A Compelling Witness of Jesus - Mark 5 - Coleton Segars

Like this man shared his faith.

Like Jesus had changed me.

And I remember who I was.

I still remember who I was at 17 and before all that.

And this man has been transformed and he runs back into town and he begins announcing to these people, like, here's I've met this man and he's phenomenal.

You have no idea what he's like.

And it says that all the people were amazed.

And so when I read that, I was like, man, I want to be able to share my faith in a compelling way where people go, they're just amazed at Jesus.

And that's what I wanted, and that's what I wanted to do.

And so after I came to faith, I joined this sharing your faith program at a church.

And it was old school, it was door-to-door.

Like you just knock on the door, and before anything, it's not like, hey, how are you?

It's like, do you want to know Jesus?

Like it's just immediate in there, real fast.

And uh I actually really loved it.

We don't do that anymore, you get shot or you know, kicked or something, I don't know.

But um, but I really, really loved it, and I learned a ton about how to share my faith.

But in this process of this class, one of the trainers that would teach was teaching me how to do my thing and how to share uh the gospel.

He told this story of a different man who had gone through this, and I don't know if it was fake, I don't know if it's folklore or some legend of this dude, but Jim or whatever his name was.

But uh he tells a story of like the urgency and passion of Jim.

And uh Jim was new to the class however many years ago, whatever, and was learning to share his faith.

And the first time he goes out, the trainer is supposed to like knock on the door of the person's house and lead the thing, but Jim's like, hey trainer, I got this one.

And the guy should have known right there, like, no, you're a lunatic, let's not do that.

Um let me go first, let me show you how to do it.

Um but he didn't, and so he let you know, Jim or this guy go and do it.

And so the guy, Jim knocks on the door, the man opens the door, and uh Jim shakes his hand, like, hey, we're from so-and-so church.

The man sticks his hand out, shakes his hand, and as he does it, as he does it, Jim grabs his hand, turns his hand over, then in his other pocket, grabs a lighter and lights under the fire under the man's hand and burns his hand.

And he's like, Do you like how this feels?

This is where you will spend eternity if you do not turn to Jesus.

So uh we're from So-and-so Baptist Church.

Would you like to know Jesus?

And I I'm I I assume that that's fake.

Like I may like I it was the 70s, it's a weird time.

Uh the 70s.

Um I assume that that's not real, that that didn't really happen.

But what was true in in that class was that Jim was held up as like the archetype.

Like we need to have this willingness to even like just to be willing to be shot on a porch, like to because we have to remind people of the dangers of hell and the reality of hell.

And so don't go light people on fire, but this is what we should do.

And uh, anyways, they held that up in the class as something to do, even though they told you not obviously to do that.

But in my experience, when you talk to Christians, when I talk to Christians, when you ask them, share the good news of Jesus with me.

Primarily, this is what I hear, this is the most common version of the good news of Jesus.

The gospel means good news.

Commonly, this is what I hear as the good news of Jesus.

Go to the next slide there.

The most common version of good news that I hear is you're all going to hell.

It's really good news.

It's a strong start, you're all going to hell.

Because you're all sinners, but Jesus died to pay for your sin, and if you believe in him, you won't go to hell.

And I believe all of that is true.

I believe that hell is real.

I believe that we are sinners.

We're all falling short of the glory of God.

My issue, and I take two issues with this way of announcing the good news, is the primary good news of this thing is not Jesus Himself.

It's really just announcing the dangers of hell.

Really, this isn't good news of Jesus.

It's just, they're just announcing the bad news of hell.

You're going to burn because you're a sinner, but Jesus did this thing, and if you will follow him, you'll do that.

And so the primary good news of the way that they tell this particular version of the good of the gospel is not Jesus.

It's actually hell.

Hell is the center point to focus on and to look at.

The second reason I take issue with this way of saying it is this is not the way that you see the people in the scriptures.

It's not the way you see the guy in Mark 5 testifying.

He doesn't run back into the decapitalist like, you're all gonna burn.

Like he doesn't light anybody's hands on fire.

He's not doing any of that stuff.

He just begins testifying to what Jesus has done in his life.

And so I take issue with that, not because it's not true, I believe that there's truth in those words.

I just don't see people sharing the gospel of Jesus in that way in the text.

And I don't see that the point of sharing the gospel, if it's the good news of Jesus, sharing it this way ultimately leads us to talk more about the bad news of hell versus the good news of Jesus.

And I think Jesus is good enough news to talk about.

And so what I want to do today is I just want to look at some of the ways that people in the Bible share the good news of Jesus and what that looks like for them.

And then I want to just point out like here's what this means for us, and here's how it could shape us as well.

If you are someone who, maybe this is like how you came to faith, and that's great.

If the Lord used that and that's how you came to faith, you were scared of hell, and so you chose Jesus because you were scared of hell and now you have a relationship with you, that's awesome.

But if you want to share your faith in a compelling way, I think there's a better way to do it than this necessarily.

So I want to offer that to you and then see what that means for us.

First thing I want to look at is how people in the Bible shared about Jesus in the Gospels.

So uh just a run through.

Woman at the well in John 4.

Woman at the well in John 4.

This was her good news of Jesus.

Come see the man who told me everything I ever did.

Come see the man who told me everything I ever did.

And what this meant for her is like, I'm a Samarit, I'm an outsider, I'm a Samaritan.

And this man knows all the disgusting things in my life, all the men I've been with, all that different stuff.

He knows everything about me and he has received me, he's accepted me, he wants me.

Like no one wants me.

None of y'all want me, but he wants me.

Come and see the man who knows all of me, all the sick things, all the stuff that I've tried to keep hidden, he knows all of it.

And he accepted me.

Maybe he'll do the same thing for you.

And so she runs into town and she says that, and then you see what happens.

It says, Many Samaritans from the town believed in Jesus because of the woman's testimony.

He told me all that I ever did.

It was just a compelling gospel.

What's the good news of Jesus?

He knows all the dirt, and he's someone who, even though he knows all the dirt, he wants me, he receives me.

We're outsiders to our own people, but he says that I'm an insider.

He invited me in.

Second thing, uh, John 9, the man born blind.

I love this when he says, How would how they ask him, How were your eyes opened?

And he replies, the man they called Jesus, and he's like, I don't even call him Jesus, I don't even know his name.

The man they called Jesus made some mud.

I put it on my eyes.

He told me to go wash.

And so I went and washed, and then I could see one thing I know I was blind, but now I see.

One thing I know I was blind, but now I see.

I don't know exactly what happened.

I don't know the ins and outs of all of it, but one thing I do know is I was blind and now I see.

And they ask him all this stuff about Old Testament laws and all that stuff, and he's like, I don't know.

I just want to testify to my experience of Jesus.

Notice no mention of hell, no mention of burning people with fire.

There's nothing there.

It's like, I this, I I was blind.

Now I can see, and the in-between is Jesus.

I met this man, and everybody's got to know this man.

Demoniac, Mark V, we just read this text.

But he runs back into town and it says that all the people were amazed.

And we don't know exactly what he said, but again, I doubt that he ran in there and was like, it's all gonna burn, it's going to it's going to hell in a handbasket, it's it's going really bad.

What he probably went in and said, he's like, he set me free from my torment.

Like I was tormented for years, and you guys chained me up and sent me off to the tombs in the graveyard.

And this man came there, he was the only one that ever visited me, and he comes there and he was he removes the darkness of my life and the things that were hurting me.

I was tormented and he set me free.

And he just runs into town sharing that story.

And Jesus to him is like, I don't know who and everything that he is, but I just know that who I was, and you know who I was, and here's who I am now.

And Jesus is the difference in that.

Mark 7.

If you follow the demoniac's story, he runs into town and people are amazed.

And then Jesus, they beg him to leave.

Get out.

We're begging you to leave, Jesus.

We don't understand that power, like really good with the demoniac, but you gotta get out of here.

But then in Mark 7, Jesus goes back to the Decapolis, and you see what happens there is substantially different than what happened in Mark 5.

So I want to read this.

Jesus goes back to the Decapolis, and this is what it says.

Then Jesus went into the region of the Decapolis.

There, some people brought him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk, and they begged Jesus, they're begging him again, but notice what they're begging him to do.

They begged Jesus to place his hands on him.

Two chapters ago, they're begging him to leave.

Get out.

We don't want anything to do with you.

And now they're like, please stay.

We want whatever that man had.

He ran into town and starts sharing all the stuff, like, please stick around, we want more of you.

And you just follow his story.

It's like it's just this compelling thing that he's talking about with Jesus.

Two chapters ago, they wanted to leave.

And then even beyond some of the things that we actually know that we like, here's what they said, uh, here we know we have it written down.

You can kind of infer from the text, like what people said about Jesus and the good news that they had about him.

You can look at some of these texts and kind of infer.

So, for example, the woman caught in adultery.

We don't know exactly what she said if they were to ask her, like, what's so good about Jesus?

We don't have any of that.

We don't have any of any of that story of what she said.

But you can probably guess that she probably didn't mention anything about hell, nothing about fire, nothing about any of that stuff.

What she probably said was like, I was about to die.

And Jesus stood in the gap.

Like, no one wanted to actually they were right to kill me, and with a word, he could have said, condemn her, by the law, she deserves to die, do that thing.

Jesus could have killed me, but he had mercy on me.

And he saved me, and he actually defended me against some of these people that were ready to kill me.

Why do you like Jesus?

Like, oh, because he came to my defense when nobody else would.

He had mercy on me when nobody else would.

He had he showed me grace when nobody else would.

Why is he so great?

And it's like, because he's treated me like no one else in the whole world has ever treated me.

And I deserve to get bad things, and he gave me good things instead.

Mary Magdalene, Luke 8, 2, says that um Mary Magdalene, or Mary called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out.

She followed Jesus, and you can imagine, like, why did she follow Jesus?

What was what was so good about him?

It's like, well, I had seven demons, now I got none.

It's just math, really.

It's subtraction.

I'm doing great now.

Like, why do you follow him?

It's like because sin, darkness, hell, none of those things have anything to do with me anymore.

I've been I've met this man and everything has shifted for me.

I'm just testifying to the goodness of that.

Woman with the issue of blood in Mark 5, just before this story.

Again, you can ask, like, you can ask her, like, what was so good about Jesus?

What did you think that she said?

And it's probably very likely that she ran into town saying stuff like, I suffered for 12 years, gave all my money to doctors.

I had nothing left.

I couldn't find anybody to heal me, anybody to do anything good in my life, couldn't do find anything.

And then I just found this man, and all I wanted to do was touch the hem of his robe, and as soon as I did, I was healed.

And she just probably ran into town.

Actually, we know she ran into town telling this story.

Because again, if you just follow her story and you follow what when Jesus leaves this area, this woman touches the hem of his robe, then Jesus leaves, and then he goes back to this area a little bit later in Mark 6 and see what look what happened.

It says, when they crossed over the land to Gennesaret, they anchored there, same place where this has happened.

And as soon as they got out of the boat, people recognized Jesus and they begged him to let them touch the edge of his cloak, and all who touched it were healed.

And that's like, why did they why did they want to touch the edge of his cloak?

This isn't a thing.

It's like, well, because that woman ran into town and was like, How did you go from this to this?

Like, I just touched the edge of his cloak, and they're like, We want some of the cloak.

We want that too.

Like, we want to know this man.

We want to get to know this person who set you free.

For 12 years, doctors couldn't do anything, but this man is something different.

We want to know that man.

And we want exactly what you have.

Everything that you have had happen in your life, we want to see happen in our lives too.

And so they run back into this space and they're just asking him, like, hey, give me the give me the cloak.

Give me the cloth that I can touch too.

Jesus was for these people, good news for them, and that was enough.

None of them referenced, hey, here's some good news.

You're all gonna burn, but Jesus can save you.

It was not that.

Jesus was good enough news for them.

It's like we can talk about hell and all those things later, but like right now, I have encountered a man who's changed my life in more ways than anybody has ever changed my life.

I am completely transformed.

I just want to talk about that story and that experience.

And for them, they just run into town, they run into their spaces, and they run to their people, and they do those things.

And one of the biggest differences I think I see in these people's story, in our story about talking about Jesus, is like they didn't feel any obligation to go into town.

Like, I have to go and share the gospel, like, ugh, okay, I'll go do this thing.

Like, we feel that.

We feel some obligation, like, I don't share my faith enough.

People at my work don't know that I'm a Christian because I'm a little scared.

Like, we we struggle with that.

But like these people weren't doing that.

They're like, I have to go tell this story.

I'm a completely different person, I have to go tell this story.

They didn't feel obligated.

Actually, realistically, Jesus would do something in their lives and then tell people, like, hey, don't tell anybody.

If you tell people what I did, I'm not gonna be able to do my ministry publicly.

Like, don't tell anyone that I did this.

And then they went, and the more he said, shut up about it, they kept talking about it.

And we have the opposite problem.

They told, Jesus told them, please don't say anything, and they couldn't stop talking.

Jesus tells us, please go into all the world and talk about me, and we don't talk to anybody.

It's very different.

And I think the reason it's very different is because our primary view of how to share the gospel is you're going to hell because you're a sinner, and Jesus has saved you from those things.

Again, these things are true, but this is not the way.

They just they were just testifying to the goodness that they experienced.

They were just walking up to people and being like, Man, you you have no idea the type of person I was and who I am now.

And they were just sharing that story over and over and over.

They were enlivened by this experience with Jesus and this story that they had encountered Jesus, whatever story that was, it had done so much in their lives, and they had met this real living man who had changed them.

It's like the story just flowed naturally out of that.

It's not obligation.

It's like I was empty and broken and desolate, and now I am full of life and happ and joy and peace and love and all those things.

I'm a completely different person, and this man is the reason, and this is available to you.

And they were just telling that story.

And to me, if we are, and I think that we should, going to share our faith in a compelling way, I believe the beginning of that, the starting point, should be this space where like, where is he being kind to you?

Where is he showing you kindness in your life?

Where is he being good to you?

To me, this is how we should do it.

And so I think those are the questions for us.

If you're going to share your faith, and I know that many of you do want to do that.

You have kids and families and spouses and all the rest of it, you want them to come into faith and you want to share it in a compelling way and for them to see what you see and all those different things.

And to me, it begins with these two questions.

Where has he been good to you?

Where has he been kind to you?

Where can you share that story with somebody?

There's a few stories that I tell whenever I get the chance to do this and talk about Jesus.

Um, and I'm a pastor, so I I get that chance more often than maybe many of you do.

But a few stories that I tell, and the first one is I always want to be sensitive to it because it's not, it is my story, but it's not all my story.

Um but one of the hardest things for me in my life was living separate, separated from my mom through the divorce uh that my parents had when I was three.

One of the hardest things I ever had to do.

I only got to see her on weekends, I got to see her on holidays, and when she made special trips to come see me, uh I remember being in first grade and she lived in Michigan, and I invited her to like a school PTA meeting or something, and I didn't know the difference between Georgia and Michigan and how long it took to do that.

Um, but she drove, uh her and Patrick drove to be there for this thing that probably lasted 15 minutes.

Um it was wonderful to see her, but it was really hard not seeing her.

Every time I would actually see my mom in the in-between on the weekends, every time I would see her, I would burst into tears, and she's like, Why are you crying?

And it was like, well, I'm just thrilled to see you, but then in the back of my mind, I'm like, three days, this is over.

Like it's just gone.

And so it was like this, it was like this joy of seeing her, but then this sadness of like, it's coming again.

This separation is coming again.

And for 18 years, just sitting there from three years old to 21, just going like, man, this is difficult and it's challenging, and this isn't what I want for my life.

And just remember wondering, like, how could anything good come from this?

How could anything beautiful come from this horrible situation that we're walking through?

And everybody did the best that they could with what they had and their own their own family and the whole thing.

But just wondering, like, how could anything good come from this?

But then eventually one day my mom and Patrick moved to Tennessee and they heard this story in a church like this.

They heard this story of this man who like redeems and restores and does all this amazing stuff in people's lives, and it's like, good Lord, I want some of that.

And it wasn't like be scared of hell.

They're like, We're living in hell, like we don't live with our kids.

Are you kidding me?

They needed to hear a story of a man that's like, he he redeems everything.

Resurrection is what he does, he brings things to life, and they hear this story and they give their lives to Jesus.

And I watched as he like restored and just reoriented and transformed their life, and then from their transformation, like I heard the gospel for the first time, and I came to faith, and then even beyond that, like they moved to Tennessee, they were only supposed to be here for a little bit.

Um, and then they were gonna move and go someplace else.

But they decided to stay, like, this is where we've met the Lord, this is where we're gonna stay.

And um, when I was in Georgia, I I came to faith and felt called to ministry, and so I moved here to live with them.

I haven't lived with my mom in since I was three years old, and now I'm 18, 19 years old, and now I'm finally living with my mom, this thing that I've been waiting to do.

And they're going to this Sunday school class with these people named Larry and Sherry, and they're really cool.

And so I go to that Sunday school class and I meet them, and they're great too, and then I meet their daughter, and she is gorgeous.

Good Lord.

And then we fell in love.

It took me about a second to fall in love.

It took her about three years.

We fell in love.

We've been married for 12 years, and now we have a seven-year-old.

And to me, our family, my three-person family, is just evidence of that Romans 8.28 is real.

He works all things to good.

He can work all things to good to those who love him or called according to his purpose.

This is what he does.

That promise was true for me.

He took this horrible situation that for 18 years I was like, God, please, if you can do anything, you can change.

If you can do anything, you can change this.

Would you please change this?

And now I'm like, I don't want to go back through that again and live the childhood that that was, but I would never change what I currently have because my three-person family exists because God is actually true to his promise and he does the things that he says he's gonna do, and anything that happens to us, for us, or against us, he's like, I can work anything to good to those who love me and are called according to my purpose.

Anything, even the things that you wish you could change for 18 years.

And for me, that was my story, and now my family exists, and I can't believe that it came about that way.

And it's not like, oh, divorce is good, it leads to you to your kids getting married.

It's not that.

It just testifies to like even in the midst of things that are broken and the ashes of things that are ruined, like the Lord can bring beauty from stuff that you're like.

There's no way anything good comes from this.

Like, yeah, actually there is.

He can do whatever he wants.

And he loves to redeem, he loves to restore.

That's one of the stories I share.

The other one is um I was like the least likely person to be saved in my high school.

You all know how they do superlatives.

If they have done superlatives for like Christians, like least likely to be saved, probably gonna burn forever, you know.

I would have like taken both spots of the superlative in the yearbook.

Like, I was the least likely person to be saved.

The fact that I'm a pastor still shocks many of my friends back home.

But that was me.

I was just that person.

But my mom just prayed for me.

She came to faith and she was like, I'm just gonna pray and pray and pray.

I just she just read the Bible.

And it was like, if you ask, seek, knock, he will hear an answer.

And so she's like, I'm praying for my son.

And then one, like for years I just walked away from that, and then one night I'm drunk on my couch in my bedroom, and like that's where Jesus pursues me.

That's where he transforms my heart.

That's where I actually have this encounter with him where I'm like, I can't believe that you would want me now.

And it just radically transformed my life, and I'm so thankful.

But I know that it's true that like you have people in your life and in your story that you want them to come to faith, and my mom just prayed me into the kingdom.

Just keep praying.

She didn't debate my sin, she didn't, you know, try and do all these other things or whatever.

She just prayed me into the kingdom.

I was talking to some, I went and played golf with some friends of mine from high school, and they uh, you know, there's still those guys from high school at the party at my house that night.

They're like, hey, that night that you we got super drunk at your house and all that stuff.

Like, after that night, you were like a completely different person.

You didn't do the same stuff anymore.

We didn't do any of those things anymore.

You seemed to like have this huge shift, this change, like, what was that?

And I was like, oh, let me tell you the story.

And this is my opportunity to go, like, I was that person, and then something happened here that then led me to the next morning where I'm still hung over, but now I want Jesus and I wanted nothing to do with him here, and I want everything to do with him here.

And this huge transition in my life took place.

And I was like, I don't really know how to explain it, other than yes, I'm a very different person, and everything good in my life begins at the in the middle of that day.

Nothing that I currently have that I'm thankful for would be anything that I would have been receiving if I hadn't had this moment where Jesus actually pursued me with amazing grace and is like, you, I want you.

calling you into something greater and grander for your life than you could ever do for yourself.

And that's what it did for me.

And then third, one of the stories I share a lot is my marriage.

I mean Rainey and I in the middle of our, and I share this a couple weeks ago, but in the middle of our dating life just ruined our relationship and went to counseling basically to say like this is over.

We're done here.

We're just done.

And then we walk into this counseling session expecting to do that.

And then the Lord meets us in that counseling session.

There's so much confession on both of our parts primarily from me so much confession and so much repentance and we just experience God's word being true.

Like if you confess your sin one to another and pray for each other, you will be healed.

And our relationship was healed in 90 we leave, we go in there and then 90 minutes later we come out going like this is completely different.

What we thought was dead is actually alive now.

And Jesus just breathed life back into our relationship.

And y'all know this and I'll share this more and more but we we actually celebrate this well I'll get there in just a second but we celebrate that day August 25 2010.

We weren't married until August 6 2011 but without August 25th there's no August 6 2011.

And so we we love our anniversary but we celebrate marriage day that's what we call it.

We celebrate marriage day because without this day going into this council with Jesus not meeting us if he doesn't meet us there then there is no marriage.

And this is this space and so some of you again some of you have marriages where you're like this is over.

Like we're done here.

I can't imagine that anything good would ever come out of this.

I can't imagine they'd ever breathe life into it again and it's like that's not true.

That's a lie that's being spoken to you but that's not the way that it has to go.

Jesus specializes in resurrection and redemption.

This is what he wants to do.

He is famous for doing realistically one thing and that's raising from the dead and what that's true of us, resurrection is possible for us not just in one time at the end times but now the things that are dead he's like you were once dead in your sin and now I've made you alive.

I want to do that for you not in just one area of your life but in all the areas the things that you think are gone and just past life like he wants to breathe life back into those things and he can do that.

And so those are the stories I share with people that are walking through some of these things or if they just ask me like what's so why are you a Christian?

Like it's such an antiquated thing that like certainly the culture has moved on past this is ancient text that you read like why would you do that?

I was like I have experienced a man who's still alive because he didn't stay dead but he works in my life and he's done things in my life and it's real for me.

And when I talk to him he talks back and I'm people can call me crazy or whatever but like he is alive and he's real and he's done work in my life and he continues to do that and I expect him to continue doing those things.

Because if goodness and mercy will follow us all the days of our lives I believe that that's going to be true for me not just today and in the past but also in the future and I think that's true for us as well.

So that's just a handful of stories that I share but for us I think Jesus wanted us to wind up in a space where we encountered him enjoyed life with him experienced life with him and like this is how I'm blessing you I'm showing you grace I'm I think he's like just enjoy life with me and then just enjoy me out loud it's really supposed to be this like witnessing sharing evangelism is supposed to be experience good news with me things that are good for you and then just enjoy me publicly like you don't have to use this oblig, you know it's not you're not obligated to do this thing.

It's like just just let me pour my life into you.

And then when you walk along the way just enjoy me publicly and people will see it and go like I want that too so practical ways of sharing your faith I just want to give you a couple practical ways of doing this.

One is to just live out your good news.

If you've experienced something good live that out there's this book that I really love called The Patient Ferment of the Early Church.

This historian Alan Kreider talks about how the how the church grew from the beginning into this space in a space where it was really illegal to be a Christian and all that stuff is like it he kind of talks about how it's this really patient, very slow fermentation of the church throughout history.

But he talks about how people came to faith in this particular time and he says that it wasn't primarily through stuff like this.

Like they weren't inviting outsiders to come hear their pastor preach or they weren't inviting outsiders to hear their worship team or something.

It wasn't that it was primarily through something they call casual contact and so this is what he says.

He says scholars have seen the church's growth as coming about through something modest, casual contact.

Contact could come about in innumerable ways through the networks of family and profession in which most people participated.

Masters interacted with slaves, residents met neighbors and above all believers networked with relatives and work colleagues.

In all these relationships effective bonds were formed the most reliable means of communicating the attractiveness of the faith to others and enticing them to investigate things further was the Christian's character, bearing and behavior.

And I just love the idea that like how did the church grow it's like people bumped into each other on the streets.

Like they were just in the marketplace and you bumped into them and they had these conversations like you have a joy I don't have you have a peace I don't have we we we do things differently.

You and your wife love each other you you've chosen one of the biggest things is like you've chosen to just be faithful to her forever you've chosen to be faithful to him all his life your wife seems to have rights and and mine doesn't you're you know all the like just random things like what is it about you and it's like oh I live out this experience I've had with Jesus.

I have I and they would just share this story.

They bump into people they'd see something different and it wasn't like they don't drink smoke cuss dance it wasn't that it wasn't anything like that.

And they weren't running in the streets telling everybody they're going to burn it was just like man they just there's just something compelling about the way that they live and they just lived that out they live like they were loved they had this confidence without fear they were sitting there not worried about the future because Jesus said like he cares more for me than the sparrows and all the things like they just lived that out.

And people like what is it about your life?

Why do you have this hope?

Why do you have this peace?

It's like because I've met this man Jesus and he can do this for you too and so for you whatever your good news whatever those things are what's true of you in the scriptures live those things out casual contact.

It wasn't like I have to hit the doors and anything like that.

It was casual contact second thing is I would encourage you to throw a party celebrate your good news celebrate your good news.

Again Rainey and I do this for Marriage Day.

I talked about this a couple weeks ago where we did deliverance day and we get delivery on deliverance day we have this random calendar that's us but it's where God has broken into our lives where we're like that was a miracle that was an act of grace that was what something Jesus did in my life and in our family's life and we just celebrate those days.

And so one in particular was Marriage Day.

Like God met us in that room where we thought our relationship was over and now it's not.

And so we celebrate it normally we either go out to eat or invite people over and have a party but lately we've been celebrating by doing food for Teddy to eat.

And so it's like the last one was like donuts for dinner.

And the reason is like we get to dinner and normally he has this he calls it the Teddy special which is like cheese and strawberries and peanut butter.

It's very it's very specific.

Y'all been to my house if y'all ever watched him eat he has one thing he likes.

But on Marriage Day he gets donuts for dinner and he is like what is happening this is the best day of my life and I'm like sit down son let me tell you the story like I want him to know and be like as he's chomping on his Gibson's donut or whatever I want him to be like why are we doing this?

It's like because Jesus has been kind to us.

Marriage did exist or excuse me you exist because this did exist.

Jesus broke into our story and into our life and without that happening there is no marriage and then you're no longer eating donuts for dinner you don't even exist.

And so for us I want to attach this memory of donuts for dinner to be like why do we do this?

And it's like because he's been kind to us and he saved our relationship and he's done this stuff and I want him to be like oh this Jesus is great.

He tastes like donuts.

Awesome like that's so good.

And so the passage is like taste and see that the Lord is good and my son has tasted and seen that he is good.

He is like and he tastes like donuts.

I love that but I think that like there's this space where we're supposed to like what is how what has he done for you?

Celebrate that thing remember that thing memorialize it because what you mark on your calendar ultimately is what marks you and you need to be reminded of those things and reigning I need to as well be reminded that like one day he saved our relationship and so when we struggle in the future because marriage is just hard like we know that he can do it again that he's not going to let this thing tank but we need to celebrate our good news in the Old Testament if you read the festivals and the parties and all the stuff that God would do something amazing in the people of Israel's life and then what he would say is like hey here's how I want you to remember this okay you ready?

Throw a huge party for a while.

Like do a seven days 14 days throw a big party and so if you take all the festivals and all the parties that God told the people in Israel to do when he did something great for them they would have been partying for four months out of their year.

Four months of just nonstop don't work don't do anything just throw down hard have the best meat the best wine the best whatever like just absolutely have a great time doing this for four months.

This is what it was supposed to be for them.

And this is why this is like I want you to remember who I am based on this.

I don't want you to sit there and do you know do other things.

I want you to celebrate the spaces where I've broken in Tim Keller who was just awesome and so formative in my life he says this that I really love he says God directs his people in the Old Testament and new not simply to worship but to sing his praises before the nations we're called not simply to communicate the gospel to nonbelievers we must also intentionally celebrate the gospel before them.

We must celebrate the good news before them.

Because that's what makes it good.

It's like it's really good news we're all gonna burn some of us.

You know it's like that's not like that's not good news.

And so this space we're like man I have experienced the goodness of God in my life to celebrate those things.

And so my encouragement to you would be to celebrate your good news.

If he has done something kind to you man mark those things in your calendar and for you throw a party and make it be like the best party ever.

Like it's in the middle of September but we have the best food we have the best drinks we have the best music and while you're sitting there you invite all your friends over and it's like and then all of a sudden people are sitting there going like this is the best food I've ever had this is the best drinks I've ever had this is the best time I've ever had what are we doing again?

What are we celebrating?

It's like the grace of God because he's broken into my life he did this thing and like that's why it's so good.

This is the best time I've ever had it's because Jesus is at the center of it and he's the best thing you could ever give your life to we need to have those types of things.

We celebrate birthdays I love birthdays.

We celebrate birthdays and all these other pagan holidays and all these different things I mean we've flag day I mean like we celebrate all this stuff like you need to mark out these stays in your calendar invite people over and be like this is going to be the best time of your life because he has done something in history that has resurrected everything and changed everything and now he can do that for you too.

And we just need to have spaces where people experience joy and go, what is this attached to is like oh he says in his presence is fullness of joy.

At his right hand are pleasures forevermore and so what you've experienced is a little bit of what Jesus is like we need to have spaces like that.

Celebrate your good news and if you ever throw a party please invite me I love to celebrate lastly and I'll make this quick but we need to share I mean all those other ones like live it out just enjoy God enjoy Jesus live that out celebrate those things and the last is share.

You actually need to do this and primarily I would do that in relationships.

If you want to be a street preacher Lord bless you but I don't think that's what you're called to unless like you're specifically called to that but primarily I think you should share in the relationships that you have in your work the casual bumps of contact that you have I think this is how we should share we are called by the Great Commission to make disciples not converts you're not you're not called to get people to make a decision like I just gotta get you to I just got to get you out of hell like no that's not what you're called to do.

You're called to make disciples lifelong students of Jesus the idea is that it takes a long time a follower someone that's actually doing it someone that you talk to that wants to give their lives to Jesus not just a their like one decision to him like the whole thing.

And that's what we're called to do.

It's two very different Greek words disciples and converts and we're not called to make converts you're called to make disciples Jesus says teach them all the things that I've commanded you know how long that would take the idea is that it takes a long time.

And so I've talked to people and I was like I share the gospel I started in Genesis and I wound up in Revelation and was talking about eschatology and I was like why?

Why did you do that so much?

That's way too much like you just spent if you talk from Genesis to Revelation with somebody as you sharing the gospel with them like you just spent way too much time on things that you should have spent your life helping them understand and do.

Just share the good news of why Jesus has been so good to you.

This is how they did it in the scriptures and then work out the eschatology and ecclesiology and is it seven days or seven generations of time old earth young earth who cares?

Work on that stuff later.

But at the end of the day just share about why he's so wonderful and why they should commit their lives to him and don't try and scare them into making a decision.

Don't do that.

That's not what Jesus calls us to people who get scared into making the decision because they're afraid of hell don't choose Jesus.

They just don't choose hell.

And we want them to actually choose Jesus.

Share primarily in your relationships and then make it specific this is something you see the Apostle Paul do.

I think if you want to share anything in general just share it.

But you can make it specific if you watch the Apostle Paul in the in the book of Acts in Acts 13 he's talking to Jewish people he talks a ton about the Old Testament law because he's making the good news specific to them like Jesus is that Messiah y'all have been waiting for.

But then in Acts 17 the good news to them was God could be known.

And so he quotes from one of their own poets and their own people and he starts talking about he doesn't mention the Old Testament at all.

They don't know it.

So he leaves it out.

It's not that it's not important it's just not important to them.

The good news that they need to know is that you can know God.

Jesus has made him known and you can know him too.

He's become like us so that we could actually he could reveal the Father to us so that you can know him.

Y'all need to know that the Messiah is come.

Y'all need to know that he can be known and he just takes the good news of Jesus it's broad enough for him to take it and go, this is what is good news to you.

This is what is good news to you.

Somebody on their deathbed maybe needs to hear the fact that there is a real hell there is real separation from God.

And I don't think he sends anybody there.

I think he just allows you to choose that if you want that.

But somebody on their deathbed that's good news to them that they can avoid that by choosing Jesus.

But for most people walking through the difficulties of day-to-day life that is not good news to them.

They're not expecting to die tomorrow and so it doesn't really matter.

But there are things going on in their marriages with their kids with their family with their jobs with their addictions and there are things like that that they need to be reminded Jesus doesn't just care about your eternity there.

He didn't just come to bring you eternal life then he came to bring you everlasting life now abundance and fullness of life it's not just length of days it is quality of days.

He came to give you a quality of life that he wants to actually give you and bring you into that's why he says I came to give them life and life in abundance to experience now.

So that you're no longer trapped in the sins and things that keep you there.

And so for us we need to figure out man if you're talking to people like what is the good news to that person specifically Jesus is good enough news for every single person in every single circumstance of their lives and we just need to figure out how to say that.

And so we need to share in those ways.

Lastly sharing your faith was never supposed to be a thing that you felt guilted into.

Again it was just supposed to be this place where he's like I'm so glad you chose me.

Now watch what I do watch how I I work in your life our lives are supposed to constantly be this space where we're like come and see what the Lord has done.

Come and see what he has done.

And as you experience what the Lord has done you just live that thing out and you just celebrate that and you just enjoy him out loud and then people are like I want that too.

And so my encouragement to you is I do want us to share our faith I do think that we're called to do this.

I don't think we're called to make converts but I do think we're called to make disciples and to make Jesus compelling because he is compelling.

And so for us I want us to lean into that but lean into that the way that we're supposed to okay let me pray Lord you are the best news sin, Satan, death, hell, you conquered all of that and you did it for us so that we could experience life with you.

And so Father I just pray that we would experience that life for you.

You have created access to where we have fullness of joy and we can walk right into the throne room of grace and receive help and mercy and grace in our time of need.

And so Father I just pray that for many of us that we just be reminded you still do this stuff.

This is still who you are and Lord would you just allow us to experience the joy of knowing you and then just enjoy that out loud.

So the people in our families the people in our lives at our work and even our own minds would just be reminded you're amazing.

You can do whatever you want there's no one like you no rival no equal and so Father I just pray that you would set that vision in our hearts in Jesus' name all right if you're a leader in the church I need some help holding the elements and so just first four of you to get up would be a gift if you're a leader in our church.

We're gonna take communion and we do this as Paul says to proclaim it's okay y'all can get up fast.

That's good.

Thank you thank you three more that's great.

Love it Kathy I know Larry calls y'all out I just assumed that y'all would just do it.

Okay awesome next time I'll just look at you specifically I'm still learning names so I'm like you in the shirt.

Get up here Paul says proclaim the Lord's death until he comes this is what we do we enjoy communion.

Communion the word is we commune with him we can be with him and this is what Jesus has created for us.

And so he says when we take communion proclaim the Lord's death until he time until he comes and so what we're supposed to be reminded of when we do this is that there is bread and there is wine.

And the idea is like he took on a death that we were supposed to take it was our death it was our sin it was our death but he's like I took on the death so that death no longer has to define your life in any way you don't have to fear it in the future and you don't have to fear it now.

Death no longer is something that you have to fear.

Now what your life can be defined by is life bread gives life and wine gives joy.

And so when we do this what he's trying to remind us of is like I took on a death for you so that you could experience fullness of life and so that you can experience fullness of joy.

And we commune with him because that's what those things are.

And so my encouragement to you is as we take communion just be reminded of like what does he want with my life?

What does Jesus want to do?

And I think most people are like he just wants me to be good he wants me to do better.

He wants me to give more money he wants me to what I don't know.

Stop doing this stop doing that he wants to give you life and he wants to lead you into joy.

And so my encouragement to you is just as you take this just be reminded and maybe just reorient your vision around like this is what Jesus actually came to do to take on that death so that you didn't have to live in guilt and shame but he actually gave you these things and so take some time and then come eat and drink and be filled with life and be filled with joy because of what Jesus has done.