What kind of church is this?
Pillar #1 - Proclaiming the authority of God's Word without apology
Pillar #2 - Lifting high the name of Jesus through worship
Pillar #3 - Believing firmly in the power of prayer
Pillar #4 - Sharing the good news of Jesus with boldness
- God speaks the good news of the gospel through PEOPLE . (2 Corinthians 2:14-17)
- We are VICTORIOUS witnesses. (2 Cor 2:14-16)
- We are DEPENDENT witnesses. (2 Cor 2:16)
- We are SINCERE witnesses. (2 Cor 2:17)
- We are COMMISSIONED witnesses. (2 Cor 2:17)
- We are EMPOWERED witnesses. (2 Cor 2:17)
- God's people are called to speak the good news of the gospel BOLDLY !
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The vision for outreach at Harvest Bible Chapel:
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00:00-00:09
What kind of a church is this? That's the question that we have been seeking to answer all through the month of September. What kind of a church is this?
00:11-00:28
Quick review. What is the mission of Harvest Bible Chapel? If you know it, go ahead and shout it out. To make disciples, right. That's the short version. To make disciples. Everything we do at this church is to make disciples. And like Like where did we come up with that?
00:29-00:31
Well, from Jesus, right?
00:32-00:38
The Bible says that Jesus gave us the Great Commission to go and to make disciples.
00:39-00:44
So our mission is to glorify God through the fulfillment of the Great Commission in the spirit of the Great Commandment.
00:45-00:46
We want to make disciples.
00:46-00:48
That's the mission of this church.
00:50-00:52
And Harvest Bible Chapel is built on four pillars.
00:52-01:05
The first pillar, remember way back September 8th we talked about the first pillar, is is, shout it out, don't be shy, yes, proclaiming the authority of God's word without apology.
01:06-02:52
We believe that God wrote a book, so when we get up to, whether it's the worship songs that we sing, all of that content comes from the truth of God's word. When we get up to speak, all of the content of the sermons comes from the word of God. So we want to proclaim the authority of God's Word without apology. Our second pillar is lifting high the name of Jesus through worship. Jesus told the Samaritan woman in John chapter 4 that the Father was seeking worshipers. God was seeking people who would worship him in spirit and in truth. In truth, according to God's Word, but in spirit with everything that's in us. Worship is to be a mental and an emotional endeavor. Truth and spirit. And then the third pillar we talked about last week was what? Believing firmly in the power of prayer. Anybody praying big things this week, praise the Lord. He can handle it, right? He loves you. He loves you and he wants to hear from you and he has the power to meet anything that you need. So we believe firmly in the power of prayer. And today we're going to talk about, as we close this series and we get ready for our anniversary ministry off next week. We can't do it without talking about the fourth pillar of Harvest Bible Chapel.
02:53-03:21
And does anybody know it? I don't have my sign up here today, but does anybody know it? This is like bonus on the test. Yes, sharing the good news of Jesus with boldness. That Sharing the good news of Jesus with boldness.
03:24-03:27
To kind of set the table here, I want you to imagine a scenario with me.
03:27-03:28
Can you do that?
03:29-03:31
I want you to imagine a scenario with me.
03:32-03:38
I want you to imagine that you're walking somewhere in town with a friend of yours.
03:42-03:45
And we'll just call that friend Joe.
03:45-03:46
We'll just call him Joe, okay?
03:47-03:48
All in favor of Joe?
03:48-03:49
All right, that works.
03:50-03:55
So you're walking, you and, let's say you and Joe were just hanging out for a little bit.
03:56-04:01
If you're a woman and you're married and your husband's not named Joe, pick another name.
04:03-04:03
All right?
04:06-04:23
But you've been with your friend Joe and you guys were just hanging out and you're walking through the street when all of the sudden coming over the hill is a bus that has lost control.
04:25-04:29
Well, you don't see it, actually, but Joe sees it.
04:30-04:30
Everybody with me?
04:32-04:40
You don't see what's happening, but Joe sees this bus is coming and it's heading right for you and you are completely oblivious to what's coming.
04:43-04:50
And Joe jumps in front of you, shoves you out of the way, and gets hit by the bus head on.
04:52-04:54
Are you with me in this scenario?
04:55-06:14
And Joe's laying there in the street and the bus crashes to a halt and you get on your cell phone and you call the ambulance and here come the paramedics and you race to the hospital and they rush Joe back and they have him all hooked up to you know every IV and everything they can do to get some response from Joe and you're sitting in the waiting room. Are you with me? You're sitting in the waiting room and the doctor comes out and says, "He didn't make it. I'm so sorry." And you stand up from your seat in the waiting room and you say, "Well, that sure was nice what he did for me, I wonder what's for lunch." Right? Is that how the story goes? Would you do that? You know what's sad though? That happens every Sunday, doesn't it?
06:16-06:59
People can come, and we can sing, and we can talk about, "God became a man." And it wasn't just a matter of getting hit by a bus. He was nailed to a cross bearing the wrath of God on himself, hung in public shame and humiliation and the spiritual and physical pain that the God/Man Jesus Christ endured for my sin and for your sin, and we can come and we can remember that, and we can sort of walk away unaffected by that.
07:01-07:04
We can sort of walk away from church saying, "Well, that was really nice of Jesus.
07:04-07:12
I wonder what's for lunch." Well, getting back to our scenario with our friend Joe, what would you really do?
07:13-07:16
I'll tell you what you'd do if that really happened.
07:17-07:18
Joe pushes you out, he gets hit by the bus.
07:19-07:26
You know for the rest of your life that the only reason you're still walking on the earth is this man gave his life for you.
07:26-07:32
You would tell everyone that sat still for more than seven seconds what this guy did for you, wouldn't you?
07:33-07:45
You would start websites for Joe, and you'd start a Facebook fan page for Joe, and you would have fundraisers for Joe, and you would take every opportunity to honor his memory.
07:50-07:52
Let me tell you something else.
07:52-07:54
This is actually what you wouldn't do.
07:54-07:58
You wouldn't tolerate any negative speech about Joe, would you?
07:58-07:59
Put yourself in that scenario.
07:59-08:05
Imagine you're with some other friends, and they're like, "Yeah, Bob, you remember Joe?
08:05-08:06
"Boy, was he a self-centered jerk.
08:06-08:21
"What would you say?" You'd be like, "You don't know what you're talking about, man, that guy gave his life for me. Shut your pie hole, okay? You don't know what you're talking about. I'm not going to sit here and listen to you talk about him like that. You wouldn't tolerate it, would you? You wouldn't tolerate it.
08:26-08:35
My question, church, is this, how can we do or say any less for Jesus Christ?
08:40-08:44
How can we not talk about Him?
08:47-08:51
How can we tolerate when people speak ill of Jesus?
08:55-09:11
That's why today we're going to be talking about why this is a pillar in our church, and this is as important to us as everything else we do because this is our mission, sharing the good news of Jesus with boldness.
09:13-09:19
Well to keep it consistent in the series, once again, let's talk about some fails, right?
09:22-09:27
As I've been telling you, Justin Cady keeps me up to date on what the hip kids are saying.
09:29-09:38
And one of the things the hip kids say now, when somebody attempts something that doesn't work out with the desired response, they say, "Fail." Well these are some witness fails.
09:44-09:46
I'm going to count backwards from four here.
09:48-09:52
These are just some things that I hear people say like, why they're hesitant to witness.
09:54-09:55
Why they're hesitant to witness.
09:57-10:00
Number four, what if they ask a question I don't know the answer to?
10:01-10:02
I've heard that one a lot.
10:02-10:06
Well, I'd like to witness to people, but what if they ask a question that I don't know the answer to?
10:17-10:20
My answer to that is just simply this.
10:21-10:27
If somebody asks you a question you don't know the answer to, you say, that is a really good question, can I get back to you on that?
10:28-10:29
Problem solved, right?
10:31-10:35
My friend Mark is here, we spent some time in prison together, didn't we Mark?
10:36-10:37
Prison ministry together.
10:37-10:39
I see some eyebrows going up.
10:40-10:41
Prison ministry.
10:41-10:42
That happened to me a lot in the prison.
10:43-10:47
We'd have guys come in and they'd ask a question and I'd be like, oh gosh man, That's a really good question.
10:47-10:52
Let me write that down and come back to Bible study next week and we'll talk about it.
10:52-10:55
And yeah, not a big deal.
10:57-10:58
There's only one person that has all the answers.
11:00-11:03
What if they ask a question I don't know the answer to?
11:03-11:03
That's okay.
11:05-11:06
Just tell me to get back to them on that.
11:07-11:08
Number three, here's a fail.
11:08-11:11
Well, I don't witness because I really don't know enough to share.
11:12-11:14
I really don't know enough to share.
11:14-11:17
I don't even know what I'd say because I really don't know enough to share.
11:18-11:24
Well, I have a bigger concern because if you don't know enough to share, then I have to wonder if you know enough to be saved in the first place, really.
11:25-11:29
And I'm not saying that in a condemning way or a judgmental way, I'm just saying that, let's be brutally honest.
11:30-11:35
If you don't know enough about Jesus to talk about Jesus, then I have to ask you, do you know Jesus?
11:35-11:39
Do you know enough about Jesus that you've come into a saving relationship with Him?
11:42-11:43
Share what you know, right?
11:44-11:46
share what you know. We'll talk about that more in a few minutes.
11:47-11:53
Number two, here's a big fail. That's the preacher's job. That's the preacher's job.
11:56-14:08
You know, I work on cars, or I work at a restaurant, or I am a physician's assistant, or it's the preacher's job to do the preachery things. Well, that's a fail, because the truth is you're going to encounter people that I will never meet. You will. You will encounter people just in your day-to-day, through your family, through your friends, through your workplace, through the places that you frequent. You're going to encounter people that I will never meet. The truth is, if you're a follower of of Jesus Christ, you're His witness. So it's not just a preacher's job. And you know the number one hesitancy, right? Number one is just simply this, "What if people reject me? What if people reject me?" That seems to be number one because nobody likes rejection. Nobody wants to be the kid that doesn't get picked for a kickball team like that was always me, and nobody wants to be rejected. But to that I would simply say this, look in your Bible at people like Stephen and James and Paul and Jesus. All people who were beaten, ridiculed, and killed for doing nothing more than speaking the truth. So what makes you think that everyone is going to love you for it? The most harmless person who ever lived was Jesus Christ, and simply for speaking God's truth, he was crucified. We know that was part of God's plan to purchase our redemption, but when you look at that from an earthly perspective and take these other ones into consideration, you You can certainly come to this conclusion, many times speaking God's truth is not popular, and many times people will hate those who speak for God for no other reason than the fact that they speak for God.
14:10-14:11
All right, so let's get those off the table.
14:12-14:16
Let's see what the Bible says about our witness, and I want you to turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 2.
14:17-14:19
Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 2.
14:19-14:22
We're just going to look at a few verses here.
14:26-14:28
Second Corinthians chapter 2.
14:30-14:32
We're going to be looking at verses 14 through 17.
14:41-14:44
Number one on your outline, and I encourage you to take notes, number one is this.
14:45-14:47
This is one of the most profound things.
14:49-14:56
This is one of the deepest theological things that honestly I don't understand.
14:58-15:02
I believe it, and I embrace it, but I don't fully understand it.
15:02-15:03
But write this down.
15:03-15:07
Number one, God speaks the good news of the gospel through people.
15:13-15:16
God speaks the good news of the gospel through people.
15:18-15:43
Look at verse 14, it says, "But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of Him everywhere." Let's stop there.
15:44-16:15
in your Bible the words "through us." "Through us." God chooses -- look at the verse -- He chooses to spread the fragrance of the knowledge of Jesus. He chooses to make His Son known through us. And here's why that blows my mind, it's just simply He doesn't have to do that, right?
16:18-16:22
Could God choose any other way to spread the gospel?
16:24-16:24
Think about it.
16:25-16:30
God could write the gospel of Jesus Christ on the sky, couldn't He?
16:34-16:38
God could write the gospel of Jesus Christ on every blade of grass.
16:41-16:51
God could drop a sheet from heaven that hangs in everybody's view no matter where they are that has the gospel of Jesus Christ on, but for some reason He doesn't do that.
16:55-17:04
What He chooses to do instead is to make His gospel known through you.
17:08-17:10
And that just utterly confounds me.
17:12-17:22
The eternal gospel, the message of life and death, the message of heaven and hell, the message that affects everyone's eternity.
17:25-17:30
And God has entrusted that message to you.
17:37-17:44
2 Corinthians 5.20 says we are ambassadors for Christ.
17:45-17:48
This is a verse that the Lord has tattooed on my brain.
17:50-18:00
Everywhere I go, everywhere I am, the people that I encounter, the conversations I have, I am representing Jesus Christ to people.
18:06-18:35
I had a man come up to me many, many years ago, and not a believer, but I had shared some things with him, and he came up to me, he goes, "Man, you are, you are Jesus to me." And I'm like, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa." I was like, "Dude, like, don't even make that comparison." And I shared a little more with him, but after that exchange, I walked away from that going, Biblically, I am Jesus to him.
18:36-18:37
I'm not Jesus, okay?
18:37-18:41
Don't make a beeline for the door, Pastor Jeff's gone off the deep end.
18:42-18:44
But understand what the Bible says.
18:44-18:49
You represent Jesus to somebody because you're his ambassador.
18:50-18:52
People are looking to you, "What's Jesus like?
18:52-18:53
What's the gospel like?
18:54-19:03
How does Jesus Christ change a person?" We're looking to you for the example of that, because you're His ambassador.
19:04-19:05
You represent Jesus.
19:06-19:07
And you know what?
19:09-19:11
We can have theological discussions all you want.
19:11-19:13
You can marvel at the Trinity.
19:13-19:16
How is God Father, Son, and Holy Spirit at the same time?
19:17-19:18
You can marvel at that.
19:18-19:23
You can marvel at the fact that God created everything just by speaking it into existence.
19:24-19:27
You can marvel at the sovereignty of God.
19:27-19:36
You can marvel that He has every single little minute detail in the universe under His absolute complete control.
19:36-19:39
You can marvel at those things, but do you know what I marvel at?
19:39-19:41
I marvel that God loves me.
19:43-19:46
And I marvel that God wants me to speak for Him.
19:49-19:52
So the question is, what kind of witnesses are we?
19:56-19:59
Well, there's five descriptive words.
20:00-20:01
What kind of witnesses are we, first of all?
20:02-20:03
Letter A, we are victorious witnesses.
20:05-20:06
We are victorious witnesses.
20:09-20:42
It says, "But thanks be to God who in Christ always leads us in the triumphal procession and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of Him everywhere, for we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life." Let's pause there.
20:43-20:46
We are victorious witnesses.
20:48-20:50
I'm sure it caught your eye.
20:50-20:53
What's this procession that he's talking about in verse 14?
20:53-20:57
Well, Paul was actually using an illustration from his own day.
21:00-21:05
When a Roman general would win a battle, they would have a parade.
21:07-21:29
And at this parade, they would burn incense, and flowers would be thrown on the streets that as the horses walked through the streets and stomped on the flowers, between that and the incense that was burnt, it would give up this fragrance, that the whole town would smell like victory.
21:33-21:41
And Paul was using that as an illustration to say, "Christ," did you notice what he said?
21:41-21:44
He is always leading us in the victory parade.
21:45-21:46
Don't misunderstand.
21:46-21:48
Read the Bible for what it says, okay?
21:48-21:50
Read the Bible for what it says.
21:50-21:53
Jesus is always leading this victory parade.
21:54-21:59
That's why in my Bible I have the word "always circled." True or false question?
22:01-22:01
You ready?
22:01-22:02
True or false?
22:06-22:14
Fear is when somebody rejects the gospel of Jesus Christ, and victory is when somebody receives the gospel of Jesus Christ.
22:15-22:16
True or false?
22:17-22:22
Actually that statement is false, because here's what this verse is saying.
22:22-22:27
When you speak for Jesus, God is glorified despite the response.
22:27-22:28
Did you see that?
22:28-22:28
Look again.
22:29-22:32
God is glorified despite the response.
22:33-22:43
God is glorified in the fragrance of Christ being out there, despite the fact that some people love the smell and some people don't.
22:43-22:43
Look again.
22:44-22:47
He says Jesus always leads us in triumphal procession.
22:48-22:50
Through us he's spreading the fragrance.
22:53-22:59
Then he says, verse 15, "We're the aroma of Christ to God." That could be like a whole other sermon.
22:59-23:00
To God.
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smell like Christ to God. Isn't that awesome? Everybody say, "That's another sermon, Pastor Jeff." Come on, help me out. Everybody say, "Move on." Okay, I will.
23:19-23:34
All right. He says, "Among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death and to the other a fragrance from life to life. This is profound.
23:41-24:26
But when you're a born-again believer in Jesus Christ, the Bible says you smell like Jesus. You smell like Jesus. To some people, you smell like life. Oh, I just love being around them. I just love being around them. They are such an encouragement to me, and I just love that. That's true Christian fellowship, you smell like life. But to some people you stink like death. It's the same smell. It's the same smell.
24:33-24:38
But you have to notice from this verse that results don't determine victory.
24:38-24:42
victory, Jesus is already victorious, and we're already in the parade.
24:44-24:45
Do you see that?
24:45-24:46
Results don't determine.
24:48-24:53
If you smell like death to some, then that's a fail, but if you smell like life to some, that's victory.
24:53-24:54
That is not what that says.
24:55-25:00
It says the victory is the fact that the gospel of Jesus Christ is getting out there.
25:01-25:19
The victory is the fact that you smell like Jesus, and that's why you're always in this parade, and this is encouraging to me because I know when I witness to someone, I don't have to walk away from that going, "Was that a success or a fail?" It's always a success because I was making Christ known, right?
25:19-25:20
It's always a success.
25:21-25:24
"But Pastor Jeff, what if they don't like you?" That's success.
25:25-25:28
"But Pastor Jeff, what if they punch you in the nose?" That's success.
25:29-25:35
"Pastor Jeff, what if they kill you?" That's success because the success is in the fact that Christ has been made known.
25:37-25:39
I'm just privileged to be a part of the parade.
25:41-25:45
Jesus Victory Parade, what an honor.
25:47-25:48
So we are victorious witnesses.
25:50-25:53
Listen, faithfulness isn't determined by results, right?
25:53-25:54
Ask Noah.
25:56-26:00
Noah preached for 120 years, and at the end of the day only eight people got on the ark.
26:02-26:03
Was Noah a failure?
26:07-26:10
You see the successes in making Christ known.
26:13-26:17
So number two in letter B actually, letter B, we are dependent witnesses.
26:18-26:19
Look at verse 16 again.
26:20-26:21
We are dependent witnesses.
26:22-26:27
Paul says, "Who is sufficient for these things?" Who is sufficient for these things?
26:31-26:35
This is a question that I ask myself weekly.
26:39-26:43
Actually every Sunday afternoon, every Monday.
26:49-26:52
If you can find enough honest preachers, you'll find a consensus.
26:53-27:00
That Sunday afternoons and Mondays can be rough because you always feel like you didn't adequately express the grandeur of God's word like it deserved.
27:03-27:05
Preachers wrestle with that, okay, a little insight.
27:05-27:08
You wrestle with things in your job, let me tell you some things we wrestle with.
27:09-27:18
Every week I get up and say this is what God said, and every week I walk away going, I didn't adequately express how awesome God is this week.
27:18-27:25
I didn't adequately express how amazing his love and his grace truly is.
27:26-27:41
I didn't adequately express what life in Christ is, what a blessing that is, and that's why Paul says, you know, when we're talking about making Christ known, who is sufficient for these things?
27:43-27:54
And when I talk to people, now that's preacher talk, but let me tell you, when I talk to my brothers and sisters in Christ, this is what I always hear when it comes to witnessing.
27:55-28:04
know I've been sharing things with my grandma or I've been sharing things with my cousin or I've been sharing things and I have to wonder, did I say the right thing?
28:04-28:06
Anybody ever wrestle with that? Did I say the right thing?
28:08-28:15
I've had this conversation, I've had this conversation with some people in this room and many times over the years this conversation, did I say the right thing?
28:16-28:19
Pastor Jeff, I'm afraid maybe I didn;t share enough. Anybody ever feel like that?
28:19-28:20
I didn't share enough!
28:24-28:52
people say, "Well, maybe Pastor Jeff, maybe I shared too much. Maybe I just dumped too much Bible on them, and instead of just explaining the cross and the empty tomb, I just gave them a systematic theology lesson, and I just feel like maybe I gave them too much." And And we all just kind of walk away going, "Who is sufficient for these things?" It's heavy.
28:55-28:56
Well, here's the bad news.
28:58-29:01
There's not a person in this room that's sufficient in and of yourself.
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You're not.
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You're not sufficient.
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Justin, you're not sufficient.
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I like you, man, but you're not sufficient.
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You're not.
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I'm not.
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But that's not really bad news.
29:13-29:23
actually good news because if you look down a few verses in chapter 3 and verse 5, look what Paul says, "Not that we are sufficient in ourselves." Not that we are sufficient in ourselves.
29:27-29:30
To claim anything as coming from us.
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Oh, so I'm not alone.
29:33-29:35
Paul was like totally dealing with this too.
29:35-29:38
Paul's like, "I'm not sufficient." But look at this next phrase.
29:39-29:40
This should be underlined in your Bible too.
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He says our sufficiency is from God.
29:44-29:46
Our sufficiency is from God.
29:50-29:53
So I would like to tell you, church, simply this, you're dependent witnesses.
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You're dependent.
29:54-29:55
You're dependent on God.
29:56-30:00
Don't think that you're going out there to change the world for God without Him, okay?
30:01-30:02
You're not sufficient.
30:05-30:05
You're dependent.
30:07-30:08
You're dependent on Him for all things.
30:10-31:04
or see, jot this down, we are sincere witnesses. We are sincere witnesses. He says, "For we are not like so many, peddlers of God's Word." Peddlers. When you hear peddler, what do you think of? What's that? I know, I just didn't want to repeat it. Does anybody here sell cars? That's kind of a stereotype, isn't it? I know we got our lawyer jokes and we got our used car salesman jokes and we got our preacher jokes and all that stuff. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But yeah, that's what a lot of people think of. You What's it going to take for me to get you in one of these?
31:05-31:06
This is your car.
31:07-31:08
Oh, this is your car.
31:08-31:10
You were made for this car.
31:10-31:11
Look at it.
31:11-31:13
That seat just contours right around you.
31:14-31:15
You were made for this car.
31:16-31:19
Peddlers, what else do you think of?
31:20-31:20
You know what I think of.
31:21-31:24
You know one of my weaknesses, one of my guilty pleasures, infomercials.
31:25-31:27
When I think of peddlers, I think of the ShamWow guy.
31:28-31:29
Do you know who I'm talking about?
31:29-31:31
How many people have seen the ShamWow guy?
31:32-31:35
Like, dude, you are way too excited about a towel, okay?
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But I mean, that guy is just like, you know, he's like, we got our orange towel here, and we dumped five gallons of soda, and it sucked it right up.
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I'm like, okay, that's kind of impressive, but you're smoking something, pal.
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Peddlers.
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Well, that's why they do it.
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It's going so over the top.
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And sadly, there's a lot of peddlers on Christian television, right?
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There's a lot of peddlers on Christian television using the Word of God to make a buck.
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Using the Word of God for their own advantage and they just look so slick and they sound so loud and they make a buck. Enough of them. Look at the next phrase. He said, "We're not the peddlers." He goes, "But as men of sincerity." Sincerity. And you guys know we're coming up on two years. That's something we've been saying from the very beginning. Some of you have been with us from the very beginning, right, can, and that's something we have talked about from the very beginning. We want to be an authentic church. We want to be sincere. We don't want to play church.
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We're not here to put on a show. I'm not here to entertain you. We want to be sincere. We want to be authentic. God help us. I'm sure some of you, when you heard that the sermon was about witnessing today, you just kind of leaned over to somebody and you said, "Well, pack your bags. We're going on a guilt trip," and that's not the case at all. I am not going to guilt trip anyone here today because I don't think that's right. I think that there really can only be one motive for witnessing, one sincere motive, and that's just simply love. That's the motive. I could really guilt you into witnessing. I could give you a little talk that would make you go out and you'd be stuffing gospel tracts down people's throats. If you're not motivated by love though, what does it mean, right?
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If you're not motivated by "I do this because I love Jesus," if you're not motivated by "I do this because I love lost people," then it just doesn't matter.
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I read this week about a guy who when he was in Bible college he took this like evangelism class, and in order to get an A in the class he had to share the gospel with seven people a week during the tenure of this class. I remember being in school. What do you think that looked like? I don't know this guy, maybe Maybe he's different than me, but I can tell you how it would have been for me.
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Like, "Oh, my project's due tomorrow." I would have been racing to Walmart at like 11.45 and like running through the parking lot like, "Oh, by the way, here's a gospel track.
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Can I tell you about Jesus?" "No." "Okay, one." "Hey, here's a gospel track.
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Can I tell you about Jesus?" "Get lost, kid." "Two." And it would just be like a matter of keeping the checklist.
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And that's not proper motivation for sharing the gospel.
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It has to be because you love Jesus.
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And it has to be because you love lost people.
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Speaking of, let me ask you that.
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Do you love lost people?
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Do you love lost people?
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Do you know people are hungry?
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People are starving in their soul, And they've been stuffing themselves with sex and entertainment and drugs and alcohol, and what they find is they're still starving in their soul.
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Does that bother you?
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Do you care?
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You know, that neighbor of yours that doesn't know Christ, do you know that they are one breath away from eternal separation from God in a place called hell, does that bother you? Does that bother you? When you truly understand what Jesus has accomplished for you, when you truly love people the way Jesus loves people, and when you come to a reality check about the truth about hell, you're going to be witnessing and sharing as someone of sincerity. Sincere. Sincere. Do it out of love. Next phrase, letter D, we are commissioned witnesses. He says, "As commissioned by God, commissioned witnesses." That sort of cranks it up a little bit. So not only do we do it out of love and a right motive, but we do it because God told us to do it, right? You know the Great Commission, Jesus makes the most incredible statement on authority ever spoken.
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When Jesus said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me." Have you ever thought about that?
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Jesus said, "All authority." Everything, all authority.
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Who's in charge of everything?
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Jesus said He is.
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Like what about like what's happening in heaven?
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You think of all the angels and everything that's happening in the realm that we can't even see yet.
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Who has the authority over that?
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Jesus does.
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Who has authority over everything that's happening on the earth?
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Jesus does.
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Jesus was saying, "I am the CEO of everything." Now go make disciples.
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And that's why Paul here says, "We're commissioned.
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commissioned. God's given us a job to do. The CEO of the universe has given us a job. Let's go after that. You say, "Well, I know what you're saying about witnessing, but witnessing isn't really my thing." Well, you better make it your thing, because Jesus said, "Go make disciples." We're commissioned by God, and but you do have to represent Jesus to whomever God puts in your path. We're commissioned. Paul says it here, we're commissioned by God. He's given us a job, let's get on it, in love. And then finally, we are empowered witnesses. We are empowered witnesses. He says, "In the sight of God, we speak in Christ." When Jesus gave the Great Commission, he didn't say, "Go make disciples, teach them, baptize them, and I will check in occasionally to see how you're doing." He He did say, "I will be with you until the end of the age." Remind you that you are God's ministry partner.
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And that sort of takes the pressure off, doesn't it?
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All you need to do is tell the story.
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God does the heavy lifting, right?
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The Holy Spirit is the one who does the spiritual work, the work of regeneration, the work of conviction, the work of that heart stuff that you and I can't do. Our job is to just tell people the story. But we're empowered witnesses because we're doing this with God. So God has chosen to proclaim the gospel through people.
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Secondly, I want to talk about one word here, and that's the word "boldness." Write this down. God's people are called to speak the good news of the gospel boldly.
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Boldly. The way that it's worded on the pillar of Harvest Bible Chapel is sharing the good news of Jesus with boldness. Why is that phrase "with boldness in there? Well, the early church had one motive, or one method rather. One simple and powerful method, and it was boldness. You ready for a word study? The Greek word for boldness is translated 42 times in the New Testament, and it literally means openness.
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It means speaking freely.
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It means clear, plain, and directly.
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When we talk about sharing the good news of Jesus with boldness, that doesn't mean you race home from church and go to your neighbor's house and start pounding on their door, "Hey, pagan, you're going to hell!
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"Turn or burn!
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"Get right or get left!" All that stuff may be true, but that's obnoxious.
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And that's not boldness.
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So, what is boldness?
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Boldness just simply means clear, plain, and direct, open.
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A couple of examples, Mark chapter 8, verses 31 and 32, it says, "He, Jesus, began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed.
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And after three days rise again, and He said this plainly." That's the word for bold.
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It says Jesus said it plainly.
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Jesus didn't gather his disciples around and try to give them some sort of a cryptogram, some sort of a holy crossword.
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See if you can figure this out.
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He spoke very plainly.
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"Listen, I'm going to die and I'm going to raise from the dead." Plain.
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Another example is Acts chapter 7, verses 25 through 26.
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"Some of the people of Jerusalem therefore said, 'Is this not the man whom they seek to kill, and here He is speaking openly. Openly, there it is again. That's boldness, just speaking openly. And then you see it in the church, Acts chapter 4, verses 13, 29, and 31, over and over and over and over. Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, verse 29, "Grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness." Verse 31, continue to speak the Word of God with boldness. Boldness is not disregarding the willingness of the hearer. Boldness is this. Boldness is the Spirit-directed conviction that one must share the news clearly and not fear the response of the listener. Simply opportunity, I will speak for him." That's boldness. When God gives me opportunity, I'm going to speak for him. That's bold.
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It's not obnoxious, it's not jerky, it's actually very humble, but it's clear. As I Before I close my time, I wanted to share with you the vision for outreach at Harvest Bible Chapels.
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We talk about witnessing and we talk about getting out, sharing the gospel.
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I want you to jot these things down.
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What does this church do for outreach?
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Well, there are three things.
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Number one, I know the screen's going to say invite, and I thought about that.
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That's like a subheading.
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Write down personal.
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Write down personal under number one, and invite's going to come under that, okay?
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Write down the word personal, number one.
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How does outreach happen?
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What happens with you personally?
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It happens with you personally.
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I'd like to remind you again to share what you know. Just share what you know.
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It's just seeing who God's preparing that you can share the message with. Now like I said, I'm no Billy Graham. I'm not even a Teddy Graham. I'm just like some guy. And at the risk of sounding too simplistic, I mean, here's what I do when I meet people and talk to them. It's just like this. We get to talking and, you know, "It's really nice to meet you," and stuff. I say, "Do you know the story about Jesus?" And judging in their response determines what I say next. Sometimes people are like, "Oh yeah, I know the story about Jesus, and when they say that, I make sure they know the story about Jesus. Like, you know, let's do a little role-playing, right? Bob, you're up first. Do you know the story about Jesus? Now, I'm sorry, I didn't give you your role. Shame on me. Your answer is yes, okay? Do you know the story about Jesus? You know how the Bible says that He came, He died for your sins, and that He rose from the dead so that you could have eternal life and your sins could be forgiven? You know that story? What have you done with that?" That's what I ask people. I just ask them, "What have you done with that?" I was witnessing to a guy a couple weeks ago, like I said, that very question, I said, "What have you done with that?" He said, "Nothing." And I said, "Not like jerky, I'm like sitting down with a guy, okay, so don't think I'm like, you know, beating him over the head.
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You know, we're just sitting down talking, all right? So You're gonna say yes and then you're gonna say nothing.
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You got that?
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Okay, do you know the story about Jesus?
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How he died on the cross for you and he rose from the dead.
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Well, what have you done with that?
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Why haven't you done something with that?
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Do you know?
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You know the Bible says that your eternity hinges on what you do with Jesus Christ.
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Do you know that?
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And this guy said yes.
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And I said, well then, I guess I just gotta ask you, what's the hangup?
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If you know, what are you doing about that?
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And we got to talking, and through the conversation, and you're a good sport, Bob, but through the conversation, this man said, "Following Jesus just sounds like too much of a commitment." And I said, "You know what?
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"Jesus isn't looking for any part-time help." That's true.
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So according to the Bible, when you follow Christ, it's your whole life, man.
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It's everything.
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So you're right.
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But I'd like you, and I just said to the man, I'd like you to really reconsider, and I'd like you to really think about the truth about what the Bible says about eternal life and how important that is.
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And then I said, "Can I have a prayer with you?" And I just had like a quick 30-second prayer with the guy.
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And in that prayer, I just said, "God, reveal yourself to this man." hard? Honestly, I don't think it is. And you're like, well, like what if somebody totally rejects you? Well, that's easy. So we need another volunteer, all right?
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How about, I'm gonna try to share with somebody, but I need you to be really mean, okay? I'm not gonna feed you your lines, this is all ad-lib. Can somebody be really mean? Derek, you mean our silky smooth velvet drummer here is gonna be mean? Alright, so you're gonna be mean, you're gonna reject. I'm gonna try to share with you, and we didn't plan this out, okay? We didn't talk about this at all, did we? I'm just gonna try to share with you, and I just want you to be as nasty as possible to me, okay? So like we're talking, maybe we're sitting across from each other at a restaurant or something and we get to talking and I say, "Hey man, do you know the story about Jesus?" Well, you know the story about Jesus, how he died on the cross for your sins?
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Well when was the last time you've been to church? 1965. That was 10 years before I was even an idea. Now see, I do that. I'm not just like playing with Derek here. I do that because I'm trying to keep the conversation from turning into a fight. So I say that and yeah, you're like, "Yeah Jeff, you're not Billy Graham and you're not Jerry Seinfeld either. I know, but I'm trying to keep the tone light here, right? I'm just trying to keep the tone light. I don't want to fight with you. And like, what would you think about coming and checking out my church sometime? Now be nasty, man. Come on. Why would you think about, what do you think about checking out my church sometime, man? I would love to have you come to Harvest Bible Chapel.
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Well, you know what? We don't, we're not going to encourage you to smoke at our church, anything of any type. However, however, I just want you to know that it's a standing invitation, all right? So you know what, our website's at the bottom of this card. Look us up online. I would love to have you come and I promise you we're not gonna throw you out, all right?
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You know what? There are some women at our church. However, we're not a dating club. I want you to come and I want you to meet someone that's more important than any woman or any man on this earth, all right? So I'm sorry. I'm sorry that you had a bad church experience, I really am, and there's nothing I can do about that, but I would just encourage you sometime, why don't you come and check us out? We'd love to have you, man. Okay, great. Now see, that wasn't even that nasty. Can he get nastier than that? No, see, that was about as much as he could ramp it up. But that's why when I say sharing personally, sometimes that's why I encourage you just go straight to the invite. If somebody's like not having it, don't want to talk about it. I just like to leave people with an open-ended invite, right? Like, and that's how I start a lot of conversations with people.
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You know, like, I'll say, "Hey, do you have a church home?" Now, your answer, okay, your answer is yes, and I'm gonna feed you your lines. You're gonna say yes, I go to Northway, okay? All right, so I meet this handsome young dude. I'm like, "Hey, do you have a church home? Oh you do? Where do you go? Oh you know what, I know some people. That's a fantastic church. I got a lot of friends over there. I'll tell you what, if that's where God has you and he's using you, that's fantastic. If you ever want to come and visit us sometime, our website's on the bottom of that. I would love for you to come and visit with us. Check out our website. It tells you what kind of church we are. That's all there is to it. That is all there is to it. Okay, one more. How about the "Do you have a church home?" and the person says no, I don't have a church home. Gosh, that one's even easier. Randy, you're up for this one. Like, okay, so we get talking, I meet this guy, and I think, you know, we get enough of a relationship going, we get into the conversation, I'm like, hey man, do you have a church home? I would love for you to come. You know what, we're part of a church plant we just launched, you know, a couple years ago. I would love to have you come and check us out. All the information is on our website right there in the bottom. You can get online. My number's on the website, give me a call. I would love to have you come and check us out. See? Now let me ask you, what was hard about that?
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Nothing. And I would just encourage you, you don't have to -- I think some people are so scared of witnessing because they think like they're gonna be under the lights and all of a sudden they're gonna have to answer all of these like Bible college questions. Share what you know about Jesus. Ask people what they've done Jesus and invite him to church. So write that down, invites, invites. You know some people just need an invitation, did you know that? Some people just need an invitation. Vision for outreach. Secondly is small groups. And small groups, our to have every small group involved in doing outreach.
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In the meantime, what we're doing, this fall we're going to be having two outreach events.
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One is with World Vision, when is that, Michelle?
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November 23rd, we're going to get a group to get onto World Vision to do some ministry down there, and we're talking with Amanda Frederick's friend about doing some, she has a outreach in Pittsburgh.
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But to get some things happening church-wide, you could call them, I guess, baby steps, just to get our church familiar with what's out there and getting involved in some of these trips.
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And the eventual goal, every small group adopts its own outreach.
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The small group that you attend once a month or once a quarter is out doing something to minister to people in this community.
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I'd like to see that happen by early 2014 with every small group.
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And then finally, Harvest Bible Fellowship.
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Right on HBF, Harvest Bible Fellowship.
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We're planning churches in Nicaragua, two in the next year, two in the following year, and there are already two or three down there now.
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And we're going to be getting involved with some other Harvest Bible Chapels.
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I know Denver and Niagara, some others are already involved that we're going to partner with them.
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And maybe we're not at a point where we can send 30 people and $30,000, maybe we're at a point where we can send three people and $3,000.
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I don't know. But we want to be sending, hopefully by next summer, send a few people down to do some mission work in Nicaragua. But that's the vision for outreach, personal, including inviting people and you sharing the gospel with people. Small groups, two events this fall, every small group doing outreach. And work down in Nicaragua. Also, I'd just encourage you to check out your bullet, and we're praying for leadership for these outreach ministries. We're praying for somebody to head up local outreach that can work with Justin and Michelle as they're over small groups, and can work with me to sort of spearhead local outreach efforts. You're like, "Well, what does that look like?" You're going to local needs. Like, you know, what does the church need to be doing in the North Hills area of Pittsburgh? What can we be doing to meet people's needs in this area? You'll connect and communicate with ministries in this area.
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How can we be a blessing? How can we share the gospel? How can we love people?
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And this position also is going to make our presence known, whether it's through community events, newspaper, web, whatever, just letting people know, "Here we are and here's what we're doing." And then international, we need a liaison with Harvest Bible Fellowship, we need somebody who's going to keep us updated on prayer and financial needs, who's going to work with the fellowship and work with me to plan short-term trips and partner with these other Harvest Bible chapels to be doing international missions. And here's what I'm I'm asking for, just simply from you, church.
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You know, we said last week about praying big things.
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I'm just asking that we pray about this right now.
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Like, we seek after the Lord.
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Hey, we need leadership for outreach, locally and internationally.
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We need leadership for that.
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We need somebody that's going to, you know, grab that ministry and say, "I'm going after this." Let's pray for it, okay?
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You know, sharing the good news of Jesus with boldness can sound pretty intimidating, like to remind you of what Paul said in Ephesians 6 20 when he says, "Pray also for me that words may be given to me and opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel for which I am an ambassador in chains that I may declare it boldly as I ought to speak." So if the Apostle Paul had to pray for boldness and the early church had to pray for boldness. Where does boldness come from?
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Where does it come from? It comes from God, doesn't it? So church, I'm not saying leave here going, "I the tiger, come on, you can do it!" You can't. What I'm leaving here is saying, let's as a church, if we're praying for big things, one of the big things we need to pray for is boldness. Let's leave here saying, "We are going to pray that God would effectively use me and speak through me to share the love and to share the Word of Jesus Christ. God, give me boldness. It comes from Him. Paul said pray for it.
Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read 2 Corinthians 2:14-17
What, in your opinion, is the hardest thing about witnessing? How can you be a better witness?
Breakout Questions:
Name someone you need to witness to / invite to church hold each other accountable for follow up!
Pray for one another.