God's People Unashamed - with Rajesh Panthagada

Welcome to the Grace Church Weekly Podcast. We're an international church right

in the heart of Stockholm, Sweden.

Each week, we share a message that's rooted in the faithful teaching of God's

Word and open to the vibrant work of the Holy Spirit among His people.

Here's this week's message.

Hello, church. That's great to see you all.

Before I get into the word, I would like to do a small exercise with you all.

It's a very simple exercise. Don't worry. Everybody's like getting shocked.

What would be the exercise? Don't worry.

It's a simple exercise. How many can you snap like this?

Oh, wow. You can all do that. Okay. So we're going to do this in harmony.

Just as we follow like ticking, clock ticking. We all do it together.

You do it until I say stop.

Every time we snap our fingers, a soul is born into this world.

Every time we snap our fingers, a soul is leaving this world.

Every time we snap our fingers, a young man thought he had so much plenty of

time in this world, but now it's gone.

Every time you snap your fingers, heaven is being filled.

Every time you snap your fingers, eternal hell is being filled.

Every time we snap our fingers, some people are meeting their Savior in joy.

Every time we snap our fingers, others are entering into eternal separation from God.

Every time we snap our fingers some people are entering with no more tears every

time we snap our fingers others are entering a place with no more hope we can stop here.

Have you seen this in friction of seconds many things are happening in this

world in friction of seconds people are dying People are being born.

This is happening in friction of seconds. This is happening in Stockholm.

This is happening in Sweden. This is happening across the world.

We said we had 17-ish countries here representing this is happening in each of your country.

But God is asking the question to each of us today.

What are we doing about it? We know that people are dying in friction of sick-tests,

What are we doing about it?

Day by day, people are going far from the Lord.

Day by day, you read the news that nations against nations are fighting.

The wars in the world are increasing.

Day by day, freedom to speak the truth about Christ is shrinking.

Day by day, families are breaking apart. Day by day, young people are going

into depression, many people ending their lives without hearing the name of Jesus.

This shows that the world is perishing, and this is a sign that we are living in the end times.

So the question to us today, what are we doing about it?

We might be Christians for a very long time, Many times we can be proud that

I'm a Christian for 10 years.

What are we doing about it? This is the question God is asking the church.

The one and only solution for all this is gospel.

The good news of Jesus can save.

This shows us that we have high urgency of gospel around us today.

But the question today, for us, I miss.

Can I get to the second slide, please? But the question today here for us is

like, what is holding us back from sharing the gospel with others?

Is it fear of rejection? What if people, they turn away from me?

Is it doubts? What if I don't know what to say?

Is it insecurity? What if I cannot answer their tricky questions?

Or is it shame? Will they mock me if I share gospel?

My dear friends, this is a very, very common question that runs in every person's heads.

This is something, it's not just us who are facing these questions.

Even the early church in the start, they faced this fear.

Even disciples who lived with Jesus saw the whole power of Jesus. They faced this fear.

Even I personally had this fear whenever I went for evangelism.

But we see that after some time, you see that disciples did wonders.

They never stopped preaching gospel.

What was it? The questions are here. What was it that transformed their lives?

What gave them courage to speak of Jesus boldly without shame?

No matter the cost, they never stopped proclaiming the name of Jesus. How was this possible?

We just read a verse.

Acts chapter 4 verse 29 says, Now Lord, consider their threats.

Acts 4:29

Enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness.

Stretch your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders Through the name of Holy Servant Jesus.

After they prayed After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken,

And they were filled by the Holy Spirit spoke the word of God boldly.

Church, this is the secret,

Here is the secret. Do you want to share gospel boldly?

Do you want to be a witness unashamed? Do you want to share gospel without any doubts?

Prayer. Prayer is the most important thing.

Before you go to any battle, preparation is very important.

Same way prayer is also very important.

Before you go to demonstrate God's power to people.

Acts 1.8 says, You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you,

and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the world.

As soon as you pray and believe in the power of God, He will use us beyond our imagination.

We will be able to share the gospel anywhere, anytime, without being ashamed.

The power of God is beyond our imagination. He will do much more than we think.

I personally experienced the power of God in evangelism.

And at the same time, God also taught me a greatest lesson, which I will never forget.

This was one of my experiences once I went to do evangelism it's called Medboriar

Plassen it's not so far from here.

For this evangelism we've been planning for a very long time there was a team that was coming,

so we were planning to do this evangelism so we planned everything which day

we all have to go so Wednesday, Thursday and Monday these three days we fixed,

okay we're going to do evangelism in this place,

Finally, the team came and we started praying together.

God, show us your power. Bring the right people, right people that are in need.

Bring them to us so we could share gospel. We were prepared very nicely with prayers and all.

Finally, the day came. We arrived at Medborier Placid with a coffee table and all.

And I saw one guy coming from the far. and he was not walking straight.

He was a little drunk. It's okay.

But he was in drugs, so he was not straight at all.

So he was coming far from it. I said, like, no, this is not the right guy I was praying for.

You know, he has to walk straight. That was my concept.

He was coming closer. I'm like, okay, I'll just give him coffee.

I'm not going to talk to him. Okay.

He came. He came, he took the coffee, and my team quickly said like,

Hello, where are you from? You know, they started talking. He started talking.

In my unbelief, I was thinking because he's drunk, he's not going to listen

to the gospel. You know, it's just fake.

So my team started talking to him, sharing gospel.

One thing he said to the team, he said, you know, I want to get out of this

addiction. I want to be free from this addiction.

And the team said, like, if we pray, you will be free from the addiction.

Still, my unbelief heart not believing him. My team prayed. He started crying.

And I'm like, no, I'm not still, I'm not believing this. Because he's in that

somewhere in other world.

So my team started praying. He started crying.

He said to them, I'm going to leave this addiction right away.

Okay? He said they believed, not me.

So as soon as he left, after he left, I told the team, we will see the same guy tomorrow, same way.

You know, that's what my head was telling me.

God was teaching me a lesson here.

So next today I made a great statement now I have to prove it right so I was

in the street evangelism again.

And miraculously, this guy was coming completely without any drugs or alcohol towards us.

And me, I'm still not believing. He came to us.

He came to us. He was bringing one of his friends who's drunk.

He was bringing, hey, ask them to pray.

You will leave the addiction. Ask them to pray.

I'm like, what's happening? What's happening?

I went back home. God told me,

Hey Rajesh, you're doing evangelism without believing in my power, right?

Are you doing really evangelism?

And when we went on Monday, he was with us trying to know more about Jesus.

That is the power of God. We don't see. We don't see.

I went without belief but God

did show his power this was one of

the greatest lesson that God

has taught me on that day such this incident made me I will never ever doubt

God again no matter how small seed you will plant in someone's life God is the one who will grow it,

So prayer is very, very important Believing in the power is very, very important,

Evangelism, doing evangelism is not a talent It's not a gift.

Many people think it's a talent only some people have.

No, evangelism is a high commission for every Christian, every person that believes Christ.

It's not optional. It's a high commission Jesus gave to every Christian.

Let's read Matthew 28, verses 19 to 20.

Matthew 28:19–20

This is a very well-known verse to all Christians.

Matthew 28, verses 19-20 All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Matthew 28:19–20

Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations.

Surely I am always with you to the very end age.

When Jesus is sending us into this world, He is not sending us alone,

but He is coming along with us.

This is something we need to remember.

And also, He is also not sending with empty hands. He is giving us the authority,

authority from heaven to us.

So what we need to remember is like we are not weak people.

We are not powerless people. We are the ambassadors of Christ,

filled with the Holy Spirit, carrying his authority.

This is a great reminder for all of us.

And also God says, fear not, for I am with you.

And many scholars say, this is written, fear not. the word fear not,

is written 365 times in the Bible, how many days do we have in a year?

Okay, it's the same in every country, right? Yes, okay.

So 365 days, no matter which day you are preaching the gospel,

no matter which time of the day you are preaching the gospel,

all those 365 days, you are covered. We are covered.

Fear not, for I am with you. So it doesn't matter.

So it's very important for us to pray, believe in the power of God,

Remember His promise that He will be with us.

Not just we don't stop there, but we go out, make gospel.

Church, there is a huge need, huge need of gospel in Stockholm or wherever God has placed you.

Many years ago, Pastor Phil shared an example.

That reel is stuck in my heart. He said, imagine we all come to heaven one day.

God told everyone, okay, all Indians. I mean, it's good that you counted how many people today.

God says, all Indians come and stand here.

All Africans come and stand there. All South Africans come and stand here.

All British stand here.

God started walking. He looked at the group. Oh, Indians, they're good enough.

The big population, they're good enough.

Africans, well, okay, that's a good. South Africans, oh, they filled all the

South group. They're good enough.

British, oh, they filled all the church. That's good. How about Sweden?

Sweden. God is walking through Sweden. According to the statistics,

church's statistics that we learn in the church.

Churches are shrinking in Sweden.

On that particular day when Phil was speaking, he was speaking more about the

people, the Somalians people group.

I still remember, but same thing applies to Stockholm today,

to Sweden, to each and every country that is here.

Church, this is the reality we live in.

God has placed you and me in Stockholm, not by accident, but for a purpose.

We are here to shine the light of God, to shine the light of Jesus in this city.

If this is the situation of Stockholm, let's ask this question,

What would Jesus do if he was in our place?

What would Jesus do if he was in our place?

This is my favorite verse.

In Matthew 9, verse 36, when Jesus saw the crowds, he had compassion on them.

Matthew 9:36

Because they were harassed and helpless like a sheep without a shepherd.

Let us read the same Bible verse in a little different way.

I'm not changing the Bible scripture, but just reading it just in a different way.

When Jesus saw the people in Stockholm, he had compassion on them,

because they were helpless, They were lonely people, they were depressed, addicted,

broken family, like sheep, without shepherd.

Isn't enough that only us having shepherd.

If Jesus was in our place, he would not have stopped unless he will reach every

single person in Sweden, Stockholm.

When you see people in Stockholm, do you move with compassion?

Do you see the people as without God and they need help?

If Jesus was walking in the streets of Stockholm today, he would have seen those

people and moved with compassion.

He would not have stayed silent.

He would have reached out and shared goodness, good news to everybody.

And church, here is the truth.

We are the body we are the body we are his body,

on this earth that means when Jesus looks at the people of this city he wants

to look through your eyes,

when God wants to speak hope into some people's heart he wants to speak through

your voice when he wants to show compassion to the broken people He wants you to stretch the hands.

So let us ask this question to ourselves.

When we see people around us, do we turn away? Do we show compassion?

Many times we think like it's not my job. Church will do this evangelism. People will do.

It's everyone's high commission that Jesus has given.

It's not enough that your family alone is saved we need to save we need to go

and share the gospel to everyone Jesus is our best example,

Jesus is one of our greatest example for the sake of one woman.

Two weeks ago we heard from, I don't know if it is two weeks ago,

three weeks ago, from James we heard about the Samaritan woman.

For that one woman, he walked about 40 to 50 kilometers just to reach that one woman.

Today we hear a lot that people in the church go for a marathon because the

roads are nice, I guess. I don't know.

I've never been to a marathon. But it's almost equal to marathon.

I don't know how exactly, how many kilometers he walked between 40 to 50.

Jesus sacrificed all his energy, all his time.

He was hungry. He went on a very hot day.

You would read that in the scripture.

He sacrificed just for that one person.

Let me ask you a question today How many of us are willing to sacrifice?

How many of us are willing to do the same?

Can we sacrifice one lunch To reach someone in the street?

Can we sacrifice one afternoon nap And pray for someone that is perishing?

Can we set aside our comfort to fulfill the call of God.

Let us examine ourselves. Where is our priorities? Is it heavenly priorities?

Is it worldly priorities?

Is it to bring people to Christ or to go and compromise with the worldly people?

Is it to make Father heart glad by doing his will or enjoying yourself in the worldly event?

As I said, the time is ticking. Every second, souls are stepping into eternity.

There are people looking for hope. There are people looking for love.

There are people looking for peace. There are people looking for eternal life.

So many people, so many people are longing for God.

Let me tell you a story that happened right here in Stockholm.

One Sunday, the church, our church decided we will go and do evangelism here in Uddenplan.

We prayed. We said, let God bring us the right people.

We were standing there. And one guy just approached us.

And he said, like, what is this? And all. So we said, like, we are here to speak about Jesus.

We gave him a gospel tract. We spoke to him about Jesus.

And quickly he said, I will definitely take this flyer because this is a sign from God for me.

So he started explaining what exactly happened the previous day.

We were there on Sunday On Saturday,

Something happened in his life So he felt like People are talking about Different

gods in this world Who is real God?

He had this question in his heart So he started pondering on it He started researching

On the same evening He met three of his friends.

Then he said like I'm thinking a little bit about God what do you guys think instead of helping him,

they were mocking him he said like are you sure are you sure what you're thinking is right,

but still these thoughts were in his heart he went back home he said one line

he said one line if there is any real God,

show me a sign if there is any real God next afternoon we were there with the

flyers he said I will take it because this is a sign from God.

What I'm trying to say is like when you step out God will bring the right people

God will bring the people that are longing for Christ.

There are so many people like him, unspoken, hidden, quietly looking for God.

God is ready to use us to reach him.

That will happen only if we step out boldly and unashamed.

Paul says in Romans 1.16, For I am not ashamed of the gospel,

for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone that believes.

Church, the gospel is powerful but it must be spoken, it must be shared.

God is willing to use a weak vessel like us to carry his great message.

And that means every day we stay silent is a day someone misses hearing the

words that could change their eternity.

Let me tell you my personal experience. God always, each time we stood for evangelism,

in the street evangelism or anything,

people came, God brought people to us and they started right conversation so we could speak.

It was not our ability. It was not our wisdom. It was the power of God.

If God is seeing a need in Stockholm today, if God is looking from above,

in this church whom will he find to send to those needy people,

are you ready are you willing will he able to send you,

are you willing to shine forth his light,

we should always look forward to shine forth his light we should always say

like Jesus no turning back no turning back,

We sing this song many times.

I have decided to follow Jesus.

No turning back. No turning back.

Do you know where this song comes from? This song actually comes from northeast of India.

The background story of this song.

There was about 150 years ago Some missionaries from Wales They went to northeast

of India They chose a place where people are violent.

These missionaries went, they tried to share the gospel with many people.

At the end, they succeeded to share the gospel and bring a family to Christ.

A husband, wife and two kids.

And the chief of the village got so much angry.

He said, bring all the family Bring the family Come, all the villagers,

come So all the village people gathered around,

The chief of the village said You need to renounce your faith He said to the

man, hey You need to renounce your faith.

The man came from the family out He stepped front.

He said, like, I have decided to follow Jesus.

No turning back.

Chief got angry. He said, like, if you don't stop it, I'm going to kill your two boys.

He said, I have decided to follow Jesus.

He shot those two kids.

While they were in the mud still breathing still having their last breath chief said,

now you need to renounce your faith otherwise I will kill your wife,

the man said though none may follow still I will follow,

the chief got more angry he shot with arrows wife as well the wife the kids died,

the chief of the village is not understanding what's happening what kind of

God is this it's like not renouncing his faith,

he said if you don't renounce now I'm gonna kill you.

Then he said the world behind me the cross before me,

and the chief of the village shot him with arrows all the family is dead,

and through this testimony through this,

boldness of standing for Christ brought the chief to faith the entire village came to faith.

We sing this song, not knowing the history behind it. I've been singing this song from my childhood.

But it's very powerful. I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back.

What kind of faith do we have today?

This is easier to sing, but do we really mean it?

Do we really follow Jesus and his commands?

Do we really mean when we say we don't turn back, we should examine ourselves.

Here is the greatest commission Jesus has given to us.

Dear church, let us not be ashamed of sharing the gospel.

If you are worried, what if people will reject me? What if people will mock me? Think about Jesus.

He was on the cross hanging naked.

Mocked, insulted, beaten, a little rejection,

can't we take that for Jesus, who did a lot for us.

Church, let us rise with courage. Let us be bold witnesses for Jesus,

because eternity is real, time is short,

and the gospel is the power of God unto salvation.

God has chosen you and me to shine light in Stockholm, in Sweden,

and to the ends of the earth.

So let's decide today In our hearts.

Let us be not ashamed of the gospel.

Let us close our eyes and bow down our heads in the presence of God.

Let's make that decision in our hearts saying like, God, help me not to be ashamed of the gospel.

Help me, Lord, to believe in your power.

Help me, Lord, to speak to people Help me, Lord, wherever you want me to go, I will go,

Help me, Lord, I will obey your commandments.

Father, we thank you for your gospel The power of God to salvation,

We thank you that you did not hold back your son But you gave him for us all,

Lord Lord, we confess our fears, our hesitations, our silence,

Fill us, Lord, with your Holy Spirit The same Spirit that filled the early church,

Give us boldness, give us courage, give us compassion, Lord,

Use our voices, use our hands, use our lives To bring hope to the lost in this city,

Lord, help us to leave this place unashamed of Jesus Christ,

Help us to leave this place unashamed To proclaim your name, Lord.

Thank you, Jesus, for helping each of us In mighty name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.

We hope that this sermon has encouraged you. If you'd like to learn more about

us, visit us online at gracechurch.se.

Thanks for listening.