Introduction:
How we are to preach the Word/Gospel (2 Timothy 4:1-5):
- Stay Focused .
- Endure Suffering .
- Evangelize .
1 Cor 1:17 - For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
- Finish Strong .
Practical Tips on How to Preach the Gospel:
- Get Prepared
- Ask Other Christians
- Pray for God's peace
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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00:31-00:32
All right, good morning.
00:34-00:37
How's everybody doing today? Thanks for coming out and supporting me. I appreciate it.
00:37-00:39
Maybe some of you didn't know I was preaching.
00:41-00:44
Kind of want to leave right now. If I turn my back, you can. I won't be offended.
00:46-00:51
No, I just want to thank the elders and Jeff for giving me this opportunity again and trusting myself to do this.
00:52-00:55
Thank you for that. Appreciate it. All right, let's pray before we get started.
00:56-01:24
Let me father we thank you for this day. We just thank you I personally thank you for this opportunity God. I thank you for this church Thank you for the leadership of this church and right now I just ask you To open every single person's ears here today have them hear what you have to say not what I have to say Please help your words to come through and what I what I'm about to preach today Please bless this sermon Jesus name.
01:26-01:36
Amen So, there's one day early on in my career that it was winter time and my dad told my brother Kent and I that we were going out to this one job.
01:37-01:44
We had to get up on a roof which was covered in snow and we had to reach up to a higher wall to do a little bit of work.
01:45-01:49
When I left the shop in the morning, my dad told me, "Ryan, you have one job to do.
01:49-01:53
All you're going to do is hold Kent's ladder." I said, "Okay, that's easy.
01:54-01:55
I can do that, I think.
01:56-01:59
So we get out to the job and things are going along pretty well.
02:00-02:04
Kent would go up the ladder, I'd hold the ladder for him. As he'd come down, I'd move out of the way.
02:05-02:06
Things were going along just smoothly.
02:07-02:14
Well, like I said, it was wintertime and that roof was covered in snow, so it was an extremely slick surface. So it was vitally important that I hold this ladder.
02:17-02:25
But also, whenever it's cold out, we carry heating chests to keep our material warm, and it's just an easier process for us if materials warm to work with.
02:26-02:29
And I noticed that that heating element had gone out.
02:29-02:32
So I was kind of messing with it, trying to figure out why it wasn't working.
02:32-02:45
And as Kent was getting more material, he said, "Hey, get over here, I'm going up this ladder." And I told him, "Just hold on a second, "let me see if I can, "let me figure out what's going on with this." I mean, I had no idea why it wasn't working, but I wanted to act like I knew.
02:48-02:52
So Kent, in typical older brother fashion, ignored me and went up the ladder.
02:53-02:56
And in typical younger brother fashion, I ignored him.
02:57-02:59
Two people ignoring each other.
03:01-03:08
Not ten seconds later, Kent gets to the top of that ladder, reached up as high as he could, and wham! That ladder kicked out.
03:09-03:11
Kent probably fell 20, 25 feet.
03:12-03:20
And I watched him fall from the top and just smack the ground, and just crumpled into this heap of human.
03:22-03:26
And my initial thought, honestly, my initial thought, I thought he was dead.
03:27-03:29
But he obviously wasn't.
03:29-03:30
He's still here today.
03:32-03:35
But I remember having to call my dad and be like, "Hey, Dad.
03:37-03:39
Remember that one thing you told me to do?
03:40-03:41
Yeah, I didn't do that.
03:42-03:48
And exactly what you thought was going to happen, happened." And I remember, and my dad's sitting over here laughing.
03:49-03:52
And I remember how mad he was at us.
03:53-03:55
Because he's like, "Ryan, I told you to do one thing.
03:56-03:56
One thing.
03:57-04:07
And you didn't do it." And for years, my brother, it's kind of become a standing joke that I blame Kent that he fell because he didn't listen to me, and he blames me because I didn't listen to him.
04:08-04:10
And all in all, the truth is I didn't do my job.
04:11-04:16
As much as I want to blame Kent, I didn't do my job.
04:16-04:19
I was told by my dad to do one job.
04:20-04:24
And whether I wanted to do it or not, I was to do that job.
04:27-04:30
And see, our heavenly father also tells us to do one job.
04:31-04:35
And whether we wanna do that or not, we have a duty to that job.
04:37-04:45
And that job is to preach the word, preach the gospel, not just with our words, but with our actions, with our lives.
04:46-04:50
We have to live out the gospel and tell every single person about the gospel.
04:51-04:52
That is our job.
04:54-05:02
And please don't think that this is just another how to witness better sermon, because telling people about the gospel goes far beyond just witnessing to them.
05:02-05:04
Like I said, it's a call to action.
05:05-05:08
Your life has to match the words coming out of your mouth and vice versa.
05:11-05:16
And when we look at this passage, like Jeff said on the video, we're going in in 2 Timothy 4.
05:17-05:21
Paul is talking to Timothy, and so it's two pastors talking to each other.
05:21-05:25
And I don't want anybody to zone out and go, "Ok, this is just for pastors." No, no, no.
05:25-05:32
This is so applicable for us here today in our current America, in our current country that we live in.
05:32-05:34
Now more than ever, people need the Gospel.
05:34-05:36
And it is our job to get that to them.
05:39-05:44
So let's look at what Paul told Timothy and find the application in these words.
05:46-06:01
So, verse number 1, 2 Timothy 4, "I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom, preach the Word.
06:02-06:05
Be ready in season and out of season.
06:05-06:09
Reprove, rebuke, exhort with complete patience and teaching.
06:09-06:24
"For the time is coming when people will not endorse sound teaching, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths." Let's stop right there for a second.
06:26-06:27
Did you hear what he said there?
06:27-06:29
He said the time is coming when people aren't going to listen.
06:30-06:32
It sounds really familiar right now.
06:33-06:37
Shout out, what's the hot button topics that people are talking about?
06:37-06:43
Not, don't tell me about political things, whether it be immigration or tax laws, anything.
06:43-06:47
What's the moral hot button topic that people are talking about?
06:47-06:47
Shout 'em out.
06:49-06:50
Abortion.
06:51-06:51
What else?
06:51-06:52
What's that?
06:53-06:54
Homosexuality.
06:55-06:55
Transgender.
06:58-07:00
Those are the things that we're arguing about in today's America.
07:02-07:03
And what's happening?
07:03-07:08
The people on either side of the coin are finding somebody that says, no, you're right.
07:09-07:10
And on the other side, they're going, no, you're right.
07:11-07:13
And everybody's just choosing sides.
07:15-07:18
They're doing exactly what Paul said they were gonna do.
07:19-07:20
They're gonna turn away.
07:21-07:23
They're gonna find teachers that suit their own passions.
07:23-07:25
That's exactly what people are doing today.
07:27-07:36
And now, more than ever, we as Christians, as followers of Christ have to stand up and be bold.
07:37-07:43
We can't be these, I stole this off Caleb, we can't be secret agent Christians anymore.
07:43-07:46
We have to get out of the shadows, stop lurking around behind everything.
07:47-07:49
Be bold, be proud of who we are.
07:49-07:53
Because everybody needs to hear that, especially here.
07:53-07:55
Out our back door, people need to hear this.
07:58-08:00
This is the time where it's so powerful.
08:00-08:02
God's word is so powerful.
08:03-08:06
We have to be bold today, starting today.
08:10-08:13
And you might be sitting here going, I hear you, but I don't know how to do that.
08:15-08:17
But the good thing is, Paul didn't stop talking to Timothy.
08:19-08:29
He laid out exactly how to do that, and he told Timothy that, and we too can lean from that and use those same principles today.
08:30-08:32
So let's look at how we preach the gospel.
08:34-08:44
Verse five, as for you, Christians, as for you, each and every person here, as for you, always be sober-minded.
08:45-08:46
This is my first point.
08:47-08:48
Stay focused.
08:51-08:52
Stay focused.
08:54-08:57
We know what being sober means, okay?
08:57-08:59
It means don't be drunk.
09:00-09:03
But it also means don't have distractions in your life.
09:04-09:06
Allow your mind to be free.
09:06-09:11
Allow your mind to be clear so that you can focus, so you can stay focused.
09:14-09:18
Every year, a neighbor of mine and myself, we go hunting.
09:19-09:21
We go up to Mahaffey, PA.
09:21-09:22
He has a camp up there.
09:23-09:28
And it's usually around the same time every year, first or second weekend in November.
09:28-09:29
And it's a lot of fun.
09:29-09:32
we spent about three days up there and we just hunt the whole time.
09:33-09:37
Typical, you know, macho man weekend, okay?
09:39-09:46
But I tell you what, that week leading up to that Thursday night when I pull out of my house, man, I'm the world's best husband.
09:47-09:49
Why? Because I don't want to get grounded, okay?
09:51-09:53
Because I so bad want to go on that trip.
09:53-09:55
I so bad want to go guilt-free.
09:56-10:03
that I don't want my wife to be upset with me, that I didn't get anything done, that I picked a fight with her that's still going on?
10:04-10:10
Because who wants to go on a fun weekend, whatever it may be, whether it's hunting, fishing, golfing, whatever it may be?
10:10-10:14
Who wants to go knowing that the second I get home, things aren't going to be good?
10:15-10:21
No, you want to go and you want to have so much fun and you don't honestly want to think about what's going on at home.
10:22-10:34
So your focus that week leading up to - asked me to re-shingle the roof, and I will go to Home Depot at 3 a.m. in the morning, get all the material, come home and start working and not stop until that roof's done.
10:36-10:43
So that when I pull out on Thursday, I'm done. And that's the same focus we have to have.
10:43-10:55
I'm focused on, I watch every single word that I say, I'm real careful about what I do, I have the blinders on because I don't want, like I said, I love my wife, but I don't I don't want to upset her, I want to go.
10:57-10:59
And that's the same focus we have to have.
11:03-11:04
You might ask me, how do I stay focused?
11:05-11:08
Well, first of all, you have to figure out what the distractions are in your life.
11:10-11:14
You have to figure those out, and you're the only person that knows what those distractions are.
11:14-11:18
And you have to find them, and you have to remove them from your life.
11:19-11:20
And maybe you can't remove them.
11:22-11:27
But you have to find a way for those to no longer be distractions in your life.
11:28-11:34
You have to control them so that you are staying completely focused on your one job as a Christian.
11:37-11:40
You have to be focused in preaching the gospel.
11:42-11:51
Back in verse 5, "As for you, always be sober-minded," we said that, stay focused, "endure suffering." That's my second point, endure suffering.
11:54-12:05
About a year ago, actually about two years ago now, a friend of my wife's from high school was diagnosed with cancer.
12:06-12:08
And she was 28 years old.
12:09-12:11
She had a three-year-old and a one-year-old.
12:13-12:16
and a husband that they were high school sweethearts.
12:17-12:18
Really all American story.
12:20-12:22
She was a beautiful young lady.
12:22-12:24
She was a beauty pageant contestant.
12:24-12:26
Just had such a strong testimony for Christ.
12:28-12:35
And I remember my wife showed me on Facebook that she did this Facebook live video and just kind of announcing that she had been diagnosed with this cancer.
12:36-12:42
And it was early on and they kind of thought, okay, we can get control of this and had a lot of high hopes.
12:44-12:45
And she praised God at the end of it.
12:47-12:59
She glorified God and she said, "Whatever happens, God's in control." But oftentimes that's easy when you don't really know what the end results are gonna be.
12:59-13:01
At that time it was pretty positive.
13:02-13:06
But as the year went on, every month or so, she would put up a medical update.
13:07-13:10
And each time, the diagnosis would get worse and worse.
13:12-13:15
And every time, at the end, she would praise God.
13:18-13:31
And about a year later, I remember she put a video on and her beauty pageant sisters had done a fundraiser for her and in less than 24 hours, they raised $11,000 for her and her husband.
13:33-13:34
And you might say, man, that's awesome.
13:34-13:42
But all I could see was this maybe 80-pound girl that just looked like a human skeleton.
13:44-13:46
She could hardly talk at this point.
13:47-13:58
The cancer had spread throughout her entire body and just had turned into, I think at that point she had multiple cancers and it just destroyed her.
14:00-14:07
And two weeks later she passed, leaving her husband, her one-year-old, and her three-year-old.
14:09-14:16
And I remember, for me and my wife, that hit us so hard because I'm pretty much in that same boat where I have little children.
14:16-14:21
And in my mind, I sat there and I went, "What would I do if I was the husband and my wife left me?
14:23-14:24
"My wife takes care of everything.
14:26-14:41
"And for her to just be gone, what do I do?" And I remember I was at the Tough Mudder one day and I got back to the truck and got cleaned up and Sarah had sent me a text and she said, you need to get on Facebook and you need to see what Caleb, her husband, posted.
14:44-14:48
And he put a Facebook Live video on maybe hours after his wife had passed.
14:51-15:05
And in his obvious sorrow of, he had just lost his beautiful wife, he went through all that and at the end, He lifted up his hands and he praised God for healing his wife.
15:07-15:10
And he praised God for the path that he had chosen for his wife.
15:11-15:14
And he said, "This is not the end of my wife's testimony.
15:15-15:33
"This is not the end of my testimony." Christians, church, a Christian suffering and praising God is single-handedly the most powerful thing we can do to further the kingdom of Christ.
15:34-15:34
Why?
15:35-15:37
Because it doesn't make sense to an unsaved person.
15:37-15:45
If you are suffering, and maybe you haven't suffered in that way, but I guarantee you, you've suffered in some ways.
15:47-15:52
But I promise you, every time you suffer, God gives you a pulpit to preach from.
15:52-15:59
And if you can do that, And you can find that pulpit wherever God has it, man, you can move mountains.
16:01-16:06
When you suffer for Christ, that is the most powerful thing we can do.
16:06-16:11
James chapter one tells us that, "Count it all joy when you go through diverse temptations." Why?
16:12-16:16
Because God's not only strengthening you, but he's also bringing his glory out through your suffering.
16:17-16:24
If you can praise God while you are going through hell on earth, God's glory is gonna come out.
16:24-16:30
So you have to endure suffering and you have to praise God when you are going through that.
16:31-16:33
That's how you preach the gospel when you're suffering.
16:34-16:34
Praise God through it.
16:35-16:37
Preach the gospel even though God's putting you through a test.
16:40-16:41
Go back to verse 5.
16:44-16:49
Always be sober minded, endure suffering, and do the work of an evangelist.
16:52-16:52
Evangelize.
16:52-16:53
That's my third point.
16:56-16:56
Evangelize.
16:56-16:57
We all know what it means.
16:57-16:58
It means tell everybody.
16:59-17:00
Tell everybody about Christ.
17:01-17:06
And if I can be completely transparent with you right now, this is the hardest thing for me to do.
17:07-17:11
And I am probably the worst person in here at doing that.
17:11-17:13
I am not good at evangelizing.
17:14-17:15
I'm not good.
17:15-17:17
I often times shirk at the opportunity.
17:18-17:19
Just being honest.
17:20-17:21
I'm not always great at this.
17:22-17:24
And I gotta be better at it.
17:24-17:25
We all have to be better at it.
17:27-17:30
Because here's the thing, and this is kind of a two-part thing.
17:31-17:38
When it comes to evangelizing, when you accepted Christ's free gift, Jesus died on the cross for us, was buried, and rose again.
17:38-17:39
That's the gospel story.
17:41-17:48
When he did that and you accepted that free gift, you went, "God, okay, I wanna be in your family.
17:48-17:55
"I wanna be a child for you." He says, "Great, you don't have to do anything for that, "to accept that, but now that you're mine, "here's what I need you to do.
17:56-17:58
"You've gotta tell everybody about me.
17:59-18:00
"You have to tell everybody your story.
18:03-18:07
"You have to tell everybody." That is your duty as a Christian, is to tell everybody.
18:09-18:14
And even though that's our duty, which it is, God commands us to do it, He did it in the Great Commission.
18:15-18:17
Go out and tell everybody about me.
18:19-18:26
And even though that's our duty, what oftentimes what we're bad at is making that our desire, making that our passion.
18:29-18:31
It's just like, use my wife for example again.
18:32-18:36
My wife is a big Eagles, Philadelphia Eagles fan.
18:37-18:43
And that is very big point of, very big point of contention in our family.
18:45-18:46
But you know what?
18:46-19:15
care. I mean she's fly, eagles fly every day. She loves the eagles and you know what she doesn't care if anybody else likes the Eagles. That's her team. That's her passion. When she talks about the Eagles she's passionate about it. She's not embarrassed about it. She doesn't care what you think about her. And she'll walk away going, "So? Nick Foles won the MVP a couple years ago. Carson Wentz is going to be hurt halfway through the season, but whatever.
19:17-19:17
She doesn't care.
19:17-19:18
She's passionate about it.
19:21-19:23
And that's the same thing we have to have.
19:24-19:28
Jesus Christ has to be so important to us that it just oozes out of us.
19:29-19:32
And oftentimes, we're afraid because we're afraid of what people are going to think.
19:34-19:34
But why?
19:36-19:42
This is single-handedly the most important thing that will happen to any human being is accepting Jesus Christ as their Savior.
19:45-19:48
And sometimes we're afraid to talk about it, because we're afraid of what people are gonna think about it.
19:49-19:50
I do the same thing.
19:52-19:52
I do.
19:55-19:56
That's kind of an awkward conversation.
19:57-19:58
So what?
19:59-20:01
They might think of me as a Jesus freak.
20:01-20:01
Great.
20:04-20:04
Great.
20:07-20:18
And this goes back even to what I preached about last year, that if it's not necessarily a passion, and I'm preaching to myself on this, if it's not a passion for you, man, that's a problem with sanctification.
20:19-20:28
So you should be so sanctified in your progress, in your sanctification, needs to be so advanced that you can't help it.
20:28-20:35
You just, you try to talk about other things, but your passion is so much about Christ that you can't stop talking about it.
20:35-20:36
It just continues to come out.
20:39-20:45
And the best part about this is you don't have to dress up the gospel.
20:46-20:56
I mean, if you think about it, if the gospel story happened in today's world, if there was a dad that gave up his life for his son to live, man, that would be a viral video on Facebook.
20:56-20:57
That would be a viral video on everything.
21:00-21:03
Because the story in itself is so powerful.
21:03-21:06
The death, the burial, the resurrection of Christ.
21:07-21:12
And Paul himself was encouraged that he himself didn't have to dress up the Gospel.
21:12-21:18
Arguably one of the greatest preachers to ever walk the face of the planet was excited that he didn't have to dress this up.
21:18-21:24
If we look at 1 Corinthians 1.17, it will be up on the screen for you.
21:24-21:35
"For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the Gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power." In other words, don't dress it up.
21:35-21:38
You don't have to have this great speech about it.
21:38-21:41
You just have to tell it, because here's the thing.
21:41-21:44
And here's a little cliche for you.
21:45-21:47
If you try to dress it up, you're going to mess it up.
21:49-21:55
But truthfully, get out of the way, just tell what the gospel did for you, just tell the gospel for what it is.
21:55-21:56
Don't sugarcoat it.
21:57-21:58
Don't apologize for it.
21:58-21:59
Just tell it.
22:00-22:04
Get out of the way and speak the words that God put in the Bible.
22:06-22:09
Preach the gospel and allow the gospel to work.
22:11-22:21
My last point, going back to verse 5, always be sober minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, and lastly, fulfill your ministry.
22:21-22:24
Finish strong. Finish strong.
22:27-22:29
And this is so important, church.
22:31-22:48
Because if I said earlier, where I said, enduring suffering and suffering for Christ and being bold through your suffering is the most important or is the most powerful thing we can do to spread the gospel. Not finishing strong is the most detrimental thing we can do.
22:50-23:12
Because why? Because we're showing to the outside world that this Christian walk, this Christian life that we live on is long. It's a marathon. Paul talks about it later on in the passage when he says, "I have fought the fight, I've finished the race. It wasn't a slow race, it was a long marathon. And at times it's grueling, and at times it's difficult. But we do it because we know the rewards that are going to come.
23:14-23:59
Well the outside world isn't necessarily seeing those rewards. All they're seeing is the suffering and the agony. Well if we don't finish strong and we fall off, the unsaved world is going to sit there and go, "Why am I even going to start? You suffered for all this time and you went through all this defeat and this agony and you didn't even complete it. Why am I even going to step one foot on that track? Why do I want that in my life?" Finishing strong is so important and we see this time and time again of pastors, evangelists, people great Christian people and they fall.
23:59-24:07
And here's the thing, anything and everything, those men or those women, whoever they are, everything they said could have been 100% accurate.
24:08-24:12
But when they don't finish strong, everything they said is now void.
24:14-24:20
Because what all the unsaved world is seeing is that they went, see, I told you it wouldn't work.
24:21-24:22
I told you it wasn't gonna happen.
24:23-24:24
It's not worth it.
24:25-24:26
And we know it is.
24:28-24:29
We have to finish strong.
24:29-24:36
You should be praying for the people that, on their human side, may be looking close to the end of their life.
24:36-24:37
Pray for them to finish strong.
24:38-24:43
Pray for the younger people that, again, humanistically, seem to have a long life ahead of them.
24:44-24:48
Pray for them to continue to be strong through their Christian life.
24:49-24:50
And finish strong.
24:51-24:53
Because if we don't, it's so detrimental.
24:54-24:55
It is so detrimental.
24:58-25:01
We have to finish strong in preaching the gospel.
25:03-25:07
I wanna leave you with a few practical tips before I end this sermon.
25:10-25:11
Tips on how to preach the gospel.
25:13-25:14
Number one, get prepared.
25:16-25:16
Get prepared.
25:17-25:21
Practice, practice what you're gonna say to somebody whenever the opportunity comes to preach the gospel.
25:22-25:25
Practice it, just like Justin, Rich, Mike, and myself.
25:25-25:28
I've rehearsed this thing a hundred times at this point.
25:29-25:31
You might say it doesn't show, but.
25:31-25:32
(audience laughing)
25:34-25:36
No, rehearse it, practice it.
25:36-25:37
Get in your mind what you're gonna talk about.
25:38-25:39
Figure out the passages that you're gonna use.
25:40-25:40
Memorize.
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Kind of have a game plan put together.
25:43-25:53
And don't, no matter what, don't ever, ever, ever be afraid if somebody asks you a question that you don't know, don't be afraid to say, "I don't know, let me get back to you." Don't try to just wing it.
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That's just going to get worse.
25:56-25:58
I was told that when I was preaching one time.
26:02-26:04
Number two, ask other Christians.
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Reach out to mature Christians, whether it be the elders of this church, or Jeff, or other pastors that you may know, or people that you hold at a high value in your life.
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Ask them what their method is.
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Lean on them.
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Learn from them.
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Take those practical tips that they can give you and make that a part of your witnessing program.
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And lastly, pray for God's peace, because ultimately we're afraid.
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We're afraid of what people might think.
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We're nervous about what people might say about us.
26:44-26:47
Pray for God's peace. Pray for God to open the door for you to walk through.
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And pray for God to force you through that door.
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When God opens the door for you to share the gospel, step through it.
26:57-26:59
And God will give you the words to say, and God will give you the peace for it.
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So pray for God's peace.
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And as I close, I want every single person to think about this.
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I want you to think back to when you were saved.
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Whether that was a long process or a short process, I want you to think back to that point when you said to God, "I accept your free gift and I want to start following you." However that is, I want you to think back to that.
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Now I want you to think of the person that helped get you there.
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Whoever that may be. Maybe it was a multitude of people. Maybe it was one singular person. Whoever got you to, helped you see the light. I want you to think about that person.
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Now I want you to think about if that person up and didn't tell you about the gospel.
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Think about if that person didn't step through the door that God opened up for you.
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That should shake you in your boots.
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Where would you be if that person hadn't shared the gospel to you, if that person hadn't stepped through the door and did exactly what God was asking them to do?
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Where would you be?
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And every time we don't walk through the door, it's exactly what we're doing.
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Is that person ultimately responsible for their own salvation?
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Yeah.
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But you know what, you might have a hand in it.
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And when God opens that opportunity, He's commanding you, talk to this person.
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And when you say no to God, man, that's a bad thing.
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So I challenge you, leave here today, start preaching the gospel, not just with your words, but with your actions.
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Allow those two to line up.
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They must line up if we wanna be effective preachers of the gospel.
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Live it out every day, unafraid.
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Let's pray.
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Heavenly Father, we just thank you for this day.
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God, I ask you that if there's a person in here today that doesn't know the Gospel story.
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Let us practice what I just shared today.
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Let's preach to that person.
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Let's tell them the Gospel story.
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Don't let them leave here today without knowing you, God.
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God, I ask you to please allow this church to be bold in our community, in Wexford.
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Allow us to be bold.
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Let everybody know what our church is all about.
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Preach the gospel, God.
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And allow each and every person to leave here today and take this to their environment that they live in on a regular basis.
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And be bold in that environment.
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God, because we are nobodies, that you chose to be a part of you.
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And you chose to use us to further your kingdom.
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Father, let that be our motivation.
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Please bless this day and bless this church.
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Amen.
Small Group Discussion
Read 2 Timothy 4:1-5
GROUP
We as Christian have been given one job to fulfill… Preach the Gospel... God chose “nobody’s” to complete this job. How does God prefer to use regular people?
Why is Enduring Suffering such a powerful testimony for God?
Why is Finishing Strong so important? Give a specific example of someone is your life that finished strong and an example of someone that didn’t finish strong.
BREAKOUT
Have you ever failed to walk through a door to God has opened for you to preach the Gospel? Pray for that person that was missed that day to come to Christ either through you or another Christian.