Who Do You Represent?

Okay, conversations are dying. So, we'll we will pick up and get going before we jump into uh uh the word today. Uh a couple more things I want to let you know about what's going on and and things you can connected with. So, um first of all, next Sunday, if you are one of the youth that we have here at the church, uh that's sixth grade through senior in high school, uh next Sunday, we're going to be just having a hangout time here after church. We're going to be playing some games. We're going to have pizza and just a chance to (00:32) get to know each other. So, that's for the youth next Sunday after the service. So, I invite you join us. If you're if you have kids in that, make sure they're here, whatever. But make sure that uh I want to get to know them more. So, I would love to have them here. All right. (00:52) The other announcement that I've got for you is on the 16th, so in two weeks, um we are going to be having a baptism. And uh so if you have not uh been baptized to express your commitment of your life to Christ, join us to and and let me know that. You can go on church center app, sign up and let me know that. (01:10) You can tell me in person, but uh we've got several people that desire to be baptized. And so I would love to make it a big crowd. So let's see if we can't do that. But God's doing some great things in our midst as a church and this is an expression of that. We want to give him praise. So, baptism next or on the 16th, Sunday the 16th. All right, those are the two announcements I have. Then one more thing here. (01:35) Uh, as many of you know, Renee and I were in um Europe this summer. We were there visiting the kind of the extended family of our church and one of those was Niku and Maddie Braggaderanu in uh Romania and Niku pastors a church there. We have supported him for years and uh we had a great time with he and his family. Beautiful. And when we came back, we were telling you a little bit about each place we went. (02:01) One of the things we were telling you is that uh uh Bethl Church was uh building a new building and it's been an ongoing process. It takes a lot longer to get something done there than it does here, but they've been working hard and faithfully at that. And uh so Niku sent me a video this week of where the building is at. I wanted to share that with you. So that's going to come up right here. (02:21) Better church update. This is the lobby. We are working on wires here. These are the bathrooms completed. the sanctuary. We have the doors installed, all the windows. We are working now on the walls. We have installed the insulation and the metal structure. upstairs. We have the bathrooms completed and the walls are already prepared to be painted. (03:38) Sunday classes and the last room. Okay, so this just give you a little idea of what's going on there. Um, I'll give you a little context. I was kind of chuckled to myself when he said, "Oh, the bathrooms are completed." And I don't know about you, but I'm looking at that going, "Really?" Okay. But I'll tell you what, when I first started going there 20ome years ago, and not I'm not trying to be rude or crude or anything here, but went and spoke at their church in the bathroom was a uh a room off the end of the (04:29) building with just a hole in the ground and a pile of straw. So, gives you an idea how far they've come. And uh it's it's amazing. They're doing some great work there. Uh that building started out was uh the government there, city government gave that to the church. (04:48) It was a former um I think we called it a heat transfer building or something like that under communist rule. They used to have one central spot that produced heat and it was piped out to each of the buildings. And so if somebody in a building wasn't paying their rent, they just shut that pipe off and everybody suffered for it. Well, now those buildings sit empty. (05:07) So, they gave one of those to the church. And so, it's a real answer to prayer. It's a cool thing. And they've been working hard and faithfully um on that for several years now. They're getting excited because it's getting close. And uh I'm hoping that maybe even depending on how things go here for us. (05:27) Uh there's a couple of things they need to finish things up, we may be giving a an offering toward uh continuing that we can help support that uh continued work. So anyway, just thought you would want to know that it's God is doing great things over there and Niku is a guy of amazing energy. So I appreciate the work he's doing. So I don't think he ever stops. All right. Um we were just singing a song uh just the idea of I surrender all the the the personal choice to surrender my will to God's will. And we've been going through a book called Believe. (05:59) If you're a guest with us, there are copies back there on the table. You're welcome to get it. Uh we're in the 20th chapter, but you can start and just read right along. What it is, it's broken into there's 30 chapters in that book. Um the first 10 chapters are the foundational beliefs of the Christian faith. The second 10 that we're finishing up today are the a the response to those beliefs. (06:20) It's the moving from a headnowledge of something and saying, "I believe this to a point of this is what my life reflects." belief if it doesn't become faith until we're living it. And we want it to become the faith that we live by. And so we've been walking through that. Now, let me tell you this. (06:38) We have been in in this series as we've gotten into the to the live my faith section of this. Um it's been a little bit challenging. Anybody else want to agree with that? It's not easy. Um we're going to talk about that a little bit next week. Um, the idea of living fully surrendered to God is not something that comes natural to us. (07:02) Would any of you agree with that? I don't know about you, I fight against it. Uh, and I don't all I don't want to fight against it, but I just find myself naturally fighting against fully surrendering to God. And we have talked about some things in that surrender that really are challenging. (07:22) the idea that we are to allow God to dictate and determine for us what will produce for him the most glory so he gets my time he gets my resources he is to be the central focus and the uh sole focus of why I do what I do and you're going but yeah I have other things I need to be focused on no you start with God as we said in this series we start with an idea that um kind of as Paul has said in view of God's mercies present yourselves as a living sacrifice Seeing what God has done, I live in response to that. (07:49) And that response is to give up my life to be determined by God. And in his determination, I've got to trust that he's still the same loving God that put his son on the cross to give me salvation and bring me into a relationship with him. That he'll want the very best for me. And and that's living by faith. That God is going to take my circumstances to produce glory for himself. But I've got to surrender. (08:13) See, that's where we have that choice. We can say no or we can say God I'm struggling but help me with this. I want to do this. I want to live in a li with a life that is responsive to you. I want to surrender fully to you. And so that's where we are in this series. (08:32) Last week we looked at the idea of taking our resources and seeing them as an opportunity from God that God himself knows what he's given us and the abilities to produce and and what the finances that we have and the talents that we have. He says, "Let's see what you will do with those and how you'll bring out glory for me in in and through those things. (08:52) " Most of us, if you're like me, that's not always my first thought. I I get a bill and that becomes my first thought. I this this uh last couple weeks um Renee and I thought, well, it's about time that we uh maybe put some things in order. And so we um met with an attorney, established a trust for our some of our resources and we were going through some different things and and uh this attorney I have known for a while and he in fact is the attorney for the church and he's been our family attorney for a long time. (09:25) And so I I've I've known him and partway through her name and I are sitting there and she goes, "How much is this going to cost?" And I said, "I didn't think to ask that question." Well, I found out um and I got a bill in the mail. I was like, "Oh, man. Okay. (09:43) Well, I guess it I, you know, I'm weighing that out going, I guess that's worth it." But the thing was, my initial reason for wanting to do that, our initial reason for wanting to do that was we want to make sure that the things we have can continue to glorify God even when we're gone. And we want to see our resources have a purpose. And so we were trying to be intentional in that. (10:06) In the midst of looking at that bill, I can't say that I was saying, "Oh, thank you, God, for this bill." But I recognize, okay, that's what it is. My resources still need to be put toward praising God. And I guess I can look at it, too. He's a follower of Christ. He will use that money also, and it will multiply out. But we've got to be those who are willing to wrestle with the difficult uh points of encounter, the the point where faith meets life. (10:35) Will I surrender to God? That's what we're talking about. And it's it's a challenge. So I want to take us a little bit further in that today to the last one. This is the last one in this section. And the last point of surrender that demonstrates that my faith drives my actions. And beliefs move down from something I've read and thought about to something I live by. (11:01) And that is that we are called to be those who speak of the mercies we have received. I mentioned the Apostle Paul a minute ago. If I've received those mercies, Paul says the the only response to knowing that I have a relationship with God is to fully surrender to him and allow him to use my life for his purposes and his glory. (11:25) And so, we're going to be talking about another area where I'm going to I'm going to say that our first response is I'll let somebody else do that. And that is to share our faith with other people. Maybe you're a little different than the average follower of Jesus. We love everything about what God has done for us. But sometimes that fear of rejection holds us a h back from speaking what we know to be true. (11:51) Anybody besides me ever felt that way? It's a it's a reality of kind of the culture we live in. We hesitate. We hold back. And we're going to talk about that a little bit this morning. But I'm going to start with a couple of questions. One, Jesus made this statement. He said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the father but through me." Now, here's the question I have for you. (12:19) Do you believe that to be true? I hope you can say yes. There's not not a trick question here. I hope you can say yes to that. If we truly believe that Julius meant that and that he was personally talking to me when he was saying it and to you, then that requires that truth has to be transformative. (12:46) It has to change the way that I view not only my own life but what I talk to people about the points of my interaction. Jesus is the only way. He is the only one that gives life. We called this series uh life unlocked. I honestly believe the reason we're going through this series is because my belief in Jesus is the process by which he will ultimately get to the point where he will open life. I've come that you might have life and that you might have it abundantly. (13:13) Jesus is the author of life, your life. He is the author of it. You may feel like you're writing the story. The story becomes beautiful and deep when you surrender the focus of that story to Jesus being the central character. And he's using your what he's given you, how he's given it, he sets you free. (13:37) Jesus himself talked about this a lot that if we want to experience life, we need to come into the kingdom of God. We need to come into a point of surrender to God and that he is the means, the way by which we have that relationship. So let me ask you this question now. Take it a little bit further. Do you believe that God sent his son Jesus for the purpose of offering redemption? And in redemption, those who receive it will have a relationship with God. (14:03) Do you believe that? I I hope you do. That's the starting point. If any of you are here still wondering and questioning about that, it's okay to question. I want to push you a little bit further. Jesus himself declared, as I've already talked about, that he is the way to God. that it is through him that we have life. (14:22) It is by his sacrifice we find forgiveness. It is he is the one who has set our future and gives us hope. He is the one that has determined life for us. When he came out of the grave, we celebrate that on Easter. When he came out of the grave, life became available to everyone who puts their faith in him. It is an eternal life that starts today. In the present, I walk with God. (14:42) I walk with God with a sense of security and a hope because Jesus on the cross sealed eternity. Death belongs to him now and he crushed it. And he says, "If you want life, live with me." Okay? So, if we say we believe that and I hope if today is the day where you're making that determination for yourself, please let me know. (15:07) I want to help you in that walk because Jesus said, "I have come to proclaim the kingdom of God and that it is here and that we can live in relationship with God." And that relationship comes through the forgiveness offered to us by the blood of Christ on the cross. Now, the rest of us, if we've been walking in that um in the kingdom for a period of time, don't you think it would be wise? And wouldn't it naturally make sense if the greatest gift we've been given is life with God that we tell other people about it? To me, it makes logical sense. (15:39) Doesn't mean it makes emotional sense. It makes logical sense. Doesn't mean I'm going to be whoa, yippee. Especially in the context of our culture today. I am glad to see, however, I will state there is a sense of movement that people are moving back to proclaiming the truth of what they know in Jesus. I pray we do it with grace, but that we stand firm in the truth of what Jesus has done. (16:16) But I'm calling us in this room today to be those who begin to think, do I speak faithfully about what I have received in Jesus? So, I want to simply walk through uh three three points with you this morning. Uh and those three points directly tie into this idea or support why it is we need to be those who proclaim the truth of Jesus. So, let's start with this one. Here's the first point. (16:41) God calls all of us to share our faith. All of us are called to share our faith. the reason that we live. We've been talking in this series that we move from a belief. I'm not just sharing my belief. I need to share my faith. What do I live by? And live that way. See, some of us are still in that point of transition. We say we believe in God. (17:04) We believe in Jesus, but we've we have yet to transfer from a belief to a life of faith where he is determining, directing, and in empowering everything that I do. So God calls us to be those who share our faith. And now I'm going to stop again and say there's probably very few of us standing up and going, "Yes, I'm ready to go. Let's do it. (17:30) " There's some maybe are gifted that way and they are going, "What's the big deal?" But most of us are sitting here and going, "Oh man, this is a tough one." Some may be even saying it's a little tougher than having to give up my resources to be surrendered to God or my time. you. God, that's embarrassing. Why do I have to tell people about this? They're not gonna like me. God, do you see? Oh, man. I'm I may lose friends. (17:53) Relationships could be broken. You see, we'll we'll struggle and we wrestle with that whole idea. However, I want us to know we still are called to share our faith. Let's go with what the Apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5, starting with verse 14. Either way, Christ's love controls us. Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life. (18:20) He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ who died and was raised for them. Okay, right there, that verse just encapsulated what we've been talking about in this series. And several key points that he makes. First of all, that Christ died for all. (18:41) I want you to let that sink in just a little bit. He didn't just die for those nice people that sit in this room at West Valley or some of the other churches around. It is not just for the church people in church that Jesus died for. He died for all. So, circle that in your Bible if you got it. He died for all. (19:01) The the power of what was per uh perfected on the cross, the expression and depth of grace is for all. However, as you noticed, he goes on and says um and he talks about died to where we have to die to our old life. So, that's putting aside where I'm in control and moving to where Christ is in control. (19:19) And then he said again, he died for everyone so that those who receive his new life. So, there's that point of receiving it. I got to choose it. It's I've got to make it mine. Those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ. You see this? This is what we've been talking about. I got to move from I believe Jesus died for me to I live because Jesus died for me. (19:43) That's where we need to get to every one of us. And as I said already, it's not easy. It's not a natural thing. But if we will learn to live that life, here's the guarantee. I can make a thousand% guarantee on this. If we learn fully surrendered to Jesus, and I talked about this in the past few weeks, you will experience more joy in your life. Your anxiety, your depression, all of those things will begin to fade away. (20:09) You will begin to experience a presence and a power in your life that you never thought or understood or even fully uh realized could take place. You will see things accomplished you never thought you could accomplish. You will see purpose in everything that takes place in your life. (20:28) And you will find greater joy to surrender, to find and express that purpose than you will to have something that's going to reward you just personally. Selfishness fades away. When we begin to live the life that Christ offers, we move from a a temporal life of self-centeredness to an eternal life of Christ centeredness. And the God who made time says, "I'll give you all that you need. (20:53) " The God who gave you your resources says, "I'll give you more than you can ever imagine." The God who uh created relationships and created you for relationships will say, "Now I can put you where I need you, and we will develop relationships that will not only create a greater sense of you knowing me, but where you will transform those around you." You see, we've got to understand and be willing to take that risk of faith and say, "I'm going to stop trying to control what I the application of my belief to a full surrender to what I know I believe that I can experience life." And that's what he's talking about. Now, he goes on further and he (21:30) says this in verse 19. For God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people's sins against him. So, this is he's telling us what Christ accomplished. Paul is that in Christ our sins are forgiven if we choose and recognize that God forgives. (21:48) If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins, cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We don't have to be perfect. Christ was perfect. I have to just accept the perfection of Christ in my place. Jesus, forgive me. God, I need you. Come in and live with me. Great news is he does. (22:06) He puts his spirit in each one of us. Does that mean I no longer sin and I'm perfect? No. It means that God is in a process of transforming me to live the life I was created for. And in that process of transformation, I know him more and more deeply. And so he continues on here and he says, "And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation." So what did he do? He gave us the message of reconciliation. (22:35) What reconation? this reconciliation that took place on the cross that we have received if we put our faith in Jesus. He has given us that message. It's ours now. What do you do with a message you've been given? What does somebody will go here? This is a is a kingdom perspective. So the king's given you a message. I've done this for you and it's for everyone. (22:56) I'm giving you the message of what I accomplished that you now recognize. What are you supposed to do with a message? You're supposed to tell somebody. You're supposed to give it to the next person. You're supposed to inform. You're supposed to It's with a delight and an excitement. This is what Jesus has done. The God of heaven who loves me personally, who died for me on the cross, wants to know you to know him as well. (23:25) So, he's given us the message and it's a message of reconciliation. So, we are Christ's ambassadors. God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead come back to God. Those are to me those are some of my the most beautiful words in all the Bible. I hope they are for you as well. It is absolutely beautiful. (23:52) So we are Christ's ambassadors. He God is making his appeal through us. How cool is that? that God is speaking through me to somebody else about the grace he's extended on the cross. What a privilege. This goes back direct connection to the understanding of the in the story uh we looked at in Matthew 25 last week of the servants who were given much by the king and one was given five bags of gold one uh two bags of gold. (24:21) Those first two guys did you remember do you remember what their mentality was? You have entrusted me and therefore I did with this as if I were doing it for you. Same thing is stated here. God is entrusting us with the message of what he has accomplished in Christ. And he's saying, "Don, you're my messenger. You can do this. You can do it. Go tell people. (24:48) " He's saying, "Isaac, Christ loved you and died for you. You can be my messenger. I entrust you with that message. He can do it. We walk right through this room. Every one of us is on the mind of God to be his messenger of the grace that he has extended and the life that is available to everyone. (25:07) Isn't that cool? I am thankful for that. I hope you are thankful for that. And he continues in that he says um we speak for Christ when we plead come back to God. In the last few weeks, I have drawn uh some connections here and I have told you that um we are to be and Christ uh calls us to be uh the aroma of his presence when we are with other people. (25:33) You remember me talking about that that we are literally called in a world of decaying decay and death where stench is in the nostril of every person we are be the aroma of life. So that when we are with other people they get that fresh clean sense that there is hope and there is life and they know it because you have been with Jesus. (25:58) We are to be the aroma of Christ. We also talked about this the reality that God wants us to be the image of Jesus. So that when people are around us, not only to get this this sense that there's something alive, there's something fresh, there's something new, but they look at it and go, they walk away and go, I feel like I have seen Jesus. (26:19) I don't know what he necessarily looks like, but I saw it in them. Do you remember the little the little uh mind thing I did with you and had you stare at an image then close your eyes and you could see the image of Jesus? It's that when somebody is when you are with someone and they can't explain it but that you walk away and they go there's something there. There is something there. Let me ask you this. (26:44) Go back in into Jesus life. How often do you think those who met Jesus walked away going? I'll guarantee they didn't. In fact, I think one of the coolest things if I ever can can uh time travel, I want to go back to when Jesus was on earth and I want to just walk around with him and watch the reactions of people. (27:06) There were those that didn't like him who said, "We got to kill this guy." But those who truly met him, like think of the woman who when Jesus is walking through the crowd, everybody's pressing in on him and she had enough faith. I'm not worthy to talk to him. But if I can just touch the hem of his garment and instantly Jesus stopped. Yes, she was healed by touching his garment. (27:31) How beautiful is that? Absolutely beautiful. But Jesus took time with her. When his disciples, Come on, Jesus, you don't have time. Let's keep moving. People, get back. He's important. She saw Jesus. You see, sometimes we read in there that his disciples kind of forgot who Jesus was and they got distracted. (27:57) But those who really saw Jesus for who he was never forgot him. And I believe that should be true for us. And that we spend so much time with Jesus that when we are with other people, we're not trying to be better than them. We're not trying to act a certain way like we are. We're just a little better than the average person. In fact, we recognize that we're not. (28:16) And we're asking, "How can I serve you? What can I do? I want to serve my master by serving you because he's given me a message of reconciliation that I want you to hear that not only does God love you, but that God has forgiven you and that God wants to restore you back to life in Jesus. So, let me know how I can serve you." And when we walk away, they see the image of Jesus. Well, today I'm saying this to you. (28:42) We are called to be the voice of Jesus. It was given to us right there by Paul when he said that we are Christ's ambassadors. What does an ambassador do? Let's say today you're appointed to be the ambassador to France. Do you just stay here and continue what you're doing? And every once in a while you send a little email to somebody in France that says, "Hey, I'm the ambassador. (29:06) Don't forget I mean an ambassador does what? They go and live with those they are to spring a message to. They live out life in the context to be the representative of the one that sent them there. You and I have been sent as ambassadors into this culture. We are to live with them fully in relationship to Jesus. (29:32) So that when they walk by, they go, "Ah, he's an ambassador to Jesus. She's an ambassador Jesus. I've seen Jesus. I've heard the voice of Jesus. When I'm with them, there is something fresh around them. There is something encouraging about them. There is something that when I am there, I feel like there's life there." Isn't that beautiful? That's the privilege that we have been given in Christ. God expects us to tell others. (30:00) Yes, we may find it challenging. Yes, we may get nervous about it. Yes, we may feel we're going to fail. You know what? I would rather fail in the midst of life with Jesus than fail trying to refuse to tell others of him. And I think we need to get to that point. Now, here's some good news. I told you there was three things I'm going to talk about. That's the first one. (30:26) God calls all of us to talk about Jesus. We're the voice of Jesus. There is a second point that I want to bring you to. And here it is. It starts in in Acts chapter 2:42. It says this, "All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and to fellowship and to sharing in meals." That's in that includes the Lord's supper and to prayer. (30:50) So I ask you this question. I think that verse is still behind me. What did they devote themselves to? This is one of those tests where you can cheat if you want to and look at the uh at the answers and some of us still miss them. Um they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching, to fellowship, to sharing meals, and to prayer. Four things. (31:13) Does it say anywhere they devoted themselves to evangelism? Churchy term for telling other people. Did they Does it say that there? I want you to see it doesn't. Okay, we can still be the New Testament church. We can still do it. I don't have to be devoted to that. Well, I'm going to push it a little bit further here. We Let's see how I want to state this. (31:40) The idea of telling others is to be so ingrained in our lives that it doesn't have to be the something that we are directly devoted to. It's what comes out of our devotion to the things that are mentioned up there. We become the voice of God. Let me give you an example right there out of Acts two. All the while praising God. (32:00) So, this just gone down a couple verses here and it's talking about the New Testament church. Uh the followers Jesus talking about and uh so they were praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people and each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved. (32:18) So, who was it that was doing the work of bringing people to see the truth of what Christ has done? God is the answer there. I try to make it easy. It's either Jesus or God. We'll keep those answers simple. Um, God is the one that was doing it. Does that then suddenly lift the obligation off of me? No. Because it's not an obligation. It's a responsibility of faith. Here's my point. (32:41) Living your faith is the best way to share your faith. It's it's that simple. The challenge that most No, I want to be generous here. A lot of Christians have and they still haven't crossed that point from belief to faith and so they're not living their faith. And here's what happens when we don't make that transition from belief to faith. (33:05) Do you know what comes in there? There's kind of like this things get muddied up. And we start to become more judgmental when it stays at a belief system than rather a life a way of life. And we will then start to uh produce in ourselves well I believe this and you don't. Therefore something wrong with you. (33:27) And we okay that's good. I relieve myself and need to say anything to them because we all know who they are. And then we move through life kind of this way because it isn't a way of life. If and here's what the point I want you to get out of this. We see it there in the first century church. (33:44) When we begin to live our faith, we're not thinking, I've I've got to go tell this person. I got to tell this person. We just live our faith. And the voice of Jesus rings in the ears of those we come in contact with. They get to see what it is, a life that is surrendered to him, where resources and time, where my attitude and my acceptance of people and my love for people expresses what God is doing for me and through me. (34:10) And I live with a sense of abandon to him and his relationship with me. And he is clearly expressing himself when I don't even know it. I'll give you proof of that. Acts chapter 2. Now we go back up to the beginning. What happens in Acts two? Do you remember what happens there? They are all the believers are gathered up in an upper room. Jesus has told them to wait. The Holy Spirit's going to come upon them. (34:34) Did they fully understand one what the Holy Spirit was going to be and two the purpose of the Holy Spirit? The answer to that one is not Jesus or God. It's no this time. So they didn't have a full concept of it. They just didn't. But they're meeting and they're wanting to be faithful. And suddenly the presence of God comes down onto each of them in form of a a rushing wind into the room and God has entered this place. And then fire descends on each of those believers. And it is in the presence of God going into their (35:04) lives and they begin to speak in different languages. Absolutely gorgeous. They're out there talking and they don't even at that point like they may not even be aware of the language that they're speaking but God is. And the people they it's it's you know early in the morning 9:00 in the morning and they're going outside and the and the sound from that room and they and they're rushing out. (35:31) We're not told all the details of it, but suddenly all these people are hearing the truth of Jesus in their language. I think that's the voice of Jesus right there. Now, did they sit up there and set up a couple of uh committees? How are we going to use this new phenomenon? Bob over here speaks Swahili. We got to put him send him to Africa. Let's go. Okay. Now, Anna over here, she I think that's Nor (35:58) wegian. Get her up north. No. What happened? They're just talking and this is going on and people are hearing in their language and God is speaking to the hearts of individuals. And what happened? 3,000 people heard the truth of Jesus through the lives of these people fully surrendered to God. They heard the voice of Jesus loud and clear. (36:22) Oh, it's such a beautiful picture that we sometimes in our fear will limit the expression of Jesus in our lives. We don't understand what we're missing out on. The best way to share your faith is to live your faith. Just live it with total abandon. Total abandon. And people will hear the voice of Jesus. It will be the voice of hope in a world of desperation because you've stepped out of the desperation to live with God. (37:01) There's a third point if we get to that to where we're fully surrendered and we're living our faith as an expression of what God has done. The third thing we need to know is even though I may I I need to live my faith to be the greatest voice, there are still times where I need to speak up. We trust God in all those situations, but we speak about Jesus at the right time because we're listening to the sensitivity of the spirit. (37:32) And if you're walking with Jesus, God's spirit is in you. I can tell you this from even this last week. I won't give you any specifics on it, but in the midst of a conversation where my a tendency might be to just let something just kind of go. I've heard the voice of God. Some of you may be really you sure it was voice of God? I'm sensitive to the leading of God and I'm always asking God, what do you want to do in this situation? And I heard him say, tell him about Jesus. (38:04) and he wouldn't let me go in that tell them about Jesus because sometimes we have to help people get to a personal they they don't know there's something there they want something they don't know what it is have you met Jesus and my first thing may go I'd be more comfortable if I don't have to do that it makes things a little bit smoother no when the time is right speak the truth that you know about Jesus trusting that you're living by faith. (38:36) God is the one who's doing great things. And there are times when he will ask you, "Tell him about my son." Let me give you an example. I'm going to go to the Old Testament for this one. It may surprise you. How can you go to the Old Testament to talk about Jesus? Well, listen up. (38:54) You're going to hear because there's a great example here. Back in uh 2 Kings chapter 5, there is a story that unfolds for us. And this is during the time when Elisha was the prophet to Israel. And um Elisha was the voice of God to his people calling them back. And he, if you're familiar with him, did many miracles. (39:15) God did powerful things through him. Okay, I want to give you that context contextual setting. At this time, the nation of Israel was not real strong uh militarily or anything else or even their walk with God. And that's one of the reasons why Elisha was being used powerfully among them to try to draw them back. Well, there was another nation to the northeast of Israel called the Ram. (39:38) And Aram was a much more powerful nation than Israel was at that time. And uh they we come into this in chapter 5 and the um raiders from Aram had come into Israel. Actually, it happened on multiple occasions. and they would come down, they would steal all the crops. They would steal up and and take slaves back with them. (40:01) Okay? So, not a real fun place and thing to have going on. The guy that headed up the army for the king of Aram was a guy named Non. Non was a good great military leader. And here's an interesting thing. If you want to also know, go read second uh Kings 5. It tells us that God did great things through the nation of Aram, through the king of Aram. (40:23) You're going, "How is that possible? Israel is a nation." Yeah. The problem was God had to use Aram to bring basically get the people back to him. Okay. So now these people have come down. They've been doing raids. In one of those raids, a young girl was taken captive and returned uh to Aram uh with uh with all these other slaves and was given to the wife of Non uh as a slave, as a servant. Now, here's the other thing we know, you need to know about Non. (40:55) Not only was a great military leader and he was highly valued by his king, but he had leprosy. And in that time, leprosy anytime is not a good thing. That time it it meant a lot of things. His life he's obviously going to die and it's going to be a brutal death. (41:15) And in that process also he eventually will not be allowed and he even most likely at the time was not allowed to be around a lot of other people. It just had major effects on him. And it was it was in a sense we get this picture as we're reading in that passage that it was a very challenging difficult thing for non. Okay, I think we could understand that. (41:37) And there's this servant girl that's living there uh serving his wife. And she says this in in 2 Kings 5:3. One day the girl said to her mistress, "I wish my master would go see the prophet in Samaria, he would heal him of his leprosy." Okay, now I want you to keep those words in your mind, but remember the context. (42:01) young girl probably from we don't know a whole lot about her. We're not given her name. We're not really given a lot of details other than she's a young girl who's been taken captive and she's serving now the wife of the guy that's head of the army of a foreign nation who's been keeps invading your own people. So I would call that a fairly difficult circumstance if I'm that person. All right. (42:24) I don't think we get what that would be like but it would not be fun. You've been taken from your family. She's young, so she would have been taken from her family. She would be uh she's being forced to serve. She is also being forced to uh into the context and culture of false gods. She um it's just not good. But in the middle of all of this, she says to her mistress, "I wish my master non would go see the prophet in Samaria because he'd heal him of his leprosy. (42:53) I love the faith of that girl. absolutely love the faith of that girl. In the midst of difficulty of life, she's still living in relationship to God. She doesn't have a belief about God. She has a faith in God. And she knows who Elisha is, God's representative. She knows the power of God that has been demonstrated through Elisha. (43:18) And she knows there's nothing that God can't do, even heal the enemy's leprosy. So non goes to the king and he tells him what the girl said because the message got to non. Non goes to the king and says she says there's someone in in in Israel that can actually heal me. And the king writes a note letter of introduction. It's kind of funny to me. They've been invading their country forever. (43:43) And then they he writes a letter and non takes it with an entourage with him down to Israel to see the king of Israel. and he hands him this letter and the king reads it and it basically says, "Heal my general." Now, the king goes into total panic. He's trying to pick a fight with me, he says. (44:05) And I, you know, you kind of get it because he, the king at the time, is not focused on walking with God. He is only focused on, oh, what do we do now? This guy's coming down here. They got the bigger army. They're more powerful than me. And now he tells me to heal his his general. If I don't heal him, he's going to kill me. Thankfully, somehow Elisha hears of what's going on and he tells the king, "Send him to me. (44:31) " And so Non goes to see Elisha. Very interesting thing when the non and his he had quite an entourage with him. Several of his commanders and those with him. They get there to the house of Elisha and Elisha won't come out of the house. He sends his servant out. I love it. This is awesome. There's reasons in the context in the story what's going on. I'll put it in a quick capsule. What he is saying is, "I don't bow to you. (44:57) I serve one God." So he sends a servant out and and it that ticks off non. And then uh the servant tells him Elisha says that you need to go down to the river Jordan and and dunk yourself in it seven times and you'll be healed. Well, non at this it's like this is this just ticks me off. No respect being shown here whatsoever. And aren't there better rivers up in my home own home country? They're cleaner. (45:25) They're more beautiful. I'd rather dip in those than dip in the filthy Jordan River. And he's all ticked and he's he's deciding what he's going to do. and he and he's about to leave and his his commanders come around him and say, "Look, if he had told you to do some great feat of, you know, of heroics, you would have done it, wouldn't you?" Yeah, you got to set your pride aside is what they tell him. And do what he says. (45:51) It's it's worth it. Just try it. Let's give it a shot. Let's see what happens. And so Non finally goes, "Okay." And he goes down to the River Jordan. And I can kind of see him shuffling down there. It's not going to do anything, guys. I don't know why we're down here. This is so stupid. Look at how filthy this river is. And okay, I'll go in. I'll go in. And five, six, 7. (46:13) And he's whole. Now returns to Elisha, and I want you to catch what he says. Then Non and his entire party went back to find the man of God. They stood before him and non said,"ow I know there is no God in all the world except in Israel." I want you to make a connection now. It's all I want you to do. (46:45) We'll conclude. How did non get to the point where he said there is no other God but the God in Israel? Because a young servant girl who had been taken captive from her own family in difficult circumstances said at the right time and at the right moment I can't be silent. The only hope for him even though he is my enemy is for him to meet God. (47:11) And she starts the process that brings him into relationship and knowledge and understanding. There is only one God. It's the God of Israel. See how beautiful that is? There are times when we have to speak up even if things are extremely difficult for us. We have to be listening to the Holy Spirit in our lives that when he says speak, speak. (47:41) There will be times when he'll say, "Be quiet." Because we have a tendency to talk too much and what we're saying is distorting the truth of Jesus. But what we it is if we're walking with Jesus, the time and opportunity will come and it's not always going to be when life's perfect for me. So I sit up in my white tower and I tell you how great it is and you need to listen to Jesus. (47:59) It's in the midst of the dirt of life when things are painful. You need to meet Jesus. You need to meet Jesus. I love you too much not to say this. Let me tell you about my savior. You see, so the best way for us to respond to the the the command of God, to tell others about what he has done, the mercy he has shown is to live our faith and then live it out so uh consistently that when the opportunity presents itself, we speak truth even if it is going to cost us, even if it's not easy because we will be opening doors for those who have never known God or (48:42) fullness of life with him because they've yet to meet Jesus. You think we can get there? I want to get there. It's not tomorrow it's going to happen. It means I'm going to be in process with Jesus and continue to learn. But I want us to be those who live our faith and speak when the opportunity is given. But if you're going to know what to say, you've got to be living your faith. (49:08) You got to be walking with Jesus. You can't separate those two. Because if you separate them, then when you go to talk about Jesus, it it will come off as being something that somehow benefits you, not them. But when we walk with Jesus, surrender to him, then we become the voice of Jesus. And they may forget me, but they'll remember what was said. (49:30) I don't know if non ever went back and said thank you to that servant girl. Forgot where it came from. All he knows is he was healed. He He's Wow. There is a God in Israel. But he heard the voice of God through that girl and God healed him. It says in Ephesians chapter 6, it says this, "And pray for me too. (49:55) Ask God to give me the right word so I can boldly explain God's mysteries mysterious plan that the uh good news is for Jews and Gentiles alike." I'm in chains now, still preaching this message as God's ambassador. So pray that I will keep on speaking boldly for him as I should. (50:15) Apostle Paul was stating that as he was in chains in Rome writing to the church in Ephesus and he's saying, "Pray that I will continue to be bold with the message of Jesus." That should be what we pray for each other all the time. Literally all the time. Think of me. Pray. Help Joel to be bold. Live his faith. Speak the words of Jesus when God prompts him. Every one of us. (50:35) That's why it's important that we pray together, why we have fellowship together, so that we are living our faith and speaking when the opportunity is given. And we're praying that God will use his activity to be the voice of Jesus into somebody else's life. And then God will add to our number daily.