2024 NHPBC Women's Conference - Session 2 - Saturday AM

Again, I just want to take those ladies home with me.

Oh my goodness.

Thank you so much for leading us in worship.

That was um beautiful.

I love the scripture in between.

The scripture just reminds us that the words we're about to sing are actually in scripture.

What a novel idea.

I can figure out how to open my laptop.

That would help.

Here we go.

But really, ladies, thank you for leading us so well in worship.

He is worthy.

He is worthy.

Thank you.

Okay, so today we are going to look at what the creation mandate has to do with the Great Commission, how they are connected, and how we are to live in light of it.

So I know last night we went through a lot of material.

I told you it was going to be a lot from Genesis to Revelation and the big storyline of the Bible.

It's not something that we're going to grasp in one session.

I know that.

I'm hoping that I whet your appetite a little bit to go home and dig into these things like I did.

And I've been studying this for over a year, and I I still read over this lesson and be like, did I actually write that?

Because it just hits me in a new way every time.

So we're not going to grasp it all this weekend, but I hope that you will gain nuggets from it.

And today we're going to get into a little bit more practical application.

So hopefully it will be fruitful for you all.

So last night we looked at what the creation mandate was and why God gave it to us.

We touched on some application points, but this morning we're going to track this theme to see how and why this mandate is still applicable and to be obeyed today.

So we saw that the mandate, and I forgot my stick.

Sorry, hold on.

I need my slide stick.

Sorry.

Okay.

Thank you.

Okay, so we saw that the mandate was to be fruitful, help me out.

Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, subdue it, and have dominion.

Good job.

You guys are good.

I love that over here you said the eight words.

It took us a year to figure out those eight words together as our ladies.

We just couldn't get the eight words.

And you heard it one time and you're like, God's people and God's place under God's rule.

Amazing.

Good job.

Good students here, you have.

Good.

So we see that was the mandate.

We also saw the reason why we are to fulfill this mandate, and that is because we are created in the image and likeness of God.

We are to be Christ's representative to the world.

We are to look like God, to act, to react, to respond like Him, so that when others see us, they will know who and what we worship or who we represent.

We are to image and represent God to the world.

Because of Christ, we can now do this.

And I realize we're gonna be a little bit repetitive today because if you're like me, you need repetition.

We're gonna take a look at how the imperatives or the commands of the creation mandate points us to the Great Commission.

I know you're all familiar with the Great Commission, right?

So I want to briefly track the theme of culture and dominion throughout the biblical narrative to see that it strongly indicates that the Great Commission is the creation mandate reinstated in Christ.

The implication is that Christians are still called to fulfill the creation mandate.

It just looks a little different.

So let's read these two passages together.

We're gonna read the creation mandate in Genesis 1, 28 again.

And God blessed them and said to them, Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.

And now we're gonna read the Great Commission in Matthew 28, 18 through 20.

And Jesus came and said to them, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age.

We know that the first humans failed at obeying the creation mandate right by rebelling against God's law.

Despite their failure, God never rescinded his commission.

In fact, he reinstated it with several of his Old Testament saints.

We saw that last night.

However, like Adam, they would also fail at the task until the last Adam, which is Christ, would come to succeed on behalf of the human race.

Jesus, as mankind's redeemer and the one who now possesses ultimate dominion in heaven on earth, he reinstates the creation mandate as the mission of his church.

Only now the multiplication comes in the form of discipleship and baptism in the name of the triune God, and subduing comes by teaching the commandments of Christ, which manifests in culture.

The Great Commission is the creation mandate reinstated.

And I want to clarify that I'm not saying that making disciples replaces the original design to make more image bearers through natural birth.

That is also a way that we do that.

But we can now see that this mandate expands and points to spiritual birth as well.

It's not a replacement, so to speak, but it's another form of multiplying.

Adam was supposed to cultivate and expand Eden's garden throughout the earth as God's priest king to serve and guard God's garden temple, but failed by sinning and letting in an unclean serpent who defiled it.

God's presence resided with Adam and Eve in the garden.

However, neither of them were supposed to stay there.

As the first humans would multiply and fill the earth to subdue it, God's presence would expand along with them to all the earth.

That was the plan, that was the purpose, and we read it many times last night, so that the whole earth would be filled with God's glory.

They were never meant to stay in one place.

Adam's commission is passed down to Noah and his descendants.

However, Noah's descendants fail by refusing to disperse throughout the world.

Instead, they were more concerned with building a tower to make a name for themselves than they were with adhering to God's commission to cultivate the earth for his glory.

Then God gave the commission of Genesis 1.28 to the patriarchs, first to Abraham, then to Isaac, then to Jacob, and then to Israel as a people.

Just as God's presence was supposed to expand through Adam's cultivation, Israel's cultural activity was supposed to pave the way for God's dwelling place to encompass Jerusalem first, and then the land of Israel as a whole, and then finally, once again, the entire earth.

Israel was supposed to be a light to the nations, but they were not.

Even though Israel refused to be a light to the nations and instead profaned God's name among them, hope was not lost for God's original creation design.

Ezekiel prophesies about a time when God's people would multiply again, and that his sanctuary presence would reside with them forever.

We see in Ezekiel 37, 26, I will make a covenant of peace with them.

It shall be an everlasting covenant with them, and I will set them in their land and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in their midst forever.

And I hope you're seeing this theme a little bit as we see this covenant that we see that this is an unconditional covenant.

Because God says, I will make a covenant of peace with them.

It's not conditional on anything that they do, and this is the beauty of the gospel.

And this was accomplished through Christ.

Christ forever fulfills the creation mandate.

So far in the redemptive narrative, we have seen that God reiterates the creation mandate time and time again with his people.

The progress report of their attempts at God's calling can be summed up in one word: failure.

Not one person or peoples that God made a covenant with could fulfill the original calling that was given to Adam in the garden.

Not one except Jesus.

So let's compare the first Adam to the last Adam and see how they did.

Adam, of course, representing all of mankind.

We talked about that last night as Adam being the federal head.

He was the representative of the people.

So whatever he did affected the people.

He was the federal head, representing all of mankind.

Jesus is the priest king that Adam was supposed to be.

It was Adam who was supposed to take dominion as king, but lost it.

It is Jesus, on the other hand, to whom belongs all dominion now and forever.

Adam, as priest, should have expelled the serpent from the garden, but instead allowed Eve to be deceived.

By contrast, Jesus crushed the serpent's head and cast him out.

Adam brought death in the old creation.

Jesus brought life in the new.

Adam was disobedient in the Garden of Eden.

Jesus was obedient in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Jesus is called the final or last Adam for the reason that he will succeed in God's cultural calling.

Jesus would fulfill all that Adam could not.

Let's look at how the creation mandate is reinstated in the New Covenant.

The final instance in which the creation mandate is reinstated occurs during the end of the gospel narratives, where Jesus himself commissions his followers to go into all the world and make disciples of all the nations.

The same language that we heard in Genesis is seen here as well.

Just as the first commission to Adam was announced in Eden, located on a mountain, we see that in Ezekiel 28, Jesus gave his commission to the disciples also on a mountain.

So we see these parallels from the first Adam to the last Adam.

We see failure to success.

God blessed Adam to carry out his mission.

Jesus blessed his disciples to carry out theirs.

The commission in Eden was to be fruitful and multiply.

Jesus commissioned the apostles to multiply their disciples.

Adam was to subdue the earth using God's righteous standards.

The apostles were to teach new believers to observe all that Jesus commanded.

So how do we subdue the earth through Christ as New Testament believers?

By being obedient to our King Jesus in all areas of life is how Christians subdue the earth through him in the new covenant.

We live life in every way, living by God's righteous standards without compromise.

Jesus' reinstatement of the creation mandate would be different now for the reason that God's presence would remain with his people.

Jesus solidifies his commission by assuring his disciples that he would be with them always to the end of the age.

Jesus saying he will be with us is saying that we are the sanctuary where God's presence would remain forever.

That's a glorious fact, ladies.

I hope that never gets old with us.

Jesus himself is the temple.

And because his presence is now with us and in us, we are also God's temple.

Think about this magnificent truth that we're talking about.

Wherever we go and whatever we touch or cultivate, the world should be experiencing the presence of God through us.

Recognizing the larger goal of this mandate or commission should be a great encouragement that whatever situation God has sovereignly placed you in is opportunity for you to serve and contribute to his kingdom.

Advancing the kingdom of God is not just a pastoral mission.

This is not the leaders of our churches' mission alone.

The pastor and leaders of our churches will never accomplish this aspect of Christian dominion on their own.

It's impossible.

He said, Your job is to invite them to church.

We'll do the rest.

Of course, it is not wrong to invite your friends to church, but that is not the means of evangelism or making disciples that we are called to do.

It is not the pastor's sermon that will be the greatest tool to someone's salvation.

It is you.

Mainstream Christianity wants us to believe that the church is designed for the unbeliever.

They want us to believe that the church is where we bring our unsaved friends and family to introduce them to Jesus.

And that is not wrong to do.

We love that.

We want you to do that.

We welcome that.

But sadly, this is how many churches in America function today.

They function for the purpose of bringing the world in.

So now they have to water down the message to get them in, and then they have to entertain them to keep them there.

However, that is not the biblical model of church.

Church is designed for the believer.

Church is designed for fellowship, for worship, for prayer, for the breaking of bread, for the teaching of the word of God, and for equipping the saints.

One writer said, pastoral roles are much like military cooks.

Their job is to feed those who are fighting on the front lines of battle.

I love that.

The pastor's role is to equip the saints.

If you have a spiritual gift, you are not only supposed to use that gift, but you are called to equip the saints, teaching them how to practice the gift you have.

You are a steward of that gift.

We are all called to serve, we're all called to show hospitality, we're all called to evangelize, and we're all called to give, even if that's not your spiritual gift.

It is not exclusive to the one who has the gift.

We see this in Ephesians 4, 11 through 13.

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, and the teachers to equip the saints for the work of the ministry, for building up the body of Christ until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

With this in mind, your pastor and elders and leaders are not in the circles that you daily walk in.

You live and work among unbelievers every day.

We are in a spiritual battle to win souls.

This is the Great Commission to fill the earth with the glory of God by making disciples.

The spiritual war we fight needs you who are in direct contact with the world in the spaces you live in order to counter wicked people and cultures with the kingdom of God.

No job, calling, or situation in life is insignificant or unnecessary for the Great Commission.

Everything you do in your day, whether you are a parent, whether you own a business, are an employee, whether you do art, enjoy entertainment, whatever your involvement is in civil government, whether you farm, teach, are a doctor, a lawyer, a neighbor, simply a shopper in the grocery store.

These are all elements that make up culture and should be pursued with Christ's great commission at the forefront of our intellects and passions.

We're not looking to change culture simply so we can have a more moral, enjoyable place to live, although that would be nice.

We like that, but that's not the goal.

We want to change culture for the glory of God, and culture will change as Christ's followers live and subdue using God's righteous standards and telling others about the good news of Jesus.

In the spaces where you live and work, do the people there know who you worship?

Do they know you are a Christ follower?

Have you shared the gospel with them?

What standards are we looking to when we do life?

When we go to work, live at home with our families, drive our cars, walk side by side with other believers, or just rub shoulders with the world as we live among them?

Is it a different set of standards for each of those spaces?

Do we uphold Christ in church only?

Or is Christ upheld in our hearts, in his temple?

We are always first, image-bearing, worshipping representatives of Christ before we are anything else.

This is who we are.

This is our identity.

In Christ, we are new.

We are not an employee first and then tack Jesus on when we can.

We're not drivers with rights and then tack Jesus on when we want to.

We are not parents with authority first who get angry at our children and then tack Jesus on and drag them to church.

Anybody else experience those things besides me?

Those are my own examples.

We are image-bearing, worshipping representatives of Jesus first, and then in light of that, we go to work, drive in the car, be a parent or a neighbor.

The way you are at work should reflect who you are.

The way you drive in your car should reflect who you are.

The way you parent should reflect who you are.

The way you treat your neighbor should reflect who you are, and who you are is new in Christ.

There are three biblical mandates given in scripture that tie closely together.

So we've seen the creation mandate, the great commission, and then also the greatest commandment.

Matthew 22, 37 through 39 says, and he said to them, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.

This is the great and first commandment, and the second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

As Christians, we must keep all three of these mandates at the forefront of our intentions, our work, and our mission without compromise.

To understand the Great Commission is to understand that each person alive today has been created in the image of God and participates within God's story.

And right now we are living in that third part of the storyline: redemption.

The Great Commission should compel God's redeemed people to look beyond discipleship as a simple conversion, a passing out of a tract, or the job of your pastor or elders.

The Great Commission is a calling for everyone.

This is our life's purpose to make disciples.

This is the mandate to be fruitful and multiply.

Making a disciple is not evangelism in and of itself.

It includes that, it must.

But it is life on life.

It is a lifestyle.

It's living it out every day where you walk and live, preaching the gospel, leading in the spaces you live and work and using God's righteous standards.

And as those around you come to Christ, you walk with them and teach them everything that Jesus has taught you.

The Great Commission is directly correlated to the creation mandate because God, through Jesus Christ, renews image bearers of God.

In Genesis, God created man, man sinned, and marred his ability to carry out the commission that God has for us.

But we see Christ recreates humanity.

2 Corinthians 5 17 says, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.

The old has passed away, behold, the new has come.

Then we see in John 20, 20 that Christ breathes new life.

And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit.

So when God created Adam, he breathed life into his nostrils.

He gave him life.

But then God recreated man in the new birth when he breathed new life through the Holy Spirit.

It's a new birth.

That's why we call it born again.

You're born the first time, but now you're born again with new life, new breath, Holy Spirit.

The creation mandate and the Great Commission is an evangelistic mandate and an imperative to make disciples.

This is the meta-narrative of God in the scriptures.

God created man in his image and likeness to know him, to love him, to serve him, and to fill the earth, to have dominion over it, all under his protective, loving rule.

The creation mandate mirrors the Great Commission as Christ, who is God in flesh, reigns as cosmic king.

Jesus, the second and last Adam, lived out the mission of God in perfect obedience, something the first Adam failed to do in the garden.

Our end goal is this: we journey the course in which God in Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, leads us and directs us on a sanctifying mission.

We do this with drive, zeal, and desire to be more holy, more missional, and more like Christ.

Jesus, the ultimate image bearer, was the ultimate disciple maker.

If we are created by him, through him, and for him, then our lives must have intentionality in living out what he said and did in Matthew 28, 19.

John Piper says that missions exist because worship doesn't.

The world around you is worshiping the wrong God.

This is why missions exist.

This is the purpose of the Great Commission.

So those worshippers can find the object of true and right worship, to worship the creator the way they were designed to.

Last night we talked about how the seed of the woman who is ultimately Christ will crush the head of the serpent.

Has this already happened?

Yes.

When Christ rose from the dead, he defeated Satan.

Remember when Jesus was being tempted by Satan in the wilderness, and Satan told Jesus that he would give him all the kingdoms of the world if Jesus would bow down and worship him?

Satan was given the authority that he had.

Ultimately, we know it belonged to God, but it was given to Satan.

That is how Satan was able to bruise Jesus' heel.

He wouldn't have the ability to do that unless God gave him that authority.

But let's read the Great Commission again, Matthew 28, 18 through 20.

And Jesus came and said to them, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you, and behold, I am with you always to the end of the age.

See, Christ defeated Satan, and authority has been given to him.

We knew it always belonged to him, but this was God's pattern.

It had been given to him.

Jesus is saying, all authority has been given to him.

Theologian Abraham Kuyper said, There is not one single square inch of all eternity that Jesus Christ does not say, mine.

Because of this fact that all authority is Jesus's, he is sending us out saying, Now go make disciples, because I have authority and I am with you.

I am with you.

We go on his authority, not our own.

We go in his strength and power, not our own.

He has already paved the way for us.

So it should be easy, right?

Do you think it's easy?

I don't think it's easy either.

Okay, so I'm gonna we're gonna watch this little clip.

I'm hoping this has worked.

Maddie, you're gonna help me, right?

I'm gonna go to this slide here, and we're just gonna watch this little clip.

I'm not promoting Disney or anything like that.

I just thought it was a good clip.

A horrible mistake.

But if you do this, you will start a war with Mufasa.

Hyenas and lions have been at the war since the beginning of time.

But how encouraging is this to have that visual to remember who you are?

Whose are you?

Who do you belong to?

What is your identity in?

And whose power do we go in?

We're like little Simba.

We have nothing.

There's no we have nothing.

If we're going in our own strength, we have nothing.

But our Heavenly Father has given us His Spirit.

So we go in His power.

If fear is present, that may be an indicator that we are going in our own power and forgetting who we belong to and whose power we are to rely on.

With the authority given to Christ and His promise to be with us always through the power of the Holy Spirit, we will see humanity transformed by the gospel and we will see the whole earth filled with God's glory as image bearers take the gospel to all the nations and make disciples.

This is an incredible calling and a joyful one.

There is a world of image bearers out there who were designed to live in right relationship with their creator.

They are seeking all the wrong objects of worship, seeking satisfaction that they will never see outside of a relationship with Him through Christ.

God has placed this high calling on you and on me and on the church to bring the good news to them and make them a disciple of Christ so that the whole earth would be filled with the glory of God.

Let's read Acts 17.

Back.

I can't see if that's is that the right one?

Is that Acts 17?

Oh, it is.

Thank you.

Maddie already had me there.

Good job.

Acts 17, 22 through 28.

And we'll see how this truth played out for Paul while he was in Athens.

So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said, Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious.

For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription to the unknown God.

What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.

The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.

And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him.

Yet he is not actually far from each one of us, for in him we live and move and have our being, and even some of your own poets have said, For we are indeed his offspring.

Can you see how intentional God is?

Do you see how Paul was attentive to what was going on in the culture around him?

Paul saw worship going on in Athens, but he saw their worship was of the wrong God, or at least not including Yahweh.

He took this opportunity to speak into their need to preach the gospel.

Paul longed for these people to have the correct object of worship.

Verses 26 through 28 tell us that God has determined the allotted periods where men would live and the boundaries of their dwelling place.

Man's purpose is to seek God and that they would find him, because it is in him that we live and move and have our being.

There is one thing that we can know for sure.

Every single human being that has ever existed was made by God and for God to worship him.

Colossians 1 16 says, For by him, meaning Jesus, all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created through him and for him.

Psalm 103 affirms this.

Know that the Lord He is God.

It is He who made us, and we are His.

God made man for a purpose, to image Him, to glorify Him, to know Him.

Does it move you to know that the Creator of the world wants to know you?

Does it move you to know that the Creator of the world humbled himself, became human flesh in the form of a helpless baby?

Does it move you to think that the creator of the world, the one who created Mary, humbled himself to be completely dependent on her to care for him?

That just blows me away.

Does it move you to know that Jesus came so you can be made right with God?

Jesus came and lived the perfect life that we cannot live.

He died the death that we could not die.

He paid the price that we could not pay.

He suffered the wrath of God in our place.

And then he gave us his righteousness.

And to think that he desires us to know him, that he desires to give us joy and life evermore.

And not only that, he gave us his spirit to empower us to do so.

Understanding this truth should bring us to worship.

We are designed for this kind of relationship with our Creator, and Christ came to restore what was broken.

And there is a world out there full of people who do not know their creator.

Every day we interact with people who are searching for meaning and purpose in life, but they will never find meaning and purpose that truly satisfies outside of Christ.

We were designed to function in one way, to image our Creator.

If we function any other way, other than the way that we are designed to function, we will never be happy.

The greatest calling and purpose we will ever have is to share this truth with every human being that exists.

Do you have unbelieving friends, co-workers, neighbors?

God has determined your allotted periods of time where you live and work, and God has determined the boundaries of your dwelling place.

The places you walk every single day have been allotted by God.

He has placed you where you are, at the time and place you are for a specific purpose.

And you walk among unbelievers who God has also allowed at their period of time and their dwelling place.

God has intention for when your path crosses with theirs.

Many of those people are seeking purpose but find it in the wrong place.

They fall to the wrong object of worship.

We're probably all familiar with Romans 10 13.

For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

And we love those verses, don't we?

But let's read the next two verses.

Romans 4 10, 14 and 15.

How then will they call on him whom they have not believed?

And how are they to believe in him who they have never heard?

And how are they to hear without someone preaching?

And how are they to preach unless they are sent?

As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news.

We carry this good news within us.

Do we really see it as good?

Are our feet swift to share it?

We all know what we are saved from, but this is what we are saved to, to bring the light of the gospel to a dark world.

We are the light of the world, and we can cling to the promise of Jesus when he said, I am with you.

First Peter 2 9 tells us, but you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

We have been called out of darkness into his marvelous light to proclaim his excellencies.

This is our purpose.

Jesus, as he is preaching the Sermon on the Mount, says this in Matthew 5, 14 and 15.

A city set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.

In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

I pray that we live in a way that lives out this commission, that we don't keep our faith to ourselves or hide it under a bushel, like the children's song says, but let our light shine.

We are in a spiritual war for souls, and this culture war will be waged by preaching the gospel.

And once we put our faith in Christ, we are called to equip other Christians to go and live in the appointed time and place that God has put them in to the glory of God.

So for the remainder of our session, I'd like to get super practical.

We're going to look at five examples of the places that God has determined for you and the spaces that you live in every day.

And with each example, I'm going to give a testimony or an example of what that could practically look like.

So number one is your home.

Your home should not just be a place to eat, watch TV, take care of your yard and sleep.

It should be a place of productivity.

This takes the form of family discipleship: loving and serving and witnessing to your neighbors, showing hospitality, have your neighbor over for a cup of coffee or tea if you drink tea.

A testimony here: when my children were young, I held Bible studies in my home early on Saturday mornings.

I invited my neighbor who was Catholic.

I lived in Florida at the time.

We had lived back in New York for over 10 years when I received a Facebook message from that neighbor.

She told me she finally understood what I was teaching in those Bible studies so many years earlier and wanted to tell me that she finally got it.

She wanted to thank me as she explained how she had accepted Christ and was now married to a Christian man and involved in a church.

In the spaces you live, use it to share the gospel.

Another example that happens frequently is Jehovah's Witnesses coming to our door.

Do you shoe them away or do you invite them in?

This is an opportunity to share Christ with them.

My husband and I have had many opportunities to do this.

And what's fun is they always bring higher-up people back.

They don't know who they're messing with.

We love that.

We love that.

We had them over for dinner one night and it was so much fun.

Another example, if you're having work done at your home, a painter, a plumber, an empliance install, be prepared to bless them.

Share the gospel, give them a tract.

Don't waste any opportunity to put the gospel in someone's hands.

Your home presents many opportunities to shine your light.

Number two, your job.

Your job should not be a place of drudgery.

It is a ministry and an opportunity to bring good to others and shine your light for the gospel to the glory of God.

Do the people at your job know you are a Christian?

Do you live by a different standard than they do?

Do they see you are different?

If time doesn't allow you to share your life with Christ, with a coworker, invite them to lunch and invest in the relationship.

A testimony here is my middle son Jonathan got his very first job at the Suffolk Theater in Riverhead when he was 14.

All of his coworkers knew he was a Christian and frequently invited them to church.

They never wanted to come.

So several years later, when he was, I think it was after Bible college, he went back and worked there.

One uh his one of his co-workers was having a birthday party for her dog.

My son Jonathan thought that that was the most ridiculous thing ever.

And he said, I am not going to a birthday party for a dog.

But there was another coworker, her name was Ashlyn, and she tried to persuade Jonathan to go with her to the party.

I encouraged him to go because I felt like it was a great opportunity to be a witness.

Jonathan was not going for that.

But when Ashlyn pressed Jonathan to go, I said, Well, tell Ashlyn that you'll go to the party with her if she comes to church.

So he did, and she agreed.

She came to church for the first time at our Thanksgiving soup and pie outreach in 2018.

This began a relationship that I pursued with Ashlyn.

We began to read the Bible together and walked through a six-week discipleship course through the book of Mark.

I won't go through all the rest of the details, but eventually Ashlyn accepted Christ, was baptized at our church by my husband, and is now my wonderful daughter-in-law and the mother of my two amazing grandsons.

Praise God.

Another example at work, my youngest son, Samuel, has shared his faith with several of his co-workers.

He has invited a few of them to church.

Two of them have been coming regularly.

There's no flowery testimony here, there's no salvations yet.

But one of these coworkers is like a second mother to Samuel, will be joining us this year for Thanksgiving dinner.

But this is how we shine our light in the spaces that we live in.

We're to be faithful to share the message and live it out.

That's it.

God does the rest.

Number three, the places you daily walk.

Your place matters.

God has determined to put you where you are in the times you are in them.

No one else will walk where you walk each day.

Trust his wisdom and love where he put you.

Ask, how can I honor God in this particular space?

Who can I share Christ with?

A very practical example.

And I see a little baby in this room.

I don't know if that's your first baby.

Is that your first baby?

Second baby.

All right.

So this mom is going to the park.

I know that.

So when you have children, you take them to the park.

When my kids were younger, I would take them to the park.

When you put your child in the swing, what is typically typically happening right next to you?

There's another mom next to you pushing her child in the swing.

This is a great opportunity to start an intentional conversation.

She's not going anywhere.

Another way to engage is to talk to people and show an interest in them.

Ask if you can pray for them or how you can pray for them.

Last month, our ladies went on a treat, a retreat to Pennsylvania.

As we were eating dinner in a restaurant, one of our ladies noticed the waiter was a little off, like he wasn't feeling well.

She asked him how he was doing and offered to pray for him.

He then began to open up to her and she proceeded to share the gospel with him.

A wonderful testimony of honoring Christ and shining your light in the spaces you walk.

Number four, opportunities in your community.

Is there a library, a gym, a sports center, or another program in your community?

Be salt and light to transform it.

One example is Soundview Pregnancy Center.

Do anyone heard of Soundview Pregnancy Center?

Not a lot of you, but there is a Soundview Pregnancy Center 20 minutes from here in East Meadow.

So it's a great ministry to get involved with.

Volunteering at the Pregnancy Center has given me opportunities to minister to women in my community as I'm able to counsel them with the Word of God through life struggles.

For some, it's sharing the gospel.

For others, it's making disciples as I teach them the things God has commanded them to do.

Another example, my husband has volunteered for the Riverhead Town Anti-Litter Advisory Committee.

While he walks the streets picking up trash alongside others, it gives him the opportunity to speak into their lives.

Another example, our church offers free biblical counseling to our community.

This is one way I have opportunities to share the gospel with people in need.

Passing out gospel tracts is another thing you can do.

And that's something that we can do when we don't have time to have conversations.

If I'm driving through a fast food, fast food restaurant, I don't have time to share the gospel at the window, but I can give a gospel tract.

But when we do have the opportunity and time, we need to speak.

One of my favorite stories is when my friend Marianne told me that she shared the gospel with her dentist.

I was like, how did that, what did that even look like?

But she was like, in between, it was the hygienist.

She's like, in between cleanings.

I was asking her questions.

I'm like, this girl does not stop.

Another example, our church is involved with an organization for the homeless called Maureen's Haven.

For three to four weeks out of the winter months, we open up our church as a shelter for about 14 men.

Each time they come, they receive a bed, food, lots of love, and the hope of the gospel.

And lastly, take advantage of your citizenship.

Hopefully, some of you did that last week on Tuesday.

Paul took advantage of his Roman citizenship.

Christians should do the same for their national citizenships.

Vote according to a scripture-shaped conscience.

If you feel called or gifted in this area, run for office and rule in a godly way.

Show up to council meetings.

Make use of your freedoms for the good of the church and those in your community.

I want to add, if you do take advantage of these means, it is not for the sole purpose of having a more moral society, although that is good.

But remember, when Paul took advantage of his citizenship, he used it to preach the gospel.

In all of these examples, we are to live out the creation mandate now enabled by the power of Christ in us.

Because we are new creations in Christ, indwelled with the Spirit of God, we can now effectively be fruitful and multiply by making more image bearers.

We subdue the earth by living out God's righteous standard and teaching others to obey the commandments of God through evangelism and discipleship.

We take dominion by bringing order to the spaces we work in.

By living out this purpose as image bearers ourselves, we will, one soul at a time, see the earth be filled with the glory of God.

And living out our purpose and the way God designed us will bring us peace, satisfaction, and joy.

I hope this is the driving force of your life.

Our life in Christ, carrying out the commands of God, that should be our greatest joy.

As we close, let's stand and read 2 Timothy 4 1 through 8 together.

As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come.

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day.

And not only to me, but also to all who have loved his appearing.

Let's pray.

Father, we thank you so much for this time.

And I just pray that you would just allow these words to sink in our hearts, Lord, that we would just behold Christ and know the great gift that you have given us in Jesus.

And the offer of your free gift, Lord, is such a blessing to us.

You are so worthy.

I just pray, Lord, that you would bless each lady here and that you would help us to walk in these truths by the power of your spirit.

We love you and we praise you in Jesus' name.

Amen.