You are uniquely equipped by God to impact your generation, so start by surrendering your heart to Him completely. Then, take the next step by inviting friends and family to experience Jesus for yourself, perhaps even at our upcoming Easter celebration. Let your worship transform into action as you share His love with your oikos.
Like, the Holy Spirit is here, man. In the beginning was the word, the word was with God, and the word was God. Right? So the word was God, the word is God. So when you sense the presence of God, he's speaking by his presence.
I love when I hear his voice. I love when when he speaks clearly to me, but I've learned, wait a second, when I sense he's in the room, when I sense some people may sense a "tingling sensation", some people may sense like a heat. I've heard that before. Some people may just sense an intense peace. Some people may sense joy.
Some people may just sense a calmness when, you know, he manifests himself in multiple different ways, but whatever, however he manifesting Himself to you when you're sensing His presence, that's what He's saying. Do you understand? Like He is the Word. That's His presence. He's speaking in that moment.
So He's telling you when you're sensing peace, peace, I'm with you. And just lean into that when you sense that. Lord Jesus, thank you that you're speaking peace over my life. Jesus didn't do anything unless he saw the Father doing it. And it literally says apart from the Father, he could do nothing.
And we're supposed to follow him. So when we sense he's moving in an area, we're supposed to lean in to that area. Enjoy him, but ask him, what are you doing? And then adjust our life in that moment to follow Him. To join in with what He's doing.
When you sense His peace, just begin to say thank you for for your peace. And I speak peace just like you're saying it. I'm saying what I'm hearing my father say. I'm speaking peace over every area of my life. Over area, every area.
Maybe it's not just you, maybe it's the people around you. I'm speaking peace over my neighbors. I'm speaking peace over my friends in Jesus name. Leaning in to what the father's saying and doing and joining in, adjusting our life to follow him in the mission that he's called us for. I really sensed the Lord the Lord's presence specifically on when we were singing, you were "worthy of it all".
Because he is worthy of it all. The cost is all. Jesus gave his whole life for you, while we were far from him. But we respond in love by **surrendering it all**. And to the level of surrender that you have in your life, that's the level you're gonna experience his voice and his goodness and his presence through your life.
*Surrender*, giving it all to him. *Amen*? Can we just just together with that idea of I'm surrendering it all, sing that chorus 1 more time. You are worthy of it all. You you you are were go ahead.
Keep going. Just posture your heart towards him. Say, I surrender it all as you sing it. You are worthy. *Lord God*, we just thank you.
I pray that this teaches people how to worship you from the heart and equips them to live a life of worship, not just at church, not just when they're around other believers and spurred on to sing and they see their friends singing with abandon and then they join in and do it too. But also when they're alone, that they have such a relationship with you that out of the abundance of the heart, it overflows out of the mouth. And they begin to, when they're alone, just say, Jesus, you're worthy of it all. By faith, stepping into a real relationship with you, heavenly Father. In Jesus name.
And everybody said, Amen. It's 1 of my favorite things as a preacher. Get to say, and everybody said, Amen. The crowd responds, Amen. It's just kind of fun.
*Amen*? Amen. Alright. I like I like it when you like it when you all talk back to me just so you if if you're annoyed by that, I apologize. Please talk back to me as we're as we're, you know, conversing or dialoguing about what Jesus has said back and forth, me and you.
It's a dialogue together. Amen? Amen. See, you guys are getting it. Now, if you get too much, you get too loud, you start distracting people, I'll call you out.
So, don't but it's not I'm not being rude, I'm just, you know, just for everybody else. Does that make sense? All right. All right. Fair enough.
Let's try 1 more time. Amen? Amen. Whoo. Come on.
I sound like Robert up here. Whoo. If you're new, Robert was 1 of our worship leaders, and it's just when the Holy Spirit really is touching him, or he's really getting into it, he just says, woah. And it's awesome. My name is David John Phillips.
I have the joy and honor of getting to be the pastor at this church. There's no place I'd rather be, there's nothing I'd rather be doing than getting to worship with you guys, getting to speak the word of Jesus to you. And then often I get to sit in the seats and listen as we have an amazing speaking team that that gets to speak. And I get to take notes and and be blessed by the giftings and talents and abilities in others as well. Isn't that a beautiful thing?
If this is your first time, thank you for choosing to spend your Sunday here with us. We pray that you encounter the love of *Jesus* in a way that impacts you so much that it changes you from the inside
out. Yes.
And then, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks that you can't stop speaking about it. *Amen*? Amen. I mean, isn't that Christianity? It is.
I wanna tell you just first starting off the message a little bit about our church. So, you understand why I'm gonna go this way. See, our church, the vision is, we'll do "whatever it takes" for you to know the love of Jesus and live your god given purpose. I just littered. Whatever it takes, why?
Because Jesus did whatever it took. He laid his life down for us and we're supposed to be imitators of god as dearly loved children. So, when we are captured by the fact that he sacrificed it all, we say, yes, lord, as Moriah was saying and we follow him in that. For him as an act of worship but then his heart is people. For people to know him through us.
*Amen*? Amen. So, that's our vision. How we do that, our mission is number 1, you, it's 4 things, engage, establish, equip, and empower. So, engage the culture with the love of Jesus.
God put us in this generation at this time and equipped us uniquely to impact it for his kingdom. So it's not an accident that you were born at this time. You are uniquely equipped specifically for this time frame. And God wants you out of relationship with him to overflow and engage the culture with his love such that they see your life and hear the way that you speak, the way that you work as an act of worship and are drawn into relationship with the father. This is not a private religion.
This is a personal relationship that impacts the world around us publicly. *Amen*? But then when you're engaged with the love of Jesus and you surrender your life to him, you enter into a covenant relationship with the head, Jesus Christ, the head of the body. And guess what? If you're in covenant relationship with the head, you can't not be in covenant with the body.
You just can't. Like Jesus, when he was talking to Saul, he met Saul on the road to Damascus, and he appeared to him, and he said, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? Funny thing is, Saul, that we know of, never really met Jesus face to face and persecuted Jesus. Saul was persecuting the church and Jesus equated the church to himself. So you can't be in covenant relationship with the head and not be in covenant relationship with the body.
To be out of covenant with the body is to be out of covenant with the head. So, number 2 is establish the believer in the local body of Christ because the body of Christ can't be all it's called to be without the giftings, talents, and abilities of every single person God's called to be there. But then also, you can't be what God's called you to be without the giftings, talents, and abilities in the body of Christ he's called you to be in. *Amen*? Amen.
So, establish. But then, and we have we have membership covenants. I think they're here and there. We have a class called establish, which I think tonight's full, which is awesome. But we have another 1 in 2 weeks.
April 16. So after Easter, we're going to have another established. You can sign up for it. And that established class basically lets you know the vision, mission, values, like the ins and outs of the church, how we do things, and then how you can be a part of it. So you can get a detailed insider's look at it as you make a decision.
Is this the local body that God's called me to be a part of? And we say covenant for a reason. Because everybody in American culture has this consumer based mindset. Like when you approach relationships, it's like, I want it for me and if I don't if it doesn't give me what I want, then I'm out. Right?
Consumer based, like going to a restaurant. I like this restaurant because it's serving me well, but as soon as it gives me 1 bad meal, I'm out. I'm going to find another restaurant. People approach church the same way, and that's a sin. *Covenant* is, *God*, where do you call me to be?
Where do you want me to be? Because it's about worshiping you. And when I know what you've said, I say, yes, Lord. And then I go there whether or not it is what I prefer, because it's not about what I prefer, it's about following you as my Lord. And I lay my life down to serve you and to serve the church so that the church can grow and impact the world around it more effectively.
*Amen*? Amen. Now, once you're established here, now you're giving us the license to disciple you. And for some of you to be discipled by you because we challenge 1 another in our relationship with Jesus. It's a beautiful thing and for all of you, if you're faithful, available, and teachable, no matter where you start this thing, the Bible says, you'll do the same things I do and even greater.
That's how Jesus led. So, that's how we lead at the church. So, my hope is, man, we join in whether you're called to be a a doctor, you're called to be a business owner, you're called to be a stay at home mom, it doesn't matter. You live out the calling that God has for you. And man, you'll be doing the same things I do and even greater in your area of influence and we'll be challenging 1 another as brothers and sisters in Christ.
Come on, that's a relationship that church should have with 1 another. *Amen? Amen. Because you're a minister of the gospel*. So, when you are established here, now you're giving the license, you're you're you're entering into a discipleship relationship with the body of Christ in a healthy way.
So, our our third part of the mission statement is to equip the believer to go back and engage the culture with the love of Jesus. So, now, you understand why we're going to do what we're doing today because our role, my role as a leader in the church is to equip you to engage the culture around you with the love of Jesus. Because Ephesians-4:12 says that you are a minister of the gospel. If you've been born again, if you have a relationship with god, it is your duty. It is your role to follow **God's will** and god's will is that everyone come to know him.
Alright. Let me just, let's put a pin in that right there because I'm getting ahead of myself and let's just step over here. Do you guys, you guys like food? Come on. Who doesn't like food?
Oh, come on. Jokes is back there. Everybody likes food. God created us to like food. Do you have that meal?
You know, are those 1 or 2 meals that when you eat it, it causes you to go, and like you get done and you're full, you're like fat and happy. Maybe even want to go take a nap. I got 2 of those meals. 1 is when my wife cooks that roast that my nanny used to cook back in the, my grandma used to cook back in the day. On Sunday afternoons, it's this crock pot roast like Boston butt, you know, and she cooks, when she cooks rice with it and gravy and it's just scrumptious.
It falls off of the You as you put your fork in it and you just dip it out, you don't have to cut anything. It's beautiful. You take a bite as you're watching the New Orleans Saints. I'm sorry. I grew up in Louisiana.
You know, and then and you get done and the game's not even over, but you're falling asleep because it was so good. You're satisfied and full. My second favorite meal is Thai food. I love Thai food. I love Panang Curry.
I don't know if I'm saying it right but it's awesome. I love Panang Curry hot and I'll, my wife hate them, doesn't like Thai food. She's she's more of like a a chicken strip kind of girl, you know? We had this conversation. That's what she said.
I'm quoting her. And so, you know, every now and then, I'll just have a craving for some Thai food. So I'll sneak out, and I'll go to the Thai restaurant down the road, and I'll just sit down order me a Panang curry, hot. And I'm sweating as I'm eating it, and it's just awesome. It's so I get done, and I'm "full and satisfied".
You realize there's 2 ways the Bible says spiritually that we are to fill up. We're to be full. 2 ways. Number 1, we talk about it a lot. Matthew-4.
Jesus said, man does not live by bread alone, but by every By every. Word. Word that comes from the mouth of god. So, part of our food, part of our diet is our relationship with god. It's learning to hear his voice.
**Faith comes by hearing**. It necessitates *relationship*. My sheep know my voice. And let me tell you, if I don't know this, I'm not gonna be able to distinguish the notes of God God's voice. I learned this so I can learn in my daily life how to walk with God.
To the extent that I know this, that's probably the extent that I'm going to be able to distinguish the notes of His voice and understand better how to follow Him. But part of the way that I'm full in life is that relationship, and daily, He's my daily bread, Daily going to him, daily spending time with him but not just 1 time a day. That 1 time a day is the spark for the rest of my day. So, moment by moment, I'm in conversational relationship learning to hear him, learning when he's speaking, learning how to sense his presence in a conversation and lean in. That's not just for the pastor.
That's for the believer. My sheep know my voice. Yeah. I heard a little thing on the view. Some YouTube video or something came up.
According to said, oh, watch this and they were saying, 1 of them was saying how, man, you know, it's okay to talk to Jesus but if he starts talking back to you, now, you crazy. I'm like, I'm crazy. I'm crazy. And then you've heard me say it over and over. When you're born again, like you're like a brand new little baby learning to hear the father's voice, you recognize his presence probably quicker than you distinguish the notes of his voice.
But the more you spend time in his presence, the more you learn to hear, the more you push in and press in and and and follow him and obey, the more you experience a relationship where you're daily hearing his voice and being filled up by what he's saying. And you get full. But really about half full. Because there's another way that's partnered with that. That is just like eating that big meal.
Remember, gave you 2 meals, that roast and that panang curry. Here in his words, the roast. Let me give you the panang curry. *John-4*. *Jesus* is at the well.
And this woman comes to him, Samaritan woman, and he's talking with her and ministering to her. And the woman was like, oh my gosh, this is amazing. So much so, her heart is so full that she runs away back to the city and overflows and starts telling everybody about Jesus. By the way, when you encounter the love of Jesus and you really receive it, your heart's going to be so full that it's going to overflow out of your mouth. Because out of the abundance, the heart I mean, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.
*Amen? Amen. So if your mouth's not speaking about him yet, go back to relationship with the Lord and sit in his presence. Get in his word. Learn to love* him so much that you can't help but speak about him.
*Amen*? Amen. So, the lady runs off. The disciples come up. They don't mention anything about him having, you know, talking with this woman because that's was kind of weird back in the day.
But they say, hey, hey, rabbi, you need to eat. It's time for you to eat. And Jesus says these words, I got food you don't know about. And they're like, what? Did he go get a snack pack?
Like, where? Did did he go to rage like raising raising canes or whatever down the road? No. No. And Jesus says, John-4, That joke didn't hit like I expected.
*John-4:31*. In the meantime, his disciples urged him saying, Rabbi, eat. But he said to them, I have food to eat which you do not know. Therefore, the disciples said to 1 another, has he anyone brought him anything to eat? And Jesus said to them, my food Now, we heard my, you know, man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of god.
So, there's relationship but here, Jesus says, my food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. So half the meal is hearing him. The other half of it is believing it so much that you do it. And I'm afraid that many Christians have only gotten half the meal. Because we go and sit and hear but maybe many times, there's no obedience.
Or maybe there's an initial obedience but not a finishing of the work. Because it's not just doing his will but doing it until it's done. And to finish the work. And I want to live a full life. So the the question is that begs the question is, what is the will of the father?
There's many specific things but overall, *2 Peter-3:8-9* says this, but beloved, do not forget this 1 thing that with the lord, 1 day is as 1000 years and 1000 years is as 1 day. The lord is not slack or slow in concerning his promise or slow concerning his promise as some count slackness or slowness. But as long suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish. So God's will is that no 1 perishes, no 1 is separated from God for eternity. The sad part is that will isn't always happening.
Some people reject *God* in this life, and so in the next, they get what they rejected, eternity separated from God in hell. It's a real place, and it really stinks. It wasn't created for mankind, it was created for satan and his demons. But when mankind in this world follows selfishness or follows Satan, which is the same thing. Yeah.
*Jesus* equated the 2. When follow like, do you realize that Satanism is not worshiping Satan, but Satanism preaches that you you are your own Lord? You are your own God? So when you follow only what you want to do and don't live a life surrendered to Jesus, you're following Satan? "Wake up and smell the roses".
It's the truth. And when you live that way, you spend eternity in hell with them, separated from God. Because would it be loving if in this life you didn't choose God, so God made you choose him in eternity? No, it wouldn't. God gives you what you choose.
And it's not his will that anybody perish. He loves people. He wants them to experience the life that he created them to experience which is a life in relationship with the god of the universe and empowered by him to experience the fullness of who he is. *Amen*? Amen.
So, it's not his will that anybody perish but then it says, but that all should come to repentance. So, it is god's will that all come to repentance. That's what he's willing. That that's his will for for the world. *Amen*.
I want to see that and when you see what god's will is, what do you do? You surrender your life. You turn your life and partner with him and what he wants to do. *Jesus* came, died on a cross, and rose again to forgive us of us, forgive us of our sin, to restore right relationship with him, then to put his spirit in us to empower us to do what he came to do, to follow him. You know what Jesus said?
Jesus said, follow me and I will make you fishers of men. So, if you are following Jesus, you will be getting better and better at fishing for people and bringing them into relationship with god or into better relationship with god. Is that like a challenging punch? Yes. Good.
Hear it? Hear the lord, the father's will, and then let's follow Jesus together and day in and day out get better at fishing for people, helping those around us to follow Jesus too. *Amen*? Amen. Alright, cool.
So there's your setup. We had a little technical difficulties today. So we were going to play this video, and it's going to be awesome. You're going to watch it. It was going to be amazing.
You'll be like, yes, I'm going to do that. However, the video stuff didn't work today. So instead, I want you to imagine that a video is playing. As you listen to this audio and lean in. Why don't you go ahead and play the audio?
It's
coming. Oh, it might be muted over here. Hold on. Get ready to start it over. Alright, try again.
Okay. Here's a question. Do you believe you have a personal responsibility to share your faith? Surveys have shown that the overwhelming majority of you would answer, yes. Okay.
So, what about this question? Have you shared your faith with anyone in the last 6 months? Surveys have shown that a majority of you would answer this question. No. I guess this is just not as easy as it seems, or at least as easy as we'd like like it to be.
Well, here's another question. How many times have you personally invited an unchurched person to church? Now, this seems simple. Right? And yet, surveys tell us that almost half of you would answer 0.
I mean, there are lots of reasons why we don't. Right? Like, maybe it still feels a little awkward and uncomfortable, or maybe we're going that. Able We're able to that. We're able see going childcare, the youth program, or the building.
Although these are all great things, important and valuable things, the main thing that got most of you up and through that door the first time wasn't any of these. It was an invitation. "Easter will be here soon". It's the perfect Sunday to share with others what your faith is all about, and it can all start with 1 more "simple question". Wanna come to church on Sunday?
Let's change the stats and let God change hearts and lives this Easter. And let's start with something simple, an invitation.
So I wanted to give you guys a "layup", an an easy way to start. Like Easter is this next Sunday. And if anybody's gonna say yes to come to church and actually do it, it would be on Easter. Because everybody knows about Easter. *Jesus* died and rose again for us, and everybody's grandma goes to church on Easter.
And so they go. And so if you're gonna invite anybody and see success, it's probably gonna be this week. If you wanna get kick started at sharing your faith, or the easiest part, just inviting someone to church. It's probably gonna be this week. And our role, because our mission is to equip you to engage the culture with the love of Jesus.
The rest of the service, it'll be a little different. It's gonna be about equipping you to engage the culture with the love of Jesus. So later, not now, but I have about a 100, which I think we have more people than that in here, of these clips of 5 cards. And I wanna teach you for the rest of this service on how to use this as a tool in order to share your faith. Number 1, so to teach you to be a fisher of people Because that's our role as we follow Jesus.
And then number 2, maybe they're not ready to say yes to that. Well, you can say, well, I want to invite you to my church. Because I know if you come, you're gonna encounter the love of Jesus. It will be impactful because it's impactful for me. Okay?
You guys ready? Before I get started, I wanna tell you 6 lies, quick lies that people believe about sharing their faith. Number 1, some people say, well evangelism or sharing my face is just not for me. You're right. It's not for you.
It's for others to experience the same Jesus that you know. So if it's about you, you're probably not gonna share your faith. We *died to ourselves. As a matter of fact, Romans-14:7-8 says, for none of us, Christians, live to himself, and none of us die to himself. We For if we live, we live to the Lord*.
And if we die, we die to the Lord. There you go. Amen? Amen. Number 2, lie.
I don't evangelize or I don't share my faith because it's just not my personality. I'm more introverted, know. I don't like to talk to people. Well, problem is it's no longer you who live, but *Christ who lives* in you. So all of your weaknesses, *God* uses those, his strength through your weakness.
You know, for me, I'm super outgoing. So a lot of times, he asked me to be quiet. And in my quietness, God impacts people. But for most of you who may have not shared your faith and your weakness, he might challenge you to not be introverted and go talk to that person. And in your step of faith, getting out of your comfort zone, being obedient, his supernatural power meets you there and impacts that person more than you thought possible.
It takes saying, yes, Lord. He's my Savior for me, but He's my Lord so I can follow Him and impact the world around me. And surrender my life and every area of my life to Him. *Amen*? Amen.
Number 3. Well, you know, I'm not a street evangelist. Dad joke alert. Well, I'm not a street evangelist. Well, you may never share about Jesus in the middle of the street.
That could be dangerous. But you are called to be a full time Christian everywhere you go. Number
4.
Well, I'm not gifted. I'm just not that good at it. You're never gonna be good at it if you don't try. You gotta fail at things you start a couple of times before you start getting good. Sometimes a lot more times than just a few.
*Amen*. You're amen. If you're a believer, you've been gifted with the greatest gift of all, and it's the Holy Spirit, and it's his power and presence that saves somebody, not you. It's your obedience and his power and presence through you. You gotta start learning to obey his leading, and then be okay when you fail to "fall forward", get back up, and keep going.
Number 5. 0, this 1 might be a punch to the gut. Are you ready? Are are you ready? Alright.
*John-3:16*, 17 and 18 says, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. He who believes in Jesus, in him, is not condemned, but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the begotten son. So there's a lot of believer, I mean, there's a lot of non believers out there that are walking around condemned. Not because we're talking, we're not condemning them.
They're already condemned. We're trying to date take them from con condemnation to life. We're not preaching condemnation, we're preaching life and rescuing people from condemnation to life. So the lie is, I just don't like pushing my beliefs on people. Your silence is "pushing them to hell".
It's not God's will that any would perish. But his "plan A" is you and there is no plan B. His plan A is the "great commission". Going to all the world, making disciples of all nations, teaching them to obey everything I've commanded you, and lo, I am with you always. It's the great commission, it's not the great suggestion.
It's not the if you feel like it, go do it. If you don't, no, no. He's Lord. And so in every area of our life, we are commissioned by God and empowered by his Holy Spirit to say, yes, Lord, no matter how we feel. The world around us, your coworkers, your neighbors, your family members, they don't know it and they're trying to push against it, but their soul is crying out for you to show them Jesus.
I'm just too fearful. God did not give you the spirit of fear, but of love, power, and a sound mind. And so the question is, do you fear what they think or do you fear the Lord? Which 1 do you fear more? Do you fear what people think about you or how they're gonna respond more than you fear disobeying your heavenly father.
I wanna grow in my love with the Lord so much that I love Him more than I love what they think about me. And I love them enough to risk offending them for their sake. Yep. To I love people enough. I want to love them enough to put risk the *relationship* because what I'm saying is what's best for them.
Bible says, if you love me, you will deny yourself, pick up your cross, and follow me. It also says, your love for me will look like hate for your mom, your dad, your brothers, your your friends. They might think you're hating them, but I have to love them enough to let them think that in order to give them truth. Otherwise, I am hating them because I'm letting them live in their condemned state, separated from the God who can set them free from their depression, their anxiety, their lack of peace, their lack of joy, and their lack of purpose. Amen?
*Amen*. Okay. So I want to teach you guys how I share my faith. And this has worked. Something along these lines has worked with Buddhists in Thailand, with Hindus in India, with Muslims in Pakistan, 1 on 1, with animists in Africa, with agnostics in America.
Atheists have become agnostics and then become Christians on a submarine. It's worked in South America. It's worked in Central America. I don't think I've ever got to really share it in Europe yet. 1 day.
But I'm telling you this to to let you know that this is a bait for your fishing reel. And a fisherman gets good at using a bait and knows when to cast it. And uses it so much and fails at it over and over until they're good at it. Then they add another bait to their tackle box. *Amen*?
Alright. Number 1, I need a volunteer. Volunteer, come on. The bold 1. Don't worry, Aaron, you're next.
Be careful. There's a there's a cord there. You really don't want to trip over it. I really don't want you to trip over it. Okay.
So if this is my long lost family member that I'm getting to see, or it's my neighbor, or maybe they come over to my house all the time, they're my friends, I've just never talked about Jesus with them. Or maybe he's my coworker. Right? I'm trying to get you to understand that, man, it's God's put people in your life for a reason. You know, we we call them your or your your circle of friends, your circle of family and coworkers.
They need you to share Jesus with them. God's given you influence in their life for a reason. K? So he's 1 of those guys. Let's just call him my coworker.
And I'm working with him and I have the thought to tell him about Jesus. Well, then the second thought's gonna be to explain it away. Oh, no. No. No.
It's not time. No. No. If you have the thought, it's probably God. Just surrender and say, yes, Lord.
And so, now I'm looking for an opportune time to share Jesus with him. If I don't know what else to do, what I will do is I'm gonna ask him, can I pray for you? I'd And I'm gonna say, I'm gonna answer the question why immediately. So I'm gonna say, hey, Eric. Just random question.
Would you mind I know it might sound crazy, but would you mind if I pray for you? I just really believe that God loves you a lot, and just kinda felt in my heart to pray for you.
Absolutely. Let's do it.
95 percent of people that I ask that question in that way too say that. And then half of them keep walking. And I'm like, no no. Like right now, like just let me pray right now. And here, this is what I'll pray.
*Lord Jesus, I I pray. Sometimes I'll put my hand on their shoulder. I'll ask them, would you mind* if I put my hand? Or sometimes I'll hold their hand. Or sometimes if I feel that they're uncomfortable, I'll just stand back.
*Lord Jesus*, I ask you to just bless Eric. That you would show Eric how much you love him. How precious he is to you, and give him a desire to know you in Jesus name. Amen. *Blessed* that he's precious to God, that God loves him, and then I put in that God would give him a desire to know him.
Well, we know it's God's will for him to know him. And the Bible says, if you ask anything according to God's will, he hears you. And if you know that he hears you, you know that you have what you've asked. So I'm just gonna test the answer to my prayer right after the prayer. But first, why don't you play that part?
I'll play. I'm David. I'm your coworker. I want you to come up to me and pray for me.
You know, David, I've been watching you and I really appreciate everything about the way that you work. I think it's really awesome. *God just put it on my heart to pray* for you and I I was hoping that, you know, you would accept that if I could
*pray*
for
you. Really?
Yeah. I'm I mean, I go to this awesome church. I pray for people all
the time. Just say, yeah. Yeah. Keep it simple. Okay.
Yeah. Sure. Why not? Wait. Don't touch me without asking.
Do
you mind if I put my hand
This is training.
Do you mind if I put my hand on your shoulder?
I I prefer you not to.
Sure. No problem. Heavenly father, I'm just so thankful for David and and what he is brings to this environment and this work. Lord, I I ask for your blessing to be upon him. I ask for you to give him a desire to know you better, and I ask for you to encourage him in everything he does in Jesus name.
How you think he did? Amen. Hey. Great job. Alright.
So, **"step 1"**. If I don't know what else to do, I'll just ask them to pray for them. And I'll pray that they understand how much God loves them, and that they're blessed. Now, if you have trouble praying for people out loud, start praying alone. Because you probably don't play much out loud alone.
And then pray for your spouse and pray for your kids out loud. Step out there. Start there. And do that a couple times Monday and Tuesday. Then on Wednesday, go pray for people.
Okay? Okay. So after I pray for them, I'll ask them, do you know Jesus? Because I just asked them to have a desire to know him. Make sense?
Alright, Aaron. You were you were the other volunteer. Come on. Now I'm a prime the pump. I'm I'm a I'm a tell you what I say next.
So after that, I'll a lot of times say my testimony. But your testimony can be very simple. Okay. I'll say, do you know Jesus? And they might say, no, I don't.
Or they may say like, be baptized? You know, go to church and I'll just continue with my testimony. Because that doesn't just because they could go to church, just because they were water baptized back in the day doesn't mean they know Jesus. I'm talking about a relationship. So sometimes I might not say, do you "know Jesus"?
I might just say, do you have a relationship with Jesus? And a lot of times that differentiates. Okay? So I'll ask them that and they'll say, you know, I I go to church or something. And I'll say, no.
Check this out. I'll give 3 specific details or adjectives about my life before Jesus. And then I'll say, how I came to know Jesus. And then **"3 specific adjectives"** about my life now. Okay.
So 3 specific adjectives about my life before Jesus. So 3 specific adjectives about my **life before Jesus**. How I came to know Jesus, then 3 specific adjectives about my life after Jesus, after knowing him. Okay? So this is a a family member had to go get some milk from their house.
And he's hanging out, and I go get milk and I'm like, you know, Aaron, it's good to see. I've been thinking about something. Would you mind if I just set a prayer for you? I just I don't know. I've been going to church, growing in my relationship with God, and I I just feel like God loves you a lot, and I'd I'd love to just take a moment and pray for you.
Is that okay?
Yeah. Thanks.
*Lord Jesus, I just thank you. Oh, you mind* if I put my hand on your shoulder?
You caught me. Yeah. I was gonna say something, but yeah.
Yeah. Okay. *Lord Jesus, I just thank you for Aaron, that you love* him, that you're good, and you you you care about Aaron. You care about his future. Lord, and he's precious to you.
I I pray that you just give Aaron a desire to know you in a real way. In Jesus name, amen. Do you you have a relationship with Jesus? Like would you say you you know him and and like follow him and stuff? I do.
Now say no.
Oh, no.
Now if he's I'm
good at lying though.
If he says he he does, like, oh wow. Like if you didn't know that, that's awesome. Then I'd ask, when did you come to know Jesus? Like what did that look like for your life? So now I'm building a friendship with a brother in Christ.
But, do do you know Jesus, or do have a relationship with him?
Not a very good 1.
Not a very okay. Well, can I can I just I wanna tell you like, I used to be depressed? I used to be anxious, like a lack of peace. And insecure, which looks like looked like pride to everybody else, but it was insecurity on the inside. And then I met Jesus.
Not like in a super religious way, but like really met him and and grew to know him where he impacted every aspect of my life. And now, because of him, my depression turned to joy. My anxiety turned to peace. And that insecurity turned to a security in him where I found purpose. And I know that if he did it for me, he can do it for you.
Powerful? Simple? And if he did it for me, he can do it for you. Do you know him that way? *Amen*?
You wanna try? 3 give me 3 adjectives of you before Christ. Okay. How you came to know Jesus, 1 simple sentence, and then 3 adjectives, who you are now.
I was I was in a prison of my own making. I was I was living in unforgiveness for others and for myself, and I was isolated. And today, I'm free.
Wait. Why?
Oh, "because of Jesus". Absolutely. Yes. Because of Jesus, I'm free today. And what was it?
Yeah. Was I I was I'm free today, and I I have forgiveness, and I give forgiveness freely because it was given to me. And I just I keep drawing blanks. I'm nervous up here.
How has he impacted your life?
Well I'm able to truly know love and love others. Yeah. Alright.
Just for for practice sake, do it 1 more time. That was powerful.
Okay. Yeah. Before I knew Jesus, I was ashamed. I was insecure but proud. And I Isolate.
Isolate. Yeah. I said that 1 already. Yeah. And and Right.
Who
he really was. Right. So from him, not there's no play action.
And and now I have pride in myself through Christ, not selfish pride, and I'm not isolated. And and yeah, and I'm free. I think I switched him.
And then and then say, if he did this for me?
If he did this for me, I know he can do this for you.
Awesome. So simple simple sharing your testimony. There's a simple bait of learning to share your testimony. The power of testimony, Revelation-12:11 says, they, being Christians, overcame him, being the enemy. So Christians overcame the enemy, Satan.
By the blood of the lamb, by what Jesus did for them, and by the word of their testimony. So you have to have encountered the blood of Jesus in such a way it did such a work in your life that you can't help but share about it. If you miss the sharing about it, you miss the overcoming the enemy. But then the next verse is so powerful. It says, they did not love their life unto death.
If I love my life so much that I can't share Jesus because I'm scared about what you're gonna think about me, and then lose you, I don't really love Jesus as much as I think. Like, I know this is a punch in the gut, but this is discipleship. You're established in the church, and now the church is supposed to equip you to engage the culture around you with the love of Jesus. And if we're not doing that, then what are we doing? Just coming to have a "feel good service"?
No. We're coming to encounter Jesus and then go give him out. Because if we're not giving him out, then we're not full. Because we're not doing the will of the father. We're just hearing a bunch of words and then not doing them.
And the bible says the man who hears the words of mine and puts them into practice, that's the man whose house is built on the rock. That's the man who, when the storms of life come, the winds come, the rains the flood happens. The house stands because it's built on the rock. But the man who hears the words and doesn't do them is the man who built his house on the sand. We got too many "sandy Christians" because they're coming and getting spiritually fat on word, but not putting it into practice.
And so they're living unfulfilled lives. No peace and no joy except for the moment they spend in his presence. Then they go out in their daily life and their job, and it's full of anxiety and despair. And they wonder what's wrong. I'm telling you what's wrong.
Be obedient. The Bible says those who love me *obey* my commands. And then Jesus says, the Father will love them and show himself to them. Do you want to know God more? The way you know him more, like the Father's already demonstrated his love by sending his son to die on a cross and rise again.
Already. So the initial *relationship* starts by receiving that and receiving him. And then the Father will speak to you a little bit in a way that you can understand. Start reading your Bible. Start going to church.
Start getting around new friends. Start doing this. And then you hear and you begin to obey. And as you obey, you're demonstrating *love for the Father*. And a love *relationship* is, I love you.
And then it's, I receive that love, and I love you back. And then the Father says, oh, well, you're ready for some more. Here, I'll show you a little bit more of myself. And then we say, oh, I receive that, and I'm going to love you back by being even more obedient. And you're growing knowing the Father by experiencing him through your life, through obeying what he said.
And your life becomes so full, it's amazing. Are you not living a full Christian life? It's probably because there's areas of your life where you're not willing to be obedient yet. But when you *surrender* and say, yes Lord, even at the expense of what others think about me. Yes Lord, even at the expense of the life I'm living now, I have to adjust my life.
Adjust what I'm doing. Adjust my activities in order to follow you more closely. When you surrender like that, then you begin to experience God in the way that you were meant to. And I want to be able to say in every area of my life, yes, Lord. No matter what.
If you tell me, hey, you know, I want you to move to Alaska. Yes, *Lord, I'm gonna adjust my life because on the other end of obedience He didn't say that, by the way. But on the other end of obedience is a deeper experience of my heavenly father and a deeper ability of my life to impact the world around me for him. Amen*. And that's not just as a pastor, that's as a Christian, that's as a mother, that's as a child, that's as a junior high student, a high school student, a college student.
Like Christianity is not just sitting in a church saying amen. It's saying, yes, Lord, moment by moment by moment by moment. And to the extent that you're not willing to say, yes, Lord, you're still the Lord of your life. Come on. And so, like I'm not trying to be mean.
I'm not trying to condemn you or anything like that. I love you enough as your pastor to "kick you out of the nest". I love you enough to tell you the *truth* so that you can walk away from today saying, God, I want to know you like that crazy dude was talking about. And then begin to say yes outside of your personality and into his personality. Begin to say yes outside of your comfort and into surrender.
Begin to say yes and let the heart overflow. And if it's not in the heart yet, say, Lord Jesus, I want to know you more. *Amen*? All right. Let's land the plane.
So I have about a 100 of these, 5 apiece. We have Easter Sunday. My challenge is for you to invite 5 people to church Sunday. And not just hand them to random people and run away and think you checked your task. Those random people are gonna go and throw them in the trash.
No. For you to go to your oikos, to your family, your friends, those that you're scared to talk to about Jesus because you've known them for so long, Your coworkers who knew you before *Christ* and you haven't dared to share their your testimony because you're scared of what they'll think about you. To pray for 5 of those people. Your neighbors you haven't went knocked on the door yet, but it's time. God's kicking you out you out of the out of the house.
To get outside of yourself and go to the people God's given you influence with. And don't just hand them a card, but have a conversation. *Pray* for them. Tell them how much God loves them. Yeah.
Tell them, if need be, I'm sorry for not telling you sooner. Yeah. But God's really impacted my life. This is what he's done for me. And then if you're comfortable, I don't have time to teach you how, but if you're comfortable, lead them to Jesus.
If you're not, invite them to church. They'll come on Easter. What if everyone of you invited 5 people and 1 to 2 of them came? And then we had 30 or 40 salvations next Sunday. And then they all get connected and we get that much better at reaching commune the the community for Jesus.
Yeah. How awesome would that be? Awesome. So I wanna invite you to stand. And I wanna ask you, raising your hands is like a sign of surrender.
You're not surrendering to me. You're surrendering to Jesus. But I wanna ask you to raise your hands as a sign of surrender and just say this with me out loud. Yes, Lord. Say it like you mean it.
Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. I choose to follow you. I choose you. Teach me what it means.
Teach me it means. To be a "fisher of men".
To a fisher of men.
*Lord God, I just I thank you for what you're doing. I ask you Holy Spirit* to just fill them up with boldness. Lord God, I pray that they're encouraged. Lord, that they leave here maybe even shaken a little bit out of their comfort zone and into you. Lord, I pray that they're blessed.
I pray that if people don't know you in here, *Lord, and they realize they don't know you in here, Lord God*, that they they surrender to you. They begin to follow you. From their heart now, they even say, Jesus, I believe you died for me and rose again, and I'm surrendering my life to you. Lord, I pray over the congregation. If anybody needs to be healed, Lord, I pray they're healed in Jesus' name.
*Lord, your presence was here. It's here for healing. So I just pray their bodies are healed in Jesus' name. I pray supernatural peace come over comes over people's minds*. Lord God, that depression begins to leave.
But Lord God, you give them steps on how to stay not depressed, which is not to live for self, but to live for you. Lord God, pray you just bless them. Lord, let them have an amazing Sunday afternoon. Lord, I pray that you put 5 people on their hearts to invite, to share the gospel with, to share their faith with. I pray there's so many testimonies this week because not because they did it great, not because they were amazing at it, but because they failed over and over when they obeyed.
And your power went through them anyway to impact the other person. *Lord, pray* this like little children following their daddy, and you just keep helping them up, and they keep moving forward. In Jesus' name. Moriah, come dismiss us. There's there she is.
And then you'll have to run because we only have a 100. And so I hope everyone's taken. But don't take more than 1, please.
[Speaker 4] [01:00:34] That was great. Thank you, pastor. Very convicting message. I think that's something that I've been convicted about over and over and over again while coming here to Real that that we have to tell our friends, our family, our neighbors about the love of Jesus because it's it's "poured out on us". So, we need to pour it out.
So, I'm so excited for Easter next week. What a great reason to tell people to come as if we don't have a reason every Sunday but my goodness, let's get em here. I I do want to just encourage you guys to sign up
[Speaker 1] [01:01:06] for