Good morning. God is good.
It's another wonderful moment in the presence of God.
And always, as usual, in the presence of God, as always, the
fullness of joy. And today we're going to
continue with our series, just like Julian mentioned on Life
Bull. And today we'll be talking about
value sharing, which is Christ's The Searchlights quickly.
We have done 3 Series already. Could you remind me one of them?
You told me 111 from this side, one from here, 1 from here.
So let's go, somebody. I need to volunteer from this
side. Value 1.
Biblical truth. Thank you.
Rule 2. Rule 2.
OK, I'll come back to you. This rule.
Yeah, thank our very close to each that is humbly 7 decree
sharing. Yeah, the number two I'm back to
you now. Oh no, no, not you Ben.
OK, I'm going to help you presence of God, the fuel and
today we're going to continue on that and that's talking about
our value as a church to be Christ's such land.
I'm going to take our main test today from the book of Matthew.
Matthew chapter 5 from verse 14 to 16 said you are the light of
the world. A town built on a hill cannot be
eaten, neither do people light a lamp and put it under a ball.
Instead they put it on it's stand and it gives light to
everyone in the house. In the same way, let your lights
shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and
glorify your Father in heaven. I want to ask another question.
I don't want to make everybody uncomfortable, but I just have
to ask this When was the last time you as an individual,
intentionally reach out to someone who does not know Jesus
Christ? When was the last time?
Think about that. I'm not talking about someone
you've met before or someone that is to enable anything that
someone that owes this person has not really met Canada.
You deliberately approach that person and you share the word of
God with that person. When was the last time?
Friday. Friday.
Also, God is good. Thank you.
More grace, more grace. Thank you very much.
That's the first commandment in the New Testament, but you are
coming. Praise God, Praise God.
I'm happy that we've got people here that are really sharing the
gospel of Christ, but that is one of the great assignment that
we have been given as Christians.
You know. Christianity was never designed
to be a private. Club, you know.
We are just to go out there to share the gospel of God.
If God has gone something new for you, it's you know, if you
really enjoyed it, you need to share it with others that come.
Come and see what I'm enjoying. Come and see what I'm doing to
this our new. God, you know.
It is always very good for us to go out there to share the
goodness of God with everyone around us, to share the love of
God, to share the world of salvation.
The tragedy of our hate at the moment is that darkness exists.
True, it's dead, but the tragedy will continue when we as the
light refuses to shine. So we are the light of the world
that God has sent into this darkness to shine, to shine, to
bring hope, to talk about salvation, to talk about the
goodness of God. And one of the things that is
very evident in our world today is hopelessness.
But in Christ we've got that hope because we've got that hope
firmly in Christ Jesus. And we are expected to share and
to spread that hope with our community, at work, with our
neighbours, people we know, people we don't know.
And that is one of the great thing that is very important for
us. I'm going to remind us of one of
the greatest movies that I saw so many years ago.
I know some of you will have seen it before.
How many of us could remember that story of Titanic?
Many of us remember this story right on the night of April 15,
1912, the RMS Titanic sank in the North Atlantic.
Over 1500 people died, and these people died not because there
were no lifeboats, but because there were not enough.
And because some of the lifeboats that launched that
night were not full, when we look at this picture, I don't
know if you can say it clearly. Imagine these lifeboats, which
is equipped with satellites filled with survivors, floating
in the dark water, hearing the cries of the people around them,
and the crew decides we are safe.
That's the picture there. We are safe.
We don't want to disturb ourselves.
It is so risky for us to go back and save these people.
Let's just stay here in our comfort zone.
Thank God that we are safe. Whatever happens to the rest,
it's their problem. It's not our problem.
You. I can imagine that you could
hear the cries of people around them, but because they are
enjoying the warmth in their own lifeboats, they refuse to invite
or to go back to those people to actually support them.
This caused a lot of people to actually die, and people died in
that water church. That is a picture of what the
church becomes when we forget our purpose, when we sit in our
comfort zone and a lot of souls are being lost out there.
But just because we are comfortable in our own space, we
decided that, well, I'm saved. Whatever happens to them, thank
God I'm sick. Oh thank you Jesus.
That's not the purpose for us. A lifeboat does not stay at the
harbour admiring his own paintball while people drown in
the ocean. It purpose is to go to search
and to rescue, to save life, sometimes even at his own
personal cost. So we are not there to just
decorate ourselves that yes, I'm a Christian, I go to church
every Sunday, I praise and sing, have a very wonderful community.
We get on very well. Sing, we praise, we share.
Yeah, that's awesome. Today God is asking us, will you
become my such light in a world that is growing darker day by
day? I just want you to reflect on
this. We might have been saved.
Yes, we have seen what's do we want more people to be saved as
well? And if you want that, how are we
going about it? What are we doing?
What's effort, what state? What's our feeling being
intentional about this? I want us to think about this.
How do we reach the lost? I'm going to share just three
points before I close this summon.
How do we reach the lost? I'm going to be giving us 3
frame walls, OK? And that is we share Christ with
our life, we share life with our lives, and we share Christ with
the Lord. I'm going to break this down.
You know. The Bible says that you are the
source of the heart. In the book of Matthew, chapter
5 first 13 to 16 said you are the salt of a heart.
But if the salt loses its saltness, saltiness, how can it
be made salty again? It is no longer good news for
anything except to be thrown out and trampled under the foot.
You are the light of the world. A city that is built cannot be
hidden. So let your light shine before
all this, and they may see your good deeds and verify your
Father in heaven. You see, before anyone listens
to you, before anyone listening to what you have to say, they're
already studying who you are. Your life, our life, my life is
the first sermon that anyone could see.
Our character is the first message.
And whether we know it or not, someone is watching.
Someone is watching. And then they can decide, oh,
how is this person handling pressure?
He says he trusts God. Is this really trusting God with
all the pressure that he's been going through?
They are watching how our feet affect others.
They are watching how we are managing our home, how we are
managing our marriage. They are watching whether we are
the same person, you know, on weekdays and on Sundays.
They are watching whether our joy is true or we are just
faking it. They are watching in the book of
Corinths Second Corinthians chapter 3.
Well said. We are the living epistles
that's being read by our men. We are the Bible that some
people will read before they actually break the Bible.
So what are they reading about us?
Are we living a life that is worth emulating?
Are we living a life that people could actually say?
I guess this is truly a light. This is truly a salt.
This is truly someone I would love to emulate.
This is truly, I would love to follow this church or to listen
to church. I want us to look at this and
think about this salt and light. That is what we are.
You know, Jesus Christ intentionally used the word salt
and light. He did not use the word gold.
You know, before we can get gold, we have to D, we have to
purify, we have to shine and stuff like that.
But use the word salt and light. You know the reason because we
are, you know, to preserve. You know, one of the
characteristics of salt is to preserve.
And before it can preserve, there must be a sort of contact
to inhibit any sort of microorganism that we want to
grow. So when you look at it, salt
function by contact, salt preserves by being present in
pins it is preserving and salt also flavours by being mixed.
You know when we put salt in our fruit, we mix it together to get
even to salt Mix and salt creates thirst and lights.
When you are a light, what you can, you can't be easy.
When you are there, you are there.
When you enter a room, everybody knows that a light has fully
come. You don't need any sort of any
explanation. That is who we are.
A light does not explain itself. Light enters the room and what
happens? The darkness disappears.
That is who we are. The problem that many believers
have is that sometimes we use our saltiness.
We have become so much like what is applicable in the world
because we are following the world standard and gradually we
are integrating ourselves into the things of the world because
that is what is generally applicable and we are just
aligning ourselves to that. You know.
Our lifestyle look the same, our marriage look the same.
You know. Our financial decision reached
the same, our response to crisis the same, our joy just look the
same. We, we are not really enjoying
the content of what God really plans for us because we are just
aligning to what the world wants.
When you remember the Elliot Elliot Church, the early church,
they turned down world upside down.
How they had none of what was considered essential in ministry
today, No building, no amplification system, no social
media platform, no marketing budget, no Christian television
network, then they were small. They were even constituted.
They were minority under the one of the most powerful Kingdom
then under the Roman Empire. But what happened thereafter?
God used the church to really transform a lot of things.
You know, because when when plague swept Roman Empire then
and everyone could not afford, everyone could afford to run
away, only the Christians stood by.
You're able to go through the persecution.
You know. They stayed behind.
They care for the sick. When the Roman society discarded
the poor, the widow, the orphan, the Christian, then they picked
them up. They were pragmatic, they were
intentional. They were able to serve and that
was what gave the Roman Empire to like who are these minority
that are doing great things? They were minority or because of
their intention, because of the good works that they are doing,
a bigger empire could actually notice and reckon them that
because of their impact in that society, that is what we have.
Our impact must be seen, our impact must be evidence.
When everyone complaints, be that one that bring the
perspective of peace. When everyone seems everywhere
that is seems to be sort of hopelessness, you know, let our
joy overflow because we have the greater one that lives in ours
and that is what is expected of us as Christians.
Let's our life share the goodness of Christ because
sometimes or most times wear the Bible that others are reading.
And some people, they might not really have the opportunity to
read that Bible, but what they say is that, oh, he goes to
church, He does this, He does that.
And I want to follow him because I can see the impact of what is
following the impact of God in his life.
That is what we have the salt and the light to this
generation. My number 2L is share Christ
with your lips. I've got three LS.
Share with your life, share with your lips, share with the Lord.
That's our number three points. Share Christ with your lips.
When we go to the Bible in the book of Mark chapter 16 said to
them, go into the world and preach the gospel to operation
said we should go into the world, we should preach the
gospel. How do we preach the gospel?
Go out there and preach the gospel.
And for us to preach that gospel, it reminded us in the
book of Romans 6167. For I am not ashamed of the
gospel because it is the power of God that brings salvation to
everyone who believes, first to the Jews, then to the Gentile.
You know many of us who have become experts, just living a
good Christian life, quietly private you, and sometimes we
are invisible. I just want to do my things and
I'm just fine. Oh, I can talk to them.
No, I can't do that. You know.
But on social media, we are champions, we are bold, we can
talk. You know.
And in Sundays we could be very passionate people will be, you
know, doing everything from Monday to to Saturday at work
and unable with our families. You know.
We are very active and very effective, but we are undercover
Christians when it comes to preaching.
I can do that. It's not for me.
I'm not bold. I know I'm too classic for that.
No, just now. That's not who we are as
Christians. The gospel is not a lifestyle.
It is an announcement. It's an announcement of good
news. It is meant to be declared.
It is meant to be shared. And Paul, who had every woman
reason to be ashamed, He had been a Pharisee, the persecutor
of Christians, the man with blood on his hand.
All stand sore and say, I am not ashamed, So why are you ashamed?
Why are we ashamed? Why Paul wasn't ashamed because
he understood that the gospel actually is not just a religious
preference. It is not just a private
philosophy, but it is the power of God in him that is being
expressed. Church this morning.
I just want to encourage us to share more with our words, with
the word of our testimonies, with what God has done.
Sometimes the testimony we share is an encouragement to another
person. The testimonies we share is a
reference point for another person to actually act in faith.
The testimony we share could actually affect a generation in
life. You know when you look at the
family tree, because somebody has got that light, it spreads
down with the first generation. I'm going to be using an
example, 1 encounter and one city chain.
We all remember that woman that was at the well to get water in
the afternoon and Jesus went to her.
You know. You know, normally they
shouldn't have made what they met and they were interacting
and Jesus told her, said you have married five times.
Even the husband you've got is not even the right person for
you. And he was like, how do you know
that? Are you a prophet?
Remember that story in the book of John chapter 4 things?
I mean, and you know, she's got 5 field marriages.
She's living with a man who was in her husband.
She was the last person anyone in this city would actually
choose to be an evangelist. But what happened if she had an
encounter with Jesus Christ? She did not stay there.
She said, yeah, come and see, come and see.
I have seen a man that's told me all the history of my life.
She had an encounter and she didn't keep that encounter to
herself. And she went out there.
Oh, come and see, come and see a man who told me everything I
ever did. I even told me about the five
previous marriages. I've not told him before and he
told me who is this man? Come Sonic, Sir, he had an
encounter with the Lord and that encountered spread round the
city and it was reported that a lot of people changed their
life, changed their way, and they became Christian just by
the word of her mouth and the testimony she cheered upon an
encounter she had with Jesus Christ.
We can do the same. We can do better.
That's not been good for us, what has been good for us.
So we need to share it, we need to express it.
We need to go out there and talk more about the goodness of God.
She did not hide it. The Bible says that many
Samaritans from that city believe in Jesus just because of
our testimony. Do you know your testimony could
do something better like that? Our testimony is powerful and we
can do better. We also remember the story of in
Luke chapter 15 verse four to seven.
You know, suppose one of you has 100 sheep and this is one of
them. Doesn't he live in 99 in the
open country and go after the lost sheep until it is fine?
And when he finds it, he joyfully put seeds on his
shoulder and blossom? Then he called his friend and
neighbours together and said, Rejoice with me, I have found my
lost sheep. I'll tell you that is the same
way. That would be more rejoicing in
heaven over 1 Sinner who repent than over 99 righteous person
who do not need to repent. How are we making even to
rejoice? Are we making even rejoice in
our ways? You know well you know Jesus
made me told these parables. You know when you look at that
Luke 15, there were about 3 parables there.
That means the parable of the lost sheep, the lost coin and
the prodigal son. But one thing you see that the
following sort of a pattern that's talking about come back
home, come back home by so much of joy.
You know the Shebad does not allow us from the farm he grows.
He leaves the 99 and focus on one just to bring that one to
tell you how precious every lost soul is.
So I will go and he has sent us to this world to make sure that
all these Lords soul are brought back into His Kingdom.
Our deity here is to depopulate the Kingdom of darkness and
populate the Kingdom of God. And if we are not doing that, we
still have a lot of work to do. We are here to depopulate the
Kingdom of darkness and populated Kingdom of God because
every soul, every repentance, every lawsuit that is coming
back home and so much of rejoicing and so much of
dancing. And then do we have to want, we
need to have more of that. So I'm just challenging us this
week. That's as we go to our work, to
our various offices. That colleague you have been
nervous to talk to, that's member of your family that's you
have tried to avoid for so many years, that neighbour who look
like they have it all together, but you know that everything is
falling about. Just know that Evan has not
given up on them and neither should we.
If everyone has not giving up on them, we must not give up on
them. What do we do this week?
What do we do? Shine our light.
Let's approach them, let's talk to them, let's encourage them.
Let's be the source. Let's stage, let's make it
spicy, let's make it tasty, let it go around, let's preserve
when we enter that from let that light and that's who we are.
May the Lord help us in Jesus name, share Christ with the Lord
in all this. When we look at the Great
Commission in Matthew chapter 28, said, therefore go and make
disciples of all men, said baptising them in the name of
the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching
them to obey everything that I have commanded you.
And surely, and this is the very important part of it for us.
Let's look at the last sentence. Let's read together.
Hi, I'm with you always to the very end of the age.
You know, in all these things we are not by ourselves.
He's there with us. He's giving us the right words
to say. He's directing us with the
sorrow Spirit, the next step to take.
He's protecting us and that is His promise, that surely I'll be
with you. And so when we are sharing this
word, we know that God is with us.
I'm not alone. When we go into a battle with
the Lord, we are always victorious.
When I'm with Jesus, there is no mountain, there is no problem,
there is no situation that I cannot overcome.
That is the Jesus we carry. That is who Jesus is.
So in all we do, we go with him because he promised to be with
us, even to the very end. We have no power of our own, no
wisdom, no knowledge or the study.
Sometimes you don't even want to be right.
What to say? But because Jesus Christ lives
in us, because he's our senior partner, he will tell us, He
will direct us how to act, what's to say, how to handle it.
Difficult question, difficult situation, unpleasant situation
is there to give us the right word and how to go about it.
So Jesus is telling us that we should go out there, that we
should preach the gospel. What I know, we have so many
things that are really disturbing us.
And that is the reason why in the book of Second Timothy said
God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of law
and of a sound mind. Therefore, do not be a thing of
the testimony of our Lord. Sometimes we know what to do,
but that fear that's sort of disappointment that what if I
share with this guy and he says no, I remember, you know, so
many of our prayer work. I remember the last time I was
with Paul to try to give a sort of.
Pamphlets something to some of the believer and say some of
them say no, no, but he was not discouraged until he got someone
to eventually hand it to. For for as many people that I
even married here, the last the first time you asked your wife
how this is probably probably they won't say yes, but because
you believe in this, you follow up and you continue asking the
same thing. We can bring that to the gospel.
Because someone tells us no yesterday doesn't mean he or she
cannot say yes the next day. The tragedy is that when we give
up, we don't give up, for we prayerfully continue to pray for
that person and to see how that person could come over to the
Lord side. You know, the enemy offers a
spirit of fear, timidity that silences and telling us that
what of if they reject me? And many of us cannot manage
rejection. And because of that, I just want
to maintain my peace. That is the work of the devil.
That is the plan of the devil because God has a purpose for
you to speak at that point, because there is a purpose that
something that God want to do with that conversation.
But because the devil came, what if she rejects you?
OK, let me just leave. And that's all.
But God gives us the power beyond ourselves.
Give U.S. law that cast house fears and a clear and untroubled
mind. That is what God gives us.
A clear mind, untroubled mind, power beyond ourselves, contrary
to what the devil is giving us, Fear, timidity and the fear of
rejection. God is telling us here and God
is reassuring that He has given us that love.
He has given us that power beyond ourselves, what we could
not control, and a clear and untroubled mind.
You know, Paul was writing this in this second Timothy when he
was in the prison. You know, he was trying to
encourage Timothy then. He was probably probably afraid
and doubting himself, you know. And Paul was in chains then was
in the prison and Despite that still wrote this encouragement
to encourage Timothy. That is who we are.
We need to encourage one another.
We need to support one another to make sure that this Great
Commission that Jesus Christ has given us to do come to
fulfilment. The devil will not want it to
happen, but it is our own intentionality, is our own
resilience that we make it happen.
And I pray that God will help us to achieve this.
You see, this generation does not need more hidden Christians,
it needs a satellite. And who is the satellite?
We are the satellite because we are the light of the world.
In Matthew chapter 15, verse 14 reemphasizes that we are the
light of the world. So if we are the light of the
world, then we need to go out there, spread that light.
The world is dark enough already.
It does not need more darkness. It needs you, the light of
Christ shining through His Church without apology, without
fear, and without delay. That's to be noun.
You don't have to postpone it because God has a purpose for
everything. We must not wait till our own
time. That oh, when I'm ready, I'm
going to start doing it. No, now is the time.
Now is the time. In closing, I just want you to
think about one person, just one person.
Someone in your world right now, probably at work, probably your
family member or someone in your friendship circle who does not
know Christ. Just imagine.
Can you see their face? Do you know their name?
OK, Now just imagine again, arriving in heaven.
OK, you are arriving in heaven one day, and same person is
there. Yeah, because you spoke, because
you prayed, because you refuse to let your lifeboat stay
comfortable at the harbour, or because you blew the trumpet.
What a day that will be. How do you think that day will
be? But imagine another possibility,
standing before God with the knowledge that these people
lived and died without Christ, and you were next to them for
years, and you were afraid of what they would think about you.
Or it was never the right moment at the right time, or you kept
waiting until you were ready. George, there is no more time.
Today's the day. This week is the week.
There's only one person whose name comes to our mind and we
just need to pray for them. Just imagine, how are we
affecting our world? How have we been that Bible that
people are reading? How have we been using the word
of our testimony? How have we been using our lips?
Have we been going out there just with our own strength or
power? Have we been inviting God?
Have we been going God with God with us?
Let's think about this as we pray.
Father, we thank you Lord for your faithfulness this morning.
Lord, you have given us the opportunity to re regain about
the need for us to be out there to share more of your world, to
be delight to be sold for this world.
All I pray even as we do is Lord that you help us.
You give us the courage, you give us the right words to say.
Your Holy Spirit will go ahead of us to direct our parts and
when we even before we speak to people, Lord, that you will
prepare their hearts. And for as many that we are
praying for, Lord, we pray that they will see that light and
they will move into your Kingdom, Lord, under your
umbrella. Lord.
Lord, for us, many that we are praying for in our
neighbourhood, in our workplace, as we go this week, give us that
boldness to even speak to them. Take away that fear Lord, take
away every devices or every antics of the devil to prevent
us from sharing this, but by your power strengthen us, Fill
our hearts with so much of love, strength and love for you to do
more and more. And at the end of it all, you
know have reason to glorify your name together in heaven in Jesus
name, Amen.