As Close As Your Lips

[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Still feels weird being called the Frankson Location Pastor, but just wanted to say quick thank you to everyone who's been setting me messages and praying for our family and our kids we really do appreciate it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Something awesome is going on down at Frankson I must say.

[SPEAKER_00]: So if I don't know it's coming up to holiday season, if you're down by the peninsula during January, maybe you should come and have a visit maybe.

[SPEAKER_00]: I want to preach your words today from Romans 10 and I'm really excited to bring this word.

[SPEAKER_00]: Every opportunity that we get to open the word of God is a privilege, amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: So, I want to jump right into it.

[SPEAKER_00]: So, if you'd open up your Bible's to Romans 10 verse 5, we're going to read a big chunk of scripture here, verse 5 to 17. Who's excited to open the word?

Romans 10:5

[SPEAKER_00]: Come on, who's excited to open the word?

[SPEAKER_00]: Good, that's better.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let's keep that energy all throughout the service.

[SPEAKER_00]: But why don't we read?

[SPEAKER_00]: And then we're going to pray.

[SPEAKER_00]: Romans 10, verse 5 is going to come up on the screens.

Romans 10:5

[SPEAKER_00]: For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law.

[SPEAKER_00]: that the person who does the commandments shall live by them.

[SPEAKER_00]: But the righteousness based on faith says, Do not say in your heart who will ascend into heaven.

[SPEAKER_00]: That is to bring Christ down, or who will descend into the abyss.

[SPEAKER_00]: That is to bring Christ up from the dead.

[SPEAKER_00]: But what does it say?

[SPEAKER_00]: The word is near you in your mouth and in your heart.

[SPEAKER_00]: That is the word of faith that we proclaim.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart, that God raised him from the dead you will be saved.

[SPEAKER_00]: for with the heart, one believes and is justified and with the mouth, one confesses and is saved.

[SPEAKER_00]: For the scripture says, everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.

[SPEAKER_00]: For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek.

[SPEAKER_00]: For the same Lord is a lot of all, but stowing his riches on all who call on him.

[SPEAKER_00]: For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

[SPEAKER_00]: How then will they call on him in whom they've not believed?

[SPEAKER_00]: And how are they to believe in him and whom they've never heard?

[SPEAKER_00]: And how are they to hear without someone preaching?

[SPEAKER_00]: And how are they to preach unless they are sent?

[SPEAKER_00]: as it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news, but they have not all obeyed the gospel.

[SPEAKER_00]: For as I says, Lord, who has believed in what he has heard from us.

[SPEAKER_00]: So faith comes from hearing and hearing through the word of Christ.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let's pray.

[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you, Lord, for this morning we crowned at a privilege to be able to open your word together and learn and grow.

[SPEAKER_00]: We pray that our hearts would be good soil for seed to be planted and grow.

[SPEAKER_00]: And Lord, we pray your spirit would endow all this place as we open your word in Jesus name.

[SPEAKER_00]: Amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: Amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: What a beautiful passage of Scripture.

[SPEAKER_00]: I know most of us would have heard if you've been in the church for a while that middle section, that if you believe, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

[SPEAKER_00]: What a powerful passage of scripture.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, it's got to be one of the greatest passages of scriptures, you know, those who call on the name of the Lord will not be put to shame.

[SPEAKER_00]: How awesome, what a beautiful passage of scripture.

[SPEAKER_00]: And if you've been tracking along with our Roman series, you're going to notice as we get towards the end of this book of the Bible that there's a shift in the narrative.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know if you were here for the first couple of weeks.

[SPEAKER_00]: It was quite grim, you know, we're talking about sin, we're talking about judgment, we're talking about all these things that are really important to the message of faith.

[SPEAKER_00]: But now you're seeing Paul change tact, and you're seeing him talk about some really beautiful, hopeful things that the gospel brings.

[SPEAKER_00]: But in amongst the context of this scripture, we're seeing Paul correct some thoughts and maybe some discussion that is going on in the church.

[SPEAKER_00]: Notice here we have the Roman Church which is a multi-ethnic community that are now being mashed together because of the work of Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: And just like in our world today, when you mix cultures and backgrounds and stories and all of those things and you put them together, sometimes it can create some confusion.

[SPEAKER_00]: In the book of Romans here, we have two groups of people.

[SPEAKER_00]: We have the Jewish people.

[SPEAKER_00]: who were saying, we follow Jesus for history, for so many years, and we've had to follow these laws throughout the Old Testament to be saved.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then because of their life and their story and their journey and what they've grown up in, they are now trying to impose those same laws on the Gentile believers that are coming into the church.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then the Gentile believers are now trying to wrestle with being a part of this community, but the Jewish and the Gentiles are now coming into almost the conflict where they're saying, what does it actually mean to be saved?

[SPEAKER_00]: What does the gospel actually mean for people of Jesus to live out?

[SPEAKER_00]: and Paul is trying to correct and bring some a clarity to the church here around what the true gospel is.

[SPEAKER_00]: How does the true gospel outwork itself in our community?

[SPEAKER_00]: Because the truth is, the Romans had turned the gospel of good news into good behavior.

[SPEAKER_00]: How many of us in our churches have heard that?

[SPEAKER_00]: Being a Christian is just about being good,

[SPEAKER_00]: And in our churches, we preach salvation by faith.

[SPEAKER_00]: We preach salvation by faith in this church, but sometimes we build systems that reward good behavior.

[SPEAKER_00]: And good moral performance.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we've replaced repentance with routine sometimes.

[SPEAKER_00]: We think being a Christian, it's just about doing a certain list of activities.

[SPEAKER_00]: And if I do them in a regular routine, then I will be safe.

[SPEAKER_00]: Paul is trying to correct that.

[SPEAKER_00]: And he's trying to bring the good news to this church.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the church, in some ways, particularly the Jewish people within this community, they were called to be witnesses.

[SPEAKER_00]: in Judea, Samaria, to the ends of the earth.

[SPEAKER_00]: They'll call to be witnesses, but they've actually taken the place of a judge, making judgments of people of who can be in, who can be out, and they have actually abandoned their post as witnesses to be judges and Paul, corrects them, and trying to show them how is it that someone is saved.

[SPEAKER_00]: And you'll notice he gives these four rhetorical questions.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I want to unpack these questions today because I think if you read the rhetorical questions, Paul almost gives like a reverse order of how people come to be safe.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let's read this.

[SPEAKER_00]: He says, first 14, how then will they call on him in whom they've not believed?

[SPEAKER_00]: And how are they to believe in him who they've never heard?

[SPEAKER_00]: And how are they to hear without someone preaching?

[SPEAKER_00]: And how are they to preach unless they are sent?

[SPEAKER_00]: See, when we look at these rhetorical questions, we find a really beautiful pattern of how we can reach our world with the good news of Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I'd love it if we could flip those rhetorical questions upside down, and I actually think it would really help us as a church this morning.

[SPEAKER_00]: So if you want to come on this journey with me this morning as we unpack the scriptures.

[SPEAKER_00]: This first question I want to unpack.

[SPEAKER_00]: It says, how are they to preach unless they are sent?

[SPEAKER_00]: Sent.

[SPEAKER_00]: Can I tell you this morning, you are sent?

[SPEAKER_00]: You are sent.

[SPEAKER_00]: You are the sent people of God.

[SPEAKER_00]: And can I just tell you something as well because it says, well, how they to preach unless they are sent, well, you may sit here and go, well, Zika, I'm not the preacher, you're the preacher.

[SPEAKER_00]: Can I just dispel that myth right now?

[SPEAKER_00]: Preaching is not something that just happens on a Sunday on a platform.

[SPEAKER_00]: Your life is preaching something to the world.

[SPEAKER_00]: Your life is preaching something to the world.

[SPEAKER_00]: The way that you go in your workplace, the way that you're at university, the way you're on your friendship group, the way that you are outside of this room, is telling a story about who Jesus is to you.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so preaching is not just something reserved for certain people on a Sunday who stand here, like me, preaching is something that we all do.

[SPEAKER_00]: We preach with our life, we preach with our actions, we preach with how we live in this world.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we are telling a story about who the person of Jesus is to us when we go into our world.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the reality of this is that every person is called to be sent and you are all called to preach a message to the world in which you find yourself in.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you don't believe me, from Genesis all the way through to Revelation, we see a God who was ascending God.

[SPEAKER_00]: Look at this.

[SPEAKER_00]: Moses was sent to deliver his people out of Egypt.

[SPEAKER_00]: Isaiah says, here I am, send me.

[SPEAKER_00]: He sent Jeremiah to speak for truth, even in his youth.

[SPEAKER_00]: He sent Jonah to a broken city to call them to repentance.

[SPEAKER_00]: And throughout the Old Testament, we see people sent, sent, sent, sent.

[SPEAKER_00]: And when she humanity did not listen in the Old Testament, God said, you know what, I'm just going to send my son.

[SPEAKER_00]: not to condemn the world, but to save the world, John 3, 17.

[SPEAKER_00]: Judd, Jesus said, the Spirit of the Lord has anointed me, and He sent me to proclaim freedom, Luke 4 verse 18.

Luke 4:18

[SPEAKER_00]: And He says, Jesus is just as the Father sent him, He sends us.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's John 2021.

[SPEAKER_00]: He told His disciples, the harvest is plentiful, but the work is a few.

[SPEAKER_00]: So pray to the Lord of the

[SPEAKER_00]: workers.

[SPEAKER_00]: Are you getting the message here?

[SPEAKER_00]: God is a sending God and then finally Jesus lost words on this earth.

[SPEAKER_00]: He said, go and make disciples.

[SPEAKER_00]: He is sending them out and the early church live this.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's a sending God and Paul sums it all up and says, how are we to preach the message if I not send?

[SPEAKER_00]: how we to preach the message, if no one has sent.

[SPEAKER_00]: The story of Scripture, and Matt spoke on this a couple of weeks ago, you know, we talk about, I found God, I found Him.

[SPEAKER_00]: How good is it that I found God?

[SPEAKER_00]: God found us, but we sometimes fail to recognize that the way God finds us often is by sending someone into our will.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so you sit here this morning.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think of the family member who doesn't know Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think of the, you know, the friend.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think of my workplace, and I want them to be saved.

[SPEAKER_00]: You need to pray for a miracle.

[SPEAKER_00]: God would you just reveal yourself miraculously to my workplace so that they could become followers of Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I believe God is calling some people here today saying, I am choosing you to be my chosen instrument, to be sent in that place.

[SPEAKER_00]: You want to witness in your workplace?

[SPEAKER_00]: You're standing there.

[SPEAKER_00]: You want to witness in your university?

[SPEAKER_00]: You are there.

[SPEAKER_00]: You want to witness in your family?

[SPEAKER_00]: You are there.

[SPEAKER_00]: Some of us need to have a reality check in how God has always been ascending God.

[SPEAKER_00]: And maybe yes, we pray for miracles.

[SPEAKER_00]: We pray for people to come to know Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: We pray for miraculous encounters.

[SPEAKER_00]: But maybe God is bringing a revival of people who are sent.

[SPEAKER_00]: out of this building, into where that they are.

[SPEAKER_00]: Faith does not spread by accident.

[SPEAKER_00]: It spreads because someone was sent.

[SPEAKER_00]: And a life of faith following Jesus is not just about worshiping Him.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's a really important part.

[SPEAKER_00]: Worshiping God is a really important part of the Christian faith.

[SPEAKER_00]: But it's not just about your worship, it's about your witness.

[SPEAKER_00]: And what is it that you are preaching to the world around you?

[SPEAKER_00]: So we're sent, everyone, no matter what age you are, no matter how young you are, how old you are, no matter if you just made a decision to follow Jesus yesterday, you're sent, everyone is sent.

[SPEAKER_00]: You hear in that clear, every single disciple is sent, amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: So when you're sent, what do you sent to do to speak?

[SPEAKER_00]: sense to speak because it's not just about going places like I go places every day like I walk to the shops or I go here or I go to a cafe or whatever you know it's not just going places anyone can go to work anyone can go to uni anyone can go to school but not everyone will open their mouth to speak about Jesus it's almost like we speak about everything under the

[SPEAKER_00]: Speak about our football team, we'll speak about our family, we'll speak about our kids, we'll speak about our daycare, we'll speak about our problems, we'll speak about our joys, our celebration, but as soon as Jesus comes into the equation, we stay silent on that.

[SPEAKER_00]: We don't want to speak about Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I talk to people all the time.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, say, why wouldn't she just talk to your friend?

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, why wouldn't she just talk to that person?

[SPEAKER_00]: But you know, needs a good message, a good story, a good news.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the reality I find is some Christians are more filled with excuses on why not.

[SPEAKER_00]: rather than trusting that the Spirit is working within them to be the tool and the instrument that God is trying to use.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let me give you a story.

[SPEAKER_00]: I was once walking in the Eastland.

[SPEAKER_00]: We go there a bit.

[SPEAKER_00]: I had a couple of meetings at Breosch and I went hats.

[SPEAKER_00]: I like hats a lot.

[SPEAKER_00]: I've got a lot of hats at home, okay?

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm wearing one today.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so I go to this shop at Eastland.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's called State Side Sports.

[SPEAKER_00]: One of those shops that got a wall of hats, all from Florida roof hats.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so I walk into the store, and I stand there and I'm looking at the hot wall, because today's a good day to buy a hat.

[SPEAKER_00]: Every day's a good day to buy a hat, okay?

[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm looking there, and I'm standing, looking at the wall, just seeing this quite overwhelming.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then the guy at the counter behind me, he says,

[SPEAKER_00]: Hey man, what are you doing today?

[SPEAKER_00]: I said, oh, I've just got a couple of meetings for work, up at Briosha, just the moment.

[SPEAKER_00]: I thought I had some time to buy a hat, so I'm coming in, looking at the hat, so I'm going to buy a hat.

[SPEAKER_00]: And he goes, oh, what are you doing for work?

[SPEAKER_00]: I was like, oh my gosh, Matt Dishry, I've seen your pastor once told me when someone asked that question, don't tell them straight away, you should ask, what do you think?

[SPEAKER_00]: I said, well, what do you think I do for work?

[SPEAKER_00]: You're like, looking at me, what do you think I do?

[SPEAKER_00]: First thing he said, plumber.

[SPEAKER_00]: Bless all the plumbers.

[SPEAKER_00]: I said, no, I'm not a plumber.

[SPEAKER_00]: Try again.

[SPEAKER_00]: He goes, electrician.

[SPEAKER_00]: I was like, okay, that's cool.

[SPEAKER_00]: I must look like a trady or something, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: I take that as a compliment, by the way, because I'm not very good with any sort of how it has improved me or anything, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: So, I take that as a compliment.

[SPEAKER_00]: I said, he's like, am I on base?

[SPEAKER_00]: Am I close?

[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm like, no, I'm not a trady, okay?

[SPEAKER_00]: I said, one more guess, he goes, count a lot.

[SPEAKER_00]: Sort of, I said, I'm actually a pastor at a church, just close to here.

[SPEAKER_00]: Here's how.

[SPEAKER_00]: Wow, I don't really believe in God.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't really believe in any God.

[SPEAKER_00]: My parents are Buddhists, but I don't really believe in it.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm standing there at the hot wall.

[SPEAKER_00]: And he said that to me.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I just felt a sense in the spirit to say challenge that, challenge that.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so just, off the cuff, I just said, I don't think you really believe that.

[SPEAKER_00]: I just don't think you believe in the God that your parents follow.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think you do know that there is a God there.

[SPEAKER_00]: And he goes, yeah, that's true.

[UNKNOWN]: Yeah, that's true.

[UNKNOWN]: Yeah.

[UNKNOWN]: Yeah.

[UNKNOWN]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_00]: Standing at the heart wall.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I said, have you heard about the person of Jesus, he goes, no.

[SPEAKER_00]: Share the gospel with him there.

[SPEAKER_00]: I said, do you want to put your faith in Jesus today?

[SPEAKER_00]: Here goes yeah.

[SPEAKER_00]: Pray for him in the shop when I'm buying a hat.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's a good hat.

[SPEAKER_00]: I run to Demix after I pay for the hat and I bring by a Bible.

[SPEAKER_00]: I open it to Luke.

[SPEAKER_00]: I fold a page so he knows where to open when he gets home.

[SPEAKER_00]: I love the gospel of Luke.

[SPEAKER_00]: I start to say, I put together an account of all these stories so that you may know for certain that Jesus is Lord.

[SPEAKER_00]: I say that story to you because I think we think it's some grandiose big thing that's set out for certain types of people.

[SPEAKER_00]: In fact, if you look at Scripture, it's always the least likely person God sends.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so maybe I said it here today, I could never be like music.

[SPEAKER_00]: I said that ten years ago.

[SPEAKER_00]: I said no God would never use someone like me.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm telling you, it's the everyday regular moments where you're called to speak the truth, to speak what you've heard.

[SPEAKER_00]: As those little moments of boldness, I don't think we have a calling problem in the church.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think we have a courage problem.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm praying this morning, as I preach your word, and we're going to have a moment to respond.

[SPEAKER_00]: But I believe God is calling His church to be courageous and bold once again.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that we wouldn't have excuses why not, too, but we would God, we would give God our yes.

[SPEAKER_00]: And say yes, wherever you'd send me, just keep me a true into your spirit.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's not by my strength on my power.

[SPEAKER_00]: I didn't even know what I was saying.

[SPEAKER_00]: This guy just said to me, I don't believe in God, and my response was, I don't believe you.

[SPEAKER_00]: And he said, oh yeah, fair enough.

[SPEAKER_00]: We think it's all in our strength when reality is when we're going to be a witness the Holy Spirit empowers us.

[SPEAKER_00]: He'll give you the things to say, and some of us need to put more trust in the Holy Spirit than our own works and our own righteousness and our own strength and our own words and our own skills.

[SPEAKER_00]: Just put your faith in the Spirit's enabling and allow him to bring the words.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so if we are sent, if we speak, and I know, as I said that you are not spoke about the spirits enabling, but some of you are like, I get that seek, I get it, but I just don't know what to say.

[SPEAKER_00]: What is the sound that is going to come out of my mouth when I go?

[SPEAKER_00]: And I think some people in the church have this problem, where if I was to ask you and we would turn to each other and I'm not going to do this by the way because no some people find that uncomfortable.

[SPEAKER_00]: But if we would turn to each other and say, can you explain the gospel to one another?

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know how well we would be able to do that.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know how well.

[SPEAKER_00]: If someone just explained the gospel to me now, 20 seconds, boom.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think all of us would be shocked and would probably muddle our words and try and figure it out.

[SPEAKER_00]: and Paul actually speaks to this in this passage, because I think when it comes to sharing the gospel, we fall into sort of two generalized categories in what we say.

[SPEAKER_00]: Notice at the start of the passage where he speaks about Moses speaks about righteousness by the law.

[SPEAKER_00]: And if you want to have righteousness by law, you will live by it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Essentially saying, you want to live in accordance with the law, go for it.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know if that's going to work out for you.

[SPEAKER_00]: because when you live in accordance with laws and rules and the Old Testament law, what ends up happening is we have these two generalized categories of gospel that we try and preach to the world.

[SPEAKER_00]: First one is the gospel of a scent, which says, to be saved, you just need to be better.

[SPEAKER_00]: to get yourself right, to ascend, to, you know, and when people come to church, you just say, you want to be saved, just sort of be like us.

[SPEAKER_00]: Act like us, talk like us, do what we do, and then you will be saved.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's not the gospel.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's not the gospel at all.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then he speaks about this descent into the abyss, meaning sometimes we preach this gospel that just says you should hate yourself.

[SPEAKER_00]: should hate you all?

[SPEAKER_00]: Did you know how bad of a sinner that you are?

[SPEAKER_00]: Did you know that there's not like, look at how terrible you are, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: And there's these two extremes, both of them are not true.

[SPEAKER_00]: Both of them are not a true representation of the gospel, because what happens when you preach in a scent gospel is you actually bring Christ down, meaning salvation is attained by good works and good behavior.

[SPEAKER_00]: And Jesus is not on the throne.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus is not in heaven.

[SPEAKER_00]: He was just a good earthly example to follow.

[SPEAKER_00]: And you say, you bring Christ out of His throne, out of heaven, and you make salvation attainable by works.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's not the gospel.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the descent gospel, it says that it brings Christ up from the dead, because you make people feel so bad about their sin that almost Christ would need to raise from the dead again so that you could be forgiven.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's not the gospel.

[SPEAKER_00]: God so loved the world.

[SPEAKER_00]: You need to know that you are loved.

[SPEAKER_00]: You need to know that Christ loves you so much.

[SPEAKER_00]: And there's not about you getting better or you hating yourself, God came to where you are to save you.

[SPEAKER_00]: He came to where you are.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I think sometimes we've made our salvation shameful.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I think we sort of make this,

[SPEAKER_00]: Hey guys, it's the end of our service, the bands up.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're gonna play a song in a moment.

[SPEAKER_00]: Everyone bat your heads.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we're gonna give an opportunity for people to respond to Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: Everyone bat your heads, everyone's eyes closed.

[SPEAKER_00]: Nobody's looking around.

[SPEAKER_00]: Who wants to give their life to Jesus this morning?

[SPEAKER_00]: If you just raise your hand while nobody's looking quietly, if you raise it quickly, I'll see it, then put it down really quickly.

[SPEAKER_00]: Nobody will see.

[SPEAKER_00]: From the moment of salvation, we make it a shameful thing.

[SPEAKER_00]: And if we can't be open and celebrate our salvation in this room, how would we meant to celebrate it out in the world?

[SPEAKER_00]: And I think there's a boldness and a courage coming on your testimony.

[SPEAKER_00]: You and I, if you're full of Jesus, you have a testimony to share.

[SPEAKER_00]: And if you don't know what to say, if you don't know what words to speak out of your mouth, you don't need to have a theological doctorate to be able to share the gospel, just share your story.

[SPEAKER_00]: It can be as simple as this, I'll tell you mine.

[SPEAKER_00]: When I was 17, 18, I was lost.

[SPEAKER_00]: I didn't know where I was going.

[SPEAKER_00]: I was steeped in sin.

[SPEAKER_00]: I didn't know how to live my life, but God.

[SPEAKER_00]: But God called me out, I had an encounter with His Spirit, He saved me, He healed me, He restored me, He gave me a new purpose, a new vision for life.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's the gospel.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I think God is calling some people to be more bold and more courageous in their witness.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because God is not you, you didn't earn your salvation.

[SPEAKER_00]: You don't need to hate yourself because of Jesus, but for the person of Jesus who came and saved me, we were nothing.

[SPEAKER_00]: Praise be to God.

[SPEAKER_00]: Thankful for God that He saved me.

[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you that He gave me life.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I believe this morning, there's gonna be a groundswell revival of people who are faithful and bold with their testimony, unashamed.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because we gotta stop being unashamed with the gospel in this room so that we can be unashamed with the gospel outside in the world.

[SPEAKER_00]: The truth is this though, was sometimes we sit in silence.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I just wanna have a quick moment for this is because rather than making a sound, we'd be silent and we'd just go, BAH, let's stop opportunity.

[SPEAKER_00]: BAH, Bama, get him next time.

[SPEAKER_00]: Can I just say something, Dietrich Bonhoeffer says, not to speak is to speak, not to act is to act.

[SPEAKER_00]: Remember when it was in high school,

[SPEAKER_00]: they taught this thing like bully prevention, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: So when a kid's being bullied and you just stand on the side watching and do nothing, you're actually saying something.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're saying, I'm okay with that.

[SPEAKER_00]: But we have a generation of Christians that when we don't speak, we actually are saying something.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're saying something very clear.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's why I believe there's a courageous movement of followers of Jesus, I see it in Gen Z, I see it in the next generation coming up, wanting to be bold.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I'd encourage you this morning.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's not just an opportunity to speak or not to speak.

[SPEAKER_00]: You say something either way.

[SPEAKER_00]: What's the message that you're gonna, what's the sound that's gonna come out of your mouth?

[SPEAKER_00]: Because it might cost you your song, it's a my car, cost you your love of this life.

[SPEAKER_00]: It might cost you,

[SPEAKER_00]: the way you live in relationships, it might cost you the addiction.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're more, we fear being canceled more than we fear being compromised.

[SPEAKER_00]: But if we look at these, this pattern, we get the sense, so we're all sent, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: We're all sent to speak, and we're all sent to share and say what the gospel is for us.

[SPEAKER_00]: And in a world that says, you know, it's hateful to say someone is to be saved,

[SPEAKER_00]: to call someone say, hey, be saved by Jesus, it can be offensive, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: But Paul says, that's what the fruit of it is, salvation.

[SPEAKER_00]: But the beauty of the gospel message is this, read this in verse eight.

[SPEAKER_00]: The word is new,

[SPEAKER_00]: in your mouth and in your heart.

[SPEAKER_00]: That is the word of faith that we proclaim.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart, that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

[SPEAKER_00]: I want to tell you this morning, salvation is as close as your lips.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's not as far away as what you think it is.

[SPEAKER_00]: And there's two sides to that.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're either a Christian and that should embolden you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because that person who you think is too far gone, too far away unable to save, I want to tell you it's closer than what you think it is.

[SPEAKER_00]: That family member who's struggling with addiction over and over and over again, they are closer to salvation than what you think it is.

[SPEAKER_00]: That family member who's denied God, their whole life, salvation is closer to them too.

[SPEAKER_00]: And if you're an unbeliever in this room, this should bring comfort this morning.

[SPEAKER_00]: Salvation is so close to you, it's as close as your lips and the very breath in your lungs.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I'll tell you this morning, if you're not a Christian, it is not far from you.

[SPEAKER_00]: You do not need to climb your way up to God.

[SPEAKER_00]: You don't need to clean yourself up first before you say yes.

[SPEAKER_00]: You don't need to prove yourself worthy to God.

[SPEAKER_00]: You just need to believe.

[SPEAKER_00]: and the religious people in the room are going, seek, don't say that.

[SPEAKER_00]: They just need to believe.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yep, that's what the Bible says.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's what the Bible says.

[SPEAKER_00]: And some of us are so concerned with holiness and I'm not trying to disconnect the holiness of God.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not trying to do that.

[SPEAKER_00]: Or any of that.

[SPEAKER_00]: But we are so concerned with people getting holy before they are saved.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm telling you right now, holiness is not the precondition for salvation.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's the fruit of it.

[SPEAKER_00]: So stop trying to manage people's behavior.

[SPEAKER_00]: Stop trying to like, twist them in and put them in a box and try to make them behave a certain way.

[SPEAKER_00]: How about this?

[SPEAKER_00]: Just present the gospel to them, present the person of Jesus to them and let the fruit of the gospel spring up in their life.

[SPEAKER_00]: So being so concerned with behavioral management because what we do is we strip the gospel of its power.

[SPEAKER_00]: The only person that can change your heart is not me or you.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's the person of Jesus Christ.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so, team, you can come up, you can come up and church, let's stand.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I believe there's a powerful moment.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

[SPEAKER_00]: Not might be saved, not could be saved.

[SPEAKER_00]: Will be, definite statement.

[SPEAKER_00]: You will be saved.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is a God who came down when you couldn't climb up.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is a Savior who took your sin upon him so you didn't have to live with it anymore.

[SPEAKER_00]: And maybe fate today is finally coming alive and you, because faith comes by hearing, by hearing, the word of Christ.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I wanna pray for you this morning, two groups of people, with every head up and every eye opened.

[SPEAKER_00]: Can we just remove shame from this room?

[SPEAKER_00]: Let's just break its power over this church this morning.

[SPEAKER_00]: Two groups of people, followers of Jesus, and your feeling convicted, and you're going up, and sitting in silence, and not being sent into the world around me.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I feel a great sense of courage building up, and you're saying, hey, I'm a follower of Jesus, but I need a fresh infilling of courage this morning.

[SPEAKER_00]: If that's you this morning with every eye opened in every head race, just lift your hand and I'm lifting my hand with you today.

[SPEAKER_00]: Look at this.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's awesome.

[SPEAKER_00]: Come on.

[SPEAKER_00]: Look around.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's nothing to be ashamed of here.

[SPEAKER_00]: Call us to celebrate.

[SPEAKER_00]: Amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: Can put your hands down.

[SPEAKER_00]: Gonna pray for you in just the moment.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let's say in group of people.

[SPEAKER_00]: are those who've never professed their faith in the person of Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: And you're saying, hey, today is the day.

[SPEAKER_00]: Today is my day.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's no shame in this room.

[SPEAKER_00]: Again, with every head up, and I don't care if nobody responds, I don't care.

[SPEAKER_00]: But I believe there's maybe some people in this room that might want to respond this morning.

[SPEAKER_00]: So if that's you, you say, hey, I want to confess and put my hand up and we want to celebrate as a group of believers.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's that's you today.

[SPEAKER_00]: Just lift your hand.

[SPEAKER_00]: I want to see it and I'll pray for you.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's okay if nobody responds, but if this is your moment, just sit your hands so I can see it.

[SPEAKER_00]: No, just take a moment.

[SPEAKER_00]: No hands, that's okay.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's awesome.

[SPEAKER_00]: Gonna room for the believers here.

[SPEAKER_00]: So why don't we bow ahead and the team are going to lead us in just a moment, and I want to pray for courage to feel this room.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let's pray.

[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you Holy Spirit for speaking to us this morning and Lord I pray over this room.

[SPEAKER_00]: For the dozens of hands that responded to the good news and responded and saying, Hey, I want to be courageous this morning.

[SPEAKER_00]: I feel I need to be sent into this world and I've been

[SPEAKER_00]: avoiding and dodging it.

[SPEAKER_00]: And Lord, I pray that there's going to be an infilling of courage and boldness in their testimony this morning.

[SPEAKER_00]: So, Lord, begin to fill it within them.

[SPEAKER_00]: Holy spirit, fill this room.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so, Lord, we pray this morning as this group of believers gather together, brothers and sisters, who break shame over this room.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so Lord, we pray in this moment that we would come as bodies of believers and as we walk out of this room, we would feel and we would even as we walk out, we get a sense from the Holy Spirit saying, that's the place I'm sent, I'm sent to my family, I'm sent to that university, I'm sent to my workplace, you get a sense, Lord, we're praying that people would begin to see rooms that were dead, dead, dead, war zones become mission fields, Lord.

[SPEAKER_00]: Places that seem barren, we've become the place where life begins to spring up.

[SPEAKER_00]: So Lord, we pray for each person in this room, filling with boldness, and courage this morning.

[SPEAKER_00]: In Jesus' mighty name, everybody said, can we celebrate Jesus this morning?

[UNKNOWN]: Thank you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you.

[SPEAKER_00]: But I love us in this moment as believers if we just see and profess the name of Jesus because this song.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you don't know what your testimony is, how about just seeing this, how about seeing these words, how about worship as a group of believers, come on saying, let's go.