True Love Wins: SHARE IT! | Ricky Sarthou

[Music] greetings of grace and peace everyone welcome to today's worship service let's try and recap what we learned in the past three sundays shall we first of all pastor peter kicked off the series with a message entitled what are you known for and this was a challenge for all people who claim to be followers of jesus because jesus said that we his people should be known by our of course by our love and then brother micah followed through with a very challenging message the following sunday saying we need to love the unlovable and obviously the only way we could do that impossible task is to be filled and controlled by the holy spirit finally last sunday pastor joby showed us the big picture that people who are in a relationship with jesus must love like jesus today's message is well we go back to our main theme and that is true love wins therefore share it that is today's message true love wins share it what do we mean by that and why should we do it well before we get into the explanation let me share with you a couple of old songs that may help bring the point home many of you may not be old enough to remember this song or some of you may be unwilling to admit it but in 1953 that's right this was sometime during the old testament era joke only doris day made popular a song called secret love and here are part of the lyrics that she sang he said once i had a secret love that lived within the heart of me and all too soon my secret love became impatient to be free and then she concluded now i shouted from the highest hills even told the golden daffodils well she had to find a word to rhyme with hills okay but her conclusion was at last my heart's an open door and my secret love is no secret anymore now if that song is a bit too ancient for you here's something a little less old in 1974 olivia newton-john made popular this song very simply she said if you love me let me know if you don't then let me go well even the bible says something like that because in proverbs 27 verse 5 we read better is open rebuke than love that is concealed so what are we talking about today well remember our message title is true love wins share it what do we mean by true love and why and how should we share it so let's define true love first here is one of the verses that pastor joby showed us last sunday which defines or describes what true love really is in romans chapter 5 verse 8 we read but god demonstrates his own love toward us in that while we were yet sinners christ died for us this verse along with many others in scripture described the incredible unconditional generous and sacrificial love of god through his son jesus for you and me and this is the love that we need to share this is the true love that wins people to the kingdom of god so the next question is why should we share it and how in order to answer that question we're going to look at two characters from a story in the eighth chapter of the book of acts let me introduce you to who these two characters are the first character is named philip philip is one of the first century church disciples we will read about him in just a moment but by the character of philip we learn the first of two points of today's message based on philip we learn that one servant can make an impact so that's our first character and that's our first point philip one servant can make an impact the second character that we will meet in just a moment we don't know his name at least he is not named in the bible but he's described as an ethiopian and from him we learn another precious truth one soul is precious to god so from philip we learn that one servant one servant of jesus can make an impact and from the ethiopian one soul is precious to god so why is this important to all of us today let me take a moment to explain you see in today's audience there are basically two kinds of people one are the true followers of jesus and just like philip you and i can make an impact we are given many divine opportunities to tell other people about jesus on the other hand you have the other part of the viewing audience today and these are the ones who do not yet have a personal relationship with jesus and you likewise have a divine opportunity the divine opportunity to get to know jesus who loved you so much that he gave his life for you just before we actually meet our first character that's philip let's look at the background of where this story is taking place acts chapter 8 verse 1 tells us saul was in hearty agreement with putting him and that stephen to death if you remember two sundays ago we learned who saul was saul was the prime persecutor of the early church later on became a christian himself and became the apostle paul but at this point he was in the thick of beginning what was termed as the great persecution it says and on that day a great persecution began against the church in jerusalem and they were all scattered throughout the regions of judea and samaria except the apostles now folks this was no easy time for the followers of jesus then it says there was a great persecution and they were scattered imagine having to uproot your family having to find refuge in another place having to find new work or or a new job or new business it was extremely extremely difficult however in the midst of this tragedy we actually see that god is on his throne and is still in sovereign control how do we know remember it says they were scattered throughout the regions of judea and samaria guess what in acts chapter 1 verse 8 jesus already told his disciples you will receive power when the holy spirit has come upon you and you shall be my witnesses in other words you will tell people about me both in jerusalem and in all judea and samaria and even to the remotest part of the earth so in other words god's people despite the tragedy by his own sovereign design were exactly where god meant them to be and that's why going back to acts chapter 8 we read therefore those who had been scattered went about preaching the word notice the word is therefore not in spite of this was really somehow part of god's plan and it says that wherever they'd been scattered they went about preaching the word by the way the word preaching there doesn't mean standing behind the lectern it just means sharing the word of god telling people about jesus how can god use ordinary people like you and me to tell people about jesus even during what seems to be a tragedy you know in the last two years the whole world was plunged into tragedy because of the pandemic and instead of being scattered you and i were locked down it was the total opposite but you know in a way god also scattered us how did he scatter you and me he used technology he used technology to help us reach people with the love of jesus even people who would have normally been out of reach under normal circumstances let me give an example during the pandemic god used one of our very young members she's a young 17 year old girl that god used to help other people know jesus this 17 year old girl is a very shy person she herself said she's an introvert however she attended the go viral training and there she learned about how to share jesus to her friends and her family so god immediately laid upon her heart reach out to someone and tell them about me and the first person she reached out to was her best friend but as she was telling her best friend about jesus and developing that relationship further she was asking god what's next lord and wouldn't you know it the lord sent her three more young ladies actually much younger than herself three girls aged 11 10 and nine and this girl was saying to herself lord i'm not good with kids but you know god many times works his strength through our weakness and these young girls became her online discipleship group today this young lady is not just discipling these even younger girls but she's also a prayer volunteer in our online welcome center and in the online welcome center she has even more opportunities to tell people about jesus indeed god can use you and me god can use anyone for as long as we are available so let's go back now to our first character this man we call philip again what can we learn from him one servant can make an impact so let's see what happened in the case of philip in acts chapter 8 verse 5 it says philip went down to the city of samaria and began proclaiming christ to them why is this statement important the fact that he was proclaiming christ sharing jesus telling people about his love in a place called samaria let me explain remember jews and samaritans were mortal enemies and the example of philip reminds us that for us to be effective witnesses for jesus our walk has to match our talk philip did exactly what the previous sunday messages talked about he loved the unlovable he loved like jesus the reason why we need to emphasize this is that sadly we still hear about christians who refuse to forgive this person or don't want to talk to that person or they're still bearing a grudge toward that particular individual you know how in the world are you and i going to be witnesses effectively for jesus no wonder one person once said by all means preach the gospel and when necessary use words now of course we need words to share the gospel but remember our walk needs to match our talk there are a couple of things that you and i can learn from philip number one is he had a servant heart number two he was spirit filled how do we know let's look more into his background in acts chapter 6 this is what we read now at this time while the disciples were increasing in number a complaint arose on the part of the hellenistic jews these were the greek-speaking jews against the native hebrews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily serving of food okay so there was a problem the apostle said we need to choose people to basically wait on tables to be waiters now that's important but you would think that the qualifications would probably be somewhat simple but not in this case look at what they decided therefore brethren select from among you seven men of good reputation full of the spirit and of wisdom whom we may put in charge of this task in other words for the seemingly simple task of waiting on tables they said we need people who are full of the spirit because for us to be true servants we need to be spirit filled and guess who they chose the statement found approval with the whole congregation and they chose stephen a man full of faith and of the holy spirit and our friend philip and a whole bunch of other guys so you and i know that philip was truly filled with the holy spirit so let's go back to what was happening in samaria and with our friend philip in acts chapter 8 verse 6 it says the crowds with one accord were giving attention to what was said by philip as they heard and saw the signs which he was performing for in the case of many who had unclean spirits they were coming out of them and shouting with a loud voice and many who had been paralyzed and lame were healed so there was much what rejoicing in that city folks it's no surprise that there was great rejoicing in that city but i believe that it's not just about people being healed or people being delivered from evil spirits you and i know that what brought joy to that city was the true love of jesus and we read that in verse 12 of acts chapter 8. it says but when they believed philip preaching the good news about the kingdom of god and the name of jesus christ they were being baptized men and women alike can the true love of jesus bring rejoicing to an entire community even in our present day i say definitely yes i'll give you an example in 2020 typhoon raleigh ravaged the province of catanduanes now soon after volunteer teams from ccf2 long tail were on the scene and they brought relief goods medical supplies construction materials to provide much needed practical help to those who are affected and in order to be an even greater blessing the volunteers undertook a unique housing project in one particular community and today there are currently about 28 of these special houses being constructed for the people of that community however more than just rebuilding their houses the people needed the rebuilding of their lives and of their families and only jesus could accomplish that which is why only last month february the parents in that community they were treated to a couple's retreat something they have never experienced before where they all got to hear about the love of jesus on the other hand they're young people they had their own retreat and out of 40 young people in attendance 34 of them were baptized praise god and finally the whole community got a taste of what it was like to have a sunday worship service and experience discussing god's word in small groups indeed the gospel of jesus brought great rejoicing to that community let's now go back to our brother philip in verse 26 it says an angel of the lord spoke to philip saying get up and go south to the road that descends from jerusalem to gaza this is a desert road and the beginning of verse 27 says so he got up and went now try and put yourself in the place of philip if i were in his sandals i might have some questions to god about this particular order you see philip was here in samaria and you and i know from the previous verses that there was an amazing ministry going on but then god is telling him go back down towards jerusalem where the persecution is still taking place and go further down that desert road that leads to gaza and if i were in philippi's place i may be tempted to think lord is that really what you want me to do leave a thriving ministry go maybe over 50 miles down to a desert road and lord what what is waiting for me there that is worth this trip but you know what philip did not question he went anyway and that's why from his example this is what we learned we said that from philip we learn one servant a committed follower of jesus can make an impact but there are a few details we learn from his example if you and i want to be a servant that will make an impact that will share the true love of jesus and win people to his kingdom we need to have a servant heart we need to be spirit filled and we need to share the gospel by our walk and by our words okay let's now continue the story and see what happened next so now we're ready to meet the next character in our story the ethiopian and remember the second point of our message is one soul is precious to god why should we share the true love of jesus because every individual soul is precious to our lord so here's where this part of the story begins so he that's philip got up and went and there was an ethiopian eunuch a court official of kandake queen of the ethiopians who was in charge of all of her treasure and he had come to jerusalem to worship and he was returning and sitting in his chariot and was reading the prophet isaiah wow this tells us a lot about this man what can we learn let me explain the ethiopia we read about here is not the exact same ethiopia we know today it was actually a very large kingdom south of egypt now as far as the eunuch is concerned when somebody is described as a eunuch it means that it is a man who has been castrated or emasculated now whether that was literally true in the case of this man we're not sure but this we know eunuchs are highly trusted by royalty and it is clear that this man was trusted by his queen it says with all of her treasure so the bottom line is this this ethiopian was a high-ranking government official riding his official limousine his chariot now it also says that he came from worshipping in jerusalem and that he was reading from the prophet isaiah how could this be possible what was he doing worshiping in jerusalem in the first place well you see the ethiopian was known as a god-fearing gentile that was the term given to people like him he was a non-jew who believed in the god of the jews but folks do you realize it would take him at least one week to travel one way from his place in ethiopia to jerusalem in another week going back and for him to have a scroll of the prophet isaiah it must have cost him a lot of money bottom line for the ethiopian is this it was clear his success his prestige in life did not satisfy him he knew he had a longing a void in his heart and he was searching for a way to fill that void he was a real seeker so let's go back to our story then the spirit said to philip go up and join this chariot without hesitation philip ran up and heard him reading isaiah the prophet and said do you understand what you're reading now folks think about it here is a man that philip had never met before very highly placed a foreigner and the first thing that philip says to this man is do you understand what you're reading folks my 30 years in corporate life was in marketing and sales i would not recommend this as an icebreaker question but remember philip was spirit-filled and as it turns out this was exactly the question he needed to ask the ethiopian do you understand what you're reading and he the ethiopian said well how could i unless someone guides me and he invited philip to come up and sit with him you know what amazingly these words the ethiopians said how could i meaning how could i understand what i'm reading unless someone guides me it's almost as if he was speaking the words that the apostle paul would later write in his letter to the romans let me show you what i mean in romans 10 14 15 paul writes how then will they call on him in whom they have not believed how will they believe in him whom they have not heard and how will they hear without a preacher how will they preach unless they are sent just as it is written how beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things and folks philip that day had very dirty feet but they were to the ethiopian the most beautiful feat on earth because he brought him the good news of jesus now this was the passage of scripture that the ethiopian was reading right it says he was led as a sheep to slaughter and as a lamb before its shearer is silent so he does not open his mouth in humiliation his judgment was taken away who will relate his generation for his life is removed from the earth and what was the question of the ethiopian at this point the eunuch answered philip and said please tell me of whom does the prophet say this of himself or of someone else and look at the next verse by the way folks verse 35 is our memory verse so let's read this all together shall we acts 8 35 then philip opened his mouth and beginning from this scripture he preached jesus to him i am so amazed at god's word you see this phrase philip opened his mouth it's really not necessary the sentence would have been okay even without that portion but here somehow the lord reminded me and i believe is reminding all of us many times we just need to open our mouth and allow the spirit to speak through us and tell other people about jesus let me tell you a story about my own experience in a situation such as this years ago i was requested to visit a very high ranking executive who was in very critical condition in the hospital i had never met this man before but i was requested by a couple of his family members to come and pray for him in his hospital room so of course i knew this was a divine appointment to tell someone about jesus someone who had not yet had a personal relationship with him so i obeyed the prompting of the spirit but i was asking the lord lord what will i say i don't know how to open up the conversation with this high-ranking individual who is in such critical condition and whom i've never met before but the lord impressed upon my heart something very very simple he said tell him that i am the way the truth and the life and so i opened my mouth after exchanging pleasantries and the introductions were over i began to tell him that jesus is the only way to heaven and i gave some simple explanations as to why you know to my astonishment this man who was lying in bed whom the doctor said didn't have much longer to live he kept repeating he is the way jesus really is the way he is the only way and even up to the time i left even after i left the family members told me he kept on saying yes jesus is the way he is the only way and not too long after that maybe just a few days after the visit he went to be with jesus so folks you and i need to be available filled with the spirit willing to share and just allow the lord to speak through us as we open our mouths to tell people about jesus let's go back to the ethiopian they went along the road they came to some water and the eunuch said look water what prevents me from being baptized i'm sure it was philip who told him about baptism and philip said if you believe with all your heart you may and he answered and said i believe that jesus christ is the son of god and you know this reminds us that baptism is not the means to salvation it is the public declaration that one has surrendered his life to jesus indeed again this is similar to what paul writes in that same chapter romans chapter 10 he says that if you confess with your mouth jesus as lord and believe in your heart that god raised him from the dead you will be saved for with the heart a person believes resulting in righteousness and with the mouth he confesses resulting in salvation this was the happy ending at least in this part of the ethiopian story but see this is what we learn from this particular character we already said from the ethiopian we learn one soul is precious to god and again my friend if you're watching this today and you know in your heart of hearts you don't have yet a personal relationship with jesus learn from the example of the ethiopian learn from him that success truly does not satisfy learn from him that if you seek you will find god said you will search for me and find me when you search for me with all of your heart and finally surrender your life to jesus so let's look at the rest of the story in verse 38 it says he ordered the chariot to stop and they both went down into the water philip as well as the eunuch and he baptized him when they came up out of the water the spirit of the lord snatched philip away and the eunuch no longer saw him man this is like something out of star trek beam me up scotty energize but here's the truly amazing thing it says the eunuch went on his way rejoicing notice the same conclusion whether it was an entire community in samaria or whether it was one individual in a desert road when they came to know who jesus is when they understood his true love there was great rejoicing and you know what it's not only on earth where there is rejoicing when somebody gets to know jesus we're told that there's also rejoicing in heaven in luke 15 10 it says in the same way i tell you jesus speaking there is joy in the presence of the angels of god over one sinner who repents and you and i can be absolutely certain that on that day in that desert road there was one man rejoicing but there were angels in heaven rejoicing as well and as for our friend philip well it says in verse 40 philip found himself at sotus and as he passed through he kept preaching the gospel to all the cities until he came to caesarea folks the need for the true love of jesus to be shared will never stop that need will be there until jesus returns and he's waiting for true servants like philip like you like me to tell people about the true love of jesus because there are so many souls out there who need to know him these souls are each precious to god i'd like us now to take a moment to listen to one of our members actually one of our staff who at one point in his life had the divine privilege of sharing the true love of jesus with someone very very special and precious to him please welcome our brother ronnie aggawili hi i am rania gawili the youngest of five children and the only boy i was generally a good person and did my best to be a very good son i believe that being good and doing good will be the best way to avoid going to hell in college however i pursued a happy-go-lucky lifestyle of partying school activities and relationships it was also in college when i met a young lady to whom i was immediately attracted and who i learned was a christian god used this young lady to invite me and other school friends to ccf i heard the pastor talk about sin and i realized that it was god's way of speaking to me a proud self-righteous hard-headed person i also began attending a weekly bible study very eager to learn everything that my friend knew about the bible it has been over 25 plus years since i gave my life to jesus and as an amazing bonus part of the journey was that young lady whom i met in college eventually became my wife and the mother of our three daughters i have been discipling men in a small group for over 15 years now and sharing the gospel to strangers and some of my friends but i have a hard time sharing the gospel with my own family yes i invited them to several worship services and evangelistic events but i never found courage to share to them personally i just kept praying that god will send people to share the gospel to them well more than five years ago while visiting my mom she asked me how i can be sure that god hears my prayers her question was god's open door for the gospel after getting an elbow from my wife i prayed for guidance i shared the gospel and led her to a prayer of repentance and she accepted jesus in her life for assurance that she understood i asked my daughter to ask her grandma where she will go when she dies with a smile on her face and tears in her eyes my mom answered that she will be waiting for us in heaven my mom moved to canada several years ago but just over two weeks ago she suffered a massive ruptured aneurysm in the brain she had a severe headache and suddenly collapsed due to blood in the brain she lived only a few hours more before the lord took her home i was on a video call with my sisters during those few hours and when they removed the ventilator the doctor said that although she is not conscious she can still hear us so i asked my sister to bring the phone close to my mom's ear and i read to her verses from second corinthians chapter five i wanted to remind and assure her that an eternal dwelling place is waiting for her in heaven there was overwhelming sadness seeing my mom slowly becoming lifeless i was not able to give her a fair hug or even hold her hand but amidst that extreme darkness was a tiny spark of hope that reminded me i will be seeing her again in heaven i am blessed that god gave me the privilege to share jesus with her personally i then prayed for an opportunity to share the gospel with my four sisters and god graciously answered my prayer one of my sisters asked me to facilitate my own ccf work service and so i prayed and prepared i shared with them via video call about that day our mom accepted jesus as her lord and savior i said that they too can have the assurance of eternal life by inviting jesus into their lives to be their lord and savior and i was able to lead them to a prayer of acceptance i will continue to pray for them and trust god to work in their hearts it took my mom's passing to wake me up to the fact that if i love my family i must share the true love of jesus with them i praise god that he answered my prayer to have that opportunity to god be all the glory praise god indeed for you brother ronnie and i just rejoice with you that someday we will see your beloved mother in heaven praise god indeed that brings us back to our message for today what is it true love wins share it so let's go back and recap what we learned from our two characters we said that from philip one servant can make an impact if you're a follower of jesus today you and i have much to learn from this man and we said what we learned from him specifically is we need to have a servant heart we need to be spirit filled and we need to share the gospel by our walk and by our words how exactly can we do that by way of application let me suggest an example you and i are familiar with these three words pray care and share this is a simple way of reaching out either to an individual or to groups of people with the true love of jesus but let me explain quickly pray simply means you pray of course you pray for an opportunity an open door you pray for and with your family and your friends don't just tell them you're praying for them actually let them hear you pray for them ask them how can i pray for you and then care simply means show care through acts of kindness send them something give them an encouraging message and then finally share means share your testimony and the gospel this is something so simple again you can do this to an individual like an old high school classmate or sometimes let's say if you're in a a bicycle group and you guys go out in groups and meet new people you can use those avenues as divine opportunities to tell people and show them the true love of jesus let me give you another example very specific of how you can reach people and win them with jesus through love one relevant way that you can reach others with the love of jesus is through what we call the christian values movement or cvm what do i mean cvm has made available to all our small groups a series of videos very short ones and discussion materials about things like love for country how to choose leaders but most importantly we will learn about the perfect servant leader who is that none other than jesus christ and how to have a relationship with him so i suggest you check out using the cvm materials to reach out to people who are obviously very concerned about the coming elections and how they will turn out and whom they should choose as the country's next leaders just go to the link indicated on the poster to download all of the cvm materials all right let's go back now to the summary of our two characters again philip teaches us one servant can make an impact that could be you have a servant heart be spirit filled share the gospel by our walk and our words but my friend perhaps you are more like the ethiopian today you know in your heart of hearts that you don't have yet a relationship with jesus and from the ethiopians example we learn one soul is precious to god and from him we learn success will never satisfy we also learn that god promised if you seek if you seek him you will find him and on this day this divine appointment this divine opportunity for you i pray you will surrender your life to jesus do you remember what the ethiopian was reading in his chariot he was reading from the prophet isaiah what do you think he read that moved him to truly say i want to give my life to jesus i want to be baptized we don't know exactly but i'm sure what i'm about to show you is part of what he read in isaiah 53 verses 5 and 6 this is what we read but he was pierced through for our transgressions he was crushed for our iniquities the chastening for our well-being fell upon him and by his scourging we are healed remember the ethiopian was asking who is the writer talking about well let me ask you who is this talking about who was pierced through for our transgressions who was crushed for our iniquities there is only one answer clearly it was jesus and why did he have to undergo that suffering that pain that death verse 6 explains it to us all of us like sheep have gone astray each of us has turned to his own way but the lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on him if you don't have a relationship with jesus yet this should be critically important to you and let me explain why as we end that passage says we are all guilty of sin but unfortunately we are unable to pay for the penalty of that sin because you and i are spiritually and morally bankrupt and so here is jesus the pure and holy one the creator and sustainer of all things he came and he paid that penalty in our place my friend i pray that today you will respond like that ethiopian you will say yes i want to give my life to jesus i owe him everything and if you've never done that i'd like to invite you to do that right now right here just like the ethiopian he didn't waste any time why should you so my friend as the lord is speaking to your heart i want to help you i'd like to bless you i'd like to pray for you and will you allow this simple prayer to be the prayer of your own heart come pray with me just say lord jesus i admit that i do not have a personal relationship with you i confess lord jesus that i have turned away from you i have gone my own way just like your word says many many times more than i can count i realize lord that this is sin against you and that i am spiritually and morally bankrupt i am unable to pay the penalty of my own sin and that's why two thousand years ago even before i was born you came you suffered you died and you rose again you did this lord for my sake because my soul is precious to you and so today lord jesus without any hesitation or reservation i give you myself i give you my life i declare that you are indeed the lord of my life and the savior of my soul come into my life lord jesus change me from the inside out to become the person you want me to be thank you for this divine opportunity to give my life to you it is in your name that i pray all this amen and amen folks if you've been blessed by this message the first thing i want to challenge you to do is to share it remember that's our message true love wins share it if you can think of someone which i'm sure you can who needs to know about the true love of jesus take this message and share it with that person now again if you've been blessed by this message we would so love to hear from you please chat with us using the links and instructions in the screen below and if you're here for the first time or you would like someone to pray with and for you we would be more than happy to do that at the online welcome center again please connect with the online welcome center using the links and the instructions on the screen below in just a moment we will be back with sunday fast track and discussion questions for your family and for your small group god bless you good day ccf family i am tom mourillo from the big singles ministry we are here today with pastor ricky for our sunday fast track pastor ricky hey yes hello wow you look so good you look so cozy there you know i feel i should have a lazy boy while talking to you [Music] yeah um it has this disadvantage i'd better just end this advantage when your office is in your bedroom but uh thank you for the wonderful message of allah go past turkey uh we just have a couple of questions for you but here is our first question so you know we all know what's happening in uh europe now and ukraine so we want to ask you how can we be god's witnesses in what is happening in ukraine thanks for that question tom very relevant indeed and i'm sure that even among our friends and our families there are people who are feeling a lot of fear about what's happening in ukraine and how it will impact this part of the world some people may be having questions like what's going to happen in the next few weeks or why is god allowing this and so on and so forth are we in the last days again maybe the question that many people have in any instance what's happening around the world whether it was the pandemic or whether it's the european crisis it will definitely give us a platform to open up a conversation about eternity with our family and our friends because one thing is for sure incidents like these crisis like these they make people realize that life is not forever and so it gives them a a sense of vulnerability which we can use to say you know i want to give you some words of comfort if you're afraid if you're unsure about the future i'd like to pray for you let them hear you pray for them and like we said pray care share show them genuine concern and eventually tell them about why you despite perhaps your own apprehensions about what's happening in europe you are sure about your eternal destiny tell them about why jesus is the way the truth and the life and why only he is the reason why we can be secure despite all of the insecurities in this world today thank you pastor ricky for uh for your ques for your answer and for here for our next question just like philip how can we discern the right opportunity to tell others about jesus that's a really good question how do we discern the opportunity but you know my answer would be this rather than thinking how do i discern the opportunity the best thing to do is to create the opportunity yourself and again we go back to that very simple formula pray care and share reach out to people be intentional let them know that in this time of uncertainty you want to just pray for them if they have anything that they'd like you to pray for and just like philip you may experience no i say you will experience incredible open doors of opportunity as you simply take a step of faith with sincere love in your heart and the desire to help people know jesus so again rather than discern the opportunity create the opportunity yourself that's wonderful yeah that's that says so much about the intentionality that we should all push for right in sharing who jesus is pastor ricky and for our last question sharing to the ones closest to us is usually the most difficult you know because they uh know how unloving we can be at times how do we overcome our feelings of inadequacy in order to share jesus to them yeah well we will always have feelings of inadequacy sharing jesus to anyone whether it's our loved ones or somebody else but if we indeed have disappointed any members of our families in the process of how we relate to them the first order of the day is to humble ourselves and uh ask them how have we hurt you and to apologize and to restore and to rebuild those relationships remember we said in the example of philip the way to be an effective witness is not just with our words but with our walk and so as we work to repair those strained relationships with people closest to us we need to trust that as god rebuilds that foundation of relationship he will set the stage and prepare their hearts for the time that they may be the ones to ask you tom tell me about jesus why are you walking in a relationship with him and how can that be true for me i like on how you mentioned about our walk you know it really should be aligned with our talk you know so thank you again pastor ricky for answering our questions oh and also i want to invite all the singles watching meaning those who are not get married of all ages to come and join us every friday at 7 30 online via the big ministry facebook page join us as we discover how to pursue god's purpose for us in this vital stage of singlehood and that's it for today's sunday's fast track goodbye and have a blessed sunday everyone here are a few discussion questions that you can share in your family discussion time or in your small group first how did you personally experience the true and transforming love of jesus in your life try to share your story in only one minute that's going to be quite a challenge but go ahead and take it second question what needs to change in your daily walk so that you can be a better more effective witness for jesus and finally number three with whom will you intentionally share the love of jesus in this next week or two [Music] have a wonderful and enriching discussion time everyone god bless you see you again soon thanks for watching we would like to invite you to be a christ-committed follower by being part of the movement as we honor god and obey his great commission to find out if there's a csef satellite near you log on to www.ccf.org.ph. satellites we also want to encourage you to join a small discipleship group where you can deepen your knowledge and love for jesus and others to sign up log on to h www.ccf.org.ph discipleship group all of csf's video resources are available free of charge and are constantly being improved by our team would you consider supporting ccf through prayer in giving so more people can be blessed you can give securely through our website at www.ccf.org.ph.give for more videos like this please subscribe to our channel thanks and god bless

Channel: Christ’s Commission Fellowship

Views: 16,830

Keywords: CCF, Christ's, Commission, Fellowship, Sunday, Service, Sermon, Speaker, Message

Id: KpBGGt00BCg

Length: 54min 24sec (3264 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 05 2022