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So honored to be able to speak to you today. Like he said, me and my wife, Jenna, who is called around here as Jana Cool. To me, it's just the standard of Jana. I'm like, it's amazing. So we 2 weeks from now will be a full year of living in Clearwater and it was 1 of those things where in 2016, we got married in North Carolina.
That's where our family is. And then God sent us to Fort Worth, Texas for 5 and a half years and we did some ministry school, we did some internships there. And then the last 3 of those years in Fort Worth, my wife's desire was to move closer back home. And at the same time she began praying for that, the Lord dropped in my spirit to begin praying for revival in Florida. Amen.
And so a lot that was a long season. That was about 3 years of prayer. And, yeah, just in the mundane of working an office job, we're in cubicles, and there wasn't much going on, but we knew God was stirring something. We were just in a season of hiddenness. And so, the moment that, we have an opportunity, through a internship and then becoming a team member of something called 30 third Company, which is an evangelism ministry, which raise up evangelists and seeing a lot of people stay, but also disciples.
So that's actually where Belong came from was 30 third company. They got connected with pastor David here and in talks with that, they decided to send us to Clearwater, Florida. And the moment that we worshiped for the first time in the service, I felt a brush of the Holy Spirit and he told me, "welcome home". And so for anyone who has been here for a while or maybe you're brand new, I pray the Lord will speak to you, welcome home. So, because it's been home to us, because it turned out that that was closer to home.
My wife loves it here, so it was good. So it worked out for us. So I have the honor. I'm on staff at Real Church as the youth leader and I lead something called Belong, which is prayer outreach and discipleship. Those 2 ministries are complete opposites.
At Belong, I'm leading people through *repentance* of their drugs and alcohol and the youth, they volunteer repentance for eating Red 40. Like, it's a vast difference. That's the day we live in today. Alright. So so you all pray for me.
That's different spectrums of ministry, but it's growing me. It's been awesome. It's been wonderful. We're because if I I heard that if you can't explain it to even just the little child, the most intelligent person, it would go over their head. And so, if we learn how to talk to young people, then we can get through with anyone.
You may you have to break it down to the simple simplicity, the basics, which is what we're talking about through today. So I am over Belong and I wanted to just bring an update to everyone for Belong. So at Belong, we saw last year 430 decisions for Jesus. We're going through the streets of all Clearwater Pinellas County and we're we're talking to people in grocery stores or at the beach or at the pier. Anywhere we're at, we're just telling people the good news of Jesus.
And it's been wonderful and I say the number 4 30 from last year, there's already been 20 this year. But each of those numbers has a name. So you may hear a number, but I'm hearing names. Names are coming to mind as I think through this. Each of them have a name, they have a testimony, they have a story, they have a personality, they have someone to connect with.
And some people think like, we just go out and get them to say a prayer. Like, no, that's like not it. The the way we approach evangelism is we go out with a heart of we're looking for the ones who are looking for Jesus. Because we're asking the Lord, would you lead us by your spirit today? Send me to the 1 who is looking for you.
And all of sudden, we have these things open up. I'll get into the stories a little bit later, but the phase of belong that we're in. I get to coach other pastors in different churches what belong is and how to develop it in their own church. Because just like kids and youth ministry are a standard for the American church. Belong is the great commission ministry.
Why is it not standardized? Amen. That's right. The great commission should be the most standardized thing. Because it's the very thing that Jesus calls us to.
Come on. Right. Go and make disciples. It should be the most standardized thing. So, I always share what belong is.
Belong is 3 things and it's prayer, outreach, *discipleship*. All of those are supposed to be tied together. We don't find someone, lead them in a prayer to make a decision to give Jesus their life and then say, well, have a good day. Like, that's not our goal. We're not trying to lead people with a decision.
We're we're wanting to make disciples. And so, what we do is we lead someone to the lord. We then ask if we can get their follow like their contact info so we can send them scriptures of encouragement. So we can send them invites to church or our bible studies. So we can then meet them for coffee and have 1 on 1 *relationship* with these people.
That's what belong is. Is the making disciples aspect. And so, at the same time, we pray, we send people on outreach, and then we have discipleship. So the goal is, on Tuesday nights, we send a group to go evangelize until they find the 1 they can now disciple inside of belong. So belong is like "church before church".
When I coach these pastors, I I always share it in 2 phases. I said phase 1, and there's actually more phases of it. Phase 1 of belong. Well, you have to have someone who's a new believer in order to disciple someone. So you you emphasize the first 2.
You gotta emphasize the prayer. You gotta emphasize the evangelism. And so, that's what, at Real Church that's been going on. But I would say about 6 months ago, we switched. We're in phase 2 now, where we're seeing equal amounts of prayer.
We're seeing equal portions of the outreach. We're seeing equal portions of discipleship. Because we're now seeing an average of 11 new believers being discipled weekly. Who are also encountering this very presence of Jesus for the very first time. Who are some of them some of them are returning to the faith, but some of them are brand new.
They've never really heard the gospel before. We'll get into that. But they've never heard the gospel before, so even gifting them a bible is something brand new. So, it is such a joy to walk with guys and be like, listen, here's your new Bible. This right here, check out the table of contents.
That's important. Here's the Old Testament. Here's the New Testament. These red letters, these are the words of Jesus. I had a guy.
He's like, those are the very quotes of Jesus? Like, yeah. And he's older than me. Yeah. You know, it's so we don't know where people are in their walk.
And so we're seeing people from the beginning stages. They've just been "born again". They're literally toddlers in the faith. And we're having to welcome in deliverance. There's demons getting cast out.
There's there's healings that are happening. And so, with this, can we bring up that picture of Dan? So this is my buddy, Dan. This was in Fort Worth. I met him when we were knocking door to door.
We went to go share Jesus in neighborhoods. We were knocked on his door. I I asked if we could share the gospel with him. He said, this is crazy. I've just started following Jesus this month.
I grew up in the church. I had I had church hurt. His his family didn't live it well in front of him, so he didn't see that it was genuine. And so at that that moment on his doorstep, we prophesied over him. We encouraged him.
He came to belong that night. He experienced the presence of God. He then needed to we walked him through forgiving people in his life. We walked him through *deliverance* cause he was having demons manifest and they were coming out. In America, that's real.
Yeah. That doesn't only happen in other countries. Right. I'd say in America, they like to hide better. And they hide in sin.
Come on. Freeze. Well, I went really sharp really quick. Alright. We can make it.
Good. So, I like what pastor David says. He's like, if you if I just stepped on your shoes. Move your feet. I'm like, okay.
Alright. So, with with Belong, so with Dan, he he was coming in, he was consistent, he was the guy I was working with every single week. Well, all of sudden he drops off the map. He stops texting me maybe for about 5 months, 4 or 5 months. And I'm reaching out to him, I still feel in my heart that, man, like God's not gonna let him go far.
Because I knew how sold he sold out he was. He then sends me a text message about 5 months in and he says, I'm coming to belong tonight. I'm like, oh, praise God. I got Dan back. He comes to belong that night and he shares how, he went through the party stage all over again and and how he was getting drunk and he he was starting to do drugs again and then he started sleeping around again.
But he said, Robbie, this week, I decided to gift god everything. I said, well, praise god. He says, yeah, I just realized, I know god too much to enjoy my sin anymore. Amen. And so, that is the power of being a representative of Jesus in the kingdom of God, allowing a space of belong where people can actually learn to be a disciple of Jesus.
Because the thing is we can't live a Christian life for them. We have to teach them to observe the things of God. So it's their *relationship* and we are simply there to coach them along. We told a guy once, he's like, well, I wanna continue, like what like what if I continue wanna walk continue to walk in my sin and I I simply said, well, you're welcome to come. We we're but just know that we're gonna preach the bible and we're gonna walk you into holiness.
And and so he actually came. He gave his life to *Jesus* and he renounced homosexuality. Because if we if we don't water if if we water down the gospel, we rid it of its power. The gospel carries power of transformation. So that's the stage that we're in with Belong is we're gonna have more Dan's coming in to Belong, where they're gonna begin to pursue God.
Because, before I left Fort Worth, he then told me, he's like, Robbie, my parents want me to let you know that they thank you because of how much you've impacted my life. In fact, even my friends do because I've shared Jesus with them now. And so, it's making disciples who make disciples. Right? It's the relationship.
And so, if if the focus of belong it's really just the emphasis. Nothing's changing about the structure of Belong. We're still sending people an outreach. We're still praying. We're still doing discipleship.
But just know, Belong is our discipleship net where we send people to be discipled. We walk through the basics of Christianity. It's like church before church. So if that's more focused on discipleship now, the emphasis is changing in a different area. Because we got really good stewarding the mission of Real Church was to engage the culture with the love of Jesus, and we've done that.
But, another aspect of the mission of Real Church is to equip the believer to engage the culture with the love of Jesus. And so, 2 weeks from now, I'm launch we're we are launching another ministry called Engage, where we are equipping you to be a "everyday Christian" everywhere you go. Beget beginning to equip the believer to engage the culture with the love of Jesus. Making it a lifestyle. See, my goal is not to just get people to go on outreach.
My goal is to spark something in you that would be provoked to carry the gospel in your office. Yes. To carry the gospel at the park, at the beach, when they're buying cheese in the dairy aisle. Like, that my heart is to provoke you. Be so full of God that you can't help to put the spill amount.
Right. And so, it's important to get an understanding what the gospel is, but we have to we have to be equipped sometimes. See, some people don't go on outreach because they've maybe had a bad experience with the person that they went with. They maybe don't feel like it's part of their personality. They may maybe feel like they're not equipped enough.
They don't have the articulation. They don't even know where to start. See, many Christians, I'd say even most Christians have a desire in their heart to fulfill the great commission but they lack the knowledge where to start. Yeah. And so therefore, you may feel unqualified but I I guarantee you being unqualified is a lie from hell.
Yep. Yep. That's right. Man, because those are the moments he actually meets you with his power and it wasn't about your strength. Right.
So we've gotta recognize. We've gotta recognize our needs. So, Engage is happening on February 27. We're doing 11 week of teaching and training on different aspects of sharing the gospel, practical discipleship, baptism of the Holy Spirit, praying for healing, praying for deliverance, praying for all these things. We're gonna hit the Christian lifestyle so it doesn't have to be an outreach, but it can simply be a overflow in your life.
And so, engage, the structure of it is we do an hour of teaching, and 30 minutes of equipping, and then we're going out to be activated in evangelism on those nights. And so, we're gonna have guys at the table outside. You probably saw them coming in. They got a iPad. They can help you get registered, sign up on the sheet, and you guys come and be a part of that.
And so, there there was my announcements. So, are continuing the back to the basics. Pastor digital pastor David there. He he talked about the the website. So, through this series, if it if you're this is your first Sunday, we did a whole series called Back to the Basics.
This is number 7. And so, on the website, realchurch.us, you can look under sermons, and then back to the basics, and there's a video teaching for each of these topics with notes and a self assessment. Now, don't get scared about a self assessment. It's just simply accountability, but it also gets sent directly to the email of pastor David in order that he can reply to you. So I've done these, and he literally replies to every single email Yeah.
That you send them. Every every 1 of those assessments, he replies to. And if you have questions, he'll answer them. He even wrote out like this prayer praying over me, and it was super encouraging. So I encourage you, if you haven't dive dove into that, then then then do that.
Because it's edifying and it's encouraging. And, leaders are not afraid of accountability. Right. So, we're at the back to the basics. Why is it important to stay in the basics?
I would say the basics are something to never be left. Because if we keep it basic, we keep it simple. And if we keep it simple, we learn to enjoy him. That's right. That's We learn to enjoy God when we keep it simple.
And we keep the "main thing the main thing" and pursue God in spite of anything else. So, the basics are they actually give purity if you focus on them long enough. It enhances purity. See, if we ever decide to think that the cross, his death, his burial, his *resurrection* is just basic or mundane. If we ever decide to think we can graduate past that, we're we're not in the right theology.
We must stay at the cross, in his burial, and in his resurrection because all 3 play a part in our lives. Romans-6, it actually says to identify yourself in his death, in his burial, in his resurrection. We've died to our past so we can live in him. The reality is is it's not even basic. What what pastor David says is that the basics are not shallow, but they are eternally deep.
That's right. And, I love that. Because, the reality is Jesus truly died on a cross. He truly bled on behalf of humanity. He truly wore a crown of thorns.
He truly was whipped all over where it said that he was marred beyond any man. They couldn't even recognize him as a human anymore. *Isaiah-50, it says that Jesus* actually gave them his beard to be plucked. And it says that he also stayed silent like a sheep that was down for the slaughter. Man, that is our king.
This really happened. But, I guarantee you, he also He was buried, but he resurrected. Why? So, we could have new life and we can identify with his death and his resurrection. There's purpose in that.
So this week is number 7. We're hitting the topic of go. Are you all surprised since I'm up here? So I'm gonna touch on a verse you might not have heard of. *Matthew-28*, 18 through 20.
This is the great commission. Says, Jesus came and told his disciples, I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. That's a big deal right there. I like to just emphasize that every single time. Jesus having authority over heaven and earth, no other person in the universe could say that.
So it must be important what he's gotta say after. He gives us a mission. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you and be sure of this, I am with you always even to the end of the age. So there's a lot going on here. People hear this and I know I know there's a desire to fulfill the great commission.
You're not really sure how. You're like, see, it could be wrong to assume people have already made up their minds about Jesus. Because that's what often Elias believed is well, why would I go and do that? Like, if they wanted Jesus, they would just go to church on Sunday. That's not the case.
At least in my experience And I've talked to thousands of people. There's a lot of people who are lost but they're looking for God. I meet them all the time. And it it has something to do with the prayer we pray at Belong, which is lead us by your spirit. I I always pray, Lord, would you lead me to the 1 who is ready to receive you?
Because I'm not looking to argue someone into the faith. That's not my job. I'm not looking to pin them down. Say a prayer. That's not my job.
My job is to go and look for the 1 who is ripe in the harvest so that I can then make disciples. My job is to look for the 1 that's ripe. If you see an unripe fruit, you wouldn't pick it. You gotta find the ones who are ripe and once you see that, you'll you'll never see anything else. Like, oh, you said no to me?
That's the worst you can do. Alright. So, because rejection that Jesus brought up is not the same rejection that we we think. He was talking about persecution where his followers actually died out of persecution, whips. Some 1 was boiled alive and still lived.
And there was persecution that actually happened. That's rejection of man. Not them saying no. So the lost are looking. I was in this food court in Louisiana.
I met this guy named Davion. I felt in my heart to walk up to him and I said, hey man, I just felt in my heart that I need to pray for you. Is that okay? He said, yeah, please. So I prayed for him.
Afterwards, I said, hey, do you know how to be right with God? He says, no. He said, I said, could I explain that to you? He said, please. He wants to be right with god.
I shared the gospel with him and then he gives his life to Jesus. And as someone who didn't know that you could be right with god, now was shown the road map to what that looks like. Someone who who had the opportunity who taught opportunity to receive him and make him Lord. That is that is the simplicity of the gospel. And he didn't fight me.
I had some other people tell me no and I just kept moving on. I had other people tell me no. I just moved on. That's okay. Because I'm looking for the 1 that I know who is ready.
Because if I pray a prayer, I believe it's gonna be accomplished as I walk out. Because when we pray as intercessors, and I love intercessors. I love inner I love prayer. *Jesus* demonstrated intercessor, an an intercessor by dying on the cross on behalf of humanity. If that's the picture, then I have to demonstrate being an intercessor by praying a prayer and being willing to live it out.
Amen. Amen. Because I'm convinced that prayers go up to God and God looks at these prayers and he's looking back down on earth to see where my labor is at who will fulfill this. Because often, God answers prayer through other people. So, the the topic of going, the topic of evangelism often makes people uncomfortable.
But, I would I would ask you this. What part of the Christian life, where it requires obedience, is comfortable? Me moving to Fort Worth was uncomfortable. There was a lot of questions. Me moving from Fort Worth to Clearwater was uncomfortable.
There was a lot of questions. It's a lot of uncertainties, but it was by faith that we stepped into it. By faith, we move into obedience. So this is a part where we almost cap ourselves off as Christians. Like, well, you know, I would love to I would love to pray.
I would love to prophesy. I'd love to heal the sick. But that evangelism stuff, no. But see, that's the part where it is so vital because you look at the gospels, the last thing Jesus said in each of them is go and make disciples. Proclaim the gospel.
See, Matthew-9 Matthew-9, *Jesus*, he was healings, healing the sick, he was proclaiming the gospel in the synagogues, and he was casting out demons, he was raising the dead, and all of a sudden, he comes to the end of that. At the end of Matthew-9, he looks at his disciples. He says, the "harvest is ripe" but the labors are few. He was saying, I need to delegate this authority. More people need to be doing this ministry.
This is the ending of the end day of his ministry and he's like, yes, there's a lot of harvest but few labors. So, what does he do next? Matthew-10:1, that he gave his disciples power and authority to cast out devils, to heal the sick, to raise the dead. Then verse 8 says, proclaim the gospel. Proclaim the kingdom of God is here.
So it's vital that we recognize that Jesus is also looking for labors to be sent out. He just needs willing vessels to be like, here I am, Lord. Send me. So we must carry it out. We must carry out his message in obedience.
See, obedience is uncomfortable because it requires our comfort zone to 1, either be laid on the altar as a sacrifice unto him that's pleasing or it exposes your comfort zone as an idol. And if it's exposing your comfort zone as an idol, then repent because it's the same holy spirit that turns you into a *witness* that is also called a counselor and comforter. Why is that? Because it requires you often in the Christian walk to be uncomfortable, but he's the comforter. And you access it all by faith.
Come on, let's not pick and choose the passages of scripture we wanna obey and what we don't want to. That wasn't the goal of the bible. That wasn't the goal of the gospel. The goal of the gospel is I give you my life, so tell me how to live. Here I am, a willing vessel.
The reality is he really took a wound on his side with a spear poking it, and blood and water gushed out. Why? Blood was to cleanse us of our past to be the true sacrifice for all of eternity because that's God's blood on the altar. Why was water on there? Because it says in Joel-2 that his spirit will fall on all flesh, and they will dream dreams.
They will have visions. They will prophesy in my name. See, the thing is Jesus could've came and made a physical type of kingdom. He could've put this kingdom out in the cosmos where everyone could just kind of observe and be like, woah, behold him but that's not what Jesus chose to do. He chose not to come with a physical kingdom.
He chose to come with a spiritual kingdom. That's the whole thing. It's to redeem himself inside of us. To put his spirit residing inside of us. Because if his spirit is in all flesh, all of sudden, we are all empowered to be witnesses.
We are all empowered to live for him and receive comfort when we feel uncomfortable in obedience. It's fascinating. He could have been up there but he chose to live in you. He chose to live in believers. He chose to live inside of us.
There's power when you get that revelation. See, it would be a, it would be a, an injustice if in Acts-2, the 120 in the prayer room, they had this amazing encounter with the Holy Spirit, but then they decided to lock the door so no 1 else could have it. Or if they just they went home and they're like, oh, it's a great service. Be there next week. That's not what happened.
They went out of the doors, went beyond the walls, and all of a sudden, 3,000 were added to their number that day. Amen. And then it said that more were added daily. They lived life among each other. There was a going, a sending out.
There was a charge to the kingdom of God because this is the very thing that Jesus promised that if you wait for my coming 1, then go out. It's vital. The Holy Spirit's vital. Mark-16:17 it says, these signs will follow those who what? Believe.
Believe? Yep. So that doesn't mean I have to go to ministry school for 3 years, do an internship, go to bible college. That's not what it says. It says, those who believe.
Those who believe, these signs will follow. You will proclaim the kingdom of God, you will heal the sick, you will raise the dead. That's you guys. That's us. See, it's called we're all called to imitate Christ.
All of us were called to imitate Christ which means we're we're called to be packaged in a different way. Right? Like, you come in a different package than I am. When when you receive a gift, it's it's 1 thing to receive a gift and it's like poorly wrapped and it's like you you kinda just don't wanna even open it. It's like, it looks weird.
But if you receive the gift, there's a bow on it. It's like well well tied together or whatever. You you want to open it. It's a joy to open it. See, we all come in different packages.
We all come in different personalities, different giftings, get different things, but we all share a common ministry which is called the ministry of reconciliation. Calling people back to God. And the thing is, I can't reach everyone. I I just like Jesus, I've been praying, Lord, would you send out labors into the harvest field? The beautiful thing is we're all packaged differently, so it requires different people to talk a different to different people.
What they might receive, what they might receive from you, they might not receive it from me. They need the gospel said from your lips. Because there's truly lost and broken people in this world. And they need someone to carry the gospel. Who is the messenger of Jesus?
So, I'm gonna read in 2 Corinthians-5:17. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a "new creation". Old things have passed away, behold, all things have become new. Now, all things are of God who has reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. That is that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ as though God were pleading through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God. For he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in him. Paul is talking to those who are new creations, new believers. He's saying, recognize that your old way of life has died, your new way of life has come.
He's talking to these new believers but then he he says something. He says he's giving us the ministry of reconciliation. What does that even mean? Well 1, God initiated the reconciliation through Jesus dying on the cross. Before that, all of humanity was trying to get back to God through their sacrifices and their their ability.
But God took the road of pursuing humanity. He took the road of pursuing humanity by sending his son to die on the cross. He became what we were so we can live as he created us. He gives us a new nature. He gives us a new life.
So, reconciliation is what? It's restoration between relationships. It's a change in relationship from hostility to peace. That's what Jesus did. The way that the ancient Greeks would have used the word reconcile or reconciliation, they used to use it as a word referring to exchanging a coin for another.
So, in saying that, it said we just read, he took our sin so that we could become his righteousness. He credits us righteousness. He removes the sin issue. So, 1, he reconciles us and it creates transformation. Because the gospel without transformation is not real it's not the gospel.
If *Jesus* is not truly transforming you, then you need a new revelation of what the gospel is. What is the good news? Because the ability to go and continue in your sin, that's not what Jesus said. He said, "go and sin no more". There's no accusers, but go and sin no more.
He throws down the those fiery darts. There's, he's throwing away those accusations against the woman caught in adultery, but he leans down. There's no 1 who's accusing you anymore. Go and sin no more. What does that do?
That empowers you to "live holy" and godly. Amen. That empowers you to live right before god. Because if you could see that god sees you with a clean conscience, you then begin to have a clean conscience. So, moves us from sin to righteousness.
He moves us from being an orphan in the spirit to adopted as a son. All around Pinellas County, we meet these spiritual orphans. And, they're they're not just in Pinellas. It's all over the world. It's everywhere that has not encountered God their father, they're spiritually orphans until they meet him.
They don't know what they're looking for. All of sudden, you know, just trying to grab life. Grab validation. Grab justification from the wrong places at the wrong time when they need to just recognize that God can live inside of them. So we're no longer stretching and pulling forth.
We're now, oh, behold, the inheritance of God lives in me. And it's not even meant for us to carry and keep to ourselves, lock the door. It's for a purpose. It's to It's unto something. It's to carry it out.
It's to bring the good news everywhere you go. So, leads to transformation of life. And then, leads to a mission. *2 Corinthians-20, it calls us an ambassador of Christ*. What is an ambassador?
Well, to give a good comparison, The US, we have embassies in other nations. And in those embassies, the property line, it actually said, like, they claim that territory for The US. Then, inside of those embassies, there are people with authority called ambassadors. And, they have authority to sign things, to make calls on behalf of The United States because they're the ones representing The United States in that country. So, with Jesus, or when Paul calls us to be an ambassador of Christ because of the ministry of reconciliation, that means we are representatives of Jesus.
We represent *Jesus*. Because if you don't present Jesus to the lost and broken world, who will? Yeah. If you're the only Christian at your workplace, well, what's the other option? You gotta speak up now.
We have to understand. We represent *Jesus* Like I said, we all come in different packages. Me and Jerry, we we go out on these outreaches and we we have different styles of sharing the gospel and it's awesome. It's beautiful. He has a strength in it and I have a strength in it and together because we're a team, we're seeing a lot of fruit from that.
And, it's awesome. He has a different style because he has a different personality. He has different giftings. The makeup of how God's designed them has is different than mine. So my goal is not for you to be a replica of just how we do it in our style.
If you've had a bad experience where you saw someone share the gospel weird, well, so have I. I had a guy in ministry school. He stopped traffic and he got out and he proclaiming the gospel. I'm like, oh, no. Like, I don't know about that 1, guys.
I had other guys go down Target aisles and they're like I'm like, dude, you are freaking me out. And so, I saw how it was done weird, I learned the way that I know I can do it. Where it's as simple as, hey, just at church praying and I felt I saw you. Do you mind if I pray for you today? And then, before we we jump into prayer, I'll simply ask, do you know the gospel?
Could I share it to you in 2 minutes? I know you got I know you gotta go. But be be meeting people where they're at. Being real personal. Like, I am just a normal human.
I'm a normal human full of God. So, I'm asking I'm I'm not asking you to be a certain thing or be a cookie cutter type. I'm simply saying, let Christ in you be the hope of glory. Amen. Amen.
Be a Christian and do it among non believers. Yes. 1 of the best advice that was given was just do what you enjoy doing with your hobbies or or work stuff. Just do it around non believers and live Christ. That's right.
Live a lifestyle of Jesus. We represent him. We come in different packages. So guess what? That means the world actually needs your voice.
There's lost and broken people that I wouldn't be able to reach out to, but you could. I had no matter what how many personality quirks you have. I had this 1 guy. He was sharing the gospel on someone's porch and as he's sharing, he's so nervous. He's like rocking back and forth And then, there's not a railing and so he he lost his foot and he fell on me.
And the woman's like, what's going on? And I'm just trying not to bust out laughing but I stand up, I said, so what are you saying? And I tried finishing it thinking that we might do alright there. She just laughed at the end, we walked away. It was a weird thing.
Just a weird day. But at the same time, that same guy had led many multitudes to Jesus. So no matter how nervous you are, how no matter how uncomfortable it makes you feel, I promise you, God will meet you there. Because until you actually, see, we go on outreach to go find someone to disciple. Sometimes, I know for me, the Lord had a work on my heart.
And I went on outreach and I was saying, I wasn't seeing much fruit. I wasn't seeing anyone make a decision for Jesus. But then, I realized as I'm going out and I'm denying myself, as I'm not even seeing the fruit I've been praying for, the Lord's actually making this moment to disciple me. Amen. Right.
Because I'm denying myself for the sake of another. And then all of sudden, my motives got corrected because I wasn't trying to just get a testimony on the board. All of a sudden, my test the my motives got corrected because I was no longer looking for validation for leaders. And the moment the Lord was began to fulfill that discipleship of my heart, he began to trust me with others. So you going out actually helps you grow.
Yep. You stepping out in faith helps you grow. Amen. Come on. Let god disciple you so you then can steward a new believer.
So why me? See, *Jesus* Jesus chose us to steward his kingdom. We are ambassadors of that kingdom. You have the authority to heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, proclaim the kingdom of God. The *Holy Spirit is what makes you a witness*.
And he's an inward he creates the inward change to reflect him. So, reconciliation does its work in a person as you begin to change and look like him. To restore all that which was lost. See, what qualifies you to share your faith? Well, 1, you already said it, those who believe.
These signs will follow those who believe. It's almost just an assumption. Like, there's a believer there, oh, the kingdom of God is there. It's assumption according to the scriptures. Let's carry weight on that.
The thing is, if you have a testimony, you are now a witness. If you have a moment in your life that you can say, man, I encountered God. There was this inward change in my life. Well, all of sudden, that makes you a witness because now you can testify of what you've seen and what you've heard. You have an inward reality that shifted, that made it made himself known and real to you.
And, you have a different testimony than I do, means you could reach other people than I can. It's beautiful. We're called the body of Christ to work together for a reason. It's powerful. So, we are called witnesses.
But often, people say, well, Robbie, I don't I don't really do that because I don't really even know what to say. Well, that's good that I have my next point. So, if we can bring up the the 4 point gospel there. Alright. So, there's 4 points that I typically share anytime I'm sharing the gospel.
Meaning, I've gotten to the point where I've said, hey, my name is Robbie. I was curious if you would be interested in hearing the gospel today. Gotta just take 2 minutes of your time. I'm like, sure. What's amazing is how many people will hear that and and be like, I was praying for a sign for that.
So, the first point of the gospel is, say this with me, say creation. Creation. Alright. Good. First step there.
Alright. We did it. Now, second point is separation. Say separation. Separation.
Say *reconciliation*. Reconciliation. And say invitation. Invitation. So, let's break it down.
Go to the next 1. Alright. So, creation. We It's important for them to know that they were created for the purpose, the likeness, the image of God. So, we were created in the image and likeness of God for relationship with him.
That's creation. That's round 1. Alright, round 2. Separation. *Sin* separates us from God because sin is choosing to follow ourselves instead of him.
*Sin is simply a wedge in the relationship* between humanity and it was inherited by Adam. Number, 3, reconciliation. *Jesus came to reveal God's heart and reconcile humanity with himself by taking away our sins, by dying on the cross*, and rising from the dead. That's reconciliation. Number 4, invitation.
*Jesus* now invites all of humanity. He invites you to personally know him by turning from sin and receiving Jesus as lord. And then I would follow-up and say, so is this a moment that is truly sincere for you to give your life to Jesus? See, you guys see the numbers and you you might think that we're like head locking people in. But man, we always we always ask like, is this a "sincere moment" for you?
I give them an out. I give them an out so they can actually count the cost. Like, is this a true moment you're willing to start your relationship with Jesus? Because we want sincerity. We don't want just a number in the records.
We want names in the book of life. So we follow-up and often, people will go on outreach and they'll go and heal the sick. They'll they'll go out and just see if they can pray for someone. They'll go out and see if they can prophecy over someone or they'll just go out and smile at someone. I'll say this, if you go out to prophecy, people receive prophecy.
If you go out to heal the sick, you'll see people healed. If you go out to just pray for someone, people will be encouraged and prayed over. Right. If you go and smile at someone, they will be smiled at. But if you go and preach the gospel, people's lives will be saved.
It's *salvation that comes from the gospel* because I've I've seen it happen where people, they had a "healed knee". They just encountered god. They didn't have relationship with god but they walked away thinking that's all their job was but all of sudden, you recognize there's people who have received a healed knee on the way to hell. Yeah. That's right.
And that's not okay. We should give the opportunity, could I share the gospel with you? Now, if that's if that's the only thing that they had time for, that's another thing. But if they had the other time and you just forgot to invite them into a 2 minute gospel demonstration, that's a whole different thing. We need to present the gospel.
So creation, separation, *reconciliation*, and invitation, 4 points you can remember. I, I was at Walmart and I walked up to this guy. Like I said, I pray all the time. I said, Lord, would you would you would you make it real in my heart that I'm asking you to send me the 1 that is looking for you. I look at this guy and I say, hey man, do you know that Jesus loves you?
He's like, yeah. And I said, do you do you know what it means to be born again? He said, I'm I'm like, I think so. And so I share what it means to be born again and which which is to be born of God for his purposes, living out his way, and then being born of his spirit, which is his *holy spirit* living in you to produce the that very fruit. I said, would you like to start that relationship and be born again today?
And he stops and he says, hold on man. He says, I'm shaking. I'm like, okay. What's going on? He says, I just prayed to God this morning to send me a sign if I should be born again.
That that happens all the time now. I've got some testifiers here. Happens all the time. People are looking for Jesus because the lost are looking and the "prodigals are being pursued" by God. People want a right relationship with god.
They can't find it in this world. Right. They're or spiritually orphans without him. They don't know their dad. We've had guys who just kinda crumbled.
Yeah. As we just told them Jesus loved them and all of a sudden their lives transformed. They're like, you're you mean that? God loves me? Like, there's people in Pinellas County who have never heard the gospel before.
I meet them all the time. And sometimes, they just need more labors in the field to get go and water, go and bring seed, but then, make sure you're reaping the harvest. See, there's power in the gospel. *Romans-1:16, for I am not ashamed of the gospel because it's the power of God* that brings salvation to everyone who believes. So, the power unto salvation is what?
The gospel. Guys, the moment we stop preaching the gospel is the moment we stop being the answer to the city. The moment we stop sharing Jesus is the moment that we stop carrying his power. We must share the gospel. He must be on our lips.
Come on. When I when I talk to people, I'm not even, I'm just simply a billboard. Say, hey, there's a "fork in the road". Do you wanna choose Jesus or you wanna choose the Broadway? Yes.
People think like evangelism is where you condemn people. Like, no, they're already condemned. They're already on the path to hell. They must get in the lifeboat named Jesus. Amen.
Man. And it's that very lifeboat that I'm talking about. That 4 point gospel, that's the lifeboat. You invite them in. That's just simply a pathway to the lifeboat and *discipleship* carries it out.
So, we must carry him. We must represent him. We must be a reflection of Jesus. We must represent Jesus to the lost and broken world around us because without him being talked about, there's not an answer to any wickedness in this world. See, in Hebrews-1, it says that god had made it where Jesus is the most the expression, the exact thing that g that god is speaking is Jesus.
So, if god is still preaching Jesus because that's his only sermon now, we should be preaching Jesus too. That's right. Good lord. And it's as simple as asking. Hey, would you wanna hear the gospel today?
Don't overthink it. Don't overthink it. Like, show that you're a real life person. Like hi, just out here shopping for noodles. Got your basket of noodles.
Do you know how much Jesus loves you? Could I just share the gospel with you? All of sudden they're like, oh, yeah, was praying for God to send me a sign and then here you are. Come on. Pray to believe begin to believe the prayers that you pray about this stuff.
So I meet a lot of people. I've had thousands of gospel conversations and I often meet what's called cultural Christianity. Where they'll they'll claim the title of I'm a Christian because I believe in Jesus. But, so they they call themselves a Christian but they're walking a different path. Right.
Which misses the whole point. That's not the transformation of the gospel. See, the thing is, we must see our sin hanging on that cross. We must understand his death, his burial, his resurrection. Because he took upon himself everything that I was, all the junk in my life, so that we could be restored back to the father and redeem that which was lost.
And so if your life isn't quite in line with the word of god, then maybe you still need to encounter him. Maybe you need to still be born of his spirit which changes your nature for his. Because the thing is you can't clean yourself up before going to him. It wouldn't be clean enough. You have to actually go to him and he is the 1 who cleans you off.
Like, you never get you never take a shower. You never wipe yourself off before you jump in a shower. You you let the shower do its work and it cleans you. It's the grace of god that does that in a in a person. So, if you are in this room and what I'm sharing about the mission of Jesus or the the ministry of reconciliation, if you're in this room and you're saying, I don't know if I've been reconciled to god.
I'm gonna in a in a minute, I'm gonna just have you raise your hand. But if you find yourself in a place where you're like praying and it feels like your prayers are kinda like just "hitting the ceiling" and bouncing back down. You haven't had this inward experience of him. Like he's, this guy's talking about being a witness. I haven't even seen or heard anything yet.
I'm talking to you. If that is you and you would like to begin your relationship with Jesus today, to begin to recognize your life hanging on the cross with Jesus to receive his resurrected life. To be filled by his spirit and allow him to live his purposes in your life. If that's you, I want you to raise your hand. Is there anyone in this room?
Okay. Awesome. Well, I assume they're near all believers who are able to be a witness. So, this next part. Like I said, my goal is not to just have you come on outreach.
Outreach to me is simply "practice for real life". Like, when you get good at a sport, you have a practice before the game. Yeah, sure. Evangelism and outreach that we schedule, it's simply practice for your life. Yeah.
It's a dedicated time where you do the drills. It's a dedicated time where you put it into practice. You're talking to strangers. So, that you can then overflow that into your over your real life. You can begin practicing the giftings of the Holy Spirit, praying for healing because you've never Maybe you haven't seen it before.
But, it's a moment where you can actually practice those things. So my goal of today is not to just get you to come on outreach, but to simply be obedient to the whisper of the Holy Spirit when he tells you to go and share. It's because Obedience is our success. We can't handle the reaction that we get. We can't control the reaction we get.
Obedience is our success. You going out is success in the Lord's eye. There's many outreaches that I've been on for hours and I didn't see any anything happen, but I felt the pleasure of the Lord Yeah. Say well done. Because I went.
I went. So last thing, Ephesians-4:11. Actually 12. It says, for the equip 11 and 12. And he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.
I'm about to invite people up. We can get some instrumental, if that's okay. I'm about to invite people up. If you have had your heart stirred today on the topic of go, of sharing your faith, to be a minister of reconciliation. If I've been speaking to you, you've had a desire to fulfill the great commission, but you've you've felt like it's been ineffective as you went out.
I believe according to this scripture see, the evangelist is a a function that I'm currently in. I believe that gifts can be imparted. Yeah. So if that's you in this room, you wanna be more effective as an evangelist or or just even a lifestyle representer of Jesus, I want you to come. Come and receive prayer because I'm gonna lay hands.
And Heidi, you can go ahead and make your way up. Was there anyone in here who would receive wanna receive a life style of evangelism to begin seeing the fruit in your life. Go ahead. Y'all spread out over here too. Amen.
Yep. So for those who are still sitting, I just encourage you. If you want this to be more of a desire in your heart, please sign up for Engage. We'll meet you where you're at. We'll celebrate whatever step is the next step.
For those who are down here, I encourage you, sign up for Engage. We got guys in the lobbies who are gonna help you register. But sign up for engage. Get equipped to engage the culture with the love of Jesus. We're simply multiplying the kingdom every time someone gets 1 to the lord.
You know that's actually called a "new house church". Because that church now has a new priest. Amen. So, yeah, let me pray. Let me pray, and I'm gonna I'm gonna lay hands.
So, if over today, lord, mark people with this word. Mark people who even those who aren't even up here, Lord. Mark them with this word, Lord. In Jesus' name, amen.