Forrest: Hey, I'm Pastor Forrest, and welcome to the Multiply Church Podcast.
Forrest: Each week we open God's word together to help you meet God and multiply good in your everyday life.
Forrest: We're so glad that you've taken time to join us for this week's sermon.
Forrest: And if you haven't already, be sure to subscribe and follow us on social media so you never miss a message.
Forrest: Now, let's dive into this week's sermon.
SPEAKER_01: Well, good morning.
SPEAKER_01: I know y'all are doing good the way y'all were singing, so I won't ask you.
SPEAKER_01: I'm excited to be with you this morning.
SPEAKER_01: Um, as they share, my name is Terrence.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, I serve at a church in Louisville, Kentucky, Northeast Christian Church.
SPEAKER_01: If you're ever in town for a weekend, come come say hi to us.
SPEAKER_01: Um, but but I'm grateful that you all are here at Multiply.
SPEAKER_01: Um, Multiply has a beautiful and bold vision that I get excited about.
SPEAKER_01: Um, I told the nine o'clock this is a a muster seed that will impact the world.
SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, there's a bold vision to see the capital cities of this nation um experience revival and multiply wants to be a part of that.
SPEAKER_01: And so thank you for just being a part of this church and and the way that you lean in and the way that you invite people.
SPEAKER_01: You are impacting Frankfurt one day at a time.
SPEAKER_01: So thank y'all so much for for what you do.
SPEAKER_01: Um, I'm excited to be a part of this series.
SPEAKER_01: Can I get a witness?
SPEAKER_01: All right, all right.
SPEAKER_01: So there we go.
SPEAKER_01: Here we go.
SPEAKER_01: All right, you know.
SPEAKER_01: I love this series.
SPEAKER_01: I'm excited to be jumping into week three of this series about being a witness.
SPEAKER_01: And um, Forrest has done a great job of kind of beginning the series and setting up this idea that God has called us to be witnesses everywhere that we go.
SPEAKER_01: And when I think about being a witness, uh, the first place I think about in scripture is Acts 1.8.
SPEAKER_01: Um, if you're familiar with that part of scripture, this is Jesus' last conversation uh with his disciples before he ascends into heaven after his resurrection.
SPEAKER_01: And they're all gathered, um, and and and Jesus is giving them his final instructions.
SPEAKER_01: And they're asking this question hey, now that you've resurrected, is is now the time that the kingdom of God will be inaugurated on earth.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus says, Hey, now it's not for you to know that.
SPEAKER_01: He says, but what it is for you to know and to do is to go be my witnesses.
SPEAKER_01: And here's what it says in verse 8 of Acts chapter 1.
SPEAKER_01: It says, But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all of Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.
SPEAKER_01: And what I'm grateful for is that those disciples were faithful to that.
SPEAKER_01: If you continue to read, there's an angel that says, Why y'all still standing here looking at the sky?
SPEAKER_01: He said, Y'all need to go on to Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_01: So they went on to Jerusalem, they went in the upper room and they waited, right?
SPEAKER_01: And then the Holy Spirit fell, and they began to speak in all these different languages, and people were saved, and then they were scattered, and they continued to preach, and people were saved, and then those Christians were scattered and they continued to preach and people were saved.
SPEAKER_01: And look, we're all in this room.
SPEAKER_01: So I'm grateful that this was true because there was a witness that was the beginning of your faith 2,000 years ago, and we're gonna dive into one of those witness accounts in the book of Mark this morning.
SPEAKER_01: So if you have your Bible, you can meet me over in chapter six of the book of Mark.
SPEAKER_01: Now, Mark is one of the gospels, there's the recording of the ministry of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: You got Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
SPEAKER_01: And Mark is my favorite one because Mark moves pretty fast.
SPEAKER_01: If you've ever read Mark, Mark skips over all the stuff that we think is boring.
SPEAKER_01: He's like, I ain't listen, y'all know the Christmas story.
SPEAKER_01: Ain't no need of me telling y'all again.
SPEAKER_01: Ain't no need of me tell y'all again.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, the genealogy.
SPEAKER_01: All right, we got all these names that you can't read.
SPEAKER_01: Ain't no sense of me writing that down either.
SPEAKER_01: Let me just tell y'all what Jesus did so y'all can believe, right?
SPEAKER_01: And so I love Mark.
SPEAKER_01: He moves fast.
SPEAKER_01: You get all the stories, all the miracles, all the amazing things.
SPEAKER_01: And then we get to Mark chapter six.
SPEAKER_01: We're coming up right after uh Jesus has been doing some of his biggest miracles.
SPEAKER_01: Um, in chapter four of Mark, Jesus huddles up with his disciples and he gives them uh these teachings.
SPEAKER_01: He, I think he does three or four parables in that chapter where he talks about the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_01: And I think he talks about the mustard seed.
SPEAKER_01: He talks about um, you know, the parable of the sower.
SPEAKER_01: He gives all these principles about how the kingdom of God would work, that it would spread and that it would be powerful.
SPEAKER_01: He gives them this picture, all right?
SPEAKER_01: But he also, in those parables, shares a little bit of the difficulty that comes with being a part of the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_01: Then we move to Mark chapter five, and we get these stories of miracles from Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Like in this chapter, Jesus raises a little girl from the dead.
SPEAKER_01: And right before he does it, the people in the house laughs at him because he says that she's only asleep.
SPEAKER_01: And they're like, huh, this dude's crazy.
SPEAKER_01: And he said, Listen, all right, get everybody out of here, especially if they ain't got no faith, they don't need to be in here.
SPEAKER_01: And he invites his disciples in and they pray, and that little girl rises again and got to live the rest of her life.
SPEAKER_01: And we see these miracles of Jesus showing up, healing the sick and and healing, healing the blind, and all these amazing things.
SPEAKER_01: So we see the miracles, the the uh the phenomenon of Jesus was fully on display everywhere else in the region.
SPEAKER_01: And then when we get to the beginning of chapter six, Jesus decides to go home.
SPEAKER_01: And how many of you know that sometimes going home is not always a fun trip?
SPEAKER_01: Jesus was doing all these amazing things, he was healing people, everybody was excited to see Jesus coming.
SPEAKER_01: When he showed up to the synagogue, people were intrigued by his teaching.
SPEAKER_01: People were being set free, demons were being cast out.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus was doing these amazing things.
SPEAKER_01: His name was becoming renowned, and then he stepped back home and he stepped into familiarity.
SPEAKER_01: And so when we step into the scripture, I want to give us a couple of questions to ask ourselves before we read it.
SPEAKER_01: And this is gonna help us understand what we need to extrapolate from this story with Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Here are the two questions.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, the first question that we need to ask ourselves today as we read is this what does this passage teach me about Jesus?
SPEAKER_01: And can I just say, let that be your first question every time you read the Bible?
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: What does this passage teach me about Jesus?
SPEAKER_01: Because he is our source, all right?
SPEAKER_01: The second thing is this: how does this passage prepare me to witness like Jesus?
SPEAKER_01: So, how did this passage prepare me to witness like Jesus?
SPEAKER_01: So we're gonna pick up in Mark chapter six, and I'm gonna read verses one through six.
SPEAKER_01: This is Jesus going home.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what it says says he left there right after he raised the little girl from the dead.
SPEAKER_01: He left there and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him.
SPEAKER_01: That could be a message right there.
SPEAKER_01: Wherever Jesus goes, you need to be going to.
SPEAKER_01: All right, here we go.
SPEAKER_01: When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished.
SPEAKER_01: Where did this man get these things?
SPEAKER_01: They said.
SPEAKER_01: How are these miracles performed by his hands?
SPEAKER_01: Isn't this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James?
SPEAKER_01: Hose, I don't know how to say that name, Joseph, Hoseis.
SPEAKER_01: You tell me.
SPEAKER_01: Judas and Simon, and aren't his sisters here with us?
SPEAKER_01: So they were offended by him.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus said to them, A prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown, among his relatives and in his household.
SPEAKER_01: He was not able to do a miracle there except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them.
SPEAKER_01: And he was amazed at their unbelief.
SPEAKER_01: He was going around the villages and teaching.
SPEAKER_01: Blessed arena God's word.
SPEAKER_01: This morning, our topic from this passage is gonna be the fear of familiar faces.
SPEAKER_01: The fear of familiar faces.
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna follow Jesus' example as he went and faced a community and faces that knew him since he was a little boy.
SPEAKER_01: And we're gonna follow after Jesus because Jesus is not just our Savior, but in this passage and all of Scripture, Jesus is also our example.
SPEAKER_01: And so we want to be asking ourselves good questions.
SPEAKER_01: What things can we learn from Jesus as we walk after his example?
SPEAKER_01: And here's what all of us know taking our faith home is sometimes the hardest thing that we've ever been asked to do.
SPEAKER_01: Like for some of you in the room, you literally had to do this.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you got invited to a youth group, or maybe you went to church or a camp, or maybe you got invited to a church service, and all of a sudden you got saved and your life was different within an hour, and then you had to go back home.
SPEAKER_01: And you're stepping back into an environment that is not shaped by the gospel that has just changed your life forever.
SPEAKER_01: In the same sense, sometimes when we have been walking with Jesus for a long time, the life change in our life can get familiar to our family, and the message that we try to share can be diluted.
SPEAKER_01: So sometimes stepping in front of familiar faces can be intimidating, but I think Jesus helps us navigate what's intimidating towards faithfulness.
SPEAKER_01: So let's dive into our first question.
SPEAKER_01: The first question that we asked ourselves as we read this passage is what did this passage teach me about Jesus?
SPEAKER_01: But the first thing I think we learn about Jesus is we learn about the identity of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And what we learn is this is that the identity of Jesus was a consistent thorn in people's lives.
SPEAKER_01: Like, just apart from this passage, the identity of Jesus caused so much trouble.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus asked his disciples, Who do the people say that I am?
SPEAKER_01: Well, some say that you are Elijah, some say that you are John the Baptist who had been beheaded.
SPEAKER_01: You don't came back to life as John the Baptist, now you're walking around again.
SPEAKER_01: But but Jesus said, Well, then who do you say I am?
SPEAKER_01: And Peter says, We say that you are the Messiah.
SPEAKER_01: He goes into the synagogue and the religious leaders first acknowledge him as a teacher, then they tried to call him a devil.
SPEAKER_01: The identity of Jesus was a constant thorn in people's lives, and I would say the same thing is true today.
SPEAKER_01: In the world that we live in, how many characters of Jesus exist out there?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, some of us are still trying to get the French dude out of our head when we think about Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Once we found out that it was just a painting of his cousin, like, wait a minute, Jesus didn't look like that?
SPEAKER_01: He didn't have no blunt hair, blue eyes, and a perfectly groomed beard.
SPEAKER_01: He didn't go to my barber.
SPEAKER_01: Like, no, man.
SPEAKER_01: Like, that's one picture.
SPEAKER_01: That was most of our first picture of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And no matter how much information we know, sometimes when we close our eyes, that still comes in our brain.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: But then you get the way that the world has tried to take Jesus and make him their own, right?
SPEAKER_01: You got other religions who claim Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: No, Jesus was just a prophet.
SPEAKER_01: No, Jesus just came to save these specific people.
SPEAKER_01: He didn't come to save everybody.
SPEAKER_01: He came to save this specific group of people.
unknown: Right?
SPEAKER_01: Oh no, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus, Jesus is just one of God's sons.
SPEAKER_01: He's not the begotten son, he's one of God's sons.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: You get all these different characters of Jesus, and they're all crafted to benefit that person's personal choices.
SPEAKER_01: Then you get the Jesus that want to go to wood start with you.
SPEAKER_01: Like, man, look at Jesus with that long hair.
SPEAKER_01: You know he smoked weed.
SPEAKER_01: Like, come on, bro.
SPEAKER_01: Come on now.
SPEAKER_01: Like, people can just frame Jesus however they want.
SPEAKER_01: He just wants to walk through the field and play in the flowers with you, and you know, and then you got Jesus that that wants you to hate everybody, and it there's so many pictures of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And the challenge that we have to ask ourselves is this do I have an accurate picture of Jesus in my life?
SPEAKER_01: Because if my picture of Jesus is insufficient, then the gospel that I will go and share would be insufficient.
SPEAKER_01: I have to be willing to accept the whole Jesus because if I'm not accepting the whole Jesus, then I can't preach the whole gospel.
SPEAKER_01: And so Jesus was clear about who he was.
SPEAKER_01: When he stepped up at home, the Bible tells us that first the people were astonished.
SPEAKER_01: They were like, wait a minute.
SPEAKER_01: This is some good stuff you're saying, dog.
SPEAKER_01: This is crazy.
SPEAKER_01: So you telling me, you mean to tell me what?
SPEAKER_01: Then they're like, okay, but hold up.
SPEAKER_01: Ain't this the carpenter?
SPEAKER_01: Ain't this a dude that works at the furniture store?
SPEAKER_01: I bought a cash.
SPEAKER_01: He worked at Renner Center.
SPEAKER_01: This dude tried to come repo my couch last week.
SPEAKER_01: Who is this dude?
unknown: Right?
SPEAKER_01: Wait, wait a minute.
SPEAKER_01: I'm confused.
SPEAKER_01: When did you go get Edgie McKay?
SPEAKER_01: Who are you?
SPEAKER_01: And then from the confusion, it says that they became angry.
SPEAKER_01: They were mad.
SPEAKER_01: They were upset.
SPEAKER_01: They were offended.
SPEAKER_01: So, in a matter of seconds, what Jesus said to them felt like hope.
SPEAKER_01: And then three seconds later, it felt like accusation.
SPEAKER_01: And the issue is they didn't understand who he was to speak such things to them.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus knew who he was.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus knew that he was prophetic fulfillment.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus quotes that a prophet does not receive honor in his hometown, and he was pointing to this reality that every prophet in the Old Testament was pointing ultimately to what would happen to Jesus when he showed up on the scene, speaking the words of God, that the people would reject and rebel and kill him.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus understood his identity.
SPEAKER_01: He understood that as I step in front of my family and these friends and these people who know me and they reject me, this has to happen.
SPEAKER_01: The scriptures say that the stone that the builders rejected would become the cornerstone.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus knew that he was the cornerstone.
SPEAKER_01: And so he walked in that identity, regardless of the people who stood in front of him.
SPEAKER_01: The identity of Jesus is so important.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is the God who sees you.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is the God who redeems you.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is the God who laid his life down for you.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is greater than any angel and greater than any prophet and greater than any teacher.
SPEAKER_01: He's sitting at the right hand of the Father right now, interceding on your behalf.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus came to save the whole world.
SPEAKER_01: Anybody who would believe.
SPEAKER_01: If that's not the Jesus you have, then you don't have the whole Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: We got to know his identity.
SPEAKER_01: Here's the second thing we learn about Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: We learn about the intentions of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And here's what I love about Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus has the same intentions for all people.
SPEAKER_01: And it doesn't matter their status or their place in his life.
SPEAKER_01: And we know that's hard.
SPEAKER_01: Just in general, we have a hard time treating all people the same about simple stuff.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: Like sometimes there are just certain types of cars that I like to let cut in front of me in line.
SPEAKER_01: If I see a minivan trying to get over, I'm a little sympathetic because I'm like, that's a parent.
SPEAKER_01: They're probably trying to get somewhere.
SPEAKER_01: All right.
SPEAKER_01: And you know what?
SPEAKER_01: I know what it feels like.
SPEAKER_01: It's hot.
SPEAKER_01: I'm tired of being in these pickup lines.
SPEAKER_01: Traffic is bad every day at this time for some regain.
SPEAKER_01: You go ahead, come over.
SPEAKER_01: Come on, I'm with you.
SPEAKER_01: But if I see somebody with a charger trying to get over, I'm like, get out of here.
SPEAKER_01: Your life too good right now.
SPEAKER_01: You can buy a charger.
SPEAKER_01: Look at my hoop d.
SPEAKER_01: You ain't getting in front of me.
SPEAKER_01: Right.
SPEAKER_01: We treat people differently sometimes in simple things.
SPEAKER_01: And when it comes to being a witness to Jesus, how much more could that affect us?
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes we treat people differently because of our biases.
SPEAKER_01: We've been raised a certain way.
SPEAKER_01: And so we we prefer a certain type of person more than another.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes we've had experiences that have shaped us.
SPEAKER_01: And so if somebody reminds us of an experience we've had, then that changes how we interact with them.
SPEAKER_01: And other times it's simply because we love somebody.
SPEAKER_01: And because we love somebody, we can be tempted to treat them differently than we would treat maybe a stranger, especially when it comes to sharing our faith.
SPEAKER_01: And what I love about Jesus is that when you read this passage and you read all of the gospel, it was clear.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus' intentions were simple.
SPEAKER_01: That's it.
SPEAKER_01: When you read Jesus over and over and over again, he came to seek and save the lost, and he constantly says, I am obeying my father.
SPEAKER_01: He says, If you see me, then you've seen the Father, because I'm so committed to the will of my Father.
SPEAKER_01: There is nothing that I'm doing.
SPEAKER_01: Even unto death, I will obey my Father.
SPEAKER_01: That was Jesus' intentions.
SPEAKER_01: And so that challenges us as we look at Jesus to be wrestling with what intentions walk with us day in and day out.
SPEAKER_01: Familiar faces can come with narratives.
SPEAKER_01: If I know my cousin is a hard person to deal with, then before I even get to the point of sharing my faith with my cousin, I'm gonna go ahead and disqualify myself because they ain't gonna listen no way.
SPEAKER_01: Not knowing that the person you're trying to share your faith with at the gym is worse than your cousin.
SPEAKER_01: But you don't have no prior relationship.
SPEAKER_01: So there's not a story to stop you from showing up in the way that you're showing up for the stranger.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes we can have the history of who we are in the family determine how we interact when it comes to our faith.
SPEAKER_01: A familiar face, like a cousin or a brother or a sister, have memories with us.
SPEAKER_01: And sometimes we know what memories they have with us, and we allow that memory to be a disqualification for our readiness to step into their life and point them to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus had clear intentions.
SPEAKER_01: Do you know the Father?
SPEAKER_01: Man, my heart is for you to know him.
SPEAKER_01: To know him personally.
SPEAKER_01: That motivated Jesus every day.
SPEAKER_01: His intentions were clear.
SPEAKER_01: Here's the third thing that we learned from Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: We learned about the faithfulness of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And here's what I mean.
SPEAKER_01: The faithfulness of Jesus in our short passage remained whether people believed or not.
SPEAKER_01: Whether they believed what he was teaching or not, he remained faithful.
SPEAKER_01: Let's go back and reread it.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what it says it says number one, because of their unbelief, he was not able to do a miracle there, except that he laid his self-he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them.
SPEAKER_01: But then it says he was amazed at their unbelief.
SPEAKER_01: But he was going around the village's teaching.
SPEAKER_01: What we see is this is that their rejection didn't impact his responsibility.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus, if he wasn't Jesus, could have showed up.
SPEAKER_01: They started questioning him.
SPEAKER_01: He said, You know what, Dan?
SPEAKER_01: Forget it.
SPEAKER_01: You don't want to know the truth?
SPEAKER_01: It's on you.
SPEAKER_01: I'm out.
SPEAKER_01: Because I got people over in Judea who want to hear from me.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: Jesus could have succumbed to a fleshly response, but because he is who he is, he stepped towards the rejection and said, even if you don't want to hear it, you need to hear it.
SPEAKER_01: And here's what I know.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes the fear of rejection, not even rejection itself, the fear of rejection can be powerful enough to pull us away from the responsibility of being Jesus to the people in our lives.
SPEAKER_01: Like if I have in my mind already that my friend is gonna reject me, then I can convince myself to not even open my mouth.
SPEAKER_01: If I have a story of rejection with somebody else, I can let the story of rejection with this person determine how I interact with this person.
SPEAKER_01: Like if I'm afraid of the cost of what rejection might mean in my life, then all of a sudden I may start allowing my comfort to creep up there with my responsibility.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus shows us that rejection is not an out to the work that God has called you to do.
SPEAKER_01: God has given some of you some unique ways to go forth in this kingdom right now.
SPEAKER_01: And right now, as you pursue those things, you're facing what it feels like rejection.
SPEAKER_01: And in that rejection, it is easier to take an off-ramp.
SPEAKER_01: But what if the rejection was a preparation for the work that God has for you to do on the other side?
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes rejection is an opportunity for us to speak with better clarity.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes rejection is an opportunity for us to redefine how people understand Jesus and how people understand the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: How many of you ever heard somebody say this?
SPEAKER_01: Hey man, why don't you come to church with me?
SPEAKER_01: Man, I can't go to church.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna get struck by lightning if I go to church.
SPEAKER_01: Really?
SPEAKER_01: When has that ever happened?
SPEAKER_01: When has somebody ever got struck by lightning because they went to church?
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: So we know that's foolish, but some people like that is their excuse.
SPEAKER_01: And we can accept that excuse, but here's the issue.
SPEAKER_01: Underneath that excuse is a misunderstanding of the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: Somebody only thinks that because they think they need to fix their life before they can come to God.
SPEAKER_01: And that is a great place for you to start with sharing the truth of who Jesus is.
SPEAKER_01: Hey, you don't have to fix yourself to come to God.
SPEAKER_01: Who told you that lie?
SPEAKER_01: He says, Come as you are.
SPEAKER_01: You get an opportunity to meet people right where they are with the love of God.
SPEAKER_01: You get to share verses with them that says, Hey, the Bible says in the book of Hebrews, approach my throne of grace in your time of need.
SPEAKER_01: And you get to expose in people's minds that when they think about God, they think about a throne of punishment.
SPEAKER_01: They think about a throne of destruction.
SPEAKER_01: They fear God, but they fear God in all the wrong ways.
SPEAKER_01: And you may be in that conversation, when you push through rejection, get to be an opportunity to say, let me give you some right understanding.
SPEAKER_01: Because if I can give you some right understanding, then maybe you could actually receive this love that God has for you.
SPEAKER_01: Rejection can get in the way.
SPEAKER_01: The other side of this that Jesus shows us is that difficulty of the moment didn't impact his resilience.
SPEAKER_01: Like I could be the first person to say, I wish sharing my faith was a lot easier than it is.
SPEAKER_01: I wish that, you know, you ever seen those sci-fi moves or something where you look at people and it tells you, like, I saw something like their number, their their uh, okay, this person is a terrible person, or you can think, hear people's thoughts and stuff.
SPEAKER_01: I wish that like I could look at somebody and say, oh, they're ready for the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: Let me go over here real quick.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: Because you know, you never know where you are in the order of sharing the gospel with somebody.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible teaches us that when Paul was talking to uh one of the churches and they were arguing about who was the better Christian based on who who baptized them, Paul said, Listen, Apollos planted, I watered, but God causes the growth.
SPEAKER_01: And so what that tells us is this you may be person number seven coming along watering a seed that was planted 10 years ago.
SPEAKER_01: You don't have to carry the weight of their salvation every time you share your faith.
SPEAKER_01: You're just called to be faithful to the moment.
SPEAKER_01: You step in understanding this is difficult, but guess what?
SPEAKER_01: God is the power to change somebody anyway, not me.
SPEAKER_01: My job is to be faithful to the moment.
SPEAKER_01: And so if you had that type of freedom, how different would those conversations be?
SPEAKER_01: Hanging out in the car late at night, talking to your cousin, and they're opening up.
SPEAKER_01: What things might you say different if you understood that this might just be an opportunity for me to water something that has been planted in their life years ago?
SPEAKER_01: It's difficult sometimes to answer people's crazy questions.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes people come to Christians asking questions they don't ask nobody else.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, all that's the truth.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus, God love me.
SPEAKER_01: What about the dinosaurs?
SPEAKER_01: What are we what are we talking about?
SPEAKER_01: What what how do we get from God loving you to dinosaurs?
SPEAKER_01: What you talking about?
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: But but that that's kind of and it can be intimidating.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know about the dinosaurs.
SPEAKER_01: I guess they was there.
SPEAKER_01: It don't say, it don't, when I read in Genesis, it don't say dinosaur.
SPEAKER_01: It's like, come on.
SPEAKER_01: It's like, man, I want to follow God, but man, I but y'all say I can't smoke weed.
SPEAKER_01: Why why can't I smoke weed?
SPEAKER_01: But you can drink coffee.
SPEAKER_01: It's like, I mean, I don't know.
SPEAKER_01: You know, like that's that that can be your answer.
SPEAKER_01: Or you can say, hey, I may not have the perfect answer for you, but I know some people who can help us answer that question.
SPEAKER_01: Would you be willing to have that conversation?
SPEAKER_01: But we can allow difficulty of unexpected questions to even keep us from being faithful.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus didn't.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Yeah, I'm Mary's son.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'm a carpenter.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, those are my brothers and those are my sisters, but guess what?
SPEAKER_01: God loves you.
SPEAKER_01: He has a plan for your life.
SPEAKER_01: If you're willing to believe, he'll meet you right where you are.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus shows us what faithfulness looks like.
SPEAKER_01: Here's our second question that we were asked in this passage.
SPEAKER_01: How does this passage prepare me to witness like Jesus?
SPEAKER_01: So we've spent time just understanding who Jesus is.
SPEAKER_01: Now we want to go apply this passage to our lives.
SPEAKER_01: And the first thing that we can learn from Jesus when it comes to being a witness like him is that we must witness from a Christ identity.
SPEAKER_01: Must witness from identity.
SPEAKER_01: We must be grounded in who Jesus is, not who we are.
SPEAKER_01: The hard thing about sharing your faith to familiar faces is that the people you love most know your sin the best.
SPEAKER_01: They knew you before you found Jesus, and they know how jacked up you still are now that you have Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And what can happen is we know the gospel, but we can fall prey to the world's expectations of what it means to be a Christian and then start applying that to our lives.
SPEAKER_01: How many of you have ever had somebody say, You supposed to be a Christian?
SPEAKER_01: What you doing getting mad?
SPEAKER_01: Who said Christians can't get mad?
SPEAKER_01: Where y'all get this stuff from?
SPEAKER_01: You supposed to be a Christian.
SPEAKER_01: Give me$10.
SPEAKER_01: What?
SPEAKER_01: Where are these things coming from?
SPEAKER_01: And we can start feeling guilty, like, man, I guess I ain't a good enough Christian, man.
SPEAKER_01: I ain't giving that$10.
SPEAKER_01: Like, bro, come on.
SPEAKER_01: It's like the issue with that is somewhere along the way we forgot that the only reason we're saved is because there's a God who saved us.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible says, even while you were still a sinner, Christ died for the ungodly.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus says, You didn't choose me, but I chose you as my prize possession.
SPEAKER_01: She said, I loved you first.
SPEAKER_01: Then you loved me.
SPEAKER_01: And we can't get that order mixed up because in that order is the power that allows us to walk free in this world.
SPEAKER_01: The beauty of the gospel is that we get to witness not to the fact that we're perfect, but to the fact that we are being perfected.
SPEAKER_01: We get to witness to the fact that God is doing something in us, and the hope that I have is that one day, when he crashed the sky, everything that sucks about me will be fixed because when I see him, I will be like him.
SPEAKER_01: And that's my hope and that's my joy.
SPEAKER_01: And you get to say, When I get perfected, I want you to get perfected with me.
SPEAKER_01: When you witness from a Christ identity, you stop witnessing from your own merit, and you start witnessing from the miracle that somebody like you could actually be loved by God.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what you need to know about everything that you've done good in your life.
SPEAKER_01: The power to do anything good in your life came from God.
SPEAKER_01: You breathing right now comes from God.
SPEAKER_01: Any skill or talent you have came from God.
SPEAKER_01: So there's actually nothing about you that qualifies you for anything other than being needy.
SPEAKER_01: And the beautiful thing about the scripture tells us that it's in our weakness that He is made strong.
SPEAKER_01: This is why Jesus says, Blessed are the poor in spirit, those who know they need God.
SPEAKER_01: When you wake up every day knowing you need God, it frees you to be a witness like no other.
SPEAKER_01: The second thing that we gotta do if we're gonna witness like Jesus, we gotta witness with clear intentions.
SPEAKER_01: What I mean is when I step towards somebody who I intend to share the love of Jesus with, I must be clear on why I'm actually doing it.
SPEAKER_01: There are a couple traps that are that are real sneaky to the Christian.
SPEAKER_01: The first one is the trap of niceness.
SPEAKER_01: It's like being the good Samaritan without Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: It's like, hey, I'm gonna do all these nice things for you.
SPEAKER_01: And then you're gonna look at me and say, you must know Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Where do I sign up?
SPEAKER_01: It's like it don't work that way.
SPEAKER_01: Some of y'all watch uh uh uh, you know, uh, what's that what's that show?
SPEAKER_01: Um Touched by an Angel.
SPEAKER_01: And y'all walking around here trying to touch people, like, I'm gonna just save you from this car hitting you.
SPEAKER_01: Do you follow Jesus?
SPEAKER_01: I do.
SPEAKER_01: Like, no.
SPEAKER_01: You at work going to the copier, just want the glory with you.
SPEAKER_01: Like, I'm gonna just go to the copier right now.
SPEAKER_01: And as I make this copy, they're just gonna see the glory of God on me.
SPEAKER_01: It's like, no.
SPEAKER_01: The trap of niceness is I'm gonna love you well, but leave out the life change.
SPEAKER_01: Niceness is cool, but when you fall into the trap of niceness, what makes you different than uh the United Way?
SPEAKER_01: What makes you different than the YMCA and all these other places?
SPEAKER_01: There are people doing good stuff everywhere.
SPEAKER_01: What makes you different if the gospel is not on your tongue as you do what God has called you to do?
SPEAKER_01: What would it look like for us to say, hey, let me wash your feet and tell you why I'm doing it in the first place?
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, let me let me let me pay your light bill, but can I tell you why I paid your light bill?
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna show up in that hard time, but when I show up, I'm gonna pray for you while I'm there.
SPEAKER_01: The trap of niceness can get you a sticker, but it might still leave a soul lost.
SPEAKER_01: The trap of niceness, the intention is our comfort, our happiness.
SPEAKER_01: I do something nice for you, you tell me thank you, I pat myself on the back, and everybody's cool.
SPEAKER_01: The other one is the trap of love.
SPEAKER_01: Because love has been redefined in our society to mean something that the word has never called it to be.
SPEAKER_01: Every time I see love in the scriptures, somebody's dying.
SPEAKER_01: It's laying down your life.
SPEAKER_01: That is love.
SPEAKER_01: But love in the world has become agree with me and shut your mouth.
SPEAKER_01: Don't tell me what I'm doing wrong, just be here with me.
SPEAKER_01: Y'all remember when sympathy was a good thing?
SPEAKER_01: Now, now, if you tell somebody you have sympathy for them, they get offended.
SPEAKER_01: Don't you have sympathy for me?
SPEAKER_01: Have empathy with me, be in it with me.
SPEAKER_01: Like, what are we talking about?
SPEAKER_01: Like, who how are we defining love to the point that me caring about your pain is offensive to you?
SPEAKER_01: The trick for the Christian is to learn how to be compassionate again.
SPEAKER_01: We've allowed the agenda of the gospel to be hijacked by all these movements in the world and we've forgotten how to be compassionate.
SPEAKER_01: Compassion is showing up with empathy while also believing life change can still happen.
SPEAKER_01: So when we do tornado relief, yeah, we're showing up to do tornado relief, but this is also an open door for the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: When somebody in my family who I love had a near-death car accident and they're in the hospital and I'm visiting with them, yes, I'm showing up to be in this with them, but this is also an open door for the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: When I go bail my cousin out of jail one last time and they happy, thank you, man.
SPEAKER_01: I appreciate it.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, man, I love you too, dog.
SPEAKER_01: Come on, come on, go.
SPEAKER_01: There's also an opportunity for the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: Love goes to the deepest parts of a people's heart, mind, and soul and brings the truth there too.
SPEAKER_01: Love costs something.
SPEAKER_01: And you can't say you love somebody if you're not willing to pay the cost to see them saved.
SPEAKER_01: Here's the third thing that we learn.
SPEAKER_01: We learn that we must witness through faithfulness.
SPEAKER_01: Witness through faithfulness.
SPEAKER_01: Earlier I talked about the parable of the sword.
SPEAKER_01: The parable of the sword is a cool parable because Jesus says when you go out and you share the gospel, you're gonna spread your seed all over the place.
SPEAKER_01: It's gonna land in all these different types of soil.
SPEAKER_01: There's gonna be there's gonna be a soil where it's gonna land on the rock and it won't take root.
SPEAKER_01: There's gonna be places where you plant it and it's gonna look like somebody got saved, but then the moment they leave, they actually ain't.
SPEAKER_01: It's gonna be some where people actually walk with Jesus for a little while, but then money or the troubles in the world choke out their faith, and there are gonna be some where you plant where people are gonna love Jesus till they die and they're gonna bear much fruit.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus gave that parable to say, hey, expect all of it.
SPEAKER_01: So Jesus is saying, listen, if we're gonna be witnesses who go faithfully, we must spread the gospel broadly.
SPEAKER_01: We must spread it where we don't even think it's gonna grow, and we must trust God with the process.
SPEAKER_01: Don't disqualify somebody or yourself because you've made up in your mind that they won't receive the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: Who told you that?
SPEAKER_01: Our job is to be faithful.
SPEAKER_01: When we face rejection, we keep going.
SPEAKER_01: When it gets hard, we keep going.
SPEAKER_01: When the fruit is small here, we celebrate that fruit is there.
SPEAKER_01: When the harvest is big over here, we remember that God was faithful here just as he was faithful there.
SPEAKER_01: We don't allow the circumstance in front of us to determine what our faithfulness looks like.
SPEAKER_01: Witnessing to familiar faces is going to require us to get real comfortable being uncomfortable.
SPEAKER_01: And one of the things that I think gets in the way is that we forget why we do this.
SPEAKER_01: If you've been walking with Jesus for any amount of time, sometimes like the core of the gospel can become uh uh dull in your mind.
SPEAKER_01: But the reason we do this, the reason that we are a witness is because our God looked down on humanity with compassion.
SPEAKER_01: He says, I can't deal with this separation any longer.
SPEAKER_01: So I'm gonna put on flesh.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna go live the life that they should have lived, but as a result, I'm gonna die the death that they actually deserve.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna go and be faithful and love people well, and the very people that will say, Hallelujah, all have the Messiah, will eventually say, crucify him.
SPEAKER_01: I will face a crooked trial overnight.
SPEAKER_01: They will arrest me while everybody's asleep, they'll bring me in front of the government officials and they will render me guilty before the sun comes up.
SPEAKER_01: And when they take me, they're gonna strip me naked and they're gonna beat me, they're gonna spit on me, they're gonna whip me until the skin on my back comes off.
SPEAKER_01: They're gonna take a crown of thorns and they're gonna shove it into my head to where it punctures my head, and as they push it down, the blood will run down my face, and then at that moment, they will bring me in front of the people.
SPEAKER_01: And as they bring me in front of the people, they will make me carry the instrument of my own death, and I will carry it up a hill, and when I get to the top of this hill, they're gonna lay me down on this instrument of death, and they're gonna take my left arm and spread it out, and right when they get it down, they're gonna nail it to the board.
SPEAKER_01: And just when I think the pain can get worse, they take my other arm and they do the same thing.
SPEAKER_01: And as I skirmish under the pain, they take my feet and they stack them on top of each other, and they take a stake and they nail that stake into my feet.
SPEAKER_01: And at that moment, the pain is not done because they know they have to lift me up.
SPEAKER_01: And when they lift me up, the weight of my body will put pressure on every puncture that I'm feeling right now.
SPEAKER_01: And when I open my eyes, there is my mother and my best friend staring at me naked in front of the whole world.
SPEAKER_01: And as I hang there knowing while I'm here, the very people I came to save will walk by and mock me and spit on me.
SPEAKER_01: And at the very moment where I have the right to use the power that is mine to come off this cross and bring judgment, I will instead look at these people and say, God forgive them, for they know not what they do.
SPEAKER_01: I will hang my head and die.
SPEAKER_01: I'll be placed in a borrowed tomb, but on the third day I will rise again.
SPEAKER_01: Hundreds of witnesses will see me and spread this news that the one they thought they killed is indeed alive, and he rose again with the hope that can save even you.
SPEAKER_01: You ever forget why we call you to be a witness?
SPEAKER_01: Remember that story.
SPEAKER_01: Because he did it for you.
SPEAKER_01: And if you're in this room and you don't know Jesus yet.
SPEAKER_01: Guess what?
SPEAKER_01: That story, he did it for you too.
SPEAKER_01: We witnessed because there was a God who loved us enough to walk the walk.
SPEAKER_01: Will we?
SPEAKER_01: This time I want to close.
SPEAKER_01: I want to give us an opportunity to do something that I think is going to be meaningful to somebody's life.
SPEAKER_01: Right now I want you to take out your phone.
SPEAKER_01: And here's what I want you to do.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to go to your notes app or something like that, and I want you to write down one person's name who you want to share the hope of Jesus with.
SPEAKER_01: This can be somebody who you know doesn't know Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: This can be somebody who is struggling with doubt and they have left the church.
unknown: Right?
SPEAKER_01: This can be somebody who you know you feel like just need to hear that somebody sees them, that somebody loves them.
SPEAKER_01: Can be a family member, it can be a coworker, it can be a friend.
SPEAKER_01: Why don't you write that person's name down?
SPEAKER_01: And I want you to write down one perceived barrier you feel about sharing your faith with them.
SPEAKER_01: Just whatever that barrier may be, distance.
SPEAKER_01: They won't, I don't think they'll listen to me.
SPEAKER_01: They're mad at God.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know what I should say.
SPEAKER_01: Whatever it is, I want you to write it down.
SPEAKER_01: And then right now for the next 30 seconds, I want to invite you to bow your head and just pray for that person.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to pray for their salvation, pray for their life transformation, pray for their healing, pray for their deliverance.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to lift that person before the throne of God right now.
SPEAKER_01: And when you finish, just praying the short prayer for that person.
SPEAKER_01: I want to ask you to do something bold with me.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to keep your phone out, and I want you to actually type that person's name in in your messages app, and I want you to prepare to send them a text message this morning, right here in the church service.
SPEAKER_01: If you want a template to use, you can use my text message.
SPEAKER_01: I think this is a good one.
SPEAKER_01: Simply this, good morning.
SPEAKER_01: At church today, we were asked to pray for someone in our life, and I chose to pray for you today.
SPEAKER_01: Please let me know if there is something specific I can keep praying about.
SPEAKER_01: Much love.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not asking you to send a message to say, I pray that God delivers you from the sin.
SPEAKER_01: No, don't do anything crazy like that.
SPEAKER_01: Don't blast them with 12 scriptures.
SPEAKER_01: This is simply a first-step invitation to signal to their heart, but also to signal to your heart that you're willing to go on this journey with them to see Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Do you love that person?
SPEAKER_01: If you love that person, would you send them this message?
SPEAKER_01: Begin the journey of being a witness.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what you need to know.
SPEAKER_01: This challenged me years ago, and maybe it challenges you.
SPEAKER_01: Whether you like it or not, you may be the only Jesus they get to see on this side.
SPEAKER_01: Who do you want them to see?
SPEAKER_01: Be bold, be brave, but most of all, believe that God is already doing something and you're just joining him in his work.
SPEAKER_01: God, we thank you.
SPEAKER_01: You're good and your mercy endures forever.
SPEAKER_01: God, we thank you that familiar faces are all around us, and that God, you give us unique places in people's lives to be a witness.
SPEAKER_01: And so, God, I pray that we would be faithful to do that.
SPEAKER_01: God, I pray that you would eradicate any fear that is living in our hearts and our minds right now.
SPEAKER_01: God, and that that fear will be overcome by your power, by the power of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: God, give us the courage just to send a text message.
SPEAKER_01: Just to let somebody know that they were prayed for today.
SPEAKER_01: That text message may be the message that calls somebody back from suicidal thoughts.
SPEAKER_01: That message may be the one message.
SPEAKER_01: Right now, somebody could be saying, God, if you're real, send me one of your people.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe our text message is that confirmation.
SPEAKER_01: God, will we do it?
SPEAKER_01: Will we trust you?
SPEAKER_01: You're doing beautiful work.
SPEAKER_01: May we join you in it.
SPEAKER_01: In the mighty name of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
Sallie: We're so grateful you joined us for this week's message.
Sallie: At Multiply, we believe life was never meant to be lived alone.
Sallie: If today you made the decision to follow Jesus, we'd be honored to walk with you on this journey.
Sallie: Visit multiplyky.com to let us know.
Sallie: We love you and we'll see you again soon.