[0:00] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfred, Georgia. It is our prayer that you will be blessed by the preaching of God's Word.
[0:15] Or, on the other hand, maybe you can listen while the Lord speaks to somebody else. I heard a testimony yesterday that touched my heart, encouraged me, convicted me, and inspired me.
[0:25] Brother Trent, would you come and speak to us for a minute? All right. When I told Brother Sam I had a confession to make, I didn't know he would have me tell all of you. But through talking with Pastor and some friends in church, the Lord's convicted me about sharing my faith over the last couple months.
[0:41] But as we were getting ready for City on the Hill, I knew that this was going to be a really hard weekend for me if I hadn't been obedient to what God's been telling me the last couple months. And so 23 days ago, at the first of the month, I committed that I was going to witness the one person a day to talk to them about Jesus.
[0:58] And I knew that would require that I'd have to change some of the places I'd go. I'd have to be more intentional about it because, as I say, I can only witness to Robert, my co-worker, so many times and hear no so many times before I've got to move on and talk to somebody else.
[1:11] But I knew I was going to have to change the way, some of the habits of my life, and do things differently to do that. But I knew if I held myself accountable, texting Pastor and other people, that it would help me do that.
[1:22] And so this conference worked in my life 23 days in advance because it made me decide I've got to get moving on what I know to be right and continue it. There's some things that God has taught me over the last 23 days and 23 different stories of people.
[1:36] I realized that when I don't have evangelism in my life, personal evangelism, I'm missing out on a lot of other great things too. And there's so many good things that aren't evangelism and that are even connected to evangelism that we can fill our time with and keep us so busy that we never just talk to somebody about Jesus.
[1:55] And so I won't name all 23 of them there, but some things, talking to a teenager at McDonald's, finding out that she loves the Lord and goes to a good church, and then her telling me that she now is going to do the same thing for the rest of the month.
[2:08] I realized that by sharing my faith, I motivated other Christians to do the same things. Also, by looking for an opportunity every day, I was able to seize opportunities that I normally wouldn't.
[2:19] When my family and I went to Creation Museum in the ark, when I got off the ark, I saw a cousin from Kentucky four hours away that I hadn't seen in a long time.
[2:29] And if I hadn't been thinking, where's the person that I'm going to witness to the day, if I would have saw him, I probably would have just made small talk and I regretted not talking to him. But since it was on my mind and on my heart when I saw him, I immediately wanted to talk to him about the things of Christ.
[2:44] I'm glad I didn't lose that opportunity. Also, just seeing the hand of God in my daily life to know that we are working with him. You know, at the end of the mark, it says that he went up to heaven. The next verse says, but then he continued working with them.
[2:56] During the conference, sitting on the hill two nights in a row, I got home later, and I hadn't talked to anybody, and I was going to hop in my van and just go anywhere, which is what I've done sometimes on the 23 days, is jumped in my van and just went looking for somebody.
[3:09] But right when I get in my van, there's two people on two separate days that I had never seen before in my neighborhood, just like they were standing at the end of my driveway. And as God's saying, you know, I'm going to do this work in and through you.
[3:21] I know you're tired. You're going to go to bed. But let me just place somebody at the end of your driveway that you would never get to meet. This one lady, she teaches at North Georgia College. She is a doctor, and she's busy all the time.
[3:33] I could never find opportunity to witness to her unless God said, I'm just going to place her at the end of your driveway for you. So seeing the hand of God in there, also being reminded of the darkness.
[3:45] You know, when I looked into a guy named Kumar's eyes, and I knew that what I was saying had no interest to him, I was reminded of what it means to live in darkness and to see it and to feel it and to experience it there.
[3:58] Also to get a better understanding of our mission field. As we talk to different people all the time, we get a better idea of what this community is like and about. And then lastly, one of the things I was missing out on by avoiding evangelism personally, not just as a church and putting on events and helping, but personally, is just rejoicing with my family because they know every day my wife knows there's going to be another story of something crazy that I did or something God did in my life to tell it.
[4:24] And so we get to rejoice together in that. And so over these couple weeks, few weeks, I've just realized that personal evangelism missing in my life, I'm missing out on a whole lot of wonderful things that I was made to take part in.
[4:36] Thank you, Brother Sam. Amen. Amen. Thank you, Brother Trent. Isn't that an inspiration? He decided 23 days ago, I'm going to witness to somebody every day.
[4:48] Okay, now that doesn't mean he's going to lead somebody to the Lord every day. He's going to share gospel truth with a lost person every day. And he's been doing that. And that inspired and convicted me.
[4:59] I'm like, I need to be doing that. That's a good thing to do. I hope tonight that you'll be thinking about, what does God want me to be doing? Because we've had this conference. We've been talking about it.
[5:10] But talking about it doesn't accomplish anything unless we go do something about it. And that's the point this evening is, what are you going to do? What's your response going to be to the things that you have heard in these days?
[5:22] And I really want you to be thinking about those. I don't want to really preach using tense words as my text. But let me make mention of two things he said. He said, we're so busy.
[5:33] And folks, there is this affliction in modern life that we are too busy to do the things that are most important. Okay? And we are so busy. We're going so fast. I find myself running past opportunities when I could witness because I'm running late and I've got to get somewhere.
[5:51] And I'm thinking, if I just slow down a minute, if I wasn't just all the time running on the ragged edge at the last minute, I could have stopped and talked to that person about Jesus. You know what? The other word he said that I want to bring to your attention is intentional.
[6:06] If you say, you know, this is a good idea. I'll do that whenever I get a chance, whenever I get around to it. Do you know when you're going to get around to it? You're not going to get around to it. Okay? And so you've got to be intentional.
[6:16] Brother Trent said, I'm going to be intentional. I'm going to do this on purpose. And we're going to have to do that. And I hope that tonight that you will make a decision about how you are going to implement the things that we have set forth.
[6:30] Open your Bibles, if you would, to 2 Samuel chapter 23. I'm going to do something dangerous tonight. I'm going to preach on something the preacher preached on not that long ago. And hopefully it won't sound like a repeat.
[6:43] And hopefully you won't compare because I don't want to get compared. But I want to tell you a story that I love this story. It's a crazy story. It's a wonderful story out of 2 Samuel chapter 23.
[6:54] And before we read it, I really want to take a moment and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for this time we've spent together. Lord, I thank you for our church.
[7:07] I thank you for these dear folks. Lord, what a privilege to have brothers and sisters like we have here and to have a church like we have. Father, I pray now for your blessing on this time.
[7:19] Lord, we didn't come just because it was 5 o'clock. We came because we wanted to hear from you. Lord, we want to grow. We want to change. We want our lives to honor and glorify you.
[7:31] And I pray that tonight you'd work in our hearts through your word, that you would speak, and that we would listen. And Lord, that tonight decisions would be made that would make a difference in our lives, that would make a difference in the lives of lost people all over Alpharetta and coming in the surrounding communities.
[7:51] Lord, that decisions would be made tonight that would bring honor to you. In Jesus' name, amen. We're going to start our reading in verse 13, 2 Samuel 23 in verse 13.
[8:04] And it's talking about David's three mighty men. Now, we don't even know these guys' names, but we know what they did. It says, And three of the thirty chief went down and came to David in the harvest time under the cave of Adullam.
[8:16] And the troop of the Philistines pitched in the valley of Rephaim. And David was then in an hold, and the garrison of the Philistines was then in Bethlehem. And David longed and said, Oh, that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate.
[8:30] And the three mighty men break through the host of the Philistines and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem that was by the gate and took it and brought it to David. Nevertheless, he would not drink thereof, but poured it out unto the Lord.
[8:41] And he said, Far be it from me, O Lord, that I should do this. Is not this the blood of the men that went in jeopardy of their lives? Therefore, he would not drink it. These things did these three mighty men.
[8:54] This is a really interesting story, and we've just read the whole story. But my wife says I have an overactive imagination. And so we're going to go back through the story, and I'm going to tell you how this story seems to me because it perhaps is a little more colorful that way.
[9:10] You know what? You read the scriptures, and it says, you know, it just says things, you know, and Jesus was crucified. And it just says these words. And yet if you stop and think about what's involved in it, it's just very understated so often.
[9:24] But you think about the events that happened, and they're incredible. And so here it says that there were these three guys, and they came to David in the harvest time under the cave of Adullam. Now, we read in verse 14 that David was in and hold.
[9:37] That means he was in a strong place. The strong place was a cave, okay? But it was a defensible cave. It was going to be hard to dig him out of that cave. He knew that his enemies couldn't take him while he was holed up with his soldiers in this cave.
[9:51] And so he was in the hold, and the garrison of the Philistines was in Bethlehem. Now, I am not, I never have served in the military. My son Daniel's a captain in the Marine Corps, but I've never been in the military.
[10:04] But I'll tell you one military principle. The guy that's living in the cave is not winning the war, okay? The guy that's living down in the town is the one who has the strength. Because if the guy in the cave had the strength, he'd run those guys out of town, and he'd be living in the town on a comfortable bed instead of sleeping on the floor of the cave, okay?
[10:21] And so in this situation, the Philistines were very powerful. They were very strong. They had the upper hand. And so they were making themselves right at home. They moved right into that Israelite city, into Bethlehem, and basically took over, threw the people out of the house and took the place for themselves.
[10:38] And they were using and abusing it and treating it like you would treat your enemy's place, okay? And David, he's in the cave, okay? Now, I'm not sure exactly the geography of this thing, but I kind of perceive Bethlehem being over there.
[10:51] And the cave being up here on the hillside facing Bethlehem. And David is sitting here in this cave, and he's looking down, and he's seeing those stinking, rotten Philistines, and it's driving him nuts.
[11:03] Now, we need to remember something. What city are we talking about over here? What town is that? It's Bethlehem. Now, when we think of Bethlehem, we think of Jesus got born there. But that's going to happen many, many, many years after David.
[11:15] What other thing is Bethlehem famous for? And now, Bethlehem, now city of David. That was David's hometown. Now, just think about that for a minute. He's stuck in this cave, and the dirty, stinking, rotten Philistines are in his hometown.
[11:32] The people there are his family, his relatives that have been thrown out of their homes, and the Philistines have taken over. Would that burn you up? And I think he's just chafing. I think he's just furious.
[11:45] He's standing there in that cave, and he's looking down there, and I think he's just grinding his teeth together, saying, what are those Philistines doing in my hometown? Abusing my relatives, tearing up their stuff.
[11:56] It's just not right. But he doesn't have the strength to do anything about it. And so you've got to know he was just aggravated as he could be. All right? And so he would stand there day after day, staring down at that hill, saying, what am I going to do about these Philistines?
[12:08] Now, there were three of his guys, three of these mighty men. They weren't there. We don't know where they were. They were off probably doing something for David in another place. But they heard David's in the cave. He's in a pickle.
[12:19] He's in a situation. He needs help. And so these guys, they were true friends. Now, you have these kind of friends that are your good friends until you get in trouble, then they disappear. And then you have those other kind of friends that when you get in trouble, they say, I'm going to come alongside and be with you.
[12:34] Okay? They were that kind of friends. And so when they heard David's got an issue, they were like, okay, we're going to David. And so they come, three great, big, strong, muscle-bound guys. And they come, and they're like, David, we're here.
[12:46] Whatever you need, you let us know. And David said, thanks, guys. I'm glad you're here. And so David's in the hold. And David is sitting there day after day, looking down the hill, looking at Bethlehem, just being aggravated as he can be about that.
[13:00] And you know, probably sometimes he gets to reminisce him. This whole king thing keeps you awful busy. You know, you don't get home very often. But he gets to think about, I remember when I was a kid in Bethlehem.
[13:12] Man, we had some times. Now, we worked a lot, had to watch the sheep, had a lot to do. But sometimes we just have some fun. Me and the other boys, we'd go out on these old dusty, rocky hills. They didn't play cowboys and Indians.
[13:22] They played Philistines and Israelites. And so we'd go out, we'd play Philistines and Israelites, and we'd throw rocks at each other. We'd make spears and chuck them at each other. And we'd run up and down these hills until we were covered from head to toe in dust, until we were so dry, we couldn't even breathe.
[13:40] And I'd look at my buddies, I'd say, I need a drink. And they'd say, I gotta get some water. I'm dying. And David'd say, I'll race you to the well. And they would take off and they would come burning down out of those hills, a whole pack of boys running, running as fast as they could, just flying down that hill.
[13:56] They came in the back gate of the city. And you know what? They're coming right down Main Street. There's little old ladies shopping. There's people got their carts. These boys are just, not paying attention to anything, just flying through there.
[14:07] And people are like, you boys, and the boys aren't paying any attention. They go flying to, because the well is by the front gate. Okay. And they, they're burning. And David, he's ahead by his step.
[14:18] He gets the well first. He grabs the buck. He said, beat you. And so he cranks that crank down there. And he pulls that. Now that water's from deep, deep down in the earth. And it's ice cold.
[14:29] Now there's not much in Israel that's cold, but that water is ice cold. And that, you know water, different water has different tastes, right? Okay. Do you know where the very best water in the whole world is?
[14:42] It's in your hometown. It's the water you grew up drinking. And they, they, he'd bring that, that bucket of water up. And he'd take that. And he'd take a big old drink. You know how, when you're really hot and you can feel it go all the way down.
[14:54] And say, oh, that's good. And he turned to his friends. He said, you guys want something? And they're going, yeah, yeah. Give me some, give me some. And he's like, and he just takes it. And he turns it upside down and pours over his head and says, oh yeah, get your own.
[15:07] And, and so, so David is sitting there and, and, and as he's sitting there in the cave and he's looking down at those Philistines and yet he's thinking about back in the day. And he says, oh, oh, if I could have a drink from the water for the well inside the gate of Bethlehem, boy, that'd be great.
[15:26] And he's just talking to himself. He probably didn't even know he was talking out loud. He just, he just thinking and talking out loud, you know, just thinking out loud, but right behind them, there were these three big guys.
[15:38] They looked at each other. I got it. And so late at night, everybody goes sleep. They roll up in their blanket on the floor of the cave. They're all sleeping. And late, late, late when everybody's asleep, there's a stirring in the corner of the cave.
[15:53] That man stands up. As soon as he does, two other guys pop up. Quiet as death, they slip out of that cave and they say, you heard what he said.
[16:04] He wants to drink the water by the gate of Bethlehem. Well, if that's what our king wants, that's what he's getting. Now, here's the plan. We are going to sneak down this hill, quiet as we can be.
[16:16] Quiet as a shadow. We're going to sneak into that gate. We're going to get that water. We're going to slip back here. Nobody will be the wiser. Got it. Okay. And so they start down the hill and they're good.
[16:27] They're sneaky. They're cool. And they're walking down that hill and they're getting really close. And the guy in the lead turns. The other guy said, Philistine guards, be really careful. And he trips. And when he does, he makes a noise.
[16:40] And those Philistines go, halt. Who goes there? And they're like, oh boy, we're in it now. It's just the three of us against the whole army, but they're not retreating. The gates, the wells down there. And they're like, let's go boys.
[16:51] And so they charge in there before the Philistines can get their stuff together. And one of them says, we'll hold the swords. You get the bucket. And so two of them are manning the swords. And the other guy's got that bucket. He's got it like on an electric motor.
[17:03] Back up. And he get it. And now they're surrounded by Philistines. And so they're, they're hacking and balboing and fighting and, and beating their way out of there. And the Philistines like a hornet's desk. It's all stirred up. Philistines are coming out.
[17:14] They're angry. They're mad. They've got their weapons. They're looking for a fight. And these three Israelites beat their way through, cut and slash their way through. And they take off back up that hill, running as hard as they can go.
[17:25] Okay. They're getting up the hill. People up in the cave are like, there's a disturbance. Hey, everybody, something's going on in the Philistine camp. Everybody get ready. This could be it. And they're looking. They're like, here they come. Get ready.
[17:36] Those are our guys. What are they doing down there? And, and, and, and so here come the three mighty men backed it up in the hill. And they're going, whoo, whoo. Well, that was close, man. And, and David comes out and he's pulling his ribs around.
[17:48] He says, what in the world is going on out here? Those three guys step up and said, well, David, we heard what you said today, that you'd like a drink from the well by the gate of Bethlehem.
[18:01] And we decided we'll go get you one. And they handed him that water. And his heart just broke. He's like, you guys, you risked your life for me.
[18:18] He was amazed. It says here, it says here, they brought it to David. Nevertheless, he would not drink thereof. Don't get the wrong idea.
[18:29] It wasn't that he didn't want it. It wasn't that he didn't treasure it. It's exact opposite of that. He treasured it so much. He said, I can't just drink this. You risked your life.
[18:40] You nearly shed your blood. You put your lives on the line to get this. The only thing that can be done with something this precious is to offer it to the Lord. And that's what he did. They stopped and they worshiped the Lord.
[18:51] He said, far be it from me, O Lord, that I should do this. Is not this the blood of the men that went in jeopardy of their lives? Therefore, would he not drink it? He poured it out unto the Lord. What a wonderful story.
[19:01] I love this story. It's a simple little story, but I love it because it shows the spirit of these three mighty men. Now, a lot of times when God speaks to us, we respond in different ways to God.
[19:17] Sometimes preacher gets up and preaches and we go, Amen! We don't do anything, but we say, Amen, really good. Or sometimes if we're really spiritual, we say, I'll pray about that.
[19:29] But these guys didn't. You know what they said? They said, I'm going to do something about it. I heard what I'm supposed to do. I'm going to do something about it.
[19:40] See, I want you to notice, first of all, that they loved their king. Can you tell they loved their king? When he was in trouble, they came to be with him. They were listening. They cared about their king.
[19:51] And folks, I think we need to love the Lord. Not just in word, but in deed. Our love for him. You know, I love Rhonda. I'm so thankful for her.
[20:03] But if I said all the time, Honey, I love you. Sweetheart, I love you so much. I love you, love you, love you, love you, but I never did anything for her. You think she'd be happy about that? I have a feeling she wants me sometimes to show that love in something more than just words.
[20:16] Okay? I suspect that that's the case. And God, it's good for us to say, I love the Lord. But if it's real love, it will be expressed in action. These guys love their king.
[20:28] Now, the second thing is, they didn't only just love him, but they found out what he wanted. Okay? They got there and they're like, what is it that David wants? And they stood by and they listened until they found out what he wanted.
[20:40] Okay? Now, if we love the Lord, what does he want? Now, you stop and think about that. That's kind of a difficult question. If he wanted something, he'd just go get it. I remember we always had a hard time buying Christmas presents for my dad.
[20:52] It's like, well, what are we going to get dad for Christmas? I don't know what he wants. Because if he wanted anything, he'd just go store and buy it. And so there's probably, we couldn't think anything that he wanted. Okay? Well, what does God want? I mean, he owns the heavens and the earth.
[21:03] And if he wanted it, he'd just make it. Okay? What does God want? I know what he wants. The Bible says he's not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
[21:14] That's what he wants. He wants for every soul to hear the gospel. He wants everyone on the face of this earth to know how they can come to Christ. Okay?
[21:25] One of the things I love the most about Vision Baptist Church is that we have a heart for the world. We see the world. We see their needs. And we're doing everything we can to get the gospel to the world.
[21:37] But folks, do we see our neighbors? Do we see the guy that works at the next cubicle? Okay? Do we see the guy that borrowed our rake and didn't return it? Okay?
[21:47] The people that we work with, our friends, our family, our neighbors, do we see them? You know, we see the folks in Burkina Faso. It's sometimes better than we see the guy next door.
[21:58] Okay? We need to see the people in Burkina Faso. And we need to see our neighbor and realize that they alike are in need of salvation. What does our king want?
[22:11] He wants the salvation of souls. He wants people to hear the gospel. Okay? Now, they loved him. They found out what he needs. But the third thing, and this is really the thing I want to say tonight, is they didn't say, God bless you.
[22:25] Be warmed and filled. And they didn't say, okay, well, we'll have a prayer meeting about that. They said, we're going to go down and get that water. Okay? These were men of action.
[22:37] They went and did it. And the one thing that I would like to say is that we hear about what we should do. And that's good. But if we don't go and do it, honestly, it was just a waste of our time.
[22:50] We've got to put it into action. A dear friend of mine posted something on Facebook the other day that I really liked. It was a quote. It says, inaction breeds doubt and fear.
[23:04] You know what? When I don't share Christ with people, I begin to doubt that I can, and I begin to be afraid to do it. Inaction breeds doubt and fear.
[23:16] Action breeds confidence and courage. That's true. If you want to conquer fear, don't sit at home and think about it. Go out and get busy. That's a pretty good quote. That's a pretty good quote.
[23:27] Sometimes I think that we, I'll tell you a story. When Rhonda and I were serving the Lord as assistant pastor as a Christian school principal at a church in Ohio, and we used to have a friend who was a missionary to Brazil.
[23:42] He was a preacher from Georgia, of all places. And he was a missionary to Brazil, and he'd always come to our church. And every time he did, we'd have him come over to the house afterwards. And he'd come in, and we'd spread out a map of Brazil on our table.
[23:56] And he'd say, Sam, look at here. You see the city? 40,000 people here. Not one preached. Nobody preached in the gospel. See that town? 30,000, 50,000, 70,000 people here.
[24:06] Nobody preached in the gospel there. You need to come and serve with us in Brazil. And I was willing to go, and I was wanting to go. And I said to him, I said, brother, I'd love to go to Brazil, but God hasn't called me.
[24:21] You know what he said to me? He said, I'll tell you what you do. He said, you come to Brazil. You serve God. You preach the gospel. You win souls to Christ.
[24:32] You disciple them. You build churches. And when you die and get to heaven, if it wasn't God's will, he'll forgive you. Now, I'm not sure I'm all the way in on that.
[24:46] But you know what? That's not as far off as you think it is. Okay? God wants us to be taking the gospel to the lost. He already said that. Remember when you're in school, when you're a kid in school, and you're in math class, and the teacher puts a problem on the board, she says, who'll come up and solve this problem?
[25:11] And everybody slides down in their seat. And there's this art that we do to it. It's like you do this look where you're not actually, you're just kind of doing this like, I'm not looking at you.
[25:21] I'm looking anywhere but at the teacher, because if she catches my gaze, she's good. But you know, we're all hiding from the teacher in plain sight, except for there's that one kid in the class. You know what I'm talking about? He's a, oh, oh, oh, me, me, me.
[25:34] I'll do it, teacher. I'll do it. I'll do it. Didn't you hate him? I mean, seriously. And yet I think God is looking down at us, and he's saying, I need someone in China.
[25:46] I need somebody in India. I need somebody that'll take the gospel to their neighbors in coming, and in Alpharetta. And he looks down at Vision Baptist Church, and I'm afraid he sees us slinking down in our chair and looking at the side.
[26:05] What does he see? I can imagine them, three mighty men. I'm going to tell you the story the way it didn't happen. Three mighty men come up to David and say, David, oh, yeah, guys, what's up?
[26:19] Well, you know, well, I don't really know how to say this, but, well, we heard you say today that you wanted some water to drink. And you know, that'd be really dangerous. I mean, we could die.
[26:31] But if you really wanted us to, I mean, if you commanded us to, if it was writing, you know, well, maybe, if there wasn't any other alternative, maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe we could go get it.
[26:46] What do you think David'd say? Forget it. What are you, crazy? Just forget it. Sometimes I think God looks at us, and we're saying, God, I'll serve you, if I have to.
[26:58] Preacher keeps telling me I have to. It sounds horrible. I might die from it. But God, if, I'll surrender if you want me to go.
[27:11] I, I, I guess I could. And I think God's looking at us and going, you know, just skip it, huh? Just, just forget it. I don't think God needs people that are going to help him that way.
[27:24] Okay? What if God looked down at us and we say, God, will you call me? God, I'm willing to serve you. God, I want to serve. I'll go. I'll go to Burkina.
[27:35] I'll go. I'll go to, I'll go to India. God, I'll go to my neighbor. I'll go to work and I'll talk to that person. God, choose me, choose me, choose me. I'm ready to go. See, are we willing to do it?
[27:51] We hear preaching all the time. And it's, sometimes it's kind of the Olympic situation where we hold up the cards. You know, yeah, that was a nine preacher. That was pretty good. Okay. I think that was a six.
[28:03] He kind of missed it. That one. Nobody asked you to judge it. The question is, are you going to do, are you going to do what God is calling you to do?
[28:18] And it's, this is just, there's nothing here complicated. It's very simple. Remember the Macedonians? They heard about a need. It says they gave beyond their ability.
[28:31] Out of their poverty. See, I'm not even talking about giving. I'm saying in obedience, they were like, Paul, get out of our way. We are on our way to do what God wants us to do.
[28:42] And that's the thing that we need to do. Our heart needs to be, God, call me. God, I'm ready to go. And so, this evening, as we're really wrapping up the city on the hill thing, what are you going to do?
[29:00] That's the question. And that's the invitation. And that's the call tonight. What are you going to do? You say, well, I'll try to do something. You know, you and I both know what that means, right?
[29:12] That means nothing's going to happen. Okay? Unless, like Brother Trent said, unless we say, I'm going to be intentional. I'm going to make a decision.
[29:23] Maybe you want to say, like Brother Trent said, maybe you want to say, I'm going to witness to one person every day. That'd be amazing. Can you imagine if everybody here decided to witness to one person every day?
[29:36] Wow! Would the people in this area get the gospel? I'm thinking. Maybe that's aggressive for you. Maybe you'd say, I'm going to make sure every week, I'm going to keep track of it.
[29:46] I'm going to make a point of it. I'm going to be accountable to somebody about it. I'm going to get the gospel. I'm going to, I'm going to at least share part of the gospel with at least three people every week. Maybe you're not an every day. Maybe seven is on a week is more than, maybe that's, that's for Trent.
[30:00] Maybe you're not a seven guy. Maybe, but maybe you can do three. I don't know. Maybe what God's saying to you is he's putting a particular soul on your heart. I have that neighbor.
[30:12] He's going to hear the gospel. Not once. I'm going to love him. I'm going to pray for him. I'm going to, I'm going to sow the seed patiently until he comes to Christ. Maybe God's calling you to speak to a particular individual.
[30:25] Maybe God's saying, I'm going to pray to God and seek out a Jewish soul. And I'm going to take the gospel to a Jewish person. There's 120,000 of them here. You can find one. I'm going to take the gospel to a Jewish person.
[30:37] What I'd like to challenge you about tonight is it's very simple. Let's take time right now to pray and say, God, something intentional, something specific, something concrete.
[30:51] What am I going to do? If we are a city on a hill, we need to let our light shine. We need to be the witnesses that God's called us to be.
[31:02] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfred, Georgia. For more information, log on to www.visionbaptist.com where you can find our service times, location, contact information, and more audio and video recordings.
[31:23] Thanks. For more information, welcome to ourSpace podcast. Visit www.vpyp80.com and saithet.com YouTube is a great time.
[31:38] For more information, For more information, please visit www.vpyp80.com and saithet.com and visit www.vpyp80.com and so, let's get to get to the next one. Thanks. This message was given us for questions, it is a free time. Thank you, for the time. Thanks.
[31:49] Thank you, for the time, for the time. Let's get to share our opportunities in the world.