Transcription downloaded from https://sermon-library.fbcmustang.org/sermons/103460/evangelism/.

Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions.
Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt.


[0:00] Well, we've got several seniors on worship band. That was their last set to lead. Actually, Kagan planned and rehearsed that whole set by himself this week.

[0:10] ! So, I mean, he rehearsed it with other people, but he's the mastermind behind it. So thankful for them. If you are a senior, please stand up. If you're a senior this year graduating, please stand up.

[0:22] We'll be talking about evangelism tonight, but I wanted to just say a brief word to you guys. So everyone look around. These are the seniors that are graduating. All right, you guys can sit down now. I'm going to keep speaking to you. You don't have to say bye to them yet. All right, that was across the line, Garrett.

[0:39] Oh, don't cry. Okay, all right. I thought you said goodbye, Molly. So I just want to give a word to the seniors before we get into evangelism. One of the hardest parts of youth ministry for me is every year I lose like a seventh of my friends, it feels like.

[0:57] So it's painful. It's difficult to say goodbye, but the reason that's so is because you guys have been faithful. The reason it's sad is because you guys have been so servant-minded and faithful in attendance and regular here and serving one another and serving our student ministry.

[1:16] If you guys had slacked off or stopped coming halfway through your senior year or halfway through high school, it wouldn't be as difficult to watch you guys go. But it is good and natural for you guys to move on. I want you guys to miss youth ministry, but I also don't want you guys to stay in youth ministry forever because that'd be weird.

[1:33] Like, it's natural, but it is sorrowful to say goodbye. So I just want to say thank you guys and love you deeply from my heart. I'm not unfriending you or breaking up with you, so we'll still be friends, but I do just want you to be aware we're not going to talk to each other as much.

[1:50] We're not going to run into each other as much as we have over the last seven years of seeing each other multiple times a week. But please know, even though that'll be the case, that I'm willing to serve you in any way.

[2:02] I'm willing to do anything for you, help you in any way. If you need life advice, marriage advice, financial advice, spiritual advice, whatever, just call me. Just don't ask me to help you move. Okay, I don't do that. I'm too old for that, so don't ask.

[2:16] But seniors, great job. Thankful for you. And juniors in the room, just raise your hand. Don't stand up. But juniors in the room, raise your hand. Okay, your turn next, all right?

[2:26] So after tonight, effectively, you guys will be the seniors of the student ministry. So it's going to go by quickly. Just want you to be aware of that moving into this next year.

[2:37] So let me pray for the seniors, and we'll jump into discussing evangelism. Our Father, thank you so much for this senior class. We thank you for all that they've meant to our student ministry and all that they do mean to our church.

[2:51] And we recognize that not all of them will be leaving our church. Many of them will stay here and stay local. But for others, they will be moving away, some out of state. And we just pray for your blessing on these seniors.

[3:02] We know that in your grace, you will continue to use them in your kingdom. I pray that they'll look back on this time with fondness and with joy, but also recognize that your intent is for them to go out and establish their own lives.

[3:17] And maybe that'll be here. Maybe that'll be somewhere else. But I pray that they would be as much of a blessing to whatever church they end up in as they have been to ours. So we thank you once again. It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen.

[3:29] All right. So for tonight, I want to talk with you about evangelism. And that's a big word, but it means sharing the gospel with someone else.

[3:41] And so when we talk about the gospel, when we talk about evangelism, we're talking about sharing the good news of what God has done for us through the death and resurrection of his son.

[3:54] We're telling people the gospel. We're telling people the good news that Christ died for sinners, that he paid for our sins on the cross, died, rose again, and whoever believes in him, whoever calls on his name, will be saved.

[4:11] Evangelism is what we are called to as Christians. It's what we are called to as a church. And I hope that our church and our student ministry will be filled with evangelism, that you here who are believers will be filled up with sharing the gospel with those sitting next to you, with those in your Sunday school class that don't believe, with those in your family.

[4:35] I pray that our church would be marked by that, and even that our student ministry would be marked by that, and maybe even lead out in that. Evangelism is why the church is on earth.

[4:48] That's why the church is on earth. God could have saved us and taken us to heaven, which would have been so sick. That would have been so cool if he did that. He could have saved us and then just left us all alone, left us by ourselves, but he hasn't done either of those.

[5:02] He saved us and brought us into the church. And the reason the church is here on earth is so that we can tell others about what God has done for us in Christ.

[5:15] We exist to proclaim him. We proclaim him to each other. We remind each other of God's mercy to us, and we tell others who have not heard of who Jesus is.

[5:27] And the foundation of our evangelism, just like the foundation for our life, is on Christ. Christ is the foundation for our existence, and he's the foundation for our evangelism.

[5:41] As we think about Christ being the foundation, we need to think specifically about his purpose or his mission. What is the mission of Christ? Why was he sent to earth?

[5:54] Well, the New Testament tells a lot of things about why he came to earth. We can kind of summarize it by saying that he came to seek and save the lost and to pay for their sins.

[6:05] He came to seek the lost and to pay for their sins. The reason we share that message, the reason we share the gospel, is because Christ was sent to earth, and now he sends us.

[6:22] We are on the same mission that the Son was on. We don't pay for anyone's sins, but he was sent to save his people, and we are sent to proclaim that message even to the ends of the world.

[6:36] If you write down Matthew 28, verses 18 through 20, that's something we'll be coming back to a couple of times tonight. But Jesus is gathered with his 11 disciples who would quickly become apostles or sent ones, and he says that all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

[6:55] Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. Jesus was sent by the Father, and he sends his church to make disciples and proclaim his truth.

[7:14] This is something that's essential to the Christian life. This is something that's essential to the life of the church, and yet it's something that I think all of us probably struggle with.

[7:25] It's something that all of us feel like, I need to do that more. Maybe I don't know how. Maybe I don't feel equipped to do it. But the average Christian doesn't lead anyone to Christ.

[7:38] And we're not in control of salvation ultimately. That's something the Lord does. But the average Christian does not lead someone to Christ. And this can look various different ways of leading someone to Christ.

[7:49] It can look like just being faithful at work and being able to point someone to Christ, sharing Christ with them. It can look like raising your kids to love Christ. But the average Christian isn't involved in this in any meaningful way.

[8:05] Now, I could try to motivate you by guilt tonight. I could try to motivate myself by guilt tonight and say, you guys need to be doing this. What's wrong with you? I could be saying that to myself as well. And that might work in the short term.

[8:17] Like that might get you to share the gospel with someone just out of guilt. But even if that were to last for six months, you're sharing the gospel out of guilt. God would not be pleased by that effort.

[8:31] Why? Because he's not glorified by people doing the right things from a wrong heart. He's not fully honored by people doing what's right from a heart that is dreading him or a heart that is weighed down by guilt and just trying to get rid of that guilty feeling.

[8:51] Evangelism is sharing the truth and the glory of Christ with people. Is it honoring to him to only do that from a sense of guilt?

[9:01] No, it's not. He's honored and glorified when we love him and out of that love talk about him to others.

[9:14] I love Chick-fil-A and I recognize I've mentioned Chick-fil-A I think every Wednesday night for a month now but it's the last one so you'll get a break from me here. Why do we love Chick-fil-A?

[9:24] I'm assuming everyone in the room loves it because you do. As we go into Chick-fil-A the food is great but what really sets it apart is the service, right? And you who work at Chick-fil-A great job, you're upholding the standard.

[9:36] And you know that when you say thank you to them they say what? My pleasure. And so sometimes if I'm feeling playful I will say thank you as many times as humanly possible in the course of one interaction just to hear them say it every time and they do.

[9:52] But imagine it feels like you're doing them a favor to go to Chick-fil-A it's like man they're happy to see me. They're probably not but that's what they say. Imagine if you go and sit down walk back up to the counter you're like oh hey I need some Chick-fil-A sauce.

[10:08] They hand it to you and you say thank you and the worker was like it's just my job. That wouldn't feel good, right? You'd be like oh I'm sorry man I didn't realize you hated your life here.

[10:20] Like you can keep the Chick-fil-A sauce it's okay. You need it. It wouldn't land the same, right? You're just like they're doing this out of just duty or guilt or something.

[10:31] We love Chick-fil-A because it's their pleasure to serve us and again it makes us happy. Makes it feel like we're doing them a favor. But the proper practice of evangelism has to be built on a proper foundation.

[10:45] We can try to motivate ourselves by guilt but that won't last and Christ won't be fully honored by that. you need to know Christ and delight in Him and out of that delight share the truth about Him with others.

[11:00] And part of knowing Him part of delighting in Him is knowing why He came. He came to seek the lost and pay for their sins. We see that all throughout the New Testament.

[11:11] One place we see both of those things is in John 10. So if you would open your Bibles with me to John chapter 10. Amen. We'll spend some time here looking at Jesus' own words about Himself and His mission on earth what He was sent to do and when we understand His purpose we'll understand our purpose as His followers.

[11:41] And so we'll spend some time in John 10 and launch out from there to a couple other passages in the New Testament and we'll conclude with some practical tips on how to share the gospel with someone.

[11:53] Okay? So conclude with some practical help. So in John 10 Jesus is speaking and all throughout John's gospel He's giving some metaphorical statements about who He is.

[12:03] And so He says things like I am the bread of life. I am the light of the world. I am the way, the truth, and the life. Here at the beginning of John 10 He drops one on them and says I am the door.

[12:19] If anyone would enter into life he must enter through me. And He gives us another one here starting in verse 11 I am the good shepherd.

[12:30] And so we see firstly the good shepherd in verses 11 through 18 the good shepherd. And these metaphorical statements are telling us something about who Christ is but He's also taking a divine title as He's describing these things.

[12:49] In the Old Testament God revealed Himself first to Moses at the burning bush and what did He say His name was? I am. That's my name. Or Yahweh is how it is written in Hebrew.

[13:03] And so when Jesus says I am He's not just giving us a glimpse into who He is by using a metaphor He's proclaiming Himself as God Himself.

[13:17] And He's giving us an aspect of what He is like as God when He says I am the good shepherd. He's speaking this to Jews who would Jews have understood their shepherd to be?

[13:30] God Himself. Think of Psalm 23 the Lord is my shepherd. Underneath God Himself would sometimes be the human king.

[13:42] David was called the shepherd of Israel recognizing that He is under the Lord shepherding and leading God's people. But for Jesus to say this not as a human king He is claiming to be God Himself leading the people of Israel.

[14:00] And He explains in what way He's the good shepherd and describes what a shepherd does at the end of verse 11. The good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.

[14:11] Now Jesus is talking at a couple of different levels here. He's saying that I am the good shepherd this is what I do for my sheep. But He's also speaking just practically here.

[14:23] This is what any good shepherd does who is literally shepherding actual sheep. He lays down His life for them. He sacrifices Himself for the safety of His flock for the life of His sheep.

[14:39] And He contrasts that with someone who's an hourly employee basically. Verse 12 He who is a hired hand so this is someone who's not the shepherd doesn't own the sheep he's just paid to babysit the sheep.

[14:52] He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd who does not own the sheep sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees. And the wolf snatches them and scatters them.

[15:04] Verse 13 He flees because He's a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. He doesn't care about them so He doesn't protect them He doesn't lay down His life for them.

[15:15] However Jesus verse 14 says once again I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me.

[15:28] This is the relationship between Him and His sheep. He knows who His sheep are. His sheep know who He is. Now how deep does this knowledge go?

[15:39] How thorough is this knowledge? Well He says in verse 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. Jesus is eternal.

[15:53] He did not begin to exist. He existed forever alongside God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. and He says in the same way that I know the Father and that same eternal intimacy that I know the Father I also know my sheep and they know me.

[16:10] This is as close and as thorough of a knowledge as can exist in this universe. And He says I lay down my life for the sheep.

[16:23] Once again He's talking about His personal sacrifice for the sheep which He will return to and actually explain more thoroughly later on in this passage as we'll see. But look at verse 16.

[16:37] And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also. Jesus says I am the shepherd of Israel.

[16:50] I am the shepherd of my people but I have got sheep that don't belong to Israel right now. I have got sheep that belong to another pasture.

[17:01] I have got sheep that haven't yet heard my voice. I have got sheep that are far away from me and don't know who I am. I have to go get them.

[17:11] I have to bring them also. This is a reference to Gentiles. Gentiles that would one day hear of Christ and believe in Him and follow Him and look at how this happens.

[17:23] He says they will listen to my voice. They have not heard Him yet. They do not follow Him yet. But look at how Jesus describes them.

[17:37] He says they are my sheep. They don't know who He is. They don't follow Him yet. But they're His. And this is similar if you want to write down Acts 18.

[17:49] Paul goes to Corinth and as he's preaching there he's discouraged. And that was a highly educated society. It's likely they weren't super receptive to the gospel at first and so he's discouraged.

[18:02] And the Lord Jesus Christ visits him in a vision at night in Acts 18 verses 9 through 11. And the Lord says to him do not be afraid.

[18:13] Go on speaking. Do not be silent. And he says because I have many in this city who are my people.

[18:25] Jesus Himself is telling Paul these people haven't all heard the gospel yet but there are people in this town who belong to me. They don't know me yet but they are mine.

[18:38] How are they His? How are they His sheep? How are they His people? And what we'll see later in this text is because the Father has chosen them that they belong to Him.

[18:53] They still need to hear Jesus' voice. They still need to be saved in space and time but they are chosen by the Father and Jesus says they will listen to my voice.

[19:06] This is the defining characteristic of Jesus' sheep. sheep. They hear His voice and they obey Him. They listen to Him.

[19:19] And listening doesn't just mean hearing. Even though hearing is obviously a critical part of listening. It means to do what you hear. To hear a command and obey it. To be told something and to follow through on it.

[19:33] And so they will follow Him. They will be brought to Him. How so? They are going to hear His voice. And Jesus says the result of this at the end of verse 16.

[19:46] So there will be one flock, one shepherd. At the end of time Jesus' people will be gathered together and it will be a mixed group of Jews and Gentiles.

[20:03] but there is going to be just one people group. One congregation with one shepherd. There won't be divisions among us in the new heavens and the new earth.

[20:16] Jesus isn't going to be the shepherd of the Jews on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and of the Gentiles on Tuesday, Thursday. He is not going to be the shepherd of the females on Saturday and the males on Sunday. He will be the shepherd of all His people all the time for all of time and eternity.

[20:32] and what is it that qualifies Him to do this? What is it that makes Him so confident that this is going to happen? Look at verse 17. For this reason the Father loves me because I lay down my life that I may take it up again.

[20:50] Here He returns to the idea of His death. But notice the control that Jesus has over His death. Me and you we're all going to die at some point and we have no control over that.

[21:03] If you do something really stupid you have some control but no control over that moment. Look at how Jesus talks about His death here. I lay down my life that I may take it up again.

[21:18] Verse 18 No one takes it from me but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and I have authority to take it up again.

[21:32] This charge I have received from my Father. Jesus will die for His sheep and He will raise Himself back from the dead. I have authority to do this.

[21:43] This is why my Father loves me. This is how I know my sheep will hear my voice because I will die for them and rise again to new life.

[21:54] So that's the Good Shepherd. Secondly we see the Good Shepherd's sheep. The Good Shepherd's sheep. We will skip down to verse 22 through verse 30.

[22:06] If you look at verse 19 though on our way the Jews don't know what to do with Jesus. They don't know how to respond to Him. Some of them think He is demon possessed. Some of them think He is divine.

[22:17] They can't make up their minds about what to do with Him. And so they make a plan and they ambush Him in verse 22. And so at the Feast of Dedication verse 23 Jesus was walking in the temple in the colonnade of Solomon and the Jews verse 24.

[22:35] When John says the Jews he is referring to Jewish leadership so the Pharisees most likely. They gathered around Him and said to Him and the word gather there is like an army assembling.

[22:48] They attacked Him really. They cornered Him. It's like the paparazzi. They showed up saying we want answers. Tell us plainly. We want you to tell everything. And their question is how long will you keep us in suspense?

[23:02] If you are the Christ tell us plainly. If you're the Messiah if you're the one we're hoping for tell us plainly. And they don't actually care about if He is the Messiah they just want a reason to be able to put Him to death.

[23:22] They just want Him to speak clearly so that they can get rid of Him. They want Him to speak publicly and clearly. They want Him to tell everything. And what He gives them is actually more than they can handle.

[23:36] In verse 25 Jesus answered them I told you and you do not believe. Jesus basically says next question. I've told you this already and you don't believe.

[23:49] You don't believe. Now it's interesting because we might expect Jesus to say I told you this but you didn't listen. But what He says is I told you this and you don't believe.

[24:02] And so listening and belief are tied super closely together here. His sheep listen to Him and obey Him and believe Him. Those who are not His sheep do not receive His words.

[24:15] And so Jesus says your problem is not a lack of clarity it's a lack of faith. you don't believe. And He goes on and says the works that I do in my Father's name bear witness about me.

[24:32] The miracles that Jesus performed give evidence about who He is. Healing sick people causing lame people to walk causing blind people to see.

[24:47] The Pharisees have seen this so why don't they believe. They've heard Him talk. Why don't they believe? Well Jesus actually answers that question and His answer to that question is simple and straightforward and highly offensive and deeply theological.

[25:08] His answer in verse 26 but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. Simple and straightforward.

[25:20] The reason you don't believe is because you are not my people. The reason you don't believe is because you're not a part of my flock. It's very simple, very clear, and it's highly offensive.

[25:32] He's saying this to the Pharisees. These men know scripture. These men would have viewed! themselves as the shepherds of Israel. These men would have thought if anyone in the nation of Israel gets into heaven, it's going to be us because we're righteous.

[25:46] We know the Bible. And Jesus says, you don't listen to me because you're not a part of my flock. How could they of all people not belong to Christ's flock?

[26:00] Well, here's where it's deeply theological. If me and you were talking and we were describing unbelievers, we would probably say they're not part of Christ's flock because they haven't believed.

[26:16] And so if they just believe, they'd be brought into Christ's flock. I think that's how we would talk, that's kind of how salvation seems to take place from a human perspective. But that's actually the exact opposite of what Jesus says.

[26:30] What he says is you don't believe and the reason you don't believe is because you're not in my flock. And so really what he's telling them is you've had enough evidence.

[26:46] You've seen everything you would need to see. The reason you don't believe me is because my father has not chosen you. It's because you're not his people.

[26:59] Highly offensive, deeply theological, but straight to the point. Verse 27, he says, my sheep hear my voice.

[27:12] If you were my sheep, you would hear me. You would receive me. My sheep hear my voice. And I know them and they follow me.

[27:25] We don't have time to play this video tonight, but if you just Google when you get home, sheep listening to shepherd's voice, or sheep hearing shepherd's voice, or something like that, like a two-minute video will pull up, and there's this group of people that are out in a field, and there's a bunch of sheep out in the field, and they're imitating what the shepherd says, they're saying what he says, they're saying it in the same way that he says, and the sheep don't budge at all.

[27:55] And as soon as the shepherd starts speaking, all the sheep's heads go up, and they run to him. They know his voice. They recognize his voice.

[28:06] And Jesus is saying, that's what my people are like. When they hear the gospel, at some point, they will hear my voice. They will recognize me as their shepherd. That doesn't mean that every Christian will repent the first time they hear the gospel.

[28:23] It usually takes multiple times of hearing the gospel, but it does mean that all of Christ's sheep will hear his voice and will respond to him.

[28:35] And so in evangelism, we are not forcing our beliefs on other people. Don't listen to the lies that say we're trying to force our beliefs on other people. We are sharing the truth about Christ with them. We're not forcing them to convert.

[28:47] We can't do that. We don't have the power to open their best debater in the world cannot change a goat into a sheep.

[29:03] We're not powerful enough for that. It is Christ's power that saves someone. We can't open someone's heart. We can't change their nature. So what are we trying to do as we share the gospel?

[29:16] Well, this illustration has been used many times, but what we're doing is we're looking for his sheep. And so you'll share the gospel with a lot of people and they'll just have a stoic look on their face.

[29:30] They don't care about what you say. They don't care to listen to what you're talking about. But every once in a while you'll talk to someone and they recognize their shepherd's voice.

[29:41] They recognize that what you're saying is true and they turn from their sins believe in Christ. And so we are calling out in the fields looking for those sheep to perk their ears up who recognize their shepherd's voice as we share the gospel with them.

[30:00] And then Jesus says in verse 28 I give them I give my sheep eternal life and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. He is the good shepherd.

[30:10] He does not lose anything that is his. He doesn't lose any of his people. Verse 29 My father who has given them to me.

[30:22] How did Jesus get his sheep? They were given to him by the father. My father is greater than all and no one is able to snatch them out of the father's hand. I and the father are one.

[30:33] How did Jesus get his sheep? The father gave! them to him. When did the father give those sheep to him? The new testament tells us it was before the world began.

[30:44] Before the foundation of the earth. The father gave sheep to his son. And they will hear the son's voice. Now how does that happen?

[30:57] How do they hear him? Christ is in heaven now. How is it that they hear him? Well they hear him through his people. As we speak the gospel.

[31:08] As we tell his gospel. so that leads us thirdly to the messengers of the good shepherd. The messengers of the good shepherd. And here we will branch out into the rest of the new testament thinking about our task as believers to be messengers of the great shepherd of the sheep.

[31:32] And so if you would go with me back to! John chapter 4 4 a few chapters back to your left we see a beautiful example of this. I kind of want to read a big portion of this.

[31:45] I'll make some comments as we go but I just want you to hear this story. This is an example of who we are to be as his followers. So John chapter 4 verse 1 Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John although Jesus himself did not baptize but only his disciples he left Judea and departed again for Galilee and he had to pass through Samaria why did he have to well there's no reason for him to have to Jews would avoid Samaria if they could the reason he had to is because he had some sheep here who needed to hear his voice there were some sheep here who needed to hear the gospel verse 5 so he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar which is actually the same place as Shechem in the

[32:46] Old Testament near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph Jacob was there so Jesus wearied as he was from his journey was sitting beside the well it was about the sixth hour it's noon twelve o'clock in the Middle East super hot during the summer no one in here is outside from twelve to three unless you absolutely have to be because it's it's deathly hot and Jesus is sitting here by this well verse seven a woman from Samaria came to draw water now no one drew water at noon she was doing this to avoid everyone she was doing this to avoid any contact with people from her town but Jesus speaks to her and says give me a drink for his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food the Samaritan woman said to him how is it that you a Jew ask for a drink from me a woman of Samaria for Jews have no dealings with Samaritans men and women did not talk to each other in public Jews did not go through

[33:49] Samaria Jews did not talk to Samaritans and here Jesus is speaking to a Samaritan woman a woman so bad that she doesn't even want to associate with anyone from her town and not only that Jesus doesn't have a water bottle Jesus doesn't have a straw with him he's going to drink after her so when he says give me a drink she's floored she's like what do you what do you mean you don't talk to me what do you mean by asking me for a drink Jesus says in verse 10 if you knew the gift of God and who it is that is saying to you give me a drink you would have asked him and he would have given you living water he's speaking about the gospel here I can save your soul I can cause fountains of living water to well up inside of you but the woman hears what he says but is only thinking physically and not spiritually and she says sir you have nothing to draw water with and the well is deep where do you get that living water and this was

[34:54] Jacob's well and so she says are you greater than our father Jacob he gave us the well and drank from it himself as did his sons and his livestock and Jesus says everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty!

[35:05] again whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again the water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life and the woman said to him sir give me this water so that I will not be thirsty and we're like she's getting it she's understanding she says or have to come here to draw water she's still just thinking physically she's not understanding what Jesus is saying so Jesus cuts straight to the heart he knows everything he knows all of us in this room better than we know ourselves he knows what's in your heart he knows what's in your past and he puts it on display here in verse 16 Jesus says to her go call your husband and come here simple enough but she says I don't have a husband and if a woman said that to me I would assume her husband has died and she's a widow or she's never been married those would be my first but

[36:10] Jesus knows better than that he knows everything and he proves that to her he says you're right in saying I have no husband for you've had five husbands and the one you now have is not your husband what you have said is true so she spoke truthfully but wasn't completely honest and Jesus says yeah you're right you don't have a husband because you've had five of them and you're living with someone now pretending to be married but you're not and her response she's shocked she says I perceive that you are a prophet that's the understatement of the century right there I understand that you're a prophet she's trying to understand this man must have heard this from God he doesn't know me and yet he knows me I've never met him but he knows who I am and she changes the subject and she gets into a little theological debate trying to say like well we worship on this mountain but you worship on that mountain which one's right and

[37:16] Jesus answers her question and answers truthfully and the woman is starting to recognize who this might be he knows everything about her and he also knows theology as well in verse 25 the woman says to him I know that Messiah is coming he who is called Christ when he comes he will tell us all things this is a statement here there's a period at the end of it but this is kind of a question it's kind of a leading statement I know there's a Messiah coming who is going to know everything he's going to teach us everything and Jesus says to her I who speak to you am he and the ESV kind of is a little goofy with this the what John writes in Greek is I am who is speaking to you I am Yahweh I am

[38:17] God and I'm speaking to you I'm more than a prophet I am the Messiah and I'm God in the flesh And the disciples come back and they're confused by this scene but no one says anything and verse now notice that she came to draw water leaves all that equipment there goes back into town she was going to draw water at this time to avoid everyone now she speaks to everybody who will listen to her and says come see a man who told me all that I ever did can this be the Christ they went out of the town and were coming to him skip down to verse 39 because of the woman's testimony he told me all that I ever did so when the Samaritans came to him they asked him to stay with them and he stayed there two days and many more believed because of his word what a beautiful picture this lost sheep that belongs to

[39:18] Christ hears his voice and goes and tells his message to his other sheep that need to hear his voice what if we lived like her who can you go and tell these are people she already knew already had relationships with and she's telling them about Christ and I just want you to write down or remember Romans 10 verse 9 through verse 17 and I want you to read that tonight when you get home the basic idea is how are people going to believe in him if they haven't heard of him how are they going to hear of him unless someone goes and preaches to him how is someone going to go and preach to that person unless they're sent out that's the basic idea of Romans 10 we are Christ's messengers we are the way people hear Christ's voice so lastly I want to give you some tips on how to share the gospel how to share the gospel now

[40:21] I'm not going to walk you through line by line what you need to say I'm not going to give you a script to where you're trying to rehearse your lines and just vomit it out on someone who needs to hear I want to equip you with what you need to have a conversation with someone I want to help you have that conversation but first I want to give you a challenge I want to challenge everyone in the room adults you too myself included private schoolers homeschoolers public schoolers 6th through 12th graders I want to challenge everyone in here to share the gospel with one person this summer and invite them to church I want everyone in here to share the gospel with one person this summer and invite them to church invite them to pool bible study invite them to something our church is doing so that's May 7th we'll count today as over May 7th through August 5th okay three months almost I want everyone in here to share the gospel with one person and invite them to church so here are six ways you can go about doing that or six practical tips for doing that number one foundationally know and believe the gospel you need to be a

[41:37] Christian before you try to bring someone else to Christianity so know the facts about Christ and believe in him with your heart and to do that one helpful tip is just to memorize scripture memorize scripture and I would encourage you to memorize whole chapters of scripture whole paragraphs of scripture but honestly for evangelism what may be most helpful is just memorizing individual verses memorize some things you can bring into conversation I was sharing the gospel with someone one time I just quoted one verse to him and he said I've never met anyone who can quote the Bible without looking at it that made an impression on him and so I think maybe most helpfully in evangelism is to know one know one or two specific verses you can bring into conversation things like John 3 16 that's a good one you probably already know it so done another one would be 1 Corinthians 15 but basically here be ready to explain sin salvation and

[42:37] Jesus be ready to explain those three things as you share the gospel of what God has done for us in Christ number two pray for opportunities and take them pray for opportunities and take them I was at the gym a couple of months ago and there's a guy there I saw and he at one point belonged to our church but had kind of thrown his life away and abandoned his family and still claims to be a Christian but is not living like one at all and I prayed kind of without thinking through the implications of what I was praying I was like Lord if I just had an opportunity to talk to him I would love that and as I'm finishing my workout I'm going into the bathroom to wash my hands so I don't get a deadly disease of some kind and I'm going in there and he's in the bathroom and he's like Joey what's up and I'm like oh hey man and pray for opportunities and take them and opportunities are just conversations

[43:48] I ended up following up with him and talking to him which I should have done in the first place but be as good of a conversationalist as you can be some of you are great at this my wife can talk to anyone in the world I am so jealous I am not like that I've got to work really hard to try to talk to people and be good in conversation so be as good as you can in conversation number three be a good listener where you can put in parentheses be kind just some common courtesy to people be a good listener I think something that holds people back from engaging in gospel conversations is you just think they're going to ask me a question I don't know they're going to be of some weird religion and it holds us back really a skill you need is just to be a good listener you just need to know what you believe you don't have to be an expert on whatever religious background they might have you just need to know what you believe and ask good questions specifically about faith and religion and people love to talk about themselves if you say what do you believe are you religious people will naturally like to talk about themselves there's a guy in our church by the name of johnny carroll some of you may know him he's retired cop retired detective super cool stories you can talk to him sunday school teacher in our church long time member of our church great guy

[45:14] I love talking to johnny he got saved as an adult and he got saved while he was and the guy just said where are you headed he said I'm going to this place and going to this place what about you and the other guy told him where he was headed on the plane and that guy said to him what about where are you headed in life and johnny didn't know he's like I really I don't know I don't have much of a purpose I don't know really what I'm doing and that guy shared the gospel with him on the plane and johnny believed it he heard his shepherd's voice and repented of his sins and now has served our church for decades and so just be a good listener and ask good leading questions like that and the woman at the well does this look at chapter 4 verse!

[46:06] 29 she says come see a man who told me all that I ever did can this be the Christ that's a good question number four put a rock in their shoe there are several books that will talk about things like this but put a rock in their shoe if you've ever been walking and you get a rock in your shoe and you're limping you're like I've got to stop and get this out you take your shoe off shake it out and it's like a pebble you can barely see but it was about to rip your heel off it feels like that's the idea you may not have a long conversation with them but just say something ask something that when they walk away when they wake up tomorrow it's going to be nagging at them they're going to be thinking about it so put a rock in their shoe something they can chew on after the conversation is over there's an old Spanish pastor named Alex Montoya I like to listen to he's very fiery and feisty so it fires me up but he was out sharing the gospel in his neighborhood one day and he was talking to a guy who had no interest in what he was saying he's like

[47:08] I'm not interested thanks for sharing please leave and Montoya said to him alright do me a favor then and the guy was like okay sure what he said don't die and then he walked off how epic is that by the way like what a flex that's aura and he just walks away turns his back walks away and then Montoya is preaching that Sunday morning like five days later and that guy meets!

[47:40] after church and he like I cannot stop thinking about that I'm not in control of when I die how can I not die and he shared the gospel with him again and he got saved so just give him something to chew on give him something that might disturb them a little bit even don't get too dark but disturb them a little bit number!

[47:57] Be a friend to sinners be a friend to sinners what's one of the main reasons unbelievers don't come to church they don't get invited I've talked to unbelievers who view the church as a club don't invite me so I don't want to show up and be rude just ask them be a friend to them go out to eat with them go to a game with them spend time with them don't separate from the world we want to separate from worldliness we want to separate from sin but don't separate from sinners don't separate your Christianity from what you do in life if you play sports be the best Christian sports player you can be and make relationships while you do it and point them to Christ lastly number six be ready to explain more fully if you're sharing the gospel with someone don't take up 45 minutes of their time just like unloading on them like have a conversation with them and be ready to just be honest with them and say yeah let me look into that but be ready to explain more fully so

[49:05] I challenge all of you myself included share the gospel with someone this summer and invite them to church and one final question to end with how many people when they're telling their testimony would mention your name and we don't need to be trying to do!

[49:26]  this so our name gets mentioned from the baptistry when people are telling their testimony but how many people when they're saying about how they came to Christ would say he shared the gospel with me he invited me to church and shared the gospel with me how many people would use your name in their testimony we want to share the gospel with people we want to point them to Christ we want to be evangelistic as a youth ministry and as a church because our task as the church is to be sent by Christ so that his sheep can hear his voice let's pray our father we thank you for this evening thank you so much for our last time together on Wednesday night this school year to be studying the Bible I pray for everyone's summer that it would go well everyone would stay safe and get those through it are going to get out and get out in in this next year it was in the slurs of the didn it was that we were out of the way that was like that an day it was so it was it it was it it was it fathers it was average