The Church of Eleven22 - Wk 2: Good News

Episode Date: December 2, 2018

Who has God called you to bring the message of good news to this Christmas season? How am I to be a Messenger? 1.Share an invitation. John 1:43-49 2.Share the gospel. 1 Corinthians 15:1-3; John 3:16 3.Share your Story. John 9 4.Share a little more life. John 11:1-44

Amen. Church, ain't he good? Ain't he good? Ain't he good? Praise God. Praise God. For those of you standing up, you've been a part of what we've been doing over the last five weeks,

and I'm telling you, God is good. Amen. You guys can have a seat. If you were paying attention, and I know that you are, because you're like varsity because you're 1122, you see that there is a number that's up there that is missing. And the reason that that number is missing is because the 50, million, though it was a goal, and was an audacious goal, and it was a goal that made some of us

nervous, mostly me, like last week, I was sweating like a pagan, man, I'm telling you, I was like, come on, Jesus. All right, but anyway, but it was not our primary goal. Our primary goal is rooted in the shemah, that the Lord our God, the Lord is one, and you shall love the Lord of your God with all. And our primary goal is that every single one of us, every one of us that are a part of this movement, 1122, would wrestle with this fundamental question. is he the one thing that drives everything?

And for every one of us that would say, yeah, the Lord is the thing that drives everything in my life that we would love him with all. And so I have some other numbers that are really, really exciting for us as a church. In the One Initiative, we had 8,475 people make commitment to the One Initiative. Amen? That's a whole bunch, man. That is a whole bunch. 8,475 people.

And that's not quite to our goal, but it is really close. So if you haven't turned in a card, feel free too. It's in the seat back in front of you. We got a calculator in my office, okay? We can change that number in just a second. Also, of the 8,475, this is pretty exciting too. There are 2,941 first-time givers to the mission and ministry of the Church of 1122. Amen?

That's incredible. Now, I know there's a bunch of you in that number, and it's just the first time here, because you moved into town and you were faithful givers at another church. I'd bless you. But I also know of the 2941 that some of you are trusting God with your financial resources for the very first time in your life. And listen, you better hang on tight because God has blessings in store for you. And I'm not talking about cheap stuff like Cadillacs and Cotton Candy, okay? I'm talking about substantive things like that you will begin to trust God for your true contentment,

like a peace that surpasses all kinds of understanding that that's what you have in store for you. And now for our secondary goal, the total commitment and expected giving amount over the next two years to the one initiative is $52,843,9601. Amen. Amen. Now, honest to goodness, that $1 is just as important as that $52 million up at the front. And the reason is because this whole thing has been about one, that we are $1. One church called to reach one more and especially one more generation. And it's not to us. It's to the glory of the one true God because there is one name under heaven whereby we must be saved.

Amen? And so church, way to go. I'm proud of you. God is going to do incredible things in us and through us and to us. And so in order to kind of keep the momentum going and to kickstart this one initiative, we are asking today to be our first big give Sunday. Our first big give Sunday. So for everybody that's planning on giving, and particularly to the 8,000 plus people that made a commitment, we're asking you.

Pastor Stone told you about this last week. We're asking us that today that we would give first, we would give best, and we would get biggest. And so, like, my wife and I, Gretz and I prayed about it like crazy. And we brought the largest gift that we've ever brought. And we would ask you to do the same thing. We're not doing any kind of special offering or anything like that. We're just doing our normal deal like we do at the end. And a part of the reason is because we need to kick off some of the initial.

that we talked about. For instance, this month we are starting our very first service at Baker Correctional Institution. They are waiting on us, and so we need to get that going. That we need to go ahead and hire our special needs director, because there are a whole bunch of families out there with children with special needs, and we need to get that thing going so we can roll out the red carpet and welcome all to here to our church, because we're a movement for all people and all means all. The construction at our Fleming Island campus is already underway. And those dudes like to get paid. And so we need to pay those folks. And so all of those things matter like crazy. And so at the end of the service, we'll ask that you would give first and best

and biggest. Now, if you got your Bibles, go to Luke chapter two. We're going to dive into the second week of this series called Messengers. Pastor Stone got us going last week. And for the next the next four weeks, or from now until Christmas Eve Eve. So there's like the Eve of Christmas Eve, got that, that's on a Sunday. So from here to there, we are going to be dissecting this message that the angels gives to the shepherds in Luke chapter 2. Even if you're brand new to Bible study, you've heard this one. If you ever watch the Charlie Brown Christmas special, then you are very familiar with this passage. And so here we go.

Luke chapter 2 beginning of verse 8 says this, and in the same region, there were shepherds out in the feet. keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear, and the angel said to them, fear not. That's what Pastor Stone covered last week. For behold, I bring you good news. That's what we'll talk about this week. So you might want to underline it, highlight it, bite your finger, bleed on it, whatever it takes to pay attention to this part.

For behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior. who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you. You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly hosts praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest. And on earth, peace among those with whom he is pleased.

Amen. So we're going to talk about this message from this angel. Now, before I dig into it a little bit, we've got to clean up a little theology of angels here because especially around Christmas time people that don't believe in anything believe in angels, all right? And so and there's also some like good church-going people that have a real misunderstanding of who angels are and what they do and why they exist. And so to help you out on our website at c-o-e-2.com slash angel theology, each week we're going to be updating this blog that just answers a bunch of questions about what does the Bible say it about angels. But here's just a

couple of things. Number one, angels are real. Jesus. believed in them, the Bible talks about them, he encountered them for sure. Number two, you don't become an angel. You are not an angel. When you die, you don't grow wings. There's none of that sort of thing. There are two separately created and distinct entities. People don't become angels anymore than like a dead cat becomes a dog. That's just not how it works. Okay? They're just different. And angels are created by God, Colossus chapter 1. Sometimes they protect. Primarily, they worship Jesus and angels would never want to be worshiped. They would want us to worship Jesus. But most often in the scriptures, the number one job of an angel was to be a

messenger. In fact, in the book of Hebrews, the word Malak is the word that is translated angel. And it literally just means messenger. It wasn't even like a theological term. You could be like a, you could be like a government official on behalf of the king bringing a message. And you would be called a Malac or a messenger or an angel. Or in the New Testament, the word is Anglos, that's the Greek word, and it just means message. And so, this week, well, actually all throughout this series, we've got these angel wings that look like this little thing right here behind me. And what we want you to do is when the angel wings show up to your campus, I think they're at Arlington right now, and they'll kind of float around, not literally, but they'll figuratively float around all of our different campuses.

we want you to take a picture with your angel wings, not because you become an angel, but because the word means messenger, and in this sense, you could be someone's Christmas angel and bring good news. Now, I know there's not a grown man here. It was like, finally, I always wanted to be a Christmas angel. All right, that's not what we're talking about.

What we simply mean is that the angel said, behold, I bring good news. and in that sense of the word, you and I were called to be messengers, to bring good news to a lost and a hurting world. And so I want to spend the next 40 minutes telling you and telling me how we can be a messenger to bring good news. Now, here's what I know. Anytime a pastor does any kind of sermon on evangelism or witnessing or sharing your faith, there is a group of you that get very nervous. There's a group of you get very uncomfortable. You had these pushbacks kind of inside of you.

And part of the reason is some of you are like, I'm not going to be a witness because I have been witness to and it was awkward. All right? I was on my way to the Jags game and there was a guy with a bullhorn and a stick. And he was like, you're going to go to hell. It kind of feels like it by the fourth quarter, but no I'm not. I'm just going to the Jags game, all right? And so you kind of seen that or had somebody like some stranger accost you with a track or whatever, okay?

I'm not calling you to be a weirdo. Unless you're a weirdo, then no matter what you do is going to be weird. And you don't even know it. You're the happiest people on the planet, amen? And so, but then sometimes there's these, like, insecurities, and you're like, God, but what if people ask me questions and I don't know the answer? Or what do I talk about? And what if they ask me to explain to dinosaurs or whatever it is?

Sometimes people go this way. Or they think, well, I don't really know enough Bible. There are some of you that think, hey, listen, man, I love Jesus, and I show up to church every week, and I worship with one hand up and an eye closed, okay? I am into it. But it's not very politically correct these days to like lean over my cubicle and be like, hey, Carol, you know you're going to hell. You know, I can't really, I don't feel like I could do that.

And in fact, I've had some people say, well, Pastor, isn't that your job? I mean, what do we pay you to do? You only work like half a day a week. What are you doing with all your time? If you would do your job, then we wouldn't have to. Well, the reality is this, okay? I get it. I get all the kind of defenses.

The reality is Acts 1-8 says this. and you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you will be my witness. And then you list a bunch of places. Jerusalem, Judeas, Mary to the ends of the earth. So if you are a believer in Jesus, you will be a witness. You'll either be a faithful one or a crappy one. It's in the Greek.

But you will be a witness. And so what I want to do is talk about how you could be a witness. Because the key, the real question is this. Have you encountered Jesus in a witness? way that has changed your life. Have you encountered Jesus in a way that has changed your life? Because when you are infected with the gospel, then one of the symptoms of that gospel infection is it doesn't just get in you, it kind of gets on you and oozes out of you to the people around you. And then the next question is this, and do you love people and care where people are going to spend eternity? Because the reality is, is that everybody lives forever somewhere, and God has called us to be the of the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Behold, we bring good news to people. And honestly, in our day and age, it has been my experience and what I see is that when people genuinely share with people that they genuinely love, people generally receive that.

Now, Charles Spurgeon says it this way. He says, if sinners be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our dead bodies. I cannot wait to meet that guy. He says, and if they perish, let them perish with our arms wrapped about their knees, imploring them to stay. If hell must be filled, let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions and let not one go unwarned and unprayed for. He also says, every Christian is either a missionary or an imposter. It's just true. If we really believe that God who he says he is and if we believe that we owe our lives to Jesus for what he did on the cross then we owe it to every person who is yet to hear the news because good news is not good news if people don't hear the news and and I think a lot of us if you've been a Christian for a minute

you kind of know some of these things but I'm like you I often need to be reminded of what God has called us to do in regards to sharing our faith my buddy jd. Greer he's preached here several times and we'll do so again. He pastors the church in North Carolina and he was sharing this conversation that he had with a girl on an airplane. You see, every preacher, we have this little trick in order to share our faith on an airplane. You see, it's pretty easy. When I sit down, I fly all over the place. And so when I sit down in my seat, I just get out my Bible because I usually have work to do. And when the person sits next to me, I just ask this very simple question. I just say, so what do you for a living? And they say some stuff, right? And then what do they have to ask? Then they have to go,

and what do you do for a living? I go, oh, I'm the pastor of 1122, so you know we've got to talk about this, right? And if they don't want to talk about it and put their headphones on, see, I'm a big sovereign God and salvation kind of theology guy. So if they don't want to talk about it, I just understand that God has not elected them in that moment, and I can watch Netflix. We call that when, win, win, no problem, all right? So I'm good to go, but I kind of get it off my conscience, and there we go. So he says, this girl sits next to him, she was a graduate student at UNC, I think, and he does the deal, what do you do, what do you do? And they start talking about the gospel. And he says at one point she stops him in mid-conversation, and it's like, do you really believe this?

He's like, of course I believe it. And she goes, no, no, no. It doesn't sound like you believe it. It sounds like you're trying to win an argument. Do you really believe that what you're saying is actually true? And J.D. said he was kind of offended. I mean, he's the president of the Southern Baptist Convention. He wrote a book called The Gospel.

He's into it. You understand? Then this girl said to him, because I think if I believed, if I actually believe what you say you believe, I think I would change everything about my life to tell everybody in the world this news that you're sharing. I think I would change the way I spend my money. I think I would call all of my friends and family. I think I would change all of my vacation to beg of people that I love to love this God that supposedly loves us. I was convicted just by him sharing the story.

And so we are called, you and I are called, like these angels, not to win an argument, not to win a debate. because listen, man, I love to argue about the Bible. And you know what I, you know what's never happened to me? I have never intellectually convinced somebody to be a follower of Jesus, even though I love to get into kind of a theological MMA match because I know I'm going to win. Snap, tap or tap, baby, you're out of this thing, you understand? And I've never deconstructed somebody's worldview

and reconstructed a biblical worldview to talk about justice and forgiveness and those kind of things. And people go, go, golly, how do I sign up? Never, ever, ever. Because only God can change the human heart. but what we are called to do is to just share, just share our faith. Whenever God gives us the opportunity, and the way this starts is we start just by praying. We pray for an opportunity. God, would you give me a chance to share my faith?

And these are the kind of prayers that God wants to answer. So what does it look like to share your faith? I'm going to give you at least four different ones, and we're going to go all over the Bible, just so you'll see there's not like a one-stop shop for what it looks like to share your faith. So sometimes when we share our faith, really what we do is just share an invitation. We just share an invitation. In John chapter 1, verses 43 to 49, this is where Jesus is calling some of his first disciples, and here's what happens. John chapter 1 verse 43 says, in the next day, Jesus decided to go to Galilee.

And he found Philip and he said to him, follow me. Now, Philip was from Beth Sadah, the city of Andrew and Peter. and Philip found Nathaniel and said to him, we have found him of whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. And Nathaniel said to him, can anything good come out of Nazareth? Here's what he's saying, okay? We think he means like, like if we put this in today's terms and we would go to somebody,

be like, I have met someone very important from Palacca. You would go, are you being serious? Palacca. Okay. Now, I can say that because I'm from Dylan, right? And so the only good thing ever come out of Dylan is I-95. That's the fact, all right? And so we kind of think, like, anything from a little redneck town? No, no. What he's saying is this, is that Nathaniel's asking a theological question. Nathaniel knows the Old Testament. The Nathaniel knows that the son of David, the king, the Messiah is supposed to come from Bethlehem. He just didn't know all the details. And when he asked Philip this question, honestly, Philip doesn't know the answer. Philip replies, he's basically like, like, I'm not sure. But here's what he says. Philip said to him, come and see. Philip's going, ooh, I'm not sure.

Have you ever had a spiritual conversation with somebody? And they ask you stuff. And you're like, so what about people that never hear about Jesus or explain to dinosaurs or six days of creation or where'd Kane's wife come from? And you're like, I feel unprepared. Well, here's what Philip does. Philip goes, I don't know, bro. I don't, that's a good question.

Why don't you just come and see and check it out for yourself? because here's what I know. I think I found the one of whom the Bible calls the Messiah, the Savior, the anointed one. So why don't you just come and see you and check it out for yourself? 47. And here's why he invites him to come and see. Verse 47, Jesus saw Nathaniel coming towards him and said of him,

Behold an Israelite, indeed in whom there is no deceit. And Nathaniel said to him, how do you know me? And Jesus answered him, before Philip called you when you were under the fig tree I saw you. And this isn't like, he's not like scrolling his Instagram. This is like some real sovereign God stuff here. And Nathaniel answered him, Rabbi, you are the son of God. You are the king of Israel.

You see, here's what Philip was hoping for. Even though Philip could not answer Nathaniel's questions, Philip was saying this, hey, Nathaniel, why don't you just come and see and maybe you'll have the kind of experience with Jesus that I have had? And then Nathaniel shows up with a whole bunch of questions. By the way, did you notice Nathaniel's question doesn't even get answered? Jesus does not go through his lineage and where he came from. Here's what happens. This supernatural event happens in Nathaniel's life.

Maybe this has happened to you. Have you ever shown up to church or maybe you've brought a friend to church? And during the message, your friend leans over and is like, did you email him? I hear that all the time. Who told you about my life? bro, I don't know you. I'm just reading the Bible and telling you what I think it says, and then the Spirit of God can do a thing.

Have you ever heard, have you ever felt like a message was just for you? Anybody in here? All right? Yeah, you see, that's the Spirit of God. This is what sharing an invitation does. Hey, listen, I don't know. I know you got a lot of questions and know you got a lot going on in your life. Why don't you just come and see for yourself?

Because I think this Jesus is who he says he is. And when he died on the cross, it counted for you. And so I'm praying that this Christmas season that you would share your faith by sharing an invitation. In fact, we made it super easy. If you open me up your bulletin, you see we got a little third flap here this week. And it's perforated, which is Hebrew for, to tear away. And so you can tear this part off. And it kind of looks like a little, it looks like an advertiser to a tattoo parlor.

And that's awesome. But really all it is, it's just an invitation card for you to invite somebody to one of our Christmas Eve Eve services. Okay? Christmas Eve Eve. So Christmas Eve Eve is on a Sunday this year. So Christmas Eve, we're not doing services. We're doing Eve Eve. And here's what this means. It's got the time, it's got the place, it's got the date. We have 19 different services at four different locations. And what I do not want you to do is giving somebody a non-vitation. You know what a non-vitation is? Hey, you used to come to my church sometime. Well, look at your calendar. There is no sometime. If I ever tell you this, I hate that, I shouldn't tell you this. If I ever look at you and be like, yeah, Yeah, we should get together sometime. That means we're never going to hang out. All right, see you later. Because there's no some time.

If it's like next Tuesday at 8, that's the time. So here's what you're saying. Why don't we do this, okay? Come with us. Bring the kids. It's all going to be awesome. And then we'll go to lunch afterwards. We'll go to brunch afterwards.

We'll catch dinner before, whatever it is. This is just to partner with us as the church and say, hey, why don't you come and see? I'm going to preach the gospel. And you know what might happen? Maybe somebody like Nathaniel who has a whole bunch of questions that you've been praying for like crazy, maybe that person will bump into Jesus

and have their own encounter with him. So I'm praying that you'll share an invitation. Sometimes you share the whole gospel. Like you don't need me or Billy Graham CD or anything like that. Sometimes God gives you the opportunity to share the gospel. And if you've been a Christian for a minute, you should be able to articulate the gospel. The gospel is just a Greek word that means good news.

In order for it to be good, that means it enters into bad places. And the bad place that it enters into is our own life. Because the reality is this. We are not mistakeers in need of a life coach. We are sinners in need of a Savior. That's right. You and I are sinners.

And now I know you say, well, getting that a little offensive to call somebody a sinner? Yeah, and you know why you get offended? Because you're a prideful, egomaniac sinner. It's just true. Don't believe me. Let me ask you this. Is any of you claim to be perfect? Anybody know, anybody you know, go, yep, got it all together.

And I'm not even talking about the perfect law of God. We can't obey the perfect law of God. Heck, we can't even obey our own laws. You ever break a promise to yourself? Listen, we are one month away from you letting down yourself again next year. You're going to make so many New Year's resolutions. You fatty, you ain't going to do nothing. Me either.

But I got good news. But Jesus came to do for us what we couldn't do for. ourselves. And news, for something to be news, it has to happen, and you've got to tell somebody about it. Unreported news is not news. And in order for it to be good news, it's got to get there on time. And so I pray that you would have an opportunity to share the gospel. First Corinthians 15, 1 through 3, Paul lays out the gospel. He says this. Now, I would remind you brothers of the gospel, I preach to you in which you received, in which you understand, and by which you are being saved if you hold fast to the word that I preach to you unless you believe in vain, for I

delivered to you as of first importance. In other words, the gospel is of first importance. What I also receive from Christ. And now he's going to put the gospel in one run-on sentence. That Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scripture, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scripture. That is the gospel, the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Or you could say it this simply. The gospel is Jesus in our place. John 316 and 17, another explanation of the gospel.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. What John is saying here, it's this simple. God loved, so God gave. if we believe, which means trust, then we receive eternal life. Church, I'm praying.

I for sure am praying that you share an invitation, but I am also praying that those invitation conversations snowball up to an opportunity where you could just lay out the gospel of Jesus Christ. And when you bring your one more to church for the next time, you are bringing them as a brand new believer to be connected to their brand new faith family. So I pray that you'll share an invitation. Sometimes God allows us to share the gospel. And then sometimes we just share our story.

We just share our story. In John chapter 9, this is where we get this, is an example of it. In John chapter 9, it's the story of this blind man. And in the first seven verses or so, the disciples in Jesus walk upon this man. He's at this pool called Siloam. And the disciples kind of have a twisted theological viewpoint.

that was pretty prevalent in the first century. They believed that any kind of physical ailment was God's punishment because of their sin. And so the disciple says, Jesus, whose sin? This man or his parents said this man would be born blind. And Jesus goes, no, no, no, you're thinking about it totally wrong, that all of this is for the glory of God. And then Jesus walks up to the man, and he has a little conversation with him. And then the Bible says he spits on the ground and makes like a little spit mud pie

and wipes it on the dude's eyes. Do you know why he spit on the ground? I have no idea. And nobody else says either. That's how they sell commentaries. Just make up something and sell a book, okay? But, so he spits down the ground. He wipes it into the brother's eyes,

and then he says, go and wash. Well, of course. Who ain't going to go wash? You just spit my face. Of course, I'm going to go wash. He goes and he washes his face, and the pool that he washes in is called Siloam, which means scent.

It's not an accident. For the rest of the chapter, all this blind man does, is everybody that he bumps into, he just shares his story with him. See, because when he comes back, he can see, and people are talking about this. The neighbors are talking about this. The religious leaders are talking about this. If we pick it up in verse 8, it says this.

And the neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar were saying, is this not the man who used to sit and beg? Some says, it is he. Others said, no, but he is like him. And he kept saying, one of my favorite verses, I'm the man. All right, here's what he's saying. Some of you, this has happened to you, okay? You went to Fletcher High School, and you, 10 years ago, and you walked into 1122 service,

and in the back row, a guy used to run around with the beach at, okay, and you know what you were doing, and you look on the back row, and there's a dude, Fletcher grad, two hands up, worshiping, and you're like, is that him? It looks like him, but there's no way. And that brother would be like, I am the man, okay? that's what happened. This guys, people, listen man, when you get run over by the freight train of the gospel of Jesus Christ, it just changes stuff.

It just changes stuff. And people began to ask questions, and they begin to talk about him, and he goes, look, I am the man. And so they said to him, look, they're going to ask him questions. And they said, then how were your eyes open? And he answered, the man called Jesus, made some mud and anointed my eyes and said to me, go to Salome and wash. So I went and washed and received my sight. And they said to him, where is he?

And he said, I don't know. I don't know. For the rest of the chapter, by the way, this is called his testimony. This is his testimony. All he said, look, he can't, he doesn't know the or to salute us. He doesn't know about the end of times. He doesn't know if he's a pre-millennial dispensationalist or not. He doesn't know about the authority of scripture.

He doesn't know about the doctrine of election. He doesn't know any of these things. And they ask him these questions. And when he doesn't know, he's like, I'm not sure about that. But let me tell you what I am convinced of. I used to be blind. Jesus spit on the mud and put it in my eyes, and now I can see. And they're like, well, we've got another question.

He's like, I'm not sure about that. But let me go back to what I have told you before. I used to be blind. I met Jesus. Now I could see. Well, what day? Are you sure he did it? Well, hold on.

Let me just go over this again. Blind, Jesus, that's all I got. For 15 verses, this is all he does. The neighbors bring in the Pharisees. He goes over it with the Pharisees. In verse 24, I love this. Look at this.

He says, so for the second time, they called the man who had been blind, and they said to him, give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner. And he answered, look, whether he's a sinner, I don't know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see. And they said to him, what did he do to you? How did he open your eyes? He answers then. I have told you already. And you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? I love this part. Do you also want to become his disciple? He's like, oh, let me tell you to gospel.

All right? Wherever this guy goes, he just shares his faith, because I'm telling you, when the gospel gets in you, if it ruins and wrecks your life, it just can't stay in you. Jesus said, he was talking about something different, but Jesus said, out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. You know what this means? If Jesus's in your heart, then he's got to come out of your mouth with the people that you are around. So this guy just shares his story. And you know what they cannot argue with? They could argue religious rules. They could argue about this verse from Leviticus from the Old Testament. They could argue about all this, but they can't argue with this brother that used to be blind. And now he can see. I was going into my son. senior year of high school, I went to this FCA leadership camp at Epworth by the Sea in St.

Simon Island. And so there's all these like high school varsity athletes, there's all dude camp. And there were all of these like NFL players and college football players and that kind of stuff. And it was, I mean, the testosterone level was through the roof, okay? A lot of aggression there. It was awesome. And so I loved it. I'd been a Christian about a year, maybe. And so one night, kind of towards the end of camp, they get us together in like the cafeteria. worship thing, you know, and they show us this video. Incredibly well-done Christian entertainment in the 80s, if you can imagine. And it was called Without Reservation, okay?

And so this movie-ish was about these kids, and they were at this high school party, and then they get in the car to go home, and they get to a stop sign, and they kind of do the run around the car thing, everybody switched seats, they get back in. And as they're pulling away from the stop sign, this dump truck's like, boom, wipes them out. half them in the car are dead and half them are alive back at high school all right and so they're at the funeral service for the dead ones uh and and and heaven they're all in the dead ones are in heaven almost they're like in the waiting room of heaven seeing if they're in or not okay and apparently

the way heaven works is it's like checking into a holiday and express there's peter and he's behind this counter and he's got this computer and it was like huge and probably a hundred pound remember those it's crazy and so there's the apostle peter and people are waiting in line and and they would step up and they would say their name. And if they were in the Lamb's Book of Life, he would say, congratulations, you have a reservation. And these angelic beings would come down and take the person and put them on the stairway to heaven and waw!

To the penthouse they would go. It was awesome. And then the next guy would come up and he'd say his name. And the guy would check, he'd be like, I'm sorry, but you don't have a reservation. And the kid was like, no, but I went to youth group and I read my Bible. And they're like, whatever, we don't care. And then these demonic, like, they'd come out and they grabbed a God. and by the way he was in line with another kid that he died in that had in the car with and he had a reservation right so they'd get this kid and there's like this red cage elevator and they throw him in the elevator and as it's sinking into like this smoky darkness he goes why didn't you tell me into the movie and there we are

whoa this just got intense guess no dodge ball for this afternoon what are we doing here And then the mean dean, that's what we call it, like the main guy, the mean dean gets up there. And he's like, you want your friends to go to hell? I don't even think we have a choice. No, no. This is like, all right, we're going to door-to-door evangelism, St. Simon Island, Georgia. I'm like, all right, let's go. So they hand us the Roman road.

We got about 30 minutes to memorize the Roman road. The Roman road is four passages from the book of Romans that is not an order, which always bother me, because, you know, a road should be in order. But anyway, it's like the four holy hops to heaven. Romans 323, 623, 5, 8, 10, 9. I memorized them back then. And what we're supposed to do is we're going to memorize these, and then we're going to go out in teams all over St. Simon Island.

We're going to knock on doors, and they had given us this survey. You take this survey, and you ask a few questions about their spiritual condition. You ask, at one point, you ask, like, do you go to church? And if you felt like, you know, there was some mojo here, then you were supposed to say this. This was the line to switch into this question where you could share the Roman road. can I tell you about the peace I found in Jesus Christ? That's what you're supposed to say. And I'm like, all right, let's go.

Now, I got to tell you, I was geared up for this. I was ready. First of all, I see everything as a competition, okay? Like in my house, I don't let my kids beat me in checkers. You got to earn your win. We're not communist. We don't just give stuff away. You understand?

We earn, all right? And so I was geared up and I was ready for this. I see everything as a competition. I looked at our team. I was like, we're going first. We're going to get the most, and we're going to be first back for lunch, all right? And I was pretty aggressive in sharing my face. imagine that like I just I was radically saved at this camp and I mean radically saved and so I'd led so

many people towards hell the first few years of high school I was committed that last year I was going to try to lead as many away as good in fact when I first got saved I went out and got just Christian t-shirts it was like a new thing in the 80s I had one I had one that said the Lord's gym and Jesus was like all jacked like doing a push up with the cross I remember I had it had one that said this blood's for you look like Budweiser but it said this bloods for you look like Budweiser but it said this buds for you. I'd just wear them to school and be like, what? What?

I would, man. It was not good. I had one that said, real men love Jesus. I was 16. Anyway, so I was pretty aggressive. So I was ready for this thing. In fact, my senior year, we had this foreign exchange student from Germany, this girl, and she shows up at our school.

She had never heard of Jesus. I mean, she'd heard of him, but she was lost. And she was cute. And so I felt like God was calling me. to evangelists. So I ask her out on a date. And so we go out of this place, man. And I'm geared. I'm going to talk about Jesus with her. And so we sit down at this table, super fancy. She ordered something. And I didn't have enough money to order. So I was like, I'm fasting. So I just, uh, now kind of the world I grew up in in my youth group days and stuff, the question that we were taught to ask people

to get into a spiritual conversation is this question. If you were to die tonight and you were standing before God and he said, why would I let you in my heaven? What would you Now that presumes that people know about heaven and hell and judgment and grace. And, you know, this girl had heard of Jesus from Germany. She literally had never touched a Bible in her whole life, had never been inside of a church, not even for a wedding or a funeral. She had no, like, no context for any of this at all. And as soon as she put her fork down from her first bite, I said,

So if you were to die tonight, what? And she's like, what is going on tonight that I might not make it past dinner, you know? It's not a great question on your first date to ask. So, and then wherever I tried to start, she didn't even have contacts, you understand? And so she was like, why don't you just tell me from the beginning what you believe? Now, listen, I was so ill-prepared. I feel like I could do a decent job now. Then I'd been a Christian a minute.

I was just hanging around with football Christians. We were idiots, all right? And so I was like, all right, from the beginning. All right, so in the beginning, there was nothing. And then God created light, and there was still nothing, but you could see it. And then there's some naked people, and there's an apple. And then there's a snake, I think. And then there's like, let my people go.

And then there's a temple, a lot of dead lambs, and then prophets like crazy. And then there was Christmas, and then Jesus miracles and walked on water. And then he died on the cross for your sins because it is finished. On the third day, it was resurrected. He floated up to heaven, and one day he's coming back on a horse. She's like, you believe that? Yeah, I do. You want to come?

So that's what I had, okay? So we're getting in our van. I was like, man, I felt equipped. I had three and a half verses out of the Book of Romans, man. And so we go up to the first house. And I told the guys, don't, y'all don't talk, just stand behind me, okay? And so I have my clipboard, I have it a little thing, and I knock on the door, and this lady opens the door. And she's, like, frazzled and frantic, and she's kind of panicked looking.

And it was like an underground daycare. Like, you know, there's no signs and stuff, but there's, like, 12 kids. And they're screaming and throwing applesauce, and it's just crazy. And I'm asking under these questions, and then I say, can I tell you about the piece of I found in Jesus Christ. She was like, yes, yes. I was like, sweet. So literally, I went through the Roman road, we bowed her head.

She prayed the sinner's prayer. She even cried so you know it has to be real. And so I was like, boom, man, high-fired my team, one for one. We got this, man, no problem. We get up to the second house. I'm like, y'all stay in the van because you slow me down. I got it, okay? So I go to the next door, knock on the door.

I got my survey. I'm ready to go. I'm one for one, man. And so this guy opens the door. It's St. Simon. 100 degrees, July. He's dressed from like neck to ankles in black holding a cat. So you know he's evil.

I mean, you know right there. You know, I do my little questions. He's like, why don't you come on in the house? Well, of course I will. I'm 16. I got three and a half verses out of Romans. Let's do this. I was like, be right back, all right?

I sit down in his library. And he's like his phone call or something has to go away for a second. It comes back. And I notice he's got all these books. they'll have like religious titles. And I've done a few of the questions with him. He comes back and sits down and I'm just like, hey man, I was looking at your titles of your books. Are you like a professor?

Or what do you do? I see a bunch of church and that kind of stuff. And he goes, I'm an author and I write books to disprove the validity of the Bible. Can I tell you about the piece I found in Jesus Christ? No? You've heard of him? Huh. Y'all, for the next 30 minutes, he almost like unsaved me.

Like, I know you can't do that, but I'm telling you. I remember thinking, how bad is this going to look for our camp if we lost an evangelist? I mean, this isn't good. Everything I said, he had all these reasons and he had all this stuff about why I was absolutely wrong. And it just got to the point where I was like, look, Mr. It is obvious that you know a lot more about the Bible than I do. All I can tell you is this. My life was heading in a really bad direction.

And I met Jesus, and he changed everything. And the guy says to me this, well, no one can argue with that. You see, sometimes, man, you can argue about the Bible, you can argue about all kinds of theological ideas. But you can't argue with a change life. And sometimes when you, when God gives you the opportunity to share your faith, maybe you'll just get the opportunity just to share your story. You should think that through. This is what my life used to be like. I encountered Jesus.

It could have been an in-the-minute thing or it could have been over a long period of time and this is what my life is like now. So I pray that you will share your faith by sharing an invitation, sharing your story, sharing the gospel. And then I know some people are like, pastor, listen, I've done that and done that and done that. And it just goes nowhere, nowhere, nowhere, then sometimes what we're called to do when we share our faith is just share a little more life together, just to share one more cup of coffee, just to share in somebody's burdens. Like maybe you invite somebody to church, you try to get into spiritual conversations, it won't happen at all. But I'm telling you, you could say, hey man, can I pray for you?

Sometimes you just need to share some tears together. Because let me tell you what will happen. This person that you think is impossible for God to save, let me tell you what will happen. They will get to the point in their life where the wheels come falling off and let me promise you who they will run to. They will run to the person who has been praying for them. You see, in John chapter 11, one of Jesus' friends dies, Lazarus. and Lazarus has two sisters, Mary and Martha. And Jesus shows up four days later to console and be with

and just spend some life with Mary and Martha. Martha is a type A driven person. She meets him out on the road and demands answers. And Jesus gives her all the theological information that she needs to know. He says, I am the resurrection and the life and all will be raised on the last days. But when he gets to the house, he bumps into Mary. Mary's kind of a feeler, and he never explains anything to Mary. In fact, look at this.

It says, this is John chapter 11. It says, now, when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, Lord, if you'd been here, my brother would not have died. And when Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. And he said, where have you laid him? and they said to him, Lord, come and see the very famous verse, shortest verse in the Bible, and Jesus wept.

So the Jews said, see how he loved him. Listen, when we share our faith, man, these are people, not projects. Do you love God? Do you love people? Then you should look for an opportunity to share life together, to share another cup of coffee,

to share burdens, to share pain, to share tears, and pray like crazy that God would give us an opportunity to share an invitation, to share the gospel, to share our story. Here's the point of the whole thing. Who has God called you to bring the message of good news to this Christmas season? That just like the angel showed up to the shepherds and says, Behold, I bring you good news.

Do you realize in somebody's life this Christmas you could be that kind of messenger or angel? That you would show up and say, behold, I bring you good news. So who is that person that you think God may have put in your life for that reason? And I'm going to tell you, if your first thought is, no one comes in mind, there should be a big old uh-oh on the dashboard of your spiritual life. Because there is no way we could be living on mission for God if we're only surrounded by people that are like us. And so I pray that God, maybe he will give you an opportunity to share the gospel the whole thing. Maybe he gives you an opportunity to share your story. And what you have to do is you've got to listen for cues.

I promise, if you start praying for this, God, would you? you give me an opportunity to share my faith with somebody from work, and you will walk into work different. You just will. And then you've got to listen for cues. When somebody says something to you like this, especially during the holiday season, and they say, you seem so content. And you're like, it's crazy you would say that, because what they're inviting you to do is share how in the world do you have this peace that transcends all understanding? You get to share your story. Somebody looks at you and you like, how come everybody else gets so frazzled? Nothing frazzles you. You're like, I can't believe you would say that because let me tell you, my whole life I was frazzled by everything.

And then I met Jesus and if you experienced anything like contentment, then it's because he's doing a thing in me. Or maybe there's some terrible things going on in your life and some friend leans into you and goes, I don't know how you're making it. And it's an opportunity for you to share your story. Apart from Jesus, I don't think I would make it. Can I just tell you about what he's done in my life. Or for some of you, the cue that you need to pay attention to is you're going to do a good job with this invitation. You're going to show up and be like, hey, bro, will you go to church with me? And they're going to go, you go to church? You're worse than I am. You're like, you're so right. And that's why I need a savior, not just a life coach. It's that kind of

cue to share your story. Or maybe you'll share an invitation. And you know what might happen? you know what might happen you have no idea you have no idea i got some friends in mine lou and step and a year ago or something i was doing a message on one more and i said i dare you to imagine the person that you think is the least savable person that you know and so lou and step get together and they write down on their little list uncle brian and they start praying for uncle brian and praying for uncle brian he used to build hot rods out in in uh california okay And guess what happened? You know the video that we showed?

Did you see the brother that it started out and the dude's got a tattoo from his neck to his knuckles? He's sitting right here on the front row. And do you know what God did in that dude's life? I mean, think about it. He's showing up to a couple churches in his life, and they looked at his tats and I'm like, what? He shows up at 1122, and everybody's like,

that's so awesome. Would you do that? Okay? I mean, it's just cool. It's just cool. So if you would ask Lou and Steph a year ago, they would say it's impossible it's impossible we've shared we've invited and da da da da da and then they started praying like crazy and then last year they signed him up for an encounter trip to go hunting with me and a bunch of dudes

nobody presented nobody even he just would give him a Bible in a journal and stick him in a tree stand he's a good bowhunter we're sitting at lunch one day in september october this year and we're just talking through what the journal says and brian leans over to me and elder lars peterson and says you know this like relationship with Jesus stuff you're talking about, I don't have one of those. So Petey took him out on the porch and he got one of those. Amen. Amen. Why? Because somebody just shared their faith. Every time we talk about sharing our faith, my mind always goes to the person that led me to Jesus. The person that told me about Jesus was not a preacher. They weren't ordained. They weren't an evangelist. as a JV football coach.

And I think about Coach Lee all the time. What if Coach Lee would have thought, I am way too busy to spend any time with this little reject high school kid? He's not even a very good football player. Or what if you thought, you know what, that's a total waste of time. He is too far gone.

Look at the path that he is on. Or what if he would have just decided maybe something else in his life would have become too important in that moment for him to share his faith with me? I can't imagine where my life would be. And little did he know. Little did he know that not only God would save me,

but would call me in the ministry and bring a bunch of us together to plant a church right here in Jacksonville that is at four locations right now. It'll be at seven by the end of next year. Little did he know that what he did all the way back in the 80s with a little kid with a mullet in Venezuela, South Carolina, that God would use that so that 1,200 plus people would surrender. their life the Lordship of Christ this year. Now let me ask you, do you have any idea what hangs in the balance this Christmas season

as God gives you an opportunity to share your faith? See, the reality is you have no idea. You have no idea how many marriages may one day be reconciled because you shared your story one time. You have no idea the generational sin that could be stopped in a family for generations. to come because you shared the gospel with somebody. You have no idea how many churches could be planted in unreached people groups around the world over the next hundred years because you shared one invitation to a Christmas Eve Eve service. You don't even know what Christmas Eve Eve means, but you have no idea what hangs in the balance. So let me ask you, who's that one person

or who are those people that God has called you to bring the message of the good news this Christmas season? I am praying for you. I am praying for you. I am praying that you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you will be a witness. In whatever way God has wired you and whatever circumstance you find yourself in, you will be a witness. in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria to the ends of the year. Let me pray for you. Our good and gracious Heavenly Father, God, I thank you for the faithfulness of men like Coach Bull Lee

that would be so bold to share his faith with a kid like me. And, God, I pray for the men and women in this place. Lord, I pray that you would bring to mind that one more and that we would be desperate in prayer to you that you would seek and save that which is lost. God, I thank you for the testimony of men like Uncle Brian. God, I thank you, and I praise you for the immeasurably more than we can ever hope or imagine kind of things that you're going to do through his life.

Lord, I pray that this Christmas season, and all the hustle and the bustle and all the movies and all the parties, all the fun stuff, all the disappointments, all the stress, in all of that, that we would keep our hearts and our ears tuned into you. and that when you give us that opportunity, that we would share our faith, that we would share the gospel, that we would share an invitation, we'd share our story, or maybe we'd just share another cup of coffee, because you love these folks too. We pray it in Jesus' name. Amen.