Well, how's everybody doing?
Good, it's good to see all of you.
As he said, I am Pastor Mark Finnegan.
Actually, I've been going to Harvest for 30 years.
Actually got saved 21 years ago.
And actually, I got, yes, I'm glad,
I'm glad a couple of people are excited about that.
But actually, I got saved at the Harvest Crusade, believe it or not.
I was actually working in San Bernardino,
and one of my co-workers, he just came up to me with an invite,
said, hey Mark, I want to invite you to the Harvest Crusade.
And I said, to the Harvest Crusade?
I said, wait, is that that thing that they put on at Angel Stadium each and every year?
And he actually got excited knowing that I knew about the crusade.
I said, wow, yes, that's what it is, the crusade.
I want to invite you.
And I said, wait, wait, is that where like 40,000 Christians gather together?
Yes, I want to invite you.
Will you come?
I said, you're out of your mind.
There's no way I'm going to a crusade.
I don't know what all you do there, what you all gather around and sing kumbaya.
I don't know, but I'm not going.
So I actually declined his invitation.
But I could not decline what the Holy Spirit was doing in my life.
And his name was Larry, and I'll never forget Larry.
I'm so thankful that he invited and he planted that seed.
But then weeks leading into the crusade, I just felt like just a strong desire that I needed to be there.
And so I went home, I was living with my live-in girlfriend for three years.
And I said, hey, honey, I think we need to go to the Harvest Crusade.
And she said, what?
The Harvest Crusade?
I said, yeah, I feel like we need to be there.
And so we went, we didn't go with my friend Larry.
We went all on our own.
And I remember we were sitting out in left field there.
And I don't remember all the music that was playing.
Well, I do remember one of the bands was The Cry.
Does anybody remember The Cry?
Yeah, a few of you.
They were playing, but I don't remember any of the other bands.
But I remember when Greg opened up his Bible and he preached the word of God.
Man, it hit me like a ton of bricks.
And I just knew I needed to respond.
And so I got up out of my seat.
I said, forget my live-in girlfriend.
I'm going to go make a commitment to follow Jesus Christ.
And I got up and I, yes, praise the Lord, right?
And as I got to the field, I kind of felt someone, you know, when somebody's too close to you,
kind of look back, it's my live-in girlfriend.
She's actually committing her life to Jesus Christ as well.
And so we prayed to receive Christ.
And you're probably wondering, well, Mark, what happened to that live-in girlfriend?
Well, I'm still living with her.
But we got married one week later.
Yes, so praise the Lord for that.
And so, yeah, I've been going to the church for 30 years, been on staff for 21 of those years.
And I'm just excited to see what the Lord's going to do.
We have Phil Wickham that's going to be there.
We have Chris Tomlin, Brooke Ligerwood.
Also, we're doing a tailgate event.
It starts at 2.30 out in the parking lot for all the youth.
So all you youth can then come out as well.
But here's why I brought up that story.
It says in 2 Corinthians, chapter 5, verse 20, it says, what's your name?
What's your name?
Mike? Nick? Okay, Nick.
It says in 2 Corinthians 5.20, to you, Nick.
Here's what it says.
It says, he, speaking of God, is making his plea through Nick that others may be reconciled.
But that's not just for Nick.
God's speaking that to me as well.
But that's not just for me.
God is speaking that through all y'alls.
Did you hear what it said?
Tell him, Nick. I mean, here's what it says.
It says, he, speaking of God, is making his plea through all y'alls that others may be reconciled.
Wow.
Well, I've entitled my message this morning, Prayer and Share.
And we're going to be looking at Colossians chapter 4.
We're going to look at verses 2 through 3.
But again, for all my note takers, I've entitled the message Prayer and Share.
But before I jump in the message, I want to tell you of a story of this schoolteacher who was out of work.
And she lived in England, and so she's out of work, so she's sending out her resumes to everyone.
Well, one makes it from England all the way over to Switzerland.
It was about a five-hour flight or something like that.
And so they call her.
That was the only people that called her.
The school director called her and said, hey, I'd like you to interview for the position.
Well, she jumped on a plane and she flew over there.
She loved the position, loved everything about it.
She just, yes, I'll take the job.
And so she's talking to the school director afterwards.
She goes, oh, no, I mean, I've never been here.
I don't know where to look for a place to live.
Well, the school director, he actually tells her, he goes, it's funny you bring it up.
He says, my good friend has a place for rent, apartment for rent.
If you want to go take a look at it, we can.
So they go look at the apartment. She loved it.
She signed the lease on the spot.
So she's ecstatic for her new venture in Switzerland.
So she's flying back home to England.
But she suddenly doesn't remember seeing a bathroom in or near the apartment that she was going to rent.
Now, let me set this up.
In England, they call the bathroom the water closet or the WC.
So she suddenly just emails the school director back.
She says, pardon me.
I don't recall. I don't know why I'm talking like this.
But anyway, just pardon me.
I don't recall seeing a WC in or near the apartment I'm going to rent.
Please advise.
Well, he gets this email and says, WC.
What's a WC? He didn't know.
And so he's asking everyone, do you know what a WC is?
Oh, I don't know what a WC is.
He's asking everyone. No one knows what a WC is.
Well, he finally asks his minister friend, do you know what a WC is?
And he says, well, of course I know what a WC is.
She's got to be talking about the Wayside Church.
So here's how he answered her back.
He said, yes, there is a WC, but it's located nine miles from the apartment in the middle of a beautiful row of trees.
He went on to say, he says, it seats almost 150 at one time.
It's open on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays.
He goes on and says, some people bring their lunch and make a day of it.
On Thursdays, he said, there's an organ accompaniment.
The acoustics there are something else.
The slightest sound can be heard by everyone.
Then he said, it may interest you.
My daughter met her husband at the WC.
Then he said, sadly, my wife hasn't been able to attend regularly.
It's been about six months since she last went.
Naturally, he said, it pains her not to go more often.
Wow. I would say a slight misunderstanding, wouldn't you?
What about that scripture I just read to you guys?
That he, speaking of God, is making his plea through all of us that others may be redeemed.
I mean, there's got to be a misunderstanding, right?
Or what about Mark 16, 15?
I mean, these are words to us from our commander in chief.
And what does he say?
He says, go into all the world and preach the gospel.
I don't think there's a misunderstanding there, do you?
Or what about Mark 1, 17?
This is Jesus speaking.
He said, follow me and I'll make you all fishers of men.
I think it's pretty clear, right?
No misunderstanding.
Well, again, we're going to be in Colossians chapter 4, verses 2 through 6.
As a matter of fact, let's read it together.
Let me find it here.
Colossians 4, verses 2 through 6.
And here's what it says.
If you return there, it says this.
It says, continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving.
Meanwhile, praying also for us that God would open to us a door for the word to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I'm also in chains.
Verse 4, that I may make it manifest as I ought to speak.
Walk in wisdom towards those who are outside redeeming the time.
Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.
Wow.
Do you want to be more effective in sharing with others?
Well, listen to this.
Before you can reach out to others, before you can reach out to man with the gospel, we first must reach up to God through prayer.
Listen, the power of your invite starts with the power of prayer.
We need to be praying people.
A famous pastor said this once.
He said, I wish to humble any one of y'all.
If I wish to humble any one of you, I shall just question you about your prayer life.
I thought, wow, that's so true.
But we all know the importance of prayer, right?
I mean, I can call on any of you.
Hey, would you come on up here and share a few minutes on the importance of prayer?
I mean, we could all get up here with no notes and talk about the importance of prayer.
We know about praying.
We ask about it.
We encourage it.
We believe it.
We'll even post things on our social media about it.
But let me ask you a question.
How often are you actually setting time aside to literally get on your knees
and pray for those who need to come to faith in Christ?
But look what it says here.
It says to pray earnestly.
Look, it says in my Bible right here, continue earnestly in prayer.
That means when you pray or when I pray, here's what the word actually means.
It means to be persistent in it, to hold fast to it.
To do it often.
Don't let go of it.
Continue in it.
Wait on and remain in.
That's what the word means.
But listen, not only to continually pray, pray often be persistent.
But look what it says.
Being vigilant in it.
That word, it means to stay awake while praying.
Quick poll.
How many of you think it actually works to stay awake when you pray?
Yes, we all do, right?
But when do you find yourself doing most of your serious praying?
Isn't it not at night, at the end of the day, when you're all comfy in your bed,
but then what ends up happening?
You end up falling asleep before you end up finishing your prayer, right?
I mean, does this sound familiar?
So you just, you have your work day.
You work late, you get home late.
Or you just maybe don't work, maybe just have the things of the day you have to do.
Just whatever.
You know your busy day.
And when you get home from work or whatever, you don't clock out.
You have to clock back in.
Some of us have kids.
We've got to fix dinner.
We've got to get in the bath.
You know, just the craziness of the day.
So then you have dinner.
You've got to take out the trash.
You've got a mobile on.
You've got to get to doing all this stuff.
And then you figure, okay, I'm beat now.
I've got to take a shower.
And the next thing you know, it's like 9.30, going on 10 o'clock.
And you finally rest in your bed.
So you get in your cozy bed.
You've got your one or two pillows.
How many of you are more than two pillow people?
Yes, okay.
Just want to make sure who I'm talking to here.
But you get your cozy blanket.
Now you're all tired.
You've got to turn on your fan.
How many of you are fan people?
Yes, you are all weird.
I don't know why.
It's always about half the congregation.
Half of you are weird.
My wife is weird as well.
So you're in good company.
But I don't get you.
I mean, she will turn on the fan even in the winter.
I mean, I kind of understand it in the summer, right?
It's blazing hot out.
But in the winter, I mean, she'll have the fan.
I can't fall asleep without it.
I need to hear the noise.
So anyways, so you got your banki.
You got your two or three pillows.
You got your fan blowing on you.
And then that's when you're going to pray?
I mean, maybe you've done this.
I most certainly have.
You'll pray, Lord, I just pray for you.
I pray for them.
I mean, has that happened to you?
No, no, it doesn't happen to you guys.
You guys are too godly, right?
Did you know that actually happened to the disciples?
Actually, it's recorded in Mark 14.
It's recorded in Mark 14, verse 32 through 14.
Let me just read to you.
You can turn there.
It says, they came to the place which was named Gethsemane.
Let me just set this up for you.
This is Gethsemane.
This is the place right before Jesus can be betrayed, tried, and crucified.
In another gospel, this is a serious, serious time.
It says that he sweat as it were great drops of blood.
Okay, so now I've set this up.
This is a very, very serious time.
It says, he came to the place which was named Gethsemane,
and Jesus said to his disciples, sit here while I pray.
And then it says, he took Peter, James, and John, he took his three boys with him,
and it says, he began to be troubled, deeply distressed.
And then he said to them, my soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death.
Stay here and watch.
That word watch, that word watch is the same word that we're using in Colossians,
chapter four, for be vigilant.
It says, stay here and watch.
Stay here and be vigilant.
Stay here and stay awake.
And then it says, he went a little further, and he fell on the ground.
And he prayed, if it were possible at this hour, my pastor, and he said,
Abba, Father, all things are possible for you.
Take this cup from me.
Nevertheless, not what I will, but what you will.
And then when he came back, what do you think he found his disciples doing?
Sleeping.
It says right there, he came back and he found them sleeping.
And he said to Peter, Simon, are you sleeping?
Could you not watch?
Could you not be vigilant?
Could you not stay awake one hour?
Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation.
The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
And then it goes on to say, he went away and he prayed and spoke the same words.
And when he returned, what do you think he found them doing again?
Sleeping.
When he returned, he found them asleep again.
Now they have an excuse.
They said our eyes were heavy, but they didn't know how to answer him.
An awkward moment.
But then he came the third time and said to them, are you still sleeping and resting?
It's enough.
The hour has come.
Behold, the Son of Man is being betrayed in the hands of sinners.
Rise, let us be going.
See, my betrayer is at hand.
Wow.
The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak, isn't it?
So how can we be more vigilant in our prayers?
How can we stay awake in our prayers?
How can we watch in our prayers?
Here's three fast facts for you.
Why don't you try praying with your spouse?
Before you go to bed, you just tell your spouse, we're going to pray.
Before I fall asleep, we are going to pray.
Try praying with your spouse.
I mean, you tell her, hey, if I start falling asleep, you look up, you see me fall asleep,
you have the authority to whack me.
I mean, do anything you can, keep me awake.
I mean, but do you remember that you used to pray often with your spouse?
What happened?
That's true.
We used to pray for a lot of my family.
We used to pray for this and that.
I don't know what happened.
Get with your spouse today and you tell her we're going to pray for this or that or this.
We're going to pray every night.
Well, I don't have a spouse, Mark.
What do you want me to do?
Get a prayer partner.
You call them up and say, hey, do you mind if I'm going to call you every night at nine o'clock
and we're going to pray together.
That's how important it is.
Here's another one.
Try praying aloud if you're alone.
I used to do this.
I asked my wife.
I would just go in my bedroom, shut the door, and I would be on the side of my bed,
not cuddled up with my blankie and my two pillows and the fan.
Nope, none of that.
Just stand up and you pray aloud.
You're not going to fall asleep if you're stand up praying aloud, are you?
Lord, I don't know what to do with this situation.
I need you to intervene, please, Lord.
So maybe pray aloud.
Or here's another one.
How about actually writing down your prayer request?
What?
You mean like what, a prayer journal?
I'm a guy.
I don't prayer journal.
No, you prayer journal.
I mean, you can even write it on your phone.
You didn't even write it down.
We all have smartphones.
Let's allow them to be smart for once and write down our prayer request.
I mean, I have prayer requests that I was praying for like eight years ago.
And I just recently looked at them.
I was like, oh my goodness.
God answered that prayer.
And I completely forgot about it.
So it's good to write down your prayer request because then it also gives you the chance to give God the glory
for the prayers that he's answered.
That's always good, right?
You remember it happened to the ten lepers.
Remember the ten lepers that came up to Jesus?
Oh, hell yes.
And so what did he do?
He healed them, sent them to the temple.
How many came back to give him glory for the work that he had done?
One.
Where's the other nine?
So it's good to write down our prayer requests.
So being vigilant means when you pray to stay awake.
That's what the word means.
But the word also gives a broader implication, meaning to stay alert for specific needs that you should pray for.
So, for instance, the Crusades this Saturday.
Let me ask you a question.
Who have you physically invited?
Who have you been praying for to come to this event?
I mean, we need a ton of Larry's like the co-worker that invited me.
I didn't go with him, but he was praying for me.
I guarantee you.
Why would I just have a sense to go to the Crusade?
I guarantee you he was praying for me.
Listen, your invitation, you praying for others, it's a spiritual, spiritual matter.
The Bible says no one comes to him unless he is drawn.
The Bible says that all are blinded by the God of this world, being Satan.
Our invitation is a spiritual matter.
The power behind your invite starts with the power of your prayers.
But don't be generic about them.
You be specific about them.
So when I ask you, who are you praying for to come to the Crusade?
You don't be generic.
Oh, well, I'm going to pray for my co-workers.
I'm praying for all my co-workers.
No.
You be specific.
You say, man, I'm praying for my buddy John at work.
And so you pray for him.
Lord, I pray for John at work.
Lord, you know he's going through.
I was passing by and I heard him talking to Mike.
He's having problems in his marriage.
Lord, would you intervene?
Use this to draw him to yourself.
You see the difference between being generic and being specific?
Who are you going to bring to the Crusade?
Who are you praying for to come to the Crusade?
My family, yes.
Yeah, Pastor Mark.
I'm praying for my family.
No, you be specific.
Lord, I'm praying for Debbie, my sister.
Lord, you know she's not walking with you.
Lord, and I love her so much.
But Lord, you love her more than I do.
Lord, draw her into a relationship with you.
That's being specific.
Listen, I have a challenge for you, and you all got one of these.
You should have got one of these when you came in this morning.
You handed them out, I think, about a month ago.
But I want one of these in each of your hands, because I want to challenge you.
Even if you wrote down five people already, write down five different people.
Write down the same five people.
And I want to encourage you to write them down, and then you take this home.
You can put it in your Bible.
You can stick it up on the mirror in your bathroom.
And if you just pray for them for a week, or some of you have been praying for a month, whatever.
You pray for them earnestly and often.
And God will hear your prayers.
He may answer it to where they come to the crusade.
He may answer it where you have those five people sitting next to you every Sunday hearing the gospel here.
Or you may even have the opportunity to preach the gospel.
But pray for them.
But listen, this is cool because you can write the five names down,
but then we give you another opportunity to write it down again.
And then this is perforated, so you'll just bend it, tear it off.
And then you can dump it in the offering box, the prayer box, as you leave.
And then that way, Nathan will have a ton of these that he'll be praying for you as well.
Praying for all the people who you have listed.
So let me ask you something.
Would you be willing to just pray for a week?
Would you be willing to write down the five names of people who are going to hell?
And say, you know what? I'm going to commit to pray for them.
I'm going to pray for them often for this whole week.
I mean, if you are willing to do that, raise up your hand.
I'm serious. Raise up your hand. Everybody raise up your hand if you're willing to do that.
Keep it up. Keep it up.
Just a little accountability.
I'll send that to you later so you can, you know.
Listen, we are to pray specifically for them.
And pray earnestly and often.
And then you invite them to the crusade like Larry did.
And you'll see what the Lord will do.
John Piper said this. He said, pray the locks off people's hearts.
I like that.
There was a man who committed to pray often for, he had five friends.
His name was George Mueller.
He was a godly guy. He lived in the 1800s.
He had a wonderful ministry to orphans.
But after Mueller, he became a Christian.
He had five unbelieving friends.
And he called them his target group.
And he prayed for them every day.
And listen to this.
It was five years of him faithfully praying for his target list, for his five people.
Five years of him praying before the first one came to Christ.
Wow.
But it doesn't stop there.
It was ten years later of him faithfully praying for his five, or now his four people,
praying for them, that ten years, it's unbelievable,
ten years before his second friend came to Christ.
Twenty-five years before his third friend came to Christ.
And check this out.
Fifty years of him praying before his fourth friend came to Christ.
And lastly, after Mueller's death, his last friend was converted two years after he had passed away.
Wow.
That's being specific.
Have a target group and pray for them earnestly and often.
Now look what Paul says next.
It's in verse three.
Look what Paul says.
He says, hey, basically, since we're on the topic of prayer,
look what he says.
He says, will you pray for us too?
Now, where's Paul?
He's in heaven, right?
So we don't need to pray for his ministry anymore.
But that doesn't mean we don't still pray for ministry.
Look what he says to pray for.
He says, pray for an open door.
Or that just means opportunities.
Pray for an open door.
Pray for opportunities to speak the word, to speak the mystery of Christ.
Basically, to speak the gospel.
You see, Paul was aware that there was a difference between those ordinary times of preaching the gospel.
But then he also knew there were those extraordinary times of preaching the gospel.
I mean, he even notes it a couple times through his books in 1 Corinthians, chapter 16, 9 and 10.
He says, I'm going to stay here in Ephesus.
Why?
He says, man, a wide door of effective work has opened to me.
But there'll be many adversaries.
Also in 2 Corinthians 2, 12.
He says this.
He says, when I came to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ, he says a door was opened for me in the Lord.
Have you ever had a door open for you like that?
Were you just like, this is crazy.
I mean, I'm just here to buy my Avian water and three apples.
But God, he opened this door for me to talk to the clerk, to talk to the person behind me.
You've had those instances, haven't you?
I mean, you can fill in the blank.
I mean, we've all had them.
I remember when we went handing out invitations and we were handing out invitations.
We were done with the day and we thought we would all go to dinner.
It was about 10 of us.
About 10 of us, yeah, right.
And we all went to dinner.
And I thought, whew, I'm done.
Did a good work for the Lord, passing out invitations, going door to door, sharing the gospel.
Now I'm done.
Now I get to have my, finally have my wet burrito, which I love.
But God had another opportunity.
I didn't see it, but my buddy next to me, he saw it.
And so he says, hey, talk to our waitress.
He says, hey, how are you doing?
She says, fine.
Can I take your order?
I'm like, okay, be quiet.
I want her to get to me.
I want my wet burrito.
It'll take about 25 minutes.
Don't talk to her.
He says, hey, we're going to be praying here for our mail.
Think we can pray for you for anything?
All of a sudden her bottom lip starts quivering and she starts tearing up and she starts sharing how he can pray for her, her son or her daughter.
I can't remember what it was, her son or her daughter.
And then he ends up sharing the gospel with her.
And then he turns to me and says, hey, Mark, pray with her and deliver her to the Lord.
But do you see?
I mean, what if I was to shut him down and say, no, no, no, no, no, don't do that.
No, he looks for those opportunities.
We all should be looking for opportunities, but not only just looking for God to open a door.
No, you look for him to blow the hinges off the door.
Listen, God wants to open doors in your life.
He wants you to share the gospel.
Hear me on this.
In order for you to share with those who need to be saved, you've got to see that the power of your invite, in order for it to come to fruition, you must, as we've learned, you've got to pray for man.
And you've got to pray that God would open a door for them as well.
Look what he says here.
He says, pray that I may make it manifest as I ought to speak.
That's what my Bible says.
Is that what your Bible says?
It says, pray that I may make it manifest as I ought to speak.
Another translation says, pray that I may proclaim it clearly.
Paul felt a necessity to preach the gospel.
It was a burden that he had.
As a matter of fact, in Romans 1-16, he says, what did he say?
He says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel.
He's not ashamed of the gospel?
I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it's the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes.
Are you ashamed of the gospel?
I mean, in here, none of us would say, no, we're all for the gospel.
But when people look at your life, the way you act Monday through Friday, Monday through Saturday,
I mean, you have to ask yourself, am I ashamed of the gospel?
But look at also in 1 Corinthians 9-16, he says, for if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of.
He says, for the necessity is laid on me.
He says, yes, woe to me if I do not preach the gospel.
Wow.
Could you say woe to me if I don't preach the gospel?
Do you find it a necessity to preach the good news?
Did you know that this is a poll that there's actually a couple of them, and they've been the same for quite a while.
But here it is, 95% of all you, every single one of the believers,
95% of all Christians have never led not even one person to Christ.
Wow.
And that's a sad statistic, isn't it?
Let me turn it on you.
When was the last time you shared your faith with somebody?
Pastor Greg Laurie has said this.
He says that all of us should be able to clearly share the gospel in three minutes or less at the drop of a hat.
Could you do that?
I mean, could you just, I mean, if I was to call on any of you right now, hey, stand to your feet and just share the gospel.
You don't even need to take three minutes. I mean, you can share the gospel in like one minute.
I mean, could you do that?
We got time. Let's try it.
I'm going to call on one of you and I'm going to have you stand to your feet and you share the gospel with me.
Okay.
Whoa, you getting a little nervous?
Some of you are like, look, now I've got to tie my shoe now and don't make eye contact with him.
Why?
Because you can't share the gospel inside here.
How in the world are you going to share it outside these doors?
We must be able to share the gospel.
But what is the gospel?
Well, what's the word mean?
Good news.
But before we can share the good news with them, you need to know what the bad news, right, to share with them is.
And here it is that some are and you were in a bad position.
I mean, Romans 3 23, it says it.
You need to know this.
All have sinned and fallen short of God's standards of his glory.
Ephesians 2 1 says we were all dead in our trespasses.
That's bad news.
And the wages of that sin is death.
Romans 6 23.
The wages of our sin is eternal separation from God.
That's definitely bad news.
But there's also some good news, right?
Ephesians 2 5.
Even when we were dead in our trespasses, he, speaking of God, made us alive together with Christ for by grace we have been saved.
Or how about John 3 16?
I mean, we all know John 3 16, right?
Matter of fact, let's all quote it together.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.
That's the good news.
Yeah, but I mean, that John 3 16, I don't really like to use that scripture because,
I used to use it when I was a newb leader, but now I've been walking with the Lord for a while and I like to use big boy scriptures.
So what are some scriptures?
No, no, no, no, no.
You use that scripture.
Matter of fact, it says in 1 Corinthians 1 21, listen to this, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.
This is the message that we're supposed to give.
But here's the problem, I've even caught myself doing this.
We will share or more comfortable in sharing what Christ can do for somebody in this world rather than what he's done for them on the cross of Calvary.
We'll say things like, you need to commit your life to the Lord.
You're like, why?
Well, he'll help you get out of this certain mess that you're in.
That's not the gospel.
Listen, sharing the gospel is about commuting salvation alone through Jesus alone.
The gospel message is on how Christian isn't on how Christianity can make our lives better, right?
You need to give your life to the Lord.
Why?
Well, he can improve your marriage.
He can help you raise your kids.
He can help you kick all your bad habits.
That's not the gospel.
Now, we've all had Christ clean up our lives, right?
How many of us have had our lives cleaned up by the Lord, right?
Yes, we have.
But that's not the gospel.
As many pastors have said, he catches his fish before he cleans them.
Listen, if we fail to confront the people with the truth of their sin and their need for salvation in Jesus alone, we've missed it.
Our souls aren't won through promises of a better life here and now, but through the power of the gospel as the only solution for their sin.
So now we know what the gospel is.
I mean, how are we going to earn the right to take it outside these doors and to share it with the world?
Look at verse 5.
It says it.
It says, look at, walk in wisdom towards those who are outside.
Walk in wisdom towards those who are nonbelievers.
Walk in wisdom means simply make godly decisions.
Because if you don't, those outsiders, those nonbelievers, they'll reject your message.
So you know the five people I had you pray for?
I can show you the picture.
I got you all right here.
I mean, if you were to actually invite those five to the Harvest Crusader or to church, let me ask you something.
Would they accept your invitation because they see that your life is radically changed by Jesus for the better?
I mean, would they actually respond because your life is different?
Basically, are you walking in wisdom?
We have a responsibility for the, before the world today.
Don't tell people you're a Christian.
But then when you, they look at your life, they prove you to be a liar.
And that would be horrible, right?
If your gospel isn't touching others, you need a question because it probably hasn't touched you yet.
I like what C.H. Spurgeon said.
He said, a man's life is always more forcible than his speech.
Did you get that?
A man's life, so what he does is always stronger than what he says.
And he goes on to say, when men take stock of him, they reckon his deeds as dollars, but his words as pennies.
If his life and doctrine disagree, the mass of onlookers accept his practice, but reject his preaching.
Wow.
Our character should not only affect us, but it should be infecting others.
They said that there's two reasons why someone won't go to church.
One is they don't know any Christians.
The other is they do.
That's a sad commentary, isn't it?
Where our life actually pushes someone away from Christ, away from coming to church, rather than drawing them to.
That's sad, sad commentary.
Our character should be inviting the world around us without us even saying a word.
2 Corinthians 3, 2 says that, listen to this, it says, we are all walking epistles.
Not many people are going to pick up a Bible and start reading it.
But everyone is reading into your life.
Let me ask you a question.
What are they reading into?
You're an open book.
What are they reading?
Is your life driven by the Bible?
Is your life during the week lining up with what you're learning here on Sundays?
Are you practicing what your preacher is preaching?
We'll say, oh, I want to share the gospel with my boss.
I've been praying for my boss.
I want to share the gospel with my boss.
You're talking about the same boss who you've been slacking at work at.
Why would he want to listen to you?
Oh, I want my family member.
I want them to come to Christ.
I want to share the gospel.
Really, you want to share the gospel.
You're talking about that same family member that you've been using bad language in front of.
Oh, I want my spouse.
Oh, that's great.
The one that you lose your temper constantly with.
Oh, here's a good one.
Oh, I want my co-worker to come to Christ.
You're talking about that same co-worker that you've been flirting with.
We are bad witnesses and we wonder why they decline our invitation.
Guard your testimony.
Be wise with the dealings with unsaved.
But lastly, look at it.
It says in verse five, redeeming the time.
This literally means to buy up your opportunities.
That's what the word means, redeeming the time.
Buy up your opportunities.
Now, I'm going to share something with you.
I probably shouldn't.
But I'm going to share it with you.
I love to shop.
But I'm not this any old shopper.
I'm a shoe shopper.
I love to shoe shop.
But I'm not any old shoe shopper.
I'm a certain shoe shopper.
I will only buy those bargains.
So I will go into a Norseman's rack.
I'll go directly to the clearance rack and I will look at the shoe.
And if it's like 30, 40 percent off, I will try it on.
I don't even care if it doesn't even fit me right.
I will pop on it.
And so you'll see me walking around.
I'll be kind of like, you know, walk around.
It doesn't fit right.
It's a little uncomfortable, but I can't help it.
I just have to buy it.
That's a lame analogy.
But that's what this word means.
It means to buy up your opportunities.
Buy them up.
And they may be a little small.
It may be a little uncomfortable in sharing the gospel, but you got to pop on it.
How many opportunities have you passed up?
How many?
I mean, before we even let our feet hit the ground, we should be praying,
Lord, open a door for me today.
Give me an opportunity to preach your word.
You've called us all to preach the gospel, Lord.
I want to be not just a hearer of the word.
I want to be a doer of the word.
So, Lord, give me an opportunity today.
You pray that every day for a week, and I guarantee you God will do something.
I mean, look at Paul when he wrote this letter.
He was in chains, but he still had a pen.
He was in prison, but he still had a witness.
Make the most of every opportunity.
Life is short.
People are living and more tragically dying without Christ.
Psalm 90-12 says, teach us to number our days.
Number your days.
Pray for those specifically and share the gospel at any chance you get with them.
Pray for those open doors.
Amen?
Amen.
Let's pray.
Father, we are so thankful that we have a house that we can come into,
and we love coming here.
Oh, not just for the nice air conditioner.
No, Lord, we love coming here because we love to get encouragement from other believers.
We love to worship you, and oh, Lord, the worship was so good.
But we also love hearing from you through your word.
I know this was a convicting message, and I pray that it would convict people.
It convicted me when I was writing it.
And I pray that, Lord, you would give them the boldness, empower them with your Spirit
to go out and start inviting as many people as possible to the crusade, to church,
even invite them into a relationship with you, Lord.
I pray that they would preach the gospel like crazy.
May this be a church that is not of that 95% that have never led a person to Christ,
maybe switched around, and may it only be 5%.
So fill us all with your Holy Spirit, Lord.
Help us to do your work.
So we commit the rest of our time to you.
We commit this week to you, and we ask it all in Jesus' name.
Amen.
God bless you guys.