[0:00] Check, check. All right, here we are. It's good to be with you. Please turn with me in your Bibles to Romans chapter 1. Romans chapter 1. This morning, I want to talk to you about evangelism. Evangelism.
[0:17] Let me take a quick poll. How many people here believe that being a Christian, one is responsible to evangelize? All right, good, good. Now, how many people here are active in evangelism? Yeah, a little bit less hands, right?
[0:37] You know, it's, I know what some of you may be thinking, hey, it's a little bit tougher. Some of you might be saying, well, I give to missions. Does that not count?
[0:50] I believe that in the Christian life, evangelism is something like prayer. If you were to ask someone, are you praying enough? Most Christians always say, right?
[1:01] I could be praying more. I could be evangelizing more. I could be sharing the truth of Jesus Christ more. And I believe that every Christian will admit it is something that we do or do not do enough.
[1:18] Now, I also know that when I say the word evangelism, some of you are not thinking of the same thing that I am thinking.
[1:30] So what's interesting is I decided this morning to go over what evangelism looked like in the last 100 years. 100 years, I wanted to make sure that Gordie Oranger was included in this survey.
[1:46] But there's certain different things that changed in history. And I hope we're going to, it's going to make sense in a bit. But in case you did not know, the biggest surge of church attendance happened post-World War II.
[2:02] Now, there's a couple of reasons for that. One, the records before World War I were actually quite scattered, very difficult to take a poll. But there was three biggest influencers that drove people to the church post-World War II.
[2:19] The first one was obviously the Cold War influence. America and the free nations really put religion as a marker of freedom, right?
[2:30] If you were for freedom, you were going to be Christian. Number two, the development of the car, the affordability of the car, which created suburbs around North America.
[2:43] And in these suburbs, there became the hub of family values. So we started to see an increase in church. And thirdly, we saw the evangelical revival led by Billy Graham.
[2:56] How many people here have heard of Billy Graham? How many people have attended a Billy Graham crusade? All right, fair amount, right? So Billy Graham actually began in 1947.
[3:09] And he started to gather the churches to gather people to come to these crusades to hear the gospel. In fact, the family that first invited me to church to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ, they were saved through a Billy Graham crusade in the 60s.
[3:30] Praise the Lord for that gospel and how it got passed down to me and my family. So in the 50s, when peak church attendance was at its highest place, the number one, I'm forgetting the word here, the number one means of gospel presentation was personal testimonies.
[3:51] was people sharing their personal testimonies with friends and people and just talking about their one-on-one conversations.
[4:02] And a lot of that was inspired by Billy Graham. The second most popular way of evangelism back then was door-to-door evangelism. You know, just going door-to-door, knocking, trying to create a relationship, handing out a tract.
[4:15] You know, just this is the way of Jesus Christ. And the third biggest method that evangelism happened was through people inviting friends to church or to those Billy Graham events.
[4:29] So if you grew up in my generation, there used to always be these tent revivals. And people, the churches would all in that city kind of get together. It wouldn't be Billy Graham, but it'd be some other preacher.
[4:39] It's interesting because in the 60s, there was a little bit of a change. Number one way of evangelism was personal testimonies once again. And they were told at that time that we were supposed to be authentic, relatable, but be somewhat casual.
[4:56] The second greatest means was actually street evangelism. That started to grow across America. People kind of meeting at street corners, sitting on a box, just declaring the gospel.
[5:08] And the third biggest means of evangelism was, again, invitations to church. And within that church, specifically, youth ministry. That was kind of the big birth of youth ministry.
[5:22] That's when we had the beginning of Youth for Christ, Young Life, and then campus ministries grew at all the major university and colleges. In the 1970s, number one way, friendship evangelism.
[5:35] Number two, personal testimony. Number three, invitations to church and youth events. We saw in the 70s that they were greatly influenced by the Jesus movement of the 60s.
[5:52] And one of the things that they wanted to do is they wanted to make evangelism more relational and less formal. So that was the beginning of the idea of not wearing ties, being a little bit formal, less formal, kind of like Chris Mitchell up here with shorts on.
[6:08] You know, that kind of thing, right? Just kind of not letting those kind of things bother you. And I'm glad Bronson's correcting his dad on that. That's great. In the 1980s, number one, personal evangelism.
[6:20] Number two, personal testimony using the workplace, community settings. And number three, invitation to church services.
[6:30] Now, the problem was this was the birth of the church growth movement. And then what churches began to do is they started to tailor their message to unbelievers rather than the believers.
[6:45] So they kind of flip-flop the idea of people coming to worship God because people who do not know God cannot worship him. So there was this attitude. But they thought if we can get these people into church, things will grow.
[6:58] We also had the birth of Christian radio, Christian TV. You guys remember 100 Huntley Street? I think that's somewhere on different TV shows. We had the rise of Alpha.
[7:10] Notice 1990, again, friendship evangelism. Number two, invitation to church and personal events. And three, personal testimony. The 2000s, a change begins to happen.
[7:23] One, we still have friendship evangelism. Two, people are still inviting people to church or inviting them to Alpha or some type of group.
[7:34] And three, we have personal testimony. But the first time since World War II, church attendance begins to fall. What happened is evangelism shifted towards relational and intellectual approaches to counter secular trends within the culture.
[7:52] You with me on that one? So churches were making a different way of going about sharing the faith. Finally, or not quite finally, in 2010, friendship evangelism rules the day.
[8:03] Then we see the rise of social media evangelism. And number three, invitations to church and events. Now what's important about 2010 is church attendance starts to drop.
[8:18] The millennials become reluctant to evangelize because they're beginning to think that it would be wrong to enforce your opinions on someone else.
[8:29] In fact, this mindset in some denominations has led them to kill their entire missions outreach. And then finally, we're brought to 2020s.
[8:42] The number one way people evangelize is friendship evangelism. Number two is social media and digital evangelism.
[8:53] This is where we see the rise of YouTube evangelism. And number three, community service outreach. Food drives, mowing the lawn, trying to create relationships with our neighbors.
[9:06] So what we see is church attendance is dropping. And people will say that we now live in a post-Christian culture. And the church has responded by leveraging digital tools and serving to build trust.
[9:24] Now notice the big consistency through all those years. And I went top ten, actually, but I didn't want to waste your time with that. But number one, obviously, was personal relationships.
[9:37] The opportunity to actually share Jesus Christ 101, one of the most effective means of evangelism, in two strong gospel-centered churches where the gospel is proclaimed on a weekly, if not more than once weekly basis.
[9:56] And this is especially important because we now live in a generation that doesn't believe in truth. But the Bible pertains to be all about truth.
[10:10] So this morning, I'm not going to challenge you to get out, hit the streets, hand out tracks, go door to door and do those things. I'm not even going to encourage you to make your own YouTube channel.
[10:24] But this morning and next Sunday, and I'm going to be a little bit arrogant when I say this, but I'm going to share with you the secrets of evangelism. The secrets of evangelism.
[10:37] I want to explain to you how evangelism works. Now I know a lot of you are very keen, but don't really have a clue about evangelizing.
[10:48] Some of you feel guilty because you do not do it enough. I know some of you just don't know how. And I know some of you feel like failures because you've tried and tried and have not experienced any quote-unquote results.
[11:09] Let me hear, hear me say it, I get it. I understand. To be honest, I have literally tried pretty much every evangelistic outreach means possible.
[11:27] And I'm an extrovert. I'm actually a little bit more introverted than I was, but when I was younger, I was a massive extrovert. I have been involved with, and I'm not bragging here or saying anything, but I've done the overseas missions.
[11:39] I've been to Mexico. I've been to France. I've done outreach to Muslims over the sport of ping pong, if you can believe it. Gone in the street corners evangelizing in French.
[11:51] In case you did not know, I do speak French. I've been to massive youth events filled with thousands of kids in Chicago, Toronto, Ottawa. I've been a part of church and parachurch ministries.
[12:03] I've been to the Billy Graham Crusades in Ottawa, Toronto. I've been to other big revival events, everything from promise keepers to all the big major social shakers.
[12:16] I've done the door-to-door evangelism. I've done it in LA, Chicago, Toronto, London. I've been knocking at the door, handing out the track, inviting people to different events.
[12:28] When I was in university, I was with Campus Crusade doing Bible studies on campus, sharing personal testimonies. I even had the hardest job of going to Daytona Beach, Florida, trying to reach drunk kids on Spring Break for Christ.
[12:44] right? Is that suffering for Jesus? You know, we're just trying to connect. I was part of Athletes in Action. I've done the street preaching, which I was more like street whispering. I've invited friends to every church, youth group, university event, single age event.
[12:59] I've invited co-workers. I was the guy who would say, hey, do you mind if I have lunch with you in a cafeteria where I did not know you and say, hey, can I share with you something about my life?
[13:10] Let me tell you about the four spiritual laws. So I'm just saying, I've done all that. And this morning and next Sunday, I want to share with you some of the most important teaching that I ever received on this subject, which absolutely changed my view of evangelism and how it works. Because I had major questions.
[13:36] Because when I would reach out to someone that I really, really loved, cared for them. Like one example would be my best friend through high school. I loved him. We spent Christmases, all these times together. He was agnostic. And I wanted him to trust me so much that he would accept Jesus Christ as the Lord and Savior. But to this day, he has not. But at the same time, I'm at a youth event. I'm inviting one friend who I really want to come to Jesus to come to camp with me. And my friend's friend hears me inviting this guy and comes up. Can I come to camp too? Oh, okay, sure. That guy gets saved, but not this guy. I remember in university, there'd be rooms. It was this one friend. I love this guy. He was great. Everybody loved him. He was fantastic. Just a kind, gentle man. And another guy, they lived on the same floor. And they'd come to church with me.
[14:30] They'd come to campus to crusade. They'd do everything with me. But they never came to Christ. But you know who did? Their roommates who I didn't even hang out with. And I just started to ask these questions. Why? Did I not love them enough? Was I not clear enough in my gospel presentation? So I started to debate. I've had hundreds of conversations, opened the four spiritual laws, the Roman road to salvation. Whatever it was, I'd try more and more. And then I heard a sermon that changed my understanding about evangelism and how to pray and reach others for the gospel. And I want to share with you a version of that sermon today and next Sunday. Because these were some simple truths laid out in the Bible that I truly needed to understand. So please turn with me in your Bibles to Romans chapter 1. Romans chapter 1. You know, when I think of this, honestly, I actually had these thoughts at 5 a.m. in this morning. I got up and I came in to rework my sermon. And I thought about the accidental people who got saved. Like the roommates, the friend's friend, and my friend didn't get saved. But I was the accidental person who came to Christ. Because the people that were, that eventually led me to Christ were actually trying to save my father. He was my dad's partner as a police officer and had shared the gospel with him. And I remember sharing with them and they said, but we got you guys instead. My mom and me. But never my dad. I was the accident. I wasn't the one that they were praying for. It was for my father. And these are the things that make this subject so very personal to me. Now you guys know we're in Romans chapter 1. And I want to specifically look at 18 to 25. We've covered this before. But I want to give you a different perspective on this text.
[16:43] Now, this perspective that I want to share with you, I believe will help you share your faith more clearly because it's going to help you understand the heart of the unbeliever. When we first went through and we preached through this section earlier this year, I was directing that to your hearts.
[17:04] Not wanting to do that today. I want to take you back. I want to help you understand the heart of the unbeliever. Because once you begin to understand the heart of the unbeliever, it becomes different in how you share the good news of Jesus Christ with them. There's essentially three ways that we tend to evangelize. One, evangelizing, personal evangelism, sharing our faith with someone where we are. Two, going on a missions trip or supporting people who do missions. And the third way is called apologetics.
[17:46] And apologetics. And apologetics is giving a reasoned defense for what you believe. It's giving a reasoned defense for what you believe. It doesn't mean you are apologizing for your faith, but you're defending it. That's why I had Chris read from 1 Peter this morning. 1 Peter 3.15 says, but in your hearts, honor Christ the Lord as holy. Get this. This is for us, guys. Always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.
[18:31] That usually comes through relationships. Now, some of you think that apologetics is about debating or proving facts. But apologetics is more often explaining to someone why you're not Mormon, why I'm not Jehovah's Witness. This is why I am a Christian. And one of the key things, and I would say among many others that I might add that I was wrong about in university, this was a truth that I believed in university that I was wrong about.
[19:05] I believed that if I presented enough evidence about Christianity to you, whether it be science or history or philosophy, and you knew that I loved you, you would believe.
[19:21] That's what I believed. And I'm going to guarantee you there's some people in here believe that to this day. If I could just share it more clearly, or if I could be more engaging, people would believe more. As I said, sometimes I wanted to say, do you not understand what I told you? Do you not understand how much that I love you, that this good news can change your life?
[19:49] But this is where I realized a deep biblical truth. You see, I believe that people were spiritually neutral. I believe that people were spiritually neutral. What I mean by that is if they were like an empty glass, and there was nothing inside, and if I could provide the information of Christianity, they would get saved. It's like they were standing in the middle of a chasm, just waiting for the facts to tip them over to Christianity.
[20:29] The truth is, the person who is saying, I'm just neutral, is actually saying they already have a set of beliefs. And those beliefs are, I trust myself, I live my own life the way I choose, and I believe in reason, not religion. Greg Bonson, one of the clearest Christian thinkers on apologetics, says it like this, Christianity is not simply another reasonable option among all the world's religions, or even slightly more so. Christianity is the only reasonable position for man to hold. And I'm going to demonstrate that point to you this morning. Have you guys ever been to the Cheesecake Factory? Who's ever been to the Cheesecake Factory? Have you ever seen their menus? Remember their menus? It's like reading a phone book, right? You've got every type of food in that menu. And I'm not lying or exaggerating, this isn't preacher hyperbole, they're massive menus. And it takes you the first hour to figure out what you're even going to have as an appetizer, because they got so many options. And a lot of people think that's what Christianity is. But I can only pick the one that makes the most sense to me,
[21:56] I will find my truth. The fact of the matter is, Christianity is a menu that only has one item on that menu. And it is exactly what you're hungering for. And this truth begins in Romans 1, 18. Let me just read it to us. It says, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world, and the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. My first point is, there is no such thing as neutral ground. Notice the text, it says, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. Notice the text does not say ignores the truth. It doesn't say misunderstand the truth. It doesn't say they wrestle with truth. It clearly says they suppress the truth. In the original Greek, that means holding something down forcefully. We've all been kids in a pool, in an ocean, in a lake. You guys have all played with the beach ball, right? Trying to keep that beach ball under the water. It keeps popping up.
[23:58] That's the exact same imagery as man. They're trying to suppress the knowledge of God, but it keeps popping up. You push down, but it keeps popping up. You try harder, the faster it pops up. And that's what people do with the truth about God. It's not that there isn't enough evidence for it. It's not that they haven't seen it. It's not that they've been waiting for one more argument to tip them over to Christianity. The Bible clearly says here that the Bible, that the evidence is plain. God has shown to them, excuse me, through creation, through our conscience, through the very fabric of their existence.
[24:48] And Paul says, they are without excuse. Now listen carefully. This is where most Christians miss it when they share their faith.
[25:02] This is where I missed it for years. We think we're walking up to a neutral person, like they're a blank slate. If I only give them a little bit more information, then they will believe.
[25:19] But that's not what God says here. He says people aren't blank slates. They're not neutral. They already have a worldview, and they already have what's called a presupposition. And let me define that. Presuppositions are the beliefs you assume to be true before you even start reasoning. When I look at something red, I presume it to be red because I've been told it's red. My eyes are telling me it's red. They're the glasses through which we see and understand the world. As Christians, our presuppositions are one, God's word is true. Amen? God's word is true.
[26:01] Two, that Jesus Christ is Lord. The Bible gives no evidence that Jesus isn't Lord in any way. He is the Lord. He is King of Kings. And number three, all truth must flow through Jesus Christ.
[26:20] In case you didn't know, when I was younger, I was a big fan of, they call him a Catholic theologian, but it happened in the 1200s. It was Thomas Aquinas. And his method was to logically bring someone to faith in God using logic without using the Bible. And I remember in this class, we were given homework, prove God exists. And I would fail every time because I kept referring to the Bible, and he kept telling me, you can't do that. But I said, this is from where I get my truth from.
[26:52] I eventually, that God could, that I could prove that God exists through natural revelation, but the truth of the matter is big deal. Everybody believes there is a God.
[27:05] There is no agnostic. There is no atheist. Everyone recognizes that there is a God. That's what Paul tells us here. So the truth is big deal. If I prove them there's God, but I haven't demonstrated God's word, that Jesus is Lord, and all truth flows from him, which we all know is where salvation comes from. Cornelius Van Til, the great Dutch Christian thinker said, Christianity must be thought of as a unit. You have to think of it as a whole.
[27:39] It's impossible or useless to try to defend our faith by just talking about historical facts. What he means is imagining trying to prove Christianity is true by only debating the resurrection or the biblical manuscripts are reliable. Now these facts matter, but without the bigger picture that God is the source of sovereign truth, they're just puzzle pieces laid out on a table. Because Christianity isn't about a collection of facts. Christianity is an entire worldview rooted in the God who created everything and speaks through his word. Greg Bonson said, the Christian offers the self-attesting Christ to the world as the only foundation upon which a man must stand in order to give any reasons for anything at all.
[28:36] What he means here is, when you're sharing your faith, we don't argue from neutral ground. Because there's no such thing. What that means is, you need to accept the fact that you have your presuppositions to a worldview, and they have their own presuppositions to a worldview. You with me on that? There's no neutral. They already have a point of view. And you need to accept that. The fact is, you're either standing on the rock of God's word, or you're standing on the sinking sand of human rebellion. And our role is to lovingly, boldly show that only Christ makes sense of this world. Because he's the one who made it, he's the one who sustains it, and he ultimately is the one who redeems it. So as I said, the biggest truth, or the biggest lie that I believe throughout my time of university, reaching out to people that neutrality was true, but it's not. It was a myth. There is no middle ground.
[29:48] It's like having two cliffs. A lot of people believe they're on the bridge to Jesus, but that bridge doesn't exist, either with God or against God. Jesus said in Matthew 12 30, whoever is not with me is against me. There's no fence. There's no spiritual Switzerland where we stand in neutral ground.
[30:13] Now I know what some of you are thinking. Hey, BK, I've got friends, I've got family members, and I got co-workers who say, hey, I'm searching. I'm exploring. I'm open-minded. I'm spiritual, but I'm not religious.
[30:35] And our temptation is to believe them. And in that temptation, we want to meet them halfway. And what happens is when we do that, we're setting aside the truth of God's word, thinking we're going to bring them over to the truth of God's word. You with me on that? We're actually denying the truth of scripture in the hopes of reaching them for God. Do you understand the twistedness of that?
[31:03] But the fact is, if you don't realize there's no neutral ground, you'll waste your time arguing about symptoms instead of dealing with the real disease. You'll try to convince them about politics, about morality, about ethics, when the real issue is that they have the wrong God on the throne of their heart.
[31:29] This is why what I call presuppositional apologetics matters. It's not just about winning debates. It's about asking people the question, where are you standing right now?
[31:43] What is your starting point? Who is your authority? Because there is no neutral ground. And if we forget this, we will never be clear in a world of confusion. In fact, we must stand firm and lovingly say that Paul says right here, you are without excuse. Not because we want to win an argument, or not because we're better, not because we want to show how much we know, but we truly believe that the foundation that holds the truth is God's word. And this brings me to the next reality. If there's no neutral ground, if every person is already standing on some foundation, that means every heart is already worshiping.
[32:33] Not maybe worshiping, not someday worshiping, but right now. Every single person you meet, Squamish, Vancouver, North Bay, every heart is worshiping something. They're already bowing down to something or someone. Let's look at Romans 1 21. It says, for although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him. But they became futile in their thinking and their foolish hearts were darkened. Get this, claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal men and birds and animals and creeping things. Circle that word in your Bibles, exchanged.
[33:18] This is the second unshakable truth today. Every heart worships something. There is nobody looking for something to worship. They're already worshiping it. Paul doesn't say they stopped believing in God and became neutral. No, no. He says they exchanged the glory of God for something else. They exchanged it for the created. And this is a truth we need to understand. Not only is nobody neutral, but they're always worshiping it for themselves. They're always worshiping it for themselves. They're a worshiper. The neighbor who says they don't believe in God, guess what? They're a worshiper. The friend who says that they just live for themselves, guess what? They're a worshiper. The person sitting to you right now, this morning, in the chair, is a worshiper. The only question is, who do they worship or what do they worship?
[34:18] Bonson says, to refuse to see things through the eyes of Scripture is to destroy our intelligence of man's experience and to undermine his knowledge. What he means is, in order for you and I to understand truth, we need to know Scripture. Because Scripture, the Bible, is the precondition for knowledge.
[34:42] To do so leads to what he calls intellectual futility. Why? Because you actually can't have logic without God. You can't have logic. You can't answer the question that the universe is orderly without God.
[35:00] So when someone trades the true God for a false God, they just don't lose the truth about God. They lose the truth about everything. That's why they can't understand morality. They make up their own version of morality or identity or even what their purpose of life is.
[35:23] All because they put the wrong God on the throne of their heart. For instance, in a naturalistic worldview, why should humans trust their reasoning if it's merely the product of random evolutionary processes? Are you with me on that? How do I know my brain is making sense if it's just a product of evolution? How can I recognize truth? You see, Scripture, in contrast, provides a coherent foundation by making a rational God, by telling us a rational God created an orderly universe and human minds which are capable of understanding it. So the only way life makes sense is through God's Word. Everything else is complete conjecture.
[36:16] So let me put it this way. You've got a heart. You've got a throne in your heart. But only one thing can sit on that throne. And when you push God off that throne, it doesn't remain empty. Something will fill that heart.
[36:39] It could be yourself. It could be your money, power, pleasure, reputation. And this is exactly what Romans 1 is showing us. It's not like the statues and idols of ancient times we put on our hearts. Today's idols are quieter, more subtle. But make no mistake, they're just as real. We worship success.
[37:09] Stress, fitness, political ideology. We even worship being right or worshiping our freedom. But all those things, what it means is God is not at the center of your heart sitting on your throne.
[37:28] And here's the thing. I'm not talking about people outside of the church. I'm referring to people inside of the church here too. Some of you are sitting here today thinking, I love God. I follow Jesus. I worship Him.
[37:43] But if you're honest about things, you, uh, the question that you should be answering is what gets most of your attention? What gets most of your energy? What stresses you out when you can't have it?
[38:00] You see, that in reality is your functional God. And listen, Romans 1 isn't just describing atheists.
[38:11] It's describing all of us apart from the grace of God. That's why Paul says later in Romans 3, there is no one righteous, not even one.
[38:23] Every heart, by default, worships something other than God. So when we evangelize, we're not adding Jesus on an already good life.
[38:36] It's about calling people to repent from their old life and place Jesus at the throne of their life. Van Til would say that there are two kinds of worship.
[38:52] There's the creator worship or the creature worship. That's it. There is no middle category. If you are not worshiping the creator, you are, whether you're realizing it or not, worshiping the created, the creature.
[39:12] And that's why every false worldview collapses. Because it's trying to make something in creation carry the weight of what only God can carry.
[39:23] Amen? You get that? Your religion of success can't carry the weight of this world. It can't. So I want to lock down these points for you this morning.
[39:38] One, no one is neutral. Two, everyone is worshiping something. And because of that, only one worship is true. The fact is, every heart bows down to something right now.
[39:55] The question I have for you is, who's sitting on the throne of your heart? So as you share your faith with others, just don't focus on the fact.
[40:06] Don't just focus on morality. You need to get to the heart level. You need to expose their false God. You need to call people to surrender to the one true God.
[40:21] That takes us to my final point this morning. Only God's word gives a foundation that actually holds. Only God's word gives a foundation that holds.
[40:33] Proverbs 1.7 says, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Fools despise wisdom and instruction.
[40:46] So if the fear of the Lord is the beginning, that means everything else people build their life on doesn't start here. It's already cracked. It's already collapsing.
[40:56] Jesus isn't at the top. He's at the bottom. You with me? Jesus is the foundation upon which you build your life on. If you think you can add Jesus to the top of all these other worldly beliefs, it's just going to teeter and totter, and it's going to get crushed.
[41:13] It's impossible to tack God onto the top of your life and act like he's a decoration. That's why Jesus says in Matthew 7.24, Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man and build his house on the rock.
[41:36] We know the parable, the two builders in the Bible. Well, one builds his house on the rock. The other one builds his house on the sand.
[41:48] It was quicker, easier. Maybe he thought he had a better view. But when the storm came and the winds blew, it fell over. And the reality is, and we all know it, life is full of storms.
[42:06] Death is always present. And the reality is, eternity will come. And only those who stand on the rock of Jesus Christ will survive.
[42:21] So this is the moment where I ask you to examine your own hearts. Some of you have been living like you're building on the rock, but in reality, you've got one foot on the rock and one foot on the sand.
[42:33] Of course, you trust God for your salvation, but you trust your money to rescue you. You trust yourself and your wisdoms to deal with life's problems.
[42:47] When it comes to truth, you lean on what feels right rather than God's word. I'm going to tell you.
[42:58] It's a story that's been known since the beginning of man that is a recipe for collapse. You don't need two foundations.
[43:09] You need one. You need an unshakable word. That's why Greg Bonson says, the Christian apologists must not trade away the certainty of knowing God for a probability or subjective moral conviction.
[43:27] What that means is, you and I don't stand on maybe. We don't stand on I hope so. We stand on thus says the Lord.
[43:40] You with me on this? This is an important point. It's rooted to who God is, his word, that he is the basis of every rational thought.
[43:51] This is the basis of every truth. And here's what it means. It doesn't mean we come to God's word and evaluate it like every other book.
[44:05] God's word evaluates us. God's word stands over us. God's word reveals to us who we are. And that's the foundation that we have.
[44:23] So I know I haven't gotten to the secret of evangelism, but these are the foundation points to understanding the secret of evangelism.
[44:35] One, there is no neutral ground. Number two, when you go to evangelize someone, you have to understand that he or she is worshiping something else.
[44:49] And number three, the Bible you hold is the perfect foundation to bring truth into that life. So the fact is, when you walk out of here today, when you face your friends, your co-workers, the culture around us, which we all see is crumbling, do we actually believe in thus says the Lord?
[45:16] Do you stand firm? Do you stand tall? Do you stand unashamed? Or do you say, I hope so? Because in the end, only God's word gives a foundation that holds.
[45:32] Now where's the secret? Well, the secret's gonna come out next week. But I need you to really wrestle with these truths this week. I need you to ask yourself, do you really trust God's word?
[45:44] When it says, thus says the Lord, do you really trust him? So when you trust it, you believe that there is no neutrality and everyone else is worshiping a false God.
[46:01] And when you can truly understand that, you'll understand where I'm gonna go next week because I'm gonna show how your role in evangelism is to demonstrate their false gods that they're holding to and then to offer them the true truth of Jesus Christ, the creator of this universe, who loved them so much that he sent his son to die for them so that they could be released from their prison of sin and be ushered in to the newness of Christ and to have an eternity with God as an adopted son and daughter of the king.
[46:48] And it's not a hope so. It's a thus said the Lord. Let's pray. Dear Holy Heavenly Father, just as we talk about these things, I know they're hard to understand because our minds have been trained to think in other ways.
[47:09] Father, I give you thanks for your goodness that even despite my misunderstanding of what your word said, you still used your word to bring souls to the living knowledge of your truth.
[47:29] Even when my words were immature, they were unknowledgeable, you still used them. That is because you were a kind and gracious God.
[47:43] And Father, I believe as we grow in this culture that is falling apart, we do want to have strong testimonies that can speak the truth of Jesus Christ in this broken down culture that we want to be able to speak in a responsible way why our friends that we love, why their lives are messed up as they are, why there's misery and why they have no foundation.
[48:13] We do so with tongues of love and truth. We explain them. It's because you're worshiping something other than the one true God.
[48:28] And Father, I love this church as being away for two weeks. I miss them. I miss the souls, the saints that are here, the worship together, to be under your word together, to be under the prayers of your word.
[48:41] Lord, these are the things that you've called us to in a dry and weary land, that we are here to offer the living bread and living waters.
[48:57] And Father, sometimes to evangelize is just a matter of pointing people to Jesus Christ, that we don't need to do the debate. let your word have its way.
[49:09] Let your word remove the barriers. Let the love of God transform their heart because it's far greater than any love that we can offer.
[49:25] So Lord Jesus, we thank you for your kindness and loving us and I especially, even though I wasn't the planned recipient to hear your wonderful gospel of grace, I heard it and responded to it in faith.
[49:47] Oh God, you are indeed a wonderful God. We ask these things in your most holy and wonderful name. Amen. Amen.