This morning I'm going to talk to you about gospel advancing necessity.
!
This phrase, advancing the gospel, he says,
I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel.
So the gospel is supposed to advance.
The gospel is supposed to spread.
The gospel is supposed to be moving along.
And that should be our natural expectation.
In fact, Paul said in Romans 1.15,
he said, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.
So we see here, Paul was eager to preach the gospel.
Let me ask this question.
Are we?
Are we eager to preach the gospel?
And if we say we are eager, the question is, how eager?
How eager was Paul?
1 Corinthians 9.16, Paul says,
If I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting.
Why?
Because necessity has laid it upon me.
Woe to me if I don't preach the gospel.
Okay?
Necessity has laid it upon me.
Woe to me if I don't preach the gospel.
That sounds pretty eager.
That sounds pretty motivated.
Right?
Are you this way?
Would you be able to say that necessity has laid it on you to preach the gospel?
Is the gospel being preached, is that optional for you?
Is it something you think about every once in a while?
Maybe when someone like myself stands behind this beautiful pulpit and encourages us for that?
Or is it something we think about on the regular?
Is it something that we think about when we're with lost people?
Is it something that we think about when there's no lost people around?
And maybe there's a pattern of our life where we're not having lost people around?
But we think, oh my goodness, necessity is laying it on me to preach the gospel to lost people.
And would we ever even go so far as to say, woe to me if I don't preach the gospel.
I mean, that's how driven Paul was.
That's how necessary gospel advancing was to Paul.
He says, woe to me if I don't preach the gospel.
What a phrase.
What a way of putting it, right?
Woe to me if I don't preach the gospel.
Maybe you've had a season where you could say that.
Yes, where you were really on fire for the gospel saying, I've got to preach the gospel.
I've got to find people who need to hear the gospel.
Then maybe you have seasons where not so much.
Maybe seasons where I'm not thinking about that.
I've got a lot of stuff going on.
I'm having kids.
I'm figuring out work stuff.
I've got a house.
I've got friendships and relationships and church stuff and all these different things.
And maybe we don't think as much about the lost.
But I'll tell you what.
If you really want to kill a church, stop thinking about the lost.
Okay?
You really want a church not to grow, not to move on beyond the people that are in their four walls when they gather?
Don't think about the gospel.
Stop preaching the gospel.
Don't start preaching the gospel.
You know why so many churches just say the same roughly size?
And this happens so often.
And it is a travesty that more churches don't ask the question, why does our church just keep staying the same size?
Especially when most often the answer is, because we're not preaching the gospel.
We're not actively seeking to save people who are lost and get into their lives and preach the gospel to them.
You can't grow as a church, and healthy things do grow, if we're not going to people who are currently not in the church, lost people, and preaching the gospel to them.
Okay?
One of the reasons the church you were sent out of has continued to grow every single year for 13 years, I think, is because of that.
It's because there's a culture of outreach.
There's a culture of mission.
There's a culture of reaching and seeking to get into the lives of lost people, and it never stops.
They also cheat by having a lot of kids.
That also is a way that they've grown.
So that's another way as well, as long as you make them disciples.
Okay?
But, which is why Gina's in here, because she was at a birth last night.
So, he says, necessity has laid it upon me.
If you don't have that necessity laying upon you or laying hold of you, you need to pray.
You need to get before the Lord and say, God, I don't feel it.
I don't experience it.
It's not on me.
Lay that necessity of gospel preaching on me.
Lay it on me.
And may you lay it on our whole church.
And may we never recover.
May you shake us to the core.
If we've gotten lazy, if we've gotten busy, if we've gotten too consumed with other things,
we can't ever get to a place where gospel advancement is not necessary in our minds.
We cannot.
We must advance the gospel.
Paul said in 1 Corinthians 9, 19 to 22,
Though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them.
See his drive?
Gotta have more.
Okay?
This isn't a selfish more.
This is a good more.
More souls.
I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more.
I want more of them.
To the Jews, I became as a Jew in order to win the Jews.
To those under the law, I became as one under the law, though not being myself under the law,
that I might win those under the law.
To those outside the law, I became as one outside the law, not being outside the law of God,
but under the law of Christ.
Why?
That I might win those outside of the law.
Verse 22,
To the weak, I became weak, that I might win the weak.
I have become all things to all people, that by all means, I might save some.
I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.
It says,
Become all things to all people, that by all means, I might save some.
I've taught on this before, and the details of this is not going to go on,
but just look at the passion, the drive behind him.
Less about the practicals, and more about the motivation of Paul.
Paul's saying, there's nothing off the table.
All things.
How many things?
All things.
Is that some things?
No.
Some doesn't mean all.
All is different than some.
Okay?
All things.
How many people?
Some people?
No.
No, no, no, no.
Not some people.
All people.
Okay.
Some means no.
No, not some means.
All means.
Why?
That he might, the only some here is that I might win some.
Okay?
Don't confuse that.
All means, all people, all things, that he might save some.
And he does it all for the sake of the gospel.
There is this pervasive motivation, necessity on Paul.
All things have to be at my disposal.
All means, all people.
Like, I am, I, woe to me if I don't preach the gospel.
May that be us.
May we be a healthy gospel advancing church that never forgets the necessity.
That never forgets where we came from.
Right?
David in the psalm says, renew to me the joy of my salvation.
Renew to me the joy of my salvation.
When you remember what you've been saved from.
When you remember that you have, like Sam was just saying, a high priest who is permanently in his high priest position.
Who constantly lives to make intercession for us.
That he has made us right.
That we've been justified in him.
That we're being sanctified by his power.
And that we were lost.
We were totally under the wrath of God with no hope in this world.
And he came to us.
Plucked us out of the fire.
Made us, gave us the right to become children of God.
How could we not tell other people?
And not just, not how could we not tell other people.
How could we not look for opportunities and not just wait for opportunities to come in our lap?
Listen, if you're just waiting for opportunities to come in your lap, you are missing it.
I don't think Paul was doing that.
I mean, these verses I just read.
Are you getting that impression?
That Paul was just bebopping through life waiting for opportunities?
I don't think so.
The language he's using here is one of aggressive action and intentionality.
He's not waiting for someone to come his way.
Now, I'm not talking about some obnoxious in the flesh making something happen that's not there.
I'm not talking about that.
Okay?
So don't, you know, there's ditches on both sides.
But listen, if you see Paul here, he's like, I am actively engaging the lost.
I'm actively looking for ways to reach lost people.
And we must do the same.
We can't just be waiting for some opportunity to land in our lap.
Although we should always pray for opportunities to land in our lap.
But you can't just wait for that.
Okay?
We have to make opportunities.
We have to make the most of those opportunities.
Paul saw that preaching the gospel is necessary.
Do we?
And if we don't, then why not?
Okay?
I want to talk about four obstacles to gospel advancement.
Okay?
As I talk about this this morning.
Four different obstacles.
First one.
Fear and unbelief.
Wait a second.
That's two.
I know.
But they kind of go together.
Okay?
Fear and unbelief.
All right?
Romans 1.16.
That verse that Martin Luther was really big on.
Right?
I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for the salvation of all who believe.
Okay?
Not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God.
All right?
A lot of times we say, God, I pray that there would be power in my preaching of the gospel.
You know, you really don't need to pray that.
The gospel is already power.
I think sometimes, and I don't think there's anything wrong with praying that, but really,
I want to ask you, is it actually a revealing of your lack of faith in the power of God that's already inherent in the gospel?
It's already there.
You know, you already have power in the gospel.
The gospel itself.
Oftentimes, when we're preaching the gospel, the devil whispers to us and says, this isn't powerful.
You're not going to do it right.
It's not going to be a powerful presentation of the gospel.
And I tell you what, Romans 1.16 says the gospel is the power of God.
And it's a specific power of God for what?
For salvation.
You need to know that.
You need to believe that.
When you're going to preach the gospel to someone, you're not, you might feel weak.
You might feel unqualified.
You might feel like, I'm going to bungle the words.
Let me ask you a question.
Has God ever saved anybody through a bungled up version of words that we called the gospel before?
Has he ever done that?
Has God ever saved someone through a bad presentation of the gospel?
You better believe he has.
Now, that doesn't mean you should be lazy and not try to preach the gospel in the right way.
But listen, do you believe or do you not believe that the gospel is what Romans 1.16 says it is?
That it is the power of God for the salvation of those who believe.
We so often believe that the gospel is impotent or that our presentation of it is impotent when it is in effect of itself powerful.
So much confidence can be derived from this one verse.
You know, if you possess something of power, it makes you confident in that power.
When you possess something that's weak, you start to get insecure about it.
You maybe want to hide it.
You don't really want to use it.
When you have something that's very powerful, you want to use it.
You want to share it.
When you don't believe that the gospel is the power of God for the salvation of all who believe,
you will most likely be hesitant to both share it, preach it, and even look for opportunities to give it.
If you possess something of great power in and of itself, you want to go out and declare it,
knowing that even if I'm weak and we are weak, even if I don't do a great job presenting it,
and sometimes we don't do a great job presenting it, even if I'm tired, even if I don't know what to say,
even if the person I'm talking to is smarter than me, has more knowledge than me,
so what?
Is the gospel power or not?
Like, think about that.
You might say, well, these other things are powerful too.
Really?
Are they as powerful as the good news of the gospel of Jesus?
It is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.
We need to put that in the bank and say, hey, I need to believe this.
Very important.
Isaiah 63 verse 1 speaks of God in a specific way.
It says that he is mighty to save.
When you preach the gospel, when you think of the gospel,
when you think of even trying to engage a lost person or try to get into contact or relationship with a lost person,
are you thinking, my God is mighty to save?
Do you think that?
Or do you most think of my presentation is not very good?
Or do you most think of I'm not a very good speaker?
Or do you most think of I'm not very good at presenting things?
Or do you most think of, you know, fill in the blank.
Where is our focus?
What could stop us in our gospel mission if we truly believe that the gospel is the power of God for all who believe,
and we believe that our God is mighty to save?
He's mighty to save.
I'm going to say it again.
He is mighty to save.
When you believe that, it will build your faith.
But sometimes we don't believe that.
Sometimes we're not engaging with that truth.
He is mighty to save.
This is why 2 Timothy 1.12 says,
I'm not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed.
What is the key to not being ashamed?
Knowing whom you believe.
What do you got to know about him?
That he's mighty to save.
And then you won't be ashamed.
Then you won't be ashamed.
And it's good to know that in Luke 9, verse 26,
Jesus had some pretty strong words for this.
He says,
Whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed.
When he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.
I don't want Jesus to be ashamed of me.
I don't want Jesus to be ashamed of you.
I don't want Jesus to be ashamed of Christ's church.
Okay?
I would hope when we get to those pearly gates,
Jesus is like,
Oh, Christ's church.
Aptly titled church.
I love these guys.
These guys believe that I was mighty to save.
This church believed that I was mighty to save.
And boy, I saved some people through this church.
Come into my inheritance.
I am not ashamed to call you my brothers.
I'm not ashamed to call you my children.
You guys weren't ashamed of me.
Number two.
Hindrance to gospel advancement.
Preaching the gospel is costly.
Okay?
Philippians 4 verse 3.
Paul said,
I ask you also, true companion,
help these women who have labored side by side with me in the gospel,
together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers,
whose names are in the book of life.
So he calls
this gospel activity he's doing,
he calls it laboring.
And then he calls the people who are doing it,
his fellow workers.
Okay?
It takes work.
Preaching the gospel takes work.
Preaching the gospel involves you getting out of your comfort zone.
It involves me getting out of my comfort zone.
It involves me going to people I'm not,
that I don't know.
Strangers.
Involves building relationships with strangers.
It involves speaking to people who I don't know,
who are strangers.
Okay?
It involves time.
It involves being rejected over and over and over and over again.
It involves being misunderstood.
Sometimes it involves actual persecution.
In the vast majority of the world,
it involves actual physical persecution.
And one day we'll hear as well.
As you said,
all nations will hate you on behalf of me.
It will happen.
Okay?
Right now,
we don't live in that,
but it will happen.
It's costly.
It takes work.
Are you up for the work?
Are you doing the work?
Or are we making excuses
because we don't want to do the work?
Because we're tired.
Because we already have,
we're busy with a lot of things.
What if we're busy with the wrong things?
And not busy with the work of gospel preaching.
The work of gospel building.
Where I'm actively looking to build relations with people.
You might say,
well, I just don't have those people in my life.
Well, guess what?
Someone in this church does.
Partner up with them.
You might say,
I don't have anyone in my life
and the people I'm partnering with
don't have anyone in their life.
Well, then partner in prayer.
There's no excuse, though.
The work must be done.
If you got people,
do the work.
If you don't have people,
do the work.
Say partner with someone else who does.
And if you don't have someone who does,
then do the work of partnering in prayer
knowing that God is mighty to save
and he wants to save.
Okay?
But it takes work.
2 Timothy 1 verse 8 says,
Do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord,
nor of me as prisoner,
but share in suffering for the gospel
by the power of God.
Okay?
It takes a willingness to work,
a willingness to suffer.
It costs.
It costs to be a gospel preacher.
And there's no way to think about
God didn't bring this church together
so we could just have a smaller church
with our buddies
and really have close, familiar relationships
and not invite other people
into the family of God.
Okay?
Not enjoy our right to be called children of God
and enjoy the fact that us being children of God
makes us brothers and sisters
and enjoy our meals like we're going to do today
and enjoy our time together
and enjoy our fellowship,
which is all good stuff,
but not actively, consistently
be looking to engage with lost people,
build relationships with lost people,
pray for lost people
so that they too can hear the good news of the gospel.
And that's going to take time.
It's going to take effort.
It's going to take sacrifice.
It's going to be costly.
Are we up for it?
Are we bought in?
And listen,
it's going to take consistent buying in.
Okay?
May 1st,
it's less than a month away,
will be one year as a church.
Okay?
Have we won a lot of people to Christ in this last year?
No.
Okay?
That means we've got to keep going.
It means we've got to persevere.
It means the shiny gloss,
the sexiness,
the glamour of a church plant.
If it hasn't worn off,
it's sure starting to wear off, right?
Now we're a year in.
Who's going to keep saying,
I wasn't doing it for that reason.
It wasn't just the shiny new objects.
It's the beauty of Christ.
It's the beauty of my Savior saving me
and His power and desire to save other people.
And I joined together with this group of people
to be a people that don't give up,
that keep pressing in in prayer,
that keep pressing in in building relationships,
that keep pressing in in speaking the gospel to people.
No matter how many times we're rejected,
no matter how many times that seed falls on the wrong soil,
we just keep going and we keep going.
And there's a consistency.
When everyone's discouraged,
there's people within our church who say,
keep going,
don't give up.
We didn't sign up for the easy road.
We didn't sign up for some,
you know,
dog and pony show,
you know,
the Holy Trinity of church planting
with a charismatic speaker,
a killer children's ministry,
and the full band of hired musicians.
We didn't sign up for that.
No one's coming for that.
You can't just get comfortable and say,
well,
the preacher and the children's ministry
and the worship ministry,
they got it.
We're just going to grow through addition.
Those things will keep adding to a church.
We don't believe in growing by addition.
We believe by churches growing by multiplication.
Multiplication happens exponentially,
very slow on the front end,
very slow on the front end.
Every single one of us,
building relationships with people,
preaching the gospel,
not giving up,
continuing to spread gospel seed,
continuing to get on mission
to specific people in specific places,
keep praying for people,
praying for men and women of peace,
continuing,
not giving up,
that consistency.
Are you consistent?
Are you up and down?
This last year,
have you been consistent?
Is your passion for what is true
based on your experience
of your feelings,
your church experience
of your friendships
here in this group of people?
Or is it based on the sustained,
unchanging nature of Jesus Christ,
who he is and what he's done?
And are you being fueled by him
or are you being fueled by novelty?
Are you being fueled by him?
Are you being fueled by the new shiny small object?
We must fix our eyes on Jesus,
the author and perfecter of our faith.
We must constantly be looking to him
and be fueled by him,
motivated by him,
motivated by his gospel.
Utmost importance.
Number three,
hindrance to gospel advancement.
Cynicism.
What's the point?
Barely anyone gets saved.
Grief.
Okay?
I used to preach the gospel,
but it's,
you know what?
There's so many times
I've talked to people,
I've reached out to people,
we've been on a mission to people.
It's like people just aren't getting saved.
Matthew 7, 13 to 14.
I mean, good grief.
Jesus said it, right?
Enter by the narrow gate.
The gate is wide
and the way is easy
that leads to destruction.
For those who enter it,
enter by it,
are many.
It goes on in verse 14
and says,
the gate is narrow
and the way is hard
that leads to life
and those who find it
are few.
Those who find it are few.
Guess what?
You're right.
Few find it.
Most aren't saved.
Few will find it.
Okay?
So number one,
the great thing,
one of the great things about Jesus
is he tells us ahead of time
things are going to happen,
tells us ahead of time
things are going to be difficult
and that's loving and helpful
so we know how to handle it.
If you're expecting
the masses to get saved
when he said few will find it,
you're going to be disappointed.
Okay?
And we've been deluded
and fallen asleep a little bit
because 65% of America
says they're believers.
65%,
when you ask them,
are you a Christian?
They say yes.
But if you ask them
three other questions
and you say,
do you believe that Jesus
is the only way?
Do you believe that Jesus is God?
Do you believe that the Bible
is the Word of God?
That number drops to 6%.
That's like 10%
of the total people
who say they are Christians
actually believing
in some pretty minimum stuff
to be a Christian.
That means we can safely say
that 90% of professing Christians
in America
are not Christians.
Do you hear me on that?
So we've been deluded.
Oh, no, no, no.
So many people get saved.
Majority of America is saved.
65% of America is saved.
Hogwash.
There's no way.
We're lucky.
We're lucky if 6% is.
That means that a good 90%
of professing believers
are not Christians.
Means we got our work to do.
But,
just because few find it
doesn't mean that some don't.
I mean,
just because few find it
doesn't mean
that's telling you
some find it.
Okay?
And how do they find it?
Because that's the question.
Okay,
some do find it.
How?
How do they find it?
Exactly.
Romans,
that's my next verse.
Romans 10, 13.
Everyone who calls
on the name of the Lord
will be saved.
How then
will they call on Him
who they have not believed?
Great question, Paul.
And how are they
to believe in Him
of whom they have never heard?
And how are they to hear
without someone preaching?
And how are they to preach
unless they are sent?
And as it is written,
how beautiful are the feet
of those who preach good news.
Faith comes from hearing
the message
and the message is heard
through the word of Christ.
Okay?
How are they to believe in Him
whom they have never heard?
It's a rhetorical question.
They can't.
They won't.
How are they to hear
without someone preaching?
Someone's got to preach.
So you might say,
well,
I'm just kind of cynical.
People aren't getting saved.
Yes,
majority don't get saved,
but some do.
And Paul said,
hey,
I'm doing everything I can
so that some would.
And what is that
that you have to do?
They have to be preached to.
People have to be sent
to preach to them.
You have to go to them.
But we've created
for many years,
for a whole generation
of church,
we created this thing
where we think,
no,
it's all about people
coming to us.
We designed our churches
to be attractional,
and it's just about
getting people
to come to church services.
Totally not what you see
in the Bible.
Nobody's inviting people
to church services
in the Bible,
and yet we had
a whole generation
that taught church
that this is what church is.
You,
the work of evangelism
is inviting people
to church
so someone else
can preach the gospel to them.
This is wrong.
Okay?
The attractional mindset
is missing so much.
I praise God
that Christ is preached
in attractional churches,
but this is not
what you see in the Bible.
In the Bible,
they were on mission
to people.
They went to where
the people were.
They didn't just expect
people to come to them,
and we need to do the same.
Jesus said,
I came to seek
and to save
that which is lost.
They're seeking them out.
Instead,
we turned it into
seeker-sensitive services.
Instead of seeking them out,
we said,
bring the seekers here.
It's like,
no,
you go to them
because you know what?
The majority of people
are never going to come
into our service
until they're Christians,
and that's fine
because the services
aren't for unbelievers,
they're for Christians.
Church is for Christians,
so we need to go out
to where people are at
and preach the gospel to them
because they're not going
to believe unless someone,
unless they hear,
and they're not going to hear
unless someone preaches,
and they're not going to be
preaching unless someone sent.
So we can all say,
here am I.
Send me.
I want to go.
Here we are as a church.
Send us.
And we keep going.
We go and we keep going.
Michael Tucci,
when we were talking about
some of this on Wednesday,
brought up the parable of the sower.
And a great point
about the parable of the sower
is that if you notice
when they were spreading the seed,
did the sower
only throw seed,
you know,
really make sure
that the seed
was thrown on the good soil?
No.
Mark 4,
3 through 8,
says some seed
fell on the path,
other seed fell on rocky ground,
other seed fell among the thorns,
and other seeds
fell into the good soil.
Four categories.
Three of them are not good.
One of them is.
What is he doing?
Why is he throwing seed
all over the place?
Do you see that?
We think,
oh,
I have to make sure
I only,
no,
no.
We're just,
it's not our job
to make sure
that the seed
is only on good soil.
It's our job
to spread seed.
You don't know
if the soil's good.
You're not God.
Now,
there might be sometimes
where it seems like,
oh,
hey,
this guy seems
like he's not far
from the kingdom.
Praise God.
You can discern that sometimes.
But just because
someone doesn't seem
far from the kingdom
doesn't mean that
God couldn't save them.
That one hearing
of the gospel,
which is the power
of God
for the salvation
of those who believe
to the hardest heart
could break it
and melt it.
So,
we can't just go around
saying,
well,
I don't know.
I think he's pretty far here.
I don't want to preach
to this guy.
He's just a complete reprobate,
man.
He's just a God-hating,
not open to the gospel
kind of guy.
And I say,
again,
so what?
Is the gospel
the power of God
for the salvation
of all who believe?
Or is it just the power
of God for salvation
of those
who are really close
to believing
who look like good soil?
As far as what I've read,
it says it's to all
who believe,
and even the hardest
of heart can be
broken and melted
by the Son of God.
Do you believe that?
If you do,
you do with the sower,
you're just spreading seed.
That's our job.
One of the reasons
that we get mixed up
with this
is that,
which is my fourth one,
is that we think
it's on us
to save people.
Okay?
Number four is
we lose heart
because we think
it's on us.
That's a hindrance
to the gospel.
It's not on us
to save people.
Our job isn't
to make sure
that the seed
falls in the right soil.
Our job isn't
to make sure
that that soil
grows up.
Our job
is to spread
the seed
of the gospel.
God makes things grow.
1 Corinthians 3,
6-7,
Paul says,
I planted,
Apollos watered.
But who gave
the growth?
God.
So what's our job?
Planting,
watering,
planting.
Someone plants
the seeds
of the gospel.
Maybe you come along,
you give the gospel again
and you're watering
those seeds.
It's not your job
to make it grow.
It's not my job
to make it grow.
It's not any of our jobs
to make it grow.
That's God's job.
But sometimes
we lose heart
because we feel like,
oh,
I'm just not
being effective
to make the gospel
grow in someone's heart.
Whoever said
that was your job?
You're losing heart
for the wrong reasons.
2 Corinthians 4,
1-6,
says,
having this ministry
by the mercy of God,
we do not lose heart.
Verse 3,
Even if our gospel
is veiled,
it's veiled to those
who are perishing.
In their case,
the God of this world
has blinded the minds
of the unbelievers
to keep them from seeing
the light of the gospel
of the glory of Christ,
who is the image of God.
For what we proclaim
is not ourselves,
but Jesus Christ
as Lord,
with ourselves
as your servants
for Jesus' sake.
For God who said
that light shine
out of darkness
has shown in our hearts
to give the light
of the knowledge
of the glory of God
in the face
of Jesus Christ.
Okay?
He says,
we don't proclaim ourselves.
Why?
Because we're not God.
We don't save people.
He says,
we don't lose heart.
Even though,
isn't it interesting?
He says,
we don't lose heart.
And then he goes on
to say how the God
of this world
has blinded the mind
of unbelievers.
Doesn't that kind of sound
like a good reason
to lose heart?
Wouldn't you say,
well,
wait a minute,
why aren't you losing heart?
The God of this world
has blinded the mind
of unbelievers.
That seems like
a pretty good reason
to lose heart.
Okay?
But they don't lose heart
because he says,
we're not proclaiming
ourselves.
We're proclaiming
Jesus as Lord.
We're just servants
proclaiming Jesus as Lord.
You think Jesus can't
open the eyes
of the blind?
What do we sing?
That great hymn,
Amazing Grace.
I was what?
I was blind.
But what now?
Now I see.
Why does that line
in that song
so popular?
Because that's what happens
in salvation.
So why do we get
so discouraged?
It's so amazing.
If you would ask us
all to get up
and share our testimonies,
at some point in time
we'd probably say,
maybe not with these words,
but with some similar language,
we would say,
at some point I was lost
and then I was found.
At some point I was blind
and then I saw.
But then for some reason
when we start ministering
to unbelievers
and we find out they're blind,
we get so discouraged
and lose heart.
Hold on.
Weren't you blind?
And you saw?
Wasn't the person
sitting next to you blind
and they saw?
Weren't we all
who are in Christ Jesus
at one time blinded
by the God of this world
and then we saw?
Why do we get so discouraged
by people's blindness?
Why do we get so discouraged
that someone's blind
and they can't see
that the God of this world
has blinded their eyes?
We're servants preaching
the one
who shines light
into darkness
in the face of Christ Jesus
and who opens
the eyes
of the blind.
Do you believe that?
He opened your eyes.
Why don't we believe
He can open someone else's?
But so many times
you say,
man, this guy's so blind.
This woman's so blind.
I don't know.
I don't even know
if I'm going to preach
the gospel to them.
I'm just kind of losing heart.
No, no, no, no, no.
Hold on.
Time out.
That is the best person
to preach the gospel to.
I'm just so hit
by how blind they are.
I don't know if I even
I kind of lost heart
to preach the gospel.
No, no, no, no, no.
No, you have to preach
the gospel to them.
That's the perfect people
to preach the gospel to.
But the God of this age
is blind to them.
So what?
Is God mighty to save?
God is mighty to save.
John 6, 44 says,
no one can come to me
unless the Father
who sent me draws him.
And you better believe
that when the Father
who sent Jesus draws them,
they're coming.
They're coming.
Okay?
And the only missing factor
then there,
and God will find someone,
if it's not you,
He'll find someone else,
is that they gotta be preached.
Someone's gotta preach to them.
But when He's drawn them,
next step is
someone preaches to them
and then
the God of this age,
the blinders come off.
They were blind
but now they see.
And what happened to us
happens to them.
So we have to target
specific people and places.
We have to.
We gotta keep at it.
We gotta keep finding
specific people and places.
Some of us already
have those existing.
Some of us don't.
If we don't,
we gotta partner
with those who do.
Some of us say,
I don't even have that.
Then we need to pray.
We need to pray.
We need to see the difference
between our own
individual mission
where we're just,
you know,
throwing out those lines,
fishers and men,
trying to cast in that line,
hoping it'll work out.
And then it's maybe
there starts to be
some drawing
or maybe there's
some natural teamwork
and partnership
where we can reach out
to people together.
We reach out
to people together.
We expose them
to the family of believers.
We keep praying for them.
We keep preaching
the gospel to them.
And then we get them saved
and we make them disciples.
And then we rinse and repeat.
We just keep doing this
over and over and over again.
Building relationships
with unbelievers.
Praying for those unbelievers
to get saved.
Preaching the gospel to them.
Right?
Making disciples of them.
And we just keep doing it
over and over and over again.
Close with Ephesians 6,
18 to 20.
Paul says,
Keep alert with all perseverance,
making supplication
for all the saints.
And then he says,
And also for me,
that words may be given to me
in opening my mouth boldly
to proclaim the mystery
of the gospel,
for which I am ambassador
in chains,
that I might declare boldly
as I ought to speak.
We are to pray
the same prayer.
And I would ask you,
if you're someone
that feels like
any of these illnesses
in your life,
there's one thing
that will take care
of the whole kit and caboodle.
Okay?
You know what it is?
Get filled with the Holy Spirit again.
Or maybe get filled
with the Holy Spirit
the first time
that we could be as witnesses.
You never stop
needing the Holy Spirit.
You never stop
needing to be filled
with the Spirit.
And when you're filled
with the Spirit,
you know what you do?
You speak the Word of God boldly.
Okay?
You do what he says right here.
When you're saying that,
pray that my words
may be given to me
in my opening my mouth
boldly to proclaim
the mystery of the gospel,
Acts 4.31 tells
how you speak
the Word of God boldly.
You get filled
with the Spirit.
You get filled
with the Spirit
and you keep getting
filled with the Spirit.
And so,
if any of these
are true of you,
if any of these
have hit home to you,
listen,
I'm not here to condemn you.
I'm in the same lot as you.
I get weary sometimes.
Okay?
I forget where I've come from sometimes.
I get afraid sometimes.
We're all in the same boat here.
But listen,
we can't give up.
God sent us
to establish this church
for His glory
and for the furthering
of the gospel.
And necessity
needs to be laid upon us
to preach it.
And if we've lost
a little bit of that necessity
or a lot of that necessity
or maybe that necessity
was never on us,
we were just kind of
psyched up
for that new
shiny church plant,
we need to pray,
God,
fill me afresh
with your Spirit.
Fill me up.
Fill me up
because when you do,
I'll tell you
what's coming out of my mouth.
Boldness.
Amen?
Amen.
Let's pray.