Sharing God Series

Sharing God

Established - Week 6:

Scripture- Matthew 28, Acts 1

We've been in a series over the past few weeks called Established. As we wrap up the series, I want to talk to you about sharing God, about sharing your faith.

When we start talking about sharing our faith, its something that puts a weird feeling in our stomach. Most of us were raised to believe that faith and politics are not the subjects of polite conversation.

Introvert-Don’t like walking up and talking to people I don’t know. This even effected me as I started to study for the ministry. After all, if a pastor can’t feel comfortable sharing his faith, is he or she really called into the ministry?

Part of our preparation was to do a course called “Soul winning”, and the major assignment of that course was to honestly share the gospel with at least 30 people.

That’s not that hard in Kenosha as there are over 100k people to choose from, and the lakefront is always filled with people so you can just walk alone and talk with anyone who passed by.

I did that a few times, and got pushed, threatened, and no one wanted to hear any message about the bible, Jesus, God, sin, Salvation- they just wanted to be left alone.

One of the elders in my church at that time, a slightly crazy guy named Gaylord Kling, said that walking along the lakefront was the easy way out, and they would ignore us anyway.

He said, let’s go down to Lincoln Park neighborhood, or Washington heights, and go door to door and let people know that Jesus loves them.

These two neighborhoods are the roughest in Kenosha. These are where the gangs are, this is where you get solicited by prostitutes trying to pay for the their drugs, and this is where it is very dangerous for you to be if you are not from those blocks.

I agreed, and we ended up going door to door in the roughest part of town. I honestly wasn’t that nervous about that- we obviously were not cops carrying bibles and tracts, and were mostly left alone.

In fact, the people there took the bibles, and they took the tracts, and they listened intently about what we had to say. Over the course of 4 different times going to those neighborhoods, we witnessed to over 200 people and lead over 20 in the sinners prayer.

Did they actually become Christians? Only God knows.

I know that a drug dealer probably got his first full Gospel presentation about 11pm on a street with all of the lights shot out when he rolled up on us and got out of his car- .45 caliber pistol in his waist band and started to threaten us to leave or else. The car he was in had a tinted back area, and the window came down a little and we heard a voice asking us politely to come over.

Gaylord and I walked over and the person in the backseat said, “Look, I know you are trying to do right by my people here, but your “bleeping” with business. I’m asking nicely, get out of here while you can.”

Gaylord pointed a finger at the car and yelled, “I rebuke the spirit of drugs in the name of Jesus!”

The voice said, “Yo homie, let’s bounce” and they drove away.

It’s a crazy story, but absolutely 100% true. The bible says we are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses and today Gaylord is among them, probably laughing.

What that whole course showed me is this-

Our job isn’t to save them. Our job isn’t to tell those outside the church how to live.

Our job is scatter the seed, our job is to show love to the unlovable.

and then to harvest what God has given us. Then take those baby Christians and help them mature into healthy disciples of Jesus Christ- and take the reigns of the church into the next generation.

This is the model that Jesus has given us.

Turn to Matthew Chapter 28. That's the last chapter in the book of Matthew. We're going to begin in verse 16, and what we're about to read is known as the Great Commission. It's the last thing that Jesus says to his followers before he ascends into heaven.

Matt 28:16-20

16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.

NIV 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."