Welcome and Happy Super Bowl Sunday
Video: Evangelism Linebacker (Sermonspice.com)
Acts 1:8 MKJV
(8) But you shall receive power, the Holy Spirit coming upon you. And you shall be witnesses to Me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and to the end of the earth.
Transition: Today we are going to look at The Gameplan of Our Spiritual Lives.
I. You SHALL be witnesses to Me...
A. Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, the end of the earth!
1. These cities mentioned here symbolize the very area you live.
1. Jerusalem symbolizes your hometown. Ours here at Heartsong is Shelby, NC
2. Judea symbolizes your home county. Ours here is Cleveland County.
3. Samaria symbolizes the countries you don’t want to go to. Jews did not hang out with Samaratins. Jesus want us to reach the unreachable.
We have so much joy and peace in our lives as followers of Jesus. The problem with that is we are selfish by nature.
We are supposed to do something about the joy we have. Give it away.
Later today, we’ll be having a Super Bowl party. Our friends and family will gather and celebrate the worlds most famous sporting event. We’ll be cheering and jamming food down our necks and having fun.
Why is it when it comes to Jesus, sacrifice for us we carry ourselves as if we were in a library and the fine for talking at all is death???
Somehow we correlate sharing the passion and love that Christ has imparted in us to the pressure of saving someone
Can I ease your conscious? It’s not YOUR responsibility to save ANYONE! That responsibility is God’s and God’s alone.
We do have the beautiful opportunity to reveal the joy and beauty of what the real, living, intimate God has done in our lives and families.
I know there are those who might say that if I really begin to actually share the passion I have inside for God, that people will come and we’ll get too big and lose the intimacy that our small church has cultivated.
When every church hurt person is restored to a living, growing relationship with their God again, our church will be big enough.
When every single mom who feels nobody cares about her and her children finds the love and fellowship of Jesus and His people, we’ll be big enough.
When the drug addict comes into this church and lays down the drugs and picks up the salvation of God and the fire of the Holy Spirit, we’ll be big enough.
When the teenagers in this area come here and are changed SO much that they lay down ALL the things that God is dealing with them about and begin holding prayer groups at school, we’ll be big enough.
That is the mission that God has given us, and until it is accomplished our job is not done!
We are here to seek and to reach those who are lost! People are screaming for the correct answer to the problems in their lives and we have the answer!
WE DON’T HAVE MUCH TIME!!!
THIS IS THE ONLY TIME IN OUR LIVES THAT WE¡¦LL EVER ENCOUNTER THE LOST. WE’VE GOT TO MOVE NOW!
How do I do that Pastor?
It’s more than just doing the church thing. It’s about reaching out of our world into someone else’s.
At our monthly Men’s Breakfast, discussed how we as men could impact the people around us. After several minutes of talking, began the steps to launch a new Single Mom’s ministry here at Heartsong. Some of us know the struggles a single mom goes through. I’m not talking here about the emotional struggles, and rest assured, they are MANY. I’m talking about just the physical struggles of keeping their heads above water. Many of us struggle with two incomes, to make ends meet. Try it with one. How can a single mom worry about changing the oil in her vehicle when she only has half a gallon of milk in the fridge for her baby? How can a single mom worry about getting minor brake repairs on her vehicle when she wonders how she’s going to pay the electric bill?
We are going to begin to find a way to minister to the single mom in this region! That’s what Jesus would do.
We have to go meet the physical needs of people. Buy a lunch. Cut a lawn. Cut down broken limbs.
Matthew 25:35-40 MSG
(35) And here’s why: I was hungry and you fed me, I was thirsty and you gave me a drink, I was homeless and you gave me a room,
(36) I was shivering and you gave me clothes, I was sick and you stopped to visit, I was in prison and you came to me.’
(37) "Then those ’sheep’ are going to say, ’Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry and feed you, thirsty and give you a drink?
(38) And when did we ever see you sick or in prison and come to you?’
(39) (SEE 25:38)
(40) Then the King will say, ’I’m telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me--you did it to me.’
We cannot just tell people to get saved when they have no food to feed their children.
People know this: How you act speaks so loudly I can’t hear a word your saying.
People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.
Evangelism is a Faith thing
Matthew 6:31-34 MSG
(31) What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving.
(32) People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works.
(33) Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.
(34) "Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.
God trying to remind us here: We walk by faith and not by sight.
Philippians 4:19 MSG
(19) You can be sure that God will take care of everything you need, his generosity exceeding even yours in the glory that pours from Jesus.
But what if someone rejects me?!?!
Here’s a tip, there will be some that do.
I have a question for you...are you asking them to respond to YOU or to GOD?
Ever heard, "Don’t shoot the messenger’?
They aren’t rejecting you, it’s the message that they have the problem with, not you.
God can do anything He wants at any time He wants, but He CHOOSES to use us.
Do you run out and pound your mailman like your tenderizing a steak for bringing you a bill for something you purposely purchased?
No you don’t. Why do you think others will do that to you? If you follow the leading of the Holy Spirit in each and every situation, you’ll be sensitive to their needs and they will hear the love in your heart.
It’s extremely important to understand what is at the heart of the matter of evangelism.
The heart of the matter is a matter of the heart. What is the condition of your heart? Once we’ve addressed that, what is the condition of your neighbor’s heart?
Close and Altar Call
