Gifts That Guide Us to Tomorrow IV, Gift of Evangelism

It's not just the normal encouragement, it's part of the sermon. I'll wait until you get your North Way notes. Take a little teaching outline. Ushers, we need some folks here who didn't get bulletins. We need you to come down and help them out. Now, here's what I want you to do. Listen carefully. How many of you are familiar... When you're driving south on I-279, you've just come off I-279, you're heading in towards the city on I-279. About three miles in the road, there's a huge billboard right there. How many of you commute? You know which one I'm talking about, right? About three miles, yes. If you don't know where that is, think of the biggest, most spectacular billboard you can think of. Near your place of business or whatever. Well, we heard that the person who controls that outdoor advertising met Christ and is so excited about what Christ has done in his life that he called us and said, we want to give you that billboard for a month. Wait a minute. This is a story, all right? I'm just setting it up. Well, I wasn't getting your attention. I thought I'd get attention. So, what I need you to do is put the message that you would put on that billboard in that little billboard that you have right in front of you there. All right? Do you have a little billboard on your notes? Pastor Scott, where's yours? You did yours already. All right. Fill it in. What would your message be telling people about Christ? What would you say? No blank billboards, all right? You got to say something. What would you say? Something telling them about the good news about Christ. What would you say? You got the billboard free for one month. They'll do whatever you say. Your message. Okay, about done? Now, some of you are running. Okay, you're going 60 miles an hour here. You can't write Romans 8, 9, and 10. Okay. Let's see. Let's just see what kind of message we put up there, shall we? This is when I wish we had the high-tech stuff that we could all put our billboard up at once and read through them. How many of you in your billboard had something about the love of God, something about God's love? That was the essence of your message. Okay? The loving people are in the front. By the way, only one now. You only get to put your hand up one time. How many of you raised the question like, what's life really all about? Yours was an interrogative statement. Anyone? Questions? Quite a few of you. You know how to pique people's interest. How many of you had something about God is there for you in stress or pain? God cares about you. Anyone? All right. How many of you had the name of Jesus somehow? Jesus is Lord or Jesus. Okay. All right. How many of you had something about the urgency of the moment, like the last days, or maybe even use the word, it's time now, or maybe even repent? How many of you had that? All right. Wow. Hey, interesting. Now, how many of you just didn't know? You aren't sure. Okay. Appreciate your honesty. Before you're done today, we're going to give you another opportunity. But you see, the point is that we all have sort of a different feel for what ought to be out there, different styles of doing evangelism, but we all feel that we need to do something, don't we? We all know the message needs to get out there. Now, today's message is on spiritual gifts. It's the fourth message in this series. Four weeks ago, we talked about the gift of helps. Those are the people that God has given the spiritual gift of helps to enable the context for life change to take place. And I hope I see 100 people with the gift of helps next Saturday morning on the property. The gift of helps. You love to create the context for God to move. Then we talked about the gift of giving, and that's for the people who God energizes to give abundantly toward the ministry so that resource flow doesn't stop God's work from going on. And last, we talked about encouragement and mercy. And we identified that about a third of you have the gift of encouragement. You love to come alongside of the weary and the wounded. And lift them up. And those who are wandering off, you want them to get back on track. Today, we're going to talk about the gift of evangelism, and I happen to know from statistics and a lot of conversations, this will be the smallest percentage of gifted people in our body. There aren't that many evangelists, but there are some. Ephesians 4 and Ephesians 3, actually, both talk about the gift of evangelism. The Apostle Paul had the gift, and he was very clear about the fact that God had given it to the church. So, before we talk about that, I do want to, however, talk about the rest of us who don't have it. That's, I'd say, about 90-some percent of us. That's those of you out there whose billboard said, like, hi on it or something. You're clueless. You don't know what to put. A little smiley face with a cross on the bottom or something like that. You know, when I talk about the urgency and the privilege of evangelism, you hear my words, but nothing really beats in your heart. I mean, you know, I've been around this church a long time, and I know that most everyone who is a regular part of this church, you know about being salt and light in the world today. You know about the fact that the Word calls you an ambassador for Christ. You know that God has called you to participate somehow, and you want to sensitively be involved and tell others what He's doing for you. But for the great majority of us, evangelism is not privileged activity. We don't see it as a privilege. We see it as a responsibility at best, and sometimes it's just the pressure. And as I said in the notes, when you picked up your copy of the notes and read in there that we were talking about evangelism, you thought real seriously about going to another church today because you didn't want to hear me stand up here and beat on you about getting out there and giving your testimony. You don't want any more guilt. You already know you're not doing the job and you're thinking, I just, I mean, I know God, something's got to change, but I don't know what to do. Dear ones, can I say, I do not want to add one bit of burden to your already heavy load of burdens. And I want to say, I'm very aware of the burdens of many of you, and the ones I don't know about, I'm sure, are even as heavy. I know that some of you are weighted down two jobs, three jobs in some cases. Some of you have marital and family problems that are complicated and painful. Some of you have all kinds of issues that you're dealing in your place of employment with your superiors and people who work for you. Others of you have physical problems. Pain is everywhere. But dear ones, I'm not here today to add to your burden. I'm here to lighten your load. I want to promise you when we're done today, I'm going to show you a way to be an effective evangelist that's going to be fun. All right? It's going to be a challenge and a joy, and we can get excited about it and start to make a difference by the plan that the Lord wants to give us. And how many of you know that living victoriously, talking about our faith, being a believer that's called to touch others is part of what being a Christian is all about? And it is an urgent mission that we have. What could be a more vivid reminder of the urgency of evangelism than what we've just experienced in the crash of flight 427? I mean, that wonderful next-door neighbor of yours, he's such a nice guy, but all he just seemed to do is grass on Sunday and played golf and wasn't all that interested in God, may have been on that plane. I know I personally had met and spoken with two people on that plane, and I've kind of played the tape back in my mind and the things we talked about, and I've asked myself, I wonder if I might have maybe just related a little differently had I known? I mean, would I have talked to them about eternal matters? Would I have broached the subject, risked the sort of uncomfortableness had I known that their final days were approaching? Would I have told them about the fact that life really gives us one opportunity and then it's over? We have the freedom by God's grace of choice, but when life is over, it's over. You see, I think we live differently when we look at life through that perspective. And I know that you care about this. I really do. I mean, how do I know? Because when I get your prayer requests every summer, by far the greatest category of prayer requests from all of you, you know what it is? Pray for my husband or my wife, my son or my daughter, my aunt who has cancer, my uncle who's far... And you all are saying to me, one way or another, pray for people I care about because they don't know God, and I'm afraid that something is going to happen and they're going to die without Him, and I don't know what to do. It's by far the greatest category. I know you care. In fact, I would say in your more pensive moments, you have a burden. You don't always sleep that well because you want so badly to win people that matter to you. So I'm not here to convince you that you should be effective in evangelism. I'm here to say, what can we do about it? Because folks, the other side of the coin is, if I'm reading this correctly, it's been a long time since many of us have had any effect at all evangelistically. I mean, let me ask you, just outright, may I? When was the last time you were there in the birth room? When was the last time you bowed your head with a person and witnessed them taking a step over the threshold of eternity? From darkness into light. And you thought to yourself, this is something else. Has it been a week or a month? Has it been six months or maybe a year or two? You see, I happen to have a conviction that the great majority of us have probably not participated in any way evangelistically for a long time. We're more concerned by keeping our life together and coming to church and being faithful as much as we can where we are. But we haven't had the joy of being part of seeing a life change for a long time. In fact, in our discussions as pastors, we make the comment often that many of us don't even know a non-Christian person other than just passing them at work or on the streets. Our circle of friends is just the people in the church. And these kind of messages just frustrate you because you don't even know anybody that's not a Christian really beyond just saying hi. So what are we going to do about it? What's the solution? And that's what I want to focus on in the remaining moments because I believe God has a solution for us. And, you know, it isn't... People say, well, you know, we just need more Billy Graham crusades. How many know Billy Graham crusade was great, it was wonderful, but basically the bottom line when you strip through it all in terms of abiding fruit, not that much. Some people, but not that... Was it worth it? Yeah? That's not getting the job done. Some people say, well, let's just have more radio and TV. How many think more radio and TV would win our neighbors? They don't even watch it. Not Christian stuff. Or listen to it. That's for us, basically. So what is the solution? What has God planned? Pray for revival? Absolutely, let's do that. Let's ask God because if His Spirit doesn't move, we won't get the job done. But I believe the Bible has a plan, God has a strategy, and He wants us to know what we can do to be effective. And so there's two groups of people. There are those with the gift of evangelism and the rest of us who don't have it. I want to talk first of all about the people with the gift of evangelism because they are a piece of work. Not many of them out there, but boy, they love to lead people to Christ. They love to get in there and mix it up solo. They love to get in someone's life and face and present Christ to them. Now in the Bible, take those notes that I gave you again, I mentioned, we won't turn there because of time today, but in the book of Acts chapter 8, you can notice there, two-thirds of the way down your paper, Philip had the gift of evangelism. In Acts chapter 8, it tells how he was sent by the Holy Spirit right up to that Ethiopian in his chariot, got right in his face and answered his questions and led him to Christ and baptized him right there in the spot. He had the gift. He had the gift of evangelism. And I brought someone in today with the gift of evangelism and I want you to meet him. This is our own Philip. This is the one that we would send out into the field. Now, fine. Those with the gift of evangelism, take it seriously. First thing we want you to know, they are suited, they are dressed for spiritual warfare. They don't mess around. They are ready to go, on call, day by day, they get up, they put on the whole armor of God and they live their mission. And those of you out there with the gift, you tell me after we're done today, did I hit it right? They're ready. I mean, life for them is a challenge. They love it. Male and female here. Now, not just this one, not just the men, but male and female. The second thing about them that I've noticed is that they have a heart for God that sees him not just as a loving God and just, you know, a merciful God, but they see him as a redeemer, a God who sends out a lifeline of hope to people. And so they're always ready to talk about God the redeemer, the God who seeks and saves those who are lost. Third thing I've discovered about them is they are people who have a supreme confidence in the power of the gospel. I mean, they take it seriously. No pyrotechnics, relax, okay. But they know that the gospel, as Paul said in Romans 1, is the power of God unto salvation. And they're not ashamed of it. You see, they don't see themselves as offending someone when they share the gospel. They see themselves as helping someone to get free. Helping someone to break loose of bondage. Helping someone to get their life ordered correctly. Helping someone to break out of a pattern or a habit that will cause them eternal grief and separation from God. So they see the power of the gospel at work. They're also people, number four, who maintain clear priorities. They understand that there are directions and there are orders from God for every life. And they see that the number one priority, the number one order from God is not, you know, hey, just get connected or get your problems worked out. When a person with a gift of evangelism sees a big crowd of people in a mall or a ballgame, you know what they think? Number one thing in their mind is, we've got to get them saved. We've got to get them rightly related to God. Then we can worry about, you know, getting their dysfunctions healed or getting their family background worked out or getting their addictions, they want to get them saved first. And the fifth thing I see about a person with a gift of evangelism, I mean, they perceive eternal realities. They can see far off and understand that heaven and hell are very real. They're gifted to see out there and realize, folks, there's eternal stakes involved. And so the people with this gift are 100% sold out. I mean, send them on a mission. Tell them to go into a crowd. They love to do it. Tell them to call 50 people. They'll make contact. I mean, they'll do whatever they have to do. They're equipped to get the job done. And it's no problem for them. One of the things I have to say to you, they love it. I mean, they're passionate about it. And can I say as someone who has at least a measure of this gift myself, people with the gift of evangelism never feel more fully alive than when they are sharing Christ with somebody. I mean, it's... I mean, they live for the moments when they're right there beside someone walking with them through those principles, those words of life, and praying the prayer, and leading them into faith. I mean, it just is a rush for them. But there aren't many. There aren't many. If you're here today, and what I just described, that's how you, you know, those characteristics, if that describes you in terms of the mission and seeing God, then maybe you have the gift latently in there and no one's ever helped you really discover it and develop it. And we want to change that. We want to urge you to get on board and develop that gift. In fact, our fourth base ministry is designed to help you cultivate that gift. You can do something about it. But the fact of the matter is not many of us are like our Navy SEAL. All right? So we'll come over here. What about the rest of us? What about the great numbers of us who really never get to the place where we feel that comfortable? In fact, when we're put in a situation like that, we shrink back and we just kind of, you know, we want to shut down and we feel guilty. In fact, many of us, if we're honest, would say, you know, the last time I tried to share, I mean, the person didn't even flinch. I felt like a total failure. I was hurt. I said, God, I must not be very spiritual. I must not be really doing the job. And you know what we do when that happens a few times, folks? We just shut down. We just kind of give up. We don't even think about it anymore. Please be reminded today that that person who rejected you today may be in a totally different circumstance tomorrow. And may be ready to hear what you have to say. But what is a better solution for us? What about the 90% of us who've basically withdrawn from the evangelistic process? Here's my solution. Here's my proposition, if you will, for North Way Christian Community for the future. I want to introduce a new term to our body life together, something that we've never really called this before. We've tried it. We've dabbled in it. But we're going to do it now because the Spirit of God is calling us to. We're going to call it not the gift of evangelism, but team evangelism. Everyone say that. Team evangelism. That was four players on the team. Team evangelism. Alright? Everybody is going to be on God's team to do evangelism. We don't all have the gifts that this person who God separated do. But we all have the heart and the burden, don't we? I mean, we may not all be Phillips, but we can all be Matthews. Remember about three months ago I did a sermon about Matthew and the party that he threw for all his buddies at work? You know? And how Matthew just got in there and then he brought some others in who had other gifts. And the combination caused people to have this enormous impact when Jesus showed up. Well, dear ones, team evangelism works a different way. I want to bring the team out. They don't all have one gift, but on the team we all bring some kind of gift to the party. We all make some kind of contribution. Stand right over here, Steve. Alright. You see, they don't have all the gifts individually to do this and all the enablements, but each one of them brings something to it. Maybe there's, as you can see, there's some sort of devotion to the cause. They're all kind of geared the same way. I mean, they're dressed, if you will, mentally, they are proactively thinking about ways to do evangelism. They're not just waiting for someone to die, you know, almost die in front of them before they share. But they're thinking about it. They're geared for it. And then there may be one there that has a real heart to communicate God as Redeemer. And so he sees himself as using those opportunities to share how God wants to bring people into fullness of life. Then there may be another one over there who has a clear understanding of God's priorities and is able to talk about the plan that God has and maybe even show them ways to fulfill it. Then there's another one with faith who knows that the gospel has power and they just need to get connected with someone. So they need to find somebody else to connect them. But they're a little bit timid to make the connection. Once they get connected, then they're working as a team. And then here's another person who sees the realities and works in harmony with others. And maybe there's some with musical gifts and some that can speak well. And when the team starts and the servers and the helpers and everyone's connecting, what can happen is they can have a tremendously broadened impact far greater than just one evangelist working on his own. And in fact, what God really wants, what He really wants is for our gifted evangelists to come alongside and help spark each one of these and just walk down the line and encourage each one and impart something of His passion to each of them and encourage them on. That's what God wants. Now church, am I just making this up? Or is this the plan of God? Can I tell you what I really believe? It's what God wants. This is the sleeping giant that can change the culture that we're in right here. But what we have to do is believe that our little part matters. We have to believe that we're all on the same page working together. And I want to just say a couple of things as I close. We are not building this wonderful facility and if you've not been there, you're going to be blessed. We're not building it so you can have a better worship experience. We're not building it so we can have nicer classrooms and better offices and more wonderful music. We're building it so that the people that Jesus Christ died for who don't know Him can discover life. And all it really is, it's just really an inanimate part of the team. And I have a heart's desire that once we open those doors in just a few weeks, that every Sunday you would see the team coming together and you'd see some in the parking lot, serving and doing their part. And you'd see some with the kids in the back doing their part. And you'd see some serving and ushering and greeting. And you'd see some back there praying and interceding. You know, people who see heaven and hell they have a burden to intercede many times and they're praying behind the scenes. And then you see some with musical gifts or some who can speak well and some who can minister. And you see it all coming together in the context of love. And you want to know something? There's not a hard heart in all the world that won't be affected in that context. And may God help us if all we do is go and just say, well, it was better in our new building than it was somewhere else. And I pray that we avoid the pitfall of just seeing North Way grow by people coming to us from other churches. I don't want to see that. I want to see North Way grow because we have as a team gone out and cared enough, risked enough to do our part to help those around us discover our wonderful Savior. How does it work? You've got to decide it's more than something you just want to do. You've got to decide that you're going to do it. So I want to say in conclusion to our gifted evangelists, cultivate your gift, read biographies, get out there, study people who've been successful, learn some new techniques. You know, one good idea evangelistically by a gifted evangelist can change a whole nation. D. James Kennedy, 20 years ago, you may listen to his program every morning at 11 o'clock. D. James Kennedy, Presbyterian pastor, had this idea about sharing the gospel one-on-one basically using two questions. Two questions. If you were to die tonight, do you have confidence where you would spend eternity? And if you were to die tonight and stand before God and he would say to you, why should I let you into my heaven? What would you say to him? Using those two questions. D. James Kennedy created an entire ministry called Evangelism Explosion that's gone into hundreds of thousands of homes and led hundreds of thousands of people to Christ. One good idea, 20 years ago. I believe we have gifted evangelists, and there are some of you out there who have one good idea that's going to spark a revolution in our community. And I want to say second, and to the great majority of you who don't have that gift, just be part of the team. Just do your part. But do it with focus. Think of some ways that you can do it. Maybe it's not Sunday morning for you. We have one person I can introduce you to today that's in this service who has a little neighborhood Bible study with ladies. Now she's really, has a gift of hospitality and she loves to have people in, but sometimes she'll bring some other folks in to do the teaching or the sharing from the Bible. I can take you to a home group that once a quarter, they open up their home group and invite guests and neighbors and friends to come to a dinner. And then during the course of the meal, they talk a little bit about the Lord. And that plants seeds into people's lives that later sprout into changed lives. I could take you next week to the men's breakfast when I hope that the hundreds of you that come, come with somebody. Dear one, you don't need to listen to Jim Ryan. He's not going to tell you anything you haven't heard. I'm sorry. He fell down, he got up. But there's going to be someone that you're going to work next to who is going to say, wow, I'd like to hear that story. It'll change their life. Let's thank our team. God bless you guys. Appreciate it. The danger and challenging this way is that you can all just kind of feel, well, yeah, what do I do? I want to end with this. Let's not just, just scatter our seed out there. But can I say to this? Pray for four people by the end of 1994. Four people that you will be able to somehow, as a team member, impact for the gospel. Four people. Why four? Two seems like enough. Because sometimes two just don't move at all. But if you have four, one of them surely, surely will respond. So pray for four in 94. Would you write that down at the bottom of your page? Pray for four in 94. With our new building, our opening, Thanksgiving, Christmas, pray for four in 94. That God would use us to touch them. Let's stand, shall we?