Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:05 Well, my name is, is Michael fueling and the lead pastor here at the village church. And we are taking a four week hiatus from the book of Exodus and we're launching a series called practical evangelism. And let me just give you just a look at the next four weeks and what we're going to be covering today is going to be practical evangelism in an ambivalent world. Uh, next week, we're going to come talk, come back and talk about practical evangelism in a lonely world. We've seen more loneliness this year. And so many hearts and minds are ready for the good news of Jesus Christ coming out of this year. Uh, week three, we're going to talk about practical evangelism for our hurting world. We see more mental health crises than we've ever seen before. And we know that Jesus Christ is the greatest answer for our soul's desperate need.
Speaker 0 00:00:52 And then finally, we're going to be looking at practical evangelism in a confusing world, and we're going to be looking at the purity and the simplicity of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We want to call out all of the peripheral three things that threatened to become primary things, to make sure that every one of us have a clear crystal clear understanding on what is the gospel in a world that makes it so unnecessarily confusing. All right, I want to show you six pictures and each of these pictures represent and evangelist stick method. Now, what I want you to do is I want you to answer the following questions. Hear me in your head, not out loud. Maybe you can take account on your hand or in your brain or on a piece of paper. And here's the question. Are these good evangelistic methods or are they bad evangelistic methods? Now I'm not going to trick you. I am not going to trap you. I'm not going to make you raise your hand. I just want you to take note of how many of these would you say are good evangelistic methods. And how many of these would you say are bad ones? Here's number one, invite somebody that is not a Christian to an evangelist crusades, sort of like this good idea,
Speaker 1 00:02:09 Bad idea, not out loud.
Speaker 0 00:02:13 Number two, you give someone in evangelism tract. Now you may not know what attract is, but typically it's a piece of paper, a little booklet, and it's got a story and it culminates in the gospel. This would be one I wanna encourage you never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever leave your waiter or waitress this as a tip, they will hate Jesus. And it'll take them 20 years longer to come to know Christ. But this is a good example of, of a tract. Good idea. Bad idea. I forget about that track, but just the concept of tracks. Number three, you stand at a street corner with a bull horn and you proclaim the gospel.
Speaker 2 00:02:53 Good idea.
Speaker 1 00:02:54 Bad idea. Okay.
Speaker 0 00:02:57 You were a Christian. T-shirt like this to spark spiritual conversations. Jesus is my lifesaver. Good idea. Bad idea. You buy a billboard and it says something like this. It's your choice, heaven or hell. Now I love how it says John three 36, because you think it should say John three 16, go read John three 36 when you're bored and then doubly ask yourself good idea or bad idea.
Speaker 2 00:03:29 Number six,
Speaker 0 00:03:31 Go how's the house asking strangers to have a spiritual conversation. Good idea. Bad idea. Now, how many of these did you write down and said, no, that feels like a really good idea of village church should train and sponsor people in these evangelistic methods. So I want to share with you two things we know about all of the methodologies that I just shared with you. Number one, with every single new year, each of these are becoming less and less effective and
Speaker 1 00:04:09 More and more offensive. So
Speaker 0 00:04:13 50 years ago it would have been very logical for a church's evangelism or outreach strategy to mimic or mirror. What I just showed you. It was interesting is that there were many people who through these methodologies and strategies would actually come to faith in Christ. If they didn't work for someone or at least a group of people in a specific moment or season in time, people would not have kept repeating these methodologies over and over again. So historically actually in America, many of these were proven to be very successful, but here's what we're finding more and more. They don't bear fruit. People do not as much, or as often come to faith in Christ through these methods. In fact, they are repulsed and repelled. And here's the second thing I want to, I want to show you about each of these methods, five out of six of them allowed you to share the gospel without requiring
Speaker 1 00:05:08 A personal relationship. Not interesting that
Speaker 0 00:05:14 The church's historically primary method of evangelism or methods were often void of personal relationship. And here's what we're learning more and more. If someone is statistically going to respond to a gospel message positively, they're going to respond positively because it was in the context of a personal health. The relationship is that interesting. We're living kind of in a new day, in a new time, in a new season where if you want to be the most effective and seeing people come to faith in Christ, we are having to lay aside some of the old strategies and get back to the good old one-on-one relationship that is vulnerable, transparent and honest. Now I want to be clear on a couple of things. Has the gospel lost its power on the count of three? Everybody just say no, one, two, three, no. Where people more gullible 20 to 40 years ago than they are today. Uh, no, they are not here. Here's the point communicating the unchanging gospel so that people hear it and understand it is changing.
Speaker 1 00:06:27 Let me say this again,
Speaker 0 00:06:28 Communicating the unchanging gospel so that the effect is that people hear it and understand it is changing. And there are multiple reasons why, let me just give you a few number one in the mid 20th century, the name, the word Jesus. When we said it, it actually meant something to most people. Now, if I say to most people that I meet the name, the word Jesus. I have no idea. Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:06:57 What is going through their head?
Speaker 0 00:06:59 I don't know if it is their friend hazes. I don't know. No. If it is a Mormon Jesus, a Jehovah's witness Jesus, a Catholic Jesus and Orthodox Jesus. I have zero categories. What is going on in their brain? Nothing. In fact, I can't even assume it. So before I can even talk to somebody about Jesus, I have to actually make sure we're talking about the same person. Because more times than not, we're not, people's factual. Knowledge of Christianity is almost zero. I mean, they have some cursory understanding of Christian things, but there's no ability to put it together. So that in any way, resembles Christianity in the mid 20th century, actually most of America had a base knowledge of what Christianity is through the creeds, maybe through their grandmother, grandpa going to church at Christmas and Easter. And now the younger you are statistically. It is very rare that you have any cursory knowledge of what Christianity truly is or is not.
Speaker 0 00:07:56 People's felt needs are very different. If you went into the mid 20th century, the vast majority of Americans who were born and raised in this country knew deep down inside that Jesus was probably the answer to their problems. Now the greatest felt need. It's very simple. And this is happening with the vast majority of your kids, especially the greatest felt need is the need for self-actualization to become my truest self, to decide who I really am and to become that person. Jesus, as the answer to their spiritual, emotional, psychological needs, isn't even in their categories. All this is culminating in a cultural shift in America and our emotional posture towards Christianity. Let me, let me describe for you in just one simple word. The vast majority of Americans, emotional towards
Speaker 1 00:08:56 Jesus and Christianity ambivalence.
Speaker 0 00:09:02 Let me describe ambivalence in one word. Hey, pastor, Michael, how do you feel about ceramic cups? Okay. I mean, they're part of my life. They're my cupboard. They're kind of all around me. I drink coffee out of them. I mean, if I had to, I could probably drink coffee out of a plastic cup, maybe paper cups, styrofoam. If I'm feeling crazy, all, all cups go to the same place at the end anyways. Right. How do you feel about Christianity, Michael? How do you feel about precious moments? The little figurine personally and for greened Dolly things. Yeah.
Speaker 0 00:09:52 I mean, I had one of my wedding cake I think, and it was pretty cute and adorable. I think we still have it. It's in a box somewhere. Like my grandma. I think she had a couple and then my wife's grandma, she has a whole bunch and like, I know they're passionate about them and like it's a big deal to them and that's cool. That's their thing. Right? Like they spend a lot of money, thousands and thousands of dollars. There's a museum. Ah, oh, there's freshest moments museum. The true story. Actually go look it up online. It's trip half. How do I feel? And that's your thing, taco bell, Hey pastor, my God. He feel about talking about, well, now that you ask, I mean, I have some great memories in high school, fourth meal, anybody. Right. But then I always kind of felt bad afterwards.
Speaker 0 00:10:30 I regretted it and like, like I see him everywhere. Like I drive by them every day. Like I don't even think twice anymore, but if you ask him, like, I got some good memories there. I mean, if you tell me you eat there, I'm judging you because don't, we all know better now than a naughty going to taco bell. But like, I mean, if that's your thing, whatever, how do you feel about taco bell? Welcome to the American emotional landscape towards what you are most passionate about in your entire life and your greatest identity. And now somehow I would love for you to know that without Jesus, you are empty, that he designed you and made you for him and he loves you and you need to be saved from your sin. And God offers you freedom in Christ. And you're like, how do you share the gospel? When the vast majority of people who don't know Jesus in your life are practically ambivalent
Speaker 1 00:11:19 To the good news of Jesus Christ. Open
Speaker 0 00:11:22 Up your Bibles. Colossians chapter four, verse three, the author of cautions was a guy named Paul and Paul planted churches. Here's what he would do. He would go into a city. He would pray. He would pray, pray, pray, pray, Lord, please help me. And then he would find specific groups of people who would begin to have spiritual conversations with them. And if they led to conversations about the gospel, where people trusted in Christ, he would stay a little bit longer. And then he would start a brand new church in that city.
Speaker 2 00:11:53 When the apostle Paul prayed,
Speaker 0 00:11:54 He prayed for something very specific. And you see this pop up in the letters of the Bible that he wrote. And it's two words that he would pray for. He would pray for an open
Speaker 1 00:12:05 Door. What is an open door? It is a heart that is willing to listen to the gospel, to the good news of Jesus Christ. Lord, I need you to open a door.
Speaker 0 00:12:22 This group of people pull our ambivalent in his day. There were actually largely, there are many of them hostile. So he dealt with hostility and ambivalence. So here's what I want to do. I want to share with you five big lessons from the apostle Paul on open doors and how to share the gospel with a group of people that have no felt need whatsoever for the message that you are bringing to them
Speaker 1 00:12:45 Less than number one,
Speaker 0 00:12:47 Prayer is the key to unlock spiritual doors, cautions chapter four, verse three. Here's what he says at the same time. Pray also for us, why that God may open to us a door for the word to declare the mystery of Christ on a of which I am imprisoned, that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak. I need you to get this spiritual problems, need spiritual solutions. They need spiritual tools and you cannot with logic. Make somebody become a Christian. They need the door of their heart to be open to prayer and they need the gospel so that they can hear and believe these are spiritual weapons because the battle we're actually engaging in is a spiritual battle. And so here's number one. If you want to see this person in your life or these people in your life, turn toward Jesus.
Speaker 0 00:13:49 If you even want to have the opportunity for a conversation about this, where we start, as the people of God is understanding, this is a spiritual battle and I'm using spiritual weapons. So I'm going to begin to pray fervently for them. If you, by chance, have the privilege to be with somebody and you see an open door, I want you to hear me. There is a 99% chance that that person has been prayed over probably for a very long time by somebody else. And when you watch an open door, a heart that is even open to hear the gospel. I want you to understand that this is a sacred moment. It might've been their great grandma. The day they were born, who prayed and prayed until she died for this little one to come to know Jesus and nobody might've prayed for this person until the day you walked into their life and you saw an open door and you begin to walk through it and they invited you in to share the gospel. It might've been a mother or a father, brother, or sister who labor in prayer for this person. I just want you to understand this. What you're walking into when there is an open door in front of you is a sacred moment. Do you have a child that you want to know? Jesus, pray, pray,
Speaker 1 00:15:07 Pray. Every day, don't stop persistent prayer. Do you have a spouse that you want to know? Jesus, you're going to get on your knees and you're going to pray.
Speaker 0 00:15:18 You have a neighbor. And you're like, man, I would just love for them to know Jesus. They're just so ambivalent. They don't care. Right? Then you just praying. You pray that God would open
Speaker 1 00:15:27 A door for the gospel. How do I know when
Speaker 0 00:15:31 There is an open door for the gospel? I want to just give you five, just indicators indicator. Number one, if you've been praying, here's just some things you might start to see. Eventually a spiritual question is asked. Now when somebody asks you a spiritual question, can you do me a favor? Listen to what they're actually saying, because we love to like, hear like what we want to hear and then answer questions. They're not even asking. Right? Listen. Now what I want to encourage you to do is to not pull a Kramer. Do you guys remember Kramer from Seinfeld right now? I'm not advocating Seinfeld, but go on YouTube and watch Kramer walks through doors. And here's what he does. Every time criminal never walks into a room, subtly throws, open the door. He's like every time don't be a Kramer, like if you see an open door, you're like, ah, if you trusted Jesus Christ as your Lord and savior right now, can I give you some print? Like chill
Speaker 2 00:16:24 Out. It's going to be fine. Why
Speaker 0 00:16:30 Maybe a spiritual question is asked. Number two, maybe a spiritual needs need
Speaker 2 00:16:36 Is expressed. It's
Speaker 0 00:16:39 Not uncommon that somebody will say something like I'm going to make up something here, but Hey, I'm asking for a friend, um, by chance, what does the Bible say about fill in the blank? And when people are start to, they start to be curious about the word of God. This is, this is a really special moment. They're spiritually intrigued. The door might be just creaked, open a tiny little bit. Don't pull a Kramer, chill
Speaker 2 00:17:03 Out.
Speaker 0 00:17:05 Here's the third indicator. A spiritual observation is shared. Maybe they're like, you know what? You are an awesome neighbor. All of my other neighbors are cold hearted and distant. Like, is this like, because you're a Christian, like why are you such a killer, a neighbor by the way, are all of you supposed to
Speaker 1 00:17:24 Be incredible neighbors as a follower of Jesus? The answer is that was not very passionate,
Speaker 0 00:17:28 But I'm going to believe in my heart that you believe in your heart. That is your joyful privilege to be the most kick button neighbor on the planet. A spiritual observation is shared. Maybe somebody notices something about your life and they have a spiritual question. They're curious if you live for Christ, you will be different, but hopefully in a way that blesses the people, you here's, the fourth indicator, a problem only Jesus can fix might be an emotional issue, relational issue, mental health issue. And there are some problems that ibuprofen can fix. There are some problems a chiropractor can fix, and then there are problems only Jesus can fix. And when you watch some of these things happen, then you just get on your knees and you pray more. You're like, Lord, I adore this beginning to creak open, but would you open it so that I can share with them the actual resolution to their soul's greatest need? And you don't pull a Kramer? Did I say that already?
Speaker 1 00:18:23 Relax. Number five, just a prompt from the holy spirit.
Speaker 0 00:18:29 You might have a friend, a family member, a child, something. And you're like, I just feel like the holy spirit wants me to talk to them. And none of these other indicators may be happening. Okay. But can we just agree that the holy spirit knows something you don't know? Is that fair? Can we also agree that the holy spirit is always up to work and people's lives until the day they die? Like you and I are aware of like such a small percentage of what God is doing behind the scenes and if the holy spirit, which he honestly does quite often ask you to do something that doesn't make sense. It's okay. Pray about it. Take your time. But maybe the holy spirit is just asking you to have a spiritual conversation because he's up to something in someone's lives. All right. Lesson number two from Paul and open doors, walk wisely through open doors.
Speaker 0 00:19:21 Look at chapter four, verse five. He says this walk in wisdom toward outsiders. So there is a wise way to talk to people about Jesus and there is an unwise way. Can I get an amen on the count of three, one, two, three, amen. And you have watched people embarrass you, is they unwisely blow open doors and act like Kramer and then make things much, much more difficult for you later verses five and six, walked through what wisdom looks like. Here's what he says. Next. We make the best use of the time. There are good times to share the gospel. And there are inappropriate times to share the gospel. Imagine with me, it's Thanksgiving at your house. And you're the only Christian and all of a sudden Jimmy's there. And you're like, Hey, Jimmy, you are in rebellion against God. I would love to tell you why, how you can get away from the wrath of God and be saved from hell. And everyone's sitting there listening to you, is that probably the right time and the right way to share the gospel with your non-Christian family member or friend everybody know, right? That's weird. It's weird. There are good times. And there are bad times. It's interesting because Jesus and Paul both found themselves in the presence of very powerful people. And more times than not, they waited until they were asked before they talked about the gospel.
Speaker 2 00:20:34 Is that interesting?
Speaker 0 00:20:36 They wait. He did, until there was an open door almost all of the time. Let me just summarize here. A wise person waits for the right time. While an unwise person is impulsive. Verse six gives us more wisdom. He says, let or speech always be gracious. Uh, let me describe for you a gracious person, gracious people are, Christians are moral. I want you to hear me on offendable. You could tell me the worst sins that you do. And let me tell you what, I'm not
Speaker 1 00:21:13 Going to be offended.
Speaker 0 00:21:16 I am not surprised by much anymore, but people love to be offended right now. And here here's the deal. As a believer in Christ, the Bible tells me I am not to judge those who are outside of the church who are not Christians. I'm not to condemn them. That is not my job. That is Jesus's job judgment happens in the house of God when it comes to this stuff. Here's what I do. I'm on unfundable. And honestly, what I wanted to be able to do is to listen to you and help you find Jesus in the midst of all of this, I'm not going to compromise my moral standing because you're immoral. But honestly like, okay, you're going to live that way. Like it was a rock my world. I still, I still feel pretty unoffended right now we're discerning, but we are not judgmental. I discern that. What you're doing is inconsistent with the word of God, but I don't take the next step of condemnation towards somebody. Has it ever gone well for you? When you condemn someone, has anybody ever won you over by condemning you?
Speaker 0 00:22:16 And yet we think condemnation and judgmentalism is going to be effective in evangelism. And it's just, it's just not gracious. People are very patient with other people's process and timeframe. You are unable to force someone to love and trust in Christ faster than God and them are working together. And so here's what a gracious person is there. They're pretty patient with your timeframe. They realize I can't make this go faster. I can dog on and make it slower, but I can't make it go faster. Let me summarize. The wise person speaks with the kind of grace they
Speaker 1 00:22:53 Are offering
Speaker 0 00:22:55 While an unwise person is condemning
Speaker 1 00:22:59 And rude, especially here's another piece
Speaker 0 00:23:02 Of wisdom in verse six, he says, let your speech always be seasoned with salt. What am I top? I think one of the top five best French fries on the planet is Chick-fil-A. I get so excited. If you ever go in there on a Sunday, it's such a disappointment. So when you go every once in a while,
Speaker 1 00:23:33 Something terrible happens, I mean, this is, it's a crime. You go through the drive-through, you get in the car and you drive away and you reach in the bag and you put fry in your mouth and there's no salt on it.
Speaker 0 00:23:51 Okay. I'm sure I am sure that an unsalted Chick-fil-A fry is objectively, like not terrible, but I am filled with like anger. And there's like a story that goes to my brain. It's some 15 year old kid. Who's not paying attention and he's just zoning out, scooping salt. And it's all over the floor, not on the fries. And I hear this fry now I'm stuck and we're not going to go, go back and say salt. My fries. I'm going to be back. I know, but let me tell you what happens when you take that potato thing. What do you call it? A waffle fry and you put salt on it. Holy smokes. You take and you make it amazing. You make it amazing. And it's so interesting when I, when I think about the gospel that so many people share, it is not seasoned to assault.
Speaker 0 00:24:39 You're going to hell God hates you blank. We'll burn. Fill in the blank. Whoa, like that is not salt. That's cayenne pepper. No, that's ghost pepper. That like leaves me with a terrible experience. And there's something about the gospel that when you give it to somebody, it should take what is bland. And it should be great news for that. It should make it better. Somebody should share the gospel and you should be like, that is really good news. If I believe that I was a sinner going to hell apart from Christ, this is incredible news. And if I believed in Jesus, like, like this would be incredible. What a blessing, what? Like the gospel should be seasoned with salt. And let me just kind of summarize this wise person shares a good news gospel while an unwise person shares a bad news gospel, Romans two forest.
Speaker 0 00:25:27 There's something really interesting. Paul says, do you not know that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? So he's leading with the wrath of God, the best strategy to lead somebody to repentance. No, it's actually the kindness of God. Now, do we talk about sin? Yeah. There's no good news unless there's bad news. That's for sure. But as wrath gonna lead them to trust in God know what's going to lead them. Statistically, according to the scriptures, better to trust in Christ for a lifetime is that they are compelled by the love of God, for them, that God has offering them adoption. As sons and daughters is offering to forgive them and redeem them and heal them is offering the new life and eternal life. Like there are so many ways to season the gospel with salt. The gospel is salt, but I'm sad to hear so many Christians offer a bland saltless gospel. That honestly sounds like bad
Speaker 1 00:26:22 News more than it is good news. Let's get some more wisdom from verse six. He goes on. He says so that you may know how
Speaker 0 00:26:31 To answer each person. It's interesting that wisdom is going to listen before it answers. And I love that. It talks about each person because no two person's questions. Stories are the same, that there is something relational and personal when it comes to evangelism and ambivalent world, that there's something where you actually hear the heart of what they're saying. And you respond to that person
Speaker 1 00:26:58 Individually. And personally, let me give you a simple tool
Speaker 0 00:27:04 That I think every Christian should have in their arsenal. It is three simple words. You find yourself in a spiritual conversation and you might feel like you're in a little
Speaker 1 00:27:15 Bit over your head. Here's the three words.
Speaker 2 00:27:19 I
Speaker 1 00:27:20 Don't know.
Speaker 0 00:27:25 I cannot tell you how many times I'm in a conversation. I'm like,
Speaker 1 00:27:28 That was like, that was a really good question. I don't even
Speaker 0 00:27:30 Know. I need, can I have some time to think about that? And if they say no, I'm done well, then they really, really wasn't an open door was an angry heart. Here's another followup. I don't, I don't know. Would you be opening to like study this together? Cause I'd like to go deeper on this issue.
Speaker 1 00:27:49 You're asking the question. Is it another one? I don't know. Um,
Speaker 0 00:27:54 I'm actually really curious. Would you want to come with me? I'm going to have a cup of coffee with my pastor. Do you want to join me and talk to him about that? I don't know is one of the best questions cause you feel like you have to know everything and have every answer. And I just have good news for you. Um, you need to be armed with the gospel and it is okay. After that to say, I don't know, a wise person listens first
Speaker 1 00:28:20 While an unwise person pulls
Speaker 0 00:28:21 It. Kramer blows open the door and speaks first. All right, lesson number three and open doors. Uh, turn with me to first Corinthians chapter 16 behind every open door is an adversary. If you can see an open door, can the evil ones see an open door? The answer is yes. If you're aware of it, he can be aware of it. And so here's what we find with the apostle Paul. I think this is such an incredible tax he says, but I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost for a wide door for effective work has opened to me. There are a whole bunch of people in emphasis that are open to hearing about the gospel of Jesus Christ. And then he says this and there are many adversaries. So I want you to understand this, the moment
Speaker 2 00:29:14 You cite an
Speaker 0 00:29:17 Open door, there's a conversation where somebody is willing to engage the gospel, probably because you're already in relationship with them, know that there will be immediate war
Speaker 1 00:29:29 In the spiritual realm. So does your prayer ever stop? Definitely not. Um,
Speaker 0 00:29:36 I'm not going to put this on the screen, but turn with me to acts 1348. And I want to just give you an of what this looks like for the apostle Paul. He says this, when the Gentiles heard this, the gospel, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord. This is Paul preaching. This is one of these sacred moments. He gets a whole bunch of people. He shares with them, the gospel, they rejoice. They glorify the word of the Lord. And then Luke says this as many as were appointed to eternal life believed. And the word of the Lord was spreading throughout the region. But the Jews who all throughout the new Testament are just standing against Jesus Christ in the gospel and people being saved. But the Jews, they incited the devout women of high standing, basically rich women with a lot of influence.
Speaker 0 00:30:26 And they basically said, make it impossible for this, this gospel of Jesus to spread. And the leading men of the city, basically the powerful politicians of the city. And they stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas and they drove them out of their district. Now, what do you imagine that Paul and Barnabas did? Did they cry? Did they run back and sacrifice their lives? Kill me. No, but they shook off the dust from their feet against them and went on to a new city. I Coney him, but what about all the new Christians? They just left behind. Here's what verse 52 says. And the disciples, those who had just trusted in Jesus, they were filled with joy and with the holy spirit,
Speaker 1 00:31:10 God took care of them. God took care of them.
Speaker 0 00:31:16 I want to encourage you because as you see an open door, there will always be an adversary of some sort. There will be a person. There will be something that comes up in their life that just draws them away. That distracts them. So they don't have to face the open door questions that they have pray, pray,
Speaker 1 00:31:34 Pray against it, pray against it.
Speaker 0 00:31:36 And this is everywhere. Paul went every time there was an open door, people started coming to Christ. There was always persecution that rise up against, um, here's lesson number four and open doors. Every open door is your
Speaker 1 00:31:51 Personal responsibility. Second Corinthians
Speaker 0 00:31:54 Chapter two verse 12 says this. Paul says when I came to trow ass to preach the gospel of Christ, even though a door was opened for me in the Lord, this is interesting. My spirit was not at rest because I did not find my brother Titus there. So
Speaker 1 00:32:12 I took leave of them. And I went to Macedonia.
Speaker 0 00:32:17 If I had an opportunity to share the gospel with somebody and my son was in danger, what? I leave that gospel opportunity
Speaker 1 00:32:24 And go after my son. The answer is you better believe it. I have a couple
Speaker 0 00:32:28 Of core convictions. One is that my personal responsibility before anything else is my relationship with my God, my wife, my son, you, and then the world. And if something is in danger, and even though there's an open door, I'm going to walk away from that. And I'm going to tend to my highest priority. But here's my conviction. We're, we're a family. We're an army of believers. The Lord can raise up anywhere, anyone anytime. And here's what I've learned just because there's an open door in front of me does not mean that it is mine to walk through. And almost always, here's how you can discern that if your relationship is not ready for that conversation. Some of you know that if you walk through an open door that you're watching, that it's actually going to harm your relationship more than help. The holy spirit very well may at times say not yours, correct? There is a door open. I want you to pray for that door, but I'm going to bring somebody else to walk through that door. Now, this is not a reason for you to never talk to anybody. You're sinful, frayed heart at times might be like, oh, not my door. There's a door, not mine. Right? If fear is the reason that is not a legitimate reason to not walk through an open door, but sometimes the holy spirit will prompt. You you'll be like something doesn't feel right about me having this conversation.
Speaker 1 00:33:42 And that is okay.
Speaker 0 00:33:45 I want to share with you three. So what's each of them start with the letter P and if you've been around village church for some time, you've heard me say this probably multiple times for, so what is prayer? Yes. Oracle ambivalence to Jesus and the gospel.
Speaker 1 00:34:03 When you have a whole culture, that is just,
Speaker 2 00:34:06 Yeah,
Speaker 0 00:34:08 It is. <inaudible> only ever been turned around when two things happen. Number one, it's usually regional. And there is a group of people who often, and sometimes for many years have been praying for God to move in a community or a region. And so there's a faithful group of people praying in advance for a move of God. Number two, at the right time, God raises up people to preach a pure, simple gospel in a way that that generation and culture and region understand. But before you see a move of God, if you look all throughout church history at revivals or different things, there is always a group of people, praying fervently for salvation and repentance to come to this group of people, community, or region. And the first command and encouragement that we give to you is just pray. Pray. It might be an issue individual in your life. That might be an entire family that the Lord has put on your heart might be your personal family. It might be a cousin or a nephew. It might be a neighbor. It might be your kid's class at school. Begin to pray because great moves of God are proceeded by prayer. Number two,
Speaker 2 00:35:23 Pursue
Speaker 0 00:35:25 When the door begins to creak, open age, whatever opportunities are there, just have conversations. If you have a relationship with someone
Speaker 1 00:35:37 And they are willing to begin
Speaker 0 00:35:39 To talk about spiritual things, praise God, that is a movement of God, right
Speaker 1 00:35:45 There. It's sacred. Be careful, be gentle, be bold,
Speaker 2 00:35:50 Be wise, pursue.
Speaker 0 00:35:53 This is where most of us go. And then we run away and nothing happens. But I'm telling you, if you start praying, watch slowly and steadily, you will begin to see doors begin to open it. Here's the third P
Speaker 1 00:36:09 Persuade, pray, pursue persuade.
Speaker 0 00:36:14 You may not have the best answers to all of their questions, by the way, your best answers to their questions are not what will cause them to trust in Christ. They are good and they are right, and we should study and beyond the ball. And when you don't know, I gave you a tool earlier,
Speaker 1 00:36:31 Which is I don't. No, that's good. That's fine.
Speaker 0 00:36:36 Well, you need to make sure is that you have a clear,
Speaker 2 00:36:39 Simple, pure your
Speaker 1 00:36:42 Gospel, which is why we're going to have an entire sermon on what the gospel
Speaker 2 00:36:46 It is. But you need to be armed with a pure, simple
Speaker 0 00:36:51 Gospel. It's interesting because there are some of you, not many, but there are some of you who are what the Bible calls and evangelists. And here's how, you know, you're an evangelist. When you preach and share the gospel, people actually respond and begin to trust in Christ. Like you bear spiritual fruit, but Paul has to say to Timothy, he doesn't say, be the evangelist you are. He says, do the work of an evangelist. And so even if you're not wired or made to be an evangelist, what does God call us to do? It has been to pray for open doors as they creak open, pursue those. And at the right time, when somebody is really inviting you into these conversations, persuade and bring the gospel of Jesus Christ to them. Do you remember when you first trusted in Jesus? Do you remember the season? Maybe it's the moment. What I love about that, what
Speaker 1 00:37:44 I love about that season of that moment is that someone
Speaker 0 00:37:49 Somewhere had the courage and the love for you to gently and appropriately bring the gospel to you.
Speaker 1 00:37:58 But behind the scenes, what was the Lord? He was working, preparing, dismantling,
Speaker 0 00:38:04 Showing you the utter frailty of all the idols of this world happen at the right time and the right place. Some of you were older, some of you were kids. Some of you were teens. Some of you were in your sixties and seventies. I don't understand the Lord's timeframe, but he's
Speaker 2 00:38:19 He's, he has his own way of doing things.
Speaker 0 00:38:22 I want you to remember that moment. And that person has shared the gospel with you. Someone before them shared the gospel with them, some of it for them share the gospel with them. And this goes all the way back to Jesus. First disciples, he arms with a pure, simple gospel. He sends them out into the entire world in one, by one relationship by relationship person, by person, people here in the gospel and respond to a pure, simple gospel
Speaker 1 00:38:47 To trust in Jesus Christ. And
Speaker 0 00:38:50 In a few minutes, we're going to celebrate communion. Don't look down. They're not there at village churches. I know you're used to them. Some of your freaking out, I don't have communion under my chair. It's gonna be a little different today in a few minutes, we're gonna celebrate communion, but I want to, I just want to invite you to remember how gentle and gracious and patient God
Speaker 1 00:39:05 Was with you. And then I want
Speaker 0 00:39:08 You to think about the people in your life that you would love to see, come to know Jesus. And
Speaker 1 00:39:11 Remember that he is just as gracious and patient with them as well.
Speaker 0 00:39:16 And then as we think about communion, I want to draw your hearts and minds back to the cross because God loves you so much that he resolved our greatest issue, which is our sin, which has separated us from him. God has loved you so much that he gave Jesus and Jesus. His son willingly died on the cross and he took your punishment in your place. You will never have to bear how big Jesus board for you, if you ever have to wonder if it was accepted by God. If it was a legitimate payment, the father raised him from the dead, a declaration that this truly was the son of God and anybody who trusts in Christ can have eternal life. And we need to go back to it. I want you to remember that everything you have in Christ today is yours because someone was faithful and because Jesus paid the price for your sins.
Speaker 0 00:39:57 So now communion is a little bit different this morning. And, and if you, when you came in, there was a communion cups that you could get when you came in. But if you did not get them and you want to participate in communion with us, there are going to be cuffs in the back of the room. And so we're going to do is we're gonna have a ton of silence. It's just a time to reflect. And to remember your personal story of salvation and the cross and the time of science is done, and we're going to sing a song. And as we're singing the song, I want to encourage you to go to the back of the church and to grab the elements at the end of the song, we're going to partake of the elements together as a symbol of our unity in Christ.
Speaker 0 00:40:31 Some of you are visiting here. It's your first time at village, maybe second. And you don't know if you should be taking communion. Here's our rule. It doesn't matter where you go to church. Have you personally trusted in Jesus Christ? If you have made a decision to trust in Jesus, then we want to invite you to partake of communion with us. Some of you are here. You've never trusted in Jesus. And you're like, I'm not even a Christian. And I'm coming to a sermon where they're talking about sharing the gospel with me so that I come to Christ. But maybe today is the day where you're like, you know what? I know that I should have trusted in Christ a long time ago. And today's the day where I'm going to place my faith in Jesus. And if that is you today, when the elements come by or when you go get them, I want to encourage you to partake and let your partaking be your personal declaration that you believe in Jesus. So let's take a moment of silence. And again, as soon as the music starts, I want to invite you. If you don't have the elements yet, Tara, in the back, she has them and you can come grab them in the back and come back to your seat instead of autonomy.
