Sharing our faith- by Roger Roark
text - 1 Cor. 3:6-9 (nlt ) and 2nd Kings 7:3-9
1 Cor. 3:6-9
My job was to plant the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God, not we, who made it grow. [7] The ones who do the planting or watering aren’t important, but God is important because he is the one who makes the seed grow. [8] The one who plants and the one who waters work as a team with the same purpose. Yet they will be rewarded individually, according to their own hard work. [9] We work together as partners who belong to God. You are God’s field, God’s building—not ours.
It is our job to sow the seed, and God’s job to make them grow.
. The message is still the same. The message is the Lord Jesus Christ. Our delivery has changed.
. We have seen a lot of changes over the last 100 years.
1. We have come from mail being delivered by pony express on horses, to regular mail delivered by cars, to airmail delivered by jet aircraft, to email.
- A letter that used to take days to be delivered , can now be sent electronically in seconds.
-That messages hasn’t been watered down. The message is still, Jesus loves me, and HE died for me, but the delivery has changed.
. Let me ask you a question. What is worse than being lost? The answer is, being lost and no one looking for you.
( illustration ) There was a young barber who had been to a revival all week, and he was determined to wittness to people that he came in contact with.
He was a barber, and he prayed and promised the Lord that he would wittness to everyone who came into his barber shop.
The first man to come in was huge. He was about 6 feet 4, and weighed about 250 lbs.
The young barber said," well, I will let him go, and I will wittness to the next one who comes in.
This went on all day, he would make excuses as to why he didn’t wittness to them.
Finally, he saw that it was almost closing time, and his last customer came in and sat down in the barber chair.
The young barber was giving him a shave, and had the razor in his hand.
He walked around in front of the man, and blurted out , "Are you ready to meet God.?
. We work together as partners
1 Cor. 12:4-7 (nlt)
Now there are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but it is the same Holy Spirit who is the source of them all. [5] There are different kinds of service in the church, but it is the same Lord we are serving. [6] There are different ways God works in our lives, but it is the same God who does the work through all of us. [7] A spiritual gift is given to each of us as a means of helping the entire church.
It is our job to follow Jesus, and to do as Jesus did.
The world out there are watching every move we make, as Christians. The want to see if we practice what we preach.
Jesus, in His earthly ministry, went around doing deeds of kindness.
He fed the hungry, He healed the sick, He had compassion. He cared.
When we do deeds of kindness, we are being like Jesus.
Jesus said " whatever you have done to the least of these, you have done to me.
Acts 10:38
And no doubt you know that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. Then Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the Devil, for God was with him.
People are wanting to see acts of kindness in us, not just hear the word.
.When kindness and goodness are shown, the lost can be found.
( illustration ) There was a woman sitting in the waiting room at a doctor’s office . She was reading her Bible. There was a woman sitting next to her , and she was crying.
The woman just kept reading her Bible, and she could hear the woman sobbing, but never offered to help. She never asked what was wrong. She never showed any compassion.
This is what the world is looking at. This is what makes an impression on the lost. Maybe if the lady had stopped, and just offered to listen, then maybe a life could have been changed.
Jesus has the power to change lives. We hear about, and see these changed lives every day.
I listened to a speaker for the gideon organization, tell about a prostitue who checked into a motel. She had reached rock bottom, and was thinking about killing herself. She saw the Bible sitting on the dresser, and reached over and got it, and began reading. She read the book of John. She got down on her knees, and asked for forgiveness, and asked Jesus to come into her life. She later told someone that, she had come into that motel a prostitute, and left a child of the King.
It never ceases to amaze me as to what the love of Jesus can accomplish, if people just hear about Him, and see Him in us.
. We need to become instruments of God. We need to make ourselves available to Him.
I went to a class on wittnessing , and one of the speakers there said something that stuck with me.
He said " MY AVAILABILITY GIVES GOD AN OPPORTUNITY TO DO A MIRACLE THROUGH ME.
He then told of a little 7 year old girl that was riding with her mom one snowy night in Colorado. They were returning home from having Thanksgiving dinner with their family.
The roads were slick, and the car skidded off the road and turned over . The mother was unconscious, and the little girl was shaken up, but she was still conscious.
The little girl was scared, but she knew that if she didn’t do something, her mother could die.
The little girl crawled out of the car, and walked 2 miles in the cold wintry night, and found help. Because she made herself available, God was able to use her to save her mother’s life.
2 Kings 7:3-9
Now there were four men with leprosy sitting at the entrance of the city gates. "Why should we sit here waiting to die?" they asked each other. [4] "We will starve if we stay here, and we will starve if we go back into the city. So we might as well go out and surrender to the Aramean army. If they let us live, so much the better. But if they kill us, we would have died anyway."
[5] So that evening they went out to the camp of the Arameans, but no one was there! [6] For the Lord had caused the whole army of Aram to hear the clatter of speeding chariots and the galloping of horses and the sounds of a great army approaching. "The king of Israel has hired the Hittites and Egyptians to attack us!" they cried out. [7] So they panicked and fled into the night, abandoning their tents, horses, donkeys, and everything else, and they fled for their lives.
[8] When the lepers arrived at the edge of the camp, they went into one tent after another, eating, drinking wine, and carrying out silver and gold and clothing and hiding it. [9] Finally, they said to each other, "This is not right. This is wonderful news, and we aren’t sharing it with anyone! If we wait until morning, some terrible calamity will certainly fall upon us. Come on, let’s go back and tell the people at the palace."
Syria had surrounded Samaria, and as a result, there was a great famine in the city. People were starving, and some were even killing their children and eating them.
There were 4 Lepers sitting outside the city gates. They had reached a point of desperation. They weren’t allowed to go inside. They knew that if they stayed there and did nothing, that they would starve. So they decided to just go and surrender to the Aramean army. When they arrived at the camp, they found that the Lord had caused the army to hear noises of Chariots, and they had fled for their lives.
The lepers found plenty of food and silver and gold and clothing. Finally they said to each other ,, THIS IS NOT RIGHT, THIS IS WONDERFUL NEWS AND WE ARE NOT SHARING IT WITH ANYONE.
Isn’t that what we do if we keep the good news of Jesus to ourselves? There is a lost world out there , dying in their sins, not knowing the good news that is available to all.
There are people out there that have given up. They pray, then they expect the worse.
WE must tell them that there is HOPE .
(illustration ) There was a little boy playing baseball. His dad was a little late getting to the game, and when he looked up at the scoreboard, he saw that the other team was ahead 92 to nothing.
When his sons team came running off the field, the man said to his son " son, you are really getting beat aren’t you. The little boy looked up at his dad and said,, That is alright dad. We haven’t had our turn to bat yet.
The little boy had hope. HE was encouraged.
The world needs to know that there is hope.
Psalm 18:29
In your strength I can crush an army;
with my God I can scale any wall.
Genesis 28:15
What’s more, I will be with you, and I will protect you wherever you go. I will someday bring you safely back to this land. I will be with you constantly until I have finished giving you everything I have promised."
Exodus 33:14
And the Lord replied, "I will personally go with you, Moses. I will give you rest—everything will be fine for you."
Romans 8:31
What can we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us?
Four words come out of this text
I. despair
2. care
3. share
4. dare
1. DESPAIR
The lepers were desperate. They had a sense of urgency.
.Until the church has a sense of urgency, things will not change.
WE can’t let Jesus’ death be in vain. We need to feel that urgency. If we don’t do this, who will.
(illustration ) When Sgt. York captured all those German soldiers, as he came marching them into camp with his rifle pointed at them. He told the other soldiers ," Go get you some boys, the woods are full of them.
The world is full of the lost, and we need to go get some of them.
2. CARE
( illustration ) A little boy was walking accross town to go to church, and someone asked him why he walked so far to go to church when there were plenty of churches closer.
The little boy replied " I go there because they love a little boy like me.
There are thousands of people who think that no one cares.
WE just need to show them the love of Christ by doing some good deed of kindness for them, with no strings attached.This will show them that we care.
3. Share.
One of the lepers said, " This is not right, we are enjoying our riches, and others in the city are starving to death.
WE have salvation, while some of our friends and family don’t. It is up to us to share.WE need to become desperate to share the gospel.
We share by showing the love of Christ in some practical way.
4. DARE
Remember when you were small, you would dare somone to do something, and they would usually do it.
Remember the little boy in the Christmas story, where they dared him to stick his tongue to the flagpole, and when he did it stuck?
Remember the movied Star Trek, where they had the slogan,,, Go boldly where no man has ever gone before ?
Go beyond, that was their mission, and it is our mission too.
Just as Jesus went beyond, so should we.
There are unlimited ways to share the love of Christ.
Just a few people can make a difference.
Romans 2:4
Don’t you realize how kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Or don’t you care? Can’t you see how kind he has been in giving you time to turn from your sin?
God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance.
God is looking for people who will take part in acts of kindness to those around them.
Will you answer that call?
