Spirit hacks, tips and tools for
mastering your spiritual life. Would you please
turn in your Bibles of the book of Acts
chapter 2, Acts chapter 2. You knew I was
going to say that. You probably had that
ready, but it's good for you to turn there and look with me. It Acts chapter 2. So how many-- show of hands. How many of you have heard of
the show Mission Impossible? Raise your hands. So seriously, just
come on, really. Yeah, raise your hands. OK, so some of you think that
that kind of started with a Tom Cruise movie, but what
some of you need to know, I don't know why you
need to know this, but it started in the 1960s. '66 to '73, there was
a television program called Mission Impossible,
a series on TV. And the main character was
a guy named Jim Phelps. He was in charge of the
impossible missions force. They would send their little
co-op team or their special ops team around the world for
uncovering crime and getting warlords put away, et cetera. But the message for the
operation, for the mission came on a reel to reel
tape, a little reel to reel tape recorder. Some of you millennials
are looking at me like, what is that? So it was a method of
communication in the old days, where you put sound on a
tape and a tape recorder would play it. Well, let's just show a clip. You got to see this. This is culture. Your mission, Jim, should
you decide to accept it, is to make stuff on Lee
Thompson's information. As always, should you
or any of your IM force be caught or killed,
the secretary will disavow any
knowledge of your actions. This tape will self-destruct
in five seconds. Good luck, Jim. That's the best
part right there. So did you hear
the instructions? Your mission, should you decide
to accept it, is such and such, and then this tape will
self-destruct in five seconds. You and I have a mission. Your mission, should
you decide to accept it, is called the great commission. It's when Jesus said to his
followers go into all the world and preach the gospel and
whoever believes will be saved. Now what an incredible
statement that we can actually give a message with our
words that has the potential to see people saved. Go into all the world,
and preach the gospel. That is our mandate. The mandate to the church is to
bring forth the gospel message, to verbally communicate it and
by our lives communicate it. But I think you'll agree
it's a scary mandate. It's not easy to just
walk up to people and discuss the intimacy
of our relationship with God and the need for
a person to receive Christ. We get intimidated. We get fearful. What if they ask me questions I
can't answer, et cetera, right? I remember the first time
I tried to share my faith. It was not pretty. I remember it because
my heart was pumping. Adrenaline was flowing. My voice was quivering. And this was just
at a gas station, me telling somebody about Jesus. I was so scared. I got through it. Then I remember the
second time I ever did it, because it was the
second time I ever did it. And they piled a bunch of
us in a Volkswagen bus. I think they were trying
to win the contest how many Christians can you
fit in a Volkswagen bus. I discovered a lot. And they emptied us out
in a parking lot and said, go share your faith. And I thought, I don't even
know what that is exactly, except I did it once
at a gas station. So it was my first exposure
to walking up to somebody and spending a few
moments with them verbally communicating the gospel. It was hard then, like
it was the first time, but I discovered
the more and more I did it, throughout my life,
the easier and more natural it became. So that was a long time ago. And I've had the privilege
of sharing the gospel in a number of occasions. One of the great privileges
was just a few months ago going to Saudi Arabia
and actually sitting in the palace with the
Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia and telling him what the gospel
is that God sent his son out of heaven to earth to die
for our sins on a cross and would give you eternal life
to those who trust in his name. That was like a
surreal moment for me. Now, let me just
say as a follow-up, though it's hard
for us to do this, one of the most satisfying
experiences you will ever have is doing this. Guaranteed you will walk
away from it so exhilarated. And I want to talk to you
about evangelism today, personal evangelism
from the book of Acts. That's the lens we'll use. But hopefully, through
some of the tips I'm going to give you as
we draw this to a close, it's going to be less daunting,
less intimidating, and more fun for you. I hope that happens. We'll in Acts chapter
2, we have seen so far a kind of a
comprehensive portrait of what life was like among the
earliest Christian believers. We discovered that it
was a learning church, because they devoted themselves
to the apostles' doctrine. We discovered it
was a caring church, because they were
devoted to fellowship, to being with each
other in community. We discovered it was a
Christ center church. They got together and
broke bread, not just having a meal, but
also communion, sharing the remembrance of the
Lord's death on the cross. It was a praying church for they
devoted themselves to prayers. It was a generous church. We saw last week they gave
of their time, their talent, and their treasure to
the work of the Lord. But even all of that is
not a complete picture. It is not a balanced picture. All we have done so far
is talk about the church's internal life,
not external life. This is what they did as
they gathered together to themselves. What we need is verse
47 to bring balance to it, not just verse 47. All we need is the last part
of verse 47, which says, "And the Lord added
to the church daily those who were being saved." Now, we're going to
see how he did that, but that's what it says. "The Lord added to
the church daily those who are being saved." Without that sentence, we
would get the wrong impression of the first church. Without that verse, we would
get the idea that all they did is get together and
have bible study and all they did is
get together and pray and hang out and have meals,
but that's not all they did. They had a relationship with
God and with each other, but they also had some
kind of relationship to the outside world. They had not just an interior
life, but an exterior life, one that they showed
to unbelievers and thus, they were
committed in some form or fashion to evangelism. What I'd like to do
with you this morning is give you quickly a fourfold
description of what evangelism was like in the early church and
really what it is like period. First of all, it's
a divine work. Evangelism is a divine work. I want you to notice verse 47,
how Luke words this sentence. "And the Lord added
to the church." I think sometimes
we overlook this. I think sometimes we
get our great programs and our strategies,
and we should. We should think this
through and do it right. We have every year our
freedom celebration at the stadium, which is
designed to be a celebration to get the gospel out to the
unbelievers of this city. We have a great VBS every
year, Vacation Bible School very large, very successful
to bring children in the community, to have
fun and to hear the gospel. All of that is
good and necessary. However, ultimately
evangelism is God's doing. It is not the work of bands. It is not the work of banquets. It is not the work
of bumper stickers. It is a work of God. Psalm 74 verse 12
the Psalmist writes, "God is my King of
old, working salvation in the midst of the earth." You will remember the
Lord Jesus promised the coming of the Holy
Spirit to his disciples. And he said, "when
the Holy Spirit comes, he will convict the world
of sin, righteousness, and judgment." He didn't say you will
convict the world. You can't convict anybody. It is a work of God. It is a sovereign work
of the Holy Spirit. So the Holy Spirit, I like to
look at him, as one commentator put it, the hound of heaven. Don't you love that? Let the Holy Spirit
chase that person down, wrestle him to the ground,
and get his heart to open up. That's what he does. It's not our work as much
as head work-- his work. So the God who created
the world is the same God who came up with the idea,
the plan, and the power to save a person. Romans chapter 8 verse 30
contains it all in one verse. It says, "Whom he predestined,
these he also called. Whom he called these,
he also justified. And whom he justified,
these he also glorified." Who does the work? He does the work. It's him from beginning to end. We call this election. You've heard that
term before if you've been a believer very long, a
theological term, election. It means God chose
you before he made you and then he arranged
the circumstances by which to save you. That's God's election. Jesus said, "no one can come
to me, unless the Father who sent me draws him." So we get the picture. He chases a person. He draws a person to
himself by convicting that person of their need. So on one hand, this takes
the pressure off, right. You hear this, you
go, I love that. You mean, I don't have
to save a person, right? Newsflash, you
can't save anyone. I had a person come and he
goes, you saved me 10 years ago. I usually step back and
go, well, I'm glad God did. Because if I did,
you're in trouble. But I understand
what you're saying. God does that work. When Paul went to Philippi and
he spoke to a group of women at a riverside, a
riverbank, there was one woman by
the name of Lydia. And it is described as
saying, and the Lord opened her heart to listen
to the things spoken by Paul. That's God's word. When I came to
Christ, I was alone. I was in a room watching TV. I told you the story
a million times. There was nobody in the
going listen to that. Skip, listen, what do
you think about that? It was just me and the Lord. And the Lord opened my heart
to listen to the words of Billy Graham during that episode. So it is a divine work,
but hold that thought. It's not just a divine work. It's also a delegated work. Now I just said, the
pressure was off, right. It's a divine work. It takes the pressure off, but
now the pressure is back on. Because it's not
only a divine work, it is also a delegated work. Who is it delegated to? As Jesus said to his disciples,
go into all the world and use your mouth. Speak, preach the
gospel to everyone. And whoever believes
will be saved. So you and I have
a part in this. I want you to notice
something in verse 41. Go up a couple versus. Verse 41, "those who
gladly received his word, Peter's word were baptized. And that day about 3,000
souls were added to them." Question, how were they added? Answer, by the Lord
through the Lord's people. By the Lord, but through
the Lord's people. Did they just stand in Jerusalem
and just suddenly go, you know, I feel like being
saved right now. I think I am saved right now
sovereignly by a work of God. No. Somebody was speaking to them. Who was it? Peter. Peter was giving
a message to them. Go back to verse 14, if you
don't mind, you're right there. So why not? Verse 14. "But Peter, standing
up with the 11, raised his voice, that's
what God used and said to them, men of Judea and
all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to
you and heed my words." Go down a verse 38. "Then Peter said
to them, repent, and let every one of
you will be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ
for the remission of sins." Verse 40, "And with many other
words, he-- that is Peter-- testified and
exhorted them saying, be saved from this
perverse generation." Now, this becomes the
pattern throughout the rest of the book of Acts. God is doing the work. He's doing it
through his people, who are doing the preaching. They're verbally
witnessing the people. In Acts chapter 4, I'll
turn a page forward. Acts chapter 4 verse 33,
"And with great power, the apostles gave witness to the
resurrection of the Lord Jesus and great grace
was upon them all." Two things are
happening, God's grace is there to call them, convict
them, woo them, save them, but he's using the
testimony in witness of those who are preaching,
in this case, the apostles. Turn another page. Act chapter 5 verse 42,
"And daily in the temple and in every house, they did
not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ." One more, a couple more pages. Acts chapter 8 verse 4. I'll stop here. Acts 8. Persecution hits the church. Everybody scatters. Verse 4, Acts 8. "Those who were scattered went
everywhere preaching the word." So now we know that evangelism
is both a divine work as well as a human work, that
is a divine cooperation, a human cooperation with
a divine call, God's word. Think of it this way. God is the mover. You are the mouthpiece. God is the mover. He convicts. He draws. You are the mouthpiece. You bring the message
as Jesus told us to do. So what this means is God
is looking for volunteers. God is always looking
for volunteers. The eyes of the
Lord go to and fro throughout the entire earth. He's always looking for
somebody who would say this. You can use me if
you'd like the Lord. Here's my mouth. It's available. My feet can go places. My hands can embrace
people who need it. My eyes can give contact to
those who feel alienated. Use me. That's what Isaiah said. Isaiah chapter 6,
"Then I heard the word of the Lord saying, whom shall
I send and who will go for us?" And Isaiah said,
"here I am Lord. Send me." A lot of us go, here I am Lord. Send her. Don't use me. I'm not that kind of person. I'm not that. I don't do that. Here I am Lord. Send me. It's a delegated work. Now, what forms
of evangelism does the New Testament speak about? Let me give you a few. We'll move through this rapidly. Form number one seen in the
New Testament, mass evangelism. Mass evangelism
isn't one on one. It's talking to a crowd. I am thankful for
mass evangelism. I watched an event take
place in a stadium. Mass evangelism by
Billy Graham, that was my first connection
of faith with Christ. So I'm grateful for it. Jesus spoke to crowds of people. And in one event in Galilee,
he's got the crowd of people around him. And he gives a
public invitation. His words, "come to me all you
who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Jesus publicly invited
them to follow him. That's mass evangelism. Peter does the same thing. Here in the book of Acts
in front of a crowd, he says, "repent and be saved." That's pretty clear. A few chapters later,
Acts chapter 14, Paul is in a town called Lystra. He's in front of the city gate. He speaks to the crowd
and says, "God's plan is for you to turn
from false gods and to turn to him, the
living and true God." That's mass evangelism. Act chapter 17 Paul is in
Athens, not Georgia, Greece. And he's in Athens. He's on Mars Hill,
the Areopagus. And he talks about
their worship system. I notice you guys
worship a lot of gods. You even have a little statue
over here to the unknown god. That unknown god I want
to make known to you. And he says, "In times past,
God overlooked such ignorance, but now commands all men
everywhere to repent." He said that publicly. That is mass evangelism. And we have great
examples through history of people like John Wesley,
George Whitfield, Jonathan Edwards, Charles Finney, Billy
Sunday, Dwight Lyman Moody, Billy Graham, and others. 1 Corinthians God
says, Paul writes, "By the foolishness
of preaching, God has ordained for
people to be saved." That's mass evangelism. That's one way. Another way, most common way
really, personal evangelism, one on one. Jesus at the well as
Samaria he just speaks to a woman, just one person. And in that
conversation, she ends up receiving Jesus as messiah. Then he goes into
Samaria afterwards and engages with a few other
people, also, John chapter 4. And they also believe. Philip personally evangelized
one person, Ethiopian eunuch, in Acts chapter 8. So that's probably
where most of us fit. Some of you may be called
to mass evangelism, crusade evangelism. I'm not sure. But probably, more so,
you're likely to engage in personal evangelism. And let me just say
that's a privilege. I don't want to
say responsibility, because sometimes you
got to church going, are you're going to tell
me another responsibility? No. I'm going to tell you
about a privilege you have. I mean, think about it. If the message Jesus said, we
preach about him has the power to get people saved
through his sovereign work, right, preach the gospel
to every creature, whoever believes will be saved, if that
is that kind of a life giving message, what a
privilege we have to open our mouths at some
point and deliver those goods. It is a privilege that we carry. Yet, according to Evangelism
Explosion, they write, "It has been estimated that
95% of American church members have never led
anyone to Christ." It's quite a
statement, isn't it? "95% of American church
members have never led any one to Christ." Now, I don't want you to get
the guilties over hearing that, because hopefully by
the end of this little study, you're going to go,
I want to do this. This sounds fun, and it is. So we have mass evangelism,
personal evangelism. I'll give you a third,
because that's really the context here of Acts
2, local church evangelism, meaning it is the
normal natural outgrowth of a church in a community
where evangelism just flows from the life of a church. Every congregation should be a
worshipping community, as well as a witnessing community. If you just have
one or the other, I think you're out of balance. If it's all witness
and no worship, if it's all worship
and no witness, you'll be off kilter,
both a worshipping and a witnessing community. And I'll press
this even further. I believe that if every
single church that has ever been planted or started,
every denomination, every local church, would have
been committed to local church evangelism, the world would
have heard the gospel by now. John Stott writes--
and I love John Stott. He said, "I know some
churches which haven't seen a convert for 10 years or more. And if they got one,
they wouldn't know what to do with him or her. So extraordinary would this
phenomenon appear to them." Somebody got saved. What do we do? I don't know. Now, this brings up an issue. At least it does for me. And I just want to
get this out there, because it's sort of
a controversial thing. If you ever come
here for very long, you have seen me sometimes. You go a couple of
weeks or three weeks, you're going to run
into it, whether it's a midweek or a weekend
services, where I will sometimes invite a person to walk
forward and receive Christ. We call that an altar call. And some people are very
opposed to altar calls. What's interesting the people
most opposed to altar calls are not atheists, but
those who give themselves a brand of Christianity. And I would say there is
hyperform of Calvinism-- I won't get into all
the distinctions-- that says you should never
mess with God's sovereignty by giving an invitation. You don't draw them. God draws them. And I agree. I would only say to
that God does the work, but he also ordains the means
by which he does the work, which could be my mouth or yours. So I think both are
true, but they'll say never give an invitation. Invitations wrong, because
it's God's sovereign calling. I was speaking to one of at our
campus at Nob Hill a while ago. At the end of the little
talk, I asked people to come forward
if they wanted to. Many did. Afterwards, I'm
talking to people. There's a guy in line
that wanted to talk to me. He wasn't too happy. I could see that. So I wanted to see what he
was all ruffled up about. And he was ruffled up
that I gave an altar call and invited people
forward to Christ. He goes, you should
never invite a person. It's God's sovereign work. And I listened to it. I did. I was very nice, and I listened. But then, but then
I said, I get it. I get it. He goes, you do. I said, yeah, I
see your problem. He goes, you see my problem. I said, yeah, you don't
really have a problem with me. You have a problem with John. John, who? I said, the Apostle John. He goes, what do you mean? I said John writes
about the word that came from heaven became flesh. And John writes this. He came to his own. His own did not receive him. But as many as
received him, to them he gave the power to
become children of God. So you have God's calling,
sovereign calling, and human cooperation, human
will working in the same verse. I think your problem
isn't with Skip Heitzig. I think your problem is
with John the apostle. Listen to what
J.I. Packer writes. By the way, J.I. Packer,
also a Calvinist, one of my favorite authors ever. He wrote one of the best
books on this subject that I think we all
need to read if we're worried about this topic. It's called Evangelism
and The Sovereignty of God, short little book. He writes this. One sentence, I'll pull out. "It is a matter not of
merely informing people, but of also inviting people." I agree with that. And Paul the Apostle
agrees with that. For Paul the Apostle wrote
2 Corinthians 5, "Knowing therefore the terror of
the Lord, we persuade men." Did you hear that verse? "Knowing the terror
of the Lord." What does that mean? Paul knows what will happen
to that unsaved person when they die. There will be an eternity
of hell in the future. That's terror. "Knowing therefore the terror
of the Lord, we persuade men." That's evangelism. So you want to talk
people off that ledge, because you know what's coming
is what that verse basically says. One time DL Moody-- you've heard me talk about him-- over 100 years ago,
evangelists in Chicago, Moody was preaching. And by the way, the altar
call a lot of people thing goes back to Moody's
days of preaching. He would often called people
forward in an invitation. Very controversial at the time. Still is. Moody gave his presentation,
call people forward. There was a woman, very angry. Stood in line, was
not an atheist, was a Christian, who was
mad that he did that. And she says, I don't like
the way you evangelize. And he very politely-- he was classy
sometimes-- he said, ma'am, frankly, I don't
like the way I do it either. So I'm open to learn. Tell me what way do you do it. She says I don't do it. So he said, well,
ma'am, then I think I like the way I do it better
than the way you don't do it. So I think we have
an opportunity to do it to the glory
of God in some form or fashion, mass evangelism,
personal evangelism, local church evangelism. So it's a divine work. It's a delegated work. Third component, it
is a double work. Please notice our
verse, verse 47. I need your help on this. And the Lord added to the what? Let's try that again. Deep breath. We can do this. "And the Lord added to the-- Chruch --chruch daily those
who are being-- Saved --saved." Now I had you do
that on purpose. There's two words that I
want you to play off of-- church, saved. Here's the point. He didn't add them to the
church without saving them. And he didn't save them without
adding them to the church. It's a double work. You know, today, it's
fashionable to say, well, I'm spiritual. What does that mean? Well, I believe in Jesus
man, and I'm spiritual, but I don't believe
in the church. I'm not into organized religion. I've heard that a million times. I would say, what you're
into disorganized religion? No, I'm just a spiritual person
and I follow Jesus my way, but I don't believe
in the church. Well, that's interesting,
because Jesus said, he came to build his church. And if you don't
believe in church, you don't believe in
what Jesus came to build, which was a new community
called his church. So it's a double work. He added them to the church
those who were being saved. So salvation and church
involvement go together. I have to have you
look at one more verse. Acts 5, you're not far away. It won't take you long. Acts chapter 5
verse 14, because I want you to see how this is
worded here, very differently. Acts 5:14. It says, "And believers were
increasingly added to-- what? The Lord. the Lord." The Lord. "Believers were
increasingly added to the Lord and multitudes
of both men and women." Who were added? Believers were added. Believers were
added to the Lord. The Lord added them to what? The church. You put Acts 5 and acts 2
together, that's how it works. So when a person is
saved, he belongs to God. God has them belong to
a group, a new community that he calls the church. So the true Church is
made up of saved people. What I mean by
what I just said is that you can have a
big group of people, but not everyone in that group
of people is the saved person. That's not every person. They may be going to a
church, but they may not be part of the true church. The true church is made
up of saved people. And that's a fact we should
celebrate and not hide or try to get around the fact that we
love Jesus and sing about him and make much of the blood of
Jesus Christ that cleanses us. There's been a
movement over decades called a seeker friendly
movement in church. Let's make it about seekers,
not about church people. Let's do something that
wouldn't embarrass unbelievers. Let's make it so that
unbelievers almost feel like this is
what they're used to. Well, then why would they
ever convert or change? I mean, if it's the same
as what they're used to, what's the difference? So we shouldn't hide the fact
that we are madly in love with Jesus and his church. People, we celebrate him. And make no bones
about it, I think we should be more concerned
with feeding the sheep than entertaining the goats. So evangelism helps
goats become sheep. But then you feed the sheep. And then those fed sheep
in turn evangelize goats. So you get more sheep. Now that is what you see, I
think, in the book of Acts. The early church were
saved souls wanting to see more souls saved. So it's a double work. And fourth and finally,
it's a daily work. For it says in
verse 47, the Lord added to the church monthly
those who were being saved. I'm sorry. Daily. Thank you. I like that. I like your involvement. The Lord added daily
those who are being saved. Here's the point. Evangelism wasn't
a sporadic event. Like one week a year,
this is evangelism Sunday. You can have evangelism Monday,
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, daily. It's a part of their life. It wasn't mission week. Every day was mission
week for them. Some churches think that you
grow up to a certain point and then we have enough. We've done enough. So you get to be 500 people,
you can stop evangelizing, 1,000 people, 2,000 people. You can you sort of cap
it off at that point. Stop reaching out. Never stop reaching out. It's never big enough. Well, how many
people do you want? All of them. All of them, every last
unbeliever, every last one. Think of it this way. How many disciples did
Jesus have, close followers, how many? 12. So next question. Follow me along. In Acts chapter 1, it
grew a little bit bigger. How many people were
in the first meeting, the upper room in Jerusalem? Anybody know that number? 120 people. So they went from 12 to 120. That's like what,
10 times growth. That's pretty good. They didn't go, we got enough. Because they had been
really sad on Pentecost when 3,000 came forward. So now you have 3,120,
but don't stop there. Acts chapter 4, it says
5,000 men, not including women and children, put
their faith in Christ. So now you've got a big group. So pretty soon
they stop counting. They just go multitudes
of men and women came and next said
multitudes more. It kept on growing. What this tells me, number
one, somebody was counting. If you think it's unspiritual
to count, don't read Acts. Number two, there are never
ever enough people saved. And the church is
never ever full. You go, well, what do
you mean never full? I come here. It's pretty full. We have four services a week. What are you going to
do if you get more? Add another service,
or two, or three. We have four services. We'll have six. There's never a time
that you stop that. God willing that would happen. Jesus in the parable
of the wedding feast in Luke 14,
his words, "Go out into the highways and hedges
and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled." There are never too
many people in heaven. There are never too many
people going to the kingdom. And it's our daily
opportunity to tell people how to get into that house. J.C. Ryle once said, "The
highest form of selfishness is a man content to
go to heaven alone." No, I'm good. I'm saved. I got fire insurance. I'm going to heaven. He's not. She's not. So what. That's God's business. What a selfish,
self-centered life. Somebody said that
if you were to take all the unbelievers in the
world and line them up, it would form a line that would
go around the Earth 30 times. And the line grows 20
miles a day, every day. Evangelism is you
walking up to that line and saying, let me tell you
how to get out of this line and come into a line and
to go to a place that can't have enough people. That is God's kingdom. Now let me close
with a few tips. I want to throw up on the screen
some tips that hopefully will help you overcome
fear or reluctance, because I'm guessing
that not a lot of you just like to walk up to
people that you've never met and go, hey, you with a
cappuccino at Starbucks, do you know about heaven? You're going, no, that's not me. So what do you do? Let me give you a few tips. Number one, pray. You're thinking, oh,
you just said that, because you're a
pastor and pastors are supposed to kind of
say pray first, right? Wrong. Pray. And I'll show you
how in just a second. When I say pray, I
don't mean like pray as you're having a conversation
with the unbeliever. Wait a minute, you're a heathen. I need to-- let's
pray right now. No, no, no, don't do that. Pray in advance
for an opportunity. I mean, it's this simple. You're doing whatever
you do during the day and you say, Lord, I just
pray for an opportunity. Here's a mouth for you to
use and feet and hands. Here's a human body. If you want to use me today,
set up the opportunity. That's how you pray. So I did this this week. I went to Washington DC. I was on a flight, my second
leg from Atlanta to DC. I'm going through the airport. And I just-- I'm talking to God,
not out loud so they didn't think I was nuts. But I said, Lord, I just want
you to use this opportunity if that's what you want. You want to place
me next to somebody or have me talk to somebody. Your call, but I'm available. Get on the plane. The plane is absolutely
packed full of people. Every seat taken,
and I'm on an aisle. And a guy sits in
the middle row, who was an academic, a
vascular surgeon from Saudi. He was a Muslim
from Saudi Arabia. So I thought this is perfect. It's like the perfect person. And we had a great conversation
throughout that flight. The Lord used that
as an opportunity to speak into his life. So number one, pray. Number two, allow others to
start the conversation for you. Allow others to start
the conversation for you. This does not have
to be stilted. You don't have to come in
like, I've got all the answers. I'm going to get
your attention man. You know, I'm going to wear-- I'm going to paste a
bumper sticker that says Jesus loves you on my forehead. This is real-- no, it's
not going to be good. If they had any sense,
they will run away from you at that point. So let others start
the conversation. How many times have you
been asked this question during the day, how are you? All the time. You meet somebody,
how you doing, or what you do this weekend? Why not answer those
questions they ask you, and they just use that
as conversation fillers. Why not use that to give a
spiritually focused answer. How are you doing? Man, God's been good to me. Wow, God. They didn't expect that. And it probably
won't turn them off. They'll probably
just brush it off, but you inserted something that
may lead to something further, or what do you do this weekend? I went to church. You want to know what I learned? I'd love to take you some time. I'd buy you Lunch. It can lead to other things. So for me, I was on this plane. And this guy sat next to me. And first of all, he
was tall like I am. And he was in a center seat. And I hope you feel a little
bit for big tall people that fly in airplanes. It is like-- I don't even know
how to describe it. Anyway, so he set next to me. And I said, boy, I
feel sorry for you, because you're in
the middle seat. You're about as tall as I am. I feel like I should-- we should
switch off during the flight so you have a little more
leg room on the aisle. And so he laughed. And I ask him what he did. And he said he was a
doctor, a vascular surgeon. He was looking at
different residencies. And that he was
from Saudi Arabia. So I said, oh, really. I was in Saudi Arabia
a few months ago. Now what was his first question
out of his mouth at that point? What are you doing there? Why were you there? I'm glad you asked. And I told him why I was there. Well, who'd you met with? I told him that. So now he looks at me. He has a big smile on his face. Man, I have a whole
bunch of questions. I've been waiting to
find somebody that I could ask these things to. That was the rest of our flight. But his questions and his
conversation led that along. And it was very
normal and natural. Number three, this is a big one. Listen. I know you have all the
answers for life, you do. You have the gospel. The simple gospel. You have all the
answers for life, but they don't
know you have that, which means you need to really
give eye contact and really listen to what they have to say. Don't do all the talking. It's not a monologue. It is a dialogue. The most successful encounters
begin with conversation, not a presentation. It's a normal
natural conversation. And when you're having
the conversation, be nice. You can do this. Be nice. Don't interrupt. What's wrong actually? Let me tell you. No, be nice. If you want to win
some, be win some. You want to win people, you want
to win some, then be win some. It Goes a long way. So listen, number
four, tell your story. Tell your story. You have a personal testimony
of how you came to Christ. Tell that to them. Learn how to tell your story
in a short fashion, not when I was in third grade. No, just keep it short. Get to the facts. Learn how to present
what happened to you and how Jesus changed your life. Just tell your story. Paul did this. He pulled out his
conversion story of what happened on
the Damascus road when in Acts he stood
before a whole crowd in the temple who
were out to get him. He shared what happened to him. Here's the thing about
a personal testimony. It's really indisputable. I know it's subjective,
not objective, but it's still your story. People can argue with it. They can argue about
evidence for God or does science deny it,
or why does a good God allow evil to happen. You can argue about that. But when you tell
them your story, people can say, well,
that didn't happen. I was there. You weren't. So You tell your story. That is a powerful hook that
can also lead to good things. And then number five,
and I'll close with this. Be creative. There are so many
ways to share Jesus. You don't have to do
it one certain way. You can do this. In fact, you go, I don't
even know the answers to the questions he's asking. How about this? If you don't mind,
give me your address. I'll send you a book. Would you read it
if I sent it to you? Yes. I've done that on
so many occasions. Now I know some of you
are thinking, well, this could be expensive. It's a lot of books to buy. Well, if you witness a
lot, it probably could be, but you want to avoid that. How about sending them
a link from YouTube? There are so many YouTube videos
out there by guys and gals talking about the validity
for the Christian faith, why a good God can allow evil. All the big questions and
answers are already there. Text them the link to that and
have them watch that video. That's a creative way to do it. Here's one. I know of an ophthalmologist
who would do cataract surgeries. And after the patients would
come in for a follow-up exam and they would have
to read a sentence to see how successful
the surgery was, the sentence on
the wall was, now is the time for all
good men to come to the aid of their country. Ophthalmologist comes
to Christ, decides I'll take a different approach. Puts up a new sign that reads,
imagine being the patient, God loves you and has a
wonderful plan for your life. Sparked up all sorts
of new conversations in the ophthalmologist office. A while ago I did
a wedding and a man approached me at a wedding
afterwards with his wife. He walks right up to me and
he goes, Skip, tell my wife how to get saved. I thought, well,
that's creative. I've never seen that before. I felt a little bad for
her, but I said to her, listen, if you're up
for it, I'm up for it. Here's the bottom line. Don't let the best news
become your best kept secret. Your mission, should
you decide to accept it, is the great commission. Go and bring this
message, because it can change a person's life. We today will be like
Isaiah, will we not, and say, here I
am Lord, send me. Let's pray that. Father, as we close,
that's our prayer. We are saying to you
that we are looking for opportunities, because
we want to grow in this. Some of us need to grow
in this area of feeling natural and normal
and not being ashamed of the gospel, because
it's a part of who we are, but just to in a winsome,
nice, sweet manner tell people about
Jesus, to sow that seed. And so we just say
to you, Lord, here we are, send us for your
glory, that your house may be filled Lord, that
heaven will see more and like Paul who said, we
persuade men and like Jesus who said compel them to come,
we feel also a compunction is for every true
believer who believes both in your sovereignty
and in our privilege and responsibility. May those two things
be married together and be in balance in our lives. Finally Lord, we just pray
for anyone who might be here, feels alienated from you,
feels hopeless, because of what has happened to them
recently in their life and feels crushed by
life circumstances, feel burdened by
a habit or a sin. They would love to be
able to just be unshackled and burden, forgiven,
get a new start. Some have, perhaps, never
personally received Christ. Others have had
some past experience that is a past experience,
but they're not following you today. They need to come to you
or come back home to you. I pray, Lord, that
you would save them. You would draw them. Our heads our bowed. Our eyes are closed. This will take just a moment. If you're here, I'm going
to keep my eyes open. So I can see who it is. I'm acknowledging, but if you've
never given your life to Christ or you need to come
back home to him, you want to be forgiven by
him, you want to do over, a fresh start, you want to step
in to just a place of peace with God, peace in your heart,
forgiveness of the past, if you want that, I want you
to raise your hand right now. Raise it up in the air and
sing, Skip, here's my hand. Pray for me. God bless you. Right up here to my left. I can barely see,
but a couple more hands there and toward the back. I see your hands. Thank you for that light. Right here to my
right in the middle. Right there toward the
back, yes, thank you. In the balcony, I see-- thanks
for putting that hand up way up there. I appreciate that. Thank you for that. Right up here in the
front, yes, ma'am, right up here in the front. Anybody I miss in
the family room? Right over here to my
left along this side. Father, thank you. And I pray for these who
have those raised hands. Thank you, Lord, for doing your
work once again in our midst. We're seeing it. We're experiencing
it, but I pray for those with raised hands or
those who did that everything would be different after today. You fill them with
hope, with peace. You fill them with
a sense of your joy. You'd help them to
really understand the gospel in their place in it. And I pray they would walk out
of here with just tons of joy, because their hearts are burden
free as they come to Christ. Give them the faith that brings
follow through to the raised hand in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's all stand up. We're going to do
this very quickly. But as we sing this
final song, would those of you who
raised your hands just find an aisle near you. Come right up in the front,
where as you come, in a moment, I'm going to lead you in a word
of prayer to receive Christ. And we do this for you. You're going to find
encouragement as you come. So if you raised your hand,
even in the balcony, come down. Find an aisle. Just come right
up here right now. Come on up. If you raised your
hand, come on up. You'll hear God's
people encourage you. This is good. It's a good thing to do. And I'll lead you in a prayer. You come Here in the front, on the sides,
in then back, in the balcony, in the family, you come. We're going to stand up
here and take just a moment. [MUSIC PLAYING] (SINGING) --and are gone. I've been set free. My god, my savior
is ransom free. And like a block, his
mercy awaits unending love amazing grace. Anybody else? The reason I say
anybody else is I was the guy who just put things
off, put things off, put things off, didn't listen
to things like this, and finally one day I did. And I thought, why
didn't I do it earlier? That's right. That's right, good. [MUSIC PLAYING] (SINGING) I've been set free. My God, my savior
is ransom free. Come on. [MUSIC PLAYING] (SINGING) And like a block,
his mercy awaits unending love. You know it's great,
you know what's great, you who are coming forward. Welcome Here's what's great. You're coming right
now to Christ. I don't know your background. God does. He knows all the
filth, all the stuff. I don't know it. I don't care to know it. But also, you don't know
mine and all the stuff that I've done and
how God forgave me. And I want you to know
that no matter who you are or what you've done,
God will forgive you. And God will use you
for His glory and power. He will you. Let's get down to business. Those of you who
have come forward, I'm going to lead
you in a prayer. I'm going to say
this prayer out loud. I'd like you to pray
it out loud after me, like wedding vows, right. You're doing in front of
God and these witnesses. So I'm going to pray out loud. Pray after me. Say these words from your heart. Mean them as you say
these to the Lord. Let's pray. Say Lord, I give you my life. Lord, I give you my life. I know that I'm a sinner. I know that I'm a sinner. Please forgive me. Please forgive me. I believe that Jesus
came to this earth. I believe that Jesus
came to this earth. That he died on a cross for me. That he died on a cross for me. And that he rose from the dead. And that he rose from the dead. I turn from my sin. I turn from my sin. I turned to Jesus as my savior. I turn to Jesus as my savior. And I want to follow
him as my lord. And I want to follow as my lord. Help me. Help me In Jesus name. In Jesus name Amen. Amen. We hope you enjoyed this message
from Skip Heitzig of Calvary Church. How will you put the truths
that you learned into action in your life? Let us know. Email us at
mystory@calvarynm.church. And just a reminder, you can
support this ministry with a financial gift
calvarynm.church/give. Thank you for joining us for
this teaching from Calvary Church.
