The Church of Eleven22 - Shoes of the Gospel of Peace: Stand Firm - Wk 4

Episode Date: August 4, 2024

We are at war. You can’t accomplish the right mission with the wrong pair of shoes. This week, Senior Pastor Josh Howerton of Lakepointe Church in Dallas, Texas, walks us through the Shoes of the Gospel of Peace. - The Church of Eleven22® is a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. Eleven22 is led by Pastor Joby Martin and based in Jacksonville, Florida, with multiple campuses throughout Jacksonville and the surrounding areas. To find out more about how God is moving at Eleven22, go to CoE22.com

Oh, man. Amen, amen, amen, amen. Thank you all. Thank you, 1122. Hey, I'll be honest, this is like a pretty significant moment for me. So I, you know, I get an incredible honor to be able to preach a few different places. Honestly, to shoot you straight, preaching at 1122, it carries a little more anticipation for me than as usual. I'll explain why that is here in a second. In fact, a little more anticipation to the point, I had somebody text me trying to encourage. encourage me, emphasis on trying on my way over here, and they just said, hey man, don't try to sound insightful, funny, or smart, just be you. Like, oh, okay, all right, that's great. That's it. And, but here's where this comes from is, I just, I want to take, if I get emotional, any point in the

message, it's going to be right here. Here's why this carries a lot of anticipation for me. So, obviously, I'm a preacher. About six years ago, I came to the realization I got to smoke what I said. I don't know if I should say that. Can I say that? Okay, I should smoke what I sell. So I listen to a, like every pre, my bad. What I do is every preacher needs a preacher. So every Monday, like here's what happens in my life is out of, you need to know this, out of every preacher in America, about six years ago, I was like, who am I going to make my preacher? And about six years ago, I decided to make Pastor Jobby Martin my preacher.

And so what I do, this is for real, hang on, hang on, you'll get in just a second. Here's what I do every Monday. I wake up every Monday. I take my kids to school. I get up, I usually walk down my little bass pond, I put earbuds in my ears, and I listen to you. In fact, right now, those of you guys who are joining in online or you're at a watch party, like, I'm usually right there with you. And I listen.

I'm down at the bass spot every week. I'm like, propitiation is the payment that satisfies, and condemnation is a builder's term, meaning unfit for you. So the Amish don't send a re-emails, and all the things. And, dude, for real, it's like, Monday is the day when it's like, for a preacher, I'm like, that's my worst day and every week I'm joining in with you like literally every Monday just getting the gospel over my heart now so let me do this just really fast I'm gonna get into it this not why you came here let me explain this so the Bible says that glory should only go to God but honor should go to anybody that it's to do and I had a friend in college dude's name was Matthew Matthew grew up in the 90s next to on old Hickory Lake around Nashville on a lake house next to a guy that he called uncle Johnny his whole life While he was growing up, Uncle Johnny would sit there in his little black t-shirt on his little rocking chair, a little beat-up guitar in his hand, and he tells the story he would throw a little baseball with them and tell, you know, goofy dad jokes and pluck out little songs.

And as they got older, Uncle Johnny eventually gave them his little black guitar, and it sat in the corner of his living room his whole life. So when he was growing up, like, they would literally take a pencil and just, like, strum these little guitar strings on this little black guitar from Uncle Johnny. Johnny. They were like bust into the black guitar running post routes with nerve footballs, all the things. It wasn't until 2003 that my buddy saw on the news that Uncle Johnny had died. And oh, by the way, that was Johnny Cash was his neighbor. If you are under the age of 35, Google Johnny Cash. That's a big deal. And so like all of his friends, here's what they were doing. They were going like,

bro you got johnny cash's guitar in the corner of your living you're running post routes into his guitar but here's what it happened think about this see what was novel to them had become normal to him and what was special to them had become standard to him and he failed to value or appreciate it because he had so much access to it hey church 1122 like your next door neighbor is johnny cash there is a move of God happening at 1122 here like y'all like this is a generational thing will you help me right now just honor pastor joby and gretchen for the move of God through their life and like man never do not ever take that for granted do not ever take that for granted thank you do not ever take that for granted all right man that's awesome but that's not why you came

let's get into the word if you got your bibles head over to romans actually go over to ephesion six and put a finger in Romans chapter 10. We're going to get at this day. We are in week four of a series that we are simply calling stand firm. Stand firm, Church of 1122, because this is war. You are in a war.

Now, I want to lead into the passage with this little example. Let me do this real fast. I love cruise ships. I've only been on cruise one time of my life because my wife gets motion sickness and so that's not Janice thing. What I love about cruises,

I love four things. cruises, what I love about them is they are perfectly tailored to your desires. The whole thing about a cruise is that, watch this, there's four things. Number one, it's designed to make you happy. The whole thing, designed to make you comfortable and happy. Number two is tailor made to your experience. So like, whatever you want, bro, you want to do like, you want to hit golf balls off the back neck into the ocean, that's all yours. You want to go to the pool, awesome. You want to do hot yoga, that's weird, but you can do it, whatever you want to do. All the things. Anything you want to do, you can do it because it's tailor-made to your experience.

Oh, and by the way, they have any activities for your liking, number three. If you want to go to this program, awesome. You want to stand-up comic? Great, you don't want that. You can go over here to the musical. All the activities you could possibly imagine just for you. And number four, there's an entire staff there that is devoted to serving your every need and comforting you, pampering you.

Now, check this out. A lot of people, what they do is when they walk into a church, they bring cruise ship expectations into what this should be a battleship reality. They walk into churches and they go like this. They go, man, the whole purpose of this church is, number one, is supposed to make me comfortable and happy. They think this is just a come and live thing. And oh, by the way, Jesus did that 10-10 life, man.

He wants you to come and experience life and to the full. but when we walk in here, there is a mission to accomplish. There's something that matters that's worth living and dying for. And when we walk in here, it doesn't exist to make me comfortable. People think that. Number two, they think the purpose of this thing is to tailor make it to their experience. So it's like, oh, I don't like that kind of music. I'll go to this church over here. I wish I had a pastor was a little more exegetical.

I'll go here. Oh, I don't like that. I'll go find a stand-up comic over here, whatever I need to do. or make it to their experience. Oh, and by the way, number four, they'll walk in and they think the purpose of the staff is just to make them comfortable and happy. Problem.

Jesus did not say, go and enjoy programs in all churches. He said, go and make disciples of all nations. And we have been given this commission as the people redeemed people of God to go. So the church is not a cruise ship to keep people entertained. It is a battleship with a mission to accomplish. I need you to get this mental image so that the rest of this sermon makes sense.

Imagine this. Imagine like somebody grabbed me, we're in Jacksonville so like this could actually happen. Imagine somebody grabbed me and they were like, hey, bro, come get on this ship with me. And I just assumed it was a ship, you know, a cruise ship. So I'm like, got the old Tommy Bahama thing on, a little weird, funny hat, you know, all the things

and the little linen pants stuff. But as I walk onto the cruise ship, I'm like walking up. And I'm like, man, interesting. instead of like carnival or Norwegian on the side of the boat, it says like U.S. Navy. I'm like, oh man, that's interesting. And then as I'm walking on, instead of like all the bright colors from a cruise ship, whole thing slate gray, then I get on and instead of people like walking up to the leaders of the ship and being like, excuse me, I'd like dinner in my room at seven, please make sure the

tea is hot. instead like the leaders are barking out very clear commands to the people under their care and they are quickly and obediently obey and all of a sudden it dawns on me I'm in cruise ship attire in a battleship reality it would look ridiculous in fact like let me just help you out this is how ridiculous it would look I just need you that's it man right there you see that that's amazing that right there that's amazing thank you chat GPT That's amazing, okay? So you just, like, get this, let that sink in.

Is it a lot of times what we do is we'll walk up into this thing in the middle of war with cruise ship expectations into a battleship reality. As we get into Ephesion 6 and Romans 10, here's the call that you have been given 1122. Stand firm. Stand firm, soldiers. We are in a war. Pastor Jobi began the series quoting John Piper by saying, life is war that's not all it is but it is always that and if you're like dropping into this

series for the first time at 1122 first of all welcome bro like welcome home let me just say that but number two you didn't understand what here's what we're talking about so heads up what i'm about to say is bad marketing but it's good preaching because my job is not to sell you something my job is to declare to you the eternal truth of the living god so check this out man If anybody ever tells you that becoming a Christian is your way to punch a ticket to a low-maintenance, hassle-free life, they are lying to you. They are lying to you. That's a lie. That's the lie.

Here's the truth. The birthmark of a believer is a bullseye. The second that you make peace with God, you have an enemy that declares war on you. Because when you become a Christian, you didn't just gain a heavenly father. you did, and that's awesome. But that's not all that happened. You didn't just gain a heavenly father. You gained a hellish enemy.

And when you make peace with God, he declares war on you. In fact, next time you read your Bible, read it through this lens, and you will see something you have never seen before. So yes, there's the Holy Spirit. All of us, we have the Holy Spirit. But the Bible also says that there are unholy spirits

that the Bible calls Satan and demons. And what you will see, and you may see this in your lifetime, in your life, and in your church. What you will see is that for every action of the Holy Spirit, there is an opposite reaction of unholy spirits the Bible calls demons. Next time you read, in fact, we're going to get there at a second. Next time you read the Book of Acts, watch through this lens. This right here, action, reaction.

This is why the pattern of the Book of Acts is this. Revival, riot. Revival, riot. Revival, riot. reaction, reaction. And hey, 1122, let me just say this. I pray to God this never happens. I pray for a grace on this church,

more than any church in America that's not my church. I pray for a grace on this church and protection from this. But you remember this someday if this ever happens if the bold ministry of the word of this church ever results in a riot around you. You remember this. You do not get to choose which aspects of the book of acts you experience. If you want revival, you've got to endure some riots.

You got to endure some of that. Now check this out. In the face of this opposition, when a riot comes, what are you called to do? Ephesion 615. Check this out. Stand firm, 1122. Stand firm like a soldier with your feet fitted with readiness that comes. I love this so much.

That comes from the gospel of peace. So when it says this, you need to know this. The Apostle Paul had something like very specific in mind. When he says he wants your feet fitted with a. a readiness, something specific that comes from the gospel of peace. In first century Rome, he would have been thinking about the footwear of a Roman soldier. I got a picture of this. This right here is called a Caligai.

I think is how you pronounce it. What you're seeing at the bottom there, it was a piece of footwear with essentially cleats, like little metal nubs or stubs. Now come back to me, the reason for that, the reason for that is it was like so that when a soldier would be on a battlefield so that he could get grip. with his feet to be able to propel forward into the battlefield. Some aspects of armor are defensive. Hey, I need protection.

Some aspects of armor footwear, they are offensive so that you can launch and attack. The reason that there is such an emphasis on footwear in Ephesion 6 is because, listen, if every other aspect of the armor is right, but the footwear is wrong. If the enemy can get you on the ground, you're finished. You're done. So this is why he says, stand firm with your feet fitted with this readiness. Now, I just like, I think we all get this?

Let me just like make this. So here's a deal. You cannot accomplish the right mission with the wrong footwear. Wrong shoes can ruin everything. Now, every lady at 1122 is like, amen. But I'm talking about, let me do this up for a second. So imagine, imagine, there's like some guy just finished. He graduates D1 college football.

he's going to the NFL, he's at the combine, he knows his entire life is dependent upon his 40 time. Like literally 22 years of his life have led up to this however many seconds his 40 time. Right before he's getting right around before, he's in the blocks, and somebody goes, hey bro, excuse me, here's why I need you to run in today and somebody hands him a pair of crocs. Get thee behind me, okay? Now, if that happened, dude would start sweating like Mike Tyson at a spelling bee. It would be over. That guy would like, he would not be able to think about anything.

The purpose of this, you cannot accomplish the right mission with the wrong shoes. What is the mission, 1122? Here's the mission. The mission is that you, every single one of you, will go into all the world and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. That's your applause moment right there. That's good. That's the mission right there is that we would all go, that we would all go. Now, here's what I'm going to do.

In order to get this, like get this into our hearts, I'm going to do two things. We're going to Romans 10, and then I'm going to get back to Luke 15, check this out. Here's what I'm going to do what I'm about to do, okay? Some people are stat people and some people are story people. Some people need premises. They're like logic folks. And some people need parables. They're like heart folks.

Give me a story. So what I'm going to do right now is I'm going to run through some logic in Romans 10. and for all you story people that are like, ah, the logic thing's not really my thing, hang on and come back to you in like three minutes. Okay, so here we go. Romans 10. Go over to Romans 10.

Now, quick disclaimer. Romans chapter 10 in particular, the entire book of Romans, it is a logical argument. The entire book is logical premises where this premise builds on this premise and builds on this premise and builds on this premise

all the way up to the glory of God. That's Roman. Romans chapter 10. Now, what I'm getting ready to do in verses 13 and on, if I was guest preaching at most churches, I would go, bro, it's a little rich, it's a little edgy, maybe a little too biblically technical. If I was at most churches, I probably wouldn't do this. But the church of 1122 is not most churches. And so we're just going to lean right into the word of God and go right into it. Here we go. So this is Romans chapter 13. Now hang on. Let me get a run and start. This is Romans chapter 10. Let me get a run and start. So Romans chapter 8 is all about the goodness

of God. Roman chapter 8 is like a rapid fire barrage of the love of the father. It begins with there is therefore, it begins with no condemnation and it ends with no separation. It's amazing, absolutely amazing. That's Romans 8. Romans 9 is not as much about the goodness of God. It transitions to the godness of god it's all about the sovereignty of god and salvation i'm gonna let pastor job be handled that at some of the some of the time let me just give you like here's a quick synopsis essentially what romans nine does is it says hey man if anybody makes it into heaven god gets all the glory if any of us end up in hell we deserve all the blame that's essentially roman's nine i just gave you romans nine and like two sentences that's roman nine but then so that's sovereignty so goodness of god

Godness of God. Romans 10 gets to our responsibility in making sure that people make it in to the kingdom in eternity. So Romans 9 begs the question, well, if God is sovereign over salvation, then what's our responsibility in seeing people saved? And it answered, now, if you start going like, oh, bro, how do you reconcile the sovereignty of God and human responsibility? Essentially, God's response to that in the Bible is, don't worry about it. How about like, you do you? and all do me, you stand on your business, I'm a stand on my business, you handle what I've called you to do. You've been called to go into all the world, okay. So Romans 10, here we go. Now, we got to run and start, here we are, Romans 10. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. This is not a rhetorical

question at all of our campuses. Are you and everyone? Then if you call on the name of the Lord, you will be saved. You will be saved. Now, really quick, let me just like, stand on. on this and preach a gospel for a second. Because I know, like, in fact, my waiter from Thursday night, I think is here this morning at the 9 a.m. service. You might have stumbled in, and you're like, man, everyone who calls from the name of the Lord will be saved, Josh, you don't know what I've done. Can I just, like, lean into this really quick?

Let me just gently say this. Who do you think you are? Are you so arrogant as to believe that you are better at sinning than he is at saving? man the problem isn't that i don't know what you've done the problem is that you don't know what he did see what you did or watch this what you are doing right now it may deserve condemnation but jesus christ came to earth to bear condemnation in your place by being condemned on a sinner's cross and because he did that there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in christ jesus so the bible says you hear it from your pastor all the time

is that if we, that God loved so he gave, and if you believe you will receive that eternal life. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Now watch this, though. There is a logical inference on the back end of this. It says, everyone who calls on the name will be saved, but check this out. Here's the implication.

No one who does not call on the name of the Lord will be saved. Now, like, just really honest, let me just say this, because right now that's like, especially if you're new to faith, you might bristle at that. Like, bro, are you kidding? Like, there's no way you can believe. Are you serious? And this, because this bucks up against us like the gospel of Oprah.

And what I mean by that is, like, our culture inundates you all the time in this mentality. It doesn't matter what you believe as long as you're sincere. That's what we say. Now, can I just say that's really stupid? And you already know that's really stupid. I just want to point this out. You already know that's really stupid. Guys, think about this.

Mass murderers are very sincere. People who strap bombs to the chest of their children and send them onto airplanes as terrorists. Very sincere. People who choose cats intentionally as pets, very sincere. All of them, very sincere. I'm feeling out the room is what I'm doing right now. So listen, you can be sincere and you can be sincerely wrong. So what I'm about to say, it's not very politically correct, but it is biblically correct.

And I'm assuming because you came to 1122, you want to hear what this book says, not what they're going to say on daytime TV. So Jesus, you would never even know Jesus' name if he came to earth and his message was, I am a way, a truth, and a life. And some people come to the Father also through me. But that's not what he said. He came saying, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and nobody comes to the Father except through me. And anyone who calls on that name will be saved, and that includes you. Now, what Paul does, watch this logical thing. So he goes, everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

And they ask a series of four logical questions. How then can they call on the one in whom, how then can they call on the one they have not believed in? You have to be aware of something to believe in it. how then can they call on the one whom they have not believed in next and how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard let me just say this because this answers another difficult question by the way i'm driving to the logical urgency of the mission so this answers the question hey what about the innocent guy on the island who never hears paul literally just addressed that he said how they're going to believe in some how they're going to call on somebody they've never heard of so when

somebody does this if you like wrestle with this this is what logicians call an impossible theoretical think about how the question is phrased so what about the innocent guy on the island who's never heard okay check this out i got great news for you the wrath of god has never fallen on an innocent person ever. Good news. Bad news. There are no innocent people. For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Okay. Best news. Best news. There is only one time in the Bible that the wrath of God fell on an innocent. And God did not do it to man. Man did it to God when he sent his son Jesus to the cross to become sin for you so that you could become the righteousness of God. That's the only time that's ever happened. So Paul says this. He goes,

How are they going to believe in the one of whom they have never heard? And how can they hear without somebody preaching to them? In other words, he's going, you're going to have to open up your mouth. This is a verbal message. You'll hear this sometimes. Like, there's kind of this mentality that like, hey, all we need to do as Christians is we just need to like do good works and be really nice to people and do a bunch of social justice stuff and that's going to get people in heaven. No, no, this is a verbal message. good works can bless somebody

is going to take good news to save somebody about a savior. So we're going to have to open our mouth what the Bible says. How are they going to believe in something they never heard and how are they going to hear it without you preaching?

And then it says, and how can they preach unless they are sent? Watch this. How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news. Now, this all builds to this. Here's where the logic builds.

Now check this out. This is really, really cool. A little Easter egg here. So when it says how beautiful the feet here's what's happening. This is literally where we get the word, the English word evangelist or evangelism. The word evangelist, it was originally a military term. It's a conjunction of two Greek words. The Greek prefix you meaning good or well, and then Anglos meaning message or messenger. An evangelist was literally a military position where like when somebody would send a patrol of troops,

a battalion of troops away to fight a battle. Watch this. Some of this is going to sound familiar. And they would go and do battle on somebody else's behalf. They would do all the activity while these people stood in passivity. And they went forward, I'm going to use a big theological word, they went forward as the federal head of these people on whose behalf they were fighting. What that means is that whatever the outcome of their battle was,

that outcome would get, watch this, imputed back to the people on behalf of whom they were fighting. So if they were victorious, then that victory would get imputed back on the women and children here. If they failed, then all the enemies would come back and their failure would get imputed back on the women and children, and the enemies would come back and steal, kill, and destroy everything. Watch this.

The evangelist was somebody whose feet were fitted with me. readiness after a battalion was victorious this dude would get sent back go back and bring good news to the city that victory has been accomplished that an imputation of victory is coming back to you that instead of you being stolen killed and destroyed you're going to have life and life evermore and the evangelist was the one check this out who would like think about this you're down at the bottom of the hill and you're like bro what do they do Did they win? Did they lose? Are we becoming slaves?

Are we going to be free? What's going to happen? And you would be watching the top of the hill. The evangelist was the good messenger coming over the hill to say, victory is accomplished. It's done. Something positive is getting imputed back to you. And here's why it says, how beautiful the feat of those who bring good news,

you could tell what kind of news they were bringing by how they ran. Now check this out, man. This is the position to which we have been called. 1122, we are not coming, fighting for victory. We are going from victory and declaring it to the world. That's what we're doing, man. Now, okay, that's the logic, that's the premise. Let me give the parable, okay?

So some of you're like, ah, logic, just give me something that makes me cry and laugh. Okay, here we go. So in Luke 15, Jesus encapsulates the heart of the father. the passion of the father for everybody everywhere to know. And you guys, he does these like this thing where he tells these three rapid fire stories, these parables to explain the heart of the father. And in the first story, we talk about one more here a lot at 1120. Who's the one person that's closest to you but farthest from God that you're going to see,

God's going to use you to read? So what Jesus did in Luke 15 is he told these three stories. They're awesome. In fact, the third one is generally known as the greatest story ever told in human history. So first story, he's like, man, there's a shepherd. He's got a hundred sheep. One of them leaves. That shepherd's going to leave the 99 to go find the one.

And check this out. For those of you who like, your one more is somebody real deep. It's like a son or a daughter that's prodigal. And it's like you would literally, you would give up your seat in heaven you feel like to get them. Check this out. What he's saying is 99 out of 100 sounds great until your one is the one that's lost. And then you'll do anything. you'll leave everybody just to get that one that's lost that's the first story the second story is it tells

this deal about a widow and she loses one coin and then she like tears up the whole house she's like I just she literally it's it's in the language she tears up the house to find this coin and his point is when you lose something you stop thinking about all the things that are found and you only think about the thing that's loss he's like that's what god's heart is like but then when he gets to the third one he tells this story about a father that loses a son that loses a kid. And he's like, that's what God's heart is. Now, can I just say this for all the parents all over campuses?

Y'all ever lost a kid before? That's a different ballgame. So I got my families over here in the front row. They came with me all the way from the Great Nation of Texas. They're here with me. I just want to, let me introduce them. So this is my family right here. Now, you may have noticed earlier.

So this is Janah Reddress. We got Eliana right here in the middle. And then Felicity over there on the right. Now, you may be going, well, but I, I thought earlier the intro video said that you had three kids. We do, by the way, please pray for the five-year-old kids ministry worker here at the San Pablo campus because my son Hudson is back there. We do have three kids, and here's the whole picture.

Let me just go to this, show the whole picture. There he is, over there, that's it. So that's like, that's very, hashtag Howardson, like, that's real. That's for real, for real. Now, what I want to do is let me just focus on my daughters really quick because this really revolves around my daughters. My daughters are the most precious, amazing kids in the entire world. I'm allowed to feel that way. But they also got some spunk, and that's going to matter here in a second. They got some spunk. In fact, this next picture is like my favorite picture of my two daughters.

Here's Elion and Felicity right there. That's it, man. We call that a mean mug. They got a mean mug. They got a mean mug. That's a mean mug. Now, the one on the right, this is Felicity. That's Felicity when she was just, you know, I don't know, about a year old. Now, here's what you need to know about Felicity, and she's going to get paid $5 for me telling this story, you got to Felicity. I have permission. So here's what you got to know about Felicity. Felicity was born with, come back to me on the camera, Felicity was born with a birth defect

called Pyriform Apertur stenosis. By the way, all of our kids obviously adopted. So right after they're adopted, we're like, okay, something's wrong. And Felicity, very frankly, she would be dead right now without modern medicine. So we figure out very quick like, oh man, like she can, she's literally choking every second she's awake. She's pale all this time. She was born with a birth defect called pyriform aperture stenosis.

That's where every part of her body grows except her nasal passages. So as she grew, she maintained the nasal passages the size of a newborn infant. So every few months, what they have to do is they have to go in and they have to like, it's a nasty procedure. They got to drill out the nasal cavities like literally. really with a drill and make them make them a little bigger. And because of that, like, you know, Felicity, she's just got the sweetest, she looks like a little baby doll and she, you know, and she's got the tenderness of one. Felicity's world is a little scary. When Felicity was like

three years old, she was terrified of Paw Patrol. We just couldn't do Paw Patrol. It couldn't do it. One time, she got a little older, she saw one part of a Hallmark movie and slept with the lights on for like three weeks. Hallmark movie. Okay. So that you, This matters to this story. So fast forward a little bit, and Felicity cannot yet swim, and we're at a water park with a bunch of people from my church. And while we're there, I lose Felicity, my responsibility, at the water park for about 30 minutes.

So if you've ever known what that's like, like, here's what I'm doing, is like, here's all I'm doing. Our church had rented out the whole water park. So it's just like 8,000 people from our church at a big water park. So we're there, and I'm just, like, dude, you know, as a dad, here's all I'm doing. I'm not thinking about anybody that's found. I'm thinking about one person this lost. And I'm walking around everywhere I'm going, like, I'm like, I'm like two years in to be in the pastor of my church. I'm walking around.

I'm like, have you seen my daughter, Felicity? I'm showing pictures. No, get out of my way. Have you seen Felicity? No, but pastor, can you, can you please? Can you pray with me? No, shut up. Get out of the way. I'm like, everywhere. I'm like, get out of the way, bro. And so here's what I'm thinking. Literally all I'm thinking is, me find my lost kid or get out of the way. And when God says in Luke 15 that his heart is like, I got a lost kid, what he's doing now is he's going, this world is filled with billions of lost kids of mine. Help me or get out of the way.

Help me or get, we got a mission to accomplish right now. Help me or get out of the way. That's what this is driving to. Now, here's what I want to do. I got this really deep conviction that every Christian everywhere, you want to want, to help people know Jesus. You want that. It's not that people don't want to, is that they don't know how to. So let me just land the plane here being very, very practical. I'm going to get super practical. I hope you're okay with this. I've got a deep conviction as a pastor that when somebody's drowning, they don't

want their Greek word for life jacket. They just want you to throw them one. So let me just throw you on. So let me do this real quick. A lot of people, they get mixed to the reason that they never get that feet fitted with a and they don't accomplish the mission is because they don't understand how most people get saved. So I got a little visual illustration. Let me just do this. And this just take a second.

So I need you to imagine this. The problem is most people, they think that everybody's conversion is like the apostle Paul, where it's like one minute, he's a religious terrorist, and then it's like you turn one page of the Bible and he's an apostle.

So it's like, I call it light switch salvations, light switch conversions. Jesus knocks him off his horse, boom, everything's different, done. You just need to know that's not really how most people get saved. I think a better analogy is the Apostle Peter. Like, have you ever thought about this? When was the moment of Peter's conversion?

Theologians debate this. When was the moment of people? Was it when Jesus was like, hey, bro, come follow me? Was it when he heard the sermon on the Mount and actually understood the logic of the gospel for the first time? was it later when he confessed that Jesus was the Christ? Was it even later when he demonstrated actual repentance? And Jesus did the feed my sheep, feed my sheep, feed my, when what?

We actually, so Peter's conversion, there was a moment in time when Peter was converted. But from a human perspective, it looked more like a dimmer switch than a light switch. If you don't understand that's how most people get saved. It's a process. you won't be effective in this. So here's what it looks like. All right, imagine that everybody you meet. So whoever you're one more is,

the person that's closest to you, but farthest from God. Imagine this is the point of conversion, zero steps away from Jesus. They are somewhere on this spectrum, I'm going to say zero to 10, steps away from Jesus. And you've got to figure out like where they are.

By the way, you just need to know this. I'll get to that in a second. So here's what happens, okay? is let's say somebody starts here at like step nine. What will happen is, this is why a lot of people never share their faith, is you think your job is to get them from here all the way to here in one conversation. And if you think your job is to do everything, you're going to realize you can't and you're going to not do anything.

Check this out. Your job is not to do everything in every conversation. Your job is just to move their number. Everywhere you go, feet fitted with a row. readiness everywhere I go. I just want to help them move their number. So here's how most people get saved. So it's like, all right, let's say they're here.

And they got a very specific stereotype of what Christians are like. So they're like, I hate those judgy, you know, arrogant people. And then they meet you. They have a positive interaction with a Christian. And they're like, oh, dude, that totally exploded my stereotypes. They're like, oh, huh, okay, that was awesome. Let's say, like, you're a Christian business person. This is literally a dude in my church.

Let's say you're a Christian business person. Let's say you're a lawyer and you help people at some of the hardest moments in their lives and they're in a tough moment. And at the end of the business meeting, you take off your hat and you just say, hey, I hope this doesn't feel inappropriate. But I'm a person of faith. I'm a Christian. Would you mind if I prayed with you just really quick? And then you pray a really short prayer, not a really long one because that's really awkward.

So you pray really. And then like you're just there for them in that moment and they're like, oh my gosh. that was, and they move like this. Here's a little, I'm going to give you a little hack. I'm trying to just be like super practical. I want, I want to get on Instagram soon and see that 1122 baptized over 3,000 people at a baptism Sunday. I'm going to be so excited.

I'm going to be so excited. So I'm just trying to help with this. Or here's a little hack. If you get, I call it getting three questions deep. Just try to get three questions deep of the lost person. Here's what I mean. Everybody in our culture has a bunch of acquaintances. Nobody has any friends.

nobody knows each other. So if you will do that, here's what I do. I just try to get three questions deep with, for instance, a waiter at a restaurant. Hey man, how was your day? Let's say they're here. Hey, man, how was your day? I was fine. Oh, dude. Hey, tell me about that. Just fine. Is everything okay? Yeah, you know, just having a little trouble with my son. Okay, I'm going to get three questions deep. Hey, man, do you mind me asking about your son? Oh, he's really struggling with an addiction right now. And then that's your spot. Hey, can I pray for you? You get three questions deep. You're going to be doing something nobody else in their life does, and you're going to, they're going to be like, oh my gosh, that was amazing. Or then you're in, they're like on A1A, wherever it is, I think,

and somebody cuts them off with a 1122 sticker on their truck, and they go back here, and that's like that kind of thing. Whatever it is. Keep putting those on your trucks. It's awesome. But here's what here. And then check this out. I'm trying to help you understand how this works. Listen, hey, 1120, here's why I'm doing this. Some of you have been Christians so long, you've forgotten what it likes to start to follow Jesus. That's why I'm doing this. That's why I'm doing this.

Or check this out. Evangelism is a team sport. Paul planted, Apollos watered, God gave the growth. So you might just get them here, but then you're going to invite them here. They're going to get in here. And then they're going to drive on campus. They're going to be like, oh, man, parking lot's like the hunger games. They'll go here, but then they'll come in and be like, oh, that was awesome.

So they'll do all that stuff. But then when they get in, there are some people who just have a crazy. evangelistic anointing. Like that guy could read a phone book to people and 300 people will get saved. That's what happened. So then they get in here and Pastor Jobi yells at him about how much Jesus loves them

and then it closes the deal. Did you see how that just worked? Does that mean, is this making sense to you? Now here's what, check this out. Here's an objection. What some people will do is you'll go, you won't do anything because you're like, but what if they ask a question I can't answer?

What do they go in on the dinosaurs and evolution and, you know, I don't know, what am I going to do? Okay, check this out. I'm going to help you right now and alleviate all that. Acts 1-8 says this. Check this out. It's on the screen. Acts 1-8 simply says, I'm going to read it from the screen because I'm lost in my nose.

Read it from the screen you got. But you were receiving of power when the Holy Spirit comes on you and you will be my, what's that word say? And you will be my, did you notice it didn't say lawyer? What a lot of people do is they confuse their spot in the courtroom. Listen, a lawyer's job is to present an air. tight case, a witness's job is just to share their side of the story. That's all you got to do, man. And Jesus is saying, if you'll just step forward with a spirit empowered witness, he's going, I'm going, I'm going, I'm going to be there in that moment and use it to move them towards me.

So like, let me, again, I promise I'm landing. Let me give you an example of what this actually looks like because some of you might have lost confidence. Okay. So years ago, Janet and I, Jan is in this service. Jan and I, we had a high school friend. I'm gonna call her Amanda. And she may be watching. Love you, Amanda. A high school friend named Amanda. Amanda was like a deconverted ex-vangelical. And for some reason, the Holy Spirit just like tattooed the salvation of Amanda on our souls. And she became our one more. Amanda was our one more for probably five, maybe six years. It's like, well, what would happen is, like, is a pastor, like, every time I would post something, she'd get on and talk about how stupid it was and regressive and, you know, all this stuff.

And I'd be, like, hiding Facebook comments all the time. And, you know, it's awkward. It was very awkward. So this is, but Jan and I were just like, we can't shake God's heart for Amanda. So we just decided we're going to love her with everything we got. So Ephesion 6 says, you need to be, have feet fitted with watch this readiness. how we do this in our life is we have a part of our budget it's called the blessings budget we are only allowed to use that money to bless people who don't know Jesus yet that's how we get ready to do this okay so we were like we're going to leverage it to bless Amanda so like she would have a

hard time she had some really hard times I won't go into that she had a hard time in her life she loved to read and we'd be like you know here's a hundred dollar Amazon gift card just from the Howard Tons. Or, you know, life was really busy for a season. And we were just like, hey, check your Venmo. That money is for a babysitter. Why don't you and your husband go out? You guys just have a good time. We got the kids. Bless y'all. She was going through a really tough time. We hopped on a Zoom. We were like, hey, I know you don't believe in this, but like, would you mind if we prayed with you? And she was like, of course, like all that stuff. One time she's going through really, really tough time and we had a we had a bottle of wine shipped to her house that may make me a bad pastor you're

going through a hard time here's some alcohol you know it's like bad movie but we were like hey we just want to hey we just want to bless you so after this so she's moving along this little spectrum here so eventually after all this um i get this message at 3 a.m on facebook and it just said this she said are you sitting down because i don't want you to hurt yourself my Netflix wouldn't connect so I listen to one of your sermons instead. Listen, man, I am totally okay coming in seconds to Netflix as long as I make it. I'm totally okay. So they started there.

So then we keep praying and we keep blessing and that kind of thing. Well, then about a month later, I'll wake up and it's again like 3 a.m. to this really long Facebook message. Now, again, I'm going to read it and you might be, that's a little long. Again, some of you have forgotten because you've been Christian so long what it's like to journey towards Jesus. So remember this. So this is what she said, okay? She said, hey, I woke up in the wee hours of the morning with horrible acid reflux. I went to the living room to try to get relief by sleeping in a recliner. Sleep wouldn't come. So I logged on to Facebook and I went to my atheist

group to see if anybody was active or if there were any new posts of things to read. Being Easter, the group was overflowing with memes mocking Jesus and Christianity. After 15 minutes or so of looking through him, I noticed I was having a very negative reaction to them and I closed the screen out and I tried to go to sleep again, but I still couldn't. I kept wondering why the post made me feel so awkward when I didn't particularly disagree with them. Another hour later, I realized it's because maybe I don't fully agree with them. Or at least I don't agree with the attitudes toward other beliefs. For five years, that group has been the place where I go to vent about the Christians in my life and get reassurance about my viewpoints. I started to wonder if being included in that group

is part of the reason I'm struggling with trying to change my thought process. We've been talking about how when you become a Christian, part of the whole thing is the renewing of your mind. So you start intentionally seeing things through a different lens. That's why she said that. Now go back. I hadn't quite finished yet. No, no, no, back, back.

The last one. I wasn't quite finished. Hang tight. It's going to be awesome. So I logged back into the group and I clicked the leave button. I'm not even sure why I feel the need to tell you about it, but I thought you'd like to know. So now I'm like, all right, yeah, I'm like, dude, I like, okay, so I like to come back to me on the camera.

So like, I like to fish, and so I'm like, oh man, I got one, you know. So then it was like just a couple weeks later, I usually a little insight into pastor's brains, I never post my own sermons. It just feels weird and cringy when pastors posts your pastor ever does that. I don't post my own sermon, feels weird. But I did this year because it was a real banger. Like I did this one time. I was like, that was amazing. I'm absolutely posting that sermon.

So I posted my Easter sermon that year, and right after I posted it, this little notification came up for Amanda, and this is what she said, she just put, there it is, saved, period. Now, come back to me on the camera. So she said that, and I'm like, are you kidding?

Like, she crossed the line of faith. She listened to sermon, gave her life to Christ. This amazing. She's been converted. I can't want. So I call her, I'm like, Amanda, tell me about your salvation. She's like, no, no, no, no. Like, saved as in I saved it to listen to later.

Like that's all I, that's, that's all I meant, you know, that's, now, they're like, hashtag pastor problems, you know, I'm like, okay, oh, all right, I got what you mean. Now, so this is all going on. We keep praying, we keep talking. Would y'all like to know how the story ends? Okay, welcome Amanda. I'm just teasing. I'm just, that's a joke. That's a joke.

No, that's a joke. Gotcha. Got you. Here's how the story did in. About a month later, she called my wife Jana and prayed with her to trust Christ on the phone but walk with them ever since. That's how it ended, okay?

Now listen, listen, man. Listen, listen, listen to me. Listen, the message works. The message works, y'all. Why? Because the gospel is the power of God unto salvation to anyone that will believe. The message works.

It works. Now, let me finish just giving you confidence because here's where some of you are right now. You're like, dude, I got this son, I got this daughter. And it's like, you're kind of going, man, the more I pray, it's like the worse it gets. And you feel like the Apostle Paul at the beginning of Romans 9 where it's like, man, I would like almost trade my seat in glory

if they would come home. And you've been like, you've been praying like after every service, you're like literally up on this altar begging God for the salvation of your child or your friend or your co-worker. And you're like, man, does it work? Does it work? Works. Do you guys remember what happened to the guy that wrote the verses I just read eight

years after he wrote those verses? So the Apostle Paul, and like just stay with me. And for the next 60 seconds, try to pretend you don't know how the story ends. So the Apostle Paul, after this, he spends his whole life like going around, plants these 13, 14 little churches all around the Pacific Rim. And then he gets imprisoned, goes to Rome, gets out of house arrest, and then he gets in prison again and he goes to Rome. And he gets put in this prison.

It's called the Mamertine Prison. I've been there. It's one of the most impactful places I've ever seen. The Mamertine prison is right off. it's essentially off the block of what's called the Roman Forum. And me and my wife Jana, we went there in 2017 and have you guys, have y'all ever seen the Roman Forum? Let me show you, I got a picture.

So this is a Roman forum. So try to imagine that you don't know how this story ends. So the Apostle Paul is in prison, it's to the left of this picture. He was imprisoned off to the left of this picture in Manor Team Prison. And what you're seeing right here, Roman Forum, You had the Temple of Tiberius on the left over there.

You got Nero's way, way, way up to the left. You can barely see it. It would have been Nero's Circus. By the way, check this. I'm skipping ahead. What you're looking at right here on the right side of this picture, that is the exact road that the Apostle Paul walked down on his last day of life. Church history tells us that one day when he was in the prison,

that he heard a bunch of guys come in, and then he saw what may have been the largest man he'd ever seen in his life. and that second he knew that would be his last day on earth. And they marched the Apostle Paul, the author of these words, stand firm. Stand firm, 1122.

They marched that guy down that road and when he got to the end of that road, they beheaded him. Now come back to me on the camera. I have to think that when Paul was walking that road, I think at least part of Paul was going like, what's going to happen? Like, did it work?

I played at these 14 churches, but they're just little house churches. Like, I keep having to encourage them, and they keep messing up. Like, did it work? Like, are they going to stand firm? And if you could go back to that moment, by the way, this is not original to me. Somebody else pointed this out. It's amazing. If you could go back to that moment and walk next to Paul on the way to his beheading, what

would you say? Here's what I would say. I would say, Paul, it worked. It worked. Hey, Paul, Paul, someday people from all over the world are going to come to this spot. And when they get here, they're not going to ask, where was Nero buried? They're not going to be asking, where is Tiberius' tomb? Paul, they're not going to ask, where's Caesar's body? Someday Paul, people from every tribe, tongue, nation, and language, they're going to come to this spot, and when they get here, they're going to be asking their tour guides, where was the apostle Paul imprisoned? And Paul, look up over there on Nero Circus. By the way, Nero Circus, what Paul would have seen, this is gross, but just, Nero Circus was where they literally impaled Christian. They would put them on a stake, Nero would,

and he would calibrate the circumference of the steak according to the body weight of the Christians so that their body slowly slid down the stake until it pierced their heart, and he would light them on fire as light for his parties. And I would say, Paul, check out there. You see over there, Nero Circus, you can smell the stench. Hey, Paul, someday all that's going to be gone,

and in that exact place is going to stand the largest church building in the world. St. Peter's Basilica, it worked. And then I want to say this, hey, Paul, Paul, listen. Someday, people all over the world, they're going to be naming their kids, Peter and Paul. And they're going to be naming their dogs, Caesar and Nero. Amazing. That's it, man.

That's it. I want to say Paul. Paul. I want to say Paul, it worked, man. And, hey, 1122, you know why it worked? Because 2,000 years ago, Jesus made a promise. You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you. And you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.

So let's get after. Let me pray for us. Father, thank you for this. I pray that you would attend with power of the word preached. I pray that you would be the preacher that I cannot be inside of the church. of men and women. And I pray that the power of the word would far exceed the giftedness of the minister. And so, Father, for anybody that is lost that needs to come home, I pray that you bring a home today. God, I pray that this would be a church that stands firm that assaults the throne of heaven

for the salvation of your lost children. And I pray that you would do it in great power and measure far beyond everything that we could ask, seek, or imagine. And I pray it in a crucified, risen name of Jesus. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.