Episode Transcript
[00:00:02] Title of this morning's message is you have a crossroads decision to make.
[00:00:08] Last week, we finished up our series in Matthew, and I think it's quite an achievement. Was it like almost four years that we spent Matthew? How many? Three years?
[00:00:18] I'm not saying that it felt like four, but much of that credit, you know, goes to Pastor Sam, you know, because he preached the bulk of it. And every single Sunday, he brings the word with accuracy and passion.
[00:00:32] And so I'm hoping that that is what is reflected in this message this morning as well. But before we launch into the next series, which is going to be in First Samuel, which everybody's excited about, my fellow pastors thought it would be a good time to share with everyone about the vision to plant a new church in St. Charles county in 2026. So let me start by giving you some background.
[00:00:50] It's probably about 18 months ago where there's a seed vision that began to germinate in my heart to launch a new church in St. Charles County. And I believe this vision developed through, in part, what God did in my heart when I turned 60, and then shortly after was diagnosed with cancer. When I believed God brought me to a crossroads decision in my life and was I going to coast to the finish line of the years that I had left, or was I going to go all in?
[00:01:17] The vision really emanates from living life in St. Charles county, which it probably takes us about 25 minutes to drive here because my entire extended family family has moved there, all my siblings. Our GC consists of people who live in St. Charles County.
[00:01:30] Two years ago, Lisa and I started a neighborhood Bible study of about 10 people.
[00:01:35] And we've had neighborhood barbecues. We've had a couple of block parties, and we've got another block party that's scheduled this next month.
[00:01:42] I made probably 10 new friends over the years where I work out at Club Fitness in St. Charles County. I play pickleball with three of my former grade school, high school buddies where we've renewed our friendship over the last three years. And. And it's just everywhere I shop, everywhere I go to eat, everywhere we receive services in St. Charles, it's full of people that we now see regularly that we have conversations with. And it just feels like everywhere that I go, as I live over there is a possible divine appointment.
[00:02:12] I've shared the gospel with probably six or more of these people called Fitness of Dinner with My Sister.
[00:02:18] And probably a dozen of them have visited here on Sunday.
[00:02:22] Several have communicated that if I ever started a church in St. Charles county that they would come. And now for the last three months, I work with an organization called First Step Back Home, where I work with hurting and struggling and impoverished homeless people, many from St. Charles County. I get to share the gospel or my salvation story with them probably two or three times a week, which is just an absolute treat.
[00:02:45] St. Louis, St. Charles county has clearly become our natural mission field and is the biggest reason why I believe God is wanting us to plant a church there.
[00:02:55] Question often comes, how can you be sure it's God's will? And when I'm making a decision or when my wife and I are making kind of decisions that are this big, I always want to try to find confirmation through multiple sources and seek multiple counselors in that.
[00:03:11] So I first had to get confirmation myself. And so I went on a three day retreat. And out of that three day retreat, a 13 page vision paper developed.
[00:03:21] Lisa, of course, needed to be on board. So I came home and shared the idea with her. And we prayed and we discussed and I shared the vision paper with her.
[00:03:31] And she said, I'm all in. But before that happened, when I first presented it to her, she didn't tell me at the time, but she told me later that she kind of felt like Noah's wife.
[00:03:42] And you know, if you think about Noah, what happened with Noah is that, you know, he's really old in age and God, you know, kind of comes to him and says, I want you to do something very specific, which is to build an ark.
[00:03:54] And it had never rained on the planet before because the planet watered itself, but God was going to judge, you know, the, the world a flood. And so he's thinking, she's thinking, no, his wife had to go to him and say, you want to do what?
[00:04:09] And she said that's kind of how she felt when I came to her and said at the age of 66 that God is wanting us to plant a new church.
[00:04:18] I went to a mentor, friend of a 40 years, a pastor who raised me up as a pastor, and I shared the idea and the vision with him. And he just said, I'm not surprised at all.
[00:04:28] And I said, you're not. I'm glad you're not, because I am.
[00:04:34] And Sam and Craig and Jesse and I had been talking about it and I brought the vision paper to them and they spent a couple weeks with it in prayer. And we met and all three of them came with the same exact words, we think that God wants you to pursue this.
[00:04:46] Then Sam said, we need to sit down with Mike Bird, who's the regional director of church planning for NAMM and I shared the vision paper with him before we sat down. And Sam and I were both really amazed because Mike just sat down and he was like totally excited. He goes, yes, God's then as you think we need, you need to do this, we're behind you. The NAM organization will support you and the NAM organization in this assessment that we're going through, which is quite intensive online. We're going to Detroit in October, late in October, for a personal assessment, two day assessment. But if we pass the assessment, basically North American Mission Board is going to contribute $75,000 over five years for this church plant, which is really significant and quite a blessing.
[00:05:29] So then Sam said, let's sit down with Mike Hubbard, the director of church planting for Metro.
[00:05:33] And Mike asked a bunch of questions and he got a hold of the vision paper and he says, yeah, I'm supportive and we're not going to put you through two assessments. So if you pass NAM assessment, Metro will give another 25,000 and we'll also pay for things like sound equipment and tables and chairs and things like that. So it's just quite, it's blowing us away at each step and each where I sought confirmation that every door just remained wide open and said, you know, evidently God wants us to do this.
[00:06:04] So Lisa and I, as I said, are currently in an assessment.
[00:06:08] We currently have about 16, 18 people who've expressed interest and we're praying that a core group would develop of about 30 people.
[00:06:15] We have a church rental site in mind and hope to meet with the board this month to see if they would allow us to rent there. Their church is down to about 15 people. They continue to have services and so we're hoping that, you know, they would, you know, allow us to rent there.
[00:06:32] The four elders, IFC are in agreement that the new church will launch as a satellite of ifc, which would mean that the four of us would serve as overseeing pastors while I left to lead the work.
[00:06:43] The would become independent of ifc. Once we had a healthy, functioning elder team of our own and we would operate under a new name. And there's quite a lot of security in that because these guys, you know, are like, yeah, we don't want you to have to do this on your own. So we're going to continue to operate as a plurality. These guys will remain here, but they'll be closely connected with everything.
[00:07:07] The beautiful thing that I've witnessed over and over again over my 33 years as a pastor. There's been times that I've been part of a sending team to send others to go plant a new work. In times that I have gone, is that over and over again when a church is willing to say, lord, our pastors, our leadership, our servants, our financial resources, all yours. It's all yours. When they're willing to release their hands and give towards a new work, the Lord always blesses the sending church and replenishes the resources that go. It's happened every single time.
[00:07:39] And the Lord's going to do that here at IFC as well.
[00:07:43] I believe that God has led Lisa and I and whoever decides to join us to crossroads decisions of faith for our future.
[00:07:49] And it's going to involve new opportunities and new ministry, new friendships, new people giving their life to Christ.
[00:07:56] Four years ago, we didn't know.
[00:07:59] Many of you in our lives have been blessed in so many ways by the friendships that we've had. And it's truly been an iron sharpening, iron experience with so many new people that we've met and become friends with.
[00:08:13] I also believe that many of you who remain at IFC also are going to be facing crossroads decisions and it's going to involve what you're going to do regarding the gospel mission of Jesus Christ.
[00:08:25] How many of you have seen the movie Cast Away with Tom Hanks?
[00:08:30] A lot of you?
[00:08:31] Well, for some reason, I mean, I haven't seen it for years and I haven't really thought about the movie for years. But as I was preparing this message, I felt like the Lord laid on my heart this movie.
[00:08:41] And if you remember, Chuck Nolan, played by Tom Hanks and Kelly Frears, played by Helen Hunt, were deeply in love and they were excited about their future.
[00:08:48] And it was Christmas time and he planned to surprise her by asking her to marry him. Marry her? Asking her to marry him.
[00:08:56] Tom's character, Chuck Nolan, worked for FedEx as a systems analysis and he would fly around the world solving logistic problems. He was called away from his Christmas vacation to handle an urgent situation in Moscow.
[00:09:08] So he hopped on a plane full of packages headed for Malaysia and after delivery would fly on to Moscow.
[00:09:14] On the way, the plane crashed into the Pacific Ocean.
[00:09:17] Chuck was washed ashore along with several FedEx packages on a deserted island some 600 miles from civilization.
[00:09:24] He was the sole survivor.
[00:09:27] There are many search missions that were employed to find survivors, but the search grid never went out as far as 600 miles.
[00:09:36] Five FedEx packages washed ashore. One was a dress with ruffle trim that he used the Trim for rope.
[00:09:43] There were a box of videotapes that he used for kindling to start a fire. There was a volleyball in which he named Wilson, if you remember. And he cut his finger and used his blood to draw a face on Wilson. And then Wilson became his companion, where he talked to Wilson all the time and brought Wilson everywhere he went.
[00:09:59] And there was a pair of ice skates. And you thought he was never going to be able to use ice skates for anything. But do you remember that excruciating scene where he had a abscessed tooth that he was struggling with and in great pain for weeks? And so he takes that sharp edge of the ice skates and he sticks it up where that abscess tooth is. And then he takes this large boulder and goes and he knocks out the abscess tooth.
[00:10:23] But there was a single package that Chuck decided not to open. It was decorated with an angel wings imprint on the outside of the box. And Chuck decided not to open that package and made a vow that if he made it off the island, he would return that package to the customer.
[00:10:39] Well, Chuck was actually stuck on that island for four years. And after a couple years, Kelly was told by family and friends that she had to let him go, that he was dead and she needed to move on. So she eventually did and she remarried and had a child.
[00:10:51] Miraculously, after four years, Chuck creates a makeshift raft and actually escapes the island. He gets picked up by a large tanker in the middle of the ocean before he expires.
[00:11:02] And he returns to the States, and he's longing for a reunion with Kelly, and she arrives at the airport to meet him, but is too emotionally distraught to do that. So a few days later, they meet at Kelly's house and they have some small talk. She shows them an entire room with a huge map and articles that she used to constantly follow the progress.
[00:11:20] She tells him, if you remember, about how the Rams beat the Titans in a Super Bowl.
[00:11:25] He tells her he wished he would never have gotten on that plane. And they express their love for one another. And she gets in his vehicle, and they pull down the end of the driveway as if they're going to leave together. And the vehicle stops, and they look each other in the eye.
[00:11:39] And he knows in that moment that they can't do this because they can't destroy the lives of her husband and their child to go off and find their love together.
[00:11:50] So she says goodbye.
[00:11:53] And the final scene of the movie is when Chuck is driving in his vehicle to return the one package he had not opened that he vowed to return. And as he drives near the address, he sees a sign with angel wings on it.
[00:12:04] It looks like a logo, maybe for a farm or a ranch.
[00:12:07] He knocks on the door, but no one answers. He leans the package next to the screen door with a note saying, this package saved my life.
[00:12:14] And he leaves. And he drives to the end of the gravel road. And at that scene, he's standing at the crossroads intersection, and he gets out his map, and he's looking in all four directions because he has no idea where he's going. He's trying to figure out, where am I going to start my new life?
[00:12:29] Well, all of a sudden, a truck pulls up and stops. And there's this beautiful, friendly woman with a huge smile. And she says hello and asks if she can help him in any way.
[00:12:39] She sees his map and begins to explain what each direction has in store for him. And he says, thanks, and she drives off. But as she drives off, he sees on the back of the tailgate these angel wings.
[00:12:52] The movie ends with Chuck once more looking at each direction and then turns in the direction of her house and smiles.
[00:13:00] And then the picture turns to black, and you just know that he's going back to her house. They're going to hit it off. They're going to become friends, they're going to fall in love, they're going to get married, they're going to have kids and live happily ever after. Right. I mean, that's how I interpreted at the end of the movie.
[00:13:16] Well, I think it's that crossroads intersection that really is what stuck out to me and what I want to speak to you about this morning because all of us are presented in every season of life with crossroad decisions on where we're standing at an intersection of life, and we have several choices on which way we're going to go.
[00:13:35] When I said before, When I turned 60, I was diagnosed with cancer, God had done something in my heart. And my crossroads decision was, am I going to wind down my final years in leisure, comfort, recreation and ease, spending time with Lisa and the boys and grandkids and maybe doing a little traveling? And while there'll certainly be some of that and a lot of that in other ways, the question was, is, Jim, are you going to retire from Kingdom ministry, or will you use your final years maximizing them for Christ's mission of spreading the seeds of the gospel?
[00:14:07] We have choices that God presents us with, and I believe that some of you will face a decision on what you will do going forward. As it relates to the mission of the gospel.
[00:14:18] Let's go ahead and dive into some scripture and work this out.
[00:14:24] And the first is I want to give you some insights from the parable of the Sower.
[00:14:29] Let's go ahead and read Luke, chapter 8, verses 11 through 15.
[00:14:46] Luke, chapter 8, verses 11 Through 15. And this is the latter part of it. When Jesus had shared this, the disciples were a little confused and they wanted to know Jesus, what are you saying here? What does this mean? And so they asked him.
[00:15:01] He says, this is the meaning of the parable. The seed is the word of God. The seed along the path are those who have heard. And then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts so they may not believe and be saved. And the seed on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy. Having no root, these believe for a while and fall away in a time of testing. As for the seed that fell among the thorns, these are the ones who, when they have heard, go on their way and are choked with worries, riches and pleasures of life and produce no mature fruit but the seed in the good ground. These are the ones who have, having heard the Word with an honest and good heart, hold on to it and by enduring, produce fruit.
[00:15:40] And so Jesus says basically that the seed being sown by a farmer is the word of God. It's the gospel.
[00:15:48] The farmer represents believers, you and I, followers of Christ who share the gospel with others.
[00:15:54] And Jesus identifies there are four different places where the seeds fall, he says, a path, a rocky ground, thorns, and good soil, which this good soil is the actual field where the farmer desires to see crops develop.
[00:16:06] These four places represent conditions of people's heart.
[00:16:10] The first read the path of thorns and the rocky ground are all people who reject the gospel for various reasons.
[00:16:16] But the seed, scattered on good sorrow, receives it and Jesus says, produces a crop of people who have trusted Christ as their savior.
[00:16:23] Through this parable, it appeals that Jesus is telling us that more people will reject the gospel than will receive it.
[00:16:29] But basically, don't let that bother you, because our responsibility is just to scatter seeds.
[00:16:36] Through this parable, it appeals to Jesus is telling us that more people are going to reject the gospel than receive it. So the first point I want to share with you is that we need to be going into the world and scatter seeds everywhere and trust God with the results.
[00:16:50] And the second point is, if you never scatter seeds, it's impossible for there to be a harvest.
[00:16:56] I believe God wants those with the new church to extravagantly scatter seeds of the gospel in St. Charles county and for those who remain to do so in west county as well.
[00:17:06] He's calling every one of us to be scatterers of seeds.
[00:17:13] And he's wanting not just a few, but he's wanting all of us to be involved.
[00:17:19] You know, the discipleship groups have winded down and have heard great things about how many of you were stimulated and challenged to grow. And I think the experience for many of us was it actually was iron sharpening iron.
[00:17:32] The week we focused on evangelism really impacted me.
[00:17:35] And if you remember, one of the exercises that we were supposed to do was develop a prayer list of family and friends that we wanted to see come to Christ.
[00:17:43] I've been praying for non Christian people in my life for years. And I've been praying for God to bring other Christians into their lives.
[00:17:49] I woke up one night in the middle of the week with several people on my heart and I was praying for them. But then a thought went through my mind. It was more like a question, where in the New Testament can I find Jesus or his disciples praying for lost people?
[00:18:04] So at 4:30 in the morning, I started diving into the scriptures. And when I what I found is what I wanted to share with you for the remainder of this sermon.
[00:18:12] First, let's get some insight from Jesus.
[00:18:15] And I thought about. The first thing I actually thought about was Jesus high priestly prayer.
[00:18:20] What is it that he prayed for?
[00:18:24] In John's gospel, chapter 17, just before he writes about Jesus being arrested, he writes several prayers that Jesus prayed to the Father. And I think those are most likely prayers that John heard Jesus offer up in the garden of Gethsemane.
[00:18:37] After praying to the Father on his behalf, Jesus turns the focus of his prayers on his 12 disciples. And in chapter 17, verse nine, I'm not going to really ask you to turn there. I think most of these verses will be on the screen. But Jesus starts out in verse nine, he says, I'm praying for them, my 12 disciples. I'm not praying for the world, but for those you have given me.
[00:18:57] And then verses 14 through 17, he says, I've given them my disciples your word and the world has hated them because they're not of the world.
[00:19:05] My prayer is not that you take them out of the world, but that you protect them from the evil one.
[00:19:10] They're not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
[00:19:13] As you've sent me into the world, I've also sent them into the world.
[00:19:17] So Jesus in His prayers to the Father is asking him not to take these believers, these followers, his disciples, out of the world, even though they're going to be hated for standing up for the truth of the gospel.
[00:19:29] But instead he's asking the Father to protect them as they face opposition. For he says, I've sent them into the world to represent me.
[00:19:39] Jesus goes on from praying for the 12 to praying for all believers.
[00:19:44] In verse 20, he says, I pray not only for these, but also those who believe in me through their word.
[00:19:51] So what I see here is that he's praying for every person who would come to saving faith in him extending from the disciples to this present day, day and beyond.
[00:20:00] And I've always seen that as it's kind of cool to think that Jesus is there praying in the Garden of Semy before he's being arrested and he is praying for us.
[00:20:13] Let's find out what Jesus prayed for you and me.
[00:20:16] In verse 21:23, he says, May they all be one as we are one, and be in us as we are in each other, so that the world may believe that you've sent me.
[00:20:28] And then he goes on and says, so that they may be completely one, that they may be unified, that the world may know that you sent me and have loved them as you have loved me.
[00:20:38] So twice. Here Jesus is praying for believers and he's praying that they will love each other. And he's praying that they'd be unified together, they'd be one as the Father and Jesus are one.
[00:20:50] But he says both times that the purpose is so that the world may know that they may believe that the Father sent Him, that they would believe in Him.
[00:21:02] There's a power that fills our lives and the life of the church when we love each other and when we live in unity and are unified in one common gospel mission. And he says when we are that way, the world will see and believe in Jesus.
[00:21:20] Turn to Matthew chapter 9.
[00:21:23] In this text, we're going to uncover what Jesus wants us to pray for as it relates to the mission of the Gospel.
[00:21:30] And I was talking with somebody downstairs before he said, I thought we finished, Matt. Matthew.
[00:21:36] I said, yeah, I know I was going to hear that. It's like for. But we're going to go back to Matthew just for a moment.
[00:21:43] Matthew, chapter 9, 35, 37.
[00:21:46] Jesus continued going all around the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and every sickness.
[00:21:55] When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were distressed and dejected. And then I V. Says, harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
[00:22:03] And he said to his disciples, the harvest is abundant, but the workers are few.
[00:22:07] Therefore pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest field.
[00:22:13] So the passage begins by revealing the characteristics of Jesus ministry.
[00:22:17] And first it says he continued going, which means his ministry was continuous.
[00:22:23] It wasn't a once a year mission trip or serving the homeless during thanksgiving. The Gospel ministry of Jesus was his life.
[00:22:32] And then it says that his mystery ministry consisted of teaching and preaching the good news and healing.
[00:22:39] We see here that Jesus life demonstrated consistent compassion for the hurting and the distressed and the dejected, those who were harassed and helpless. He deeply cared about the entire person. His heart's desire was to see them made whole, which means he addressed the physical, emotional and spiritual dynamics of a person's life.
[00:22:57] There were times he would heal their body, but then address something even more vital, that person's sin and how it separated them from God.
[00:23:05] Jesus breaks through the desperation in people's lives, the brokenness and pain, and offers them what they need the most, which is spiritual healing.
[00:23:15] If you remember, there was a woman who suffered for years, for 12 years with an issue of blood.
[00:23:21] There was a son who was in bondage for years to the demonic.
[00:23:26] There was a leper who for years was a societal outcast. He was untouched, unloved and rejected.
[00:23:33] There was a woman who was caught in adultery.
[00:23:36] There's a woman who had gone through five men and was living with a six, trying to find her happiness and security in a man, but instead found it in Jesus.
[00:23:44] Even a man on his deathbed who hung on a cross.
[00:23:50] Jesus was accused by the religious elite of being a friend of sinners.
[00:23:54] And it was a title he welcomed. He hung out with them, he ate meals with them. He was seen at their houses. And even someone named Matthew, who was a hated tax collector and extortionist of the Jews money in a stooge of Rome. He had dinner with him at his house.
[00:24:11] But this all being said, that all of these deeply hurting people that he always ministered to, don't forget that Jesus also had a gospel impact on the lives of his closest friends who became disciples and in family members who did as well.
[00:24:31] Jesus is and always will be the example we are to follow. And you need to ask your question yourself. A question this morning. Am I a friend of sinners?
[00:24:44] Says in the passage that when he saw the crowds, and this is more than a physical sight, Jesus saw beyond their physical condition, beyond their Facebook facade their economic status and possessions. He wasn't pointing out a woman in the crowd and saying, she looks like she's dejected or a guy, he looks like he's distressed.
[00:25:02] The statement was identifying that every person from the homeless man living in the woods to the woman in prison, to the corporate manager, to the small business owner, to the carpenter, to the sales clerk, to your sister or brother, your mom or dad, your neighbor, your co worker or friend, if they are without Christ, the condition of their life is dejected and distressed. It's harassed and helpless. They are like sheep without a shepherd and without Christ. They are without direction, they're without purpose, they're without inner peace and hope. And it's true even when they present a Facebook image saying, look at my perfect happy life.
[00:25:34] Every person without Christ, Jesus sees this way.
[00:25:42] And he says that he had compassion on them, that the spiritual eyes of Jesus led to the compassion of Jesus.
[00:25:51] And the root word in the Greek is a medical term that refers to the inmost being.
[00:25:56] It's saying that Jesus mind and his will and his emotions and the depths of his heart were all bent towards the lost and the hurting and the sinner.
[00:26:09] Compassion is so much more than a feeling.
[00:26:13] Compassion is love in action.
[00:26:15] It's love in a person's heart that compels them to take action on behalf of those who do not know Jesus.
[00:26:21] Compassionate love fills our hearts as we connect intimately with Christ as we fall more deeply in love with him. And that's what you hear every single Sunday as we say it's overflow ministry. That how Jesus pours into us, we then pour out the others.
[00:26:38] The point of the text is found in the next two verses, 37 and 38.
[00:26:43] And he first says that the harvest is abundant, but the workers are few.
[00:26:48] And Jesus is revealing that when it comes to reaping an abundant harvest there. There's a serious problem here.
[00:26:57] First, the problem isn't the opportunities we have to reap an abundant harvest, because he's saying here there's never going to be a deficit of lost and hurting people in our world, but you must open the eyes of your heart to see them.
[00:27:10] He says the problem is that the workers are few.
[00:27:17] Tom Rainier, one of the foremost and highly respected researchers into the habits of Christians in the church in North America, says that research tells us that 94%, 95% of North American Christians have never shared the Gospel, nor do they intend to.
[00:27:35] 95%.
[00:27:40] That statistic is unbelievable to me.
[00:27:44] And yet in my own frail, weak and insecure humanity. I get it because I deeply understand my own struggles that I've had over the years to share my faith and times that I have let fear get the best of me.
[00:27:59] The author of the book Gospel Fluency writes, I believe there are many reasons why we experience fear and insecurity when opportunities arise to share the gospel. Let me give you five.
[00:28:09] He first says, it's a spiritual battle and you'll experience opposition from the devil who does not want to want you to share the good news with anyone.
[00:28:19] The second is we fear rejection.
[00:28:22] Many of us love what people think of us more than we love people.
[00:28:27] The third is most Christians have never tried, so they've never experienced the Holy Spirit giving them the words and the boldness.
[00:28:33] And you see when you step out in faith, it's amazing how he gives you what you need in that very moment.
[00:28:41] The fourth is most Christians have not equipped themselves. They just cannot share a clear gospel when presented with the opportunity.
[00:28:49] And fifth, most Christians really don't believe that the good neighbors, friends and family members will spend eternity apart from God in hell.
[00:28:58] So we don't see the urgency because they're such good people, they're such nice people. They're so kind.
[00:29:05] Sometimes they're even kinder than a lot of Christians that I know.
[00:29:09] So we just kind of go through life with them and we see them, you know, regularly and it's like we just don't feel the urgency to share the gospel with them.
[00:29:19] Romans 1:16 says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation for all who believe without the gospel.
[00:29:29] There's not one person that you know as a non Christian that's going to get saved.
[00:29:36] In verse 38 in Matthew 9, Jesus prescribes the remedy for the problem. He says, therefore pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest.
[00:29:46] I want you to notice that Jesus remedy for the lack of gospel workers is not praying for your non Christian friends and family members, even though you should.
[00:29:54] But that's not going to solve the problem. His solution is praying for Christians to get out there to share their salvation story and to share the gospel.
[00:30:05] Many of you probably already ask God to send workers on behalf of your loved ones. I mean, don't you, I mean when you pray for those people that don't know Christ, that are your friends and family members, God, send co workers, send neighbors to them. Send, send, you know, people who are extended family.
[00:30:21] Bring people who are willing to share the gospel and all, and there's Nothing wrong with that. Keep doing that, but don't attempt to slide by with that prayer alone.
[00:30:34] If you're praying for workers to bring the gospel into your loved ones lives, then you should be the first worker that responds to those prayers.
[00:30:42] Be a first responder with the gospel.
[00:30:46] And you know, the interesting thing is, and we're not going to go there, but Matthew 10, right after Matthew 9, after Jesus says all this, you know what happens?
[00:30:54] He sends his 12 out into the world to share the gospel.
[00:31:03] It would be like me saying right now, all right, put your Bibles down, we're going, let's go.
[00:31:10] And you say, hold on a second.
[00:31:12] We thought we'd spend more time in prayer. We get to reflect on your teaching to see how we might decide to apply to our lives. You know, we need to get more ready and prepared and prayed up and equipped for the task.
[00:31:23] And our fear would lead us to say anything just to delay it a little bit longer. Right.
[00:31:32] I want to quickly look at one final passage.
[00:31:35] As we looked at Jesus and what he says on what we should be praying for in relationship to the gospel, I want to take a look at the Apostle Paul.
[00:31:44] And in our discipleship groups we've been, you know, concentrating on memorizing scripture. And fortunately for me, when I was first saved, I got hooked up with a couple navigators on the campus of Clemson University.
[00:32:00] And their approach is scripture memory. And so scripture memory has been a part of my life.
[00:32:06] And I memorized Ephesians chapter 6, 10, 18, which is all the famous passages Paul talks about spiritual warfare, spiritual armor.
[00:32:16] He says, finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.
[00:32:19] Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.
[00:32:24] For our struggle is not against the flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, and against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realm.
[00:32:33] Therefore, put on the full armor of God, so when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground. And after you've done everything to stand, stand firm. Then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes with the gospel of peace.
[00:32:49] In addition to all this, take the shield of faith by which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one, take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, and pray in the spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. And with this in Mind, keep alert and always pray, keep on praying for all of God's people.
[00:33:08] And Paul gives us one of the most articulate descriptions on spiritual warfare as it relates to the Christian life.
[00:33:15] And I use that passage, you know, because I thought it was all about me, you know, kind of defeating the devil's temptations in my life and, and his schemes that he wanted to bring me down and extinguishing the flame, flaming arrows of his lies and accusations, to continue to stand by the truth of God's word and to pray for my brothers and sisters in Christ, for victory in battle as well.
[00:33:35] I thought Paul's message on spiritual warfare ended there, so I stopped memorizing.
[00:33:41] But by now memorizing the last two verses, 19 and 20, I missed a very important lesson Paul was trying to give the Christians and the church at Ephesus concerning the advancement of the Gospel.
[00:33:53] For he says there, and he closes his pray also for me that whenever I speak words may be given me, that I may fearlessly proclaim the mystery of the Gospel for which I am an ambassador in chains.
[00:34:06] Pray that I would declare it fearlessly as I should.
[00:34:12] The spiritual armor and weapons are to be used to advance the Gospel.
[00:34:19] When a soldier was taking the time to put on his entire set of armor, his helmet and grab his sword and shield, he was preparing himself to go to battle. He wasn't at home with his wife and kids in his full armor. He wasn't at the barracks playing cards with the guys. He was readying himself to go into the world to fight for his commander.
[00:34:38] I couldn't find anywhere in Paul's writings where he prayed for lost people, but look what he prays for. Pray that I would fearlessly declare the gospel as I should.
[00:34:50] Jesus says that our unity and our love for one another is so that the world may see. Jesus says that to go pray for laborers in the harvest field. Paul says, pray that I may fearlessly proclaim the Gospel. You see, all the prayers that we can find in the Scriptures almost when it comes to the Gospel is all about laborers in the harvest field and us taking the challenge to go out there and proclaim it fearlessly.
[00:35:13] It's not about sitting back and praying for our non Christian friends and family, which we should be doing, but it's so much more than that.
[00:35:26] You know, I want to remind you that Ephesians 6 here that Paul's writing from prison.
[00:35:32] He's literally chained to a soldier each hour who is assigned to guard him. And I, and I believe that what would happen there is that they would take shifts.
[00:35:40] There could be as many as 10 or 12 or up to a whole regiment that was taking turns being chained to Paul to guard him.
[00:35:48] And so what's Paul asking for? He's saying, pray that I would be fearless in profaning the gospel. As long as I'm in prison, I'm going to share the gospel with every last one of them. And if the entire regiment take turns of being chained to me, they're going to hear the gospel.
[00:36:05] What would you be praying for if you were in prison?
[00:36:09] I don't know if I'd be praying that.
[00:36:12] What would you ask others to pray for you? You know, friends and family? If you're sitting in prison, ask the Lord to get me out of here.
[00:36:22] That would be our prayer more likely, wouldn't it?
[00:36:27] Paul wants us to pray for ourselves, that we would be fearless in our proclamation of the gospel everywhere we go and with every person we meet. And I thought of the following verse Matthew 16:18, where, you know, Jesus asked Peter, who do you say that I am?
[00:36:44] He says, you are the Christ, the son of the living God.
[00:36:47] And Jesus response to that is, upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. And I believe the rock there is the very proclamation that Peter just made that you are the Messiah, you are the Christ, you are the son of the living God. And upon these truths, when my people go out and proclaim this truth, that that's who I am and that's what I can do for them. I'm going to build my church. And you know what? The gates of Hades, which the areas that the devil controls, which is the people who don't know Jesus, those gates are going to fall, but they can't fall without us getting out there and proclaiming the gospel.
[00:37:29] There's one final question that we need to answer.
[00:37:33] Some people may ask, is there really a need for another church in St. Charles County? I mean, there's so many good ones there already. I could probably list off 10 to 12, but I, I think are really good churches.
[00:37:45] So I did some research.
[00:37:48] Government sources estimate there are 423,726 people living in St. Charles County.
[00:37:56] In 2020, the county had an estimated 49% of people of various faiths.
[00:38:01] And see, that would include sound gospel churches as well as Mormon, Jehovah Witness, liberal Protestant prosperity churches, Jewish synagogues and Muslim temples. And the stats said that the Catholic Church in St. Charles county consisted of almost half of that 49% Gallup estimates that nationally there are 20% of the U.S. population that attend church weekly and 30% monthly. And man, I, I thought there was more than that.
[00:38:32] So if St. Charles county beat the national average and say 40% of its residents attended churches of all faiths, that would leave over 250,000 people who currently do not attend church.
[00:38:43] So obviously there's still a ton of people that need to be reached with the gospel.
[00:38:50] And you know what, I didn't do research for west county, but I bet you those stats are very similar that there's there that many unchurched people. You see, we live in white suburbia and we live typically, you know, with churches on every corner and we think, oh yeah, over 50% of the people, many more go to church and good churches and Christian churches and are born again believers in West county or St. Charles County. But it's not true.
[00:39:16] There's many more people in both counties that don't know Christ then there are who do.
[00:39:25] That's a huge reason I'm really excited to establish a gospel centric church there.
[00:39:34] But how can we even make a dent if 95% of us never share the gospel or intend to?
[00:39:43] Sharing the gospel is not telling people you're a Christian or that you believe in Jesus or that you read the Bible or they tell them what church you go to, or it's not even even inviting anyone to church. All that's fine, all of that's good, but it's not sharing the gospel.
[00:40:00] He's also not speaking of social ministries. The church does on behalf of the poor and the homeless, prisoner, the widow and the orphan.
[00:40:06] While these are important ministries, what real good do they do to address a person's physical needs and neglect their spiritual needs?
[00:40:15] One of the men in our Siber group says he, he loves to share Christ's love with people in need and serve them and minister their needs. And he really does. He's got a heart for it. And he does. He goes out and helps people with physical needs. But then he shared a famous quote he thought was attributed to Mother Teresa, but she didn't actually say it.
[00:40:35] And the quote goes something like this. Live the gospel at all times and if necessary, use words.
[00:40:41] The quote basically means demonstrate the gospel all the time by the way you live and treat people.
[00:40:46] And if you don't have the chance to preach the words, that's okay.
[00:40:50] Just keep being kind and considerate, joyful, and people will see there's a difference in you and maybe they'll get saved in a spiritual book.
[00:41:02] In his book Spiritual Disciplines for Christian Life, Donald Ritteny writes this story.
[00:41:08] He said, I heard the story of a man who became a Christian during an evangelistic crusade in a city in the Pacific Northwest.
[00:41:14] And the man told his boss about it. His employer responded with, that's great. I am a Christian, and I've been praying for you for years.
[00:41:21] But the new believer was crestfallen.
[00:41:24] Why didn't you ever tell me you were a Christian?
[00:41:26] You're the very reason I've not been interested in the gospel all these years.
[00:41:31] And the boss said, how can that be?
[00:41:33] I've done my very best to live the Christian life around you.
[00:41:37] That's the point, explained the employee.
[00:41:40] You live such a model life without telling me it was Christ who made the difference. I convinced myself that if you could live such a good life and happy life without Christ, then I could too.
[00:41:51] Are you understanding how it just all falls apart if that's what you're trying to do is just be a good example?
[00:42:01] As Pastor Sam would say, woof.
[00:42:07] How convicting that must be for most of us sitting in this room.
[00:42:12] I wonder how often our good moral lives, disconnected from any gospel explanation, convince people they don't need Jesus.
[00:42:22] You see, we got to be more than just nice.
[00:42:29] Well, every Sunday, each of your pastors stand before you to bring God's word, attempting to lead each of us to a crossroads, decisions and in our lives.
[00:42:39] Lisa and I are in the midst of one ourselves.
[00:42:43] And let me just say that I know that Lisa and my life are some ways more conducive to making this move.
[00:42:53] We're empty nesters. We don't have any kids in the home. And Honestly, in my 43 years of walking with the Lord, I've yet to find exemption clauses to his commands because one season is more difficult than another, you know, and sometimes we can convince ourselves of that.
[00:43:07] Well, you know, right now, you know, I got a bunch of kids in the house, and they're little and they're time consuming, and. And it's like, it's just too hard to try to connect with neighbors. And, you know, it's like, so each season, you know, the work's too demanding, and, you know, I'm putting in 50 hours a week, and both my wife and I are both working. And, you know, we go through these seasons and we find, you know, kind of these. These reasons why we can't really be involved in the gospel because it's just too difficult in that moment. But what I'm saying here is that when Jesus commands all this stuff. There's no exemption houses.
[00:43:37] So what we have to do is we have to try to find creative ways to handle the pressures and challenges and the stresses that we're involved in to make run roads into being people who are laborers in God's harvest field. And so what we do is we, instead of trying to recreate our schedules or shove more things into our schedule, use the things that are in our schedule to be people on mission with the gospel. That means we use our kids activities, our kids sports teams, we use the places that we go work out. We use all these different things that we're already involved in to say, hey, you know what, these things are always supposed to be a mission field anyway.
[00:44:12] And these are all things that I naturally have on my schedule. So why don't I just begin to say, lord, give me the eyes that you have that where I am when I'm there, that I can see that there's people around me, that possibly I could be used to see them come to Jesus.
[00:44:34] You know, it's amazing when something's part of your heart, how you can find creative ways to make it happen.
[00:44:44] What crossroads decision is the Lord placing before you this morning?
[00:44:48] For our point of application, I've listed seven that relate to your involvement in sharing the gospel.
[00:44:55] You're going to get to spend some time with the Lord after this. And I want you to hear these and ask the Lord, is this me that you're speaking to?
[00:45:05] And the first one is repent of your lack of love for lost people.
[00:45:09] Increased love for people flows out of an intimate connection with Christ and living in consistent community with your brothers and sisters in Christ.
[00:45:16] Jesus prayed that as your love and unity deepens with each other, the world will know that God has sent Jesus and people will believe in him. Effective gospel ministry is overflow ministry.
[00:45:27] Number two, forsake the belief that you can just nice people into the kingdom.
[00:45:33] Because the new quote that I'd like you to embrace is live the gospel at all times and always use words.
[00:45:42] Number three, pray for boldness to move out into your world with the gospel. Pray for fearlessness. But. But you need to remember that courage is not the absence of fear. Because if you're waiting for the absence of fear to be a true of you, you will never go out into the world.
[00:46:04] You see, courage is actually stepping out with your fear and trusting God for the results.
[00:46:14] Number four, start cultivating relationships and friendships with non Christians.
[00:46:18] This means if you haven't been, something will need to change in your schedule or in your approach to life life, one simple adjustment would be like I said before, begin to see everywhere you go as God's harvest field.
[00:46:31] Your kids, games, your workout place, the golf course, the sport you engage in, your neighborhood, your workplace, your school, extended family gatherings, the restaurants you frequent, the cashiers at the places you shop.
[00:46:43] Start to see your life with Jesus eyes that everywhere you go and every person you meet without Christ is harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd.
[00:46:51] Get to know people by asking them questions about themselves, asking them to share their story, listen intently and with purpose, and the Holy Spirit will give you insight into how to bring the gospel to speak into their lives.
[00:47:03] After you've shown genuine interest in them, most times they're going to be interested in your story, you see. And that's what we've learned in Columbia. We start out as every door we go to, we ask them about them. Tell us about your family, tell us about what's going on in your life. Tell me about what's hurting and how we can pray for you. And as they light up because they see some, somebody's actually interested, then you just set the table, say, hey, do you mind if I share my story with you?
[00:47:29] And almost 100 of the time, just say, sure.
[00:47:34] And that's when you get to share about what Jesus has done in your life.
[00:47:39] Number five. Get equipped to share the gospel in two ways.
[00:47:42] First, write out your story, which is broken down when we go to the mission field. The three things. Your life before Christ, how Christ saved you, and your life since Christ has come into your life.
[00:47:54] Be real, be honest and transparent. Share the pain of your past. Don't hide it, but make it the shortest part of your story.
[00:48:02] Sometimes people go on and on about all the things they've been through and all the herd stuff. People need to hear that Christians actually have some pain and suffering in their lives. And they can be real with it and they can be transparent with it.
[00:48:14] So then make them the highest, the most part of your story on how Christ saved you and how your life has changed.
[00:48:23] Second way is you can create your own gospel presentation based on God's story of redemption. All of sin. Sin leads to separation from God. Sin cannot be erased by good deeds. Jesus is God who willingly came to pay for your sin. If you place your faith in Jesus, he will forgive you and give you eternal life.
[00:48:41] I got trained in sharing the gospel by going on the mission field. And it's amazing how much more comfortable I am now in sharing my story and sharing the gospel.
[00:48:51] This also means Learning how to engage people to ask questions, to get them to talk about themselves and to be active listeners and to bridge conversations to spiritual things.
[00:49:03] Number six, pray for your non Christian family and friends.
[00:49:06] Pray for everyone by name that you desire to see to come to Christ. Try to pray for specific barriers you see in their life to be brought down that's keeping them from Jesus.
[00:49:15] And arrange for times to share the gospel with them.
[00:49:18] Stop waiting for the perfect time.
[00:49:22] We fool ourselves that everything has to be perfect and everything has to be cultivated.
[00:49:26] Every time is the perfect time when you're armed with the Holy Spirit and the Word of God.
[00:49:33] And finally, number seven, show hospitality by inviting non Christians into your home and to the church.
[00:49:40] Those are the seven crossroads decisions that are before you.
[00:49:45] And now we're going to spend some time with the Lord and talk it over with Him.
[00:49:50] Confess or repent that. Yeah, I just determined I'm never going to be someone who shares the Gospel.
[00:49:57] That needs to change.
[00:49:59] So let's spend some time with the Lord now in doing that and then we're going to move on in the communion where you can come forward to share the elements.
[00:50:10] And as you do, remember the cross of Christ and remember his great sacrifice to save you from your sin and remember his great love for you that he would give his life in your place. And today, remember the day of your salvation because there were people that came into your life and it's the reason why you sit here now eternally secure in Christ, because there is somebody else who is willing to share the gospel with you.
[00:50:36] Let's go ahead and spend some time with the Lord now. And then when you feel ready, come up and grab the elements and partake in communion.
