Luke: 00:02

Heavenly father, we are truly thankful for this community and for the ways in which, you have knit us together. Lord, we ask that this morning as we, sit underneath your word that you would, open our hearts through your spirit, open our ears and our minds to hear the words that you have for us. Lord, I ask that you would give us clarity and conviction, and, lord, I pray that you would strengthen Cameron in body, mind, and spirit this morning that he might be able to clearly proclaim the message that you have for us and that your spirit would be his divine editor. In Jesus' name, amen.

Cameron: 00:46

Amen. Thank you, pastor Luke. Good morning, conduit. How are you this morning? Good.

Cameron: 00:51

Good. Good. It's good to see you all. Okay. From Matthew chapter 9 verse 36 through 38.

Cameron: 01:05

Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Heavenly father, lord of the harvest, we pray boldly and in the name of Jesus that we would speak the testimony of our faith boldly and with confidence to a generation of people who have abandoned their need for salvation.

Cameron: 02:22

We know that you have put eternity into the hearts of all men, women, and children. We know that in all people, you have placed a universal longing for your transcendent presence. And we know that the enemy of our souls has worked and is currently working to fill that transcendent longing with things only of this world. To harvest the fruit that you have made right for salvation. In Jesus' name, amen.

Cameron: 03:14

God has called us by our faith in Jesus, by our by our engrafting into the vine of the nation of Israel to be a blessing to the world. He has he has blessed us in Jesus Christ. And it is out of that blessing. It is out of what God has done in us through Jesus that God then commissions us and sends us out to be a part of his mission to redeem the world to himself. This was the last well, kind of the last charge of the last words of Jesus to his disciples before he ascended back into heaven.

Cameron: 04:07

Saw that last week when we looked at places like Matthew chapter, 28, Acts chapter 1. We looked at Genesis chapter 12, Recognizing that God has always been a God that goes out on mission. That God was never a God that sat back in the shadows waiting for people to come and find him. But that God God went out. God went out in mission in Jesus.

Cameron: 04:41

God went out in mission with Abraham through the Israelite people. God goes out in mission to seek and save those who are lost. So as we consider the reality of the identity of a people that are out on that go out on mission via our faith in Jesus Christ. We then like we talked about, that's the wide funnel of understanding being of understanding mission. And as that funnel comes down, we we generally use the word because the scripture uses it, and it's a good word.

Cameron: 05:18

And it it describes a lot. We use the word evangelism. We've heard this word before. Right? Heard the word evangelism before?

Cameron: 05:24

Most of you have. So evangelism, the the the proclamation of the good news, being a messenger of the good news of Jesus Christ. And, we may have varied understandings or degrees of understandings about what evangelism is and what it's not and whether evangelism is a particular method or technique or what is the heart of evangelism and where does it come, like, where does it come from both in us and in scripture? We'll talk about some of that today and next week, about the the heart of evangelism, the biblical method and technique of evangelism, experienced, I feel like many of us in my conversations with you you over over over a long period of time have experienced is this heavy this heavy weight of feeling the responsibility and obligation, even a desire to share what God has done in you with the people around you. But coming up against, what is perceived as a cultural roadblock that is feelingly, like, that is difficult to overcome.

Cameron: 06:50

Right? The question kind of the question kind of, is or is formed like this is, like, how how do we share the gospel in a culture that has by and large rejected the need for salvation? If the gospel has been the answer to our sin, our bondage, the darkness that we find ourselves in. And we have this growing bubbling desire, passion to share that with others. But then we run up against a generalized feeling in the world and in the culture that salvation is not needed.

Cameron: 07:37

Haven't we progressed beyond that? Understanding of the world and spirituality and need to who needs salvation anyway? Is this common kind of common cultural refrain. And we should not be surprised. Okay?

Cameron: 08:00

Sometimes, I become surprised at how surprised I am. Right? You go back to the scripture and you read even the words of Paul and the words of Jesus and what Paul told, Timothy and what Paul told the Corinthians and what Jesus told his disciples. Right? And, what Paul wrote to the Romans.

Cameron: 08:23

Right? We we studied Romans at the beginning of the year. It's like, hey. Like, there's a progressive there's a progressive darkening of our of hearts. There's a progressive hardening of hearts.

Cameron: 08:34

There's a progressive, there's a progressive transformation and change in the world that rejects the need for God, the things of God, the truth of God. Paul said it. Jesus said it. John said it. And over and over and over again, we we encounter this attitude in the world of a rejection of the need for salvation.

Cameron: 09:01

And it can kind of strike us as surprising as if our lord and savior didn't flat out tell us, hey. This is what's gonna happen. Right? So I think it's important to recognize that that may be happening, sometimes. But also, there are some, I think, important distinctions in generalities that we need to remind ourselves of.

Cameron: 09:30

Not that we maybe had never been told. Maybe you haven't ever been told. But some some generalities around evangelism and the sharing of our faith that helps us to recenter the work of gospel proclamation on a person to person basis in the midst of a culture that has rejected, in most cases, the need for salvation. There are some important distinctions that need to be made. The first and, I want I'm not gonna say the most important, but pretty important is this.

Cameron: 10:10

You and I may share the gospel, may share the story of the good news of Jesus Christ, how it has saved, changed, affected me. We may share the gospel, but it is God who saves people. We may share out of our experience, out of our story, out of Jesus work in our lives. But it is not us that does the saving. It is always God who draws men, women, and children to himself through Jesus Christ.

Cameron: 10:50

This was the this was the the mission that even Jesus himself said that he came to do, and he never passed that mission on to us. He gave us a part of that mission, but never the responsibility of being the savior within that mission. Jesus said in Luke chapter 19 verse 10 that he has come to seek and save those who were lost. Never did the responsibility of savior get passed on to the church. Never and not and not in the great commission in Matthew chapter 28, not in the commission in acts chapter 1 verses 7 through, verses 6 through 8.

Cameron: 11:37

We were to go into the world to be witnesses of the God who saves, to recall and retell the story of what God has done in our lives and our hearts. Like Peter and John in acts chapter 4 verse 20, I cannot help but say what I have seen and heard, Peter says. I will not be quiet. But it is always God who saves. Jesus himself said in John also in John chapter 6 verse 44, he said, no one can come to the father unless the father who sent me draws him.

Cameron: 12:22

No one comes to the father ex unless the father who sent me draws him. So it is the work of the father that draws people into faith in Jesus Christ. Now, as we're gonna see in a in a moment, that that does not mean that we have no part, no role, no responsibility. Just like we looked at last week in, Genesis chapter 12 that it was that that that God created covenant with the pea with his people, called the people out from the world to himself, created covenant with them, blessed them, made their name great, made them to be a blessing so that they could be a blessing to the world. God does the saving.

Cameron: 13:15

Yes. But it is not it does not leave us without responsibility. Okay? We'll talk about that as we go on here this morning. 2nd generality, or just foundational thing that is important for us to talk about is that we should never get far away from the place of understanding salvation as a miracle.

Cameron: 13:45

Salvation is a miracle. And sometimes words even like salvation and miracle get so tossed around all the time that we that we we we speed right past what we're even saying when we say something like Salvation is a miracle. A miracle is a supernatural intervention by God that disrupts and disorients that the normal function and rhythm of life. Well, that's a pretty, like, scientifically stupid answer or definition of a miracle. But listen, understand this.

Cameron: 14:22

People placing their faith in Jesus, repenting of their sin and experiencing rebirth by God's spirit is a miracle that we should never get sick of seeing. Because God, through his grace in Jesus Christ, has come down and by faith in Jesus Christ has supernaturally interrupted the natural rhythm of walking away from the Lord. The natural rhythm of throwing ourselves into darkness. The natural rhythm of rejecting the need for salvation and saying through Jesus Christ, this one is mine. This one is mine.

Cameron: 15:08

This one is mine. Salvation is the miracle of God to interrupt what the natural world produces in darkness and sin. So many of us here see, I've never seen a miracle. I wish I could see a miracle. I wish I could see a miracle.

Cameron: 15:29

I wish I could see a miracle. And I think what we usually say is, I wish I could see the red sea parted. I wish I could see that too. It'd be pretty cool. Right?

Cameron: 15:36

I wish I could see the feeding of the 5,000. Yes. Pretty cool. I wish I could see Jesus raising someone from the dead. Yes.

Cameron: 15:43

Pretty cool. Miracle upon miracle upon miracle upon miracle. But listen. Right? God created a miracle, performed a miracle in you, when by his grace, he reached into the darkness of your life and took hold of your heart, Jesus Christ, and you responded by repenting of your sin and turning towards him.

Cameron: 16:07

And he's giving you new birth, new mercy, new creation, rebirth every day as you trust in the power of his spirit. That is the most that is the most significant miracle that you will ever personally experience. Hallelujah. Salvation is a miracle. 2nd, 3rd, I don't know, whatever point it is, is this.

Cameron: 16:44

Evangelism is ultimately not ultimately. It is completely about pointing people to Jesus. Evangelism is about pointing people to Jesus. This is, maybe at the risk of stating the obvious. It is a necessary obvious statement.

Cameron: 17:12

Because sometimes things that are seem very similar on our mind can get confused as being the same thing and they're not. And I want to be clear about something is that when we share what God has done in our hearts with someone, when we share what God has done in our lives, when we share our testimony, we we share and proclaim the gospel to someone, our goal and our focus should be towards pointing that person through what God has done in us back to Jesus. The goal of evangelism is pointing people towards Jesus. It's not about pointing people towards our church. The goal of evangelism is not butts in the seats.

Cameron: 18:05

It's not. Right? The goal of evangelism is about making the introduction between my savior Jesus and my friend John. It's about taking it's about taking the story this my story, linking it with Jesus story for the benefit of their story, we never evangelize people to our church. We never evangelize people to our pastor.

Cameron: 18:39

Pastor. We never evangelize people to our preferences, our opinions, our ideas, our thoughts. We only ever tell that none of that's good news. The only thing we evangelize people to is the good news of the person of Jesus Christ who has come down as a light in the darkness. Next week, we're gonna talk more about how using our story how we can use our story to point to his story for the benefit of their story.

Cameron: 19:23

So listen, we we may share the gospel, but it is God who saves people. That salvation is always, always, always a miracle. The miracle of salvation is or the process is about evangelizing people to Jesus, the one who saves. And you and I play a really critical role. We play a role in the salvation of or the evangelism of those around us.

Cameron: 19:59

And we don't wanna see, the the the danger is overplaying the hand. Right? Because sometimes I can say, we play a role in the sharing of the gospel with others. But our in the sharing of the gospel with others, but our our role only goes so far. Right?

Cameron: 20:21

We are we are a tool in the hand of the potter Lord to share the gospel with others, we don't end up doing the saving. So that's where why we need to make that distinction. Because when I say we have responsibility, we have opportunity. We have obligation even by the Lord to share the gospel with others. Distinction that even though we have a role, it is not ultimately up to us.

Cameron: 20:54

We are not the one that saves. So understand that dichotomy there. We play a critical role. Jesus himself, before he was arrested, crucified, resurrect he he spent some time in the Lord. He spent some time with the Lord in prayer with the father in prayer.

Cameron: 21:24

This is in John chapter 17. And he prayed for a bunch of different things, and we have we have an account of what he prayed for. He prayed over some general categories, right? He prayed for himself first. It's a good model, right?

Cameron: 21:38

Jesus prayed for himself before he was crucified. Jesus prayed for his disciples. He prayed for the ones that had been following him that they would that they would be, protected from the schemes of the evil one that they would go out in mission. And then Jesus at the end prays for all believers, you and I. Do you know that Jesus prayed for you?

Cameron: 22:05

We have an account of Jesus praying for you, of praying for us. And then in the scriptures even say, he even now, he lives to intercede on our behalf before the father. Praise the Lord. But in John chapter 17, Jesus prays a really specific type of prayer that affects the way that we live in relationship with another with one another. But it it it lists or he states that the reason, that he's praying for our relationship is here here is not just for our benefit, but is for the benefit of all those who would see us and come to him through it.

Cameron: 22:59

John chapter 17, verse 22 through 23, Jesus prays these words. He says, I have given them he's talking about us, the church, the body of believers, those who have expressed faith in Jesus. I have given them the glory that you gave me. I didn't even, like, really read that verse until right now, but let that settle into your heart even just a moment. Jesus, in speaking to the father, says, father, I have given them the glory that you have given to me.

Cameron: 23:45

I can't tell you I know what that means, but I know it means something. I have given them the glory that you gave me that they may be 1 as we are 1. Jesus is beginning to pray a prayer for our unity, for our oneness. Not in this worldly uniformity but in a spiritual unity. In the same measure that Jesus was one with his father, Jesus is praying that we would be one with one another.

Cameron: 24:39

I in them and you in me. Why does he pray that? May they be brought to complete unity. Why? To let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

Cameron: 25:05

That the strength of our unity is directly connected to our witness in the world that god has sent his son and that god loves them. Now, we should really we we know this as kind of like we know this anecdotally. Right? But Jesus himself names the reality, right, that an unbelieving world will look at a bickering, divided, ununified church. And not not even reject the church, not even just reject the church, but close their ears to the voice of the church as it proclaims that, hey.

Cameron: 25:59

God loves you and God has sent his son. You guys can't even get along. And so our so when we talk about, like, as a body pursuing unity, We're not talking about pursuing unity because it just makes the times that we get together a little bit more comfortable, which it does. We're talking about building into the strength of our witness to an unbelieving world. Your relationship with one another matters in the effective in the spiritual effectiveness of your mission to an unbelieving world, our mission to an unbelieving world.

Cameron: 26:57

We have we play a critical role in God's mission to redeem the world to himself. It is our unit that that is why we want to build greater greater community here so that we may build into unity, build into community, build into fellowship, build into mutual faith with one another. That we might know one another, that we might love one another, that we may be unified for the purpose of mission. Not so that you just have something else to do on your calendar. Gotta go to the church thing.

Cameron: 27:38

Gotta go to the church thing. Gotta go to the church thing. But because it has eternal significance in the lives of others. One of the most significant statements in all of scripture, just in my opinion, or I always say one of the most striking has some of the most striking language that I've come across in scripture is the words of Paul to the Corinthian church. When he tells them, or when he talks to them about them being witnesses or used by the Lord.

Cameron: 28:16

He says this, 2nd Corinthians chapter 2 verses 14 through 16. He says, but thanks be to God who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ. Listen to this. And through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.

Cameron: 28:54

Listen to that. We are to God the aroma of Christ to those who are being saved and those who are perishing. We are the presence of Christ, the aroma of Christ in a world that has people that are both perishing and being saved. Perishing and being saved. God has made us the aroma of Jesus among them.

Cameron: 29:29

But then he Paul goes on to say, when you're the aroma of Christ in a world where there are perishing people and people being saved, you smell differently to them depending on where you go. To 1, we are the smell of death. To others, the fragrance of life. Listen. Through us, god spreads the fragrance of Christ everywhere.

Cameron: 30:12

We're gonna talk in a few minutes about how, like, that reality changes may might change the dynamic of whether or not we are afraid to share our faith with someone else or not. K? Gonna hold on to that for a second and come back to that verse. Okay. So if I had to say that there was one found I mean, we talk about, like, a lot about some generalities here in the last few minutes.

Cameron: 30:48

But if I were to say that there was one generalized, like, belief understanding statement that I could make about evangelism, it would be this. Love is the foundation of our evangelism of others. Love is the foundation. This is so important. K?

Cameron: 31:14

Do do do not miss this. If you get anything out of, like, today, get this. Love is the foundation of our evangelism of others. This really should not surprise us because Jesus, when he was asked the question, hey. What's the most important thing in all of the law, all of the prophets, all of the writings?

Cameron: 31:38

Jesus says, well, of course, it's to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love your neighbors as yourself. When Jesus asked what the most important thing that was important to God was, God, he was like, it's love. Love God and love others. Love your neighbor as yourself. Love for God and love for neighbors drives all things.

Cameron: 32:02

All things. Evangelism included. What came next in that conversation when Jesus answered that question was kind of you could almost read you can almost hear the sarcasm in the next question. Well, okay then. Who is my neighbor?

Cameron: 32:24

And Jesus, in an effort to teach them exactly what he meant when he was talking about love, told a parable or a story. Remember what the parable is? The parable of what? The Good Samaritan. Correct.

Cameron: 32:42

He told the parable of the Good Samaritan. Now, for us, because we are lost by context and culture, it doesn't hit for us like it hit for them. But when the parable was told when Jesus told the parable in that time, it was an extraordinarily paradigm shifting understanding because Jews and Samaritans were like as far apart as you could get. They did not worship together. They did not eat together.

Cameron: 33:14

They did not intermarry. They were unclean to one another. They were that each of them looked down on the other. It was as completely opposite on each side of the spectrum as you could possibly be. And then, of course, Jesus tells the story about a Samaritan.

Cameron: 33:32

Right? Who who takes care of a wounded traveler when all the religious people walk by and find a way around. Right? And it was the Samaritan, the person who should have, by worldly standards, completely ignored them, maybe give them an extra kick on the way by that actually took intentional care to look after them. And so the question here being then, who is my neighbor?

Cameron: 34:03

Jesus answered the question pretty significantly. Your neighbor is the people that you don't like. What is the foundation for all things? Love of god and love of neighbor. Okay.

Cameron: 34:24

Who's my neighbor? Jesus is like, alright. Hold my wine glass. Here we go. Your neighbor is the people you don't like.

Cameron: 34:34

It is the people that are different from you. It is the people that could not be could not be further apart from your values, could not be further apart from your opinions, could not be further apart from your preferences. Loving your neighbor is about loving the people that don't look like, talk like, smell like, act like, work like you do. It's a good message this particular political season. Hear this really clearly.

Cameron: 35:10

Okay? You cannot share your faith effectively with people you do not love. You cannot share your faith effectively with people that you do not love. Like, oh, well, I I love all the people that like me. I love them.

Cameron: 35:34

No. No. No. No. No.

Cameron: 35:35

No. That's not what I said. No. You cannot share your faith effectively with people that you do not love. Jesus wants us to love our neighbors.

Cameron: 35:43

Our neighbors are the people that are least like us. Everyone loves the people that love them. There's not there's nothing particularly godly or Jesus centric to that. That's just a general standard of ethics and morality. But it takes a Jesus centric approach to life, to love those that are different.

Cameron: 36:12

No preparation in apologetics. No reading 10 books on a method for sharing your faith. No special techniques in evangelism will ever be effective if you do not get a heart of love for people. If you do not ask the lord to transform your heart, no amount of methodology or technique or argumentation will be effective. If you do not love the people that you are sharing the gospel with, minds will not even start because you're more likely to burn a bridge than build 1 when you try to force feed someone out of a heart of conquest rather than love.

Cameron: 37:14

I heard a pastor say this week as I was doing some reading, he said, listen. If you can't pick the fruit, don't bruise it. If you're not a if you're not in a position to pick that fruit, don't bruise it. Because you just hurt the ability of the person who's actually going to pick it from actually picking it while it's in season. So love is the foundation of our evangelism of others.

Cameron: 37:46

Well, if love is the foundation, what is the right methodology? The right methodology according to scripture is pretty simple, but it's not easy. Okay? The right methodology is boldness. What is boldness?

Cameron: 38:02

Boldness is clear, direct communication in the face of potential opposition. Other words that get translated, into our English bibles, but that have the same Greek root are the words openly, freely, plainly, with confidence. So when you see those words in your English translation, it's the same word here, boldly, openly, freely, plainly with confidence. How? What is the methodology of sharing your faith with others?

Cameron: 38:36

The methodology is with boldness, plainly, freely, with confidence, openly. The method is boldness. Where does boldness come from? Boldness does not come from anything natural within us. Boldness comes from the power of the holy spirit living in us by faith in Jesus.

Cameron: 39:04

The only way to overcome the natural, the the the natural tendency to fear is to receive the power of the holy spirit to be a witness to Jesus. This is exactly what Jesus said should happen and would happen when the holy spirit came upon the apostles in acts chapter 1 verses 7 and 8. We looked at that, passage last week, but he's to say it again. It is not for you to know the times or dates the father has set by his own authority, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria into the ends of the earth. Boldness comes from the power of the Holy Spirit within you through faith in Jesus Christ.

Cameron: 40:04

The whole trajectory of Acts, especially the first half of the book of Acts, shows us to be, like, empirically true about this experience. Men and women who were hiding in fear of their life in one chapter were boldly proclaiming the name of Jesus to those who executed him in the next. It wasn't like they just said, Aw shucks. I guess we'll go out and say something. They were hiding for fear of their life from the people who have just executed Jesus, and then the Holy Spirit came upon them in power.

Cameron: 40:42

And with boldness, they then went out to proclaim what Christ had done and who Christ was. We see this most significantly in Peter's life. Now, was Peter a perennial bold person? Well, I mean, he was kind of bold in an idiotic way sometimes. Right?

Cameron: 41:05

He said things that maybe he shouldn't, but at the end, when it mattered, what did Peter do? I don't know that guy. I don't know who you're taking. It's not not my friend. Not mine.

Cameron: 41:18

Like, in fear. Right? In fear, he pulled back from the opportunity to declare who Jesus actually was. And then the holy spirit comes upon him in power, and it's like a a switch is literally flipped in Peter's life. Now he is ready to speak plainly with confidence freely and boldness what Jesus Christ had done in him and who Jesus Christ was.

Cameron: 41:50

For instance, all the second half of chapter 2 is Peter addressing the crowd. Peter stood up with the 11 and raised his voice to address the crowd to talk about who Jesus was. You go further into Acts chapter 3. And as, as Peter and John were approaching the temple gate, they saw a man crippled there from birth. And Peter says, he looked at the man.

Cameron: 42:18

Acts chapter 3 verse 6. And what does he do? Does Peter say, hey. Come join the temple with us. Like, come and evangelize him to us.

Cameron: 42:26

No. He looked at the man, and he says, silver and gold I do not have. I don't have anything to help you in the natural world. But that which I do have, I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up, take your mat, and walk.

Cameron: 42:50

Peter began in that moment to recognize the power of the holy spirit within him through faith to proclaim boldly the testimony of Jesus. And he went on there to continue to do that over and over and over and over again. In verse 3 or verse 12 of chapter 3, when he was questioned about the healing of the man, he says this, when Peter saw this, he said to the men of Israel, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or our own godliness, we made this man walk? What was Peter doing?

Cameron: 43:35

He was making sure that when a proclamation of healing through the power of Jesus actually got actually got said that they knew where he was pointing to. Where does this why does it surprise you? Why do you stare at me as if it's my power or it's my godliness that healed this man? He was building up to this point. Right?

Cameron: 44:01

Building up by the point to go then into verse 20. Or I'm sorry. In chapter 4 verse 7. He said they had Peter and John brought before them, began to question them by what power or by what name did you do this? The religious leaders in that moment wanting to wanting to, like, get to the bottom of what Peter was saying and why Peter was healing people and how he could possibly do it.

Cameron: 44:29

And so they brought him before him. And they they brought him and they said, by what power or by what name did you do this? Then verse 8. Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, rulers and elders of the people, if we are being called to an account today for an act of kindness shown to a cripple and are asked how he was healed, then know this, you and all people of Israel, it is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth whom you crucified, but God raised from the dead that this man stands before you healed. Salvation is found in no one else for there is no other other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.

Cameron: 45:10

So while he once was hiding, denying, living in fear, now filled with the holy spirit, boldness came upon him and he was empowered to speak plainly, confidently, freely, boldly who Jesus was. Now Jesus taught the same thing that boldness meant speaking plainly. And that and that there there would come a time, Jesus said, where I will speak in parables. I will shield the message and language. But then there will come a time where it's time to speak plainly, where it's time to speak boldly, where it's time to say it.

Cameron: 45:58

Mark chapter 8 verse 31, Jesus began to teach them that the son of man must suffer many things, be rejected by the elders and chief priests and the scribes, and be killed. And after 3 days, rise again. Parable to try and disguise what Jesus was there to do or what he was trying to say to his disciples. He said it plainly. He said it boldly.

Cameron: 46:15

He said it clearly. He said it confidently. He said it freely. He said this plainly. It says in Mark chapter 8 verse 32.

Cameron: 46:32

What would it look like for you to begin to strip away some of the veiled language of gospel proclamation? So that we shared freely, boldly, confidently, plainly the truth of God's work in our lives through Jesus Christ. God loves you. Jesus died for you. Jesus changed my life.

Cameron: 46:57

He can change your life too. Clearly, boldly, freely, plainly. Failure in boldness is usually attributed to a fear of man. A failure of boldness is usually attributed to a fear of man. A a failure of clarity, a failure of plainly, a failure of confidently, a failure of freely, a failure of boldness is usually attributed to a fear of man.

Cameron: 47:35

We fear rejection. But will they think of me if I say very clearly, hey, listen. God changed my life. He loves you. Jesus can change your life too.

Cameron: 47:46

Believe by him through faith. Repent of your sin. We fear loss of relationship. We fear not knowing how to answer a question. We fear ridicule.

Cameron: 47:59

We fear, we fear, we fear. And so we create scaffolding of how to protect ourselves from the fear that we feel, rejecting a biblical methodology of boldness when the opportunity is given to us. Now, remember the 2nd Corinthians passage that we talked about that we would come back to This one's 2nd Corinthians chapter 14 verse 16. But thanks be to god who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us, spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.

Cameron: 48:48

To one, we are the smell of death. To the other, we are the fragrance of life. Listen. If you are not willing to be the smell of death to those that are perishing, you will never be the fragrance of life to those who are being saved. If you are not willing to risk being the stench of death to those who are rejecting the message of the gospel, We can you will never be put in a position to be the fragrance of life to those who receive him by faith.

Cameron: 49:38

One must be risked in order to experience the other. And as Peter and John and the rest of the apostles were experiencing this dynamic of plainly speaking with boldness. The message that Jesus Christ was the savior of the world come to set them free from the power of sin. They experienced the fragrance of life. It says in the book of acts that 1,000 were repenting and being baptized and coming to the name of Jesus.

Cameron: 50:10

But they also experienced the rejection of being the stench of Christ to those who were rejecting their need of salvation. And they came away from that experience in acts chapter 5 verse 41 saying, we rejoice that we are counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name of Jesus Christ. Those of you who have experienced salvation in Jesus Christ, Are you willing to suffer dishonor for his name? To be the stench of death among those who are perishing. Listen.

Cameron: 51:06

We often approach with fear these relationships with people whom we want to share the gospel with. But, we're like, boldly, confidently, plainly, freely. Not really my style. I'll just kinda massage this thing for weeks, months, years. Right?

Cameron: 51:26

Okay. I've seen it work. I've seen it happen. But listen. It's not even so much about the methodology that denies the opportunity to be bold.

Cameron: 51:40

It says something about sharing the gospel that we don't believe and that we don't wanna that we don't wanna say even implicitly. Right? And it says this. It says that, well, the power of the gospel well, I guess the inverse is this. Listen.

Cameron: 51:57

The power of the gospel is not in the relational capacity of the witness. It is in the message itself. The power of the gospel is not in your ability to create long term safe fear of rejection type of relationship that somehow draws them to Christ. No. The power of the gospel is the gospel itself.

Cameron: 52:22

It is the plainly spoken, freely proclaimed, boldly stated, God loves you. Jesus died for you. Repent of your sin. Turn to him by faith. You can be set free just as I have been set free.

Cameron: 52:39

Let's walk together. If I were to say, like, okay. I love I love church history. We're we're almost done here. Okay?

Cameron: 52:51

I love church history. I love reading it. It's I I can geek on it out on it all day. When it comes to evangelism, much of 21st century, evangelism has been shaped by this idea, from a church father named Saint Francis of Assisi who said a really cool thing, and he said, preach the gospel at all times, and if necessary, use words. Heard this before?

Cameron: 53:15

Heard it? Is it true? Okay. It's true. Right?

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What what is he trying to say? He's trying to say that our action needs to be in line with our words. Is that a true statement? Yeah. It's a good thing.

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But what do we do? Like like normal human beings we take it to the extreme and we say thank God I'm gonna say anything ever. Ever. I'll just let my life be a living testimony. It's not a biblical model.

Cameron: 53:46

Not a biblical model at all. I would respond to Saint Francis of Assisi by saying this like, hey, bro. Words are necessary. They're necessary. Preach the gospel at all times, and if necessary, use words.

Cameron: 54:02

They're necessary. You gotta say something. You must say something. Jesus said in John chapter 4 verse 35, open your eyes. Look at the fields.

Cameron: 54:21

They are ripe for harvest. Say something. Say something. One of the primary ways that God uses you, that God uses me to proclaim the gospel in other people's lives is by the sharing of our personal testimonies of salvation. The way that God has saved us.

Cameron: 54:53

The way that God has redeemed us. It's not the only way. Okay? But it is it is one of the primary ways that we that we can use the story of God's grace in our lives to make a connection with someone else, to help them see that God did it for me, can do it for you. I want you to consider these few things.

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1, 2, 3, 4, 5. These five things, take a picture of them if you need to. I word numbers are hard. Okay? Take a picture if you need to.

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If you're a journaler or you like to write things or you want a sticky note them or write them in your phone, I want to ask you to consider these questions in preparation for next week's message. K? Because this will be the content. This will be some of the content in next week's message. It's understanding how you develop the articulation of your own testimony.

Cameron: 55:47

What God has done in your life. So these few things describe the state of affairs of your life before Christ. What was life like? What was going on? Was it falling apart?

Cameron: 56:02

Was it all great? Was there no problems? Was there lots of problems? Types of relationships that you have to things that you what things were you, like, ensnared by? Where'd you spend your time, your money, your effort, your resources?

Cameron: 56:15

What was life like? Describe the state of affairs of your life before Christ. Number 2, describe the circumstances that caused you to consider your life or reconsider your life and your eternal future. Almost always, it has been my experience in working with people that have come to know Christ. Almost always, the story looks something like this.

Cameron: 56:41

I was walking along in my life. Right? Not a fear or not a problem in the world. Too sexy for my shirt. Right?

Cameron: 56:50

And god dropped a bomb on my life. My relationship ended. I got sick. This person died. I came to ruin over here.

Cameron: 57:02

I had mental health issue. I became addicted. This like, so walking along, everything seemingly fine and crushed. Most of the time, it's something similar to that. What circumstances caused your if it wasn't a big thing, what was it?

Cameron: 57:26

What was the circumstances that caused you to reconsider your eternal future? Number 3, who are the people that you now see God had strategically placed in your life? The people that shared faith with you came alongside of you in grace and compassion and mercy spoke spoke freely the gospel of Jesus Christ to you. Who are the people that got that you now see God strategically placed? What was their role?

Cameron: 57:52

Number 4. Was there a singular moment of putting your faith in Jesus? Some of us have stories where we had a singular moment. Where God freed us. Where God redeemed us.

Cameron: 58:03

Where God changed us. Where we called out on the name of the Lord. And he came to our rescue. Others of us have experiences where we kind of like, I don't really know if there was ever one singular moment of expressing faith in Jesus Christ. I know I have faith in Jesus Christ.

Cameron: 58:18

I know I am filled with the holy spirit, but it was kind of just like the trajectory of my whole life. What was that moment or moments like? And number 5, finally, how has life changed now that you are walking with Jesus? I just want you to consider these things. Keep them up here because they're aimed at helping us to, aimed at helping us to get to this point of understanding what God has done in us so that we can share the story of his faithfulness with others.

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Okay. Lord, we seek your face that your glory may rest upon us. Give us power, Lord, by your holy spirit to be bold witnesses in the world. In Jesus name, amen. Condo, you are loved.

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See you next week.