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How to Win Your One (1 Thess 2) | The Sandhurst Podcast
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On this week's episode, Will and Adam discuss how to win your one, based on Sunday's message from 1 Thessalonians 1.
All right. Welcome to the Sandhurst podcast, Beyond Sunday. We want to equip the saints to think biblically about God, life, and culture so that our faith goes beyond Sunday. Amen. That is what we're doing. And this one's going to be a little bit different in terms of we're not trying to think so much about equipping the saints to think biblically as much as we are trying to equip the saints to do something. So this one's less about thinking, more about doing, and it's related to our one. So that's where we're going to be today. But uh it's Monday.
SPEAKER_00It's Monday.
SPEAKER_01How was uh anything special happened for your weekend?
SPEAKER_00You know, it's so funny. This this weekend for me was just uh uh so so actually, actually, it was a pretty special weekend in in in one sense, another. Um you know, you know, they say why be happy when you can be a homeowner? Like all the projects came in down all at once, you know, like this went out and that went out, and this, and I'm realizing okay, I've got, you know, on Monday calling all this. But the the cool thing about this weekend is that this summer is our 25th anniversary, and we're going away this week. And uh, so I spent the weekend packing for that, which shows my wife's influence over me. Because if you know me at all, I I had the philosophy of, you know, why pack for a week when you can pack for 30 minutes right before you go. Uh and so no, her good influence. Uh, so I'm all packed, man. I'm ready to go. Love it. Where are you going? We're going to Hawaii. Shoot. Yeah, dude, we're going to Hawaii. Hawaii. Yeah, you know, like on East Coast, people do things like, you know, Charleston, Orlando, whatever, you know, but on West Coast, people tend to go to Hawaii. That's that's a more normal thing to do.
SPEAKER_01And your wife is a West Coast girl.
SPEAKER_00She is a West Coast girl, and she went as a child, so she has some memories there, and I've never been, so we are gonna do that. 25th anniversary.
SPEAKER_01Have you seen the movie Johnny Tsunami? Uh no, never heard of it. All right. If you're listening to the podcast and you've seen Johnny Tsunami, I want to hear about it because that movie is awesome. In the comments, tell me what you love. At least I thought it was awesome in fifth grade. It's a Disney Channel original movie. Yes, yes. Uh we uh we went garage sailing. Uh that is something that my wife and daughters love.
SPEAKER_00Now, is that something you do um as kind of like, oh, let's just do it kind of as a fun outing, or is it something like we need X?
SPEAKER_01Oh no. That yeah, not we need X.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_01Uh it is a fun outing.
SPEAKER_00Oh, cool. Okay.
SPEAKER_01And Sweet D loves it. My girls love it too. And so it's like treasure hunting.
SPEAKER_00I mean, you can even know what you're gonna find there.
SPEAKER_01Hey, treasure hunting. Treasure hunting. And you know what? We found a treasure.
SPEAKER_00What'd you get?
SPEAKER_01Um, so the the there's an advantage and disadvantage to going to a garage sale late. One disadvantage is um all the good stuff is gone. The advantage is the people are looking at all their stuff being like, I gotta get rid of this stuff now. I've been up since 4 a.m. I just want to get rid of it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, price to sell, baby. It is price to sell to sell.
SPEAKER_01So we showed up to one kind of late and I saw a black stone.
SPEAKER_00Okay, now blackstone, is that like a knife or a grill or what a car?
SPEAKER_01It's one of those like hibachi grills. Okay.
SPEAKER_00Like we had at Stafford Treat that the boat did the uh Okay. Okay, very nice.
SPEAKER_01Staff Retreat made me really want one. Yeah, because it was coming. Yes. And so I go and the guy was I asked him how much he wants for it. He gives me, he said, $60. And I'm like, which is a pretty good deal.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, I'd imagine.
SPEAKER_01And um, I was kind of looking at it, and I uh it's kind of rusted. And he goes, you can tell, like he was ready to be done. And he goes, Um, how about 25? We take it for 25. I was like, sold. Sold. So yeah, treasure hunting. That's a great way to frame it.
SPEAKER_00Let's yeah, and so let's say you got your treasure, man, like a black stand for 25 bucks.
SPEAKER_01I mean the stakes are good.
SPEAKER_00Used it one time, it already pays for itself. That's right. I suppose what you'd pay somewhere else for that.
SPEAKER_01All right. That's a great segue. Treasure hunting. Yes. Uh, this isn't treasure hunting, this is treasure sharing. Yes. All right, and that's what we're talking about today. Um, we here's kind of context where we've been at as a church on Sundays. Uh, we've been at 1 Corinthians 9. First Corinthians 9, Paul talks about his ambition, his why. What motivates him is this. In one word, win. He wants to win people to Jesus. We understand that winning people to Jesus is by God's doing, and yet he goes, I've become all things to all people, so that by all means I might save some. That's 1 Corinthians 9, 22. And so he wants to win people. And so we've what we've attempted to do over the last few weeks is to show, okay, winning people, that wasn't just a Paul thing, that's an us thing.
SPEAKER_00I was gonna say, you know, that that Paul's not just writing that like, I'm gonna do this, and y'all go, whatever. Like he's saying, I I want to do this, and this is the model.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and and this is because that desire to win, it's tied back to God's call for us. We are ambassadors of Christ as though God were making an appeal through who? Us. Okay, so tied it to God's call, we tied it to God's heart in Luke 15, these three stories of something's lost, something's found, and then heaven throws a party. Right.
SPEAKER_00And uh so lost coin, lost sheep, lost son.
SPEAKER_01Lost sons. Yeah, yeah. And so uh tying winning to God's call, tying it to God's heart. Lost people matter to God, and if one is enough for heaven to party, that's right. Uh one's enough for me to pursue and to go hard to win the person. And so this past Sunday, we've said, okay, if we're we're gonna choose one and this is gonna be the person, the the unbeliever that I'm seeking to win, how do we do that? So that's what this past Sunday was. How do you win your one?
SPEAKER_00And I think that's a question a lot of people have, and it's one that I've had because there are it feels like there's so many barriers. Think, okay, yeah, you get excited. Uh I do. I want to win somebody for Christ. I want someone to go from death to life. And then you're like, now what?
SPEAKER_01What do you think those barriers are for people?
SPEAKER_00Oh gosh, there's so many. I mean, there's just there's internal barriers, external barriers, internal being motivation, do I care? How do I, how do I really see that person like God sees them? Then uh all the things about what about my own doubts? What about their doubts? Sort of ask me a hard question, what about all the difficulties in the world, or what about um how do the the awkwardness of long-term relationships, not how do I make it about the gospel? There's just, I mean, there's mental, emotional, spiritual, even time. I mean, there's just so many barriers that we have to overcome.
SPEAKER_01And most of them are, I don't know if it's self-inflicted is the right word, but a lot of them have to come have to do with me. Yeah. Well, I don't want this or I'm concerned about this. And uh, and so we do need to learn to uh identify and overcome the barriers because of God's call and God's heart for us to win people.
SPEAKER_00And I think this does also put its finger on the pulse a bit of a real tension here, and that is that, okay, Paul says, like you say, you just said it, you know, Paul says, I want to do all this to win, which only God can do. So there's already a tension. But um, how do uh how do I keep my faith in God to do and to kind of be at peace, but at the same time face the barriers to overcome them and and without putting my faith in my ability to overcome the barriers, you know what I mean? So there's a there's a tension there.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, there is. So uh we looked at 1 Thessalonians 2. We're a Bible church, so we're gonna we're gonna think about Christianity from the lens of the Bible. So I'm gonna read the passage. Yep. And um, here's kind of uh the framework that we that that Paul shares in terms of First Thessalonians 2, which is him sharing, okay, how did he go into that city and win lost people to Jesus? And it boils down to two big things sharing the gospel and sharing his life. I'll read it. Uh and Adam, maybe you can do your quick, quick, like two-word commentary to to just help us not miss, okay, that's truth, or that's the gospel, or that's relationship. Yep. All right, so I'll read and you can chime in. I'm gonna read the first 12 verses. For you yourselves know, brethren, that our coming to you was not in vain, but after we had already suffered and been mistreated in Philippi, as you know, we had the boldness in our God to speak to you the gospel of God amid much opposition.
SPEAKER_00Truth, you speaking truth.
SPEAKER_01Boom. Verse three for our exhortation does not come from error or impurity or by way of deceit, but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak. Yeah. Truth. Not as pleasing men, but God who examines our hearts. Yeah, God is continually concerned with our hearts. Verse five, for we never came with flattering speech, there's truth, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed. God is witness, he's can't very concerned about the heart here. Nor did we seek glory from men, either from you uh from you or from others, even though as apostles of Christ we might have asserted our authority. But we proved to be gentle among you as a nursing mother tenderly cares for her own children.
SPEAKER_00So there's relationship, and that's really sweet right there. Gentle as a mother caring for her children.
SPEAKER_01That's love. Yeah. That's like mama bear love. Because yeah, there's a tenderness to there's a gentleness to it, but there's also kind of a ferocity to it. Like you mess with the mom's baby. Oh man. You're going down. Yeah, you are. Having so fond an affection for you. Well, that's relationship. Yep. We were well pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God, that's the truth, but also our own lives. Relationship. So right there in the one verse. Because you had become very dear to us. Yeah. You read out of the NIV, um, will you read your verse eight to us? Yeah, it's actually really good.
SPEAKER_00Um, we loved you so much.
SPEAKER_01That sounds like John 3 16.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. That we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God, but also our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us.
SPEAKER_01So dear. Yeah, that uh man, if you wanted like a theme verse for your life as a parent, as a man, as a woman, just as a Christian, get First Thessalonians 2 8 tattooed on you somewhere.
SPEAKER_001 Thessalon 2.8. We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God, God's truth, but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us. And what I love about that is that um many things, but he he says, We do all this because you were dear to us. We cared about you, because we loved you. But like you say, John 3 16, that's just adopting the heart of God for the people in front of you, that you want to share God's truth and share God's life in you. Uh, and you want God's uh words, God's care, God's love to be an overflow through you to the people in front of you because they're dear to you, because they're dear to God.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Uh so what I want to do now is that that's the passage. He shared truth, he shared the he and the specifically the gospel, yeah, and he shares his life, truth and relationship. And they're two of our discipleship priorities, and the two in the playbook for winning the lost, truth and relationship. The I want to just think with you, Adam, out loud. How do you do this in real life? Like it's nice to hear Paul read that to hear Paul talk about it, uh, but how can the Saints at Sandhurst actually do this? How can we share the truth? And that's that's where I want to get super practical. And I also amaz if we have time, I want to get into okay also the relational side because there can be barriers related to the relational initiative, yeah. Um, too. But I think the the one that I want to give most attention to is the sharing the truth. All right. So uh first first thing to and I want to want it to feel a little bit like uh we are at Bean Bar together and and you're my one, and what would it actually be like for to be sitting across from your one and and share the gospel? What would that be like? That's that's kind of what what I want this time to feel a little bit like. All right, so um let's first talk transition question. You finished the service yesterday kind of talking about a way to transition from talking about the Jacksonville Jaguars or just something related to life, and then go to okay, well, how do we get from that to gospel? How do we make that jump? And um I want to share mine. Uh the my favorite transition statement um that that I've used just so much is this. Um, hey, you know, I'm a Christian, I go to church. What do you think about the whole God Jesus Christian church thing? Boom. That's it. What do you think about the whole God Jesus Christian church thing? I'll tell you why I like that question. A couple reasons. One, I'm actually curious about the answer. It it's not just kind of like a segue so that it can talk about something else. I'm really curious to know what they think about the whole God Jesus Christian Church thing. That's one reason I like it, because I'm I want to know the answer. I'm curious. I'm actually curious about it. The second reason I like that question is it's a disarming question. It doesn't presume any sort of thoughts or um it's not loaded. Uh there's much freedom for somebody to say, uh I don't believe it all. Or one guy, um, actually a guy that you know, um, he said, he said, I asked, what do you think about the whole God Jesus Christian church thing? And he said, I think that your view of God is childish and barbaric. That he would make people with a capacity to disobey him and then eternally damn them for the thing that he gave them the capacity to do. I think that's barbaric. Okay. Now now we're getting somewhere. Yeah. In terms of what we're not just talking about, like we were putting up a fence when that conversation came up.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Um, we're not talking about just the fence. Now we're talking about God. And I'm curious, it it launches into a conversation, not just a speech.
SPEAKER_00And you know what I love about that is I love about that answer. Um at that point, it's not a fight, it's not a wrestling match. Yeah. You're not trying to counter his arguments. What you started with was this person is dear to you. Yes. Continues in your next day. It's like, okay, now you want to know why he how he got to that. Because, you know, to me, uh a lot of the the initial con part of the conversations around uh sharing faith are diagnosis. Like, what's going on? The person isn't coming to this just they didn't get what they believe about this from Oprah, you know, like yesterday. Like there's there, there's been many layers and probably years and years of experiences and thoughts and good, bad, ugly that are playing into that. That you're gonna have to, if you care about this person, that you're gonna have to work through those layers. And so if you get a response like that, that is fantastic what a fantastic starting point. And instead of trying to counter it, go deeper into it. Understand it, yeah. So, where did you get that? What did you read that? Did you come to that yourself? Was it recent? Was it a while back? You know, dig into it. And because you you to really that person has kind of put something out there, and what a great opportunity to really understand and see this person like they really are.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you you gave a three-word question a while back that I've used a lot now. Tell me more. Yes. It's interesting. Tell me more. Yeah. Uh so that's that is the question that that has really worked well for me. Yeah. And again, the the reasons I like it are one, I I'm actually curious about it. It's not just trying to, it's not just a transition. Yeah. I think it's a disarming question. And and third, um, it helps me actually, it launches into a conversation where I can actually understand them. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And you know, honest, and to to say the disarming part is really important because people, it's important for people to know that you're you don't have an angle. You're not trying to, okay, if he says this, I'm gonna say, you know, I'm trying to, I'm not trying to triangulate and corner them. I really genuinely am caring about this person and trying to understand them first. And three words that have also helped me and tell me more are good. Um before you get there to make sure the person trusts that you don't have an angle, there are three words that have actually scientifically been proven to be disarming. And those words are out of curiosity. Out of curiosity. Out of curiosity. So if you if you preface whatever your question is with out of curiosity, what do you think about the whole God Jesus thing?
SPEAKER_01What if it's not just curiosity? What if you do have an angle? Is that disingenuous?
SPEAKER_00So um uh I think if you if you do have an angle, you could you could follow it up. Because you are curious. Out of curiosity, I would love to know. Like that's what you that's because that because you're true, you're that is a true statement. You really would love to know.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Um and you could say, out of curiosity, I'd love to know. I have my own beliefs, but I would love to know more about yours.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And that is true. That is genuine. You're not, you're not and at some point, yes, you hope they'll believe what you believe. But um everyone believes what they believe is right. And so I don't think you have to apologize for that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So that's a transition question that you can use. But to not have a sort of predefined question, or that it's really hard. So I would encourage us to if if that if the question that I use doesn't really resonate with you, uh define ahead of time your transition question. And will you tell us again the one that you said up to the other?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I was just I was just gonna say that the one I I threw out yesterday has helped me, um, like yours has you. And um I've uh I've used yours before too, actually, and it is really easy. And I like the fact that yours ends on thing. Yeah, you know, when and when you come to the question, especially for people like you and me who are professional ministers and you know, we do theology for a living, people are like, oh my gosh, I can't say anything to this guy. And uh and so to end it with like God whole God Jesus thing makes it sound really casual and and and doable. Like, um uh and so I I ask a similar, I ask a question that I'm trying to drill down on the fact that I'm trying to understand you. And so my question was this um, hey man, I've known you, or you know, I think I know you, or you know, we all know what we know about each other, or wherever your relationship is. Um, but I just want to make sure, you know, that I do know you and understand you. People not only like to be seen and understood for who they are, it's important to us, like for real reasons. And so it's not a it's not a like a needy thing. Like it's important for us to be understood for who we are. So I uh so my question is uh often, hey man, um I know what I know about you, but uh, you know, what are the big rocks in your jar? What's what's really important to you? Like if I were gonna know you for real, like what do I need to know about you? What's important to you? And I'm inviting that person to kind of say, you know, what what, hey man, I I I I'm a big uh I'm a big family guy or I love football, or you know, and sometimes I'll throw out things, is it family, is it football, is it career, is it's you got goals? Like, what's your big thing? What are what are your things? What are your things? And and and if God doesn't come up in there, then I typically, once he gets to the end of the trail, I'll just ask it, you know, say, is God one of your things, or has God been one of your things in the past? And just introduce it into the into the line of stuff that's important to him.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. That that's that's really good. Um, okay, so that's two questions. I want to add a third, and I wish I would have thought to look it up ahead of time. There's there's a pastor, I don't even know where he is. He's got a real big church. His name is JP Palatka or something. Do you okay? Um he's an evangelist. Okay. And I I don't remember exactly his question, but I think it's uh like the old school, hey, if you died today, are you 100% certain that you would go to heaven?
SPEAKER_00He has he the guy who wrote those questions was called D. James Kennedy. And they're called the Kennedy questions. So he's quoting Kennedy. Oh and the two Kennedy questions are this. Um, and this is this is another transition. So uh the Kennedy questions are, hey man, um, on a scale of one zero to a hundred, um, if you were to die today, yes on a scale of one to a zero to a hundred, um, what uh what percentage would you give yourself if you were to die today, God forbid, that you would go to heaven? And so that is kind of that's like almost like a yes-no question. That's like you they give you a number, and it might be it's usually above 50, like no one wants to be below 50%, right? Yeah, uh, and so usually it's 60, 70, sometimes it's a hundred, but it's rarely a hundred percent. And so let's just say the person said, I'd say 80%, which is a pretty common answer. They people like to be in the B range. Yeah. Um and uh and the and you say it's a then you ask a second question, which is not a number. They have to know the answer. Like this is a a like a uh a New Testament passcode. You know it or you don't. So then it is let's just say you were standing before God and he asked, Why should I let you into my heaven? What would you say? And at that point, most people will start giving you the resume. I. Well, I'm a good person, I've really tried, I did everything I could, I did this, I did that, I, I, I, I, I. And they don't mean to be egotistical, it's just most people put their faith in themselves. Most religions depend on yourself, right? To earn heaven. Yes. And whereas a true Christian would say, Um, because Christ died, because he gave his life for me, and I put my the only thing I did was I put my faith in him. Uh, I I've trusted in the goodness and the and the righteousness of Christ to to to to be. So that's those are the two questions. Scale one to a hundred, you know, where are you that that you would go to heaven? And secondly, Okay, if you were there and he said why, why, what would you say? So those are the two Kennedy questions.
SPEAKER_01Okay, so yeah, and that is what he's using. The I'll tell you why I was refreshed by that. I was refreshed by that because one, I mean, he he is God is using him powerfully to lead a lot of people to Jesus. And I think those questions have been kind of thrown out aside as, oh, we would never kind of, you know, if you died today, if you know if you got hit by a car today, would and and that has been a little bit like almost like never do that. I feel like maybe I'm wrong. Uh, but to hear him just kind of be so upfront with like just a such a targeted spiritual question that it is it it does have an angle, but the angle is so obvious and clear, like he wants to have a spiritual conversation. I really like that. So um we're trying to talk about translation questions. I gave one. What do you think about the whole Gadges Christian church thing? You gave one. Um, kind of what are the big rocks in your jar that kind of where I would get to know you and kind of like the the things that matter to you most? That's you those your question. And then if I can get the the Kennedy questions, um, on a scale of one to ten, how confident are you that God would let you into heaven?
SPEAKER_02Yep.
SPEAKER_01And then follow-up question is if you were to stand before him, uh what would you ask you? And he asked you, why should I let you in? What would you say? Okay. All right. So those those are three questions that we can start with.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Um now let's uh let's talk about okay, once you are talking about the gospel, well now what? And there's lots of different sort of gospel sharing methods that we can use. And one that I've really appreciated that I haven't necessarily heard as like a method is just letting the Bible speak for itself and give a little bit of commentary. So it's less about method, it's less about certain questions to ask. It's let's open the Bible, either on your phone or a hard copy and read a passage and let the passage speak for itself. One of the reasons that I think this is maybe especially effective now is people are so skeptical of um is this kind of like your version of that? Or but to be able to just go like straight to the primary source, yeah, like the source that Christianity is based on the Bible. Let's just let's just start there.
SPEAKER_00And and not only just because of you know people uh people's doubts, but because the word is living and active, you know, and it started with an two-edged sword, and and God's word uh has a power to it. Now, I I don't mean like you know, mystical magic, like if I just speak the words, you will believe, you know, you will believe John 3 16. Uh but um but there is a power to letting God simply speak for Himself.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. That's verse, what was that? First Thessalonians 2, 13. Are you still in two chapter 2? Yeah. Read verse maybe 13 and 14.
SPEAKER_00So let's see. 13 says, and we uh also thank God continually, because when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, that's kind of like what we're talking about, you accepted it, not as the word of men, but as it actually is the word of God, which is that work in you who believe.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and and yes, which performs its work in you who believe. So, yeah, there's it's not like a magic potion, right? But it is the word of God which performs its work in those who believe. In chapter one, he talks about when the gospel came, it came to you in the Holy Spirit and in power. That's right. And power. Comes in word, comes in power. How God chooses to use that, up to him. Um but so we're we're gonna let the Bible speak for itself. And I I do think that most people um understand the idea of authorial intent, even though you wouldn't use those words. But I think you can you can open up to Ephesians 2 and say, all right, a guy who wrote most, not most actually, a lot of the New Testament though, is the Apostle Paul. He wrote uh this and he's writing a letter. What do you think Paul wanted us to get from these verses? Now, in the back of your head, you know uh what we talked about last week, these sort of big points of the gospel, God's intent, which isn't so much true or doesn't come out so much in Ephesians 2. It does a little bit though. Um, but man's problem, God's solution, man's response. Okay? This passage is going to answer those questions or address those questions. And so I'm gonna read it, and this is exactly how it could be if you were putting up a fence like I was uh with the guy who asked my question too, or you're at uh cookout or whatever. Yep. Shooting hitting golf. You don't shoot golf. Yeah, yeah. I'm clearly not a golfer. Shooting golf. All right, Ephesians 2. We read it last week. Here it is. And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lust of the flesh, indulging in the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. Pause there. We don't have we don't have to try to dig into every part of verses one through three to get the clear emphasis. The clear emphasis is you were dead and you were by nature a child of wrath.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Okay. So we're just letting the Bible speak for itself. Now, as we go through these things, uh, I want to give an illustration that has been helpful in um understanding each of these sort of parts of the gospel, the man's problem, God's solution, and man's response. Okay. So uh here's an illustration to help flesh out deadness. Okay? Let's just say we read those verses. Um Paul starts once us to know that in our normal state we are dead in sin and we are by nature children of wrath.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and I and I I I I think that is, yeah, I know you're gonna illustrate this, but these aren't just kind of random words. Like to say that you were dead in your transgressions and sins, that is a real state. It's it's not a metaphor. Right. It's a real state. And I think that it would be a different state than most people think. I think most people think we're born pretty spiritually open, yeah, spiritually aware, spiritually seeking. Generally good. Good. I mean, maybe, yeah, even positive, at least neutral, maybe positive. And uh, and so to that should be a shock to people. Like if they're not shocked by that, they didn't understand it.
SPEAKER_01Yes. Yeah, and and that's a good point. This isn't just a metaphor. We are, he says, by nature, yeah, children of wrath. Yeah. And so here's an illustration for that. If if uh if we could give an illustration to man's problem, dead in sin, children of wrath, then imagine a coffin and a person being dead. Okay, what hope does that person have? Well, no hope. Uh, they there's nothing that they can do for themselves to help themselves. Why? Because they're dead. But here's what we try to do. Um, what we try to do with our goodness is uh, and maybe going to church or just whatever good thing, we're trying to make ourselves smell better. It's like trying, our good works are like trying to spray cologne on a corpse. Yeah, it doesn't make the corpse any less dead. It might make the corpse stink less. Yeah. It might give it some of the uh uh not the appearance, but the aroma of life, but it is dead. And that is a problem. There's no amount of cologne that you can spray on a corpse that would raise it. It's still dead. The corpse need would need something outside of itself to resurrect it.
SPEAKER_00Imagine you're like a medical student and you're watching uh surgery and the patient dies, and you notice on the uh the tray there, this cologne bottle, and they start spraying it on the the dead person. Like you're you're like, that is ridiculous. That that is not gonna help. And or if they had uh let's have the counselor come in and talk to them. Yeah. You know, this person is dead. Nothing matters until they are brought to life with uh some form of power, um, whether it's electric paddles or it's compressions. There has to be a power to bring that person back to life. Then you can, you know, deal with other things. But until that person's brought to life, there is no use in anything.
SPEAKER_01So we're we're talking, and I'm letting the passage speak for itself. We've seen Dead in Sin, Children of Wrath, given an illustration, uh, our good works are like cologne on a corpse. They don't do anything to solve the problem of deadness. So where's the hope? That brings us to the second or to the next part of the passage.
SPEAKER_00What does your verse four start with?
SPEAKER_01But God?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, same. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. But mine's but, yeah. But God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, he made us alive together with Christ. Boom. By grace you have been saved. So what did God do? He made us alive.
SPEAKER_00It's so different from the common understanding of people finding God, like on their journey, and I discovered God, and okay, and I'm gonna add God to my life and be better. You know, it's kind of like, you know, points you get like on a video game from, you know, like I found this uh, these uh nutrients and boom, and I'm better off. Like, no, it's like God found and made you who were you can't seek God if you're dead. You can't do anything if you're dead. God comes to you, makes you alive in Christ.
SPEAKER_01So here's the the one one illustration that really helps me uh just in my own heart understand and articulate this how this life, this is going from dead to life, how this happens. And I would actually go from Ephesians 2 and jump over. This is the only time we're gonna jump to a different passage to 2 Corinthians 5.21. 2 Corinthians 5.21 says that God made Jesus, who knew no sin, to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him. So I I brought these jars, and if you're just listening and not watching, then sorry you can't see. But I'm holding a dirty jar uh of water and then a clean jar of water, and it just helps me. I've drawn this out on a napkin many times to say, okay, we are dead, and that's what this dirty jar represents. We are dead, we're by nature children of wrath, and this jar can try to clean itself up, but it's always dead.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And so what is the solution? Well, but God, being rich in mercy, because the great love which he had, he made us alive. How did that happen? 2 Corinthians 5 21 says this that God made Jesus, so I'm holding up the clean jar. Yep. Who knew no sin to become sin for us? So now I'm holding up the dirty jar. He became this for us, so that we, the dirty jar, might become the righteousness of God in him. So, so how did he make us alive? By impu by taking our unrighteousness and putting it on Christ, and taking his righteousness and putting it on us. This is the great exchange. This is how he made us alive by taking our deadness on himself and giving us his life, his righteousness. This is how it happens.
SPEAKER_00You know, if if you have a uh, you know, we call it we talk about Jesus being a substitutionary sacrifice, and while that sounds all high flute, all it means is this if you were sentenced to um execution by a judge and someone else stepped in and took that penalty for you, they that was the great exchange. They take your death and they give you their life. Yeah. And that's exactly what the cross was. He took your death, our death, and then he rose from the dead and gave us his life instead.
SPEAKER_01That's it. That's it. That is God's solution. So we talked about man's problem, and the illustration was cologne on a corpse. Um, no amount of goodness helps the dead perse that help helps the course. Uh then we move to God's solution, Jesus. Second Corinthians 5 21. God made Jesus who knew no sin to become sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in him. And the illustration is the jars. Now we want to help them see from the passage what is man's response. Here, here it is. Verse uh we'll go to verse 8. Yeah. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. Okay, pause. This is this this talks about man's response. Um, the man's response is not to work to earn. Right. Okay. And that's what he said. It comes as a gift. It is by grace. That means you can't earn it. Um, so how do we receive the gift? He just says by faith. By faith.
SPEAKER_00And so I I like it because he doesn't say you are saved by faith. He says you're saved by grace through your faith.
SPEAKER_01Okay. So, yeah, explain the difference there.
SPEAKER_00So it's God's grace, it's God's power making this happen, and you are trusting in God's power to make it happen. And that's the difference. And um it's not just an intellectual ascent, and I'm gonna put you on the spot here. Um uh at one point, you know, you taught us kind of the three legs of the faith stool. And it starts with um receive the offer, you know, because uh, and then the last one is um, you know, like follow the way or whatever. And I forget what the middle one is.
SPEAKER_01I so the second second one was receive his offer. The first one was admit need. Admit the need. Admit need, receive his offer, walk his ways. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And so that's what we do. We we don't bring power to the table, we bring emptiness. And so we admit our need, we receive his offer of of of substitutionary righteousness and give him our our our sin and death. And then as a result of our being born into his family, we live according to his his ways, right? We follow him, not just as a believer, but as a disciple.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Biblical belief or faith is it involves an intellectual, it involves a trusting, but a trusting that has action on it. And so the it I want to give an illustration for each of these, obviously. Um and here's an illustration that has helped me, but to be honest, I haven't used it much because it seems to help me more than it helps other people, but I'm gonna share it anyway because it has helped me. Um, it's from the the old Disney movie Aladdin.
SPEAKER_00Yes.
SPEAKER_01All right, and not not the new like real live action, but like old school, you know, Robin Williams, you know, genie. Yes, Robin Williams. All right, so here's what's happening. Um Aladdin and Jasmine, they meet and they're talking, and then the guards are looking for them. Well, finally the guards find them, and the only option is to jump off this, you know, ledge. And Aladdin, he he knows what to do. Jasmine, she doesn't. And so he holds out her hand, his hand to her, and he goes, Do you trust me? And she goes, huh? And he says, Do you trust me? And she goes, Yes. And then he goes, Then jump. And they both jump out together. Okay, so that's kind of scene one. Scene two is a little bit later after he's, you know, kind of become this prince, what he's not really a prince, but um he he wants to invite her on this magic carpet, and uh, she's uns uh unsure about it, and so he holds out his hand and he says, Do you trust me? And she kind of gives him that I and he goes, Do you trust me? And then she steps up on the magic carpet. The the offer, the invitation of God is to where he says, Do you trust me? Do you trust me? Then like come with me. And then uh again, this gets cheesy, but it's helped me. That uh when he invites her on this magic carpet, then they sing this song, and it's this whole new world, a dazzling place I never knew. That the invitation of God to us is, Do you trust me? Do you trust me? Then then come with me, and I want to invite you to I want to show you a whole new world. What's the nature of that world? Welcome to the New Testament, welcome to sanctification. It is a it is a redefined future, it is a redefined identity. This whole new world is like welcome, behold the new testament.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And uh so what is faith? The illustration that is just I think about it a lot is is God saying, Hey, do you trust me? Do you trust me to to give you the righteousness that you don't possess on your own but belongs to Christ? Do you trust me? Uh for the hope of eternal life. Do you trust me? Well, then if you do, let's go. Come come with me come join me. And that has really resonated with me. That um if if if if Jasmine said, Yes, I trust you, but then didn't go with him to experience the whole new world, guess what? She didn't trust him and she didn't experience it. And so the the faith in action, for whatever reason, that has that has really been uh a helpful illustration of faith to me.
SPEAKER_00And even in the movie, um, you know, it's not a blind faith. When he says, Do you trust me? He's saying, Have I built up enough relational credibility with you for you to follow me when I say let's go? And I think God is the same, right? So God's not saying just blind trust in this random thing. He he has done many acts of faithfulness throughout history, and he's saying, Will you trust me one more time?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Yeah, and then that really just helps me go from a faith that is what we might call saving faith to a faith that is a living by faith in a in each moment. Do you trust me? Do you trust me with this heartache? Do you trust me with this discouragement? Do you trust me with this financial challenge? Do you trust me? Do you trust me? It then jump.
SPEAKER_00Which I think really puts its finger on one of the huge misconceptions about belief in God and becoming a Christian, and that is that I just need to assent to this little the this uh proverb that you might give me about Jesus, that he died on the cross and risk my sins. As long as I just believe that statement, then I'm getting to heaven. Or as long as I've prayed a prayer, or as long as I've done X, and instead, what God is inviting us to is not to pray a prayer or give assent to a statement. What God is inviting us to is a relationship with him. And that is a whole life thing. That's a whole new world. Yes. Yes, it is. It is. That's hard to now it's gonna be in my head all day.
SPEAKER_01All right. Um, so what we've done is we let Ephesians 2 share the gospel, and we just highlighted man's problem with an illustration, the cologne on the corpse. We highlighted God's solution, Jesus, with the illustration of the jars. We highlighted man's response, faith, with Aladdin. There's other illustrations you could use for the sake of time. Um, I don't want to try to go into more, but highlighting what does the text say? What does it say about the gospel, and then an illustration. Let's just say, by God's doing, you sense in the person, um, their heart has been pricked. They're ready, like, they're believing. Now what? What do you do?
SPEAKER_00So, you know, I guess everyone has their own. There, the the beautiful thing about this is there's not a formula. Yep. Um, and so uh we can't take you to, you know, first Hezekiah 4, 6, which says, when the person sounds right, just make them say these words, which I love about the Bible because it it it uh it doesn't reduce it to some you know uh incantation or magic trick. Um and so when when I get to that moment when I realize this person is believing this, and I think I would just start asking a couple questions. Has this made sense to you in a new way? Tell me in your own words what how you how you believe about God and and maybe go back to the Kennedy questions. Now, if you were standing before God, what would you say? And if and find and just try to draw the gospel out of them rather than stick it, do you believe this? Do you believe this? Try to draw it out of them rather than stick it on them. And then I tend to to just sort of uh say, let's seal the deal. Would you like to tell God right now and just confirm your faith in him? And we pray, and then they would confirm their faith in their own words. Yeah. Uh, so that they kind of have a a moment where they say it out loud, God, I believe in you, and this is, you know, and so Right.
SPEAKER_01Not because this the prayer seals the deal, the prayer just expresses the belief that already exists.
SPEAKER_00Yes, it confirms out loud what I've already believed in my heart, but I want to say it with my words.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And I meant to mention this earlier, uh and I wanted to uh I just missed it. But my guy's doing this will be more and more frequent in our church where these conversations are happening. And I mentioned yesterday that a guy in our church um he he came up to me and he said, I met with my one this week, and it wasn't just relational, it was also sharing the gospel. And he was concerned about his friend who's I think he said he was 79. Um, and so he's getting up there, and this friend is concerned about the end for himself. And so he basically, this guy in our church, asked a version of the Kennedy questions. Yeah. You know, uh how confident are you that when you die, you will go to heaven? And meet Jesus. Yeah. And he started uh the friends started answering, saying, uh, you know, well, I've been going to church, I've been doing this, been been been basically been been a good person. Yeah. And I loved uh what the guy from Sandhurst said. He said, and his very southern draw, he said, Well, son, there ain't no I about it. It's all about Jesus. And I love that. There ain't no I about it. Yeah. It's about what he has done. Yeah. Second Corinthians 5.21. That's right. And so what that was kind of a little bit of a side, but um when you sense the heart has been pricked, uh, then I would say, yes, invite them to express their belief to God in the form of a prayer. If it seems like the conversation um didn't go anywhere in terms of salvation, uh then what what do you do there? Well, I think you I I think that's good to pair it with an invitation to attend something. Say, hey, I've really enjoyed talking about this. Um and I go to a church and I'd love it if you come with me sometime. Would you would you be interested in coming to my church sometime?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and and I think the uh idea I'll buy you lunch after. Yeah. Yeah, food, right? Eat. Um, yeah, and the idea of coming to an event is a way to have another layer. So like we're having this conversation and it's it we're exchanging our words and our thoughts, but um I think the invitation to attend a service is not, okay, um, you'll be better if you come to a church service. I think it's simply, would you like to come experience the family of God? Would you like to come experience God face to face and just hear um and and hear the people of God sing his praise, hear his word read, pray together with us, and do all the basic things people do in a worship service to experience uh uh the worship of God among the people of God. So uh there's there's a a lot of interest in our day in live experiences, whether it's live theater or whether it's you know, you know, uh this, that, or the other, right? Uh uh to get a live experience. And I think to get a live experience of of God is is is a beautiful uh and obvious next step.
SPEAKER_01And what better place to experience God than to go to where his body gathers church and that man, you you want your church to be a love culture uh most when you brought somebody who doesn't know Jesus and you're like, dang it, I hope that that people talk to them. Like you just you come to church with a different sort of hope and expectation. Uh maybe not expectation. Yeah, no, no. That man, I I want them to experience something beyond what happens on the stage. And uh man, so just a re-exhortation, church. Uh, if we're gonna be inviting our ones to church more, then we ought to use the minutes beforehand, the minutes afterhand, the minutes during the greeting to just do the basic things of love culture that as as much as it seems um and is, you might say, uh low level relationally, uh, just kind of where strangers become acquaintances with some small talk, hey, tell me your name, where are you from, how long you've been coming, what brought you here, those questions that we that we ask. Uh, those are part of helping people uh know that they are seen. That's right. And God sees. And so we get to help people see something about God when we see them. And stuff matters.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, exactly. And so, like, you know, the question that I used um in terms of transitioning to the gospel of tell me about you, what are the big rocks in your jar? That's seeing at a really deep level, but that's a one-on-one private conversation. When you're in the gathering, it's seeing on a different level. There's not the expectation that you're gonna go deep with this person, there's the expectation that you would see them though and just greet them. Like, so I think uh you don't feel need to feel the pressure in that moment to go deep with this individual and rather see them at an appropriate level, which is an acquaintance level. Hey, uh uh, you're a stranger, but I'd love to just know your name and how you got here and uh and and let you know I'm glad you're here.
SPEAKER_01And that's enough. Yeah, yes, yeah. That's the presence of God through his people. Yeah, absolutely. That's that's why we do um lunch after power surge. Right. Um to give us some relational connection with people who are minutes. Yeah, more minutes, yeah. More people, more ministry.
SPEAKER_00You know, you know, you mentioned uh an invitation to come to church as a as a follow-up to a conversation that didn't end up or even did end up with with a gospel belief. Um one other thing that I've done is ask um just acknowledge, hey, this has been really great. I appreciate your and thank you for being willing to share deep things from your own heart about what you believe about God, because uh I I'm honored by that. So just thank them for honoring you with their thoughts about God because that's a big deal. And then, you know, then you can ask a follow-up question. Is there a topic that you'd like to look into further? Is there is there a barrier to your belief that we could look into together? Is it suffering or um this or that? You know, and just see if they have something that they would like to pursue further as a way to kind of wrestle with the bigger questions.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's really good. All right, so uh I want to close with a few thoughts related to this. I I hope that we've been helpful to our church to equip us to actually um bring truth, bring the gospel in normal life conversations. I hope we've done that. Um when it comes to barriers, there's gonna be a lot. There's gonna be fear of whatever there's there's gonna be barriers, and wants to remind us that our boldness is in God, our confidence is in God. Um he can use a uh a very uh eloquent and compelling message to win people to himself, and he can use a stuttered up, kind of confusing delivery and accomplish the same task. You know, confidence is in God.
SPEAKER_00David um took stones and a sling to the battle, but his faith was not in that stone. Correct. He knew for sure it was God who was gonna fight that battle. And that's I feel like with us, you know, so when you think about sharing Christ with someone, it's not that the person is Goliath, but just the the uh the the concept of sharing the gospel with someone, it feels like a Goliath. Look, you are not saved by your stones and sling, you are it is the Lord who will do it.
SPEAKER_01But show up and see what he will do. Yes, and see what he will do. And it's it's an exciting thought for me. It when we get to 1 Corinthians, chapters 12 through 14 is about spiritual gifts. One of the spiritual gifts is the gift of evangelism. I mean, we're all called to share the gospel, but some people are gifted with it. What does that mean? I don't think it means that when they share the gospel, they just sound awesome. I think what it does mean is people who have the gift of evangelism, when they share the gospel, people get saved. Like they're just gifted in that way. And I think it is probable, it's at least possible, that there are people in our church who have the gift of evangelism who have never shared the gospel. And and and there may be people, uh, maybe, maybe you're listening right now, you may find out, oh man, God has gifted me in a way that I didn't even know. When I share the gospel, people just get it. And that's a spiritual gift that may be um lying dormant in many people or some people in our church, and we need that gift. The kingdom needs that gift. Florence needs a gift, your ones need that gift. And and and let's let's see. You know, God's putting out his hand, do you trust me? Then jump, then share.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and and as a Christian, I've had that beautiful experience of having someone trust Christ with me, right? And and and and where you're facilitating, you're like this you know, midwife to facilitate the new birth of someone spiritually and to watch this miracle happen. And if you've ever been in a in a birthing room in a in a hospital and or or at home and and and watched this miracle of new life happen, what an incredible joy it is, even in a as a as a human and physically, but then as a Christian spiritually to see this happen and you know for a fact, hey, look, I showed up, I spoke some words, but it was God who did this. And that's uh to me what's in verse 10 of Ephesians 2. It's it's kind of wraps up the our grace through faith section. For we are God's workmanship, his poema, his craftsmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. So God has already prepared people down the road for us to share with. We get to be there when it happens. And so I my encouragement to us is just pray and do it.
SPEAKER_01Just do it by faith. Just do it. Yeah. Do you trust me? Then jump. Jump. Um, all right. So what what a great launch into Missions Month. We've got 30 hosts doing power-up clubs, and that means we're gonna be inviting. I'm hosting. You've hosted before, you're kind of are you co-hosting or is it just yes, we're co-hosting with our neighbor. Yeah, so there's gonna be a lot of invitations, there's gonna be a lot of relational connections. Let's get on it. Uh, church, if if you're hosting, then we can't control how many people are gonna come to our clubs, but we can control how many people we invite to our clubs. Can I just get it?
SPEAKER_00As a host, and I know you've hosted too, but as a host, I just think that inviting is so important and it is necessary. Walk the neighborhood, not once, not twice, preferably three to four times, walk your whole space because every time you knock on the doors, one third of them will open. Yeah. And then the next time a different third will open. And what it does is it just reminds people, even if they don't come, even if you know they don't have no, they don't have kids, maybe they've got grandkids, maybe they've got friends. And we it gives us an excuse to knock on every door and remind people of who we are. We we see you, we're the Christians in that house, you know, and it just puts us back on the map. It's this is a great opportunity. Don't miss it.
SPEAKER_01Let's get it. Yeah, my kids are going to VBS right now at Hoffmeier. Shout out to Hoffmeyer, they're doing a great job. My kids love it. And um, I was asking them, you know, why do you what what are some of the differences between power-up clubs and VBS? And uh she was talking about it and I and I told her, Can I tell you why we do power-up clubs instead of VBS? And I talked about some of the things that you just said exactly um about trying to connect, uh, sharing the truth, but also relationally, where they're not we're not just inviting them to come to a building in a church, but we're trying to invite them to our house to get to know us and people from our church to hear the gospel. And I felt like I I got to see her eyes like, oh, like just uh her 10-year-old brain going, that makes so much sense. So let's get it. Yep. Let's do it. Um we wrote out this prayer for our ones. Well, and so I'm gonna close in prayer, but Adam, do you did you have any final thoughts or comments?
SPEAKER_00Man, uh just that again, it uh it is it is an absolutely impossible task to bring the dead to life, but God is doing it, and he's doing it through us. And just do it.
SPEAKER_01Let's do it. That's that's on my Bible. By faith, just do it. I don't know if you're the 98th. By faith, just do it. All right, let's close in prayer for our ones. Father, you are worthy of worship from every tribe, tongue, and nation. You are desiring that none should perish, but that all would come to repentance. But right now, my one is dead in their trespasses and sins, and is by nature a child of wrath. They're separate from Christ, a stranger to the covenants of promise and having no hope without God in the world. While Satan is a murderous liar prowling around like a roaring lion, seeking to kill, steal, and destroy, you came that he might have life and have it abundantly. Pray for him, asking that the eyes of his heart would be enlightened, that he would know the hope of your calling, the riches of your inheritance, and the surpassing greatness of your power towards those who believe. By your doing become righteousness, sanctification, and redemption to him, so that his boast would be in you alone. Wash, sanctify, and justify him in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. How can he call on him whom he has not believed? How can he believe without a preacher? Here am I, send me. We jump. In weakness and in fear and much trembling, speaking not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in a demonstration of the spirit and power of God, so that his faith would not rest in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. Here am I, send me, as a servant who plants as others water, trusting you to bring the growth. I know that out of the overflow of my heart my mouth speaks. Help me to love you with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength, and let me be known by my love. Strengthen me with all power according to your glorious might for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience, believing that the gospel is the power of God for the salvation of those who believe. O my God, incline your ear and hear, for I present my supplication before you not on account of my own merit, but on account of your great compassion. In the name of Jesus I pray. Amen. All right, let's go.