Repping Our Faith: A Simple Approach

Rep Your Faith Sunday

May 31, 2026

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Verse 20. If we can get it on the screen and say it together, let's read. Here we go. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors. As though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf. Be reconciled to God. Amen. I like that. Amen. For our three day, I want to look at Colossians chapter 4, verses 2 through 6. And here's what it says. Devote yourselves to prayer. Being watchful and thankful. And pray for us too. That God may open the door, say, open the door. That God may open the door for our message so that we may proclaim the ministry of Christ for which I am in chain. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly as I should. Paul said, I need clarity when I proclaim it. Alrighty. Be wise in the way you are toward outsiders, that's people of non-faith. Make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation always be full of grace. I can preach that right there, huh? Season with salt. Tell your neighbor, not pepper, salt, salt. So that you may know how to answer everyone. So much here to preach. I can't get to all of it. We're gonna talk about it a little bit, but I'm gonna talk about repping our faith, a simple approach. Repping our faith. A simple approach. I've been blessed to have numerous individuals influence me on my faith journey. Though I grew up in church, a good old traditional Baptist church, God was gracious enough to put the right people in my path and help me get to the place where I am in terms of my faith. One person I never told you all about, but had a significant influence on my life is a man by the name of Ross Strang. Ross is someone I'll never forget, and maybe one of the kindest individuals I've ever met. And he really influenced me with his story of faith. He did not grow up in church, he did not have a spiritual heritage in his family. He did not have a love for religion. Matter of fact, he would say he was a classic atheist. Wasn't mad at anybody in terms of faith, but he said, just leave me alone. I won't bother you, don't bother me. Let me live my life on my own terms. Saw nothing in life that would convince him to believe that God was real. Stated emphatically to his wife who attended church, you can go to church all you want, just don't invite me. How many of y'all know God can flip that script real quick? He says he found himself one day through a series of events sitting in church and hearing the gospel for the first time. He said, for the first time, the message of the gospel of Christianity made sense to him. He said he did not commit to Christ that day, but months later he would commit his life to Jesus Christ. But it's what happened later to Ross that really influenced my life and my faith. He talked about what happened to him after he converted. He said the Sunday after he converted to Christianity, a man showed up at his house on a Tuesday night at 7 p.m. And the man was there to teach him about the basics of the faith. Wanted to teach him what it meant to be a Christian, who this Jesus was that he decided to follow, and what kind of practices that he had to begin to take on to truly be a follower of Christ. It's not that he showed up this Tuesday after he was converted. He said, but every Tuesday for one year, this man showed up. And he said, with patience and with availability, he taught him the things of faith. And he said, this man's commitment to the process, his time, his patience, formed him into the person of faith he would become. As I even share that, those are the two words that stand out to me in this story. This whole evangelizer, this enterprise that we call evangelism. Availability and patience. I believe God can convert a person in an instant. But y'all, we live in a day where people are here for the long haul. I don't have anything against God. God can do whatever He wants to do. Amen. He can convert people how he wants to convert, but Christianity is a relationship. It's a relationship with Almighty God. And many times we do all right, but it's that horizontal piece that gives power and authenticity to the third to the vertical piece. And we have to be a people that are available and patient when we rep our faith. And all we have to do is think about how God has dealt with us. Anybody here know that God's been patient with you? I'm just asking the question. Has God ever been available to you? Then surely we ought to do the same for others. That's kind of what I think Paul is conveying here in the text when he talks about this door that he's looking to be open. Not saying how smart you are or how eloquent you are with your words. I think he's simply saying that as people of God, when we rep our faith, we have to learn to be available. We gotta learn to be a patience. Those are the two pillars that's gonna help people to see the faith. Matter of fact, here's my thesis statement at the forefront. God is already doing a work in us and for us when we rep our faith. In other words, if we would simply be available to people, if we would simply exercise some patience in the way God is patient with us. Isn't it amazing how we forget how God has been patient with us when it comes to dealing with other folk? You're talking to the parents. Now you're impatient with those kids. Somebody was patient with you now, amen. Pastor, you didn't have to say that. Yes, I did. We gotta remember God was patient with us, He's still patient with us. And if we would be patient with others and we would be available, God would do a work in us and for us. He'll do what you and I could never do. You don't have the power to save anybody, nor do I. But if we're available, does anybody know God can open a door? That's what he does. He works through us and for us. A meditation text shows us how God works through us. He says we are ambassadors for Christ as though God were making an appeal through us. We kind of understand what an ambassador is. An ambassador reps his home country to another country. And what that ambassador does, he he makes a case for those interests and those issues that are important to his people. And hopefully, in making the case, he can build a bridge where the two nations can have a different diplomatic relations. And in the same way, that's what Paul says, that that God, he's the one working through us. He's building a case through us. We're not even aware of it. God's working in us, making a case for the gospel to be reconciled to him. And understand when he's talking about making this case, I don't think he's talking about that logical case or that apologetic case. And surely there are times that we ought to be able to articulate and lay out and stipulate exactly where we stand when it comes to Jesus. But I don't think that's what he's talking about right here when he says make a case. I think he's talking about the language of divinity that cannot be articulated with human vocabulary. In other words, that God uses our lives as a platform for the power of the gospel. In other words, many times you don't even have to say a word, and folk will look at your life and they'll see what you've been through. And yet somehow you show up to work or you show up at the reunion, and you still got a smile on your face, you still got a pep in your step, you still got joy and hope for the future. And quietly in their mind, them asking the question what is their secret? See, that's God using divine language through your life that cannot be communicated with human vocabulary. But everybody knows that God is doing something in your life. Oh, I wish I had a witness today. If I could just testify what God has done in my life. Because folk ain't interested in a mid-tribulation period position in your eschatology. They want to know, does God care for me? They want to know, is God real? Does God understand what I'm going through? So, on the one hand, that's what Paul is talking about, God works through us. When God brings you through something, sometimes all you gotta do is share your story. Sometimes just let your story flow. And that's how God works through us. But also, our text shows us how God works for us. Old folks say God can open doors that no man can close, God can close doors that no man can open as well. And in a sense, that's what Paul's talking about when he asked for that open door in this text. Just as then today, culturally, people were close to the gospel. And just like then and today, God has to supernaturally open a door that people will hear the gospel. And we know that people are closed to Christianity today. People are close to the church and all that the church represents. But there's another element here that many times we miss as Christians. And I think sometimes we misunderstand when it comes to the gospel. Not only is there a sense that God has to open the door culturally, but understand God has to open the door theologically. In other words, you have to understand, and I have to understand the heartbeat of the gospel. Paul said it like this we were dead in trespasses and sin. What does that mean? That means that it's not just that God could save me, but God had to awaken me to put me in the position to be able to respond to salvation. That I was so far from God that I was spiritually dead, incapable, unable to respond to the very voice of God. And so a very good picture of this is when God breathed on Adam in Genesis chapter 2. All he was was a hunk of clay, y'all. He couldn't think, he couldn't feel, he couldn't respond to God. But God got close to him. Y'all don't hear me today. Got close enough and just exhale. And if God exhale, Adam inhale, and became a living soul. Oh, that's my story, y'all. I don't know what he's having together, y'all. Matter of fact, I ain't got it together right now. But God just came close to me. And he happened to exhale on me and breathe salvation into my life. Tell your neighbor, salvation is a miracle, y'all. Not only that God just saved us, but he enabled us to believe the gospel. Tell your neighbor, that's a miracle. Because a lot of Christians get this wrong. We think, well, I'm a pretty good person. That's not enough. A lot of good persons ain't going to heaven. A lot of good people. Well, Pastor, I grew up in church. That's not enough. Lot of folk grew up in church, they ain't going to heaven. Well, well, Pastor, I've been a Christian all my life. First of all, that's impossible. I wish I had a witness. Because if you know the gospel, you can't be a Christian all your life. At some point, God's gotta breathe life on you and bring you into the kingdom. You won't even fake your whole body. The only reason why I'm saying, because God got close to me and exhale and I inhale the salvation winds of the Holy Ghost. And I was born again and made brand new. My point is, we gotta understand we're not good enough. And if God had to open a door for us, how many of y'all know He gotta do it for everybody else? See, that's why Jeremiah declared that the heart of man is desperately wicked, who can know it? Genesis 8 says the intention of man's heart is evil from his youth. And Romans 3 says it like this there's no one who is righteous. No, not one. There is no one who understands, there's no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless. There is no one who does good, not even one. I don't care if you've never had a jaywalking ticket, I don't care if you've never even killed a fly. We all stand guilty before a holy and righteous God. We're all morally bankrupt. Save the blood of Jesus Christ and the power and gracious work of the Holy Ghost that gave me life. We're all condemned to eternal damnation. And we, we, we are here because God opened the door, y'all. It's the only reason why we praise him, it's the only reason why we give thanks and worship him, because God has opened our eyes, God has opened our ears so that we can hear his voice. And because of that, we worship him. R.C. Sprobe may have said it the best. If you don't know the depth of your sin and how lost you are, you can't even appreciate the greatness of grace. Because God has been good to us. I didn't get here because I was good, y'all. Didn't get here because I was smart, didn't get here because of the letters behind my name. I didn't get here because I was born in the right or the wrong family or the right or wrong side of tracks. I'm not here because of politics, I'm not here because I got good theology. I'm here because God is good. And if we're gonna rep our faith, we've got to make sure they get the whole story. We gotta get off our religious hot horse and let folk know hey, I'm in the same boat with you. Save the wonderful grace of God. Let me give you these three and get on out your way. So, what's a simple approach to repping our faith? Number one, it's simple, it's right in the text. Start with prayer. He says it right there: devote yourselves to prayer. If God's gonna open the door, how many of y'all know we gotta pray? We gotta pray that God will open that door. And here he's talking about prayer in terms of as a way of life. Don't just do it every now and then. Don't do it because we're in church on Sunday morning. Pray when you hit the parking lot. Pray when you're driving down the street and you want to cut somebody off and cuss them out. Pray in the name of Jesus. Y'all don't hear me today. He said, I want a whole lifestyle of prayer. Daniel prayed three times a day. And look at all that God showed him about the end times. 1 Thessalonians 5:17 says, Pray without ceasing. And that phrase, praying without ceasing, is someone that has an intermittent cough. It's like they have a cold and they can't stop coughing. Paul says, imagine yourself getting a cold or a bad cough. And as often as you cough, that's how often you ought to pray. We ought to pray at all times. And let me help somebody. When you share the gospel and you're talking to somebody, particularly when somebody opens their life to you, you can always ask them, can I pray for you? That's that's good evangelism right there. Can I just pray for you? Because here's the real issue. Sometimes folk got to see God for themselves. I know what God did in your life, but he ain't done that in my life yet. And if God has done that for you, can we trust God to do the same for somebody else? So sometimes when people open their lives and they come to us, which says something about your life, when people tell you something that they share and they're a little bit ashamed of, they say they trust you. That you've already got some capital that God's been working, that plea in our hearts. He's building the case. The case has convinced them this is somebody I can talk to. You can always ask to pray for them. And here's what I discover when you start praying for folk. When you pray for folk, you discover what you thought you knew about them, you really didn't know. See, sometimes the reason why God doesn't move fast, because God wants us to learn them. Why? Because God wants us to love them the way they need to be loved, not the way we want. Y'all don't hear me today. See, a lot of times we want these quick conversions because it's more about us than it is them. But God uses prayer to change us so that we pray for them the right way. Devote yourselves to prayer. Other thing he says about prayer, you gotta be watchful. Another translation says, be alert. The word picture here is that of a security guard on post. Be watchful, be on alert. Because how many of y'all know the minute you start praying for somebody's salvation, the devil's gonna show up? And hear me well on this. The moment we decide to rep our faith for God, the moment we want people to trust Christ by faith, we're declaring war on Satan's kingdom. I'm gonna say this again: the devil is not interested in Christians that pose no threat to their kingdom. I'm gonna say this again. Because a lot of Christians talk about what the devil is doing. No, that's just your mess. But if you never do anything for justice, you never do anything for righteousness, you never do anything for evangelism, you never do anything for ministry or outreach, the devil is not interested in anyone that's not a threat to his kingdom. And a whole lot of Christians that's claiming the devil is on their case. No, that's just you on your own case. But the moment you start influencing people for the gospel, the moment you start transferring soldiers from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light, does anybody know the devil said, wait a minute, you done started something up in him. And messing with Satan's subjects is like messing with a black man's money. You mess with my money, baby, you won't have a fight on your hands. Tell your neighbor, be alert, be alert. When we pray, we're doing serious battle and serious spiritual warfare. And we must be aware. And the moment God opens a door, you better believe me, the devil is gonna do everything in his power to close it. Don't be surprised if things go south in their life. I've seen it too often. Seriously. The moment you pray about them, the moment they start asking questions about Jesus and the word and the church, it's amazing the stuff that just falls apart in their lives. Doubt begins to creep in, and they begin to question whether God is real. That's because you're dealing with serious spiritual warfare. See, some of us don't understand the devil. The devil will give you blessing, car, everything you want if he knows he can get you in hell after you die. He'll give you whatever you want. As long as you don't mention Jesus. Tell your neighbor, I'm here for Jesus, baby. We're gonna make a stand for Jesus. So, number one, B, we gotta pray. We gotta pray. Stop praying. Number two, don't forget wisdom. Don't forget wisdom. If God's gonna open the door, we must be wise with our words. Our approach and way of life. Listen to what Paul says. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly. As I should. Be wise in the way you act toward outside of. In other words, Paul said, Look, I gotta think about how I say it. Now, Peter says Paul's letters sometimes can be confusing. I said, Amen. Because Paul can be so profound and deep, he don't even know what he's talking about. And here, Paul says, I gotta pray that God keeps me down to the simple stuff. And sometimes, y'all, we complicate it, make it more difficult than it needs to be. We think we gotta know all this theology, we gotta know all this Greek and all this Hebrew. No, no. Folk just wanna know, is God real? And how do you know God is real? Can I give you one for free? Folk are afraid. They're afraid. I I was I was getting a uh a service, a service for someone uh this week, and and it blew me away. Because usually when you go sign up for a service, you gotta talk to a customer service rep, they gotta sit down with you with an iPad. It's gonna take 20, 30 minutes. It's just a hat, it's just a hassle. I talked to an AI customer service rep. And they had that thing sold to me in seven minutes. AI took somebody's job. You don't think people are not afraid? People are afraid, y'all. And and I'm gonna say it again, Shay, you bless me with that song. Folk need to know who still got the power. He's the king of kings and the lord of lords. See, I needed that. Because you look at what's going on in the world, makes you wonder now who got the power. But but see, I got reminded today. No, God still got the power. It may look like somebody else got the power, but make no mistake, he's still on the throne, he got the power. It looks like it's headed south, it looks like motherfuckers got in control, but don't get it twisted. He still got the power. He raised Jesus from the dead, he still has the power. Here it is. Here it is, here it is. Some people, some people are emboldened, and sometimes you're gonna need some discernment as when to speak and when not to speak. That's a tough one. No, that's a tough one because sometimes you can speak and you can push them away forever. Am I right about it? But sometimes God won't let you rest. I wish I had a witness on that. He likes, I'm not gonna let you rest on this until you tell that person that this is gonna happen. And the question is, how do you speak in a situation where they're emboldened? You don't want to run them away, but at the same time, you don't want to be so passive and miss an opportunity. And the Lord brought back to mind a way we can know it. And and it really goes back to when my oldest son, he was about four years old. And my wife had me take him to the doctor. And I'm still mad at her to this day about it. Because she didn't tell me I was taking him to the doctor to get some shots. Tell your neighbor, that's wrong. That's wrong. Tell your neighbor, they tell you to take him to the doctor, and they're four years old, you better ask him, is it for shots? Is it for shots? So I took him to the doctor to get shots. Doctor said he got to get the rest of his shots. I said, You finna do it now? He said, Yeah. I said, Oh Lord. So I held on to T. And he's holding on to me. He just glad his dad holding on, he got a big old smile. But when he popped that needle in his arm, he screamed in horror. But then he looked at me. Oh my God. I can still see his face. He looked at me with the face of betrayal. Why are you letting him do this to me? And my heart just broke it to a thousand pieces. And see, you know what I did, y'all? I just held him tighter. I just held him tighter, Shay. I held him tighter. He kept on screaming. And I held him tighter. But the third time I grabbed him tighter, guess what? He started grabbing me tighter. He realized daddy ain't trying to hurt me. But my father's trying to help me. Has anybody ever been there? You thought God was telling you a lot? But God held you tighter. He held you closer. And you discover God's trying to hurt you. He was trying to help you. That's what you're doing. You got a whole bunch of them. Baby, I ain't trying to kill you. But I'm trying to save you. Let me get this thing out of here. Last one, watch your conversation. Watch the conversation. Let your conversation always be full of what? What? What? Say it again. Tell your neighbor what? Now, neighbor, tell them. Not hot chili peppers. And Paul makes sure you don't miss it. Season with salt. Not peppers. Gotta make it pleasant. Use good flavors in your conversation. And not just with outsiders or non-people of faith, but with all people. Give them grace. What does this mean? Listen to them before you answer. And give a good listen. Even if you disagree. Give them respect and the dignity they deserve as human beings, even though your convictions are against where they stand. God's not telling us to compromise our convictions, y'all. But you can still leave their dignity intact. What is this book called? Radical Candor, and she talks about radical candor. Radical candor is being able to tell the brutal truth without brutalizing them. That's the challenge of Christianity today. We gotta be honest and tell the truth without bludgeting and without condemning people, but letting them know that God is real and God loves you, but this is where He stands. Truth without condemnation. Grace filled conversation, courteous, patient, encouraging, truthful. A lot of salt. Well, not too much salt. You get high blood pressure, so be careful. But make an appeal. Watch our conversation. My point is, y'all, it's the long haul. It's a process. Let me close with this and I'm done. Let me close this thing out. And so we're gonna rep our faith the right way. We gotta be in for the long haul. And I read one book and I thought he nailed it in terms of what he was trying to say about the long haul. And he was talking about the process of conversion or transformation. And there are individuals that have used different images trying to help us understand how this whole process works when we're building relationships for conversion. One image was used of like frying an egg. You know, you crack the egg and scramble it up, throw it in the skillet and fry it. That's quick. And so that's the old way. And basically, what the author was talking about, that's a way that's gonna be completely discarded. You just can't do it that way. That may have worked a hundred years ago, that never will work today. What may have worked in my time was how coffee is brewed. It's in the hot water, you gotta get some heat in there. But you let it set over time and you sit with it. And if you let it brew, it gets a good flavor to it. And that that might be the way, but even that's getting a little old because it's it's it doesn't fit our time because that's kind of quick. This recent one, he said, no, it's like cooking stew in a Dutch oven. Any cooks in the house? Anybody know what a Dutch oven is? Kind of like a crock pot, right? When you cook with a Dutch oven, you ain't trying to cook something in five minutes. No, you you're gonna cook it for about five hours. Now, now here's what I discovered about a Dutch oven. They say Dutch ovens are wonderful for cooking stews and pot roasts, it gets it real tender. They say the problem is though, if you cook it with a Dutch oven and you walk away from it for about 15 minutes, you're gonna burn up what's in the pot. But now, if you want to make sure the meal comes out perfectly, you gotta constantly stir it. You gotta constantly keep your hand on it. You can't step away for longer than five or ten minutes. Can't run over and watch a little TV or run around the block or run this or run to the store. No, you gotta constantly stir it for five hours. You gotta sacrifice your time and stir it. But now, if you just keep on stirring it and you don't let it stick to the bottom and you don't let it burn up, it will come out the best tasting stew. What are you trying to say, Pastor? If you just constantly give it attention, if you're constantly available to it and you're patient with it, it will come out and taste just fine. Does anybody know that's how God worked on your life? Oh, you ain't always been a Christian. But when you started this journey, God just slowly was through in your life. And he just slowly stirred your life. And though there were times you should have burned up, God kept on stirring. He kept on stirring. Because he believed that the impact was better than the moment that you were going through. And because he was patient and available to you, he brought you in the salvation. And if God has done that for us, shouldn't we do that for other people? Does anybody know we son of a good God? Does anybody know we son of a merciful God? Hallelujah to his glorious name. We have a great salvation. His grace is tremendous. He walks with me and talks with me. He's stirring my life every single day. Hallelujah. Hallelujah to his name. Let's pray, y'all. Father, we bless you and thank you so much for who you are and for all that you say and do. And Lord, we want to rep our faith right. I'm glad that we got these t-shirts on. We're wrapping our faith in here. But Lord, I hope that we all understand from the pulpit to the pew, including myself, this is practice for what you have planned when we leave here. So many people are afraid. So many people, Lord, want to know if you're real. And so many doors, I believe, Lord, that you're opening, you're awakening people. God, give us the spiritual discernment, the wisdom to know that we can rep our faith. First and foremost, thank you for every Christian here today that's already doing this. And I know there are many here that pray and use wisdom and look for opportunities to share the gospel. Pray, Lord, that you would continue to honor those requests. Pray, Lord, you would open those doors. We all can share the gospel. But then, oh God, you don't just want a few. You want all of us to rep our faith. Because the truth is, Lord, we all got a story. How you stirred our lives, kept us from burning up, kept us from sticking, and you still keep working in our lives. May that story resonate with somebody else. May it land for others. They too may be reconciled to God through Jesus Christ. Have your way this day. Jesus' name. Amen. Let's prepare our hearts for God.