Centered Summer

If you would open up your Bibles to 1 Corinthians 15, Memorial Day weekend marks the unofficial

start to summer.

Rejoicing.

It's about time.

Summer in southeastern Wisconsin is full of unprecedented opportunities.

Just think about what's going to happen down at the lake this summer.

There's the 4th of July festivities, food folks and spokes right here in the square.

We've got tall ships coming in early August.

I'm really looking forward to that.

But you know what I'm looking forward to most?

The bright sunshine on my face.

And listening to the cicadas croon one another.

That's what I'm looking forward to.

Well, as fellow followers of Jesus living in southeastern Wisconsin, this summer affords

us an unprecedented gospel opportunity.

Okay, six to nine months of the year, we are all cooped up in our homes, running around in

our cars, rarely seeing anybody else because in Wisconsin, we're all holed up in our homes

during the cold months.

But now it's time to get out and mix it up and mix it up for Jesus.

So this morning, I just want to let you know up front, I am going to motivate you to step

out of your comfort zones this summer in order to move towards others with the gospel of Jesus,

Jesus Christ.

A couple months ago, the elders were talking about, hey, how do we help the church see and

take advantage of the gospel opportunities that this summer has?

And so this morning, we're going to take a break out of our series in the book of Revelation

so that we can focus on 1 Corinthians 15, which is all about the gospel.

And so this morning, from 1 Corinthians 15, 1 through 11, I'm going to motivate you to step

out of your comfort zone in order to tell others about Jesus this summer.

And I'm going to do it in three ways.

First, I'm going to remind you of the content of the gospel.

That's 1 Corinthians 15, 1 through 4.

And then I'm going to impress upon you the power of the gospel, which is going to come later

on in 1 Corinthians 15.

You're going to see that in 8 through 11.

And then I've saved a significant amount of time at the end of the sermon to point you

to five practical steps to move out of your comfort zone towards others this summer.

So, what I want you to see is that the gospel of Jesus Christ motivates the gospel of Jesus Christ.

When you understand what God and Christ has done for you, you're going to want to tell other people about it.

So let's first look at the content of the gospel in 1 Corinthians 15.

Chapter 15, 1, let's go 15, 1 through 8.

Let me give you a little background of what's going on in 1 Corinthians.

1 Corinthians, the apostle Paul is writing to a church in the first century in the city of Corinth.

This group of Christians, they were immature and they were unhealthy.

And Paul addresses issue after issue throughout this letter to this church to address issues that were of dissension and disunity.

In fact, by the end of 1 Corinthians, he turns his attention to a small group of people in the church

who believed that there was no resurrection from the dead.

And so he's going to address that issue and correct that issue in 1 Corinthians 15

by first explaining what the gospel is.

And then he addresses it.

And so if you look at 1 Corinthians 15, 1 and 2, he says,

Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you,

which you received and which you stand and by which you are being saved,

if you hold fast to the word I preached to you unless you believed in vain.

And so he's like, I'm going to tell you what the gospel is.

Let's get on all the same page.

Now when you hear that word gospel, here's what you need to understand about it.

Originally, it was not a religious word.

Remember back in the day, first century, they had no TVs.

They had no radios.

The internet wasn't discovered yet.

There were no smartphones.

And so when something good happened, there would be a herald, an announcer,

that would go from town to town heralding the good news of something that has happened.

And so in its most general basic sense, gospel is the announcement of good news.

And it could be anything.

So do you remember when the Cubs won the World Series a couple years ago?

It was gospel.

Cubs win.

They're victorious.

It was gospel to Cubs fans everywhere.

Made believers out of many.

Or maybe you've seen pictures, old black and white photos of 1945 and people holding up newspapers that says,

it's VE Day.

It's gospel.

It's the announcement of good news.

Victory in Europe.

May 7th, Germany surrenders.

Allies win in Europe.

It's great rejoicing.

And so that newspaper headline was gospel announcing.

It's, this is what's happened.

And so we see, even in our day, the gospel of economics.

Every quarter, the Fed will either offer good news or not good news.

There are gospel of medicine.

A cure has been discovered.

That's good news.

Something has happened.

So gospel simply means the announcement of good news.

Something good has happened that you need to know about.

Now, when it comes to 1 Corinthians 15 and the Christian gospel, it's all about Jesus Christ and what he has done.

It's the good news of what Jesus Christ has accomplished.

So, so good that everyone needs to know about it.

And the good news of Jesus Christ, the Christian gospel, is not about athletics.

It's not about politics, economics, or medicine.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is the good news that sinners who were separated from God because of their sin have been reconciled.

God has made a way through Christ to reunite them with God.

And so it's this gospel that Paul spells out in 1 Corinthians 15, 3-4.

We see the content of the gospel.

What is to be proclaimed?

What gets announced when we proclaim the gospel to other people?

And we all need to be on the same page on it because simply saying,

Hey, God loves you and offers a wonderful plan for your life.

That's not the gospel.

It's saying true things, but it's not the gospel.

So in 1 Corinthians 15, 3-4, Paul points us to the content of the gospel.

What Jesus has done to reconcile sinners to God.

And I want to show you to see three all-important truths in verses 3 and 4 of the Christian gospel.

You see it, first of all, in this.

The gospel is all about Jesus.

Verse 3,

For I deliver to you as of first importance what I also received,

that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures,

that He, Christ, was buried,

that He, Christ, was raised on the third day in accordance to the scriptures.

What you see in the Christian gospel is a message of good news

that is centered on the person of Jesus Christ.

And did you notice in verse 3 that Paul calls Jesus Christ?

It's not His last name.

It's a title.

It means Messiah, anointed one.

The Old Testament, from very early on, spoke repeatedly,

anticipating one sent from God, a Messiah king,

who would come and deliver God's people and establish a kingdom on earth.

This long-awaited Messiah was God's hero to deliver His people.

And what you see in the book of Acts is that Paul goes from city to city,

from synagogue, Jewish synagogue after Jewish synagogue,

and he is arguing to those Jews that will listen

that Jesus of Nazareth is the hero, the Christ.

It's all about Jesus.

The Christian gospel is all about Jesus,

but it's not just about who Jesus is.

It is that, but it's more.

And so the second all-important truth you need to see

is that the Christian gospel is all about what Jesus has done.

Past tense.

Finished.

You see that in the past tense verbs in verses 3 and 4.

For I deliver to you as first importance what I also received,

that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures,

that He, Christ, was buried past tense,

and that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,

past tense.

These are all things that have happened.

Done.

Done.

Historic.

Facts.

Objective realities.

That every Christian can point to and say,

it really happened.

The Christ was crucified,

dead,

buried,

raised.

Here's the significance.

He died for our sins.

What this raises is humanity's greatest problem.

Our greatest problem is that sin,

our sin,

has separated us from the living God.

And so we are under His judgment.

And so when Jesus,

we learn in 1 Corinthians 15, 3,

that He died for our sin,

that the Christ died for our sins,

our hero,

who was sinless,

died as a substitute

in our place for our sins.

That is how God saves people.

He died for us.

In Mark 10, 45,

Jesus says,

I came not to be served,

but to serve,

and to give my life as a ransom payment for many.

The sinless Son of God

hung on a cross

and died for the sins of all those who would believe in Him.

He's the perfect mediator between God and man.

He died for our sins,

but that's just one aspect of the gospel.

He was also buried.

In fulfillment of Isaiah 53, 9,

He was buried in the tomb of a rich man,

Joseph of Arimathea.

If after Jesus was crucified,

you rolled out your EKG machine

and you hicked it up to Jesus' body in the tomb,

it would be flatline.

Dead.

The point of Paul saying he was buried

points back to Isaiah 53, 9

and also communicates,

hey, there was no life in his body whatsoever.

He died for our sins.

He was buried.

And then third,

this historic fact,

he was raised on the third day.

It's an extraordinary claim.

If you've grown up in the church,

the teaching that Jesus was raised from the dead,

it can kind of be like wallpaper on the church building.

It's kind of like, okay, I'm used to that,

familiar with that.

But when you start realizing what the actual claim is,

the gospel that we proclaim

is that the Christ,

the long-awaited hero,

he, the sinless one,

died for sinners,

was buried to fulfill a prophecy,

and then was raised to fulfill a prophecy,

and raised from the dead,

you're proclaiming a miracle.

You're declaring something supernatural.

Because we all know that dead people

typically don't rise from the dead,

especially those who say,

I'm going to raise from the dead three days after I die,

and then do it.

So on Friday,

Jesus died for sin,

payment made,

and on Sunday,

Jesus was raised from the dead,

which communicates

that that payment of sin

was fully accepted by God,

and this Savior

is fully vindicated.

Victorious over sin,

death,

and the devil.

It's all about Jesus,

this gospel,

and it's all about what Jesus has done.

So the picture is

of us showing up

and declaring to people,

did you know

that the long-awaited hero,

he died for sin,

buried,

and he's alive today.

He was raised three days later.

That's the gospel.

And then do you know what Paul does

in verses five through eight?

In this text,

Paul does something really interesting.

Here, let me just read it for you.

He was raised on the third day

in accordance with the scriptures,

verse four,

verse five,

and that he appeared to Cephas,

that's another name for Peter,

then to the twelve,

then he appeared to more than 500 brothers

at one time,

most of whom are still alive,

although some have fallen asleep,

then he appeared to James,

then to all the apostles,

last of all,

as to one untimely board,

he appeared to me.

Do you see what he does?

Paul says,

oh, this is a historic reality.

In fact,

let me roll out 500 witnesses for you

that you can actually talk to.

If Paul had a smartphone,

he'd be like,

hey, do you want to talk to,

you know,

Cephas or James

or one of those 500?

Hey, I can share the contact with you.

You can reach out to them

because in verse six,

most of them are still alive anyway.

You can hear from them yourself

how they saw Jesus

after he was raised from the dead.

It's eyewitness accounts.

The point is this.

It's a historic event.

We don't proclaim wishful thinking.

We proclaim objective realities.

The gospel is something

that Christ has done.

And in verse eight,

Paul says,

last of all,

as once and timely born,

he appeared also to me.

Do you see what he's saying?

I'm writing you this

and I myself have seen Jesus

after he was raised from the dead.

I am an eyewitness.

And you know what?

You can read of that eyewitness account

in Acts chapter nine

when Paul has this very interesting encounter

with the risen Christ

on the road to Damascus.

These historical facts about Jesus,

his death, burial, and resurrection,

this is what's accomplished our salvation.

This is what reconciles sinners to God.

It's the heart of the gospel.

So we've seen that it's all about Jesus

and it's all about what Jesus has past tense done.

We proclaim something that's happened.

And then third,

I want you to see this all important truth

is that it's all according to God's plan

for the fullness of time.

Did you notice in verses three and four

that Jesus, that Christ died

in accordance with the scriptures?

That on the third day he was raised

in accordance with the scriptures?

Christ's death, burial, and resurrection?

These are not random events.

These are actually the purposed fulfillments

of God's plan,

fulfilling a passage like Isaiah 53, 3-12,

where the Messiah dies on behalf of others.

He's buried in a rich man's tomb,

and then he's vindicated resurrection.

But here's what you need to see.

If this is according to the scriptures,

that means it's according to a plan.

God had this plan set out

from before the foundation of the world.

And so in order for Jesus

to fulfill something written 700 plus years

before he walked the earth in Isaiah,

that means that there was something else

going on to orchestrate it all.

That God had a sovereign plan

that he is carrying out

to rescue sinners.

What the Old Testament anticipated,

Jesus Christ accomplished.

And so this, according to the scriptures,

reveals a plan for the fullness of time.

And when there's a plan,

there's intentionality.

And when there's intentionality,

there's a motive.

Do you know what the motive is of this plan?

For God so loved the world

that he gave his one and only son,

that whoever believes in him

shall not perish but have eternal life.

God loves this world,

the sinners of this world,

and he wants to reconcile them to himself,

which gets at the goal of this plan.

The goal of this plan

is not your self-esteem.

The goal of this plan

is for you to be reconciled to God.

Hear the word of God.

1 Peter 3.18

For Christ also suffered once for sins,

the righteous for the unrighteous,

that he might bring us to God.

The goal of the gospel

is God

to reconcile us

to God

so that we can see him for who he is

and give him the praise and glory

due his name,

that we could live lives

that actually please him.

This morning, I just want to remind you

of the content of the gospel.

It's all about Jesus.

He's the Christ.

It's all about what he has done,

died, buried, raised,

and it's all about God's plan

for the fullness of time.

The goal is to reconcile sinners to God.

You know, you all know this already

because you're probably all Packers fans

with the exception of a couple of you

who are Bears fans,

maybe one of you who's a Seahawks fan.

Vince Lombardi,

at the beginning of every season,

would gather his Packers football club together

and he would hold up a football

and say to those men,

this is a football.

Start with the basics.

What he's saying is,

this game has everything to do

with the movement of this ball.

And this morning,

at the outset of the summer of 2019,

I am holding up the gospel to you.

Christ died, buried, raised.

It's all about the movement of this gospel

and how you can maximize it this summer.

I have in my notes here

to correct a common misunderstanding.

I'm not going to expand on it

for the sake of time,

but I can tell you what it is.

There are a bunch of people out there

who say things like this.

They think that they're quoting

Francis of Assisi.

They say,

proclaim the gospel

and if you have to,

use words.

It couldn't be further from the truth.

First of all,

Francis of Assisi never said it.

And second,

we don't proclaim the gospel

with our actions.

Our actions will either verify

or deny the gospel,

but we proclaim the gospel

with our mouths.

Nobody's going to become a Christian

by watching your life.

But people will become Christians

when they see your life,

verifies the gospel,

and they say,

hey,

how can I be saved?

How can I live for God like that?

And you're able to tell them

the good news

of what Christ has done for them

in order to reconcile them to God.

Okay.

We've got to be square

on the content of the gospel.

And this summer

is going to be

an unprecedented opportunity

to proclaim it.

We've got to be clear

on the content,

but now I want to impress upon you

the power of the gospel.

In my desire right now,

when we look at this,

I want you to sense something.

I want you to sense

that this message of the gospel

is God's power.

that the gospel alone

can do something

that nothing else can.

There's nothing else

on the planet

or in the universe

that is able to reconcile

a sinner

to a holy God.

So let me impress upon you

the power of the gospel.

In chapter 15

of 1 Corinthians 3-8,

Paul kind of walks through

the content of the gospel,

and then in verse 8-11,

he turns,

he pivots.

And the gospel

gets extremely personal.

Did you notice

the shift in language

to first person plural,

first person singular?

Here's what I mean.

Last of all,

as to one untimely born,

he appeared also to me.

For I am the least

of the apostles

and worthy to be called

an apostle

because I persecuted

the church of God.

But by the grace of God,

I am what I am,

and his grace toward me

was not in vain.

On the contrary,

I worked harder

than any of them,

though it was not I,

but the grace of God

that is with me.

Whether then it was

I or they,

so we preach

and you believe.

It gets personal.

Paul knew something

about the power

of this message

firsthand.

First hand.

earlier in the book

of 1 Corinthians,

if you want to flip back

to 1 Corinthians 1,

1 Corinthians 1:18

verse 18,

Paul talks about

the gospel

in the most interesting

of ways.

He says,

for the word of the cross,

verse 18,

the word of the cross,

another way of talking

about the gospel,

is folly

to those who are perishing.

It's stupid

to people

who don't have a heart

to believe it.

But to us

who are being saved,

who actually believe

the gospel,

it is the power

of God.

God's power

explodes

through the message

of the gospel.

Do you remember

Romans 1, 16?

Paul says,

I am not ashamed

of the gospel.

the objective reality

of who Christ is

and what he's done.

Died,

buried,

raised.

This gospel

is God's power

unto salvation

for all who believe.

So here's what

I want to put before you.

The gospel

is not just

a set

of historic

objective realities

about who Jesus is

and what he's done.

It is that,

but it's not just that.

The gospel,

this message

about who Jesus is

and what he's done,

it is God's power

to save.

It's God's power

to save,

transform,

and enable.

In this passage,

in 1 Corinthians 15,

Paul

doesn't use

the word power.

He uses another word.

It's used,

repeated three times.

You probably saw it.

Look at verse 10.

But by the grace

of God,

I am what I am.

And his grace

toward me

was not in vain.

But the grace

of God

that is with me,

grace,

grace,

grace,

grace.

Paul,

throughout his writings,

will use

God's power

and God's grace

virtually synonymously.

And what God's grace

emphasizes

is God's

loving motive

in the exercise

of his power.

Think about it this way.

Through the gospel

of Jesus Christ,

God graciously

exercises his power

for the good

of sinners.

That's his grace.

God's riches

at Christ's expense.

grace.

It's a power.

It gets stuff done.

It saves.

For by grace,

you've been saved

through faith.

This gospel grace,

this power,

reconciles

sinners to God

so that

a sinner,

upon believing

the gospel,

has a whole new

relationship

with the living God.

The sin

that had separated

them because

of Christ's death,

it removed

the obstacle

so that

a sinner

can now be

in a new

relationship

with the living God

without fear.

He goes from

being a rebel

to a son

or a daughter.

Nothing else

can do that.

Brothers and sisters,

there's nothing else

that can do that

but the gospel.

Someone who

believes the gospel,

that God

and Christ

has done this

for them,

they believe that,

their sins

are forgiven,

their eternity

is changed,

they're transferred

from the kingdom

of darkness

into the kingdom

of the beloved son.

They are no longer

indwelt and controlled

only by their sinful nature

but the spirit of God

has come to live

within them.

They are a walking

temple of the Holy Spirit.

Instead of being hostile

to God

and being at enmity

with them

because of Christ's blood

and his resurrection,

we have peace

now with God.

God

the gospel

does that.

There's nothing else.

There's nothing else.

The 100,000 people

of Kenosha,

there's nothing else

they can hear

or believe

that will reconcile

them to God.

But it just doesn't save.

This gospel grace,

this power of God,

it transforms.

It gives you

a new relationship

and a new identity.

And you see it right here

in the text.

Paul says in verse 9,

For I am the least

of the apostles,

unworthy to be called

an apostle

because I persecuted

the church of God.

But by the grace of God

I am what I am.

By the grace of God

I am what I am.

He was a persecutor

and destroyer

of God's church

and then he encountered

Jesus on the road

to Damascus,

the risen Christ

and all of a sudden

he's no longer

a persecutor

and destroyer.

He's an apostle

too

and builder

of God's church.

Do you see

the transformation?

Given a whole new identity.

When someone believes

the gospel

and they're reconciled

to God,

they have a new relationship,

they have a new identity,

they're no longer sinners,

they're saints,

they're no longer rebels,

they're children.

They're no longer

enslaved,

they're free.

Free to do what?

To live out your new identity

in new activity.

We see it in the text.

The new activity for Paul

upon his conversion

and his transformation,

new identity,

he is now no longer

crushing the church,

he's building the church

in his apostolic ministry.

God's grace

working within Paul

enabled him,

enabled him

to work hard

at preaching

and planting churches.

You see that?

In verse 10,

on the contrary,

I worked harder

than any of them,

though it was not I,

but the grace of God

that is with me,

within me.

Flip back

to Colossians chapter 1,

Colossians 1:28

verses 28 and 29.

Paul uses

similar language

describing his toil

for building the church.

He says,

in verse 28,

him we proclaim,

Jesus the Christ

we proclaim,

warning everyone

and teaching everyone

with all wisdom

that we may present

everyone mature in Christ

for this I toil,

presenting everyone

mature in Christ,

this I toil,

struggling with all

his energy

that he powerfully

works within me,

his gracious power.

You see,

the gospel grace

that is poured out

enables gospel ministry.

As Christians,

you have a new relationship

with God.

You have a new identity

in Christ,

and now you've been given

new activity

to be a part of.

In addition to new ways

we go about our marriages

and our parenting

and our singleness

and our occupations

and our leisure time,

we have been given

a whole new gospel

activity as well,

fulfilling the great commission.

Jesus commissioned us

to this.

He said,

go make disciples

of the nations,

and the way we do that

is by going and proclaiming

the gospel to all

who will hear.

Let me just throw this by you.

Sharing the gospel

with people

isn't just one nice thing

we do for people.

It is the greatest,

most loving thing

we can do for people

because it's this message

in which God unleashes

his power

to reconcile sinners

to himself.

The goal is God,

and it's the most loving thing

we can do for people

to say,

here's how you can be reconciled

to God through Jesus Christ.

Here's how God takes care

of your sin.

Here's what he has done.

He's been raised from the dead

in order to demonstrate

it's all true.

We get to proclaim

God's power to people

in the person and work

of Jesus Christ.

God's gracious power

supplies what we need

to proclaim the gospel.

gospel grace,

it is able to move us

out of our comfort zones

and move us to people

in order to make known

to them what Christ has done

and what only Christ can do.

this power saves,

this power transforms,

this power enables

whole new activities,

new relationship,

new identity,

new activity.

I know what can give you pause

in sharing the gospel

with other people

because I experience it too.

Let me ask you,

is there someone in your life

right now

that when you think about

sharing the gospel with them,

you're like,

there's no way?

There's no way.

Man, I could be like

crystal clear gospel presentation

and there's just no way

that they would respond.

And what you're saying

in the back of your mind is,

oh, they wouldn't respond

because they're too successful.

Oh, they wouldn't respond

because they're too intelligent.

Oh, they wouldn't respond

because they're too entrenched

in their sinful lifestyle.

There's just no way

that they would respond.

It's too hard for the gospel.

And what we're really saying is,

God's power is insufficient

to radically change this person.

If the gospel is able

to transform a destroyer of the church

into a builder of the church,

it can transform anybody.

If the gospel was able

to change me,

it can change anybody.

If the gospel is able

to change you,

it can change anybody.

The gospel is not insufficient

for the task.

And that's where I want

to move your trust.

To trust in God's power

made known through this message.

The last few days,

I've been so encouraged

by this verse,

2 Corinthians 5.20.

We read this.

Therefore, we are ambassadors

for Christ.

God making His appeal through us.

Did you hear that?

God making His appeal through us?

When we move towards people

and share the gospel with them,

God is making His powerful appeal

through us.

How's that for perspective?

God's power is unrivaled.

It alone reconciles sinners

to the living God.

Okay, we've looked at the content

of the gospel.

We've dwelt on the power

of the gospel.

And now,

I want to point you

to five practical steps

you can take this summer

to move out of your comfort zone

and to move towards others

for Christ.

You ready?

Number one.

The first thing to do

is to get clear

on what the gospel is

and what the gospel is not.

And to that end,

I'd like to recommend

this book for you

by Greg Gilbert,

produced by Nine Marks.

And what this book does

is it provides

a very helpful outline

for you to understand

what the gospel is

so that you can communicate

it faithfully.

It's very simple.

God, man, Jesus, respond.

It's very helpful.

I use it in my own

personal evangelism

to keep me on task.

And wouldn't you know,

look it,

I have ten copies up here

ready to give away

like pancakes.

So,

after the service

first ten up here,

I will gladly give it to you.

One per family.

I would just ask

that you exercise

the golden rule

when you come down for them.

So the first one is

get clear on what the gospel is

and what it's not

and this will help you do that.

It'll motivate you

to move out of your comfort zone

towards others.

The second thing,

and if there's one thing

I would want you to walk away with,

an immediate step

you can do tomorrow morning,

it's this.

Be grateful.

Be grateful for what God

through Christ

has done for you.

Return to me, God,

the joy of salvation.

Let me show you how to do it.

Would you open up your Bible

to Ephesians chapter 2

Ephesians 2:1–10

verses 1 through 10.

Here's what you can do

tomorrow morning

in order to,

by faith,

cultivate gratitude

in your heart

for what God

has done for you

through Christ.

And what it is

is you take Ephesians 2,

1 through 10

and you make it personal.

I'm going to show you

how to do it.

You ready?

You can do this

as a prayer

tomorrow morning.

Chapter 2,

verse 1 through 10.

You're swapping out

pronouns.

And I was dead

in the trespasses

and sin

in which I once walked

following the course

of this world,

following the prince

of the power of the air,

the spirit that is now

at work

and the sons

of disobedience

among whom

I once lived

in the passions

of my flesh,

carrying out the desires

of my body

and my mind

and I was by nature

a child of wrath

like the rest

of mankind.

That was me.

But God,

being rich

in mercy

because of the great love

with which he loved

me,

even when I was

dead

in my trespasses,

made me alive

together with Christ.

By grace

I have been saved

and raised me

up with him

and seated me

with him

in the heavenly places

in Christ Jesus

so that in the coming ages

he might show

the immeasurable riches

of his grace

in kindness

towards me

in Christ Jesus.

For by grace

I have been saved

through faith.

This is not my doing,

it's the gift of God,

not a result of my works

so that I'm not going

to boast

for I am his workmanship

created in Christ Jesus

for good works

which God prepared

beforehand

that I should walk

in them.

You see how that works?

Do you see how that

can cultivate

gospel gratitude

in your heart

tomorrow morning?

Here's what's going

to happen.

When you walk

through a passage

and apply it

to yourself like that,

personal gratitude

for the gospel

starts bubbling up

and that personal

gratitude

for the gospel

fuels personal

proclamation

of the gospel.

gospel.

This is the

94 oxhane

of motivation

for the Christian.

Gratitude,

joy

for what God

has done.

It is a really

powerful motivator.

So when you realize

of what God

has done

for you

in Christ

and you have

this growing

gratitude

for his gracious

power

on your behalf

through Christ,

you know what

you're going to want

to do,

who can I tell?

Who can I tell?

My brother needs

to hear,

my sister needs

to hear this.

My neighbor needs

to hear this.

If you walk away

with just one thing,

walk away with that

this morning.

the third step,

tell your story

as a story.

Tell your story

as a story.

And this book

by Sam Chan,

it's called

Evangelism in a Skeptical World.

Matt Sear,

Billy Nye,

and I have been

working slowly

through this book.

In chapter two,

it's titled

Everyday Evangelism.

And in chapter two,

Sam Chan spells out

six strategies

for everyday evangelism.

And the sixth strategy

is to tell our story

as story.

And what he so skillfully does

is he helps Christians

prepare a unique explanation

for how God's grace

intersected their life

and changed them

in story form.

And so here's what I've done.

I've had Mary

produce 30 copies

just of this strategy.

They're on both tables

as your lead,

15 and 15,

14 and 15.

But pick one up

as you're going along.

And here's what you can do

with this.

It's going to take some effort.

It'll take 10 to 30 minutes

to get something together,

maybe more than that.

But you're going to find yourself

having a very effective

gospel tool.

A very effective gospel tool

that can be used

in our life groups.

Life group leaders.

I'm going to bring

our life group

through this in the fall.

I want everybody

in our life group

being able to say,

explain their unique story

and how the gospel,

objective gospel,

changed them.

And then you share it

with each other

in your life group.

Our life groups

are our small groups.

They're a central part

of our life together.

And then,

here's the other way

you can use something

like this.

If you put this together

and you're like,

man, I want to use this,

come talk to me.

Here's why.

We're looking to introduce

more and more

gospel testimonies

during our Sunday morning service.

We want more and more people

hearing what God,

by His grace,

has done in the lives

of the people in this room.

And so,

if you put this together

and you're like,

yeah,

I want to give that a shot

on a Sunday morning,

come talk to me.

Finally,

when you have

a personal testimony,

it's a very effective

and personal evangelism.

When I share my faith,

when I share the gospel,

I introduce it

in two ways.

I either ask

a very straightforward,

have you ever heard

the gospel of Jesus Christ before?

You'd be amazed

at how many people say,

no, I've never heard it.

And then I say,

can I explain it to you?

And you're like,

sure.

And then I go,

God, man, Jesus, respond.

But there's another way

to communicate the gospel

that Sam Chan

really helps us with.

It's when you approach

someone and you say,

can I tell you

how I became a Christian?

It's a very effective

evangelistic tool.

Let me encourage you

to pick this up

because this is

just one step this summer

you can take

to move outside

of your comfort zones

and towards

other people.

The fourth step

is what Matt

was talking about

during the announcements,

The Art of Neighboring.

It's this book.

It's a six-week course

that provides clear

and very practical steps

to move towards

those people

living immediately

around you.

And over the course

of the year,

Jenny and I

have put these principles

into practice.

and we've been

so encouraged

how we've gotten

to know our neighbors,

how it's opened doors.

This is an evangelistic

long-term strategy

with the people

that you're living around.

We're going to have,

offer these

throughout the summer,

Tuesday night,

Thursday night.

Jenny and I

are hosting

the Tuesday night group.

Matt and Elise here

are hosting

the Thursday night group.

And I would just

encourage you

to participate in this

because the genius of it

is having loving accountability

to do it together.

You will not regret it.

Six,

just six,

six sessions.

The last step

you see in your bulletin.

Summer picnics in the park.

Summer outreaches.

We're seeing

these outreaches

as opportunities

to connect people

with a gospel-driven church.

This church

is a gospel resource.

Christ in us.

So here's how you can use

the summer outreaches.

First way is this.

If you're aware

of Christians

who are on the outskirts

of our church,

we want to weave them

into the fabric

of our life together.

And so the way

that you do that

is you risk a little bit,

you approach them,

and you say,

hey,

we got a July 9th

picnic in the park.

Do you want to come with us?

And when they come with you,

you introduce them

to people

from our church.

You're like,

oh,

you like cycling.

Oh,

you need to meet Matt Sear

who's another avid cyclist.

Oh,

you like smoking pipes.

Oh,

you need to talk

to Garrett Goldberg

about pipes.

Now,

if you're new

to Christ the King Church

and you don't know anybody,

you know what you should do?

Just approach anybody

and say,

hey,

can we come with you?

You're not overstepping

your bounds.

But brothers and sisters

of Christ the King,

let's move towards others

to get them in.

Now,

the second group of people,

there are non-Christians

outside of the faith

that we're all interacting with

on a weekly basis.

Let's invite them

to come to one of these picnics,

one of these outreaches.

And here's why.

We want to introduce

non-Christians

to genuine followers

of Jesus Christ

because we want

our non-Christian friends

to be saying things like this.

Oh,

whoa.

Wait,

there are other rational

human beings

besides you

that have decided

to follow Jesus.

It forms what

Chan calls

a plausibility structure.

we want to bring people

to these picnics

to step out in faith,

to move towards others

outside of our comfort zones

and to say,

come,

come meet these people

who have been changed

by the gospel.

Imagine that you bring someone there

and one of your church friends

shares their story

of how the risen Christ

graciously interrupted their life.

Now,

that's what I'm talking about.

Okay,

I've reminded you

of the content of the gospel.

I've sought to impress upon you

the power of the gospel

and now I've pointed you

to five practical steps

to move you outside

of your comfort zone

towards others.

Now,

imagine this.

A bunch of us

from Christ the King Church,

imagine what would happen,

what will God do

if we step out

in full confidence

in the power of the gospel

to change anybody,

anybody,

to save them

and transform them

and enable them

to live new lives.

Imagine what God can do

if we just step out

confident

that God's,

that the gospel

is able to do

what it says

it's able to do.

Do you know

what I think

is going to happen?

It may not be

hundreds of people

coming,

becoming Christians,

but I think

it's going to be

a steady stream.

God making his appeal

through us

and people responding

in repentance

and faith,

being reconciled

to God.

I don't know

about you,

but I can't think

of anything

more worthy

than the summer

of 2019.

let's pray.

God in heaven,

we are so grateful

that you would

send the Christ

to die for us,

to be buried

and to be raised

from the dead.

that you are alive

now,

Lord Jesus.

And so now we ask

that you would

pour out your spirit

upon us

and embolden

our witness

in this city,

that you

would make your

appeal through us

and that many

would respond

in repentance

and faith

this summer

and come September,

that there would

be singing,

people singing

who are not singing

to you right now.

Worthy are you

of our every breath.

Worthy is the Lord.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.