8 March 2026 - I am They (Part 1) - Pastor Clarance Shash

Well, this is the month before Easter, which, like I said, will be on the first Sunday of April, 5th of April, just less than a month away.

And I do believe that Easter, or more appropriately called Resurrection Sunday, is the most important event in the Christian calendar.

Christmas, of course, is celebrated in a bigger way, which is alright.

And also not just by Christians, by the world at large, they all celebrate Christmas partly because of its great commercial value as well.

But in terms of essence, Easter or Resurrection Sunday makes all the difference.

Because if Jesus didn't rise on that third day, Christmas would not be a significant event.

If Christmas is the day the gift was given to us, Easter or Resurrection Sunday is the day that the gift was unwrapped and released to the world.

And the weeks leading up to his suffering, uh, death, and resurrection were very significant and challenging weeks for uh days for Jesus' journey.

He went through and experienced so much over those days leading up to his resurrection.

The very people whom he was sent for plotted against him.

He faced disappointments, betrayal, he was abandoned by those closest to him, and of course, over that weekend he was arrested, he was accused, lied about in a kangaroo court of sorts, he was stripped, mocked, brutally beaten, he suffered, and was ultimately nailed to a to a cross, which was the Roman form of punishment that was reserved for the worst of criminals.

The whole idea of the crucifixion was was, in fact, the whole crucifixion was designed by the Romans to inflict as much suffering as possible, as much pain as possible while the person being crucified was still alive until that person dies.

Jesus embraced the worst form of death, the worst form of suffering that was available at that point, at that, at that time in the world in the Roman Empire.

But of course, we know that God has revealed to us that He went through all of that as part of God's plan for you and I.

So that you and I could be saved, so that you and I could be added to the kingdom.

In fact, this was prophesied about in the book of Isaiah, more than 700 years before the birth of Jesus.

The book of Isaiah is historically 700 years older than the New Testament, than the time of before Jesus was born.

Yet the whole ordeal and what Jesus had to go through was already revealed to us by God.

Isaiah 53, verse 4.

Isaiah 53:4

It says, Surely he has borne our grief, he carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted, but he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement for our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed.

All of us, like sheep, have gone astray, talking about the condition of the human heart.

We've all strayed away from God.

And it goes on to say, We have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

And he goes on to say in verse 10 but it was the Lord's good plan, as he reveals, to crush him, to cause him grief.

Yet when his life was made an offering for sin, he will have many descendants, he will enjoy a long life, and the Lord's good plan will prosper in his hands.

And when he sees all that was accomplished by his anguish, he will be satisfied, and because of his experience, my righteous servant will make it possible for many to be counted righteous, for he will bear all their sins.

Aren't we just so blessed because of the love of the Father, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit that we enjoy today?

I pray that we never ever forget the price that was paid for our salvation.

For us to sit here and enjoy this goodness, this grace, this peace, this confidence, this blessed assurance.

Uh it's there was a price paid for all of this.

I hope we never ever come to a place where we take this for granted.

And we should want everyone around us to have that same blessed assurance that you and I have and enjoy today.

The disciples and followers of Jesus made it their primary mission to preach, teach, and declare Jesus, to declare this good news wherever they went.

They took it upon themselves to spread this gospel, this good news.

Gospel basically means good news.

And they believed it, they they believed it so strongly, and they believed that it was so important that they were willing to die proclaiming it and sharing it wherever they went.

The powers that be gave them a choice.

You can either choose to stop talking about Jesus and live, or you can choose to keep declaring Jesus, keep sharing this gospel and face imprisonment, face torture, and even death.

They had a choice.

Choose.

Don't talk about him and live.

Share about him, talk about him and die.

And they decided, they made that their choice.

They decided that we would we would rather lose our lives than lose the opportunity of seeing another person saved, another person added to the kingdom, another person received that blessed blessed assurance.

And that is how Christianity spread.

From a small group in an upper room to billions all around the world.

Over thousands of years, till today, there are Christians all across the world, all across in different continents, giving their lives for this cause to see people added to the kingdom.

They believe it to such an extent they're willing to die declaring Jesus.

In even in places where they're not supposed to.

And when you study the early church, based even on scriptures, every follower of Jesus knew that they had this responsibility towards others in their world.

They knew that they had this antidote for the sin problem, the sin that separated man from God, the sin that that robbed people of peace and joy and eternal life.

They knew they had the antidote, and this was too good a news, too good an antidote for me to it would be evil for me to keep it to myself and not share it to anyone else.

It would be so selfish of me because there is more than enough.

There is enough for everyone, there's enough space in heaven for everyone.

If eight billion people get saved tomorrow, there is enough space in heaven.

We're not holding it like okay, if if if if I if I give if I give this away, I'm gonna lose my spot.

It's gonna be a bit crowded in heaven, and I don't want all these people there.

I just want this big three-acre plot for me to run around with Jesus.

It's okay, you can still have eight billion there and have your three-acre plot.

Amen.

That's how Christianity spread.

It's too good a news to keep it ourselves.

And they understood that along with inheriting salvation, they also inherited a ministry.

Paul describes his ministry like this to the Christians in Corinth.

He says in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 17 onwards, he says, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he's a new creation.

2 Corinthians 5:17

All things have passed away, behold, all things have become new.

Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation.

That is, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and he has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

Now then we are ambassadors for Christ.

We are ambassadors for Christ as though God were pleading through us.

We implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God.

For he made him who knew no sin to become sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.

He wasn't writing this letter to a few people, a few leaders in the church.

He wasn't writing this to uh a few evangelists in the church in Corinth, he was writing this to everyone who is in Christ.

He was writing this to every believer.

So this this verse, this direction is applicable to you and I today.

Because all of us here are in Christ.

And the moment you are in Christ, the the by virtue of you being in Christ, you inherit a ministry.

And this was understood by all the early church disciples and followers of Jesus.

But it has somehow, maybe this messaging has been lost or probably diluted in in modern Christianity.

We have reduced this ministry to being the responsibility of a few.

That evangelist, that person who's who's a good apologist, that person who's who who's gifted, that pastor, that leader.

But that was not how the Bible described it.

The responsibility of it was the responsibility of everyone who is in Christ.

That's every one of us.

We are all ambassadors for Christ.

When Jesus said, Go into all the world, preach the gospel to every creature, bring the good news to every creature, he wasn't just saying it to one person or two people, he wasn't just saying it to his 12 disciples.

It was a message to all his followers, to all his disciples, go into all the world, bring this good news to every person.

We all have this responsibility.

We are all ambassadors for Christ.

And I do feel that God is waking up his church to this truth again.

We need to move from being Christ's consumers to Christ's ambassadors.

From the here I am, bless me, here I am, heal me, here I am, encourage me, here I am, rescue me, restore me, to here I am, send me.

Here I am, use me.

Here I am, reveal Jesus through me.

You see, it is it is of utmost importance for you to be at church, but it is even more important to be for you to be the church wherever you are at.

Amen.

That's how revival comes.

I hope this truth will burn in our hearts as we journey towards Good Friday, towards Resurrection Sunday.

He didn't go through all of that so that you and I can be in the blessing club at church.

But he went through all that he went through so that people could be reconciled to God and so that you and I can become ministers of reconciliation wherever we are.

And there are people in your world, in your family, around you that need you to wake up to this reality so that they so that they can be they can be added to this community, to the community of faith, to the kingdom, so that they could be reconciled with God.

Amen.

So that's not my sermon, anyway.

But I just feel we need to be reminded of that as I go into my sermon.

I want to look today at this portion of scripture in Mark chapter 2.

Mark 2 · chapter mention

I'm gonna split the sermon into two.

So today is part one.

So today is part one.

Next week is lucky you guys knew that.

So this is a story that starts in Mark chapter 2, verse 1 onwards.

Mark 2:1

This story takes place in the town of Capernum.

Capernum was a vibrant fishing village by the Sea of Galilee.

Uh, it it also sat along one of the important trade routes of that time.

So it was a center for trade and business.

It had busy streets, boats coming in and out, uh, businesses running, shops everywhere.

It was a vibrant town, and uh, in fact, it was quite an affluent town.

There were a lot of successful people in the town, big houses, a lot of uh successful businessmen.

So this town was quite a well-known town, but it was also well known for one other fact.

This this town, Capernum, served as sort of the home base for Jesus.

Uh, it was the place where Jesus would come back to or come home to after he's done all his ministry trips and uh and teaching and traveling, he would always come back to Capernum.

And to this home in Capernum.

And it is believed that this is the it's actually the home of uh Peter.

Uh because in uh verse chapter 1, you see it actually says that they entered the home, and Peter's mother-in-law, Simon's mother-in-law, was sick, and Jesus prayed for her and healed her and told her, get up and go make me coffee.

No, he didn't do that, but it says she she got healed, and uh she went and she went about, started serving them.

So it is believed that he he lived in this when this was his home base.

Whenever he would come back to Kapanham, he would hang out in in this house.

They probably had a room for him, a space for him.

We can assume that it was quite a big house.

Actually, uh Simon and Andrew they were quite successful businessmen.

Uh they were quite successful, they had a fishing business.

So it was a relatively big house.

It is believed that this house would have sort of a center court, and that was traditionally the design of uh the houses there.

And and that's why it says in Mark chapter 2, verse 1, it says, when Jesus returned to Capernum several days later, the news spread quickly that he was back home.

Mark 2:1

He was back home.

So everyone knew, hey, this is Jesus' house.

He's back, he's gone on his mission trip and he's back home.

So because of that, news quickly spread around the town, and Jesus was pretty popular at this time.

Everyone knew who he was.

He was the Messiah.

People were, he was the one that people were waiting for, people were believing in him, and they started to see the miracles that he performed.

So because he was home, everybody started coming to the house.

You know, you know, this was a time where people would just show up uninvited.

I remember that time.

I'm not that old, but I remember when I was living in Klang Jaya, formerly known as Taman Goodwood.

You know, I don't know how many of you remember, people would just show up in your house at the gate.

We didn't have these guard houses where people call, you need to give a QR code to come in, nothing, none of that.

People just showed up.

My friends would just show up with their bicycles outside my house.

And you had no choice, you couldn't hide inside as well.

You just had to go out and and and and it's just like dinner time, people would just show up.

But I think it's a beautiful thing, actually.

Uh if it's people you like.

But uh because we live in a time where we are now where we are very isolated, right?

Uh everyone's like, you know, you if you go when I was in Australia, Malaysia's heading heading there, but Australia's actually quite bad already.

To go to people's house, you have to fix an appointment.

In fact, for for parents to go and meet their children or their grandchildren, they have to fix an appointment with their children.

And then you can come from this time to this time.

After the time is up, they'll all get up, thank you for coming, and everybody leaves.

But I remember that time, and no, I didn't live that that long, but in this time, people just started showing up in Jesus' home.

And because he was so popular, people started streaming into the home.

People started packing up the home.

The news spread, everyone was talking.

Hey, Jesus is back home, Jesus is back home, hey, the Messiah.

Remember the guy, he remember the guy who who healed this person, he's back home.

Let's go to the house.

He'll do, let's force him to do a Bible study.

Now you know why we pastors live in gated communities.

So people started streaming into the home.

More and more people just started walking in, coming, everyone started gathering around Jesus, and it says the home was it was so packed.

Everyone was packed like sardines, and you know, everyone there was no space between one another, everybody squeezing in and all that.

I want you to picture the the LRT after work hours.

KTM.

KTM.

KTM, Munorel, yeah?

You know, where everybody's squeezing into the door, and you know, nobody lines up these days.

Everyone's just squeezing, and you're just standing next to people like that, holding on small, trying to.

In fact, you don't even have to hold because you're already stuck like that, right?

You can't move anywhere.

So, picture that scene, and that was what was happening in Jesus' home, in his home in Capernum.

Picture that scene, but only it's much worse because deodorants were not invented yet.

And it was a fishy town.

A fishing village.

I mean, in the in the monorail, you probably have people that look fishy.

But in this home, everybody not just looked fishy, they smelled fishy.

So you can imagine the scene, everybody sweating next to each other.

Some of you are going, like, what's deodorant?

So it says in verse 2, soon the house where he was staying at was so packed with visitors that there was no more room even outside the door.

So it started to overflow even to the outside.

And Jesus began preaching and teaching the word.

And I'm just gonna go through the rest of the scripture, uh, verse 2 to 7.

While he was preaching God's word to them, something was going on outside, which Jesus was unaware of.

It says, Four men arrived carrying a paralyzed man on a mat.

They couldn't bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, so they dug a hole to the roof above his head.

Then they lowered this man on his mat right down in front of Jesus.

Seeing their fate, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, My son or my child, your sins are forgiven.

But some of the teachers of the religious law who were sitting there thought to themselves, What is he saying?

This is blasphemy.

Only God can forgive sins.

Jesus knew immediately what they were thinking, so he asked them, What do you question?

Why do you question this in your hearts?

Is it easier to say to the paralyzed man, Your sins are forgiven?

Or stand up, pick up your mat and walk.

So I will prove to you that the Son of Man has authority on the earth to forgive sins.

Then Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and said, Stand up, pick up your mat and go home.

And the man jumped up, grabbed his mat, and walked out to the through the stun on Lucas.

And they were all amazed and praised God, exclaiming, We've never seen anything like this before.

So this is a story of how this one man gets his miracle, gets the breakthrough he needed, his entire life and future transformed.

In fact, his eternity is transformed because of an encounter that he has with Jesus.

And when you read, you realize it didn't just affect this one man.

It was such a powerful moment that it says they were all amazed and they all started praising God, saying, We've never seen anything like this before.

So a life is transformed.

The people in the room are amazed, praises are generated to God.

It became from a Bible study, it became a revival meeting, and then it says so many people are blessed by this event.

And in fact, it wasn't only at that point of time, this Jesus encounter is still blessing people more than 2,000 years later.

People are still still being blessed because of this one encounter.

But what I want to point out today is this this remarkable story has a very simple starting point.

And I believe, I believe it started in the heart of one guy who looked at his friend in such dire straits, who had no hope, no life, no future ahead of him because he was paralyzed.

He looked at his friend and he thought, you know what?

This guy needs an encounter with Jesus.

I believe that Jesus will make a difference in my friend's life.

I know it says four friends, but I'm sure it started with one guy.

Because they could not have all four collectively thought of the same thing at the same time.

That would have been weird.

One guy, that's how it normally happens, one guy would say, Hey, they would have been talking.

Hey, look at Apu lah.

Look at Apu.

No, what future he has?

How long he's gonna be like this.

You know, he can't even go out with us and hang out.

He can't have a wife, he can't have a family.

How long he's just gonna be living like that and he's gonna you know we need to do something about this.

Remember Jesus?

Yeah, Jesus, the guy who's here off and on.

Yeah, he is the Messiah, he can heal.

He is.

I really, really believe that he can make a difference in Apu's life.

And the three other friends also had that same faith.

Hey, yeah, I heard about this Jesus guy.

In fact, I saw him heal one blind man, I saw him do many miracles.

I was at one of his meetings, it was powerful.

I believe that this Jesus can make a difference in our friends' life.

So let me put it this way: this man, Apu, receives a miracle, his life is radically transformed.

The hearts of the people in the room are encouraged and filled with faith.

Praises and worship are generated and rise up to God.

They basically have a revival meeting, and for generations, people are being blessed by this encounter because one guy believed that Jesus could make the difference in his friend's life.

That Jesus was the hope that his friend needed, that Jesus was the savior that his friend needed to encounter so that his life could change.

So he looked for three other guys who had that same level of faith, and they all decided, let's do this, let's get our friend to a space where he can encounter Jesus.

In verse 3 onwards, he says, Then they came to him, bringing the paralytic, who was carried by four men, and when they could not come near him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where he was.

So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying.

We don't know who they are.

Their names are not mentioned in this story.

But what we can know for certain is this that if they did not have faith, if they did not believe, if they did not step out, if they were not willing to sacrifice for their friend, if they did not do what they did, this guy would not have experienced what he had experienced.

He would not have received this life-transforming miracle.

This story would not be in the scriptures.

We won would not be talking about this more than 2,000 years later.

The role that they played is so, so important.

And I believe most of us have these people in our lives.

The they in our story.

They that prayed for us, they that interceded for us, they that reached out to us, they that shared the good news of Christ with us, they that invited us to church for a service, for a connect meeting, they that invited us for coffee, they that shared their testimony to us, they that picked us up, gave us a lift, brought us to church, like these four friends who literally provided transport for their friends to encounter Jesus.

You know, if I look back at my life, I thank God for the role that they played.

I thank God for the cosmate who always used to share Christ with me, even when I was mocking her.

I thank God for the family who prayed behind the scenes for me.

I thank God for that friend from Clang who never stopped inviting me on weekends to follow him to church, to come to church.

He even offered to pick us up.

I turned him down many times, but he always reached out.

He never gave up.

You see, this name, the names of these people may not be known by others.

The role that they played may have gone unnoticed by others, but I know the significance of their role on my journey of salvation and transformation, and I thank God that they took the words of Jesus seriously, that they believed wholeheartedly in the gospel of the kingdom, and I thank God that they embraced that ministry of reconciliation.

Amen.

And I want to put it to you this way: your most important role today as a believer, as a follower of Jesus is to be the they in someone else's story.

You know, we all have people in our world who are paralyzed, lost, maybe not physically paralyzed, but they are in a position where they are unable by themselves, within themselves, to find their way to a space where they could encounter Jesus, to even be in a position to hear the gospel.

And that is why God put you in their lives.

That is why God put you in their worlds.

We all have these people, and we know they need the hope that only Jesus can bring, they need the deliverance, the healing that only Jesus can give.

They need the forgiveness that can only come to the knowledge of Him, to receiving the fullness of what He has accomplished for us at the cross.

They need that peace, that joy that can only come from resting in Him.

God has done His part.

The price was already paid, the way is already made.

A door through which they can access the fullness of what God has for them is already opened and it's there, available.

But between that door and the lost world and your that family member and that friend and that colleague is is there needs to be this the the day.

The people who embrace this ministry of reconciliation, the people who stand in the gap, the people who say, Let's go, let me pick you up, let me share what God has done for me.

The people who lead them to the door, and Jesus is the door, he is the way that they need, he is the truth that they need to hear, he is the life that they need to inherit.

Amen.

God did his part.

But between what God did and the dying world, the church needs to rise up and become the they in their story.

And that's who you are.

That's who you are.

Say, I am they.

Look to the person next to you and say, You la de Come on, La Day, why lay.

So this these four friends make a way for their paralyzed friend to encounter Jesus.

It wasn't easy, they had to come up with ideas on how to get their friend there.

They needed to find a stretcher that they could carry him on, they needed to bear the weight of their burden and walk some distance to the house where Jesus was at.

Sometimes leading people to Jesus is not easy.

It means you having to step out, stepping out of your familiarity, your convenience, your comfort zone, embracing a burden that you actually don't need to.

But you want to because you are obedient to the words of Jesus, because you love this person too much to see them wanting to live a life without Christ.

So you want to embrace that burden and carry them through.

And they were not, that was not the only problem that they faced.

There were other challenges the moment they reached the home.

Uh, it says the house was so packed with visitors that there was no more room even outside.

And it says in verse 4, they couldn't bring him to Jesus because of the crowd.

They tried to get in, they tried to push their way in, but nobody wanted to give way.

They tried to shout their way in.

Hey, this guy, see, we need to bring this guy to Jesus.

He needs Jesus more than you.

Make way, make way.

And nobody wanted to give up their sweet spot, their comfort zone that they had next to someone's armpit.

Oh no, I'm comfortable here.

No, no, no, no.

Pretending that they can't see.

The crowd was so focused on their own needs that they were not willing to inconvenience themselves to allow to make space for someone else to encounter Jesus.

That can be a picture of the modern church.

We are so focused on what we want from God, our place in church, our needs, that we don't realize that there are people around us every day who needs Jesus more than we do, who needs his touch in their lives, who needs his power to touch them in their lives.

So we walk past them, we are we can become blind to the needs of other people because we are so focused on what we want from God, our blessing, our needs.

And we are walking past people daily, just not just oblivious to the to the cry of their soul that they need what we have.

They tried to get in, they couldn't get in.

The crowd was in the way.

And at this point, these four friends had options, they had the option to give up.

It takes too much effort.

Hey, we tried what we tried our best, we can't get through.

Maybe it is not God's will for this person to encounter Jesus.

Let's just turn back, let's not inconvenience these people.

These people might get upset with us, they might get angry with us.

Never mind, and some other time, maybe.

How many of us give up because of the crowd?

Because of people in the way.

And this wall of people could represent many things.

Many things that stand in the way of us leading or bringing someone to Christ.

It could represent our own fears, our fear of men.

What will people think?

How will people react?

The opinions of others, the fear of men becoming a wall that blocks us or discourages us from being his hands, being his feet, being light in the darkness.

You know, studies have shown that 90 to 95% of churchgoers will go through their entire Christian life without leading someone to Christ.

How depressing are those statistics?

90 to 95% of Christians will go through their entire life without leading someone to Christ.

Three different groups did surveys between 2019 and 2022.

The Bana group, Lifeway Research, and Evangelism Explosion on why Christians don't share their faith.

And these are the main reasons: fear of rejection, fear of social awkwardness, fear of offending others, fear of being judged.

And all of these fears can be boiled down to one thing: the fear of the crowd.

The fear of the crowd that is in our way, the fear of the opinions of men, the fear of men.

The only reason we are here today is because there were followers of Jesus who did not allow the fear of rejection, the fear of social awkwardness, the fear of offending others, the fear of being judged, stopped them from being the light, the voice, the hands, the feet for Jesus Christ.

And I thank God for that.

It is because of these that the gospel reached the ends of the earth.

It's because of people like this that the gospel reached me, reached you, reached your families, your generations.

They were willing to just push through regardless of what people said, what people thought, all whatever stood in their way.

They took God's word, the words of Jesus, seriously.

They were willing to do it in spite of what it would cost them.

They were willing to step out of their comfort zones and they were willing to sacrifice their reputation.

Whatever it is, I'm gonna step out and I'm gonna fulfill what God has asked me to do.

The apostle Paul wrote many of his letters from prison and he was in prison facing death.

And he says this in Romans 1, verse 16 for I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes.

Romans 1:16

Imagine facing certain debt and saying, I'm not gonna stop.

Peter and John were arrested and now they are facing the religious leaders, and they were commanded to stop speaking about Jesus.

And they reply like this in Acts 4, verse 18, it says, Then they were they called them again and commanded them to not speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.

Acts 4:18

But Peter and John replied, which is right in God's eyes, to listen to you or to him?

You be the judges.

As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.

In fact, Jesus, as he was preparing his disciples for opposition, he was very clear, you are going to face opposition, people are not going to be happy.

And he says in Matthew chapter 5, verse 10, Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 5:10

And he says, Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.

If you're being persecuted because of your faith, because of Jesus, there is a blessing that is coming your way.

Jesus Himself has pronounced that blessing over you.

The apostle Peter, he was encouraging the persecuted church in 1 Peter chapter 3, verse 14.

1 Peter 3:14

He says, If you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed.

Do not fear their threats, do not be frightened, but in your hearts revere Christ as Lord.

Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.

And but he adds this part but do this with gentleness and respect.

Because uh, when I was in India, uh India's a lot of uh Christians in India were are actually facing persecution, but a lot uh some of them face persecution because they do not know how to spread the gospel, the good news in gentleness and respect.

So that was one of the things that we spoke about to some of the pastors who are facing persecution.

There's a way of sharing the gospel.

Yeah, there's this famous missionary, Jim Elliott.

How many of you have heard of him?

Yeah, uh, he gave his life to he and a bunch of friends went to Ecuador to evangelize the Wudani people.

This was a violent race, uh, a violent tribe in the Amazon uh in in Ecuador.

And they go in there and they share the gospel, they they try to befriend these people, share the gospel, and to make a long story short, they all get killed.

They all get killed.

But he said this, even as people were warning him about it, why are you doing this?

Why are you are you risking your life like that?

He says, He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.

And he said this, I seek not a long life, but a full life, like my Lord Jesus.

And it may have seemed to some people at that point that after hearing of his death, this guy did a foolish thing.

We told him not to go.

But some years later, all those who were actually involved in killing him gave their lives to Christ.

His wife and his family went there and continued the work.

Today that the Wudani tribe are predominantly Christian.

Charles Spurgeon faced immense criticism from the press.

Yet he preached to millions and he said this if sinners be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our dead bodies, and if they perish, let them perish with our arms wrapped around their knees, imploring them to stay.

He understood this ministry of reconciliation.

He said it's so important.

If you're going to hell, let them go to hell over our dead bodies.

Let us give our lives to witnessing Jesus to these people, and even if they don't want, they try to leap over us.

We are let them let them be found with our hands wrapped around.

If you listen, stay, stay.

There is hope.

You do not have to go down this path.

Polycap, a disciple of the apostle John, he was the bishop of Smyrna.

He was burnt at the stake at the age of 86 for refusing to renounce Christ.

He was he was given the option, listen, curse Christ, stop speaking about him, renounce him, you can save your life.

And he said this 80 and six years I have served him, he never did me any injury.

How then can I blaspheme my king and my savior?

Hudson Taylor, you've all heard most of you would have heard of Hudson Taylor.

He was a missionary to China.

He faced illnesses, death of family members, the boxer rebellion.

He could have left it all and come back.

And he says, If I had a thousand lives, I'll give them all for China.

You see, they all had a crowd in their way, they heard the crowd in their way, but they didn't allow the crowd to discourage them or stop them from being a witness for Jesus.

Very much like these four friends.

The crowd wasn't gonna make a way for them, the crowd wasn't gonna shift their position, the crowd wasn't gonna make it easy for them, the crowd wasn't gonna change their attitude suddenly and say, Come, come, come, come inside.

But they didn't allow that to stop them.

Some things won't change.

Some people are not gonna change.

Don't wait for their permission or for their approval.

Don't let that stop you from being a light for Christ.

There's a saying, where there's a will, there is a way.

And these four guys had a will, and they found a way.

The easy way to the front door wasn't gonna work, they had to come up with creative ways.

So the easy way is blocked, but that doesn't mean we stop the effort, it just means we step up the effort.

It just means we have to go to another level with our faith.

If the ground level effort and faith isn't working, we need to go to the roof level effort and faith.

Imagine the effort climbing, digging through the tiles and the and the timber, dust falling, people probably yelling in protest.

It couldn't have been a small hole, it would have been quite a big hole because they lowered him down with his man.

The bed, they had to find ropes, they had to break through the ceiling, and which means you have to pay for the damages after it was going to cost them, but it wasn't going to stop them.

They weren't thinking about convenience, they were thinking about their friends' salvation, and I want to leave you with that thought there.

I'm going to stop with that for today.

I'll continue with part two next week.

But I want to challenge us as a church this Easter season.

Let us not just be passive recipients of grace, let us be active ministers of reconciliation.

You have a ministry.

The most important ministry that you have, which is more important than anything that you do in and for church, is this ministry of reconciliation.

Like I said, Jesus didn't go through all that suffering just so that we could be saved and end up in the bless me club, bless me club.

Jesus went through all of that so that he could make a way.

And you are a part of his plan for this generation.

You are a part of his plan for that family, for that school, for that crowd that you are amongst.

He put you there on purpose with a purpose.

You are meant to be that minister of reconciliation.

You don't need a degree in theology.

Because one of the fears that I read about that people have is I won't know what to say.

These days it's so easy.

You don't even have to say anything.

You just have to say, Come to church.

My pastor will say it all.

You just have to say, come on.

They ask you these deep theological questions, don't bluff.

Don't attempt to give answers that you you're not, you know, you don't you can't give.

There are people in this church who are equipped.

Because let me let me get you to talk to my connect group leader.

Maybe they can help.

And sometimes you can just be like that blind man that Jesus healed.

How how did this happen?

How is it that you can see?

Jesus said, I don't know.

I went to him, I was blind, but now I see.

This man healed me.

That's all I know.

Sometimes it's just your testimony.

That's all.

I can't get into all the theological things with you, but I can tell you what he did for me.

And he saved me, he healed me, he delivered me.

My life was headed in that direction, it was on a very bad trajectory, but I encountered Jesus and my life is totally transformed.

That's all you need to do.

And we all have this responsibility, guys.

We can pray for revivals till our till our face turns blue.

They had a revival meeting because one man decided to be a help for his friend, decided to be a minister of reconciliation, decided that this person in my world needs Jesus.

And because of this one decision, others came along and they had a revival meeting.

That simple Bible study turned into a massive revival meeting.

So if it's not established in our hearts, don't pray for revival.

Because revival starts within us.