Secrets of Sharing the Good News

How many of you are here for more than one? How many of you missed more than one? I really appreciate that. I really appreciate that. You're the ones who are likely to be most affected by the Word when it's consistently coming through. And I know that there's all kinds of things that we get into in the summer especially. But it's encouraging me to know that many of you are here for all those messages. And tonight, really, I won't have time to develop it like a normal Sunday morning message, but really it goes with the package. And I want to get to that in just a moment. But I won't do justice to what's on my heart tonight if I don't talk about a couple of other things first. And this is the first Wednesday of the fall season, really of our new ministry season as I understand it. And I'm a little bit on the alarmed side about all the stuff that we have planned. I really am. And I almost fear, you know, like when you walk into a giant smorgasbord. How many of you have ever done this? Picture yourself, you're walking to a giant smorgasbord, and the salad bar and all the little hors d'oeuvres stuff and being, oh, it looks so good, you'll load up. Well, you see, you fall right into the trap. You eat all that lettuce and you don't really want the main stuff that comes later. And I just pray tonight that as I share some things that are coming in the life of our church, that you very wisely ask the Lord for discernment about what you're to be involved in. But most of all, that when we leave tonight, that several hundred of us would feel like we know where this body is headed primarily over the coming months. And that's very, very important to me. How many of you know we need a primary vision? I mean, we need to know what the mainline word is that God's giving to us. Hundreds of people who believe this is their home church, hundreds of them, probably don't even know what that is. This past Sunday, we issued a request for those of you who weren't involved in significant ministry or fellowship groups. In other words, you didn't have any real primary relationships, we asked you to fill out some little forms and let us know that so we can help you identify who that might be. Really very few people respond to those kinds of things. And that's tragic because we know of no more important involvement than here at Norfolk, none. There's nothing more important than being in a relationship with some other person that can help you to grow in Christ. And yet, folks, many of us will ignore that summons, you know. And here's the sad thing, many of us who are quite mature in the Lord will ignore it. I appealed to you tonight, don't let the enemy rob you of the joy that you can have. He said, well, it's not always that joyful, sometimes it's a hassle. I realize that's true. But God also shaped us in the hassle. Everyone said, Paul, would you give me a hand again, please? I want to get the podium over here. Thanks, Gene. Take the cantaloupe-colored sheet, without the rhyme, and turn it over. Now, Pastor Jeff asked you very nicely to write these down, and most of you, I'm sure, did. But I want to urge you to write down the thing that may apply to you. Because this was not in our announcements on Sunday, and because my wife is the overseer of this ministry, I'm going to say this first. How many women here tonight have full or part-time jobs outside the home? That's quite a few. I know many of you work full-time in the home, and that's a major job as well. But for the Christian career women, we haven't done a real excellent job in publicizing this, but this Saturday morning at 9 o'clock, just for 90 minutes, 9 to 10, 30, Lois Walczak, one of our own ladies, a very mature lady in the Lord, and a great working woman herself, a wife, a mother, and so on, is going to be teaching on the challenge and deception of time management. Anyone here have enough time? We all have the same amount. If you're available, please see Carol or someone who will be out there at the registration table. It's not too late, but this is the last time we can really hear from you, so don't miss this if you're a Christian career woman. This Saturday, this Saturday, it's coming up. Now, watch the screen and write down what applies to you. Again, this is the smorgasbord. You're not going to want everything, but I think everyone will want something that's coming up here. Part of what we're trying to do, folks, is to give an opportunity for those of you in different places in your maturities, and maturity in Christ. I look out tonight, and I know some people are quite new in the Lord. If you're new in the Lord, or you're not really sure about some of your foundations, anyone ever have a foundation crack in their home? I don't know if that's a real problem. This next thing we want to put up is an announcement about the Believer's Basics class with Gene Yannikos as the teacher. Now, Gene is here, but it's 8 o'clock, and I'm late tonight. I will say this, however. I've had so many people tell me, and I'm talking people who have known Christ for a long time. Charlotte, are you here tonight? Charlotte Rowe? Fingers are pointing. Yes. All right, you and David run up here real quick. Come on. I want you to hear this, and I'll need to have that microphone. Now, Charlotte has known the Lord for 9 1⁄2 years. By the way, I think they'd probably like you to give them a hand. This is a newly engaged couple in our congregation. I know what they want to talk about, but you can't. I just want you to tell the congregation tonight what you told me or some version of that concerning Gene's class that David and Charlotte just recently attended. Well, I was really overwhelmed, as many of you may know. I'm rather new here, and going through Gene's class, I just got the impression that this could be for anybody, not just new guys like me. I encourage many of you to go to her class, even if you've been in the Lord for a couple of decades or something, because it's a really beautiful experience. You'll really learn a lot, and she's quite an influential woman, and I think you'll really love her. Good. Okay. You want to say? I want to say I went because I thought he had to go. See, he just moved here from Chicago a couple months ago, and he really, I thought, needed Believer's Basics. So I was going to go with him, you know, support him. It was something else. I mean, I thought I knew basics, and, you know, we all know basics, but isn't it great when we have a review, and it just sets our hearts on fire for God and his power? Gene, thank you. And by going through that class with David, God fooled me, and it was just beautiful in my heart, and I just thanked the Lord for it. And if you would do that for yourself, if you just want a spirit that's on fire again, and not even that you feel you're not on fire, but you just want to be challenged and uplifted, go for it. At the end of those four weeks is when David asks you to marry him, right? Piano playing, does that work? No? Are we on? Okay. I'll hold this one until you figure that out. Thank you, guys. All right, secondly, and I won't spend much time at all on this because you've heard about this. Discovering the Way starts also this particular coming Sunday. All right, and that's at 9 a.m. Believer's Basics at 11. Now, folks, one thing we've designed here is you say, well, gee, I'm only used to going to church in an hour. You want me to come from 9 to 12. Well, how many of you know your spiritual journey is worth an investment? It's very easy to come here to worship at 9 and go to the class at 11, and you're still out, plenty of time to catch lunch and have the whole afternoon together. So I want to urge you to consider that. Okay, those are two of the important parts of the life of our church that are ongoing but very, very important. Many people miss those things because they don't think it's for them, and I want you to know that it is. Now, I want to flip over here then to the next major thrust for us that I want us all to consider, and that's the Saturday evening service. We have a flyer that says Saturday evening services. It looks like this. You want to put that one up, gals? How many of you have already talked to one person about coming to church on Saturday night? How many of you? Okay, about half. It's been interesting to watch and to listen as the Lord has been talking to many of us about this. And one of the things that I've heard repeatedly are the number of people for whom this will be a very helpful opportunity because they work on Sundays. And if you don't work on Sundays, you can say praise the Lord. But many people do. I was checking out of one of the major hardware stores the other day, and one of our people was right there at the checkout line, and she said to me, I'm so glad we're going to have an opportunity to worship on Saturday evening because I work lots of Sundays. And I said, well, what would happen if you didn't work? She said, I'd be fired. It's a difficult thing for many, many people. And I'm delighted that we're going to have this opportunity, but primarily we believe the Lord's called us to do this for many, many people that need to know Christ. And we're going to be talking about those people at length. Now, in order to make this happen, I made this announcement I want to underscore one more time. We still are needing and praying for people to help us in one of these ways. We've had about 35 people sign up in just the last week. So many are doing it. It's a four-month commitment, but that's all. And then after that, you can re-up, or you can go to some other service point. But we need you to consider one of these five areas. If you can only help for a while, that's okay, but we'd like you to consider it. How do you contact us? Well, the main thing you can do tonight is later on, put your name in the offering basket, or you'll come up this overhead right over here where Paula is seated. Sherry will be there, and she'll take your name down. Lift it all the way up. What's the fifth or sixth and final thing there? How many people are going to say tonight, that I would be able to bring some? How many people are praying that way? All right. Now, this is my last question. It's an important one, because we are gauging our anticipation by yours in one sense. Can I see the hands now? Think carefully about this. How many would say that for the next several weeks at any rate, let's say through September, your option will be to come at least? You can come anytime you want to, but you will at least be coming Saturday evening. How many are considering? Let me see your hand. Oh, that's terrific. All right. That's terrific. That is great. Well, would you pray with us? We're praying for the Lord to send us at least 200 people that first night, and there was about 100 hands up there just here at Wednesday night service, so that's exciting to me, and I think you're going to be really, really thrilled with what the Lord's going to do in those services. All right. Once again, consider this. Let us know tonight or this weekend at the very latest if you would like to be a part. And by the way, new people. New people. Many of you are new to Norfolk. This would be a great place for you to begin in our ministry. Now, these can be announcements or these can be life, and they are life to us because it's what the Lord's called us to do. Let me mention just one more thing before we go on tonight now, and that has to do with the Love is a Decision seminar with Terry Smalley and John Trent. That's not far away. It's only two weeks from Friday, so we need you to determine, well, you're to be there. Pastor Jim, where will you be tonight or where we're? Ah. Terry, can you stick around also tonight for a little bit? Where will you be? At the registration table. Terry will be there with information, and we have about 190 from North Way so far, and we believe there are several more that are going to be coming because we think this will be something that will help many, many marriages. I was just talking to a pastor friend over in the east side of the city. He said that the Gary Smalley films that they've been showing, just the films, have been the largest attendance that their church has ever had in the summer. When I told him that they were coming here in person, he said, you know, watch out because it's really a powerful thing, so I urge you to consider it. He said, well, I don't have the money. Well, if you really believe you're to come and you don't have the money, see Terry, and we're going to try to help some couples to come who are in serious financial straits, but we'd like you all to consider that, and single people as well. If that doesn't appeal to you particularly, the following week with Dennis Miller also is available. Why are we doing all this to start out? Because here's what we've discovered. That in September, many people out there, not sure where they fit, are looking for something. They're kind of getting into the swing of things. We believe this is a great time to reach all these people. All right. Let's put these things now away for just now. I know there's some other things I didn't get to yet, but we'll conclude in a bit. I want you to... How's the lapel doing, guys? We're all right? All right. Just for a couple of minutes tonight, I'd like to share with you what I found to be very helpful in sharing the gospel with people. Turn to this, Book of Romans, Chapter 1. I just want to start out in one verse here that's very meaningful to me. Verse 14, Romans 1, 14. Let's look at a few verses. I am obligated. Everyone say, I am obligated. I am obligated. How many of you have the word debt there? I'm a debtor. All right. I'm in debt too. I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish. That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are at Rome. I am not ashamed of the gospel. Let's say those together. I am not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes, first for the Jew and then for the Gentile. The message of the evangelist is probably one of the most misunderstood ingredients of our responsibilities as believers. Passing that message on is something that every one of us know we ought to do. How many of you have ever sat down with someone and been more confused when you were done talking to them than when you started? Some people have the ability to confuse the most simple thing. The gospel is very simple. In fact, it is so simple that many wise people that you and I rub shoulders with do not understand it. Tonight I want to share with you just a few things that may help you. In fact, I'll go further. They will help you if you'll get a hold of them. When is the last time someone came up to you and said, tell me how to be saved? Someone said, when was the first time? It doesn't happen very often, does it? There's not many people out there looking in that sense. In fact, if I'm like most of you in this respect, I find that most people already think they are Christian. Do you find that? After all, they're Americans. They went to Sunday school when they were a kid. They have a church heritage. They pray when they're in trouble. They attend church and holidays and special times. And they don't commit mortal sins. So they must be Christian. And at least they're as good as the next guy. Most people believe they're Christians in our country. That's a difficult problem. In other words, there is some unlearning that has to happen before you can really teach. There's a message that's got to be transmitted about their condition before they're going to be open. Listen, if you don't think you're sick, you don't want the cure. Amen? If you don't think you're sick, you're not interested in getting anything to cure it. And there's a false sense of security. By the way, beginning next week in morning prayer, we're going to focus in on a subject every morning. On Sunday, you'll get a full outline of what those subjects are. So each day we'll have a prayer focus. And we have some exciting expectations in that. The Friday focus is on opening the eyes of the blind to receive the gospel. Because 2 Corinthians 4 says that the devil has blinded their eyes. Some people don't know. They just can't see, even though it's as plain to you as the hand in front of your face. They can't see their condition. And so what we have to do is we have to help them get shaken up a little bit. One person said it's called get them into a holy disequilibrium where they're shaken, but they don't really have their feet on that steady ground any longer of their false security. You know, and I have to say to you, maybe you don't agree with this, but I think it's increasingly difficult for the people who think they're already okay and Christians and all to listen to us when most of the models that they're getting over the media are people who are really messed up. And so what do you do to rattle their cage a bit? How do you get them to at least listen to what you have to say about the gospel when you're in a, and I'm assuming at this point that, you know, these probably won't work to people you go up to at Ross Park Mall and say, hi. You know, those kind of things require a little different approach. And I'm not going to really talk about that strict confrontational style, which is okay. I mean, I've done some of that. But one way to rattle the cage of an unbeliever, and I think a very effective way, is number one, tell your own story. Tell your own personal story. Could you in three minutes give a concise, clear, and compelling testimony? Think about it. Could you do it? I don't think so. Don't shake your head. Three minutes, I'm talking, not 30 minutes. Three. Three minutes. Could you do it? I venture to say that if you've not taken the time to write it out, you would end up filling up with a lot of maybe unnecessary material and so on, so on, so on. I've discovered that one of the most effective ways to communicate to people who think they're Christians is for you to be able to share a little of your own personal story. And so let's talk to my friend Tom. I just picked the name out of the hat, Tom. And I go out to lunch with Tom, and we begin talking, and I can tell that the conversation is moving toward things of spiritual interest, and it generally does at one point or another in a conversation when you're open, especially if you've asked the Lord to give you an opportunity. You know when Tom talks about, yeah, I go to church, and just when that happens, that's when I would say something like, I'd say, well, you know, Tom, I thought for the first 18 or 20 years of my life, or whatever it is for you, 30, 40 years, I thought I was a Christian. But I wasn't. I was baptized. I was even confirmed. I went to church now and then. I led a fairly clean moral life. You know, I was really a pretty good guy. I thought I was okay, but I discovered I wasn't a Christian at all. And I became a real Christian, as my mother-in-law would say. I became a person who really knew God. Just a while back, and if you'd ever like to know what it's like to be a real Christian, I'd be delighted to tell you. I would like the opportunity to talk to you. You see, folks, what you have to do is you have to get people off the defensive and onto a posture of being open to hear what you have to say. You've got to sort of defuse their defenses, because they're expecting you to come at them with the guns blazing and all these misunderstandings of what it means to be a Christian. An honest testimony is something that doesn't take very long at all. You can give a one-minute testimony and be very, very effective. You know, and I'm sitting, I can just see it. You're sitting at that lunch table, and you might pull out your Bible. What happens if you pull out your Bible in a circumstance like that and just start going through it all? Well, what about predestination here? I've discovered that people very rarely can be argued into a commitment. They just have to be enabled to see maybe quite as secure as they thought it was. Now, just imagine this setting once again, all right? You're sitting at the table. Let's go up to Denny's now. Tom's up at Denny's. And Tom says, well, what does it mean to be a Christian? I want to know what it means. Well, there's lots of ways you can tell him. There's lots of ways you can describe what it means to be a Christian if he asks you that question. For example, you can use a little artwork, all right? I have a little diagram here of a... I mean, I'm not real good with art, so I've simplified it some. I have a little stick man, all right? There he is. Now, Denny's or any of your other local fine restaurants have napkins. Pen and napkin and just a little bit of wisdom here can serve you very, very well. See, most people, most people think about their relationship to God in terms of stuff that they do, all right? All right? And so if Tom's like most of our friends, and Paula, you can do this on his left hand. That'd be this one, all right? Well, you're being complicated now. It doesn't matter. That's his left hand, but it's facing. You can make him, okay? And they're doing all these things that they know are wrong. Is that right? Is that correct? I mean, most everyone knows that some stuff they're doing is wrong. But on the other side, they figure, well, if I do enough things that are right, in fact, I guess the whole system here is do more right than you do wrong, and what? Yeah. And you're going to come out okay in the end. So Tom's like most of the people we know. They're trying to add all the O's that they can at different times. You know, and it's interesting when you talk to some of these people, when they really blow it. They go out and get just plastered out one night and get into serious trouble. Maybe they back into someone's car, and maybe they hurt somebody. They get a big X there. Well, what do they do over here? Well, I'll go to church tomorrow, you know? Get a big O, put in an extra 10 bucks, something like that, you know? And, you know, I'm joking about it, but how many of you know, many people think about God in those terms. Get more X's than O's, and you're in trouble. Get more O's than X's, and you're going to make it okay. And I've discovered that one of the things that you have to do, Tom, is this. You have to realize that in God's economy of things, X's do not cross, O's do not cross out X's. The good does not cross out the bad. In fact, Tom, what I've discovered is that God said in His Word that if I have one X, just one X, that's too many for Him. And if I just have one X in my whole life, Tom, I'm not going to be accepted by God. Tom, do you think you have any X's in your life? Any of you ever gotten angry or lost your temper once, cheated, lied, cursed once? If Tom's honest, what's he going to say? You know, I guess I have, right? Well, Tom, that means that no matter how many O's you have, how many times you go and confess to somebody else, how many times you put money in, how many times you do nice things, it doesn't matter because those O's don't cross out the X's, Tom. And you need something to cross out the X's. And Tom, I've got great news for you. God provided a solution, and I would just take it like that, just draw it right over top. You see, on the cross, Jesus took all of our X's, took all of our X's, and He absorbed them all into Himself. And Tom, all those X's, Jesus said, I forgive if you come to me. And the best part, Tom, is that Jesus gives you all of His O's. Well, that's a very simple little thing. But somehow that tends to reinforce the point, which is what? Well, you can't make it by all of your efforts and all of your trying. Another way I've done this, you're just looking at the front of your sheet there. You see, Christianity, for people, is confused with religion. And, you know, especially if a person thinks that they're a Christian anyhow, it's very, very difficult sometimes to get them to understand what the situation is. And so religion, Tom, is spelled this way. Religion is spelled, let's spell it together. D-O. Put it down. How many spaces are there? Two. Put it down. Religion is spelled D-O, Tom. You see, religion is man's attempt to gain God's favor. How many of you, right by the way, aside here, all of those of you who are sitting and listening to my conversation, how many of you tried this for a long time in your life? You tried to gain God's favor by doing, doing, doing. Going to church, being nice. All those kinds of things, you know, good deeds. Religion is just doing, doing, doing. There's a problem with that, though, Tom. You know what that is? When you're trying to do to make up for past sins, when you're trying to do to gain eternal life, when you're trying to do to get God's approval, you know what the problem is? You don't know when you've done enough, Tom. You don't know when you're secure. And you know what, Tom? No one has told us what the limit is. No one has told us what the goal is. And you know what happens? If it's 5,000, Tom, and you think that's it, and you do 4,900, you haven't done enough. And so what keeps happening? No one knows what the limit is, so we just keep doing and doing and doing. And you know what happens after a while, Tom? Either you forget the whole thing because you're tired of not knowing, or you burn out trying to do, do, do. Tom, there's lots of people. You know, in my own life, I tried to do, do, do, do, do for a while. It didn't work. I never had peace. I never came to the place where I was happy with myself. And then I discovered that Christianity is different, Tom. You spell it a different way. You spell Christianity, Tom, D-O-N-E. You see, Tom, no one measures up to God's standard of holiness. And so no matter what you do, you'll never do enough to be holy in His sight. And you can't save yourself by your good works. So Jesus said, I'm going to go to the cross for what you need. And on the cross, Jesus said three words which have rung through eternity. And those three words are, It is finished. It's done. All the effort that you're applying to try to be accepted, all the things you're doing just to kind of sneak by. Tom, Jesus has already done it. The price has been paid. And if you'll accept what Christ has done for you, Tom, you can become a true believer, a true Christian. And know that you have eternal life. Tom, you know what the greatest words for a doubter are in the whole Bible? They're in 1 John 5, 13, Tom. And I want to read them to you. I want to share them with you. Because when you know these words in your heart, they will change you forever. Here's what it says. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. Tom, would you like to know that you have eternal life? I sure would. I want to know it. I'm not talking about religion because religion will never get you where you want to go. But a relationship will because Jesus has done it for you. Now, folks, there's lots of other ones like this. How many of you have ever seen the bridge one? Do we have that there, the man and God separated one? Wait a minute. All right, this is... Okay, well, let's look at this, all right? Have you seen this before? Man and God are separated. And the sin has created that chasm. Have you ever used that one before? That's a great illustration. And I always tell people this who are into works. Picture yourself being a long jumper. How far can a long jumper go? What's the record? Is it 29 feet 2 inches, something like that? Bob Beeman. Interestingly, I tell them that there's a chasm between man and God, and it's 500 feet wide. Now, if you're real super athletic, you know, and you can long jump 29 feet 2 inches, you're going to fall way a bit short. If you're not real athletic and you can long jump 15 feet, you're still going to fall short. It doesn't matter. You see, the chasm is too long for anyone to jump. And then I go in and I'll share with Tom that the cross is the only way to bridge that chasm. See, people have to know that they can't do it on their own. They have to know that. Another very effective little tool that I have used myself scores of times very effectively and led many people to Christ using it, even very highly educated and trained people, a little book called The Four Spiritual Laws. How many have ever seen that? Now, we don't have that here, but we're going to have it in our new bookstore because I think it's the clearest little presentation. I think it's clearer than the two-question test myself. I think it's better. This little drawing is similar to what's in it. That little thing is very effective. Whatever you want to use, but folks, have something in your mind. And I want to end tonight with what I call The Roman Road, all right? It's on your sheet. Let's look at this because I think every person here tonight needs to know this. Number one, The Roman Road. It's the most effective, straightforward invitation to unbelieving time that you can have, or Sally or whoever it might be. All right, number one. Let's turn to Romans 3.23 together, shall we? I'd like everyone to turn there, even the people who are already asleep. It's okay. Romans 3.23. Let's read it out loud, shall we? For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. That's the first step in The Roman Road. If someone says, how do I become a Christian? Here's the first thing they have to understand. Tom, do you see here that the word all appears? How many people have fallen short of the glory of God, Tom? How about let's do this. You be Tom for a while, okay? Turn to your neighbor and say, hi, Tom. Hi, Sally. Okay, Tom and Sally. How many have fallen short of the glory of God? That means every single person everywhere. Does that mean even people who go to church? Does it, Tom? Does that mean people who've been confirmed and gone to catechism and all those kinds of good, good things? You see, and Tom, I have to tell you, that applies to you, and it applies to me. And by the way, Tom, don't tell me all the details of how far short you've fallen. One thing we don't need to have, by the way, folks, is just this real big bloodletting. Tom, tell me about it. How was it when you sinned? How did it feel? Describe some of it for me, Tom. Some Christians get really into this, like, tell me all your dark... Listen, the more mature you are, the less you need to know about someone's falling shorts. Okay. You only got that if you were awake. So that's the first part of the Roman road, all of sin and falling short of the glory of God. Tom, that includes you and it includes me. Now, Tom, let's look on. Now, the second step in the Roman road is chapter 6, verse 23. Would you turn there with me, Tom? And would you read that with me? And by the way, folks, if you have your Bible, it is a marvelous thing to let that person read it because they know you're not making it up that way. Tom, let's read this together. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Tom, let me ask you a question. Sally, what are wages? Huh? What are wages? Something that you're paid for something that you did. Is that right? You earn a wage. Is that correct, Tom? Sally? I mean... Well, let's see. What are the wages here? Wages of sin. In other words, I'm paid for sin. What am I paid for sin? Death. Tom, what kind of death is that talking about? Two kinds. Physical death, which we all experience because of the fall of Adam. And what other kind of death, Tom? Spiritual death. What is spiritual death, Tom? That's when you're separated from God forever. That's when your spirit is separated from God and you'll never know peace from that moment on. Tom, can you imagine that? And the Bible says that if you've sinned, that's the payment you get for your sin. Let me ask you something, Tom. When you hear that, does that shake you up a bit? It sure got my attention. Now, Tom, look at the rest of that verse. You see, next to that situation, what does the Bible say is the alternative to those wages? It says, but the gift, or free gift it says in some Bibles, the free gift of God is eternal life. Christ Jesus our Lord. Tom, what is a gift? What is a gift, Tom? Something that someone just gives you. You don't earn it at all. It's a gift. It's something that they give to you. And all you have to do is one thing. And what do you have to do with a gift,