SPEAKER_00: Hi, my name is Michelle Steele.
SPEAKER_00: Pastor Phillip and I want to thank you for listening to this message from Life of Faith Church.
SPEAKER_00: We have more resources available to help you build your faith and frame your world by the Word of God.
SPEAKER_00: From our website, lifeoffaith.net, you can connect to our YouTube channel.
SPEAKER_00: Watch the live stream feed from our church services.
SPEAKER_00: Access books and downloads in our web store.
SPEAKER_00: And discover more about Life of Faith Church.
SPEAKER_00: Producing life city, state, nation, and world.
SPEAKER_00: Visit lifeoffaith.net today.
SPEAKER_01: So let's go over to Matthew 15 or Matthew 5, excuse me.
SPEAKER_01: And uh over the next few weeks I want to look at this subject of the harvest heart.
SPEAKER_01: The harvest heart.
SPEAKER_01: And um, you know, God has called every believer to influence others with the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: All right, every believer.
SPEAKER_01: And I use the word influence because that's that's the phrase God gave me years ago, probably 20 years ago, uh, about how every believer is an influence.
SPEAKER_01: And um, you know, there there's there's different ways that people present this, and and I understand that, I do.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, uh, and and I think sometimes that people uh live under the mistaken idea that, you know, some churches are evangelistic and some churches are word churches, and some churches are prophecy churches, and other churches are deeper life churches, and this, that, and the other.
SPEAKER_01: But the scripture tells us, bottom line, end of discussion, that every believer is to go into every person's world and preach the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: That's what the word says.
SPEAKER_01: And the word preach is to proclaim the good news.
SPEAKER_01: Doesn't mean you have to be a preacher in the sense of standing behind the pulpit, right?
SPEAKER_01: I I've heard people uh, you know, talk about and and jokingly say, you know, that uh by the time the uh Pentecostal church catches up to the Baptist, we'll get the other half of the world saved.
SPEAKER_01: You know, I don't, I don't, I don't know how true that is, but the the point is that I'm making is it's not a thing of pressure.
SPEAKER_01: It's not a thing of making somebody feel like they've always got to put themselves out there.
SPEAKER_01: The reason why we give you a track is you may not have to say anything, just, hey, I just want to bless you with this, and give them a track and let them read it on their own.
SPEAKER_01: Every person has to respond to the gospel when it is presented to them at some point.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: If they reject it according to the scripture, that's between them and God.
SPEAKER_01: They will have to stand before God for that because the gospel was presented.
SPEAKER_01: When we make something difficult, we make something hard, we make something challenging, when we paint the picture that people are just hard-hearted and they don't want to respond to the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: I can't find, I can't say any stronger that there's nothing that could be further from the truth.
SPEAKER_01: I have very rarely spoken to anybody about the goodness of God where they were just hard-hearted and rebuffed it.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, there's been those people that have been that way, but by and large, the people that I've ever spoken to about the love of God and the mercy of God were open to it and receptive, whether they received it or not.
SPEAKER_01: They would listen to what had to be said.
SPEAKER_01: My job is to be an influence.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Say out loud, I'm an influence for the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: So God's called every believer to be an influence.
SPEAKER_01: In Matthew chapter 5, verse 13.
SPEAKER_01: Notice Jesus said in verse 13, you are the salt of the earth, but if the salt has lost its savor, wherewith shall it be salted?
SPEAKER_01: It is therefore good for nothing but to be cast out and trodden underfoot of men.
SPEAKER_01: You are the light of the world.
SPEAKER_01: A city that's set on a hill cannot be hid.
SPEAKER_01: Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick, and it gives light unto all that are in the house.
SPEAKER_01: Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
SPEAKER_01: Now, if we boil this down to the lowest common denominator, Jesus says that we are salt and we are light as believers.
SPEAKER_01: Now, what are salt and light?
SPEAKER_01: Influences.
SPEAKER_01: Salt influences the way your food tastes.
SPEAKER_01: If you taste it and you think it's a little bland, maybe you put a little salt on it.
SPEAKER_01: It influences the way whatever you're eating tastes.
SPEAKER_01: When you come into a room and it's dark, you turn on the light and it influences the room.
SPEAKER_01: It influences what you're able to see.
SPEAKER_01: Salt and light are influences.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus said that we're the light of the world.
SPEAKER_01: We're the light of the world.
SPEAKER_01: Now remember, the world, again, is not the blue marble that we live in or on.
SPEAKER_01: It's the people.
SPEAKER_01: When Jesus talked about the world, he said, remember to his disciples in John 17, he said, You are not of this world, even as I am not of this world.
SPEAKER_01: Well, he couldn't have meant the planet because he was on the planet with them.
SPEAKER_01: You're not of the channel, the substance that something came from.
SPEAKER_01: You're not from this world.
SPEAKER_01: You're from the Father.
SPEAKER_01: You're from heaven.
SPEAKER_01: And so he said, You're the light of the world.
SPEAKER_01: So the world, meaning the people group, when they see us, they're going to see the light.
SPEAKER_01: They're going to be influenced by what we believe about Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus said, We're the light that the world sees.
SPEAKER_01: And know this the light in us cannot be hidden.
SPEAKER_01: You know, when you just live your life as a Christian before non-believers, the light in you just can't be hidden.
SPEAKER_01: Because it's just evident that something is different about you.
SPEAKER_01: I can't tell you the times that, especially when I was working in the corporate world, when people would just come to me and say, you know, there's just something different about you.
SPEAKER_01: And then, you know, I could take that a couple of different ways.
SPEAKER_01: You know, I mean, there's something different about me, obviously, but there's something different about me.
SPEAKER_01: Ever what it may be.
SPEAKER_01: It could be you're always joyful, you're always smiling, you're you've always got something good to say, or whatever.
SPEAKER_01: I've had people come to me and say, you don't get involved with all the office politics or whatever.
SPEAKER_01: What's different about you?
SPEAKER_01: And it would inevitably open the door for me to share Christ with them.
SPEAKER_01: Well, let me tell you what's different about me.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not of this world.
SPEAKER_01: I have light on the inside of me.
SPEAKER_01: I'm born again.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: It that's influence.
SPEAKER_01: And so your influence is not you just always going and starting a Bible study at your job.
SPEAKER_01: It might be that eventually.
SPEAKER_01: But what about just going and being saw and light everywhere that you go?
SPEAKER_01: Well, I'm gonna show you how to do this.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna show you from the Word of God.
SPEAKER_01: This is so important.
SPEAKER_01: I remember when I a certain neighbor of mine, I didn't know if they were born again.
SPEAKER_01: And I thought, I need to make sure, right?
SPEAKER_01: Because I don't want to be a preacher in a neighborhood with people on either side of me, and you get to heaven and none of your neighbors got saved, and you never checked if they were born again.
SPEAKER_01: I can't think of any more frightening thing to me than that, than to get to heaven and people that live right next to me didn't hear the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: That bothers me.
SPEAKER_01: And so I waited and I waited and I never, you know, it seemed like the door never opened up and the opportunity never came.
SPEAKER_01: But uh my one of my neighbors, his dad passed away, and his brother and he had to go to California and deal with his dad's affairs.
SPEAKER_01: And so I knew this from talking to his wife.
SPEAKER_01: And uh, so anyway, he came back and it was around Christmas time, and it was one of those, you know, real crisp days in winter, you know, and and it's just beautiful, and it wasn't really cold, but it was still a little chill chill in the air.
SPEAKER_01: And Lily and I were out in the backyard playing, and and uh, and he came out and and he came walking over with uh uh uh a bowl of uh what they call it, chow chow, or you know, you know what I'm talking about?
SPEAKER_01: His wife had made it for Christmas and he wanted to give it to us.
SPEAKER_01: She said, Philip, I wanted to give you this and tell you Merry Christmas.
SPEAKER_01: I said, Well, thank you.
SPEAKER_01: And I started talking to him about his trip.
SPEAKER_01: I said, uh, so you know, you had to go to California and get your dad's affairs in order.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: And uh I said, okay.
SPEAKER_01: I said, all right, well, good deal.
SPEAKER_01: And we we started talking, and and uh he said, uh, you know, I'm just I'm just glad he was ready.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, Oh, so you, you know, he was ready to meet the Lord?
SPEAKER_01: He goes, Oh yeah, he was ready to meet the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: And that that just opened the door.
SPEAKER_01: I said, Well, you ready to meet the Lord?
SPEAKER_01: He said, Yeah, I'm ready to meet the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: I'm born again, I'm saved.
SPEAKER_01: I'm I I got born again, you know, my mom led me to the Lord and opened up the door for me.
SPEAKER_01: And so here's the point.
SPEAKER_01: No, I didn't get to lead him to the Lord, but here's the thing.
SPEAKER_01: I wanted to make sure that he's ready to meet Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Well, what's the best way to do that?
SPEAKER_01: To be an influence.
SPEAKER_01: Just be an influence.
SPEAKER_01: And so I was always trying to influence him.
SPEAKER_01: How can I help?
SPEAKER_01: How, you know, if you if you have this or whatever, you know, you're out of town, we'll pick up your packages.
SPEAKER_01: Here's the point.
SPEAKER_01: He said the light in me can't be hidden.
SPEAKER_01: There's a reason the Bible calls you an alien, a stranger.
SPEAKER_01: This world, when we sing the song, remember the song we used to sing in church growing up?
SPEAKER_01: Maybe some of y'all don't remember it.
SPEAKER_01: This world is not my home.
SPEAKER_01: I'm just a passing through.
SPEAKER_01: My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue.
SPEAKER_01: The angels beckoned me from heaven's open shore, and I can't feel at home in this world anymore.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because I'm not of this world.
SPEAKER_01: I am a stranger.
SPEAKER_01: The moment that I was born again, I became different from the world.
SPEAKER_01: I became an alien.
SPEAKER_01: I became a stranger.
SPEAKER_01: Heaven became my home.
SPEAKER_01: The citizenship was transferred from this earth to heaven.
SPEAKER_01: Now I'm in this earth.
SPEAKER_01: I have a legal right through the authority given to a blood and flesh man in this earth to operate.
SPEAKER_01: But this is not home.
SPEAKER_01: I'm here occupying for the kingdom of heaven, and I'm doing everything we can, and you're doing everything you can to make heaven crowded and reach as many people as we can for Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Glory to God.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: He said, You don't light a candle and put it under a basket.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: He said you put it where it can have the most influence.
SPEAKER_01: You put it on a lampstand, you put it where it can shine everywhere.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Now notice, he said it lights up the whole house.
SPEAKER_01: A house is representative of my life, my sphere of influence.
SPEAKER_01: So I put my light where everybody can see it.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: You know, people make fun of things like this.
SPEAKER_01: That's okay if they do.
SPEAKER_01: I like Christian t-shirts.
SPEAKER_01: I like wearing them.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because people ask questions.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: I've got a shirt that on the back, it has this picture on the back of it and with these big words.
SPEAKER_01: God, use my life in any way that you see fit.
SPEAKER_01: We were in Branson, and I was wearing that shirt with a certain cap that I wear, and people, oh, I like your shirt.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, I like your cap.
SPEAKER_01: I like this, I like that.
SPEAKER_01: Now, here's what I'm trying to say.
SPEAKER_01: I know that there are people that get weird with things.
SPEAKER_01: And you know they make fun of Christian t-shirts.
SPEAKER_01: But I'm trying to shine my light.
SPEAKER_01: When you bow your head at the restaurant and pray, you're shining your light.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: We don't do headache prayers.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: No, we we bow our heads, we take hands.
SPEAKER_01: Father, in the name of Jesus, we thank you for this food.
SPEAKER_01: We thank you that you've blessed it to the nourishment of our bodies.
SPEAKER_01: Every how we want to do why?
SPEAKER_01: We're the light in the world.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Say out loud, I'm the light in the world.
SPEAKER_01: See, a house is representative of my life, of my sphere of influence.
SPEAKER_01: See, your sphere of influence is far bigger than just the church that we come to every Sunday.
SPEAKER_01: It's my neighborhood, it's it's my city to a certain extent.
SPEAKER_01: It's Kroger, it's right, it's Whole Foods, it's it's wherever you go to eat.
SPEAKER_01: Now, the light has just come into that room.
SPEAKER_01: There might be other believers there, but I'm taking my responsibility to be light seriously.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: When I go to my job, I'm taking my responsibility to be light seriously.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm asking God, who can I touch today?
SPEAKER_01: Who can I reach today?
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: When I go to the gym every morning, uh not every morning, certain days I go, I go there, other days I'm running.
SPEAKER_01: But when I go, there's guys there, they're really nice guys, and I keep asking the Lord, Lord, give me an open door, give me an avenue to share the gospel with them.
SPEAKER_01: Give us five minutes somewhere where we can enter into conversation about some things.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because once again, I don't want to just go and be the guy that hangs out in the corner by myself and I'm there and I'm not sure about what everybody else thinks.
SPEAKER_01: I want to be that influence.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Because the word has changed my life.
SPEAKER_01: And you hear people talking about their problems, and you think to yourself, they need the word.
SPEAKER_01: Well, the word won't help them until they know the author of the word, until they know the one that authored it, the one that spoke it into existence.
SPEAKER_01: Once they know the author, the word can begin to operate in their lives.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Glory to God.
SPEAKER_01: People see the goodness of God in our lives and glorify God.
SPEAKER_01: Now, I'm not going to take a lot of time on this because this is something that we'll get into in the coming weeks.
SPEAKER_01: But listen, one of the greatest witnesses you have is when you come through things that nobody thought you could come through.
SPEAKER_01: But you came out of it.
SPEAKER_01: One of the greatest witnesses you have is when you go through something that should have stopped you, that you should never have come out of, but God brought you out of it.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Do you see this?
SPEAKER_01: And so people see the goodness of God and glorify God.
SPEAKER_01: Look at 1 Timothy 1.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: 1 Timothy chapter 1 and verse 12.
SPEAKER_01: Now, when you go through the uh the New Testament, you'll find that Paul did something three times in the New Testament.
SPEAKER_01: Paul gave his testimony.
SPEAKER_01: Three times.
SPEAKER_01: I remember we were we were talking with a minister one time uh in uh the back of our church in the Kansas location.
SPEAKER_01: It'd been a special meeting.
SPEAKER_01: Mark Hankins is who it was, and we we were speaking with him, and he was talking to Michelle about uh her testimony, where God had brought her from, and he looked at her and he said, Never quit sharing your testimony.
SPEAKER_01: Don't ever quit sharing it.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Because three different times in the New Testament, Paul gave his testimony, and it always resulted in great fruit, and it always will.
SPEAKER_01: You know, everywhere God brought you from, you're not that person anymore, but a testimony is what?
SPEAKER_01: A testimony is a an eyewitness account given by a witness that says, I was there, and this is what I saw, and this is what happened.
SPEAKER_01: I I was that man or that woman dead in sin, but I witnessed it.
SPEAKER_01: I I saw it, I saw the life of God come into me.
SPEAKER_01: I saw my life change.
SPEAKER_01: This is what I was, but this is what I am.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: And Paul three times gave his testimony.
SPEAKER_01: Notice in verse 12, he says, I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, for he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious, but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation.
SPEAKER_01: In other words, what we're about to read to read is worthy of everybody accepting it.
SPEAKER_01: No questions.
SPEAKER_01: What's worthy of all acceptation?
SPEAKER_01: That Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief.
SPEAKER_01: Howbeit, for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all long suffering as a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting.
SPEAKER_01: So Paul describes his past.
SPEAKER_01: He says, I was a blasphemer, I slandered the church.
SPEAKER_01: Remember, Paul wrote one time and he said, I'm the least of all the apostles because I persecuted the church.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: He said, I was a blasphemer, right?
SPEAKER_01: I slandered what was going on in the church.
SPEAKER_01: Then he said, I was a persecutor, I persecuted the church.
SPEAKER_01: I chased them down.
SPEAKER_01: The book of Acts says in Acts chapter 8 and 9 that Paul was yet breathing out threatenings against the church.
SPEAKER_01: And that he went everywhere hailing men and women and dragging them off to court and to prison.
SPEAKER_01: When you look at that in the Greek, it means he grabbed them by their feet and drug them feet first down the street to prison.
SPEAKER_01: And he thought he was doing God a service as he did it.
SPEAKER_01: But he's giving his testimony.
SPEAKER_01: And he says, This is where I was.
SPEAKER_01: I was injurious.
SPEAKER_01: One that enjoyed seeing people put on trial.
SPEAKER_01: He enjoyed that.
SPEAKER_01: The definition is one who does them some shameful act of wrong.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: But notice, he says, despite all I was, I received grace.
SPEAKER_01: Despite all I was, I received grace.
SPEAKER_01: Because this is why Jesus came into the world.
SPEAKER_01: I say, this is why Jesus came into the world.
SPEAKER_01: Paul is saying, if I receive grace, you can receive grace.
SPEAKER_01: That's influence.
SPEAKER_01: If he did it for me, he'll do it for you.
SPEAKER_01: If he changed my life, he'll change your life.
SPEAKER_01: Whatever it is, if he healed my body, he wants to heal your body.
SPEAKER_01: If he put my marriage back together, he wants to put your marriage back together.
SPEAKER_01: If he saved me, he'll save you.
SPEAKER_01: He said, I'm a pattern.
SPEAKER_01: You're a pattern for people to look at.
SPEAKER_01: If God did this for me, he'll do it for you.
SPEAKER_01: And notice what he said.
SPEAKER_01: What was the reason Jesus came into the earth?
SPEAKER_01: To save sinners.
SPEAKER_01: Why did Jesus come into the earth?
SPEAKER_01: To save sinners.
SPEAKER_01: That's why he came.
SPEAKER_01: The ultimate goal of the church and the ultimate reason for the existence of the church is to win the world to Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: That's the ultimate reason.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, there are great times of teaching and there are great times of coming together and digging into the Word of God, and we'll always need that and we'll always do that.
SPEAKER_01: But the number one mission of the church is to win souls to Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: That's the number one mission.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: And Paul said, I received grace.
SPEAKER_01: What if I had just five people that would say, you know, I received grace?
SPEAKER_01: Even though what I was doing, I was willfully, knowingly doing it.
SPEAKER_01: But I received grace.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: One of the most effective ways to influence others is to tell them what God has done for you.
SPEAKER_01: What has God done for you?
SPEAKER_01: Where did God bring you from?
SPEAKER_01: How did God change your life?
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: See, I can I I can I can never, we none of us can ever get to this point where we just get.
SPEAKER_01: Comfortable coexisting with the world.
SPEAKER_01: And the light is not affecting them.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Do you see that?
SPEAKER_01: I think about that constantly.
SPEAKER_01: When I'm checking out at Kroger, I think, do they know Jesus?
SPEAKER_01: When I'm at the restaurant, I think about the servers.
SPEAKER_01: Do they know Jesus?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I'm here.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, number one, I'm a believer, but I'm a I'm a preacher.
SPEAKER_01: I'm a pastor.
SPEAKER_01: I have the answer.
SPEAKER_01: And I've had people say, you put too much pressure on yourself.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know that I can put too much pressure on myself.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know that I can do that.
SPEAKER_01: I think that's what we call the Great Commission.
SPEAKER_01: The Great Commission.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus said, Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
SPEAKER_01: He that believes and is baptized will be saved.
SPEAKER_01: He that believeth not will be condemned.
SPEAKER_01: And these signs shall follow them that believe.
SPEAKER_01: In my name, they'll cast out devils, right?
SPEAKER_01: They'll take up serpents.
SPEAKER_01: They'll drink any deadly thing.
SPEAKER_01: It'll not hurt them.
SPEAKER_01: And then what's it say?
SPEAKER_01: And then they went everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word with signs following.
SPEAKER_01: It's the co-mission.
SPEAKER_01: I have a co-mission with Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: The church has a co-mission with Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Glory to God.
SPEAKER_01: I remember one time in the Markham location, we were over there and we were having healing school.
SPEAKER_01: We've had healing school for over 10 years now, or nine years.
SPEAKER_01: And we were there, and there was this girl that had been coming to church.
SPEAKER_01: And, you know, she wasn't living for God, and it was evident that she wasn't living for God.
SPEAKER_01: And she came in and she had come to healing school.
SPEAKER_01: And I don't know what she said in the four-year.
SPEAKER_01: I don't remember.
SPEAKER_01: I wasn't out there to listen.
SPEAKER_01: But I do remember that somebody was there and they said, Oh my goodness, can you believe she's acting that way?
SPEAKER_01: Miss Gloria, who's working in the back with the kids, she just looked at the person, just patted them on the shoulder and said, Well, just get ready because more of those kind of people are coming.
SPEAKER_01: See, we got to get ready.
SPEAKER_01: The Lord has said to me for years, the babies are coming.
SPEAKER_01: And he said, they're going to need laps to sit on and people to feed them and people to change them and people to help them grow.
SPEAKER_01: You know, when God begins to mature us in the things of God, it's so that we can help others grow into the things of God.
SPEAKER_01: It's not so that I can just come and and receive and I just continually grow and I continually get strengthened.
SPEAKER_01: I am strengthened and I grow so I can help other people grow.
SPEAKER_01: He said in the book of Ephesians, he said that's what the five-fold ministry was for, for the edifying of the body of Christ, for the work of the ministry, until we all come into the unity of the of a mature man in Christ.
SPEAKER_01: So it's never, I don't ever come and just be matured.
SPEAKER_01: I come to be edified for the work of the ministry, to help other people grow into the things of God.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: And so one of the most effective ways to influence others is to tell them what God has done for you.
SPEAKER_01: Look at Luke chapter eight.
SPEAKER_01: There's a lot here about influence.
SPEAKER_01: Verse thirty-eight.
SPEAKER_01: I I was in John eight.
SPEAKER_01: It's Luke eight.
SPEAKER_01: I know I didn't make that big of a mistake.
SPEAKER_01: Luke eight, verse thirty-eight.
SPEAKER_01: Now the man out of whom the devils were departed, and this is who we commonly refer to as Legion, besought him, besought Jesus that he might be with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, What did he say?
SPEAKER_01: Return to your house and show how great things God has done to you.
SPEAKER_01: And he went his way and published throughout the whole city how great things Jesus had done to him.
SPEAKER_01: So Jesus says, You need to go home and influence others with what God has done for you.
SPEAKER_01: Go tell other people what God has done for you.
SPEAKER_01: The man wanted to go with Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: He wanted to be a part of that party.
SPEAKER_01: Of course he did.
SPEAKER_01: He had been, ever how long he had been in that demon-possessed state.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus shows up, and in a matter of moments, in a matter of minutes, he's set free, he's delivered, he's back in his right mind.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe he's back with his family.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe he can go back to his work.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
SPEAKER_01: But he says, I want to go with you.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus says, No, you will be better served, and your testimony will be better served if you go back and tell everybody how good things God has done for you.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: And everywhere he went, he's saying things like, I was that guy.
SPEAKER_01: Remember that guy?
SPEAKER_01: Remember the demon-possessed guy that I was him?
SPEAKER_01: That was me.
SPEAKER_01: But look what Jesus did for me.
SPEAKER_01: Look, I got the scars.
SPEAKER_01: This is where I cut myself.
SPEAKER_01: This is where I hurt myself.
SPEAKER_01: But look, Jesus set me free.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: You know, there is no shame in telling somebody, I used to do this, but Jesus set me free.
SPEAKER_01: There's no shame in telling somebody, I used to be a liar, but Jesus set me free.
SPEAKER_01: Or I used to be whatever, but Jesus set me free.
SPEAKER_01: No matter what you did or didn't do, here's one thing that we were all a part of.
SPEAKER_01: Every one of us were on our way to hell before we met the Master Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: If I don't have any other testimony than this, I was on my way to hell and Jesus stopped by and saved me and delivered me.
SPEAKER_01: I can tell you what a great thing God has done for me.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: I can let you know that.
SPEAKER_01: I've had people before they say, well, you know, I was raised in church.
SPEAKER_01: I don't have much of a testimony.
SPEAKER_01: Don't have much of a testimony.
SPEAKER_01: You mean God kept you all of those years?
SPEAKER_01: God saved you, and you never got out into sin and you never got out into that.
SPEAKER_01: That man, that's one of the best testimonies that could ever be.
SPEAKER_01: I think it's wonderful to see God deliver people from 20 years of addiction and 30 years of living in sin.
SPEAKER_01: But what about the person that God kept them from ever getting out there?
SPEAKER_01: Go tell people what great thing God has done for you.
SPEAKER_01: God kept me.
SPEAKER_01: You know, the doctor said I wasn't gonna make it, but I made it.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah! They gave me a terminal diagnosis, but God healed me.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, hallelujah! Amen.
SPEAKER_01: They said they said I would never be anything or anybody, but look what God has done for me.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: And then in your prayer time, you're just praying and you're saying, God, show me people that I can tell about what you have done for me.
SPEAKER_01: Show me somebody that I can go to and be an influence in their lives.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Go show them the love of God through what happened to you.
SPEAKER_01: Go show people what I've done for you.
SPEAKER_01: Tell how God saved you.
SPEAKER_01: Tell how God delivered you.
SPEAKER_01: Tell how God healed you.
SPEAKER_01: Tell how God brought you through a rough patch in your life.
SPEAKER_01: Ever what it may be.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Tell how God delivered you from the grief you were walking in.
SPEAKER_01: Tell how God delivered you from the depression you had.
SPEAKER_01: We've never had a time in our society when more people are dealing with anxiety and depression and dealing with those thoughts.
SPEAKER_01: We've never had a time like that.
SPEAKER_01: And there are people sitting in the church that have been delivered from that.
SPEAKER_01: And we got to go tell people there was a day when I had no joy.
SPEAKER_01: There was a day when I had no peace.
SPEAKER_01: But somehow, somehow, God came into my life and he delivered me.
SPEAKER_01: And every day may not be perfect, but I've got the answer for every day.
SPEAKER_01: There are no perfect people, and there are no perfect days, but there is a perfect, loving heavenly Father that'll help you every time you come to Him.
SPEAKER_01: And I just need you to know that.
SPEAKER_01: People need to know that God's for them.
SPEAKER_01: People need to know that God loves them.
SPEAKER_01: People need to know that God has a plan for their life.
SPEAKER_01: And who's He gonna, who are they gonna hear it from?
SPEAKER_01: Me and you.
SPEAKER_01: Because we know.
SPEAKER_01: We know that God will do that.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: And when you go talk to them and you begin to pray for them and you have an opportunity and you're inviting them to church, you're not just inviting them to a program, you're inviting them to the open door to the rest of their life.
SPEAKER_01: They're gonna hear something that maybe nobody else has ever cared to tell them.
SPEAKER_01: But somehow, somehow, God's gonna speak to them, and their life will irreversibly be changed.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Am I helping you?
SPEAKER_01: Tell how God saved you.
SPEAKER_01: Tell how God delivered you.
SPEAKER_01: I never tire of telling the story.
SPEAKER_01: You know, I for a couple years in my walk with God, I got away from the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: And it's not something obviously that I'm proud of.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not proud of anything that I did outside of God.
SPEAKER_01: But you know, I came back to God because it only took a couple years to almost lose everything.
SPEAKER_01: I came back real quick, not because I was losing everything, I was losing my life.
SPEAKER_01: I there was no joy, there was no peace.
SPEAKER_01: I came back to the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: I was living in Lanexa, Kansas.
SPEAKER_01: This was, my goodness, almost 40 years ago now.
SPEAKER_01: And I was living in Lanexa, Kansas, in a little apartment there.
SPEAKER_01: I was up one morning early, and I was just walking, I was just walking the little living room I had there praying.
SPEAKER_01: Because I had rededicated everything to the Lord and I'm praying.
SPEAKER_01: And I came across the scripture in Romans 8, verse 1.
SPEAKER_01: And it says, There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Now, where is that no condemnation found?
SPEAKER_01: Them that are in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: What does that mean?
SPEAKER_01: If you're not in Christ Jesus, condemnation is wearing you out.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: And and I read that verse.
SPEAKER_01: I, you know, I've I've I'm raised in church.
SPEAKER_01: I've heard that verse preached on.
SPEAKER_01: And I stopped and I put my hand on that verse and I shut that Bible and I said, Lord, I believe this.
SPEAKER_01: I believe there's no condemnation of those that are in Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And I made that commitment to him.
SPEAKER_01: I said, I don't know if you can still use my life.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if you even still want to use my life.
SPEAKER_01: But I'm telling you, as of this day, I'm yours, I'll give you everything I have.
SPEAKER_01: I repent for anything I've done wrong, and I'm asking you to use my life.
SPEAKER_01: No trumpet sounded, there were no fireworks, there were no loud choirs, woo, it was nothing like that, right?
SPEAKER_01: I didn't start floating, but I knew something.
SPEAKER_01: I knew that I had tapped into something.
SPEAKER_01: I had tapped into a revelation that no matter how far you've gone away, and no matter how many mistakes you've made, there's a God that is watching for you to come home and he's waiting on you to make a decision to come back to him.
SPEAKER_01: People need to know that you're never too far gone for the grace of God.
SPEAKER_01: You're never outside the bonds of what God will do for you.
SPEAKER_01: Just go tell him what God did for you.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: I remember, I remember sharing with a young man that he had come from a lot of the same background.
SPEAKER_01: He had been raised in church, raised Pentecostal, and he got away from the things of God.
SPEAKER_01: And I was sharing with him one day.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, Look, look, God still has a plan for your life.
SPEAKER_01: God still has a reason for you being on the earth.
SPEAKER_01: Your failure did not disqualify you from what God wants to do in your life.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: He got he gave his life back to the Lord, came back, got involved in things of God, worked in our church for a long time.
SPEAKER_01: And I got a letter from him.
SPEAKER_01: Well, I used to say not too long ago.
SPEAKER_01: It's been a while ago now.
SPEAKER_01: But he said, I just want to tell you, he said, I am I have been pastoring my own church now.
SPEAKER_01: Uh uh, we we we we started this ministry, and he said it all started in that little church.
SPEAKER_01: It was the first church Pastor Michelle and I ever pastored in Lewisburg, Kansas.
SPEAKER_01: And and uh it was it was half the size of this building.
SPEAKER_01: Probably from here over.
SPEAKER_01: That was that was about it.
SPEAKER_01: And it had a little apartment over here that that two uh sinners lived in, and and they got to hear the gospel every Sunday.
SPEAKER_01: But anyway, the point is he came and and got and gave his life back to the Lord and and went into the ministry, started his own church, pastoring churches today.
SPEAKER_01: Because somebody would say, This is where I was, but this is what God wants to do.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Look at Mark chapter 5.
SPEAKER_01: This is the same man, but I want you to see this a couple places.
SPEAKER_01: Mark 5, 18.
SPEAKER_01: And when he was coming to the ship, Jesus, he that had been possessed with the devil prayed him that he might be with him.
SPEAKER_01: Howbeit, Jesus suffered him not, but said unto him, Go home to your friends.
SPEAKER_01: Now look, look, the the the first, he said, go to your house.
SPEAKER_01: And now he says, Go to your friends.
SPEAKER_01: So your family's gonna be affected and your friends are gonna be affected.
SPEAKER_01: By what?
SPEAKER_01: Notice what he said again.
SPEAKER_01: Tell them how great things the Lord has done for you and had compassion on you.
SPEAKER_01: You know, I'm not I'm not gonna ask you to raise your hands, but there's people in here I know since I've been your pastor, you have made it through things that would have derailed other people.
SPEAKER_01: Somehow God brought you through.
SPEAKER_01: I and I could point out people.
SPEAKER_01: I I've been there, I've talked to you about it, I prayed you through it.
SPEAKER_01: God brought you out of it.
SPEAKER_01: God did what nobody else could do.
SPEAKER_01: You look at your life today, and it's just not how it was then.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Just go tell people that.
SPEAKER_01: I was at a dead end one time, but God brought me out.
SPEAKER_01: It looked like I had no hope, but God brought me out because He's the God of all hope.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: That sounds simple, but it's the deepest thing you can do for somebody that needs an answer.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: I always pray this.
SPEAKER_01: God, don't ever let me lose sight of the greatness of my salvation.
SPEAKER_01: How important it is.
SPEAKER_01: I get on my knees and I say, God, if you never do one more thing for me, you have been so good to me.
SPEAKER_01: You have blessed my life.
SPEAKER_01: I don't care if you do one more thing for me.
SPEAKER_01: I love you.
SPEAKER_01: You've been so good to me.
SPEAKER_01: That's what I care about.
SPEAKER_01: God brought us out, God delivered us, God set things back right.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: You might can remember when things in life were kind of topsy-turvy, but God straightened it out.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: We heard Robbie give her testimony today.
SPEAKER_01: She walked through it, still walking through some of it.
SPEAKER_01: But here she sits today.
SPEAKER_01: God brought her out.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: Remember what Joseph said to his brothers?
SPEAKER_01: He said, Look, what you meant for evil, God meant for good.
SPEAKER_01: Well, we know that God meant the dream for good, the dream that he gave Joseph.
SPEAKER_01: God does not use evil, but understand, the things that the devil wants to derail your life with, God says, Here's what I'll do.
SPEAKER_01: I am the great fixer, I am the great, I am the great deliverer, and I'll come into that situation and I'll rescue you, and I'll turn it around, and it'll be like you were never even there.
SPEAKER_01: There are people in the world, there are people that we know, there are family members that we know.
SPEAKER_01: They don't know how they're gonna make it.
SPEAKER_01: They just can't figure a day, see a day without the life that they're living.
SPEAKER_01: But we have the answer.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah, hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Just say out loud, I'm just gonna tell them what God did for me.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: There are people in here you have testimonies of being in accidents and God bringing you out.
SPEAKER_01: And you had to walk through some things, but God brought you out.
SPEAKER_01: You should have died, you shouldn't have made it, but God saved you, God spared you, God brought you out.
SPEAKER_01: That's all they need to know.
SPEAKER_01: I don't need to know every verse, I don't need to know the Roman road to salvation by heart.
SPEAKER_01: I just need to be able to tell people what Jesus did for me, and I need to be willing to tell them what Jesus did for me.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Glory to God.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: And and and I need to be willing to just let them know.
SPEAKER_01: Look, the the Bible, remember what the Bible says in the book of James?
SPEAKER_01: It says, There are people, right, that you show compassion to.
SPEAKER_01: That's what James said?
SPEAKER_01: He said, others we show compassion, others we jerk them out of the fire.
SPEAKER_01: Not worrying about the garment that's stained with sin.
SPEAKER_01: So, so so there there there are people that you just gotta go to them and say, look, life isn't gonna change until you get things right with Jesus and you give him your life.
SPEAKER_01: What are you doing?
SPEAKER_01: You're jerking them out of the fire.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm not worried about how they're dressed, I'm not worried about what they've done.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Say it out loud.
SPEAKER_01: I don't care what they've done.
SPEAKER_01: I want to influence them.
SPEAKER_01: So he said, go tell them what God has done for you.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Nobody can tell your story like you can.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, you remember how we used to sing it in church?
SPEAKER_01: You can't tell it like I tell it what he's done for me.
SPEAKER_01: You don't know like I know what he's done for me.
SPEAKER_01: You can't tell it, let me tell it what he's done for me.
SPEAKER_01: Isn't that right?
SPEAKER_01: And then what would we say?
SPEAKER_01: And I get joy when I think about what he's done for me.
SPEAKER_01: I get joy when I think about what is done for me.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, glory to God.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because you can't tell it like I can.
SPEAKER_01: You might know what God did for me, but you weren't the one God did it for.
SPEAKER_01: I was there.
SPEAKER_01: I didn't have a front row seat, I was in the middle of it.
SPEAKER_01: And God delivered me.
SPEAKER_01: I remember in 2010 when I was facing the battle I was facing.
SPEAKER_01: It was the hardest, it was the biggest physical fight I'd ever faced in my life.
SPEAKER_01: And it seemed like it just showed up one morning.
SPEAKER_01: Seemed like my life was just thrown upside down.
SPEAKER_01: Everything, everything seemed to be wrong.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: And of course I'm working the word.
SPEAKER_01: I'm glad I had the foundation of the word.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know what people without the word do.
SPEAKER_01: Because that was like out of nowhere, out of nowhere.
SPEAKER_01: It was like a sledgehammer hit me.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm I'm believing God, I'm depending on God.
SPEAKER_01: I'm standing in VTN, preaching the gospel about the word and not losing sight of the word, feeling like I'm gonna die.
SPEAKER_01: Everything in me not wanting to be there.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: And I just kept, I listen, I just kept going with God.
SPEAKER_01: I just I'm right in the middle of this.
SPEAKER_01: I would get up every morning and I would just lay on the floor and I would soak in the presence of the Lord and I would go through the scriptures and I would thank him obviously for being my healer, but I'm in the middle of this.
SPEAKER_01: Can't nobody else walk through this?
SPEAKER_01: I'm in the middle of it.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know why it happened to this day.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know why it happened.
SPEAKER_01: But I'm I'm walking through this.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: But I also remember I went through four months of that.
SPEAKER_01: And I remember the day.
SPEAKER_01: I remember the day that I got up, watch, and something was different.
SPEAKER_01: Something had shifted, something had changed.
SPEAKER_01: That thing was not there like it used to be.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, I could still sense it, but it was it wasn't there like it was.
SPEAKER_01: And as the day went on, I felt it just leaving, leaving, leaving, leaving, leaving.
SPEAKER_01: Man, My strength was back.
SPEAKER_01: I felt like myself.
SPEAKER_01: Are you following me?
SPEAKER_01: And about two days later, I was walking back from uh uh getting our mail, and I stepped off that curb, and the Lord said to me, He said, Now you turn around and you rebuke that spirit that's been trying to harass you, and you tell it to cease in its maneuvers against you.
SPEAKER_01: And I did.
SPEAKER_01: And then he gave me the verse, Nahum chapter 1, verse 9.
SPEAKER_01: This affliction will not arise again the second time.
SPEAKER_01: And he said, Every time that tries to come back on you, that that feeling, that that sickness, that health issue, you say, This affliction will not arise again the second time.
SPEAKER_01: Here's why I'm telling you that story.
SPEAKER_01: I was there.
SPEAKER_01: That's not something I heard somebody went through.
SPEAKER_01: I was in the middle of that.
SPEAKER_01: I know what God brought me out of.
SPEAKER_01: So when people say, This is what I'm going through, I've been there, I've been there, I've walked through it, I can tell you that God will deliver you.
SPEAKER_01: I know what it's like for them to look at you and say, We can't help you.
SPEAKER_01: But God can, because God is a very present help in a time of trouble, and it doesn't matter what the trouble is, you can be financially in poverty, you can be sick in your body, you can be in a dead relationship, but God who gives life to the dead and calls those things that be not as though they were will turn that thing around.
SPEAKER_01: There's hope for that marriage, there's hope for that family member, there's hope for your body because God will do it.
SPEAKER_01: Am I helping you this morning?
SPEAKER_01: Your story is the spark that will light the fire.
SPEAKER_01: This is the fire.
SPEAKER_01: This is where I was, but this is where I am.
SPEAKER_01: This is what I faced, but this is how it is now.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Look at Luke 5.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus was such an influence.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: I've never led anybody to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: I've never led okay.
SPEAKER_01: That's not what you need to worry about.
SPEAKER_01: I remember one time I was praying for some people that had come up for prayer.
SPEAKER_01: We had a bus ministry in the Kansas location.
SPEAKER_01: Every Sunday morning we bust around between 150 and 200 people in to the ministry.
SPEAKER_01: And and we fed dinner after the service, and and a lot of different people came.
SPEAKER_01: And I was up one day and and and I was led to the Lord to pray and say, you know, if you feel like there are things in your life that you need to let go of, and you know, you you you you need to change your life.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to come up here.
SPEAKER_01: I want to pray with you.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm going down the line praying for people.
SPEAKER_01: And I got to this young lady, and she was just weeping, just uncontrollably weeping.
SPEAKER_01: And and I and I got her to kind of calm down a little bit and I said, uh young lady, what can the Lord do for you today?
SPEAKER_01: And these are these are just the kind of people we deal with.
SPEAKER_01: And she said, uh she said loud.
SPEAKER_01: It wasn't a soft voice, it was a loud voice.
SPEAKER_01: And she said, I want Jesus, Jesus, I want Jesus to take all of this beep out of my life.
SPEAKER_01: And she cursed real loud.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, Well, sweetheart, tell the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: And she backed up and looked up to heaven and said, God, please take all of this bleep out of my life.
SPEAKER_01: You know, God heard that prayer and saved her and delivered her.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not saying that we pray with bleeps, you understand?
SPEAKER_01: But I'm saying that was where she was at.
SPEAKER_01: That was where she was.
SPEAKER_01: That's what she knew.
SPEAKER_01: And God delivered her.
SPEAKER_01: Just meet people where they're at.
SPEAKER_01: I know that I listen, I like a sanitized environment.
SPEAKER_01: I don't watch shows that cuss.
SPEAKER_01: I don't hang around folks that cuss.
SPEAKER_01: They're not my close companions.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: I don't I don't do that.
SPEAKER_01: I don't cuss.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: When I was growing up in church, we said we don't we don't drink, cuss, smoke, or chew, or run with them that do.
SPEAKER_01: Amen?
SPEAKER_01: But here's the point.
SPEAKER_01: Here's the point that I'm trying to make to you.
SPEAKER_01: Is when you're talking to people, they want to be real with you.
SPEAKER_01: You got to be real with them.
SPEAKER_01: No, cussing's not good, but if that's all they know, that's how you're gonna, you're you're not gonna reach them by cussing, but you're gonna reach them by reaching through the cussing.
SPEAKER_01: Because they don't know any better.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus, notice Luke 5.27.
SPEAKER_01: Are you receiving today?
SPEAKER_01: It says, after these things, he went forth and saw a publican, oh Lord, a tax man, named Levi, Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom, and he said, Come follow me.
SPEAKER_01: And he left all, rose up, and followed him.
SPEAKER_01: And Levi made him, Jesus, a great feast in his own house.
SPEAKER_01: And there was a great company of publicans and others that sat down with them.
SPEAKER_01: Now I want you to notice this, and I know we we know this from good teaching, but you know Matthew would have been hated.
SPEAKER_01: His own country would not have liked him because he worked for the occupying government.
SPEAKER_01: He enforced Rome's tax laws.
SPEAKER_01: The seat of custom, the receipt of custom was a toll booth placed in the middle of a road.
SPEAKER_01: And Matthew was there, and he would have been there with guards, he would have been there with armed soldiers, and you would either pay the tax willingly or they'd wring it out of you.
SPEAKER_01: And he was in charge of that.
SPEAKER_01: Nobody liked him.
SPEAKER_01: They hated him because he was working for the government.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus comes walking by, and notice what he says.
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't say, You dirty, rotten, filthy tax collector.
SPEAKER_01: What do you think you're doing?
SPEAKER_01: He comes and he goes, Hey, follow me.
SPEAKER_01: Follow me.
SPEAKER_01: That word follow means come side on my party, be a part of my side.
SPEAKER_01: Come be my disciple.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Follow me, side with my party, become my disciple.
SPEAKER_01: No guilt, no condemnation, influence.
SPEAKER_01: Influence.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Matthew was so influenced by Jesus, he wanted his friends to be influenced.
SPEAKER_01: So he threw a big party.
SPEAKER_01: And who'd he invite?
SPEAKER_01: Tax collectors.
SPEAKER_01: And notice they came.
SPEAKER_01: And they're all sitting with Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus is sitting with them.
SPEAKER_01: Now I know people take this kind of thing too far.
SPEAKER_01: And I've heard preachers preach, you know, Jesus would be going to the bar.
SPEAKER_01: And no, he wouldn't.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus wouldn't be going to the bar.
SPEAKER_01: He didn't go to the bar here.
SPEAKER_01: Matthew threw him a feast, and the tax collectors came to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Now this is so important.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because where there's light, if you're in darkness, you want to go to where the light's at.
SPEAKER_01: Something happened to Matthew.
SPEAKER_01: How did Matthew get all these tax collectors to his house?
SPEAKER_01: Something happened to him.
SPEAKER_01: I say, something happened to him.
SPEAKER_01: You remember when the Bible tells the story of Zacchaeus?
SPEAKER_01: And you remember we used to sing about Zacchaeus in Sunday school.
SPEAKER_01: Zacchaeus was a wee little man, a wee little man was he, and he climbed up in the sycamore tree, the Lord he wanted to see.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus came past his way and said, Zacchaeus, come down because I'm going to your house today.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: Zacchaeus, remember he came down?
SPEAKER_01: And what did he do?
SPEAKER_01: What did Zacchaeus do?
SPEAKER_01: Threw him a party.
SPEAKER_01: Where?
SPEAKER_01: At his house.
SPEAKER_01: Who'd he invite?
SPEAKER_01: All of his tax collector friends.
SPEAKER_01: Is that right?
SPEAKER_01: And remember what he did?
SPEAKER_01: He stood up in the party and he said, Lord, if I've robbed anybody, anybody, I'm gonna pay it back.
SPEAKER_01: And if I've took anything by deceit, I'm gonna give it back fourfold.
SPEAKER_01: And what did Jesus say?
SPEAKER_01: Why did this happen?
SPEAKER_01: Is what he's saying.
SPEAKER_01: Why did this happen?
SPEAKER_01: Because the gospel has come to his house today.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: This is important.
SPEAKER_01: Notice what Jesus said here.
SPEAKER_01: No guilt, no condemnation.
SPEAKER_01: He prepared a great feast to invite them.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is sitting at a table full of tax collectors.
SPEAKER_01: What's he doing?
SPEAKER_01: Influencing them.
SPEAKER_01: Being light in the darkness, being salt in the earth.
SPEAKER_01: Notice verse 30.
SPEAKER_01: But the scribes and Pharisees murmured against his disciples, saying, Why do you eat and drink with publicans and sinners?
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus, answering them, said, They that are whole do not need a physician, but they that are sick.
SPEAKER_01: I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
SPEAKER_01: Wow.
SPEAKER_01: So these leaders had no interest in influencing these men.
SPEAKER_01: They didn't care about them.
SPEAKER_01: They only cared about their dogma.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Their interest was in their religious ideology.
SPEAKER_01: Notice what it says.
SPEAKER_01: Why do you see, why do you eat and drink with publicans and sinners?
SPEAKER_01: Remember what Jesus said to another man?
SPEAKER_01: He said, uh, you wash the outside of the cup and make it clean, but the inside's dirty.
SPEAKER_01: He said, You're like whitewashed tombs.
SPEAKER_01: You look really good on the outside.
SPEAKER_01: On the inside, you're full of dead men's bones.
SPEAKER_01: Remember what Jesus said?
SPEAKER_01: Jesus was pretty strong about this at times.
SPEAKER_01: He said, You'll go halfway across the world to make one disciple, and you make him four times the child of hell that you are.
SPEAKER_01: Woo! Little Jesus meek and mild.
SPEAKER_01: This is important.
SPEAKER_01: Because notice their ideology.
SPEAKER_01: In other words, you're doing something defiling by sitting with them.
SPEAKER_01: Have you ever gone to the doctor that the doctor didn't come in the room?
SPEAKER_01: If he's gonna examine you, where's he gotta be?
SPEAKER_01: In the room.
SPEAKER_01: If Jesus wants to influence these men, where's he gotta be?
SPEAKER_01: Is it just coincidence that he said to a tax collector, follow me?
SPEAKER_01: It's not.
SPEAKER_01: I'm almost done, but notice this.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus' answer to them, I'm a physician and these men are sick.
SPEAKER_01: The physician can't help them without being among them.
SPEAKER_01: And notice Jesus said he came to call sinners to repent.
SPEAKER_01: Those devoted to sin, not free from sin, preeminently sinful.
SPEAKER_01: The religious leaders had no influence on these men.
SPEAKER_01: They usually avoided them.
SPEAKER_01: Had no influence on them.
SPEAKER_01: What was he doing at this table?
SPEAKER_01: Calling them to repentance, influencing them.
SPEAKER_01: Remember, he the Bible says he was at a Pharisee's house, Simon, and that while he was there, the woman Simon evidently knew something about her.
SPEAKER_01: Because he said, you know, she was washing Jesus' feet with her hair and and kissing his feet.
SPEAKER_01: And he said, This man isn't a prophet.
SPEAKER_01: If he was a prophet, he would surely he'd know what kind of woman this is.
SPEAKER_01: Remember what Jesus said?
SPEAKER_01: He said, Simon, he said there were two people.
SPEAKER_01: Two servants.
SPEAKER_01: And he said, one, and he went through the numbers, but he said, and one his master forgave a great debt to.
SPEAKER_01: And the other he forgave a small debt.
SPEAKER_01: He said, which of the two would be more thankful?
SPEAKER_01: And he said, Well, the one that was forgiven the most.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Yep.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Isn't it funny?
SPEAKER_01: He said, When I came, you didn't offer me any water for my feet.
SPEAKER_01: But she hadn't ceased washing my feet since I came.
SPEAKER_01: He said, You didn't anoint my head when I came in.
SPEAKER_01: But she hadn't stopped pouring this ointment on my head since I showed up.
SPEAKER_01: He said, and here's why.
SPEAKER_01: Because her sins, though they were many, have been forgiven.
SPEAKER_01: And this is why she's willing to do this.
SPEAKER_01: Whatever condition that woman was in, Jesus knew the condition of her life.
SPEAKER_01: He knew where she had been, he knew what she had done.
SPEAKER_01: And yet he didn't shrink back from letting her wash his feet and anoint his head.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Because he was influence.
SPEAKER_01: He was influence.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is saying, notice he goes on, let me hurry and wrap this up.
SPEAKER_01: He said in verse 36, he spake a parable to them, no man puts a new garment upon the old, if otherwise the new is rent, and the piece that was taken out of the new agreeeth not with the old.
SPEAKER_01: No man puts new wine in old bottles, else the new wine will burst the bottles and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish.
SPEAKER_01: But new wine has to be put in new bottles, and both are preserved.
SPEAKER_01: No man having drunk old wine straightway desireth new, for he saith, the old is better.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is saying, I'm doing something new.
SPEAKER_01: And that will destroy your old ideology.
SPEAKER_01: And as long as you despise and desi, or as long as you desire the old, you cannot enter into the new.
SPEAKER_01: Because he said there are people that will say, I like this and I don't want that.
SPEAKER_01: Now let me, as I try to bring this to a rapid close.
SPEAKER_01: Look, I don't, you know, I mean if you if you dislike that, I'm for you.
SPEAKER_01: If you don't dislike it, I'm for you.
SPEAKER_01: It's the gospel that matters to me.
SPEAKER_01: But here's the thing.
SPEAKER_01: People say, well, you know, but but but we don't do that.
SPEAKER_01: Well, I don't feel like we need to.
SPEAKER_01: But here's the point that I'm making.
SPEAKER_01: Is that's what people they try to contrast that with being something new, and we just want the old.
SPEAKER_01: He said, there's new wine here.
SPEAKER_01: And you're saying, I don't need the new because the old's better.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, there were things about what we call the the old that I believe were better.
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01: But what about what God's doing now?
SPEAKER_01: People call it new.
SPEAKER_01: It's not new, it's repackaged.
SPEAKER_01: It's what God is doing now.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, this is so important.
SPEAKER_01: You know, right now, on in most of our services, there are people right now watching us in Israel.
SPEAKER_01: When you look at the stats, one of the largest countries that watch us is Israel.
SPEAKER_01: There are people watching us from Argentina right now.
SPEAKER_01: There are people watching us from Ireland, England, Italy, all over Europe right now.
SPEAKER_01: Well, who would have ever thought that, and just look around, whatever the scale of the ministry that you think it is, whatever scale you think it is, here's the point.
SPEAKER_01: Who would have ever thought that a ministry like ours would be touching people in Europe right now?
SPEAKER_01: In real time.
SPEAKER_01: That's something new.
SPEAKER_01: But there are people that get up and they preach about, they preach against live streaming.
SPEAKER_01: They preach against it.
SPEAKER_01: People want to stay home and watch from home.
SPEAKER_01: Well, they were staying home before, they just didn't tell you.
SPEAKER_01: And here's my thinking.
SPEAKER_01: I think it's better to have it available for people.
SPEAKER_01: If they do stay home, at least they have the opportunity to watch it.
SPEAKER_01: I've had people that have been out for an extended point of period of time and tell me, I don't know what I would have done without the live stream.
SPEAKER_01: It's people, it's what people do.
SPEAKER_01: You got to keep your focus on the right thing.
SPEAKER_01: We're going to do what's holy and what's right before the Lord, but we got to influence people.
SPEAKER_01: What Jesus is saying is this day, this new day of the grace of God that was prophesied about is coming into fruition.
SPEAKER_01: The kingdom of God is at hand.
SPEAKER_01: The physician is in the room, and he's touching those that need to be born again.
SPEAKER_01: And notice what he's saying.
SPEAKER_01: He's saying, I'm not calling sinners to a place of holding them accountable for their sin.
SPEAKER_01: I'm calling them to repent for their sin.
SPEAKER_01: And he's saying, that's the new wine.
SPEAKER_01: And you can't hold on to the old because the new will destroy it.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: And he said this was all through influence.
SPEAKER_01: You know, when we read that account in Luke 5, you can also read it in Mark's account, Mark chapter 2.
SPEAKER_01: It talks about the publicans and the tax collectors.
SPEAKER_01: And Mark says, For there were many, and they followed him.
SPEAKER_01: You know, scripture that has been big in my spirit over the last few days, and it it may not seem very theologically deep.
SPEAKER_01: But you remember in 1 Corinthians, Paul wrote, and he was talking about the resurrection of Christ, and he said he was seen of over 500 people at once after his resurrection.
SPEAKER_01: You know, very often we we talk about, you know, all men forsook him.
SPEAKER_01: Well, you know, all of his disciples did, except John.
SPEAKER_01: But we don't know about everybody.
SPEAKER_01: We don't know that everybody that was touched by Jesus forsook him.
SPEAKER_01: When he died, some of the people that had been serving him secretly were emboldened.
unknown: Right?
SPEAKER_01: Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimathea.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible says Joseph of Arimathea was a disciple of Jesus, but in secret because he feared the Jews.
SPEAKER_01: But when Jesus died and he saw for absolute proof positive he was the son of God, he said, Oh, I got to do something.
SPEAKER_01: See, you and I in here today, we know absolutely proof positive Jesus is the Son of God.
SPEAKER_01: He is the Christ.
SPEAKER_01: He did, he is who he said he was.
SPEAKER_01: Those 500 that saw him alive, history records it.
SPEAKER_01: Those 500 that saw him alive, they are the accounts that we see in the New Testament.
SPEAKER_01: A lot of the accounts we see are what they wrote down.
SPEAKER_01: And they said, look, here's what we have seen.
SPEAKER_01: We saw him, we saw the man that hung on the cross, we saw his scars, and we know now he's alive.
SPEAKER_01: I was reading Josephus one time, and I was reading about Jesus, what he wrote about Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Josephus was a Jewish historian, and he wrote this about Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: He said, There was a man during the reign of Pontius Pilate.
SPEAKER_01: He said, if you can call him a man.
SPEAKER_01: He said, because this is one that Pilate delivered over to be crucified, and he died and was buried.
SPEAKER_01: But three days later he rose.
SPEAKER_01: That's history.
SPEAKER_01: It's enough if it's in the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: But Jesus is not just a biblical character.
SPEAKER_01: He is a A historical character that really rose from the dead.
SPEAKER_01: And it's historically proven.
SPEAKER_01: You and I, we know what Jesus did for us.
SPEAKER_01: We're proof.
SPEAKER_01: This is where I was, and this is where I am today.
SPEAKER_01: Who did it?
SPEAKER_01: The man that died on the cross, the man that rose from the dead.
SPEAKER_01: Peter, when he preached his sermon on the day of Pentecost, he said, This same Jesus that you crucified and was delivered into the hands of wicked men.
SPEAKER_01: You crucified him and buried him.
SPEAKER_01: This same Jesus has been made both Lord and Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: We know what Jesus did for us.
SPEAKER_01: We were there.
SPEAKER_01: We've been through the transformation.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Now who can we influence?
SPEAKER_01: Who can we influence?
SPEAKER_01: Whoever it is.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe it's your neighbor.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe it's somebody at the store.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe whatever.
SPEAKER_01: Who can you pray for?
SPEAKER_01: We've got the pattern here in the instructions we gave.
SPEAKER_01: Pray.
SPEAKER_01: Pray for somebody.
SPEAKER_01: You don't get out a lot?
SPEAKER_01: Pray.
SPEAKER_01: You don't get into the store a lot?
SPEAKER_01: Pray.
SPEAKER_01: Laborers would go into the harvest and reach people with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Don't let the enemy tell you you don't have a part.
SPEAKER_01: You have a part.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: You know, the Bible tells us that when Philip found out that Jesus was the Messiah, the first thing he wanted to go do was get Nathaniel.
SPEAKER_01: I found the Messiah.
SPEAKER_01: And he brought him.
SPEAKER_01: And then they went and got Peter.
SPEAKER_01: We found the Messiah.
SPEAKER_01: It wasn't enough to just be influenced myself.
SPEAKER_01: I want to go influence somebody else.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Let's bow our heads today, shall we?
SPEAKER_01: Father, we thank you.
SPEAKER_01: We praise you.
SPEAKER_01: We glorify you.
SPEAKER_01: We thank you, Father.
SPEAKER_01: For every person and the sound of our voice, every person watching online, we thank you for all that you've done for any person in our midst.
SPEAKER_01: Father, we thank you for the delivering power of God.
SPEAKER_01: We thank you for the healing power of God.
SPEAKER_01: We thank you for the saving power of God.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, we thank you for bringing us from where you brought us from.
SPEAKER_01: And we thank you for keeping us where you have us now.
SPEAKER_01: And Father, in the name of Jesus, I just pray.
SPEAKER_01: I pray over these in attendance.
SPEAKER_01: I pray over those watching online.
SPEAKER_01: Father, that there's one, they're not born again.
SPEAKER_01: They're not saved.
SPEAKER_01: They're not living for you.
SPEAKER_01: Father, they need the saving grace of God to be demonstrated in their life.
SPEAKER_01: I ask in the name of Jesus that they come to that place of repentance, that they come to that place of acknowledging that they need you in their life.
SPEAKER_01: And Father, we thank you for it.
SPEAKER_01: We give you the praise, the glory, and the honor.
SPEAKER_01: And we determine and we dedicate ourselves to the things that you've asked us to do.
SPEAKER_01: And Father, we praise you and thank you for the great harvest, the great harvest of souls, the great harvest of those that are coming to know you, Father.
SPEAKER_01: We thank you that we're going to do our part.
SPEAKER_01: We thank you for your blessing upon this salvation Sunday that we believe the Holy Spirit led us to plan.
SPEAKER_01: And we thank you, Father, that those that we speak to as a church body, that they will be influenced by the words we say.
SPEAKER_01: They'll be influenced by the love of God in our lives.
SPEAKER_01: They'll be influenced by the light of God that shines from us.
SPEAKER_01: And Father, we thank you that we stand strong in the face of any adversity, that we stand strong in the face of any wrong thinking, wrong ideology.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, we're not here to prove that you exist.
SPEAKER_01: We're here to prove how much you love people.
SPEAKER_01: And Father, we thank you for that.
SPEAKER_01: Our job is not to prove that you exist, our job is to tell people how much you love them, and then you will make yourself radically known to them.
SPEAKER_01: And we thank you for it in the name of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Glory be to God.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Father, I thank you.
SPEAKER_01: I thank you for healing every person in the room today.
SPEAKER_01: I thank you, Father, that whatever they're dealing with, I thank you that you eradicate that sickness.
SPEAKER_01: I thank you that you eradicate that pain.
SPEAKER_01: Father, I speak to every joint.
SPEAKER_01: I speak to every joint, every ligament, everyone to be healed and well and whole in the name of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: You you you must reconnect in the name of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: I thank you for healing their bodies.
SPEAKER_01: I thank you for keeping them well in the name of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Oh Father, I give you the glory in the name of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: And amen.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: God is so good to us.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Glory to God.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Well, let's stand up today, shall we?
SPEAKER_01: Glory to God.
SPEAKER_01: So good to see everybody today.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Glory to God.
SPEAKER_01: You know, as as we're leaving, this just keeps rolling around in my spirit.
SPEAKER_01: Those things that an individual, you, someone else, they're trying to make them all work out somehow.
SPEAKER_01: How am I going to do this?
SPEAKER_01: And how am I going to do that?
SPEAKER_01: I don't understand.
SPEAKER_01: There's no way to fix that without the influence of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: And if you do nothing else but just simply make the decision that you're going to cast the care of that onto the Father, you'll begin to see an alleviation of those issues.
SPEAKER_01: But I also sense this very strongly.
SPEAKER_01: There's a level of honesty that must come about there.
SPEAKER_01: It requires truthfulness.
SPEAKER_01: The Apostle Paul made the statement and we read it this morning.
SPEAKER_01: He said Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I was chief.
SPEAKER_01: He didn't sugarcoat, whitewash, or somehow lessen what he had been.
SPEAKER_01: If you find that there's an issue, there's something that you need to change, you have to immediately, forthrightly, honestly, truthfully go to God and say, This is the issue.
SPEAKER_01: This is what I'm holding on to.
SPEAKER_01: I ask you to deliver me from that.
SPEAKER_01: I ask you to cleanse my heart.
SPEAKER_01: I ask you to take that away from me.
SPEAKER_01: I release it.
SPEAKER_01: I let it go in the name of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Father, if there's anything on the table of our life that you've not placed there, we don't want it.
SPEAKER_01: We don't want it.
SPEAKER_01: We just offer it up to you in the name of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Father.
SPEAKER_01: Glory be to God.
SPEAKER_01: The Lord is good.
SPEAKER_01: Say it out loud.
SPEAKER_01: The Lord is good and his mercy endures forever.
SPEAKER_01: Say it one more time.
SPEAKER_01: The Lord is good, and his mercy endures forever.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: One more time.
SPEAKER_01: The Lord is good, and his mercy endures forever.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Jesus.