Evangelism: For Me and You

[0:00] Welcome, if you're new here, let me extend a warm welcome to you. My name is BK, I have the pleasure of serving as one of the pastors here, and we welcome you to Squamish Baptist Church, where pivotal to our mandate is to engage, equip, and exalt, starting or foundationally based on God's Word. Amen?

[0:26] Amen. That's why we're coming here. We want to know what God has to say, as opposed to what man has to say. In case you are new, or you've missed a couple of weeks, we're actually in the last sermon of a brief sermon series on evangelism.

[0:43] We've actually been looking through the parables that Jesus Christ shared with his apostles, his disciples from Mark chapter 4.

[0:54] We learn, basically, and from these parables, we're drawing forth principles to use, to understand, to know, to help us engage the world, to help us share our faith, to share the good news of Jesus Christ.

[1:09] And often, sometimes, it takes a rearranging of our brains sometimes, right? Sometimes we just need a better foundation in order to springboard from there with thoughts, and we believe that it is God's Word that does this.

[1:26] In case you didn't know, a parable is simply a story rooted in everyday life. And the reason why Jesus used these stories in everyday life is so that his hearers could mull it over, because they knew what he was talking about.

[1:41] They were very vivid pictures. And if you did not understand, you were able to leave there thinking consistently about what he meant. The four parables that we've covered in Mark chapter 4 are the parable of the sower, right?

[1:59] You're supposed to say wrong, right? It's the parable of the soils, right? It's really he's drawing principles from the soils that he has prepared beforehand.

[2:11] That is the hearts of those who would eventually hear the message of the gospel. Last week, we spent some time on the parable of the lamp. The lamp where we're supposed to let it shine.

[2:23] And today, we're going to cover the last two parables, which is the parable of the sower and sleep and the parable of the mustard seed. So the first principle we drew from the parable of the soils is that God is sovereign.

[2:39] What that means is he's sovereign over events, but he's also sovereign over us, who we are, who we've been created to be. He's sovereign over our likes, our dislikes, our hobbies, our jobs, our careers.

[2:54] God has a part in all of that as he's formed us. It is by no accident that we find ourselves here in Squamish at this church on this day.

[3:06] The principle that we learned last week is we have a responsibility to place this lamp on a stand for others to see. To place this light of Jesus Christ so people could see.

[3:22] You are left with two challenges. One, that there's a cost to being a follower of Jesus Christ. And that cost is to obey him.

[3:34] And that command is to let your light shine. And the second challenge I gave you is to see people as God sees them.

[3:46] Not by what we think is right or wrong, but those who are lost and those who are not. And to understand that our friends and families, as Luke described to us last week, are blind, oppressed, poor, and captive.

[4:05] They're not the enemies. The prince of this world is the enemy. Like them, we were once blind, oppressed, poor, and captive as well.

[4:19] As Dave read this morning, Luke 15 reminds us that as the shepherd seeks out the lost sheep and a woman searches for her lost coin, that is our father's heart and that should be the heart that we have as well.

[4:37] So the next two parables of Mark also speak to this kingdom. The first demonstrates our responsibility to sow and how God grows the harvest.

[4:49] And the second parable is this harvest will become greater than we can ever imagine. So please turn with me to Mark chapter 4. We're going to be reading from 26 to 34.

[5:01] And Mark writes, This is Jesus. And he said, The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground.

[5:17] He sleeps and rises night and day. The seed sprouts and grows. He knows not how. The earth produces by itself first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.

[5:32] But when the grain is ripe at once, he puts it the sickle, because the harvest has come. What God is telling us from this parable is that you and I have been sovereignly chosen to be a part of his kingdom, to sow.

[5:49] But God's responsibility is to cause the seed to grow. Notice he puts something in there. The farmer sleeps. That's really important, right?

[6:01] He's able to rest on what he has done, and he's trusting sovereignly to God. He doesn't even need to know how, but he just does. He's going to trust this.

[6:13] And then we read in verse 30, and he said, With what can we compare the kingdom of God? What parable shall we use for it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth.

[6:31] Yet when it is sown, it grows up, becomes larger than all the garden plants, and puts out large branches so that the birds of the air can make nests in the trees.

[6:42] Jesus' simple point here is, the kingdom will grow beyond your imagination. And if you don't know what it's talking about, a mustard seed is a very, very, very small seed.

[6:57] In fact, Jesus says it's the smallest of seeds on earth. And a lot of people, skeptics will come, well, there's actually smaller seeds, right? So Jesus must have been lying.

[7:09] Jesus wasn't lying. In their understanding, they would know that that's the smallest seed. But what's interesting from this smallest seed, a mustard seed tree grows.

[7:20] And a mustard seed tree can grow 20 to 30 feet tall and 20 feet wide. That's a pretty immense tree. And it's like that.

[7:30] It's just that expectation when we share this gospel with someone, we don't know what it's going to go. We don't know how it's going to grow. But we have this responsibility, but it will grow.

[7:42] And not only does it grow in size in our generation, but it goes on beyond ourselves. So the principle that I want to draw today, the third principle for evangelism, if we believe, and if I believe that God has developed a heart in you to share this good news, that he has developed a heart to see people the way God sees people, the question to ask ourselves now is, what now?

[8:18] So today, in conclusion, I thought I'd give you some practical application points from this sermon series, which I hope will be a blessing to you in understanding how to evangelize, how to equip yourselves for this work.

[8:35] What I'm sharing with you isn't particularly anointed. It's learned from experience and from others that have shared the gospel. But I have found these both immensely practical and helpful for me in sharing the good news of Jesus Christ.

[8:57] Ultimately, it begins, we need to see with the right eyes, right? Those eyes are open with the point of prayer. It begins with prayer. It begins with prayer.

[9:09] And we've talked about that earlier. But today, I'm going to share with you a little bit about a philosophy that I've learned from one of my older, former elders. And the guy's just an evangelistic dynamo.

[9:24] But basically, he talks about red apples and green apples. So you guys are going to probably hear this. As long as I preach here, you're going to hear a lot about red apples and green apples.

[9:35] Some of my small group, they're already smiling because they've heard me talk a little bit about this. And I want to share with you what this means. So the first one is the green apple.

[9:47] And I'll describe to you what a green apple is. Green apple is the lost people who don't sense their need for God. All right? So therefore, they're unripened.

[9:59] They haven't had a thought about God. And I call them, they're similar to green apples. They seem to have no major problems or circumstances in life to cause them to question their need for God.

[10:14] When you speak to them, they will be polite, but they will share absolutely no interest in hearing about the gospel. Or even spiritual things.

[10:25] They will tell you that they feel they have little or no need for Christ in their life. And they have little or no awareness of personal sin or its eternal consequences.

[10:41] Do you guys know people like that in your life? I've got friends, good friends. Guys that I've known for years. That topic of spiritual, I'll engage in a subject.

[10:52] He will be completely respectful. He's the kind of guy, if I said, hey, my car broke down, can you give me a ride for church? He will drive me to church, but he will not come in. Right? He's going to come over and he'll pick me up on the way home.

[11:03] He just has no interest, no desire in spiritual things. You could be in a conversation, five or six guys or girls, having that chat. God comes up, he's just, he's gone, right?

[11:14] Hey, I got some errands to run. Or he'll just sit there silently kind of texting on his phone or doing something. He just doesn't want to engage in a conversation.

[11:26] And they're not negative towards the gospel. They're very respectful for you. They can even be polite, supportive. But I call them, they're just unripe.

[11:38] They're hardened, calloused, and indifferent towards the gospel. What's good for you is not necessarily good for them. They appear to have no knowledge of Jesus or what they might have picked up somewhere.

[11:53] But they have no more interest in knowing about him. These are very difficult people to evangelize to. They're very difficult to share.

[12:03] Because what happens is you can continually keep coming against this apple. Why? Because you might have a great love for him. Might be your mom.

[12:13] Might be your dad. It could be your aunt, your uncle. But what happens is you start bruising that apple. You're like kind of pushing in on that apple. Then the relationship starts to become untenuous.

[12:27] That is the first apple. The second apple is what I call the red apple. These are people who are ripe into the gospel by the circumstances of life.

[12:40] The circumstances of life. It's funny how God uses circumstances to draw us to him. And most of you right now, I'm sure you can think through your own testimony or a gospel or a time in your life, even as a Christian, your relationship with Jesus Christ was strengthened because there was a storm going on, right?

[13:05] You had to cling. You had to hold something or you were going to be overwhelmed with something. This is what happened in my life, how I came to know Jesus Christ.

[13:16] Grew up Catholic. Was all Catholic. All in on Catholic stuff. Mom and dad, both Catholic. My dad just picked up one day and said, I don't want to be a part of the family.

[13:27] He's gone. I'm living with another woman. See you later. For us, as a young family, it was like, it was a disaster. And this was before the time that divorce was actually as common as it was.

[13:40] And if it wasn't for this family just happened to invite us to a daily vacation Bible school, which I never would have gone to, allowed me to go attend because we understood there was a need.

[13:53] Something wasn't right in our life. My daddy wasn't home anymore. And God used that. It caused me to question that life wasn't fair.

[14:06] It's interesting that unripened green apple I was talking to you about who would drive me to church, who was very supportive.

[14:21] I hear from him all through university, did not want to talk to me. Years later, his father dies. He tracks me down while I'm living in downtown Toronto. Let's go have lunch.

[14:32] I need to talk. Allowed me to get in because he was ripe for the gospel. The circumstances of life had changed him.

[14:44] People who are red apples will ask questions such as, why is there so much evil in the world? Talk to me about sin, right? Crisis or circumstances have them thinking about futility without God.

[15:00] And that is where we all have to be, amen? It's futility without God. That is life. Another issue is awareness of personal sin.

[15:13] I believe evangelism begins when we pray about this is beginning to identify people who are red apples in your life. If God is sovereign, perhaps God has you in a certain situation for that very specific reason to share the gospel with those who are hurting.

[15:37] How many of you have felt you missed an opportunity to share the gospel, right? Sometimes, right? That life situation is right there.

[15:48] They ask a question and we freeze. And sometimes we believe, you know, I just don't know my Bible enough. I don't have that pat answer to that question. If I say something, I might embarrass.

[15:58] Sometimes we're looking for those perfect opportunities. When I heard a person in a situation where they were broken and they were seeking out to God in my way of thinking, I felt like I was cheating them by sharing the gospel with them, if you can believe that.

[16:23] Because for me, it was an intellectual exercise at a certain point. And I felt like, man, I was so afraid that they would accept Jesus in their pain that they would reject them later.

[16:35] Like I was taking advantage. But then I grew and I learned that that's how God mostly does it. That's the time where he's creating where they have this need. They're open to spiritual things.

[16:48] Here's a perfect example in Luke 19. Luke 19. And I'll just read you these verses. This is Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus.

[17:01] He was a chief tax collector and was rich. For those of you who were here for the sermon on Jesus calling Matthew, you know what tax collectors were all about, right?

[17:15] They were the scum of the scum of the scum of the earth. This guy's the cheap guy. The cheap guy. He's even scummier than Matthew would have been, right? This guy isn't seeing or accepted in his society except with other people that he's cheated or cheating other people.

[17:33] And it's interesting in verse 3. And he was seeking to see who Jesus was. But on account of the crowd, he could not because he was so small in stature. So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him.

[17:47] And as Jesus was about to pass that way, and when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, Zacchaeus, hurry and come down. For I must stay at your house today.

[17:59] So he heard and came down and received him joyfully. And when they saw it, they all grumbled. He has gone into the guest of a man who was a sinner. Who does Jesus reach out to?

[18:11] Sinners, right? Here's a guy who's desperate for everything in life. He knows it's wrong. And here he is. And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, Behold, Lord, the half of the goods I give to the poor.

[18:23] And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold. I think this is a great story. And this is kind of the most easy convert of all, right?

[18:37] He's so desperate to see Jesus. He climbs this tree. Some people are like that. They start coming out to church. They know they need help. They just need someone to call out to them.

[18:51] The challenge is, are you willing to call out to them? You can see it in the workplace. They start drinking. Why their marriage is falling apart and something's going on with their kids and they don't know how to deal with it.

[19:03] To me, those are the Zacchaeuses in the tree crying for help. I don't know how to make sense of this. I believe our biggest mistake sometimes is that we become target fixated.

[19:17] And by target fixated, one of my friends who's an Air Force pilot talks about he's in the U.S. Air Force, where a lot of crashes happen while they're doing maneuvers because the pilot gets so fixated on the target, he loses perspective on where he is with life.

[19:35] Emergency happens. He's not paying attention to his instruments, where he is, and disaster unfolds. Sometimes we get target fixated on those that we love.

[19:49] Right? We desperately want our husbandness to be saved. So we keep pouring into that person. And that person is just green. But we just keep beating it.

[20:01] And we're not noticing that our neighbor across the street, his whole life is falling apart. And there's someone we never would have thought of sharing the gospel with.

[20:17] Two friends. One would come to church and he was excited to come to church. And another guy would come to church, but he hated going to church with me.

[20:28] And this is one of those regrets in life. I never took the time to ask him why he hated going to church. And within that hatred was the key to his salvation.

[20:41] And it was a friend of mine that ended up taking that time to ask him. And it had to do with hypocrisy that he'd grown up, seen in the church, and it developed bitterness, and there was some issue.

[20:52] But as he was able to forgive that, he ended up growing. But this guy was putting out all the flags that, hey, something's going on. The family that ended up leading my mom and myself to Christ will ultimately tell you they were going for my dad, but they got me and my mom instead.

[21:14] They had focused on my dad for years, but we caught the scatter. So I want you to ask yourself these questions about trying to figure out who's red, who's green.

[21:28] One, who in my life asks me questions about my faith? Who asks me questions about my faith? Two, who in my life responds with sincere interest to my comments about faith?

[21:46] I'm not talking about people who want to argue about it, but they're sincerely interested. They're starting to ask questions. Three, who in my life expresses a need for something different in their life?

[22:01] Something different in their life. I had this story, this instance, it's only happened to me once. It's that quote-unquote story here of someone who sits with you on a plane, right?

[22:14] I get on a plane, I'm flying from LA to Toronto, and we're flying El Al Air, if you're not familiar, that's the Israeli national air, right?

[22:26] So they stick us, the goyims, the non-Jew people, at this very front, and I'm sitting next to a woman, and I'm thinking she might be a model, very attractive, and she ends up kind of asking me what I do, and I said, well, I'm actually in seminary, and she goes, oh, you help people.

[22:45] That was her response, and I go, well, I'd like to, and she says, I'm actually flying to Toronto to see my boyfriend, and then she just makes a statement.

[22:57] I feel really dirty. Just feel dirty. The shame of carrying on this relationship, and by end of the flight, I was able to express the gospel and how he washes away that shame and can make her pure as snow again.

[23:18] I still remember on that luggage, waiting for a luggage, getting a big hug, this woman crying about the gospel. She'd become a Christian that very flight.

[23:30] There's a lot of them like that. They're just making these innocuous statements, and we need to be clear for those. Four, who in my life is experiencing a crisis that has them thinking or puts them in a position of need?

[23:50] Who in my life is experiencing a crisis that has them thinking or puts them in a position of need? It was interesting. My mom would have not heard the gospel.

[24:02] She had two sisters who continued to ask her to go to a church. She never would have gone, but once my dad left, she was open in that way. And number five, who in my life is willing to attend church or other evangelistic functions with me?

[24:21] My friends, these people are everywhere. They're family, friends, those who we naturally think of, but they're also good people we do not naturally think of, but that we see in our neighborhood community group or work.

[24:34] Remember, our role is placing that lamp on the table, right? And I'm going to draw a differentiation. It's not a spotlight in their face.

[24:45] One of my buddies talks about the difference between being a spotlight and a lamp. The spotlight is that person who's hunting for that right in their face, and they're so overwhelmed.

[24:57] Put that lamp out. Let them see who you are. Have an answer. So what is next? You've identified that person. What are you supposed to do?

[25:10] Well, obviously it's the gospel, right? But the gospel has some complexity to it. Often some people think, well, if I'm just kind and loving, that will win them over.

[25:23] Okay, Jesus Christ says specifically kindness saves. It does. But the question, one author on the subject writes, what does it win them over to?

[25:34] There's this great book on evangelism. If you're interested, I've got a copy. It's by Will Metzger. But he says, to remain silent and let others interpret our actions is wrong.

[25:48] Just to let them interpret our kindness and niceness without actually sharing the hope that we have in Jesus Christ is wrong. And he says, God himself did not do this.

[25:59] God didn't leave us to creation, right? He didn't put us with these beautiful, powerful, when you study science, you know there's a God. You know there's something bigger than you that brought order.

[26:12] But until God brought his word with special revelation, do we understand his plan for us? We see this in the gospels.

[26:23] With all the miracles that Jesus Christ performs, he always preaches the gospel. The gospel is that we just need not to be enlightened.

[26:35] The gospel is not that God is just love. We need to accept it. The gospel is not that he just wants to be our best friend. The gospel is not that God has a warm and wonderful purpose for our lives.

[26:48] The gospel is a message of personal sin. That you and I, because of Adam's sin, brought sin to us. Romans 3, 23 says, for we all have sinned.

[27:03] We have all fallen short. And the consequences of that sin is our relationship with God has been tarnished. It's been broken.

[27:13] Harmony no longer exists between the creator and the created. God, knowing this, sent his son, who was born of a virgin.

[27:30] He lived a perfect and holy life. The consequences of our sin was death because God is a holy God and sin cannot exist in his sight.

[27:43] So God, by providing a perfect sacrifice, poured out his wrath on his own perfect son so that his righteousness might become our righteousness.

[27:57] It's exactly the words of the song we were just singing. Boldly we can come before the throne because that blood has covered us.

[28:11] So when God looks upon us, he sees the work of his son, Jesus Christ. Christ. And all we need to do is place our faith in him in that work of God.

[28:28] That they crucified him. He was in the grave for three days and he rose again. Amen, right? That's the gospel.

[28:39] We have to talk about those things. Let me share with you four mistakes mistakes. We often make an evangelism thinking it's evangelism.

[28:51] One, it's exactly what I was talking about in my mistake. I think it's an, we think it's an imposition. It's the thought process that asks itself, do I have the right to impose my beliefs on someone else?

[29:05] Right? We live in a very multicultural, big, post-modern setting and we're afraid to do that. That's why I was afraid to share with someone who might be hurting.

[29:17] I was taking advantage of their senses. But I want to tell you something. The gospel is not an opinion, is it? It's a fact. Jesus Christ himself says on John 17, 17, the high priestly prayer, sanctify them in the truth.

[29:35] Your word is truth. I'm going to tell you why that's such a powerful statement. When Jesus Christ says his word is truth, he's not saying my words are truthful.

[29:48] If I say my words are truthful, I'm admitting there's a higher standard than what I'm saying. You get, you're following me on this? So if I'm saying they're truthful, I'm saying there's a standard above me that my words have to equate for you to accept them.

[30:05] So when we start thinking it's in a position or it has to be part of an equally managed discussion, we're asking them to give them so they might see them as truth.

[30:16] The fact of the matter is God's words are true. He is the standard. What he says is what goes. It's not our sensibilities and we happen to live in a very diseased time where a lot of people today, and this exists in the churches, is that we believe our opinions our sense of righteousness and justice is bigger than God's.

[30:40] Do you know that? When people say, hey, I don't want to indulge, you know, the Old Testament God's not my God. It's like there's a sense that there's some other form of righteousness that you understand that God doesn't live up to.

[30:56] Man, that's so backwards. We may not understand everything. In fact, we will never will. But there is no arbitrary standard outside of God.

[31:11] His word is truth. So instead of just thinking we're offering an opinion, we're actually offering a fact. The truths of the gospel are not ours. They are God's.

[31:21] Amen? That, what I went through about the gospel, I didn't make that up. The other thing, one mistake that we use is the personal testimony.

[31:33] And this can be a very powerful way to share the gospel, but it has to include the gospel. Right? What happened at the cross and why it made that change to you.

[31:46] That's what matters. Not that there was a change, but you have to talk about why that change happened. Do not rely on the changes that happened to you, but you need to explain it.

[31:58] The fact of the matter is people have near-death experiences all the time and they are changed, but that doesn't mean they're any closer to Jesus. The experience is one thing, but the saving aspect is the spiritual change.

[32:14] Share that. Share why that change occurred. The third thing that we confuse for evangelism is social action. Social action and justice and public involvement.

[32:27] They're all great things. The big term that we hear today, we're on mission, we're on mission, we're on mission. And that is good and it's great and it's nice to show people the love of Christ, but unless you actually challenge them with their sin and that they are lost, they will be eternally separated from the love of Christ.

[32:48] Christ. They might be better fed, they might be better clothed here on earth, but for eternity they will be in hell. And the last one is apologetics.

[33:03] I love apologetics. It's answering questions and objections that people might have about God or Jesus. Perhaps you've heard famous people, Ravi Zacharias, J.P. Morgan, Josh McDowell.

[33:19] However, a person can never make an informed decision about God unless God opens their mind to the truth of the gospel. We can show all the evidence as proof for the gospel, but we have to share the gospel.

[33:34] And I'll tell you what happens. Sometimes we are so afraid of having the wrong answer we say nothing, right? But I'm going to tell you, I know very few people who've been saved through a debate or an argument or through one phrase.

[33:53] What usually happens is there's been a relationship of trust that's been created, right? That's ultimately the hinge for the gospel.

[34:04] One author writes, evangelism is not persuading people to make a decision. It is not proving that God exists or making a good case for the truth of Christianity.

[34:18] Evangelism is not inviting someone to a meeting. it is not exposing the contemporary dilemma or arousing interest in Christianity by simply wearing a badge that says Jesus saves.

[34:33] Some of these things are right and good in their place, but none of them should be confused with evangelism. To evangelize is to declare on the authority of God what he has done to save a sinner, to warn men and women of their condition, to direct them to repent and to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

[34:56] So here are four actions of an evangelist that I want to leave you with. Based on Colossians 4, 5, and 6, which simply says, walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time.

[35:10] Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person. That's Colossians 4, 4, 5, 6.

[35:21] The first action of an evangelist is be wise. Be wise. Nothing ruins a good testimony to how a person is living.

[35:33] Be wise with your life. You can talk the talk all you want, but if you do not walk the walk, there's a word for that. It's called hypocrite, right?

[35:46] People can smell that a mile away. Sometimes people listen more with their eyes than with their ears. Remember, it's not a form of virtues that we blindly follow.

[36:00] It's about being like Christ, compassionate, kind, demonstrating meekness, patience, humility, and love, bearing with one another.

[36:14] The second action of evangelists is be gracious. Be gracious. God's grace for us should make us gracious.

[36:26] We should have an uncompromising witness with civility, gentleness, kindness, and good humor. Before we can make disciples, we need to be able to make friends and build a rapport.

[36:37] the biggest impact on my view of evangelism happened in J.I. Packer's book, Sovereignty and the Evangelism of God. And I will read the paragraph to you.

[36:50] It changed me completely in my view of evangelism. It says, the right to talk intimately to one other person about the Lord Jesus Christ has to be earned.

[37:01] And you earn it by convincing him that you are his friend and really are his friend. You care about him. He is not a case. Impersonal evangelism, as Packer states, calls it rudeness.

[37:16] In acting and thinking, you know them. You dishonor God. It creates resentment and prejudices people against the Christ whose professed followers act so objectively.

[37:30] Truth is, personal evangelism is very costly. Just because it demands of us a really personal relationship with other persons.

[37:43] Some friendships take five minutes. Some persons take five years. But we are to do so in a gracious way. Number three, be lively.

[37:54] If you're familiar with church history, there's Quaker faith versus the Puritan faith. I kind of came from the Quaker type background.

[38:04] I have rejected that view for a Puritan background, which is, have some life, right? The Quaker type of faith is we're going to dress the same, we're going to look the same, we're going to talk the same, we're going to divide a system of moralism that we all can trust to, so you have to come into this.

[38:22] Because of this, people turn away from forms of art and all types of other interests because they say, hey, they do that in the world, it's created by non-Christians, therefore it has to be bad.

[38:32] That's not true. Non-Christians are created in the image of God too. Do you know that? God can do incredible, beautiful things through them. They write great music, paint great pictures, they play really good baseball.

[38:50] If your interests lay in those areas, use it. Some people stop letting their kids play sports. I say, use your sports to engage your kids' friends.

[39:04] It gives us a chance to connect. God has created us sovereignly as we are. Be who you are. And the fourth word of wisdom I have for you is be prepared so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.

[39:23] And how does that happen? You need to be well grounded in God's word. You want to be an effective evangelist? Be grounded in God's word.

[39:34] All too often we arm ourselves with pat answers about theological fine points and debates that truly people never ask. In fact, you give people a canned answer you're going to get a canned response.

[39:49] Gee, thanks. See, we are prepared by knowing the word of God. I remember I came to this conclusion I was going through teaching people how to respond to often ask questions and then I understood that they didn't understand the questions which demonstrated to me they did not understand God's word.

[40:10] So we're just going to start over and we're going to study God's word. We are to know the word of God and you will begin by understanding one part of the time you'll be surprised how relevant it will be for so much that you do.

[40:28] Dave Nanner is running a great class in Journey right now. If you can make that time I'm going to tell you right now that extra hour and a half that you come will be eternally significant in your life.

[40:42] It's how to study God's word. Most people I know do not know how to study God's word. They read it in a devotional way but they do not know how to mind the truth.

[40:56] You do not have to go to seminary you do not have to depend on me but you need to know how to ground yourself in this word. Like any good thing it takes discipline right?

[41:10] You want to be a good athlete you have to discipline yourself. You have to be a good musician. There's no such thing as a gifted naturally occurring musician artist.

[41:21] It's something you work you work your work and to think that you're going to be a strong Christian but yet not study the Bible and put that time in there's something broken in the way you're thinking.

[41:34] You need to deal with that my friends. The reality is the gospel is not about you and me it is about God making his holiness and sovereign mercy known.

[41:45] It is about God's glory in gathering worshipers to himself who will worship God in truth in spirit. I want to leave you with two quotes.

[41:59] One is by a man named George Truitt who was an early 20th century preacher and he wrote the supreme indictment that you can bring against a church is that such a church lacks compassion for human souls.

[42:14] A church like that is nothing better than an ethical club if its sympathies for lost souls does not overflow and if it does not go out of its way to point lost souls to the knowledge of Jesus Christ.

[42:30] This church is not made up of a pastor and elders it's actually made up of you. You will set the tone of what this church is about.

[42:44] John Piper I'm going to leave you this final quote simply asked this question if you could have heaven with no sickness and with all the friends you ever had on earth and all the food you ever liked and all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed and all the natural beauties you ever saw all the physical pleasures you ever tasted and no human conflict and no natural disasters.

[43:13] Could you be satisfied with heaven if Jesus was not there? My friends evangelism is a process it's not an event.

[43:28] non-believers are not the enemy the one who blinded them is and never ever expect unregenerate people to behave like regenerate people.

[43:41] Let's pray. Let's pray. Let's pray.

[43:53] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.