part two of a special presentation from pastor and author Clayton King. Now remember, if you missed any part of today's program or if you'd like to go back and hear yesterday's broadcast in its entirety, go to drjamesdobson.org/familytalk. That's drjamesdobson.org/familytalk. And keep in mind, you can also email our team with any questions you might have about today's program or the Dr. James Dobson Family Institute, or the Family Talk broadcast. You can address your email to constituentcare@drjamesdobson.org. And that's going to do it for today's edition of Family Talk. I'm Roger Marsh, and from all of us here at the Dr. James Dobson Family Institute here in Colorado Springs, thanks so much for listening and be sure to join us again tomorrow. God's richest blessings to you and your family.
Announcer: This has been a presentation of the Dr. James Dobson Family Institute.
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