1 877-431-4276Two Questions that Lead to Heaven | Ethan Hood
On today’s episode of The Evangelism Podcast, I talk to Ethan Hood. He is only fourteen years old but he is already being used by God to lead people to Jesus. Today, he explains the Two Questions that can Lead to Heaven. Get ready to be inspired…If a fourteen year old can preach the Gospel, you can too!
Learn more about Ron & Christina Hood and their ministry: https://www.musgomissions.com/
Summary:
In this episode of the Evangelism Podcast, 14-year-old Ethan Hood shares how he uses his family’s “evangelism trailer” to share the gospel with people in his community. Ethan explains the two key questions he asks to start gospel conversations: “If today was your last day on Earth, are you sure you would go to heaven?” and “If you stood before God and He asked why He should let you into heaven, what would your answer be?” Ethan then walks through the five-part gospel presentation his family uses, covering grace, man, God, Christ, and faith. He shares testimonies of how this approach has led people to put their trust in Jesus, even including a 6-year-old child. At just 14 years old, Ethan has already seen God use him to share the good news and lead many to salvation.
Transcript:
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):
On today’s episode of the Evangelism Podcast, I talk to Ethan Hood. He is only 14 years old, but he is already being used by God to lead people to Jesus. Today he explains the two questions that can lead to heaven. Get ready to be inspired. If a 14-year-old can preach the gospel, you can too.
(00:29):
Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Evangelism Podcast Host (00:34):
Welcome to the Evangelism Podcast with Dr. Daniel King, where Daniel interviews full-time evangelists, pastors, missionaries, and normal everyday Christians to discover how they share their faith, their powerful testimonies, and amazing stories that will inspire you to reach people with the good news. And now here’s your host, missionary, and evangelist Daniel King.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:59):
Welcome to the Evangelism Podcast. I’m Daniel King and I’m excited about telling people about Jesus. Today I have a very special guest with me, Ethan Hood. He might be the youngest guest we’ve ever had on the Evangelism Podcast. Ethan, thank you for joining me today.
Ethan Hood (01:17):
Yeah, thank you for inviting me.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:19):
Alright, so Ethan is the son of Ron and Christina Hood, great friends of ours here in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and they have a great ministry called Must Go Missions. And so Ethan has been our friend for many years. He hangs out a lot with my son Caleb, who’s also 14. And Ethan, do you remember meeting Caleb? How long have the two of you been friends now?
Ethan Hood (01:48):
As long as I can remember. Yeah.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:51):
So you were pretty young when we first met. Now your father has a great heart for evangelism and he put together an evangelism trailer. Can you kind of describe for the people who are listening, what does the evangelism trailer look like?
Ethan Hood (02:07):
Yeah, so the evangelism trailer, it’s kind of like a food truck. So the sides open up and they’re flap so they open up and so you can speak from inside the truck to anybody passing by. So it’s painted sky blue with clouds all over it and it has big words, big letters on the front that say, are you going to heaven? Two questions are really answer. So
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (02:29):
Alright, so are you going to heaven? Two questions that reveal the answer, and in just a minute here we’re going to ask you what those two questions are. But first of all, kind of tell the people who are listening, how do your family use this evangelism trailer? What are some of the places you’ve taken it to and what would it typically look like when you use it?
Ethan Hood (02:55):
So we use it at different events and outreaches that happen all over the city. So we take it to the Tulsa Dream Center a lot and we talk to people there with Tulsa Dream Center. And
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (03:09):
So let’s tell people what the Tulsa Dream Center is. So we live in South Tulsa, but up in North Tulsa there is the Tulsa Dream Center run by our home church, a victory church. And there’s a lot of people that have a lot of needs up there in North Tulsa. And so our church has been reaching out to North Tulsa for many years now. People come to the Dream Center for food. They recently built a swimming pool to help teach kids how to swim up there and lots of ways to reach out to the community. And so sometimes they’ll do a big feeding event, and right now it’s Thanksgiving time and so they just gave out a bunch of turkeys and stuff. And so when people come for the food, you guys will take your trailer and you’ll park it there in the parking lot and as people are waiting in line, you’ll start to talk to them.
Ethan Hood (04:07):
Yeah.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (04:08):
Okay. So kind of tell us what those conversations are like. What do you say when people come and start talking to you?
Ethan Hood (04:15):
So for a lot of the time people are just wondering what the two questions are that I mentioned earlier. And so those
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (04:21):
Two now they’re wondering because big on the truck it says, are you going to heaven? Two questions that reveal the answer.
Ethan Hood (04:29):
Yeah.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (04:30):
Alright, so everyone’s wondering, Ethan, what are the two questions? Can you tell us what are the two questions that reveal if someone is going to heaven? I really want to know. I want to make sure I’m going to heaven when I die.
Ethan Hood (04:43):
Yeah. So the first question is that if today was your last day on Earth, are you sure that you would go to heaven?
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (04:52):
Okay, so if today was my last day on Earth, am I sure? Well, I hope so. I sure hope I go to heaven.
Ethan Hood (05:00):
That’s the answer we get a lot of the time. And so then that’s why you have the second question. If you were to stand before God and he was to ask you, why should I let you into heaven, what would your answer be?
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (05:13):
Well, what answer do people usually say there?
Ethan Hood (05:16):
Well, a lot of the times they are Christians. So they say, I believe in Jesus Christ and this is good. And once, if they say that, then we ask if we can pray for them if they need any prayer. But also a lot of the time they say, well, I’ve been a good person, I’ve done good things. And this is,
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (05:35):
Oh yeah, I go to church sometimes. Every Christmas I go to church. I love going to church at Christmas time, usually you get some presents and stuff and you see a little twinkly line on the top of the tree. And so probably got to let me in if I go to church on Christmas. Do you hear that type of answer?
Ethan Hood (05:54):
Yeah.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (05:55):
Okay. And so if someone gives you that type of answer, what do you do?
Ethan Hood (05:59):
And so then that’s whenever we go into the main message,
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (06:03):
The main message, Ethan, tell us the main message. How can we be sure that we’re going to heaven when we die?
Ethan Hood (06:10):
So we use a format that was made by an evangelist who taught other people how to lead people to Christ. And so it starts with grace, then man, then God, then Christ, and finally faith.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (06:27):
Okay, so let’s go through those. You start with grace, then you talk about man, then you talk about God, then you talk about Christ, then you talk about faith. And so each of those different points, I’m sure you would say several different things, maybe pull out some scriptures to talk about. Kind of walk us through how you would present the gospel to someone. By the way, I think that this format was originally developed by d James Kennedy, who he started evangelism explosion. And so he taught people to go through these five different points. Alright, so start with grace. What would you say about grace?
Ethan Hood (07:08):
So grace, it’s really short. You just share the verse, the verse. Romans 10 13, whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (07:21):
That’s a good place to start. Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. And so that’s God’s grace. Okay, then you go into talking about man. Now does it include women too? Is it Yes.
Ethan Hood (07:33):
This is man as humanity.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (07:35):
Man as humanity. Okay. And so what would you say about humanity?
Ethan Hood (07:39):
And so a lot of people at this point are wondering, well, what do I have to be saved from? And so man, we have to be saved from sin and saved from death. And so we lead with Romans 3 23 for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (07:54):
Okay, I’ve sinned, you’ve sinned, we’ve all made mistakes. What is sin? What do you say? If someone asks you what is sin?
Ethan Hood (08:02):
Well, sin is the wrong things that we do, the things that keep us from God.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (08:09):
And so when people sin, there’s a price that has to be paid. What’s that price?
Ethan Hood (08:15):
And so the Bible says in Romans 6 23, the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (08:26):
So Jesus was the only one who was ever sin free. He was the son of God and he, he died on the cross to take the price for our sins. So we’ve gone through grace and man, then we go to talking about God, what would you tell someone about God?
Ethan Hood (08:42):
And so a lot of people have misconceptions about God. Like I said earlier with the second question, they say, oh, well I’m a good person. I should get into heaven. They think that God is up there with a set of scales judging the things from the bad things you’ve done. And if you’ve done more good things than bad things, then you get into heaven. And so we really just explained that this is not how heaven works. And so heaven is a free gift and that leads into Christ.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (09:09):
So if you’re talking about God, you might quote John three 16 there. Can you quote that for us? Do you know John three 16?
Ethan Hood (09:17):
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever shall believe in him shall be given eternal life
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (09:25):
And kind of explain what does that verse mean? Imagine you’re talking to someone they maybe haven’t heard John three 16 or they don’t really know what it means. What do you tell ’em it means?
Ethan Hood (09:36):
Yeah. So Jesus Christ came down from heaven and was born as a baby and he lived a sinless life and died on the cross for our sins. And if we believe in Jesus Christ, then we will be saved and we’ll be given eternal life in heaven.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (09:54):
Alright, so you talk about God, God loved the world so much, he gave his only son, and then you talk about Christ. What would you tell them about Jesus Christ?
Ethan Hood (10:04):
Yeah, so with Christ, we start off with Ephesians two, eight through nine, which says four, by grace we are saved through faith and that not of ourselves, it’s the gift of God not of works so that no one should boast.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (10:21):
Okay, so why was Jesus’ death on the cross necessary? Why was that needed for people to be saved?
Ethan Hood (10:28):
Well, we said in man sin, you have to pay a price for our sin. And so Jesus died on the cross for our sin. He paid the ultimate price so that we could live free sinless lives with Jesus. And so that’s what Christ is talking about. For our grace, we are saved through faith.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (10:50):
Alright, then we come to the fifth and final term that you talk about and that is faith. What is faith? How can someone have faith? How do we put our faith in Jesus Christ?
Ethan Hood (11:02):
Yeah, people really don’t know what faith is. So faith is kind of like trust. Faith is sitting in a chair, which is a common example that we use. If you sit in a chair, you have full trust in the chair, you completely trust in the chair that it’s going to hold you up and it’s not going to break. If you see a chair that one of its legs is broken, you’re not going to sit in it, you’re not going to trust it. You’re not going to have faith in it, so you’re not going to sit down on it. And that’s what we have to do. We have to have faith in Jesus that he can save us.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (11:36):
So we put our trust in Jesus, that through Jesus we can be saved.
Ethan Hood (11:41):
And so with a chair, if you sit down partially, but you still have all your weight on your feet, you’re not really sparing your feet, you’re still on your feet. So you have to put all of your trust in the chair so that you can have rest for your feet. See, you have to put all of your faith in Jesus. You can’t put some of your faith in Jesus and still try and do good things. Try to get into heaven that way. You have to put all of your faith in Jesus. That’s the only way to get into heaven.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (12:12):
Alright, so then if someone says, I’m ready. I want to put my faith in Jesus right now. I want to make sure I’m going to heaven, I want to make sure I’m saved. How do you lead them in the process of putting their faith in Jesus?
Ethan Hood (12:25):
Yeah, so we just start off with again, or not again, sorry. Romans 10, nine. If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. And it’s really that simple. You have to confess with your mouth and believe in your heart. And so we just lead them in the salvation prayer.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (12:47):
Okay, well why don’t you lead us in a salvation prayer right now. What would that sound like?
Ethan Hood (12:54):
Well, very simply, it’s just, Jesus, thank you for dying on the cross for me and for my sins. Thank you for your forgiveness that you’ve given me, and thank you for helping me to live with you forever. Jesus name, amen.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (13:10):
Amen. Alright, and then after someone says a salvation prayer with you, then what happens?
Ethan Hood (13:15):
Well, after that we ask if there’s anything they need prayer for, any problems that they have, family issues, anything like that.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (13:23):
Alright, this is a great outline and you do a great job of quoting the scriptures, knowing how to present the gospel. Does this work, have you actually seen some people come to Jesus as you’ve been talking to them? Give me some testimonies. What have you seen happen?
Ethan Hood (13:41):
Yeah, this works all the time. Every time we go there are people who just come up interested and we tell them about this wonderful gift that God gave us and they believe. I remember one time we were at a community event, not a church outreach or anything, and it started raining. So we put up a tent to help people just get away from the rain. And so there was this family that was under this tent and they were just sitting there and we weren’t trying to force ’em or anything, we were just there, just reaching out to them, giving them water as we do. And eventually they just came up and asked, you guys are really nice, why are you like this? My dad and me, we just helped them go through this process and we just went through the process. This process is very adaptable so you don’t haveta halt, always start with the two questions. And so they didn’t come asking about the two questions. They came asking about why we’re so kind. And so with this process, it’s really easy. You can just share the gospel with anyone. And so we were able to lead these people to the Christ just originally just being kind to them and then helping them with this.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (14:59):
And you often give out water or something to people who are coming by.
Ethan Hood (15:04):
So we give out water and sometimes other drinks if they’re available and we just give them out. Sometimes it’s hot days and so they need water. So we’re just able to help the community and just help.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (15:17):
Alright, I got some rapid fire questions for you. One question is, what is the oldest person you’ve shared the gospel with and then what’s the youngest person you’ve shared the gospel with?
Ethan Hood (15:29):
Oldest person I’ve shared the gospel with, well, the cool thing about this, I haven’t just done this with my truck. I’ve been on mission trips and I’ve helped with this too. The oldest person I’ve shared the gospel with I think was in Florida. We were on a mission trip one year and we were going to door to door and knocking and just telling them about a block party that we were doing with our ministry there. And so we were just talking with them and if given the chance, we would tell them about Christ and tell them about Jesus. And so when we were talking, this old lady came to the door, I dunno how old she was, but she was maybe 60 or 70 and we were just,
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (16:08):
Yeah, that’s really old.
Ethan Hood (16:09):
Yeah, we were just talking with her.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (16:11):
Don’t tell my grandma that.
Ethan Hood (16:14):
But we were just talking with her and just telling her about this block party and she was saying, oh, I don’t know if I can make it. And so we just started talking about how this gift that God gave us and how we can live free of the burden of sin. And so we just led her to Christ through that, just knocking on doors, giving out flyers, talking about Jesus.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (16:40):
That’s awesome. What about the youngest person? How young have you shared the gospel with someone, the
Ethan Hood (16:45):
Youngest person? Well, I think again, on the mission trip at this block party that we had, a lot of families came and a lot of children came because we were giving out clothes and toys and stuff. And well, we let our ministry let an altar call at this place and the people who lifted their hands, we would go out through them and just pray for them and just help them through it and just help them understand what they’re getting into because we don’t want to sign them up without actually telling them what they’re getting into. So we were doing this and there was this little boy who raised his hand and he was just wanting to know Jesus.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (17:27):
How old do you think this little boy was?
Ethan Hood (17:30):
He must’ve been six.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (17:33):
About six years old. Yeah. Okay. So from six all the way up to 70, you’ve seen the two questions work in sharing the gospel. Okay, here’s another question for you. How many times, just an estimate, doesn’t need to be exact, but how many times in the last 12 months do you think you’ve gone out with a truck witnessing?
Ethan Hood (17:55):
Yeah, so we’ve mainly done it over the summer, over the hot months, just handing out waters and things like that. And we really helped a lot during Covid as well, just handing out food and ministering, stuff like that. So over the past 12 months, we’ve probably gone to an event almost every month, so maybe 10
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (18:16):
Times. Wow, that’s amazing. Now each time you go out, how many times would you share the gospel typically?
Ethan Hood (18:22):
Well, when you go out to these events, they’re sometimes mainly Christian events that are held by Christian organizations. So I wouldn’t start with these two questions maybe 10 to 15 times, but five out of those I would actually share the gospel with and 10, they would already be saved.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (18:42):
So if you’ve done it like 10 times this year, you’ve probably shared the gospel anywhere from 50 to a hundred times this year. That’s pretty impressive for a 14-year-old to share the gospel. Now, how many people would you estimate that you’ve prayed a prayer of salvation with?
Ethan Hood (19:00):
Yeah, so a lot of people, they hear this story and they’re really moved, but they’re not really ready yet. So we don’t push them, we just only do it when they’re ready. See, sometimes these people, they’ve been going through a lot and there’s been so much leading up to this moment. And so when they finally ask, they’re ready for it. And so sometimes this is the first step in their process. Sometimes we’re the first step in the process for them being saved sometimes or the last out of the however many times I’ve shared the gospel with them, I’d say maybe 20 or so.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (19:34):
Wow, that’s amazing. I mean, for a 14-year-old young man to be able to share the gospel that many times and to lead 20, probably even more people that you’ve actually led to Jesus is really impressive. Now, last March you got to go on a mission trip with us down to the nation of El Salvador. And my son was on the trip too. What was one of the things on that trip that really moved you, that God really did in your life when you were in El Salvador?
Ethan Hood (20:10):
Yeah, in El Salvador. Man, that mission trip was so amazing there. After one of the Crusades, I believe, or maybe it was the night before we had a crusade just talking about it. I just realized, and a lot of us realized that we are on this mission trip to save people, but this is also helping us personally. And so on Wednesday night we had a massive worship session and the pastor of our church came down to help with this and we just had this massive worship and we really just had massive baptism in this pool at the hotel that we were staying at. And so many people were getting baptized. And eventually towards the end I decided to get baptized too. And that was really impactful for me. And
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (21:07):
What did it mean for you in your life spiritually?
Ethan Hood (21:10):
Well, spiritually, I was sharing the gospel. I was going out and I believed it, but I wasn’t really talking to God. I was praying for these people, but I wasn’t praying to God. I wasn’t really having a connection with God. I knew he was my savior. I knew that he was my friend, but I never really understood that on a personal level. And so after that, I just started, whenever I was praying for people, I wouldn’t just pray for them to a spiritual guy up in the sky floating around. I would pray to a friend and asking them, please help this person. Help them to realize that you are so much more than just an angel floating around up in the sky who has magical powers. You are a real person who can help them. And it just really came on a deep person.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (22:13):
And so your relationship with God really became more personal and God really moved in your life. That is so awesome, Ethan. Thank you so much for sharing. If you want to know more about the ministry of Ron and Christina Hood and Ethan Hood, and the entire family is involved, you can find out more about them by going to their website must go missions.com. And so you spell that M-U-S-G-O missions.com. And on the website there’s a place where you can give to them through PayPal. You can be involved in helping them to go out. If you are in the Tulsa area, the Oklahoma area, you can connect with them and actually go out and volunteer and help to witness to people. They’re doing stuff almost every single month. And so you can get involved in helping to witness to people. And so let’s just finish up today, Ethan, by praying for the people who are listening today, would you just pray that everyone who’s listening would have boldness to share the gospel? Maybe they’re much older than you, but if a 14-year-old can do it, I think anyone can do it. And so just pray that we all have boldness to talk to people about Jesus.
Ethan Hood (23:40):
Oh dear God, I just thank you so much for all that you’re doing in all these lives, and thank you for everyone listening that you are helping them to realize that no matter what age they are, no matter who they are, that you can help them and you can empower them to lead anyone to Christ and you can connect with them on a personal level. I thank you that if there’s anyone watching who may not be saved, I thank you that you are just working in them. Jesus name, amen.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (24:12):
Amen. Well, Ethan, thank you so much for being on the Evangelism Podcast. Yes,
Ethan Hood (24:17):
Thank you.
Evangelism Podcast Host (24:18):
Are you called by God to be an evangelist? Do you want to lead millions of people to Jesus? Do you desire to be trained in the practical side of building a ministry? Then check out the Daniel King’s School of Evangelism, learn how to be an effective evangelist from Dr. Daniel King’s 20 plus years of experience. Daniel King has done crusades all over the world in over 70 nations and is seen over 2 million people give their lives to Jesus. But it wasn’t easy. There was no crusade school. So Daniel traveled the world learning from and observing top evangelists, noticing how they successfully won souls for Christ. Now he wants to share decades of knowledge and experience with you. Topics of the Daniel King School of Evangelism include what is an evangelist, how to be a master soul winner, how to give antar call, how to organize a crusade, how to raise money for your ministry and much more. If you want to be an evangelist but don’t know where to start, the Daniel King School of Evangelism is for you. Enroll today in the School of Evangelism by going to Daniel King ministries.com/evangelism.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (25:20):
Thanks so much for listening today. I am excited about telling people about Jesus, and I want to invite you to be a part of helping us to rescue people from Hell and take them with us to heaven. There’s two things you can do to help. First of all, can you go find the Evangelism podcast on Apple iTunes and leave us a positive review by giving a review, you will help other people find these valuable resources about sharing our faith. And second, would you become a financial partner with King Ministries. Every single dollar that people give us enables us to lead at least one person to Jesus. And so that means for only $1, you can help start a party in heaven. And so today I want to invite you to become a monthly partner. You can start out for just a dollar, but if God puts it on your heart to do more, of course you can do more. But please go to king ministries.com and become a monthly partner with us today to help us to lead more people to Jesus. Thank you so much, and God bless you.
Evangelism Podcast Host (26:41):
For more information about how to share your faith or to financially support our worldwide evangelistic outreaches, visit king ministries.com. Again, that’s king ministries.com.