12/29/24 Pastor Harlow The Mission of Missions Acts 1:1-8

E sh [Music] e [Music] e for e good [Music] morning well welcome the First Baptist we're so glad you're with us I have three announcements that I'm hopefully going to communicate effectively without embarrassing myself like I did last week but we have supper Six coming up beginning in February and you can go to church Planning Center to sign up for that it's a great opportunity to connect with people on a more intimate level it is best if you can be a part of a community group but then also do the supper six and you get to really know people and encourage one another and in your walk in your Journey of Faith with the Lord the other announcement that I have there's a women's ministry event January 24 to 25 that also can you can find that you can register online for that and then in January 12th in two weeks we're going to begin a four-week new members class if you've been a regular attender and you're seeking the Lord in perhaps joining our church that's the opportunity for you to find out more information about who we are and just to get acclimated to our church Church in preparation for membership in front of you there's these cards that's our way of connecting with you if you have a prayer request please by all means let us know and we will be joining you in praying for that I would ask you to now bow our heads and U open our time in prayer father God we thank thank you and praise you for this opportunity we

Have this morning to gather for worship Lord we thank you and praise you for your goodness toward us we thank you for the gift of your son Jesus that we not only celebrate here at Christmas time but Lord all throughout it's the re he is the reason for our hope that we have I pray that father as we continue and worship now that Lord we would just allow your spirit to penetrate our hearts quiet our minds take captive those thoughts that are anxious and allow us Lord just to be encouraged built up and prepared for the week ahead of us we ask for our worship team for Cody Lord just for all the parts of this service ahead that Lord it would bring honor and glory to your name we ask this in your name amen if you would like to stand as we sing We are going to praise the one who created us who sustains us and who is Worthy [Music] come praise and glorify Our God the father of our Lord in Christ he has in heaven His blessings on us for pure and in his sight he destined us to and now we've been adoped through his son [Music] eternally to the praise of your glory to the praise of your mercy and gra to the glory you are the God who come praise and glorify Our God who GES his grace in Christ in him our areed away redeemed through sacri in him God has made known to us the mystery of his will that Christ should be the head of all his purpose to fulfill to the praise of your glory to the praise of your mercy and praise to glory you are The God Who come praise and glorify Our God for we believe the word and through our faith we have us he

The spirit of the Lord the spirit guarantees Our Hope until redemption's done until we join inless prise to God the three in one to the praise of your glory to the praise of your mercy and praise to the glory you are The God Who sa to the praise of your glory to the praise of your mercy and praise to the praise of your glory The God [Music] Who it on the over the hills and everywhere go tell on the mountain that Jesus Christ is born while sheers their watching silent Box by Night behold throughout the heav they sh [Music] holy on the mountain over the hills and everywhere [Music] tell on the that Jesus Christ is [Music] born TR above the Earth bring the angel theor go down on the mountain over the hill and everywhere Tell It on the M that Jesus Christ is born down in the lonely nature The Humble Christ was born anded us Sal that blessed [Music] Christmas on the hills and everywhere on the Jesus Christ is Bor it on the M over the hills and everywhere on Theus Christ is all right y'all May me SE we're going to do the offering well one of my favorite verses

Is 2 Corinthians 9:7 it says so let one give as he purposes in his heart not grudgingly or of necessity for God loves a cheerful Giver so hopefully we prayed about our giving today and that we give as God desires us to give because he has blessed us in so many ways let's pray God father we can never pay back everything that you have done for us so we just look for you for all things we thank you now just for the privilege giving back a portion of those blessings you've given to us so the word may be spread that others may be saved we pray this in Christ's name amen I my father's glory raled in Jesus Christ and the more that I Behold Him [Music] sisf when I gaze upon his Beauty when I see him as I should then my eyes are lifted upward for his glory and my there is hope in every trial where I can TR the Lord he will turn my heart towards him and help me the thorn so that faith I follow Jesus on the road not understood for I know that he is working for my glory and my good to our God be the glory to our God be praise he alone the name above all name I will boast ever only in the Lord my God for I know his glory is [Music] my see the Open Arms of Jesus upon the cross that day what they understood as weakness deserves my every praise for the charge that was against me it was there the world yes I know that he has saved me for his glory and my [Music] good to our God be the glory to our God be prais he alone the name above all

Name I will boast ever only in the Lord by God for I know his glory is my [Music] good would I gladly be [Music] Christ SE the only kingom that fars them all I will stand before my father where the faithful have stood and with joy my heart shall praise him for his glory and my good and with joy my heart shall Praise Him for his glory and my [Music] good to our God be the glory to our God he praise he alone the name above all nam I will ever only in the Lord my God for I know his glory is my The Glory To Our God be praised he alone the name above all name I will Bo only in the Lord my God for I know his glory is my good for I know his glory [Music] is praise the Lord yes I'll be reading our catechism for the day the question is how many persons are there in the godhead the answer is there are three persons in the godhead the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit and these three are one God the same in essence equal in power and Glory got two verses associated with this first is 1 John 5:7 it says for there are three that bear record in heaven the Father the word and the Holy Ghost and these three are one and in Matthew 289 it says therefore go therefore and Make Disciples of all Nations baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit that we have done and left undone we fall on your

Countless mercies for sins that are known and those unnown we call on your name so holy for eny and pride for closing our eyes scorning our very neighor in word and deed we fail you our King How Deeply we need a Savior [Music] Lord have mercy Christ have mercy Lord have on us Lord have mercy Christ have mercy Lord have on us for one you have done your life have love you perectly live We Praise You Who chanted and try you fix your eyes you fix finish the work God gave you and there on the tree a king among the you glad for a World's betrayal you love to the end our merciful friend how pure and forever faithful Lord have mercy Christ have mercy Lord have on us Lord have mercy Christ have mercy Lord have mercy on us Lord have mercy Christ have mercy Lord have on us Lord have mercy Christ have mercy Lord have mercy on for hearts that are called for SE control for scoring our very maker in thought word and deed we fail you are King How Deeply we need the Savior Lord have

Mercy Christ have mercy Lord have on us Lord have mercy Christ have mercy Lord have mercy on us Lord have mercy Christ have mercy Lord have on us Lord have Merc Christ have mercy Lord have on us Lord have mer Christ have mercy Lord have on us Lord have mercy Christ have mercy Lord have mercy on us God you are so merciful and kind we thank you for coming as a little baby living that perfect life to be the Spotless blameless am to be our propitiation to be the payment that we could never repay God I just pray for our hearts to be receptive to your word God that you would change us that you would transform us I pray for pastor Cody as he brings the word God that you would rid him of himself and that only your Spirit would proceed God we love you and we thank you in Jesus name amen well good morning church happy New Year if you have your Bible and I hope that you do please turn with me to Acts chapter one we are going to be in the first eight verses as you guys can tell U we're we're in the middle of this little break between Mark and Advent and before we resume Mark next week I was actually a few

Months ago talking with the elders like what do we do with this week that's historically kind of a lower attendance Sunday and a lot of people are on vacation and I didn't want to jump right back into the Book of Mark and so we kind of settled on a on a so what kind of Passage because over the last five weeks we've been observing Advent Adventists right the arrival of Jesus and so we've been talking about love and hope and peace and joy and of course Christ and all these really wonderful and exciting things and so what right what does it all mean and so I decided that U we should look at kind of our mission in light of what Christ has done what is it does it mean that Christ came to the Earth what difference does it make that Jesus is fully God and fully man why is it so important that baby grew up to offer himself as the innocent lamb upon the altar of God's Wrath the answer is that truth changes literally everything I love Christmas I'm I'm a holiday fanatic okay I get excited about Arbor Day okay I love I one of my one of my favorites aside from like Christmas and Easter those are like some big ones one of my favorites is Valentine's Day I love Valentine's Day because then I have an excuse to display all this affection to my wife and she can't say nothing about it I love that but Christmas and Easter are my favorites and they're linked they're Linked In the purpose and they're Linked In the person of Jesus Christ in fact Christ who is born to die to pay for the sins of every single person that would believe in him and the plan was for his resurrection as a proof that he had conquered sin that he had conquered death that he had defeated Satan it's an amazing story and Jesus himself

Testified of this actually acts it's written by Luke okay and at the end of Luke's Gospel here's what he says and he said to them he being Jesus and them to his disciples these are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures want know why the apostles all of a sudden became awesome at interpreting Scripture that's why and he said to them thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to All Nations beginning from Jerusalem you are witnesses of these things and behold I am sending the promise of my father upon you but stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high now that's how Luke concludes his Gospel and then he has another book acts but I think that's important to note that Jes Jesus he says that you are witnesses of these things you see Christianity is a historical religion now I know some of you kind of went historical right I love history history is good it's based in fact okay you don't get to fluff all the stuff right but it is important to note that these are eyewitness accounts we have written testimony from new numerous people that saw and heard all of these things that are testified about in the Scriptures Peter himself he testifies this for we did not follow cleverly devised myths we made known that when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty Paul he writes this for I delivered to you as one of first importance what I also received that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures that he was buried and that he was

Raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures and that he appeared to sephus that's Peter and then to the 12 then he appeared to more than 500 Brothers at one time most of whom were still alive though some have fallen asleep and then he appeared to James then to all the apostles and he continues on also to me as an apostle born in the wrong time pretty much now these are eyewitness accounts and they bear witness to the truth of the Gospel that Jesus Christ did indeed come that he fulfilled all prophecy pertaining to the son of man that he really did live that he really did die that he really did raise again on the third day so that you and I we could turn away from our sins and trust in Jesus Christ alone for salvation and be saved saved now Luke he continues writing in this book of Acts about the birth of the church and its growth from Jerusalem and in the passage that we're going to be studying today it's recorded the final words of Jesus before his Ascension it's sometimes called the mission mandate this mandate is Jesus's blueprint to change the world through personal evangelism and Mission work and it applies right here to camton and everywhere that Believers go within a five mile radius of this church there are 13,000 people within a within a five mile radius I got these numbers from the Census so there you go of those according to the North American Mission board only 2,385 people regularly attend church okay those are simply numbers okay there's people in here that attend church that aren't saved okay I'm not a fool I know that but it is probably the only indicator that we have of

Whether or not someone is faithful to Christ or not but I think it's important for us to shift our minds to think of missions not as something that we just give to or something that we simply learn about but something that we are commanded to participate in through through personal evangelism to all of the lost that are around us so let's all stand together in honor of God's word as we read Acts chapter 1 verses 1-8 God's word says this in the first book o theopus I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach until the day when he was taken up after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen he presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs appearing to them during 40 days and speaking about the kingdom of God and while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem but to wait for the promise of the Father which he said you heard from me for John baptized with water but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now so when they had come together they asked him Lord will you at this time restore the Kingdom of Israel he said to them it is not for you to know times or Seasons that the father has fixed by his own authority but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my Witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the Earth let's pray and so God we do thank you for your word here we ask that you would help us to rightly understand it and apply it in the context that's written WR in help us Lord to understand that you call us to be on Mission though we may not be missionaries we are sent ones to the world that have been commissioned to share the good news of the Gospel and so Lord I pray that you

Would help us to understand and to see the need Even in our own Community that there's many people that need Jesus and Lord I pray that you would give us a heart for those that need Jesus and that we would be zealous and that we would do everything that we possibly can in order to in order to see you just do amazing things God in our church and in our community father we just give it to you we ask that you would move Among Us in power in Jesus name amen well last words of Jesus are before he is sends are probably pretty important okay probably worthy for us to make note of as you can tell it has Authority in it we're really going to be focusing in on verse eight here because he's he tells his disciples you know what you got to wait for the promise of the Holy Spirit of God to come upon you see it has always been and will always be the Sovereign working of the spirit of God to move and to work in the local church three three times in this passage it points to the working of the Holy Spirit instructing us about the commands of Christ that were given to us right and I know some people they wise at that word command but that's how Jesus described them and that's how we should describe them too and do it unapologetically when it comes to the commands of God here's what John writes by this we know that we love the children of God when we love God and obey his Commandments for this is the love of God that we keep his Commandments and his Commandments are not burdensome remember that it's not from keeping the commands that we're saved okay but it is evidence that we love God okay in Luke he records these words from Jesus you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now that's the second use of Holy Spirit there this is a special event among the

Jewish Believers this is causes a lot of confusion among denominations you know I remember when I was a young man I was maybe a sophomore in high school and I had this friend Sean who said hey man my youth pastor wants to have lunch with us and I was like great that'd be awesome so I show up at his house expecting like to go out for lunch but there was like a Bible study with like 20 Elders from his church there and it was all about how I had to be baptized in the name of Jesus in order to receive the Holy Spirit and speak in tongues and I was terrified at that point right walking into this dimly lit room with 20 grown men and there I am you know 15 16 year old kid you know and pretty much just had to tell them all that they were wrong this teaching this event has led to a lot of confusion us but what we see is two times in the book of Acts where the Holy Spirit comes down on the Jewish Believers right that were gathered there in the upper room and then later on in the household of Cornelius once again proving that it's by faith that people are saved it's not by their background or what they do in circumcision or anything like that it's just basically by faith that we receive the spirit of God and that's why those things are recorded for us of course there's a lot more to it but we don't have time for that but verse eight it tells us this you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you so what does this mean Point number one evangelism is powered by the presence of the Holy Spirit evangelism is powered by the presence of the Holy Spirit I love sharing the Gospel it's been a passion of mine ever since I became a Christian probably to the anoints of many of my friends anoints probably is better word for it I just wouldn't shut up about Jesus and so I lost some friends but I

Also gained a few gain them into the kingdom of God I should say I remember back in the early 2000s there were all sorts of different evangelism trainings right anybody ever attend those that were really big in the church back in the day early 2000s like share Jesus without fear right or the way of the master I Love The Way of the master so three circles right done three circles who's your one is another one and we could go down the laundry list of all of the evangelism training and why those things may not have been as effective as we thought but what I found out is that in those trainings those trainings mean absolutely nothing if you don't have the Holy Spirit of God doesn't mean anything especially if Christians are grieving the spirit of God doesn't mean that you lose the Holy Spirit but doesn't mean that it's grieved God can and he does use believers that are in sin he does but he uses Believers much more effectively when they are walking in obedience before the Lord and as Christians we can walk in the power of the Holy Spirit because we have received the spirit of God by faith when we trusted in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and yet we can also grieve the spirit we can grieve the spirit so much that it seems as though he's completely vacant from our lives where we don't see the hand of God hardly at all and let me tell you brother sister that is a dangerous place for a Christian to be listen to what Paul writes in Ephesians chapter 4:1 17 he says now this I say and testify in the Lord that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do in the futility of their minds in other words you can't bring your old philosophy your worldview to the table of Christ you put away your old life and you walk by the spirit of God they are darkened in their understanding alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in

Them due to their Hardness of Heart they have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality greedy to practice every kind of impurity he's talking about the Gentiles but he's also talking to the church don't be like this don't be like the lost like the world they don't understand God or the things of God because they can't their hearts are hard and as a Christian you have been given a new heart and a new mind and a new life in Christ you see the Lost they're consumed with sensuality that's a focus on worldliness and pleasure but that is not the way that you learned Christ assuming you have heard about him and we're taught in him as the truth is in Jesus to put off your old self which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds and to put on the new self created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and Holiness so there's this intentional putting off of the old and a putting on new and there is a reminder in here of preaching the truth to oneself that I am not who I once was because I am in Christ I am no longer that person I am no longer that sinner I Am Redeemed by the blood of Jesus and this renewing of the mind it's not left up to some sort of mystery as though we were just sponges in some sort of anthropomorphic State we're you know we're just kind of absorbing things that are around us and in our environment right we're we're not like that this renewing of the mind is not left up to mystery the mind is the realm of thought it's the realm of learning what are you thinking about what do you read about what do you educate yourself about about Paul he writes this in Colossians

3: 9 and 10 do not lie to one another seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator so there is a practical knowledge that's directly tied to the renewing of the mind but it's still the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives moving us prompting us pushing us educating us to know and to understand God and our minds are being made new day by day going back over to Ephesians chapter 4 therefore having put away falsehood Let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor for we are members of one another be angry do not sin do not let the sun go down on your anger and give no opportunity to the devil let the thief no longer steal but rather let him labor doing honest work with his own hands so that me H he may have something to share with anyone in need let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths but only as such as good for building up as fits the occasion that it may give Grace to those who hear and do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you along with all malice be kind to one another tenderhearted forgiving one another just as God in Christ has forgiven you Paul he hits several commands and prompts there and I'll let the Holy Spirit deal with whatever it is that you need to focus on but I that phrase do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God you see when we give our minds and our intentions and our actions over to ungodly and sinful Deeds it Grieves the spirit of God and the reason why evangelism and things like that often times don't work for so many that try it out is because they try to do it without the spirit of God leading and ruling their lives and we have to be careful here right we have to be very careful here

Because there's there there are some in churches that are filled with the Flesh and they got these huge followings and these massive amounts of influence right because we got be careful because numbers aren't what's important in the kingdom of God they're they're not the ultimate they're a good litmus test of determining a Church's health and things like that sometimes but what draws the spirit of God in is faithfulness it's truth it's love it's the Gospel it's reigning or allowing Christ to reign in our lives evangelism it's empowered by the presence of the Holy Spirit as Jesus said but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and that's true of every Christian so don't grieve the spirit of God but turn away from sin for the sake of the mission of God I think it's good for us to put this point positively because you do have the power of the Holy Spirit if you are in Christ so don't think for a moment that your evangelism is going to be ineffective just because you're nervous or you're scared or maybe maybe you just feel like you don't know enough that word power in the Greek is that word dynamis which is where we get the word dynamic or Dynamite from there's an explosion of power that comes not from our fleshly Authority but from the very presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives lives the second point is that evangelism is presenting the person of Jesus Christ Jesus said you will be my Witnesses that's why personal evangelism it uses that older term witnessing right we don't talk about that very much now but that's what it is we can't be Witnesses about the

Things that we don't know so you have to know Jesus Christ for you it might just simply be sharing the story of how you became a Christian what your life was like before Christ how you heard the Gospel what your response was to the Gospel did you reject it the first time did you have to be introduced to it over and over and over again before it finally just clicked and the light bulb went on what was it like once that moment happened for you what was your response to it and you share that story and what does God continue to do in your life since then and sometimes we conflate these terms of evangelism and missions and I think that's because we compartmentalize missions into something that we support or go on rather than something that we are on in the kingdom of God you see the reason why mission trips are effective is because we're intentional the reason why missionaries see fruit is because they're intentional and it made me wonder what if Christians were a little more intentional about evangelism what would it be like if we started investing in our personal evangelism what if we invested time in it what if we invested resources what if we prayed about it intentionally what if we prepared for it prepared for it what would that be like for you how do you think that would change your life it seems among churches including our own that there's not much Zeal when it comes to sharing the Gospel but P personal evangelism is a primary aspect of what we are called to do and you are called to join in it because you are in Christ he says that you will be my Witnesses and so this starts with your family this starts with your co-workers your neighbors you know let me just teach you a little trick here if you're having

Trouble getting started with sharing the Gospel a really great opportunity that you have we live at Lake of the Ozarks it's a wonderful place we have people that come to visit all the time right and I can't tell you how many people say Pastor I'm I can't come to church on Sunday I got family coming into town that's like one of the worst reasons okay and I've told you that okay personally and I'm telling you that from the pulpit it's one of the worst reasons that you can miss church you got a great opportunity to at least begin a conversation about their soul you got a great opportunity to introduce them to a congregation that loves you that wants to see your family get saved it's a great opportunity where the pastor your pastor will preach the Gospel but once the conversation gets going just simply tell them about your wonderful Savior talk to them about what Jesus is doing in your life and sure there's going to be questions that you're not a able to answer but let me tell you about some promises from God in John chapter 14 here's what it says but the helper of the Holy Spirit whom the father will send in my name he will teach you all the things or all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you if you've ever shared the Gospel you know that this is true you're like this is what the Bible says and you don't remember remembering it but God brings it to mind and I'm so thankful for that and he doesn't just promise it here look at where else he says it in Luke 12 verses 112 do not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say for the Holy Spirit would teach you in that very hour what you were ought to say now the context of this is talking about being brought before judges and things like that but you know what I think that applies before our family because sometimes our worst judges are our

Family too two promises that God he's going to give you the words to say and I believe it and I hope that you do too because our God is not a liar if you're walking in the spirit you're not giving yourself over to sin walking in it you know what you're going to see your evangelism be effective and you may not see all the fruit immediately it's actually very unlikely that you will see the fruit immediately but God will be with you and that is a very comforting truth and the ones that you share the Gospel with will at least be warned about the coming wrath you see it's a terrible thing for someone to discover that hell is real when they're there absolutely horrific thing it must be it must be twice as bad for someone to go there without any warning at all must be triple bad for someone to arrive there and to have a loved one that knows the truth and didn't share it you see we have the Cure we have the Cure that they need and I would say that's very unloving to not share it with them the Cure is not our good works the Cure is not coming to church cure is not baptism cure is not praying a prayer The Cure is for them to be introduced to Jesus Christ and for them to be transformed by him so give them Jesus and nothing else and see what God does now you and I we were given the power by the Holy Spirit to be witnesses to the person and to the work of Christ but this leads us to the last point which is evangelism is proclaiming the Gospel to anyone to anyone I say anyone intentionally because I can't do everyone and you can't do everyone but you can't do any person that comes across your path I can't believe that this needs to be said but it's 2024 and it's a crazy time but the Gospel is for every

Person right anyone can come to Christ any person can it's not limited to race or region it's not a white man's religion it's not a black man's religion or any other shade of melanin that you want to put in there it's not an American religion it's God's Rel religion and religion it is it is a relationship but it is at least that for sure the Gospel must be shared with any person that you have the opportunity to share it with we're called to be witnesses to people in our hometown that's our Jerusalem you know yeah people in Lebanon they need Jesus too so we're going to love them too and so that's your Judea and your Samaria and to the end of the Earth we want people to know Jesus I'll tell you a couple of stories one's Old One's new back in high school there was this I was leading a Bible study at a friend's house we met for years and there was a guy that came for over a year his name was Tim Sinclair and by all accounts he was a Christian and we shared the Gospel every single week and one day the Lord just got a hold of them radically trans formed him I kind of pressed him a little bit there and the Lord worked in a really marvelous way this is his family I want I want to show this because this is kind of silly he has nine kids you guys think I'm crazy he's a Reformed Presbyterian so we'll forgive him for that but through the work of evangelism with some friends there there are 10 I guess you could say 11 Souls out there whose entire eternities have been transformed through the proclamation of the Gospel praise the Lord for that God he still works even when you know we can be Knuckleheads another time I was out just a few weeks ago I was talking with someone that's fighting leukemia and I was sharing the Gospel

With this man doesn't come to our church he lives out in O Sage Beach as I started to share about Christ his face lit up he was full of joy and he was nodding his head and I was sharing with him about the hope and the peace that's available by coming to Christ but also warned him from the Wrath to come and I got to the point where I kind of asked him I said you know are you ready for something like that he said brother I've already done that but I'll let you keep going because I Love The Gospel now for you and I we don't know we don't know where someone is your brother your sister that's you've sat to for years in this church you may not know you never heard their testimony I don't think but share the Gospel with others preach the Gospel to yourself tell each other about the Gospel one thing I do when I'm at a restaurant is I ask servers how I can pray for them that opens up all sorts of spiritual conversations there's one person that always says no and I'm G to ask him every single time but that's how some of you have gotten plugged into our church evangelism is being witnessed to the lost where you live the areas that are around you and wherever you go in the world and in Acts 18 it is a prophecy it is a prophecy from Christ describing the extent of the reach of the Gospel and I refuse to believe that there's 13,000 people out there that need to hear the Gospel and our hearts aren't at least somewhat moved say wow there's there's 13,000 people within five miles of where we live that need the Gospel right now and I hope that motivates you I hope that makes you excited but also kind of daunted because there's a

Whole group of people that need the hope of Christ right here and all around the world Thomas aquinus he's the greatest Theologian of the Middle Ages he once said that if you want to convert a person you go over to where he's standing you take him by the hand and you guide him don't stand at the room across the room and Shout at them you don't order them to come over to where you are you start where he is and you work from that position that's the way to get people to budge and that's true Peter when he preached in Jerusalem at Pentecost he preached about the law of God and He pointed to Jesus Christ everyone knew who God was everyone knew what the law meant he was able to talk about Jesus because they knew Jesus they had just crucified him 40 days before and they knew all these different things and so Peter he preached the truth and he was witness of the truth later Peter he was called to preach to the household of Cornelius where once again the Holy Spirit fell in a mighty way proving that God he accepts the Jews and the Gentiles on the basis of the righteousness of Christ by faith alone Paul when he was in Athens he found a way to preach a Gospel that made sense to those Athenians they didn't know who God was so he pointed to the to the unknown God they didn't know who what the law was so he defined what the law was he looked around and he saw that their greatest sin was idolatry and he defined idolatry and he introduced them to Jesus and several were saved you see we must be willing to share the Gospel whether it's through just conversations intentional discipleship or personal testimony and so let's let's summarize everything up in a nice little sentence here okay empowered by the Holy

Spirit Believers are called to share the good news of Jesus Christ with anyone starting locally and expanding to the ends of the Earth this does not mean that we forsake Mission work but it does mean that we join in Mission work by being faithful to declaring the Gospel to anyone that's around us head heart hand head God he wants you to know that you are called to be his witness you are called to declare what God has done for you are called to test ify of the grace that you have received and so don't be afraid be strong in the Lord and tell others how amazing your Savior is heart God wants you to believe that you have power to witness you are called to declare what God has done for you are called to testify of his grace so don't be fearful okay as a Christian you have received the Holy Spirit which has given you power to be effective evangelists you might be nervous but everyone's a little nervous when they try something new so trust the Lord and walk with him by faith and finally God he wants you to witness to someone take anything away from there that's it God wants you to witness to someone so tell someone about Jesus take a friend to lunch discuss Jesus Christ make a relationship with a neighbor share Jesus with them for the sake of their souls witness about the things that God has done for you if you would bow your heads and close your eyes with me as we respond in worship now lead us in closing prayer father God we do thank you so much for this time that we get to have together we thank you for your mercy and your grace we ask Lord that you would help us to join in what you have called us to do the so what here is that now that we have been saved and Redeemed by the blood of Christ we now go to share that message that yes Christ the Savior has been born and that you were saved in order or that you died in order to save us

God and we just ask that you would help us help us Lord to join in that work and to be courageous in it to share the Gospel with anyone that we might come in contact with Father may you do a mighty work in our midst we love you Lord in Jesus name we pray amen let's all stand and let's worship [Music] together You Are My Strength when I am we you are the Tre that I Seek You are my [Music] seeking you as a precious to give up You Are My All In Jus Lamb of God Worthy is your name Jes Jesus Lamb of God Worthy is [Music] your taking my cross my shame ring again iess your name you are my all [Music] all when I call down you pick me up when I am try you fill my cup You Are My All it all Jesus Lamb of God Worthy is your name Jesus Lamb of God Worthy is your Jesus [Music] Jesus Lamb of God Worthy is your name Jesus [Music] am of God

Worthy is your name Worthy is your [Music] name Worthy is your [Music] name now may the God of endurance and encouragement Grant you to live in such harmony with one another in accord with Jesus Christ that together you may with one voice glorify the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ Romans 155 through6 go in peace thank you Josh than e [Music]