1 00:00:01,560 --> 00:00:04,040 Hey everybody, this is Pastor John Ewart from Englewood 2 00:00:04,040 --> 00:00:05,920 Baptist Church in Rocky Mountain, North Carolina. 3 00:00:05,920 --> 00:00:08,119 Thank you so much for tuning into our podcast. 4 00:00:08,360 --> 00:00:11,320 You're going to hear from God today as we share from his word 5 00:00:11,560 --> 00:00:15,120 about important issues facing your life that can guide you 6 00:00:15,120 --> 00:00:22,120 according to the Bible. And so I do welcome you who are 7 00:00:22,120 --> 00:00:25,320 here in the session with me live. 8 00:00:25,320 --> 00:00:27,640 I also want to thank those who are listening online. 9 00:00:28,080 --> 00:00:30,880 One of the things that we're always doing is we're recording 10 00:00:30,880 --> 00:00:34,760 this and putting these out as podcasts for folks who are in 11 00:00:34,760 --> 00:00:37,360 our choir and for folks who are serving all over the building 12 00:00:37,360 --> 00:00:38,640 right now. For those of you who may not 13 00:00:38,640 --> 00:00:41,880 know, maybe our guests, we have a whole bunch of students in 14 00:00:41,880 --> 00:00:44,360 another place and a whole bunch of children in another place and 15 00:00:44,360 --> 00:00:45,840 a whole bunch of choir people in another place. 16 00:00:45,840 --> 00:00:48,280 So we're just thankful that you are in here. 17 00:00:48,800 --> 00:00:51,760 And so we want to make sure they have the opportunity to hear 18 00:00:51,760 --> 00:00:53,840 this, and they do. And then others are also 19 00:00:53,840 --> 00:00:56,280 listening to this and some of you may want to replay this 20 00:00:56,280 --> 00:00:59,440 later, but for those who missed the last session, I hope that 21 00:00:59,440 --> 00:01:00,800 you'll go back and listen to that. 22 00:01:00,800 --> 00:01:04,120 You can listen to that online and to and to just get the 23 00:01:04,120 --> 00:01:06,840 theological and biblical foundations that we were talking 24 00:01:06,840 --> 00:01:10,240 about in evangelism. Because remember, our goal here 25 00:01:10,960 --> 00:01:13,920 is not necessarily to teach you how to do evangelism. 26 00:01:13,920 --> 00:01:16,960 Our goal is to help us all to become evangelistic. 27 00:01:17,400 --> 00:01:19,200 We want this to be a state of being. 28 00:01:19,200 --> 00:01:23,040 This is a discipleship essential that we're talking about as we 29 00:01:23,040 --> 00:01:28,800 walk through engaging and living out evangelism with boldness and 30 00:01:28,800 --> 00:01:30,480 love. So we're so thankful that you're 31 00:01:30,480 --> 00:01:33,120 here. So as we talk about that, one of 32 00:01:33,120 --> 00:01:36,960 the seven essentials of discipleship, Please note that 33 00:01:37,200 --> 00:01:38,520 that that's what we're trying to do here. 34 00:01:38,680 --> 00:01:40,680 The other thing we're getting ready to do just this so you'll 35 00:01:40,680 --> 00:01:44,240 know is where we're going to be recording several podcasts on 36 00:01:44,240 --> 00:01:46,520 the 7 essentials. Dr. Danny Aikens going to be 37 00:01:46,520 --> 00:01:48,400 joining us for some of those. Other special guests will be 38 00:01:48,400 --> 00:01:51,320 joining us for some of those. And so be watching for those 39 00:01:51,320 --> 00:01:55,800 things online as well as we talked through several of those 40 00:01:55,800 --> 00:01:58,840 pieces down the road. So just so you'll know, and 41 00:01:58,840 --> 00:02:00,360 tonight we're going to talk about prayer. 42 00:02:00,360 --> 00:02:02,800 We're going to talk about barriers, which is something 43 00:02:02,800 --> 00:02:06,480 that you may not have talked about specifically or not. 44 00:02:06,480 --> 00:02:09,440 There are barriers as to why people don't share their faith. 45 00:02:09,440 --> 00:02:11,800 We need to talk about that. Help you identify. 46 00:02:11,800 --> 00:02:13,640 Here's probably my greatest barrier. 47 00:02:13,880 --> 00:02:15,520 Here's the one I see in other people. 48 00:02:15,880 --> 00:02:18,440 But we're also going to talk about how to develop intentional 49 00:02:18,440 --> 00:02:20,920 relationships. And what we're trying to do is 50 00:02:20,920 --> 00:02:24,040 stair step this conversation. So we start off with some 51 00:02:24,040 --> 00:02:26,680 biblical and theological foundation, but now we're going 52 00:02:26,680 --> 00:02:29,480 to stair step. We're kind of in pre evangelism, 53 00:02:29,520 --> 00:02:31,600 so to speak. This is these are things that 54 00:02:31,600 --> 00:02:34,400 we'll do before we actually share the gospel with somebody. 55 00:02:34,720 --> 00:02:36,880 And then we're going to eventually, you know, quickly 56 00:02:36,880 --> 00:02:39,400 get to sharing the gospel. And then we'll even talk a 57 00:02:39,400 --> 00:02:40,920 little bit about post evangelism. 58 00:02:40,920 --> 00:02:43,840 But but to talk about what are some of the ways for me to 59 00:02:43,840 --> 00:02:47,040 actually develop intentional relationships with lost people 60 00:02:47,040 --> 00:02:49,200 in my life? And you may say, well, I don't 61 00:02:49,200 --> 00:02:50,680 know any lost people. Well, you do. 62 00:02:50,680 --> 00:02:52,840 You just don't know whether they are or not. 63 00:02:53,400 --> 00:02:57,520 And, and, and also some of you know, you know, lost people, but 64 00:02:57,520 --> 00:03:00,000 you're not really sure. How do I steer this relationship 65 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:03,280 into a place to where the opportunity to actually talk 66 00:03:03,280 --> 00:03:06,680 about the gospel or talk about Jesus will happen? 67 00:03:06,680 --> 00:03:10,680 So next session is kind of the big turning point for a lot of 68 00:03:10,680 --> 00:03:13,120 people. Not tonight, but don't leave yet 69 00:03:13,760 --> 00:03:16,160 and don't turn this off. You need this part first. 70 00:03:16,160 --> 00:03:20,440 These are stair stepping, but the the next session, and so 71 00:03:20,440 --> 00:03:22,520 you'll look forward to this is we're actually going to talk 72 00:03:22,520 --> 00:03:25,720 about how do I turn that conversation from turning 73 00:03:25,880 --> 00:03:28,800 talking about sports or talking about the weather to talking 74 00:03:28,800 --> 00:03:30,800 about Jesus. And that's the turning point for 75 00:03:30,800 --> 00:03:33,960 a lot of people. A lot of you would know some 76 00:03:33,960 --> 00:03:36,760 gospel content you could share and we'll talk a lot more about 77 00:03:36,760 --> 00:03:39,040 that later. But how do I actually get to 78 00:03:39,040 --> 00:03:41,680 that point? How do I, how do I get over the 79 00:03:41,680 --> 00:03:47,720 hurdles of fear and weirdness and awkwardness to talk about 80 00:03:47,920 --> 00:03:49,920 spiritual things? And so that'll be the next 81 00:03:49,920 --> 00:03:51,360 session. But tonight, let's continue to 82 00:03:51,360 --> 00:03:54,880 lay some foundations as we talk about some of these crucial 83 00:03:54,880 --> 00:03:58,640 issues of prayer and, and, and relationship. 84 00:03:58,920 --> 00:04:01,160 So as we move through this, let's talk about this. 85 00:04:01,160 --> 00:04:03,720 So, so let's talk about and answer a couple questions. 86 00:04:03,720 --> 00:04:06,200 We need to talk a little bit about the programmatic approach 87 00:04:06,200 --> 00:04:11,440 to evangelism versus a lifestyle approach to evangelism because 88 00:04:11,440 --> 00:04:16,920 over the years what we have seen and I can, I can talk for about 89 00:04:16,920 --> 00:04:20,959 6 hours on the history of evangelism, but I cut that part 90 00:04:20,959 --> 00:04:22,680 out for you. You all say Amen. 91 00:04:24,000 --> 00:04:27,280 But if you were in one of my classes, we would do the six 92 00:04:27,280 --> 00:04:31,600 hours and I would talk about the development of evangelistic 93 00:04:31,960 --> 00:04:35,720 methodology and, and life over the years in the church and how 94 00:04:35,720 --> 00:04:37,880 we've kind of reached the place where we have. 95 00:04:38,720 --> 00:04:42,160 And one of those decisions that happened here in the United 96 00:04:42,160 --> 00:04:44,240 States of America with especially in the Southern 97 00:04:44,240 --> 00:04:47,840 Baptist life that we're a part of, One of the things that 98 00:04:47,840 --> 00:04:50,320 happened there was a decision that was made in the late 60s, 99 00:04:50,320 --> 00:04:53,640 early 70s that really did transform the way most of our 100 00:04:53,640 --> 00:04:57,120 churches did evangelism. And we went to a much more 101 00:04:57,120 --> 00:05:00,280 programmatic approach. And, and the, the problem with 102 00:05:00,280 --> 00:05:03,400 that is, is that it became compartmentalized over here. 103 00:05:03,400 --> 00:05:08,200 So we do evangelism on Monday nights at 7, you know, and we do 104 00:05:08,200 --> 00:05:12,040 evangelism for those two hours. And then I'm not evangelistic 105 00:05:12,040 --> 00:05:14,560 any of the time in my life except, you know, Monday night 106 00:05:14,560 --> 00:05:17,560 at 7. And so we, we need to recognize 107 00:05:17,560 --> 00:05:19,160 that this is not what we're talking about. 108 00:05:19,160 --> 00:05:21,920 We're talking about how a state of existence, how do I live? 109 00:05:21,920 --> 00:05:25,160 If you know me, you're going to hear about Jesus because I love 110 00:05:25,160 --> 00:05:27,240 him. And so one of the things we 111 00:05:27,240 --> 00:05:31,040 talked about is the programmatic part of this, which is what this 112 00:05:31,040 --> 00:05:35,760 is frankly this training type stuff is this actually helps you 113 00:05:35,760 --> 00:05:39,480 to give you the confidence to, to share that because that's 114 00:05:39,480 --> 00:05:40,760 part of what we need to talk about. 115 00:05:41,200 --> 00:05:44,240 But knowing people, the relational lifestyle part of it 116 00:05:44,240 --> 00:05:46,080 actually gives you the opportunity to share. 117 00:05:46,320 --> 00:05:50,760 So it's a both end and then having a plan, having a plan 118 00:05:50,760 --> 00:05:53,240 that provides training and practice is helpful. 119 00:05:53,440 --> 00:05:55,800 So we're going to talk about methodologies later. 120 00:05:55,800 --> 00:05:58,560 We're going to talk about tools and we're going to talk about 121 00:05:58,560 --> 00:06:01,680 various presentations that are out there and those kinds of 122 00:06:01,680 --> 00:06:03,200 things. And then I'm going to try to 123 00:06:03,200 --> 00:06:08,200 help you 0 in on what are the more appropriate pre Christian, 124 00:06:08,200 --> 00:06:11,520 post postmodern cultural methodologies that would 125 00:06:11,520 --> 00:06:14,160 actually, and if you have no idea that whenever I say those 126 00:06:14,160 --> 00:06:17,200 words, I know they bounce off, but it's like that's the world 127 00:06:17,200 --> 00:06:20,040 out there. And so how do I actually share 128 00:06:20,040 --> 00:06:21,880 in a way that's the most effective today? 129 00:06:22,440 --> 00:06:25,160 So we'll talk about that. But then another question that 130 00:06:25,160 --> 00:06:28,240 we kind of need to address. And this is something that will 131 00:06:28,240 --> 00:06:31,040 hit some of you and some of you will want to argue with me about 132 00:06:31,040 --> 00:06:32,600 it, but just don't because you'll lose. 133 00:06:32,840 --> 00:06:37,400 So the other question is, is and by the way, if you e-mail that 134 00:06:37,400 --> 00:06:43,360 c.taylor@englewoodbaptist.com. But but, but it's a gift or 135 00:06:43,360 --> 00:06:47,120 mandate and there's A and and believe it or not, you probably 136 00:06:47,120 --> 00:06:49,280 not in not in this crowd, I hope. 137 00:06:49,280 --> 00:06:53,560 But but there are those who write books and actually make 138 00:06:53,560 --> 00:06:57,880 the strong points that that only the people with the gift of 139 00:06:57,880 --> 00:07:00,800 evangelism are are really the ones required to share. 140 00:07:01,760 --> 00:07:04,640 And that's just not that's not where I believe the Bible 141 00:07:04,640 --> 00:07:07,080 teaches us. And and it's really interesting 142 00:07:07,080 --> 00:07:09,680 because the Bible doesn't really say anything. 143 00:07:09,680 --> 00:07:11,880 And this is what the point of people want to argue with me. 144 00:07:12,120 --> 00:07:14,200 It doesn't talk about the gift of evangelism. 145 00:07:14,200 --> 00:07:17,120 It talks about the role or the gift of the evangelist. 146 00:07:17,640 --> 00:07:19,920 And those are different things when you look at Ephesians 147 00:07:19,920 --> 00:07:23,600 chapter 4. So I certainly believe that 148 00:07:23,600 --> 00:07:27,960 there are people with special anointing and special giftedness 149 00:07:27,960 --> 00:07:30,920 in the area of evangelism. I mean, the greatest example of 150 00:07:30,920 --> 00:07:33,400 all that you can think of in history would have been who? 151 00:07:34,760 --> 00:07:36,360 Paul who? Who else? 152 00:07:37,000 --> 00:07:39,480 Billy Graham. And we could go through the list 153 00:07:39,480 --> 00:07:41,640 of great evangelists and there's certainly some of them still 154 00:07:41,640 --> 00:07:44,280 alive today. I had a guy one time drove me 155 00:07:44,280 --> 00:07:46,840 nuts who came in a guy from Florida. 156 00:07:46,840 --> 00:07:48,880 I won't mention his name because some of you would probably know 157 00:07:48,880 --> 00:07:50,880 him. He's a well known evangelist and 158 00:07:50,880 --> 00:07:55,080 he came in and we had a big revival back in the big revival 159 00:07:55,080 --> 00:07:58,480 days, right back in the crusade days, which I kind of miss. 160 00:07:58,480 --> 00:08:01,320 I, I've, I've often thought we could probably put a tent out on 161 00:08:01,320 --> 00:08:04,360 the field out here with some sawdust and I bet we could draw 162 00:08:04,360 --> 00:08:08,000 a crowd, but they might come for all the wrong reasons, but it 163 00:08:08,000 --> 00:08:11,760 would be interesting. So, but, but he came to town and 164 00:08:11,760 --> 00:08:14,160 we had a, we had a, a student night. 165 00:08:14,560 --> 00:08:18,440 And so we had about 708 hundred students in this room. 166 00:08:19,000 --> 00:08:24,080 And and he basically stands up with his slick backed hair and 167 00:08:24,080 --> 00:08:28,760 his fancy jacket and he and he basically shares John 316 and 168 00:08:28,760 --> 00:08:31,680 gives an invitation, maybe a little testimony, a little 169 00:08:31,680 --> 00:08:34,520 testimony. Little John 316 and gives an 170 00:08:34,520 --> 00:08:37,240 invitation. And I'm just kind of standing in 171 00:08:37,240 --> 00:08:40,159 the back going, I paid you for this. 172 00:08:41,280 --> 00:08:42,600 Not really. I didn't say that. 173 00:08:42,880 --> 00:08:43,960 I thought it, but I didn't say it. 174 00:08:44,159 --> 00:08:47,520 And so then he gives this invitation. 175 00:08:47,520 --> 00:08:50,800 I'm not kidding you. 100 students are down front bawling 176 00:08:50,800 --> 00:08:53,480 their heads off and crying and and making all kinds of 177 00:08:53,480 --> 00:08:55,000 decisions. Now, we don't take that lightly. 178 00:08:55,000 --> 00:08:57,960 We talked to every one of them and we're very careful about 179 00:08:58,120 --> 00:09:00,080 students and children. But I'm sitting there going 180 00:09:00,080 --> 00:09:02,040 that, that you know, that's not him. 181 00:09:02,880 --> 00:09:06,640 You know, that's God. And, and I had the privilege of, 182 00:09:06,680 --> 00:09:11,560 of serving at the, at the time the, the nation's largest 183 00:09:11,560 --> 00:09:14,080 student camp is in Oklahoma. It's called Falls Creek. 184 00:09:15,000 --> 00:09:17,680 And I had the privilege of both speaking at Falls Creek and also 185 00:09:17,680 --> 00:09:19,560 working the counseling side of Falls Creek. 186 00:09:19,840 --> 00:09:22,920 At Falls Creek, you could have anywhere between 7 to 9000 187 00:09:22,920 --> 00:09:26,880 students a week in this massive crowd. 188 00:09:27,120 --> 00:09:31,280 And so you could see 1000 decisions in a night and to 189 00:09:31,280 --> 00:09:34,120 watch God work through specially anointed people. 190 00:09:34,120 --> 00:09:37,920 My son, my our youngest son was saved at a Billy Graham crusade 191 00:09:38,080 --> 00:09:39,560 that one of the last ones he did. 192 00:09:40,160 --> 00:09:43,000 And so I'm not denying the special anointing, but it's, 193 00:09:43,000 --> 00:09:46,160 it's not a typical spiritual gift that somebody can say, OK, 194 00:09:46,160 --> 00:09:48,440 I have this. Well, I don't, so I don't have 195 00:09:48,440 --> 00:09:51,120 to, right? So there's not an out over here 196 00:09:51,440 --> 00:09:53,840 and don't believe that because that's not what the Bible 197 00:09:53,840 --> 00:09:56,200 teaches. Now, those who do teach that and 198 00:09:56,200 --> 00:09:59,880 who preach that will also argue more fascinatingly that only 199 00:09:59,880 --> 00:10:02,000 about 10% of the church have the gift. 200 00:10:02,320 --> 00:10:04,400 Now what's, what's interesting about that is you got to be 201 00:10:04,400 --> 00:10:06,680 careful when you say things like that because I've been a 202 00:10:06,680 --> 00:10:10,760 statistician and A and a researcher for decades of 203 00:10:10,760 --> 00:10:14,000 statistical stuff. I can give you 2 hours and 45 204 00:10:14,000 --> 00:10:16,800 minutes of statistics on the American and global church. 205 00:10:17,400 --> 00:10:20,160 And so when you start talking about statistics like that, you 206 00:10:20,160 --> 00:10:22,000 got to prove it. And there's no evidence 207 00:10:22,000 --> 00:10:25,680 whatsoever that that's true. And so and, and biblically, 208 00:10:25,680 --> 00:10:29,800 which is the most important is that Jesus did not mandate only 209 00:10:29,800 --> 00:10:31,840 10% of the people to go share their faith. 210 00:10:31,840 --> 00:10:33,720 So that that that's just not where we're landing. 211 00:10:33,880 --> 00:10:37,080 So if you believe in that, evangelism is not my thing. 212 00:10:37,080 --> 00:10:40,440 First of all, I don't think you would be here, but I've heard 213 00:10:40,440 --> 00:10:42,040 that in church life my whole life. 214 00:10:42,480 --> 00:10:44,880 That's not my gift. So I don't have to do it. 215 00:10:44,920 --> 00:10:46,960 Well, stop it. That's not biblical. 216 00:10:47,080 --> 00:10:48,960 You're you're not, you're not off the hook. 217 00:10:49,120 --> 00:10:53,520 You might not need to lead an evangelistic crusade, but you 218 00:10:53,520 --> 00:10:55,240 still are supposed to share about your Savior. 219 00:10:55,920 --> 00:10:58,960 And so that's where I'll land. And again, if you don't like 220 00:10:58,960 --> 00:11:04,320 that, see taylor@englewood.com. All right, so let's talk a 221 00:11:04,320 --> 00:11:06,520 couple of statistics just because I need you to understand 222 00:11:06,520 --> 00:11:09,400 the problem. And, and Teresa will tell you 223 00:11:09,400 --> 00:11:14,200 that this has been a major motivating issue to me for a lot 224 00:11:14,200 --> 00:11:16,280 of my ministry. And that's the fact that over 225 00:11:16,280 --> 00:11:20,600 90% of our active church members will never share their faith. 226 00:11:21,200 --> 00:11:24,080 That's not a guess. I can show you 13 different 227 00:11:24,080 --> 00:11:28,680 studies that will show you it's as high as 98 or 96%. 228 00:11:29,240 --> 00:11:32,080 And that's the entire Evangelical Church of the United 229 00:11:32,080 --> 00:11:36,200 States of America. And so over 90% of the active. 230 00:11:36,200 --> 00:11:38,400 Notice what that says. It's not just any member, it's 231 00:11:38,400 --> 00:11:40,200 not just people on the roll. These are the people who 232 00:11:40,200 --> 00:11:42,880 actually come. So over 90% of the active 233 00:11:42,880 --> 00:11:45,240 members of the evangelical church, the United States of 234 00:11:45,240 --> 00:11:46,760 America, will never share their faith. 235 00:11:47,880 --> 00:11:51,320 And so part of the issue, my soapbox becomes the fact that 236 00:11:51,320 --> 00:11:54,600 means that the active evangelistic labor force of the 237 00:11:54,600 --> 00:11:57,320 American church is simply too small to impact our culture. 238 00:11:57,960 --> 00:12:00,840 So we just have a logistical, mathematical problem. 239 00:12:01,640 --> 00:12:05,000 Now, that doesn't mean God can't sweep the nation in some Holy 240 00:12:05,000 --> 00:12:06,840 Spirit. Work in a powerful way and we 241 00:12:06,840 --> 00:12:08,720 can have the next great awakening. 242 00:12:09,280 --> 00:12:11,680 He can do that anytime. I would look forward to it. 243 00:12:12,160 --> 00:12:15,720 But where I sit and the work that I have to be involved in, I 244 00:12:15,720 --> 00:12:19,000 recognize we got a problem and we got a real practical problem. 245 00:12:19,240 --> 00:12:20,680 Tonight's going to be real practical. 246 00:12:20,680 --> 00:12:23,640 The next several weeks are going to be really practical because 247 00:12:23,640 --> 00:12:26,480 we've got to deal with this to say, how do we increase the size 248 00:12:26,480 --> 00:12:28,920 of the Army? So when you sit there and you 249 00:12:28,920 --> 00:12:31,400 say, why do I harp on you about connect groups? 250 00:12:31,680 --> 00:12:33,880 Why do I harp about the reach strategy? 251 00:12:34,040 --> 00:12:37,200 It's because increasing the percentage of participation is a 252 00:12:37,200 --> 00:12:41,360 crucial soapbox of mine, right? I want more people involved in 253 00:12:41,360 --> 00:12:43,600 more things. I want more people going on 254 00:12:43,600 --> 00:12:45,880 mission trips next year than you've ever than we've ever seen 255 00:12:45,880 --> 00:12:48,040 before. I want more people engaged in 256 00:12:48,040 --> 00:12:50,920 inviting people to church, which is not necessarily evangelism, 257 00:12:51,080 --> 00:12:53,080 but it's outreach than we've ever had before. 258 00:12:53,240 --> 00:12:56,280 Because I wanted to lead to more people actually engaging and 259 00:12:56,280 --> 00:12:58,760 sharing their faith than we've ever seen before. 260 00:12:59,480 --> 00:13:02,200 Because this labor force is simply too small. 261 00:13:02,560 --> 00:13:06,680 In fact, I can show you that only about 2%, or excuse me, 262 00:13:06,680 --> 00:13:11,480 only 21% of of of our active church members will invite 263 00:13:11,480 --> 00:13:13,760 anyone to church within the course of a given year. 264 00:13:14,040 --> 00:13:17,680 We might do better than that at Inglewood, but across the board, 265 00:13:17,680 --> 00:13:22,080 it's about 21% will even invite anybody who's not a member of 266 00:13:22,080 --> 00:13:24,360 the church to come join them at church. 267 00:13:24,880 --> 00:13:29,560 But only 2% will actually invite an unchurched person to come to 268 00:13:29,560 --> 00:13:31,680 church within the course of a given year. 269 00:13:32,080 --> 00:13:37,320 The other, the other 19 percent or so are the Methodists and the 270 00:13:37,320 --> 00:13:39,960 Presbyterians who are invited to the Christmas cantata and the 271 00:13:39,960 --> 00:13:43,360 Easter program. And so you got to think about. 272 00:13:43,440 --> 00:13:48,160 So it's hard for me to believe if only 2% will even invite an 273 00:13:48,160 --> 00:13:51,880 unsaved, unchurched person to come to church with them, that a 274 00:13:51,880 --> 00:13:54,920 much higher percentage is out there actively engaging in 275 00:13:54,920 --> 00:13:57,120 gospel presentations. That makes sense. 276 00:13:57,960 --> 00:14:00,920 And so my argument is it's not just a 90 percenter issue, it's 277 00:14:00,920 --> 00:14:06,760 a 989796 percent issue. Now, that may not be true here 278 00:14:06,760 --> 00:14:11,280 at Inglewood, but as I come in, I have to believe that it is. 279 00:14:11,280 --> 00:14:15,920 And I have to operate like it might be to get us to where we 280 00:14:15,920 --> 00:14:18,960 need to go. And so I've been a part of teams 281 00:14:18,960 --> 00:14:21,160 that worked over the years, especially when I worked with 282 00:14:21,160 --> 00:14:24,040 Tom Rayner for so long as his senior vice president. 283 00:14:24,040 --> 00:14:28,040 We worked so long to do research and to study this thing years 284 00:14:28,040 --> 00:14:29,360 ago. But what's interesting is, is 285 00:14:29,360 --> 00:14:32,720 that research continues to be assessed and continues to be 286 00:14:32,720 --> 00:14:36,440 repeated to where we're we're not seeing a whole lot of 287 00:14:36,440 --> 00:14:38,560 improvement. In fact, when you talk about 288 00:14:38,560 --> 00:14:40,840 leadership, this isn't just a membership issue. 289 00:14:41,240 --> 00:14:43,920 When you talk about leadership, pastors from effective 290 00:14:43,920 --> 00:14:46,560 evangelistic churches, and that's capitalized for a reason 291 00:14:46,560 --> 00:14:49,000 because it's a statistical category. 292 00:14:50,520 --> 00:14:53,640 In Southern Baptist life, this would represent the top 3% of 293 00:14:53,640 --> 00:14:56,040 Southern Baptist churches. I had the privilege of pastoring 294 00:14:56,040 --> 00:14:59,240 2 churches that meet this category of evangelistic 295 00:14:59,240 --> 00:15:02,400 effectiveness. It's top 1% of all evangelical 296 00:15:02,400 --> 00:15:04,720 churches. And so the pastors from these 297 00:15:04,720 --> 00:15:07,640 kinds of churches will spend 5 hours a week in personal 298 00:15:07,640 --> 00:15:11,200 evangelism. Pastors from most churches spend 299 00:15:11,200 --> 00:15:14,440 0 hours it that's, and that's not a, that's not a statement, 300 00:15:14,440 --> 00:15:17,000 that's a study. In other words, the number would 301 00:15:17,000 --> 00:15:21,320 not even round up to one of the number of hours a week they 302 00:15:21,320 --> 00:15:24,320 spend in personal evangelism. So if the leadership's not 303 00:15:24,480 --> 00:15:27,880 modelling this, if leadership's not being an example for this, 304 00:15:28,080 --> 00:15:30,960 why would church members be much better? 305 00:15:31,360 --> 00:15:33,840 Make sense? And so part of what we want to 306 00:15:33,840 --> 00:15:36,240 see is how can we do this? Because there's a real problem. 307 00:15:36,480 --> 00:15:40,280 I actually took part in a huge, massive study as a two year 308 00:15:40,280 --> 00:15:44,080 study where we contacted the unchurched unsaved people in all 309 00:15:44,080 --> 00:15:46,200 50 States and Canada for two years. 310 00:15:46,520 --> 00:15:50,600 One of the things we learned is that 80% more, in fact more than 311 00:15:50,600 --> 00:15:53,880 80%, it rounds up a little higher than that said that they 312 00:15:53,880 --> 00:15:56,880 would come to church if somebody would sincerely invite them. 313 00:15:56,880 --> 00:15:58,440 And notice how that word's highlighted. 314 00:15:58,840 --> 00:16:00,720 Because it doesn't just mean you're treating them like 315 00:16:00,720 --> 00:16:04,400 project #32 you actually have a relationship with them. 316 00:16:04,560 --> 00:16:07,880 You're actually care about them. You're sincerely relationally 317 00:16:07,880 --> 00:16:10,560 inviting them to join you on your spiritual journey. 318 00:16:10,800 --> 00:16:13,960 And over 80% of the unsaved people in the United States of 319 00:16:13,960 --> 00:16:16,120 America and Canada say that they would come to church. 320 00:16:16,120 --> 00:16:20,560 Now they're lying. And they are lying because the 321 00:16:20,560 --> 00:16:23,760 keyword is said. And whenever you see survey 322 00:16:23,760 --> 00:16:25,800 work, always recognize that people lie. 323 00:16:26,240 --> 00:16:28,440 There's actually a statistical term. 324 00:16:28,440 --> 00:16:30,360 It's called the Halo effect. Like an Angel. 325 00:16:30,640 --> 00:16:33,960 People lie about religion, they lie about sex, they lie about 326 00:16:33,960 --> 00:16:35,520 money, and they lie about politics. 327 00:16:35,720 --> 00:16:39,360 So whenever you see studies, be very careful because that 328 00:16:39,360 --> 00:16:40,640 doesn't necessarily mean it's true. 329 00:16:40,960 --> 00:16:44,520 But there's a perception or a statement that says that a large 330 00:16:44,520 --> 00:16:47,400 number of them would come if they were sincerely invited. 331 00:16:47,400 --> 00:16:51,120 But the problem is obviously that more than 80% of them also 332 00:16:51,120 --> 00:16:55,400 said they'd never been invited. And so when I say, like I said 333 00:16:55,400 --> 00:16:58,440 in our last session, that the majority of unsafe people in the 334 00:16:58,440 --> 00:17:02,320 United States of America have never heard a loving, clear 335 00:17:02,320 --> 00:17:05,000 presentation of the gospel from somebody they felt like that 336 00:17:05,000 --> 00:17:07,839 cared about them, that is an overwhelming truth. 337 00:17:08,359 --> 00:17:12,240 Don't assume they already know. Don't assume they've already 338 00:17:12,319 --> 00:17:14,160 heard. In fact, it's interesting 339 00:17:14,160 --> 00:17:18,000 because 86% of people who come to church come because of 340 00:17:18,000 --> 00:17:19,880 personal contact with a church member. 341 00:17:20,240 --> 00:17:23,640 You may not understand this or not, but a visit or contact by 342 00:17:23,640 --> 00:17:27,760 one of you is 13 times more effective than a contact or 343 00:17:27,760 --> 00:17:31,400 visit from me because I'm the hired gun. 344 00:17:31,760 --> 00:17:36,840 They're expecting me to do this, but when a normal, wonderful 345 00:17:36,840 --> 00:17:40,440 layperson actually cares and actually is experiencing God 346 00:17:40,440 --> 00:17:44,080 and, and, and, and excited about that, that has so much more 347 00:17:44,080 --> 00:17:46,560 weight than when the hired gun shows up. 348 00:17:47,400 --> 00:17:50,200 And so if you say come, come visit my friend for me, come 349 00:17:50,200 --> 00:17:53,120 show the faith with for me, come invite them to church for me. 350 00:17:53,520 --> 00:17:56,400 I don't mind doing that. But at the same time, it'd be 351 00:17:56,400 --> 00:17:59,800 more effective if you just did it and to try to get him here. 352 00:18:00,040 --> 00:18:03,200 All right, enough of that. So why are we failing? 353 00:18:04,400 --> 00:18:08,160 Why are we struggling so much? Well, the main issue is we're 354 00:18:08,160 --> 00:18:10,880 failing at God's mission. We don't understand God's 355 00:18:10,880 --> 00:18:12,760 mission. We don't understand that our 356 00:18:12,760 --> 00:18:15,360 mission is to bring him great glory and to join him in 357 00:18:15,360 --> 00:18:18,120 redeeming the nation's, which also includes our neighborhood. 358 00:18:18,840 --> 00:18:22,280 And so we just don't do that. Well, we also often don't 359 00:18:22,280 --> 00:18:25,840 recognize that here in our country we live in a radically 360 00:18:25,840 --> 00:18:28,880 different culture. And I'll talk down the road more 361 00:18:28,880 --> 00:18:31,240 about modernism versus postmodernism. 362 00:18:31,640 --> 00:18:34,400 Even though postmodernism is actually not a truth in the 363 00:18:34,400 --> 00:18:36,440 United States, not in its purest form. 364 00:18:36,640 --> 00:18:41,000 We are something different. We're still a mix of where. 365 00:18:41,200 --> 00:18:43,600 And that's why I often call us post postmodern. 366 00:18:43,600 --> 00:18:45,920 We're something else. And I'll talk about that one 367 00:18:45,920 --> 00:18:48,560 day. But part of the, the, the 368 00:18:48,600 --> 00:18:54,240 symptom of that is the fact that we don't share the same common 369 00:18:54,240 --> 00:18:59,080 story anymore. And so it may be that when you 370 00:18:59,080 --> 00:19:02,200 grew up, everybody went to church, everybody went to VBS, 371 00:19:02,200 --> 00:19:04,480 everybody you knew did those things and everybody knew the 372 00:19:04,480 --> 00:19:07,360 Bible or everybody respected the Bible, etcetera. 373 00:19:07,520 --> 00:19:09,480 Well, you can't count on that anymore. 374 00:19:10,400 --> 00:19:13,040 We don't share the same common stories. 375 00:19:13,920 --> 00:19:16,960 And so we have to start at different places when we share 376 00:19:16,960 --> 00:19:20,000 the gospel than we once did, which is why some of the gospel 377 00:19:20,000 --> 00:19:23,200 tools that we have, and we've talked about this before, are 378 00:19:23,200 --> 00:19:26,200 written by more of a modern perspective, not a postmodern 379 00:19:26,200 --> 00:19:28,200 perspective. And they're out of date, 380 00:19:28,200 --> 00:19:31,080 frankly, or they're confusing what we're making. 381 00:19:31,080 --> 00:19:34,040 A lot of assumptions that that I think you're going to care about 382 00:19:34,040 --> 00:19:37,440 what the Bible says, or I think you're going to care about who I 383 00:19:37,440 --> 00:19:41,920 think God is without explaining to you who I think God is. 384 00:19:42,760 --> 00:19:46,520 And so we just started different places, but we continue to fail 385 00:19:46,520 --> 00:19:49,560 also because people no longer believe in absolute truth. 386 00:19:49,560 --> 00:19:52,200 And but you need to add this last part because the first part 387 00:19:52,200 --> 00:19:55,680 isn't really a true statement. Often we talk about 388 00:19:55,680 --> 00:19:58,440 postmodernism as people not believing in absolute truth. 389 00:19:58,440 --> 00:20:01,440 That's not quite true. Most people do believe in some 390 00:20:01,440 --> 00:20:04,440 absolute truths. Most people still believe murder 391 00:20:04,440 --> 00:20:07,040 is wrong. Most people believe child abuse 392 00:20:07,040 --> 00:20:09,360 is wrong. Most people believe rape is 393 00:20:09,360 --> 00:20:11,520 wrong. And so there are absolute truths 394 00:20:11,520 --> 00:20:14,680 in our culture today, but they don't like you to determine all 395 00:20:14,680 --> 00:20:16,280 of their absolute truth for them. 396 00:20:16,880 --> 00:20:20,200 They like to pick and choose. So it's a version, and I've 397 00:20:20,200 --> 00:20:22,720 talked about isms during our doctrinal studies. 398 00:20:22,960 --> 00:20:26,240 It's actually a version of syncretism to where they like to 399 00:20:26,240 --> 00:20:29,920 pick and choose different pieces from different things and put 400 00:20:29,920 --> 00:20:33,320 together their own religion. And that's, that's the religion 401 00:20:33,320 --> 00:20:37,000 of America, where where my truth is my truth and your truth is 402 00:20:37,000 --> 00:20:38,480 your truth. And that's good for you, but 403 00:20:38,480 --> 00:20:41,480 that's not good for me. And so because I'm picking and 404 00:20:41,480 --> 00:20:45,440 choosing the pieces I want often from, from, from online or from 405 00:20:45,440 --> 00:20:50,160 a peer group or from a reality TV or from somebody I follow 406 00:20:50,600 --> 00:20:55,800 some influencer or, or whatever, you know, And so to think about 407 00:20:55,800 --> 00:20:57,880 that. And then Christians, frankly, 408 00:20:57,880 --> 00:21:00,280 and our culture today have somewhat of an identity and 409 00:21:00,280 --> 00:21:04,440 image problem. Our our media doesn't help us 410 00:21:04,760 --> 00:21:08,720 most of the time. And so most of the time when you 411 00:21:08,720 --> 00:21:14,640 see Christians portrayed in Hollywood experiences or even a 412 00:21:14,640 --> 00:21:17,800 lot of media experiences, it's often more negative than it is 413 00:21:17,800 --> 00:21:21,760 positive. And so we're often portrayed for 414 00:21:21,760 --> 00:21:24,360 what we're against far more than what we're for. 415 00:21:25,480 --> 00:21:28,280 And so that is also part of our issue. 416 00:21:28,680 --> 00:21:32,280 And then another one is, is that people perceive themselves, 417 00:21:32,280 --> 00:21:35,720 You've probably heard this by some people perceive themselves 418 00:21:35,720 --> 00:21:39,400 as spiritual, but not in need of the church or organized 419 00:21:39,400 --> 00:21:42,800 religion. Again, this is a, a version of 420 00:21:42,800 --> 00:21:45,880 the syncretism or, and often pluralism to where? 421 00:21:46,200 --> 00:21:48,120 To where? Your way is fine and everybody 422 00:21:48,120 --> 00:21:51,400 away is fine, but this one's mine and not yours. 423 00:21:51,400 --> 00:21:53,560 So I don't want to hear about yours. 424 00:21:53,560 --> 00:21:56,960 And so I, and so I'm a spiritual person, but I don't need the 425 00:21:56,960 --> 00:22:00,720 church, you know, And so the, the problem with and, and 426 00:22:00,720 --> 00:22:04,880 sometimes I hear that in the church and sometimes I feel like 427 00:22:04,880 --> 00:22:07,040 church members believe that because they're not here. 428 00:22:07,720 --> 00:22:11,160 And so it, it, it becomes this interesting thing, whether it's 429 00:22:11,160 --> 00:22:14,080 actively shared or just a passive thing that's true in 430 00:22:14,080 --> 00:22:16,040 your life. I don't really need to go to 431 00:22:16,040 --> 00:22:17,680 church. Church often becomes choice 432 00:22:17,680 --> 00:22:21,200 number six. I don't, we don't have a game. 433 00:22:21,440 --> 00:22:24,520 I don't have to be there. I don't have to go there. 434 00:22:24,520 --> 00:22:25,760 So I don't have anything else to do. 435 00:22:25,760 --> 00:22:28,720 So we'll go to church this weekend and that's true at 436 00:22:28,720 --> 00:22:32,880 Inglewood to where we have a lot of every other weekers or every 437 00:22:32,880 --> 00:22:36,120 3rd weekers. And you'll, you see that in 438 00:22:36,120 --> 00:22:39,560 attendance flows here. And so it's interesting how we 439 00:22:39,560 --> 00:22:40,920 kind of pick and choose sometimes. 440 00:22:41,520 --> 00:22:43,840 And it, and part of that is a lack of understanding of the 441 00:22:43,840 --> 00:22:46,600 value of the church, which is why in previous sessions I've 442 00:22:46,600 --> 00:22:51,000 tried to teach you about the value of the church because if 443 00:22:51,000 --> 00:22:54,240 you don't believe you need the church, you really are ignoring 444 00:22:54,440 --> 00:22:56,200 a a huge section of the New Testament. 445 00:22:56,520 --> 00:23:00,160 You're just not paying attention to Scripture in the Bible. 446 00:23:01,200 --> 00:23:02,720 And then and then another part of it. 447 00:23:02,720 --> 00:23:05,240 This might be interesting. This gets us back to 448 00:23:05,240 --> 00:23:08,040 practicality. So much of conservative 449 00:23:08,040 --> 00:23:13,280 Christianity's evangelism, much of our methodology has been 450 00:23:13,280 --> 00:23:17,080 built upon one time encounters and memorize presentations. 451 00:23:17,080 --> 00:23:18,920 We're back to the programmatic conversation. 452 00:23:19,560 --> 00:23:22,840 And that's an approach that really is only effective in a 453 00:23:22,840 --> 00:23:26,880 highly homogeneous culture. And we don't live in that 454 00:23:26,880 --> 00:23:29,360 anymore. And you might think you do here 455 00:23:29,360 --> 00:23:31,400 in the Rocky Mount area, but you don't. 456 00:23:32,000 --> 00:23:33,720 And So what does this sentence mean? 457 00:23:33,720 --> 00:23:37,640 Well, what it means is, is that much of our evangelism 458 00:23:37,640 --> 00:23:40,920 methodology in the past was I'm going to memorize this lengthy 459 00:23:40,920 --> 00:23:43,000 gospel presentation with illustration. 460 00:23:43,000 --> 00:23:46,160 I get cool little pill pins for it and I've got them all trained 461 00:23:46,160 --> 00:23:49,080 in every one of them. Been a trainer for most of them. 462 00:23:49,320 --> 00:23:51,600 I have to do that because I'm a professor of evangelism, 463 00:23:51,600 --> 00:23:54,920 emissions, etcetera. But also I did that in my local 464 00:23:54,920 --> 00:23:57,840 church life. But it but also kind of amounts 465 00:23:57,840 --> 00:24:00,080 to this. Listen to me, listen to me, 466 00:24:00,320 --> 00:24:07,080 don't interrupt me .3 point a illustration 6 right now. 467 00:24:07,080 --> 00:24:08,960 Some of you have gone through that here because I know you've 468 00:24:08,960 --> 00:24:11,240 done some of the programs here and I'm not knocking them. 469 00:24:11,240 --> 00:24:14,480 People were saved and they worked well, but they're not 470 00:24:14,480 --> 00:24:16,600 still going on and there's usually a reason for that. 471 00:24:17,720 --> 00:24:21,720 They're also tend to be short lived methodologies in in the 472 00:24:21,720 --> 00:24:25,280 fact that you don't do EE anymore or you don't do faith 473 00:24:25,280 --> 00:24:27,880 anymore or you don't do some of these other methods. 474 00:24:27,880 --> 00:24:29,640 I'm not knocking the method we're going to talk about and 475 00:24:29,640 --> 00:24:33,000 there's great value in that knowledge and understanding and 476 00:24:33,000 --> 00:24:35,080 having that gospel presentation memorized. 477 00:24:35,240 --> 00:24:38,120 It's much more about how am I delivering it today? 478 00:24:38,880 --> 00:24:42,240 And so those one time encounters were often the way we work. 479 00:24:42,240 --> 00:24:45,080 We're going to go out and cold Turkey somebody and we're going 480 00:24:45,080 --> 00:24:47,280 to share this memorized gospel presentation. 481 00:24:47,600 --> 00:24:49,240 And we also do this internationally. 482 00:24:49,240 --> 00:24:52,400 We do this on short term mission trips and and some people I know 483 00:24:52,400 --> 00:24:55,120 they're just on long term missions experiences to where 484 00:24:55,120 --> 00:24:56,960 I'm going to go to somebody else's culture. 485 00:24:56,960 --> 00:24:58,920 And I'm going to tell you that every single thing you've ever 486 00:24:58,920 --> 00:25:01,920 known your entire life is wrong. And everybody you've ever known, 487 00:25:01,920 --> 00:25:03,680 whoever told you anything is wrong. 488 00:25:03,840 --> 00:25:06,320 In fact, they're all going to hell or they're already there 489 00:25:06,320 --> 00:25:09,040 because they were all wrong. So everybody you've ever known, 490 00:25:09,040 --> 00:25:11,160 every relative you've ever known, and everybody you now 491 00:25:11,160 --> 00:25:13,320 know is wrong and they're all going to burn in hell forever. 492 00:25:13,520 --> 00:25:15,240 And I just met you 5 minutes ago. 493 00:25:15,240 --> 00:25:17,280 But you need to listen to me and pay attention to me and believe 494 00:25:17,280 --> 00:25:20,840 what I'm telling you. You, you following me now, 495 00:25:21,720 --> 00:25:24,440 people still get saved because God's miraculous. 496 00:25:26,320 --> 00:25:28,840 And so I'm not saying that that, that, that that's the worst 497 00:25:28,840 --> 00:25:31,240 thing in the world to do. I'm saying that let's talk about 498 00:25:31,240 --> 00:25:33,760 the best things to do. Let's talk about some of the 499 00:25:33,760 --> 00:25:38,000 best methodologies, especially when we're here and we're in 500 00:25:38,000 --> 00:25:41,000 relationship with our neighbors, we're in relationship with our 501 00:25:41,000 --> 00:25:43,680 Co workers, we're in relationship with our classmates 502 00:25:43,680 --> 00:25:45,600 and our teammates and our bandmates. 503 00:25:45,600 --> 00:25:49,240 How can I develop this relationship with them and share 504 00:25:49,240 --> 00:25:52,080 the gospel with them? Because this approach tends to 505 00:25:52,080 --> 00:25:55,640 work best in a society or culture where everybody's the 506 00:25:55,640 --> 00:25:57,680 same. You all have the same beginning 507 00:25:57,680 --> 00:26:01,040 points, you all have the same cultural backgrounds, you all 508 00:26:01,040 --> 00:26:03,840 have the same stories. And we just got to understand 509 00:26:03,840 --> 00:26:06,400 that in in our world today, that's just not the case. 510 00:26:07,320 --> 00:26:10,960 Our, our world is very mixed now, which is, which is a 511 00:26:10,960 --> 00:26:13,240 blessing, but it's also a challenge. 512 00:26:13,840 --> 00:26:18,120 Globalization has done that, immigration has done that, and 513 00:26:18,120 --> 00:26:19,920 just population growth has done that. 514 00:26:20,240 --> 00:26:23,480 And so my neighborhood may not all look like me. 515 00:26:23,480 --> 00:26:26,040 My neighborhood doesn't all start from the same place where 516 00:26:26,040 --> 00:26:28,640 I started. And so we come from very 517 00:26:28,640 --> 00:26:31,480 different places. When I teach cross cultural 518 00:26:31,480 --> 00:26:33,040 communication, I talk about that. 519 00:26:33,040 --> 00:26:35,160 Every time you have a conversation with another human 520 00:26:35,160 --> 00:26:38,240 being, you're in cross cultural communication because my 521 00:26:38,240 --> 00:26:41,840 background could be so different than yours that there are words 522 00:26:41,840 --> 00:26:44,640 you're not understanding the same way there are filters. 523 00:26:45,040 --> 00:26:47,120 Just think filters. Everybody filters. 524 00:26:48,120 --> 00:26:51,240 And my dad in World War 2, as I've mentioned to you before, 525 00:26:51,240 --> 00:26:54,280 was in communications. He coded and decoded secret 526 00:26:54,280 --> 00:26:56,400 messages. But we're doing that every time 527 00:26:56,400 --> 00:26:59,120 we have a conversation. And so depending upon what your 528 00:26:59,120 --> 00:27:01,840 background is, depending upon how your family structure was, 529 00:27:01,840 --> 00:27:05,240 depending upon how your parenting, your parents worked, 530 00:27:05,480 --> 00:27:10,360 everything effects how I'm understanding your fears, your 531 00:27:10,360 --> 00:27:13,480 loves, your values, everything's a filter. 532 00:27:14,080 --> 00:27:16,840 And so it's a, it's a miracle anybody ever gets saved in it. 533 00:27:17,320 --> 00:27:19,480 And that's why we depend upon God to do it. 534 00:27:20,040 --> 00:27:23,680 So what we want to do is just present him in the cleanest, 535 00:27:24,040 --> 00:27:27,920 clearest way that could be understood in the greatest way 536 00:27:27,920 --> 00:27:30,120 possible. We call that contextualization, 537 00:27:30,120 --> 00:27:32,400 more or less. So let's talk about that for a 538 00:27:32,400 --> 00:27:33,520 minute. Let me give you a couple of 539 00:27:33,520 --> 00:27:35,240 highbrow missions things. You're up for it. 540 00:27:35,240 --> 00:27:37,720 You're good enough for it. You once took algebra, so you're 541 00:27:37,720 --> 00:27:40,680 all right. So or you wished you hadn't and 542 00:27:40,680 --> 00:27:43,600 you should have. So, so because you remember all 543 00:27:43,600 --> 00:27:45,800 of that, everybody remember their middle school algebra. 544 00:27:45,800 --> 00:27:49,360 Sure you do, exactly because it's been so profitable in your 545 00:27:49,360 --> 00:27:50,120 life. So. 546 00:27:50,920 --> 00:27:54,600 And if you're an algebra teacher here, it's C Taylor at Inglewood 547 00:27:54,640 --> 00:27:57,720 Baptist dot com. So one of the things we 548 00:27:57,720 --> 00:27:59,560 recognize I'm going to share with you very quickly. 549 00:27:59,560 --> 00:28:01,400 And then we're going to dive into the practical experience, 550 00:28:01,400 --> 00:28:03,320 which is what I want to spend the bulk of the time with you 551 00:28:03,320 --> 00:28:05,040 on. But I want to talk to you about 552 00:28:05,040 --> 00:28:07,880 a couple things for missions that are helpful historically 553 00:28:08,200 --> 00:28:10,960 without going too far into it. Don't worry, this won't, this 554 00:28:10,960 --> 00:28:12,880 won't be hard. I want to talk about a thing 555 00:28:12,880 --> 00:28:14,400 called the Ingles scale for a second. 556 00:28:14,400 --> 00:28:18,720 And the reason I want to talk about this is just because I 557 00:28:18,720 --> 00:28:22,800 want you to understand that not every lost person you meet is 558 00:28:22,800 --> 00:28:25,120 the same. That's the key lesson, right? 559 00:28:25,240 --> 00:28:28,400 For a second. Not every lost person you meet 560 00:28:28,400 --> 00:28:31,080 is the same. They're not at the same place 561 00:28:31,080 --> 00:28:33,760 spiritually. They're not all in the same 562 00:28:33,760 --> 00:28:37,000 place in, in their understanding of things. 563 00:28:37,320 --> 00:28:41,960 And so don't necessarily treat everybody like project #32 I 564 00:28:41,960 --> 00:28:44,760 don't want to be treated like project #2 Then it drive you 565 00:28:44,760 --> 00:28:47,680 nuts when you get the weird spam texts and spam calls. 566 00:28:48,120 --> 00:28:52,480 The ones I'm getting now is, is everybody has my resume and I 567 00:28:52,480 --> 00:28:54,160 could earn all kinds of money live. 568 00:28:54,160 --> 00:28:57,080 I could earn more money just if I stayed at home and sold 569 00:28:57,080 --> 00:29:00,680 whatever they're lying to me about to sell because they've 570 00:29:00,680 --> 00:29:03,680 got my resume. And of course, you know, it's 571 00:29:03,680 --> 00:29:08,440 just spam. But so anyway, so the Engel 572 00:29:08,440 --> 00:29:13,040 scale, Engel was actually a businessman and he, he was saved 573 00:29:13,240 --> 00:29:16,600 and wanted to use his business practices like some of you do 574 00:29:16,800 --> 00:29:19,520 in, in ministry. And so he helped our mission 575 00:29:19,520 --> 00:29:23,200 boards and some of our mission understanding to develop a scale 576 00:29:23,200 --> 00:29:27,560 of lostness and a scale of, of, of receptivity. 577 00:29:27,800 --> 00:29:31,760 How close would somebody be to being willing to hear the 578 00:29:31,760 --> 00:29:34,360 gospel? How close would they be to 579 00:29:34,560 --> 00:29:37,400 understanding the gospel or how far away are they? 580 00:29:37,640 --> 00:29:40,280 And so he developed a way for missionaries and mission 581 00:29:40,280 --> 00:29:45,640 agencies in a sense, to, to, to be able to, to categorize 582 00:29:45,640 --> 00:29:49,280 peoples or individuals into different groups. 583 00:29:49,680 --> 00:29:52,040 And so you can have like in this one. 584 00:29:52,040 --> 00:29:54,680 And by the way, there are about 40 different versions of this 585 00:29:54,680 --> 00:29:56,800 because over the years it got tweaked a lot. 586 00:29:57,120 --> 00:29:59,520 And I'm not expecting you. There's, there is no test. 587 00:29:59,520 --> 00:30:01,240 There is no exam. So just relax. 588 00:30:01,720 --> 00:30:05,400 But the idea would be that like this -8 person, this is a person 589 00:30:05,400 --> 00:30:07,680 with absolutely no knowledge of the gospel. 590 00:30:08,880 --> 00:30:12,240 Every Sunday morning and, and, and, and other times we often 591 00:30:12,240 --> 00:30:19,080 pray for UPGS or UUPGS&AUUPG is a totally unengaged people 592 00:30:19,080 --> 00:30:20,960 group. They have no knowledge of the 593 00:30:20,960 --> 00:30:22,840 gospel. They actually have no access to 594 00:30:22,840 --> 00:30:26,440 the gospel in any viable way. And so you have people that are 595 00:30:26,440 --> 00:30:29,280 that far away, they've never heard any story. 596 00:30:29,520 --> 00:30:30,880 So you think about your neighborhood. 597 00:30:30,880 --> 00:30:32,600 You think about your office here. 598 00:30:33,280 --> 00:30:38,000 There are people in Rocky Mount, trust me, who have never, ever 599 00:30:38,000 --> 00:30:41,000 heard the Gospel. They don't know what that is, 600 00:30:41,000 --> 00:30:43,880 right? They may not be a -, 8 because 601 00:30:43,880 --> 00:30:48,120 they might be more of a a -, 7. There's some awareness because 602 00:30:48,280 --> 00:30:50,840 they watch the Easter programs on TV. 603 00:30:51,320 --> 00:30:54,280 They watch the Discovery Channel or The History Channel, helping 604 00:30:54,280 --> 00:30:57,000 us to discover the real Jesus. That comes on twice a year. 605 00:30:57,240 --> 00:30:59,480 And that is never right. But you know, they come on twice 606 00:30:59,480 --> 00:31:02,480 a year and so they have some awareness, they've heard some 607 00:31:02,480 --> 00:31:05,440 stories, or maybe they're a minus, even a -, 6. 608 00:31:05,440 --> 00:31:08,200 They have some awareness Jesus died on a cross for some reason. 609 00:31:08,200 --> 00:31:10,800 They've seen crucifixes. They have some idea, you know, 610 00:31:11,040 --> 00:31:15,520 And so, so you just think about where is this person in, in, in 611 00:31:15,520 --> 00:31:18,120 their receptivity. Maybe they even have some grasp 612 00:31:18,400 --> 00:31:20,280 of the implications of the Gospel. 613 00:31:20,400 --> 00:31:22,880 But then they get closer and closer to where they might have 614 00:31:22,880 --> 00:31:24,840 a positive attitude toward the Gospel. 615 00:31:25,440 --> 00:31:28,400 They might even have some, some personal problem recognition. 616 00:31:28,400 --> 00:31:32,800 They actually do recognize I, I, I need something, I'm, I'm a 617 00:31:32,800 --> 00:31:35,160 Sinner. I need to be saved. 618 00:31:35,360 --> 00:31:37,880 When we talk about our personal testimonies in a couple of 619 00:31:37,880 --> 00:31:39,880 weeks, I have a different outline than you've ever seen 620 00:31:39,880 --> 00:31:42,600 before. And some of it at the beginning 621 00:31:42,600 --> 00:31:45,000 will sound familiar, but later on it gets very different 622 00:31:45,200 --> 00:31:47,400 because I want to talk about what Jesus is doing in your life 623 00:31:47,400 --> 00:31:50,960 today, not just what he did when you were saved, but one of the 624 00:31:50,960 --> 00:31:53,600 things you do have to talk about is when did I realize I needed 625 00:31:53,600 --> 00:31:56,360 to be saved? How do did I realize that that's 626 00:31:56,360 --> 00:31:59,760 a really important point to be able to share with somebody. 627 00:32:00,160 --> 00:32:02,360 And then and then even a decision to act. 628 00:32:02,640 --> 00:32:06,160 And then you get into what he would call -1 And 0 salvation, 629 00:32:06,160 --> 00:32:08,480 basically, right when you hit zero, you're saved. 630 00:32:08,800 --> 00:32:12,080 And so the fact that I'm ready to repent, I'm ready to be 631 00:32:12,080 --> 00:32:15,360 saved, etcetera. And then Engel goes to the 632 00:32:15,360 --> 00:32:19,040 positive side and again sometimes this carrot gets 633 00:32:19,040 --> 00:32:21,200 carried way out into discipleship. 634 00:32:21,200 --> 00:32:24,720 So you have kind of a a post decision evaluation, you have 635 00:32:24,720 --> 00:32:28,760 incorporation into the body and then you have basically 636 00:32:28,760 --> 00:32:32,680 discipleship, right And it can continue on in all kinds of 637 00:32:32,680 --> 00:32:36,880 increments etcetera, etcetera. Now you're, you're not going to 638 00:32:36,880 --> 00:32:39,720 hear me talk about the Engel scale from the pulpit too much. 639 00:32:39,720 --> 00:32:42,440 You're not going to, I'm not going to you're a -, 4. 640 00:32:42,560 --> 00:32:44,400 I'm not going to, you know, I'm not doing that to people. 641 00:32:44,720 --> 00:32:48,480 But it but what I want you to have this awareness of is is 642 00:32:48,560 --> 00:32:51,080 there, there are lost people and then there are lost people. 643 00:32:52,280 --> 00:32:56,720 And what's probably more helpful is what a friend of mine did 644 00:32:56,720 --> 00:33:01,560 here in North America, Tom Raynor developed a Raynor scale 645 00:33:01,920 --> 00:33:07,000 of faith stages. And, and I was a part of this 646 00:33:07,000 --> 00:33:11,160 development and, and worked with him on some of this as he was 647 00:33:11,160 --> 00:33:12,800 writing these books during these days. 648 00:33:13,320 --> 00:33:17,600 And so one of the things that we recognize that AU1 and AU5 are 649 00:33:17,600 --> 00:33:21,440 very different people. So AU one is somebody who's 650 00:33:21,440 --> 00:33:25,440 highly receptive to the gospel. Estimates in the United States 651 00:33:25,440 --> 00:33:29,000 of America would be that between what U ones and U twos, there 652 00:33:29,000 --> 00:33:32,400 would be 70 million Americans who are very receptive to the 653 00:33:32,400 --> 00:33:35,200 gospel there. There are millions of Americans 654 00:33:35,200 --> 00:33:38,400 who would be saved today if somebody would just share with 655 00:33:38,400 --> 00:33:40,960 them how? And that's a truth, That's a 656 00:33:40,960 --> 00:33:45,480 statistical truth. And so if we just shared with EU 657 00:33:45,480 --> 00:33:49,440 ones and EU twos, we could see the greatest spiritual awakening 658 00:33:49,440 --> 00:33:52,760 in the history of humankind in the United States of America. 659 00:33:53,920 --> 00:34:00,920 But we don't share. Remember, 96 to 98% never share. 660 00:34:01,520 --> 00:34:05,440 And so the evangelistic labor force is too small to push to 661 00:34:05,440 --> 00:34:07,920 pull that trigger, to put that into motion. 662 00:34:08,239 --> 00:34:11,159 We've got to expand the army. We've got to have a higher 663 00:34:11,159 --> 00:34:15,000 percentage of participation. And so we need to be an example 664 00:34:15,000 --> 00:34:18,080 here at Inglewood to show them how we can certainly have higher 665 00:34:18,639 --> 00:34:23,440 than 10% sharing the gospel. But we recognize that there are 666 00:34:23,440 --> 00:34:25,440 folks who are highly receptive to the gospel. 667 00:34:25,719 --> 00:34:28,880 And then you have you, you twos. And the difference between some 668 00:34:28,880 --> 00:34:31,320 of these isn't apparent. There's there's chapters 669 00:34:31,320 --> 00:34:34,159 written, I'm not going to give you all that, but there are 670 00:34:34,159 --> 00:34:36,880 chapters written about each one of these and the techniques that 671 00:34:36,880 --> 00:34:39,320 you would use to reach these people with you. 672 00:34:39,320 --> 00:34:41,320 Ones just share the gospel with them. 673 00:34:42,080 --> 00:34:44,199 They're ready to hear it. They're probably already coming 674 00:34:44,199 --> 00:34:46,360 to church. U ones are already open to 675 00:34:46,360 --> 00:34:47,760 church. They're the ones who are 676 00:34:47,760 --> 00:34:50,320 visiting your connect group. They're the ones who are here on 677 00:34:50,320 --> 00:34:53,280 Sundays. They're the ones that are almost 678 00:34:53,280 --> 00:34:55,360 ready. U twos are close to that. 679 00:34:55,719 --> 00:34:59,200 They may not be coming yet, but they would be very open to the 680 00:34:59,200 --> 00:35:01,960 conversations. U Threes, which are the largest 681 00:35:01,960 --> 00:35:03,680 group. There's statistics for all these 682 00:35:03,680 --> 00:35:06,160 groups. U3 is the largest group. 683 00:35:06,760 --> 00:35:10,200 They're they're neutral, but they're not against the 684 00:35:10,200 --> 00:35:12,480 conversation. They're not thinking about the 685 00:35:12,480 --> 00:35:15,440 conversation, but they're not opposed to the conversation. 686 00:35:16,120 --> 00:35:17,960 And then you get into the more negative side. 687 00:35:18,840 --> 00:35:21,960 And the problem that we have as Christian, as Christians in the 688 00:35:22,000 --> 00:35:27,800 US is we believe a lot of Satan's mythology and Satan has 689 00:35:27,800 --> 00:35:31,160 done a very good job of convincing us that all the lost 690 00:35:31,160 --> 00:35:33,200 people in our country are U fives. 691 00:35:33,840 --> 00:35:36,280 And that is not even close to being the truth. 692 00:35:37,040 --> 00:35:39,160 In fact, this is very much a bell curve. 693 00:35:39,800 --> 00:35:43,520 And so the percentage of people who are highly resistant to the 694 00:35:43,520 --> 00:35:46,240 gospel, you fives who are antagonistic, these are 695 00:35:46,240 --> 00:35:50,040 protesters, these are lawsuit people, these are screamers, 696 00:35:50,320 --> 00:35:55,520 these are door slammers. Is always been less than than 8% 697 00:35:55,520 --> 00:35:58,720 of the US population. But we think everybody's that 698 00:35:58,720 --> 00:36:02,200 way because we see it on TV and we see it in the media. 699 00:36:02,520 --> 00:36:05,720 So everybody's against us. Everybody hates Christianity. 700 00:36:05,720 --> 00:36:08,120 And that's not true at all. That's not even close to being 701 00:36:08,120 --> 00:36:10,080 true. The view of the Bible still 702 00:36:10,080 --> 00:36:12,480 high, the view of the church is relatively sound. 703 00:36:12,920 --> 00:36:14,800 The child abuse cases haven't helped that. 704 00:36:15,120 --> 00:36:18,520 But but what we see is, is that the way you would show the 705 00:36:18,520 --> 00:36:22,720 gospel with AU five person, very different than the way you would 706 00:36:22,720 --> 00:36:24,640 show the gospel with AU one person. 707 00:36:25,080 --> 00:36:27,560 So with AU one person, they're wide open, they're eager, 708 00:36:27,560 --> 00:36:29,400 they're wondering how come you haven't shared that with them 709 00:36:29,400 --> 00:36:32,160 before. AU five person is going to take 710 00:36:32,160 --> 00:36:36,600 prayer, a lot of relationship building, a lot of demonstration 711 00:36:36,600 --> 00:36:41,400 of life in front of them, loving them often through crisis and 712 00:36:41,400 --> 00:36:44,120 need and helping them during difficult times. 713 00:36:44,360 --> 00:36:47,360 And them also watching you go through, and this is the part 714 00:36:47,360 --> 00:36:48,680 that a lot of Christians don't like. 715 00:36:49,160 --> 00:36:53,160 They might need to watch you suffer, and they might need to 716 00:36:53,160 --> 00:36:57,400 watch you go through something and how you handled that as a 717 00:36:57,400 --> 00:37:00,560 demonstration of the reality and authenticity of your faith. 718 00:37:01,200 --> 00:37:05,280 So when you're suffering, when you're hurting, don't ever 719 00:37:05,280 --> 00:37:09,560 forget what the greater meaning of all that could be. 720 00:37:09,560 --> 00:37:11,960 We go back to the problem of evil that we've talked about in 721 00:37:11,960 --> 00:37:15,240 the past, but the fact that you might be going through what 722 00:37:15,240 --> 00:37:17,880 you're going through because there's somebody watching you, 723 00:37:18,680 --> 00:37:23,000 you might not even know it, but the testimony of how you go 724 00:37:23,000 --> 00:37:26,440 through what you're going through is the catalyst from 725 00:37:26,440 --> 00:37:27,840 moving them. You can understand that part of 726 00:37:27,840 --> 00:37:29,480 the goal here. Think about this. 727 00:37:29,680 --> 00:37:35,640 If I could just move AU4 to AU5 to AU4, that's a significant 728 00:37:35,640 --> 00:37:40,040 moment for them. Move them to AU3 and then 729 00:37:40,040 --> 00:37:43,680 actually get them even closer. So sometimes it's not that I'm 730 00:37:43,680 --> 00:37:46,640 expecting you to get saved today, I'm just expecting you to 731 00:37:46,640 --> 00:37:50,600 not scream at me today. You used to scream at me. 732 00:37:51,040 --> 00:37:52,680 Now you don't scream at me anymore. 733 00:37:53,880 --> 00:37:59,120 God's working, God's moving, you know, and so we've got to 734 00:37:59,120 --> 00:38:03,120 recognize how this works. And so, so each one of these. 735 00:38:03,120 --> 00:38:06,560 And so my main point though, simply this, that you don't 736 00:38:06,560 --> 00:38:09,200 label every lost person the same way. 737 00:38:09,600 --> 00:38:13,080 Their law, everybody's lost, who's lost the statement, 738 00:38:13,200 --> 00:38:15,040 everybody's lost. That was the depth of my 739 00:38:15,080 --> 00:38:17,280 discussion. Everybody who's lost is lost, 740 00:38:18,040 --> 00:38:20,640 but they don't all have the same characteristics and needs and 741 00:38:20,640 --> 00:38:23,920 next steps. And so recognize that for some 742 00:38:23,920 --> 00:38:27,400 of them, the expectation that they're going to get saved in 743 00:38:27,400 --> 00:38:30,600 one encounter with one presentation is probably not 744 00:38:30,600 --> 00:38:33,080 realistic. That I that this is going to 745 00:38:33,080 --> 00:38:35,440 take time, this is going to take multiple encounters, This is 746 00:38:35,440 --> 00:38:36,960 going to take multiple conversations. 747 00:38:37,280 --> 00:38:40,600 And that if I can just get them to move a little closer, then 748 00:38:40,600 --> 00:38:44,800 God has worked and, and planted and watered well. 749 00:38:45,640 --> 00:38:49,000 And, and I've been faithful and God's happy about that. 750 00:38:50,360 --> 00:38:53,600 All that makes sense. All right, now let me turn the 751 00:38:53,600 --> 00:38:57,600 page and help you to understand some barriers. 752 00:38:59,480 --> 00:39:02,640 I could probably come up with a different list and I, to be 753 00:39:02,640 --> 00:39:05,200 honest with you, find this list a little bit redundant. 754 00:39:05,280 --> 00:39:08,280 But I want to talk about what Tim Booker, who's a friend of 755 00:39:08,280 --> 00:39:13,560 mine, Tim Timothy Booker, is a professor at Southern Seminary 756 00:39:13,560 --> 00:39:17,240 who's an evangelism professor. He wrote a little book about 757 00:39:17,240 --> 00:39:18,680 this. And so that's where these words 758 00:39:18,680 --> 00:39:21,680 come from. I want to give him credit at 759 00:39:21,680 --> 00:39:25,560 times I find they're a little repetitive, but it's as good a 760 00:39:25,560 --> 00:39:28,880 list as as we can use as a discussion. 761 00:39:29,920 --> 00:39:33,280 If you were in class, you would be required to share what your 762 00:39:33,280 --> 00:39:37,480 greatest barrier is and what you believe the greatest barrier of 763 00:39:37,480 --> 00:39:41,200 those around you is as well. And so we'll see whether or not 764 00:39:41,200 --> 00:39:43,360 I feel like you need to share and wake up here in a minute. 765 00:39:44,120 --> 00:39:48,560 But let's talk about these barriers for a moment and let me 766 00:39:48,560 --> 00:39:51,480 just define them for you. And I want you to think about 767 00:39:51,480 --> 00:39:53,160 this. Maybe you have no barriers. 768 00:39:53,880 --> 00:39:58,120 If you're one of those, you're probably A2 percenter and we 769 00:39:58,120 --> 00:40:00,560 need to have a conversation later because I need to unleash 770 00:40:00,560 --> 00:40:06,280 you on some people. But the fear barrier is the most 771 00:40:06,280 --> 00:40:11,200 common without a question when surveys and studies are done on 772 00:40:11,200 --> 00:40:12,760 why people don't share their faith. 773 00:40:13,120 --> 00:40:17,480 The number one reason without any close second, frankly, is 774 00:40:17,480 --> 00:40:20,480 some version of fear. And I'll talk more about fear in 775 00:40:20,480 --> 00:40:23,240 a minute. But let's talk about these other 776 00:40:23,240 --> 00:40:24,720 ones. The fear, the the barrier of 777 00:40:24,720 --> 00:40:28,760 ignorance is the idea that I don't know what to say. 778 00:40:30,680 --> 00:40:32,840 I, I would love to share my faith. 779 00:40:32,840 --> 00:40:36,520 I want to learn how to share my faith, but I don't know how. 780 00:40:36,560 --> 00:40:43,200 I don't know what to say, right? And so for a brand new believer, 781 00:40:43,240 --> 00:40:45,480 that makes sense that there's some things that they just 782 00:40:45,480 --> 00:40:46,520 don't. They just don't know what that 783 00:40:46,520 --> 00:40:49,000 means yet. And so certainly for a brand new 784 00:40:49,000 --> 00:40:52,960 believer, that ignorance is, is an honest, honest response. 785 00:40:53,600 --> 00:40:56,280 For the rest of us, this is just an issue of training and 786 00:40:56,280 --> 00:40:59,360 education. It should be so that that excuse 787 00:40:59,360 --> 00:41:01,600 or that that barrier gets taken away. 788 00:41:01,600 --> 00:41:03,880 You know what to say and you know what to do. 789 00:41:04,120 --> 00:41:06,480 And if you keep coming to these sessions or listening to them, 790 00:41:06,480 --> 00:41:10,320 you can't use that one anymore. So that doesn't mean don't come 791 00:41:10,320 --> 00:41:16,400 next time, just come and learn. As you can imagine, the barrier 792 00:41:16,400 --> 00:41:20,840 of apathy is I don't care. And there's a lot of that. 793 00:41:22,640 --> 00:41:26,320 And it gets mixed in with the last one of busyness quite a bit 794 00:41:26,320 --> 00:41:29,080 in the sense that I care, but I don't really have time to care 795 00:41:30,160 --> 00:41:33,720 or I just don't think about it. I, I, I wish I did think about 796 00:41:33,720 --> 00:41:35,360 it. And when I think about it, I 797 00:41:35,360 --> 00:41:40,120 care, but I go through my life and day's over and I didn't 798 00:41:40,120 --> 00:41:43,360 think about it and I just don't have time to think about it. 799 00:41:43,960 --> 00:41:45,920 But true apathy means I don't care. 800 00:41:45,920 --> 00:41:48,840 I have no burden for the lost. For some, there's even a 801 00:41:48,840 --> 00:41:51,480 theological perspective that I don't need to show the gospel. 802 00:41:51,480 --> 00:41:53,840 God is sovereign and he'll save whoever he's going to save. 803 00:41:53,840 --> 00:41:55,200 And we don't need to get involved with that. 804 00:41:56,720 --> 00:41:59,360 And so for those who don't know, we call that hyper Calvinism 805 00:42:02,200 --> 00:42:05,400 normally not Calvinism, hyper Calvinism. 806 00:42:06,040 --> 00:42:09,280 And so there's a difference. But to talk about this, this 807 00:42:09,280 --> 00:42:12,160 state of God is so sovereign that we shouldn't actually be 808 00:42:12,160 --> 00:42:16,120 involved in evangelism remissions that that God will 809 00:42:16,120 --> 00:42:18,800 take care of that we don't have to worry about it. 810 00:42:18,800 --> 00:42:24,400 Or I just frankly don't care. Often if that's the case, your 811 00:42:24,400 --> 00:42:27,320 view of eternity is a little shallow. 812 00:42:27,600 --> 00:42:30,000 Your view of hell is often limited. 813 00:42:30,600 --> 00:42:33,080 Again, down the road, I'm going to do a series on heaven, hell, 814 00:42:33,080 --> 00:42:36,120 and the hereafter, and you may want to miss some of those 815 00:42:36,120 --> 00:42:39,280 sessions and listen to them later because they might be too 816 00:42:39,280 --> 00:42:42,640 much for some of you. Because I will talk about hell 817 00:42:42,640 --> 00:42:47,160 pretty graphically and tell you what the Bible really says, 818 00:42:48,000 --> 00:42:49,600 breaking the barrier of introspection. 819 00:42:49,600 --> 00:42:50,960 This is one that sometimes people don't know. 820 00:42:50,960 --> 00:42:53,640 What does that mean? That means that I, I'm not 821 00:42:53,640 --> 00:42:57,280 worthy to share. I'm such a Sinner. 822 00:42:57,280 --> 00:43:02,320 Why would God use me? I'm not, I'm not worth in enough 823 00:43:02,360 --> 00:43:05,720 to be able to be used. It's something that important to 824 00:43:05,720 --> 00:43:10,080 see somebody saved to be an instrument in God's hand towards 825 00:43:10,080 --> 00:43:12,200 salvation. I'm, I'm not worth that. 826 00:43:12,760 --> 00:43:16,640 I, I'm too sinful. If you knew, if you knew me, you 827 00:43:16,640 --> 00:43:19,400 wouldn't even ask me to be involved with this. 828 00:43:19,400 --> 00:43:23,040 God can't use me. So it's that kind of place. 829 00:43:24,160 --> 00:43:25,800 There ought to be a little bit of that in all of us. 830 00:43:27,160 --> 00:43:29,840 It's called humility. But when you take it to that 831 00:43:29,840 --> 00:43:33,080 next degree of inactive, it takes me to a place where I'm 832 00:43:33,080 --> 00:43:36,520 inactive, then introspection gets in the way, and then you 833 00:43:36,520 --> 00:43:39,720 can imagine busyness, which is a curse for a lot of us. 834 00:43:40,160 --> 00:43:42,640 So we're too busy to do this. I wish I could. 835 00:43:42,640 --> 00:43:44,960 I wish I did. I wish somebody else would. 836 00:43:45,040 --> 00:43:47,640 I'm so glad you're doing it, but I don't have time. 837 00:43:49,040 --> 00:43:52,640 Or again, I wish I did. And I meant to, but then the 838 00:43:52,640 --> 00:43:57,560 day's over and I didn't because I'm I'm success is often defined 839 00:43:57,560 --> 00:44:00,440 by how many things I checked off of my duty list for the day 840 00:44:00,760 --> 00:44:04,560 without necessarily considering what God wanted me to do today. 841 00:44:06,520 --> 00:44:10,040 And our culture is obviously caught up in the swirl of this 842 00:44:11,160 --> 00:44:13,640 all the time. So mixtures of these things 843 00:44:13,640 --> 00:44:16,240 would be common. You're they're not hard lines 844 00:44:16,880 --> 00:44:19,960 and often you might say, well, I'm this way one day and I'm 845 00:44:19,960 --> 00:44:22,160 that way another. Depends on the situation, 846 00:44:22,160 --> 00:44:24,640 depends upon the context, depends upon who I'm sharing 847 00:44:24,640 --> 00:44:27,800 with. If I were to ask you though, let 848 00:44:28,320 --> 00:44:32,960 me do it this way. This is the safe, easy way to do 849 00:44:32,960 --> 00:44:35,640 it. What do you see in others? 850 00:44:36,240 --> 00:44:39,200 Most of the time somebody just shout out what and use these 851 00:44:39,200 --> 00:44:41,000 words. Which, which one of these do you 852 00:44:41,000 --> 00:44:43,520 see most of the time? And others that you know, 853 00:44:44,640 --> 00:44:46,680 ignorance, apathy, What else did I hear? 854 00:44:47,160 --> 00:44:51,840 Fear, busyness. So all of them, right. 855 00:44:53,400 --> 00:44:54,400 Yeah. Different times. 856 00:44:55,240 --> 00:44:58,960 The the big key is this. When you look in the spiritual 857 00:44:58,960 --> 00:45:04,920 mirror, why don't you share your faith more now that that's not a 858 00:45:04,920 --> 00:45:07,360 judgement call? Because some of you might, some 859 00:45:07,360 --> 00:45:10,760 of you might share your faith more than anybody I've ever met 860 00:45:10,760 --> 00:45:13,880 in my life because I don't know everybody in this room and I 861 00:45:13,880 --> 00:45:15,360 don't know what you do all day long. 862 00:45:16,240 --> 00:45:21,040 So, but if you don't share your faith as much as you know you 863 00:45:21,040 --> 00:45:25,760 ought to share your faith, why? And what are you going to do 864 00:45:25,760 --> 00:45:29,720 about that? And so because fear is the 865 00:45:29,720 --> 00:45:33,040 number one issue, let me make a couple more comments. 866 00:45:33,040 --> 00:45:35,280 And some of these are old comments, but I want to put them 867 00:45:35,280 --> 00:45:39,320 back into this context of this lesson because it fits. 868 00:45:39,840 --> 00:45:42,920 Always remember that fear is an act of worship. 869 00:45:43,800 --> 00:45:45,760 And I've said that to you 10 times. 870 00:45:45,800 --> 00:45:49,640 I'll say it to you 100 more because it's such a vitally 871 00:45:49,640 --> 00:45:53,920 important truth. Fear is an act of worship. 872 00:45:54,600 --> 00:45:57,080 When you fear something, you give it power. 873 00:45:57,080 --> 00:45:59,280 When you fear something, you submit to it. 874 00:45:59,280 --> 00:46:02,520 When you fear something, you pay homage to it, right? 875 00:46:03,200 --> 00:46:08,520 And so we need to be careful because that's why in every and 876 00:46:08,760 --> 00:46:11,800 over and over again, the Bible says to only fear God. 877 00:46:12,280 --> 00:46:14,880 And I've said all around the world on just about every 878 00:46:14,880 --> 00:46:18,640 continent that anytime we fear something or someone more than 879 00:46:18,640 --> 00:46:23,960 God, we are an idolater, right? And I get pushed back. 880 00:46:23,960 --> 00:46:25,360 So I'm not afraid of the traffic. 881 00:46:25,920 --> 00:46:30,880 Hush. See Taylor at Inglewood that I'm 882 00:46:30,880 --> 00:46:33,480 talking, That's not what I'm, you know what I'm talking about. 883 00:46:33,480 --> 00:46:35,360 I'm not talking about sticking your hand in a fire. 884 00:46:35,800 --> 00:46:40,280 I'm talking about spiritually and relationally because these 885 00:46:40,280 --> 00:46:42,200 are issues of relational authority. 886 00:46:42,480 --> 00:46:45,880 Love and fear are based on relational authority. 887 00:46:46,360 --> 00:46:48,840 So I'm to love God more than anyone or anything. 888 00:46:49,360 --> 00:46:51,440 I'm to fear God more than anyone or anything. 889 00:46:52,200 --> 00:46:55,200 And if I do anything other than that, I'm breaking the the 890 00:46:55,200 --> 00:46:59,880 commandments and I'm breaking the teachings of Christ when he 891 00:46:59,880 --> 00:47:01,400 quotes the greatest commandments. 892 00:47:02,040 --> 00:47:05,600 So when we think about that, every book of the Bible then has 893 00:47:05,600 --> 00:47:09,880 some version of fear, not every single one of them, because God 894 00:47:09,880 --> 00:47:10,920 knew it was going to be a problem. 895 00:47:11,200 --> 00:47:14,280 And so for us, and especially in personal evangelism application, 896 00:47:14,600 --> 00:47:19,240 the opposite of fear then is not courage, it's faith. 897 00:47:19,480 --> 00:47:23,600 I've got to believe that the reason I'm having this 898 00:47:23,600 --> 00:47:27,040 conversation with you about Christ is because God is so far 899 00:47:27,040 --> 00:47:31,480 ahead of me, right? There's no reason we ought to be 900 00:47:31,480 --> 00:47:33,120 having this, and this God is already. 901 00:47:33,120 --> 00:47:34,600 I believe in divine appointments. 902 00:47:34,600 --> 00:47:39,760 I believe absolutely, blindly, clearly believe in sovereignty 903 00:47:39,760 --> 00:47:42,080 and divine appointment and orchestration. 904 00:47:42,800 --> 00:47:45,320 I do. I depend upon that. 905 00:47:45,440 --> 00:47:47,320 I don't believe in chance. I don't believe in luck. 906 00:47:47,320 --> 00:47:50,000 I don't believe in fate. I believe in a God who's at 907 00:47:50,000 --> 00:47:52,160 work. Now, that doesn't mean I can 908 00:47:52,160 --> 00:47:54,600 explain everything. That certainly doesn't mean I 909 00:47:54,600 --> 00:47:57,600 understand everything. Go back to the problem of evil. 910 00:47:59,480 --> 00:48:01,760 But I do believe in evangelism, especially. 911 00:48:01,880 --> 00:48:06,600 There is no way I would have met you at the coffee shop or would 912 00:48:06,600 --> 00:48:10,240 be standing on the street corner or I'd be in that airplane 1000 913 00:48:10,240 --> 00:48:14,320 times last year or, or in that airport and you struck up a 914 00:48:14,320 --> 00:48:17,920 conversation with me. Holy Spirit's all over you, 915 00:48:19,360 --> 00:48:22,120 right? And I got to, I got to believe 916 00:48:22,280 --> 00:48:26,560 evangelism is an act of faith. See, I can't save anybody. 917 00:48:27,600 --> 00:48:29,840 We talked about that last time. I can't save anybody. 918 00:48:30,040 --> 00:48:32,240 So I have to believe that God will and can. 919 00:48:32,240 --> 00:48:33,960 And so I'm absolutely trusting him. 920 00:48:33,960 --> 00:48:35,400 So if he puts me in the situation to have a 921 00:48:35,400 --> 00:48:38,240 conversation, the least thing I can do is open my mouth and say 922 00:48:38,240 --> 00:48:42,840 something and we're going to talk about how do I actually do 923 00:48:42,840 --> 00:48:45,720 that next time we're together? How do I actually engage in 924 00:48:45,720 --> 00:48:48,560 those conversations? So this is really important. 925 00:48:48,800 --> 00:48:51,000 And that's why, again, as I've shared with you before, but I 926 00:48:51,000 --> 00:48:54,960 want to put it into this context, why first John 418 is 927 00:48:54,960 --> 00:48:57,720 so true. So when we talk about there is 928 00:48:57,720 --> 00:49:01,600 No Fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, this idea 929 00:49:01,920 --> 00:49:06,880 that there's no Phobos in agape. So that's what those Greek 930 00:49:06,880 --> 00:49:09,880 words, it's Phobos which is think about phobia. 931 00:49:10,080 --> 00:49:13,600 There's No Fear in agape. This willful decision, 932 00:49:13,600 --> 00:49:17,160 unconditional, willful choice by God to love you no matter what, 933 00:49:17,800 --> 00:49:22,000 but perfect teleos, agape, perfect, whole, complete, all 934 00:49:22,000 --> 00:49:24,840 the pieces are there. So it's not just agape, it's 935 00:49:24,840 --> 00:49:30,360 perfectly complete agape by God that he loves me this way. 936 00:49:30,360 --> 00:49:34,840 It casts out, it leaves no room for it pushes out Phobos. 937 00:49:35,760 --> 00:49:38,680 So in the words, if I'm so full of God, I'm so full of the 938 00:49:38,680 --> 00:49:44,520 Spirit, I'm so full of his agape, my fear is not going to 939 00:49:44,520 --> 00:49:46,840 have room. Now this takes us back. 940 00:49:46,840 --> 00:49:49,520 This is why this is a stair stepping experience. 941 00:49:49,880 --> 00:49:53,160 If you didn't listen to the last session, you need to listen to 942 00:49:53,160 --> 00:49:56,920 the last session because I talked about two relationships. 943 00:49:57,440 --> 00:50:00,160 Relationship number one, this intentional relationship with 944 00:50:00,160 --> 00:50:03,720 God and his people. Absolutely essential before I 945 00:50:03,720 --> 00:50:05,880 can have the intentional relationship with the world and 946 00:50:05,880 --> 00:50:08,760 its people. Because I got to be so full of 947 00:50:08,760 --> 00:50:16,320 God that not only am I empowered by that, not only am I faith in 948 00:50:16,320 --> 00:50:20,840 that, but the overflow of that into the lives of the lost 949 00:50:20,840 --> 00:50:23,080 people around me. That's when real power happens. 950 00:50:23,320 --> 00:50:27,440 Because it's not me, it's him. I was talking to a leader 951 00:50:27,480 --> 00:50:32,240 yesterday in my office and I held up my empty cup and I said, 952 00:50:32,240 --> 00:50:34,400 my friend, this is who you are right now. 953 00:50:35,080 --> 00:50:38,160 Because they're burned out. They're, they're empty. 954 00:50:38,760 --> 00:50:40,960 And I said, and when you're empty, you've got nothing. 955 00:50:40,960 --> 00:50:42,960 You can keep pouring out to somebody else. 956 00:50:43,440 --> 00:50:46,520 You've got to keep filling yourself up and handing the 957 00:50:46,520 --> 00:50:49,600 overflow. That's when the best ministry, 958 00:50:49,600 --> 00:50:51,840 that's when the best evangelism, that's when the best 959 00:50:51,840 --> 00:50:54,920 discipleship, that's when the best influence takes place. 960 00:50:56,160 --> 00:50:57,360 And so we've got to remember that. 961 00:50:57,440 --> 00:51:02,840 So I need to be so full of Teleosagape and believe in it so 962 00:51:02,840 --> 00:51:05,320 much. Perfect, whole, complete, the 963 00:51:05,320 --> 00:51:07,840 image of a piece of fruit that's ripe and all the pieces are 964 00:51:07,840 --> 00:51:12,000 there. The unconditional, willful 965 00:51:12,000 --> 00:51:14,120 choice to love me no matter what. 966 00:51:14,120 --> 00:51:17,120 By God, man, that ought to empower you. 967 00:51:17,680 --> 00:51:20,240 It ought to inspire you. I don't know what else you have 968 00:51:20,240 --> 00:51:22,360 to believe in. You've got to cling to that, 969 00:51:22,440 --> 00:51:24,640 right? So then we go to my definition 970 00:51:24,640 --> 00:51:28,000 once again, which I shared last time, but I want to bring it 971 00:51:28,000 --> 00:51:32,040 into context. So for me, evangelism, this is 972 00:51:32,040 --> 00:51:36,840 the John H Hewart definition is I'm intentionally preparing for 973 00:51:36,840 --> 00:51:40,360 and pursuing opportunities to personally show the gospel of 974 00:51:40,360 --> 00:51:44,480 Jesus Christ with with those who are unsaved in the power of the 975 00:51:44,480 --> 00:51:47,000 Holy Spirit while leaving the results to God. 976 00:51:47,520 --> 00:51:50,240 And I give due credit to Bill Bright stealing part of his 977 00:51:50,240 --> 00:51:51,520 definition. I always do that. 978 00:51:53,800 --> 00:51:55,480 But in other words, there's an intentionality in my 979 00:51:55,480 --> 00:51:58,280 preparation. So part of my preparations, 980 00:51:58,280 --> 00:52:01,720 relationship number one, part of my preparations, pre evangelism, 981 00:52:01,880 --> 00:52:04,320 I'm going to prepare myself by being full of God. 982 00:52:05,720 --> 00:52:08,080 And I'm also going to be prayed up and I'm praying for them. 983 00:52:08,080 --> 00:52:10,360 Part of the pre evangelistic stuff we're getting ready to 984 00:52:10,360 --> 00:52:13,720 talk about for a minute or two. And that intentional preparation 985 00:52:13,720 --> 00:52:16,520 then leads me into the intentional pursuit. 986 00:52:17,640 --> 00:52:21,760 Relationship number one to relationship #2 So the more I'm 987 00:52:21,760 --> 00:52:25,240 intentionally preparing for this, if I open my day by 988 00:52:25,240 --> 00:52:28,240 praying for my lost neighbor and thinking about him, then when I 989 00:52:28,240 --> 00:52:31,040 see my lost neighbor out there, I'm not thinking about whether 990 00:52:31,040 --> 00:52:33,400 or not he pushed his trash can in the right way or not. 991 00:52:33,720 --> 00:52:35,440 I'm thinking about whether he's lost. 992 00:52:39,360 --> 00:52:42,560 And then I'm looking for these opportunities to share the 993 00:52:42,560 --> 00:52:43,600 gospel. That's all I can do. 994 00:52:43,600 --> 00:52:45,120 All I can do is share. All I can do is point. 995 00:52:45,120 --> 00:52:47,320 I point, I point, I share. And we're going to talk about 996 00:52:47,320 --> 00:52:49,320 how to share in the best way, how to share in the most 997 00:52:49,320 --> 00:52:51,440 complete way. Here's a whole gospel that we 998 00:52:51,440 --> 00:52:53,720 need to tell somebody. But then and then in the end, 999 00:52:53,720 --> 00:52:56,000 our Holy Spirit, you just filled me. 1000 00:52:56,000 --> 00:52:58,440 You're overflowing now. So you got to, you got to save 1001 00:52:58,440 --> 00:53:05,120 them. Bill Hybels, who I don't quote a 1002 00:53:05,120 --> 00:53:08,760 lot, if you know that name. If you don't, it doesn't matter. 1003 00:53:08,800 --> 00:53:11,280 Mega Church, Former Mega Mega Church pastor. 1004 00:53:12,480 --> 00:53:16,320 He had a formula in one of his books for for evangelism. 1005 00:53:16,600 --> 00:53:19,320 I like the formula. So you have HP. 1006 00:53:19,320 --> 00:53:20,560 So I told you we're going to do algebra? 1007 00:53:20,680 --> 00:53:21,720 Yeah. Don't pay attention. 1008 00:53:24,720 --> 00:53:29,400 HP plus CP plus CC equals MI. In the beginning, I wasn't going 1009 00:53:29,400 --> 00:53:32,760 to give you the key. I was just going to have you all 1010 00:53:32,760 --> 00:53:34,840 work on a board. You know, somebody come to the 1011 00:53:34,840 --> 00:53:39,840 board who can do their homework. But basically the idea is that 1012 00:53:39,840 --> 00:53:41,560 high potency. Now what do you think that 1013 00:53:41,560 --> 00:53:43,360 means? So high potency, that means I'm 1014 00:53:43,360 --> 00:53:46,520 filled with the Holy Spirit. I'm filled with the word of God. 1015 00:53:46,520 --> 00:53:50,400 I'm in relationship number one. I am so passionately in love 1016 00:53:50,400 --> 00:53:53,680 with Jesus. I'm full of the dunamis power of 1017 00:53:53,680 --> 00:53:56,720 the Holy Spirit of the hagios and numatos. 1018 00:53:57,640 --> 00:54:01,880 I'm full of him, plus close proximity. 1019 00:54:02,120 --> 00:54:05,840 Now see, we get practical. I got to hang out with lost 1020 00:54:05,840 --> 00:54:08,560 people. I, I got to know him somewhere. 1021 00:54:08,560 --> 00:54:10,480 I got to be in an intentional relationship with him. 1022 00:54:10,480 --> 00:54:13,680 I've got to be able to have a conversation with them because 1023 00:54:13,680 --> 00:54:15,320 I've got to have clear communication. 1024 00:54:16,240 --> 00:54:18,440 Now, when those three pieces come together, that's when 1025 00:54:18,440 --> 00:54:19,720 you're going to have maximum impact. 1026 00:54:21,400 --> 00:54:23,880 So I can come to church all day long. 1027 00:54:23,880 --> 00:54:27,680 I can be in every single study. I can be here every single time 1028 00:54:27,680 --> 00:54:30,440 the doors open. I can be raised in church from 1029 00:54:30,440 --> 00:54:33,680 the nursery on which I wasn't, but some of you were. 1030 00:54:35,200 --> 00:54:37,400 I can be and I can know. I can know. 1031 00:54:37,400 --> 00:54:41,040 I can ask the the greatest, deepest theological questions 1032 00:54:41,040 --> 00:54:43,920 and have the most rabbinical type conversations about it that 1033 00:54:43,920 --> 00:54:49,040 you want. But if I have no close proximity 1034 00:54:52,080 --> 00:54:56,200 then I'm never going to have clear communication and there's 1035 00:54:56,200 --> 00:55:00,520 no impact except the selfishness of my own self inflated 1036 00:55:01,240 --> 00:55:03,520 sponginess of discipleship. How was that? 1037 00:55:06,360 --> 00:55:08,160 So we need to be careful. So let's talk about this. 1038 00:55:08,160 --> 00:55:10,560 How do I do this? So how do we build intentional 1039 00:55:10,880 --> 00:55:13,600 bridges of relationship? So we've got to think about this 1040 00:55:13,600 --> 00:55:15,600 for a minute. People need to trust the witness 1041 00:55:15,600 --> 00:55:17,880 before believing the message. Now it may sound like a weird 1042 00:55:17,880 --> 00:55:21,040 thing to say, but I'm talking about relational evangelism. 1043 00:55:21,240 --> 00:55:23,120 They need to believe this is real to you. 1044 00:55:24,200 --> 00:55:26,120 There needs to be an authenticity to you. 1045 00:55:26,560 --> 00:55:27,720 We're going to talk more about that. 1046 00:55:27,880 --> 00:55:32,120 The word real is crucial in a pre Christian, post postmodern 1047 00:55:32,120 --> 00:55:34,320 culture. You want to have impact. 1048 00:55:34,320 --> 00:55:36,800 Real, authentic has to mean something. 1049 00:55:37,400 --> 00:55:39,440 They can smell a fake a mile away. 1050 00:55:40,240 --> 00:55:43,360 They can, they can. They can smell a sales pitch a 1051 00:55:43,360 --> 00:55:45,960 mile away. That's not what they're after. 1052 00:55:45,960 --> 00:55:48,680 They've seen enough of that. They've seen enough of cheap 1053 00:55:48,680 --> 00:55:51,880 Christianity. They've seen enough of of, of 1054 00:55:51,880 --> 00:55:56,760 media born Christianity. So 80 plus percent of all 1055 00:55:56,760 --> 00:55:59,280 converts come to Christ. The influence of a Christian 1056 00:55:59,280 --> 00:56:02,280 friend or relative. You just got to understand how 1057 00:56:02,280 --> 00:56:06,280 important you all are. We will not reach thousands of 1058 00:56:06,280 --> 00:56:08,520 people. We will not make an impact on 1059 00:56:08,520 --> 00:56:11,560 the 74% unchurched rate right around us right now. 1060 00:56:11,760 --> 00:56:16,880 We will not make that impact. If it's all up to me, I'm not 1061 00:56:16,880 --> 00:56:18,840 saying it is. I know some of you are very 1062 00:56:18,840 --> 00:56:20,000 active. Thank you. 1063 00:56:21,600 --> 00:56:24,600 But all of us, the whole church has to be mobilized. 1064 00:56:24,760 --> 00:56:30,600 Thus 100% participation. Thus everybody in a connect 1065 00:56:30,600 --> 00:56:34,760 group, thus every connect group during the reach strategy, just 1066 00:56:34,760 --> 00:56:39,000 to get you loosened up, little, little lubricated and flexible 1067 00:56:39,000 --> 00:56:42,320 to reach out to people. There's a madness behind the 1068 00:56:42,320 --> 00:56:44,560 method, I assure you. But there's also some method 1069 00:56:44,560 --> 00:56:48,960 behind the madness. Christians have to befriend lost 1070 00:56:48,960 --> 00:56:50,440 person people. But I'll tell you that. 1071 00:56:50,720 --> 00:56:52,840 But, but before we get there, we need to think about the 1072 00:56:52,840 --> 00:56:54,760 characteristic of a good witness. 1073 00:56:54,760 --> 00:56:57,040 And I'm using the word as a noun the right way. 1074 00:56:58,040 --> 00:57:00,560 That was a verb. I don't like that verb 1075 00:57:00,560 --> 00:57:04,880 witnessing. Go go back in last time and 1076 00:57:04,880 --> 00:57:09,080 listen. You'll see why Leighton Ford 1077 00:57:09,080 --> 00:57:13,000 once said this. The transformed character of 1078 00:57:13,000 --> 00:57:16,440 Christian men and women is the key to world evangelization at 1079 00:57:16,440 --> 00:57:18,040 the end of the 20th century and beyond. 1080 00:57:19,960 --> 00:57:23,200 Our lives have to be changed. This has to be real. 1081 00:57:23,800 --> 00:57:25,600 This has to be who we really are. 1082 00:57:26,840 --> 00:57:32,040 Fake doesn't work anymore. In fact, Acts 413 reminds us 1083 00:57:32,560 --> 00:57:35,640 now, when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived 1084 00:57:35,640 --> 00:57:39,000 that they were uneducated common men, they were astonished and 1085 00:57:39,000 --> 00:57:41,840 they recognized that they had been with Jesus. 1086 00:57:42,120 --> 00:57:44,600 Now, when I preached through this months ago, I told you that 1087 00:57:44,600 --> 00:57:45,840 that wasn't a positive statement. 1088 00:57:45,840 --> 00:57:49,440 It was actually a -1 that they were actually mocking them for 1089 00:57:49,440 --> 00:57:52,240 being with Jesus. But it was still an impactful 1090 00:57:52,240 --> 00:57:55,840 statement. They could tell you're like him. 1091 00:57:56,040 --> 00:58:00,280 You're like that thing if their attitude, but it was still clear 1092 00:58:01,200 --> 00:58:04,600 that he had rubbed off on them. So when we talk about the 1093 00:58:04,600 --> 00:58:07,560 characteristic of a witness, we need to recognize that the more 1094 00:58:07,560 --> 00:58:08,880 we witness. This is what I talked a little 1095 00:58:08,880 --> 00:58:11,480 bit about last time. The more I witness God work, the 1096 00:58:11,480 --> 00:58:13,680 more I'm going to testify about God working. 1097 00:58:14,680 --> 00:58:17,520 So I witnessed the grace and the work of the Holy Spirit in my 1098 00:58:17,520 --> 00:58:21,160 life and the life of others. And then I testify about that to 1099 00:58:21,160 --> 00:58:23,920 everybody else. And this is something that we 1100 00:58:23,920 --> 00:58:25,400 must do. So we're going to talk about how 1101 00:58:25,400 --> 00:58:29,000 do I testify down the road? And this is going to be a 1102 00:58:29,000 --> 00:58:31,520 balance of the intentional and the neutral. 1103 00:58:31,520 --> 00:58:34,280 In other words, there are things that I'm observing and there are 1104 00:58:34,280 --> 00:58:36,960 things that I'm sharing. So let's be real. 1105 00:58:37,240 --> 00:58:40,440 We need to be consistently authentic and we need to be 1106 00:58:40,440 --> 00:58:42,880 relevant. We need to be contextually 1107 00:58:42,880 --> 00:58:45,320 important. Part of the problem in the 1108 00:58:45,320 --> 00:58:47,480 United States of America, hear me. 1109 00:58:47,640 --> 00:58:50,480 This is not a guess. It's based on research. 1110 00:58:51,040 --> 00:58:54,000 Part of the issue in the United States of America is not that 1111 00:58:54,000 --> 00:58:55,560 lost. People are sitting home on 1112 00:58:55,560 --> 00:58:57,320 Sunday morning cursing the church. 1113 00:58:57,800 --> 00:59:00,160 They're not sitting there thinking about how stupid and 1114 00:59:00,160 --> 00:59:02,400 how bad the church is. They're sitting at home on 1115 00:59:02,400 --> 00:59:05,440 Sunday morning not thinking about the church at all. 1116 00:59:07,080 --> 00:59:09,280 It is totally irrelevant to them. 1117 00:59:10,440 --> 00:59:12,400 This has no meaning in their life. 1118 00:59:12,800 --> 00:59:16,120 It's not a part of the social construct that it might have 1119 00:59:16,120 --> 00:59:18,360 been at one point in certain parts of the country. 1120 00:59:19,480 --> 00:59:25,600 OK, it never was in other parts, but in some parts, you know, the 1121 00:59:25,600 --> 00:59:27,840 socially acceptable thing to do was to go to church. 1122 00:59:28,800 --> 00:59:31,280 Businessmen went to church because they felt like they'd 1123 00:59:31,280 --> 00:59:33,520 lose business if they didn't. Right? 1124 00:59:34,200 --> 00:59:36,920 In fact, one of the great characteristics of one of the 1125 00:59:36,920 --> 00:59:39,520 great spiritual awakening. So you want to drag me down into 1126 00:59:39,520 --> 00:59:42,400 this history, I won't go there. But one of the great 1127 00:59:42,400 --> 00:59:44,760 characteristics of one of the great spiritual awakenings in 1128 00:59:44,760 --> 00:59:49,000 the United States of America was when they had to write about the 1129 00:59:49,160 --> 00:59:53,720 dual covenant theology, or excuse me, the halfway covenant, 1130 00:59:53,720 --> 00:59:55,160 not dual covenant. That's a whole different thing. 1131 00:59:55,360 --> 00:59:59,840 Halfway covenant theology of the church to where people, you 1132 00:59:59,840 --> 01:00:02,560 could have a halfway covenant member or a full covenant 1133 01:00:02,560 --> 01:00:04,320 member. A halfway covenant member of the 1134 01:00:04,320 --> 01:00:06,360 church was an unsafe person. You could be a member of the 1135 01:00:06,360 --> 01:00:07,480 church and you didn't have to be saved. 1136 01:00:08,400 --> 01:00:10,760 If you want to be full covenant, you had to be saved. 1137 01:00:11,800 --> 01:00:16,480 And so the church was full of recognized, officially listed 1138 01:00:16,720 --> 01:00:20,760 unsaved people because it was a social construct to go to 1139 01:00:20,760 --> 01:00:23,600 church. In fact, one of the catalysts 1140 01:00:23,600 --> 01:00:28,080 for the Great Awakening was a was a thing written by the by a 1141 01:00:28,080 --> 01:00:30,560 father and a son. And they wrote about the 1142 01:00:30,560 --> 01:00:32,560 unconverted ministry. In other words, they were 1143 01:00:32,560 --> 01:00:36,080 writing about unconverted pastors who are leading 1144 01:00:36,080 --> 01:00:41,720 churches. We still have that today. 1145 01:00:43,880 --> 01:00:46,680 So we got to be real. We got to be relevant. 1146 01:00:46,680 --> 01:00:48,320 So how do we get there? How do we get there? 1147 01:00:48,320 --> 01:00:50,680 So let's here we go. Here's some practical stuff for 1148 01:00:50,680 --> 01:00:52,080 you. How do we build these 1149 01:00:52,080 --> 01:00:55,040 relationships? So we need to intentionally seek 1150 01:00:55,040 --> 01:00:57,560 them out in the first place. Don't forget the definition of 1151 01:00:57,560 --> 01:01:00,080 evangelism. We've got to seek out 1152 01:01:00,080 --> 01:01:02,720 intentional relationships and encounters with lost people. 1153 01:01:04,160 --> 01:01:06,680 If we don't do that, lost people aren't going to hear the gospel. 1154 01:01:07,840 --> 01:01:10,520 Let me let me show you. Here's the deepest thing of the 1155 01:01:10,520 --> 01:01:11,240 night. You ready? 1156 01:01:11,920 --> 01:01:15,560 Lost people need saved people to share the gospel with them. 1157 01:01:17,160 --> 01:01:20,920 I know something isn't it got me those two doctorates for that 1158 01:01:20,920 --> 01:01:23,880 one. But anyway, so the other thing 1159 01:01:23,880 --> 01:01:28,240 you got to do is pray and we'll talk a little more about that in 1160 01:01:28,240 --> 01:01:31,320 a minute, but then build an expectant relationship. 1161 01:01:31,320 --> 01:01:33,360 In other words, this is, this doesn't need to be a fake 1162 01:01:33,360 --> 01:01:35,360 relationship. I'm not just trying to use you 1163 01:01:35,360 --> 01:01:36,880 so I can get to a gospel presentation. 1164 01:01:36,880 --> 01:01:40,240 Be careful. Do I genuinely love you? 1165 01:01:40,240 --> 01:01:43,080 Do I genuinely care about you? Am I genuinely your friend? 1166 01:01:43,080 --> 01:01:44,840 Am I genuinely in a relationship with you? 1167 01:01:44,840 --> 01:01:47,280 You got to ask yourself that. But am I expecting the 1168 01:01:47,280 --> 01:01:50,960 opportunity to tell you about who I really love? 1169 01:01:52,600 --> 01:01:54,520 So it's a guided expected moment. 1170 01:01:54,760 --> 01:01:58,160 So I want to show when possible. So showing is important, 1171 01:01:58,760 --> 01:02:02,280 especially for the U5U four. I got to show them. 1172 01:02:02,280 --> 01:02:04,360 They got to see this in me. They're not, they're not just 1173 01:02:04,360 --> 01:02:06,120 going to listen to my words right off the bat. 1174 01:02:06,120 --> 01:02:08,000 They need to see something different. 1175 01:02:08,000 --> 01:02:12,320 That guy's different, that family's different, right? 1176 01:02:14,240 --> 01:02:16,520 Listen, I tell you when this, when we were doing this study, 1177 01:02:16,520 --> 01:02:19,080 we talked to people all around the world, all around the US and 1178 01:02:19,080 --> 01:02:22,280 50 States and Canada. And here's what we heard. 1179 01:02:22,560 --> 01:02:24,040 My next door neighbor's a Christian. 1180 01:02:25,000 --> 01:02:27,320 We know they're a Christian. We watch them go to church every 1181 01:02:27,320 --> 01:02:28,360 week. They don't know we're watching, 1182 01:02:28,360 --> 01:02:30,000 but we're peeking out the window watching them go. 1183 01:02:31,800 --> 01:02:33,840 Why don't my neighbors think we're good enough to go to 1184 01:02:33,840 --> 01:02:38,400 church with him? Why don't my neighbors think I'm 1185 01:02:38,400 --> 01:02:40,000 good enough to know they're Jesus? 1186 01:02:40,960 --> 01:02:43,160 Is there something wrong with us that where they won't even come 1187 01:02:43,160 --> 01:02:45,400 over and talk to us about what they think the most important 1188 01:02:45,400 --> 01:02:46,920 thing? We know you all think it's 1189 01:02:46,920 --> 01:02:51,080 important, but we're not worthy for you to even come and talk to 1190 01:02:51,080 --> 01:02:54,400 us about that. We heard that kind of thing over 1191 01:02:54,400 --> 01:02:57,160 and over and over and oh, it's the silence. 1192 01:02:57,800 --> 01:03:01,960 It's the hypocrisy. Show when possible, share as 1193 01:03:01,960 --> 01:03:03,880 soon as possible. It's almost a bumper sticker of 1194 01:03:03,880 --> 01:03:05,400 mine. You got a difficult person in 1195 01:03:05,400 --> 01:03:06,760 your life. Somebody was sharing with me on 1196 01:03:06,760 --> 01:03:09,720 Sunday a legitimate situation about somebody at work in a very 1197 01:03:09,720 --> 01:03:12,840 different kind of lifestyle situation, difficult situation. 1198 01:03:13,040 --> 01:03:16,040 And I use that phrase. You got to show them as you got 1199 01:03:16,040 --> 01:03:18,960 to show them when possible and as often as possible and you got 1200 01:03:18,960 --> 01:03:24,160 to share as soon as possible. Then we we let God pushes out of 1201 01:03:24,160 --> 01:03:26,000 our comfort zone. We're going to talk more about 1202 01:03:26,000 --> 01:03:27,520 that next time. How does that happen? 1203 01:03:27,960 --> 01:03:29,960 And I'm going to approach people with this heart of love. 1204 01:03:29,960 --> 01:03:32,880 This has to be genuine. If you don't know how to love 1205 01:03:32,880 --> 01:03:35,280 people, there's your problem. You got it. 1206 01:03:35,280 --> 01:03:37,560 You got a relationship number one problem over here. 1207 01:03:37,560 --> 01:03:40,280 You've got to deal with, with God to our, I don't love 1208 01:03:40,280 --> 01:03:42,040 anybody. I don't know how to love. 1209 01:03:42,040 --> 01:03:45,080 That's a, that's a spiritual problem that you need to deal 1210 01:03:45,080 --> 01:03:46,920 with. You need to repent and confess 1211 01:03:46,920 --> 01:03:50,880 of that sin and let God help you with that, right. 1212 01:03:51,560 --> 01:03:53,440 And so I approach people with a heart of love. 1213 01:03:53,440 --> 01:03:55,520 I approach them with an attitude of expectancy. 1214 01:03:55,520 --> 01:03:57,840 And I'm sensitive to the Holy Spirit because I'm telling you, 1215 01:03:57,840 --> 01:04:01,600 I believe if, if I actually like I'm at a gas pump the other day 1216 01:04:01,600 --> 01:04:04,080 and a guy starts talking to me and he, he, he asked me a 1217 01:04:04,080 --> 01:04:06,400 question about the military because I got a sticker on my 1218 01:04:06,400 --> 01:04:08,440 back window about my grandson in the Air Force. 1219 01:04:09,200 --> 01:04:11,040 And next thing I know I'm, no, I'm a preacher. 1220 01:04:11,040 --> 01:04:12,480 And he goes, you want to hear my favorite verse? 1221 01:04:12,480 --> 01:04:13,920 And he's telling me his favorite verse. 1222 01:04:14,080 --> 01:04:15,760 And then I'm telling him my favorite verse. 1223 01:04:15,760 --> 01:04:18,440 Now there's a, there's four or five cars gathered around us and 1224 01:04:18,440 --> 01:04:19,720 they're all here in my favorite verse. 1225 01:04:22,160 --> 01:04:28,200 That's just God. Then we get really practical. 1226 01:04:28,200 --> 01:04:32,280 So we bust through the barriers. What's my barrier? 1227 01:04:33,760 --> 01:04:37,800 What's the big hold up? God, you got to help me with 1228 01:04:37,800 --> 01:04:40,440 this. You got to confess that before 1229 01:04:40,440 --> 01:04:42,080 him. You got to lay that before him. 1230 01:04:42,680 --> 01:04:46,120 I'm too afraid. I don't know what to do. 1231 01:04:47,440 --> 01:04:49,920 This is such an important thing. I'm afraid I'll mess it up. 1232 01:04:50,080 --> 01:04:53,400 That's a fear. So God help me. 1233 01:04:53,960 --> 01:04:54,960 And we're going to talk about that. 1234 01:04:54,960 --> 01:04:56,800 Don't worry, we're going to talk about those methods. 1235 01:04:57,760 --> 01:05:01,000 We got a lot more sessions coming and then I'm praying for 1236 01:05:01,000 --> 01:05:03,680 the opportunity and then I'm going to take the initiative and 1237 01:05:03,680 --> 01:05:05,920 lead the conversation to Christ, which is exactly what we're 1238 01:05:05,920 --> 01:05:07,880 going to talk. Here's exactly how to do that 1239 01:05:07,880 --> 01:05:11,960 next time we're together. And I don't think you've ever 1240 01:05:11,960 --> 01:05:14,240 heard what I'm going to say to you in the next session before. 1241 01:05:15,040 --> 01:05:17,160 I've never never heard anybody else teach what I teach. 1242 01:05:17,160 --> 01:05:20,120 And that's not, I hope that if that sounds arrogant, then it's 1243 01:05:20,120 --> 01:05:23,200 just see, Taylor, it didn't go with batteries, but I don't mean 1244 01:05:23,200 --> 01:05:24,840 it that way. It's just I've, I've read, you 1245 01:05:24,840 --> 01:05:26,720 know, you got to think in my line of work, I got to read 1246 01:05:26,720 --> 01:05:28,920 every book. I got to read every 1247 01:05:28,920 --> 01:05:34,920 presentation, and I don't know why we don't approach it in such 1248 01:05:34,920 --> 01:05:38,360 a natural way. This ought to be just an outflow 1249 01:05:38,360 --> 01:05:40,720 of relationship #1 and that's what we're going to talk about. 1250 01:05:40,720 --> 01:05:43,280 How to make that work. And then we come together. 1251 01:05:43,280 --> 01:05:44,760 So we talk about praying all the time. 1252 01:05:44,760 --> 01:05:46,880 So let's talk about prayer and evangelism for a minute. 1253 01:05:48,040 --> 01:05:52,240 The other side of your prayer handout. 1254 01:05:53,200 --> 01:05:56,640 Now normally, like if I'm in class, we would spend 30 minutes 1255 01:05:56,640 --> 01:06:00,560 together praying for this, but we've actually done an entire 1256 01:06:00,560 --> 01:06:03,440 podcast about this and we've actually had an entire Wednesday 1257 01:06:03,440 --> 01:06:06,000 night prayer service kind of modelled on this in the past. 1258 01:06:06,440 --> 01:06:09,640 So in this session, we're not going to spend the time doing 1259 01:06:09,640 --> 01:06:11,840 that tonight. But here's what I want to 1260 01:06:11,840 --> 01:06:13,800 challenge you to do. And we're going to talk about 1261 01:06:13,800 --> 01:06:18,000 this every single time from now on because this is stair 1262 01:06:18,000 --> 01:06:20,760 stepping. So I don't believe you got to 1263 01:06:20,760 --> 01:06:23,440 hear me clearly. I don't believe you will ever 1264 01:06:23,440 --> 01:06:25,760 lead a conversation to Christ if you're not praying. 1265 01:06:26,760 --> 01:06:28,400 I just don't think it's going to happen that often. 1266 01:06:29,920 --> 01:06:31,960 I don't think the sensitivity is going to be there. 1267 01:06:32,400 --> 01:06:34,200 I don't think the awareness is going to be there. 1268 01:06:34,400 --> 01:06:37,600 So this is foundational to what we're going to talk about 3 1269 01:06:37,600 --> 01:06:40,400 sessions from now. You can understand that. 1270 01:06:41,320 --> 01:06:44,000 And So what I want you to do is at the bottom of that, you see 1271 01:06:44,000 --> 01:06:47,000 blanks. You see 4 blanks in Person X and 1272 01:06:47,000 --> 01:06:48,800 an outline. We've walked to the outline 1273 01:06:48,800 --> 01:06:52,200 multiple times here at Inglewood, so read through that. 1274 01:06:52,200 --> 01:06:54,080 If you haven't ever seen that before, just read through it. 1275 01:06:54,080 --> 01:06:57,080 Use this as your quiet time. Read these passages of scripture 1276 01:06:57,400 --> 01:07:00,880 and begin to pray this way. Pray every day. 1277 01:07:00,880 --> 01:07:04,480 Pray every week however you can do it for a lost person. 1278 01:07:04,480 --> 01:07:07,360 My suggestion is, as you find 4 lost people in your life, you 1279 01:07:07,360 --> 01:07:09,440 can begin praying for by name. And just what? 1280 01:07:09,440 --> 01:07:11,960 I dare you to do it. I've dared churches all around 1281 01:07:11,960 --> 01:07:14,160 the world to do this. I dare connect groups to do 1282 01:07:14,160 --> 01:07:16,800 this. I dare you as a small group to 1283 01:07:16,800 --> 01:07:18,720 adopt people like this and pray for them that way. 1284 01:07:19,600 --> 01:07:22,560 I dare you and watch what God does. 1285 01:07:22,560 --> 01:07:28,520 And when he answers that first one, you will be so much more 1286 01:07:28,520 --> 01:07:33,080 emboldened for the next one. And then person X is the person 1287 01:07:33,080 --> 01:07:35,600 you don't know. That's that person you're going 1288 01:07:35,600 --> 01:07:38,640 to meet that person at at Tractor Supply. 1289 01:07:38,640 --> 01:07:40,880 That's that person at Lowe's. You can tell where I hang out. 1290 01:07:41,040 --> 01:07:45,680 That's that person at Smith's Red and White who, what are TV, 1291 01:07:45,680 --> 01:07:47,080 whatever commercial, what else we got? 1292 01:07:47,800 --> 01:07:50,200 Anybody got a business in here? I'll, I'll shout it out. 1293 01:07:52,040 --> 01:07:54,040 This is that person you meet at the gas pump. 1294 01:07:54,040 --> 01:07:56,280 This is that person you haven't met yet. 1295 01:07:56,280 --> 01:07:58,320 But I'm, I'm, I run into them today. 1296 01:07:59,000 --> 01:08:01,720 But see, I'm not just haphazardly running into person 1297 01:08:01,720 --> 01:08:06,200 X. I'm asking God for person XI 1298 01:08:06,200 --> 01:08:08,800 want to run into him today. When I travelled, I had all of 1299 01:08:08,800 --> 01:08:11,120 my students in my classes praying for me. 1300 01:08:11,560 --> 01:08:15,040 And then when I came back to class, they were were ordered to 1301 01:08:15,040 --> 01:08:18,319 interrogate me. So if I missed a week of class 1302 01:08:18,319 --> 01:08:20,160 because I'm gone. So like last year, I did 11 1303 01:08:20,160 --> 01:08:23,040 international trips last year. So if I'm teaching a class and 1304 01:08:23,040 --> 01:08:24,960 I'm gone, when I come back, they're supposed to interrogate 1305 01:08:24,960 --> 01:08:25,880 me. Who'd you talk to? 1306 01:08:25,880 --> 01:08:27,439 Doctor Ewart? Who'd you sit next to Doctor 1307 01:08:27,439 --> 01:08:28,319 Ewart? Who was person next? 1308 01:08:28,319 --> 01:08:33,920 Doctor Ewart, who is that person? 1309 01:08:33,920 --> 01:08:39,720 See, don't don't rush by. So that's your favorite verse at 1310 01:08:39,720 --> 01:08:45,279 the gas pump? I don't know his name. 1311 01:08:45,720 --> 01:08:47,200 I should, it's bad. I should have. 1312 01:08:47,279 --> 01:08:49,560 I learned it. At the moment I don't remember 1313 01:08:49,560 --> 01:08:51,000 it. I should. 1314 01:08:52,120 --> 01:08:55,880 But who's person next tomorrow? Who's person next tonight? 1315 01:08:57,600 --> 01:08:59,800 Pray for them. So pray God give them to me. 1316 01:08:59,800 --> 01:09:02,319 Don't, don't, don't and and and don't be the, you know, I know 1317 01:09:02,319 --> 01:09:04,399 people who go. It's so funny. 1318 01:09:04,520 --> 01:09:07,279 So in the old days, you know, like I was an EE trainer, faith 1319 01:09:07,279 --> 01:09:09,080 or whatever with CWT or whatever. 1320 01:09:09,080 --> 01:09:11,200 Some of you have no clue what I'm talking about. 1321 01:09:11,200 --> 01:09:13,279 These are evangelism programs and. 1322 01:09:13,319 --> 01:09:15,680 And we'd go out and we'd go knocking on doors and. 1323 01:09:15,680 --> 01:09:18,319 And I've been out with many of times when it was almost kind of 1324 01:09:18,319 --> 01:09:24,880 like nobody's home. Yeah, we tried. 1325 01:09:24,880 --> 01:09:27,479 We went out. We went out tonight, knocked on 1326 01:09:27,479 --> 01:09:29,640 a bunch of doors. Unfortunately, nobody home. 1327 01:09:44,649 --> 01:09:48,569 Can I can I hear a testimony? Thank you for those hands. 1328 01:09:48,569 --> 01:09:52,479 Your buses will wait. So, so one of the things that we 1329 01:09:52,479 --> 01:09:57,000 recognize, it's just that that we want to pray for this because 1330 01:09:57,000 --> 01:10:00,720 then because then I have Holy Spirit, boldness and power and 1331 01:10:00,720 --> 01:10:03,960 feeling behind me. This is all about your walk with 1332 01:10:03,960 --> 01:10:06,280 God. I hope you're getting that. 1333 01:10:06,720 --> 01:10:09,280 So it's all about living out seven essentials of 1334 01:10:09,280 --> 01:10:11,240 discipleship. And I know you think none of 1335 01:10:11,240 --> 01:10:13,760 this stuff matters or maybe this didn't connect, but it all 1336 01:10:13,760 --> 01:10:17,920 connects. We're building a train from day 1337 01:10:17,920 --> 01:10:21,200 one. We're building a train and so 1338 01:10:21,200 --> 01:10:23,400 recognize this. Let me share a few verses with 1339 01:10:23,400 --> 01:10:25,640 you about prayer. Some of these are on your prayer 1340 01:10:25,640 --> 01:10:29,200 guide. So James 4/2 you desire and you 1341 01:10:29,200 --> 01:10:30,680 do not have. So you murdered. 1342 01:10:30,680 --> 01:10:33,360 You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. 1343 01:10:33,440 --> 01:10:35,760 The context of this is massive conflict. 1344 01:10:36,560 --> 01:10:38,880 But then you have the last part that we often quote. 1345 01:10:39,040 --> 01:10:41,440 You do not have because you do not ask. 1346 01:10:42,280 --> 01:10:45,560 So whether it's physical conflict, emotional conflict, 1347 01:10:45,560 --> 01:10:49,720 relational conflict, or spiritual conflict, are you 1348 01:10:49,720 --> 01:10:52,600 asking for the lost souls of your people? 1349 01:10:53,680 --> 01:10:56,800 Are you asking for the lost souls of the Rocky Mount Area 1350 01:10:56,800 --> 01:10:58,640 area? Well, why would God give them to 1351 01:10:58,640 --> 01:11:00,120 you when you don't even ask for them? 1352 01:11:01,080 --> 01:11:03,240 You have no burden. You have no care. 1353 01:11:03,480 --> 01:11:06,240 Why would He give them to us? Why would He trust us with 1354 01:11:06,240 --> 01:11:08,920 spiritual babies when we don't act like we even like babies? 1355 01:11:11,120 --> 01:11:13,840 Matthew 938 preached A sermon about this one day. 1356 01:11:14,080 --> 01:11:16,720 Therefore, pray earnestly or beseech earnestly. 1357 01:11:16,720 --> 01:11:20,320 It means to ask passionately and specifically to the Lord of the 1358 01:11:20,320 --> 01:11:21,680 harvest. To Ekbalo. 1359 01:11:21,680 --> 01:11:25,480 To send out that word means to push, to throw, to thrust, to 1360 01:11:25,480 --> 01:11:28,240 pick up and toss laborers into His harvest. 1361 01:11:28,360 --> 01:11:32,840 I dare you to pray in your small group that way for one another. 1362 01:11:32,920 --> 01:11:36,200 Force us out there. Don't let us sleep. 1363 01:11:36,200 --> 01:11:40,800 Don't let us rest. I've said many a time to a lost 1364 01:11:40,800 --> 01:11:42,960 people, and this is not the technique I would probably use, 1365 01:11:43,200 --> 01:11:45,200 but I've said to many a lost person, I'm going to pray that 1366 01:11:45,200 --> 01:11:47,240 you can't sleep, that you're sick to your stomach. 1367 01:11:47,400 --> 01:11:50,040 Then you can't breathe until you pay attention to what I just 1368 01:11:50,040 --> 01:11:56,040 said to you. See, I I'm not worried about a 1369 01:11:56,040 --> 01:11:58,640 lost person being mad at me. I'm worried about a lost person 1370 01:11:58,640 --> 01:12:03,560 going to hell. We got to take this seriously. 1371 01:12:05,400 --> 01:12:11,400 Colossians 4 reminds me of our friends and a friend you're 1372 01:12:11,400 --> 01:12:12,640 going to hear in a couple of weeks. 1373 01:12:13,840 --> 01:12:16,880 It's amazing. I got 2 guests coming at the end 1374 01:12:16,880 --> 01:12:19,120 of the month, both of whom have been arrested for their faith, 1375 01:12:20,480 --> 01:12:23,200 which with everything else that's happened to other friends 1376 01:12:23,200 --> 01:12:27,960 wasn't an original design. But Paul's in prison. 1377 01:12:27,960 --> 01:12:30,480 I've shared this verse with you before in a prayer meeting in 1378 01:12:30,480 --> 01:12:33,080 Colossians 4. He's in prison, he's in chains, 1379 01:12:33,080 --> 01:12:35,920 and he asked the church continue steadfastly in prayer, being 1380 01:12:35,920 --> 01:12:37,400 watchful in it with Thanksgiving. 1381 01:12:37,560 --> 01:12:41,080 At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a 1382 01:12:41,080 --> 01:12:44,360 door for the Word to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of 1383 01:12:44,360 --> 01:12:47,320 which I am in prison. He goes on that I may make it 1384 01:12:47,320 --> 01:12:49,320 clear, which is how I ought to speak. 1385 01:12:49,480 --> 01:12:52,880 Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. 1386 01:12:53,160 --> 01:12:56,360 Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt so 1387 01:12:56,360 --> 01:12:59,120 that you may know how you ought to answer each person. 1388 01:12:59,280 --> 01:13:01,240 Lord, I prayed, now you put this. 1389 01:13:01,240 --> 01:13:04,080 This is on your prayer guide. You put this into the life of 1390 01:13:04,080 --> 01:13:07,880 that person you name God, I want you to open the door to the 1391 01:13:07,880 --> 01:13:12,040 gospel in Sam's life. Make me aware of it. 1392 01:13:12,040 --> 01:13:14,280 I want to see it. I want to see that door open. 1393 01:13:14,280 --> 01:13:16,320 Show me the door. Show me the window. 1394 01:13:16,520 --> 01:13:17,840 It's the word just means opening. 1395 01:13:17,960 --> 01:13:21,440 Show me the opening to the gospel that you open up in Sam's 1396 01:13:21,440 --> 01:13:24,680 life. And then let me speak the way I 1397 01:13:24,680 --> 01:13:29,200 ought to to him. Let me sprinkle salt on him, let 1398 01:13:29,200 --> 01:13:31,880 me share with him. Ephesians 6 is very similar, 1399 01:13:32,680 --> 01:13:34,440 same thing. He's in prison, different 1400 01:13:34,440 --> 01:13:37,360 church, but in prison. And he says praying at all times 1401 01:13:37,360 --> 01:13:39,640 in the Spirit with all prayer and supplication to that, and 1402 01:13:39,640 --> 01:13:41,560 keep alert with all perseverance, making 1403 01:13:41,560 --> 01:13:46,320 supplication for all the Saints. And also for me, that words may 1404 01:13:46,320 --> 01:13:51,280 be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the 1405 01:13:51,280 --> 01:13:53,840 mystery of the gospel for which I'm an ambassador in chains, 1406 01:13:53,840 --> 01:13:56,880 that I might, may declare it boldly as I ought to speak. 1407 01:13:56,880 --> 01:13:59,480 Here's the apostle Paul. I pray for boldness. 1408 01:14:00,720 --> 01:14:02,600 How should we be praying for one another? 1409 01:14:04,920 --> 01:14:09,800 God help me to be not only see the window open, but let me be 1410 01:14:09,800 --> 01:14:13,520 bold enough to say something. Romans 10/1. 1411 01:14:13,640 --> 01:14:15,640 I've mentioned it in a sermon not long ago. 1412 01:14:15,920 --> 01:14:19,960 Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that 1413 01:14:19,960 --> 01:14:25,880 they may be saved. Do you care about the salvation 1414 01:14:25,880 --> 01:14:29,920 of your people? Do we care about the Rocky Mount 1415 01:14:29,920 --> 01:14:30,600 era? Do we? 1416 01:14:30,640 --> 01:14:34,040 Do we care about the 50,000 new people who will be here within 1417 01:14:34,040 --> 01:14:38,680 the next 10 years? That means that means 25,000 1418 01:14:38,680 --> 01:14:44,080 people in the next 5. Most of them will be lost. 1419 01:14:44,720 --> 01:14:49,000 Statistically, it's easy to say that most of them will be lost. 1420 01:14:50,880 --> 01:14:52,240 Who's going to get them? Who's going to reach them? 1421 01:14:52,240 --> 01:14:53,640 Who's going to share with them, right? 1422 01:14:53,840 --> 01:14:55,280 Who's going to make disciples out of them? 1423 01:14:55,640 --> 01:14:59,040 So we pray. We pray for receptivity in these 1424 01:14:59,040 --> 01:15:01,720 guides. We pray for exposure, we pray 1425 01:15:01,720 --> 01:15:05,680 for acceptance, we pray for commitment, and we pray that God 1426 01:15:05,680 --> 01:15:07,600 would be honored. And if you notice what that 1427 01:15:07,600 --> 01:15:13,840 spells out, because we're praying that they'd be receptive 1428 01:15:13,840 --> 01:15:16,640 to the gospel, we pray that they would actually be exposed to a 1429 01:15:16,640 --> 01:15:19,760 gospel presentation, that they would accept the truth, they'd 1430 01:15:19,760 --> 01:15:22,320 make a commitment, and that God would be glorified. 1431 01:15:22,720 --> 01:15:25,120 And then we talk about a couple of other things, and we'll hit 1432 01:15:25,120 --> 01:15:28,000 this a little bit more later, but we talk about social 1433 01:15:28,000 --> 01:15:31,920 ministry and the fact that doing good things for people, meeting 1434 01:15:31,920 --> 01:15:35,600 physical need, meeting emotional need, meeting relational need. 1435 01:15:35,720 --> 01:15:38,520 So this could be anything from a food pantry to counseling. 1436 01:15:39,680 --> 01:15:41,240 How do we, we have benevolence funds here. 1437 01:15:41,240 --> 01:15:43,720 We have a lot of ministries that go on in our community. 1438 01:15:43,840 --> 01:15:46,760 How do we help people? How can that be used as a pre? 1439 01:15:46,760 --> 01:15:50,000 Is that pre evangelism to where we we have the opportunity to 1440 01:15:50,000 --> 01:15:53,360 help relationships with people, genuinely love them, with the 1441 01:15:53,480 --> 01:15:55,520 hopeful, with the hopeful opportunity of sharing the 1442 01:15:55,520 --> 01:15:57,840 gospel. It's also a post evangelism 1443 01:15:57,840 --> 01:16:01,440 activity for Christians to love them and to help them and to 1444 01:16:01,440 --> 01:16:03,320 feed them. And so that's part of it. 1445 01:16:03,320 --> 01:16:06,680 I've taught an entire class about how do we do that? 1446 01:16:06,680 --> 01:16:09,120 How do we adopt schools? How do we adopt people? 1447 01:16:09,520 --> 01:16:12,400 Jesus met people that way. What are we going to do? 1448 01:16:12,680 --> 01:16:14,960 So let me give you a couple of quotes before we kind of go 1449 01:16:15,920 --> 01:16:20,120 because it's time to go. Some of you have already left, 1450 01:16:20,120 --> 01:16:21,720 but thank you for not doing that. 1451 01:16:23,480 --> 01:16:25,200 And those of you who left, I watched you. 1452 01:16:29,680 --> 01:16:31,000 You know, it's funny on Sunday morning. 1453 01:16:31,000 --> 01:16:32,760 You think I don't see it when everybody gets up and walks 1454 01:16:32,760 --> 01:16:35,040 around. So you are so funny. 1455 01:16:39,040 --> 01:16:41,040 People have places to go. I'm it's fine. 1456 01:16:42,280 --> 01:16:43,840 Bless their hearts. Don't embarrass them. 1457 01:16:44,840 --> 01:16:51,600 I just did so Robert Lewis, who has written multiple books, but 1458 01:16:51,880 --> 01:16:53,680 I won't go into that. Just listen to this quote. 1459 01:16:54,400 --> 01:16:57,760 We have at times burned bridges to our communities by being a 1460 01:16:57,760 --> 01:17:02,600 disembodied voice of judgement. The world must see that while we 1461 01:17:02,600 --> 01:17:07,040 are firm in our convictions about sin, we are also actively 1462 01:17:07,040 --> 01:17:10,120 loving sinners by seeking to pick up the pieces of a broken 1463 01:17:10,120 --> 01:17:13,240 world. We must not be seen as casting 1464 01:17:13,240 --> 01:17:18,120 stones of judgement from a distance or Elton True Blood 1465 01:17:18,280 --> 01:17:23,680 much older quote. Testimony must be both words and 1466 01:17:23,680 --> 01:17:26,600 deeds. The spoken word is never really 1467 01:17:26,600 --> 01:17:30,480 effective unless it's backed up by a life, but it is also true 1468 01:17:30,480 --> 01:17:33,440 that the living deed is never adequate without the support the 1469 01:17:33,440 --> 01:17:37,600 spoken word can provide. This is because no life is ever 1470 01:17:37,600 --> 01:17:41,120 good enough. The person who says naively I 1471 01:17:41,120 --> 01:17:44,560 don't need to preach, I just let my life speak is insufferably 1472 01:17:44,560 --> 01:17:48,280 self-righteous. What one among us is so good 1473 01:17:49,440 --> 01:17:51,960 that he can let his life speak and leave it at that? 1474 01:17:54,520 --> 01:18:01,400 We need both, and let's show them whenever possible the share 1475 01:18:02,000 --> 01:18:04,760 as soon as possible. You don't want to stop at this 1476 01:18:04,760 --> 01:18:06,000 point. You've got to come back. 1477 01:18:06,000 --> 01:18:07,960 This all builds you missed last time. 1478 01:18:07,960 --> 01:18:10,760 Listen to it before next time. And then next time we're going 1479 01:18:10,760 --> 01:18:14,240 to get into the real heart of the matter. 1480 01:18:14,240 --> 01:18:16,360 I think so you'll want to come back. 1481 01:18:16,360 --> 01:18:20,280 Father, thank you so much just for the opportunity of being 1482 01:18:20,280 --> 01:18:22,360 your ambassador. Father, we don't deserve to be 1483 01:18:22,360 --> 01:18:23,560 used. We should never be used. 1484 01:18:23,560 --> 01:18:25,040 But Father, you have an incredible plan. 1485 01:18:25,680 --> 01:18:28,080 So, Father, I pray that you'll open the window of the gospel 1486 01:18:28,080 --> 01:18:31,000 and give us boldness to share as we ought give us the words to 1487 01:18:31,000 --> 01:18:33,080 share. Thank you, Father, for this 1488 01:18:33,080 --> 01:18:34,920 opportunity. Thank you for those who are here 1489 01:18:34,920 --> 01:18:37,320 and for those who are listening to this online. 1490 01:18:37,320 --> 01:18:41,120 I pray, Father, that if they don't have a church home, that 1491 01:18:41,120 --> 01:18:44,600 Father, they'll join us this Sunday as we talk more about how 1492 01:18:44,600 --> 01:18:47,600 you worked around the world. Thank you, Father, in Christ's 1493 01:18:47,600 --> 01:18:49,240 name, Amen. God bless you all. 1494 01:18:49,240 --> 01:18:53,000 Thank you. Thank you so much for listening 1495 01:18:53,000 --> 01:18:55,520 today and I also hope that you'll go to our website at 1496 01:18:55,520 --> 01:18:58,680 englewoodbaptist com as well as our app and find many other 1497 01:18:58,680 --> 01:19:00,880 resources that will bless you and your families. 1498 01:19:01,000 --> 01:19:02,080 Thank you once again.