SPEAKER_00: So April 15th, 2014, about 325 students from Danuan High School in South Korea were getting ready to get onto a ferry called the MV Seawall, and they were going to go on their field trip.
SPEAKER_00: It was like their big trip that they would go on before the testing season really ramped up.
SPEAKER_00: And everything proceeded as normal until the next morning the ship started to take a hard right turn.
SPEAKER_00: Nobody's really sure why.
SPEAKER_00: And it began to sink.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, there's actually a picture.
SPEAKER_00: That's this ferry that started to list over to its left and it began to sink.
SPEAKER_00: We can go ahead and take that down.
SPEAKER_00: And unfortunately, uh the sinking, that that boat was packed.
SPEAKER_00: It was overfilled.
SPEAKER_00: And that sinking led to the deaths of 304 people.
SPEAKER_00: 250 of those 304 were the students from Dan Juan High School.
SPEAKER_00: And as these details started to emerge, it wasn't a pretty picture.
SPEAKER_00: Basically, anybody who had any responsibility in this boat had blame.
SPEAKER_00: And there was one guy specifically who took most of the outrage and criticism and rightly slow, and that was the captain.
SPEAKER_00: Because the captain, as the ship started to fill with water, he made an announcement telling the students, stay in your room, help is coming, wait till you hear otherwise.
SPEAKER_00: Which you think, okay, he doesn't want people running around, like maybe he's just trying to organize before they evacuate.
SPEAKER_00: But then, while those students stayed in their rooms as the ship started to fill with water, that captain abandoned ship, gave no evacuation order, and left.
SPEAKER_00: And many experts say that if those students had simply gotten out of their rooms and run to the ship, it was sinking slow enough, they could have gotten off, they could have jumped, they could have swam to safety.
SPEAKER_00: There were boats surrounding that ship, fisher boats, right?
SPEAKER_00: Not even the Coast Guard, fisherman boats waiting to pick these students up and bring them to their salvation.
SPEAKER_00: And afterwards, that captain's charged with homicide through gross negligence.
SPEAKER_00: It was a life sentence.
SPEAKER_00: And his punishment was so severe because the safety of the passengers was ultimately his responsibility.
SPEAKER_00: The captain's supposed to go down with the ship.
SPEAKER_00: It's his job to stay on until the last minute and to clearly communicate how his passengers can reach safety, how they can be saved.
SPEAKER_00: But instead of helping save all of these young students, he decided to leave them, abandon them to death out of his own self-interest to save his own skin.
SPEAKER_00: Well, why do I tell you that story?
SPEAKER_00: It's not to open tonight with a downer, but it's because every time we hear a story like that, there's a part of it of us that just kind of like like rears up, like like it just reacts, like we think, how could somebody do that?
SPEAKER_00: How could somebody know that there's people in danger and be so selfish and just not care and just leave?
SPEAKER_00: But that ultimately kind of poses an uncomfortable question for you and me, because if we believe what the Bible says, that eternity is real, that we were made in God's image to honor and love him and live in relationship with him and live under his order, but we all rebelled.
SPEAKER_00: And God is perfectly just and that rebellion is called sin, and that sin carries the consequence of separation from him, and that apart from him bringing us back to himself through Jesus, there is no hope.
SPEAKER_00: If we believe that what the Bible says is true about that, then how often have we quietly done the exact same thing that that captain did that day?
SPEAKER_00: Know that somebody needs Jesus, know that they're lost, know that they are walking in the wrong direction, and choose not to say a word.
SPEAKER_00: Not because we hate them, but because we're afraid.
SPEAKER_00: We're afraid of rejection, afraid of what people might think about us.
SPEAKER_00: We want people to like us, we don't want to look weird, and so we stay silent because staying silent is more comfortable.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't rock the boat.
SPEAKER_00: Meanwhile, people all around us are searching for hope, they're drowning in anxiety and addiction and uh all sorts of depression and anger and uh confusion, separation from God.
SPEAKER_00: And hear me tonight.
SPEAKER_00: My my goal is not to shame you.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, we have all seen opportunities and not taken them.
SPEAKER_00: I know I have myself.
SPEAKER_00: But the goal here is that I want you to see that if you are a follower of Jesus, you have the message of life.
SPEAKER_00: What are you going to do with it?
SPEAKER_00: And so these past few weeks we've been in our Not Ashamed series and we've looked at how we're ambassadors for God, that we're his representatives of the world or in the world around us, and we've talked about how your testimony has power.
SPEAKER_00: And so as we wrap up the series this week, I just hope to give you a vision for the heart of God ultimately.
SPEAKER_00: Like, why does any of this matter?
SPEAKER_00: Why should we care about sharing the gospel?
SPEAKER_00: Why should we share about sharing care about sharing our testimonies?
SPEAKER_00: Like, this is the why.
SPEAKER_00: And we're gonna see two main things or two big points for tonight.
SPEAKER_00: One is that God has a heart for the lost.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna see that God deeply cares about seeking and saving the lost.
SPEAKER_00: And two, we're gonna see how God's heart should then shape our heart.
SPEAKER_00: So if you have your Bible, Luke chapter 15, we're gonna start in verse one.
SPEAKER_00: Luke 15, verse one.
SPEAKER_00: Go ahead and flip there.
SPEAKER_00: Should be towards the end of your Bible in the New Testament, very beginning of the New Testament.
SPEAKER_00: Luke 15, one.
SPEAKER_00: Going to pick up in verse 1.
SPEAKER_00: Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.
SPEAKER_00: And then Jesus told them this parable.
SPEAKER_00: Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them.
SPEAKER_00: Doesn't he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?
SPEAKER_00: And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home.
SPEAKER_00: Then he calls his friends and neighbors together, and he says, Rejoice with me, I have found my sheep.
SPEAKER_00: And I tell you, in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.
SPEAKER_00: And then he moves on, he tells another story, verse eight.
SPEAKER_00: Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one.
SPEAKER_00: Doesn't she light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it?
SPEAKER_00: And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, Rejoice with me, I have found my lost coin.
SPEAKER_00: And in the same way I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.
SPEAKER_00: And so, uh, let's pray real quick before we open the word.
SPEAKER_00: Lord God, we thank you so much for your word tonight, God.
SPEAKER_00: I pray that as we've read your word, that you would open our hearts and our eyes to what you would have for us through it.
SPEAKER_00: God, that you would convict, you would encourage, that you would give us hope and a picture of what it looks like to get to share the message of the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: And for anybody who has not placed their faith in you tonight, I pray that uh uh that that would change tonight, Father, that we would see salvation.
SPEAKER_00: God, we love you and praise you in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: And everybody said, Amen.
SPEAKER_00: So the scene opens up with Jesus teaching to a crowd.
SPEAKER_00: And what makes the crowd a little bit different is the text says that it's filled with tax collectors and sinners.
SPEAKER_00: Tax collectors was a very negative, uh, it was a bad occupation.
SPEAKER_00: You didn't want to be that guy because that guy worked for the occupiers.
SPEAKER_00: Israel was under control of Rome, Rome taxed them heavily, and these tax collectors were locals who basically flipped sides and say, Hey, I'm gonna like exploit and just throw my own people under the bus.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna sell them out just to make a quick buck for the people who are occupying us.
SPEAKER_00: They were traitors.
SPEAKER_00: And sinners could have just broadly been anybody living outside of God's design for life alcoholics, prostitutes, thieves, outsiders, all that sort of stuff.
SPEAKER_00: But both of these groups were at the bottom of the social ladder.
SPEAKER_00: They're not who you would expect to see in this scene, but they're gathering around Jesus because they want to know what he has to say.
SPEAKER_00: Even in running away from God, there's a part of them that says, Hey, this guy might have something that I need.
SPEAKER_00: But they're also Pharisees and teachers of the law.
SPEAKER_00: They were the religious leaders and they weren't big fans of the fact that Jesus was talking to these guys.
SPEAKER_00: They're like, Hey, those are, we don't talk to those people, Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Like, who do you think you are?
SPEAKER_00: These ne'er duels, like they don't belong in your circle.
SPEAKER_00: Why are you spending any time with them?
SPEAKER_00: And and he knew they were talking behind his back, and so he he he knows their hearts and he answers with a parable.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Imagine you have a hundred sheep, and uh you're about to go to bed at night and you start to count them up, and uh you know you have a hundred, but you get to the end and it's 99.
SPEAKER_00: There's one missing.
SPEAKER_00: He says, What are you gonna do?
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: You're not just gonna like leave Fluffy out there to be wolf food, right?
SPEAKER_00: You're gonna go find your sheep.
SPEAKER_00: You're gonna go out and look up and down, high and low.
SPEAKER_00: You're gonna bring a torch, you're gonna bring a light, like you're gonna find that lost sheep, even at the risk of your own personal harm.
SPEAKER_00: Because it's dangerous at night in this time in this part of the world.
SPEAKER_00: And then when you find that sheep, you're gonna be ecstatic because what was lost was as good as dead and gone, has now been found.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus tells this crowd, that's what it's like when a sinner repents.
SPEAKER_00: Because in this parable, the shepherd represents God and the sheep represents a sinner.
SPEAKER_00: And though that sheep was once as good as dead and gone, had run away, was lost, that shepherd went out and he found him.
SPEAKER_00: And he brought him back home.
SPEAKER_00: And it says, Heaven threw a party.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus doesn't stop there.
SPEAKER_00: He tells basically the same story, but this time a woman with a lost coin, right?
SPEAKER_00: She has 10 coins, she loses one, she tears the house up looking for it.
SPEAKER_00: She finds it, she throws a party.
SPEAKER_00: Why would Jesus tell two stories back to back that are basically the same?
SPEAKER_00: Well, repetition was a way that you emphasized a point in this culture and in Hebrew literature.
SPEAKER_00: A lot of times you see it with words.
SPEAKER_00: If it says, truly, truly, I say to you, like that is, hey, listen to this.
SPEAKER_00: So you can write that down in your notes when you're reading the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: If something gets repeated, pay attention to it.
SPEAKER_00: And so even in these parables, Jesus is trying to make a strong point.
SPEAKER_00: What's the strong point?
SPEAKER_00: He's wanting to make something unmistakably clear.
SPEAKER_00: God loves rescuing lost people.
SPEAKER_00: God has a heart for the lost.
SPEAKER_00: And the Pharisees couldn't wrap their heads around it because they had done everything by the book.
SPEAKER_00: Most of these guys had the entire scripture, the whole Torah, what we consider the Old Testament.
SPEAKER_00: They had it memorized by this time in their life.
SPEAKER_00: They had spent their entire life trying to climb the religious ladder, and all of a sudden Jesus is paying attention to these, these, these lesser thans.
SPEAKER_00: So why was Jesus so nice to them?
SPEAKER_00: Shouldn't they deserve wrath if they've chosen to sell out their like these are bad people, they've done bad things?
SPEAKER_00: Well, the Pharisees should have actually known the answer because God gave them the answer way, way back in Ezekiel 33, 11.
SPEAKER_00: God says through the prophet Ezekiel, As surely as I live, declares the sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live.
SPEAKER_00: Turn, turn, repetition, turn, turn from your evil ways.
SPEAKER_00: See, God is just.
SPEAKER_00: And don't get me wrong, there's a lot of people out there who are for some very wicked things that deserve justice.
SPEAKER_00: However, the reality is that the sin is the problem.
SPEAKER_00: Those people are a captive.
SPEAKER_00: Just like every single person in this room who now calls himself a Christian was once a captive to sin.
SPEAKER_00: Sin's the issue.
SPEAKER_00: God loves the sinner, hates the sin, gonna deal with the sin one way or another.
SPEAKER_00: But God's desire is that sinners would repent and come back to him.
SPEAKER_00: He would much rather them confess and turn to him than choose eternal separation.
SPEAKER_00: And you ask, like, what could cause that patience?
SPEAKER_00: I always chuckle when people will read a little bit of the Bible and say, I can't follow a God who's just so angry and full of wrath.
SPEAKER_00: Like I just can't do it, right?
SPEAKER_00: I was like, you probably have not actually read the Old Testament.
SPEAKER_00: Because if you read the Old Testament, God's anger and wrath is not your problem with him.
SPEAKER_00: It's his patience.
SPEAKER_00: He lets these guys off the hook over and over and over and over and over and over again.
SPEAKER_00: You're like, God, when are you just gonna start over?
SPEAKER_00: So why is he so patient?
SPEAKER_00: His love.
SPEAKER_00: For example, my youngest son is named Michael, and he's all boy.
SPEAKER_00: And uh he's such a great little guy, and you know, we have moments.
SPEAKER_00: Right now he's big into baseball.
SPEAKER_00: Anything can be turned into a bat.
SPEAKER_00: One of his favorite bats is a little pink bubble wand.
SPEAKER_00: And what he does is he'll hold the bat really high, like nice high stance, and then he'll go bang, like in that tone of voice.
SPEAKER_00: I wish I had a video.
SPEAKER_00: I didn't I didn't have one, I looked for it.
SPEAKER_00: He'll go bang, and then he'll run through our living room, through the kitchen, around the sectional couch, back, and go home run.
SPEAKER_00: And then he parties.
SPEAKER_00: Like it's his favorite thing ever.
SPEAKER_00: Which you're like, that's adorable.
SPEAKER_00: Most of the time.
SPEAKER_00: Because uh one day we're in the living room and Leighton is playing peacefully, sitting next to her brother, like everything is calm in the world, so I knew it wasn't gonna last.
SPEAKER_00: And I see the wheels turning.
SPEAKER_00: He's got his bat high, and Leighton's head is right about T ball level heights.
SPEAKER_00: So I can see him contemplating choosing violence, like actively.
SPEAKER_00: Like he can't hide it.
SPEAKER_00: And so I'm looking at him, he's looking at me, I'm looking at him.
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, Michael, don't swing the bat.
SPEAKER_00: Don't swing the bat, buddy.
SPEAKER_00: Starts to smile, and that's when I know it's over.
SPEAKER_00: Don't swing the bat, buddy.
SPEAKER_00: And in that moment, do you think that I'm sitting here thinking, man, I hope he domes his sister?
SPEAKER_00: I can't wait to give this kid a talking to.
SPEAKER_00: Like, I'm just so excited to discipline him.
SPEAKER_00: Like, I really hope he tries me.
SPEAKER_00: No, right?
SPEAKER_00: That's not my heart.
SPEAKER_00: I hope that he makes the right decision so that I don't have to discipline him.
SPEAKER_00: I will because I love him enough to discipline him, but ultimately my desire is that he would make the right decision.
SPEAKER_00: He would learn the easy way and trust me.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, but he did not, sure enough, like Aaron Judge, bang, like 405 dead center off his sister's dome.
SPEAKER_00: Now we have to have a talk, right?
SPEAKER_00: And then the whole thing just turns into a situation from there.
SPEAKER_00: But even in that discipline, it's not because I want to crush him.
SPEAKER_00: It's not because I have a grudge against my son.
SPEAKER_00: My son disobeyed and he strained the relationship.
SPEAKER_00: But I love him enough, my heart is for him to repent and to return.
SPEAKER_00: When we discipline him, it's not to prove a point like, hey, you better listen to us or else.
SPEAKER_00: It's to say, hey, bad actions have consequences.
SPEAKER_00: And I want you to see that now in a controlled environment, not later on.
SPEAKER_00: And in the same way, guys, that's God's heart.
SPEAKER_00: He does have wrath against sin.
SPEAKER_00: It's part of his justice, but he's not some heavenly hammer just looking for a nail, right?
SPEAKER_00: He's not some heavenly mean girl at his table, like, hey, you can't sit with us.
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: God wants all sinners to repent from their ways and turn to him so that they would experience eternal life to the full.
SPEAKER_00: But and I mean, if you need proof of this, he's the God who put on flesh, came to earth, lived a perfect 33 years, only knew homelessness, persecution, and suffering, died on a cross, not because he got in with the round crowd, but to take the wrath against our sin onto his own son, poured it onto Jesus so that we could be saved.
SPEAKER_00: God is the shepherd who went for the sheep.
SPEAKER_00: He's the woman who went for the coin.
SPEAKER_00: And you have to get that view of God burned into your memory.
SPEAKER_00: Because if you think God is just some tyrant in heaven waiting for you to screw up, or if you think he's just some country club president who lonely lets in the pretty shiny people, you're always going to hold him at arm's length.
SPEAKER_00: And some of you here tonight need to hear that because you're the sheep.
SPEAKER_00: You're the coin.
SPEAKER_00: You might have grown up in a Christian home.
SPEAKER_00: You might have shown up here.
SPEAKER_00: Your your attendance record on Wednesday nights, Sunday mornings might be perfect, but if you're honest, you're running.
SPEAKER_00: You're checking the box, you've got your parents hook, line, and sinker, you say all the right things when you know you're supposed to.
SPEAKER_00: You've got all the people believing that lie.
SPEAKER_00: Can I tell you that the God of the universe cares you enough to knock that card of house that house of cards down?
SPEAKER_00: He cares about you enough to chase you even when you're running in the opposite direction.
SPEAKER_00: To make a way for you to be reconciled to him, to be set free from all of your shame, all of your guilt, all of your sin, all of your anxiety.
SPEAKER_00: If you come in here tonight and you're like, hey, that sounds great, but you don't know what I've done, you're right.
SPEAKER_00: I don't.
SPEAKER_00: God does.
SPEAKER_00: And he loved you enough to pay for your sin.
SPEAKER_00: Not the not the version of you that you put forward on Instagram and to your friends to look all nice and put together, the real version of you.
SPEAKER_00: The version of you that not a soul might have actually ever known.
SPEAKER_00: God knows it.
SPEAKER_00: Warts and all, and he loves you enough to pursue you.
SPEAKER_00: Would you stop running?
SPEAKER_00: Maybe tonight for the first time you need to make that decision.
SPEAKER_00: God, I'm going to surrender it all to you.
SPEAKER_00: I'm coming back home.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to know that that is God's heart towards you.
SPEAKER_00: If you come in here filled with guilt and shame, you don't need to.
SPEAKER_00: Like this is this is home, the family of God.
SPEAKER_00: God wants you back.
SPEAKER_00: He made the way for you to come back.
SPEAKER_00: But here's the thing: Jesus is not just trying to tell us something about God's heart.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, that's a part of it, but he's also trying to tell us how we should respond to knowing God's heart because he tells one more parable.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm going to summarize a good chunk of this and then we're going to focus on the part that we want to focus on just because we're short on time.
SPEAKER_00: But this is the story of the prodigal son.
SPEAKER_00: Many of you may have heard of it before.
SPEAKER_00: One day, this father who has two sons, younger and older, the younger son comes and says, Hey dad, will you just give me my inheritance?
SPEAKER_00: Which is basically saying, you know, dad, I don't really care about you.
SPEAKER_00: I just want your stuff.
SPEAKER_00: I wish you'd hurry up and die.
SPEAKER_00: Can you just give it to me?
SPEAKER_00: The dad doesn't scold him, he doesn't do anything.
SPEAKER_00: He basically says, Fine, I'll let you go your way.
SPEAKER_00: He gives him his money, son leaves, squanders it, parties it up, prostitutes while living, drinking, all the things, and eventually he runs out of money and hits rock bottom.
SPEAKER_00: And then there's a famine on top of that.
SPEAKER_00: And he stoops so low that he's actually feeding pigs, which for a Jewish audience would have been the lowest of the low.
SPEAKER_00: Think of like the worst job that you can possibly do here on earth, uh, like working at Sonic or something.
SPEAKER_00: And like that's what, just kidding.
SPEAKER_00: I don't think we have anybody that works at Sonic here.
SPEAKER_00: I didn't do Whataburger.
SPEAKER_00: Love you, Aiden.
SPEAKER_00: So, yeah, I got you.
SPEAKER_00: But it's the worst possible job you could do, right?
SPEAKER_00: And so he eventually is sitting here feeding these pigs, and it's gotten so bad that even the food the pigs have looks good to him.
SPEAKER_00: And he has nothing.
SPEAKER_00: And eventually he comes to his senses, he's like, Look, even the servants in my dad's home are better than this.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just gonna go back and he starts to rehearse his apology, right?
SPEAKER_00: You know how when you get in trouble and you start running it through your work, you're like, okay, how do I say this the right way?
SPEAKER_00: And putting it like you're putting it together on your way home.
SPEAKER_00: That's what he's doing.
SPEAKER_00: He starts coming back, but then the father sees him.
SPEAKER_00: And before the son can even finish his speech, the dad interrupts and he runs, and he literally, the the Greek speaks about like falling on his neck.
SPEAKER_00: He hugs him, he gives him a kiss, he gives him a robe, he gives him a ring, he gives him sandals.
SPEAKER_00: All of that is symbolic of this guy who has been fully restored as a son.
SPEAKER_00: He's back home.
SPEAKER_00: He's not lost anymore.
SPEAKER_00: And they throw a party.
SPEAKER_00: But then the story shifts.
SPEAKER_00: The party's going on, there's music, there's lights, totally lights going crazy, right?
SPEAKER_00: DJ's having a great time.
SPEAKER_00: But then the older brother walks up and he's like, What in the world is going on?
SPEAKER_00: And he comes up and he says in verse 25 Meanwhile, the older son was in the field.
SPEAKER_00: When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing, and so he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on.
SPEAKER_00: Your brother has come, he replied, and your father has killed the fat and calf because he has him back safe and sound.
SPEAKER_00: And the older brother became angry and refused to go in.
SPEAKER_00: And so his father went out and pleaded with him.
SPEAKER_00: But he answered his father, Look, all these years I've been slaving with you and never disobeyed your orders, yet you never gave me even a young goat, so I could celebrate with my friends.
SPEAKER_00: But when the son of yours who has squandered your property, notice he says son of yours, squandered your property with prostitutes, comes home, then you kill the fattened calf for him.
SPEAKER_00: My son, the father, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.
SPEAKER_00: But we had to celebrate and be glad because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again.
SPEAKER_00: He was lost and is found.
SPEAKER_00: And so we read this parable and think it's always about the prodigal son, and yes, a good part of it is, but primarily it's about the father and his grace towards both of his sons.
SPEAKER_00: And there's a lot about this older brother, because the older brother did all the right things.
SPEAKER_00: He followed the rules, he stayed in the house, and when his brother gets back and gets a party, he's jealous.
SPEAKER_00: He's like, Why does this guy who did nothing but screw up get the party and you don't pay attention to me?
SPEAKER_00: And so he confronts his father, and the father says, Son, that's that's not what this is about at all.
SPEAKER_00: Like you've missed the point.
SPEAKER_00: You've been with me this entire time.
SPEAKER_00: Everything I have is yours.
SPEAKER_00: You could have had this at any point.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm not celebrating your brother's behavior.
SPEAKER_00: I'm celebrating that he's returned, that he's left that and that he's come home.
SPEAKER_00: How could we not celebrate that?
SPEAKER_00: And the point that I think Jesus is trying to get us to see with this parable is that you can be close to God in proximity, but be miles away in heart.
SPEAKER_00: You can be very Christian adjacent and be light years away from the heart of the Father.
SPEAKER_00: You can go to church, you can go to Bible study, you can be FCA, you can go to Nueo, none of those are bad things.
SPEAKER_00: You can do a bunch of good stuff and still miss it.
SPEAKER_00: And here's the honest truth the longer that you attend church, church is not a bad thing.
SPEAKER_00: It's very important.
SPEAKER_00: It's I would say it's it's mandatory.
SPEAKER_00: You should be in church if you're a believer, if it's possible.
SPEAKER_00: But the longer you attend church, it's easy for all the people you spend time with to be other church people, other Christians, they look like you, they think like you, they talk like you.
SPEAKER_00: And you stop talking to lost people over time.
SPEAKER_00: And all of a sudden, your whole spiritual life starts to revolve around you.
SPEAKER_00: And now when something doesn't fit your preference or your liking or go the way you want it to, you start to become cynical and bitter and jaded.
SPEAKER_00: It's the older brother syndrome.
SPEAKER_00: Man, I actually have experienced this in my own life.
SPEAKER_00: In the high school, about junior year, senior year of high school, the Lord really started to get a hold of me.
SPEAKER_00: And I was still very much a mess.
SPEAKER_00: But that's where the Lord really started his work.
SPEAKER_00: And I was convicted, and then I went to DBU, and a lot of good things happened.
SPEAKER_00: I got plugged into community.
SPEAKER_00: I started experiencing a lot of freedom from the addictions and the sin that I struggled with for so Long.
SPEAKER_00: I found just amazing people.
SPEAKER_00: It was a great environment for spiritual growth.
SPEAKER_00: Go Pats.
SPEAKER_00: But it was a bit of a bubble.
SPEAKER_00: And I was working at a church in Ferris, Texas.
SPEAKER_00: It was a small little country church, very small.
SPEAKER_00: And man, it was a rough situation.
SPEAKER_00: Like they were just, I started to really feel like that place was a burden.
SPEAKER_00: Like every week we showed up, these kids were checked out.
SPEAKER_00: Like there was one specific night I remember.
SPEAKER_00: It was like a Halloween night.
SPEAKER_00: And uh this one student stole money from like a little kid.
SPEAKER_00: And then my senior pastor somehow blamed me for it in all of this.
SPEAKER_00: And then a few days later, uh, we had one kid show up with his new girlfriend, even though his baby mama was already there, and there was all this sort of drama.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, what in the world is this, bro?
SPEAKER_00: Like, I just want to like serve pizza and talk about Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Like, I didn't sign up for this.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm really wrestling with it at night.
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, why am I here?
SPEAKER_00: What am I doing?
SPEAKER_00: Like, these kids don't care.
SPEAKER_00: They're I would have never said it out loud, but in my mind, I'm like, they're not worth my time.
SPEAKER_00: And then it's like the Holy Spirit smacked me.
SPEAKER_00: It's like, Garrett, you used to be that kid.
SPEAKER_00: Your youth pastor took a chance on you when you were a dumpster fire of middle schooler.
SPEAKER_00: And because of somebody else's grace to be patient with you and love you, even though you were running full speed in the opposite direction, you got saved.
SPEAKER_00: Who are you to count out those kids that meet there every single Wednesday?
SPEAKER_00: And I was wrecked.
SPEAKER_00: Because I realized, man, God had been doing some good stuff in my life.
SPEAKER_00: I was in some good places.
SPEAKER_00: But somewhere along the way, I got caught up in the Christian bubble and I forgot what this whole life's really all about.
SPEAKER_00: Why I'm left here on earth to bring the message of the gospel to broken people.
SPEAKER_00: And look, it's it's messy, it's hard, it's uncomfortable.
SPEAKER_00: I'd like to say that there was this massive transformation, that whole youth group got saved.
SPEAKER_00: It wasn't.
SPEAKER_00: It it ended in COVID.
SPEAKER_00: My last Wednesday, I didn't even know it was my last Wednesday.
SPEAKER_00: But my trust is that God will still use it and that he used that moment to draw me into his heart because he has a heart to seek and save the lost.
SPEAKER_00: And if he has a heart to seek and save the lost, we should too.
SPEAKER_00: You should try to be around lost people, build relationships with them, obviously in an appropriate manner.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not saying go to the party and participate in the sin with them, but live in proximity to them, be around them and live a holy life.
SPEAKER_00: Be set apart.
SPEAKER_00: Not as a, hey, pat me on the back, but be different.
SPEAKER_00: If you're a believer, you should have joy and hope.
SPEAKER_00: And I know it's not linear, but you have something they need, they want, they're looking for, whether they realize it or not.
SPEAKER_00: And so live that way so that it can be seen and they'll look at you and be like, man, whatever they have, I want it.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, one of the clearest evidences that the gospel has taken root in your life is that you have a burden for the lost.
SPEAKER_00: Like that's a part of the fruit of the spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Like that's a part of what comes with being a Christian.
SPEAKER_00: Having a heart for lost people is not some special calling just for pastors, missionaries, or super outgoing Christians.
SPEAKER_00: It's a regular and expected part of following Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: It's not optional.
SPEAKER_00: But let me give you some freedom.
SPEAKER_00: You're not gonna wake up an expert in sharing the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, in fact, it's probably gonna be pretty hard early on because it is uncomfortable.
SPEAKER_00: But look, the only way to learn about it is to start doing it.
SPEAKER_00: I coach weightlifting at a CrossFit gym in town, and I see this all the time.
SPEAKER_00: Like, people will watch all these videos and it's like, man, I'm an expert.
SPEAKER_00: I know how to do this.
SPEAKER_00: And the first time they step up, it's like they are a giraffe who has never walked a day in their life.
SPEAKER_00: And it's like somehow, I'm like, all right, I love that you've done a bunch of studying, but you're not gonna become an expert by gaining a bunch of information or learning.
SPEAKER_00: Like, you just gotta go practice it.
SPEAKER_00: You gotta go do it, you gotta go try.
SPEAKER_00: And so you can hear a bunch of sermons and podcasts, and Christian leaders tell you that you need to go share your faith.
SPEAKER_00: But the only way you get comfortable and really get good at it, I I don't even like to say like good at it, but you I hope you see what I mean here, is to do it, is to start, have conversations at the bare minimum.
SPEAKER_00: You can invite them to church, but don't just stop there because I don't want you to rely on me.
SPEAKER_00: There's so many different techniques.
SPEAKER_00: We've talked about the 15-second testimony.
SPEAKER_00: My life, there was a time in my life when I was like this, and then Jesus met me and did this, and then my life since has been like this.
SPEAKER_00: Easy tool.
SPEAKER_00: We've still got cards left.
SPEAKER_00: There's the three circles.
SPEAKER_00: We went to a conference recently, and a pastor who the Lord has used in my life in incredible ways had a talk on this.
SPEAKER_00: And that's really why I've just been super convicted about it lately.
SPEAKER_00: And uh, he had a few different things that he uses when he shares his faith.
SPEAKER_00: One, a simple question that you can ask to start a conversation.
SPEAKER_00: Simple.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, do you have a faith?
SPEAKER_00: You would be surprised how many people are genuinely open to talking about spiritual stuff, especially in a town like Bernie.
SPEAKER_00: So you can just ask, hey, do you have a faith?
SPEAKER_00: And then another question you can ask as you start to try and see where they're truly at with the Lord, is hey, on a scale of one to ten, how sure are you that if you died today, you would go to heaven?
SPEAKER_00: And you'll be surprised how many people you'll get.
SPEAKER_00: Two, three, four, five, eight.
SPEAKER_00: You're like, oh well, can I can I ask you a question?
SPEAKER_00: Like, why why that percentage?
SPEAKER_00: And they'll usually say, Well, I'm a I went to a church, I went to, you know, I did this, I did some good things.
SPEAKER_00: You can even ask, like, hey, if you were to stand before God tonight and he were to ask you, Why should I let you in, what would be your answer?
SPEAKER_00: And a lot of times you'll hear, well, maybe I I tried to give to charity, I tried to be nice, I talked to some people, I I prayed for some people.
SPEAKER_00: But as a Christian, you know the answer is Hey, the the answer to the first question is either a zero or a ten.
SPEAKER_00: You're either in or you're out.
SPEAKER_00: And the answer to the second question, why should I let you in, the answer is not anything that you've done.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: The only thing we contribute to our salvation is our sin, is the need for one.
SPEAKER_00: But God in his loving kindness made a way through Jesus, he took the punishment that we deserved, and he says, Hey, they get to go in because of what I've done for them.
SPEAKER_00: And so when God asks you, hey, why should I let you in?
SPEAKER_00: you say, Because Jesus said I can come, because he paid for my sin, because of what he did for me.
SPEAKER_00: I placed my faith in him and he paid my bet.
SPEAKER_00: He paid my day.
SPEAKER_00: He gave me eternal life.
SPEAKER_00: And so, look, that's one approach.
SPEAKER_00: I'm sure there's better.
SPEAKER_00: That's the one that's been with me recently.
SPEAKER_00: We got the opportunity to ask a few of those questions to some people in Dallas after that conference.
SPEAKER_00: And look, I'm as much as I preach on stage and you think, oh, Garrett's probably super comfortable with going out and having these conversations, like I'm, it is not my, like, I'm not your street evangelist.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna walk out there and just strike up conversations.
SPEAKER_00: Like, that's an area I have to grow in my life.
SPEAKER_00: But it's worth working to grow in that area because God has a heart for the loss.
SPEAKER_00: And look, it's risky.
SPEAKER_00: Somebody might think you're weird.
SPEAKER_00: I guarantee you, like, it's not like you're just gonna get punched in the face more often than not.
SPEAKER_00: Like, if you do, sorry.
SPEAKER_00: Like that's rough.
SPEAKER_00: That's a tough pool, not gonna lie.
SPEAKER_00: But more than likely, that's not gonna happen.
SPEAKER_00: Worst case scenario, like, hey man, I'm good.
SPEAKER_00: Appreciate it.
SPEAKER_00: See you later.
SPEAKER_00: But I'll tell you this: the risk of not sharing your faith and not sharing the gospel is far greater if we truly believe that people all around us are choosing to spend eternity separated from God in a real place called hell.
SPEAKER_00: And the reward is so beautiful.
SPEAKER_00: Think about it, one day it's your funeral.
SPEAKER_00: People aren't sitting there talking about how much money you made or how funny you were or how many friends you had.
SPEAKER_00: But people are there and saying, Hey, one day I'm gonna be in heaven because God used him in my life, because she told me the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: She cared enough about me to risk her public opinion to share the gospel with me.
SPEAKER_00: So I'll close with this.
SPEAKER_00: On April 3rd of this year, a U.S.
SPEAKER_00: Air Force F-15 was shot down over Iran during the Iran war.
SPEAKER_00: And these planes have a crew of two, and the Air Force rescued the pilot pretty quick.
SPEAKER_00: A couple hours in they rescued him, but the weapons system officer, the guy in the second seat, was nowhere to be found.
SPEAKER_00: And all of a sudden, you have the entire Iranian military searching for this guy, and you have the entire American military searching for this guy.
SPEAKER_00: And they launched one of the biggest and most complicated rescue operations ever.
SPEAKER_00: And they ultimately did rescue him, but it was at an incredible cost.
SPEAKER_00: 155 aircraft, hundreds of soldiers, hundreds of millions of dollars minimum for one guy.
SPEAKER_00: Why would you do all that for one guy?
SPEAKER_00: Because there's an ethos in the military, the warrior ethos.
SPEAKER_00: No man left behind.
SPEAKER_00: And one of the craziest things was that the CIA used this top secret technology, and there's all sorts of rumors and what this really is, but they called it the ghost murmur.
SPEAKER_00: And basically, it's the ability to pick up on a heartbeat miles away in a desert.
SPEAKER_00: And they're talking about this, and afterwards, there's an official who said, If you have a heartbeat, we will find you and we will get you.
SPEAKER_00: And guys, I pray that's our heart towards the lost all around us.
SPEAKER_00: The bad kids at school, bad kids, ones who vape, party, sleep around, cheat, gossip, post everything online, the the the ones who could hurt your social status, the ones everybody could make fun of, the people on the fringe, the people on the outcast, the people that don't look like you, talk like you, act like you.
SPEAKER_00: I pray that your heart to them would not be that they're a project or an interruption or someone to avoid, but they would be the sheep.
SPEAKER_00: They would be the coin, they would be the prodigal son.
SPEAKER_00: Because as people that God deeply loves, we can then go and seek the lost as well.
SPEAKER_00: If you have a heartbeat, we'll find you.
SPEAKER_00: Would you pray with me?