Gospel Advancing Necessity

This morning I'm going to talk to you about gospel advancing necessity.

!

This phrase, advancing the gospel, he says,

I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel.

So the gospel is supposed to advance.

The gospel is supposed to spread.

The gospel is supposed to be moving along.

And that should be our natural expectation.

In fact, Paul said in Romans 1.15,

he said, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.

So we see here, Paul was eager to preach the gospel.

Let me ask this question.

Are we?

Are we eager to preach the gospel?

And if we say we are eager, the question is, how eager?

How eager was Paul?

1 Corinthians 9.16, Paul says,

If I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting.

Why?

Because necessity has laid it upon me.

Woe to me if I don't preach the gospel.

Okay?

Necessity has laid it upon me.

Woe to me if I don't preach the gospel.

That sounds pretty eager.

That sounds pretty motivated.

Right?

Are you this way?

Would you be able to say that necessity has laid it on you to preach the gospel?

Is the gospel being preached, is that optional for you?

Is it something you think about every once in a while?

Maybe when someone like myself stands behind this beautiful pulpit and encourages us for that?

Or is it something we think about on the regular?

Is it something that we think about when we're with lost people?

Is it something that we think about when there's no lost people around?

And maybe there's a pattern of our life where we're not having lost people around?

But we think, oh my goodness, necessity is laying it on me to preach the gospel to lost people.

And would we ever even go so far as to say, woe to me if I don't preach the gospel.

I mean, that's how driven Paul was.

That's how necessary gospel advancing was to Paul.

He says, woe to me if I don't preach the gospel.

What a phrase.

What a way of putting it, right?

Woe to me if I don't preach the gospel.

Maybe you've had a season where you could say that.

Yes, where you were really on fire for the gospel saying, I've got to preach the gospel.

I've got to find people who need to hear the gospel.

Then maybe you have seasons where not so much.

Maybe seasons where I'm not thinking about that.

I've got a lot of stuff going on.

I'm having kids.

I'm figuring out work stuff.

I've got a house.

I've got friendships and relationships and church stuff and all these different things.

And maybe we don't think as much about the lost.

But I'll tell you what.

If you really want to kill a church, stop thinking about the lost.

Okay?

You really want a church not to grow, not to move on beyond the people that are in their four walls when they gather?

Don't think about the gospel.

Stop preaching the gospel.

Don't start preaching the gospel.

You know why so many churches just say the same roughly size?

And this happens so often.

And it is a travesty that more churches don't ask the question, why does our church just keep staying the same size?

Especially when most often the answer is, because we're not preaching the gospel.

We're not actively seeking to save people who are lost and get into their lives and preach the gospel to them.

You can't grow as a church, and healthy things do grow, if we're not going to people who are currently not in the church, lost people, and preaching the gospel to them.

Okay?

One of the reasons the church you were sent out of has continued to grow every single year for 13 years, I think, is because of that.

It's because there's a culture of outreach.

There's a culture of mission.

There's a culture of reaching and seeking to get into the lives of lost people, and it never stops.

They also cheat by having a lot of kids.

That also is a way that they've grown.

So that's another way as well, as long as you make them disciples.

Okay?

But, which is why Gina's in here, because she was at a birth last night.

So, he says, necessity has laid it upon me.

If you don't have that necessity laying upon you or laying hold of you, you need to pray.

You need to get before the Lord and say, God, I don't feel it.

I don't experience it.

It's not on me.

Lay that necessity of gospel preaching on me.

Lay it on me.

And may you lay it on our whole church.

And may we never recover.

May you shake us to the core.

If we've gotten lazy, if we've gotten busy, if we've gotten too consumed with other things,

we can't ever get to a place where gospel advancement is not necessary in our minds.

We cannot.

We cannot.

We must advance the gospel.

Paul said in 1 Corinthians 9, 19 to 22,

Though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them.

See his drive?

Gotta have more.

Okay?

This isn't a selfish more.

This is a good more.

More souls.

I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more.

I want more of them.

To the Jews, I became as a Jew in order to win the Jews.

To those under the law, I became as one under the law, though not being myself under the law,

that I might win those under the law.

To those outside the law, I became as one outside the law, not being outside the law of God,

but under the law of Christ.

Why?

That I might win those outside of the law.

Verse 22,

To the weak, I became weak, that I might win the weak.

I have become all things to all people, that by all means, I might save some.

I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.

It says,

Become all things to all people, that by all means, I might save some.

I've taught on this before, and the details of this is not going to go on,

but just look at the passion, the drive behind him.

Less about the practicals, and more about the motivation of Paul.

Paul's saying, there's nothing off the table.

All things.

How many things?

All things.

Is that some things?

No.

Some doesn't mean all.

All is different than some.

Okay?

All things.

How many people?

Some people?

No.

No, no, no, no.

Not some people.

All people.

Okay.

Some means no.

No, not some means.

All means.

Why?

That he might, the only some here is that I might win some.

Okay?

Don't confuse that.

All means, all people, all things, that he might save some.

And he does it all for the sake of the gospel.

There is this pervasive motivation, necessity on Paul.

All things have to be at my disposal.

All means, all people.

Like, I am, I, woe to me if I don't preach the gospel.

May that be us.

May we be a healthy gospel advancing church that never forgets the necessity.

That never forgets where we came from.

Right?

David in the psalm says, renew to me the joy of my salvation.

Renew to me the joy of my salvation.

When you remember what you've been saved from.

When you remember that you have, like Sam was just saying, a high priest who is permanently in his high priest position.

Who constantly lives to make intercession for us.

That he has made us right.

That we've been justified in him.

That we're being sanctified by his power.

And that we were lost.

We were totally under the wrath of God with no hope in this world.

And he came to us.

Plucked us out of the fire.

Made us, gave us the right to become children of God.

How could we not tell other people?

And not just, not how could we not tell other people.

How could we not look for opportunities and not just wait for opportunities to come in our lap?

Listen, if you're just waiting for opportunities to come in your lap, you are missing it.

I don't think Paul was doing that.

I mean, these verses I just read.

Are you getting that impression?

That Paul was just bebopping through life waiting for opportunities?

I don't think so.

The language he's using here is one of aggressive action and intentionality.

He's not waiting for someone to come his way.

Now, I'm not talking about some obnoxious in the flesh making something happen that's not there.

I'm not talking about that.

Okay?

So don't, you know, there's ditches on both sides.

But listen, if you see Paul here, he's like, I am actively engaging the lost.

I'm actively looking for ways to reach lost people.

And we must do the same.

We can't just be waiting for some opportunity to land in our lap.

Although we should always pray for opportunities to land in our lap.

But you can't just wait for that.

Okay?

We have to make opportunities.

We have to make the most of those opportunities.

Paul saw that preaching the gospel is necessary.

Do we?

And if we don't, then why not?

Okay?

I want to talk about four obstacles to gospel advancement.

Okay?

As I talk about this this morning.

Four different obstacles.

First one.

Fear and unbelief.

Wait a second.

That's two.

I know.

But they kind of go together.

Okay?

Fear and unbelief.

All right?

Romans 1.16.

That verse that Martin Luther was really big on.

Right?

I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for the salvation of all who believe.

Okay?

Not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God.

All right?

A lot of times we say, God, I pray that there would be power in my preaching of the gospel.

You know, you really don't need to pray that.

The gospel is already power.

I think sometimes, and I don't think there's anything wrong with praying that, but really,

I want to ask you, is it actually a revealing of your lack of faith in the power of God that's already inherent in the gospel?

It's already there.

You know, you already have power in the gospel.

The gospel itself.

Oftentimes, when we're preaching the gospel, the devil whispers to us and says, this isn't powerful.

You're not going to do it right.

It's not going to be a powerful presentation of the gospel.

And I tell you what, Romans 1.16 says the gospel is the power of God.

And it's a specific power of God for what?

For salvation.

You need to know that.

You need to believe that.

When you're going to preach the gospel to someone, you're not, you might feel weak.

You might feel unqualified.

You might feel like, I'm going to bungle the words.

Let me ask you a question.

Has God ever saved anybody through a bungled up version of words that we called the gospel before?

Has he ever done that?

Has God ever saved someone through a bad presentation of the gospel?

You better believe he has.

Now, that doesn't mean you should be lazy and not try to preach the gospel in the right way.

But listen, do you believe or do you not believe that the gospel is what Romans 1.16 says it is?

That it is the power of God for the salvation of those who believe.

We so often believe that the gospel is impotent or that our presentation of it is impotent when it is in effect of itself powerful.

So much confidence can be derived from this one verse.

You know, if you possess something of power, it makes you confident in that power.

When you possess something that's weak, you start to get insecure about it.

You maybe want to hide it.

You don't really want to use it.

When you have something that's very powerful, you want to use it.

You want to share it.

When you don't believe that the gospel is the power of God for the salvation of all who believe,

you will most likely be hesitant to both share it, preach it, and even look for opportunities to give it.

If you possess something of great power in and of itself, you want to go out and declare it,

knowing that even if I'm weak and we are weak, even if I don't do a great job presenting it,

and sometimes we don't do a great job presenting it, even if I'm tired, even if I don't know what to say,

even if the person I'm talking to is smarter than me, has more knowledge than me,

so what?

Is the gospel power or not?

Like, think about that.

You might say, well, these other things are powerful too.

Really?

Are they as powerful as the good news of the gospel of Jesus?

It is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.

We need to put that in the bank and say, hey, I need to believe this.

Very important.

Isaiah 63 verse 1 speaks of God in a specific way.

Isaiah 63:1

It says that he is mighty to save.

When you preach the gospel, when you think of the gospel,

when you think of even trying to engage a lost person or try to get into contact or relationship with a lost person,

are you thinking, my God is mighty to save?

Do you think that?

Or do you most think of my presentation is not very good?

Or do you most think of I'm not a very good speaker?

Or do you most think of I'm not very good at presenting things?

Or do you most think of, you know, fill in the blank.

Where is our focus?

What could stop us in our gospel mission if we truly believe that the gospel is the power of God for all who believe,

and we believe that our God is mighty to save?

He's mighty to save.

I'm going to say it again.

He is mighty to save.

When you believe that, it will build your faith.

But sometimes we don't believe that.

Sometimes we're not engaging with that truth.

He is mighty to save.

This is why 2 Timothy 1.12 says,

I'm not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed.

What is the key to not being ashamed?

Knowing whom you believe.

What do you got to know about him?

That he's mighty to save.

And then you won't be ashamed.

Then you won't be ashamed.

And it's good to know that in Luke 9, verse 26,

Luke 9:26

Jesus had some pretty strong words for this.

He says,

Whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed.

When he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

I don't want Jesus to be ashamed of me.

I don't want Jesus to be ashamed of you.

I don't want Jesus to be ashamed of Christ's church.

Okay?

I would hope when we get to those pearly gates,

Jesus is like,

Oh, Christ's church.

Aptly titled church.

I love these guys.

These guys believe that I was mighty to save.

This church believed that I was mighty to save.

And boy, I saved some people through this church.

Come into my inheritance.

I am not ashamed to call you my brothers.

I'm not ashamed to call you my children.

You guys weren't ashamed of me.

Number two.

Hindrance to gospel advancement.

Preaching the gospel is costly.

Okay?

Philippians 4 verse 3.

Philippians 4:3

Paul said,

I ask you also, true companion,

help these women who have labored side by side with me in the gospel,

together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers,

whose names are in the book of life.

So he calls

this gospel activity he's doing,

he calls it laboring.

And then he calls the people who are doing it,

his fellow workers.

Okay?

It takes work.

Preaching the gospel takes work.

Preaching the gospel involves you getting out of your comfort zone.

It involves me getting out of my comfort zone.

It involves me going to people I'm not,

that I don't know.

Strangers.

Involves building relationships with strangers.

It involves speaking to people who I don't know,

who are strangers.

Okay?

It involves time.

It involves being rejected over and over and over and over again.

It involves being misunderstood.

Sometimes it involves actual persecution.

In the vast majority of the world,

it involves actual physical persecution.

And one day we'll hear as well.

As you said,

all nations will hate you on behalf of me.

It will happen.

Okay?

Right now,

we don't live in that,

but it will happen.

It's costly.

It takes work.

Are you up for the work?

Are you doing the work?

Or are we making excuses

because we don't want to do the work?

Because we're tired.

Because we already have,

we're busy with a lot of things.

What if we're busy with the wrong things?

And not busy with the work of gospel preaching.

The work of gospel building.

Where I'm actively looking to build relations with people.

You might say,

well, I just don't have those people in my life.

Well, guess what?

Someone in this church does.

Partner up with them.

Partner up with them.

You might say,

I don't have anyone in my life

and the people I'm partnering with

don't have anyone in their life.

Well, then partner in prayer.

There's no excuse, though.

The work must be done.

If you got people,

do the work.

If you don't have people,

do the work.

Say partner with someone else who does.

And if you don't have someone who does,

then do the work of partnering in prayer

knowing that God is mighty to save

and he wants to save.

Okay?

But it takes work.

2 Timothy 1 verse 8 says,

2 Timothy 1:8

Do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord,

nor of me as prisoner,

but share in suffering for the gospel

by the power of God.

Okay?

It takes a willingness to work,

a willingness to suffer.

It costs.

It costs to be a gospel preacher.

And there's no way to think about

God didn't bring this church together

so we could just have a smaller church

with our buddies

and really have close, familiar relationships

and not invite other people

into the family of God.

Okay?

Not enjoy our right to be called children of God

and enjoy the fact that us being children of God

makes us brothers and sisters

and enjoy our meals like we're going to do today

and enjoy our time together

and enjoy our fellowship,

which is all good stuff,

but not actively, consistently

be looking to engage with lost people,

build relationships with lost people,

pray for lost people

so that they too can hear the good news of the gospel.

And that's going to take time.

It's going to take effort.

It's going to take sacrifice.

It's going to be costly.

Are we up for it?

Are we up for it?

Are we bought in?

And listen,

it's going to take consistent buying in.

Okay?

May 1st,

it's less than a month away,

will be one year as a church.

Okay?

Have we won a lot of people to Christ in this last year?

No.

Okay?

That means we've got to keep going.

It means we've got to persevere.

It means the shiny gloss,

the sexiness,

the glamour of a church plant.

If it hasn't worn off,

it's sure starting to wear off, right?

Now we're a year in.

Who's going to keep saying,

I wasn't doing it for that reason.

It wasn't just the shiny new objects.

It's the beauty of Christ.

It's the beauty of my Savior saving me

and His power and desire to save other people.

And I joined together with this group of people

to be a people that don't give up,

that keep pressing in in prayer,

that keep pressing in in building relationships,

that keep pressing in in speaking the gospel to people.

No matter how many times we're rejected,

no matter how many times that seed falls on the wrong soil,

we just keep going and we keep going.

And there's a consistency.

When everyone's discouraged,

there's people within our church who say,

keep going,

keep going,

don't give up.

We didn't sign up for the easy road.

We didn't sign up for some,

you know,

dog and pony show,

you know,

the Holy Trinity of church planting

with a charismatic speaker,

a killer children's ministry,

and the full band of hired musicians.

We didn't sign up for that.

No one's coming for that.

You can't just get comfortable and say,

well,

the preacher and the children's ministry

and the worship ministry,

they got it.

We're just going to grow through addition.

Those things will keep adding to a church.

We don't believe in growing by addition.

We believe by churches growing by multiplication.

Multiplication happens exponentially,

very slow on the front end,

very slow on the front end,

very slow on the front end.

Every single one of us,

building relationships with people,

preaching the gospel,

not giving up,

continuing to spread gospel seed,

continuing to get on mission

to specific people in specific places,

keep praying for people,

praying for men and women of peace,

continuing,

continuing,

continuing,

not giving up,

that consistency.

Are you consistent?

Are you up and down?

This last year,

have you been consistent?

Is your passion for what is true

based on your experience

of your feelings,

your church experience

of your friendships

here in this group of people?

Or is it based on the sustained,

unchanging nature of Jesus Christ,

who he is and what he's done?

And are you being fueled by him

or are you being fueled by novelty?

Are you being fueled by him?

Are you being fueled by the new shiny small object?

We must fix our eyes on Jesus,

the author and perfecter of our faith.

We must constantly be looking to him

and be fueled by him,

motivated by him,

motivated by his gospel.

Utmost importance.

Number three,

hindrance to gospel advancement.

Cynicism.

Cynicism.

What's the point?

Barely anyone gets saved.

Grief.

Okay?

I used to preach the gospel,

but it's,

you know what?

There's so many times

I've talked to people,

I've reached out to people,

we've been on a mission to people.

It's like people just aren't getting saved.

Matthew 7, 13 to 14.

I mean, good grief.

Jesus said it, right?

Enter by the narrow gate.

The gate is wide

and the way is easy

that leads to destruction.

For those who enter it,

enter by it,

are many.

It goes on in verse 14

and says,

the gate is narrow

and the way is hard

that leads to life

and those who find it

are few.

Those who find it are few.

Guess what?

You're right.

Few find it.

Most aren't saved.

Few will find it.

Okay?

So number one,

the great thing,

one of the great things about Jesus

is he tells us ahead of time

things are going to happen,

tells us ahead of time

things are going to be difficult

and that's loving and helpful

so we know how to handle it.

If you're expecting

the masses to get saved

when he said few will find it,

you're going to be disappointed.

Okay?

And we've been deluded

and fallen asleep a little bit

because 65% of America

says they're believers.

65%,

when you ask them,

are you a Christian?

They say yes.

But if you ask them

three other questions

and you say,

do you believe that Jesus

is the only way?

Do you believe that Jesus is God?

Do you believe that the Bible

is the Word of God?

That number drops to 6%.

That's like 10%

of the total people

who say they are Christians

actually believing

in some pretty minimum stuff

to be a Christian.

That means we can safely say

that 90% of professing Christians

in America

are not Christians.

Do you hear me on that?

So we've been deluded.

Oh, no, no, no.

So many people get saved.

Majority of America is saved.

65% of America is saved.

Hogwash.

There's no way.

We're lucky.

We're lucky if 6% is.

That means that a good 90%

of professing believers

are not Christians.

Means we got our work to do.

But,

just because few find it

doesn't mean that some don't.

I mean,

just because few find it

doesn't mean

that's telling you

some find it.

Okay?

And how do they find it?

Because that's the question.

Okay,

some do find it.

How?

How do they find it?

Exactly.

Romans,

that's my next verse.

Romans 10, 13.

Everyone who calls

on the name of the Lord

will be saved.

How then

will they call on Him

who they have not believed?

Great question, Paul.

And how are they

to believe in Him

of whom they have never heard?

And how are they to hear

without someone preaching?

And how are they to preach

unless they are sent?

And as it is written,

how beautiful are the feet

of those who preach good news.

Faith comes from hearing

the message

and the message is heard

through the word of Christ.

Okay?

How are they to believe in Him

whom they have never heard?

It's a rhetorical question.

They can't.

They won't.

How are they to hear

without someone preaching?

Someone's got to preach.

So you might say,

well,

I'm just kind of cynical.

People aren't getting saved.

Yes,

majority don't get saved,

but some do.

And Paul said,

hey,

I'm doing everything I can

so that some would.

And what is that

that you have to do?

They have to be preached to.

People have to be sent

to preach to them.

You have to go to them.

But we've created

for many years,

for a whole generation

of church,

we created this thing

where we think,

no,

it's all about people

coming to us.

We designed our churches

to be attractional,

and it's just about

getting people

to come to church services.

Totally not what you see

in the Bible.

Nobody's inviting people

to church services

in the Bible,

and yet we had

a whole generation

that taught church

that this is what church is.

You,

the work of evangelism

is inviting people

to church

so someone else

can preach the gospel to them.

This is wrong.

This is wrong.

Okay?

The attractional mindset

is missing so much.

I praise God

that Christ is preached

in attractional churches,

but this is not

what you see in the Bible.

In the Bible,

they were on mission

to people.

They went to where

the people were.

They didn't just expect

people to come to them,

and we need to do the same.

Jesus said,

I came to seek

and to save

that which is lost.

They're seeking them out.

Instead,

we turned it into

seeker-sensitive services.

Instead of seeking them out,

we said,

bring the seekers here.

It's like,

no,

you go to them

because you know what?

The majority of people

are never going to come

into our service

until they're Christians,

and that's fine

because the services

aren't for unbelievers,

they're for Christians.

Church is for Christians,

so we need to go out

to where people are at

and preach the gospel to them

because they're not going

to believe unless someone,

unless they hear,

and they're not going to hear

unless someone preaches,

and they're not going to be

preaching unless someone sent.

So we can all say,

here am I.

Send me.

I want to go.

Here we are as a church.

Send us.

And we keep going.

We go and we keep going.

Michael Tucci,

when we were talking about

some of this on Wednesday,

brought up the parable of the sower.

And a great point

about the parable of the sower

is that if you notice

when they were spreading the seed,

did the sower

only throw seed,

you know,

really make sure

that the seed

was thrown on the good soil?

No.

Mark 4,

3 through 8,

says some seed

fell on the path,

other seed fell on rocky ground,

other seed fell among the thorns,

and other seeds

fell into the good soil.

Four categories.

Three of them are not good.

One of them is.

What is he doing?

Why is he throwing seed

all over the place?

Do you see that?

We think,

oh,

I have to make sure

I only,

no,

no,

no.

We're just,

it's not our job

to make sure

that the seed

is only on good soil.

It's our job

to spread seed.

You don't know

if the soil's good.

You're not God.

Now,

there might be sometimes

where it seems like,

oh,

hey,

this guy seems

like he's not far

from the kingdom.

Praise God.

You can discern that sometimes.

But just because

someone doesn't seem

far from the kingdom

doesn't mean that

God couldn't save them.

That one hearing

of the gospel,

which is the power

of God

for the salvation

of those who believe

to the hardest heart

could break it

and melt it.

So,

we can't just go around

saying,

well,

I don't know.

I think he's pretty far here.

I don't want to preach

to this guy.

He's just a complete reprobate,

man.

He's just a God-hating,

not open to the gospel

kind of guy.

And I say,

again,

so what?

Is the gospel

the power of God

for the salvation

of all who believe?

Or is it just the power

of God for salvation

of those

who are really close

to believing

who look like good soil?

As far as what I've read,

it says it's to all

who believe,

and even the hardest

of heart can be

broken and melted

by the Son of God.

Do you believe that?

If you do,

you do with the sower,

you're just spreading seed.

That's our job.

One of the reasons

that we get mixed up

with this

is that,

which is my fourth one,

is that we think

it's on us

to save people.

Okay?

Number four is

we lose heart

because we think

it's on us.

That's a hindrance

to the gospel.

It's not on us

to save people.

Our job isn't

to make sure

that the seed

falls in the right soil.

Our job isn't

to make sure

that that soil

grows up.

Our job

is to spread

the seed

of the gospel.

God makes things grow.

1 Corinthians 3,

6-7,

Paul says,

I planted,

Apollos watered.

But who gave

the growth?

God.

So what's our job?

Planting,

watering,

planting.

Someone plants

the seeds

of the gospel.

Maybe you come along,

you give the gospel again

and you're watering

those seeds.

It's not your job

to make it grow.

It's not my job

to make it grow.

It's not any of our jobs

to make it grow.

That's God's job.

But sometimes

we lose heart

because we feel like,

oh,

I'm just not

being effective

to make the gospel

grow in someone's heart.

Whoever said

that was your job?

You're losing heart

for the wrong reasons.

2 Corinthians 4,

1-6,

says,

having this ministry

by the mercy of God,

we do not lose heart.

Verse 3,

Even if our gospel

is veiled,

it's veiled to those

who are perishing.

In their case,

the God of this world

has blinded the minds

of the unbelievers

to keep them from seeing

the light of the gospel

of the glory of Christ,

who is the image of God.

For what we proclaim

is not ourselves,

but Jesus Christ

as Lord,

with ourselves

as your servants

for Jesus' sake.

For God who said

that light shine

out of darkness

has shown in our hearts

to give the light

of the knowledge

of the glory of God

in the face

of Jesus Christ.

Okay?

He says,

we don't proclaim ourselves.

Why?

Because we're not God.

We don't save people.

He says,

we don't lose heart.

Even though,

isn't it interesting?

He says,

we don't lose heart.

And then he goes on

to say how the God

of this world

has blinded the mind

of unbelievers.

Doesn't that kind of sound

like a good reason

to lose heart?

Wouldn't you say,

well,

wait a minute,

why aren't you losing heart?

The God of this world

has blinded the mind

of unbelievers.

That seems like

a pretty good reason

to lose heart.

Okay?

But they don't lose heart

because he says,

we're not proclaiming

ourselves.

We're proclaiming

Jesus as Lord.

We're just servants

proclaiming Jesus as Lord.

You think Jesus can't

open the eyes

of the blind?

What do we sing?

That great hymn,

Amazing Grace.

I was what?

I was blind.

But what now?

Now I see.

Why does that line

in that song

so popular?

Because that's what happens

in salvation.

So why do we get

so discouraged?

It's so amazing.

If you would ask us

all to get up

and share our testimonies,

at some point in time

we'd probably say,

maybe not with these words,

but with some similar language,

we would say,

at some point I was lost

and then I was found.

At some point I was blind

and then I saw.

But then for some reason

when we start ministering

to unbelievers

and we find out they're blind,

we get so discouraged

and lose heart.

Hold on.

Weren't you blind?

And you saw?

Wasn't the person

sitting next to you blind

and they saw?

Weren't we all

who are in Christ Jesus

at one time blinded

by the God of this world

and then we saw?

Why do we get so discouraged

by people's blindness?

Why do we get so discouraged

that someone's blind

and they can't see

that the God of this world

has blinded their eyes?

We're servants preaching

the one

who shines light

into darkness

in the face of Christ Jesus

and who opens

the eyes

of the blind.

Do you believe that?

He opened your eyes.

Why don't we believe

He can open someone else's?

But so many times

you say,

man, this guy's so blind.

This woman's so blind.

I don't know.

I don't even know

if I'm going to preach

the gospel to them.

I'm just kind of losing heart.

No, no, no, no, no.

Hold on.

Time out.

That is the best person

to preach the gospel to.

I'm just so hit

by how blind they are.

I don't know if I even

I kind of lost heart

to preach the gospel.

No, no, no, no, no.

No, you have to preach

the gospel to them.

That's the perfect people

to preach the gospel to.

But the God of this age

is blind to them.

So what?

Is God mighty to save?

God is mighty to save.

John 6, 44 says,

no one can come to me

unless the Father

who sent me draws him.

And you better believe

that when the Father

who sent Jesus draws them,

they're coming.

They're coming.

Okay?

And the only missing factor

then there,

and God will find someone,

if it's not you,

He'll find someone else,

is that they gotta be preached.

Someone's gotta preach to them.

But when He's drawn them,

next step is

someone preaches to them

and then

the God of this age,

the blinders come off.

They were blind

but now they see.

And what happened to us

happens to them.

So we have to target

specific people and places.

We have to.

We gotta keep at it.

We gotta keep finding

specific people and places.

Some of us already

have those existing.

Some of us don't.

If we don't,

we gotta partner

with those who do.

Some of us say,

I don't even have that.

Then we need to pray.

We need to pray.

We need to see the difference

between our own

individual mission

where we're just,

you know,

throwing out those lines,

fishers and men,

trying to cast in that line,

hoping it'll work out.

And then it's maybe

there starts to be

some drawing

or maybe there's

some natural teamwork

and partnership

where we can reach out

to people together.

We reach out

to people together.

We expose them

to the family of believers.

We keep praying for them.

We keep preaching

the gospel to them.

And then we get them saved

and we make them disciples.

And then we rinse and repeat.

We just keep doing this

over and over and over again.

Building relationships

with unbelievers.

Praying for those unbelievers

to get saved.

Preaching the gospel to them.

Right?

Making disciples of them.

And we just keep doing it

over and over and over again.

Close with Ephesians 6,

18 to 20.

Paul says,

Keep alert with all perseverance,

making supplication

for all the saints.

And then he says,

And also for me,

that words may be given to me

in opening my mouth boldly

to proclaim the mystery

of the gospel,

for which I am ambassador

in chains,

that I might declare boldly

as I ought to speak.

We are to pray

the same prayer.

And I would ask you,

if you're someone

that feels like

any of these illnesses

in your life,

there's one thing

that will take care

of the whole kit and caboodle.

Okay?

You know what it is?

Get filled with the Holy Spirit again.

Or maybe get filled

with the Holy Spirit

the first time

that we could be as witnesses.

You never stop

needing the Holy Spirit.

You never stop

needing to be filled

with the Spirit.

And when you're filled

with the Spirit,

you know what you do?

You speak the Word of God boldly.

Okay?

You do what he says right here.

When you're saying that,

pray that my words

may be given to me

in my opening my mouth

boldly to proclaim

the mystery of the gospel,

Acts 4.31 tells

how you speak

the Word of God boldly.

You get filled

with the Spirit.

You get filled

with the Spirit

and you keep getting

filled with the Spirit.

And so,

if any of these

are true of you,

if any of these

have hit home to you,

listen,

I'm not here to condemn you.

I'm in the same lot as you.

I get weary sometimes.

Okay?

I forget where I've come from sometimes.

I get afraid sometimes.

We're all in the same boat here.

But listen,

we can't give up.

God sent us

to establish this church

for His glory

and for the furthering

of the gospel.

And necessity

needs to be laid upon us

to preach it.

And if we've lost

a little bit of that necessity

or a lot of that necessity

or maybe that necessity

was never on us,

we were just kind of

psyched up

for that new

shiny church plant,

we need to pray,

God,

fill me afresh

with your Spirit.

Fill me up.

Fill me up

because when you do,

I'll tell you

what's coming out of my mouth.

Boldness.

Boldness.

Amen?

Amen.

Let's pray.