The Pillar of Testifying

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Well, we did start a series a couple weeks ago that we're calling the Pillars of Community church, and it's really based on this idea that that is elders. We are called to be the leader, this church, but we're really not the ultimate leaders. Jesus Christ is the main leader, and we're called to be under shepherds. And we recognize that that means that we need to study His word and seek to be faithful to his calling.

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And to that end, for the past 16 years, we have and continue to, spend time every month looking at God's Word, evaluating our ministry by what we feel, what the Bible calls us to do, seeking to be faithful to that call. It was based on a study of the Bible that we formulated a mission statement. And, you know, our the mission of our church is to know Christ, his life changing power, and to make him known.

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And, and and that's a summation of what we feel that the Bible calls us to. But we felt it was needed to be short, memorable, because if he could have been a long mission statement, nobody knows, then it's really not driving you your decision in any way. So we wanted to be short, but yet we recognized we also needed something longer.

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That kind of explained and expounded on all the things that we really saw in God's Word. So we developed a longer document, Core Values, that lays out these values and each one kind of accountability points. And we annually spend time, look at those values and evaluate our ministry, make decisions going forward. But again, because those are longer in most people haven't heard those.

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You know, we thought, well, we wanted to take those ideas and share with them with you. So what we've done is we've taken those core values and we've simplified them down to the seven concepts. And, and we're calling those the pillars of community church. And you heard those in just a moment ago in the video, the seven pillars are we worship, we pray, we fellowship, we testify, we disciple, we forgive and we serve.

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And, and in this series, we're looking at these pillars one at a time. And, we're looking each week at a Scripture verse where it not only calls, teaches, you know, that this should be part of what the church does, but then what it looks like in practice. And each week we're also going to in with each one of these ideas we're looking at.

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This is a pillar that not only impacts our relationship with God, but also our relationship with other people. So even when we look at this week, we're going to dive into week testify and and, and as we think about what does that mean? Well, it's an expression of our love towards God. What it means is that we love God by giving honor and glory to him, by proclaiming his wondrous works in our lives.

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But it also expression of how we love other people. And so we testify in our love towards people by sharing the gospel and how Jesus has changed our lives so others may see what is possible and might may desire to have their lives changed as well. And so I'm going to focus primarily on the second aspect of that this morning.

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And, and when we think about this aspect, for those who've been around any church for any length of time, you know, this whole call to share the gospel is at the foundation of what the church's purpose is. In fact, it's that's the biblical idea. If you go back to the end of the Gospel of Matthew, the whole Gospel of Matthew ends by Jesus in a sense saying, okay, now I'm about to leave, I've finished my ministry, I'm leaving, and I'm going to now give you as the church, as my followers, this great commission.

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The statement of your mission. So in Matthew 18 or 2818 he says this all authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Go therefore, and make disciples of all nations. So I have all authority, and I've given this. And now I give you this call to make disciples. And that is one calling that involves two aspects or two related tasks baptizing them in the name of the father and the son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe all that I've commanded you.

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So we're called to share the message of Jesus and leading people to saving relationship with Jesus. And then we're called to help them grow in that relationship. So this morning, as we look at this whole pillar of testifying, I'm going to focus primarily on Second Corinthians chapter five. We're going to focus mainly in verses 17 through 21. And so that's what I'm going to read.

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When we get in the message, I'll actually go back a little bit earlier, back to chapter nine. So if you have a Bible and I invite you to open it up there. But let me begin by reading Second Corinthians chapter five, starting in verse 17. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away.

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Behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation that is, in Christ. God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore we are in bassador for Christ God making his appeal through us.

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We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God for our sake. He made him to be sin who knew no sin, that in him we might become the righteousness of God. May God bless the reading of His Word. Let me pray. Father, thank you for the privilege that we have to be here this morning. Father, to be able to spend this time worshiping you, enjoying you, celebrating the work that you're doing in people's lives.

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Father, the the opportunity that we have now to be able to dive in. Your word, thank you for for what you continue to teach me and challenge me in this truth. Father, I pray that you would speak this morning, father, that even this morning that you would not only use this week instrument, you'd give me the strength to speak, that you'd allow me to make it through the message without coughing, and, father, that your your spirit would speak through your power, not mine.

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And, father, help each one of us that are here to have hearts that are open, to hear and respond to what you're calling us to. To today, in Jesus name. Amen. For those of you who are parents, let me ask you a question. When are you most proud of your children? You know, the idea of being proud of our children is an important one, especially when we think of our kids.

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They want us to be proud of them. They want to see that. They want to hear, I'm proud of you. They want to see the smile of that pride. I think it's most obvious with younger children because they're explicit and shameless in their pursuit of the applause and approval of their parents. If you have a young child and if they're down in kids church today, I don't know what the plan is down there this morning.

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But if they're doing any kind of craft, what's going to happen when you go down? You're and you pick up your child? The first thing they're going to do is they're going to take here's the picture I drew, here's the craft that I did, here's what I made. And they're going to bring it to you and they're going to show you, you know, their first thought is I did this work, and I want to show it to Mommy and Daddy with the hope of getting a praise.

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Boy, you did a good job. Well, I think over Christmas, you know, over Christmas we have kids choirs. And Stevie had the kids choir here in mid December and, and, and then on the 24th, we had a kids choir at the 4:00 service. And I've got to tell you, whoever leads a kids choir, Stevie. And you have an amazing job.

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You do a great job. And it's a tough job because when you see the kids get up here, none of them are looking at the leader, right? What happens? They get up there and the first thing they do is they look for Mom and dad. They, you know, they're looking. Nobody's. And somehow she's got to be able to get their attention to get them sing.

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And and the little kids are, you know, explicit about it. They get up here and there, you know, mommy they're, you know, waving until you way back and, and, and somehow to pull them together is an amazing thing. Now, when our kids get older, they hide it a little better, but not much. And all you have to do is you go to a sports game and you could have, you know, a high score and what happens to say, get out there.

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And and they want to see where mom and dad is in the stands. And, and you know, when they make a big shot, when they, you know, do something good, they, they look up there right away because they're still seeing the approval of their parents. Now, if you're a parent, let me ask you to reflect upon all the things that your kids do.

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What makes you most proud of them? Other times that you could stand back and you watch their actions and you and I'm proud of who they're growing up to be. It might be in how they handled a bad call in a game. Might be, boy, they did a good job on a report card or or their ability to forgive someone who hurt them, or was how they persevered and worked hard and overcame difficult circumstances.

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Or or maybe when they showed kindness and compassion to someone who needed or how they helped a sibling? And when were you most proud? Now, let me ask you another question. Believing that as Christians, the Bible says that we are the children of God. When is God most proud of you? When does God look down on you with the joy that comes from pride in what you're doing?

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And it's important you see, if our children look at that and they live for our pride and they're excited about that, they're driven by that. If we are called to be like children in our relationship with God, should we be driven by the pursuit of God's pride? Look at the challenge given to us in Second Corinthians five nine.

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So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. Paul stating that as children of God, we should make it our aim, our goal, make it our priority to try to please God, to make him proud as it is one of the highest desires for a young child. That should be our desire to please our father.

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Now the incredible thing is here on earth. You know, sometimes we could do something and our parents don't notice, and God notices everything. Or we can do something and it's forgotten over time. The real incredible thing is what we do for God will be remembered throughout all eternity. Look at what it says in verse ten, for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each 1st May receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

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So it's going to be remembering and turning. Now what? Let me say right off the bat when it talks about the judgment seat of Christ here, if you have trusted in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, okay, this is not something that you're going to fear. What? But the truth is, is because you've trusted in Jesus Christ for your sins.

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Jesus Christ died for your sins when you trusted in him. All those were put on Jesus Christ. He paid the full penalty for those sins. So judgment. The judgment seat of Christ isn't a place where you give an account for your sins. It's a place where you give an account for what you've done for Christ since you've been saved.

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It's the idea of rewards. What are the rewards that God will give us for the way that we've lived our lives? What are the treasures that you store for yourselves in heaven? You see people even we'll talk about the idea of, well, when we get to heaven, we get crowns as rewards and we get the mansion or okay, well, even in that which the crowns, what are the ultimate rewards?

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I believe as I look at the Bible, the ultimate reward will be the pleasure and pride of our Heavenly Father. Here's a picture I want you to imagine. Imagine what we can't imagine would be like in heaven. But you're in heaven and you're enjoying all the joys, all the blessings that heaven has to offer. And then you look over and you see a friend, and you see that person enjoying all the blessings of heaven.

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And and you realize that you had a part of leading that friend to saving faith in Jesus Christ. And as you remember that, you see that friend turn to you, look you in the eyes and you see their realization and the gratitude for the role that you had in changing their eternal destination. But then you turn and you see Jesus and you see that he is observe the eye contact between you and your friend.

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And you realize at that moment that he likewise remembers and realizes that you had a part in bringing that person to saving faith. And then you see Jesus smile and he nods to you and and maybe even you hear him whisper, well done. I'm proud of you. You've made a difference. And you realize that for all eternity, every time you see that person, that realization is there.

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Every time you see Jesus Christ, there's that that glimmer of pride for the things that you did of bringing that person of faith. I want to tell you that's a reward that extends out throughout eternity. I can imagine no greater reward if a child is driven by the approval of the parent. And here we have the approval of our Heavenly Father in eternity.

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For the greatest of things. That's what Paul is talking about here. You know, he says, if I'm motivated in the pursuit of my father, I'll try to please him by sharing the gospel. Look again. Verse nine talks about this. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. How do we do that?

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Verse 11 therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. So knowing this, we're driven to persuade others. You know, this idea that we're trying to share with other people. We're trying to because that's what matters for eternity. In fact, he comes back in verse 14, a couple verses later, for the love of Christ controls us. It compels us because we've concluded this, that one has died for all.

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Therefore, of all of died, it controls us. It's something that this is a you know, it's something that it's not where the love drives me because of that, but because I realize the hope that we have to bring. I love so Christ so much that my whole value system has changed by love for Christ, you know, fuels my desire for his pride and his approval and compels me to live the life that that he values the most.

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You see, the fact is, when we surrender our lives to Christ, his gift of forgiveness changes us. It changes both who we are and the very purpose of our life. In a moment ago we read Second Corinthians 517. It's probably one of the better known passages throughout the Bible. It's an incredible passage. It teaches a great truth. And and it's recited very often.

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Usually it's taken out of any context and out of context. It's still beautiful, but we miss a dimension of its meaning. So let's look at it again. It teaches, therefore, if anyone is in Christ is a new creation, the oldest passed away, behold, the new is come. What a great verse! What a great truth! The idea that you are a new creation in Christ.

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When a person accepts Christ and ask for forgiveness of sins and racism in his life, you're totally transformed. You know, we're a new creation. All the old, you know, that's not who you are anymore. That's who you were. You're a new person. You're not. You're not defined by those things. You're not marked by those things. There's freedom from the things that have controlled you, from the things that, overwhelmed you.

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That's not your identity. Now, many of us suggested the best picture of that is in nature. We can look at the whole picture of a butterfly, you know, starts as a caterpillar and you look at a caterpillar. And that's kind of a, you know, kind of ugly looking thing, isn't it? You know, you don't look at the.

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Oh, it's a thing of. No, it's kind of, you know, if you see that, you get rid of it. And but what happens is you have this caterpillar goes through a process of chrysalis going into a cocoon and then then time when it's once a lowly caterpillar, it emerges as a new creation. It's same. The same being, but totally transformed.

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It's no longer crawling around on one branch, but it has a freedom. And that's the same idea. You know that before we just saw what was in this little world, we we didn't understand what really the, you know, life was about. But we've been transformed. We've been given a new identity, a new, new freedom in Christ. Yeah. As wonderful as that message is.

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But I want you to see this morning is that's not the whole of what this passage is teaching, because now we have to look back and we have to see the context of first Corinthians, second Corinthians 517. See in context, it's not only teaching that we have been changed, but it's also saying that in that transformation we're given a new purpose.

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Therefore, if anyone is in Christ is a new creation, the oldest passed away, behold, the new is come. But what does it mean that we're a new creation? The next verse, meaning it tells us, means two things. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself. That's number one. And gave us the ministry of reconciliation.

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That's number two. So we have two things. The oldest passed away. We're a new person. We're reconciled with Christ, but we also have a new purpose. He's given us the ministry of reconciliation. And then he goes on in the next verses to explain what that means. That is Christ in Christ. God was reconciled the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.

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Therefore we are in bassador for Christ God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. And it's saying that in Christ it's not a way that we're saved from our sins, that we're not only made new people, but we're saved from sins two a new and a grand and eternal purpose.

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If you're in Christ, your new creation, the oldest passed away. The newest come in. That includes the old value system, though the old perception of what really matters in life, what makes any any kind of significant difference. Our life should have a new meaning. You see, we're not defined by. We shouldn't be defined by the same rat race everyone else is living.

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It's like life is more than getting stuff. It's again, we're not the caterpillar on the branch anymore. We now realize the bigger world of the universe of of eternity, of God's value system. And God wants us to realize that we've been given this great gift by God, that through Jesus Christ and His death on the cross, Jesus reconciled us to himself.

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And now we have a relationship with Jesus. That's not only changing our lives and making us new, but he's given us a new purpose so that we have a purpose in life that's far greater than we could have ever imagined before. We live in a world that is surrounded by people who desperately need this message, and he's entrusted it to us, called us to be ambassadors.

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We are ambassadors for Christ, God making us that appeal through us. What does it mean to be an ambassador? It's actually a really high call. We sometimes can miss this because in our modern age, the role of an ambassador is usually kind of a more of a ceremonial role. In the main reason this, when you think about it, in modern age, there's, there's instant form of communication.

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Yeah. So President Trump is having ambassadors in different places now and new ambassadors. And but the fact of the matter is, is that if he needs to contact another leader in another country, he can pick up the phone. And just like that, he could be talking to him in 15 seconds or if it's something really important. Yeah, either he could get on a plane or the other person could get on a plane and they're meeting within a half a day.

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The opportunities of communicating are incredible. Now think in terms of the ancient world. In the ancient world, the role of an pastor was far more important because it wasn't just ceremonial. The fact in the ancient world, the ambassador was the only form of communication. If the king had a message to another, you know, King, the only way that that message would be communicated would be through the ambassador.

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If the ambassador didn't carry it, you know, through written a form or through verbal form, literally, it would not be carried. And the fate of nations rested on the ambassador representing the word of the King. And it's not only that he represented the word of the King. He was the only representation. And in the same way, we are the only representatives of the word of our King.

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We are the only ambassadors, the only way that people will hear about Jesus and come to believe in him is that if we are faithful to this call that God has given us, look at what Romans says about this in Romans ten. It starts out for everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. What a great verse.

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That's the gospel and the, you know, the opening in the in the you know that anyone. So how do people then become saved? Well tells us they need to call. But how will how will they call on in whom they do have not believed? And how are they to believe in him and who they have not never heard?

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And how are they to hear without someone preaching? You see, the only way is for someone. For them to believe is for someone to tell them how. How are they into preaching to us? They are sent, as it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news. We are called to do this. We are entrusted with God's message.

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We are ambassadors for Christ. God is making his appeal to us and this is what it means. God is making his appeal through us. So again, since Jesus ascended into heaven, he isn't here anymore. It isn't direct. God doesn't speak down to people from heaven, and the only way that people will hear God's message of salvation is if if his followers become the mouthpiece for God and share his good news, making God's appeal through us.

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So without Christians who are willing to faithfully step up and share the good news, people of the world who desperately need to hear it will never know that God loves them. So what does it look like practically? What is God calling us to do here? Again, let's lean into what's being taught here. What is it called us to be an ambassador?

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Okay. When you think about an ambassador, what is the primary trait that a good ambassador has to have? I think more than anything else, he has to be somebody good with relationships. An ambassador seeks to build relationships with the people in the country where they're serving with the leaders in the country. They get to know the leaders and their interests and their hobbies and preferences.

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They spend time with them, and they invest in the relationship so that when they have a message from the King, they're able to communicate it effectively because of the relationship that they built. Think about it. What if you had an ambassador who had no people skills, who was totally obnoxious, well, argumentative and offended people all the time, or was totally unaware of the customs of the culture?

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And, you know, if you've got a muslim culture and you're, you know, having bacon for breakfast every morning and you're, you know, putting your feet up and how many, you know, that would be terrible. And what would happen is that they would undermine the message of the King because they didn't build the relationships. Now, let's apply that towards what it means to be an ambassador of Jesus.

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Let me step back, even just introduce this idea. So for many of us, when we have the idea of an evangelist, of someone who is called to share the gospel, you know, you think we have an idea of what that picture looks like? For some of us, it's not that good. And in fact, you know, I found a very old cartoon, peanuts.

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And, and this is talking is Charles Schulz, you know, from decades ago, but it was written in a, in a cartoon in a secular newspaper. And in this it shows something, even about how evangelism has been seen in the past. Let me put it up. I'll read it for you. It's it's, Linus and his sister Sally, and Sally's coming out.

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Says I would have made a good evangelist. He's she's continues. You know that kid who sits me behind me at school? I convinced him that my religion is better than his religion. And Linus says, how did you do that? I hit him with my lunchbox, and we look at that and you say, why would that get in the cartoon?

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Because Charles Schulz had probably experience with people that that's how they handle evangelism, trying to force it. And too many of us have seen people who have tried that approach. Is that what God is calling us to be?

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When we talk about sharing our faith with other people, let me ask you what makes an effective evangelist do use the words of second Corinthians five what makes someone effective as ambassador of Jesus Christ? I want you to think about that. If you could even list some traits in your mind, think about that. What makes an effective evangelist?

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You know, over the years I've asked people to answer this question, and the answer is very some. But there are some, some things that are that are really common. And let me list some of the things that I hear most often and see if that matches up with what your thoughts are. You know, people will often say, well, well, it's got to be someone who's outgoing and dynamic personality, you know, somebody that draws people to them.

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And so because they draw people to them, you know, they you want to hear what they have to say. They're a good speaker and good communicator. Well, evangelism is all about sharing the gospel and the new. So you've got to get it for Senate. Well, you've got to be smooth and communication. They're bold, uninhibited and assertive and are the people that are able to step in and just, you know, do you know about Jesus and and can turn any question and, and talk about Jesus and.

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Well, they're knowledgeable and they can answer questions because if we start sharing our faith, you know, people can ask questions. And what if I know these people? They can they can argue people towards the faith, whether I'm sorry, they're confident and their ability to convince their people that they've studied. And so they're, they're willing to jump in because they know that they, they can win the argument.

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They can convince people and show the truthfulness of the faith. There are people that are gifted. They have the spiritual gift of evangelism. And so they have this ability to communicate. There are people that usually will push the person to make it a decision, you know, because isn't that part of evangelism? It's like, well, have you are you ready to receive Christ today?

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And we we often want to close the deal. And and there are people that are focused on the process of sharing their faith. They have a method if here's a four laws or here's, you know what, you know this and that. Now in your mind, is that a description that is consistent with what you would have thought of?

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Now here's one of the problems is that if we think this is what a good evangelist is, we think for us to be an effective evangelist, we have to be like this. And the problem is, most of us don't feel like we have those traits, and some of us don't feel like we want to have those traits. All right.

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Now let me ask you a different question. I want you to think about the person or the people who were most responsible to help, leading you to saving faith in Jesus Christ. Do you have that person in mind? Here's the big question how many of you would say that the person who is most responsible for leading you to saving faith in Christ was defined by those traits?

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I'm going to raise your hand on that one.

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Only a few. Now, let me ask you a very simple question. I will define effective evangelism. That's what works, right? God uses all kinds of people. But if we just take what we see here, the vast majority of effective evangelism, actually what leads people to saving faith is not this. Maybe your whole idea of this is wrong, that what God calls us to is something very, very different.

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See, over the years I've asked people then to say, share with me the person that was most responsible to help, leading you to saving faith. What were the traits that defined them? And again, what I'm going to suggest is if that the traits that actually are leading most of us to Christ, that's an effective evangelist. It's a very different list.

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You know, we expect it to be, well, it's somebody who's outgoing and has a dynamic personality. Now, usually they say that somebody who's loving and caring can be somebody who's really quiet, somebody. They don't have to be outgoing at all, but they're caring. They're investing in relationship. We expect it to be someone who's a good speaker and a good communicator, but it's actually someone who's a good listener, someone who starts off by not saying, here, let me tell you what I know, but here I want to get to know you.

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I want to invest in the relationship we expect it to be someone who's bold and uninhibited and assertive. But what we find is that usually someone who's not bold, but they're caring and compassionate. They move into people's lives not in boldness, but in compassion and in and caring about the person and relationship. We expect it to be someone who's knowledgeable and they can answer any questions that people might have.

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No, in reality, it's usually someone who who's knowledge. If they're walking the walk, they're not here. Let me give you a theological explanation. It's how I know. Here's how Jesus is changing my life. And they're living that example, and we expect it to be someone who is confident in their ability to convince other people and know it's usually people who are confident in God's ability.

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And they recognize my job is just to go out and plant the seed. It's God that actually grows and does the miracle. We expect it to be. Someone who's gifted has a spiritual gifts, and they have the ability to communicate. Now it's actually people that have burden for the lost. Some of the most effective evangelists are some of the most unlikely people, but they just have a burden.

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They their care for the loss. They care for unbelieving friends. They expect it to be someone who is pushes the person to make a decision. But in reality, there are people that share and then leave space for God. You know that God's going to grow it in his time. And and I'm just going to do that, and I'm going to wait for them to be ready to respond.

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We expect it to be someone who's focused on the process of sharing the faith. And here's the methodology. No, it's usually people who are focused and the person who needs Jesus Christ. It might sum it up. It's relationships. It's people who evangelism happens not when we talk to strangers, not when you're in street corners, or it's people who are are willing to get involved in the relationships on their mission field, this ambassadors where God has put them.

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And so here's my family and here's my friends and here's my coworkers and here's my classmates and here's my neighbors, and starts to build those relationships with an intentionality looking for in time opportunity to to share our faith and build bridges to spiritual things. And I want to tell you, we looked at that first list and most of us thought, man, I, I don't I don't have that.

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I don't know if I want that. How many of us could say we could be this? Let me put it a different way. How many of us could say, I could be like the person who was faithful to be an ambassador, to reach me now, even knowing that I know some people would say, well, I know you're calling me to do that.

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And, God, I see what you're saying. But but we still have objections, because this is still something that seems so uncomfortable for many of us to do. And let me give you a couple men and some and I think some biblical answers, just briefly, the first is to say, you know, a spiritual, you know, it's a spiritual gift.

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And I don't have the spiritual gift of evangelism. So if I'm not gifted in that, I'm not called to do that. And and here's what I want you to realize. When you look at spiritual gifts again, spiritual gifts, we're all called to do all of them. Some people are just, you know, more effective. But more importantly, from a biblical perspective, the gift of evangelism is a very unique one.

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It's only listed in Ephesians four, and it's with the gift of pastor teacher, and it's unique in its purpose. Let me show you this. And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds for the pastors and teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ. God has not called these people to go do the primary work of ministry, these specific gifts, the purpose of them is to equip the saints for the work of ministry.

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Do you want to know? There are people that I think are gifted with evangelism and spiritual gift of evangelism. They do not do the majority of evangelistic work, and we've seen that in our own experience here. Do you know what they do is they model it for the rest of us. They kind of encourage the rest of us so that the rest of us who struggle with that day, man, I get to hear that story and it motivates me a little bit more.

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And maybe they'll need a half dozen people to Christ. But if I can lead one person to Christ and they're an example for us, but we realize that the the role of these is to equip the saints for the work of ministry. The main ministry is always going to be done through each one of us. And so when I think about our church, I mean, I love to say, wouldn't you love to see a couple hundred people come to know Christ in the next couple couple years?

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Would there be awesome? I want to tell you, what's unlikely to be is it's unlikely to have a couple of really gifted people that come as a gift of evangelism. A couple hundred people to Christ each. You know how, if it happens, what will happen? Let me give you a real realistic thing. Do you think that God could lead you to lead one person to saving faith in Jesus Christ in the next two years?

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Is that possible? What if a couple hundred people were faithful to that? What if God used 200 people in our church, each one to lead one person to Christ? See the equipping the saints this so that we each do the work of ministry, that we're each being an ambassador. Well, then we come back. But I don't know enough to share my faith.

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I don't know how. All the questions and, you know, what's amazing is there's all kinds of research on this. You know who the most effective evangelist are? New believers who don't know anything. You know, all they do is, you know, they they have an unbelieving friends and their lives have been changed. And they're like, man, my life's been changed.

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Come and see. And they are by far. The longer we're believers, the more information we have, the less effective we generally become, which says something not healthy. In fact, when you look in the Bible, you see in the Bible with this idea that that it's not people that had all the answers that often were leading people to Christ.

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John four, you have this woman at the well, you know, she comes and ask, you know, you know, come in. Can this be the Christ? Come and see. You see John nine, you know, the man healed. This is one thing I know that by now I see. And you have people that were just coming and and just saying, I don't know the answer.

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Just come and check it out. All I know is my life has been changed. You see him now? The key to understanding this, this is it's ultimately not us that will convince people. So our job is to plant the seed. It's got job to do. The miracle of life. We see this even going back to Second Corinthians. We are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us.

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We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God makes us appeal. And then it says two verses later, working together with him. Then we appeal to you to, to receive the grace of God, saying, working together with him. And here's what we need to realize. People that understand this by working together with him is just doing my little part.

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And he does the miracle. And the fact is, as long as God is behind me doing the miracle, I can get a lot of it wrong. And God is still going to bless my faithfulness. But then when we come back and another objection is to say, well, you know, the person is closed and they don't want to hear, you know, I'm going to try to share the gospel.

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And and they're closed. And, here's what I want to encourage you just to think about it. How many of you responded to the gospel the first time you heard it? I heard that that's what I need, not that many of us. Right. How many of you responded very negatively the first time you heard it? Yeah, a lot more of us.

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You know, if somebody comes and shares the gospel and it's like, man, I'm closed and I'm, you know, aren't you glad that someone didn't write you off and they don't want to hear it? No. They persevered because the fact of the matter is, I mean, again, the Bible uses agricultural language. And, you know, you know, we need to plant and we need to get a tithe time.

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We need to give and God does the miracle. But we also need to remember that ultimately, we're talking about seeking people out and sharing the gospel because it's a matter of their eternal destiny. Let me put it this way. If you came home tonight and you saw your neighbor's house on fire, what would you do? Maybe you saw the light up there and you saw him move on, and you saw the fire downstairs.

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And what do you do? I think you'd go and you'd pound on their door, try to wake them up. Trying to make sure. Now, what do you think? Now, I you know, they might be sleeping, you know, I don't want to wake them up. They might get upset if I wake them up. And, you know, it's me.

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I mean, I've got bad news. They're going to be upset that the fire is destroying your house. I don't want to give them that bad news. You know, and if they're smoker, they might feel guilty because maybe they're a smoker, you know, they know you're going to sit there and you're going to say, no, wake up, because it's a matter of life and death.

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And see, my friends, we've got to realize that the same thing is true, that it again, it's a matter of eternal destiny. Know, we might even come, okay. But I really just don't have what it takes. You know, it's like I'm not a pastor. I'm not, you know, I'm I haven't studied, I haven't done. Well, let me go back.

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Let me take you to Ephesians chapter two. All right. Ephesians chapter two and nine. Many of us know, for by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not of your own doing. It is a gift of God, not a result of works that no 1st May boast. Okay, God makes you his child. Do you have what it takes to be his child?

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No. For by grace you have been saved. God raises you up to be his child. Not based on anything you do, anything that you by grace. Now it says in the next verse, for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Now God called you to be his workmanship for good works to be as ambassador, do you have what it takes to be as ambassador?

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No. You're more than you have what it takes to be as child. But he makes you his child by his grace, and by that same grace by which he makes you worthy to be his child. He makes you his ambassador, and he calls you to the good works. And he says, now just go out and serve me, and I'm going to use you not because of who you are, but because of who I am.

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Now, just briefly, some practical steps in applying this. Let me just give you a couple ideas. What do I do? Where do I start? Number one, invest in a few relationships. Intentional relationships. Look in your sphere of life and say, this is my mission field. This is this is where God has placed me. Think, who are a few people in my sphere of influence that are not don't have a relationship with Christ and start to invest in relationships just to reach out to them, to try to spend time.

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And but there's your neighborhood, whether it's your workplace, whatever it would be, just first of all, again, an ambassador, you got to build the relationships you don't, you know, first thing you do is come up and say, hey, let's talk about Jesus. So let them know that you care. There's the old saying, you know, they won't care to know what you know until they know that you care.

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Then you say, well, how do I bring up spiritual things? Let me give you a very simple, safe way to start. Ask how you can pray for them. I mean, I've learned this. Even, you know, I've had I've had atheists, I've had Hindus, I've had, you know, people that have no faith, relation to me. I've had an atheist where, you know, said, I know you don't believe in prayer.

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I know you think it's worth, you know, but if I believe in it, if there's something of kindness that I can serve you, I believe praying for you is one of the ways that I could do that. So would you just honor me by telling me how I can pray for you? And and he can't get mad at me for that.

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And the fact is, is that over time, when I've done that, you know that they'll give me an empty answer. And over time I come back. Have been praying for that. How's it going? And over time your stuff starts to happen. And what I have found in my own experience is that if I just do that consistently, sooner or later a lot of those people start to feel the freedom that when there's an issue to come up and bring a spiritual issue to me, a question or a concern, and in that, then we pray for opportunities and for God's answer, we pray, okay, God, you have praying for this.

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Give me an opportunity to share my faith. And if you pray for that, I promise you God will answer that prayer and be open when he gives you that answer to say, okay, God, help me to share it. Help me to say the right thing, my friends, God to call us to be as ambassadors. It's something that it doesn't look the same for all of us, each one of us.

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We're going to use our own personalities, our own backgrounds, and own opportunities, own mission field. But it's something as we do it, God will not only use us to change one life, but but often it's one life that impacts another, that impacts another, and the impact goes beyond what we can imagine. What just even a little story just to illustrate that idea.

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This is Nate. Nate became a Christ follower two weeks ago and is still a bit giddy about it now. He's trying not to do cartwheels in public. Nate became a believer partly because of Kim. Yet oddly enough, Kim and Nate have never met. How is this possible? Well, let's take a look. Kim loved Jesus from an early age, and in college she had a huge impact on her friends.

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While most of her peers use their college years to, well, experiment, Kim, didn't, she remain committed to her faith? And it showed and especially showed to Lisa, her roommate, who confessed to Kim that she wanted whatever it was that made Kim so strong. Kim shared her faith with Lisa, and Lisa believed. Years later, at Lisa's first real job, she met Thomas.

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Thomas was hit by a drunk driver when he was 13 and still carried a lot of anger and bitterness. Thomas and Lisa became friends, and it wasn't long before he started going to church with Lisa and her husband. After a lot of studying and searching, Thomas gave his life to Christ. To fast forward a few years, Thomas became a public speaker and was often asked to speak at large events.

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See, when he became a believer, Thomas developed a new perspective on life. He stopped resenting what had been taken from him, and started being thankful for the second chance he'd been given. On one particular day, Thomas shared about overcoming hardship and what it means to choose joy. He was so passionate that a number of people were inspired to share a link to his video.

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The video of Thomas inspired James to, and if anyone needed inspiration, it was him. James had a ton of issues. He spent most of his life as a passive husband, an absent father, and a horrible friend. That said, no one disliked him more than he disliked himself. But everything changed. The night he happened to watch Thomas online, something clicked and he knew what he had to do.

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He surrendered his miserable life to someone greater and he was forever changed. James fought hard to make up for the lost years with his family, and he also began working with young men who were in danger of throwing their lives away. One of those men was Nate. They didn't really know his own dad, and he had no real direction in life, ultimately bouncing from one bad decision to another.

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Because of that, he often found himself in trouble with the law. No one had ever showed him what it looked like to be a real man. That is, until he met James. James became the first father figure Nate ever had. He learned about honesty, self-control, humility, and integrity, and where those traits come from. Two months later, Nate publicly declared his belief in Christ.

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And of course, James was there.

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Now you can see the connection. Nate was impacted by James, who was influenced by Thomas Thomas on Uncommon Joy, and Lisa, who learned of Jesus from camp.

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Kim's relationship with God eventually led to Nate's. Funny how these two people have never met and never will.

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Love that for a couple reasons. One is that you see they are all ambassadors, but in very different ways, and God has called us to be who he's made us to be in the field where he's called to spend. We're going to represent him in vastly different ways, each one beautiful. But also when you look at that, you know, you see this picture that one day we stand before God.

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And if he looks and he says, okay, you had a chance in leading that person of faith. And and we feel his pride, but we don't realize if a story like that, you have Kim, who also reached all those other people. And and I believe in heaven where God's going to look at that and he's going to look and say, yeah, she had a person in place and leading that person to Christ and that person and and here's all the fruit that came and the multi-generation of your faithfulness.

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We're going to experience the pride and the approval and the affirmation of God in ways that we could never imagine. It's which one seek to be faithful to his call as ambassadors representing Christ. Because through us, God is making his appeal known to a world who desperately needs the message of the gospel.

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