You are invited to join the 'Belong' ministry to grow in your ability to share Jesus with friends and family. Take the step of faith today by committing your life to Christ and letting Him lead you forward.
Okay. Well, old church, I'm really excited. We're at a monumental, pivotal time in our church where this next season is not only is it changing us, but it's going to impact and change our county like never before. We had a a an event yesterday called Making Disciples. Did you guys hear about it?
The Making Disciples event? If you missed out, I'm sorry. And, I got a I got the podcast. We recorded it. It was great and wonderful.
So hopefully, you can catch it on our podcast. I'll hopefully have it uploaded by tomorrow, and you'll be able to listen to the the messages. It will encourage you. It will challenge you. It will "stoke the fire" in you and push you forward.
And today, we have 1 of my best friends. His name is Chris Donald. You guys know Chris? Yeah. Some of you?
If you don't, you're gonna know him today. He's full of Jesus, and he's going to to encourage you today. It's gonna be a powerful message. Before he comes up here though, I wanna just tell you a little bit about what's been happening over the last few days. Like, the spirit of God is being poured out on our church.
In the last couple months, there's been people being healed, people being saved, people being changed, people being set free consistently on Sundays and all throughout the week. And it's amazing. And I was so excited about the event and what's coming in our church on Friday, that at Friday at 5PM, about that time, I'm at the rec center, and I'm sharing the gospel with a couple of people, next thing you know, 2 guys give their life to Jesus at the rec center on Friday. I walk and I do it sometimes after I work out, I do it like a "prayer walk" around the rec center, and so as I'm finishing up my prayer walk, there's another guy coming out that I had been talking to about Jesus. I said, hey, man, you got 10 minutes?
He said, sure. I said, walk with me. Let's pray. And so we pray together on the prayer walk. Next thing you know, he's coming to the make disciples event yesterday.
That was awesome. Later that night, Friday night, Look, there's more. Later that night, Friday night, I go to to send some money to Pakistan for a well, and I'm at Walmart, and this guy named Star, I'm talking to him, and just sharing the love of Jesus with him across the counter. And and there's the the other receptionist here, and the other receptionist there. He's looking at me in the eyes, and he's giving it praying the prayer to give his life to Jesus right there in front of everybody.
It's amazing. And then I go to the hotel where Chris and and Robbie are staying. And I'm I'm talking with the people behind the desk. And and a guy named Kyle has given his life to Jesus right there. This is all Friday night.
So I'm just excited. I'm I got their numbers. I'm I'm inviting them to church. You know, 1 or 2 of them came to church today, is awesome. And and I'm I'm stoked that night.
I just know God's about to do something big in our church. I couldn't sleep Friday night. Like, tried to go to sleep. I couldn't sleep till like 12:30. Woke up at 04:15 just excited.
Trying to go back to bed. Couldn't get finally at 5, I got up. *God* did not disappoint. You know, on a on a normal for our church right now, which we're growing, on a normal Sunday, that's that's like a bigger Sunday. Usually have about a 150 adults in here, not counting kids.
And we had 58 people, 58 adults come to the make disciples event yesterday. That's over a third of our church came for 6 hours to hear about how to share the gospel better, and
to learn, and then to
go and do it. And they did it. Remember I told you that the 1 time Jesus rejoiced in the gospels was when he saw the disciples doing the same thing he was doing? The 1 time it says Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit** was when he saw the disciples doing the same thing he was doing. And, man, I'll tell you this.
I didn't lead anybody to *Jesus* during that event yesterday. I did last night. But during the event yesterday, I didn't lead anybody to Jesus. And when they got back from the lunchtime sharing testimonies, they led a lot of people to Jesus. There was testimony after testimony of you guys sharing Jesus with with people, People praying the prayer of salvation.
Inviting them to church. Inviting them to to get to know him. And not just sharing Jesus and running off, but making family members in Christ and getting their numbers. This is the gospel. This is what we do.
And it's so fun. There wasn't just testimonies of of people giving their life to Jesus. There was testimonies of healing. There was testimonies of people like hearing the Holy Spirit*, going to the place where God* directed them, being obedient, and then somebody standing there that they were the answer to their prayer. I mean, amazing stuff.
This is the beginning, We're starting a ministry called Belong. The foundation by Jerry and Mark and Dave and Robin have has been laid. And we're starting a ministry called Belong. We're building off of that foundation where every Tuesday for the next year, I'm dedicating my life to going out and sharing the gospel. And I'm inviting you to come with me as you can, And it's gonna be fun.
And then on Tuesday nights, which I'm building a team. On Tuesday nights, we're going to send a team of people because a lot of you work during the day on Tuesday. We're gonna send a people team up a team of people throughout the city to share the gospel and learn what it looks like sharing the gospel. Chris is gonna talk about that today. But then also, we're not just sharing the gospel.
We're everyone that gives their life to Jesus, we're inviting them the Tuesday night, the Belong gathering. We're gonna disciple them 1 on 1 and help them to see the love of Christ. Help them to see that they're called on purpose, by purpose, and for a purpose in order to live their life for him. And that's where they experience freedom. That's where they experience love.
That's where they experience the relationship that he called them to. I mean, it's gonna be amazing. It's going to be an explosion, and you don't wanna miss it. So I would encourage you, if you have Tuesday nights free after you see all of this and hear it, sign up for our team. I'll have the belong sign up sheet in the back.
We already got 15 people signed up for the team. But, man, there's some of you that God's calling. You know you're called in order to be a part of this or you're called to grow in your ability to share Jesus with your friends and family. It takes getting around people that know how to do it right and know how to do it well. And, man, I wanna be 1 of those people that helps you to learn.
Amen? Alright. I'm I'm a I'm a be quiet. Let's let's play a video. Y'all watch this video and then my 1 of my best friends are gonna come up and gonna share Jesus with you.
It's gonna be fun. You guys ready? Let's play the video.
Had the heart to be an outward focused church and I've preached it, but when you're beginning to see people catch a hold of the vision and why it's so important to be an outward focused church and and the difference it can begin to make, not just in the community, but in their own personal life, then it's like the Holy Spirit* puts the pieces together and you begin to grow and mature the way that Jesus* wants us to.
It was kinda going through just checking the block on Sunday kinda thing and like, hey, I go to church, I know God, but there was no relationship. Now, there's a relationship, I wanna share that relationship. I think that's what Belong does. It helps bring it out. Like, look, I'm sharing this because I have a relationship with the Father, with with my Redeemer, that I you I want you to experience the same things.
So Jesus said, go and make disciples. And I believe that that original call that Jesus spoke, it never changed.
We've had great *evangelism* equipping in our church, you know, over the last number of years. But Belong really just helps make it
simple to help in that discipleship making process. When when I hear Belong, I instantly think of prayer, outreach, and discipleship. None of them individually, but but all 3 together. Prayer. Moving out of our strength into God's strength.
Getting God's heart for the people that we're that we're fixing to go talk to. Outreach component, which is basically a rescue mission. Once we get out of our strength into God's strength, we put action into what we believe in.
Souls no matter where you are in life, whether you're in Egypt or you're you're in Tennessee. And, you know, it it doesn't matter that we we all have a responsibility.
Evangelism, I believe, is is a tip of the spear when it comes to spiritual warfare. I think oftentimes we think maybe, you know, prayer or intercession is the tip of the spear, which is so important. We pray all the time. But when you get "boots on the ground" in a region, out there sharing the gospel, preaching, engaging people, that's where real warfare begins. You have to go back to what Jesus said to go and make disciples and just go in faith that says, this is what Jesus has told us to do.
So the people that we reach out on outreach, we
invite them into the Belong gathering, which is
a
space created for people who would be normally intimidated to go to go to a church church service. They come to they come to belong.
Just being with people in all walks of life, like, they seem to think that they gotta clean themselves up before they come to him or come to belong. It's like, no. Like, this is a place where you "come as you are", and you're gonna meet the king. Like, you're gonna meet the king, and you have family cheering you on all around you, like, just like heaven's cheering you on.
We want people to actually walk with the Lord, and to do that, you know, sometimes it takes a it takes a little bit of training and and and upbringing to get people from the place where they believe in God to the place where they actually follow God.
It's not a program. It's not just a, like, a cookie cutter thing that you apply to a church or to a, you know, just another ministry. It's a it's a change in philosophy of life. It's not about just getting people's information and assimilating them into church. It's about inviting them into family.
And it involves the church in it instead of it just being a smaller group of leaders trying to do it, you know, themselves. It really helps bring the people who led them to
the Lord involved in the whole process over that journey. The way I see belong is is that 1 individual that shows up that's seeking. That 1 individual that raises their hand and gives their life to the Lord. That that 1 individual that gets baptized, how that 1 individual becomes like leaven for the kingdom of God to work through their entire family. So I I I love church.
I love Sunday. I I love the the house of the Lord, but I love the intentionality that's wrapped around the the individual to see them discipled and see them grow. And I knowing that that's going to, it it doesn't end there. It doesn't end with that individual growing up into Christ. It doesn't stop right there, but how it affects their family, and it ultimately can affect the entire community.
Seeing the full picture, the bible really comes to life. Like, you walk it out, you're actually starting to see, like, it really comes to life because you're like, oh my goodness. This is exactly what they were doing. This is what we're called to do. This is what it was supposed to be all along.
So in in a couple prayer with outreach and outreach with giving them a place to come to to learn and to grow and to be a disciple, to me that that is that is the big picture.
Pretty encouraging.
Well, should we just get
to sign up right now and just do it and
go home? I'm just joking. It's gonna be a great it has been a great day in church, and we're just gonna keep going. Is that alright with you
guys? Yeah.
I just have this sense this morning that God's gonna move in in power on people's lives today. I I wrote pastor David this morning and said people are gonna be marked today. Amen. Anybody open to that? Yes.
I I I really believe that people are gonna be marked, and we're gonna get back to the original call of what Jesus called us to do. Amen? So much of and, I I know that not all of you guys know me. My beautiful wife would say smile. So I'm gonna smile.
Smiling at all of you. In a moment, if I get really excited and I begin to shout, which might happen, It might not. I don't know. Chances are probably will. I'm not shouting at just 1 of you.
I'm shouting at all of you. Okay? So just take it as a group. Does that sound good? It's it's funny.
I I'm really a pretty calm guy. And then when I preach, I get really passionate. So if if I do get passionate today, if this is your first time here at Real Church, to Real Church. This is an amazing church pastored by an amazing family, pastor David and Courtney. It's just an incredible place.
And I would say that if it's your first time, it's a good place to be. Come back and and just keep experiencing the presence of God here. Amen? Amen. Before we jump into today, I as as pastor David was leading us in communion, I I got a a prophetic word, not a word, a word of knowledge for somebody in the room that I believe God wants to heal this morning.
I believe there's somebody here who's been having blurriness in their eyes. They've been worried about their eyes, and it's it's it starts with headaches, I would say even migraines in the front of your head, and it's been causing you concern. I don't know if you've gone to the doctor yet. I think you're a little bit concerned about going to the doctor, which tells me it's probably a guy. Guys don't like going to the doctor.
But if that's you, man or woman, I just want you to be bold and just stand up. I'm just gonna say a short prayer for you, and we're gonna believe God to heal you, that those migraines will go away, the blurriness will go away, and you'll have peace. So k. 1 guy right over here. Is there anybody else?
Any anybody else? Just wanna take a moment. He he broke the ice. He stood up. Is there is there anybody else?
Oftentimes, it's 2 or 3 people. Okay. Is there any anybody else? Just wanna take a moment to pray. We're actually we're gonna pray as a family together.
And it's not just that he wants to heal you physically. I see you right here as well. But he's actually gonna heal you spiritually as well. Oftentimes, he'll he'll call out something physical and it gets your attention, but he's gonna do something deep on the inside of all 3 of you. So if you guys could just turn and stretch your hands out towards these wonderful people, we're just gonna believe God right now to come and do what only he can do.
Jesus, Lord, we we know that when you speak and it's your words, you heal. And, we pray right now in Jesus' name that all migraine headaches, all stress headaches, all tension headaches would go away in Jesus' name. And, father, we ask that any, effect that that is causing blurriness or distorting vision, that would stop right now in Jesus' name. We ask, Lord, for deliverance to come into this room and to set these people free in Jesus' name. If you're in agreement with that, will you say amen?
Amen. And, sorry to call you out. I just see the hand of God on you, and God has heard not even that you've been praying, but you've been in a sense crying out to God. And God has heard those cries, and he's gonna answer the cry of your heart. He sees you.
He loves you, and he knows you. And the anxiety that's been crippling you is gonna be broken off of you this morning. You're gonna have to "renew your mind", and, the church here will will come around you. But I want you to just put your hands out and just take that anxiety. Just hold your hands out in front of you and just give it to the Lord for a moment.
Just stretch your hands out to her right now. Just just receive for a moment. Father, we pray in Jesus' name that the attack of anxiety and irrational fear that it would be broken off in Jesus' name. Father and we even say that the generational curse that's been on your family would be broken in your generation and that you would see freedom from your generation moving forward. Father, we bless her in Jesus' name.
Amen? Amen. *God* bless you. God bless you guys. You can be seated.
So you guys saw the the the belong video. I'm so excited about what happened here yesterday. If I can remember right, when when Robbie asked the question, how many people is it your first time doing outreach like this? 25 to 30 people raised their hands. And and that was just incredible that people would come and go out in faith to believe God to move.
And then Robbie asked another question. How many people saw somebody yesterday make a decision to follow Jesus? And 10 at least 10 hands were raised. That's incredible. That tells me that we're in the season, where Jesus is is we're we're in a move of God, right now in this nation.
Whether you're you're not gonna see that if you look at the news. They're not gonna report that news, but people by the hundreds and thousands are turning to god because there's nothing else to turn to. And we as the church have to be equipped and ready to receive the harvest that's coming. Not not just a select few, but all of us. Because what if this county, what if this city, what if 10,000 people were saved or 20,000 people were saved?
We're we're gonna need every hand on deck helping to disciple the people that are gonna come to know Jesus. Amen? And so this this message today is for you. If if you're here and you're you're like, well, he's definitely not talking to me. K?
I am the if if you're like, I am the least qualified. I've got really bad news for you, but good news for pastor David. K? It might be The ones that think they're the most unqualified are the most qualified because when God does it through you, you don't take credit for it. Amen.
It's oftentimes the professional ministers that rob God the glory, but when he does it through you and I, he gets the glory because we couldn't do it in our own strength. So if you're here and you're like, definitely not talking to me. Nope. Nope. I am the least qualified.
Well, he likes to take the least and put his spirit on it to confound the wise. So sorry, but you're stuck. Alright? And he's gonna he's gonna he's gonna encourage you today. We have a table in the back.
Everything on the table is free except for the belong book. We sell these for $15. All the money goes to our mission department, so we partner. David's actually a part of 30 third company, and then we partner with Real Church to do work in Pakistan. I know you've heard about that.
I was just with Jerry Hunter. I've adopted him as my spiritual father. Who loves I know Jerry's not here, but who loves that guy? The first time I met him, I'm like, who are you? And then he sent me brittle candy.
And then it was on a whole another level. Right? I I gotta travel with him to Iraq and just just you know? So so everything that's given through book sales goes towards our mission work. I would encourage you to get this.
This book will give you the heart so we can see that fruit. K? Because there let me say it this way. You you can have the wrong program with the right heart, and it will work. You can have the right program with the wrong heart, and it won't work.
A lot of things that I'm doing are held together with duct tape, but god just shows up. Right? And so this will help equip you. It it's kind of like what we say the secret sauce to what makes what I'm talking about here. I I'm only gonna speak for a little while.
I can't give you everything in my heart, but this is my heart to use. I would encourage you to get this, read it, and, it's short. Who likes short books? I do because you'll actually read the whole thing. How many people are reading 4 books right now at the same time?
Yeah. I'll pray for you after the service. Just do 1 at a time. It's way better that way. Okay.
So the the title of this message this morning is *evangelism* is easy. Do you believe it? K. But there's a catch. Evangelism is easy with the presence of god.
Amen. It's not easy in our own strength. And there's so much *evangelism* that is done in in the church in the West in our own strength, but we need the power of god to be poured out so so that his *spirit* does it through us. Now if I asked Robbie I grew up on a dairy farm in in Woodland, Washington. If I asked Robbie to come move hay bales with me, I'm asking Robbie to come labor beside me.
Right? That's not how it works in the kingdom of God. Right? Jesus isn't asking you to come and labor beside him. He's saying, would you be a willing vessel that I could labor through?
Paul says, I work really hard, but it's his power that works through me. So God is looking for people to *surrender* their lives so he can work through you, and it is the most exciting, exhilarating way to live. There is no better way to live than to live every day on mission for Jesus. I I I don't have time to tell you a bunch of stories today. I I wish that I did.
Maybe I'll get to 1 or 2, but there's so many stories just from yesterday. Right? We we before we went to play pickleball, which Robbie and I didn't really play pickleball, but Daniel and David played really good pickleball. We went to Zaxby's, and we, right, and and we were talking at the make disciples event about how prayers go up and and how God is looking for Christians, believers to carry those prayers out. You guys remember us talking about that for those that were there?
And so we go into Zach's bees, and and and we're ordering. And I noticed this man behind me, but David beat me to it. And he begins to share with him. And, you know, we get our food, and we we go. I sit down.
And a couple minutes later, David's holding the guy's hands, praying for him, and then they're hugging. And I can just tell the guy is just being just so touched by god. When when David came back to tell me what happened, it's a "wild story". Just this 1 story from yesterday after the event that somebody called this this this man's mother and said, you need to begin to pray for your son because the enemy is trying to destroy his life. And that happened this week.
Right? She didn't know his son
her son's name. And she said, you have a son with the name that starts with j.
You have a son with the name j.
And you need to pray for him because the devil's trying to life.
Need to pray for him because the "devil's trying to destroy his life".
And mom started praying.
So mom starts praying. This is just in in the recent past few weeks, and then god sends your pastor. 2 days ago. Oh, 2 days ago. So mom begins to pray.
We drove too far to go to Zaxby's, and the chicken wasn't even that good. But he knew that we were supposed to go there. It wasn't about the chicken unless you're at Chick fil A. But it's Sunday, so don't get your hopes up. Okay?
I got 1 amen. I got more response from that. No. I'm joking. So the guy gets led to the Lord.
Just that that's the book of Acts.
Is that not exciting? But there is a tendency for you to think, well, I mean, well, of course, God did it through David. He's the pastor. No. God wants to do it through you.
That's why I took a dairy farmer from the middle of nowhere, Woodland, Washington, and sends me around the world because I say if I can do it, you can do it. And I really believe that God's gonna awaken something in your heart in this next few minutes. So *evangelism* is easy in the presence of God. I I have a friend named Greg, and he was, on. He is on staff at a church where we did a staff outreach day.
And we equipped the staff of the church to go out on outreach, and and he went out, and he had a great attitude. And, you know, he's he's a worship pastor, and I'm an evangelist. So we work well together, but we're in 2 totally different lanes. But he was very impacted. And a a few months go by, and he ends up in Georgia.
He's flying back to his home state. And have you guys ever just been tired? Like, you're like, man, I hope that nobody wants to talk to me. Anybody? Every morning when you wake up, we'll have an altar call for that here in a moment.
K? Right? You know, you just get in these these moats sometimes. So it was early. He stayed up.
Ladies, like, man, I just don't know if I wanna talk to anybody this morning. So he puts his guitar. I I think it was his guitar in the in in the trunk or something like that of this Uber. And the guy turns around, you know, because Uber drivers are just wide awake because they're just driving people around all the time. Hey.
You play music. So do I. Starts this conversation. And Greg's like, here we go. And the guy's like, hey.
Do you have any music? He's like, yeah. Go on Spotify. Look this up. And he puts on a worship song, and the presence of God fills the car.
K. And this man, through conversation, he finds out that this man is a Muslim man, which they don't believe the gospel. Right? Mohammed came 630 years after Jesus, and he's a false prophet. Just don't say that in the Middle East.
I can I can say that safely here? K. We don't we don't need that kind of trouble, but it's it's not the true gospel. They don't believe that Jesus is God or who he says he is. Jesus is the final stamp of he is God.
Right? So this this man's Muslim, doesn't believe like we do. The presence of God comes, begins to change everything. The atmosphere shifts. The man begins to cry, and Greg goes, oh, man.
I've gotta share the gospel. And he and, you know, you know when you're tired and things are kinda foggy? And he's like, I remember a few months ago, Chris equipped us with the gospel guide, which if you want 1, they're on the back of the table when you leave. Okay? You can grab 1 of them.
There's it's a great resource. So he goes on the website. He pulls it up, and he begins to just read off the card on the website. He's like, okay. He can't see me.
He's like, hey, man. Do you believe that *God* created you to be in a relationship with you, like, to know you personally? Yeah. He's like, wow. This is working.
Do you believe that sin messed set up? He's like, yeah. I believe that. You know, just wiping tears from his eyes. Well, Jesus is the answer.
He just walks him through. The guy's born again, and he's discipling him when he gets out of the vehicle to get onto his airplane. *Evangelism* is easy when the presence of God is there. It's not easy when you do it in your own strength. And there's many believers just to speak to, you know, the believer that's been, you know, going to church for 10 years or 20 years, there's been many forms of evangelism, and they've not been great.
And I don't think they represent the heart of Jesus. The greatest evangelist is the Holy Spirit**. The other day, I was in Walmart, and it was 1 of those days. I I had just like, my wife and I, we've been married 14 years. We have a wonderful marriage, 4 beautiful children.
And we just had anybody have just a little bit of an off day? I was a little bit grumpy. I was not manifesting the 9 manna the the fruit of the spirit. I was manifesting myself, and we're we're supposed to die deny ourself, pick up our cross, and follow. And so I failed, you know, just in communication with my wife.
Before I left the house, I made it right. It was actually just outside pressure that was causing this tension. And so I'm kinda feeling disqualified, like, you know, because we don't have that happen that often. And so I go and I pray with the team, and I'm like, hey. I gotta go to Walmart and buy some stuff for a belong gathering.
And so I get there, and I'm just standing trying to buy some, like, at the checkout. And and the lady's like she just keeps going, who are you? I'm just standing there. My name's Chris. She's like, I can't even think right now.
*God* is all over you. I'm like, he is? Like, I I didn't feel that way. She could barely function. There's a big line of people that I'm concerned about.
There is a line of people that are waiting to check out. She comes over and she hugs me. She leaves her check, comes over and hugs me, and asks me to pray for her. And I walked out and I thought, man, evangelism has nothing to do with me. It has everything to do with the spirit.
And because I humbled myself, made it right with my wife, left in peace, prayed the presence of God was on me, and this woman recognized it. So we need to do *evangelism* with the Holy Spirit**. Okay. This would be a bit of review. I'm just gonna jump through this quickly, and you can listen to what we shared yesterday.
But there there's 3 really quick things. There is a call, and we say this at 30 third company. The original call never changed. We we've just changed it. What we've changed it to in the body of Christ is our call becomes what we do on Sunday morning.
Now what you do on Sunday morning is really, really important. Don't stop doing that. But that's not your identity. Right. I met a guy 1 time and he's like, I've been making coffee in this church for 25 years.
I'm like, that's great. Maybe try a different roast. It's not that good. I didn't say that to him. It's what I thought, but I remained in the spirit.
Folgers is just not for me. Okay. So but his *identity* was I'm the church coffee guy. That's great on Sunday morning. We need coffee made at church.
Okay? What what what I'm trying to get at is is that's not who you are Monday through Saturday and Sunday after 12. You're a full time Christian, And the call of God, right, when he called some of his first disciples in Matthew-4 verse 18, while walking by the Sea Of Galilee, he saw 2 brothers. Simon, who is called Peter and Andrew, his brother, casting a net into the sea for they were fishermen. And he said to them, follow me, and I'll make you fishers of men.
Immediately, they left their nets and they followed. Right? So here's Jesus. And we know that Jesus says in Luke-19 verse 10, I came to seek and to save the lost. So are we following Jesus today if we're Christians?
That'd be a great time to say yes. Yes. K. Not a trick question. If we're following Jesus today, then the call is the same for us as it was for them.
Okay? As important as what you do on Sunday morning, that's not what you do Monday through Saturday. Okay. Then we have the commission. Right?
In *Matthew-28* verses 16 to 20. I'm gonna jump down here. It says this. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I've commanded you. And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age.
So here's Jesus about ready to ascend into heaven after he resurrected. Right? And this is what he says to us, go and make disciples. Right? What we've done in the body of *Christ* is we've gone to build churches.
K. It's subtle, but listen. He didn't say "build the church". He said make disciples. And he says in his word that if we make disciples, he'll build the church.
That's right. He'll send the right person, the right team, the right ability. He has the ability to build his church. Yes. We steward it.
We manage it. All of those things. I'm I'm not against helping God build his but he builds the church. We make disciples. And somewhere along the line, we've missed that.
We think if we build the perfect Sunday morning Sunday morning experience with the greatest lobby experience and we're serving Stump Town, they're gonna come. Listen. They are not coming. You have to go and make disciples. And it's not the great suggestion.
It's the great commission. It's not like a suggestion like, hey, maybe you should try this. No. This is what the creator of the universe chose to say. It's like the second to last thing he said.
The last thing he said was go and wait for the power of the Holy Spirit**. So the second to last thing he says is go and make disciples. Oh, but by the way, *evangelism* and making disciples is only easy with the presence of God. So get the presence of God on you, and then it will happen. You catch that?
Okay. And then you have this thing called the cost. So we have the call, the commission, but then we have the cost. And and we're gonna talk very quickly. I mean, I'm gonna give you guys, like, the the 5 minute version of some barriers, and then we're gonna pray together.
In a moment, I'm gonna have the band come back up. We're gonna turn this room into an upper room, and we're gonna begin to pray. Because more important than you hearing what I have to say, you need to have an encounter with the presence of God. Because when you encounter the presence of God, you'll become less obsessed with yourself and more obsessed with doing what Jesus has told you to do. What do I mean by that?
I'm I'm not saying that you're an arrogant person or a or a a prideful. I'm saying that we can become so much about self. We oh, I just don't really know. Right? The reason why we don't share our faith is because we think too much about ourselves.
How's it gonna affect us? So there is a cost. But just for a moment, I wanna tell you that the cost in America is a little bit different than the cost in Iraq. On that video, there was a a a scene where I was standing next to a man from from Iraq, and we were out sharing. And to tell you the the story very shortly, his name is Leo.
Leo's wife had a visitation where Jesus appeared to her and said, I am the son of God. Obey me and tell others about me. She began to tell her husband. Her husband began to become hungry for the things of God, ended up at a prayer meeting where my friend David was. And and as David's praying for him, Leo hears the audible voice of God say the same exact thing to him that it said to his wife.
I am the son of God. Obey me and tell others about me. So he, for 2 years, doesn't tell 1 person about *Jesus*. Why? Because he has similar barriers that you and I have.
Right? His are a little bit more extreme. So he gets paired up with me. We do this equipping with about 60 Muslim background believers. And as we're equipping them, they think it's good to to to partner Leo with me.
So we go out. I'm sharing with the with these 2 individuals, and I'm getting nowhere. And I'm thinking, I'm standing next to a Muslim background believer who's heard the audible voice of God whose wife has seen Jesus. Like, how much better than to have him share? So I'm like, hey.
My friend's now gonna share his testimony with you. Leo turns and looks at me and says, what are you trying to do? Are you trying to get me killed? I said, no. I'm trying to get you to obey God.
Did *God* tell you? You know what he did? Turned He back around. He began to share, and God began to move. Now you're sitting here, and you're thinking, but I have not heard the audible voice of God.
Listen. I just read *Matthew-28* to you audibly, and it's the word of God. So you did. You heard it. There's no getting away from it.
Okay? I just wanna take a moment here to pause to to just lower the bar a little bit. I'm not asking you to share with 50 people a day. I'm asking you to just simply be obedient to God when he speaks to you. The problem is he can't speak to you because you've already said no.
No. Can't do that. The only reason why you can't do it is because you're scared. And when we stand before him, we don't wanna have that. Right?
That's why he says deny yourself, pick up your cross, and follow. The entrance point into the kingdom of God is denying you. That's true Christianity. That's what we're called to. Right?
In Matthew-16 verse 24, then Jesus told his disciples, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. 1 more scripture. Romans-12 verse 1. I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
*Worship* is not just you coming here on a Sunday morning and raising your hands and saying words that you'll never live out. That's not worship. Worship is when you hear the voice of *God* and you obey. What I'm here for this week is to encourage you that when you hear the voice of God, deny yourself, pick up your cross, and follow. And you will be so encouraged.
How many people yesterday that came to the event, just for a moment, were so encouraged at the end of the day. Right? Look at all the hands around you. This is fun. It's light.
It's it's exciting. It's not militant and and and and and, like, it's it's fun. Flowing with God is so much fun. It's easy. But the the not so easy part is the denying of self.
So if if I could have a keys player come up, that would be amazing as we begin to transition to a time of prayer. Are you guys doing okay? Pretty doing alright? K. I'm gonna go through 6 lies very, very quickly.
And if you want to listen to the entirety of this message, you can go on YouTube and type in evangelism is easy. It'll pop up, and you can watch the whole thing, the hour and a half version. But I feel it was more important for you to hear from pastor David this morning on about about what happened and for you to see what it looks like than for you to hear me speak for a long time. You you don't need to hear any more teaching. You need to be activated and get out there and do it.
Amen? K. 6 lies that we're gonna talk about very, very quickly. Number 1 is this, *evangelism* is not for me. You're right.
It's for others. That's why you don't like it. Think about it for a moment. Well, evangelism is just not for me. That that's just not my gifting.
That's not my lane. No. You're right. It's for the thousands of people in this city that don't know Jesus yet. And we become so comfortable.
We build our lives on comfort, and *evangelism* is the opposite of comfortable. Right? So for a moment, let's remove that lie. Evangelism is for every believer. Because listen, I'm only gonna say it once.
So catch this. We do not do witnessing. We are witnesses. You're a witness. Number 2 is this.
I don't evangelize because it's not my personality. It's not how *God* made me. That's a lie. Listen to this scripture. Listen to this in Galatians-2 verse 20.
I, including my personality, have been crucified with Christ. It's no longer I who who live, but it's Christ who lives in me. And I want you to hear something. I don't need you to go to a grocery store and shout at 30 people. I need you to walk across the street, you introvert.
Knock on your neighbor's door. Give them some home cooked cookies, and say, Jesus loves you. If you ever need anything, come to my house. I'll pray for you. If you aren't even ready for that, put a put a snail mail, your neighbor across the road.
Just put it in the mail. Mailman would just walk it over and put it, hey, I'm your neighbor. If you ever need prayer, come knock on my door. It looks like something though. Are you following me?
It's not about your personality. You can reach people with your gifting and how God created you that I could never reach. So we need all of us. Number 3 is this. I'm not a **street evangelist**.
Right? I've heard this so many oh, I'm just not a street evangelist. Neither am I. Right? It would be so dangerous to stand in the middle of the highway and minister to people, let alone very weird.
I just happen to be an airport Christian, coffee shop Christian. I'm about to be a pizza shop Christian. I'm just a witness wherever I go because I know God and the presence of God is on my life. I'm not asking you to be a street evangelist, and I'm definitely not asking you to hold a sign that says anything about anybody going to hell. I'm asking your life to be a sign and a wonder that people in the midst of chaos go, well, why are you calm?
I'm not asking you to be a street evangelist. I'm asking you to be a Christian. Number 4 is this. I'm not gifted. That's just not my gift been.
That's just not who I am. Now listen. You have been given the greatest gift ever given. The gift of the Holy Spirit*, the gift of the spirit of Jesus*. So by you saying as a born again believer that I'm not gifted, you're actually saying that the gift of the spirit of God is not enough.
Let it sink in for a moment. You are gifted. If you saw me 18 years ago when I was first born again, I was scaring people away from Jesus. It's been a process to get to this place today, but it has to start somewhere. So as you go, you will grow in the gifting of the Holy Spirit** upon your life.
Amen? You are gifted. Number 5 is this. I just don't like pushing my beliefs on people. Well, your silence is pushing them to hell.
Think about it for a moment. I I just don't like pushing my beliefs on people. Has Disney asked you that? Has Disney phoned you up and said, hey. Are are you concerned that we have an agenda to destroy your family's life?
Have they have they asked? You checked with Netflix or Target lately. Have they have they personally come to you and ask permission? And and yet somehow watch out. We're gonna get going for a moment.
Alright? Put on your seat belts. Somehow a humble Christian with a bible becomes offensive. Do not buy the lie. The culture is trying to say that you're hateful.
You're not hateful. You're not a bigot. You're in love with Jesus. And by the way, Jesus is the creator and the sustainer of all things, and the world will end in bankruptcy. People that choose to live the the the the way that they wanna live, the lifestyles that they wanna live, the things that they wanna do, they will "hit rock bottom".
And when they hit rock bottom, they'll have a choice to to come to the real rock, Jesus. For a moment, I need you to understand that you have the greatest news of all time. There wasn't anybody yesterday when I began to share the good news with them that said, shut up. Get out of my face. Most every person was like, please tell me more.
But there's a demonic lie coming from the "pit of hell" that's telling you to be quiet. And I will not be quiet. I will not back down. I will not be silenced. I'm gonna stand up, and I'm gonna tell the world that Jesus is the only way.
And when somebody tells me there's multiple ways to heaven, I'll say that's wrong because you cannot leave Florida driving south and make it to Canada. There's 1 road, there's 1 way, there's 1 God, and his name is Jesus. And that is the greatest message that will ever be shared. And somehow, we've let a little minority group of people label us and silence us. You're gonna have to lock me in prison, and that won't even make me be quiet.
Paul says, I'm in chains. I'm in chains, but the gospel can never be chained. You'd have to kill me, but you can never kill me. I'm just gonna be with Jesus. And to live is to live is Christ and to die is gain.
See, what we need in the body of Christ is believers to stand up that have compassion and have boldness. I have 1 hand that's reaching, but I have 1 hand that's resisting a demonic agenda that's trying to destroy a nation.
Do not buy the lie.
Don't buy it. Don't listen to it. Abortion is from the pit of hell. Don't
buy the lie. If that offends you, you're not a believer.
I'm telling you, you need to hear it. Well, I mean, there's no. It's wrong. It's killing the most innocent people.
And it says in the word of God that God abhors
the shedding of innocent blood. What more innocent than a child not even born? Yeah. But yet our human reasoning in Fox News and CNN tells us otherwise.
Read the word God and renew your mind.
Take a stand. This is the truth. You can't move me with your opinion or your look. I love God. And the Bible says, blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness.
If I'm persecuted by the world for being righteous, so be it. Jesus said, if they hated me, you better believe they're gonna hate you. What are we scared of? And even when we are slain, we are victorious because we overcome by the **blood of the lamb**, the word of our testimony, and loving not our life even unto death. You have the greatest message.
Don't be silenced. Number 6 is this. Will you stand with me all over the room? Thank you for being patient with me. I'm already 6 minutes over, but it's okay.
You guys are engaged. You guys are hungry. The last 1 is this. I'm just too fearful. Right?
I'm just too fearful. In 2 Timothy-1 verse 7, it says, for God has not given us a spirit of fear, but power, love, and self control. So what happens is you're in a worship environment like this. You hear the word of God be preached, and you feel boldness. And then you go out into the world, and God is gonna whisper to you today to talk to somebody.
And all of a sudden, there's gonna be a mountain, a barrier of fear in front of you. I wanna teach you something very quickly. That fear is not your fear. *God has not given you a spirit* of fear. It's a spirit.
It's demonic. It's a wall of fear that's trying to keep you from doing what God's called you to do. And this this can apply to any part of your life, not just evangelism and discipleship. So what happens though is is you sense fear, and you've been so trained by the enemy to look inward and go, oh, there's fear in me. But when you look inside, you won't find fear.
You'll find a lion. Because the same *spirit* that raised Christ from the dead is in you, if you're a believer. So
when I sense fear,
I look inside. I see the **lion of the tribe** of Judah. And I'm reminded reminded it's it's no no longer longer I who live. It's Christ who lives in me. And then I begin to encourage myself in the Lord, and I "step through the fear", and I rescue the person from hell.
See, fear, I've learned, is an invitation to crush hell. There was a moment I was in Iraq. I was heading on my way to a mosque, and and we were heading to some of the most dangerous area in the city of Baghdad. And and I remember saying, how dangerous is this? And I said, don't tell me.
I'll never forget the moment I stepped out of the van and the presence of God wrapped around me. It it was I I I still remember the feeling of the Holy Spirit** wrapping around me. I walked in so joyful, so light. I was taking selfies with people that were probably on top 10 most wanted list. Why?
Because *God* was with me. Fear is a lie. And if we're honest, if we just take a moment just to close our eyes all over this room, if we're honest, fear is the number 1 barrier that we hide behind, and sometimes we call that barrier wisdom. Well, you know, we gotta be wise. You know, we we we gotta be wise.
But if we're not careful, what we're calling wisdom is really fear. And then *God* doesn't have the ability to flow through you and reach the people he needs to reach. So all over this room, I just want you to begin to pray. All over the room. We're we're gonna turn this into an upper room.
I want you to begin to pray.
I actually want you to pray with words. Begin to pray all over the room. If you have a prayer language, if you if you have the ability to speak in tongues, want you to begin to pray in the Holy Spirit* right now. If that's new* to you, nobody is prophesying in the Bible. In Jude, it says that this is a language that God gives for the building up of one's spirit.
And if that is confusing to you after the message, I'll meet with you. I'll show you in scripture. Even in Acts-2 when the spirit was poured out, it said that they all began to pray in unknown tongues. So intercessors in the room, begin to pray. Don't hold back for a moment.
We're gonna turn this room into an upper room. For a moment, we're gonna begin to get passionate. For a moment, we're gonna begin to run after God. And we're gonna ask for the Holy Spirit** to come and remove every barrier and every fear so we can accomplish to pray loud and begin to pray bold. Begin to step into a place of intercession because we're gonna see this room shift and this room change.
If you're here and you know that you're bound by the spirit of fear, when it comes to sharing your faith, come out of your seats. Come up front right now. Don't stop. Come up front right now. Don't don't don't hold back.
Don't wait. Don't think about it. Just come up front right now. We're gonna pray for you. So good.
Good. Come. Come. Come. Come all over the room.
Don't hold back. Don't wait for your husband. Don't wait for your wife. Don't ask for permission. Just come forward, and we're gonna pray for you.
All over the room, there's more. Come. Come. Come. We're gonna pray.
Keep praying in the Holy Spirit** for a moment. I know this is new for some of you just to pastor you. This is not new as far as the Bible is concerned. This is very, very normal. All over the room, come forward.
If you guys can take a a few another step forward. There's more people coming. We're gonna pray in a moment. We're gonna sing a song together, and we're gonna that the that the presence and power of God to come and deliver us from fear and to keep us free from fear. Don't stop praying.
Pray. All over the room, pray. It's okay. If you don't know what to say, say Jesus. Just keep saying Jesus.
We've become so accustomed to coming to church and just being. We need to be activated in the things of God. Begin to pray. If you pray in the Holy Spirit**, begin to pray in the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit, we welcome you in this place.
*Holy Spirit*, we ask you to come. *Lord, we ask you to do what only you can do. We ask you, God, right now in Jesus*' name to fall in this room and to mark individuals for the work of ministry. Ministry. Holy Spirit, we pray that you'll deliver people of self, and you'll put your presence on the inside and the outside of them, Lord, that you'd clothe them in the power and the presence of God.
I just want you to begin to if you
can't afford, I want you to begin to pray. Jesus, help me. Jesus, help me overcome. Jesus, come and have your way in my life. Jesus, here I am.
Send me. Just begin to pray. Begin to ask him to come and touch your life. In the book of Acts, they waited 10 days in the upper room. We're gonna wait just another minute or 2.
Just wait. We're gonna wait upon the Lord. Come do, Holy what only you can do. Come and touch hearts. If you need to shout, shout.
If you need to get on your knees, get on your knees. If you need to raise your hands, raise your hands. This is a safe place. Some of you need to to begin to get outside of yourself. Begin to worship God.
You don't always need a leader to lead you. Begin to worship him. Take your take what you do in your private encounters with God and make it public for a moment.
[Speaker 11] [01:00:32] We need to press in. We need to be a praying church. We we needs to be real church that when a pastor says it's time to pray, we pray. Begin to pray. Let me encourage you.
Begin to pray. Begin to seek God. Begin to cry out to God. God, we need you. God, we desire you.
*Lord*, we need your fire. We need your presence. We need you in our lives. Holy Spirit**, use my life. Use my life.
Consume me in the fire of God. Consume me in the fire of God. Remove every barrier. Remove every barrier.
[Speaker 8] [01:01:22] What we're gonna do is we're gonna begin to sing a song. I'm I'm gonna come down for these ones that came forward. Nothing About Me. I'm gonna come down and lay hands on you and believe God, Robbie, and and and any other prayer team members. Just begin to lay hands on the 1 that came the ones that came down and begin to ask God to impart the gift and the grace of evangelism is easy.
Just begin to pray right now. We're gonna sing a song. Pastor David's gonna come up here in just a moment and close out the service. We worship you, Jesus.
[Speaker 1] [01:06:18] There's somebody here that has never experienced a relationship with Jesus Christ. *God* loves you. God cares for you. And it's time for you to walk into relationship with him. It's time to be born again.
Being born again means that you believe that Jesus died on a cross to pay for your sin, and you recognize that you're separated from him. You need him. And you also believe that He rose again so that you could experience His life. He wants to restore, not just forgive you of your sin, but restore your created value, put His presence inside of you, and empower you to live out every purpose he's created for you. But it doesn't stop there.
See, even demons believe that Jesus died and rose again. That door there, I can believe that door's But unless I walk through it, I never experience it. You can believe that Jesus is there, but until you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that he's your Lord. That's why you confess it with your mouth, because you believe it in your heart. And out of the abundance of the heart flows the confession.
*Jesus, you're my Lord*. I give you my life.
[Speaker 2] [01:07:37] In that moment, He washes you clean, puts His spirit on the inside of you, and you become a baby Christian where you're His child. He's your father, and he wants to lead you and guide you and grow you to represent his goodness and his kingdom in every area of your life. There's at least 1 here
[Speaker 1] [01:08:00] who needs a relationship with Jesus, and you know it. If that's you, I want you to raise your hand right now. That's me. I see you. Come on.
2 hands up right now. Put 2 hands up because there's there's multiple. That's you. Come on. Who else?
That's you. Come on. Who else? Praise the Lord. That's you.
I see you. I see you. Come on.
[Speaker 2] [01:08:24] Put your hand. I see you. Who else? Who needs Jesus? Alright.
I want you to say this with me from your heart. It's not a prayer
[Speaker 1] [01:08:31] that saves you.
[Speaker 2] [01:08:32] It's the position of your heart. And in that position of your heart, Jesus comes and saves you. Say this out loud. Say, Jesus. Those that are
[Speaker 1] [01:08:40] you raising your hand.
[Speaker 2] [01:08:41] If you're already a believer, you don't have
[Speaker 1] [01:08:42] to say it. Say, Jesus, I ask you to forgive me of my sin. I've been living for me. Go ahead. Say it out loud.
I've been living for me. Forgive me. Come into my heart and make me new. I believe you died for me. And I believe you rose again.
I receive your life right now. I choose to follow you. Now say that like you mean it. Jesus, I choose to follow you. And if I mess up, I'm not gonna fall back.
I'm gonna fall forward because I trust you. The bible says that you're forgiven. The bible says that you're new. So I want you I want the whole church right now, those that just prayed, and the whole church, raise your hands and say, thank you, Jesus, that I'm forgiven. Thank you, Jesus, that I'm a new creation, that the old has passed away, and all things have become new.
Teach me what it means to follow you. I say no to me and yes to you. Thank you, Jesus. May God is good. May is