A Recipe for Evangelistic Success

I want to begin this morning by sharing a piece of my personal testimony. I know that I've shared some things about my testimony before, but as far as this piece of my personal testimony, I'd like to focus our attention on Jonathan. Jonathan is the man who God used to reach out to me. And there are a few things that I want to say about Jonathan and his efforts at reaching out to me.

he took the initiative. he came to me. I, I did not go to him, he came to me with a desire in due time to see me come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. We went to college together and as it turned out, we had classes together.

We were both history majors and he would oftentimes invite me over to his home in order that we might study together. Those of you in college consider inviting unsaved and unlovely folks into your home and study together with such people. He was always respectful of me, always respectful, and he would oftentimes pay sincere comp Compliments to me. at this time in my life, you gotta understand I was a fraternity dude with a drug addiction.

He was just, in, in my mind, I was not the type of person that a good Christian person would want to reach out to. This guy would reach out to me, show respect, pay sincere compliments, and in due time, and at the right time, he began to speak gospel truth to me, very appropriately. Another thing about Jonathan is, as far as his relationship to me and his efforts to win me to Christ, he refused to give up. He persevered, if you will.

it took him the better part of 2 years, close to 3 years of sharing his life and sharing the gospel message with me. I remember when he finally, invited me to the Campus Crusade for Christ conference in San Francisco in 1991. He asked if I wanted to go, and I responded to him by saying, I could not go. Well, he didn't stop there.

He pressed a little bit with me and he says, Why can't you not go? And I said, Because I, I have not the money. Yeah, that's it. I have not the money.

That seemed to me to be a sufficient enough excuse. Well, he heard that and it seemed as if I was safe. It seemed to me that he accepted that one, but a few days later, he came to me and he said, Carlos, you are going. To go to the conference, your ticket has been purchased.

And so I was stuck. I had nowhere to go except to this conference to hang out with a bunch of Jesus freaks that I felt terribly unsettled about. I felt way out of my comfort zone, but I would go to this conference. And it was there at the conference, having already become greatly convicted by the law over my sin.

It was there at the conference that I heard for the first time in my life, Romans chapter 7. Brothers and sisters, the temptation was great for me to preach out of Romans chapter 7. This is where Milton is at and it's perfect because the verses we're supposed to cover are the verses that God used to cause me to be born again. these are the verses in Romans chapter 7 that God used to bring me out of the darkness and to transfer me into the light.

I was convicted over my sin and the preacher was preaching Romans 7, and I remember the apostle Paul saying, the things that I do, I don't want to do. What I don't wanna do, this is what I do. wretched man that I am, and that just nailed me right on the head. Who will deliver me?

Who will rescue me from this body of death? And of course the apostle Paul gives to us the only answer. Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ. And it was through that passage, through Romans chapter 7 that I, as an unconverted believer, did you catch that?

I would categorize myself as an unconverted believer. I believed intellectually, but I had yet to be born again. God used Romans 7, and thanks be to God through Jesus Christ to illumine the eyes of my understanding that I would be born again on that day, a few days after Christmas of 1991, and brought to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. None of that would have been possible.

Without Jonathan's influence in my life. He reached out to me. He shared the gospel with me. He shared his life with me.

He refused to give up on me and he even invested in me time and money and resources, food out of his own refrigerator. His evangelistic efforts in my life proved to be successful. He could perhaps echo the very words of Paul himself. In our passage this morning where he says, my coming to you was not in vain, and I would say that Jonathan's coming to me was not in vain.

It was not empty. There was something good that happened as a result. I'd like to ask you to turn then in your Bible to the passage in mind, 1 Thessalonians chapter 21 Thessalonians chapter 2, and we will look at verses 1 and 2. As you are turning there, allow me to take a few minutes to give you some background.

OK, this is the background, this is the fuller picture, in, in which we are to understand the epistle of First Thessalonians. The background basically comes out of Acts chapter 1617, and 18, and, and allow me to, to attempt a summary. The apostle Paul had been prevented from going to Asia, and he was led by the Spirit into Macedonia. He wanted to go north, but instead he was prevented and the Spirit would lead him to go westward on his way into the Macedonian area.

Eventually, he would wind up in Philippi, where he would be severely persecuted because of his faith. Paul in Philippi delivered a slave girl from a demon of divination, and her masters became agitated. The prophet was gone. They seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities.

The crowd was stirred into an uproar, and the magistrates had Paul and Silas beaten severely with rods. Many stripes were inflicted, and they were thrown into prison, and their feet were fastened in stalks. When midnight rolled around, we read that they were praying and singing hymns of praise to their God. An earthquake struck and the prison doors flung open.

The guard was terrified and was on the verge of taking his own life before Paul yelled out to him, Stop! And Paul would proceed to share the gospel with this prison guard. As it turns out, the guard and his household believed, and they were all baptized, and Paul and Silas would be dismissed by the magistrates and they would go from Philippi eventually to the city of Thessalonica, Thessalonica. They reasoned with the Jews for 3 Sabbaths, some of the Jews believed, many devout Greeks believed, some leading women believed, and however, the Jews created an uproar and they went after these men.

Raiding the home of Jason where they thought Paul and Silas were, but Paul manages to escape the persecution as they were sent away by the brethren by night. They would next arrive at a city called Berea. And the Bereans were more noble minded than the Thessalonians in that they heard what Paul had to say. And they went to the scriptures to see whether they be true or not, and they embraced the gospel.

The problem is, is while in Berea, the Thessalonian Jewish non-believers, they caught wind that Paul was in Berea and they're gonna chase him out of Berea. Paul would go on to Athens and preach a great message there in the Areopagus. He would eventually then arrive at Corinth. During that whole time, upon his departure from Thessalonica, he carried inside of himself a tremendous burden.

He was extremely concerned about the spiritual well-being of these Thessalonians whom he had spent at least 3 weeks with ministering the gospel to them. He could not get the Thessalonians out of his heart and his mind and his prayers continually would go up to God on behalf of these Thessalonians. The apostle Paul was dying to visit them. He sought many times to visit, and as we read, Satan thwarted his steps.

And so the apostle Paul eventually sends Timothy. And you can imagine Timothy is sent out to the Thessalonians. The apostle Paul is just on the edge of his seat, just waiting, wanting to hear, wanting to know, was my ministry in vain, or did it prove to be successful? Are the Thessalonians walking into faith, or did Satan upend the effort there?

And as we read about in 1 Thessalonians, he sends Timothy, and Timothy eventually comes back with a praise report. Timothy comes back to Paul. Paul, I gotta tell you. No reason to worry, brother.

No reason to, to, to be worked over about how these Thessalonians are doing. They are walking in victory, Paul. They are walking according to the grace of God. They have faith, they have hope, they have love, and they speak kindly of, of your visit to them and they long to see you, Paul.

And the apostle Paul responds to that, and we read it in First Thessalonians where he says, now we really live, since you stand firm in the faith. The apostle Paul on the other side of the praise report will send 1 Thessalonians to the Thessalonians. And what we read here is just a small piece of the larger letter, but let us read it together. 1 Thessalonians 2:1.

For you yourselves know, brethren, that our coming to you was not in vain, but after we had already suffered, And been mistreated in Philippi. As, we had the boldness in our God to speak to you, the gospel of God, amid much opposition. The sermon this morning is entitled A Recipe for Evangelistic Success, A Recipe for Evangelistic Success. Six commitments to Help you succeed in your Evangelistic effort.

6 commitments. Let's take a look at the first one. Brothers and sisters, number one, number one commitment, reach out to the unsafe. Take initiative.

Listen to what Paul says, our coming to you, underscore the word coming, highlight the word coming, put a circle around the word coming. The apostle Paul here is reminding the Thessalonians of the fact that he came to them. They did not come to him, but he led by God, led by the Spirit, at some point in time, came to the Thessalonians, came knocking at their door, if you will, and proclaimed to them the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. He took the initiative, he did not wait for them to come to him, he went to them.

Paul reached out to the unsaved in the same way that Jesus has reached out to us. He took the initiative, he came to us, he reached out to us. We did not reach out to him, but he took the initiative and he revealed himself to us and as we heard the gospel through Jesus given to us through a human instrument, we responded in faith, he's the one that did it. And similarly, even as Jesus took the initiative, Paul takes the initiative and he steps out in faith, and he proclaims the gospel to the Thessalonians.

The initiative that Jonathan took in reaching out to me was an invaluable part of my coming to Christ, and I trust that many of you can think of the Jonathan in your life, who came to you and who shared with you the gospel so that through that message, you were born again. God, I believe, is calling some of you this morning, if not all this morning. To reach out, to take the initiative. There may be in your mind, a picture of a family member, a mother, a father, a son, a daughter, a brother, a sister, a cousin.

There may be in your mind's eye a picture of a friend. A neighbor Maybe some neighbors, co-workers, acquaintances, and the Lord would have, have it be that you are used as his instrument. to go to that person, to those persons, and to share the gospel with that person. You may be the only person standing between them and hell and the Lord would say to you, go with compassion and mercy, armed with the gospel and share the faith with such a person.

1, reach out to the unsaved, take initiative. Moving on to #2, reach out to the unsaved alongside a team of believers, reach out to the unsaved alongside a team of believers, in other words, minister in community. Now, I am not telling you not to minister alone. OK, of course, we minister to people alone as God gives opportunity.

Of course, we share the gospel alone with people who need to hear the gospel, but I would also encourage you to consider the fact that the apostle Paul in his approach did not minister alone in this context, he was with Silas and Timothy. And notice what he says here, our coming to you, our, it wasn't just my coming, but it was our coming to you. And he goes on to say, We had already, we had already suffered, been mistreated. We had the boldness in our God.

And so you see here, Paul is directing their attention to the fact that when he came, he came proclaiming the gospel within the context of community. Paul and Silas and no doubt Timothy had come to Thessalonica, and I think that there was something there. That ministered to the Thessalonians where they saw not just a man, but they saw some men and they saw the fellowship that they had with one another. They observed through their relationships to one another, the gospel on display, and that has a powerful effect in their coming to faith.

In the Lord Jesus Christ, the Thessalonians received the gospel from a community of believers, and let us not underestimate the significance of this. They were able to observe the gospel demonstrated in the attitudes and the actions of this ministry team as they related with one another. Prior to my salvation, my observation of how believers interacted with each other was an invaluable part of my coming to faith in Christ. Jonathan would invite me to these Christian parties.

Where these Jesus freaks who were having fun together without the use of alcohol and without the use of drugs, and it was quite weird to me. I had never seen it and, and, and the thing that impressed me was that they had a genuine joy that I knew that I did not have. There was something about them that was different, uniquely different. These were folks that just, just loved God and loved One another and they talked in a different way.

They had different attitudes, different behaviors. Everything about them was completely different, and the things they got excited about were so far removed from my experience. I knew they had something that I did not have, and there was that part of me that grew to want what it is that they had. I was not finding it in my drugs.

I was not finding it in my fornication. I was not finding it in these things that the world has to offer, but I knew that they had something and I wanted that something and never underestimate the power of fellowship, the power of believers being together and living their lives together and the effect that can have on an unsaved person and bringing that unsaved person to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Show them your faith in the context of community with one another. And so God, as I said, wants you to reach out individually.

But there is something to be said about reaching out with others. I want to speak to the heads of households here just for a second. Heads of households, husbands, fathers, I would encourage you to consider that God would have you to lead the way for your family and showing them how to reach out to the unsaved. Bring your family along with them and demonstrate to your children how it is that you reach out to the unsaved, how it is that you share the gospel.

with those who are headed to hell unless they hear the truth of the gospel. Heads of households lead the way. Families in the context of your family, minister the gospel in whatever creative ways that you can, both in word and in deed. And perhaps our care groups, even as they gather together later today and, and Friday, our care groups can give some thought as to what, what we might be able to do in our care group community.

In an effort to reach out to those who do not know Christ. In a couple of weeks, 2 weeks from today, in fact, we will be having a local church, church-wide outreach, the Easter service. it's designed to minister to the people of God, but it goes beyond that and it's an opportunity for us as a church to rally behind this cause of inviting our unsafe friends and family members and co-workers and neighbors and so on. on and so forth.

Invite them to the Easter service with the hope that they will hear and respond to the gospel. Milton will be preaching on the resurrection of Jesus, and he will proclaim the gospel and such is a wonderful opportunity for all of you to, to receive the challenge of bringing at least one person or family to church. The, the eternal destiny of people is on the line here, brothers and sisters. Well, let us move on to number 3.

Reach out to the unsaved alongside a team of believers with perseverance, with perseverance, in other words, do not give up, do not give up. The apostle Paul in this passage says, but after we had already suffered, and we had been mistreated in Philippi, as, we had the boldness in our God to speak to you, the Thessalonians, the gospel of God. You get the sense that the apostle Paul was not willing to give up. You get the sense that the apostle Paul would endure whatever necessary for the sake of the gospel, and in order to see people come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

He says, we suffered, we already suffered, and this would speak of the physical sufferings. They had been forced. taken to the magistrates, ordered to be beaten with rods. Many stripes were inflicted upon them.

They were thrown into prison and their feet were fastened in the stalks, and nevertheless, at midnight, they're singing praises to God and such would have been a testimony to the prison guard as he heard them, what in the world are they singing about? They did not stop in their efforts to proclaim Christ and to exalt his great name. It says that they were not only suffered but they also were mistreated, and this speaks of humiliation and verbal abuse. Part of the humiliation is the fact that they were not afforded the right to accompany Roman citizenship.

They should have, they should have had a trial by jury, but that right was not extended to them. And the magistrates, when they came to find out that he was a Roman citizen, got a bit bent out of shape over that because they knew that they had done something they shouldn't have done. They had mistreated a Roman citizen and they were afraid of what might happen to them as a result. But you see, he, he suffered.

He was mistreated. And, and consider with me as well that at the end of Philippi, He had awaiting him a hundred-mile journey to Thessalonica. A 100 mile journey, it would have been easy to come up with an excuse. Oh man, I've got aches, I've got pains, these, these cuts on my body, I'm just tired now.

He doesn't stop. He doesn't stop, he doesn't give up, he perseveres, he presses on, come hell or high water, woe is me if I do not preach the gospel of Christ. That, that was the mindset of the apostle Paul. They were absolutely focused on the goal of proclaiming the gospel and nothing would thwart their efforts.

when Jonathan approached me about going to the Campus Crusade for Christ Christmas conference in '91, I, I put up an obstacle, right? At least what I thought was a pretty good obstacle. No money. Surely he wouldn't have the money.

He's a college student. College students are poor. He wouldn't be able to afford for me to go. he, he removed the obstacle.

He forked out his own cash. I think it was about 140 bucks. He said, You're going. And he was willing to spend $140 on me with the hope that I would hear the gospel and respond in faith.

He had no guarantee. But you see, his ministry to me proved not to be in vain. Do you come up against obstacles? In your efforts to minister Christ to the unsafe.

Are there walls in the way? Learn the lesson from Paul and persevere. Come up with creative ways to deal with the obstacles and do not stop proclaiming the gospel. Moving on to number 4, reach out to the unsaved alongside the team of believers with perseverance and boldness, boldness from God.

In other words, be bold. Be bold. He says we had the boldness in our God to speak to you the gospel of God. We had the boldness in our God.

And Paul here is communicating, not just the fact that he had courage, he and his ministry companions, he and his, his outreach team had courage, but, but this word speaks to more of just courage. It speaks to the fact that they had a freedom that came from God in proclaiming the gospel. Get this, they had endured much suffering. And nevertheless, the suffering, the external obstacles, those external hindrances, Satan's efforts to thwart them and all of that, that did not stop him, he says.

Nevertheless, we had the boldness, we had the freedom, nothing stopped us. God allowed us, despite what was going on around us, to continue to proclaim the gospel. We had the freedom. We had the boldness, we had the courage.

This ability, he says, was an ability that came from none other than God Himself. God is the one, he says. It was a boldness from God. God gave us the freedom to proclaim the gospel, and I would submit to you that such a boldness that, that Paul and his, his companions had is connected to their understanding of who it is that God is.

Paul and his companions knew God. They, they knew him. This just, this was not just mere intellectual head knowledge, but this was heart knowledge. They knew their God, they knew their God and because they knew their God, they were able to have a boldness that comes from God.

They knew that he is indeed the king. The Creator, the sustainer of all things. They knew that he, their God, is the omnipotent one, the all powerful one, the one who through the word of His power spoke everything into existence, who through the word of His power raised his son. Sons bodily from the dead.

They understood their God to be a good and loving and gracious and faithful God, that he was a God who is near. He would not abandon them, he would not leave them, he would not forsake them, but even in the midst of the imprisonment, he was there with them. And they knew their God. He says we had the boldness in our God.

This is not just some distant transcendent God who's way out there that we don't know anything about. He is our God. He is our God. This speaks of relationship, this speaks of knowledge, this speaks of just knowing Him.

We had the boldness in our God, and you see, when who your God is, Whatever obstacles might come against you in your efforts to proclaim the gospel are small compared to the greatness of God Himself. There are people that the Lord wants you to share the gospel with, and what? Satan may attempt to thwart you, but you've got a God who is bigger than the devil. You've got a God who is sovereign.

You've got a God who Paul knew causes everything to work after the counsel of His will, a God who, who causes everything to work together for the good of those who love Him, a God who is faithful to his promises, and he will build up his. He will establish his church and the gates of hell cannot come against us, and Paul knew this, he knew his God, and what, he was gonna go forward no matter what, proclaiming the gospel, because he wanted to see God exalted and people coming into the kingdom of God.

The God of Paul is your God as well. If you have repented of your sin and believed in Christ and are born again and are a child of God, this God of Paul is your God as well.

You too can have a boldness that comes from God to proclaim. The gospel of God. God desires to give you this boldness, this freedom in proclaiming the gospel. Believe this to be so and put yourself in a position to share the gospel with those who are unsaved.

Believe it to be, take steps of faith forward and what, the Lord will proves himself strong to you. Well, continuing on number 5. Reach out to the unsaved alongside the team of believers with perseverance and boldness from God in proclaiming the gospel of God. In other words, proclaim the true gospel.

This is what the apostle Paul communicates. He said, we had the boldness in our God to speak to you, none other than the gospel of God. We came to you Thessalonians, and we came to you with good news. We came to you with gospel, good news, and that good news that, we came to you with is the good news that God has provided a way of salvation for you.

That was his message. Elsewhere, he says, we proclaim to know nothing except Christ. And him crucified, and this was Paul's approach in ministry. Whenever he would go to the unsaved, he would simply come to them with the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

He would come to people and he would tell them that, tell them about God, he would tell them about their sinful condition and how they were separated from God and how they needed a savior and how God in fact has provided a savior. He would minister the gospel, he would tell them that Jesus Christ died on the cross. For them so that their sins could be forgiven. He would alert them to the fact that his hands and his feet were pierced.

He had a crown of thorns pressed upon his brow, hanging halfway between heaven and hell, clothed in nothing but his own blood, crying out in agony before God the Father, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Father, forgive them. They know not what they do. The apostle Paul would minister this message to the people he came in contact with, this gospel, and he would call the Thessalonians to believe this good news that there is, there is salvation for you through the blood of Jesus Christ.

He laid himself on the cross so that you would not have to die for your own sins. He suffered so you could go free. He was punished so you would not have to be punished. The Lord Jesus Christ is the sacrifice for our sins, and through Him and the shed blood, you can be forgiven for your sin, and the apostle Paul would go on to The Thessalonians that yes, he died, but 3 days later, my friends, he was raised bodily from the dead.

He was raised from the dead. He is alive and he ascended onto the right hand of the Father, and there he lives to make intercession for those who belong to Him. The apostle Paul would say, and he will come back again someday. And all of the tears and all of the suffering and all of the agony and all of the disappointments in life, those things will be remedied.

And he will establish his kingdom, and his kingdom will have no end, and what a day that will be. And what, Thessalonians, you need to repent of your sin and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's it. You mean we don't have to keep the law?

No, the law was designed to show you that you're sinful, you're sinful. What you need is the law. Take your eyes off the law and look to Christ, you need grace, you need salvation from your sins, and the only way you can experience that freedom from the guilt and power of sin is not through looking at the law, but by looking at the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who died on the cross for you and was raised. That would be his message.

And note that he says that this was a message, this gospel, he says. It is the gospel of God. This whole idea, this whole gospel. It was God's plan, way back in eternity past before time began.

It was God who determined that he would have His Son, the second person of the Trinity, would come into this world, live that perfect life, die a bloody death on the cross, so that sinners like you and me could be forgiven. This was the idea of God. Our God is a gracious and merciful, loving. Compassionate, unbelievably so kind and generous God.

God so loved the world that He gave His Son. Paul would say, you got to believe, repent and believe, and you can be saved, such as the gospel that the apostle Paul proclaimed. It's also important to note Sure, this passage makes it clear that he proclaimed it, but if you look at the bigger context of the letter, it's also equally clear. That not only did he proclaim the gospel in word, he fleshed it out in deed.

That's a very important aspect of his gospel presentation. The Thessalonians saw it being lived out in his life. Look with me just a few verses later. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, same chapter, verse 7, about 5 verses later, verses 7 through 12.

Listen to what Paul says as he reminds the Thessalonians of his ministry to them when he was with them for that 3-week period. He says, but we proved to be gentle among you, as a nursing mother tenderly cares for her own children. Having thus a fond affection for you, we were well pleased to impart to you. Not only the gospel of God, but also our own lives, because you had become very dear to us, for you recall, brethren, Our labor And our hardship, how working night and day so as not to be a burden to any of you, we proclaimed to you the gospel of God.

You are witnesses and so is God, how devoutly and uprightly and blamelessly we behaved toward you believers, just as, how we were exhorting and encouraging and imploring each one of you as a father would his own children. Why'd you do this, Paul? What was your purpose in laying down your life for us? Why did you sacrifice so much so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.

That's why I did it, Thessalonians, and, you saw it being lived out in my life, you observed it, you witnessed it. Earlier in this same letter in chapter 1 verses 5 to 6, listen to what Paul says. Our gospel did not come to you in word only. Sure, we proclaimed the gospel, it did come to you in words, but it did not come to you in word alone, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction, just as what men we proved to be among you for your sake, you also became imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the word.

You see, he connects his gospel proclamation to his gospel behavior and he says, just as, the men we proved to be while we were with you. And so our proclamation of the gospel is to be one of words as well as deed. Moving on then to number 6. Reach out to the unsaved.

Reach out to the unsaved alongside others, a team of believers with perseverance and boldness from God in proclaiming the gospel of God. Even at the risk of personal suffering, in other words, be willing to make sacrifices, be willing to lay it on the line, be willing, to, to suffer for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice he says, we had the boldness in our God to speak to you, the gospel of God amid much opposition, much opposition. We were opposed greatly.

Nevertheless, we had the boldness in our God to proclaim the gospel of God. Paul and his companions had already suffered and had been mistreated in Philippi, but they would let nothing stop them. They likely knew that further opposition awaited them. But they counted the cost and were willing to endure personal suffering for the sake of Christ.

They were willing to lay down their lives for the benefit of the Thessalonians. Are you willing to lay down your life for the benefit of a family member, a friend, a neighbor, a co-worker? I believe the Lord would have you to enter into his joy of seeing folks come to faith in Christ and using you as the instrument to accomplish that. They knew that Christ suffered for them and they willingly embraced the opportunity to suffer for the sake of the unsaved.

Brothers and sisters, reaching out to the unsaved may prove costly. You might experience rejection. And some might tell you to keep your religion to yourself, and some may mock and even ridicule you. And call you Jesus freak or something like that.

There are believers in parts of the world who are suffering tremendously for taking a stand for Christ, and who is to say that that won't happen here in the United States? Are you willing to take a stand for Christ? Are you willing at all costs to see to it that Christ is proclaimed? So I presented 6 points, but I presented them in the form of a sentence, and let me just restate the sentence for you.

Reach out to the unsaved alongside a team of believers with perseverance and boldness from God in proclaiming the gospel of God at the risk of personal suffering. I want to share a story with you about a man. This man's name is Nick and I think it was about 14 or 15 years ago, this man, Nick, ran into a friend of his who he had not seen for quite a while. He ran into a friend whom he had not seen for over a decade.

And as he was talking to this old friend of his, he found out that this man's father was gravely ill. How's your dad doing? Not too well. He's on his deathbed.

He's got, cancer. A few days later, this man, Nick, who had touched that conversation, somewhere there in his mind, he had put it back in his mind somewhere. A few days later, Nick was at church where the preacher exhorted the congregation. And the preacher, among other things, declared that if someone on their deathbed, you must go to that person and share the gospel with that person.

The preacher's message was a message like mine, one to encourage and to motivate the people there to go out and reach out to the unsaved. And, and specifically he mentioned an old man dying, an old man on his deathbed, and he said, to the people of God, you may have run into an old man like this who needs to hear the gospel, and I submit to you that you need to go to that man and share the gospel. The very next day, this man, Nick, went to this old man and began sharing the gospel with him.

And then the following day, on the Tuesday, he brought his pastor with him as well, and these two men continued to share the faith and continued to fellowship with this dying old man until the day he entered into glory.

They continued on. This old man, I've shared this before, is my grandfather. What Nick did not know was that just 2 weeks prior to him hearing that message and responding to that message, 2 weeks prior to that, I had received a call from my mom early Thanksgiving morning. I was living on the island of Guam.

My mom was here in California. Thanksgiving morning. I received a call and she told me that Grandpa was dying. I got my grandfather's phone number.

I phoned him. And before our conversation was done, he had prayed to receive the Lord. Immediately thereafter, I fell to my knees and I prayed to God, 1, that Grandpa would read his Bible daily, 2, that he would have peace that trespasses all understanding, 3, that he would bear fruit through his testimony. All of those prayers were answered with, with no uncertainty.

They were answered. But fourthly, I prayed, oh God, that someone would be sent. From you to follow up on my grandfather and minister to him. Put it on the heart of someone, oh Lord, to minister the gospel to my grandfather, to follow up, to make sure that he truly is in the faith.

Two weeks later, Nick, having run into my uncle, who told him that Dad was dying, Nick is in the pew just like yourself today, and he hears the pastor saying, you've got to go to that. person, you've got to come to that person and share the gospel. There is someone that who has yet to hear the gospel. There's an old man on his deathbed who needs to hear the gospel.

Nick stood up at the edge of his seat and the very next day he went. He went, and I submit to you that his ministry to my grandfather was not in vain. Perhaps this morning, the Lord is speaking to you. He is bringing the names and faces of people to your attention.

You have family, you have friends, neighbors, and coworkers, acquaintances that need to hear the gospel. And you may be the instrument that God wants to use to bring that person to faith in Christ. Over the next week, the Lord is likely to bring unsaved folks to your attention. Will you come to them?

Will you come to them? Will you sacrifice? Will you persevere? Will you heed the voice of God, the Spirit as he directs you inwardly to go and to, to have a conversation with such and such a person.

Two weeks from today, we are having an Easter outreach service. Milton is going to be preaching about the resurrected Christ. He is going to proclaim the gospel. He will, issue an An invitation of sorts to call people to repent and believe in Christ and we are encouraging you to invite as many people as possible to this event.

We have, a lot of invitations. There are some there on the piano, there are some in the foyer, there's a bunch in the information booth, but we want to encourage you to take a handful, take 20 of them and pass those out to people. Begin praying for the people that the Lord would bring. Along your path, do this in the care group context, pray for one another, pray that this Easter outreach would prove to be fruitful, that it would prove not to be in vain, and that folks, even if it's just one person would enter into, into the kingdom of God through faith in Christ.

Will you consider taking some of those invites and passing them out, drop them off at places where they have billboards or whatever, just pass them out, give them To neighbors and friends and, and co-workers, we would love for every person to distribute 20 or so. I plan on inviting every kid on my son's baseball team to the Easter outreach. there's been some neat things that have happened on the team. One of the things is that the kids have become eager to pray together before the game started.

The funny thing is, is we started praying and we're undefeated ever since we started praying. And the kids, I think they see it as a good luck charm, whatever, but what we're praying, and I'm, I'm praying in the name of Jesus, and I'm hoping that when I invite folks to the outreach that maybe there would be some who would actually come. Our desire is that every single person or family would successfully bring another person or family to church Easter Sunday. Can I present that challenge on behalf of the staff and the elder board?

Can I present that challenge to you brothers and sisters to begin praying about and to begin to take action in the direction of coming to someone? And at the end of the day, successfully bringing just one person or one family to church on Easter. Let us pray together as the ushers come forward. If you have your information slip, you're new to the church today.

the information slip is in the bulletin. Feel free to fill it out and to put it in the offering bag as it goes by. If you are here with us and you don't have a relationship with Christ and you're wondering how can I have a relationship with Christ, how can I be born again, and you want answers to that question, please talk to me, talk to Pastor Mike here, our worship leader. Well, let us pray.

Lord, we just come before you and we would pray that you would exalt your name. Lord, that you would use us as instruments of your grace, even as you use Jonathan in my life, that you would use us as instruments of your grace in bringing people to Christ. We pray, Lord, for your blessing upon our Easter outreach and that Lord, you would help us to be successful in bringing people to church and hear, having them hear the gospel, we would pray that there would be those who would get saved.

We pray that you would be at work right now even as we speak.

Now, Lord, we pray that you would take our offering, that you would multiply it for your glory. In Jesus' name, we pray, Amen.