SPEAKER_00: Welcome to Family Church's Sermon of the Week.
SPEAKER_00: We're so glad you're here.
SPEAKER_00: Each week we share a message from God's Word to encourage your heart, strengthen your faith, and help you grow in your walk with Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: We hope this time blesses you and draws you closer to the heart of God.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, let me read that verse again that Jay just read.
SPEAKER_01: I waited patiently for the Lord and he reached down to me and heard my cry.
SPEAKER_01: He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the mud, and he set me on a set my feet on a rock, making my footsteps firm.
SPEAKER_01: What I love about Jay's testimony is that that, you know, he it's a it's such a great example of this verse, like he pointed out.
SPEAKER_01: You know, Jay, Jay chose the pit.
SPEAKER_01: You know, there was a point in his life when he chose the pit, and that pit turned into addiction.
SPEAKER_01: But it was it was Jesus who rescued him from the pit and set his feet on the rock and then set his feet on the right path.
SPEAKER_01: And all of us have a pit of some kind, you know?
SPEAKER_01: All of us have a pit that we need delivery from or that we've been delivered from.
SPEAKER_01: All of us have that kind of a testimony.
SPEAKER_01: And and last week we talked about uh, or the last few weeks we've talked about a few things in the book of Psalms that that could have been your pit that you would you were in.
SPEAKER_01: Could have been sin.
SPEAKER_01: We talked about sin and repentance.
SPEAKER_01: We talked about dealing with anger.
SPEAKER_01: Anger could be your pit, discouragement could be your pit.
SPEAKER_01: Whatever your pit is, Jesus can deliver you from that and he can set you on the right path.
SPEAKER_01: And and when that happens, you know, there's a lesson to be learned.
SPEAKER_01: God takes that and he teaches us something.
SPEAKER_01: He we we learn a lesson, or we just become stronger as believers, but there's another purpose for that that sometimes we overlook.
SPEAKER_01: We don't acknowledge that there's another purpose.
SPEAKER_01: Look with me in 1 Peter 3.15.
SPEAKER_01: And I've read this verse to you a number of times.
SPEAKER_01: It says, Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life.
SPEAKER_01: And if someone asks about your hope as a believer, always be ready to explain it.
SPEAKER_01: Other translations say, be ready to explain the hope that lies within you.
SPEAKER_01: And that hope is Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And it's because of Jesus that you were able to navigate your way out of that pit, whether it's discouragement or anger or depression or whatever, because of Jesus, you could navigate your way out of that.
SPEAKER_01: And because of and it was because of Jesus that Jay was delivered from the pit that he was in.
SPEAKER_01: And whatever the circumstances, we should be ready to talk about what Jesus did in our life when he set our feet on the rock.
SPEAKER_01: We should be ready to talk about the pit, the rock, and the path.
SPEAKER_01: You know, and and in other words, we should be we should be ready to share the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: Now, when I say that, the the mistake the church has made, not just this church, all churches, the mistake that the churches that the church has made in the last decades is that we have taken the, you know, we've turned sharing our story and sharing the gospel into the big word evangelism.
SPEAKER_01: And and we've created methods and and gimmicks and things to help people learn how to share the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: And so what that has done is people look at that and go, well, I can't share the gospel because I've never taken that class.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know the method, I've never memorized the verses, I don't know what to say.
SPEAKER_01: And so that's our excuse for not sharing the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: But, you know, we could we could take all those classes.
SPEAKER_01: We can take the class, we can be we can be uh proficient in evangelism explosion or or whatever, but still not share the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: It's not about taking a class, it's not about it's not about knowing a method.
SPEAKER_01: You know, the the church I was at in Florida, we were we were offering a class on evangelism because I think they are important, I think they're good things to give people a vocabulary to share the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: But we were offering a class, a guy walks up to me and he goes, you know, you really ought to be offering the evangelism explosion class instead, because it's a lot better than the class you're offering.
SPEAKER_01: And so I just looked at him and I said, Really?
SPEAKER_01: Well, when's the last time you led someone to Jesus?
SPEAKER_01: And he went, and then he turned around and walked away.
SPEAKER_01: Didn't say anything.
SPEAKER_01: You know, so it's not about it's not about taking the class or knowing the method or whatever, you know.
SPEAKER_01: That's not gonna make you share the gospel, it's not gonna make you great at evangelism or anything.
SPEAKER_01: You know what it means is that that you have a vocabulary.
SPEAKER_01: So those things are important.
SPEAKER_01: You know, I'm not saying they're not important.
SPEAKER_01: If you if you have if you take a class like that and you can use that to share the gospel with people, that's awesome.
SPEAKER_01: It gives you a vocabulary to share what God is doing in your heart and mind.
SPEAKER_01: But I asked Chat GPT, how many different evangelism methods and gimmicks and classes or whatever have been developed and published since 1950?
SPEAKER_01: 270 things came up in that list.
SPEAKER_01: And that's not an exhaustive list because I was reading through that and like, well, what about this one and this one?
SPEAKER_01: It didn't include ones that I knew about, you know.
SPEAKER_01: So, so hundreds, since since 1950, hundreds of methods on how to share the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: Yet we are live in a time when Christians are less likely to share the gospel than they ever have been.
SPEAKER_01: We're more equipped, but we're less engaged.
SPEAKER_01: You know, we went from 89% of people in the 1970s saying, yeah, I've shared the gospel with people, to about 20 people in the 2010s saying, 20% saying, Yes, I've shared the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: Huge difference.
SPEAKER_01: You know, we're we're not we're not a culture that shares the gospel like we used to be.
SPEAKER_01: And there's only one reason, it's not because we don't know the methods, it's not because we don't memorize the verses or whatever.
SPEAKER_01: It's it's just flat out we're scared.
SPEAKER_01: It's a it's a frightening thing to share the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: Paul even said when he was talking about going, he was praying, saying, you know, uh pray that God would give me the boldness to share the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: You know, when the apostle Paul is praying for boldness, that means the apostle Paul is scared.
SPEAKER_01: Nobody prays for boldness if they're not scared.
SPEAKER_01: So, so that's a common thing to be to have some fear about sharing the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: So today I want to talk and I want to take some of the fear out of sharing the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: I want to give you just a little bit more confidence so that you feel good about talking about your faith to other people.
SPEAKER_01: And and so look, look again.
SPEAKER_01: Let's read those verses again, and I'm gonna go on to verse 3 this time.
SPEAKER_01: It says, I waited patiently for the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: He reached down to me and heard my cry.
SPEAKER_01: He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the mud.
SPEAKER_01: He set my feet on the rock, making my footsteps firm.
SPEAKER_01: Then listen to this.
SPEAKER_01: He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God.
SPEAKER_01: Many will see and fear and will trust the Lord.
unknown: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: If you want to share the gospel, if you want to share the gospel with people, just talk about your story.
SPEAKER_01: Talk about your story.
SPEAKER_01: You know, you're the world's leading expert on what God did in your life to lead you to salvation or to get you out of the pit.
SPEAKER_01: Nobody knows that story better than you.
SPEAKER_01: And because it's your story, nobody can argue with you.
SPEAKER_01: You know, and I'm not saying don't know the verses and don't know the scripture.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not saying that.
SPEAKER_01: You know what?
SPEAKER_01: If you start talking theology, people will argue theology with you, people will argue, you know, the scripture with you, but they can't argue your story.
SPEAKER_01: They can't argue with you about your story because it's your story.
SPEAKER_01: So talk about your story.
SPEAKER_01: You know, and and your story has three parts.
SPEAKER_01: It's got three parts it has the pit, the rock, and the path.
SPEAKER_01: Just like Jay's.
SPEAKER_01: Just like we said in in uh uh verse one of Psalm 40.
SPEAKER_01: And and at some point you were in it, you were in a pit.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: You were angry, discouraged, you uh addiction, illness, loneliness, abuse, rebellion, or maybe your pit was just the fact that you were not saved.
SPEAKER_01: You didn't know Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: That was your pit.
SPEAKER_01: All of us were in that pit at some point.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: We were in that pit.
SPEAKER_01: But God delivered you from the pit, or God is going to maybe you're in the pit right now and you're thinking, gosh, I need to get out of this pit.
SPEAKER_01: God will deliver you from that pit, and he's gonna set your feet on the rock.
SPEAKER_01: And who is the rock?
SPEAKER_01: Dwayne Johnson.
SPEAKER_01: No.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is the rock.
SPEAKER_01: He's gonna set your feet on the rock.
SPEAKER_01: He's gonna, he's gonna cause you to, he's gonna help you to trust in Christ for deliverance from your pit.
SPEAKER_01: And then he's going to set your feet on the right path.
SPEAKER_01: And when you go from the pit to the rock and then the right path, two things are gonna happen.
SPEAKER_01: Two things are gonna happen.
SPEAKER_01: First, he's gonna put a new song in your mouth.
SPEAKER_01: He did that literally with Jay.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: Took him out of wanting to be uh the uh a rock star and turned him into being a worship star.
SPEAKER_01: You know, he literally put a new song in Jay's mouth.
SPEAKER_01: For others, it might be metaphorically putting a new song in your mouth.
SPEAKER_01: But at any rate, God has given you something to be joyful about.
SPEAKER_01: He's given you something to be joyful about because he brought you out of that pit, set your feet on the rock, and he's set you on the right path.
SPEAKER_01: You have something to be joyful about, and that's what you can talk about.
SPEAKER_01: That's the part of your story you can talk about.
SPEAKER_01: You were if you were recently saved, there's some people in here that just in the last few months pray to receive Christ, whether it's in this room or somewhere else, and this is all kind of new to you.
SPEAKER_01: Over time, there's gonna be a change in your life, and you may have already started experiencing that change.
SPEAKER_01: You're not gonna be the same person that you were before you were saved.
SPEAKER_01: And God's gonna put that new song in your mouth, and that's gonna be that's gonna be the things that people notice.
SPEAKER_01: He's gonna give you something to worship, he's gonna give you something to sing about and something to talk about.
SPEAKER_01: But look what happens next.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Many will see and fear and put their trust in God.
SPEAKER_01: When you change, when you go through that change, people are gonna see that.
SPEAKER_01: All right, now when David wrote this psalm, he was probably already a king.
SPEAKER_01: He was probably already king of Israel because it says at the top, they've all got headings, and most of them have headings.
SPEAKER_01: This one says to the choir director.
SPEAKER_01: You know, I don't know of any shepherds that have a choir, you know, that they would write a psalm for, or fugitives on the run from the king.
SPEAKER_01: You know, they're not gonna write a psalm that says to the choir director.
SPEAKER_01: So he was he was king when he wrote this.
SPEAKER_01: And he was most likely writing, again, like last week, about the time that he was on the run from Absalom.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, he was in a pit.
SPEAKER_01: He had been dethroned, he was in hiding, his son and an army were looking for him and they were out to kill him.
SPEAKER_01: He was in a pit.
SPEAKER_01: But God delivered him from that supernaturally.
SPEAKER_01: God intervened and stopped Absalom.
SPEAKER_01: Great story.
SPEAKER_01: You know, if you haven't read it, read it.
SPEAKER_01: Great story.
SPEAKER_01: It's just obvious that God steps in and takes care of it.
SPEAKER_01: But God delivered him from that, and then when he went back to the throne, normally when a when a king, you know, when when the throne changes kings, you know, the new king kills the whole family of the previous king.
SPEAKER_01: That's kind of the way it was.
SPEAKER_01: That way, nobody's gonna say, Oh, you're not the right king, you know, my family's king, you know, so they just kill the whole family.
SPEAKER_01: David didn't do that.
SPEAKER_01: He, you know, there were people, you know, part of Absalom's family that he could have killed.
SPEAKER_01: There were people that followed Absalom that he could have killed, people that were traitors under David's uh uh uh authority that he could have had killed.
SPEAKER_01: He didn't do any of that.
SPEAKER_01: He forgave them, he pardoned them.
SPEAKER_01: And some some of them, he he gave them a place in his home.
SPEAKER_01: So, so when David is, if people are watching him as king of Israel, the whole nation is watching him, when he could have been uh uh exacted vengeance on them, he showed grace and mercy because God had forgiven him of a great sin, so he was going to forgive those people.
SPEAKER_01: And people would see that and fear God and turn to him.
SPEAKER_01: And when God brings a change in your life, when God brings you out of that pit, there are people watching.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: There are people watching you that will see the change in your life, and you can tell them this is why I changed.
SPEAKER_01: Because I was in the pit, God set my feet on the rock, and now he set me on the right path.
SPEAKER_01: That's the change that took place in my life.
SPEAKER_01: There are people watching you.
SPEAKER_01: Anyone that knows that you're a Christian, they're watching you.
SPEAKER_01: You know, some of them are watching because they're waiting for you to make a mistake so they can go, I thought you were a Christian.
SPEAKER_01: You know, that happens.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus said, Don't be surprised if the world hates you because it hated me first.
SPEAKER_01: So there are people that are gonna wait and watch for you to make big mistakes.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: Most people are probably watching you thinking, I wish I had what they had.
SPEAKER_01: You know, I'm I'm in the same pit they were in, and I I can't get out.
SPEAKER_01: You know?
SPEAKER_01: But it's your story that is causing them to sit up and take notice that God is doing something in your life.
SPEAKER_01: That goes for everybody in this room.
SPEAKER_01: I know young moms, you know, you got babies and toddlers and stuff, and sometimes you think, nobody's watching me.
SPEAKER_01: I don't I never leave the house, you know?
SPEAKER_01: I got I got toddlers and babies, I don't go anywhere.
SPEAKER_01: You know what?
SPEAKER_01: That's not true.
SPEAKER_01: Somebody's watching you.
SPEAKER_01: The most important spectators of your life are watching you every day.
SPEAKER_01: My daughter Haley has two boys.
SPEAKER_01: Judah is four.
SPEAKER_01: Theo's gonna turn a year old this month, and uh this past week, she was making chicken on a stick for dinner.
SPEAKER_01: You know, and that's basically a chicken tender with a popsicle stick in it, and that, you know, that was a creative way to get uh uh a toddler to eat his dinner.
SPEAKER_01: That's all that was chicken on a stick.
SPEAKER_01: Well, Theo is only a year, so she she cut up his chicken chicken strip and and you know into little bite-sized pieces like a toddler like a like a you know a one-year-old would eat, and and so she put it in front of him, and he would have nothing to do with it.
SPEAKER_01: Not a thing, because he was watching, and everyone else had a chicken on a stick.
SPEAKER_01: So he had to have a chicken on a stick.
SPEAKER_01: I think I have a picture of Theo.
SPEAKER_01: Is that up there?
SPEAKER_01: There it is.
SPEAKER_01: There's Theo, won that battle, got his chicken on a stick, but it's because he was watching, he was watching, and he wanted to be like the rest of his family.
SPEAKER_01: You know, your kids, ladies, your kids, doesn't matter how young they are, they are watching you.
SPEAKER_01: Dads, your kids are watching you, and when you're when your kids see you in the pit, they see you discouraged or whatever, they need to see you come gracefully out of that pit, set your feet on the rock, and then choose to follow Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Get set on the right path.
SPEAKER_01: Your kids need to see you do that.
SPEAKER_01: And you can't know the right path unless you know God's word.
SPEAKER_01: You can't know the right path unless you know God's word.
SPEAKER_01: Have I said that before that we should be reading our Bible every day?
SPEAKER_01: I've said that, haven't I?
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: Like every week, I think I bring that up.
SPEAKER_01: Because that that's, you know, that that's square one.
SPEAKER_01: You know, that's that's first priority.
SPEAKER_01: We've got to be reading the scripture.
SPEAKER_01: And and Psalm 119 says this.
SPEAKER_01: David said this.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
SPEAKER_01: Your word is what lights that path.
SPEAKER_01: And and Psalm uh 37, David said, The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and he delighteth in his way.
SPEAKER_01: The law of God is in his heart, none of his steps shall slide.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, if you want to be on the right path, if you want God to order your steps, it has to be through the truth of God's word.
SPEAKER_01: And God will not order the steps you do not take.
unknown: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: So if God takes you out of the pit, sets your feet on the rock, then you gotta take that step, and God will order it.
SPEAKER_01: But you have to know the word of God.
SPEAKER_01: You have to be in the word of God.
SPEAKER_01: You don't have to know it perfect, you don't have to have a theology degree, you don't have you don't have to be an expert on anything, you know?
SPEAKER_01: But God is gonna give you what you need for today.
SPEAKER_01: If you read the Bible in the morning, God's gonna give you exactly what you need to take that step today.
SPEAKER_01: And over time, as you spend more time in the Word, God is gonna order your steps and you're gonna be on the right path.
SPEAKER_01: And and when you're on the right path, when you talk about this, this is my story, your story is part of a bigger story.
SPEAKER_01: And that story is all about God and Him sending His Son.
SPEAKER_01: So if you're gonna if you're gonna share the gospel with people, you have to talk about your story, but you have to talk about your God.
SPEAKER_01: Because your story apart from God is just a story.
SPEAKER_01: So you have to talk about God.
SPEAKER_01: Look at what David said in verses 9 and 10 of Psalm 40.
SPEAKER_01: He said, I have proclaimed good news of righteousness in the great congregation.
SPEAKER_01: Behold, I will not restrain my lips.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, you know I have not hidden your righteousness within my heart.
SPEAKER_01: I have spoken about your faithfulness and your salvation.
SPEAKER_01: I have not concealed your mercy and your truth from the great congregation.
SPEAKER_01: So David, David gives like this little mini theology course on the character of God, on who God is.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm not suggesting that that, you know, the best way to share the gospel is to get into theological discussion about the attributes and character, character of God.
SPEAKER_01: You know, that's not what I'm suggesting.
SPEAKER_01: But when you when you go through your story, when you're talking about your story, okay, there your story has to be connected to God, otherwise it's just a story.
SPEAKER_01: And you can tell people, here's who God is.
SPEAKER_01: Not here's who I think God is, or here's who I wish God was, but here's who God is.
SPEAKER_01: Because a lot of the conversations that you have with people that will that will turn from just a conversation to an opportunity to share the gospel, the person you're talking to might make a statement like, Well, I think God is, or I think God would never, or how could I ever follow a God who would?
SPEAKER_01: You know, and you can fill in the blanks there, but those are opportunities for you to share with them, this is who God is.
SPEAKER_01: And and by sharing your story and talking about the pit, and then God set your feet on the rock, what was God to you in that moment?
SPEAKER_01: He was your deliverer, he was your redeemer, he was your rescuer.
SPEAKER_01: You can talk about who God is through your story.
SPEAKER_01: David said, I talked about your righteousness, I talked about your faithfulness, I talked about your unfailing love, I talked about your truth.
SPEAKER_01: You know?
SPEAKER_01: Those are the things you can talk about God because those are the things about God you experience in your story.
SPEAKER_01: When you went through that, you experienced God in a certain way that you can talk about.
SPEAKER_01: And if you're thinking, John, I don't I don't know enough about those topics, I don't know enough about how to do that and talk about all that.
SPEAKER_01: Well, you know, I'm not talking about knowing theology.
SPEAKER_01: I'm talking about what have you learned about God according to his word and according to your story.
SPEAKER_01: That's what you talk about.
SPEAKER_01: You talk about God.
SPEAKER_01: But I also know that there are a lot of people that are thinking, I would love to have more information on this.
SPEAKER_01: I would love to be able to know more about God.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna give you a resource that I cannot recommend more highly.
SPEAKER_01: Um there's a slide with a picture of a book up there, um, I think.
SPEAKER_01: There it is.
SPEAKER_01: Strong faith.
SPEAKER_01: A buddy of mine named uh David Parker wrote this a few years ago.
SPEAKER_01: It is it is a very concise devotional that is based in theology.
SPEAKER_01: Daily reading, explains points of theology, gives scripture to back it up, and encouragement at the end, and it has it has one whole section on who is God.
SPEAKER_01: Just a daily reading on who is God.
SPEAKER_01: So I recommend that.
SPEAKER_01: Be an awesome thing.
SPEAKER_01: Even if you're not a reader, it's an easy read because, like I said, it's two two pages.
SPEAKER_01: That's it.
SPEAKER_01: And it's big print.
SPEAKER_01: It's not like tiny little print when you open a textbook and you're like, oh, there's so many words.
SPEAKER_01: You know, this is big print, so this is not a hard read, um, but but very informative, and it and it will help you to understand more and more of the theology behind who God is, if if you're if you're looking for that.
SPEAKER_01: But look at the next few verses that that uh that David wrote.
SPEAKER_01: Um, and this this really is David's salvation testimony, verses 11 through 13.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, don't hold back your tender mercies for me.
SPEAKER_01: Let your unfailing love and faithfulness always protect me, for troubles surround me, too many to count.
SPEAKER_01: My sins pile up so high I can't see my way out.
SPEAKER_01: You ever feel like that?
SPEAKER_01: They outnumber the hairs of my head, I've lost all courage.
SPEAKER_01: Please, Lord, rescue me.
SPEAKER_01: Come quickly, Lord, and help me.
SPEAKER_01: That's David's testimony of his salvation, how God, how God saved him.
SPEAKER_01: So, thirdly, if you want to share the gospel, you're gonna talk about your story, you're gonna talk about your God, but you're gonna talk about your salvation.
SPEAKER_01: That's what David is talking about here.
SPEAKER_01: He just said, God, here's who you were.
SPEAKER_01: You raised me out of the out of the pit, you set my feet on the rock, you set me on the right path, and you did that because you are a loving God who is faithful.
SPEAKER_01: And you that's why you saved me, even though I didn't deserve it.
SPEAKER_01: I have a great big pile of sin.
SPEAKER_01: I didn't deserve your salvation, but you saved me anyway.
SPEAKER_01: That's that's David's testimony.
SPEAKER_01: So, and and and if you've accepted Jesus, you know, you have a testimony.
SPEAKER_01: Jay had a testimony.
SPEAKER_01: Not everybody's testimony is the same.
SPEAKER_01: Some people have testimonies that are just like these, wow, you know, Jay had a great testimony.
SPEAKER_01: You know, some people have testimonies that that you know people want to write books about or make movies about.
SPEAKER_01: I had I had a buddy in in Florida, I led him to Christ.
SPEAKER_01: He came to our church and was just, you know, searching, wanting relief from his past, wanted out of the pit.
SPEAKER_01: His name was John Brown.
SPEAKER_01: He had cerebral palsy, so he really struggled to speak.
SPEAKER_01: He struggled to walk, he could walk, but he but really struggled.
SPEAKER_01: But in spite of his limitations, John learned to sail a 24-foot catamaran alone.
SPEAKER_01: Alone.
SPEAKER_01: He would sail this 24-foot catamaran and he would sail it uh from one island to the next in the Bahamas.
SPEAKER_01: We just go back and forth and charter things, and and he was so good at it that the gr drug cartels employed him to run drugs between the islands.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: That's his testimony.
SPEAKER_01: And you know, and you know, if the Coast Guard pulls up and, you know, looking to see what he's doing, they're gonna look at a guy like that.
SPEAKER_01: Think, wow, you're awesome.
SPEAKER_01: They're not going to think to you know, check what's in the boxes on his catamaran.
SPEAKER_01: You know, so he he for years ran drugs for the cartels between the Bahamian Islands.
SPEAKER_01: Knew he was in a pit, lived two or three streets from our church, walked over to the church one day, I got to lead him to Christ.
SPEAKER_01: He turned his back on all that.
SPEAKER_01: You know, another guy, uh, another guy that uh I knew in Florida was uh um I always talk about Florida people because you know all the people I know in Virginia are sitting in this room right now, so it's hard to talk it's hard to talk about you guys.
SPEAKER_01: When I go when I visit Florida, I'll talk about you all.
SPEAKER_01: But uh this guy was a real estate tycoon in New Jersey, was making all kinds of money, started using drugs just recreationally.
SPEAKER_01: The mafia decided they wanted a piece of his uh uh uh business, and so they threatened him.
SPEAKER_01: Um, and so he just packed up and left New Jersey.
SPEAKER_01: Never went back, went to Florida, ended up uh addicted to cocaine, lived on the streets for about 20 years, on and off for about 20 years.
SPEAKER_01: And if he wasn't on the streets, he was in jail or a rehab or something for 20 years, lived that kind of a life.
SPEAKER_01: Came to our church, got saved, turned his back on all that, and spent the remaining years of his life serving other people.
SPEAKER_01: You know, those are great testimonies.
SPEAKER_01: You know, my testimony is I got saved from a life of you know, Sunday school and Wednesday night choir practice.
SPEAKER_01: So, you know, not nobody's gonna write a book about my life, you know, but I still have that story.
SPEAKER_01: My pit was the fact that I was not saved.
SPEAKER_01: I grew up in church and I knew that I wasn't saved, and I and I I just didn't do it because I was afraid, well, people already think I'm saved.
SPEAKER_01: I can't go forward.
SPEAKER_01: People already think I'm saved.
SPEAKER_01: So finally, when I was almost 16 years old, I said, bump that, I'm getting saved.
SPEAKER_01: I went forward and I prayed to receive Christ.
SPEAKER_01: You know, everybody's got a story, and you were in a pit, and God set your feet on the rock, and then he set your feet on the right path, and you can tell that story and talk about who God was with you and tell them that God delivered you.
SPEAKER_01: That he is your salvation.
SPEAKER_01: You don't have to know a method, you don't have to have all the verses memorized.
SPEAKER_01: You just tell people here's who I was, here's who Jesus is, and here's what he's doing for me now.
SPEAKER_01: And I and I know we we did this a few weeks ago.
SPEAKER_01: We had uh a few months ago, actually, we had everybody write down a name of somebody they knew that needed Jesus, and everybody in the room wrote down a name, they brought it forward, we prayed over it, and and uh you know, so I know there are people in this room right now that you have people that that you just more than anything, you want to see these people come to know Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: You know, and it just breaks your heart that these people are still running from God.
SPEAKER_01: Well, you can do more than what you think, and they're watching you more than you think they are.
SPEAKER_01: And you can tell their story, tell your story to them, you can share that over and over and over again, you know?
SPEAKER_01: God never told us that it's up to us to seal the deal and make sure somebody prays and receives Christ.
SPEAKER_01: If you can do that, if you have the vocabulary to be able to sit and pray with somebody to lead them to faith in Christ, that's awesome.
SPEAKER_01: But that's not what we were called to do.
SPEAKER_01: We were just called to share the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: And you can do that with your story.
SPEAKER_01: Talk about who God is, talk about how you were saved.
SPEAKER_01: You can share the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: That's what we're called to do.
SPEAKER_01: So when you're able to do that, that's the win.
SPEAKER_01: The win isn't that those people got saved.
SPEAKER_01: If they do, that's awesome.
SPEAKER_01: But you're just part of their story, you're part of a much larger story in their life that you're just a stop on the way that is pointing them in the right direction.
SPEAKER_01: So you don't have to fear, can I do this?
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you can, because it's your story.
SPEAKER_01: What if I can't lead in faith in Christ?
SPEAKER_01: That's okay.
SPEAKER_01: Somebody will down the road.
SPEAKER_01: You're just pointing them to the next stop on that path.
SPEAKER_01: And, you know, if you're here today and you've never accepted Christ, maybe, maybe this sermon is not about you sharing the gospel, maybe it's about you understanding the gospel for the first time and saying, I'm gonna surrender my life to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna let Jesus pull me out of the pit that I'm in right now.
SPEAKER_01: Even if that pit is just, I'm not saved.
SPEAKER_01: That's the worst pit you can be in.
SPEAKER_01: But if you're here today and you never accepted Christ, it's simple.
SPEAKER_01: You know, everybody in this room that has accepted him can tell you this.
SPEAKER_01: They didn't do anything to earn earn salvation.
SPEAKER_01: They didn't do anything for Jesus to save them.
SPEAKER_01: Because Jesus did it all.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus died on the cross, was buried, and rose again on the third day, so that you can have eternal life.
SPEAKER_01: And maybe you're here today and you've been in church a long time.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you've been attending family church for a long time, maybe you grew up in church, but you've never accepted Christ.
SPEAKER_01: You know, like I, you know, I was almost 16.
SPEAKER_01: I was born on a Tuesday, I was in church on Sunday.
SPEAKER_01: And I almost never missed.
SPEAKER_01: We were always in church.
SPEAKER_01: Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, my whole life.
SPEAKER_01: I heard it, I could share the gospel with people.
SPEAKER_01: I knew it.
SPEAKER_01: I knew the methods.
SPEAKER_01: I still didn't get saved until I was almost 16 years old.
SPEAKER_01: Because I was afraid of what people around me would think.
SPEAKER_01: Because everybody already thought I was saved.
SPEAKER_01: You know, maybe you're here like that and you've never really accepted Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe, maybe today's the day we take care of that.
SPEAKER_01: So let me have every head bowed and every eye closed.
SPEAKER_01: If you're here today, you've never accepted Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Like I said, it's simple.
SPEAKER_01: It's a matter of trusting in him, trusting in his death, burial, and resurrection for your salvation, trusting in his shed blood for the forgiveness of your sin.
SPEAKER_01: And you can talk to God today any way that you'd like and express that to him.
SPEAKER_01: You know, it's just a matter of telling him those things and asking him to be your savior, asking forgiveness of your sin.
SPEAKER_01: But if you struggle to put that into words, you can just pray something like this and say, Dear God, thank you for sending Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you that he paid the price for my sin because I never could.
SPEAKER_01: So I thank you that he hung on the cross, was buried, and rose again on the third day that I so that I can be saved and I can spend eternity in heaven.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you that his blood was shed for the forgiveness of my sins.
SPEAKER_01: So today I confess that I'm a sinner.
SPEAKER_01: I ask forgiveness of my sin, and I choose to receive Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And if you just prayed that or something like that, then the scripture says that you have an eternal home in heaven and nothing can change that.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.
SPEAKER_01: Nothing else is, and Jesus is gonna give you eternal life and then take it away again.
SPEAKER_01: So you can know for sure that you're spending eternity in heaven because you accepted Christ as your Savior today.
SPEAKER_01: So if that's you, if you just pray to receive Christ, let me let me just know because I want to pray for you.
SPEAKER_01: Just lift your hand up real fast and let me know that you prayed.
SPEAKER_01: Awesome, awesome.
SPEAKER_01: God, thank you for those that raised their hand this morning that accepted Christ as their savior.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, and maybe there are some that that didn't raise their hand, that were afraid to because of what people would think, or because they uh or whatever.
SPEAKER_01: God, maybe maybe there are people that got saved but they didn't raise their hand.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, I just pray for anyone in here that accepted Christ as their savior.
SPEAKER_01: Uh Lord, that you would just bless them, help them to understand the uh the choice that they just made to follow you and to choose you as their savior.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, help them to understand uh your love for them.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, surround them with people that will encourage them in their in their walk with Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And Lord, just thank you that they have given their heart to a God that loves them.
SPEAKER_01: Still with heads bowed and eyes closed, if you're here today and you've got somebody in your heart, so we're talking about sharing the gospel, you've got somebody in your heart that you know you need to share the gospel with.
SPEAKER_01: Raise your hand, let me pray for you.
SPEAKER_01: Somebody you know you need to talk to about Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: You know you need to tell your story.
SPEAKER_01: Hands going up everywhere.
SPEAKER_01: God, I pray for every hand in here.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, those that didn't raise their hand, Lord, I pray that you would just give us boldness.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, Paul, the Apostle Paul, asked for boldness.
SPEAKER_01: You don't ask for boldness if you're not afraid.
SPEAKER_01: So he he was afraid, so we're in good company.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, give us all the boldness to share the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: More than anything, God, give us opportunities this week to share the gospel and just open up opportunities.
SPEAKER_01: Help us to see, see the opportunities and say, this is it.
SPEAKER_01: This is the time I'm supposed to share the gospel and and be able to share the story.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, give us the words to say, let the Holy Spirit do a great work in us so that we can talk to people about what you've done for us.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, we pray for Family Church.
SPEAKER_01: Pray that we would grow as a ministry, not because of gimmicks, not because of advertisements or whatever, but Lord, that we would grow because the people of this church are sharing the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: They're bringing people to the faith, they're bringing people to family church.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, give us all that boldness to share your love with other people.
SPEAKER_01: And we ask all this in Jesus' name.
unknown: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Thanks for listening to Family Church's Sermon of the Week.
SPEAKER_00: We pray this message encouraged you and helped you grow in your faith.
SPEAKER_00: If it blessed you, share it with a friend and follow so you never miss a new episode.
SPEAKER_00: You can learn more about FamilyChurch at myfamilychurch.com.
SPEAKER_00: If you are in the area, tweet us on Sunday mornings at 10 a.m.
SPEAKER_00: We meet at Patriot High School at 10504.